Nick Ferguson Quotes

You can't score if you're turning it over. It's like a punt. If you go out and you punt 12 times, you're not scoring points. That's not good. So, when you turn the ball over and throw interceptions, you're giving the other team more opportunities and your team less opportunities.

Big plays are such a huge factor in the outcome of games. It is so difficult to go the distance on a defense.

What counts aren't the number of double plays, but the ones you should have had and missed.

When we had a great defense at Tampa Bay, we always measured our defenses against the best quarterbacks.

We just got to capitalize in the red zone. Don't turn the ball over.

When you're in the playoffs, you have to get easy baskets and you have to limit their easy baskets.

Every game, well most of them, come down to turnovers and the turnover battle.

Nine times out of 10, if you win the game, it starts with the turnover battle.

The deeper you get into the playoffs, obviously the better the opponent is. Which means they'll be better defensively, they'll rebound better, they don't turn the ball over.

Punt returns will kill you quicker than a minnow can swim a dipper.

Like I always say, it's not how many great plays you make; it's how few bad ones you make. I know fans, and even some losing coaches, are enamored with long pass completions or the great run plays, but that doesn't offset the interception or the fumble.

Whenever we don't turn the ball over, we're pretty productive. When you're turning the ball over, you're cutting down on offensive opportunities.

I'm still going to have to go out and score, but defensively hopefully I can make them a little bit better.

Ultimately, if you look at the game and there are two minutes left, and you have to ensure your victory, you don't want to throw the damn football. You want a runner who can run the clock out.

You take your shots when you have them, and I threw a lot of touchdowns, but I'm always going to take care of the football in the red zone.

Third down is a big thing with a quarterback: pinpoint accuracy, making good decisions.

Rick Neuheisel was recruiting me, and he told me something, and I'll never forget it: he said you make your money in the red zone. If you're down there, that's already three points, so don't turn the ball over. I kind of took that to heart, and I'm always very careful in the red zone.

Any time a quarterback can protect the ball and not throw interceptions, that's huge.

I think the number one stat that is a direct correlation on winning and losing is turnovers.

Teams that can run the football, stop the run and take care of the football will win in the playoffs.

If you win the turnover battle, you're gonna win more than you lose - and quite a bit more than you lose.

I think when you're a very good defensive team - it's very rare a team wins a championship when you're not a very good defensive team.

Ultimately, the yards really don't matter. So you have to score enough points, and I have been fortunate in my career to have been around some really good play callers, starting with Gary Kubiak and then going with Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, and that was always at the forefront of our minds: How can we create explosive plays?

Any time you can get the ball back to the offense and they put points on the board, you can win games.

It's football. The game hasn't changed. There's not tons of new concepts every year that go in. Offense is offense; it's our job to move the ball, to score points, and keep our defense off the field.