DE Greg Spires

(on Clinton Portis's touchdown run) "After that play, it would have been easy to go into the tank, but we stood together. We knew it was going to be a long game, and it was going to be close. We kept fighting and fighting, but we didn't get it in the end."

(on his impression of the Redskins' line) "I think they've got a good line. You've got to give credit where it's due. Those guys pounded the ball, and they stayed on their blocks. Clinton Portis got that big run because they held their blocks, and you've got to give them credit. That's what they do: They run the ball and protect the quarterback. That's the way it went."

(on how Portis' run happened) "He cut back. He cut it back on the defense, there was a hole there and he took it. He took it 64 yards."

DE Simeon Rice

(on the blocking up front) "I was double-teamed the whole game, and that's an all-pro. At some point in the game, I was like, 'Okay.' Granted, to be the honest, that's a character-building game. I'm looking for a situation I can exploit, a one-on-one situation or something like that. They were committed to it. When you're coming from my position, and I see three people in front of me, and I'm trying to pick and choose, and I hear them all saying 'Chip, chip, chip, chip' … I'm like, 'Shoot.' They had a great game plan. They ran it well, they executed their offense and they got a victory. I really can't walk away with a moral victory, but if I did, I appreciate how the guys played. Defensively, I think we played really well. We gave up the big run and they took advantage of it, but for the most part we were competing the whole game. We scored on defense, kept them off the board except for that one run. We've just got to keep this process going. It's arduous, it's hard, but that's the game that we play."

C John Wade

(on the game) "We've just got to correct that stuff. Say it for what it was: We got our butts kicked, offensively."

(on the blitzing) "We prepared for it all week. It was nothing we didn't see from the coaching staff, we just didn't execute."

TE Rickey Dudley

(on the blitzing) "Most of the time when they do that, I'm out there, so I can't really speak on where they're coming from. So I don't really know. I've got to see the film to see where they came from. Different people were accountable for those guys. It's something we're going to recover from."

(on if it was hard to make adjustments) "No, I don't think it was hard because they weren't doing anything that we didn't prepare for. After the first half, after everybody calmed down, we were able to move the ball. Hats off to them."

QB Brad Johnson

(on the first game) "Well, that's game one and that's not the way we wanted to start out. We had higher expectations. Washington has a good defense. They showed it through the preseason games, especially against Miami and Atlanta. They can expose some people. They did a great job with their coverages and different blitz schemes. We've got a lot of work in front of us."

(on the slow start) "I think we had a hard time getting down to third-and-short. We had some third-and-long situations and it's always hard to convert those deals. It was loud out there and I think we had a lack of communication at different times with the noise and trying to get off the time clock. We just couldn't execute when we needed to."

(on Joey Galloway getting injured) "It does hurt. He's a big-time playmaker, he does open things up for us. I thought we had a chance, especially on the play he got hurt. We'll miss him but you've got to move on. I'm not sure how long he'll be out. He'll be missed but we moved [Bill] Schroeder up to his spot at X and we've just got to work together and find a way to win next week."

(on the running game) "We struggled as far as getting it to third-and-medium and third-and-short. Once you get a first down, you usually can tally them up after that. We had a hard time getting that very first first-down. When you get one first down, you get three or four, they roll like that. We struggled from that standpoint."

(on not finishing drives in the third quarter) "There were some key drives. That probably hurts more than anything. I thought we had a chance to at least get in field-goal position on some of those drives, but we didn't convert, especially on third down."