Everything the Indianapolis Colts said after losing to the Dallas Cowboys

Everything the Indianapolis Colts said after losing to the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday. All quotes courtesy of the Dallas and Indianapolis media relations departments.

Coach Jeff Saturday

On if he’s ever been involved in a game like this.

No. I can assure you I haven’t been involved in many losses in general, but definitely not like this. I think we went four possessions in a row with a fumble, two interceptions and a fumble. You’re not going to beat anybody in the NFL, but you’re dang sure not going to beat a good football team that way. I think one of them, or maybe two of them, were for touchdowns. At this point I don’t even remember but it wasn’t good enough.

On if Matt Ryan will start going forward or if we will see Nick Foles next week.

We’re heading into the bye week and, as we go through this, I told those guys, ‘It’s a gut check.’ You’ve got a four-game season coming back. We’ll get back late tonight but you’ve got to go check yourself, man. What can we do to get better and nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. The only people that can fix it are the ones in there, so we’ve got to get it fixed and be better than we are right now.

On if a close game like this, when it turns into what it turned into, if it’s one play and how does it happen?

No, It’s a calamity of errors. When you look at it, I think I said four possessions in a row where we turned the ball over, and one I know was for a touchdown. You’re putting your defense in an awful position. They’re a high-powered offense anyway, but when you’re not making them sustain anything to get points it’s going to get ugly quick.

On if he’ll stick with Matt Ryan, who didn’t play well in the second half, or if it’s something he’ll think about over the bye week.

Yeah, at this point, we’re riding with what we’ve got. Really, I’m disappointed for all the guys. That one hurt. You’re that close in the fourth quarter and to lose like that. I told the guys in the meeting the margin for error is zero, and when you give the ball away like we did, it’s going to get ugly for us in a hurry.

On fixing the execution problems 12 or 13 games into a season.

We’re playing a little bit of catch-up, obviously, trying to figure it out. Like you said, it’s not one area. We’re all playing a part on it, and that’s the frustrating part, because it’s not something [where] you just snap your fingers or change a player and that all of a sudden fixes it. Like I said, we have a number of different position groups that have to make plays at points and we’re not making them, and collectively we have to play better and execute better.

On knowing what he signed up for, this seeming like a low point, and this being the worst they’ve played in the fourth quarter. Has it surprised him they played as they did tonight in the end and has it been more of a challenge than he thought?

No. Listen, I knew what I was signing up for. You’re not changing coaches in the middle of the season if it’s not bad. I knew what I was signing up for. Again, like I told those guys in there, effort, the energy, enthusiasm these guys are playing with. They are battling. I told the defense, they block an extra point. I don’t even know how many we were down.

It’s that type of effort that brings me back. I love that. You talk about a gut check. You talk about “we don’t quit.” I appreciate those things. We’re going to find it; we’re going to fix it. And it’s not going to be quick. Like I told them, “There’s no Band-Aid to fix this. We’ve got to soul search and get better. We’ve got a four-game season and we need to see who we are.

On why he feels he should stick with Matt Ryan.

It’s five minutes after a beating. I’m disappointed. They’re disappointed. No decision I’m going to make right now’s going to be a good decision. We’ve got weeks to go about this. We’ve got a four-game season. We’ve got to get better. As a team we’ve got to get better in a lot of different areas. And so that’s my focus and that’s what we’re trying to do as a football team.

On if they discussed going to Nick Foles on the sideline.

No. From a quarterback perspective, you dig yourself a hole, you’ve got to get out. He knows he didn’t play good. It doesn’t take us to tell him, but no, you don’t yank him. Like you do everything, you work your way out, no different from every other player. You’ve got to fix it and find a way to get better.

On how he processes this, not having gone through it as a player.

Yeah, I was going to say, this is new for me. This doesn’t happen very often. Again, just pushing the guys and drive them to understand where we have to be, and as individual players, the kind of looking inward and being better. I keep telling them, I know it sounds like just a cliché, but practice matters. The way you practice. It goes to the game field, and so, if we’re not doing things as sharp as we need to on the practice field, it’s going to show up, and we’ve got to keep getting better. That’s the only way you get better in the NFL. We’ve got to get back to it.

On the decision to make Nick Foles QB2.

Nick has been playing good. Sam has as well. We were going to go more two-minute and those kinds of things. From just an operations perspective with what Dallas did, I just felt like experience mattered, but nothing more than that.

QB, Matt Ryan

On if he has ever seen a game turn so dramatically in the 4th quarter as this one did

“It was tough there at the end. We kept it tight and coming in, coming in knowing we’re playing a good football team, a team that’s been playing well, we gave ourselves a chance there in the fourth quarter, but when you turn the football over like we did in the fourth, it makes it extremely difficult to overcome. Credit to them for capitalizing on the opportunities, but yeah, that game turned quickly.”

