TITANS AT BRONCOS
Monday, Sept 14, 2020
# # #
On if he had any second thought about letting K Stephen Gostkowski attempt the game-winning kick
"No. They did obviously, because they weren't using their timeouts. They were banking on him missing. We've all got to do our job. It's not on just one player. We'll get this stuff fixed. We've got a lot of faith in our players. We're excited to get out of here with a win, this is a tough place to play."
On overcoming adversity throughout the game and the defensive stands in the fourth quarter
"To come back and let them answer after we had scored that touchdown, I give our defense a lot of credit, all night they kept battling. It's not great, but again, it was hard-fought and I think sometimes the tougher it gets, the better we are. We can embrace those types of games and win those tight football games."
On the decision to only dress three outside linebackers and if he was happy with their production
"Every week we see who's healthy, and that's where we were today. [DE] Jack [Crawford] helped us a little bit on first and second down. We have to watch the tape and see how we played and see what we did. There are a lot of things that we'll have to correct to get better against Jacksonville."
On Gostkowski's misses and the team continuing last year's struggles in the kicking game
"We all have a job to do, and I'm very confident that that will get corrected. Again, like I said earlier, it's not all one guy. Whether there's some push and snap, we've got to make them. That's a whole operation. That was one of the keys to the game, the field-goal block unit. Fortunately for us, it didn't cost us."
On QB Ryan Tannehill's poise
"Yeah, huge drive there late. We just stayed together, and I thought [WR] Corey [Davis] was fantastic. They pressured us the one time which kind of got us. Then late there, to be able to move the ball down and grind out some clock and some yards to get us down there into chip-shot range, was huge. We've got a lot of faith in Ryan to get us in the right play and operate our offense."
On Davis' performance, and if he felt this was one of his better games as a pro
"Absolutely. I'm really proud of his effort to get himself to this game. I think admittedly, he's probably not at 100-percent, but I was happy to present him with a game ball in there in front of the team for his effort, toughness and competitiveness."
On RB Derrick Henry and the decision to stick with the run game
"I think that's what you have to do. That's a good defense. I think if you start dropping back and throwing all over the place--that is an excellent defense. We came out here and didn't score last year. They're well-coached and have got really good players. This was a good test off the bat for all of us."
On if he was considering going for it on fourth down at midfield earlier in the fourth quarter when they took the delay-of-game penalty
"Yeah, just kind of felt like at that point in time that the timeouts were going to be critical. We didn't like our operation, and at that point in time we just felt like if we couldn't get out there and do it efficiently, that we should just take the delay and punt it and play defense, and see if we couldn't do what we did here at the end of the game."
On the importance of keeping those timeouts and allowing them to utilize Henry in the two-minute offense
"That's the thing. Those things, they're the golden ticket. To be able to keep them allows you a lot of flexibility down the stretch. Obviously to challenge plays, but also to use the entire field and to be able to manage the clock and do what we did."
On ILB Rashaan Evans' ejection
"Yeah, it does [hurt]. We have to use great decisions. We talk about this when it's penalties and keeping our composure at the end of the play. We try to practice that that if those things happen in practice, you're out of a game. When you throw a punch, that's what happens. You hurt the team, and I think he'll learn from it."
On what CB Chris Jackson has done to earn more defensive snaps than some expected
"He's been available. He's been able to practice almost every day. I think he missed a day or two throughout camp, so when you're available and you can go out and practice, you earn reps and opportunities."
On how much he feels the team needs to clean up moving forward
"A lot. I don't know how many penalties we had, I think there five maybe. I think that there're always things to clean up, and more so now than ever. We've got to do it quickly with a long flight and a quick turnaround."
On running ball disruption drills in practice, and then seeing the players carry that over into the game
"That's the nature of this game. When you practice a certain way you have the ability to build confidence. Practice carries over to the game. When you're in traffic and you're a receiver, you have to go attack the football. I thought Corey exemplified that. We still need to create more turnovers and do some more of those things on defense. But again, any time we can attack the football out in front of our eyes and be strong with the catch, those are great things."
On if they sought out to get Davis involved early, or if those were just the open reads
"I think a lot of those things are just kind of where the read takes us. Corey does a lot of dirty work in there, so to be able to get him out on some of those play-action passes proved to be helpful tonight."
On if the Broncos not taking timeouts on the game-winning drive affected how he managed the situation
"Yeah, I think at that point in time it was, 'Let's just get it down here close enough and take care of the football and win the football game with a field goal.' I've got a lot of confidence, I coached Stephen early on and I think after whatever miss, I said, 'Hey, you're going to have an opportunity to win this game. I know you will, and you're going to make the most o it.'
On holding Broncos TE Noah Fant without a catch in the second half
"Just an awareness and understanding, and playing correct leverage. There are a lot of things we've got to get fixed defensively, but Week 1 is always difficult. It's a great challenge, so hopefully we can watch the film and learn from it and understand what we need to do better to continue to win."
On if his previous experiences with Gostkowski affected his decision to let him kick the game-winner
"Yeah, I just kind of know. I mean, you have to. It's like sitting there and being like, 'It's been red ten times so I'm going to bet black because it's been red ten times.' It doesn't work that way. I just felt like we were going to be able to make the field goal and that that was the right play. That's the proper way to approach it, and everyone did their job on the last one."
