TENNESSEE TITANS QUOTES**
HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER
(On Vince Young's performance off the bench)
Yeah, you know as we said, we just put in a little bit more offense this week for him and we got him on the edge and he was accurate and made some things happen. It was great a job finding Kenny (Britt) in the back of the end zone on that scramble play. He can stay alive back there and he makes things happen. I thought he played well. Hamstring tightened up just a little bit. He could have gone back but I didn't want to take a chance with him, so we pulled him and finished with Pat (Ramsey).
(on the struggles of the running game the last two weeks)
We called runs just to run it but the line of scrimmage was loaded with stunting and blitzing and things and we just called runs to run it. We made some plays down the field, and then Kerry (Collins) just underthrew that one ball ever so slightly. But the other interception by the defensive end was a good play and you know you can't fault anybody there. But you know we just didn't get in sync like we would have liked to but I'm not concerned about it. And you know you play games as a team and I thought the first defense played pretty well considering they didn't know what to expect.
(On Tony Brown's penalties)
We had two penalties that cost us nine points. And you know you can't fault Tony he makes a good rush and he's going there and he just reaches up and grabs the neck and let's go and causes a fumble. You don't like to see that happen, that's a good play by Tony. That called back the touchdown and then we had a hold in the end zone and we can't finish like that and Craig needs to learn that, so that was nine points there. Then we had a roughing the passer on Vick (Kevin Vickerson) that I'll have to look at it. I don't really think it was roughing the passer, but Ed (Hochuli) said he put him down harder than it needed to. I'll look at that and that kept the drive alive and led to three points. Again, penalties is the emphasis we didn't have nearly as many as we did last week but we still had to many tonight.
(on the explanation for the penalty)
He felt like he had put all of his weight down on top of him.
(On the performance of the rookie class)
Yeah, they all scored touchdowns and you would expect them to do that. They were playing the second half. They're skilled players and they are making plays. It was good to see Kenny come out, he was comfortable, he was relaxed and he just made plays. He kept drives alive and I think all of his catches were either first downs or touchdowns.
(On Kenny Britt's injury)
He's fine. He just twisted his ankle. He'll be fine.
(on (Javon) Ringer)
They're in all out blitz and sometimes if you don't make the play, those things happen. He just did a great job of keeping his balance and just pushing it up the field. You know, we saw acceleration like we saw and that's why we drafted him. He's got very good quickness and great acceleration.
(on preparing for Dallas next week)
Well, we have to take our next step in the preseason and we'll have a couple days of training camp. We're not doing too specifically on our opponents. We're just lining up and playing and going over a number of things we have to get done this week before we start preparing for them.
(on the defensive play of the defensive line and Jovan Haye)
Yeah I think they all (were), at times. Everybody was taking turns, rushing the passer. They're playing hard, I mean, they are playing real hard. When you are playing hard like that you're gonna make plays. We brought Jovan (Haye) in particularly because he's a very instinctive inside player and plays the run well and he can pressure the quarterback and he did that. I thought Sen'Derrick (Marks) made some plays. There were some very explosive plays. All in all, our defensive line from the start of the game to the end of the game is playing hard and being productive for us.
(on preparing for a preseason opponent with teams using mostly backups)
You know you just go out and you give them a list of things that we plan to and you just have to adjust. Every front and every coverage has adjustment levels to anything they see. Oftentimes, it's not things that you would ordinarily do in the regular season but you adjust. So there's some holes here and there. Same thing offensively. Without being able to predict, Mike's (Heimerdinger) got to adjust to play calling and personnel groupings and motions.
(on Dave Stewart being injured)
No, Dave had some swelling in his knee and we just decided to back him down today. We'll do some more tests tomorrow. Dave doesn't speak and when he said his knee was sore, we decided it was probably sore. It's been sore. He's been working through it so we decided to back him down.
WR KENNY BRITT
(on if he was surprised the Titans went to him so early in the game)
Not at all, they said they were going to put me in the game early to see what I can do. I just do whatever coach asks me to do.
**
(on his first career touchdown)
It feels good being out there as a rookie scoring my first touchdown. I made a mistake giving the ball to the ref. I wanted to keep my first touchdown ball but it happens.
**
(on getting behind the defense on his touchdown route)
Vince [Young] is good at keeping his head up when he scrambles. When Vince is in the game you know you might get open somehow.
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(on his first game in the NFL being a dream come true)
It's definitely a dream come true. It's mostly just God's plans and that's what God has planned for me. I just want to execute it.
**
(on if he was pleased or surprised with how he played)
I'm a little pleased and a little proud because I wanted to go out there and get better at running my routes and my blocking. That's what I'm going to go do on Monday, work on my blocks and routes.
