Renz
An Army of One
"In Their Words" -Cards Post Game Quotes
Cardinals Head Coach Dennis Green
Opening Statements:
"Obviously we're disappointed for the second week in a row. All we had to do was outscore the opponent in the second half and we could win the ball game. We didn't do that last week and we didn't do it this week. We had to overcome a lot of penalties in the fourth quarter. We made some plays, but we never made those crucial plays at the right situation. We had four field goals this week and two field goals last week. I think that's what is hurting us as much as anything. Defensively we're making some big plays, but we're not playing quite as consistent. At the end of the game we did play well defensively. We stopped them three times and that's what we needed to do. We held a very high scoring team to not very many points at all. We were right in the hunt defensively and just not enough on offense."
On ending the game with an offensive penalty resulting in a 10-second runoff of the game clock:
"I think that most people would feel that there were more than three seconds on the runoff. At the end of a game if you have a penalty you do have a 10-second runoff. We had a chance to make something and we didn't make it."
On the frustration of not scoring a touchdown:
"It's frustrating for the whole team because it's all affected by everything. When we don't score everyone is affected by it. Just because it's the offense that isn't doing it, we're all in the same boat. It's something that we're working real hard on and something we'll have to take care of."
On Marcel Shipp:
"Marcel (Shipp) played well. He played hard as he always does. He's a good, rugged NFL player and J.J. (Arrington) has had an ongoing bug that got a little bit better yesterday, but got a little worse this morning. He's been sick since Thursday."
On Reggie Wells snapping the ball in shotgun formation:
"Reggie (Wells) snapped on all the shotguns except for the first one. Alex (Stepanovich) wasn't able to grip the ball right for the shotgun so we went with what we did in practice which was with Reggie snapping it."
On the quarterback choosing where to throw the ball in late-game situations:
"The quarterback is going to judge it based on who's open. You call plays and you're always going to spread the field in that situation. If he feels he can throw it outside, because everyone wants to stop the clock, he will. If he feels it's not there outside, it's important to advance the ball and throw it in the middle and we'll try to make it up later."
On the team playing to win:
"I think the whole team played hard. I think there are two things that it comes down to in this business; one is to win and two is that you play to win. We did not win, but we played to win."
On penalties:
"They're a very fast front. I don't know if they're quicker than us. Most of our penalties came on some form of holding, grabbing or illegal use of the hands. They called about everything they could call."
On missing scoring opportunites:
"I think you could say that. I think that anytime you kick six field goals in two games that's a lot of missed opportunites."
On whether he thought about using a timeout when Darnell Dockett went down:
"We thought about it, but we wanted to use it at the end. We wanted the timeout to use at the right time. We used it at the right time and we wish we had one more to use, but we didn't."
On expecting to win:
"It's all about winning and I think our guys understand that. If you don't play well enough to win you're not going to win. We didn't play well enough to win today. I don't think there's a guy in the room that would expect to win without playing better than we played."
On starting 0-2:
"I'm very disappointed about it. It's not what I counted on at all. We started the season at New York and then played what we think is a playoff team in the Rams. As I said, if we would have played better in the second half of both games we could have won both games."
On Kurt Warner:
"I think with the exception of a few plays, when he had the chance to make good throws he made them. When he didn't have a chance to make good throws he was like any other quarterback."
On the sack on the Cardinals last drive:
"He just dropped and he was hit on the left side. I'm not sure he had a choice there even if we had guys open. I'm not quite sure if there was a breakdown inside, if it was an overload, or if a guy missed a block."
Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner
On general disappointment:
“It is disappointing. We were in a position there at the end, and we didn’t do what we wanted to do on the last couple of plays and that hurt us. Guys battled and we put ourselves in a position to win, but we have to get more consistent and make those plays. That’s what it takes to win in this league and we just didn’t do it today.”
On penalties:
“It is difficult to get any momentum going when you start going backwards. I thought we were consistent throughout the day on every drive. It is tough to make [penalty yards] up against a good team like that. It is tough to make up 10, 15 and 20 yards here and there and do it consistently. That is just another thing that we have to clean up. We have to clear those things up in a lot of different phases, a lot of different areas. It is going to be hard to win if we don’t play consistently because there are too many good teams out there.”
