REX RYAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Comments: Alright, obviously, you know, shoot, we weren't good enough. The better team won today without question. We made way too many mistakes-mistakes we haven't made all season and against a guy like (Tom) Brady, he makes you pay anytime you have a mistake and we knew that going in and he was true to form, but we didn't deserve to win by any stretch. The Patriots deserved it and they won the game, without question. So with that, I'll open it up.
Q: Was that the most discouraging thing? Because it looked like last year in terms of mistakes and just not bring smart.
A: I guess it was similar, I don't know. It was without question frustrating. You get them backed way up on the third-and-long and we blow a coverage that---it's just 10 guys playing one thing and somebody else playing something else. And even if you're not singing out of the same hymnal, it looks bad and sounds bad and everything else.
Q: Was that the (Chris) Hogan play, the touchdown, that you're referring to right now?
A: Yeah we just-obviously we blew an assignment and they executed the play and so, you know, bad result.
Q: Is that a product of trying to give Brady more looks than you would kind of throw at a different quarterback?
A: Well I guess so. That could be, that could be.
Q: You said on Monday that if you lose this game, it doesn't break your season but hopefully it isn't something you worry about. You said you hope you don't have to worry about it.
A: No, not break our season. I mean it's the halfway point, but I think in the division, I think it's unrealistic to think you're going to win your division when you just got beat by---how many games now are they up by? Three? Something like that, so I don't see that changing. I just told you the truth, but I never said it was going to ruin our season. I thought within winning the division you're pretty much shot if you really think we can really run the table and still win it. I don't think so.
Q: Do you think you're playing for a wildcard spot?
A: Well I would think that's what you're (playing for). That team's three games up on us and I think at the halfway point they've lost one game. And No. 12 is back, so yeah, I don't see that happening (winning the division). I hope I'm wrong.
Q: You're also 1-4 in the conference.
A: Yeah.
Q: With Jacksonville's record, it's even worse than 4-4, isn't it?
A: Well I think it's 4-4. As bad as you want to be negative-wise, I get it. We're halfway through the season but we'll see. We have a lot of football left to be played. I believe in this team maybe more so than others.
Q: Specifically with your defense, you know you're down injury-wise offensively. You really look at the last couple of games, evaluate your defense.
A: Well it's not where we want it to be obviously. I was happy to get Marcell (Dareus) back even though clearly he's probably not 100 percent but I was happy to get him back. I think we can turn things, we just got to play smart, and that was what was disappointing about this game in particular. We knew we had the big man (Dareus) back, we knew that we could stop the run, and then trying to get them one-dimensional and then unfortunately they killed us. I don't think I've ever seen them this hot. Maybe one other time he scorched me like crazy, but I can't ever remember that kind of day.
Q: Obviously you played against (Jacoby) Brissett and you didn't have many problems that day, but Brady comes back and he's so much better than everybody else. Does 'demoralize' ever become part of your vocabulary?
A: No. I think you go in, you think you're ready to roll but know who you're up against. This guy is probably the best who's ever played or he's right up there in the conversation. So you know what you're getting. It's a young kid that was in there, the rookie (Brissett), it's not fair to say, "Well, he's garbage." No, he's probably decent, but he's not Tom Brady.
Q: Where are we on (Brandon) Tate and (Lorenzo) Alexander?
A: Alexander's got a hamstring. Tate is in the concussion protocol and then Reggie Bush had a groin. Those were the injuries from the game.
Q: How many different things did you try on Rob Gronkowski today and how good is Gronk?
A: He's pretty dang good. The problem is, you know, somebody has to have a tough down and win that tough down or whatever but yeah, that guy's (a) phenomenal player and he's been that way for a long time.
Q: Is it a bit of a revolving door with guys coming in-and-out from injury or suspension? It seems like losing and getting big-name players is a weekly occurrence. In terms of your personnel, do you feel thin in terms of your roster?
