Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera and multiple players spoke to the media following the team's 12-7 win over the Chicago Bears. Here are some of the top quotes from their press conferences.
Ron Rivera
On what the win means for the team:
"Well it gives you a little confidence that if you stick together and you continue to work at it, you give yourself a chance. A couple times we tried to hurt ourselves. When you get an opportunity...and you bow your neck, that's what you need to do."
On the final defensive drive:
"Everything was fine until we let the kid scramble for 39 yards. That's the hard part. You've got him contained, you have a chance to sack him on the first play. They convert on their third down, and now you got them a little confused and he pulls the ball down and runs. That's undisciplined. That's when you get angry, because again...we had done a pretty good job of all the rush lanes, and for whatever reason, we got a little undisciplined at the end. And it cost us. They got ball down to the 5-yard line."
On having 12 men on the field twice:
"That's unacceptable. Now one of them, I tried to get the time out, they substituted late, and I was trying to get that straight. But the second one, where they took a shot, that's unacceptable. That's will get corrected. That will be addressed."
On the nature of the game:
"It was a physical game. One of the things we wanted to do was try and come out and establish the run, which we were able to do. It was tough sledding at first, but if you stick with it, sometimes you get an opportunity to wear them down a couple of times, and we did. We have a couple of nice runs. When Antonio [Gibson] came in the second half and he had a couple off tackle, we thought that was really good. That kind of changed a little bit of the momentum for us as far as our running game was concerned as well.
On the energy in the locker room:
"That's something that's important. Their energy, their excitement is something we can build off of. That's something we can talk about. That feeling, that sensation of what it means to go out and play well. That was kind of cool. The guys gave me the game ball it's my first victory as a coach here at Soldier Field We talked today just before pregame meal in the meetings, and we talked about coming here was a special thing for me. It was a really cool deal. I heard from some of my teammates who sent me text messages and stuff like that, well wishes. I told them it's really special to be able to do that. But you know what? We need to come home and we need to defend our territory and make it special. We can work off that energy, and that's what I want to do."
Carson Wentz
On how it feels to get a win:
"Huge. Huge. It's hard to win in this league. We've seen it. We've been a part of a couple now. It definitely was an ugly one, but we'll take ugly sometimes. We'll take a win, especially with a skid that we were on. So, by any means necessary, and we got it done. It feels very good. It feels much needed.
On his block in the second half:
"Shoot, that's back-to-back weeks now. [Brian Robinson] must like to bounce it back outside. I don't know. It's not planned by any means, but especially when you're down there at the goal line, and it was an ugly game, I'm gonna do anything I can to help this team get in the end zone. That was fun, I guess. I don't know. Hopefully I'm not making a living doing it, though.
On Brian Robinson getting his first touchdown:
"It was cool to get him back last week, and then huge to get him in the end zone this week for his first of hopefully many [touchdowns]. But especially at a critical point in the game. Crucial point in the ball game that we needed to score. We needed to get in, and I think we all kind of knew that we were gonna give him the rock a couple times down there, and he got it done for us. I was happy for him, proud of him, and like I said, hopefully the first of many."
Brian Robinson
On scoring his first NFL touchdown:
"It feels great. I'm thinking about all the work I put in leading up to this point, and it was all worth it."
On Carson Wentz's block:
"I didn't notice it until after the play, but when I went back and watched it, I was like, 'Carson, man.' That's the second week that he threw a big block for me out on the perimeter, and it just made me so happy to see him out there working, just help me get extra yards."
On what went through his mind after his touchdown:
"I'm just thanking God for another opportunity to be on the football field. I'm blessed to have scored my first touchdown. That felt great, under the lights, the atmosphere. It was a great atmosphere, great moment. And I'm so thankful."
Jonathan Allen
On his interception:
I have a very high standard for myself. It was a great defensive game. I can't take all the credit for it. I'm playing beside some great players, and they allow me to make some plays. As a defense, I think we played really well today."
On the goal line stand in the fourth quarter:
"God is good, man. The NFL is not for the feint of heart, man. It was a tough game. I'm glad we were able to pull it out at the end."
On the goal line stands in the game:
"That just says a lot about the mentality of the defense, not getting frustrated, not getting down on ourselves when they get down there but stepping up and making the plays when we needed to win the game."
