Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett
(on what's going through his mind during the Baltimore Ravens final drive) "Throughout that whole time, I thought we had a chance to win that football game, and our defense played great. We gave up that 90-yard drive, and that was kind of a clinching factor, and I give so much credit to the Baltimore Ravens. You know they stuck to their plan. They did a great job and got us there at the end."
(on why it's so hard to find the end zone) "We've got to be better, and it starts with coaching. We have got to execute. We have to do everything better on offense."
(on bigger personnel groupings that they used in the first half) "Yes, we thought we were going to be able to gain an advantage with having [Greg] Dulcich play kind of like a wide receiver. Being able to run the football, do some play pass and some drop backs out of it to utilize him as a wide receiver. I thought he did a great job. Something we started experimenting with this week, and we did some great stuff."
(on if he considered going for it on fourth down instead of kicking the field goal) "No, the feel of the game, I thought our defense was playing at a very high level. I thought we did a good job moving the ball down there and did not want to go away and go into the half without points. So, I had already decided that I wanted to be sure we kicked the field goal and get those points, and as we see, we had the lead most of the game."
(on what he was thinking when Lamar Jackson left the game) "I thought the defense did a great job all the way until that last drive. But I mean, those guys are doing a really good job. [Tyler] Huntley is a very, very good football player, and I went against him last time I was here, he happened to be the quarterback who was out there. I give him so much credit for being able to step in and being able to move the football."
QB Russell Wilson
(on what was going through his mind on the last drive) "We got the ball back with 23 seconds. I told the guys, 'Listen, we've done this before; we can do it. Let's go down the field one at a time. Do right.' We had a great chance to be able to kind of move a little bit. [We] hit Jerry [Jeudy] on that one. He did a great job [with a] great route on [Marcus] Peters, and then the next play, they went on a 22-man match look, whatever. They kind of got up, nothing was there, so I scrambled and tried to get as far down as we could. I took a pretty good hit there trying to just get a couple more yards instead of sliding. The next play, we got a good play call, and they did a good job trying to rush; I got outside the pocket, [and] I knew there were only eight seconds on the clock, so I knew I had to get something positive, and that's when I tried to run as far as I possibly could before the clock ran out. Get out of bounds. Our goal was to get to the 45. That was the furthest he [Brandon McManus] felt like he could make it. So, [we got] as close as we could possibly get for a desperation field goal. Unfortunately, it didn't go in. He does a good job of kicking, but it didn't go in today."
(on the gameplan)"The game plan was we wanted to be physical with these guys. They got pushed out of the way. We knew they were going to be physical as well. We also wanted to make our plays down the field if we could, if those came up. I thought we did a good job. Jerry [Jeudy] did a great job on that one route down the field. That was awesome by him. I thought [Greg] Dulcich ran deep down the field. Kind of stopped on him, that was a good play. There's a lot of good things there, but yes, we have t to find ways to score touchdowns. This game is about touchdowns and finding a way to win. At the end of the day, no matter what the score is, whether it's 45-44 or 10-9 or whatever it could be, you know we have to win them."
(on a missed opportunity in the last offensive series before the Ravens scored) "There are several opportunities in the game. I thought they did a good job trying to get to us. I think we hit one to the left, really quick, and then next thing I know, they did a good job, [and we] took a shot to Montrell [Washington] – almost got that one. It was a contested play. I think that's a good route to go watch the film and go see what happened."
OLB Jonathon Cooper
(on the difficulty of losing on the final drive)"[Losing] makes it difficult no matter what. No matter what was going on, no matter what I did, the main goal at the end of the day is winning. We didn't get that done, so regardless, it's going to hurt."
(on the Ravens late touchdown drive)"We had to get a stop. We had to create a turnover. We had to get off on fourth down; whatever it takes. We had to get them off the field, and our offense back on there. That's our job as a defense. Unfortunately, we didn't get that done in the last couple minutes of the fourth. We've got to look back at the film and get better."