A: No, I think it's just that some guys have to understand that you might be a backup, but your role can drastically change. I mean drastically change. And if you're the fourth guy up, you might have to play and that kind of happened to us a little bit today and (it) can't be an excuse, you got to be ready. Unfortunately we made some mistakes and even if we don't make mistakes, I don't think it was going to be good enough today. I mean that team was on fire and they deserve all the credit.
Q: You've talked about Stephon Gilmore being an elite corner back in this league. He had three holding penalties today and Hogan got behind him. Where are you at with what you're getting from Gilmore and are you getting what you need from him?
A: I don't want to isolate one person or whatever. Obviously, collectively we weren't good enough today and it wasn't even close.
Q: Does Brady's presence just underscore to you just how far Tyrod Taylor is from being the franchise quarterback you need?
A: No I disagree. I think Tyrod is exactly what we need, we just have to catch the ball better, we have to protect a little bit better and I think he's a great quarterback. I'm not saying he's Tom Brady, there's only one of those, but I'm saying he's a great quarterback and he's got a chance to be. It might be fair to judge him when you have everything out there. I think it'll be nice one day to sit back and have a full roster. I think you talk about the talent of your team, we got to get them all healthy and then we'll probably be able to evaluate this team a little bit better.
Q: Would you rank your third-down play on defense near the top of today's problems?
A: Oh yeah, it's right up there. There's no doubt. And the penalties obviously, we had way too many penalties, embarrassing quite honestly, and then the third down efficiency on third down defense is something we've been-you have to do a great job on third down defense against Brady and company for sure and today we weren't even close I mean they hit on 69-percent of their third downs and you're not going to beat them if that percentage is that high.
Q: How demoralizing was it to miss a field goal and then for New England to turn around and hit a field goal 27 seconds later and start the next quarter with a big kickoff return?
A: Yeah, obviously that was a big turn because---Dan (Carpenter) hit it great. He did. Three-quarters of the way up (it looks good), he hits the upright. Their kid hits the upright, it goes through, but that was kind of the day it was for us.
Q: What do you see from the rookie after Shaq Lawson's second game?
A: I thought he did some good things. I know he got the sack. We actually put him in a couple different coverages, I thought he did a decent job, I really did. We have to see the film but I know he got a late hit on the quarterback. He's got to understand that you might be able to blast them in college but this game, if it's late, they're going to call it. And there was too many of those things that we got to learn from but this is a young man that we all think is going to be a tremendous player for us. He's had two weeks of practice, so hopefully he keeps getting better and better as the weeks go on.
Q: Rex you emphasized getting your guys healthy. Where exactly does LeSean McCoy stand and does he have a chance of getting back for the Seattle game?
A: I'm not sure. He wasn't healthy enough to play in this game. Next week, the fact it's a Monday, we get another day, hopefully he will be, but right now I'm not sure.
Q: What happened with the challenge flag?
A: That was on me. I was a little ticked off because I was showing them like, "Guys, just look at the replay. He's in! Look at the replay. I can't throw this flag." And then I threw the flag.
Q: You were a little late getting in here. What was your message to your team?
A: The message was pretty obvious I think that for us to compete against a team like this, we got to improve a hell of a lot and we know that. Backups have to step up and know what they're doing, number one, would help, and that comes down on us too as coaches. We got to make sure everybody's ready to roll and eliminate the mistakes and the things that we can avoid. There's going to be some combative penalties but some of the other ones we got to do a much better job of. I thought that was in our past and clearly it's not.
Q: What are the types of penalties that you think are acceptable?
A: Well no, sometimes you're going to be competing for balls. Sometimes you may get a play where you're just finishing a play and maybe somebody observes it differently. But that's always going to be the case. You may get beat, you might grab a guy or whatever but you got them in first-and-20, a holding call, that's not acceptable. That's not acceptable and there's things like that that we obviously have to get much better at.
Q: Talk about the miscommunications in the secondary.
A: I wish I knew.
Q: Are you concerned about Taylor's accuracy?
A: No. I think Tyrod will be fine. I thought the day might look a little different if you take away the drops. I mean we had a couple of big drops, back-to-back drops that were disappointing to see for sure but Tyrod's going to be fine. It seems like each week I'm defending him. I don't understand it.
