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Transcript: Postgame Player Quotes

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SEPTEMBER 4, 2008

LB London Fletcher

Q. If you had to pick out the one thing that cost you the game, what would you say it was?

A. Third downs in the game really hurt us. In the first half, we really didn't stop them from scoring on any of their possessions.

Q. It didn't look like you guys had the "fire" on either side of the ball.

A. I can't really speak for everybody in terms of that. I thought that during our pregame warm-ups and while we were in the locker room everybody was real excited about playing this game, playing the defending Super Bowl champions. I mean it's opening night and we're playing on a Thursday...so as far as energy goes, I don't think that was an issue. I think it was more so how we hurt ourselves, I'm just speaking defensively because I can't speak about the offense. From a defensive standpoint, there were a lot of opportunities for us in the first half to make plays on third downs and we did not. Even in the second half, we missed some turnover opportunities.

Q. How disappointing is it to lose your first game of the season?

A. Anytime you lose, you're going to be disappointed. We would've liked to have gotten off to a better start by winning our first game, our first division game. We've got to go in tomorrow and look at the tape and see where we made our mistakes. We've got to come in next week fully prepared to face a good New Orleans Saints football team.

WR Santana Moss

Q. At the end the first half you guys seemed to pretty easily march down the field and score. Why do you feel you couldn't get it going in the second half?

A. I mean we just sputtered a lot...sputter here, sputter there. Our drive at the end of the second quarter was started by the special teams getting us good field position. When you get good field position, you've got to take advantage of it. I think we did a good job by doing that. In the second half, we had some chances that we couldn't capitalize on when we had good field position. You've really got to learn from things like that, you can't just beat yourself up over that; you've got to watch the film and get better from it.

Q. Do you feel like the offense has regressed? You guys looked so good in the first couple of games.

A. I mean this is still the first game and preseason is preseason. You can't be judged on what you did in the first three games in the preseason, because teams aren't coming after you. They're sitting back and playing basic defenses. I feel like now, with a game under our belt, we'll really find out how we play as a team. I feel good when I think about the potential this team has, but we've actually got to go out and do it now.

Q. It didn't seem that there was a whole lot of urgency from the offense in the fourth quarter.

A. We were trying...we were trying to run the two minute (offense).  I mean there was a penalty here, a missed opportunity there, a negative run here...and when that stuff happens you can't really run what you want to run. That's basically where we stood, you saw it, we saw it, and now we've got to fix it

DT Anthony Montgomery

Q. What changes did you guys make at halftime?

A. I don't think we made too many changes, I just think everybody came out and let everything out. We all just took a deep breath and everyone took it upon themselves to be where they were supposed to be. We've just got to watch this film and build from it and be ready from next week.

Q. Was it tough to catch your breath in the first half because you were out there for so long?

A. No, that's why you work hard during the offseason; you've got to expect stuff like that to happen. It wasn't about us being too tired or being out there for too long, we just didn't make the plays that we needed to.