HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (general comments) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"Not the type of ending we were looking for there. We gave ourselves some opportunities at the end; we just have to be able to execute. We've been very strong in closing out ballgames and taking advantage of opportunities. I really and truly believed at the end that we would somehow find a way to get that onside kick and go win that game. It didn't go that way. It was disappointing."
HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (more general comments) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"We've talked all year about the turnover battle. We were minus-2 in the turnover battle. That's not going to play to your percentages. If anything, you want to be plus-1, plus-2 when you are going against them. We did come up with a miscellaneous touchdown on the punt return for a score. We were aggressive throughout the day, and made that work for a couple of times, and not so on another. Really for us, it's disappointing that we didn't close the deal here. Really expected right now to be in here with a division crown captured. It didn't happen. They earned it. They heard all week how they couldn't stop our run game. I thought they did a pretty good job. They answered that, they held us to less than 70 yards rushing. You have to give them some credit. They've had issues stopping the run against us, and against others, and they got it done today. You have to give them credit."
HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on the pitch play that resulted in a fumble and whether David Garrard had the option to run a QB sneak on the play) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"He didn't need to check to it. That was part of the call. But we didn't execute it there."
HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on going for it on fourth-and-1 in the second half) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"I trusted our offensive line. I trusted the quarterback. I'd do that again right now. If we're going to beat these guys, we have to be able get a hard yard when we need it. There were two times in the game when we didn't. We didn't there and we didn't on first-and-goal on the 1. As a result, it wasn't our day. When we beat these guys, we win those situations. ... We just didn't execute there."
HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on what he said to the team afterward) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"Go forward; get ready to play the next one. People want to assume things about our situation. We get two more opportunities to play as a football team. We need to go out and take care of business. Obviously we need help, but it's certainly not impossible that we'll get some. "
HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on the onside kick at the end of the game) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"Our guys really believed we were going to get that onside (kick) and win the game. We fought the whole way. I thought the attitude was great, thought the preparation was great. We just didn't quite execute the way we need to. It was a missed opportunity."
QB-DAVID GARRARD (general comments) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"We as a team have to continue to fight. We have two games ahead of us. We don't hold our destiny in our hands, but we can go out and make the plays and win some ballgames and give ourselves a chance. We can't give ourselves a chance if you don't bounce back from this one and come out and get a win next week."
QB-DAVID GARRARD (on his thoughts as his team attempted the onside kick late in the game) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"When you're in that situation, you're just hoping your special teams can come up with a big onside there so you can give your team a chance to go down and score. It turned out to be the worst thing possible to happen. I don't know what else to say about that play. It's just unfortunate."
QB-DAVID GARRARD (on his interception) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"It was a little high. Pressure or no pressure, I still have to be able to make that throw. I have to be able to stand in there and deliver. We did a good job offensively of coming back and still going back down the field and scoring later on. We didn't let that hang our heads too long."
QB-DAVID GARRARD (on his thoughts now that the team is no longer in control of its destiny) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"It's a bad feeling in my stomach. But I know that we still have two games left. We need to go out and get two wins to give ourselves a chance. You never know what happens. As long as you give yourself a chance to get in the postseason, you never know what will happen with Indy. That's the best thing we can do. We always know that winning cures a lot of things. Going out and getting a win makes a lot of people a little happier."
QB-DAVID GARRARD (on the way the Colts controlled the Jags run game) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"We know that we're a really good rushing offense and that we usually have a lot of success with Indy. But they did a great job of coming out today and being very determined that they weren't going to get the ball run down their throat. They stepped up and made the plays necessary to really limit us in the run game."
TE-MARCEDES LEWIS (on the loss in an important game) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"We came in here with a great opportunity and kind of let it get away from us. There were too many things that happened early throughout the game that we couldn't execute well enough to get a good rhythm. Whenever we would have good plays on offense, we got out of our rhythm with a bad play. Obviously you can't let eighteen be on the field for too long with that passing game like he has. We got behind, and we were fighting uphill the whole time.
