“Okay, I think (P) Blake (Gillikin) had an ankle in the first half there, and then (DL) Roy (Lopez) had an ankle, didn’t return. Disappointing loss. We didn’t play our best ball there. I have to find some answers to get us going a little bit because we haven’t played great here the last couple weeks, so that falls on me. We have to go back to the drawing board tomorrow, get these things corrected, put them in better positions and we have to win a game. I thought we spotted them a lot of points there, but then we battled back. I appreciate their effort. That was good. We battled back there, had a couple chances to even cut the lead a little more, but ultimately didn’t get it done. So give them credit and I have to do a better job.”
On how he finds solutions:
“Yeah, we have to look at a tape and make sure we’re thinking critically about (if) we (are) putting our guys in the right positions to make plays. That’s all the coaching staff, starting with me.”
On the biggest issues offensively:
“Well I would always say the ball first. The takeaways hurt, but credit to ‘K1’ (QB Kyler Murray) because I think that was back to back (interceptions) and he battled and made some plays there and we got back into the game. The run game, I thought we popped some runs, but not consistent enough. I didn’t think we operated great on third down there, but you just have to play a little bit cleaner and score a couple more points. Defensively, the run game wasn’t great. They popped the long one there. That put us down 24-10, and that 50 yarder that hurt. Then on third down, I give credit to them. They did a couple of different things, unique things, that they haven’t shown. Which, they have a say too, but we have to get off the field a little bit better on third down.”
On if the absence of Gillikin impacted the Seahawks:
“Yeah, I’m sure they look at the injury there and how they want to decide to play it, but I don’t know. You can talk to them.”
On Murray’s recent struggles under pressure:
“I think every game’s a little bit different. I thought he stuck in there and made some big time throws though, but he has to protect the ball a little bit better. That’s not just him, that’s all 11 so there’ll be a lot of corrections off those plays to what needs to happen. I honestly thought the first play, 13 (Seahawks CB Ernest Jones IV) made a really good play. That’s where the ball should have went, and he kind of read his eyes and rocked back out of it. He was playing the strong side and came back to the weak. That was good play, so give credit to them.”
On his message to Murray about critics and his message to Murray’s critics:
“Yeah, I don’t have to say anything to him (Murray). He knows that. (To) the critics, the reason that we’re playing meaningful games in December right now he’s a huge piece to that. That’s what I would tell them.”
On staying even keel and his confidence in the team:
“Yeah, they’ll come back ready to work tomorrow. I just told them we put ourselves in a little bit of a hole now, but all you can do is attack tomorrow, learn tomorrow and have a good week of practice. Again, I have to do a better job of setting them up to win a football game so that’s what we’ll do.”
On if he thinks the game could’ve been won had they scored to start the second half:
“No, I thought the game went back and forth there. And again, we spotted them some points there but I thought we were back into the game and then we cut it to nine. Then I know we missed the field goal there. That would’ve cut it to a one score game. I thought the one drive to cut it to nine, we went for two there for that reason. You’re looking at down nine, you need a field goal and the touchdown wins it, but ultimately all three phases couldn’t pull together.”
On if there has been a drop off in performance:
“Yeah, I have to look at it. That’s on me because we were rolling, (we) hit the BYE and we haven’t gotten it rolling quite yet. I’m sure we’ll stick to our process, but we have to tweak some things. I have to tweak some things.”
On if he said anything to Murray in the moment following the back-to-back interceptions:
“No, keep your head up and keep battling. He knows.”