Jack Del Rio and Eric Bieniemy talk about the Bills game and visiting the Philadelphia Eagles

Washington’s coordinators talk to the media before practice

Jack Del Rio

Washington’s pass rush vs the Bills:

Emmanuel Forbes:

I like the way he’s started and responded. I thought last week was clearly a step forward. I think, you know, he continues to understand plays that he needs to make for us and working hard at it.

Has Forbes’ size been an issue?:

No. He’s got good length. Got good quickness. Yeah, so no real issues that way but you know, I like where he is. I mean, we’re working, we’re improving and I like the way he’s approaching it.

What he wants to see Forbes Jr. improve on:

The game of football. He’s gaining experience each and every week. Come out and compete. That’s what I want to see. Prepare well and compete. I don’t want to see anything different from him that I want to see from all our guys. Dig into the gameplan, really understand your opponent. Make sure that you’re playing fast to your responsibilities and go out and have fun. Let it rip. I want him to do the same thing I want all our guys to do.

Philadelphia Eagles’ OL/RBs:

Jalen Hurts developing as a QB:

He’s done just that. I’ve admired him from back at the Alabama days the way he handled adversity. I thought truly classy, studly response to tough circumstances. And every part of his game has just continued to grow and blossom. He is a good football player. He’s improving as a passer and he’s dangerous with his legs and he is a very good leader and all that kind of stuff. So, he is developing and has done a nice job for them.

Eagles’ “Tush Push/Brotherly Shove”:

Safeties:

Yeah, I mean, we kind of talked about that. The guys playing together, understanding the scheme, the communication, all those things have taken a positive step. We just want to continue to have that be the case and grow and move forward and be as productive as possible.

Developing young quarterbacks:

I’m going to put on my head coaching hat. Alright. We’re going to talk about the development of quarterbacks [joking]. In all seriousness, I think there is a certain amount of patience that is required – truthfully and not everybody is willing to do that. A lot of times they’re thrust into situations, told to become the savior of an organization, and that’s a tough circumstance to be in. But the models of waiting a long time are pretty much gone. The days where guys would sit and wait and watch, you’re not seeing as much of that.

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Eric Bieniemy

Disappointing performance vs the Bills:

Resiliency:

Teamwork:

Run/pass balance:

I mean, it’s always a topic of discussion. At the end of the day, you just want every player in that locker room to have faith and confidence and belief in what we’re doing. We just didn’t play very good. You know, when it’s all said and done with you, you have good days, you have bad days. When it’s all said and done with, my job is to make sure that we’re doing everything to help us to drag our across the finish line. Obviously, I ain’t do a great job whether we threw the ball whether we ran it. Okay, obviously we didn’t do enough. So, my job is to make sure that, hey, you know what, that doesn’t happen again. My job is to clean up the sh*t we continue moving forward.

Individual stats vs team wins:

Brian Robinson:

B-Rob is B-Rob. That’s who he is. It doesn’t shock nor surprise me, but at the end of the day, I’ll tell you one thing B-Rob would love, is that if we would’ve found a way to win that game together as a unit. One thing about this, you guys going to understand this about me, I’m not about numbers, I’m all about our players and I’m all about finding ways to win. So, when it comes to the individual performances, yes, some guys stood out, but we didn’t stand out together as a team. Okay? Obviously on offense, we didn’t do our part. So, our job is to make sure that regardless of who has quote-on-quote a good stat game or who doesn’t, at the end of the day, we got to fix it, corral it, make sure that everybody’s on the same page, and then we get back to work and we figure it out. I know B-Rob, B-Rob is a hell of a football player, but the only thing B-Rob right now is concerned about is this up-and-coming opponent.

Running game:

I don’t have to remind myself of anything. It is just about doing what we feel collectively as a staff and basically how we ironed out our game plan, making sure that we’re staying the course. When it’s all said done with, I’m not concerned with numbers. The only thing that matters is that we’re going out there having an impact on the game and doing it the right way.

The runs they come up, our guys are doing a hell of a job of running the football, they are. But in this league, you have to be able to throw it as well. You got to have some type of balance on top of that. I got a young quarterback. I want to make sure that young quarterback understands he has a coaching staff that has great confidence and belief and faith in him. Those things, they happen. Sometimes you have bad days, sometimes you get your ass kicked. Just like your mom said when you were younger, you got to get your ass up and go back out there and fight for what you want.

That’s the thing that I loved about what we did this weekend. We fought, we fought and we finished together. Now it’s about being resilient, handling all the stuff that we went through. Now just accept it, life lessons that we learn from watching the tape and we keep it moving forward. It’s what, this is Week 4? Here we go.

Working through the tough times:

It says a lot. It just talks about the character of the men that we have. That’s what I love and appreciate about these guys, because some of those guys, I called that night just to check in on ‘em to see how they were doing because sometimes we can get caught up in the moment of what took place. But when you go back at it, obviously it’s still ugly, but there is some good that we did. I’ve been in this league now as a coach and a player for over 30 years. The unfortunate thing, sometimes you have bad days, and it happens. Now, the only thing I’m measuring is to see how we respond. That’s what this is about. You’re going to have highs and lows. Championship teams find ways to work through those tough times and that’s the thing that we have to continue to do. We got to continue to persevere through adversity and find a way to collectively drag our ass across the finish line by doing it the right way.

