Here’s what Dan Quinn said after the 27-20 loss to Seattle on Sunday:
Opening statement: "From a team standpoint, we came out in the second half and fought back. [We] can't lose the turnover battle zero to three and expect to come out ahead. For us, we talked to the team. The first half of the season is complete, and we have to come out for the second half of the season much like we came out in the second half today. If we do that, we'll be the team that we would like to play like. Losing that turnover margin and digging yourself into a hole at the start, (is a) tough way to get started into a game."
On the team's slow first half start: "Starting like that, we know the importance of getting out early and not having a wait-and-see mindset and mentality. I thought coming down (Seattle) got a field goal. We've got to go answer right away and we weren't able to do that. We missed two of the kicks in the first half and had a turnover. When you don't get a chance to answer, that's certainly a big part of starting slowly."
On the offense's play in the second half: "For the second half, I thought (Matt) Schaub showed a lot of the grit and toughness. Bunch of guys got involved. Julio was [involved], but I thought inside the addition that we've added with (Russell) Gage and (Calvin) Ridley and the movement they used inside, they were tough to guard in the slot."
On the defensive line's second-half play: "It's frustrating any time you see a running back have success like that, whether it's out on the edge, and usually good team defense everybody has a part in playing when it's playing well. Usually, everybody has a part when it's not. That part of the connection is always there. Inside we're very strong with Tyeler (Davison). He was right in the middle of it again. Sometimes a play may start inside and wind out all the way to get back, which they had one of the long runs in the first half. We'll evaluate everything for sure.
On Brian Hill's future involvement: "We certainly count on him. Hopefully, we'll have Ito (Smith) back before long, but Brian has certainly proven that he's capable of delivering, and he has a role on special teams as well. He's answered the challenge every time we have (asked him)]. Not going to say (he will) be more (involved), but we certainly count on him and I know that he can deliver for sure."
On the fourth-quarter fumble: "I thought that was a huge part of this. When you turn it over at the one, you don't have a chance to keep answering. Especially when you're in a hole; you have zero margin for any error. When that happens, from my vantage point I couldn't tell hand down or not. They are automatically reviewable, so New York took a look and said from their vantage point it would not be overturned.
On the upcoming bye week: "For sure has to be 100 percent based on improvement. As we start the second half, that has to be a big part of it for sure. Having some players hopefully get back from a health standpoint and rehab to get back, but more than anything, playing like we're capable for all four quarters. To me, that's where the whole thing lies."
On positive notes from today's game: "I think (the team) showed they've got a lot of resiliency and toughness to be down like that, 24-nothing at the half, and to come back and have the fight and the mindset to do that, I think that's shows a lot about who they are. I'm not surprised by it one bit, but it's disappointing to be in the space that we're in. We also recognize our division is coming up, so that's where our focus will be and our improvement."
On deciding when to go for it, versus kick on fourth down: "I think you have to be bold and take some chances to go. Early on -- I don't know if that was -- might have been 17-nothing and we wanted to, Hey, let's get on the board. Let's get some points and get rolling. We ended up missing that, and then when you're behind you've got to make some bold decisions to go and be aggressive, those are usually why. But there is always a plan going in. Where we are at, a lot of factors come in: time in the game, how many possessions left. As you're getting into the second half, those are all things that come up on the fourth downs. Within each series, we are talking about a fourth-down opportunity and we communicate that right upstairs to Dirk (Koetter), or to Ben (Kotwica) if we are going to kick or punt or whatever it might be."
On Isaiah Oliver's growth: "I think we really challenged (Oliver), and in a lot of ways he really responded. He's a guy that is putting it in constantly to get there. We played a lot of man-to-man today, and we thought that was the best way to try to go to attack. Not the whole game, but (Oliver) has the ability to do that with the length. It was great to see him stay down and really stay square on his coverage."
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