The defense played much better for three quarters, missing few tackles. The offense was up and down as usual but ran better than in recent weeks and once again got the tight ends wide open for some big plays under coordinator Chip Long.
But at the end, all the Wave had to show for it was an 18-point loss in a game in which it was a 6-point underdog, leaving it 1-5 for the first time since 2012. The defense played poorly in the fourth quarter. The wide receivers could not make plays. And the offensive line broke down again.
FRITZ
"We're disappointed. I sound like a broken record, but ever since we got here we understood that our margin for error was small. We have to play well and we have to coach well. We didn't make the plays. Thee were plays to made out there--offense, defense and kicking game. We had some opportunities for some big plays and we didn't fit it up well or weren't gap sound or dropped the ball. There were some times calling things--special teams, offense, defense--where you have to know what your guys are capable of doing sometimes. It's just tough on us getting behind and having to sit back there and throw it. And they are good pass rushers. We knew that coming into the game, but when you get behind, you have to do that stuff, so it's just disappointing. We don't have to play perfect, but we have to play good and we haven't done that many times this year."
On the sack and fumbled that changed the momentum of the game:
"That was a good play. we were hoping they were going to squeeze the tackle down and they didn't. They jetted him up the field. We were trying to run a boot, and he got there before the quarterback did and Michael didn't see him coming. Sometimes that's the best way to get outside is having them squeeze the blocks in kind of a run situation down and distance (second-and-9, but Tulane had run on its previous four downs, including an 11-yard gain by Cam Carroll on the previous play), but they jetted up the field, so good call by them."
On fourth-down decision that backfired:
"We need to make it. If was fourth-and-5 we were going to go for it there, and it was fourth-and-2 and we have to make the play. But there were plenty of other plays besides that one."
On Pratt's health and arm:
"I think he's all right. This will be a good bye week for him. He's been beat up. There were a couple of weeks in there for him that he didn't practice for us at all and leading up to the game this past week he practiced most of the time. I was a little more worried about his legs and upper body this week. This week will be a good time for him to heal up."
On if injuries affected his throwing:
"Yeah, one time he threw short when we were supposed to be running a 5-yard hitch and we ran a 10-yard hitch. But I thought overall if we could protect him, he does an excellent job. We just need to do a good job of not being so one-dimensional at times. It is tough for us to protect for a long period of time."
On if this was moral victory (not my question):
"I don't know. It's disappointing. We're all disappointed. We knew Houston's a good team and we'd have to play well to beat them, and there were tines during the game we played extremely well, but just not enough. Our guys are getting to understand, and I talked about that many times, our margin for error is very slim. It's been like that all the time. We've just got to play smart. We have to play good. We don't have to play perfect, but we have to play good. We haven't done that enough this year"
On approach to open date:
"We're going to take quite a bit off. The difference between us and the NFL is we've got class, but we are going to take some time off and heal up and kind of get Birmingham out of our system and address this second half of the season and wash this first half away. We've had a unique first half of the year with some things we've had to face. It's been unique to us, but we are going to give them a lot of time off We'll come in tomorrow and lift and heal up a little bit and give them the weekend off and cut back quite a bit next week and do a lot of recruiting, us as coaches."
On defense being good tackling and stopping the run for three quarters but not the fourth:
"We did a good job for the three quarters and then the last quarter we just got knocked off the ball= or didn't fit it up. I hadn't seen it the first three quarters, but I saw it the last quarter--some of the guys blocking a little bit and getting confused they are on defense. That was disappointing. We hadn't done that the first three quarters"
On Devin Brumfield entering transfer portal and if they had had conversation before he entered it:
"I'll talk about that later."
On best thing about offense tonight:
"At times we ran the ball well. We had some big plays. There were some good things, but we have to do a better job of executing. It was disappointing when we had a timeout and went out the first play and had gone over the play in elaborate detail and had a hard time lining up. That's disappointing. That happened on two occasions. There were some good things offensively we did and some things we've got to improve on. The same thing with defense and special teams. All three phases played well at times and all three phases played poorly."