(on knowing the status of QB Lamar Jackson's injury)"No. I didn't know. I had no intention of hurting him. Lamar Jackson is a great player. I didn't know he was hurt."
(on the pass-rush leading to QB Lamar Jackson's injury)"There were two tight ends; I beat them and got to Lamar [Jackson]. But overall, we have to get to the quarterback more often. It would give us a better chance to win."
(on if there is a difference between QB Lamar Jackson and QB Tyler Huntley)"No. We know that. Lamar Jackson and [Tyler] Huntley are about the same type of player, fast and quick with the ball. It didn't really change our game plan too much. We just tried to attack it the same way."
S Justin Simmons
(on how frustrating it is to have two great plays and lose the game)"Yes, we preach takeaways a lot, and obviously, I was able to get two, and I was able to get the fumble at the end, but it went out of bonds, which was unfortunate. But we talk about it all the time. We've got to be great, and we have to play our best in two-minute situations. Special teams did a great job pinning them on the 10-[yard line] and then defense has to go out and execute. We just weren't able to execute there at the end. We had the two penalties, and it wasn't good enough to win the game."
(on if this loss hurt more than the others)"They definitely all hurt. I think this one stings, because, obviously it's frustrating that you play so well for most of the game [and] give yourself a chance to win at the end of the game. But defensively, I'm going to keep harping on you can't play three-and-a-half quarters of really good football and then give it up at the end – not necessarily give it up, because hats off to the Ravens; they did a great job. [Tyler] Huntley did a great job leading them on that two-minute drive. There are definitely some self-inflicting things that we did that didn't help that situation. We've just got to find ways to be better, and we can't accept, obviously, the outcome there for us."
(on what he saw from the Ravens differently after QB Lamar Jackson left the game) "It was pretty much the same. I think [Tyler] Huntley did a good job getting the ball out when he needed to, and they had a lot of quick passes, and those are basically runs, right? You get the ball into your playmaker's hands fast. I think we did a good job most of the game, and at times, we kind of gave up the short passes and we were tackling very well in space. and our pass rushers got after them when we needed to, flushing them out of the pocket. I think in the back end, we did a great job on being sticky in coverage when we needed to. Like I said, not to beat a dead horse, it came down to the two-minute drive, and if you want to be elite and you want to call yourself the best, you've got to be able to execute in those moments, and I'm obviously frustrated there."
(on what happened in the last two minutes)"I think it's a combination of a bunch of different things. It's hard to get up and say without actually watching the film. But I think he [Tyler Huntley] is a talented quarterback, and when he's able to and his first couple reads are not there, he'll break the pocket, and it's tough because he's a great athlete. He's just like Lamar [Jackson]; he's a great athlete. It just stinks there at the end; guys are in tight coverage, and your muscle memory all week and what you work on at practice … On the back end, plaster, plaster, plaster. We have a body on a body, and they're able to find a space and it gets tough. Coverage works best when we're together, and we just weren't able to make that happen there."
TE Greg Dulcich
(on what was working for him today)"I think we were just doing a good job in the run game, and that opens things up."
WR Jerry Jeudy
(on the offensive gameplan)"We were aggressive in the run game. We did what we needed to do in the passing game. Some plays didn't work out the way we planned. We have to go back to the film room and correct our mistakes."
(on not being on the field in crunch time)"It was very frustrating, being the competitive player that I am. I always want to be out there on the field and give my best. I couldn't do what I usually do."
LB Alex Singleton
(on how the Broncos can't finish at the end of games)"Yeah, I mean, it sucks. It's one more stop, and we win the game. We knew coming into halftime, you know, we had the lead, so just shut them out, and we win the game. We waited until the last drive to give it up."
(on pressure on Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley) "We wanted to get them out of their comfort zone, obviously. They're a run-first team, so if you stop the run, then you know, continuing to reset the line of scrimmage, and we did really well with that. Our D-Line does that week in and week out."
