Josh Rosen – September 22, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 22, 2019
Postgame
QB Josh Rosen (transcribed by Dallas Cowboys)
(How are you doing physically and emotionally?) — “Good to the first. I don’t know, to be determined on the second. I feel like we are making a little progress as a team, but (we had) a lot of mistakes that were very well within our control. So, like every week, back to the film on Monday. Get it fixed.”
(How would you evaluate your start here today?) — “I thought we got off to a pretty good start and started to taper a little bit. I don’t know, I couldn’t think of a particular moment in the game, but I definitely…. Some good, some bad. I’d say right in the middle.”
(Regarding the concussion protocol and how you felt after coming back…) — “Yeah. The spotter kind of pulled me out. So I just had to go back there, get a test real quick, and come back out. Fitz made a really awesome throw to get us down sort of within scoring range, and we weren’t really able to finish the drive.”
(Regarding the changes on the offensive line during the game..How much did that play into the way you were able to play throughout the rest of the game?) — “It’s tough when injuries happen, but I think our guys up front did a really good job of sort of adjusting and playing on the fly. I think (Michael) Deiter kicked out to left tackle. I think he hasn’t done that in quite a while. I mean I think our guys did a pretty good job of adjusting. I think we just have to continue to grow as an offense and just try to figure out what we do well and do more of that and try to eliminate mistakes.”
(What’s the emotional state of your football team?) — “Not great, but not bad. I think given the set of circumstances, I think really good. I think we are all like a really determined group of guys that (are) really prideful and just want to put a good product of football on the field, something that we feel proud about and I think we are getting there. I just don’t think we’ve really quite hit that hump. I think, even last week in the New England game, like yeah we got blown out or whatever, but there was like a couple plays there where we really could have..I slipped up, (could have) taken the lead or in that second quarter. It kind of felt the same way here with a couple of those sort of red zone stall outs. I think, I’m not going to say right there, but I think we are getting there. I think we’ve got good progress. We’re making good progress.”
(Regarding the late hit…) — “I don’t know I’d probably have to watch it. But at the first one I tried to make it kind of clear that I was sliding. I mean you’ve got three Cowboys running up..(I’m not about to?) take them on. I thought the first one I tried to make it a little clear I was sliding, maybe I kind of hesitated for a little bit too long. The one on the sideline I was like about to step out but I didn’t realize the dude, DeMarcus I think, was right behind me. So yeah, I mean I think they’re “bang-bang” so will probably have to watch (the film) to give a better opinion.”
(Do you take any victory from a loss like this?) — “I don’t know if victory is the right word, but positives; yes. This very clearly is not a victory but I think positives, yes. As an organization we are just trying to like sort of find our identity. I think you can find positives and negatives in anything. I thought we fought really hard and I don’t think that not for one millisecond of the game did we give up. Our dudes up front were battling their butts off and defense was playing a helluva game. But it just, with our defense, once we’ve hit a couple of those three and outs and leave them on the field for a little bit too long it’s really tough on them. So I think it’s our responsibility as an offense, that even if we’re not going to score, at least we can string some drive together and, or string some first downs together and give them a break and at least try to stay on the field for a little bit.”
(Regarding how you felt about things were going in the first half…) — “It felt really good. I thought we had the defense on their heels. They have a really good pass rush. They started to emerge later in the game and I thought that we pretty much, for the most part, did a really good job of holding it back early in the game. I thought we had a really good game plan coming into it. It’s just about, sort of finishing the drives. I thought we put a couple of good ones together (drives) but we’ve just got to sort of cap it off. And then we stall it out inside the five twice. So that’s never a good thing.”
(Regarding running the ball on the goal line. You’re a quarterback, so I assume at some point you would have preferred to throw the ball?) — “That’s not my call. I mean..”
(Can you audible?) — “Yeah I can but that’s like given the set of circumstances that wasn’t my job. I thought we had a really good play with a really good look. I can’t say the actual name of the play but I think it was the third one I mis-Mike’d it when I motioned my guy over..I actually…I mis-Mike’d it and I had my receiver blocking a linebacker when he was supposed to be blocking a safety so it’s little things like that..even are on my play. So, yeah, so it’s very fluid and we wished we could have punched it in but hindsight is always twenty-twenty. We’ve just got to get down there a little more often.”
