Coach, what did you do to get that win with them in those uniforms?
Yeah, it was a huge win for us. Credit to our guys, that's a tough football team. The Titans are really a tough football team for our guys to show up how they showed up today. I mean, play after play, somebody stepping up, making plays for us, being resilient throughout the entire game. It took four quarters and the entire overtime for us to come through with this win. Credit to everyone. Really happy to have Kaʻimi (Fairbairn) back, for him to step up and to make that game winning kick for us is huge. So just proud of all our guys. (The) defense played great today, got after the quarterback, kept down the explosive plays, held them in the run game. All day, the defense was playing really good football all day.
Did those uniforms add anything to this game?
For our guys, it's not about uniforms. For us, it's about being effective when we're on the field. Doing what we're supposed to do to go win a game. We really don't care what we are wearing, or what the other team is wearing. It's about us playing good football.
Case Keenum, for him to not play/start in a long time and play this way, what does that say about Case?
Yeah, Case did a really nice job today. I mean being very efficient, keeping us moving, and no play bigger than the play there at the end. Seeing him scramble around to find "Motor" (Devin Singletary) for the big, explosive pass to put us in field goal range. It shows Case (Keenam) is just a true professional even though he hasn't played in a while, he's ready for the moment. He let our guys know he was ready for the moment, and he showed up and made big time plays for us.
What ended up going into the decision to start a Case (Keenum) over (Davis) Mills?
I felt like it gave us the best chance to win this game.
DeMeco, what does this game maybe say about the depth of this team? You guys obviously down a lot of guys. I couldn't even remember all the guys off the top of my head. But what does it maybe say about the depth of your group?
Yeah, we have a deep group. One thing we talk about, one thing we preach is it doesn't matter who's out there. Of course, we miss CJ (Stroud), we miss Will (Anderson), we miss Blake (Cashman). A lot of guys were out, and our guys didn't blink, it didn't matter. Whoever steps on that field we expect our guys to give their best, and that's what they did today.
Coach, can you talk about the overall play of your defense today?
Overall, we sacked the quarterback seven times. (Steven) Nelson showed up big time with the interception and the pass breakup there in overtime. Play after play, our defense stood up and made a play. (Derek) Stingley (Jr.) played well for us, Christian Harris had a really good game. He was playing physical, flying around. Desmond King (II) played really well for us. Just everybody, did a really good job. I can name them all, but everybody did a really good job. We're really proud of the D-line because that's where it starts, the way they were able to get pressure on (Will) Levis. The way our safeties and our corners played in the back end. It was awesome defense by everybody.
Career day for (Devin) Singletary, he seemed to touch the ball almost every play for a long stretch there. Was that more of what they were giving you or was that was your game plan?
Yeah, that was our plan, try to run the ball. We know they're tough up front and it wasn't going to be easy, but we had to stay after it. Motor (Devin Singletary) did a really nice job, the O-line did a really nice job of staying after the blocks and finishing. Motor (Devin Singletary), he had the hot hand and we continued to ride with him, and he showed up big.
What do you think about that Dalton Schultz play?
Oh, wow what a play by Dalton there in the red zone. For him to come down with that catch, it just shows the competitive spirit of Dalton and just the strength at the catch point to be able to make that play. It was an unbelievable play. (I'm) happy he made it for us to set us up there for a score.
Noah Brown had a lot of productivity. In the last couple of games, he has been quiet. But today, he made a lot of plays for you.
Noah (Brown) was very effective today. He made a lot of plays downfield, he was open, he was able to beat man coverage a lot. Noah (Brown) continues to show that he's a threat for us in the receiver position.
Case (Keenum), how would you say about him being able to step up into the role of quarterback 3 to quarterback 1 and being effective enough for you guys?
Case (Keenum) just has the experience. He's been there, he's done that, he told the guys this isn't his first rodeo. He's been there, he's won big games. This was a big game for us. And he's been there before so it wasn't too big for him. He made the right plays, and he helped us. Guys were in the right position, we ran the ball well, and I think that's what helped Case and the offense. Running the ball well, which is something we haven't done well over the past couple of weeks. So, the way Motor (Devin Singletary) ran the ball, the way Case played efficiently, Noah (Brown) making big plays, Dalton (Schultz) and everybody stepping up when they needed to.
In particular, from the defense line; Jonathan Greenard, Maliek Collins, what did you see out of those guys?
For me, it's just all four guys. I can't single out one guy on the defensive line because it was everybody making plays. It's all about four guys rushing together, and that's what they did. Multiple guys got sacks because they rushed together as a unit.
Coach, with the way that the team played today, do you think that they had it in the back of their mind knowing that they were down a couple of brothers as far as playing with them, but the playoff implications and what this game meant.
We knew we needed to play better. Our outing the previous week just wasn't our brand of football. So, everybody had a bad taste in their mouth and just wanted to come out and play better football and have a chance to compete. And we did that today. We competed and we came out on the right side.
This another kind of last possession, last second type of win. What does that say about your team that week after week you guys have been in position and been able to come out on top?
It shows that there's no quit in our team, and it shows that no matter what the situation is, no matter what the clock says, we have an opportunity to win the game. We can win it in any form or fashion. And I'm proud of the guys, whether it's a game-winning field goal, whether it's a defensive stand, whatever it takes. Our guys have been battle tested and they've been in those moments, so nobody is panicking when we are in those situations.
After that first drive, you all were pretty much dominant on defense against the Titans. What adjustments did you make or what did you all see that allowed you to be effective after the first drive?
No adjustments needed. Guys just made plays, guys were where they're supposed to be. Guys played with heightened awareness of what they were trying to do to us, and everybody just made the plays that they were supposed to make.
What are you all doing in the run defense, though? Derrick Henry had 9 yards and 39 yards from the (running) backs total. What happened in that regard?
With the run defense, I feel like our D-line again. The way they were penetrating, they way they were playing on their side of the line of scrimmage, it really stifled their run game. We had a ton of tackles for loss, we were in the backfield a ton. When you are able to do that, it kind of takes them out of the run game.
