TITANS vs RAVENS
AFC WILD CARD
Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021
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Q. You got five sacks and a turnover, but how tough was it to smother Lamar Jackson as they kept getting to the outside on you?
JEFFREY SIMMONS: We missed him a lot. We got to him a lot. I think we just missed out because I think we had a great gameplan of trying to capture Lamar (Jackson). We knew we couldn't just go in and try to kill. We knew we had to just try to get him on the ground and like you said we had a couple sacks and we had a turnover. The goal was to try to capture. He's a great player. Props to him for making the plays, especially when they needed it. In the fourth quarter, I hated – I hated we just didn't make that play, when he did make a play and that's what playoff football come down to, who is going to make a play and who is going to stop them. They just made a play so props to them. Like I said I think we had a great gameplan coming into this game, just about trying to get Lamar (Jackson) to the ground, because he's a big part of their running game. And when we did get him into a passing situation, I think we did a pretty good job as well. But we just ran out of time.
Q. Last year you got into a role, made it to the Championship Game and this year it's over after one round. Does that make this even tougher to accept and what is finality like in the NFL when you know the season is over?
JEFFREY SIMMONS: It's tough. We lost. We lost last year. We lost the first round this year. It hurt. I like to compete. I love this game of football. I play this game with so much passion and it sucks losing. You know, not just for us, for the – for Nashville, you know? We've been through so much as a state, as a community, and just not being able to win, not just for us, but for Tennessee, it's going to hurt a little more, especially like I said for so much we been through. Like I said, it doesn't stop here. We have a great team. We have a great locker room. I played with a bunch of dogs this year. The guys, they bought into our culture here and what Vrabes (Head Coach Mike Vrabel) tried to give to us. You know, we had a long season dealing with COVID and up to now. I'm proud of this team. We didn't get to our goal, true enough, but I can't be more proud of this team. It hurts not just getting this win, not just for us but for Tennessee. The goal is come in tomorrow, I think we have a team meeting, you know, get back to this point next year. Let it build and let's just get passed it and I know for sure that I'm going to work my tail off to do a little more and help this team out to get past this point next year.
Q. You mentioned some mistakes you made against Lamar. Is that a situation where maybe against another quarterback you get away with that but with someone with that dynamic, those mistakes become bigger and hurt you more?
JEFFREY SIMMONS: Like I said, it's not too many quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson, he's dynamic. I mean, I don't know, you know, about if it was another quarterback, I know today we didn't do a good enough job, especially when we needed to. I mean, our goal was to come in and try to stop Lamar Jackson. For the most part we did and the guys, a lot of guys, we bought in, especially to the defense we were playing. It was kind of different for a lot of guys but the thing – we worked our tail off all week just to prepare for these guys and what they do and what they do good. Like I said, for the most part we did a great job but we just didn't make the play when we need it and when it really counted. Like I said, a guy like Lamar Jackson, props to him. He used his ability in the game. I mean, if you don't stop it, things like that happen.
Q. When you look at this entire season and this defense what do you think you guys need to add or change to be better moving forward?
JEFFREY SIMMONS: That's something, a question I think you can ask Vrabes (Head Coach Mike Vrabel) or someone else. My job is how can I be better as a three-technique or whenever they put me on the field. That's something I don't do but I think we had a great defense this year and I think it – we're at a point right now, we got to this first round of playoffs for a reason. When we needed to play good defense, we had it, and like I said, today the time just ran out. They played a play and whatever addition or whatever we may need in the offseason, I think I'm going to leave that to the guys upstairs and I'm just going to try to do my job and get better in the offseason so I can come back and help this team win.
