Below is the full transcript of Coach Steve Sarkisian's Friday teleconference with the beat writers.
Opening Statement:
SS: “As far as the ball game goes, a lot of similarities from what occurred, what I saw visually, when we looked at the tape, came true. We, at the end of the day, didn’t perform the way I would have loved for us to perform. And that goes back to coaching, that goes back to preparation, so we have to do a better job of getting our players in position to perform at a high, high level. And a lot of credit to Washington, they did a heck of a job, they did things they needed to do, at the critical moments. I was frustrated, I was frustrated last night, I’m frustrated today, at moments of the game that I felt like we could have seized opportunities to really swing the game in our favor and it didn’t happen. And that part is frustrating, there’s no other word to describe it. But the reality of it is, we have a lot of football left to play. I know our kids are going to show up and continue to work, we have a great team which is important. When you have a team mentality and those guys show up every single day ready to work, it goes a long, long way. So this is a great challenge for us and I feel really, really good about where we’re heading as a program, and I feel great about the team that we have. We’re going to have obstacles, we’re going to have bumps in the road, but the reality of it is, we’re headed in the right direction and I feel good about where we’re going. I feel bad that we lost this ball game, but parts of this game are going to build us and help us build to what we’re going to be in the future. So I’m looking forward to it.”
What’s the latest on the injuries to Max Tuerk, Claude Pelon, Steven Mitchell Jr. and Biggie Marshall?
SS: “I don’t quite have all the answers to that yet. I do know every one of those injuries is significant, to give you an adjective on it, but I don’t know exactly what all of them are yet. As we move forward, I'll let you guys know. I’m hopeful that they’re all healthy, but I’m not sure yet.”
This is an oversimplification but the running game was working really well and the passing game was struggling, and yet there were times in the fourth quarter when you didn't go back to the run game. Why didn’t you run the ball more?
SS: “It's a heck of a question. I chuckled with you guys, I think it was on, I don’t know what day of the week it was but in my mind it was Wednesday or Thursday, I chuckled with you about what’s wrong with the running game and why didn’t you throw it more. Well, every game is different and there’s games that come where you’re throwing it great and why are you running it. And there’s games where the run game’s going good and why are you throwing it so much. I think this is a classic example of that. It’s a hard one to answer and when you’re in games, you’re trying to find balance, and you’re trying to make it all work. It’s a hard one to answer. We’re calling the stuff that we think it best for our team. You go back to the film and look at the tape and hindsight is 20-20 and you think, man, we could have ran it here or ran it there. The reality of it is, everything we do, everything we call, everything we’re trying to get done is in the best interest of our football team. And nothing we do is trying to be stubborn or trying to do anything in effect to one individual or another individual, it’s truly, out of the best interest of our team. We were just trying to win the game, if we threw it to much or ran it to much or vise versa, it is what it is. But the reality of it is, everything we did in that game last night was in the best interest of our team and trying to win the game.”
Do you have a snap count for Adoree’ Jackson?
SS: “He got put in a really tough situation and we did as a team. The two guys that help him get rest and help him get reps ultimately, both went down in Steven Mitchell and Iman. And so Adoree’ got put in a very tough situation. To his credit, he fought his tail off, he tried to everything he could to perform at the highest level that he could. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough. We couldn’t get it done, we tried everything we could to make that happen, but it was a very difficult situation.” (We later learned Jackson's exact snap count was 94 -- 30 plays on offense, 54 on defense and 10 on special teams.)
Opening Statement:
SS: “As far as the ball game goes, a lot of similarities from what occurred, what I saw visually, when we looked at the tape, came true. We, at the end of the day, didn’t perform the way I would have loved for us to perform. And that goes back to coaching, that goes back to preparation, so we have to do a better job of getting our players in position to perform at a high, high level. And a lot of credit to Washington, they did a heck of a job, they did things they needed to do, at the critical moments. I was frustrated, I was frustrated last night, I’m frustrated today, at moments of the game that I felt like we could have seized opportunities to really swing the game in our favor and it didn’t happen. And that part is frustrating, there’s no other word to describe it. But the reality of it is, we have a lot of football left to play. I know our kids are going to show up and continue to work, we have a great team which is important. When you have a team mentality and those guys show up every single day ready to work, it goes a long, long way. So this is a great challenge for us and I feel really, really good about where we’re heading as a program, and I feel great about the team that we have. We’re going to have obstacles, we’re going to have bumps in the road, but the reality of it is, we’re headed in the right direction and I feel good about where we’re going. I feel bad that we lost this ball game, but parts of this game are going to build us and help us build to what we’re going to be in the future. So I’m looking forward to it.”
What’s the latest on the injuries to Max Tuerk, Claude Pelon, Steven Mitchell Jr. and Biggie Marshall?
SS: “I don’t quite have all the answers to that yet. I do know every one of those injuries is significant, to give you an adjective on it, but I don’t know exactly what all of them are yet. As we move forward, I'll let you guys know. I’m hopeful that they’re all healthy, but I’m not sure yet.”
This is an oversimplification but the running game was working really well and the passing game was struggling, and yet there were times in the fourth quarter when you didn't go back to the run game. Why didn’t you run the ball more?
SS: “It's a heck of a question. I chuckled with you guys, I think it was on, I don’t know what day of the week it was but in my mind it was Wednesday or Thursday, I chuckled with you about what’s wrong with the running game and why didn’t you throw it more. Well, every game is different and there’s games that come where you’re throwing it great and why are you running it. And there’s games where the run game’s going good and why are you throwing it so much. I think this is a classic example of that. It’s a hard one to answer and when you’re in games, you’re trying to find balance, and you’re trying to make it all work. It’s a hard one to answer. We’re calling the stuff that we think it best for our team. You go back to the film and look at the tape and hindsight is 20-20 and you think, man, we could have ran it here or ran it there. The reality of it is, everything we do, everything we call, everything we’re trying to get done is in the best interest of our football team. And nothing we do is trying to be stubborn or trying to do anything in effect to one individual or another individual, it’s truly, out of the best interest of our team. We were just trying to win the game, if we threw it to much or ran it to much or vise versa, it is what it is. But the reality of it is, everything we did in that game last night was in the best interest of our team and trying to win the game.”
Do you have a snap count for Adoree’ Jackson?
SS: “He got put in a really tough situation and we did as a team. The two guys that help him get rest and help him get reps ultimately, both went down in Steven Mitchell and Iman. And so Adoree’ got put in a very tough situation. To his credit, he fought his tail off, he tried to everything he could to perform at the highest level that he could. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough. We couldn’t get it done, we tried everything we could to make that happen, but it was a very difficult situation.” (We later learned Jackson's exact snap count was 94 -- 30 plays on offense, 54 on defense and 10 on special teams.)
