TITANS HEAD COACH KEN WHISENHUNT PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT - September 23, 2015
(on how good it will be to start a long stretch of games at home)
If we can play like we did in preseason, it would be a good thing. We're excited to get home. Two road games in a row is tough, especially when they're home openers for the teams you're playing. But that doesn't matter. It's good to be able to come home and play a game and enjoy that.
(on if it will be good to play the Colts when they are 0-2)
I'm not buying into that. They're a good football team. They have outstanding players, they're well-coached. I don't know where that's coming from, but that's not what I see.
(on if you have to tell the players the Colts will come out strong, trying to come back from an 0-2 start)
Yeah, I don't think you have to tell the players that. I think they know. They have respect for this team. They can see it on the tape. There's a lot of talk about this team from that perspective, but once again, I don't know where that's coming from. They've got a great quarterback, talented receivers, a good running back. Defensively, they've got a lot of good personnel. So they present a lot of problems for us. We've got to play our best football.
(on if stakes of this game are known, given that it is a division matchup)
Well, you're right. Division games are important. **It's something we've got to do better at than we've done. That's our goal, is to play better. We've got six quarters of good football under our belt and two quarters of not what we want to do. So if we can play like we played in those six quarters, then that's what we want to get done.
(on if he is surprised by the way Andrew Luck has struggled)
You know what, I'm not there. I'm not on their team, or in their huddle. I see a guy that makes plays. He's tough to bring down, he makes good throws. He's an outstanding quarterback.
(on the value in Jamon Meredith being able to adjust to new positons and start where he is needed)
You could ask him better about adjusting, he's done a nice job. Just watching the games last year you saw he was playing left tackle, he's played all the spots for us, and even got some center snaps in practice. I give the guy credit. That's good for him to be able to do all this. It was certainly nice to be able to put him in there in the game against Cleveland and he played well on Sunday. So it certainly feels better going into this game.
(on Colts players Andre Johnson and Frank Gore)
We've had experience with those players before, especially (Frank) Gore, and he looked good. He's a powerful running back. And Andre Johnson is one of the all-time best receivers in the league. They've got some other guys that are good, too. That number 13 (T.Y. Hilton) is pretty darn fast. So they've got weapons. Their tight ends playing pretty good too.
(on breaking the game down by quarters from a mental standpoint)
Well I think that's what you build when you're in training camp, when you're in OTAs. We didn't start the game the way we wanted to. We had an opportunity to adjust at halftime and our team responded. It's not what we want from the standpoint of a score perspective, but it certainly showed a lot of grit for our team to come out and control the second half the way we did. The touchdown at the end for them was bad. I feel like we would have been back in it if that hadn't happened.
(on coaching a great player like Marcus Mariota)
He's doing a really good job. He's a great player. We're really excited to have him.
(on being home for a long stretch and if there are any pitfalls to pay attention to)
I think, to be honest with you, I know it's there; I haven't even paid attention to it. I think in this league, it's a week-to-week thing. I just know that we're at home this week, and I think that's really how you look at it. We could sit here and talk about how we've got all these games at home, but you don't even think about that. We've got to think about the Colts this week and wherever we go after that.
(on if there is hesitancy or overlooking of the Colts with the BYE next week)
I sure hope not. We haven't even had any talk about the BYE. In fact, until you said that, I hadn't even thought about it. So I hope that's the way our players are thinking.
(on if he takes anything away from watching other games on regular television)
You can watch it, but I think when you go back and watch the game tape you confirm what you see. I don't know how much you can take from watching the TV copy, because you can't hit the rewind button or the fast forward button, so that's a little bit strange. But you see things and maybe get an idea and say, 'OK, I'll look at this formation, or this front. They're going to do this.' But the best way to see it is on the game tape.
(on if television announcers say anything that spark ideas for him to look into)
Not really. Maybe there are teams that do that. Maybe they have people watch the games, but we haven't done that.
