Frank Reich Colts Postgame
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Tough loss, give the Colts credit.
00:02 We did not play well enough as a team.
00:06 I thought our defense played well today.
00:07 I thought we did a good job containing their run game,
00:11 containing their offense in general.
00:13 So, but we win and lose as a team.
00:17 I thought, special teams wise, we had a few nice plays, but
00:22 entirely too many penalties.
00:23 You can't win football games when you make special teams penalties like that.
00:28 And then offensively, obviously, it was a struggle.
00:30 It was a struggle all day.
00:31 Penalties and executing, so it was a struggle there.
00:37 But the good news is that we played Thursday.
00:41 So no one's gonna feel sorry for us.
00:44 So we gotta get back to work.
00:47 It's a quick turnaround.
00:49 We gotta learn from our mistakes and get ready for Thursday night football.
00:53 Open it up.
00:54 >> Frank, two pick sixes in a 14 point game.
00:57 The defense plays as well as it does.
00:59 How do you keep this from snowballing offensively,
01:02 even though you are playing in a couple of days?
01:04 >> I think the character of our leadership will do a great job.
01:09 They understand we're in this together.
01:11 And what I just talked to Bryce about in there is I said, listen,
01:16 I've been a part of something over a lot of years.
01:18 I've seen games like this many times.
01:20 And it's not all on just the pick sixes.
01:23 I know it seems that way, but we put them in a hard position a couple times.
01:27 Obviously, Bryce, it's his share, but we're all part of it.
01:31 We're all part of it, so we gotta do a better job.
01:33 >> Frank, was he tentative tonight, or what was the problem?
01:38 >> I just think we got off to a slow start.
01:40 We were backed up a few times.
01:43 I thought their rush early was good.
01:45 They beat us.
01:46 They pressured us early.
01:48 And we just never really seemed to get a rhythm.
01:53 >> But specifically, what did you see out of Bryce?
01:56 I mean, it was his worst game, pick sixes or whatever.
02:00 What did you make of it?
02:02 >> I gotta obviously look at the film to see why.
02:08 I was about to say to see what's his, what's that.
02:11 I mean, the one thing that you don't do as a coach is isn't about finger pointing.
02:16 But you do try to find reasons.
02:17 I mean, as you're saying, Joe, I mean, we're looking for reasons.
02:20 We're looking at things that we have to correct.
02:22 So that's what we do.
02:23 We're not gonna finger point.
02:24 It all starts with me as the head coach.
02:28 So we have to get ready to play, and we have to play at a higher level.
02:33 >> How is it the confidence that you,
02:35 the kind of part of you that feels is entertaining the idea of maybe sitting
02:40 him down, letting him watch, going with Andy?
02:42 Or is it just something as a rookie you just gotta-
02:45 >> Yeah, I suppose that's a fair question,
02:48 but I can honestly tell you that thought's never even came close to entering my mind.
02:52 >> How's his confidence level heading into Chicago?
02:55 >> I think his confidence level will be great.
02:57 Listen, I've seen this happen to the best quarterbacks in the history of the game.
03:04 I mean, they all have games like this.
03:07 And sure, it's gonna be easy to say, it's easy to put it on the quarterback.
03:11 But he bounced back.
03:14 That's what makes the great ones.
03:16 And it's a long road.
03:19 It's a long road to, as I've said this many times,
03:23 the quarterback journey, developing into the franchise quarterback, it's a long road.
03:27 And so I/we believe very strongly in Bryce.
03:33 Coming into this game, I felt like he's hitting a rhythm and a stride.
03:37 This is a step backwards for us as an offense.
03:40 We were starting, thought we had several games in a row where we're making good
03:43 strides.
03:45 And then we went out and laid an egg today offensively.
03:48 So credit the Colts defense, credit Gus Bradley and their players,
03:52 the way they, how they played us.
03:54 We gotta do a better job.
03:55 But it was one game.
03:58 And the reality is not that we were lighting up the scoreboard, but
04:01 Bryce has been playing good football.
04:04 This is one game.
04:05 And so I'm not even thinking twice about it.
04:09 >> Does it make it especially frustrating given the way the defense played,
04:13 where Dan let the Colts in the end zone win?
04:16 >> Yeah, it does.
04:17 I mean, that offense had a streak going of scoring 20 points or more,
04:23 350 yards every game.
04:25 Their offense was very explosive the whole year.
04:27 They've been very consistent.
04:29 And our defense came in and we did what we wanted to do against them.
04:33 And did a great job.
04:35 It's a credit to EJ and the defensive staff and
04:37 the players played very good on defense.
04:40 >> Frank, besides the pick sixes, there was the flag on Xavier,
04:44 who was on third down, lining up offside, and the punts.
04:46 Just the self-inflicted wounds, how kind of frustrating is that?
04:49 >> Very frustrating.
04:50 Early in that game, we had three penalties that were devastating penalties.
04:53 Extend drive, two of them extend drives, that they end up getting points on them.
04:57 You can't do that.
04:58 I mean, you can't do that and be a good football team.