On late sack:
“Obviously we were trying to take a shot and get it in the endzone on the next play. We changed personnel and we had to change gears a little bit. We had to get a play where we had the ball thrown into the endzone. One shot, maybe two shots with seven seconds left to get the ball up quick and unfortunately we jumped or something so we didn’t even get a chance to get the play off. We never got a chance to take that shot at the endzone. [The sack] came pretty quickly. The play we had was hard to get rid of the ball in the vicinity of somebody. It is one of those plays where you second guess and say ‘I should have done this and just thrown it up and away.’ But you only have a couple shots so you want to try to make a play. In the end it came back to hurt us, taking the sack and not getting a chance to get another play off.”
On final penalty:
“It is always tough not be able to decide it yourself one way or the other, having a penalty finish out the game. But, on the other hand it was kind of fitting with how the rest of the game went. We couldn’t create any breaks for ourselves and it went down to the last snap. We fought and battled and you have to be excited about guys doing that, but we have to become more consistent in the little things that we do offensively. We have to put the ball in the endzone when we get down in the red zone. It is tough to win kicking field goals, especially against good football teams. At the end there were a lot of errors. We just have to continue to improve and continue to battle. I thought we made a lot of strides today, but not enough to get a victory.”
On playing against the Rams:
“Not that strange at all, being separated from there a couple years now. I still recognize the faces, but this is my team now. I am here, happy to be here, so it wasn’t different from any other opponent that we were trying to beat. Before the game and after the game there were a lot of familiar faces. During the game you don’t really think about those kinds of things. I am here for a purpose, to try to accomplish something and that is my whole focus right now.”
On red zone struggles:
“We have to get more consistent in there. When you get down there the room for error is so small so you have to be on the same page with everybody across the board because the windows are smaller and room for error is smaller. That is where we have to continue to get more consistent. As we get more consistent, we will be able to capitalize on the things defenses do. It is something we are building. We are just not there yet. They blitzed a couple times and that really put some pressure on us.”
On penalties:
“It is just tough. They always say that holding can be called on every play and we had a stretch where I think it was called on every play for a while. You don’t ever know how those things work out. You talk to defensive lineman and they say they are held on every play. Sometimes they get called on it and sometimes they don’t. You never know. We got into a stretch there where we got into that and [the officials] started looking for it after it happened a couple times. We couldn’t get out of that. I think it was the second to last drive and we kept going back and forth. One step forward, two steps back. It is tough in those types of scenarios to fight out of those holes. I think guys battled and we tried, but we came up short.”
On running game:
“Obviously I thought we did a better job. We ran the football and were able to keep them off balance. When we weren’t running we were able to pick up some big chunks [of yardage] and got some momentum going. Overall it was a lot better than it was in New York. That is something we are going to build on and hopefully continue to do those types of things. I think there were a lot of pluses and a lot of good things that we did. It is about cleaning up the little things. Obviously we have the talent and ability to be a very good football team, sometimes the difference is just those little things.”
On starting 0-2:
“It is never where you want to be. It is all fighting uphill now. There are not many teams that are in that position right off the bat. It is something you have to battle through. Things happen. We are a young team and we are getting better. We are growing and learning and those things happen. The thing is that we have to turn it around and win these games. Somehow, someway, we have to find a way to win them because we are going to be in a lot of these types of games. That is the bottom line. It is always tough when you start out 0-1 and 0-2, and your back is against the wall. We have a lot of work to do. I feel confident with the guys in that room that we are going to come back and work and try to get this thing squared away.”
On Anquan Boldin:
“I thought Anquan played great. The great thing about him is that he is such a tough competitor. You get him the ball, he fights and battles and it takes about four guys to bring him down every time. What can you say, he is a pro. He loves to win and he loves to compete. He does it every snap. I’m glad he is on my side, and I am glad I’m throwing to him. It is fun to have those kinds of guys. You want to reward those kinds of guys with a win because he is a special player.”
