Everything Matt Rhule Said Following the Loss to Arizona
RE: Opening Statement
Credit to Arizona. I thought they obviously played a really, really good game. Made the plays they had to down the stretch. Obviously, for us, we know. Everyone in that locker room knows that wasn’t good enough. That was a game that we had a chance to win. It was 10-10 going into the 4th quarter. Got away from us. Could not make the plays at the end to go win the football game. Offensively, I thought third downs, yet again, third and fourth downs continue to be an issue for us. Defensively, I thought they played well for a long, long time but allowed them to make some plays in the fourth quarter. Then obviously, we had too many special teams penalties that hurt us in the football game.
RE: Batted passes
They showed up today. There is no denying that we have to get it fixed. For us, I think we have to go back and watch the tape. That last one was 4th and half a foot. It was a handoff to Christian [McCaffrey] with an RPO versus free access. Kind of the same type of throw we had made before the half to DJ [Moore] to kick the field goal. You know, sort of that out route. I have to see the tape. I know they blitzed off the edge so I have to see exactly. I saw one on the jumbotron. They kind of mirrored the quarterback and got their hands up. I can’t give you a definitive, ‘hey, we have to do this.’ I do know we have to get it corrected. That’s too many. Obviously, one leading to a back-breaking interception that led to I think 10 points off of turnovers.
RE: Not being able to capitalize against Arizona’s pass defense
Just wasn’t good enough. I think it was third down, it was obviously three turnovers. You know you can’t play that way. You have the ball down inside the red zone with a chance to go…about to run the reverse to DJ from what I look like, I know sometimes you guys have the tv copy, looked like the reverse was going to be there, we fumble the exchange. I can’t say anything else other than just go to the stats. We knew they were going to load up on the run. They did a good job. We had some opportunities. We had Robbie [Anderson] on the over route, we had a chance to be a big play there in the third quarter. We weren’t able to complete that. A lot things that have to be corrected offensively especially, I thought our defense was kind of fighting and hanging in there and keeping it a close game and just kind of waiting for the offense. In the end, I think the time of possession in the second half was brutal against our defense and you know, our defense has to get off the field, don’t get me wrong. But they just needed some spells so I think offensively we have to go back and look at everything and see what we can do better, see what we are doing well and try to fix what ails us right now because it took a toll on us tonight.
RE: If he considered replacing Baker Mayfield today
No, I didn’t think about that today. I was just kind of in the moment, like, ‘hey, go to the next drive.’ Trying to again, get down there, score a touchdown, go for two, thinking ‘hey, let’s kick it deep and play defense.’ So, hoping that we could make something happen. It's hard for me after the game to sit here, obviously, I know it wasn’t good enough and I know the numbers aren’t what they need to be in a lot of different areas. I have to really though, even as I said to the team, go back and really look and see why is this happening, why are we not playing better than this. I know we have the personnel on offense to make plays and it’s just not coming together the way it needs to.
RE: If he envisioned Christian McCaffrey having 8 carries today?
No, they stopped the run at a pretty good level. He was able to make a couple plays there. Again, the touches, when you do touches you’re talking off of 65 or 70 plays, we keep not being on the field. I think third down is just absolutely attacking us. So, we planned on playing Christian. I wanted to get D’Onta [Foreman] going. I wanted to get Chuba [Hubbard] in the game. I wanted to get a bunch of guys involved but between the turnovers and the inability to convert third downs, we just weren’t able to have enough plays.
RE: If Sam Darnold is coming off IR this week and the potential to replace Mayfield?
I don’t have any thoughts on anything moving forward yet. I can really talk right now about this game. I don’t know anything in terms of anybody health wise so I can’t make any comments on that. I think for me right now, obviously, we are going to go back. We are going to watch the tape. We are going to try to get these things corrected. Usually, on Mondays, I can give you guys some better answers in terms of exactly what we will try to do moving forward.