CB RYAN MOUTON
**
(on his interception returned for a touchdown)
They kept throwing the hitch out there and I got a good read on it and I saw it was a hitch, a three step drop. I just broke on it to make a play.
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(on his first home game as a Titan)
It was big thrill. Just coming out there and seeing all the people and making a few plays while I was out there helps out even more.
**
(on the rookie class having a productive night on the field)
When we first came here we all talked about just trying to get on this team and contribute somewhere. We really did that tonight.**
**
(on if he felt he continued his momentum from the Buffalo game)
Oh yeah, I was just trying get out there and make plays, swing to the ball and fly around.
**
(on if he knew where the ball was going on the interception when it was snapped)
Yeah, he kind of looked out there. I picked up on the lead and as soon as he threw it I broke on it and was not going to get caught by anybody.
DT TONY BROWN
(on his performance tonight)
**
I think I did alright. Unfortunately I got the face mask penalty, but that's not going to stop me from working harder. It was a good call. I did grab the mask.
(on defensive line rotation)
It's awesome. When a guy comes off the field there is no drop off. Everyone is playing with a high attitude right now and trying to do everything right. We were joking out there tonight, playing hard and working well together. It's like we're all brothers so we help each other out.
LB KEITH BULLUCK
(on Titans defense causing three fumbles)
I think that's a great performance. That's something we want to continue in the regular season is to create turnovers for our offense and give them the short field. Every time we step on the field whether it's practice or the game we have to make a concentrated effort in getting better
(on Titans defense building on last week's win versus Buffalo)
I think we did. When we watch the film we'll see. We didn't make any critical errors that were obvious. As long as our defense continues to build, and get better week in and week out, I think we have something good going.
QB KERRY COLLINS
(on the play of rookie WR Kenny Britt)
He's got that in him. He's got that ability to make those kinds of plays. He made some tough catches over the middle and was in the right spots most of the time, so it was a big step forward for him tonight. It was a big night for all the rookies. All of our touchdowns, rookies scored all three of them. A guy's coming in and showing he's a good football player. It's good to see those guys step up.
RB LENDALE WHITE
(on the play of Titans rookies)
The rookies stepped up. Those guys came in and did exactly what they were supposed to do. We were looking for our rookies to make some plays, and they came in and showed us exactly why we drafted them.
TAMPA BAYBUCCANEERS QUOTES
HEAD COACH RAHEEM MORRIS
**
(opening statement)
As far as injuries, Matt McCoy had a small ankle at the end there. Dexter Jackson had a small ankle at the end there at some point there. Will Allen had a shoulder.
As far as the team, we came out and we played physical and we played tough so we got those things accomplished with what we wanted to do. Playing a physical team like Tennessee, that's what you want to come out and do. You want to play physical with those guys and I thought we did that throughout the first half and maybe through the second. Third down efficiency we have got to get better at as far as the offensive stand point, and on defense. They were 50 percent on third downs and that's too good. We can't allow that to happen. A lot of that came in the second half with the second group out there. We have got to be better on third downs as well. Not a bad start though. Not a bad start. We came out and established the running game. We got some things going with Peanut, Clifton Smith, in there with our zone schemes. (Kareem) Huggins came in and capped some things off at the end there. Derrick Ward had a nice couple of runs in there so I felt good about that. Got some things established with the quarterbacks as far as the passing game. Luke (McCown) came out, struggled a little bit early, really didn't get anything going but (Byron) Leftwich came in and got some good things going so we are feeling good about that. Obviously, you make your biggest jumps next week, from your first week to your second, and we look forward to that. With that, I will open up for questions.
(on what was learned about the quarterback situation)
I don't know if you learned anything tonight. You learned that (Byron) Leftwich came in a played a little bit better. He threw a couple of good balls, threw a couple of strikes in there. He threw the only touchdown tonight. But for the most part, they both handled the game well. It didn't get to big for either of them. One of Luke's plays he had, a receiver made a bust, he should have had a completion there. You don't want to judge him on those things, you want to judge him on the correct decisions. You want to judge them on those two things as far as the old guys. As far as the young guys that came in, Josh (Freeman) came in, we got him established early, wanted to give him a couple of hand offs, not go right into a throwing game. Then he got a couple of completions, got a little confidence then we made a decision on third down, that was probably a bad decision by me. Trying to get him to throw at the sticks and the guy made a great play and picked it off and ran back for a touchdown. Then we had Josh Johnson come in and had a nice little drive in there and show what he does best when he puts the ball on his legs and run down the field and score. That was a kind of premature snap by the center, he caught it and made something happen on a third down. That's what you have to do when things happen. With stuff breaks down, you got a guy back there that can make that play.