On fans throwing objects:
“I have been a part of that in a game I played in New Orleans a couple years ago. I think it was a Monday Night game. Fans got upset about something and we had to have a little stoppage because they were throwing bottles on the field. It is a frustrating thing. I don’t know if they were frustrated with us or with the referees or what it was. I think they are frustrated like we are. The fans want to come out and we want to win, and they want us to win. Sometimes it gets frustrating. I think the fans will be with us when we turn this thing around, because I believe that it is going to be sooner rather than later. We are going to get this thing figured out and we are going to be a good football team. We just have to get ready for next week.”
Cardinals RB Marcel Shipp
On whether the offense is getting to where it should be:
“We need to get back to basics. We need to have a good week of practice this week and get ready and get this out of our systems today. We did not execute and we had too many mistakes and too many penalties and you can’t win games like that. We have to get back to the drawing board and get more disciplined.”
On feeling like they should have had touchdowns instead of field goals:
“When we get down to the endzone and get that close we have to get in there. We have to smell the endzone and get in there. We couldn’t get it done today. I give them a lot of credit, they played a good game and we couldn’t get it done.”
On what happened on the last penalty that ended the game:
“That is just how the whole day went. It was just mistake after mistake. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot and you are not going to win games like that.”
On whether they expect more progress with offensive linemen coming back:
“I think we are going to start gelling better. Things are cleaner. Everything is going to start clicking this week when we get back to work.”
Cardinals LB Karlos Dansby
On the Rams offense scoring right away:
“We can’t let them do that. They came out after the half and they scored again right away. We can’t have that on defense and I think that is going to be a big part of going into next game.”
On Steven Jackson not getting more carries:
You have to understand the Rams. They throw the ball to run the ball. Anytime they pass the ball downfield they are setting us up for the run. That is there statement. He made a couple of plays and we missed a lot of tackles. That is really why he made the plays he made.”
On how team morale is:
“This is a tough loss man. To lose like that at home on opening day in Arizona, that is a tough loss man and we just need to bounce back.”
Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin
On the offensive production:
“We have to get into the endzone. We need to score points, and I am not talking about three.”
On being disappointed at the lack of touchdowns in the red zone:
“I think we are a much better team than that. I think anytime we get down there we should be able to score seven points instead of kicking a field goal.”
On how disappointing it was not scoring on the last drive:
“It’s real disappointing for the game to end like that. Come on, anyone who watched the game saw how obvious it was.”
On whether or not starting 0-2 will effect his play:
“Everytime I step on the field I go out there to win. Just because we are 0-2, that isn’t going to change.”
Cardinals Wide Receiver Bryant Johnson
On reaction to outcome of the game:
“The only way I can explain it is a disappointment.”
On the opportunity to win the game on the final drive:
“I thought we had a chance at the end. The game ended the way it ended.”
On the play of the offense in the red zone:
“I guess we just didn’t execute.”
On looking ahead to Seattle next week:
“We just have to go to Seattle and play the way we play, just how Coach Green puts it. We have to find a way to put everything together to win.”
On the problems with the offensive unit:
“We just have to execute, there’s no other way about it. There’s no finger pointing or anything like that. We just have to execute as an offense.”
Cardinals Defensive End Bertrand Berry
On the outcome of the game:
“It’s a tough one, tough loss. I felt like we were in it the whole way through. They got off to a quick start, but we settled down after that. For whatever reason, we just couldn’t make the plays to get ahead. As long as we didn’t have the lead we were playing on our heels a little bit. Give the Rams credit, they got the lead early and held on to it.”
On starting the season 0-2:
“It’s tough. That was a division game, so that counts double against us. We have our work cut out for us. It’s not the end of the world, we still have fourteen games left in the season. I believe, with the character of this team we can turn things around.”
On possibility of the team taking a step backwards:
“I don’t think we’re taking a step backwards. I think we’re not doing the little things to be a winning football team. Those things can be corrected. Last year, there were times that we weren’t in the game early on. Even though the score didn’t say it, it was different on the field. This game we felt good about. We felt like we were in it from the beginning, but for whatever reason we didn’t get the lead. We couldn’t get in front of those guys.
On things that helped the Ram win:
“Penalties, for one thing. Turnovers, also, we have to hold on to the football. Third down conversion, also. Today, they converted third downs, which kept drives going for them. Consequently, they got some points out of those drives. We have to let them get out of third down and just hold on to the ball.”
