Haslett Q&A

Comments from Rams interim head coach Jim Haslett after the Patriots' 23-16 win, as transcribed by the Patriots' media relations staff (click on full entry for complete transcript):

Opening statement
On injuries, Leonard Little pulled a hamstring. I don’t know how bad it is. He’ll be day to day and we’ll get an MRI tomorrow and see how he is. Besides that, the game. The game really boiled down to second half field position. They had great field position on offense all day. Our offense had short field position all day. We had too many penalties on special teams and that is really what it came down to. It’s a shame because we fought hard, we played hard, we competed, we did a nice job in that area. It is just disappointing, the outcome. But, we have to fix those other things, the field position. We had a couple of chances, we had two turnovers and an onside kick that we recovered early in the game and we got three points out of it. It was disappointing. I thought we could have gotten some more points. And then after that, the field position just swung and we couldn’t get it back. Every time we would get something out we had a penalty and that was really the demise of the team in the third and fourth quarter.

Q: You also had a fourth down stop early on in the second half, so there were four good opportunities that you only got two field goals out of.
JH: Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. I forgot about that one. But, yes, we didn’t get enough points out of those. And, again, after that we lost all field position and never got it back.

Q: Is Leonard Little’s injury an aggravation of the previous injury?
JH: Yes.

Q: Did Steven Jackson do much in pregame warm-ups?
JH: Yes, he did a lot. He just couldn’t go. Every time he planted and tried to cut on it, it grabbed. So, we thought for him and what is best for this team was not to let him go.

Q: You said this week that this game might be something you could learn from after the two victories. Can you take something from this game?
JH: First of all, that is a good football team that you’re playing. It’s a team that was undefeated last season in the regular season and they have a lot of good football players and a great football coach. They kind of hung in there. I thought we battled them. I thought we played them toe for toe. Again, like I said, I think it boiled down to the field position in the fourth quarter. We just lost it and couldn’t get it back. But, I don’t know. What do you gain from it? Guys fought hard. They played hard. They did everything we like. We have to cut out the penalties and we have to somehow get field position back. They do have very good special teams and they probably outplayed our special teams today.

Q: You went for it on fourth-and-one early and then you had the onside kick. Were those plays just to win this game, or is it a mindset that you are trying to create?
JH: A little bit of both. We thought we were going to have to do some things up here to try to win the game. We actually had a couple other things that we just waved off. You have to do what you have to do to try to win the game and we thought that was the best thing for us. If we would have scored at the end, I would have gone for two to win the game. When you come up here and play this team on the road you have to try to do whatever you can to win.

Q: Why would you have gone for two?
JH: Because I thought the environment where you are, you don’t know if you are going to get the ball. You have an opportunity to win it right there, you have the ball in your hands. Why not just win it right there? Why put it in the flip of a coin?

Q: What did you think of Antonio Pittman’s play today?
JH: I thought he did well. He got a lot of work and I thought he played well. He ran hard and held on to the ball. I thought he did a nice job. He’ll be tired tomorrow.

Q: How about Donnie Avery’s play?
JH: He gets a nice big catch. We’re going to have to find ways to get him the ball more—him and Torry [Holt] and Keenan [Burton] because they do have playmaking ability. I wish we could have scored some more points today.

Q: On that last series before the interception, was that a hot read that Keenan Burton missed?
JH: You figured that one out? That’s pretty good. You figured maybe when he didn’t look back that was it? Yes, he missed the hot read.

Q: Why is Kevin Faulk such a tough matchup?
JH: He is a powerful kid. He’s got great speed. He’s got that shake and bake in him. He is a great receiver, and he does a little of everything for him. He is a great blocker, and that is why he is in on third down. We thought that [Heath] Evans might even play a little running back today because he has done it in the past. But, they used Faulk and that other guy.

Q: Why do you think Richard Seymour was so hard to block today?
JH: He is hard to block all the time. He is a heck of a player. That kid wants to play. He is hard to block. It doesn’t make a difference who is on him. He is one of the better ones in the league.

Q: Did Matt Cassel’s play surprise you at all?
JH: Well, they have good receivers. We didn’t do some things, leverage-wise, early in the game and they got some balls on us. But, when you have a guy like number 81 [Randy Moss] and 83 [Wes Welker] out there, they have some guys that can go get it and they are good players.

Q: You connected on that one long touchdown pass. Was anything else like that open?
JH: Not really. We took a couple shots and they played a lot of double coverage most of the time, especially when they got the lead, second-and-long, third-and-long. They do a nice job on that.

Q: What happened to Ron Bartell?
JH: He hurt his shoulder, but he is fine. He’ll probably be sore tomorrow and he’ll be limited, but it will be alright. He came back in.

Q: How about the tackle by Josh Brown?
JH: Well, I’m not sure. I know we missed a couple tackles again on special teams. The guy showed how good an athlete he is. He ran the guy down and made a nice tackle. Again, that is what I was talking about on especially the field position. We had them back on about the 25-yard line and he ends up going all the way to midfield. So, that is the kind of stuff I am talking about.

Q: Arizona lost today, so next week you still have an opportunity to gain some ground.
JH: You still have to play that team twice. We still have to play Seattle and San Francisco twice. So, this loss wasn’t pleasant, but everything you’ve got is still ahead of you.

Q: What did you think of Marc Bulger’s play?
JH: I don’t know. I have to take a look. If you look at where he is all day it is hard to evaluate. We will look at the film and go from there.

Q: You took over a month ago. Do you feel like you have a better grasp of the team now?
JH: Well, I think I had a grasp the last couple weeks. Every week is different. You are going to play teams that are hot when you play them and then you play teams that aren’t so hot. This team has won a couple of games and had a nice big week last week. They actually blew out Denver. So, for us to come in and compete, I thought we did a pretty good job on the run, we got some turnovers. There is a lot of good that happened in this game.