Everything Matt Rhule Said Following the Win Over Washington
Opening Statement:
“Yeah, so just obviously happy to get the win. More importantly for us, a lot of good things that I think we can build off of. Our one offense was 2-2 on their two drives scoring against their one defense, so we got good work against a really good defense. Our kickoff team, I was really pleased with our kickoff team today. I think we tackled them four times inside the 20. You guys might know better. But even the last one got out to the 30, but it’s really been a point of emphasis for us after last year and I saw a lot of guys running down on their kicking. Really happy with the kickoff returning. They kept kicking it out of the endzone, and then finally we got one to return. [WR] Shi [Smith] took it out, which led to the game-winning field goal. I thought the special teams were a real bright spot, leading up to that last field goal. And then our defense, we planned on playing them two series. I was hoping to get 12 plays, 15 plays. We went three-and-out, and then like five-and-out, so I wasn’t able to get that many plays, but was happy with them. And then you know, some of our young guys, they have some work to do. We’ll just continue to work our young players, and we shouldn’t let them back in at the end like that. But, Washington’s a good football team. We had a chance to go against the McLaurin’s, and all those different guys, Carson Wentz, so a lot of good work for our guys. We’ll try to build off it.”
On QB Baker Mayfield getting the start today and on if he will remain the starting moving forward:
“No, that was just for today. So, we’ll go back and look at this tape. Obviously, Sam [Darnold] got us in the endzone. Baker led us down the field, so it looked like both guys played well in terms of production. We’ll go back and look and see where they are. That was just for today.”
On his observations from Mayfield’s drive:
“I thought we moved the ball well down the field. He did a nice job of moving it with his feet, finding the checkdowns, and then we got down there tight in the red zone, we called a play-action, the receiver doesn't run the route so he has to desert the play. Fumbled the snap and ended up not scoring. So, still a lot to build on. But I did think he moved the ball, he controlled a nice long drive to start the game, so it looked some-what clean until the very end.”
On his thoughts about QB Sam Darnold on the short drive following the Washington fumble:
“I think overall for the offense, we protected the football. I don’t believe we turned it over today. We won the turnover battle. He took a big hit on the touchdown throw, made a great play with pads on his head, he stepped up and made it. After that, both guys, I have to really watch the tape to see exactly what they did. But I thought they were both in command and made the right checks, so I was pleased.”
On his thoughts on the defense:
“[SAM] Cory Littleton, I think I’ve said it, I’m so excited about what he’s bringing to our team. He’s a guy that could really start on all four special teams. We didn’t have him do that today, but he can cover. He almost played nickel, he can play linebacker. Cory’s so, so versatile. You know, that’s a point of emphasis for us, to get the ball out, so happy to have guys like that. Obviously, today our first-team defense, we didn’t have [DE] Marquis Haynes [Sr.], we didn’t really have [DE] Brian Burns much more than three or four plays. Didn’t have [SAM] Shaq [Thompson], didn’t have [CB] Jaycee Horn. You know, we had a lot of guys down, but the other guys stepped up and played well. Cory and [Jeremy] Chinn, and those guys were certainly a part of that.”
On his thoughts on DE Amare Barno:
“Barno went down a little bit. I think he had a stinger, lost some strength so he was out for a while then came back in. How he did, I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see the tape. We needed more pass rush. I thought [Washington QB Sam] Howell did a nice job coming in for them and moving the ball. We didn’t have a ton of pass rush. We practiced the ones and twos a lot, not the threes a bunch, and then they played pretty much a whole half and I think they got a little tired. I think Amare has a really nice future. I think Amare’s getting better and better. I love that Brian Burns is pouring into him, and investing in him. I’ll have to go back and watch the tape to see exactly because there weren’t those big wow plays, but I’m sure he did a lot of nice things we can build off of. For a lot of these guys we had to explain that we take three buses to the game. They’re used to just getting on the bus as a team, and they’re just not used to this, so this was a great first start.”