RE: Reason for going for the early 4th and short
It was 4th and half of a foot. To me at the end of the day, we have done that consistently, the analytics say it, we have a big powerful offensive line. We just got beat. Linebacker walked up and just beat us inside. Met us in the backfield. I thought defense did a great job going out and holding them. I think it was to a field goal or whatever it was. We have Christian McCaffrey. We have a big powerful offensive line. We are going to go out there and we are going to take those chances. We expect ourselves to convert those.
RE: If he thinks Sam Darnold is close to coming off of IR
I don’t know that. In all seriousness, the doctors they work on all of those things for all of our players. I have no updates on him health-wise.
RE: If he starts to lose confidence in his own approach or second guesses
No. I can understand why the question is asked. That’s a good question. But, no, all I know is to just keep trying to help the team be better. I think we have a good defense. We have good special teams though they did hurt us with some penalties tonight and I believe in the guys on offense. So, to me, we are just going to try to correct it. We are going to come back in and keep working away at it. There is really nothing else I can say other than that. There are plays to be made there. We are just going to continue to work at it.
RE: How he keeps the locker room from splintering with the offense and defense playing the way they are
I don’t ever worry about that. We have elite men and leaders in the room. I think on defense when you have Shaq [Thompson], Frankie [Luvu] and Donte [Jackson] and Brian [Burns] and those guys, at the end of the day defensively, I know they expect to pitch a shutout in the 4th quarter. Even if the ball is on the four, hold them to a field goal. So, I’m sure that they are disappointed but they’re leaders and they’re men who believe in what we are doing. I don’t worry about those guys doing that. All that being said, all the emotion of it is what it is. We have to score points in this league if you want to win. We have to continue to get better.
RE: Why there was a player downfield on the fake punt
Honestly, I’ll have to give you a better answer tomorrow because we called the fake and that’s a fake you only run versus certain looks and so I think some guys might have just thought because you could see Hekker was looking for it and it was a great play by Johnny, but, Sam [Franklin Jr.] didn’t really kind of run it until he realized it. I think when they saw them double the gunners, some guys thought they checked it off so I’ll have to go back before I can pin it on anything. But at the end of the day, some guys ran it, some guys didn’t because the defense gave us double both gunners and then came inside. Johnny had made the throw so we were going to try to be aggressive and try to jumpstart the team and get it going. Thought we had a good play there but unfortunately it came back.
RE: Where he is with Baker Mayfield and the offense
I’m going to refrain from anything big picture really until tomorrow. At the end of the day, I’m on the headset. I see the things and I know it’s never just one person here, one person there. It’s a lot of different things. I’ll try to give you a really well-thought-out answer after watching the tape. All that being said, I believe that we can play better than that. I believe like 10-10 going into the 4th quarter that we are going to make some plays. You see Christian [McCaffrey] make some plays at the end of the game and takes us down the field. DJ [Moore] makes some plays. Robbie [Anderson] made some plays early. I just feel like we have to expect more than that from all of us as offense. Again, I always start with me first. To his point back there, at the end of the day, offensively, we have to score more points. That starts with me, goes to Ben [McAdoo], goes to the assistant coaches and players. We have to get it corrected. But in terms of any one person or anything like that, I just don’t think it's right to speak on it now.
RE: What he saw on the first interception to DJ Moore
We had that kind of dialed up all week. DJ [Moore] you know, ran the corner route, got in behind him. Looked like the ball was a little bit behind him. Again, I don’t want to say it was on this guy or that guy. I have to go back and watch the tape to see the angle because we set certain angles. Baker [Mayfield] saw it. He made the throw. It was right there. Just weren’t able to connect on it. Great play by Budda Baker, one of the best players in the National Football League. Running to the ball, made the interception. I can’t put it on any one guy but that was kind of the right read. We knew if we got man we were going to try and isolate DJ and have him go in and he won. We just weren’t able to throw and catch it. But again, I can’t say who that was on until I watch the tape. Obviously have two turnovers on their side of the 40 going in. That’s a challenge.
