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Quotes: Osweiler looks ahead to Utah match


October 04, 2011

ON Kody Koebensky FILLING IN AT CENTER:
"Surprisingly, there really wasn't that big of a difference as far as the way I work with the center. I thought there might be a difference in communication but Kody Koebensky stepped in and played a tremendous game. The only difference was Garth Gerhart is pretty quick with getting his calls to the rest of the linemen and pointing out what he has to do. Kody, when he first came in was a little slower with that but was still, to his credit, making the right calls. We slowed down a little bit but then he got a few series under his belt and he played lights out from there on. That's not easy to replace a guy like Garth, so for Kody to step in and not make any errors in pointing out the right guys he played a great game." 

ON HAVING TO PUT IN EXTRA WORK BECAUSE OF GARTH'S ABSENCE:
"I'd say if we went under center more [we'd have to do more work this week], but they're both left-handed snappers so that all stays the same. And like I said, Kody played well; therefore, I don't see any extra work needing to take place for Saturday."

ON HIS TURNOVERS:
"I always take the blame. I'm never going to put it on anybody else. The only real bad turnover that I had that night was the one in the third quarter when I threw into quadruple coverage, it seemed like half of the team was over there; that was the only real bad mistake I'd say. I could have gotten off [Gerell Robinson], he was my second progression, and if I would have gone to my third he was wide open. So, that was something I definitely learned from. I'm a guy that learns from making mistakes. Sometimes that's not the best way to learn, but that's how I learn. When I make [a mistake] once, it's usually not going to happen again. I have that image of that defense and how they were covering Gerell and hopefully it wont happen again. Next time, I'll see it and move right on. Other than that, on those other turnovers I took the drop I was supposed to, I had the ball in on time and I thought they were going to be completions. Sometimes that happens in football and you learn from it and move on. The biggest thing is shaking those plays off. Turnovers are going to happen, bad plays will happen throughout a game, but the beauty of it is there is always the next play or series. You just have to shake it off and keep moving."

ON COMING OUT WITH THE WIN DESPITE THEIR SLOW START:
"I think it says a lot [about our team]. I think it shows a lot of character, a lot of determination and a lot of fight. Our defense played lights out from the beginning to the end and offensively, primarily because of me, we didn't get off to a good start. The defense hung with us, the other ten guys on offense hung with me and had confidence that I would figure out what was going on and get things running smoothly and that's what we did in the second quarter. We never quit, we never put our heads down and we just moved on to the next play or series and that's a credit to Coach Noel Mazzone because he preaches that every single day." 

ON THE OFFENSE GOING INTO UTAH:
"We are going to go out, regardless of what defenses do, and play our game. We are going to run the offense that we run and we are going to make teams adjust to us. Obviously, we'll tweak a thing here or there to better the offense for that style of defense, but we are more concerned with what we do offensively and just getting prepared with that during the week." 

ON UTAH MIXING UP THEIR DEFENSIVE FRONTS:
"You have to recognize where the [middle linebacker] point needs to be made to start the play. Other than that, there are not too many differences. The big difference is on the offensive line. A 3-4 compared to a 4-3 or bear front changes the line's blocking schemes a little bit. As a result [the offensive linemen] are going to have to study a lot of tape this week and be prepared for their different sets. As far as I'm concerned, it's just pointing out the middle linebacker and going from there."

ON UTAH'S COVERAGES:
"Coverages always stay the same, regardless of the front. Cover three is cover three, cover eight is cover eight and man is man. They are able to have a little bit more movement in a 3-4 but other than that, coverage is coverage and you start from the top down and you work your way from there."

ON UTAH DEFENSE:
"They play a little bit of everything and really mix things up. They are going to play quarters, halves, cover eight, cover two, man and they are very assignment-sound." 

ON A.J. Pickens:
"A.J. Pickens is a player who has a great skill set who brings a lot of talent to table, but sometimes you kind of forget about him because of Jamal Miles. Pickens stepped in and had a couple great plays Saturday night, one of those being a touchdown. He's a guy, who over the years, has contributed in smaller doses but when we have needed him. Last year at Oregon State he played a great game and at Washington he had a great game. Every time his number has been called he has always stepped up to the plate and made the big plays."

ON Jamal Miles:
"I would need a book to describe Jamal Miles. He can do it all. We line him up in the slot, we bring him into the backfield, we hand the ball to him, we send him in motion and get him the ball, he throws the football. Jamal does it all. He might be the best athlete I have ever been around in my life. The things that he does and as many tackles as he avoids and makes people miss and spins past this guy and runs past this guy, it's just fun to watch the kid. He's a true talent, he works very hard in the offseason and he is a great football player." 

ON Jamal Miles OFF THE FIELD:
"[Jamal Miles] is pretty quiet. He'll smile a lot and laugh a lot and he's got a great personality, but he is a little bit quiet, but that's okay. There are enough guys around the building who enjoy talking a lot so to have one be a little quiet is okay." 

ON HAVING THE TARGET ON THEIR BACK:

"It is always a good situation to have the target be on you because that means you have been playing well. We're going to have a great week of practice, I can promise you that. We are going to come in very focused, we're going do to the studying that we need to do and we're going to execute out there on the practice field, because we do realize how big of a football game this is, especially to Utah. With them being at home I expect a great atmosphere and we are going to be ready to play Saturday. It's going to be a day game, which we haven't had this year and we'll be ready."

ON LEARING FROM MISTAKES IN A WIN:

"Anytime you struggle a little bit in a game and there are things that you can learn from, it's always easier to learn when you win. In saying that, I'm very thankful that we got the win last week. There were a lot of things from the tape that we need to improve upon and we learned from our mistakes. Like I said, we are going to get better with [mistakes] every week. Like that last interception. I have that image pretty clear in my head right now."

ON ROAD GAMES:

"We haven't played very well on the road in the past couple of years. I don't think we have too many wins, to be honest. As a result, to go into Utah, especially in that environment, and get a win would be huge, but to do that you have to go into the game very focused. You need to understand your assignments, the game plan, what you're trying to do and besides that, you have to match the other team's intensity and kind of exceed it. When you're on the road, you don't have too many people behind you. It's the guys on the field and the guys on the sideline and that's your group that you're going there with. I think the most important things are being very focused, understanding what we need to get done and coming in and playing with intensity."