Coach Smith explains punt, timeout decision

A snippet of Mike Smith’s postgame news conference following Sunday’s 27-14 loss to Philadelphia.

Opening statement:

“Playing on the road any time in this league is real difficult. It was a hostile environment that we were playing in today. I felt like our team played for 60 minutes. It was a 60-minute game. I think we had our chances and opportunities to win the football game at the end and that’s all that you can ask for. You’ve got to give credit to coach Andy Reid, Jim Johnson and his staff. I thought they put together a very good plan. I thought it was a hard fought game. We knew coming up here that it would be.

Q. Coach could you talk about your decision to use your last timeout and then maybe needed it later?

A. Actually, I’d be more than happy to talk about it. At that point in time when there was two minutes and 30 seconds to go, we used the timeout to have more time. By using the timeout there we would save 31 seconds. We still had a timeout technically with the two minute warning. If we let that roll to the two minute warning we basically run 28, 29 seconds off. That was a decision that we made.

Q. What was the explanation of the official on that [muffed punt] call?

A. He said that since we do not have a timeout that we could not challenge it. It would be a 15-yard penalty if we threw the flag. His explanation was of what he thought he saw. He thought he saw the ball touch the return man’s hands. That’s the call that was made.

Q. Several replays showed that he didn’t touch it, as a coach is it tough to take?

A. Any time that you don’t win it’s really tough. Our guys, I thought they fought hard for 60 minutes. I don’t think you can ever say that there is one play in the football game that makes the difference. There are a number of plays that we’d like to have had back in that ball game. I’m anxious to see it on tape and we’ll review the tape tomorrow. We have a lot of things that we can correct tomorrow.

Q. On that punt, should [Jennings] have been that close to the ball? Was a return on?

A. We had a return set up. It was not a very good punt. The punt was short. The field was sandy. It was a sandy field. We got a lot of soft bounces throughout the game and you really weren’t getting any consistent bounces. You know, that one play is not the difference in the football game. There are a number of plays that we’ve got to address. We are very disappointed.

Q. In this hostile environment, Philly is a tough place to play in, how did Matt [Ryan] hold up?

A. Well, I think Matt did some very good things. He had a couple of really nice throws. The touchdown to Roddy was a good throw. I thought that he saw the pressure the majority of the time. I know that Coach [Jim] Johnson did a very nice job in trying to give him a number of different looks. I’m not sure statistically, he threw for 260 yards. He was sacked two times and had a QB rating with those two interceptions of 68.3. Really, all and all, for a rookie in that type of environment, you’ve got to be encouraged.