CB Lito Sheppard
On the Washington Redskins running attack: "That's a good question; we were asking ourselves the same thing. We were trying to make some calls to slow that down but they were able to break some of the gaps and make some of the big runs."
On the team's play throughout the game: "I think we need to put it together as a team. Not get effort from one side or the other, but together. We need to go out there and do a job each week."
On whether the mind frame of the team is on the coaches' or players' shoulders: "I think it's a collective group. We're all grown men here so I can't say a coach should motivate us. We all want to go out there and win, play hard, and the best we can, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way. We need to come together as a group and get everything situated."
On whether the defense was on the field too long: "It goes that way sometimes. We didn't come up with any big plays and they still didn't turn the ball over. We have to get off the field on third downs. As a collective group, on our part, we need to get off the field more."
On if there is cause for concern with this loss: "There definitely is, you never want to be down two games. We're sitting in last in the division right now, so we have a big hole we have to dig ourselves out of."
On the change in emotions from the last win against the Pittsburgh Steelers: "I don't think the emotions have ever changed. I think we need to depend on ourselves to come out and play good football. It starts from the top to the last man on this roster. We need to get that understood and corrected."
LB Stewart Bradley
On whether the Redskins adjusted their running attack after the first quarter: "I think it was in their game plan to run this kind of stretch play so it was a tough play."
On what the team is feeling after a loss at this point in the season: "It's tough. It's early in the season but we're going to take a look at the film tomorrow and improve from this, but by no means do we feel like we're in a situation that we can't come back from this. It's a tough loss and I think that's obvious, but you can't hang your head and mope about it. Regardless of how the game ends, we're a good football team and we need to show that more on Sunday."
On whether staying on the field for long stretches demoralizes the defense: "It's tiring obviously. But if we were getting three and outs, it wouldn't be an issue. We need to get off the field and get our offense the ball."
On what they were able to do on the run to break the defense down: "We have to look at the film. I think they mixed it up a lot and came right at us. They had two backs and widened everything out. (RB Clinton) Portis has good vision so he was able to find a seam. It was a different running attack that they showed in the first four weeks but we have to be able to adjust to that. The one issue with stretching out the defense is that you lose some of your defensive speed so you're kind of ambiguous where you should fit. "
On whether there is an uphill climb ahead: "Yes, definitely, we're in a tough situation right now. We're in a week before the bye week and we still have ten games left. We're a good football team and I think we all know that but we're disappointed with the product on the field. We're going to get a look at the film, make some improvements, and bounce back."
DE Trent Cole
On whether the defense was worn down throughout the game: "No, we weren't worn down; we just couldn't get out on third down. We have to stop that. I think we're a good team if we can stop that, we just didn't come out here and get it done."
On the execution on defense: "It's never good when you don't execute. It's embarrassing. We know we're a great team and we have to go out there and show it. We didn't come out there today and show it."
On whether the team can come back from a loss like this: "We're going to rally this team back up. This thing isn't over yet, we have a long season to go and we're going to rally this thing back up. We're forced to come out here and be on a mission. Coming off two losses is tough, we have to do something. We're going to make a big change and get after it."
On whether the Redskins did anything different that the defense wasn't prepared for: "A little bit, but in practice you can't always assimilate what they do but you can get close to it. The coaches did a good job of preparing us well. But the thing is, we have to go out there and execute. No matter what, when you get in a situation like that, you have to know how to go out there and adapt to it. That's why we're professionals. We're in this situation because we know how to adapt to the environment and when they want to change it up we need to learn how to change with it. We need to get it back together and get back out there."
On the running attack aiming at the right side: "There was a lot of double teaming and combo-ing over there. I go out there and I try and do what I can. In some situations you get the double team, you're kind of helpless."
LB Chris Gocong
On the team's emotions after a key loss: "I think we know what we can do. We know our talent level and when we get rolling, we get rolling. We have to find a way to bounce back when we're on our heals, kind of dig ourselves out of the hole and that's something we need to find."
On whether the lack of turnovers is affecting the defense: "That was one thing I was surprised we didn't get. I thought we were going to have a few turnovers this game. It really comes down to hitting the ball carrier and he was falling forward a lot of times. We need to take pride in that and focus on that next week."
