Press conference after the game
Thursday, September 19, 2024

For today’s presentation …
Look, not good at any stage of the game. It felt like we played a good game, but as far as the details go, we just didn’t execute and that’s what matters every Sunday. I told the guys, this is NFL football, that’s the way it is and we just have to be better, so the guys have the next couple days off. I told them to get their heads and bodies in shape and then come back and be ready to work. Bonus Monday, we have another good team we’re going to play next week, we just have to be better.

On the offensive line…
Well, I think the offensive line had a tough time today, had a tough time. There were moments early in the game where the pockets looked pretty clean, but as the game went on, similar to last week, the defense started to fall apart. You have to know not only how to do it, but what you’re doing. I also have to say we had a couple of injuries up front, so the next guy has to be ready.

On the question of whether there was a mental or physical breakdown tonight…
Look, the first thing I have to do is look at myself in the mirror. I have to make sure I did everything I could to get the guys ready to go. I should have done more given today’s result, but going back to what I said earlier, I just have to hit the reset button, this is NFL football and we have to get better.

On the decision to bring Drake Maye into the game…
I just thought it was an opportunity, a good opportunity for him to go out with the ones and put some drives together, move the ball. We’ll look at the film and make an assessment.

When asked if the offensive line’s performance prompted him to use Maye…
Well, like I said, in the second half, I felt like our offensive line just wasn’t blocking like it had in earlier stages of the game. That was definitely something I thought about personally, but at the same time, I thought it was too good an opportunity for him to go out there and get some experience.

When asked if they were too busy getting the ball to the playmakers…
I wouldn’t say that. We’ll go back and look at the calls. What I will say is some of these players are called out of the huddle and others, you know, the quarterback has the opportunity to check on the pass. Look, I mean, what did we have for 100 yards in the first half? None of it was a good run, a good pass.

With 14 missed tackles…
Yeah, very uncharacteristic. That’s one of the things I’m very disappointed with as a defensive-minded coach. Particularly at the second level, we struggled with tackling all day. Even when we tackled, we hit them in the backfield again. The lack of fundamentals, the lack of discipline and the lack of fair execution clearly continued to show. That was very uncharacteristic of us, but again, you only get one chance to go out there and perform.

On Jacoby Brissett’s 25 sacks in the first three games and his concerns…
The quarterback touches the ball on every play, we have to get better up front. We have to re-evaluate, you know, whether through strategy or whatever. The good thing is that today is Thursday, so we have a little week off, in which we as coaches can also reorient ourselves and think about things that we can do better.

What it says about Brissett always getting back on his feet no matter what happens…
That means a lot. It means a lot when a player continues to step up. Toughness is always an important piece of the puzzle for the quarterback position, but we just have to get better as a team.

On the question of whether there is a possibility of a (quarterback) change …
Um, I don’t know. We talk about it every week, you’re competing for a job, so we’ll sit down as a coaching staff and see where it goes.

About how much they missed LB Ja’Whaun Bentley…
I mean, I don’t want to get into hypothetical things, but Bentley is a big part of the defense, communication, tackling, physicality, all of those things. But I have faith in the other guys. I have faith in (LB) Raekwon (McMillan), I have faith in (LB) Jahlani (Tavai) and the rest of those guys to get better. It’s a learning experience, but we’ve got to learn from this loss again and get better. Bentley isn’t coming back anytime soon.

On Aaron Rodgers’ performance…
Yeah, he got the ball out quick. I said one of the most disappointing things we talked about ad nauseam was keeping him in the pocket, and I felt like we let him out of the pocket too many times, and this is a guy that can make all the shots.

Whose decision it was to bring Maye into play…
That is my decision.

On not keeping Rodgers in check…
It’s a lack of discipline, it’s a lack of execution. I wish I could sit here and say, ‘Well, these are things that showed up,’ but that’s not the case. What I will say is there were little things, not little things, but big things that happened in the last game that continued to show up today, and we need to correct those, and that starts with me.

On his concerns about the offensive line’s pass defense…
Look, we just got beat pretty badly and I would say everything is a concern right now. The offensive line, you want guys to play as a unit and stick together, but whether it’s injuries or whatever, we just haven’t found the right combination.

About how we weren’t competitive enough tonight…
I would say controlling the line of scrimmage. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I’ve told you over the last couple of games that I think we control the line of scrimmage well and we’re a strong football team. We didn’t show that at any point in the game today.

What needs to happen to be ready to beat the San Francisco 49ers…
We’ll watch the film, like I said. Before that, we’ll explore ourselves to see where we are, but again, it comes back to the fundamentals. I hate to keep saying that, but that’s what it’s about, and we can sit there and talk about what we should be doing, what we should be doing, no. It’s blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, running, it’s all those things that we just haven’t been doing.