Brian Dawkins answered questions about his shakey performance against the Cowboys and whether he's near the end of the road. He also answered questions about the play and loss of safety Sean Considine.
FS Brian Dawkins Press Conference
11/7/07
On how much of an adjustment it is to play with S Quintin Mikell:
“Not much at all. Q can get the job done; more than get the job done. Like I said, I’ve been a Q supporter ever since he got here, so I know he’s going to be able to get the job done.”
On whether the defense got a pass after last week’s game:
“No, never. You’ll never get yourself a pass when you give up points, period. I don’t care if [the offense] turns the ball over six times on the one-[yard line]. We’ve got to find a way to get off the field and make them kick a field goal, period. That should be our mindset, and that is our mindset. We made too many mistakes as a defensive unit. Regardless of what happens on the other side of the ball, our offense, it is our job to give them back the ball, or keep the points down, and keep the game close. We didn’t do a good job of that this past Sunday.”
On whether this team can reverse things at this point:
“I believe so. The thing that you can’t do, which we did a great job of last week, a great job for them, a bad job for us, is [make] mistakes. You can’t do that in order to do what we’re setting out to do. You can’t have mental mistakes, which we had on defense and you can’t turn the ball over. We have to do what we have to do. We have to control what we can control, and turnovers and mental mistakes are two of those things, and let the athletic ability that we have take over games. We haven’t been able to do that, because we’re making so many mistakes in most of the losses we’ve had.”
On what causes these mistakes every week:
“The thing about it is, mistakes are going to happen in games. The thing that we have to do is, they are happening in big times in games for us. Those are the things that we can’t have happen. You would like to go out and play a perfect game, but even when we win games, there are still mistakes made. So, for anybody to suggest that there is not talent on this team, it’s very much far fetched. We just have to make sure we control what we can control and not try and do too much. Sometimes mistakes happen because you are trying to do too much.”
On whether they are still not playing well enough regardless of mistakes:
“No, we’re playing well enough besides those [mistakes]. The mistakes that we’re making are giving up points and giving up huge chunks of yardage. So, [if] we don’t make those mistakes, then the offenses have to go the whole length of the field. They are not going to be able to do that against us every time. A high percentage of the time, we’re going to get off the field. So, we can’t give offenses anything. Same thing with our offense; we can’t turn the ball over and give their offenses a short field. But, even if we do that, defensively when we touch the field, three points.”
On whether he’s ready to go full-tilt again on Sunday:
“I’m ready to go full-tilt again. Obviously, I would love to be in midseason form right now. But, I know that there are things I’m going to have to get myself back in. Hopefully, last week was all I needed, to be who I need to be this week for this team.”
On whether there is added pressure on him to get healthy now that SS Sean Considine is on injured reserve:
“No, I put pressure on myself anyway to play in this game to help this team out, regardless. That doesn’t add anything else to my plate than is already on there, especially in the position we’re in.”
On why turnovers haven’t come:
“I have no idea. There have been some opportunities to have been made. I slipped on my face on one of them in the game, and could’ve had an easy pick. Those are some of things that are happening to us right now. But, the thing that we have to do as a defense is continue to get after it. Hopefully, those things start turning around because we’re definitely playing the ball, we’re definitely being aggressive. Those mistakes that offenses usually make, we’re not capitalizing on it. Or, sometimes for some odd reason, the ball’s not bouncing our way right now.”
On whether he talked to Considine about being placed on injured reserve:
“I’ll talk to him. I haven’t had the chance to talk to him as of yet, but I’ll talk to him. This is nothing new for him; he’s been there before. Having said that, it is a tough situation to go through, especially twice. Sometimes you get in your mind that, ‘Is this going be my career, always being on IR?’ So, that’s something I will definitely have a chance to talk to him about when I get the chance to talk to him.”
On whether Considine has played better than people give him credit for:
“He’s played better, a lot better. When things don’t go well as a team, you’re going to always have players that people lean towards, almost like a scapegoat. You lean towards this person more than the next. For whatever reason, Sean is one of those guys on the defensive side of the ball that people kind of get after. I think he’s had a pretty good year. Obviously, there are going to be plays where he wishes he could have made a better read or a bigger hit, whatever the case may be, but I think he’s had a good year.”
