TITANS AT BRONCOS
Monday, Sept 14, 2020
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On how he felt he played and if the loss reminds him of games early last season
"It does feel a little bit like those from last year. Obviously, I was on the sideline for those. It hits a little harder being on the field and being able to have a say in the outcome. There's just some plays that we could've made to not only finish the game out, but during the game. The drive where I fumbled the snap on the 1—I could've picked up some yards on that play. We got to third down and we got kicked off the field. There's just a lot of little things that we could have done better. I feel like it was promising. Made some plays, but we want to be an elite offense. Tonight, with some of the things that we did, including some of the things I did myself, it just wasn't elite for us."
On what worked well between he and TE Noah Fant in the first half
"I think it just comes from experience last year. [Offensive Coordinator] Coach [Pat] Shurmur was calling great plays to get him open and Noah was attacking it. Noah was ready to go. Noah is ready to prove to everyone here, including the whole NFL, who he is and how hard he's worked in his past. When the ball got to him, that was thing—he made the play every time the ball came to him. That's something we have to build on, something he needs to build on and something others can build on as well."
On if the home crowd would have benefitted the team in the fourth quarter
"Yeah, that would have been sweet. It was really weird out there tonight. No noise, the timeouts—it was quiet. I wanted to call the play quietly in the huddle because I didn't know if they could hear us calling plays. It was weird. [Empower Field at] Mile High would have come in big time for us at the end, but what could have been really big for us is executing the four-minute offense."
On his advice to WR Jerry Jeudy after dropping a pass in the fourth quarter
"It comes down to the things we talked about during the week. In college football, you get 90 plus plays, and in the NFL, there's a minimal amount of plays that you get to run, and you have to bring an extreme focus all the time. Because I feel like I know Jerry, he wanted to do well so bad, that he kind of forced some things on himself. It's kind of what I did in my first start. I forced a couple balls into some windows because I wanted to win so bad. I wanted to win so bad and I know that's what he wanted. He was jived up and ready to go. It comes down to he learned his lesson. There's a certain way you can come in and stay relaxed play-by-play. I thought he did a fantastic job tonight. He has a promising future here I would say."
On if the offense felt the absence of WR Courtland Sutton
"You try not to think about it while you're out there. In any offense in the NFL, if they had the opportunity to have Courtland on their team, they would miss him if he wasn't on the field. Not only us, but everybody misses Courtland. We were ready to play and we had a great scheme. We just have to find a way to finish."
On multiple players suffering injuries
"Yeah, injuries are injuries. We play a contact sport, and things are going to happen. It's about the next guy up. That's what everyone's job is—have the starters ready, have the twos ready and have the threes ready in just case something does happen. I can't say enough about Phil (RB Phillip Lindsay), can't say enough about [CB] A.J. [Bouye] and obviously [OLB] Von [Miller]. It's the next man up attitude. You have to come out and we can't hang our hat on it. We have to go out and ball."
On what he was hoping to display in his first game in Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur's offense
"I think what I wanted to show will probably develop over time. I showed some things I wanted to show tonight, but I wasn't trying to throw everything out there the first game just to show everybody and prove everything. I think I will prove it over the season. I'm really excited about Pat Shurmur's offense. I felt comfortable back there—more comfortable than I did toward the end of last season. It just felt right. It felt like I was where I needed to be. I was very confident going into the game and I was confident the whole game. I just have to make a couple plays here and there to pull out a win."
On what happened on the two fumbled snaps
"It's definitely my fault, without a doubt. I took my eyes off one trying to get the draw off and the one under center was my fault, too. I had my hand way left. Things that hadn't happened in a while, they happened tonight. We have to bounce back and make it work."
