HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER
(on if he has an update on Vince Young's injury)
They've been to the doctors, and Vince's situation is a little different than it was at Jacksonville in that it doesn't involve the knee. He's just reinjured the ankle. I don't think he will do much this week, but I'd say he has a chance to get back on the field next week. We'll see how he is after the bye.
(on an update regarding Kenny Britt's injury)
Kenny, as I said, he may miss some time; we're still doing the studies. He has a hamstring and we're going to treat him very aggressively, and we'll have more information, once again, once we return from the off weekend.
(on if he would classify Vince Young's injury as a high-ankle sprain)
There were high-ankle symptoms initially at Jacksonville, but he didn't have the swelling, didn't have the separation. But no, I wouldn't classify this time around as being high ankle.
(on if he is concerned that Kenny Britt's injury is season ending)
If it was a season ending, I would tell you right now it was season ending—no it's not.
(on Kenny Britt saying his hamstrings were tight during the week)
Well you practice full speed, you warm up before the game and you get to full speed before the game, and he was just that. I think what may have contributed was the fact that our defense was on the field for a long drive. He warmed up, sat around, came out and then he really took off after that ball. That may have contributed to it.
(on if he second guesses playing Kenny Britt because he had tight hamstrings during the week)
No, players tighten up all week long at different times. We wouldn't have half the roster on the field if we did that.
(on the decision to bring Jason McCourty in for the nickel package)
We subbed him to corner in an effort to get him back on the field because he was our starting corner and we anticipated playing a lot of nickel. I think AV (Alterraun Verner) needs to be on the field all the time and he's got a real good understanding of what we're doing in the nickel package. So we went ahead and made that move. We kept Vinnie (Fuller) in our dime package. Vinnie does a great job preparing, very reliable, real dependable, but we liked the matchup inside with AV.
(on if Vincent Fuller's play had dropped off leading to him being removed from the nickel package)
It's our responsibility to put the best people on the field to create the best matchups for us defensively. Vinnie has not dropped off, no. I think AV (Alterraun Verner) has a little more inside. Vinnie is a safety playing the nickel back, playing the third corner. AV is now a corner playing the third corner spot.
(on how Jason McCourty played on Sunday)
He did fine, he did well. He was in good places in coverage; he obviously made a good play on the ball on that interception before half. He tackled, pursued—he did fine.
(on what areas he hopes to improve upon in the second half of the season)
We've got a few areas that we need to continue to emphasize and improve on. That would include number one, third down efficiency offensively and defensively. Prior to the last two weeks, the defense has been outstanding in that area, but the last two weeks we've allowed 22 conversions in 36 attempts and that's way too many. Now the 36 attempts is a good thing because we're getting them into third down, but we're not getting them off the field. We need to work with that this week, and the same thing offensively—we need to work at staying on the field. We've got to work on time of possession. It's very unusual for our team to have such a discrepancy in time of possession, I think we're 31st. There are a lot of contributing factors, third-down efficiency being one, one and two play scoring drives, the kickoff return, you add those things together and that effects your time of possession—that and three and outs on offense. Then of course the run game—that's going to be a very important the second half of the season. We're also going to have a nice rest, we need to rest. Our defense is a little tired. We've played a lot of snaps and we've played five of the top 10 offenses so far this year, so we need to rest, in particular our defensive front. The run game is obviously going to be a focus, it may not be a focus outside, but it will certainly be a focus inside as far as extensively looking at what we're doing and if there are things differently or things we can do better. CJ (Chris Johnson) is, however, second in the NFL in rushing.
(on Donnie Nickey getting ejected from Sunday's game and possible league punishment)
Anytime there is contact with an official, regardless of the circumstances, there is going to be a fine. These circumstances are a little unique, and Bill (Leavy, referee) admitted to me on the field there that he was fully aware that it wasn't on purpose, it was accidental. Considering how Donnie was treated on the ground, I can understand why Donnie got up and got upset, but I would anticipate a fine being levied from the league office.
(on if he thinks Donnie Nickey could be suspended)
No, that's a college rule. That's not an automatic that if there is contact with an official that you automatically be suspended. They do a good job of taking into consideration all the factors, as a matter of fact one thing that I think will help Donnie's case is Ray Anderson was at our game, so he was aware of the circumstances.
(on how the Donnie Nickey situation played out on Sunday)
That's kind of what I argued with on the field with Bill (Leavy) was that it wasn't intentional. Bill got hit hard enough to where that was it. It is very unfortunate, you don't want that to happen, but Bill understood. He didn't blow his whistle so he didn't know he was present or close. I think the league will look at all the facts and take fair and appropriate action.
(on if he thinks that Scott Mruczkowski could face a fine for his role in Nickey's ejection)
There are things that have taken place, similar to that, that have warranted fines—yes.
(on the Titans third-down defense)
We're talking about all down and distance situations, we're talking about third-and-ones and third-and-twos. We've had a lot of those short situations where it's a quarterback sneak here and there or a fullback belly here and there, and they're hard to stop. The longer down and distance situations we're okay. It's just that when it's third-and-six where we've got to do a better job. Yesterday we had our hands full with both their weapons, the running back and the tight end.
