LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Wolfpack Players
NC State's Tamarcus Cooley and C.J. Bailey met with the media following the Wolfpack's 29-19 loss to Duke Saturday evening.
NOTE: Click on each player’s respective thumbnail to watch each interview in the player above.
Tamarcus Cooley
On the second-quarter fumble recovery…
I really feel like I let my teammates down. I feel like I gave up on that play, knowing I was supposed to score.
On the mood in the locker room…
It was quiet. Of course it’s going to be quiet after a loss like that. We’ve got two games left. We’re going to take advantage of our opportunities and become bowl eligible. That’s about it.
On the frustration for the loss despite the defense’s strong showing…
The whole team [lost]. No blame on the offense, and no blame on the defense. Our captains have to step up. As the starting nickel, I’ve got to step up and make better plays and better decisions.
On Dave Doeren’s message after the game…
“Go down the street and beat the blue school. Beat Georgia Tech. Take care of those.”
On what the team needs to do to become bowl eligible…
We’ve got to strain more, catch balls when balls come our way, tackle when the ballcarrier comes our way, and do our responsibilities.
C.J. Bailey
On assessing how he and the offense played…
Of course we could’ve played way better. Especially, I could’ve played better. We couldn’t finish in the red zone. We had those chances. I missed a lot of shots and throws that I wish I could’ve had back. Our offense dropped the ball. Every game, we’re moving the ball; we’ve just got to finish. That’s our negative: we’ve got to finish the drive.
On Duke’s red zone defense…
When we had a pass play, we had to slide the line so they could try to protect me. They were sending more than we could block when we got down there. Our inside zone wasn’t working because those guys were making plays on defense. We could’ve done more things to finish those drives, and we wish we could have those back. It is what it is.
On K.C. Concepcion limiting Duke…
They didn’t do anything to limit him. We limited him ourselves. I missed him a lot. He didn’t make plays for me as well. It’s both of our faults. Duke didn’t do anything. For me personally, he did what he had to do to get open every time he was open. We just couldn’t finish. We couldn’t connect.
On seeing the seniors leave the field with a loss…
It was tough. That game was really important for those guys. All week, all we had in mind was to get the win for those guys, and we just couldn’t finish it. That really hurts. Like Coach Doeren said, we’ve got to dig deeper in our souls. That really meant something to those guys. This is their last game at Carter-Finley, and they ended it with a loss. That’s just not good. Offensively, I feel like we could’ve changed the game in so many ways and help those guys out to get a win.
On the hope to end the season successfully with two games remaining…
That’s a good thought. We know we’ve got more to do. We’ve got more to accomplish. We’re going to send those guys off with a better message. We can get a good finish for those guys.
On how the offense can capitalize more in the red zone…
From my point of view, we’ve just got to dig a little deeper once we get down in that red zone. We busted our asses the whole drive, and some of our guys were tired. I tried my best to tell them, “Let’s keep fighting. We got down here for a reason. We’re not just going to waste our drive.” It happens. Things happens. Games happen like this. Knowing our offense — knowing our team, period — we’ve overcome this, and we can finish with a good season.
On the conversations with receivers when drops happen…
Shoot, there’ve been a lot of drops, and there have been a lot of missed throws from me as well where I’ve made it hard for them to catch the football. The main thing is that we’ve got to make our layups and frame catches. Most of the drops we had were probably because the ball was too low, too high, or were in a bad position. The layups we had, we could’ve made those and finish the catches.