CHARGERS HEAD COACH MIKE McCOY
(on what has been the toughest adjustment in his first season as head coach)
I think it is really the day-to-day operations of dealing with everything, the whole entire organization. It is no longer just dealing with the offense, being an offensive guy or coaching the quarterbacks or being the coordinator. It is not just dealing with one side of the ball. It is dealing with all three phases on the football side of it and then you also have to deal with the daily business operations and organizational things that come up every day.
(on not taking an opposing team lightly despite having recent success against them)
No, you have to take it one week at a time in this business. The parity in the league is so good that if you take a team lightly, you are going to get knocked off. There are no easy games in this league. You have to approach it in that every game is different and every team changes from year to year and it's a new week. You have to give it your best shot every week.
(on handling back-to-back long road trips and if it's nice to at least have a central time kickoff)
We start our day off really early here as it is on a day-to-day basis. We start meetings at 7:20 in the morning here on the west coast so the time change and everything, we are up and working early in the mornings. It is another opportunity every Sunday, so we are not going to make any excuses or anything about the time zone.
(on if he looks at last year's matchup in preparation for this game)
As a staff you always look at as much film as you can. Every coach does things a little bit different whether it is the offensive line coach, running back coach, quarterback coach, coordinators, whatever it is there is always things. You always look at the teams, whether it is a year or whether it is two years, whether it is coordinators that have done things in the past. You always look back at that. Everyone does it a little bit different.
(on the Titans offense)
They have a talented group. Obviously, they have always been good running the football. That is one thing with Chris (Johnson) in the backfield and running the football he is a very explosive player. You have to be very sound on defense because he will expose you in a hurry. Obviously, they have a lot of talent on the outside and the addition of Delanie Walker there is a big plus for them. It is going to help him. The quarterback has a lot of weapons to use. They have a very physical front and they have always played that way historically for a number of years up front. We have to do the best job we can to play disciplined defense.
(on the Titans use of Delanie Walker thus far)
It is the second week of the season, so you build things as time goes on. During the season there are certain things on offense, defense and special teams that you always try to take advantage of what you see in an opponent. There are schemes that are different, there is personnel that is different on every team. As a coordinator, you always try to put your team in the best position to be successful, so I'm sure they are going to have some things that we haven't seen before.
(on the development of Jake Locker)
I think he has a bright future. Anytime you play quarterback in this league, there are a lot of times that you learn by baptism by fire. That is the best way to go and you are going to get better. The more reps you get, the better you are going to play and that is any position. Any young player in this league, the more reps you get, the better you are going to be. That is showing with him also. He is improving every week and that is what you ask for as a coach, to go out there and get better. When you are surrounding yourself with good players it always helps.
(on the performance of Philip Rivers and what he has done well this season)
He is getting better every day and that is the most important thing. He has bought into the system change from the offseason until now. We are still putting things in and adjusting things as we go. We are learning a lot about our football team and it is great to have two games under our belt now to kind of see. We have to put our best plan together this week coming to Tennessee and give us the best opportunity to win. He has bought into it and he had a very efficient game last week and did a nice job in the opener. He is trying to get better every day and that is one thing that he is never satisfied with anything. He wants to kind of take it to the next step and always look for something different. We are fortunate to have him on our football team.
(on some of the significant changes he has implemented on offense and defense this year)
Defensively, John Pagano has been here in the past and he stayed on staff. Ken Whisenhunt and the rest of the offensive staff came in and we had two coaches that stayed offensively. I think we put a plan together with a number of different schemes and a number of different systems where all the coaches are working together to put things together and put the best systems together for our team. We are still learning a little bit about our players and that is what the offseason is and now that we are in-season you try to do what your players do best.
(on if Manti Te'o will play on Sunday)
It is another step in the right direction for him. We are taking it one day at a time with him and we will do what is best for the football team come game day.