Coaching Sam Howell through having repeated mistakes:

Well, he’s a second-year player, but he’s a rookie quarterback. I’ll keep using this line as long as I’m up here. Okay? Sometimes that’s the first time things have happened to him and so you have to understand he’s going through that experience. The best thing Sam did that game is that he played his way through it. That way, now, he can find out the good that he did, the bad that he did, and the indecisiveness that he did. But those things happen. No one wants to go out there and perform in that manner.

But one thing I am proud of, I’m proud of the kid because yes, he did have some sparks. I’m proud of our group because when it was all said and done, we found a way to move the ball down the field. Obviously, we didn’t finish in the end zone like I wanted to, but we found a way to move the ball. And so, when you do stuff like that, you celebrate the little things and you make sure that you’re giving your guys that positive feedback, but also being realistic with ‘em about playing hard, playing consistent, making sure that we are not taking turns breaking down throughout the course of the game.

And we talk about this all the time, sometimes it’d be nice just to line up and play against the opponent rather than playing against ourselves and beating ourselves and playing against the opponent, that’s pretty tough. So, I would like to see us to go out and compete this week against the Philadelphia Eagles, which I’m pretty sure our guys would be fired up.

Sacks:

First of all, I think it’s a combination of everything. We’ve got to make sure that we’re doing a great job as a coaching staff, and that starts right here with me, I am the offensive coordinator. On top of that, we just got to make sure that we’re out there executing. When it’s all said and done with, we got a young quarterback still, you know, our job is to make sure that we’re continuing to grow. Now, there were some spurts. He did a hell of a job, you know what I mean? And then there were some opportunities, we didn’t do such a great job. But that’s the thing, when you are a team going through a season, you’re going to have your highs and you’re going to have your lows. This is when you find out who you are. This is when the resiliency has to pick up.

How to keep Howell focused on the good from the loss:

Oh, he has to be cognizant of all of it. He’s very aware of his mistakes. He’s very aware of the things that he didn’t do. That’s what you love about him. He’s a very honest kid. He doesn’t shy away from anything. He knows exactly what took place. That’s the type of relationship that you want to have. Like I said, he’s a young kid, first time playing through this situation, not ideal, but I’m proud of the fact that he hung in there and it was a great experience for him to go through. Now the only thing that we can do is utilize this moving forward and help to improve anything and everything that is needed to help us to be successful moving forward.

Wide receiver group:

Well, first of all, everybody’s doing something good. All our guys are out there competing, they’re working hard, they’re playing hard, they’re striving for perfection. But when it’s all said and done, we have to play great together as a unit. We can’t pick and choose our moments. I’ll say this again, that starts right here with me. All right? And so, I got to make sure that our guys can fully have a grasp of what we want to accomplish. But at the end of the day, it’s all about the 11 men who are on that field being accountable to one another, and us as a coaching staff being accountable to those players. And then once we start ironing out all these little things, everything will be all right.

Despise losing:

Offense vs Bills wasn’t good enough:

Sky is not falling:

Assessment of the offensive line:

Every position can play better. It wasn’t a good enough answer. Nobody liked that one. Coaches can coach better. You guys got to understand this. Stuff like this happens. We’re growing as a team. We’re discovering who we are. This is Week 3. We’re 2-1, by the way. The sky hasn’t fallen out from the sky, the sun is still coming up. We’re having an opportunity to be here. We’re very blessed and fortunate to be here breathing, alive, so we have an opportunity to fix it. As an offensive unit, we didn’t play very well. I’ll say this, I’ll continue to say that this starts with me. My job is to make sure that our minds are ready to go out there and do the things that we need to get done. But on top of that, that we’re physically capable of doing what needs to be done. We’ll play better.

What he looks at outside of analytics to judge the offensive lines performance:

I’m going to say this one more time. Everybody wants to try and point out a position. Collectively as a unit we didn’t play very well. I shoulder that blame. I am the one who was putting together this game plan. I have helped put together this roster. My job is to make sure that we go out and perform up to the level of expectations that we all expect us to.

We didn’t play very well. That falls right back on my shoulders. These guys understand that I’m not about that. They know exactly what needs to be done and when it’s all said and done with, we have to be better. Eric Bieniemy has to be better. Our offensive coaching staff needs to be better, our players need to be better. Our job is to make sure collectively, that we’re all being accountable and that we stay the course.

There’s no need to panic, there’s no need to basically say the sky is falling. No, this is the time when you tighten up everything. This is the time when you’re dotting all your I’s and crossing all your T’s, making sure that we’re providing all the necessary information and resources to help our guys to be the best that they can be. That’s our job, and that’s my responsibility.

As we continue moving forward, I thought yesterday we had an outstanding day of practice. The energy was just uplifting. I’m looking forward to that same uplift today and I’m excited because these guys know we got to go get this dirt off our shoulders. The only way we going to get it off is to continue playing.