HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER
(on if he has anything to say about the rumors involving the Titans and Albert Haynesworth)
No. I'll talk about the Raiders and my football team, but I have no interest in talking about Albert.
(on if he can see a change in the demeanor of the team now that it's game week)
Well, there's a good chance the starters are going to play a little more than they did last week. This is game week, it's the opener. The only thing bigger than opening the regular season in the National Football League is playoffs. So guys are focused and excited about the game plan. They're going to work hard and do anything we possibly can to give ourselves a chance to win.
(on if there is a sense of urgency to get off to a good start this year after last year's 0-6 start)
No, I think what you have to do is take them one week at a time and do whatever you can possibly do on the field, inside the building to try and win a ballgame, period. Then you move on to the next one, but all of our attention and focus right now is on a very talented, unpredictable Raider team. When you start the season, people will hold things back—we do, they did, so you have to adjust. It's a tremendous challenge for us, if you take into considerations their speed, their athleticism, their size and what they've done over the offseason, not only through the draft but through free agency.
(on if Oakland's unpredictability is what worries him most going into Sunday's game)
That and their speed, but I think we're veteran enough and experienced enough to be able to adjust. I think both teams are going to have to adjust, because let's face it, both teams held a lot of things out of the preseason. That's the nature of the opener.
(on if he still plans to wait until Sunday to name the starting cornerback opposite Cortland Finnegan)
Yes.
(on why he wants to wait until Sunday to name the other starting cornerback)
It's a competitive reason.
(on how his revamped linebacking core has done through the preseason)
I think they've done a good job. Tully (Stephen Tulluch) has had a terrific camp and preseason. Spoon (Will Witherspoon) has done a real good job; he was familiar with what we were doing halfway through the OTA's. Obviously we've got some issues with G-Mac (Gerald McRath) not being here, but we'll step people up and we'll play and we'll be fine.
(on linebacker Colin Allred)
He has a good understanding of what we're doing. Colin has played inside, played outside and so I'd expect by the end of the week he'll be in good shape.
(on if part of the Raiders mystery is what defense they'll use)
We have to assume we're going to see somethings slightly different from what we saw in the preseason on tape. But, that's the case with most clubs. You're going to see different things, you're going to see different alignments, different pressures, different things, and of course they're faced with the task of defending our running back and passing game, as we are with them.
(on if it will be tougher for the Raiders to defend Chris Johnson having not played against him before)
This team has been able to prepare for him since the schedule came out and I'm sure they've paid close attention to what we did last year.
(on if the Titans need a defensive end to step up to a Pro Bowl level)
I'll expect whoever is going to play and how much they play will step up over last year. I think we've seen improvement from Will (Hayes), Jason (Babin) fits our system very nicely and he's excited about that. Derrick (Morgan) has really come on and Dave Ball is a real steady guy, so we have a good group there.
(on if the Titans need that type of play out of their defensive linemen to be successful)
We can get Pro Bowl production and effort out of them, but the guys that go to the Pro Bowl typically have sacks. When you're rotating guys like we're expecting to rotate, I wouldn't expect the individual sacks to be that high, I'd expect the sacks to be spread out across the board.