On if this feels like rock bottom for the team

“I think anytime you lose, it feels that way. It was a tough one. I thought we gave ourselves, like I said, I think we gave ourselves a chance. When we came into it, there was going to be some ups and downs playing against a good defense. That was tough. We’ve got this chance with the week off to kind of regroup, get out heads right, and finish strong.”

On what his message is to the team following this

“I think number one, it’s get a little bit of rest this week, mentally and physically, and try to get your body right as much as you can back to neutral. Then come back with the right attitude - which, for the most part, the attitudes been good. We’ve got to improve the execution. We have to find a way to be better with that and try to finish, finish the season off the right way.”

On if he felt that he and the receivers were not on the same page in a number of instances

“I thought they did a good job on their end - in terms of Dallas. I thought they did a good job of mixing up their coverages. I felt like we were a little off at different times throughout the night. I also thought there was some good too. There was some really good stuff, just not enough of it. And certainly, we knew coming into it, if you give them chances with short fields, they’re going to take advantage of it.”

On what sticks out for him on the three interceptions

“I think the one before the half, it’s kind of iffy, or however you want to say it. I thought there was contact early, but it happens, it kind of tips and it goes up in the air. That one hurt because we had a chance to really to get points before the half and hopefully get points coming out of the second half. That usually leads to a lot of success. The one to Kylen, tried to give him an opportunity. Probably need to put that ball a little further outside and if it misses it misses away as opposed to being a pick. And then just not on the same page on the last one.”

On how he felt the pass protection held up

“I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job on first and second down. Have to take a look at the tape and see what we did, but I thought our guys battled hard up front.”

On how hard it is to find success with all the turnovers

“Yeah, it’s tough. You’re not going to win many games when you turn it over as much as we did. So, it becomes difficult.”

LB, Zaire Franklin

On what happened in the fourth quarter, after holding the Cowboys in check for three quarters: “Turnovers. It’s tough to defend those short fields. It always felt like second half turnovers mean more than first half turnovers.”

On how the team is feeling to give so much and come up short: “There is really nothing much to take away. When you watch the film, its going to be a ton of self-inflicted [wounds], on both sides. It is disappointing. It is definitely not the performance that we wanted to put out. It’s a four-quarter game. Nobody cares how great you played for three quarters. They only care about what it looks like at the end, and we didn’t hold it down. It’s unfortunate. Thankfully, we have a bye to kind of step back, reset, and finish strong for these last four weeks. Moving forward, just not the type of performances we expect from ourselves, our fans expect from us, or that we intend to put on tape moving forward.”

On if it hurts being right there and then letting it get away in the fourth quarter: “That’s the NFL. I would probably say 90% of the games going into the fourth quarter are one score games in the NFL. You have to finish. You have to make the plays that come to you. The margin for error in the NFL is very [small], and every team is good. That was a very talented team on both sides of the ball. After a while, you keep giving them shots on goal, they are going to do what the great shooters do – they are going to make it.”

CB, Isaiah Rodgers Sr.

On his would-be interception at the end of the third quarter: “I wasn’t surprised that it was called incomplete. That’s what home field advantage is going to do. I felt like I caught the ball. I felt like I wanted a challenge, but we didn’t get it. It changed the whole game. It is what it is. I just have to stop that touchdown and end the drive.”

On whether he saw any replays: “They didn’t show it. They never really show the away team making any of the plays they show on the jumbotron.”

On whether he was able to move past the play: “I’m still frustrated, but it showed. I didn’t give a touchdown all season. I feel like I was still frustrated from the dropped interception that they gave us. So, I have to make sure it doesn’t happen next time and linger over to the next play.”

On why it has been so hard for the team and him to get turnovers this year, particularly following a good year last year: “I just feel like I didn’t have any chances this year. I didn’t really have any 50/50 balls come my way. Today when it came my way, I feel like I made the play. I really just stay with my man as much as I can till that moment comes. When it does, I will just make them count.”

On holding the Cowboys in check for three quarters and what happened in the fourth: “I’m speechless, I don’t know. It happened so fast. Next thing you know, it is whatever the score was. It kind of felt like that dropped interception by me just changed the entire game. I feel like if I catch it cleanly, I guess to the officials then it wouldn’t be any debate. Just make the next one.”

DE, Yannick Ngakoue

On the fourth quarter and how it spiraled: “It’s a game of inches, a game of momentum. They had the momentum. They were running the ball well and had a couple miscues on our part. That is another thing we need to do in our bye week; just review the tape of what we just saw today and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

On the defensive performance: “That’s not our standard. We try to hold guys to field goals, we try to hold them to no points at all. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do that today.”

TE Kylen Granson

On if he’s been apart of a game like that:

“No, I’ve got to say that it’s one of the first that I’ve ever had like that – to be so close and then just watch it just run away from you. It’s all self-inflicted stuff. We’ve got to do better, take care of the ball and execute as an offense.”