Cardinals Head Coach Dennis Green
Opening Statements:
"Obviously we're disappointed for the second week in a row. All we had to do was outscore the opponent in the second half and we could win the ball game. We didn't do that last week and we didn't do it this week. We had to overcome a lot of penalties in the fourth quarter. We made some plays, but we never made those crucial plays at the right situation. We had four field goals this week and two field goals last week. I think that's what is hurting us as much as anything. Defensively we're making some big plays, but we're not playing quite as consistent. At the end of the game we did play well defensively. We stopped them three times and that's what we needed to do. We held a very high scoring team to not very many points at all. We were right in the hunt defensively and just not enough on offense."
On ending the game with an offensive penalty resulting in a 10-second runoff of the game clock:
"I think that most people would feel that there were more than three seconds on the runoff. At the end of a game if you have a penalty you do have a 10-second runoff. We had a chance to make something and we didn't make it."
On the frustration of not scoring a touchdown:
"It's frustrating for the whole team because it's all affected by everything. When we don't score everyone is affected by it. Just because it's the offense that isn't doing it, we're all in the same boat. It's something that we're working real hard on and something we'll have to take care of."
On Marcel Shipp:
"Marcel (Shipp) played well. He played hard as he always does. He's a good, rugged NFL player and J.J. (Arrington) has had an ongoing bug that got a little bit better yesterday, but got a little worse this morning. He's been sick since Thursday."
On Reggie Wells snapping the ball in shotgun formation:
"Reggie (Wells) snapped on all the shotguns except for the first one. Alex (Stepanovich) wasn't able to grip the ball right for the shotgun so we went with what we did in practice which was with Reggie snapping it."
On the quarterback choosing where to throw the ball in late-game situations:
"The quarterback is going to judge it based on who's open. You call plays and you're always going to spread the field in that situation. If he feels he can throw it outside, because everyone wants to stop the clock, he will. If he feels it's not there outside, it's important to advance the ball and throw it in the middle and we'll try to make it up later."
On the team playing to win:
"I think the whole team played hard. I think there are two things that it comes down to in this business; one is to win and two is that you play to win. We did not win, but we played to win."
On penalties:
"They're a very fast front. I don't know if they're quicker than us. Most of our penalties came on some form of holding, grabbing or illegal use of the hands. They called about everything they could call."
On missing scoring opportunites:
"I think you could say that. I think that anytime you kick six field goals in two games that's a lot of missed opportunites."
On whether he thought about using a timeout when Darnell Dockett went down:
"We thought about it, but we wanted to use it at the end. We wanted the timeout to use at the right time. We used it at the right time and we wish we had one more to use, but we didn't."
On expecting to win:
"It's all about winning and I think our guys understand that. If you don't play well enough to win you're not going to win. We didn't play well enough to win today. I don't think there's a guy in the room that would expect to win without playing better than we played."
On starting 0-2:
"I'm very disappointed about it. It's not what I counted on at all. We started the season at New York and then played what we think is a playoff team in the Rams. As I said, if we would have played better in the second half of both games we could have won both games."
On Kurt Warner:
"I think with the exception of a few plays, when he had the chance to make good throws he made them. When he didn't have a chance to make good throws he was like any other quarterback."
On the sack on the Cardinals last drive:
"He just dropped and he was hit on the left side. I'm not sure he had a choice there even if we had guys open. I'm not quite sure if there was a breakdown inside, if it was an overload, or if a guy missed a block."
Cardinals Quarterback Kurt Warner
On general disappointment:
“It is disappointing. We were in a position there at the end, and we didn’t do what we wanted to do on the last couple of plays and that hurt us. Guys battled and we put ourselves in a position to win, but we have to get more consistent and make those plays. That’s what it takes to win in this league and we just didn’t do it today.”
On penalties:
“It is difficult to get any momentum going when you start going backwards. I thought we were consistent throughout the day on every drive. It is tough to make [penalty yards] up against a good team like that. It is tough to make up 10, 15 and 20 yards here and there and do it consistently. That is just another thing that we have to clean up. We have to clear those things up in a lot of different phases, a lot of different areas. It is going to be hard to win if we don’t play consistently because there are too many good teams out there.”
