We haven't beaten anyone in the playoffs yet, and that's what we have to do. We've won a lot of big games in the regular season, but we need to win playoff games to get respect.
We don't give up a lot of yards, just too many big plays.
The No. 1 thing is you have to be able to protect the quarterback, ... If we put pressure on him and stop the run, we'll put ourselves in some good situations.
I guarantee you, guys watching that film are seeing plays like safety Mike Brown's hit on Lions tight end Marcus Pollard, and it's going to be in the back of their head.
It feels like crap right now. Disappointing. But I guess you could look at the bright side and say we're a young team and all that good stuff. It's going to hurt for a while.
TEN YARDS WITH T.B. Bradshaw's offered the following while introducing this week's installment of Ten Yards with TB ... When Brian told me he grew up in New Mexico, I told him I thought it is cool that people from other countries play football. He corrected me on my geography and agreed to sit down with me anyway.
They kept a lot of guys in and only had two or three out on the routes. We thought we would get pressure with four, and they kept seven or eight in to block.
It's just a different mind-set around here this time. I know that's easy for me to say, but I mean it.
I don't want to go through that again. We got beat up in that game. We couldn't stop the run, we couldn't run the ball, and we turned the ball over. I don't want to remember that game, it ended so badly. We weren't the same for a long time after that. We learned that we've got to play a lot better to win playoff games.
We were young last time, too, and we ended up being 4-12 the next year. I'd like to think we'll be better next year. We have a lot of guys coming back. ... We're optimistic, but I'm not going to look at that right now.
We lost the same way as last time. We got beat in our home stadium. We thought we were good last time after 2001. We were young last time, and we ended up being 4-12 the next season. I'd like to think we will be better next season.
We were in the game the whole time and found a way to lose in the end.
It's a non-issue it's behind us now. That was a long time ago.
Jamal's a house. I tried to tackle him in the Pro Bowl a couple times and he's not an easy guy to bring down. He's a big boy and he runs hard. We've got our work cut out for us. We've got to stay in our gaps and be sure tacklers.
Rivera turned us loose today, ... He called a bunch of blitzes -- they worked. We got a bunch of pressure, and when he did get rid of the ball we tackled the guys. We flew around and had a good time.
I hope he gets a job somewhere, but I'd like to keep him here for a few years. I'd be happy for him if the Vikings hired him. Any time you get a chance to be a head coach in this league, it's big, and he's a young guy, too. He'd be great as a coach. Anywhere he goes, I'd be happy for him.
A few years ago I was definitely hoping the three of us could have stayed together for a long time. But we've got a new thing going here, and Lance doesn't have to take a backseat to anybody.
We had to win in the playoffs to earn respect and we didn't do that. So all of the people who doubted us, I guess, were right. We may be a good team, but we're not a great team.
We're not the Giants. If they overlooked us, didn't play their best game, whatever. We didn't play our best game either. They scored three points, so we didn't play our best game. They scored on us they shouldn't have.
I'll bet I have 250 pairs. I can't throw any away because as a kid we got one pair a year. Now I order 20 pairs at a time.
It's a good problem to have, if you call it a problem. And it is not a problem. Any time you have a chance to get an off week, it's a good thing. We have given ourselves a good opportunity to rest some guys. It would be nice to sweep our division. It would be great to get 12 wins, but so would having everyone healthy for a playoff game.
Even though you're not in the game, you still like to win and see your teammates do well, so it was a little frustrating. But at the same time, we got out of this game healthy with the people we need to get to the Super Bowl, and that's the number one goal we wanted to take into the playoffs.
We've just got to be more disciplined. If we get out of our gaps and miss tackles, we're going to get gashed. That happened quite a bit.
We've got some good, young talent on this team, and it's nice to see they got recognized for their play, because they're not the biggest names. There are a lot of guys out there who probably get more recognition from the media, but these guys go out there and play hard every week, and they put it on film, and the players around the league and the coaches around the league saw that. That's why they're going.
We have to play better. If we think we're a good defense, we better start showing it. We didn't make plays when we had to. We gave up a couple of big plays. We had a chance to win the game. We were in the game the whole time and found a way to lose at the end.
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