On the game: "I don't think effort was the issue. There was obviously plays, as there is in every game, where you're going to coach that just like you coach everything else. Execution was the problem, not the effort of the team."
On if they have the personnel to be a good defense: "Hey, listen, we're at that point in the season and we've got to win football games. It's our job to find out what our players do well and put them in those positions and give them a chance to be successful. Our issues have been, at least defensively, have been the inconsistency issues. We play good in spurts and then in other spurts we don't play so well. We did a better job of stopping the run this past week; it was the passing game that hurt us. So we've got to find a way to be more consistent."
On the key to being more consistent: "I think really it's the team, the players and the coaches, doing a better job of being on the same page, exactly how to do the things that we're trying to get accomplished."
On if it's harder to fix when it's something different each week: "Yeah, like I said, you feel like you fix one thing and then you're working on fixing something else, so but at the end of the day, we have to do a better job of being more consistent and that's what it's really all about."
On the Twitter sentiment that as a defensive coach he should be able to fix the defense: "Well number one, I don't follow Twitter. But yeah, hey listen, the way I look at it, that's something that's our responsibility to fix. Believe me, we're doing everything we can to get it right. Like I said, at times we've played really good and then at other times, we haven't played as good as we've needed to play. We have to do better."
On if he'll take a bigger role on defense: "I've been very involved. I've been very involved in what we do game planning-wise defensively, but I'll look at any avenue or anything we need to do that I feel like gives us a chance and helps us to win football games."
On the talent on defense: "Yeah, we have enough talent. We have to play at a high level on every single snap in every single game. Just like anybody else in the National Football League, if you don't play consistently, you're going to have the ups and downs like we've had. So I don't look at it as a talent issue. We have who we have and our job is to go out and win football games."
On keeping the guys sharp after a couple tough losses: "That's what we do. We're pros and that's what our job is to do. I don't know how things have been done before, we're hired here to do a job and that's to do the best we can to try to win football games. That's exactly what I expect throughout the remainder of the season. The only thing that we're guaranteed right now is that we can't be any better than 10-6. That's the way I look at it."
On if they'll make wholesale changes: "Everything we do is in a constant evaluation. But I'm not going to stand up here and say, 'yeah, we're making wholesale changes.' We're going to look at every aspect of what we do – offensively, defensively, and in the kicking game – and if we feel changes need to be made, we'll make those changes."
On waiving CB Pat Lee: "I felt like that the younger guys that we had were more valuable to us on special teams, so that's the reason why we made that move."
On what they need to change to be successful against the Saints: "I wish there was a magical answer. I know everybody wants a magical this is the solution. At the end of the day, and I've said this over and over, it's about us doing our job the right way every single time. When we develop that consistency, when we've had that consistency, we've played well in all three phases. But that's the key to having success."
On if the issues are talent, scheme, or effort: "I think at times there's a combination of all three of those things. I don't think you can look at one little thing and say, 'That's it. That's the issue.' There's several things that we have to get corrected."
On the injuries: "Travis Goethel had an ACL, so we will place him on IR. Both Matt Giordano and Brandon Myers are going through the concussion protocol and so we'll basically let the medical people handle that and see where they're at. Mike Huff's got a calf, which I believe he's going to be okay. Tyvon Branch injured his neck a little bit. I'm not sure of the extent of the injury; we're doing some more tests to really see where he is. On the guys that didn't play last week, both those guys [Darren] McFadden and [Mike] Goodson with the ankles are still kind of in the same situation, as well as [Richard] Seymour with a hamstring. We'll see where they're at as we go throughout the week."
On if McFadden and Goodson are still in walking boots: "Yeah, I believe they are."
On if they'll play this week: "I don't know."
On Khalif Barnes: "I anticipate getting Khalif really going this week. So he had a good week of practice last week and had another good day of work with the trainers today, so I think we're going to be ready to get him going."
On Tony Bergstrom: "He did okay. I think he showed some of his youth, especially playing the tackle position. But there were some things there that I felt like were encouraging about the way that he went out and played."
On the batted balls at the line: "I think it was more of an issue with them and the way they decided to rush. It looked to me like they tried to mirror the quarterback a little bit with their defensive tackles and use their edge rushers to get to the quarterback. They did a nice job of getting their hands up and batting the ball down."
On filling a roster spot with Goethel going on IR: "It could be anybody, but we're going to look at some linebackers."
On if the defensive players are on edge: "I would hope that they would all be on edge because we all should be on edge. That's the way that you play in the National Football League. That outcome was unacceptable. We have to be better than that."
On if he feels pressure to win: "Our job is to win. It has nothing to do with contract status or anything like that. Our job is to win. That's the only reason why I'm here."
On if anyone on the coaching staff is on the bubble: "Nobody is on the bubble. I don't think this is an appropriate time to even comment on that anyway."
On using zone blocking and power blocking: "We're using a combination of both."
On if the addition of more power blocking was because of meetings with McFadden: "We've visited with Darren, specifically Greg [Knapp] has visited with Darren, on a week-to-week basis on what runs that he likes. We've tried to incorporate more of those runs that he likes as we've gone on throughout the game plans."
