“The Fitzgerald plays back in 2009, I showed them those plays, when he pushed ‘Wood’ down and I said, ‘This is why we play the way we play, because we’re not going to allow 14 points,’” Whitt said Friday afternoon in the assistant coaches’ first gathering with reporters.

“In my opinion, that was our best football team and we lost that game because we allowed 14 points [on Fitzgerald’s touchdowns]. [I said], ‘You asked us to trust you then; we’re going to trust you again. alright? But it has to be called. It has to be called both ways.’