TITANS HEAD COACH MIKE MULARKEY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT - Aug. 2, 2016

(on whether he felt like today was a good response to yesterday)

Yeah, I thought it was a better response.  I kind of anticipated that, it's just the way they've been.  That's normal, day one you're going to have some things like we had yesterday with the penalties and mistakes.  Then day two they usually clean it up, they're a little more comfortable.  They've hit somebody, something new, so I anticipated it to be better today, and it was.

*(on how important it is to have veterans like DeMarco Murray on the field) *I can't see any negative towards bringing those types of players in, especially with the success they've had.  [They're] great examples of how to do it.  They're not big talkers.  Andre Johnson doesn't say a whole lot, but he speaks volumes on how to work every day when he comes in here.

(on whether DeMarco Murray is setting a veteran trend)

Very.  I think watching him in that room, and watching our backs, even today, their level of play, their concentration, they've made less mistakes since he's been here.

(on how Tre McBride's skills can help him on special teams)

That helps Tre [McBride] immensely.  If you're not a starter on this football team, you have to have some kind of impact on special teams.  We would like that, again, is that everybody? No, we have to look at age on some players, but if you're a young guy, and you're not on the field as a starter, you better have a role somewhere on the special teams unit.  Jon [Robinson] and I looked at it in the draft ... does this guy have a chance to help us on special teams?  When you're checking off the boxes, that checks off for Tre.  He is one of those guys who has a chance.

(on whether the offense looked better)

Yeah, it looked a little better.  There weren't as many clean defenders in the backfield.  The competitiveness of our guys, I thought they looked challenged.  I read about how bad the offense looked on 9-on-7 and wondered how it was going to look today as I was jogging down with the offense to put a little spark in there, but I don't think they needed that.  I think they're ready to go.

(on the chemistry between Marcus Mariota, Tajae Sharpe and Rishard Matthews)

I think pretty well.  I'm pretty pleased.  I think Marcus [Mariota] has had a solid camp. I've been really pleased with him.  Those guys, there's nothing I can say that is out of sync right now.  I think it's been pretty good to be honest with you, what we've done to this point.

(on if having the day off tomorrow will affect the momentum of practice)

It's a little, but that's the way the league has mandated the schedules.  They have to have a day off within the week, and I kind of like the idea.  It breaks up the monotony of camp.  It's different than most training camps, usually you go a full week.  That's the tough week, now they get a break off of it.  They come back and get another break Sunday after the scrimmage, and I think that's OK for recovery. I made this a little tougher practice knowing they had tomorrow off.  We were out here a little longer, hit a little more, and they responded really well.

(on the importance of having someone like Harry Douglas who can play multiple positions)

Harry [Douglas] knows the whole offense at every position.  We went four-wide so he would know all four positions.  Kendall [Wright] tweaked his hamstring early in practice, so Harry had to go in and play more slot.  We don't miss a beat with Harry.

(on where Bishop Sankey stands)

I saw a lot in the last couple plays, down in the very last period.  I thought he hit the hole really well and had good vision through it, hit it fast, there was no delay, better than I've seen him hit it in the past years to be honest with you.

(on if Bishop Sankey has changed anything in his regime)

Bishop [Sankey] is bigger than when he first got here.  He's put on weight, muscle weight, he's definitely a different style runner this camp that I've seen.  He's hitting things, there's no hesitation like he's had.

(on if there are any drills to get Marcus Mariota to throw deeper passes)

Probably not.  Probably just need to throw more.  Again, we had a couple today.  I had some change of pace.  Sudden change if we hit a deep throw, it didn't come out.  Actually it was a couple that he had to run, protection broke down.  So I would like to get some where he could get the ball off.

(on Tyler Patmon playing inside or outside)

We're two corners down right now, with Bennett [Okotcha] and Brice [McCain].  So, numbers really, to keep that up until we get healthy, he can play inside or outside, more inside than out.

(on if he monitors who Jack Conklin goes up against)

Yeah, he's mainly against [Derrick] Morgan.  With Derrick being over there, it's really been fun, because the last two days they've had one-on-one competition.  They're competing for a belt that's hanging right now in the O-line room.  If you walk by to get to the cafeteria, it's hard to miss, hanging right in the middle of the wall.  They get it for a week.  Jack [Conklin] was the guy that had to win yesterday, the third set, and did.  Today we did it again, and Jack went again, and was pretty darn good under a lot of pressure.  We had the whole team around him watching have to win.

(on if Jack Conklin's footwork is farther along than most other rookies at this point)

He's played right.  It's been a few years since he's played right, so I'd say yes.  For him he's got a little bit of an advantage with as much time as he's played there.

(on if he thinks Jack Conklin has settled in at right tackle)

I think so. Again, when guys stand out when they're not doing things the right way or make a lot of mistakes or getting beat consistently—I mean, Jack (Conklin) has just been steady, really steady.

(on the performance of LeShaun Sims and Kalan Reed)

Again, I'll say the same thing. They're not making a lot of mistakes. I think the more work we can get one-on-one with them—you know, obviously, this is our second day—the more we can get, the better feel I'll have with them, but I'm pretty pleased. They've been very solid through the offseason and now. We have nice depth there.

(on if Sean Spence's prior knowledge of Dick LeBeau's defense has allowed him to hit the ground running)

He has. It's nice to have that comfort that you've got a guy that already knows the system. He's healthy, about as healthy as he's been in a long time, and he's been very good in our nickel situations at that backer position.