Seattle 34 - Atlanta 14
KIRK COUSINS: I'll get started and then can take any questions you have. Tough day at the office, certainly. Pro football has a way of testing you like that, and now we have to kind of -- we talk about having resolve, having grit, how to respond in getting back to work tomorrow, being candid about how each one of us has to do certain things better. I gotta play better and just kind of looking at how do we play better, how do we improve and put together a good week of practice and then try to play your best football next Sunday.
But tough day. Felt like we were there. We were hanging around. We had four possessions in the first half and the first one of the penalties that kind of set us backwards, and then the second one, had that throw to Ray-Ray, I felt if we hit that, maybe he scores. Didn't get any points from that drive, missed op, leave large.
And then the third drive scored, and then the fourth drive, the two-minute drive, we weren't able to sustain that drive.
So much of offensive success is being able to sustain and not have that penalty or have that play or that negative play that sets you back and is hard to overcome, and today we did things at times but weren't able to sustain play in and play out enough to score enough points to win.
Q. Kirk, how were things in the pocket today? You all have been pristine for a couple games there. Looked like they had some rushes on you all.
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah. They had a good rush plan. It's hard to answer quite well yet because my eyes are kind of down field. But at times they were getting home. But at times we were in a drop-back game where you're kind of inviting that pass rush as well. So when you get behind, that's sometimes what happens. And so it's important that we start fast enough to where we can kind of stay in our mold and not have to turn into that kind of two-minute mold as the game goes on.
Q. And how do you all fix the false starts, seven games into the season, that's a procedural thing that you normally don't see this late in the season?
KIRK COUSINS: Yeah. It's kind of unique, I think, to this week. Some of them was just trying to make a check, trying to get out of a play with a blitz. And so sometimes it's just unfortunate. And we'll have to be on the screws about that this week and be better up ahead.
Q. Raheem mentioned that all three phases, defense, special teams and offense came out flat. Did you sense that or try to get a jump start to the offense?
KIRK COUSINS: I think we didn't -- unable to score on the first possession. Would have loved to have started faster. Did have the penalties that hurt that specific drive. Converted first down, converted and moved the football the second drive as well. But then just missed that play to Ray-Ray that I felt loomed large when we had an opportunity there to get behind the defense and we weren't able to connect, that was one that I wanted back.
Q. Bijan said that the good teams are able to put these type of games behind them. How do you do that and not forget what caused this type of game to happen?
KIRK COUSINS: Well, it's both, right? I mean you definitely go into tomorrow and we have to be hard on ourselves, coach one another hard, be candid about what we each can do better and you have to kind of start with yourself and raise your hand and say, I gotta do this better. So that's the part of what good teams do, but then certainly you have to move forward as well, and that's what Wednesday is all about. And there's a phrase they use in the league that you can't let your previous opponent beat you twice, and I think that's kind of what he's trying to say is that at some point you do turn the payable and you move forward. And many times a performance that you don't like can galvanize you and sharpen your edge a little bit, and that's certainly what you want a performance like this to do.
Q. So as a veteran on this team, is that something that you would tell guys as a group or individually or is that something you would not tell at this point, or say?
KIRK COUSINS: I think it's everything. I think, whether it's meetings, whether it's your own conversations, whether it's out on the practice field, I just think that everybody understands that you have to go back to work. You have to you have improve, you gotta fix things that weren't good enough, and you gotta understand that win or lose, each game is its own entity and the next Sunday is coming and you have another fresh start there and try to stack a much better performance.
Q. Because you've won so many different games in different ways, special teams, defense or the offense, is it easier, then, just to throw this one away, look at it as an aberration or a fluke because all three phases weren't in sync?
KIRK COUSINS: Well, I think it's an opportunity to learn from it. I don't know about throwing away. I think as Bijan was saying, at some point you do throw it away and move forward, but not until you've talked about, hey, I need to be better here, why didn't this work better, where were we deficient. Where can we be better. So you ask those questions. You're candid about it. You take the coaching, you tell the truth to one another and then you certainly have to move forward. And that rebound is really true in pro football after a tough loss, but also after a win. You have to be able to learn from a game and then move forward regardless.
Q. Kirk, you mentioned the penalties being a big one in this one and you focused in on the Ray-Ray miss. But what else top of your head right now is really frustrating about this one in particular?
KIRK COUSINS: Turnovers are always a little large. Certainly the sac fumble was a tough play. I just felt like -- that was my fault. I felt like on a third down I was probably trying a little too hard to try to convert and not turn into a fourth and long or having to punt. And at some point you probably just need to throw it away or maybe get back side to Bijan there as a check-down. If it's not a first down, it's not a first down. So you kind of learn your lesson there in a hard way.
So those two plays a little large for me, and I think that's kind of the ones that stick out enough.
Q. Kirk, Rafael Hayes with a big point conversion. You've been in the league a little bit. And so you've been in situations like this where you've won a couple of games, you have a streak of winning and you have a fluke game like this or a game like this. With a younger team that hasn't dealt with that, don't have any experience as far as that, do you sense that you should become more vocal at this time for your team?
KIRK COUSINS: I think I should really be the same person. You gotta be yourself, and in my case as a quarterback, I do think it is probably being relatively vocal. But you don't change who you are. I think players can see fake from a mile away. You gotta be authentic. But who I've been ought to be who I'll be, and just have good communication, have productive meetings tomorrow and we all just have to learn from what took place and how to improve.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports