McNuggets: Quotes from the Monday aftermath

Brandon Marshall #15 of the Denver Broncos speaks with head coach Josh McDaniels during a time out during the game against the Washington Redskins at FedExField on November 15, 2009 in Landover, Maryland. The Redskins defeated the Broncos 27-17. (Larry French/Getty Images)

Quotes from Head Coach Josh McDaniels the day after the Denver Broncos‘ 27-17 loss to the Washington Redskins.

Opening comments

“As I said yesterday, if you go on the road or at home, for that matter, and don’t play a four-quarter game and certainly don’t play nearly as well as you need to play to be competitive in every area, you’re going to find it hard to win. Yesterday, that was really the case, and looking at the film, it shows us clearly what we failed to do and what we need to do a lot better going forward to get this corrected.”

On a specific area that the Broncos need to improve on from Sunday’s game at Washington

“There are a lot of things, not one thing.”

On QB Kyle Orton’s status

“He is questionable for this week. We’re not sure exactly how that’s going to go. We’re going to see how he progresses during the course of the next few days.”

On Orton’s injury

“It’s an ankle (injury).”

On if Orton’s ankle has been thoroughly examined by the medical staff

“Yeah, we’ll see how he progresses here the next few days.”

On if QB Chris Simms will take Orton’s repetitions in practice this week

“We’ll have to see if and when Kyle is ready to go, whether that is Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or not at all. We’re going to have to see how it goes. He’s definitely not out for the game. We’re certainly hopeful that we can get him ready to go, but if he can’t practice, than it will be Chris, for sure.”

On if he will use a player in a game who doesn’t practice the week before due to injury

“That would be a case-by-case basis, I think. (I have) no general philosophy on it.”

On the status of Orton’s other ankle

“Yeah, the other one is all right. (The hit) did look a little gruesome on the film.”

On Simms’ play at Washington

“I would have loved for him to have played better, but I think there are some other things that happened during the course of the second half that affected his play or would have affected Kyle’s play. We got into some long-yardage situations. We obviously had two two-minute drives there at the end where we’re behind and we have to throw, and they know it and they are pass rushing us. The game plan was not necessarily designed to have a bunch of drop-back passes where we just stand there in the (shot)gun (formation) like a sitting duck and let them come after us. We knew they had a good front and a good rush, and that proved to be true in the second half more than it did in the first half, but there are some throws we could have made and some reads and all the rest of it. I think that as a backup quarterback, you’re going to go in there and have those kinds of days if you don’t get most of the reps (in practice), which is how we do it. We give our starter most of the reps here during the course of the week, and we count on the backup player knowing and understanding the game plan, but he certainly hasn’t practiced it. I think that’s probably very similar to the rest of the league. Nonetheless, we expect him to go in there and play well, but our performance or lack of success was not attributed to Chris Simms’ performance, strictly. It was a multitude of things.”

On signs of RB Knowshon Moreno’s progress in yesterday’s game at Washington

“I don’t know if it was a step forward. He played well, but he’s played well before. He’s had some good games here already this year. (We) handed it to him a lot, and he was productive, made some tough yards, made some big gains, made some guys miss tackles and did a nice job of—there were some plays where there wasn’t much there, but he didn’t go negative. He went, got a yard, got a two-yard gain here or there and kept us in positive situations. That is something that he’s doing better and better as the year goes on.”

On if Moreno will continue to get the majority of the Broncos’ carries this season

“We’ll see. It is just something—we left him in there. He was doing a nice job. (RB Correll) Buck(halter) was playing more in sub (packages), so we just let him in there, and he did a good job.”

On the Broncos’ difficulty stopping the run the past three games

“(We are playing) not very good team defense. We know that we can be successful when we play good team defense. We’ve shown that ability. We’ve done it in the past against good teams. For a number of reasons, we’ve kind of forgotten what got us to that point. We’ve got to go back to work, and we’ve got to all understand that we’re not 11 individuals out there. We’re one group that has to play our responsibility the way that it needs to be played and do our job the way that it needs to be done, and that is many times done without glory individually, but what happens is the ball ends up going back to the guy that it’s supposed to go back to and he’s there to make the tackle. If he does, then you usually play decent run defense. Once you start jumping around blocks and (are) trying to make a play here and there, it kind of spreads throughout the defense and becomes a problem.”

On if the Broncos’ difficulty stopping the run can be attributed to physical mismatches or missed assignments

“I would say it’s definitely more assignments than it is a physical mismatch because there were plenty of plays where the same guys are blocking the same guys on defense, and we handled our own just fine up front and at the linebacking corps. We can’t play one play that way and two plays a different way. We’ve got to play them all the same, and when we do—that’s the way this defense is designed—and when we play it right, we’re pretty good. When we don’t, we can be bad.”

On the Broncos’ psyche entering Sunday’s game vs. San Diego

“I am not sure where the psyche of our team is. I know where I’m at. We need to get better. We need to play better. We can coach better. We’re 6-3. We’re playing San Diego, who is also 6-3. It’s a huge division game at home. I don’t know why we wouldn’t like to be in this situation. I wish we had won the last three games. I think everybody in this building does, but we didn’t, and there are reasons why we didn’t. We’ve got to go fix the problems and play good football from here on out, starting with this week against a great team coming from San Diego in our division.”

On OL Russ Hochstein’s performance at Washington

“Russ played well. I think that he did what we thought he would do. I think (Washington DT Albert) Haynesworth ended up with a tackle or whatever it may be, but Russ did a nice job of playing with the other guys and doing what we were doing in terms of our scheme, both in the running game and in pass protection. (He) played physical.”

On Washington’s touchdown pass on fourth-and-10 after shifting out of a field-goal formation

“We were prepared for a gadget. We would love to check out of the front we were in and go to something different. We didn’t get that necessarily done. We had too many people in coverage (and) not enough people rushing. It was well-designed on their part, but it’s no excuse. We have to play it better, and we can play it better. We just didn’t on that play.”

On why RB Peyton Hillis has been inactive the past two games

“He had a personal thing he dealt with a week ago. (We are) just trying to dress the guys we think can give us the best chance to win. Peyton has certainly been in that group, and there have been a couple games where he hasn’t. (There are) a few things that go into that. (The) kicking game and all the rest of that stuff goes into it. It’s hard to take four backs to the game unless they’re contributing significantly in the kicking game. Based on the way our roster pans out with all of the linebackers we take to the game, we’ve got to have some guys that can contribute there. He’s done that in the past and he can, but it’s more of a kicking game decision than it is anything else. He’s in that mix every week to go to the game. There’s certainly no preset decision on whether or not he can dress or not dress and play or not play. That’ll be the same thing as it is this week.”

On New England Head Coach Bill Belichick’s fourth-down decision against Indianapolis

“I don’t know the whole situation that was going on at the time. I don’t know the circumstances in the game, so it’s totally unfair for me to comment on that.”

On ILB/FB Spencer Larsen’s performance playing fullback at Washington

“Spencer does a nice job of that. He’s very physical. Now that he’s back and healthy from the shoulder (injury), I feel like he can contribute, obviously, in the kicking game. If we need him on defense, he can do that. He’s also done a decent job for us as a lead blocker as a full back. (We have) no hesitation putting him in the game in that role because he can bring some level of physicality as a lead blocker to our backs. He did a good job yesterday.”