Q. P.J., could you take us through that third and three play and what you were looking for, what options you had in terms of receivers and what happened?
P.J. WALKER: It was a one-high, two-high read. They played 44 palms. They blitzed the nickel. The inside, we was throwing double slants to the field. Just trying to put the ball on Coop, let him fall for the first down. Got tipped in the air. That's just out of our control for that one, so.
Q. Were you surprised at all you guys were running so well there -- Kevin decided to throw it?
P.J. WALKER: Not really surprised at all. We just playing the game, you know, and just happened to have a tipped ball at a crucial moment in the game, and the minute it got tipped in the air, I felt the bad feeling that it was going to be a pick or something like that.
Q. You make so many big plays and, you know, you're kind of a gunslinger and you take a lot of chances, but that also (inaudible) with the turnovers. So do you feel like -- I mean, that's just your style of play. You have to take some of the good with that bad or --
P.J. WALKER: Uh, I mean, turnovers happen. I haven't seen a quarterback play a football game in this career that never really turn the ball over, so, I mean, they happen. I just got to try to eliminate the two. The second one hurt especially. The first one, you know, is a miscommunication between me and 85, and, you know, just, it's tough. It's tough. Especially in a crucial moment in the game, having the lead with under three minutes left in the game, you know, we got to find a way to get that first down by any means, whether it's passing or running.
Q. How disappointing is it to have this game seem like --
P.J. WALKER: Very disappointing, especially the way we started off. We started off real slow, and we was able to fight back as a time and battle. It just shows the grit and the grind that we got in this locker room.
As a group, we're just going to continue to be resilient, come back next week and just not let this one come back with us.
Q. In the time -out to discuss that call, was there a lot of disagreement or was there --
P.J. WALKER: No, there wasn't no disagreement at all. We thought it was a good call and we just had options and they just made a great play as a defense.
Q. Was it going to Cooper?
P.J. WALKER: Yeah.
Q. What changed for the offense after that slow start?
P.J. WALKER: Uh, just finding ways to get big plays, you know. I just thought that we was, as a team, we got into a rhythm after that second drive, I believe, and we just felt good, just playing and once we got going, I think we had a four-play drive or a five-play drive and got into the endzone pretty quick and we realized we settled in and we was good to go.
Q. How did the offense -- how was it able to overcome the noise?
P.J. WALKER: Yeah, that was really good as a team, as a group. I think we only hat one false start, so for us that was really good as a group and we just gotta play clean, you know. Not even we, just me. I just gotta play clean, I gotta play better as a player to give us a better chance to win this game.
Q. Can you talk about the way the defense just put the clamps on after you guys fell behind in the first quarter.
P.J. WALKER: Yeah, the defense did a great job giving us another opportunity to go out there and take the lead, they did a great job of just giving us a chance, you know. It was a good game, and our defense played great, you know. As an offense, we got to help them a little more. If it's putting up points, milking the clock at the end of that game where even, you know, me just not having that turnover at the end of the game, pinning them back. It could have been okay to just get an incompletion at that point and just pin them back and make them drive the field on our defense. It's pretty tough for them, but, you know, things happened that was out of control, and that was the way it went today.
Q. Are you planning to start against Arizona next weekend?
P.J. WALKER: I prepare to start every week. You just can't go out there not prepared mentally, physically and go out there and expect that if you do get called, to go out there and perform well or play well in general.
So for me, I just continue to keep the same preparation every week and just keep going.
Q. Did you feel your personal play improved in practice all week?
P.J. WALKER: I thought it did. I thought it did today. At times I was still a little off with a couple of receivers, but I thought I played a little better today, but still, just them two turnovers really hurt.
Q. ...Amari and the big plays that he continues to be --
P.J. WALKER: Yeah, week in and week out, 2 just continue to step up and make plays. I gotta do a better job for him. At the end of that game, we had a big play available for him and the safety. I saw the safety fly over there and he scared me off a little bit, made me throw the ball off side and, you know, just me giving 2 the opportunity to go up there and make a play. I gotta be better at that.
Q. Did you not see the blitzer on the blind side...
P.J. WALKER: No, I didn't. That was on me. I got to change the protection on that one.
Q. Did you guys know the screen game would be so effective?
P.J. WALKER: We go into each week thinking our screen game is going to be effective, and we take pride in it. We take pride in being an elite screen team, and I thought we did a great job today. We had some big plays. They got us an opportunity to go for it, to get in tight. The opportunity to go out there. We got third and shorts, fourth and shorts because of the screen game so it was big today.
Q. This is yet another game right down to the wire. What do these games say about you guys as a football team about your scrappiness and grittiness and all that?
P.J. WALKER: Yeah, it's going to be week in and week out. You going to have these battles. That's just the way the league go. You just got to be ready for them. The moment is the moment, so you just got to go out there and live in the moment and play and don't worry about being in a situation that's too big or anything like that, just go out there and have fun and enjoy it while you can.
Q. Do you feel a responsibility while going out there playing, you see Deshaun over there and he's looking at the Surface and he's helping you. Do you feel an enormous responsibility to keep this train chugging along?
P.J. WALKER: Absolutely. Absolutely. That's my job and my job is to continue to, like I tell him, before I step on that football field I tell him I got him. I let him know I'm gonna go out there and handle business for him. So for me, it's just continuing to try to build on that and just continue to try to grow. He's just continuing to help me week in and week out every day on the sideline and practice, so just having that communication with him helps.
Q. P.J., you guys ran a lot more plays and (inaudible) that time of possession.
P.J. WALKER: Yeah, that sucks, saw that.
Q. My question is, I know that's a focus for you in general but was there extra emphasis on that this week?
P.J. WALKER: There wasn't. I just knew -- we knew as a team we needed to come out here and execute as an offense and to start off as slow as we did and to still to have the time of possession, the time of possession and all that is big and we got a good group in that locker room and we just got to put it together, and if I'm going to be playing, I got to play bettor give us a better chance.
Q. What does it say about Jerome Ford. He was supposed to miss some time for an ankle sprain to get out there --
P.J. WALKER: Yeah, they're both tough dudes, man. They gave us a chance. They gave us what they had, and I thought Jed played well. You know, Jed went out there and did his job even after not being able to go a couple days during the week. He went the out there and did a good job today. Thank y'all.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports