Postgame Quotes: Las Vegas Raiders 25, New Orleans Saints 10 | 2024 NFL Week 17

Quotes from Darren Rizzi, Cam Jordan, Tyrann Mathieu, Spencer Rattler and Demario Davis

Dec 29, 2024 at 06:57 PM

SAINTS INTERIM HEAD COACH DARREN RIZZI

Opening Statement:

"Listen, it's naturally disappointing. The story of the game isn't really too hard. We couldn't sustain any drives, and we didn't convert a third down on the day (until the final offensive drive). They converted 10 out of 18. That was a huge, huge, huge part of the game. It was a big emphasis coming in. We obviously didn't execute well enough in that area. We shot ourselves in the foot in the first half, a couple times with penalties. We are off the field the first drive of the game, and then, we have got a defensive offsides. Then, I thought we had a little momentum going at the half. Before the half, we got three points at the end of the half. Then, we came out in the second half, and again, could not get a scoring drive going. At the end of the day, it's just disappointing. We talked about time of possession coming into the game being a huge factor. To the Raiders' credit, they flipped the script on us. They had the ball for 37-plus minutes. It's just not a good enough effort by everybody today. Like I said, I am certainly disappointed. I know a lot of people are going to put it all on the quarterback, but we really didn't give him much help today. Unfortunately, we suffered a couple of injuries in the game. Kendre Miller, as you know, went out with a concussion. (Marques Valdes-) Scantling went out there at the end. He's getting checked on. I think it was a re-aggravation of the same injury he had last week. We will see what happens. Jaylan Ford got a lower leg injury there on the punt cover. We will kind of see where he at. Again, it was a disappointing game. You can't score ten points and win in this league. We have to find a way in this last week to manufacture some more points. That's where we're at."

On if the Raiders' second half adjustments caused more troubles:

"No listen, we did not execute. We dropped some passes. We missed a couple protection-wise. I felt like Spencer [Rattler] never really got settled in there. He was moving around, and he made some plays moving around, to his credit, but like I said, we had some drops, we had some penalties offensively that kind of stalled. If I'm not mistaken, we were over the 40, 40-plus-yard line twice and had penalties that pushed us back into a punt situation. When you are in a game like this, you have to come away with some points when you get down there. I don't think there was a schematic thing that they did as much as it was an execution thing by us."

On Cam Jordan's career as a Saint:

"The one thing about Cam, for the six years I've been here with Cam, the best thing I can say about Cam is that he's the same guy every day. He's got a phenomenal attitude, a phenomenal approach. He is as professional as they come. Again, you walk in our locker room every day, and you wouldn't know what our record is by his approach, attitude and leadership. I hope he keeps playing, and hope this is not his last game at home, but I haven't seen anything different out of that guy. That guy, again, the best thing I can say about him is you know exactly what you're getting every day. The consistency thing is why he's been so good at what he's been doing."

On QB Spencer Rattler's performance:

"I feel like it's a little hard to evaluate, to be honest with you. Before I watch the film and just watching with my eyes from the sideline, I didn't feel like we gave him a chance a lot of times. Some of those third downs. He did miss a couple of throws. Obviously, the throw that he had to Cedrick [Wilson Jr.] that got tipped up in the air and got picked off, then the pass at the end. I know we had the (offensive pass interference) called on us when we were going to be in scoring range inside the five-yard line and we had the penalty. It is going to be a tough evaluation. We are going to have to take a step back and look at it through a different lens because I feel like there were a lot of times where he wasn't getting any help."

On what defensive adjustments are needed:

"Really consistency. We've had the peaks and valleys in the last seven weeks. You saw some signs there from the front with eight sacks in the Washington game. Then, we thought we remedied the run defense a little bit because that had been poor in the first half of the year. Then, again today, if you would have told me these guys were going to rush the ball for 158 (yards), that is not a good formula for us. We thought that was going to be a strong point for us today. It was not. I felt like everything they did everything was falling forward for six, seven, eight yards. I would just say the No. 1 thing would be consistency. First of all, they had 18 third downs (attempts) and converted on 10 of them. The fact that we got them into 18 third-down situations- if we're going to get off the field and give the offense a chance and get the punt return team back out there, we couldn't find a rhythm in third down. To their credit, they converted, and we couldn't get them off the field. I think really that was the No. 1 stat when you look at the game was the third down conversions because those are like turnovers. Again, we were 0-for-8. I think you do not really have to look much past that one statistic. That's really the stat of the day, in my opinion."

