September 28, 2009 Redskins Park
REDSKINS HEAD COACH JIM ZORN
On defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth's injury:
"He actually has a strained glut. It's high up on his hip I think he's going to be fine."
On how he felt the defense played:
"In this game, I felt that we didn't win the one-on-one battle in coverage at times. We had to handle two really good wide receivers and we let them catch some balls and that was an issue. I thought their strategy was a good one against us in that they max protected almost the whole day for [quarterback] Matt Stafford and he got time to throw on rhythm and they ran good routes and he got rid of the ball. The two big plays were scramble plays and we flushed him as well. Eventually we did get some pressure on him, we flushed him and yet we didn't plaster in the secondary, and what I mean by that is we didn't really hold our responsibilities and we paid for it."
On what he thinks the problem is:
"I think in the big picture, things are progressing and we're getting better. It's not coming in the wind, and we're going to continue to press on and take care of those details. I think as we've lost two games, and there are high expectations for us, we have high expectations for us, I think that creates a little bit of an issue."
On looking back at being 6-2 last year:
"I think every year is new. I don't look back, 2008 is gone. We're dealing with 2009. Guys are trying to look beyond the reality of taking care of what we have to do offensively, defensively and special teams."
On if he spoke with owner Daniel Snyder after the game:
"Not much. Having a loss and trying to get out of there and with all the press we haven't spent a lot of time talking. I'll be spending a lot of time with him as we go along this week, no question."
On how the captains are keeping up team morale:
"I think we have excellent men in that locker room. We have great captains. They handle a lot of things. I think they are doing a wonderful job at keeping our guys together and keeping the positive things that are coming out of the game and trying to alleviate some of the negative things."
On cornerback DeAngelo Hall's comments that the team had more fight last year as compared to now:
"He came in later on in the season when we were cranked up pretty good. This is the beginning of the season and we have lost two games. I don't have any problem with him saying that but I don't have a comeback for him. I think those are comments of real frustration and we are going to find ways to make a difference and make that change."
On what he needs to do to get the team to respond to him:"I will be real to them. I don't need to yell at a bunch of men to say, 'come on lets really go now'. I don't need to play a psychological game with them either. The thing I like to do is show them what actually happened, regroup and then make some changes if necessary and those are things our coaches will do as we go on to make little fine-tuned adjustments to find out how we can be better next week."
On the final play in Sunday's game:
"If you looked in the end zone they had both of their wide receivers standing in the back. We decided to go with a play that would give us a chance to run the ball in with an opportunity to pitch, lateral and try to get in running. That is all I can tell you about that play."
On running back Clinton Portis' physical state:
Clinton got kicked in the calf. He is doing very well. I thought he ran the ball very hard. I thought Clinton did a really nice job yesterday helping us in protection schemes as well. I think he had a good game. We only got him a few touches in the first half but we started to put things together in the second [half]. On the last drive our guys were getting gassed, even Ladell [Betts] came out and we put Rock [Cartwright] in just to get a fresh guy in there."
On guard/tackle Chad Rinehart's performance in the run game:
"I thought he did a nice job in the run game. It didn't affect my play calling at all. I thought he was decent in the passing game and we will see what happens. This will be a new week and a new team to go against and hopefully he will get that much better."
"I think he did enough [to start again this week]. I think he competed really hard. Buges (Joe Bugel) is never satisfied. I haven't talked to Buges (Joe Bugel) about what he wants to do there. He is just going to keep those guys ready to go."
On getting what he expects out of wide receiver Malcolm Kelly and wide receiver Devin Thomas::
"I think both receivers are coming on. I don't think they are where they want to be, where they need to be for us, but I think they are improving as we go along. I have seen improvement each week as we have gone along. I think Devin coming in at a supporting role has been really improving. Antwaan [Randle El] has been great. You saw what Santana Moss can do this week if we can get him uncovered, which we did. Malcolm is a big target. I think he has to continue to improve his playing speed. He has got great speed. He's just got to improve his playing speed so that he can be more effective and we are hoping we get that."
On if some of the players need a reality check in terms of what they are capable of:
"I think as coaches and players we really examine, as we lose a game like this, offensively, how we did not score touchdowns? I think with the loss, every detail is so important. We have tremendous talent on this football team. As coaches, we have to put our guys in the right spots and give them an opportunity and when they have the opportunity they need to go out and make the play. I think we are doing it at times and we have been less than that at times. I don't know if it just has to do with overall talent."
