BRIAN DABOLL: Tough game. Give Tampa (Bay) credit. They did everything better than we did today.
Q: How do you explain that performance for your team?
BRIAN DABOLL: It wasn’t good. It wasn’t good. For a variety of… Missed tackles, converting in the red zone, turning the ball back over in the red zone. We had a good week of practice. Did a lot of work and obviously it didn’t show. So, no excuses.
Q: You say you were hoping that (quarterback) Tommy (DeVito) would provide a spark for the offense. Why do you think that didn’t happen?
BRIAN DABOLL: They played well and we didn’t play well. So, we get down 23-0 and that changes the complexity of the game some. We had a good drive coming out of half, turned the football over. So, just not good enough and that all starts with me.
Q: How much do you feel, if at all, everything that happened this week with (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) and the situation? Any effect on the team?
BRIAN DABOLL: No excuse on that. We just didn’t do a good enough job.
Q: Do you regret benching Daniel (Jones)?
BRIAN DABOLL: We’re moved on here. We didn’t do a good enough job today all the way around, and that starts with me.
Q: I mean in the context of doing it to spark the offense and improve the way the offense looked…
BRIAN DABOLL: We weren’t good. So, no excuses. It wasn’t a good day.
Q: What do you tell the team after a performance like that?
BRIAN DABOLL: Just that. I think there’s a lot of pride from people. But what we put out there wasn’t good enough. We can’t make excuses, we got a short turnaround. But didn’t do a good enough job. We had a good week. We started out slow, got down 23-0. Things compounded and battled there in the second half but ultimately not good enough.
Q: What does a good week mean? What makes you feel like the week was good?BRIAN DABOLL: Good energy at practice. Good detail. Bouncing around. Again, no excuses. It wasn’t good and that’s my responsibility.
Q: You guys are averaging this season 14.8 points per game, which, I think, is the lowest in over 25 years for this team. Why has it been a week over week issue with the offense?
BRIAN DABOLL: We’re not doing a good enough job.
Q: What did you think of (Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback) Baker (Mayfield) taunting the fans in the stadium with the (Tommy) DeVito?
BRIAN DABOLL: I think they played well. He played a good game. So, I’ll give those guys credit.
Q: You started to talk about about having a good week at practice. I’m sure you sensed, the team’s healthy, you were going to come out and play a good game. When it doesn’t happen, do you question, ‘Am I getting through to these guys? Am I not reading them right?’ Because the performance does not match anything you thought before the game.
BRIAN DABOLL: I understand the question. We didn’t do a good enough job. We got to be better.
Q: What are some of the issues you’re seeing with the defense?
BRIAN DABOLL: We got to do a better job of tackling. Third down conversions.
Q: Are you happy with the pursuit of everybody? Gang tackling to the ball?
BRIAN DABOLL: We’re just missing them. We missed a bunch today. It’s something that we focused on. Obviously not good enough. At the end of the day, that’s my responsibility.
Q: Your decision, fourth and one early in the game…
BRIAN DABOLL: Had two plays there, thought we had an opportunity to get a first down and keep the drive going, try to build some momentum and didn’t get it.
Q: (Wide receiver Malik) Nabers didn’t have a target in the first half, why was he not involved?
BRIAN DABOLL: We didn’t have very many plays. Certainly, had some there dialed up and they had, whether it’s a coverage designed to, I’m not saying double him or anything like that, just a better coverage for the play in and of itself. But didn’t have very many plays. We tried to mix in the run. Started off the game with a good run and not much after that. The game got away from us and turned into a pass-a-thon, which is not what we want to do.
Q: How do you convince the team that the big move you made this week is in the right interest of the team when you have this performance?
BRIAN DABOLL: I think we moved on here with it. We just got to get ready to go here, for this week.
Q: I understand you moved on from it, but there were a number of players who stressed and said that they believed Daniel (Jones) was this team’s best quarterback, namely (defensive lineman) Dexter (Lawrence II). Then to have this performance, is there a concern? Are you worried?
BRIAN DABOLL: No. Again, we’re moved on from it. We’ve talked about the Daniel (Jones) situation. We just got to do a better job, play better all the way around.
Q: How much did you think this was a possibility? When you were weighing the pros and cons of making that kind of decision, that this is a possibility? That you might not get your intended result which was, like you said, to create a spark
BRIAN DABOLL: I’d just say we’re… Daniel (Jones) is not on the team anymore. We’ve talked about that. We got to do a better job all the way around.
Q: Will Tommy (DeVito) be your starter next week?
BRIAN DABOLL: If he’s healthy and ready to go, he will be.
Q: How do you think he played today?
BRIAN DABOLL: We’ll go back and look at it. Nobody did a good enough job, starting with myself.
Q: What’s he (Tommy DeVito) dealing with health-wise?
BRIAN DABOLL: He just got dinged up a little bit. I think he had the wind knocked out of him back there. He took a couple shots. So, hopefully he’ll be okay.
Q: Six straight losses, any concern that this could snowball?
BRIAN DABOLL: Just trying to get a win. Again, do everything we can do each week. Certainly not the performance that we set out to have, no question about that. Got to do a better job.
Q: You’ve talked about execution all along, are you concerned with the fight in this team right now? I know you’ve seen during the week, but..
BRIAN DABOLL: We got to do things better. But, no, I don’t question our guys.
Q: You mentioned missed tackles a bunch of times. The natural inclination is to say, ‘Well, missed tackles is an effort thing.’ What do you say to that?
BRIAN DABOLL: I’d say we missed some tackles. I think guys were giving good effort and we missed some tackles. They made us miss and had some opportunities.
Q: Why have you been missing so many tackles this year if you don’t think it’s effort. What’s the other explanation?
BRIAN DABOLL: Technique. Give credit to the other guys, making us miss. But certainly not good enough.
Q: What’s the thinking with calling the timeouts on that last drive?
BRIAN DABOLL: Just try to finish the game. Give Tommy (DeVito) an opportunity to finish the game and keep competing.
Q: Tommy (DeVito) did take quite a few big hits, as you mentioned. How do you address that in improving pass protection?
BRIAN DABOLL: We’ll see why the hits were the hits. We’ll take a look at that and try to correct what we can.
Q: (Running back Tyrone) Tracy (Jr.) came back in for the game, was he out for a few…
BRIAN DABOLL: He turned the ball over. Gave (running back) Motor (Devin Singletary) some burn and (running back Eric) Gray and then put (Tyrone) Tracy back in.
Q: How big a concern is that with him (Tyrone Tracy Jr.) moving forward? He has a bunch of fumbles this year.
BRIAN DABOLL: It’s something we got to continue to stress and work on. But I have a lot of confidence in (Tyrone) Tracy. But we can’t turn the ball over to the other team.
Q: Do you have concern about your job security after a game like this? Or do you feel like you’re safe and can coach out this season?
BRIAN DABOLL: I just feel for the guys that go out there and play and the result that we had today. We’ll focus on getting better for next week.
Q: How much do you even consider that? How much does that even go through your head when you have performances like this?
BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, the only thing that goes is, ‘How are we going to make it better?’ And that’s what we’ll try to do.
