Herm Edwards Quotes - Previewing Oregon

OPENING STATEMENT:
“First off the bat, we lost George Lea for the rest of the year with a knee (injury). So, his season is over with. We are going to miss him dearly. His leadership and his ability to play football has helped us a lot. Our prayers go out to him as he is going to have surgery. Oregon, obviously is a very experienced football team on both sides of the football. They are really good defensively. They do not give up a lot of points and they play a lot of man-to-man in the secondary. That will be a good test for us. Offensively, they are pretty balanced. They have a veteran offensive line and they like to run the football. Their quarterback (Justin Herbert) is obviously very talented and is one of the better quarterbacks in the country. We will have our hands full with these guys. Our deal is real simple in that we have to stop playing from deficits. During our last three losses, our defense has given up 28 points per game. In the first half, we are only scoring 14. In the second half of football games, our offense is scoring at about an average of 17 as we are only giving up eight points. We have to get out of this deficit thing. We have been in too many deficits early and we find our way climbing up-hill in games. That is never a good sign. You definitely do not want to get in deficits against these guys because they are very good on defense. They do not give up many points, they are good in third down, and good in the red zone. They can rush the passer and they do a lot of things very well.”

ON HOW TO GET TEAM MENTALLY RIGHT AFTER FOUR STRAIGHT LOSSES:
“It is very simple, you are playing one of the better teams in the country. They are trying to present themselves as one of those teams that are selected in the bowl (College Football Playoff), playoff situation and we know that. I think our guys are well aware of who we are playing and what they bring when they play football on either side of the football. I think our players know exactly what they are dealing with. Maybe not our young players so much because they did not play them last year, but the guys that were in the game last year (vs. Oregon) understood the type of team we are playing. As I said, they have a lot of experience. They have played together for a long time, I think of their defense and eight of them are juniors and seniors. Their offensive line has played together for a while, too. Their quarterback (Justin Herbert) came back for another year, obviously. They are a really good football team, that is what our players know.”

ON DIFFERENCE WITH MOMENTUM ON KICKING EXTRA POINT VS. GOING FOR TWO POINTS:
“I was not trying to tie a football game. We went on an eleven-play drive for 90 yards. I felt that we had the momentum of the game going and when I looked at it, it was very simple. For me, we had gone 90 yards and we converted on a 4th & 8 for a touchdown. We cannot make two yards? Really? We cannot make two yards? We just went 90 (yards) to score. Then, when you make it, you put them in the position where they have about a minute-forty left and two timeouts. You put the onus on them and their kicker hasn’t been kicking well. If you look at the last three series of defense, we stopped them actually three times. I wanted to put the pressure on them and I am not playing to tie. We are trying to develop a program here where we want to win games. When you have lost three in a row and you are on the road, I am not playing to tie the game and try to go overtime. I did not want to do that, I am trying to win. I went 90 yards in eleven plays. I was thinking, ‘we cannot make two yards, really?’ That is just me and I will take it. Anytime you do something like that, there is always two sides of it. I am not playing here to tie, I wanted to take the lead and go ‘okay, you have not played behind all day. We just went 90 yards on you, my defense has stopped you three times in a row on three possessions.’ I am saying ‘okay, let’s see what happens now.’ That was my thinking and I would do it again, to be quite honest. That is just where I am at with it.”

ON NOT SCORING A FIRST TOUCHDOWN DRIVE ON OFFENSE IN OVER A YEAR:
“I see it and I also see that the defense is giving up first drive scores. First possessions usually, we actually defer. I am one of those guys who defers on coin tosses, so we should have an extra possession in the second half we play it out right. We can stop them and they score. We have to get that fixed and we are trying. It is not effort, you cannot fault this team as far as being low effort wise. But we have to fix it. We have to find a way to stop it. We have to score and not allow them to score. It is real simple. So far, we have not done that.”

ON THE AMOUNT OF HIGH PROFILE GAMES:
“I think we are in a place in which people that watch us and view us know that we are trying to build a program for a bunch of young guys. I think we are a team when you watch us, it is going to be on of those games where you are not leaving. Because it is going to be close, but we just have not won one of those in a while. When you think about earlier in the season, we went on the road and played Michigan State. It was a close game, but we won that one. We had to play Cal, pretty good football team, when they were ranked. I was close, but we won that one. Washington State came in here and we won at the end. We just have been on the bad side of it and I am not trying to play close games. Somebody told me that I like close games. No I do not.  I really do not. I would prefer to have a lead and play that way and we have not been able to do that. But I think most people know that if you view our games, we are a young football team. I am not using that as an excuse. It is just a fact. When you make errors or you miss opportunities, I am not going back and revisit the games. But we had some opportunities that we did not take advantage of, quite frankly. I am not going to point out players or situations because I do not do that. But, I think the players are well aware of that and we have to stop doing that if we are going to win games.” 

ON THE TWO POINT CONVERSION:
“Here is the situation, I think. You have to understand this when going for two points. We practice them (two-point plays) all of the time. There are numerous plays that you can run, I do know this. It is two ways you have to view it, either you are going to take the quarterback and use him to come on the perimeter and give him the option of run or throw or you are going to give the ball to Eno (Benjamin). Those are your two options because those are your two best players. How you choose it is another thing. When it does not work, people say, ‘why did you run that play?’ I get it. When we started the drive on the ten, the conversation was really simple. If we score, we are going for two. At the ten yard line, we had to 90 yards and the conversation. I spoke with the guys up in the booth with the quarterback. When we score, we are going for two. You understand what I am telling you? He said, ‘Yeah, we got it coach.’ We scored, but we did not make the two. We can revisit it and say we should of ran another play or should have done this. For me, I had two options: quarterback and find a way for him to attack the perimeter or you are going to give the ball to Eno. Those are your two best players, in my opinion. How you structure it is how you structure it. I am not calling the plays, that is not for me to do. I have to make the decision of this is what we are doing, so let us go do it.”

ON WHAT HAS ALLOWED BRANDON AIYUK TO HAVE A BREAKOUT SEASON:
“You mentioned it. He is a JC (Junior College) guy and last year I think he sat in the position where he watched N’Keal (Harry) in big moments and he wanted to be that guy. Basically, he (Brandon Aiyuk) took his spot. N’Keal gets drafted, he left, and he is now in N’Keal’s spot. I think the middle of last year you  saw him start to understand what it took to play at this level coming from JC. I think the way he has practiced last probably month, he has figured out to practice at a certain level if he is going to play well in games. That maturity now is sinking in and obviously he wants to go on and continue to play. He is going to have that opportunity because he is a fabulous player with the ball in his hand. We know that, when he gets the ball in his hand whether it’s kickoffs, punts, in space he can make people miss. This is why he has got a talent that helps you in any moment. He can make a play. He has done that the last couple weeks.”

ON DEFENSIVE ADJUSTMENTS BEING MADE:
“In the beginning you have this plan and you say this is what we are doing. A lot of it is human error, whether we do not line up right or we do something wrong. There are a lot of different factors and all of sudden we get behind. It is not like we invented some new coverages. We played maybe a little bit more Cover-Two in the second half to alleviate the double moves and the big passes that kind of slowed them down. But the problem is when you are playing a two-shell, you are light in the box. So you have to stop the run. This was a balanced team especially in twelve personnel. They can run the ball and utilize play-action pass. That is what they want to live in. That is when they present problems to you. We were able to play Cover-Two and could stop the run, which was good because that is hard. I have to give the players credit for that. That was a little bit of it and we made some plays. We just made some plays on third down and got off the field. Then our offense started moving the ball and scoring. The confidence of the team got going and we felt like we were going at that time. Like all of those games, I always say, you run out of time. When you run out of time, you run out of time.”

ON PAC-12 AS A WHOLE:
“I think as a conference it is very competitive. I was talking to coach (Jonathan) Smith before the game, the Oregon State Head Coach. We were both talking about that there is a lot of parity, in the sense that a couple teams are veteran laden and that happened to Oregon and Utah. They have a lot of guys that have played with each other, but everybody else is kind of fighting for their identity. Depending on where your program is at, obviously, that is why any Saturday, something can happen. The two most consistent teams have been Oregon and Utah, for the most part in our conference. They have been pretty consistent. If you have one loss, you are a pretty good football team. They have been consistent and their programs have been built. When you look at the players that are playing for them, they have experience and that always helps you when you have experience. Especially when you are in a conference where any week anything can happen, I think their experience in the course of a whole football game is important. Their emotions do not change. They just play. It is like any experienced team: when you play another team that knows you are a good team, you have to withstand that rush that team has. Then the first quarter is kind of balanced and all of sudden they keep going. In the second quarter, they might get up a score or two and then all of a sudden the experience of it just takes over. That is what those two teams have. That is why they have gone through the gauntlet unscathed. Both of those teams, sitting at 9-1, have pretty good records in the conference.”

ON BRANDON AIYUK ADJUSTING TO DIFFERENT QUARTERBACKS:
"It says a lot about him because I think he is one of the guys that they look for in big moments. They try to get him the ball. He has been that guy. We had a 4th and 12 and he helped us convert that. People do not talk about that during the game. If we did not convert that, then we would not have scored. The line did a great job. They (Oregon State) dropped eight guys in coverage and he found a little hole in the defense. Jayden (Daniels) sat in the pocket and waited until he found someone open. They were in a zone defense with five underneath and three deep. He just waited until someone came open. Brandon found the hole and he had to make the catch or else we would have been done On the big touchdown score on 4th and 8, they looked for him and he found a way to get open. He has that knack in moments when we need him, similar to what N'Keal (Harry) used to do for us. He made some big plays in big moments for us in which the drive would have been over if he did not make the catch. You have to give him credit for that."

ON OVERRIDING A PLAY CALL ON 2-POINT CONVERSION:
"There are some times when I think we should not do a certain play. Like I said, we knew what we were going to do when we had the ball at our own ten yard line. I looked at the clock and knew that if we played it right, then we would go for two after we got a touchdown. Jayden (Daniels) knew he had four downs. So, it was already discussed what was going to happen. The play call was our play call. We live with it. Defensively, when we are doing some things, I tell Danny to try certain things to settle down our guys. It is nice sometimes to just line up and play. Sometimes, you want to calm them down and you have to be able to say that to the coach and they get it. Sometimes, you want to protect your defense and say that we actually have to run the ball a bit. Those types of things are decisions when you are orchestrating a game because coaches look at the call sheet. I look at the game and watch the game on both sides of the ball. I try to figure out what we need to help them, offensively or defensively. What do I have to suggest that they will take this into consideration? We need to get the runner going or we need to get (Brandon) Aiyuk. So, yes I am always involved in it."

ON BEING ONE WIN AWAY FROM BOWL ELIGIBILITY: 
"We have talked about it that. When you have an opportunity to get in a bowl, that can be critical for your program. It can be really big for us because of how I am thinking. With all of these young guys, it just speaks volumes. All of those extra days in practice help you. There is a rule that Freshman coming in during the spring can actually practice. It is big. It is huge for our program to get that done. So, we have two games to try to get that solved."

ON JAYDEN DANIELS BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT:
"His ability to sit back and gather information when he gets off the field has improved. He is pretty wise in his youth. I think the game that he did not play (vs. USC) helped him to be quite honest because he got to sit away from it. The game slowed down for him. Does he do everything right? No. I told him the one decision that he made when we were at the plus-35 yard line, we were in fourth down mode and we had to get it inside the 25 yard line to kick a field goal. You cannot take a sack in that situation. You have to throw the ball away. When you came to me he said he knew he made a mistake. He comes in Monday and we sit and talk over the past game. I told him I knew that he was trying to make a play with his legs. That is what happens to guys that are athletic. They can extend the play, but they need to know eventually when the play is over. He needed to throw it away there because we were going to go for it on fourth down. After the sack, it was about 4th and 25. I can't go for that. So, I was trying to score or get in field goal range. He understand that, but he got caught up in trying to make a play. It is unique because when they (Oregon State) called a timeout on the 4th and 8, he told me what I was going to tell him. If it is not open, he could run for a first down. We were on the same page. I told him this is it. This is money time. So, he gets it."

ON KEEPING TEAM ON COURSE WHEN TEAM IS ON LOSING STREAK:
"We held our emotions pretty well. I always look at fouls. We had a couple of fouls on special teams. We had one false start. I think we had three or four fouls. The guys understand that. But, we now have Oregon coming in here. So, they will be excited about playing them. I will not even mention the one after that (Arizona) because that is going to be a whole different attitude. I think the more they play in these situations, the more it becomes normal for them. That is what it has to be. It has to be normal in which they approach the line, but they do not cross it. I thought this week we got behind, but we did not panic. We made some errors. We turned the ball over at some bad times. We also caused a turnover, but did not score. When you get a turnover, you have to score points. We were not able to score. This past week, we did a good job. This week, we play Oregon on national television. Hopefully, it is another big game for them. It will be crowded and they have everybody watching, so how will they act? The more they are in that situation, the more it has to become normal and comfortable. We have to win games in that situation because it has been disappointing during these last four games to be quite honest. It is disappointing for me and my coaching staff. The fact that we have had some opportunities and we did not cash them in is disappointing. It has been a disappointing season thus far for me personally. We were in some situations in which we should have won some games. We should not be .500 right now, but we are. We have to improve on that. That is my job to try to make them understand that. I will do everything in my power to do that. So, that is all I can do."

ON SECONDARY ISSUES OF LATE:
"We are not lacking on talent. I would say it is dirty eyes. Guessing also plays a major factor because then you want to make a play. If you have have dirty eyes and you guess, then you are in trouble. You cannot do that. I have played that position for a long time. We knew they (Oregon State)were going to run double-moves. We knew the formation and when it was coming. We practiced on it. We knew that when they crossed the fifty yard line, it would be coming. They did it and we did not cover it very well. During the second half, we were better. We slowed it down. If our corners cannot play good, then we will give up big plays. That is the situation with anyone's corners. We were fortunate enough to make some plays. That is what college football is about. It is about guys playing the ball on the perimeter. Then, the next thing you can go to is some type of Cover 2. If you cannot hold up against the run in Cover 2, then you have a problem because you are short one guy in the box. If you have to rush five or six guys to get a rush, you cannot play zone defense. You would have to play man defense. All of those things mingle together. That is why when you are lacking in certain areas, you will get exposed. A great rush always helps the secondary. When anybody has a great rush, their is a clock in the corner's head. After two seconds the ball would be out if you have a good rush. I have played on some teams with a great rush when I was in Philadelphia. That always helps you as a corner. If you cannot do it with four, then you have to do it with five. Everyone gets a one-on-one. If you cannot do it with five, then you have to do it with six. You just keep opening up the box more and put pressure on your corners. That is the life you live when you play defense."

ON CHANGING DEFENSIVE SCHEME:
"We have done that. We play in a system now in which we play five defensive backs. We use one of them as a glorified linebacker because has to be able to cover and play in the box. Because we have been short, we put Kobe at safety. Kobe is playing safety. But, hopefully this week he will not have to do that because he is one of our better corners. He is very consistent. We had four linebackers this week. You can have four linebackers and take the safety out. We have done some things to try to help us. We are trying to piece-meal some things because we are a little short. Now, we lost George (Lea). That does not help us because he is an experienced guy. I am not making excuses, but that is the fact. Some of our younger guys will have to to play better during the next two weeks. The only way for them to get more experience is for them to play."

ON PLAYERS POSSIBLY LOSING FOCUS AFTER BEING LATE TO TEAM ASSIGNMENT:
"Some of those guys were older guys. I am not a rule guy. I am a standard type of person. The one thing I have always said is that you have to be on time for everything, whether it is turning in your papers that are due or it is coming to practice. Wherever you go, be on time. When that is not done, you are hurting the team because we are waiting on you. This is a game of being on time. Discipline needs to be handed out. When you have a young team, they have to understand that it is really important. If it punctuality not met, then these are the consequences. They see that the consequences are that Coach will actually not play you. I do not care who you are because we are trying to develop a program. If all of our Freshman are looking at these guys and think they can be late because those guys are starters, they are wrong because they will be put on the bench. We are trying to grow these young guys into men. The first thing you better do in life is be on time for everything you do. If you are not on time, then something must be more important. It cannot be more important because this is what you chose to do. You are a student athlete. They need to make sure their student affairs are all taken care of. When it comes to football, they need to be on football. Everybody is on the same satellite, so you cannot say that your watch does not work. Your phones change over. I just want them to be on time."