Redskins Coach Jim Zorn
Question: What broke down on the Umenyiora strip and the touchdown?
Answer: It was a play where we were trying to get a down-the-field shot and the defense took it away so by that time I'm trying to wait for my pass and get out so I can hit my check down and when I was getting ready to hit Mike Taylor they made a great play on the ball. I guess as the quarterback you just have to feel it a little bit more and slide up in the pocket and prevent that.
Question: When you're talking about tempo and rhythm, was it tough to have that with only four plays in the first quarter?
Answer: Yea, it's tough. We only had four or five plays in the first quarter and so it's tough to find your rhythm. And then in the second quarter I'm not sure how many we had but it wasn't a whole lot of plays that we had in the first half. We just have to make the most of them when the opportunities come. I thought for the most part we moved the ball well over the middle of the field. There were some great kicks and some great plays and we just have to score when we get inside the red zone. We tried to do a pump play to Cooley and those plays took a little bit longer to develop and we just have to be a little bit stronger.
Question: Coach previously talked about a lack of discipline, being the opening game, is this surprising to you?
Answer: A lot of it is not surprising, but some of it is. It all depends on certain plays and certain things. For the most part you try to do a lot of things offensively and when you can't use your snap count sometimes it's just hard to be able to check off the plays when you're in a shotgun and there's only a certain amount of time to get the ball off. For the most part we moved the ball; we just have to get touchdowns. We have to have more big plays. We really didn't have any big plays down the field tonight and I think we just have to find a way to develop more big plays.
Question: How comfortable were you in the pocket?
Answer: I was comfortable and I felt good. I didn't feel like I was inhibited or anything and for the most part I felt good. Not to take anything away from them because their defense played a great game. Tuck and those guys are real men. I can't take anything away from them and say, "Oh we could've done this and we could've done that." I have to give them some credit, but at the same time we can play better.
QB Jason Campbell Question: What broke down on the Umenyiora strip and the touchdown?
Answer: It was a play where we were trying to get a down-the-field shot and the defense took it away so by that time I'm trying to wait for my pass and get out so I can hit my check down and when I was getting ready to hit Mike Taylor they made a great play on the ball. I guess as the quarterback you just have to feel it a little bit more and slide up in the pocket and prevent that.
Question: When you're talking about tempo and rhythm, was it tough to have that with only four plays in the first quarter?
Answer: Yea, it's tough. We only had four or five plays in the first quarter and so it's tough to find your rhythm. And then in the second quarter I'm not sure how many we had but it wasn't a whole lot of plays that we had in the first half. We just have to make the most of them when the opportunities come. I thought for the most part we moved the ball well over the middle of the field. There were some great kicks and some great plays and we just have to score when we get inside the red zone. We tried to do a pump play to Cooley and those plays took a little bit longer to develop and we just have to be a little bit stronger.
Question: Coach previously talked about a lack of discipline, being the opening game, is this surprising to you?
Answer: A lot of it is not surprising, but some of it is. It all depends on certain plays and certain things. For the most part you try to do a lot of things offensively and when you can't use your snap count sometimes it's just hard to be able to check off the plays when you're in a shotgun and there's only a certain amount of time to get the ball off. For the most part we moved the ball; we just have to get touchdowns. We have to have more big plays. We really didn't have any big plays down the field tonight and I think we just have to find a way to develop more big plays.
Question: How comfortable were you in the pocket?
Answer: I was comfortable and I felt good. I didn't feel like I was inhibited or anything and for the most part I felt good. Not to take anything away from them because their defense played a great game. Tuck and those guys are real men. I can't take anything away from them and say, "Oh we could've done this and we could've done that." I have to give them some credit, but at the same time we can play better.
TE Chris Cooley
Q. What was your overall assessment of how the team played? Were you a little frustrated?
A. I think we showed flashes of what we can do offensively, but we weren't consistent, and we didn't take care of the ball, we had some silly penalties, and we stopped ourselves on drives. It's hard when you—to establish a drive and take two or three chunks down the field and then don't finish, that's the kind of momentum that we need in the game to just go ahead and score a touchdown. They're a good football team, you have to give the Giants a lot of credit. They've been a good football team the past couple of years, but I think, in our locker room right now, we feel like we left a win out on the field. We're disappointed.
Q. How much did their pressure disrupt the offense?
A. They did a good job getting to Jason (Campbell), and we knew that they were going to. They have three outstanding rush defensive ends and they did a good job. I was happy with the amount of time he had to throw and what we were able to collect out of that, other than the one fumble, I think we were fine as far as the pressure went.
Q. Last year you guys had a similar result against them in week one. This team is supposed to be "new and improved" but it seemed sort of similar out there.
A. Yeah, I understand. I think we did a better job of moving the ball down the field and taking some chunks. We really stalemated in the run game in the second half, which was unfortunate. Beyond that, we just stopped ourselves. We had a good drive going, then Jason (Campbell) threw a pick…guy made a good play on the bootleg, kind of had a couple of first downs and then we fumble and they take it in for a touchdown. You can't stop yourself, especially when you play a great team like the Giants.
C Casey Rabach
Q. It looked like you guys put together a nice drive at the end, is that just a case of too little too late?
A. Yeah, exactly. You know, like I said before, if you start off slow, and you're inconsistent, then you find yourself playing catch up. At that point it's just a little too late.
Q. Clinton Portis goes for 34 yards on the first play, and then after that the running game really didn't do much. Is that on them, on you, or both?
A. Yeah, I think it's a combination. We've just got to play more consistent. We have a spurt here, a spurt there, and then a lot of lulls in between. Offensively, we just need to play our game, and just play better.
Q. How frustrating is that considering you guys are in your second year with this offense, and this kind of was a repeat of last year's opener after all of the talk about being better, and more consistent.
A. It's real frustrating. Any time you lose a game it's real frustrating, no matter what happens…it really is. You know, give credit when credit's due, New York's got a good team, but if we play up to our potential it's a winnable game for us.
RB Clinton Portis
Q. It had to feel good breaking off that big run to start the game. How frustrating was it though to not be able to capitalize on plays like that?
A. I mean it's frustrating, you know when you get downfield it's a big momentum changer, on the first play of the game. I mean they did a lot of stuff that we expected, we really didn't have a chance to get into our offense. They dominated the time of possession, kept us off the field. We were playing from behind, so we kind of got out of our offense and we can't do that. I don't think at this moment that we're good enough to spot any team in the NFL 17 points and try to play catch up. So I mean, the team kept fighting, the defense came out and they gave us everything they had, they were on the field a lot. For us, we can't do that. I think our defense is one of the best in the league when they're fresh, when they're able to run around and do the things they do….we've got to sustain drives.
Q. How frustrating is it to have to sit back and watch so much from the sidelines, you talked about the difference in time of possession?
A. It's just frustrating because you don't get a rhythm—our playbook…what we thought we were going to come up here and do and expose, we really didn't. We just didn't get the opportunity, it wasn't that we didn't call the plays, we just weren't in a position to do it. So, we did all we could have done, but we left a lot of points on the field and when we get in the redzone we've got to finish. I think that hampered us last year, not scoring seven in the redzone. Anytime we get in the redzone it's got to be seven points. I think our defense did a great job at holding their offense, but at the same time, their defense did that to us. I think we gave up ten points on offense alone.