Q: With the trade deadline coming up, is there any possibility of you guys looking to bring in a new receiver?
A: Well I think what we do a good job of is we turn over every rock, we're looking at not just the receiver (position) but everything. If we can make our team better, we'll certainly do that. Doug (Whaley) and I are always in communication and Rob (Hanrahan) and guys, but the trading thing-- and I get it. Hey, let's trade for Randy Moss. Okay, I got it. But you have to have a dance partner and it has to be reasonable so in the NFL, trades don't happen. I mean we can say they do but it's very odd that they happen.
TYROD TAYLOR, QUARTERBACK
Q: Tyrod, you knew against a team like this your execution needed to be tight. I guess run through the settling for the field goal on the first drive, second possession you had a couple of drops, you had guys open, just seemed like you weren't on point with everything.
A: Yeah. We definitely didn't do a good job with extending drives. I think we left some plays out there on the field definitely early on in the game to get ourselves into a groove and that's definitely something we have to be better at moving forward.
Q: The play where you handed off to Reggie (Bush) and he threw it back to you, it looked like he could have flicked it into the end zone.
A: Yeah. He wasn't throwing it back to me I don't think. He was just trying to get rid of the ball and get hit, but that play was a double pass. Bad execution.
Q: Rex was very unhappy with the mistakes overall what is your take on that, you need to play smarter?
A: Yeah, we definitely gotta clean up in a lot of areas, be the team that we want to be and reach the potential that we know that we have. We definitely have to play smarter and it all comes down to us executing and us cleaning up the penalties as well.
Q: When you go into a game knowing you're down a wide receiver and then during the game it's like every other play a guy is jogging off the field and going into the locker room; do you ever take a minute and say "Man we're six, seven deep in the depth chart, what am I working with here?"
A: No, that doesn't process or go through my mind. I'm confident in the guys we have out there. I gotta give them chances to make plays and we gotta go out there and make plays. To be on this team you understand it's for a reason so when you're out on the field the other guys are definitely depending on you to make plays and that's something we can be better at as far as going out there and making plays.
Q: Tyrod, Mike (Gillislee) has some runs early and he had a good average and he had a good run game going. Was that just thrown out the window because the score got flipped?
A: For sure. Of course. People definitely know that the running game is part of our offense, but when you fall behind early you can't really run the ball as much as you want to. Get into the groove. And that's why we have to go out there and make plays in the passing game.
Q: Do you think that you could be more accurate with your throws in general?
A: We can be better executing, that's it.
LORENZO ALEXANDER, LINEBACKER
Q: Is it discouraging to have two defensive duds back-to-back, last week and this week?
A: Of course. You never want to start creating a trend of playing bad defense, so we need to figure out a way to get back on track. Really start looking at ourselves again because sometimes you can get on a high and get away from some of the fundamentals that got you to having a four-game win streak. In these last couple of weeks, we just haven't shown up so we need to get back to our basics. Get back to checking ourselves at the door. Everybody has to be accountable, as far as making the plays and just executing. That's what it comes down to, and we didn't do that well at all today.
Q: You said back to basics. Is communication one of those back to basics things?
A: Yeah. From getting the call in, getting it communicated to everybody – I mean, that's day one type of stuff. That's Pop Warner type of stuff. You can't do that. If you have guys playing two different calls or whatever it may be – one guy didn't get the call – you're not going to play good football. I don't care who you're playing against. And when you play against a Hall of Famer, he's going to make you look stupid like he did today. We have to get back to the basics of communicating well so that we're all playing the same defense. When we're all on the same page, we're hard to beat.
Q: Lorenzo, Stephon [Gilmore] kept saying over and over that you guys gave it to them. Do you agree with that? Did you get a sense of that, maybe?
