Everything Jeff Lebby said after 31-9 loss to No. 6 Texas A&M

What can you share about the injury to Fluff Bothwell?

Don't really know. They immediately took him in to get X-rays. Hopefully, we get some update sooner than later.

Instant Reaction: Texas A&M gives Mississippi State reality check in 31-9 win

What did you see from your offense today and what do you attribute it to?

Defensively, the way we played for the first three quarters was exactly what the expectations were. Our guys defensively were ready to play. We played our butt off on defense. The frustration was that offensively we were so bad on normal downs with all the negative plays we had no chance to sustain…none whatsoever. We're in third and long the entire day. The negative plays today are what kept the game from having a chance to go the other way, and ended up being the score it was because of the situations we were in on third downs. Very frustrating.

How much were the injuries to Albert and others a factor today on the offensive line?

With Albert and Blake being two starters who have played a ton of football, not having them is real, but it's the world we're living in. We got to play better, we got to coach better, we have to do everything offensively better to give ourselves a chance to play better on the road and win, and support the defense for the way we played defensively for three quarters. They're on the field for the entire game.

What's the process like when you're trying to get the offense going?

It was literally something different every series. We're second and three on the second series and the ball's on the ground and it's third and 11. We've got exactly what we want, a good first down play, we're in a good situation second and three, and then we're third and 11 and it's punt. We're not good enough to overcome things like that. That's not going to be our identity to play winning football. We have to take advantage of being second and three.

How do you get guys to hang in there and keep playing?

That was the message. The frustration was the negative plays offensively. We had no chance to do what we needed to do on third downs. I loved our third and medium plan, our short yardage plan, we just didn't have those situations because of the way we played on normal downs.

How did you think Blake played? And what is your confidence that this can be corrected?

I think he played tough. The one interception we have Brenen where we want him and have a chance at a chunk play. We have to protect for a half-count longer, but I thought he made good decisions. He took care of the football. The situational piece of it, we were so bad on first and second down, regardless of what's going on, you don't give yourself a chance with who we're playing and the way they're built on third down.

What went into designing that starting five on the offensive line?

We felt like we need to move Luke out to give us the best opportunity to have the best five on the field. Then, we rotated the guards inside to play next to certain people and the communication piece of it, to get that as good as we possibly could.

How do you want Blake to handle communication with the offensive line?

I want him to be a fiery, fierce competitor. It's not ok to not do our job at a high level, starting with me. He's fighting his butt off like we all are. But we got to play better. We've got to play cleaner. We have to coach better. That was the struggle and Blake felt it in the game that the negative plays were happening in first and second down. On third down, that's what we talked about all week was putting ourselves in good situations. That was the frustrating part. He was trying to get those guys to go play well. You have to change the delivery at times. That's part of being a leader.

Are defenses guarding you differently than they did early in the season?

There were a couple of opportunities where we're in a pretty good spot down the field and we're not able to get the ball off. That's a real thing. In the second half I was trying to convey, it's not what you can throw or get open, it's what you can protect. As a play caller you have to find ways to protect the guy holding the ball every snap. We had the ability to create a bunch of chunks, if we were in a little better protection and weren't. That's the reality. Trying to get our guys into some third and mediums, is something we have to do a better job of.

What are the roles of the leaders in the locker room late in the game?

Those guys realize how much we have in front of us. We have to maximize the open date. We have to find ways to get better. We have to get healthy. Those are the goals. Get better every day. And develop some guys to create some depth. Today, we played five O linemen. We have to play seven guys. We're not quite there.

Was there any thoughts about letting Kamario (Taylor) have a series?

No, we felt in the run game we wanted to go through the backs. That was going to give us the best opportunity to run the football successfully. We didn't do that consistently. That is something we'll look at, but in the middle of it, we didn't feel like that was the right thing.

Can you build off this performance defensively?

The standard is how we played in the first three quarters. We're on the field the entire game defensively and the fourth quarter happened, that's a real thing. We live that. Had we done what we needed to offensively we would have had an opportunity for the game to be different. We didn't offensively, so the defense is on the field the entire time. Proud of how we played defensively. How ready we were to play, our physicality, goal line stand, we did some great things.

Is it a checkmate situation when the other team has a defense like that?

For us, the tackling wasn't as clean in the fourth quarter as it was early in the game. That's what created some of the chunks for them. That's playing so many snaps against a talent and good football team.

What's your process of evaluating the offensive performance?

For me, it's about finding answers. What we lived, it happened, it was real. Offensively, it was as far from our expectations and standard. Felt great about the game plan, great about the week of work we had, and we did not play or coach the way we needed to. It's about fixing problems and putting people in position of success because that's why they call us coach.