On if the field played a factor in the injuries today: "I really think that's more of a, that's a tough question to answer right after the game, I think that's more of a postseason discussion. I'll review that after the postseason, and I don't make those decisions here, but I'll have some input on that. I can't tell you right now that that's what caused the injury. I haven't even seen the film or anything like that, so I'd say that's more of a postseason discussion."
On Arian Foster's injury: "No, no it wasn't. I think it's more relative to the groin area. We'll see how that is but obviously the bye week is coming at a good time for things like that. Hopefully we'll be able to get him some rest. He's had a heck of a year and we certainly need him down the stretch. And I think that's one thing that's important that I told this football team, that we're sitting here at 4-5, it's not a good loss, we made a lot of mistakes. We have to coach better. We have to play better. I know I say that every week when we don't win but we really believe that. I think that in our experience in this league, there have been many occasions where we just lost to a team here that was 3-5 after eight games last year and ended up going 10-6 and winning the NFC East. I think that this team really has to come together with the coaching staff and figure out what we can do better and try to correct this stuff for the stretch run here, because we're still certainly not out of anything."
On how big of a game changer the penalty on CB A.J. Bouye was: "You know, those are game changing penalties. I have to see the film but those can change the game. Now that's not why we lost the game, but we made too many mistakes. Again, I have to give Philly a lot of credit. They are a good football team, very well coached, but those are tough calls in those situations."
On having takeaways in today's game but not being able to convert those into points every time: "That's frustrating, no question about it. That our defense was able to take the ball away like that and we didn't do more with it offensively is certainly frustrating. It's tough, it's not from a lack of effort, it's just execution and like I said, I think this bye week is coming at a good time and hopefully we can figure out some things we can do better. Hopefully the players can think of things that they can do better and we keep coming together because again, I think we've only played two games in the division, we've got a lot of football left. It's a disappointed locker room, but we've got a lot of games left, seven games, and a lot of those are at home. We're disappointed for our fans, you know we had a great crowd. Our crowd is awesome, but we're not playing good enough to win in front of our fans and that's frustrating too."
On his opinion of the offense so far this season: "It's too inconsistent. It's just way too inconsistent and it has to get better. I've got to figure it out with the coaching staff and it's just too inconsistent. We've got to figure out what type of spark we need, maybe it's schematic, maybe it's something else, I don't know. We have to come together with our players, we've got really good guys, they're very disappointed. I really enjoyed these guys, they're great guys to work with. They're frustrated that we're close, but close isn't good enough. We're going to try to get better here over the bye week."
On looking for a spark on offense and if he plans on looking at a change at quarterback: "I think we have to evaluate everything. I don't think you can always, and I've said this all along, I don't think you can look at one position and put all the blame on that. I think we have to look at as far as what we're doing offensively schematically, we have to look at that, who's playing what, what positions they're playing, how we're getting the ball, how we're playing at every position, including quarterback, we have to look at all of that. We certainly, if the blame is pinpointed anywhere, the blame is pinpointed here. I've got to do a better job offensively of getting these guys pointed in the right direction."
On having four of his five best defensive players out by the end of the game: "You've got a good point there, the thing is though, I've been pretty proud of these guys that stepped up. Last week and this week we've had inside linebackers that have stepped up, we've had outside linebackers, John Simon, Whitney Mercilus that have stepped up. Brooks Reed has been really playing hurt for a while now, it's no excuse, like you said, but I mean these guys have really stepped up. Today I thought that Dre Hal and Jumal Rolle went in there and really just played very competitively. I thought that they made some plays. I think Rolle had a pick and Dre made some tackles, but you know they're going to get better and better with experience. It's not an excuse when you have a 46-man roster. You try to bring the best roster that you can into the game based on who you're playing and if something happens that's an injury the next guy has to step up."
On how much not having the four injured defensive players hurts the scheme: "Part of that is you have to look at who is in the game and what is their skill set, are they better man players or better zone players, things like that, I thought that at the end of the day our defensive staff did a good job of knowing who was in the game and trying to call the game that way. That's a lot of experience that RAC (Romeo Crennel) has in doing those types of things and our defense played their hearts out. Our offense did too, our special teams did. It's not a lack of effort, it's just more about execution and getting these guys going in a better direction."