On the time of possession difference:

"Too many drives with three, four, five plays. Not enough sustained. Our third down had picked up there a little bit about a month ago when we started trending in the right direction, but these last few weeks we've kind of gone backward a little bit. Naturally, today's is a great example. That's really – the time of possession – get back to the third-and-manageable and converting on those. We just haven't done that—naturally, the quarterback is going to get the majority of the blame on that. I just don't think it's all on him."

On the Raiders' travel issues:

"Yeah, I know a couple of coaches on their team. I knew they got in late last night. Sounds like they just went to bed, woke up and played."

On the long drives plaguing the defense the past two weeks:

"It's definitely frustrating. It's frustrating for everybody. You get them into a third-and-long and, all of a sudden, the offense and return team is up and boom, they've converted. It's certainly deflating at times, for sure, converting third downs. It was the same story last week. We got into some third-and-mediums and -longs, and then we get some penalties and things like that and turn them into third-and-shorts. There's no doubt about it. It's definitely frustrating. If I'm not mistaken, they were out there for 70-something plays, and we were out there for 40-something plays. That's a result of that. That's a result of not being able to convert and not being able to get off the field. That's why I said in the beginning of this presser that was the pretty simple answer to today. You do not really have to do a deep dive on this game."

On Derek Carr, Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave's status:

"I haven't given a ton of thought to that. I can tell you all three of those guys from our conversations last week still aspired to play."

On his personal feelings regarding the loss:

"Well, no one likes this result. This result is not what we are looking for. Anytime, it's hard to be anything but when you don't have the result. I thought, again, we had a great practice week. Our execution just hasn't been good enough. It's frustrating, and hard for me to see the players (go through this). That is the most frustrating thing for me. Those guys are obviously the ones I care about the most. That's the most frustrating part, but we have got one left. We have to find a way to respond and be better."

On if he feels his head coaching chances have dwindled:

"I really do not look at it like that. Maybe from an outside perspective, you guys look at it like that, and you are right. I can't concern myself with that right now. I have to coach this last week, take a step back and then evaluate the whole thing. The powers to be will evaluate the whole thing, and we'll go from there. I can't be overly concerned with that. I'm concerned about the guys in the locker room. That is what I'm concerned about. I'm pissed off. I'm upset for them."

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SAINTS DEFENSIVE END CAMERON JORDAN

On what to take away from today's game:

"It wasn't good enough. 10-25 (score), regardless of who we played. (There was) a lot of juice (and) a lot of energy in the first half. Whatever we did, we didn't finish strong. It's clearly on us."

On taking extra time on the field postgame:

"Yeah, I did. You never know what is going to happen. As much as I feel like my play says I can play three or four more years, two, three, whatever it is, I don't know what's going to happen in the future, so I am going to take care of the people who have always taken care of me."

On doing the pregame chant:

"I called the Who Dat chant for the end of the year (and) at the beginning of the year. I always want to close that thing out. I thought that we would be heading into the playoffs. I was clearly wrong. I thought that I was going to be rushing from the edge; I was clearly wrong. All I can do is be an ultimate soldier, an ultimate warrior and rally my guys, talk to my guys, and try and lead my guys the best that I can. This entire year, whatever role was given to me, I try to embrace it because I want the Black and Gold to be successful in whatever it takes. Here we are (at) 5-11. We clearly had a lot of things to overcome. There's a lot that I wish, but coulda wouldas, never shouldas. It's just where we've been. We should have had our entire offensive line starting this entire year. We should've had DC (Derek Carr), hopefully, the whole year. We should've had our starting top four receivers the whole year. We should've had our starting DBs. There are a lot of excuses that we could make. At the end of the day, we were not good enough this year. That hurts as a player. That hurts as a fan of the game. That hurts as someone who's in love with the Black and Gold, the City of New Orleans, especially with the Super Bowl being here, I felt like it deserved more."

