TB: There was a whole lot of inconsistency. The one thing that we are always talking about is trying to be more consistent. We started off so well, both offensively and defensively, and then just sputtered in the second quarter and the third quarter was, I think we had the ball offensively for six plays. Bethel (Johnson) runs back a touchdown. Just a weird game.
Q: Was it something that they were doing or did you guys just fall flat after the quick start?
TB: Probably just falling flat. I think we started off so well and then you get a 13-0 lead … just not converting on third down. I threw the ball behind Troy (Brown) on one play. It would have been an easy first down. Troy and I missed on another one. Just ones that we should hit. It was nothing that the defense was doing. They have some pretty good guys on their defense, but our mistakes.
Q: The 85-yard bomb must feel great?
TB: Yeah. That is what David (Patten) and I have been working on for training camp. Even though we weren't as consistent with the big plays, whether it be kickoff returns or whether it be a big touchdown pass like that, those help you win games too. No one is going to complain about those long scores.
Q: What happened with David on that play?
TB: They were bringing a blitz and I kind of looked to the left trying to find Troy (Brown). They collapsed on Troy. I got my eyes downfield and I saw David running past their safety and I just threw it up and David ran down and made a great catch. Once David gets behind them, they are going to have a hard time catching him. I think there were some other plays where it could have been the same thing, we just couldn't get the ball downfield to those guys.
Q: Was this what you were looking to accomplish? You said you needed to get more plays then you did a week ago. You got more plays this week and it steadily went downhill after the touchdown pass.
TB: I think so. That is part of it – the playing and knocking the rust off and getting into some different situations and getting into the drop-back passes and the third-and-longs. Last week, it was hardly anything. We barely ran any plays. Now we have a two-minute situation that we obviously didn't handle very well. There were too many missed third down opportunities. It is like going back to the drawing board. That is the same for a lot of teams at this stage. Did we do some things good? Yeah. But there were a whole heck of a lot of things we need to do better. You just aren't going to win if you play like that. It is just too inconsistent.
Q: Did that surprise you a little bit considering the way you guys were practicing?
TB: Yeah. I think that we will have to see the film. After we see it, we will probably have a better evaluation. From my standpoint, when you are not on the field, you are not completing those third down passes. You are going to go off the field and watch your team play defense and they are going to punt back and we go out and it's the same thing over and over again. I think that is what it came down to. The first two drives were good, after that we just came out after third down.
Q: How did you feel decision-wise with some of the third down passes? Was it a matter of saying that 'I should have thrown it there' or was it good throw, good decision, but it just didn't work out?
TB: Probably a little bit of both. There was one where I missed Troy with a crossing route. Good read, terrible throw. There was another one where I almost hit Troy on a good decision and Troy is going to make that 99 percent of the time. It is just getting into a rhythm, when you make those plays like that when it is uncontested. It is one thing if the defense makes a good play – flushes you from the pocket or makes you make a bad throw. If you just make a bad throw, there is just no reason for that.
Q: You must hate to leave the field and watch the next 30 minutes of football knowing that the first 15 minutes were good and the next 15 were less than okay.
TB: No question. I think Charlie (Weis) made mention of that. He said I wished I would feel better about the way that we played in the first half. We started off well. If you don't play four quarters of football, it is going to come down to the wire like this. The way we started on the road, we have to play like that more consistently.
