"I think we improved a little bit tonight; nothing earth shaking, but we did get a little bit better. We’re going to have to get a lot better. We came out throwing the ball, and obviously we were not as accurate as you’d like. We ended up throwing the ball away too many times, but we did have a lot of plays. A lot of people got experience out there tonight. Nassib kind of fought his way through some tough goings early on and played better towards the end. I felt there were some outstanding individual plays, but again, it’s in front of us. It’s not all there right now, but to win is a good thing. To win at home is a good thing."
On the loss of two more players at the safety position:
"It’s amazing with the way that’s going. We earmarked it as a problem position for us with the safety position and we had two guys hurt tonight in that spot. Hopefully we’ll get a couple of guys back to practice that weren’t able to play. It’s just hard to even comment on."
Q: Bennett Jackson?
A: Sprained knee. I don’t know any more than that.
Q: It was pretty clear you were trying to get Odell Beckham Jr. going early on in the game. Was it disappointing that it didn’t happen tonight for Odell?
A: We had a number of plays for him and tried to direct things in that direction, but everybody has got to play better.
Q: Last week, the defense said they weren’t playing as fast. What did you think of their speed tonight?
A: I think we played better. Their first offense did a pretty good job. They hit us with that short yardage run, which is the one I remember the most. We’re talking about trying to stop the run. I think they had 55 yards. We had 75, which is not where we should be. The way it comes down was a lot of snaps and probably too many passes, but for the most part we did okay against the run with the numbers being what they were. We played faster tonight.
Q: Steve Spagnuolo is putting together his defense, but do you think you should be seeing more of a pass rush now or do you think that will come together later on?
A: I don’t know what the numbers were, but we got some pressure on the quarterbacks tonight. I would say that was better. I don’t know what the exact number is, but we did get some pressure.
Q: How would you view the overall defensive effort tonight at first glance?
A: The thing we did was hold them to field goals. In doing that, that’s a big play, is to force the field goal and it’s a four-point differential. We didn’t always stop them, but we held them to field goals.
Q: How would you assess the play of the offensive line?
A: Obviously we’re trying to get some cohesion with the offensive line. We let them play a little bit longer. We had 30-something plays in the first half and we left the first line in there. I have to see the tape in order to tell you the exact comment on that, but I think for the most part they did okay.
Q: What’s the thinking of having John Jerry at right tackle?
A: He’s got to be able to play a couple of spots. The same thing with (Geoff) Schwartz; we played him at tackle and guard.
Q: Did you think Schwartz looked good health-wise? Are you happy he made it through the game healthy?
A: That’s not the gauge. The gauge isn’t he made it through. It’s how he played. I can’t tell you until I look at the tape on that.
Q: Was timing the overriding issue with the passing game or does it go beyond that?
A: That and practicing together. We haven’t had a lot of practice together and some of the guys, as you saw… (Geremy) Davis, I thought did okay tonight. (Corey) Washington had an opportunity to do a couple of things. Dwayne Harris made a couple of plays for us. James Jones made a couple of plays. So when you look at it that way, knowing what we were coming into in terms of who wasn’t going to play and how long Odell was going to play; these guys got a lot of snaps out there tonight. For the most part, I’d say they benefitted by it.
Q: What was the disconnect between Eli and Odell?
A: They will connect. Whatever you’re looking for there, I don’t know. Accuracy.... A little bit off with the ball. You saw one ball inside and it looked like it was going to be a sure completion and he couldn’t quite get to it.