On what he showed over the last five-seven games:

"You turn on the tape. You tell me. It is not like we have heard anything different. All I can do is put my best foot forward. You have got guys like Carl Granderson coming off the edge. You have got guys like Khalen Saunders in the interior who doesn't get enough love for the plays that he makes. You have got Bryan Bresee who is a monster in the middle, who should have had his 8.5 sack today that got taken back by a penalty. It should be 8.5 sacks. That's impressive. For me, I have always been consistent in how I approach work and how much I love this game. Until my love runs out for this game, I am going to keep on going."

SAINTS SAFETY TYRANN MATHIEU

On takeaways from the loss:

"Some of the same things that have kind of been plaguing us, (like) not really good against the run, (defense) on third down (was) horrible, and tackling. I feel like we could have tackled better. Hats off to those guys (Las Vegas). They showed up today with lots more energy than us."

On why the same issues are continuing to occur:

"Right. We work hard throughout the week. We try to prepare the right way. You are not in control of everything that kind of happens throughout the course of a game. A lot of times you have to respond. I just don't think that our response has been the level that we are capable of being at. Like I say, hat's off to those guys. They played a way physical brand of football than we played today."

On what to take away from this game heading into the next week:

"At this point, you're just trying to ruin other people's dreams. Obviously, Tampa is a divisional game. I am more than sure that we will be ready to roll next Saturday."

SAINTS QUARTERBACK SPENCER RATTLER

On what changed in the second half:

"We just beat ourselves. Even in that first half, we were moving the ball at will, running and passing game, putting it together. Penalties, some missed throws, some drops, just some identification stuff. We've just got to overall be better in all those areas."

On his performance:

"You are not happy with the loss. We only scored ten points. Had some plays that could have went our way but didn't. Frustrating, very frustrating, but what else can you do. They played better than us today, especially in that second half."

On whether frustration impacted his performance:

"Everybody's frustrated. Just have to keep going. I could not catch a rhythm in the second half. We shot ourselves in the foot multiple times throughout the game. Yeah, it is frustrating, but you need to have good body language. There was certain times I could have definitely been not showing as much frustration. It is tough and I just try to keep the guys up. It is not like we're going out there just to go three-and-out every time. And obviously there in that fourth quarter, end of third quarter, it's tough being backed up. They're playing soft and then teeing off in dropback knowing we're going to throw. (There are a) lot of areas we need to clean up overall. Thought we did good in the first half, obviously not in the second."

On his touchdown pass to Foster Moreau:

"That was a great play call. Played out just like we practiced it for a few weeks. I thought that got us some good momentum, and then next drive we got down there and then just kept getting penalties. I thought we could've scored again, but penalties killed us."

On how to keep up momentum when drives are getting stopped:

"It is tough when you're backed up, second-and-long, third-and-long, and you have just got to keep chipping at it. Had some opportunities there to make some plays, but obviously we didn't. Their time of possession was much better than ours, they controlled the game, and we have got to be better as an offense."

On the long-term benefits of playing time and experience as a rookie:

"It's helping. Playing games is definitely helping. Obviously, it sucks that I don't have a win so far (as a starter), but that one was frustrating because we wanted a good short week, wanted to come in, expected to win, and didn't. Frustrating for sure."

SAINTS LINEBACKER DEMARIO DAVIS

Opening statement:

