(On what is going through his mind…) A lot. Frustrated that we didn't come out on top. We beat ourselves. Hats off to Tennessee, a great football team, but we put ourselves in a hole, and just couldn't get out.
(On whether Tennessee did something different to make Derrick Henry more effective in the second half) He just kept running the ball. Obviously, he's a top back for a reason. One of the best, if not the best, back in the league. Bigger back. Everybody has to do their job, have to stay in our gaps, as firm as possible. If we give him a little bit of a crease, he's going to hit it, because he's that good. He got rolling, and when he gets rolling, he's dangerous.
(On what happened Henry's long touchdown run) He scored. I was behind him. We obviously didn't get him down. He scored.
(On the rush defense) It's about just playing our gaps. We just have to stay in our gaps. If we give a little bit of a crease for a guy like Derrick Henry, he's going to hit it.
(On penalties…) I'm not really into going back and forth with the refs and what not. Obviously, this is an offensive league. They're going to protect the quarterback. Bang bang situation. I don't agree with it, but at the end of the day, they called it; can't happen. I have to be smarter in that situation. But, I don't really agree.
(On keeping an even temperament during the game) We can't have those penalties. At the end of the day, we have a job to do. We have to have controlled chaos, is what I call it. It's an even keel mindset. We can't have those penalties in crucial situations. Some are ticky-tack. Like D.J. Reed on the taunting penalty. Come on, man. You're taking the passion and the emotions out of the game of football. At the end of the day, that's the rule, we have to play smarter. But, we definitely shot ourselves in the foot with a lot of our penalties, that led to points and extended drives.
(On what lessons the defense should take from this game…) Just doing our job. Just staying disciplined for four quarters. Anybody can swing in the first half, but we have to swing it in the second half as well. We gave ourselves chances, we just didn't come out on top. It was a tough ballgame. It wasn't like we didn't go out there and compete, or didn't go out there and make plays, toward the end. We gave ourselves a chance, but it didn't roll our way.
(On what it was like to play in front of the 12s) It was phenomenal to get out there and experience the 12s. The last time I've experienced something like that was my LSU days, back in Baton Rouge. I'm not going to say who was louder, but they both were going. The 12s are phenomenal. When you can get behind fans like that, that have your back, as a defense, we feed off of that, just as well as they feed off of us. Tannehill and the Titans did a phenomenal job of controlling it. You notice that they started going tempo. When they were going tempo, they knew what we could throw at them on third down. They were just keeping us on our toes. At the end of the day, the tempo didn't affect us. We just have to continue to do our job at all times and can't get distracted by what's going on or what they're trying to disguise, in a way. At the end of the day, we didn't execute, and they did.
