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TITANS HEAD COACH MIKE MULARKEY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT - November 8, 2017**
(opening statement)
I'll give you an update on the (injuries). Did not practice, Delanie (Walker), (Quinton) Spain, (Eric) Decker with an illness and (Derrick) Morgan.
(on what outside linebacker Derrick Morgan's injury is)
Knee.
(on if guard Quinton Spain playing on Sunday is up in the air)
He's up in the air. He's better, actually they all are better than we anticipated. Day-to-day with (Quinton) Spain, probably wouldn't do anything until Friday.
(on if it makes sense to give tight end Delanie Walker as much rest as possible)
Yes.
(on if running back DeMarco Murray practiced today)
Yeah, got a lot out of DeMarco (Murray) today.
(on if Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green is 'as tough a challenge' as any secondary is going to face)
I'd say, yeah. Size, catching radius, speed, he's a problem to cover, no question about it. He's a big-play receiver.
(on if A.J. Green lines up 'all over the place')
Outside.
(on what kind of effort he expects from the Bengals)
I wouldn't expect anything less than the best from all of them. I've known Marvin (Lewis) for a long time, I know a lot of those coaches on that staff, I know a lot of those players. We will get the best they have and we will get everything they've got when they get in here on Sunday.
(on if DeMarco Murray was a full participant in practice)
Yes.
(on if DeMarco Murray being a full participant in practice was surprising)
Not with him, no. I'm not surprised. He's a tough football player.
(on if any players were limited in practice today)
No.
(on if wide receiver Corey Davis' snap count will increase this coming Sunday)
He's going to go as he can go. I thought it was pretty impressive that he did not look like he was affected by not playing in games. I watch him work not just in the classroom, but his conditioning in here and it's paid off.
(on Corey Davis' toe-drag catch)
That was a big-time play. It was a go-route, when you see one-on-one press coverage, single high coverage, and the quarterback trusts you. The throw was pretty well thrown too, to put it where he could only catch it and not be defended. That was a big-time catch.
(on when the last time a linebacker made 20 tackles in a game, prior to linebacker Wesley Woodyard this past Sunday against the Ravens)
I can't remember how long it's been. He's all over the place. He's been playing well every game, he hasn't had a let down in a game. The fourth-down-and-one play is about as good a play as you can make, to stone the guy in the backfield. He's playing very good.
(on if Wesley Woodyard has raised his level in the last year)
No, I haven't seen any difference in his training, he is always taking care of himself, before or after. He practices a hundred miles (an hour), he practices like he plays.
(on making teams one-dimensional by stopping the run game)
I think it certainly helps when we stop them early. Stopping the run is to me a key in winning games every week. I think teams have made some serious attempts to try to establish it and our guys have not let up and I think that's been impressive by our guys. You've got to force them to start throwing it.
(on if he expects the Bengals to try to get A.J. Green the ball more and what is unique about him as a receiver)
They know who he is and who they have to take away to try to eliminate big plays and explosive plays down the field, and I think that has played a factor in some of the production. I'm sure they're going to try to get him the ball, I'm sure they've tried to get him the ball in some fashion in the last three games, it just hasn't worked out that way.
(on how rare it is for a player to go from being a two-down linebacker to a three-down linebacker like Wesley Woodyard)
I think it's just a matter of how productive he's been. It's been hard to keep him off the field. That's not rare, it's just hard to take him off the field, he's making so many plays.
(on what he attributes to the Titans recent success at home)
I think it's important to our guys that we establish an advantage at home. We've talked a lot about it. That's what you have to do to win the division, that's what you have to do to be a playoff team, you have to win at home. It's important to us, we're trying to get our fans back, we've been trying to do that for a while now. I think it's been loud and it's definitely louder and louder each game that we're playing. It's been fun to have them back, that's been a big emphasis these home games.
(on how you make having home-field advantage a reality)
Obviously, playing good football, finding a way to win, whatever way that is, and we've won a number of different of ways those seven of eight games, beating good teams. I don't know if there's any secret remedy, but we've got to continue to do it.
(on if he sees safeties Kevin Byard and Johnathan Cyprien as interchangeable)
Yeah, I'd say (Johnathan) Cyprien is probably a better box, lower safety. They're not far off from being similar though, but I think Cyp (Johnathan Cyprein) has a little bit of an advantage being down. Not much, not the way Kevin (Byard) hits.
(on if Corey Davis fits more of an X than a Y receiver role)
He is our X. That's what he's playing and that's what he's been playing since he's been there and solely that.
(on how much a receiver needs to be alone to 'be a real X')
Obviously, he'll be more productive if he's alone, but a lot of times that's the one area where you're going to get the coverage rolled to take the receiver away.
(on putting a second receiver in the slot)
No, it takes away some of the coverage you can have based on your route design, it does, to put two over there.Â
(on if the team is striving to win games by larger margins down the stretch)
I think that's pretty much every week. We would like to put a couple games together that we're playing really solid football in all three phases. I think we have shown spurts of that throughout the season, so we know it's there, we just have got to do it consistently. I think if we do that we could get into some of those situations but until we do that they're close football games.
Titans players take the field for Wednesday's practice at Saint Thomas Sports Park. (Photos: Gary Glenn)