On late sack:
“Obviously we were trying to take a shot and get it in the endzone on the next play. We changed personnel and we had to change gears a little bit. We had to get a play where we had the ball thrown into the endzone. One shot, maybe two shots with seven seconds left to get the ball up quick and unfortunately we jumped or something so we didn’t even get a chance to get the play off. We never got a chance to take that shot at the endzone. [The sack] came pretty quickly. The play we had was hard to get rid of the ball in the vicinity of somebody. It is one of those plays where you second guess and say ‘I should have done this and just thrown it up and away.’ But you only have a couple shots so you want to try to make a play. In the end it came back to hurt us, taking the sack and not getting a chance to get another play off.”
On final penalty:
“It is always tough not be able to decide it yourself one way or the other, having a penalty finish out the game. But, on the other hand it was kind of fitting with how the rest of the game went. We couldn’t create any breaks for ourselves and it went down to the last snap. We fought and battled and you have to be excited about guys doing that, but we have to become more consistent in the little things that we do offensively. We have to put the ball in the endzone when we get down in the red zone. It is tough to win kicking field goals, especially against good football teams. At the end there were a lot of errors. We just have to continue to improve and continue to battle. I thought we made a lot of strides today, but not enough to get a victory.”
On playing against the Rams:
“Not that strange at all, being separated from there a couple years now. I still recognize the faces, but this is my team now. I am here, happy to be here, so it wasn’t different from any other opponent that we were trying to beat. Before the game and after the game there were a lot of familiar faces. During the game you don’t really think about those kinds of things. I am here for a purpose, to try to accomplish something and that is my whole focus right now.”
On red zone struggles:
“We have to get more consistent in there. When you get down there the room for error is so small so you have to be on the same page with everybody across the board because the windows are smaller and room for error is smaller. That is where we have to continue to get more consistent. As we get more consistent, we will be able to capitalize on the things defenses do. It is something we are building. We are just not there yet. They blitzed a couple times and that really put some pressure on us.”
On penalties:
“It is just tough. They always say that holding can be called on every play and we had a stretch where I think it was called on every play for a while. You don’t ever know how those things work out. You talk to defensive lineman and they say they are held on every play. Sometimes they get called on it and sometimes they don’t. You never know. We got into a stretch there where we got into that and [the officials] started looking for it after it happened a couple times. We couldn’t get out of that. I think it was the second to last drive and we kept going back and forth. One step forward, two steps back. It is tough in those types of scenarios to fight out of those holes. I think guys battled and we tried, but we came up short.”
On running game:
“Obviously I thought we did a better job. We ran the football and were able to keep them off balance. When we weren’t running we were able to pick up some big chunks [of yardage] and got some momentum going. Overall it was a lot better than it was in New York. That is something we are going to build on and hopefully continue to do those types of things. I think there were a lot of pluses and a lot of good things that we did. It is about cleaning up the little things. Obviously we have the talent and ability to be a very good football team, sometimes the difference is just those little things.”
On starting 0-2:
“It is never where you want to be. It is all fighting uphill now. There are not many teams that are in that position right off the bat. It is something you have to battle through. Things happen. We are a young team and we are getting better. We are growing and learning and those things happen. The thing is that we have to turn it around and win these games. Somehow, someway, we have to find a way to win them because we are going to be in a lot of these types of games. That is the bottom line. It is always tough when you start out 0-1 and 0-2, and your back is against the wall. We have a lot of work to do. I feel confident with the guys in that room that we are going to come back and work and try to get this thing squared away.”
On Anquan Boldin:
“I thought Anquan played great. The great thing about him is that he is such a tough competitor. You get him the ball, he fights and battles and it takes about four guys to bring him down every time. What can you say, he is a pro. He loves to win and he loves to compete. He does it every snap. I’m glad he is on my side, and I am glad I’m throwing to him. It is fun to have those kinds of guys. You want to reward those kinds of guys with a win because he is a special player.”