On injury updates for WR Terrance Marshall Jr., CB Keith Taylor Jr., and TE Ian Thomas:
“So, Terrance Marshall should be back for practice this week. He came out before the game and ran, worked out, D.J. Moore also. D.J. has a sore shoulder, so we limited him and he worked out. He should be good here soon. Keith Taylor, we believe will be ready for New England this week. Between practices, he came out and got a lot of work beforehand. The amount of hits Christian [McCaffrey] takes, we are not hitting him right now. Marquise [Haynes Sr.] just didn’t quite feel up. He wanted to go, but I didn’t think he was like 95%, 100%, so I held him and worked him out before the game. Ian with the ribs. He’s going to catch balls this week. Ian and Colin [Thompson], it’s beautiful, they wanted to go support Sully (Stephen Sullivan) at the funeral today. So, we excused them to go down and support their teammate, which is awesome.
On how WR CJ Saunders is doing:
“I think he is still probably two or three weeks out.”
On if the plan coming in was to play QB Matt Corral the entire fourth quarter and how they will balance his playing time going forward:
“I can’t talk about what we’ll do moving forward. We wanted to give him a quarter. We wanted to get him in there. Things weren’t real easy, we didn’t do a great job and Washington in the fourth quarter kind of changed what they were doing. They had played a lot of single linebacker blitzes and bringing zero blitzes and blitzing the house. So, a lot more for a young quarterback to have to deal with. You know, he moved us down there and got us in field goal range by whatever means it took. He got hit in the face and got 15, but he did get us down there. So, we’ll build off it and I’m sure the game will continue to slow down. As far as what our plan is going forward, we will talk about that later.”
On the performance of QB P.J. Walker:
“I can’t say necessarily that there were things that I was looking at coming into the game. I thought the big completion to Derek Wright down the middle of the field, I mean anytime you can execute. It’s one thing to run around, scramble around and make some plays, that doesn’t always necessarily translate to the season. A lot of young quarterbacks will do that. I thought for him to make the plays from the pocket that he made, the deep ball to Derek Wright. I think he hit the crossing route to Gio [Giovanni Ricci]. So, those are in-rhythm plays. PJ has had very limited reps. He’s had a really good camp. Ben [McAdoo] has been highly impressed with some of the things he’s done. So, I think early on he got out there like, if we have a fourth-and-one, he can just probably run it and we’ll kick a field goal at the end of the half, trying to do too much. All the young players, they want to try to make the team on one play. So, kind of settled P.J. down, but took us down the field twice and got us into the endzone once. It was a good start for him.”
On if he thinks Matt Corral’s limited reps coming in translated to his performance:
“I think obviously with every guy, the more reps they get the better they’re going to play. But everyone is in the situation they’re in, and they’re all in this league for a reason. Part of this league is whatever you’re given, you have to go produce when it comes. So, they’re going to get what they get, each guy is going to get what they get. It’s going to change at different times. As we go through the pre-season, the starters sometimes they’ll play, sometimes they won’t. Every guy is going to get what they can get. I always believe highly in what our players can do and I’m sure for a lot of these guys the only thing that can simulate the game speed of today is getting into the game. So, I’m sure you’ll see a lot of our young players on defense and offense. I think next week you’ll see them probably play a little faster, a little more confident when they play New England, especially after that joint practice.”
On what impressed him today:
“I think the special teams really impressed me. I thought Spencer Brown, I’ve been talking about Spencer. I thought Spencer came in and looked good. We obviously made a commitment that we were going to come in and throw the ball and see what the quarterbacks can do. I thought Derek Wright was kind of always in the right place at the right time. [Rashard] Higgins, he’s a veteran player, but he made a lot of plays when we needed him to. So, I thought those guys looked good. Couldn’t really comment on the line play until I kind of watch the tape, so we will have to see where those guys are. On defense, I thought we had good team defense. I just think we got tired in the second half, not to our standard. We shouldn’t let the game get to that point. A lot of things were clean and a lot of things need to be cleaned up, but a couple of those young guys stood out the most.”
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