TITANS vs RAVENS
AFC WILD CARD
Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021
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(on how it feels, personally, to finally prove to people that you won in the postseason) "It feels good. I knew we had the capability of doing that. But it's always going to be naysayers, no matter what. So, it's just one game at a time. I appreciate the win. [It was a] hard fought team victory. They played great as well. Tennessee played a pretty good game on both sides of the ball. But I'm grateful for the win. That's all God."
(on his touchdown run and how he rebounded after throwing an interception to bring his team back from a 10-point deficit) "I dropped back; they zoned it. The guy was at the numbers. They had the spy – a QB spy on me. Offensive line just did a great job. I saw the lane, [and] I took advantage of it, and it's off to the races. It just happened to be a touchdown."
(on what's going through his mind when the team is quickly down 10 points) "My guys – they just came up to me [and said], 'We've got your back.' And I was telling them the same thing. But I wasn't shying away from the game at all. After the turnover, I just locked in even more, and we just battled. We just came out with the victory."
(on if this feels like a weight is lifted off his shoulders and what bothered him the most about the playoff criticism) "Yes, I guess, just what people [had been] saying. I wasn't really worried about it. It's just my third year in the league. I don't really care what people say. I'm just happy we got the win and [we get to] move on to the next round, that's it."
(on the second-half adjustment in the passing game of finding his receivers in the flat) "Yes, for sure. Coach [offensive coordinator Greg Roman] just started dialing it up. They were dropping 'Pat' [Patrick Ricard], leaving him in the flats because they were so concerned about 'Hollywood' [Marquise Brown], Mark Andrews and those guys. Pat Ricard was sneaking out the backfield and being wide open and getting some yards, getting some first downs for us. That's what we needed – to keep the ball moving. Because that was a great team, a great defense."
(on waving everyone off the field towards the end of the game to attempt a fourth-down conversion) "We didn't want to put our defense in a hole, or have those guys put [Titans] Derrick Henry back out there on the field. Because [in] certain situations, he just starts rolling, and we didn't want him to get hot. Our defense did a great job throughout the game. Like I always say, our job is to score points in the red zone, so that's what we were trying to do. And I was ticked off we didn't get the first down. It was rather go for it, than to kick it. But they threw a flag on us anyway, when we converted anyway. So, it really didn't matter. But it's playoff time, it's 'Win or go home,' and we weren't trying to go home today."
(on the differences he saw from the Tennessee defensive front from the first half, to the second half, in terms of the running game) "They were keeping guys outside, clogging up the middle and having an extra guy outside just running to the flat, trying to run us to the sideline. But our offensive line just kept blocking their tails off, and we just [saw] the holes and just tried to take advantage of it as much as we can. That's what happened."
(on what it means to be able to finish against this team specifically, knowing you've given up points to them before) "When we get in crucial situations, we just keep our eyes on the prize [and] stay focused. When we get in third-down situations, let's get the first down. We were really just not trying to put our defense on the field, because those guys [Ravens defense] were doing their jobs, they were doing their thing today – just flat out just ball-hawking, playing great run defense, and we just had to go score points. When we get to the red zone, we've got to finish – and that's just been our motto ever since the last loss we had during the regular season. We've just got to finish – because we have opportunities when we get in the red zone or when we're driving the ball down the field. We just … Somehow, it just falls off the train. We just kept it going today."
(on being in a rush to get off the field after the game and on which of his two long runs did he enjoy the most) "I feel it was just disrespect to see what went on before the game the last time we played those guys, and they were standing on our logo and seeing them get into it with our [head] coach. That was just disrespectful, because we treat all of our opponents with respect. It wasn't no reason for us to shake hands and stuff like that. We'll be the bigger guy, so we just walked off the field. I feel like we were being the bigger guys. And my favorite run was the kneel. I didn't really have a favorite run [other] than kneeling at the end."
(on what changed down the stretch of the season after he came back from the COVID-19 outbreak) "Just being locked in. [There were] plenty of times in games where we felt like we had our opponents beat. Our defense was playing great throughout the season. It was really just get off the field, and those guys [our defense was] scoring points, and we're not responding. Our biggest thing was, after COVID[-19], was we've got to finish. We do a great job of driving the ball down field, but we don't finish. We're used to scoring a lot of points, but we're not doing it. So, we just had to take advantage … (inaudible)."
(on if he felt like he was focusing on the task at hand, taking his time, and not trying to force things to happen) "Yes, except for the interception. I would've liked to put more power behind that pass. I just put too much air under it. But, for the most part, that's what we did. We took our time each and every play, and that's what resulted in us scoring points and finishing drives."