TE-MARCEDES LEWIS (on hoping for help to make playoffs now) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"That's definitely not a position we anticipated. But what can you do? We lost. Give the Colts credit. They came in and played a good game. We have to win out and hope for some help."
TE-MARCEDES LEWIS (on Colts D stopping run, but doing well running themselves) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"They did a good job of stopping our run. Not too many times that will happen."
LB-DARYL SMITH (on Colts success with running game) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"They got a little push, and we just didn't fix things properly. I think today they were able to execute in critical times and we didn't. It hurts. It hurts, but we'll go watch film tomorrow and continue to fight and be ready for next week. It's out of our hands, but we have to take care of our business."
LB-DARYL SMITH (on keeping the game close) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"That's kind of how we have been doing it all year. That's one of our ideas. We aren't going to never lay down on our back and just stop fighting. We always think we got a chance to win. That's what I love about this team."
LB-DARYL SMITH (on disappointment with the loss) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"It's disappointing. This my seventh year and to be this close to taste it…I didn't get a chance to bite it, but just to taste it was something. I mean, it's very disappointing. We just have to regroup, and we have to handle what we can handle now."
WR-MIKE THOMAS (on being pushed by Colts player during punt return) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"I was just tracking the ball. I don't know what happened in front of me. Somebody just ran into me."
WR-MIKE THOMAS (on the questionable fair catch signal punt return for TD) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"That's how I track the ball. My hands were out for some reason. Y'all know when I fair catch. Y'all know what my fair catch looks like. It wasn't my fair catch."
WR-MIKE THOMAS (on how devastating the loss was) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"We didn't do what we needed to do to win it. I don't know how you would say that's devastating. We just didn't execute enough. We left a lot of plays out there, made too many mistakes and they capitalized on it. It was right there for us to take. We just weren't able to finish the deal."
DT-TERRANCE KNIGHTON (on the keys to the game) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"They had some explosive plays early and they just jumped out on us. We were playing behind all game. We just didn't force enough turnovers and give our offense a chance to be in good field position. A lot of time they had to drive the whole field. It was disappointing but it's not over. We still have two games left and they have two left. Now we just need a little help."
DT-TERRANCE KNIGHTON (on how the Colts had success running the ball) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"It's just missed tackles. Guys were just missing tackles. They were making the right checks when we were in our pass defense. Those guys just made plays. We still had an opportunity at the end to change the game and we just didn't force any turnovers."
CB-RASHEAN MATHIS (on Peyton Manning finding his rhythm in the first half) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"That's what they do. We gave them some plays. They executed but there were a couple plays were we blew some coverage's. If you blow coverage on Peyton he's going to make you feel it and that's what happened in the first half."
CB-RASHEAN MATHIS (on the Colts being able to run the ball and the game going differently than people expected) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"Exactly. If you let them have a two headed sword it's hard to stop them. That was the plan going in, that we needed to stop the run and try to make them beat us passing like they try every other week. We gave up some big plays in the run game and when you do that you put yourself in a hole."
C-BRAD MEESTER (on the season not being over) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"No, it's not over and this team never gives up. This is what this team has been about since day one and we are going to keep fighting. That's the way it's been and that's the way it's always going to be."
OG/C-UCHE NWANERI (on where this team is at) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"We need to win out. Win out and then sit back and see what happens. Unfortunately if we win out and they win out they still get the division. We have to focus on our next game. We have Washington coming into Jacksonville and after that we have to play Houston again. We just win out; stay focused on what is in front of us and let everything else take care of itself."
OG/C-UCHE NWANERI (on being confident this week) Sunday, December 19, 2010
"We were real confident. We are still confident. Like I said, they did a good job of getting the win but that doesn't take away from what we think we are able to do as a team. These last two weeks are going to be big. We need to get the wins and from there we will just see what happens. This is the NFL. They have to go all the way across the country to play Oakland and that's not an easy thing to do. We will just sit back and see how things fall together."