On if the coaching staff is frustrating with OLB Jadeveon Clowney not being able to play and why he didn't play today: "I don't know anything about those reports, I just know what I see. I see a rookie player that is injured and is trying to come back from injury and he had a little setback this week with the flu and hopefully he'll be back ready for Cleveland. He's had a couple injuries here and a concussion, some of that is bad luck. He got knocked in the head in the Denver training camp, he got a sports hernia injury, he's got a knee (issue), that's what I think it is. I think the world of Jadeveon Clowney. I don't think there's anyone here that's frustrated with JD Clowney. He and I speak every day, multiple times per day, text messages, phone calls, just like I do with all the rookies, and hopefully he'll be ready to go. It's a big adjustment, it's a whole lot different playing in this league than it is in college, and it's an adjustment for all those guys. He's working hard to get over the hump and get back on the field."
On costly penalties: "That's something we've got to look at as a coaching staff. We talk to our players, we stood here over and over again this week and talked to them about line of scrimmage penalties and lack of focus and I don't even know if it's lack of focus. I think these guys are trying to do the right thing and we can't jump off sides, we just cannot do those things. Those things are drive killers. They put you off schedule and we've got to do a better job of that."
On OLB Whitney Mercilus' performance: "I really can't say enough about Whitney Mercilus. I mean, he practices every snap in practice. He takes some scout team reps because we were a little bit thin at linebacker, and then he goes in the game and he's played better and better every game. He's a great guy, a really good teammate, a hardworking guy. You know, he's just playing really well for us this year and I think that was what I saw out there from the sideline."
On OLB Jadeveon Clowney active on social media during the game and injured players' policy in-game: "I'll have to see that. I don't know that yet. You know, injured players during the game depends on who they are. (ILB) Brian Cushing, because of his years of experience, we had him on the sideline today, but rookies basically, they have the choice of going to the press box or staying in the locker room, so that's where it's at there, but we'll have to see what that is. You know, I don't know anything about that."
On reaction to Philadelphia's up-tempo offense: "I thought our guys handled that pretty well. I think that's very difficult to handle, but we do that a lot in practice, you know. I'll tell you, the way that they play is very similar to the way that we want to play. We want to play fast. Our guys see that a lot in practice. They made some plays, don't get me wrong. They've got some really good players and a great coach and they made some plays, but I thought our guys overall got lined up and communicated pretty well. I think they made plays. I'm not sure how many times we were just out of position. I think we missed tackles and maybe gave up some third downs and things like that, but I think our guys really hung in there and got lined up pretty well."
On Philadelphia's eight minute fourth quarter drive: "I think those guys, that one drive they ran it three or four times in a row. That was a tough drive. They really did a good job running the drive there, got blocked pretty well there. I thought overall, I think, our offense needed to stay on the field more. I don't think our defense was worn down as much as it was; eventually Philadelphia is going to make plays. They've got great players on offense and the more that they're out there, they're going to make plays. I'm sure they ran another 80 plus plays today, probably close to 90 and I think that our offense needed to a better job of converting our third downs and keeping our defense off the field."
On how significant missing a field goal after a 45-yard catch followed by three incomplete passes was: "That's not good. We have to coach that better. We've got to execute better. You have a play like that; you come away with no points. That's just not good for your team, but I thought our defense went out there and again, hung in there. I think they got a turnover after that drive and I can't say enough about them, but we've got to do a better job offensively in that type of situation."
On QB Mark Sanchez playing efficiently: "He's a good player. I'm very familiar with Mark Sanchez. I think he's been in two AFC championship games and he's played well in playoff games. He's a good player. They have a strong quarterback position. When Nick (Foles) went down, I don't think anybody on the Houston sideline looked at that and said 'OK, look. Here we go. We've got some guy in there that's not going to be a ready to play.' Mark Sanchez is a good pro, a number one draft pick. I mean, this guy has played a lot of good football in this league and he played well today."
On how beneficial last week's mini bye week was and what adjustments are going to be made during next week's bye: "This is a big one. We're going to work Monday through Wednesday. We're required to give them four days off based on the CBA. We're going to work. We're going to be in here, we're going to watch the tape. I just think it's so important, and really I guess I'm talking more to the fans, that we're disappointed that we didn't win in front of our fans, but it's so important to know where we are as a team and we really believe that we're close even though we may not look like that sometimes. We've got to figure out what we've got to do to get over the hump in these close games. How can we get off the field there at the end of the game on defense? How can we convert the drive in to points? We can't come out of drives without points. What can we do better on special teams? I think this bye-week is very important in that we answer those questions and try to go up to Cleveland against a very good football team and win."
