TITANS HEAD COACH KEN WHISENHUNT PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT - August 17, 2015
(on practicing inside)
It doesn't affect what we did, it's just a different surface. We try to stay off of this as much as possible just because the grass is so good out there, but we play on this surface, so we have to work on it at times.
(on if there is a way to simulate the bad weather the team experienced in last year's preseason games)*
Isn't that funny? We haven't had any rain in training camp and we get closer to a preseason game and it looks like here it comes. So no, not really. I mean we could get some of the buckets we had from the ice bucket challenge and maybe throw it on the guys, but that would be about it.
(on Derrick Morgan's performance this year given presence of Brian Orakpo)
I hope a lot. I hope that's part of the reason why we felt good about getting Brian (Orakpo) in here and we felt good about getting Derrick (Morgan) back because we feel like we have two guys off the edge. We thought last year a lot of times Derrick was close. I think that we've got another guy that they have to worry about in Jurrell (Casey) inside. Maybe it will get us some one-on-one matchups that will give us a chance to win and get more pressure.
(on if Delanie Walker aggravated his injured hand by practicing today)
No, he practiced he didn't have any issues after that. I mean, he probably banged it. I asked him if he was fine and he said yes.
(on Justin Hunter's progress)
He's been trending up, Justin (Hunter) has. The big thing is that he's got to stay consistent. That's what we've got to see. And we need to see that in games. I'm proud of Justin for how he's taken this challenge, so it's good to see him have some consistency.
(on if he agrees with Taylor Lewan's disappointment in the offensive line after the first preseason game)
Do I agree with what Taylor (Lewan) said? That's Taylor, he's going to say what he feels. The only thing I'll say about it, we understand, I mean we said from the get-go that we're trying to address the offensive line and get better. It's not an overnight process. A lot of the work that comes with those guys in the trenches doesn't when we have the pads on. You get limited opportunities with that in practice because you're not going live and we've only had only small set of that in the beginning. So I've said a number of times during camp that I've been pleased with a lot of the indicators that we're getting better, and at times in the game we showed up and we were better. But it's preseason, it's a body of work over time, and we're still going to continue to work, look at guys and push those guys to try to develop a group that will be a little bit more consistent and hopefully have more success.
(on challenges of determining the offensive line when a lot of the success of the position depends on chemistry)
Well I think if we had five guys that were established and had been together before that would be what you would do, but we don't have that. I think we've been pretty up front with that saying we're looking for the right five and we're working on that. So it's not any different than a lot of teams in the league that face that challenge. I've been on teams that had good offensive lines that went through this same process. So the only thing you can do is keep pushing them, make sure they work hard, and that will come. That's an important piece of it. We've got three preseason games left to work on that. We've got a lot of training camp type practices left, so we're going to keep working at it.
(on if there is a better defensive line than St. Louis' depth and it being a good test for the Titans)
Well, maybe Seattle. They might be a better test. I think anybody you play in the NFL is a good test. They have very good players along that line. I haven't studied St. Louis. We haven't played them. I played them in the west, three years ago, but I don't know where they are as a team right now. We'll work on that as we get closer. I know they've got some athletes, you know it's always a challenge in this league.
* (on how much preparation goes into a preseason game compared to a regular season game)*
Yeah, it's drastically different. Whenever the game is this week we'd be really focused on that opponent and specifically what their traits are, what their tendencies are and things that we're going to have to address. There will be looks in this game that we've never seen before. That happens, because what we really have to do is get better at doing our things, running our plays, working together on our combinations and then what you have to do is take that and apply it on the football field against different looks. Do you look at them, yeah, we'll look at them a little bit later in the week so we have an idea, but I couldn't tell you what they're going to run. I couldn't tell you what type of defenses we're going to see and we'll have to adjust and adapt to that.
(on what combination we will see from the offensive line in the preseason game)
Some of it is going to be injury driven, and where guys are with that. Brian Schwenke missed practice today, so that changes a ripple effect in how we're doing different guys in different spots so we'll see. I guess that will be determined as we go forward.
(on if Andy Levitre is healthy and how he has looked)
He's had a good spring as far as coming through the injuries. It was tough on him because he had to play a lot of center this spring, but he battled through it and he's worked in camp. The real test comes with how he does in the games. We'll get more playing time as these games go on with that unit, and we'll have a better assessment as it progresses.
(on the versatility of Karl Klug and if he will use him on both sides of the ball)
Well I wouldn't give that away. That would be a secret. I wouldn't want anybody to prepare for Karl Klug on offense, because he's such a threat, but I think there will be opportunities for Karl. He's shown he's a very versatile guy and the thing I like about Karl is everyday he's the same guy. He works his tail off, he's a good teammate, played well for us defensively and does a great job for us on special teams in that kickoff return wedge. You like to try and find spots for those guys. I don't know if he'll catch a fourth-down pass for a first down like he did last year, but who knows, we'll see.
(on Cody Riggs getting more opportunities)
Competitive young man, you know you like the way he competes. He's not perfect which a lot of young players aren't, but he's a guy that shows up every day. You like seeing him do that. He's got opportunities to do that and hopefully that will continue.
