Okay, I'll start with the injuries. DeShawn Wynn had a shoulder. Ryan Pickett had a bruised knee. He did return. He did not return. With that I'll take your questions.
(Did Brett audible in OT or was that the play call?)
That was the play call.
(Why did you call it?)
Anytime you're going for a vertical route, you're going for broke. It was very similar to the play that we scored on earlier in the game. We were actually sliding Donald Lee on the line to attack the middle of the field. They gave us a three-deep. It's much better play to go to Donald on a two-deep but they gave us three-deep and Brett went to the individual cut on the go route. Excellent read by Brett, excellent throw and excellent catch. Greg did a great job by finishing it.
(Were they playing a lot of three-deep?)
They played more two-deep on second down there. We had run the ball a bunch out of a sub defense. To get the three-shell coverage didn't surprise me at that point. I can't speak for why they called it but getting three-deep there wasn't a surprise. We had two big go routes today. I think their corners are outstanding. I think they anticipate and jump routes as good as anybody that we've played. It was important for us to go over top of Dre Bly and Champ, and we obviously had a lot of success at that today.
(What were you thinking when they drove down at the end of regulation?)
They're situations. During the drive you're managing the clock. You're getting your two-minute offense ready. You're getting your four-minute offense ready. I really didn't have time to ride the emotional roller coaster. I thought our sideline was excellent. I liked the way we responded to the overtime because it was electric in the stadium. This is a tough place to play. I have the utmost respect for Mike Shanahan and the great football teams that he puts in here year in and year out. To win that game at the end is a credit to our football team.
(Why was the running game so successful?)
The players have been working hard at it. We had a change at the offensive line today, Scott Wells with his illness. The commitment by the players and the play-caller, I gave those guys a chance to run the football today. We didn't do anything scheme-wise that we haven't done since Day 1. I thought the execution was better. I thought the offensive line did an excellent job of capturing the line of scrimmage. I thought Ryan Grant put his foot down, it was one cut, north and south, the way you're supposed to. I was pleased with the progress we made in the run game.
(So you called that winning TD play on the sideline?)
We called it on the sideline. We put the play in for a two beater. I told him if you do get three beat to keep the play on because we used to check out of that particularly play versus two when we insert Donald Lee for the route. It's much better to insert him from the line of scrimmage than from the backfield. We decided to go at the three-deep and they did a great job of executing it on the outside.
(What was the play?)
It was off of a fake. It was off of a run that ran earlier in the game. We had two-by-two formation and motioned the tight end to get the insert on the A and B gap based on the tackle and the guard. He sold the fake. I thought the protection was excellent from what I saw. It was basically a double-go. A basic pattern we put in for our offense. We had a zebra hook over the ball. I thought both go routes were run very well. He did a nice job of coming off Donald Lee because Donald Lee was the primary target on the play. He didn't come off clean. Brett did a nice job of coming off of his back foot and throwing it to Greg Jennings. It was a good call. It was a good play. It was in our first 15 plays of the game. It's a call that everybody liked. They like it better now I'm sure.
{sportsad300}(Is Grant the best fit for the zone blocking scheme?)
Clearly Ryan Grant's running style is what you're looking for with his forward lean. He just really needed the opportunity. DeShawn Wynn, we had him in the first slot and he got injured early in the game. He was just further along than Ryan because he was here for training camp. I felt comfortable running the ball for all four quarters.
(Who will start next week?)
I think it's safe to say Ryan Grant will be the starter when we go to Kansas City.
(Did Brett hurry that OT throw?)
I thought he threw the ball in rhythm. I didn't think that he held it that long. I could be wrong because I was watching the protection to Donald. When I came back to Brett I saw him come off his back foot and throw it. I could be wrong. I thought he threw the play in rhythm. He may have thrown it later than that. I thought the execution of the play was pretty good.
(Did you game plan to go deep on them?)
We felt that they were going to squat on us. If you watch us on film, we've been very productive in our three-step game. We just felt that we needed to make sure we got those corners off of us. We needed to play a hard, inside technique. We see a lot of that with the West Coast system, with a lot of slants. We thought it was important to go over top of them.
(Are you upset with the high number of penalties?)
The couple on kicking the ball, there's no room for that. The competitive penalties, we're a match man-to-man team. That's who we are. You'd like to see not as many flags thrown against us but I refer to those as combative penalties, as long as they don't have lack of discipline in your technique and fundamentals. That's the way we play. When you have penalties where you're hitting people out of bounds, that's lack of discipline and I have a problem with that.
(Are you trying to incorporate the vertical pass in the offense?)
I'll be honest with you, I think they're more game-specific. You have to look at what's called. If we haven't thrown any passes then that's a concern. But if we're throwing vertical routes and he's checking the ball down, then I'm fine with it. I like our passing game and I liked our running game today. I hope you guys liked our running game today too.
(Do you know the extent of the injuries?)
I haven't made it to the training room yet.
(Did you just concede at the end of the first half?)
Sure did. I knew we had the ball in the second half. I was a little frustrated in the first half. I thought some things were sloppy. I wanted to get into the half and get it over with. That's why I watched the second down call. I was comfortable with where we were and with the two time outs. We went and got the two holding penalties. I think we had four penalties on the last five plays on offense. I thought it was more important to get into the locker room.
(Why didn't Koren play?)
I just didn't think that Koren was ready. He needs another week of work. He had some inflammation in his knee. He had the surgery done a number of months ago. It surprised him a little bit. He wasn't comfortable out there. He kind of went through his first week of training camp. We'll visit it tomorrow and make some decisions there.
