What Matt Rhule Said Following the Panthers' Loss to Minnesota
Opening Statement
"Obviously, credit to the Minnesota Vikings, Coach [Mike] Zimmer and his team, Kirk Cousins, [Justin] Jefferson. If you would have told me we held Dalvin Cook to 55 yards rushing and lost the game, I wouldn’t have believed it. Credit to them for finding a way to win the game at the end. That being said, I didn’t think that obviously was good enough by us. And I’ve always tried to be really honest and real and direct about where I think the fault is. I think as a coaching staff, we didn’t get the job done today. I think anytime you have two defensive touchdowns and you don’t win, it’s on you. Anytime that you hold them to 55 yards, it’s on us as a staff. To not be able to put the game away with the ball at the 10-yard line with two minutes left is unacceptable by us as a staff. To not to be able to stop them and then not be able to make the field goal at the end with a chance to win the game – we had three opportunities to close it out and we did not do it. We are a good football team. We have not closed these types of games out and tonight I feel like I try to look and see where the fault lies and today I would put it squarely on us as a staff, which starts with me. Our thoughts are with DJ [Moore]. We are hoping he is OK. We are waiting to see. I have no answers about that, about where he is at. I have no answers about Teddy [Bridgewater]. I know he came off at the end. I might would’vetried to run another play had him not be hurt. But when he went down, with six seconds left, I wasn’t going to put PJ [Walker] in to throw a five-yard out so we decided to go ahead and kick it."
If he you considered going for it on fourth-and-goal play from the three-yard line; Clock management
"I think we ran the ball down under five, six seconds. I would have liked to have gotten it less. Teddy [Bridgewater], who normally snaps it under five was around 11 on the first drive. We had a good drive going and then had that 2nd-and-14 play that just didn’t work. They hit us for a tackle for loss. We were kind of behind the chains. So, punted it down. Again, that is what I’m referring to in terms of us not keeping the ball moving. We threw the ball in the flat, weren’t able to complete it. Punted the ball down, gets the ball back to us and I think that time, we ran the ball on first down, went to the two-minute warning. Ran the ball on second down to get them to use their last timeout, and had it been on the two-yard line, I would have gone for it. At the three, we hadn’t had much success with those types of plays yet, so I figured take the points and make them have to score a touchdown and an extra point, with them having no timeouts left. So that was the thought process. Had they scored with five seconds left, that would say, maybe I should have run the ball on third down. I thought we had a good play. He was wide open. We just weren’t able to connect on it. I thought a touchdown would end the game. Fourth down, I just figured take the points, make them score a touchdown. They scored so quickly, that I don’t know that I can relay it back to any of those things. It at least gave us the chance to have the ball back at the end."
If the third down play after the timeout was rushed
'I don’t want to sit here and complain about anything. They put the ball in play while we were still on the sidelines. Normally, those things aren’t quite that fast. At least we weren’t expecting it to be that fast. It was fast. That’s on us. Again, it wasn’t a good enough day."
If it affected Teddy Bridgewater’s throw and the play in general
"I can’t say that. At the end of the day, it’s our job to have simple, calm plays. Again, it was well designed. He was under duress on that play. Have to put those things on us."
If this game stings more with how the game ended compared to the other one-possession losses
"No, I think they all bother you the same. This one frustrates me because I have always been very honest with the guys when they came in and thought, hey, we didn’t play hard enough, we didn’t play well enough, we didn’t do this or that. I feel like all the things we are talking about here, falls back on us as a staff. We’ve got to put the ball in the end zone there at the end and end the game. Or we’ve got to stop them. Or we’ve got to make that field goal. In that game, we had a field goal blocked. We missed that field goal. Just not good enough all around. Instead of pointing fingers, I’d rather point the thumb back at me and just say, hey, that’s not good enough, that falls back on me. That’s not like coach speak. I’m disappointed in myself and my staff tonight."
