Postgame Presser: Coach Brian Daboll talks after win vs. Colts

Brian Daboll (0:00)

Pretty good day. Good to get a win at home. A lot of guys played well. That's how the offense needs to perform. That's how the quarterback needs to perform. So, when you do that, you win the turnover ratio, you have a chance to score points and win.

SPEAKER_2 (0:17)

Brian, when you walk into the locker room after what everybody on the team has been to, coaches, players, there's gotta be smiling faces. What's it like walking into that locker room today?

Brian Daboll (0:27)

Yeah, again, I'm just happy for the players, for the coaches. You know, you go, it's a tough season. But we got a lot of good people, a lot of good character people on our football team, and they work every day, and it's good to see results. It's good to see smile on their faces. I'm happy for the players and the coaches that put so much into it.

SPEAKER_3 (0:48)

Brian, this has gotta be a relief for you too, man. This has been a long season, so I know everything's about the plays and the organization with you, but man, personally, this has gotta be.

Brian Daboll (0:57)

Yeah, look, it's really, really, I'm happy for the players and the coaches. Those guys put a lot into it. They come out, they grind every day, they have good attitudes, and it's never easy when you're losing. But I'm proud of the character and the other people in the building, and I'm mostly happy for them.

SPEAKER_2 (1:16)

Do you have any inkling that you could have a big day offensively? You know, it just hasn't been there, but, you know.

Brian Daboll (1:21)

I think if you get good quarterback play, you know, you have an opportunity in every game, and you don't turn the football over, and you make, you know, critical plays at critical times. I think we were good on third down. I think we were good in the red zone. Drew made good decisions, had a lot of alerts. But that's the start of it, and then, you know, you're going to have to play good complementary football. So to get some turnovers, you know, we gave up some big plays that we got to continue to work on.

But it's, you know, credit the players for making the plays that they've made. You know, I think Malik and Tracy have some deal that they got. I'm happy for those guys, but mostly I'm happy for the collective of getting a win.

SPEAKER_4 (2:02)

Brian, it would have been easy for these guys, just a couple weeks left in the season, the way that it's gotten to kind of just cash in. Yeah. What does it say if that didn't happen? I mean, that's a pretty legitimate performance.

Brian Daboll (2:12)

Yeah, well, again, I've had a lot of confidence in the people in our building, the way they operate, not the results, Connor, obviously, but coming back from injuries that are pretty good injuries and they fight back to perform at the end of the year. I've been on some other teams and it's a credit to the coaches, battling through it with the players who are injured, who come back, who compete, who work hard every day or in early, have extra meetings in December when you're, when you don't have a very good record.

But there's a process that we believe in and they keep fighting through it. And I'm just happy that they can have a smile on their face and get a win. So I'm proud. I'm proud of the guys. I was proud of them and some of those games where we lost, we just got to keep battling through it.

SPEAKER_5 (3:06)

How impressive is it to see Malik? It's a turtleneck. You like it?

Brian Daboll (3:12)

Not for me, but...

SPEAKER_5 (3:16)

What do you make of Malik topping 100 catches and 1,000 yards as a rookie?

Brian Daboll (3:21)

That's why we drafted him.

SPEAKER_6 (3:22)

Why we drafted him?

Brian Daboll (3:24)

I mean, I've been asked about it since training camp and I think the response is he's a pretty good football player and he missed two games and he's battling through, you know, I'd say a pretty good injury with his toe. So I think between him and Tracy, where he was around, I mean, for them, for those guys to do it in a season like this with a variety of quarterbacks, I think that's pretty impressive to say. That's the right kind of guys.

SPEAKER_2 (3:49)

You've been talking about explosive plays. And these were not down the field, explosive plays.

SPEAKER_5 (3:54)

These were generated explosive plays, weren't they?