(On fourth down it looked like you wanted to go for it. Is that fair?) — “Yeah absolutely.”
(Because?) — “Because I didn’t want to step off the field. I’m a quarterback and very competitive. I’d be very disappointed in any quarterback in any situation that, in that situation was jogging off the field like alright…If I had a little more say I would have loved to ‘Peyton Manning’ed’ it and waved them off and call the play but we’re not there yet.”
(Have you had a chance to talk to WR Allen Hurns?) — “Briefly. That was probably one of the lower points of my career. I felt really bad about that. Hopefully he’s okay. I think he’s still meeting with the docs and stuff, but yeah it sucks.”
Brian Flores – September 22, 2019 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 22, 2019
Postgame – Dallas
Head Coach Brian Flores (transcribed by Dallas Cowboys)
(On the performance of the injury-weakened offensive line. How do you think they performed as the game went on?) — “I thought we gave quarterback solid protection for a good chunk of the game. There were some third downs there at the end where we were trying to get the ball out a little bit, keep going downfield a little bit more but wasn’t as good. The goal going in was to protect him with six, seven, eight guys if we needed to. I thought we got that done in the first half for the most part but at the end of the day, it wasn’t enough.”
(You were able to string some drives together and move the ball downfield. But again, dropped balls, a fumble toward the end, a missed field goal. All those scoring opportunities that you missed. It’s tough to come back from that.) — “Yeah, we had a lot of opportunities. A missed field goal. We were offsides on the onside recovery. We had drops, a fumble, dropped touchdowns, dropped interceptions. You can overcome one-or-two of those but put six, seven, eight of those, together. They were plays that we could make, period. They were just plays that we could make and we don’t make them. We’ve got to start making those plays.”
(On QB Josh Rosen’s first start.)— “I thought Josh made some good throws early. Started off with the long ball to DeVante. That’s a good defense. I thought he was tough. Took a couple of hits. Stood in the pocket. Gave us some opportunities on some throws. The drops didn’t help him. That would have helped us as a team. We just didn’t get it done but overall, I thought he played alright.”
(On G Michael Deiter stepping in at left tackle.)— “I thought he did a good job out there.”
(Is the depth of your offensive line a big point of concern for you right now?) — “That’s something we’ll talk about as we head back in the morning. Like you said, Deiter stepped in and played admirably. Shaq stepped in. The next guys that have got injuries, the next guy’s got to step up and play well for this team. Again, I thought the guys played hard. Great effort. I thought they were in position to make some plays. They just didn’t make them.”
(This was the second game in a row where the first half was tight and the second half became “overwhelming.” From where you’re standing, what are the changes between the first half and the second half?)— “I think as a staff, we’ve got to do a better job with our second half adjustments. I think we…we didn’t play better in the second half as well. I don’t think it’s a conditioning issue. I don’t think it’s execution. We’re just not making enough plays.”
(On CB Xavien Howard’s play and what happened with the ejection?) — “We talk about keeping our poise, really on a daily basis. Games get chippy. You can’t get disqualified from a game. It’s something we harp on a lot. I’ve talked to Xavien about that, he knows that. That’s part of the game. It’s an emotional game.”
(On whether QB Josh Rosen’s play was affected after going through the concussion test.) — “It’s hard to say. I’ve got to watch the film to see if his play was affected at all. He made some good throws. He made some not-so-good throws. We were talking about getting the ball out quick. He did that. He got the ball downfield a little bit. He’s got to slide on some of these runs. He’s got to do a better job of that. We’ve got to coach that better.”
(It’s hard to say if the Preston Williams play in the end zone had a chance to be overturned on replay. What did you and your staff think about that one?)— “We didn’t think it was going to be able to be overturned. We looked at it. I watch every one every week. I watch every touchdown, every one. Those are hard to get overturned. You’ve got to be able to overcome those. We’re not there right now. We need to get there and it’s right in front of us. We’ve just got to get back to work. Come in tomorrow and make the corrections. Come back, Wednesday, improve and get better.”
(On Dallas’ two 100-yd rushers. Why were they able to run the ball so effectively?) — “We’ve just got to do a better job on the edge. We’ve got to a better job tackling. We’ve got to do a better job with our communication. That’s really what it boils down to.”