On whether the defense might be trying too hard to make big plays:
“I kind of alluded to that, as far as the mistakes go. If you are trying to do something, instead of playing your technique and doing what the defense calls to do, then you try to go a little bit beyond and do something a little different. Those mistakes happen, and it could be that those turnovers are not coming because we are trying to make it happen instead of letting the game come to you. That’s been a cliché since the beginning of sports, I guess. Let the game come to you; don’t try to make anything happen. Sometimes we are trying to make things happen.”
On the play against the Cowboys where TE Jason Witten got his helmet knocked off, but stayed on his feet:
“That’s one of those plays that, for all intents and purposes, usually Q comes up and makes that hit on him. If not a break up, at least the guy goes down. Q hits him one way and then [CB] Will [James] stands him back up to help him run up the field. It was nothing intentional, it’s just that those are some of the things that are happening to us right now. Hopefully those fortunes will change for us soon. Q came in and laid the lick, and Will wrapped up, he just wrapped his helmet up and his helmet came off. Those are the crazy plays that are happening to us right now. It’s easy in that situation to kind of get discouraged, but you can’t allow yourself to do that. You have to focus on those mistakes we made, and maybe one of the guys make sure you wrap up and make sure you get him down. I’ll take that aggressiveness all day long. We have to continue to do that, and hopefully those big hits will begin to turn our way that the ball will pop out and we’ll scoop that thing up.”
On whether he can remember a defense coached by defensive coordinator Jim Johnson that struggled to force turnovers:
“I’ve been with Jim for a long time, it’s kind of hard to remember every season, detail for detail. I can remember certain seasons that, for whatever reason, we didn’t have a lot of turnovers. Then, all of a sudden they start coming, and they start coming in bunches. Maybe we need to make sure we’re not trying too hard, and hopefully those things will start coming to us here soon.”
On whether it bothers him to hear QB Donovan McNabb get criticized:
“You definitely don’t like it, but being where we are and the position he plays, you know that’s going to be a topic. Any time a team struggles, the quarterback is usually given the brunt of the criticism, whether it’s deserved or whatever. He’s going to be given that. As a team, you definitely rally behind him. That’s what I’m talking about, as far as those turnovers go. We have to make sure we have his back, that if he does turn the ball over, whether it be an interception or whatever, we have to get off the field and just give up three points or hold them to no points. That’s what rallying behind your quarterback means to me.”
On whether it feels like it did after the Indianapolis game last year:
“I guess you could say that. To me, it’s a little different in the Indy game. It was completely lopsided, absolutely. This game, we gave [Dallas] opportunities to make big plays by making a lot of mental mistakes. Against a good football team, you cannot do that. It’s a little different, but the outcome was the same, as far as the score being lopsided.”
On whether he is concerned about people losing their jobs if the team continues to struggle:
“You guys can speculate on that. I’m not going to put the ‘ifs’ in my thoughts right now. I’m not going to think about the negatives of what could happen. Right now, I’m thinking probably that it’s not going to be the case; that we’re not going to have anybody lose their jobs because of ‘ifs.’ Right now, we’re going to concentrate on what we believe can happen, and make those things happen.”
On whether he feels a sense of urgency at this point in the season:
“I don’t know if I can be any more urgent than I already am when I play. I’m just being honest with you, I don’t know if I can be any more urgent. I don’t know if there’s anything else I can do, personally, in a winning season or losing season, to make anything happen differently, besides make plays. I don’t know if there’s anything else I can say about that. I’m urgent regardless of the circumstances. I’m going to try to play the same way regardless, and hopefully that’ll allow this team to have a leg up, as far as me making plays and helping this team win. That’s what I anticipate trying to do this weekend.”
On whether he hears the clock ticking for him:
“For me? No. Somebody has their hand over the clock, so it’s muffled big time for me.”