What happened defensively on Minnesota’s last drive
"We didn’t get any pressure. They hit the deep over route to [Kyle] Rudolph crushed us because that was such an explosive play. Again, we’ve only been good on defense when we’ve been able to get pressure on the quarterback. We don’t really stop people the other way. We stop people by getting pressure. We just didn’t get any pressure. Didn’t pressure them at all. Didn’t bring any blitzes and they got the momentum, and they moved the ball down the field."
How do you learn how to win?
"I don’t know about that question. Respectfully, I don’t know that that’s – I just think you have to go make one or two more plays. You know what I mean? We just have to do one or two more things better. Again, today, you always go back and figure out where the issues are. I think the coaches didn’t do a good enough job. When I say coaches, me and the staff, didn’t do a good enough job of giving our guys a chance to win. You go down and kick that field goal and all of a sudden that is a historic win. With no time, we make that great catch to Curtis [Samuel], we throw another ball to Robby [Anderson] and it’s an elite day. We make that kick, and we are talking about what a historic day by Jeremy Chinn with two defensive touchdowns. I just think it comes down to one or two more plays. Not beating ourselves. All those types of things. I just didn’t think we played really good today on the offensive side and at crunch time, the defense. I don’t want to put anything on the players if that makes sense. That’s why I’m saying I don’t know about that question today. If it had been the players had been scared, and all those things, that’s when I think that’s appropriate. Today, I just don’t think we did a good enough job down the stretch as coaches."
If he thought there was a let up after second defensive touchdown
"I didn’t feel that. I think the issue today, we couldn’t score on offense. We scored 13 points on offense. We didn’t score. We missed a field goal. We threw a pick in the red zone. I thought the defense played. These guys score about 28 points a game. I’d like us to be better in the two-minute. It’s 10 points in the two-minute with the touchdown at the end and the field goal before the half. I thought our defense, they played decent down the stretch, just that last drive. I really felt like offensively, I thought we were going to play much better and we just really didn’t."
What body part Teddy Bridgewater injured
"I have no idea. Honest to goodness. He came off the field, we kicked it, I shook the coach’s hand, came in, said the prayer and came over here."
If the biggest problem offensively is missing Christian McCaffrey
"I think obviously Christian makes a huge difference when he is out there because he is a great player, but I think we can score more points with the guys that are out there, and we just haven’t. We get the ball down in the red zone and we kind of bogged down today and kicked a field goal at the end, kicked a field goal earlier, missed a field goal. Two of those are touchdowns, then all of a sudden, it’s a walkaway game. We have to put those types of games away earlier."
How much he feels game management is what he is taking blame for today
"I think the issue today was maybe not having field goals at the end, having timeouts at the end. I had to use one on a critical third down because we had a mix up on defense. Had to use one, because I wanted to try to draw them offsides because I knew field goals were not going to win that game, if that makes sense, and I didn’t trust moving it back five. I really felt like, hey, if we can get them to draw offsides, we can end the game. I did not want to keep kicking field goals and put them back out on the field. I think if I could go back now, would I do those things, probably not, but in the moment, I don’t look back at those. At the end, we have to try win the game. We are not going to sit around. We ran the ball on first down. We ran the ball on second down to make them use their time out and then threw the ball on third down to try and score a touchdown. We have great receivers. We were popped open and we didn’t make the play. I don’t think too much about that. Maybe the drive before, as Joe said. But at the end of the day, we had the ball with a chance to go win the game. To me, that’s my job as a coach. What I don’t like is, I don’t like the rushing to the line, all those different things that happened. I don’t like on defense, them just going down the field and us not laying a hand on the quarterback. I just think that falls on me. I think if you look at the analytics, it would say on 4th-and-2 go for it at the end, and 4th-and-3 don’t. I just think that was the way we had it. I thought we blocked the extra point at the end to put it into overtime. I thought we timed it well. I think everything has to be under review. It’s hard for me to talk about things right now in the moment. That’s why I usually talk to you guys on Monday so I can go back and watch it. So that would be what I would say."
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