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TITANS HEAD COACH MIKE MULARKEY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT - November 14, 2017**
(on the team's injuries)
Injury update: full participation, all on board.
(on full participation at practice being a good sign)
It is. Guys have put in the effort to get to that point, and our training staff's done a great job of getting everybody back and healthy, especially this time of the year.
(on having to be patient against the Steelers defense)
I think it's giving the Steelers a lot of credit, their defense, which you should. It's the same defense here. It's very ironic, we face them every day, especially in camp. We understand there are going to be some negative plays. We've got to be patient about that and not get frustrated, and we don't. That's one thing about our offense, we've shown no signs of any frustration.
(on if winning at Pittsburgh would be a 'feather in the team's cap')
There's no feathers. It's an important game, obviously, it's against a good football team in a tough environment. There's no feathers, we want to win the game. This is how you win the division, you win conference games and you have to beat teams like this to get where you want to go.
(on the Steelers defense)
They're fast, not a lot of guys out of place, do a lot, very complex, just like our defense. Better identify who you're blocking and then you've got to block them. They have a lot of talent on that side of the ball. Obviously, the scheme is very productive and been very successful over the years and they're fast executing it.
(on if he saw better sustaining of blocks against the Bengals and how much of that he still wants to see)
I think that's still, want to see more of that. I thought we got better, I did. It was a big point of emphasis and I thought we got better, but we need to continue to improve.
(on how much he's preaching being patient to the offense)
I don't know if it's the topic of conversation Saturday night. I think our guys know we have a good plan, especially for a short week. We've had a lot of work in a short amount of time to get ready for Pittsburgh. We know it's not going to be up and down, it's going to be a good challenge for us.
(on how much soreness goes away in the spotlight of playing on Thursday Night Football)
Hopefully they've been doing some things off site, taking care of their body, trying to recover. Again, that's an important part of this business is recovery and it's hard to do by a Thursday night game. Adrenaline has a lot to do with feeling good on Thursday night. That's any game, if you don't have your adrenaline flowing.
(on how balanced the Steelers offense is)
Very, very balanced. I think Todd Haley does a good job of the scheme. He's got some very good weapons, he does a good job of distributing the ball to those guys. He's not going to force it to one or another, similar to us. Whatever we've got to do to win, whether it's run it or throw it, we'll do it. Same philosophy on that side.
(on the Titans and Steelers being similar on both sides of the ball)
It is similar. It's not far off, it's really not far off. They're a challenge too to defend based on all they do and the people they have doing it.
(on if the Steelers are a team he wants to be like on and off the field)
They've had success and a lot of us have been around for that. I think we're trying to create our own identity here, not anybody else's, and I think we've got a good start.
(on if the similarities between the two teams helps during a short week and if the coaching staff was able to get a head start on Pittsburgh during the bye week)
We did with the bye week. Also in part of doing our self-scout we did some work on Pittsburgh. It does help that the defenses are very similar, not exact. Keith Butler's done some things to tinker with their front. Offensively, there's not much more you can get in regards to a lot of moving parts than you're going to get from our offense. We've had a lot of practice against each other, and that certainly helps that they're similar.
(on how much they focus on fundamentals on a short week)
Not much. This is our one practice that we went at a pretty good pace. You don't want to be out here all day, they just played 48 hours ago. You can't sit out here and spend a lot of time working the fundamentals, you've got to get to the scheme and get as much work with carded plays.
(on if how guard Quinton Spain feels tomorrow will play a big role in whether or not he plays Thursday)
He moved around pretty good today. I want to see how he recovers from it, how he feels tomorrow. If he feels good, yeah, he'll go Thursday night.
(on if quarterback Marcus Mariota participated in practice)
Everybody was full.
Titans players take the field for Tuesday's practice at Saint Thomas Sports Park. (Photos: Gary Glenn)