Defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan. Photo by Tony Gonzales
Q: At the end of a game like that when you guys have a big lead, people always think that when you have more than a touchdown lead that you guys change up and you go soft. What do you say about that? Is it just how things work out? Does it appear that way?
Coach Bresnahan: If you look at the game we didn't do that. We stayed with a four man rush. We stayed with our coverage approach, after a game like that I'm not going to say I'm discouraged. I'm going to say I'm disappointed because going into a game, I have talked to about this before, every team puts red dots on people. Hue talks about it for us on an offensive prospective, we do the same thing on defense. Usually try to take out the opponents top one or two, on a certain week maybe three red tags in the deal. Well this week we only had one. We only had one target, and at the end of the day, we failed, because when you allow somebody to have 200 plus yards in receiving yardage and make an impact plays like he did, then we obviously didn't do a good enough job on defense. At the 7:50 mark or whatever after the defensive score, if you tell me that our guys were not excited to go back on the field for those two drives, you would be completely wrong. They were excited, they were ready to go, and we just didn't get the job done. The penalties, the lapses in mental mistakes, we have got to eliminate it, but that comes on my shoulders and I have got to make sure we are prepared, but they were excited about going back on the field. They were ready to execute the game plan like we had right up until that defensive touchdown and then we didn't get it done.
Q: Was there any confusion with the zone coverage and on Johnson and some of the guys not knowing where they should be?
Coach Bresnahan: You know what, I wouldn't say it is confusion, I think it is again, trying to do too much at times and again, those are things that we will discuss in our meetings as far as who is at fault or how we can make it better and all that type of stuff, but no, I don't think it was a confusion standpoint at all. When you talk to the players and you look at the play itself, we just didn't get it done. We weren't in the right position to keep that ball in front of us; I'm talking about the deep ball at the end. Same thing in the first quarter on the long one. I mean that should never have happened either because of the way the coverage is designed to keep a high person and a low person on him. Again, we will get that corrected, disappointed, not discouraged. You guys asked about the effort to Hue, and the energy, it has been right back and these guys, I will tell you what, they put the play behind them and they are ready to go. But you can't do that, we have got to play at a much more consistent level because you can't just give games away like we just gave that one away.
Q: You say it is on you, but that last pass to Calvin Johnson the 48-yarder, those guys were in position to make the play. What happened there? Did they just lose sight of the ball?
Coach Bresnahan: Yeah, and again like I said, there are things that happened at the beginning of the play that we didn't execute properly to disrupt the whole timing of that route and I put that on my shoulders because we didn't get it done. We did not get it done and we will because I told you when you have one red dot, that red dot is not going to do what he did to us. They are a unique team where you have an exceptional individual because that is not to say that other guys weren't effective or guys we had to control. Our two things were to stop the run game and to try to minimize what Calvin did to us and we didn't get it done.
Q: Is there any question as to having your middle linebacker and backup safety being asked to make plays against Calvin Johnson?
Coach Bresnahan: Well, at this time it is our starting safety and that is our package, and our Mike linebacker is a middle of the field player, but not over the top. He is an inside player looking for the in-routes and our safety is over the top. But again that is stuff that we will handle in our room, but no, when you look at the entire play it should have never gotten to that.
Q: What are your thoughts on playing the Chiefs? How different are they from the last time you faced them?
Coach Bresnahan: Well, you know obviously, they have a different quarterback. But this is a team that you still have to go in and this will be a challenge for us with the run game. They do a lot of things with McCluster, but they really have a three-headed monster back there with Jones, Battle, and McCluster. They are going to try and establish the run, they are going to try to get it on the edge with McCluster they have got the ability to go to the wildcat like they did to us in the red zone in the last game. But we have got to come out, stop the run, and then we have got to be very disciplined in our coverage, and step it up a notch and really hold ourselves accountable to make up for last week. The guys understand what is at stake now and not that they haven't up until this point, but they definitely know what is at stake and I think there is a real attitude chip on the shoulder to make it right.