On fans throwing objects:
“I have been a part of that in a game I played in New Orleans a couple years ago. I think it was a Monday Night game. Fans got upset about something and we had to have a little stoppage because they were throwing bottles on the field. It is a frustrating thing. I don’t know if they were frustrated with us or with the referees or what it was. I think they are frustrated like we are. The fans want to come out and we want to win, and they want us to win. Sometimes it gets frustrating. I think the fans will be with us when we turn this thing around, because I believe that it is going to be sooner rather than later. We are going to get this thing figured out and we are going to be a good football team. We just have to get ready for next week.”
Cardinals RB Marcel Shipp
On whether the offense is getting to where it should be:
“We need to get back to basics. We need to have a good week of practice this week and get ready and get this out of our systems today. We did not execute and we had too many mistakes and too many penalties and you can’t win games like that. We have to get back to the drawing board and get more disciplined.”
On feeling like they should have had touchdowns instead of field goals:
“When we get down to the endzone and get that close we have to get in there. We have to smell the endzone and get in there. We couldn’t get it done today. I give them a lot of credit, they played a good game and we couldn’t get it done.”
On what happened on the last penalty that ended the game:
“That is just how the whole day went. It was just mistake after mistake. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot and you are not going to win games like that.”
On whether they expect more progress with offensive linemen coming back:
“I think we are going to start gelling better. Things are cleaner. Everything is going to start clicking this week when we get back to work.”
Cardinals LB Karlos Dansby
On the Rams offense scoring right away:
“We can’t let them do that. They came out after the half and they scored again right away. We can’t have that on defense and I think that is going to be a big part of going into next game.”
On Steven Jackson not getting more carries:
You have to understand the Rams. They throw the ball to run the ball. Anytime they pass the ball downfield they are setting us up for the run. That is there statement. He made a couple of plays and we missed a lot of tackles. That is really why he made the plays he made.”
On how team morale is:
“This is a tough loss man. To lose like that at home on opening day in Arizona, that is a tough loss man and we just need to bounce back.”
Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin
On the offensive production:
“We have to get into the endzone. We need to score points, and I am not talking about three.”
On being disappointed at the lack of touchdowns in the red zone:
“I think we are a much better team than that. I think anytime we get down there we should be able to score seven points instead of kicking a field goal.”
On how disappointing it was not scoring on the last drive:
“It’s real disappointing for the game to end like that. Come on, anyone who watched the game saw how obvious it was.”
On whether or not starting 0-2 will effect his play:
“Everytime I step on the field I go out there to win. Just because we are 0-2, that isn’t going to change.”
Cardinals Wide Receiver Bryant Johnson
On reaction to outcome of the game:
“The only way I can explain it is a disappointment.”
On the opportunity to win the game on the final drive:
“I thought we had a chance at the end. The game ended the way it ended.”
On the play of the offense in the red zone:
“I guess we just didn’t execute.”
On looking ahead to Seattle next week:
“We just have to go to Seattle and play the way we play, just how Coach Green puts it. We have to find a way to put everything together to win.”
On the problems with the offensive unit:
“We just have to execute, there’s no other way about it. There’s no finger pointing or anything like that. We just have to execute as an offense.”
Cardinals Defensive End Bertrand Berry
On the outcome of the game:
“It’s a tough one, tough loss. I felt like we were in it the whole way through. They got off to a quick start, but we settled down after that. For whatever reason, we just couldn’t make the plays to get ahead. As long as we didn’t have the lead we were playing on our heels a little bit. Give the Rams credit, they got the lead early and held on to it.”
On starting the season 0-2:
“It’s tough. That was a division game, so that counts double against us. We have our work cut out for us. It’s not the end of the world, we still have fourteen games left in the season. I believe, with the character of this team we can turn things around.”
On possibility of the team taking a step backwards:
“I don’t think we’re taking a step backwards. I think we’re not doing the little things to be a winning football team. Those things can be corrected. Last year, there were times that we weren’t in the game early on. Even though the score didn’t say it, it was different on the field. This game we felt good about. We felt like we were in it from the beginning, but for whatever reason we didn’t get the lead. We couldn’t get in front of those guys.
On things that helped the Ram win:
“Penalties, for one thing. Turnovers, also, we have to hold on to the football. Third down conversion, also. Today, they converted third downs, which kept drives going for them. Consequently, they got some points out of those drives. We have to let them get out of third down and just hold on to the ball.”
time!