On Tyjae Spears having two big runs:
"I think he's full speed. He's got to get more touches."
But at the end, all the Wave had to show for it was an 18-point loss in a game in which it was a 6-point underdog, leaving it 1-5 for the first time since 2012. The defense played poorly in the fourth quarter. The wide receivers could not make plays. And the offensive line broke down again.
FRITZ
"We're disappointed. I sound like a broken record, but ever since we got here we understood that our margin for error was small. We have to play well and we have to coach well. We didn't make the plays. Thee were plays to made out there--offense, defense and kicking game. We had some opportunities for some big plays and we didn't fit it up well or weren't gap sound or dropped the ball. There were some times calling things--special teams, offense, defense--where you have to know what your guys are capable of doing sometimes. It's just tough on us getting behind and having to sit back there and throw it. And they are good pass rushers. We knew that coming into the game, but when you get behind, you have to do that stuff, so it's just disappointing. We don't have to play perfect, but we have to play good and we haven't done that many times this year."
On the sack and fumbled that changed the momentum of the game:
"That was a good play. we were hoping they were going to squeeze the tackle down and they didn't. They jetted him up the field. We were trying to run a boot, and he got there before the quarterback did and Michael didn't see him coming. Sometimes that's the best way to get outside is having them squeeze the blocks in kind of a run situation down and distance (second-and-9, but Tulane had run on its previous four downs, including an 11-yard gain by Cam Carroll on the previous play), but they jetted up the field, so good call by them."
On fourth-down decision that backfired:
"We need to make it. If was fourth-and-5 we were going to go for it there, and it was fourth-and-2 and we have to make the play. But there were plenty of other plays besides that one."
On Pratt's health and arm:
"I think he's all right. This will be a good bye week for him. He's been beat up. There were a couple of weeks in there for him that he didn't practice for us at all and leading up to the game this past week he practiced most of the time. I was a little more worried about his legs and upper body this week. This week will be a good time for him to heal up."
On if injuries affected his throwing:
"Yeah, one time he threw short when we were supposed to be running a 5-yard hitch and we ran a 10-yard hitch. But I thought overall if we could protect him, he does an excellent job. We just need to do a good job of not being so one-dimensional at times. It is tough for us to protect for a long period of time."
On if this was moral victory (not my question):
"I don't know. It's disappointing. We're all disappointed. We knew Houston's a good team and we'd have to play well to beat them, and there were tines during the game we played extremely well, but just not enough. Our guys are getting to understand, and I talked about that many times, our margin for error is very slim. It's been like that all the time. We've just got to play smart. We have to play good. We don't have to play perfect, but we have to play good. We haven't done that enough this year"
On approach to open date:
"We're going to take quite a bit off. The difference between us and the NFL is we've got class, but we are going to take some time off and heal up and kind of get Birmingham out of our system and address this second half of the season and wash this first half away. We've had a unique first half of the year with some things we've had to face. It's been unique to us, but we are going to give them a lot of time off We'll come in tomorrow and lift and heal up a little bit and give them the weekend off and cut back quite a bit next week and do a lot of recruiting, us as coaches."
On defense being good tackling and stopping the run for three quarters but not the fourth:
"We did a good job for the three quarters and then the last quarter we just got knocked off the ball= or didn't fit it up. I hadn't seen it the first three quarters, but I saw it the last quarter--some of the guys blocking a little bit and getting confused they are on defense. That was disappointing. We hadn't done that the first three quarters"
On Devin Brumfield entering transfer portal and if they had had conversation before he entered it:
"I'll talk about that later."
On best thing about offense tonight:
"At times we ran the ball well. We had some big plays. There were some good things, but we have to do a better job of executing. It was disappointing when we had a timeout and went out the first play and had gone over the play in elaborate detail and had a hard time lining up. That's disappointing. That happened on two occasions. There were some good things offensively we did and some things we've got to improve on. The same thing with defense and special teams. All three phases played well at times and all three phases played poorly."
On Tyjae Spears having two big runs:
"I think he's full speed. He's got to get more touches."