McNuggets: The Day After

Quotes from Josh McDaniels‘ Monday press conference, as provided by the Broncos‘ PR staff.

HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS

Opening remarks

“As we said yesterday, we felt after the game they (Ravens) were coached better, played better, (were) more physical (and) played faster basically in every area of the game. We certainly didn’t do nearly enough in any phase to win the game. It is a hard lesson to learn. We have got a week now to get ready for Pittsburgh and try to make a lot of progress and improve significantly off of this game yesterday.” 

On responding to a loss

“We always learn things that we need to do better no matter if we win or lose. That is true for the preseason and the regular season, any game we play. Obviously, losing a game really makes the mistakes that much more glaring and the need to fix things more urgent. It will be easy for us to see what we didn’t do well. There are so many things that we could do better and it would have made the game much more competitive in the second half had we done it.”

On the Ravens’ defense

“It is a good defense. There is no doubt about it. (They are) very physical, fast, did some different things but by and large just lined up and played. We made some significant mistakes, obviously, in the game and missed some opportunities that we had to maybe make some explosive plays in the game that could have maybe changed either the first half or the second half. Our plan didn’t come together as we thought it would, whether that would be something we would change in terms of what we did and how we tried to attack them or just simply the way we executed some things held us back from gaining more yards and ultimately, scoring more points. Again, give them credit. They played well. We knew they were a good defense going in there. (They) have got a lot of great football players, and they played much better than we did yesterday.”

On if he has to change the offensive game plan to when playing physical defenses in the upcoming weeks

“No, I have game planned a lot of years against a lot of good defenses. We need to have a good plan each week. That certainly gives your team the best chance to win. Then, we need to get our players to execute that plan against whatever defense we are playing better. Ultimately, each game comes down to that. If we have a good plan and we execute it then we usually win. If we have a bad plan or we don’t execute a good one, it doesn’t really make any difference. The other team is usually going to come out with an advantage. We are going to go back to work, and we are going to have a good plan this week. We are going to try to get our guys to execute as best we can and play against a really good team in Pittsburgh.”

On if struggles against Baltimore were due to poor planning or execution

“It is both. There were certain things that maybe we wouldn’t do if we played them again, but I think that is every week. Every week, no matter whether you win or lose, you always look at your plan or look at something you call and say, ‘Boy, I wish we wouldn’t have done that then or wish we would have had that in the game plan.’ Then, there are always things that you could have executed better. I think when you win, there are both of those things in play, and when you lose, they certainly seem more glaring, but I think they are always there. That is what you go back to work and try to fix the next week.”

On if future opponents will use Baltimore’s strategy against the Broncos

“I think this is a league that a lot of teams will look at what happens. That is what we do. We are going to look at who had success against Pittsburgh and what they have struggled with. I think that pretty much every team across the league is going to do that. We are certainly going to have to improve on what we didn’t do well yesterday or else it is going to continue to repeat and carry over to the next game and the next game. That is a challenge that you face every week because there certainly hasn’t been a game this year where we did everything right. There were mistakes that we made in the first six weeks that we are trying to fix and correct. Some we have, and some we are still trying to fix and improve upon. I think any week in this league, there are so many good coaches, so many well-coached teams, so many really good football players on each team that if you don’t play well or you don’t coach well that week, then you have a chance to lose every game. If you do play well and you do coach well, you have a chance to win them. That is the ultimate chess match you go through all week long and try to put your guys in the best position you can put them in.”

On QB Kyle Orton’s performance

“I always say that the quarterback can play better and yesterday is certainly no different, but we have a lot of players that are responsible to make things go on offense or defense or the kicking game. We just didn’t execute well enough in any phase. Certainly, the quarterback is not absolved from any responsibility offensively. He could have played better, but everybody I would feel the same about. It wasn’t like we had 20 guys on offense or 20 guys on defense play really well and a couple of guys ruined it for us. They coached better than we did, and they played better than we did.”

On Baltimore’s defensive game plan

“There were a few things schematically that they did that gave us issues, more early in the game, I think, but I think ultimately, pass protection, run blocking, it just comes down to we have got to do a better job of finishing a few blocks or recognizing a few blitzers or getting the ball out if for some reason we don’t have somebody assigned to block those people. It was a number of things. We had a few people in the backfield because we lost a matchup somewhere. We had a few mental errors that allowed people in the backfield clean. We have got to do a better job of coaching that and fixing it and getting our guys to execute.”

On T Tyler Polumbus’ performance filling in at right tackle in place of T Ryan Harris at Baltimore

“Tyler went in and did a decent job. (He) hung in there. Again, they have got some really good pass rushers off the edge. He was matched up on (Baltimore OLB Terrell) Suggs on more than a few plays. He handled the bull rush and some speed rushers and those kinds of things. Tyler has been in the system now as long as anybody else has this year, so he is familiar with what we are doing. We are always giving him plenty of reps in practice. He handled himself well in the preseason, and we will expect him to go in and play well (against Pittsburgh).”

On if he is concerned with RB Knowshon Moreno’s fumble total this season

“I wish we would have blocked the missile that hit him yesterday… He has got to hang onto the ball, and he would be the first one to say that. He takes responsibility for that. We could do a little bit better job of not having that situation come up in the game, hopefully. Any time somebody is fumbling the ball, you always want to try to do whatever you can to try to fix that. Again, he hasn’t had a history with that. We have just got to continue to work with him.”

On what the Broncos need to do to improve their special teams coverage units

“We have got to play faster. We have got to play more physical. There were certainly examples of that from yesterday’s game where when we do it the way that we have done it, for the most part, this year, we have some success covering kicks, whether it be kickoffs or punts. (Baltimore) blocked it very well. They were faster in the coverage units and in the return game, I would say, most of the day. That is not because we have slow players. They just played with a greater tempo, a greater sense of urgency and made more plays than we did. The next time we kicked the ball off, we did much better. It is one of those situations where you have got to play every play with the same sense of urgency, with the same speed, with the same tempo, with the same physicality in the kicking game or else we found out now a second week in a row, it could end up being points.”

On if he was surprised by Baltimore’s fast, physical start

“No. We are talking about a 6-0 game at halftime. I would say that most coaches in the league would, if it was a one-score game at the half—we would love to be ahead 21-6 at halftime but that wasn’t the case. It hasn’t been the case all year for us. We understood where we were at and who we were playing and the challenges that lied ahead of us. We just didn’t execute as we have in the previous so many games late in the game or in the second half to ultimately get ahead and win the game. I don’t think that surprised us. They have always played that way. We have played other teams that play fast and physical and all that. If there was anybody that wasn’t ready to go, then we have got to do a better job of making sure that all of our players have the same mindset and understand what kind of opponent we are playing. I don’t—that is an excuse. We could use that today, but there is no way that we can say that that is the case. We were playing in a tight game all the way until the middle or late in the third quarter, and all of the sudden, we couldn’t do much offensively and gave up too many things defensively. The game got away from us.”

On if he scripts offensive plays to run at the beginning of the game

“No, I have some things that I want to do early in the game, but no, I have never been a big fan of just scripting because the ball could be anywhere on the field and certain situations dictate that you don’t want to call ‘that’ there or what have you. You never know where you are going to get it. (I have) nothing against people that do. I know a lot of coordinators do that, but it has never been something that I have done.”