(on if he thinks it's beneficial to have the bye week in the middle of the season)
It is, after the first four weeks we weren't pleased because of the Denver loss that put us 2-2 in the first quarter, but I think we have to put this one behind us because it's not an easy loss—it's one we could have won. But we still finished 3-1 in the second quarter, so we've had a couple games here that we've had a chance to win and we didn't. Certainly we're in a good situation to start the second half of the season, knowing that all the pressure is going to come once we get in the division, so it will be an exciting second half.
(on if he thought it was the right call to call defensive holding on Michael Griffin's interception)
I didn't see any restriction, but anytime there is a tug on the jersey they're going to call it. There were probably a dozen others of those in the game that weren't called.
(on how Rennie Curran did in his first NFL action)
Rennie was involved, he was excited. We plugged him in a couple of places on special teams and did a good job. I was happy for him.
(on if he was more encouraged by Jared Cook's play on Sunday or discouraged by his dropped pass)
Well it's a hard catch considering the angle and looking over one shoulder and then spun around and was going to the ground and was distracted, but you'd like to see him make that catch. It was good to get him involved and we'll continue to do so. From a package standpoint we've had it in, Mike's (Heimerdinger) doing his best to get everybody involved. It was nice to see him make that play; it was also nice to see him run by the corner on the long ball.
(on if the offense having some three-and-out possessions was worrisome)
Of course it is, but as I said last night that was the number one rated defense in the National Football League, they're going to have some three-and-outs. They also gave up more yards to us than they've given up to anybody. Three-and-outs are a concern, but we want to carry balance into what we're doing and stay on the field but we also have to take our shots. We're asked for weeks and weeks and weeks, 'Can't you put the ball down the field? Well we're putting the ball down the field now, the byproduct of that is on occasion there is going to be an incomplete pass and then a run for a couple yards and then you have third-and-eight and you don't convert. We need to stay on the field and we need to carry balance, but I think over the last couple weeks we've shown some people that regardless of who's under center that we can put the ball down the field.
(on if they are comfortable at the wide receiver position after Kenny Britt's injury)
Yeah, Justin (Gage) was a game-time decision and we just felt that he would benefit from the extra time even though we felt like he could go. Justin comes back, you've seen what Damian (Williams) is doing, Hawk (Lavelle Hawkins) made some plays, Marc (Mariani) knows what to do and Nate's (Washington) running well and making plays. So to answer your next question, we're always interested in upgrading the football team, and these things come up all the time, so I'm sure there will be some discussion here this evening.
(on Randy Moss being a different character than they usually bring in)
I didn't say we're going to bring him in. I would venture to say that every head coach or maybe 30 head coaches in this league are having discussions about it right now.
(on how much of Randy Moss' past and reputation play in determining whether or not they want to claim him off waivers)
Again, we may have a 30-second conversation or we might go to the midnight hour tonight.
(on if Chris Johnson and Michael Griffin Tweeting that they would support the Titans signing Randy Moss will have any impact on their decision to potentially place a waiver claim on Moss)
No, I bet every player in the building would come in my back door and say, 'Go get him, go get him.'
(on if he thinks it's strange for the Vikings to release a player of Moss' caliber shortly after trading for him)
Yes, I'd say it's quite unique. I don't know any more about it than what you know, but you don't give up a third-round pick for somebody to help you win and then just release him.
(on the offense not being able to run the ball better now that they've shown they can pass the ball effectively)
I think it will. Again, we've played some good defenses, some really good defenses—some good fronts. These guys (San Diego) are rated number one and our staff felt like last week, Philly's front seven was as good as any. It doesn't get any easier, but we've got to keep working on it.
(on if he's happy with where the team is at after eight games)
Yeah, obviously our focus is to take advantage of the bye week to accomplish what we need to accomplish. Then our next opponent, which is a very, very solid opponent. I guess we're just lucky that they gave us the break between road trips from one coast to the other.
(on how Vince Young will be impacted by the bye week)
There would probably be some things that we would install, maybe expand the creativity of our offense this week. But we can still do that without him working on it this week.
(on David Thornton returning to practice)
Yeah, we're going to go ahead and let him practice Wednesday and Thursday this week.
(on taking David Thornton off the PUP list)
I think he'll do fine. He's going to do what everybody else is going to do. There are going to be some players—some starters who don't do an awful lot this week because we have to rest them. We've got to get some young players involved in practice. For example, Rennie (Curran)—Rennie needs to get in there and play some defense for us and do more on special teams, as do the young safeties. We'll plug David right in there, he'll work against the offense and he'll work on scout team on special teams and do all those things.
(on if he thinks David Thornton will be okay with playing on special teams if he needs to)
I think if he's able to go then we have to make a decision, do we bring him up because our two outside linebackers are playing well right now. So what he does is, yes he can do some things on special teams, he's always been willing to do that and then he gives us the opportunity to plug him in in an extra backer package. In addition to that some other things we can do and some sub-packages and he's there if we need him.
(on the overall team health going into the bye week)
We've got a few guys that we're going to rest and a few guys that we're going to push, but those will be the two (Kenny Britt and Vince Young) that probably don't practice this week.
