Q: Were you able to see more positives on the film than you thought were there?
A: Yeah. I think there were definitely positives. The second half, we played pretty well. Two scoring drives, only had three possessions, so I think you just saw missed opportunities. I think there's some games that you lose and you look at it and you just see where you just got beat on all aspects and had no chance. That was not the case in this one. I thought we had opportunities. We let some plays slip away. We let some opportunities slip away and we just couldn't make them up at the end, so I think there's things that are very correctible that we'll able to do and play much better. We'll learn a lot from this game though.
Q: Some of the issues were similar to what you experienced last year. Was that alarming at all?
A: Hopefully we can run the ball better. That can come when you throw the ball a little bit better, that can open up the running game. We just never got into a great rhythm and mixing up the run and pass and the play action. Overall, the running game helps the pass and vice versa. Overall, we've got to be more productive. We had some opportunities to convert some third downs that we were just a little bit off on a few things and when you do that, you get more plays, you get more rhythm and you can keep the defense on the field longer and that gives you some opportunities to run the ball a little bit better.
Q: How much did you talk about the goal line series?
A: The goal line series… obviously, yeah. You'd like to get a touchdown in that circumstance, but overall, that didn't decide the game. You kind of look at more opportunities where you've got a guy open or you've got a chance to make a play here or if we would've blocked this a little bit better, we could've hit this or we had a chance to make a big run or one block away. You kind of look at those types of things where a lot of the guys are doing everything correct or maybe just one or two guys that aren't on quite the same page and so you have a missed opportunity. There's going to be some plays where the defense has a perfect call and that's the reason you're stopped or that's the reason that a drive ends, but when you're stopping yourself from converting on plays and having success, that's when you can't afford to have those plays.
Q: Is there a number of balanced plays that a team needs to have or is really just more about the results?
A: You try to be balanced, but you've got to see what the defense is doing and what's working and what's not and obviously if you can throw the ball successfully and you can keep the safeties high and get the defense worn out and get those linebackers dropping and it should open up the run and vice versa. When you're running the ball well, that should slow down the pass rush. Both of them have to complement each other and there's no set number in a game. You've got to just have a feel for what's going on and Coach Gilbride does a great job of calling plays and seeing what we're having success with and staying with that.
Q: Do you just sit there and say this is a wake up call, we've got to get better?
A: Definitely. You definitely have to be a lot better and I think there's a lot that you can learn from the first game. I think your first game where you're playing four quarters and you've got a game plan and the first game of the season, they had an offseason to put in new stuff and have a new game plan for you, so there's going to be some adjustments and a learning curve. You have some new players. I think the first game, there's going to be a lot you can learn from that first or second game and we've got to have that mindset and come in next week, have a great week of practice, get better on things and make sure we go and perform better on game day.
Q: Did you get a sense of Victor wanting to do a little too much coming off such a great season last year?
A: There's one of them really where he started to run before he caught the ball. You're going to have days like that and as long as he keeps getting open, which he's done a great job doing, he'll start catching the ball and we'll start making plays and we should have a great season.
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