Colts Head Coach Chuck Pagano
On the injuries from today:
"As far an injuries go, we didn't have anything significant. A couple guys – [DT] Kelcy [Quarles] went out there late with cramps. [CB] Jalil Brown went out with cramps, so nothing significant there. [OLB] Cody Galea got a hamstring and then I think there was one other - [CB] D'Joun [Smith]. He's going to go through the concussion protocol. We'll just deal with that normal stuff.
On the game today:
"As far as the game goes, I think we were all excited to get to the game and see exactly where we're at. Got our feet wet, so to speak. Had a chance to evaluate a ton of guys, especially the young guys. It didn't go the way we wanted it to go, but there was some positive stuff. Early on, [QB] Andrew [Luck] was pretty sharp, the pass protection was good, [Luck] had time to throw the football. It's unfortunate we drive it down and then we had a pitch count on the quarterback, so even in that drive we got him out of there and put [QB] Matt [Hasselbeck] in. We had to settle for three, but defensively got things calmed down. I thought the guys did a nice job at halftime making adjustments and then getting that thing calmed down. It's extremely difficult. You open the preseason with this football team and from a defensive perspective the scheme is tough. You don't spend a lot of time, you guys know that, you don't spend a lot of time game planning for the first preseason game. You talk through some base stuff so it's a tall order – the pace of play at which they go, the zone read, the option element and obviously all the play-action pass stuff that comes off of that. You guys saw the same thing that I saw. We gave up too many yards there. We have to tackle better. We know that and we can do that. Can't turn the ball over the way that we turned it over. So again, we'll go back and look at the tape, make the evaluations. Looking for obviously great effort, we'll find out who can push through this with the amount of plays that they played and the heat and all that stuff. But it's early. We know it's a long, long season and the journey just started."
On the run blocking and what could be improved there:
"I think we averaged 2.2 [yards per carry] at the halfway point, which is, our goal this year we set a lofty one for ourself to put outselves in the top five in rush average at 4.5 [yards per carry]. We only averaged 2.2 [yards per carry], but it was good to see the second and third group get some runs generated and I know our numbers, I don't have the final stats yet, but I know our numbers were better in the second half. [RB] Josh [Robinson] obviously did a nice job and that was really encouraging to see that, but we have to be better."
On the play of WR Phillip Dorsett:
"He's a big play waiting to happen, but again he has to take care of the football. You're looking at a guy that's going to be an outstanding football player, but you know what you're going to remember is the turnover. But again, we'll look at the tape. He's going to be a dynamic guy for us."
On how he will evaluate the game given that the team did not game plan for it:
"Again you still put a premium on fundamentals. You can still grade the heck out. Effort [is] number 1, fundamentals and then taking care of the ball. There is nothing more important than the football. You can't turn the ball over. You can't muff a punt, get stripped on a long pass completion, put the ball on the ground as a runner. We were fortunate to get the one back, the guy was hustling. But when you throw interceptions you're not going to win football games. I don't care what time of year it is. You just can't do it. You can't give up big plays. I thought [P] Pat [McAfee] kicked the heck out of the football. You've got the guy wrapped up and he gets out of it and he goes the distance right before halftime and you're sitting there scrambling. You're 13-3 you have a ball game, you're never out of it as we know, but you can't allow that."
On his third through sixth receivers:
"We know we have some guys there. We know we have some talent, but again there are too many drops. Guys had opportunities. [WR] Duron [Carter] had an opportunity to make a play. [WR] Quan [Bray] had an opportunity to make a play and they're going to find out that you can't squander those opportunities. So you have to go back and go to work and have to be able to do it on a consistent basis. Not only in practice, but you have to be able to under the lights when it's for real, so to speak. You have to make those plays."