On the frustration of their mistakes:

“Honestly, it’s the worst because it’s all us. It’s not them. It’s not what they’re doing. It’s what we are doing to ourselves. So, it just makes it that much more frustrating and painful.”

On how they will spend the bye week:

“Just got to look in the mirror, determine what type of men we’re going to be and how we’re going to finish the season. Just really look in the mirror and look back and reflect. Obviously, we’ll get some rest. But take a look at ourselves as players, as individuals and determine what type of men we’re going to be.”

On letting it get away after 21-19:

“It’s a tough pill to swallow obviously. As hard as it was to watch, it was that much worse for us down there. Watching it snowball like that just was not a good feeling.”

On where it got away:

“Once we got down after the second turnover, I believe it was, when we were driving it was kind of like ‘wow, this is crazy…what are we doing.’ Then after that, it was pretty much downhill from there.”

WR Parris Campbell

On his perspective from the field:

“Same as whatever your perspective was. The tide just turned. We couldn’t get control back. Just mistake after mistake so we couldn’t get the control back.”

On letting it get away after 21-19:

“I really couldn’t even explain what happened. One second, it was 21-19. The next, it was 50-whatever-19. It was a blur. It was a blur.”

On Coach Saturday’s message:

“Basically, that nobody is going to feel sorry for us and we damn sure can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got four games left. We need to prepare and practice the right way. Everybody’s got to still come to work. We’ve got a bye week…but that’s embarrassing. We can’t do that.”

C Ryan Kelly

On turnovers being the story of the season:

“As much of the time we emphasize on that, it’s tough to swallow. Turning the ball over, if you look at anything in the NFL, turnovers are going to cost you wins and losses in this league. You just can’t do it.”

On it being gut check time:

“I think it’s your approach. The same way we had 2 minutes and 20 seconds out there, the game is blown out of proportion, how do you go out there and how do you each play give it your all for the guy next to you. So, you’d certainly rather have a week where you’re coming off a big win in Dallas, but each guy is going to have to look back and reflect on what he’s done so far this year, how he wants the rest of the season to look and the rest of his career to look.”

On where the season went wrong:

“I couldn’t tell you. I don’t know. I think the story line has been, outside of the Jacksonville in Jacksonville, I think we’ve hung in there. We’ve been super close. We haven’t pulled it out. That’s what sucks. It’s probably what hurts the most. Going into the fourth quarter we were down two, to let it get out of proportion like, man, that freaking sucks. You’ve just got to take it on the chin. That’s the only way you can in the NFL.”

WR Alec Pierce

On the game:

“It was 21-19 in the fourth quarter. I kind of got out of hand there at the end. We played three not-great quarters of football, but we were in the game. I think we made some plays.”

On Coach Saturday’s message:

“He said it’s a gut check. We’ve got a four-game stretch here at the end. We’ve got to see what we can do. Just kind of dig deep to see who we are as men.

On the frustration of turnovers:

“It’s super frustrating. It’s something that we’ve got to take as a collective and really focus on. We already do, especially for me being a rookie coming in. I was shocked at first about how much they emphasize some things with ball security and stuff like that. You see in the league that guys really come after the ball hard. We’ve just got to do a better job protecting the ball and protecting the throws so that defense can’t make plays on them.”

On the frustrating of Matt Ryan getting the blame for turnovers:

“I know a lot of times a lot of the blame goes on him. But there are things that we do, like the one ball went off my hands got intercepted. He threw a good ball. That’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job and protect his throw.”

On losing ahead of the bye week:

“We definitely wanted to come down here, prime time game, a chance to show ourselves to the United States. The whole world is watching. We definitely looked at it as a great opportunity to shock the world. I don’t think many people were giving us much of a chance. Unfortunately, we were unable to do it.”

On the highs and lows rookie season so far:

“I think it’s just what I’m used to. It’s kind of how being a wide receiver is. You’re going to have hot streaks and then you’re going to have weeks when you’re not getting the ball. That’s just part of the game. The thing that I’m not used to is, obviously, the team not performing on the wins and loss sheet like we should be. That’s been tough.”

LB, Khalid Kareem

On the defense’s success against the run this year and what the Cowboys did: “They had a great gameplan and they outexecuted us. Plain and simple. It’s a good football team. There were times when we were out of our gaps, me included. We went into this game knowing that we had to be gap sound and we had to make the hits. We had a lot of missed tackles and they were able to take advantage of that.”

On what looked like an interception by Isaiah Rogers and then what ensued: “Sometimes that’s just the way to call goals, and that’s been us throughout the majority of the season. We haven’t had a bunch of calls go our way. You just have to go out there and keeping fighting. It just got out of hand at the end.”

On typically doing a good job of keeping games low scoring: “Against a good team like that, you can’t have mistakes. I feel like we made some mistakes and they took advantage of it.”