"In this game when you play for a lot of different teams, what you understand is, there's a difference in fans and there's a difference in family. One thing I love about playing in New Orleans since the time I got here is the majority of our fan base is family. What I mean by that is, fans usually get on the road with a team when they're hot. Family is with you, through the good times and the bad times. There's no secret that our team is in a dark time right now. When you're in dark times, everyone is looking for the same thing. You're looking for light, and you're looking for direction. What I'm hoping to offer over these next few minutes is a little bit of light, a little bit of direction. The Bible says that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. What that means is, when things are not going the way that you want them, you cannot panic. You have to know that something greater is going to come. If anyone knows anything about business, you know that the market goes up and down, up and down, and those who win in the long haul are those who don't panic when things are going down. That's the great thing about this organization and this family, is that when things are not going the way that we want, there will be no panic. I trust our organization because some organizations, when they fall off, they never return. But if you look at the great organizations across any league, give them time, they always rise back to being that contender. And so, a word to the family is, I understand our frustration. That is because we have been contenders. It is not a false hope. It is not a false expectation. But the message is also that we can't panic, that we can't worry. We have to stay together, we have to stay united, and we have to trust that we will rise from this. We will get back to what we all desire to be. We have the right decision makers to do that. If you just look at the team, we draft well, we do great in free agency, and if you look across the game, that is what sustains teams over the long haul. Continuity, drafting well, bringing the right guys in, and at the right time, we will rise. Light will come again, so we won't panic, won't jump ship, we'll continue to charge, we'll continue to move straight ahead, looking to finish the season 1-and-0, and then we'll go from there. That's my message."

On the line between not panicking and having a sense of urgency:

"I believe you can't do anything in a marathon or a sprint without a sense of urgency. Urgency is not in a rush to get things done, it's a rush to do things right. It's discipline, doing the little things over and over and over, and that's what sometimes is hard to do. To get up and do the little things correctly over and over and over, even when you are not getting the results that you want. Because what happens is sometimes when you do not get the results, you start to change the process. But results are a byproduct of the product. The real product is the process."

On fighting off frustration in these tough games:

"I always say football's the greatest teacher of life. Imagine being at the end of your season, and playoffs are nowhere in sight, and as much as you try, it seems that things do not turn. How do you continue to show up? But imagine being in life, and you feel like you are doing everything right. You eat right, you diet right, and then your body gets sick, and now you are in the hospital. Or you are living right, and all of a sudden your child gets sick. Or you are trying the best you can and all of a sudden your relationship is on the rocks. How are you going to respond? It is either you are going to get right if you were not right, or you're going to have to try to figure out how to remain right, when even though you would do it right, it seemed like everything is going off course. The challenge is to not allow dark times to bring in dark thoughts, because dark times is outside of you, dark thoughts is inside of you. Once you allow in inside, that is when you have a real battle, because now it is just you versus you. You want to keep it to where it is the battle of me versus the negative thoughts. I want to keep it out, and that is hard to do in dark times."

On the difficulties of this season:

"Individually, I'd be lying if I said it hasn't been challenging, but that's when my faith comes in strongest. That's why I'm always encouraging my teammates, my friends, my peers, that at some point in your life, something is going to go wrong, and you're going to need something to hold on to. The only thing that I have seen in this world that does not change is God and Jesus Christ. He does not change. He is always the same. Every time I go and look at his word, it says the same truth. Now, it is on me to conform to it. In dark times, you have to realize that at the end of it all, it is going to be about his book. So, will it change tomorrow? I hope, but what if it does not? How will I sustain tomorrow if it does not change? How will I sustain tomorrow if my hope is tomorrow that it will change, and it does not? At the end of it all, though, I know where I reside, and that is with my heavenly Father. So, hope is not based on 'it will change tomorrow.' I just know in the end, it is going to be good. Now, I may get a chance to experience that tomorrow, which is my hope, and if not tomorrow, the next day. But nothing will ever kill my hope because it is based in something that is eternal."

On what leads to tackling struggles on defense:

"I think every game is different. It's a simple game, make more plays than the other team, and you have to give them credit when they make those plays. Just like we get paid to make plays, to stop them, they get paid to make those plays and not let us stop. You want to be a better team on each Sunday, and this one we weren't."

On why tackling was a problem today specifically:

"I would have to go and look at the tape to see exactly what it was, which plays. It would be hard to cast a wide net of what the issue was today."

On whether limited practices by schedule or by league-mandated limitations have impacted defensive performance:

"I think our coaches have done a good job of making sure that we were prepared for the game. I don't think we came to any game where we weren't prepared, and that's different from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. I think it comes down to us being able to go in and execute the game plan at a high level, and that's our responsibility as players, to go out and get the job done."

Photos: Game Action | Saints vs Raiders | 2024 NFL Week 17