Mike Macdonald: "We Have To Go Make It Right"

Mike Macdonald (0:01)

All right, I mean, that's the result of a good football team that outplayed us in three phases, and then it gets out of hand when you're doing the things that we did today, where we didn't help ourselves as well. So we can, it's a laundry list of things, we could go line item by line on them if you want, but the long and short of it is we got outplayed, we got out coached, and we gotta go make it right. So, I mean, I feel like it's too often that we've had this conversation with you guys of going back to work on Tuesday and hitting this thing head on, and seeing if we can get this thing turned around and against a good Rams team coming in here.

SPEAKER_2 (0:42)

How different does that game feel if you capitalize in the red zone with those two second quarter trips?

Mike Macdonald (0:46)

Well, I mean, that's hard to tell if it flips, but you feel like you're right in it. So I mean, again, it's a story of red zone, them being us not getting stops in the red zone that we need, and then not being able to run the ball in inside the five yard line. So we need to be better there for sure.

SPEAKER_3 (1:04)

The one I guess for Geno fell back, what happened on that?

Mike Macdonald (1:08)

I think he just got stepped on. You guys might have seen it. I didn't see the, either got tripped or got stepped on.

SPEAKER_4 (1:16)

Just big picture looking at the miskeys made today. How'd you feel the guys were trying to handle that in the moment? It seemed like obviously Derrick and Jaren got in.

Mike Macdonald (1:24)

Yeah, well, there's some frustration there. And look, our guys are connected and they have each other's backs, but they are emotional. There's going to be flare-ups and stuff, so it seems like a calm down, but it wasn't a smart penalty. That's not how we train our guys to attack quarterbacks, and so that wasn't a smart move.

SPEAKER_5 (1:47)

What is your concern level at now with where the run game is at? This is the second time in, I believe, three or four games you guys have gone out there with under 2.2 yards per carry. You just can't seem to get anything.

Mike Macdonald (1:57)

Yeah, I would say it's a major concern, so we got to make it right. If I knew the one answer, I'd give that to you right now, but it seems like it's a litany of things, so we got to go to work on it. Right now, we can't control the tempo of games, so we got to go to work too.

SPEAKER_3 (2:21)

Any update on Draymond Jones?

Mike Macdonald (2:24)

I think Draymond, did he come, he finished the game, right? Yeah. We'll see, but I think he finished the game, so we'll kind of take it from there.

SPEAKER_3 (2:32)

Was DK close to playing at all?

Mike Macdonald (2:36)

I mean, I want to word it in the way of like, that everyone, this guy is a, I mean, he's only missed, what, two games in his career, so I think that speaks for itself on his work ethic. And I know he's trying to do everything humanly possible to play, so, but it became clear kind of later in the week that he wasn't going to be able to go.

SPEAKER_3 (3:01)

How much of an impact, I mean, I guess it's obvious, but how much of an impact seeing it with not having him, do you think had on the offense, especially the way they shut down the running game?

Mike Macdonald (3:08)

No, I mean, you can never replace, I mean, DK Metcalf is 101, but we got a lot of really good players that can play. And so we expect them to go in and execute at a high level. And we need to be able to move the ball on the ground, in the air, and we got to be able to score on the red zone. So, DK wouldn't have been out there in the goal line, you know, on the one or two yard line.

SPEAKER_4 (3:34)

What would you kind of make of Ernest's first game with you guys, as much as you could?

Mike Macdonald (3:39)

Tough to tell. I mean, tough to tell right now. I felt like he made some plays out in space. We've got to look at the run game on some of those runs that we're getting out, figure out what's going on there.

SPEAKER_2 (3:49)

Some of these games, just how tough is the situations Geno's been in with score or the run game?