A: Yeah. Well, when you're not communicating and you're not out there executing the way you can, you don't give yourself a chance. So, in theory, you are giving it to them. It's not like we were all on the same page, playing well, and they just – you know – dominated us by the matchup because we were playing the right defense. We're not playing the right defense and [Brady]'s going to recognize that and if he sees that somebody's out of position, he's going to take advantage of it.
Q: Is it too early to know whether you'll be good to go for next week?
A: We'll see. Obviously, I've got to come in tomorrow again and get treatment. I've got eight days to recover. I've had something similar to this before and was able to play the next week, so I'm confident in our training staff and myself to get ready and help this defense next week to beat Seattle.
Q: 4-4 at the midpoint. Two losses to start – [followed by] four wins and two losses. Is it hard to try and form the identity of this team considering you've gone so back-and-forth?
A: Yeah, we've been back-and-forth. I think you can look at certain things, especially early on where we could've won a couple of those games, but we've just got to be consistent. That's the biggest thing, and with a team that's learning how to win – you're going to have some of those bumps and bruises in an up-and-down season. But, like you said, we're 4-4. We're .500 midway through the season and we pretty much control our destiny. I think, the rest of the schedule – when you look at it – we're confident about each and every game that we play. We just have to make sure that we're executing. If we come out the way that we did today, we're not going to win another game.
MARCELL DAREUS, DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Q: First of all how did you feel being back out there with the guys?
A: I mean I felt pretty good. We were flowing pretty good for the most part, just a couple blown things, couple missed coverages, and (Tom) Brady will tear you apart from there. So we just had a good time out there, but at the same time I wish we would have won the game.
Q: How tough is it to play against Brady when you don't play a perfect game?
A: You lose. That is the most part, he is a pretty good player, everyone knows that.
Q: Communication is a word that has been brought up, was that an issue today?
A: Yeah. One thing we pride ourselves on this year was the better communication we built over the offseason. For the communication to fall the way it did was kind of a blow to the stomach. We just kind of trying to get back to it, get back to normal what we do and sticking to it. Happens like that sometimes.
Q: Physically, did you feel pretty good coming out of the game?
A: Oh man I feel like a player coming off the streets right now man, sore as hell.
STEPHON GILMORE, CORNERBACK
Q: They just kept seeming to convert on third down, what happened?
A: Penalties gave them everything, just gave them everything really.
Q: What happened on that touchdown to (Chris) Hogan?
A: Busted coverage.
Q: Do you have any idea how that happened that you guys gave them everything?
A: It happened.
Q: What do you mean you gave them everything what are you thinking in particular?
A: They didn't ever beat us one on one really. We just gave them everything. He seen it, easy throws, just gave them everything.
Q: How frustrating is it to have a game like that?
A: It's frustrating.
KYLE WILLIAMS, DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Q: How much was third down an issue not being able to get off the field?
A: It is a lot of it. When we didn't make it, not communicate well, blew some defenses and we weren't good on third down. That is a really good formula to get beat by those guys.
Q: A lot of guys are talking miscommunication on your end not, necessarily by what they did?
A: No, that is both. Yeah we blew some plays that lead to some of their big plays, but we didn't play well enough in general. So it is not all on us. It is them outplaying us too.
Q: A lot of penalties on third down that kept drives going?
A: Yeah you know a late hit, something else there, it is something you can't do against those guys. You can't miscommunicate, you can't blow defenses, and you can't give them extra opportunities on third down through penalties.
Q: You almost have to play a perfect game against Brady, do you think he is that good?
A: You have to be on top of your game plan. You can't blow things in your game plan, you can't give him second opportunities with penalties and things like that. He is good enough to beat you when you don't do all those things. So when you do all those things it snowballs, it is a bad combination.
Q: Half the season left, big picture?
A: Half the season left, disappointed obviously the last couple weeks. Especially here coming home and losing and just really not performing well. Just through, like I said blown assignments, bad eyes, and giving a really good football team second opportunities. True character will get tested now. We have to go on the road against probably the best team in the NFC. So we have to get ready for that, we are going to go back to work. We kind of got tested there at 0-2 and here we are again. So I think the guys will respond and we have to put our best foot forward.
