“We came here to win the football game”

On the question of whether the style of play will change at all due to the loss of two offensive linemen: “You can't do that. You have to trust your guys. You have to believe in your guys (and) you have to go out there and execute your game plan. There's a reason they call it a team. You believe in your guys, you go out there and do it. You rely heavily on the guys out there, the veterans, who can do it. You are decisive in your decisions and you make them and you live with them.”

On the question of whether he feels comfortable with the short runs in the last third and fourth attempts: “Of course you don't have a good feeling about them now. They didn't work, did they? But you play one through the middle with Tyler Allgeier. You don't get it, you get thrown back. You don't get any yards on this play. You get the fourth attempt with Bijan [Robinson]and you don't get any yards on that play. So, you don't like the decision, you don't like the results, but that was our plan and we were determined. We called it, we were very aggressive and we lost the football game.”

When asked if he felt that the team was generally more successful at running with the ball: “We really did. We thought we were more successful. They did a good job of sending some zero packages and handball looks and catching a lot of people at the line of scrimmage. They did a good job of shooting some gaps and making some plays there. Good football team. (Nick) Bolton did a really good job of shooting the gap and really making some plays. You know, all those guys, Chris Jones is Chris Jones, and that's a good football team. That's a very good football team. They were able to come out today and Bolton stopped the run. And vice versa. We didn't. They ran the ball pretty well.”

When asked whether he was satisfied with the defense’s performance: “It's hard to say you're happy with the way your defense played. Up here, you don't pick sides. You don't pat people on the back when they lose. That's not what we're here for. We played well enough to earn a chance to win, but there are always things you can do better.”

He assesses the current state of the team after the first three games each made a difference of one point: “We're 1-2. It's pretty simple. The record shows it for you.”

The next two games against two division opponents: “We have the pen in our hand and we can't worry about the next two weeks. We just have to focus on the next opponent, which happens to be a southern opponent, and we'll prepare and go out and play that football game.”