Q: What’s the vibe around the team today? What can you guys do, what’s the message in terms of turning the page?
DABOLL: Well, that’s what you need to do, but there are certainly a lot of guys that are hurting right now. Some physically. But they gave everything they had and we came up short. That was a tough one, make no mistake about it, but you’ve got to get back on your horse and get ready to play a very talented team that we just played two weeks ago. Look at the things that we didn’t do quite as well and we’ll get onto Philadelphia with the right mindset.
Q: Have you guys made a decision on the kicking situation yet, whether you would elevate Younghoe Koo or whether Graham Gano might be ready for the weekend?
DABOLL: We’ll see where that goes here throughout the week.
Q: Looking at this game and maybe the Dallas game as far as just not being able to close out games. In your mind, what do you see being a common thread maybe between just kind of how, mentality-wise, how this game was almost eerily similar in terms of not being able to execute down the stretch the way you guys wanted to?
DABOLL: I would just say this, it’s not about one play, one player, the offensive side, the defensive side, the kicking game. There’s plenty of plays and opportunities that we had and we didn’t end up making those plays. Get the results and there’s a lot to learn from it. We played some good football for a while, but at the end of the day, we didn’t finish the game.
Q: Defensively when you’ve gone back and looked at the tape, obviously we spoke about how it ended yesterday, but do you see anything different that you guys would want to do this week or just going forward which you guys can learn from, just how those last drives ended defensively?
DABOLL: Yeah, again, every game is different. So, this game was different than the Dallas game relative to what we played or how we played it. You’re always learning and trying to do better.
Q: Specifically from this one though, what do you think you guys can learn from this as far as maybe any differences schematically? Or as you said before, you want (defensive coordinator Shane) Bowen to be more aggressive. Is there anything you can see that maybe you’d want to do differently?
DABOLL: Like I said, it’s all three phases. There are plenty of plays that we had opportunities on, decisions we made. We can all be better.
Q: I’m sure you heard or saw that some of your players were upset about the idea of dropping eight and rushing three there on that first play of the final drive. What do you make of that and have you spoken to guys about that?
DABOLL: Look, there are plenty of plays that we had opportunities to make throughout, I’d say, the fourth quarter and we just came up short. So, it’s not about one play. Like I said, it’s not about one player. It’s not about one specific side. It’s a collective and I can do a better job.
Q: But when you have players upset about that and obviously it could be looked at as okay, do they have full confidence in the defensive coordinator and you guys as a whole as a coaching staff if they’re looking at that and being critical of that specific decision? I know you said it’s a different play call but the concept of not being aggressive is similar to the Dallas game. Does that concern you that they’re upset about that?
DABOLL: Like I said, there are plenty of plays that were out there for us and we need to do a better job of that.
Q: When you’re up 19 points, you go for the two-point conversion. What’s the thought process behind that? There are a lot of people saying you should kick the field goal there because two touchdowns, two two-point conversions, that’s 16. Then three, it gives them an opportunity to do it without scoring three touchdowns.
DABOLL: That’s the decision that we made. That’s what was on our chart and that’s what we went with. That’s what I went with.
Q: Do you have any update on any of the injury guys? (Safety Jevón) Holland, (cornerback Paulson) Adebo, (outside linebacker Brian) Burns?
Q: One specific one that you mentioned slightly last night. Letting (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) throw the ball, third-and-five. They had used two of their timeouts. You could run it and make them use a third timeout. You obviously put trust in your rookie quarterback, he threw an interception. What are all the things that you’re thinking about there, the ramifications, the pluses and minuses?
DABOLL: I have confidence in Jaxson to go out like we did, similar, I’m not saying it’s the exact same thing, but the Chargers game when he hit (tight end) Theo (Johnson) there. I thought we had a good play called. They had some pressure, kind of got tripped up, but I have a lot of confidence in him and that’s why we called it.
Q: Is that basically a more physical error than a mental error? I mean, sometimes a young player just doesn’t see the linebacker or something. He certainly saw it.
DABOLL: He was right in front of him. He saw him.
Q: He just did not get the ball over him, right? So you would call that a physical?
DABOLL: He was kind of tripping up over his feet and he threw it to him and the ball got away from it and they made a play. But I have a lot of confidence in him and our offense to go out there and execute at that particular time. I thought (assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike) Kafka had a good play call dialed up.
Q: That could really hurt a young player, throwing an interception then watching them take it 19 yards. They score quickly, now he’s back on the field, Jaxson. What did he show you to not cave into that in a very tough situation? I mean, it’s fourth-and-19, that series is going haywire, to get you guys down the field.
DABOLL: A lot of mental toughness and ability to execute under pressure, which was a big drive for us there. He contributed significantly to it on some of the plays that he made, whether creating it with his feet, holding on to the ball a little longer to give him time to get downfield. So again, things to learn from, from him, but tough environment, he played his butt off.
Q: Just along the lines with Jaxson. How do you evaluate a game like that from him in the lens of the collapse and the loss? How do you go about doing it?
DABOLL: Watch the tape, watch his decisions. I thought he did a lot of good things. That play got away from him, obviously, where we threw the pick. But had a lot of mental toughness, made a lot of good plays for us, gave us an opportunity to win against one of the better defenses on the road in a hostile environment, along with a lot of other guys. Obviously that one play hurt, but there are a lot of plays that helped get to where we were at.
Q: When you named him the starter, you sort of prepared everybody for the bumps and the learning curves and everything that would come along with a rookie quarterback. Is he ahead of where even you thought he might be four games in?
DABOLL: Look, we meet with him every week. He puts everything he has into it and he does everything he can possibly do to help put our team in good positions. He puts the time, the effort in, he’s got talent. There are things to learn from, like I told you earlier, and that’s what we continue to try to do.
Q: Are you considering any major changes, whether it’s with a coach or a coordinator or a play caller, to your staff? Or are you just riding with the same guys you have?
DABOLL: Like I said, there’s – no I’m not considering that. But we’ve all got to do a better job. It starts with me. There were plenty of opportunities to finish that game the way we wanted to and we didn’t get the job done.
Q: About the play call on the interception, I understand, like you said, there was a situation a few games ago where it worked out doing this. But considering your lead with this time remaining in the game, why not put in a run that forces Denver to use their final timeout there because the clock is on your side?
DABOLL: Look, I thought the play call that Mike called was a good play call. I thought it was an aggressive call to make a good play against the right coverage, what we anticipated to get. Credit Denver, they made a play.
Q: I know you said you didn’t have any specifics on injuries yet, but for the starters on defense that were banged up, Burns, I guess (outside linebacker) Abdul (Carter) at one point, Adebo and Holland, any idea whether those are expected to be more than potentially a one-week or a short-term thing?
DABOLL: I’ll find out. They’re all kind of getting looked at right now and I’ll find out here tonight.