Indianapolis Colts Media Conference

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Head Coach Mike Vrabel

Visitors Postgame Press Conference


Indianapolis - 23, Tennessee - 16

Q. How much do you feel like the red zone issues came back to haunt you?

MIKE VRABEL: I think that, you know, that's certainly part of it, our ability to score touchdowns down there. But I didn't think too much more than that. We got to play better on defense. And then, you know, be able to run the football and do the things that we've done down here that we know is going to help us win. Red zone offense is something that has been a factor in helping us win. But, you know, there's a lot of things, as well.

Q. (No microphone.)

MIKE VRABEL: Disappointed that we lost. You know, and for all the factors that we lost. Like, that's my -- just disappointed that we lost. And we'll have to come back next week and get some of those things fixed. Nothing -- you know what I mean? Short yardage run, got out of there. And made some other -- weren't able to get off the field and on third down. It seemed like when they needed to run the football, they were able to. So, certainly, frustrating.

Q. Was there thought to pull Cornerback Kristian Fulton?

MIKE VRABEL: Yeah, there was thought. I thought -- I gave Kristian the challenge to do his job. And the double move is one thing. Even at half time, I said -- you know, try to make sure that you're square and that you're -- that's how we can play it. I mean, the referees thought he slid over, you know, late.

But we just got to make sure we keep our eyes on our man and not in the backfield. We're in man coverages. We're not going to intercept the football in man coverage. Our job in man coverage is not letting the guy catch the ball. And if the ball gets tipped, then, of course, safety is probably going to intercept it. But we can't go, you know, looking for interceptions in man coverage, we just got to be in man coverage.

Q. Defensive Issues?

MIKE VRABEL: I think -- I mean, I know there was some guys out of their gaps, guys jumping around trying to make plays. And what we got to do is we got to set an edge, build a wall, and swarm and tackle. And I'm sure there will be some missed tackles, but I know there was some gaps that were wrong. I know one that was an edge.

And, again, the big one that probably makes it look worse than what it was because there was probably a lot of two-yard gains and one-yard gains, like I said, 56 or whatever they had, was on one.

But then there was some other times when it felt like we needed to run it, they ran it. And then they were able to push us into the end zone.

Q. Mike, how big was that swing at the start of the second half?

MIKE VRABEL: Not big enough.

Q. What's the consistent problem right now?

MIKE VRABEL: Yeah, not big enough. Right? So not a great job and we're just not going to be able to come back there and do enough with it defensively.

Q. What's the consistent problem right now?

MIKE VRABEL: First and 20, self-inflicted wounds. You know, I thought we threw the football, I thought we were productive. You know, we needed to be able to run it. And, you know, when we get down there, we don't score. They didn't convert it. I don't know, tried to hit a play and didn't hit it.

Q. With Kristian, Mike, is he doing things --

MIKE VRABEL: You'll have a second to talk to Kristian. You know what I mean? I told you, his eyes were in the backfield on one-on-one with Pittman. You can ask Kristian.

Q. It looked like he was trying to make a play outside of his --

MIKE VRABEL: You can ask him as soon as I finish up.

Q. (No microphone.)

MIKE VRABEL: Well, just trying to, you know, being able to hop the back over. I thought we were able to find a spot when we wanted to run it. Just didn't get it, didn't pick it up. I thought we'd obviously get it, so we went for it. And we didn't pick it up.

Q. The execution on that play, Mike, was that not blocked up the way you envisioned it on the right side?

MIKE VRABEL: Well, we need to pick up -- you're not going to be able to block them all. You have to try to stay on there and gain a yard. Short yardage sometimes is a little dirty and make sure everybody is covered up. And they tackled us and we didn't get it.

I think that was the game. I thought we had an opportunity to get the ball back and go score. We didn't stop them until a minute left with no time-outs.

Q. (No microphone.)

MIKE VRABEL: The one we blitzed them, and the ball wobbled and the guy -- I mean, we were in man coverage.

Q. (No microphone.)

MIKE VRABEL: It wasn't there in the game. It was there last week. So you know what I mean? We can't go back and forth, it wasn't there today. That's all I was saying.

Q. Some days you guys have a pretty good system --

MIKE VRABEL: They usually are. That's why you lose. Right? That's -- so you don't score in the red zone and you don't stop the run and you don't get off on third down, you're probably going to lose. Now, I'm not trying to be funny by any means, but that's what happens and it makes it really hard to win.

Q. Are you concerned that those things aren't --

MIKE VRABEL: When we don't do them, sure. I'm concerned. You know what I mean? We got to go find out why. I mean, they blocked us, too. Which wasn't, like -- you know, so we'll figure out why they blocked us. And we were -- we had pass rushers and guys going and we'll figure out what it was and, you know, how we can be better.

Q. (No microphone.)

MIKE VRABEL: Frustrating. You try and get on a streak and try to get something going and try to talk to them about the things you do when you win and try to, you know, validate it. That was the whole message, the entire week, was validating how we needed to play and what we needed to do.

Q. How was it missing tackle, Teair Tart, today?

MIKE VRABEL: He wasn't available. You know what I mean? I don't know what to tell you. I mean, he wasn't healthy enough to play. Yeah, he's helped us. When he's at his best, he's helped us. But I don't know what that means for today. He wasn't out there.

Q. Did you validate the message of the week in today's game?

MIKE VRABEL: Well, we didn't -- we lost the game. You know what I mean? We lost the game. So you can --

Q. Well, did you --

MIKE VRABEL: No, I mean, obviously, not. You know what I mean? Obviously, there were things that we did that were, you know, exactly how we wanted to do them. And then there were too many things that weren't good enough. And, you know, you put a lot into each and every week. You go out and compete and you have to try to make some adjustments, try to make some big plays, critical moments, they made more than we did.

Q. Were you happy with the timeline of the throw?

MIKE VRABEL: That was one of the things that I mentioned earlier and I thought we protected well enough and threw it well enough today. So that was a good thing. Took care of the ball. I mean, the last play -- you know what I mean? It was -- you know, we didn't create any turnovers on defense. I mean, we got to play better on offense.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
137713-1-1839 2023-10-08 20:40:00 GMT

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