05:00 We talk about those things all the time.
05:05 We watch tape on it.
05:06 We talked about the things that came up.
05:10 The things that came up, we've talked about.
05:12 We sit in here in meetings, we show tape.
05:14 So as coaches and players, we gotta figure that out.
05:20 I mean, there's just too many of those mistakes.
05:22 That's frustrating.
05:24 >> When those- >> Frank,
05:25 >> Points don't land though.
05:28 >> Excuse me?
05:28 >> When those coaching points don't land, I mean,
05:31 when you're in those meetings talking about the very things that happened, just.
05:35 >> Yeah, I mean, everybody's gotta take it down and build it.
05:40 If you're the position coach and it's in your position,
05:44 you feel like it was you who committed the foul,
05:46 cuz you gotta figure out how else can I communicate it.
05:48 If you're the player, you gotta take ownership.
05:50 If you're the head coach, you have to take ownership,
05:52 cuz you're in charge of everything.
05:53 You're responsible for everything.
05:55 So if you're the coordinator,
05:56 you gotta figure out what can I do to do my part to get these things cleaned up.
06:01 Thought we had a couple games stretch before this where our penalties were down.
06:05 We were playing good, clean football for, I don't know, two or three games.
06:09 It felt like that, I don't have to go back and check it.
06:11 But I think last game we had three penalties.
06:13 I don't know when we had the week before, but this was every, I mean, it was bad.
06:20 It was really bad penalty-wise.
06:22 >> Frank, one thing when you guys were evaluating Bryce coming out of college,
06:26 you didn't really have much from mistakes cuz he didn't make many mistakes.
06:30 Now that you're seeing him coming and sometimes in bunches like tonight,
06:33 anything you can put your finger on why that keeps happening?
06:38 >> It happens, you know what I mean?
06:41 And I'm just not gonna panic.
06:45 And listen, I hate that it happened because like we said,
06:49 defense played well, this is the game.
06:52 We should have, I feel like I give them credit, they beat us.
06:55 But I thought we had a great week of practice and
06:58 I expected us to win this game.
07:00 But offensively, it happens.
07:03 And as a quarterback, it happens.
07:05 I told Bryce in there, like I said, I've seen the best quarterbacks in the game
07:08 have way worse games than this, way worse, okay?
07:12 So you don't flinch.
07:14 In some ways, it's good for him to go through this.
07:17 In some ways, it's good to kind of have to bounce back after something like this.
07:21 So that's what we do.
07:24 We learn, you don't like to fail.
07:27 But when you do fail, it's not if we really learn from it and
07:31 if we get better from it, it's ultimately put in a category of just another step
07:36 to getting us where we wanna be.
07:38 And we take some lumps in the meantime and it sets us back.
07:42 But we believe in who we're doing it with and the way we're doing it.
07:47 And so we're accountable for the results.
07:49 It's a long season.
07:50 There's a lot of football left starting Thursday night.
07:53 >> Frank, what is the explanation you got on the roughness penalty on Xavier?
07:58 >> They talked about launching and thought that he hit him in the head and neck.
08:04 And if he did hit him in the head and neck, it's a penalty.
08:07 I don't know, I'd have to see the tape.
08:09 If it's launching, launching isn't a penalty.
08:12 Launching and hitting in the head or neck area is a penalty.
08:16 Launching and hitting in the body is not a penalty.
08:18 So I don't know, I didn't see the replay.
08:19 But what I was told was that he launched and
08:26 he hit him in the head and neck area.
08:28 And if in fact that's what it was, then that's a penalty.
08:31 If he launched and hit him in the body,
08:34 then that's one that they've got wrong.
08:39 >> Frank, one more question.
08:40 Frank, to circle back to your answer before this.
08:43 You said you wanna get somewhere, you're working towards it.
08:46 At this point, what's the identity of this offense through eight games?
08:50 And what do you want it to be?
08:52 >> We wanna be able to run the ball.
08:53 We wanna be able to run the ball with our three court runs,
08:57 run our play action stuff off that, our movement stuff.
09:01 Listen, I'm not gonna sit up here and give a seminar on,
09:03 that's a fair question, but I'm not gonna sit up here and
09:06 give a seminar on how we define what our identity is.
09:10 Obviously, we're struggling to find our identity.
09:12 There's no question about that.
09:14 But it does start with running the football.
09:16 And I thought, we showed flashes of that tonight.
09:20 But then we gotta be able to, when you can run the ball,
09:24 you need to be able to get some play action shots down the field and
09:28 get some chunk plays.
09:29 We're not getting that right now, okay?
09:31 And then we have some things in our identity as far as who we are in the red
09:36 zone that I don't wanna talk about for competitive edge reasons.
09:39 And how we approach the red zone.
09:41 And then on third down in situational football,
09:44 we need to be able to be a team that spreads the ball around and
09:47 does some unique matchup things.
09:49 Again, I don't wanna go into details about that when you start defining how
09:53 your identity if that's the way we talk about it internally.
09:56 >> Thank you, coach.