(on changes to the depth chart)
It's way too early to make that decision. You have to go back and grade the tape. You have got to evaluate. You have got to look at the guys. You have to look at how they played and we will make those decisions when we go back. Obviously, we talked about it early in the week that (Byron) Leftwich is going to start next week anyway. Luke is going to be the backup and then Josh (Freeman) obviously and then Josh (Johnson). We will have both Josh's come in at the end and we will have Luke (McCown) and Leftwich switch.
(on the first team defense)
I was really impressed with our first and really our second team defense. Ronde (Barber) and couple of those guys only played one series. (Chris) Hovan and Barrett Ruud, they actually got two I believe because it was a three and out. They flew around, they played fast. Stylez G. (White) made some big plays today. That's the thing he has to do. He hasn't been practicing all that great, haven't been playing all that great in practice, but he comes out in the game and shows up. He's under the lights and he played big tonight. He had a big interception down there, made a sack the series after that. He was just impressive. Those guys stopped the run with Ryan Sims, Roy Miller, and Chris Hovan when they were in the game. That was pretty impressive as well. The DB's held it down pretty good as far as the safety coming up and making tackles. They were solid. We looked like we were swarming around. We were capping off. I was very pleased with that first half defense. We came back, had some of the other guys in and they missed some tackles. A big one was when the guy, Ringer, broke out of there and had a long touchdown run. We had a breakdown in the pocket with Vince Young when he threw a floater up there when Donte (Nicholson) came out of coverage. For the most part, they played decent.
(on coaching his first NFL game)
I was just so busy trying to evaluate and also trying to teach myself. Making decisions of how to manage the clock, what do you want to do? That last play of the half I just went back and evaluated myself. I probably could get one more play off maybe, then call it, take it down to three, call a time out and then kick the field goal. Really, I was trying to be really critical of myself. Going against a great coach in Jeff Fisher, I saw it as a great test. You want to come out and make decisions. I did okay.
QB LUKE McCOWN
(on the offense's rhythm)
It was good. It's what the first game is for. You want to establish a tempo with the offensive line, getting in and out of the huddle, getting the plays called and getting up to the line. As far as that goes, we were good. Now we have to clean some things up on first down and the few miscommunications we had with receivers. I feel like our tempo, the way we approached the line when we broke the huddle are some positive things to build on.
(on adjustments made after first series)
We made a few adjustments. It was just little things, miscommunications here and there. Things just need to get cleaned up. We got that straight. We were able to get some positive yardage on first down with Derrick (Ward). If you don't get positive yardage on first down it's going to hinder you. You have second and long and that really hamstrings the things you want to be able to do. We will go back and look at that and we will get better at it. We have three weeks left. That will be emphasized in the upcoming weeks.
(on expectations of Titans' defense)
They played their game. They were real good at it. We had some opportunities. We just had a few miscommunications that we have to get dressed up. As a whole, as a offense, one thing I look at now is the tempo, how the rhythm of the plays coming in and out, how we get to the line of scrimmage, are the calls right, are we making adjustments on the sideline. All that was real positive and we can build from that.
(on his own assessment)
I felt I did fine. I took the things I had and again we were able to move the ball a little bit more. We kind of got stuck down on our end of the field but it's the first preseason game and we have three left.
QB BYRON LEFTWICH
(on his touchdown pass after his first two plays)
I had one on the first one but someone hit my arm. I would have rather been one for one and got it out of the way early. We did some good things today and we have some things to work on. Especially not having Michael Clayton and Antonio Bryant here, we didn't have our full deck of cards and we still had some explosive things. So, we know once we get those guys back, we get more into details figuring out what we truly going to be as an offense. I believe we can make a lot of big plays out there.
(on if he found a rhythm overall)
Not really. It's the first preseason game. It's been a long time. I haven't been on the ground in a while. That's what works the rust off. It takes these preseason games to kind of get back into your self. I just hope and trying to be in a rhythm when it counts by week one.
(on Raheem Morris first game)
I love him. He was in the locker room just pacing earlier. You're so happy for a guy like that. Even when everybody looks at his age, this is a guy who knows a lot about football, knows how to coach grown men and knows how to get his message across to grown men. As players, we respect that. There are a lot of guys in that locker room that would go run through a wall for that guy. Just because of the type of person he is on a day-in and day-out basis.
TE KELLEN WINSLOW
(on playing in a live game)
I love playing with this team. It is exciting to be here with all the athletes we have here. It is a real close team, so it is real special to be here.
**
(on play of Bucs' young players)
A lot of guys showcased what they had today. Josh did a good job—both Joshes (Freeman and Johnson). That is what we have been working on (tying to executive) and improve.
DE GAINES ADAMS
**
(on potential of Bucs defense)
Overall, I think it is going to be a great defense. Coach Bates (Defensive Coordinator Jim) has a mind for football and he has just been getting after it. Overall, it is going to be good. It is the first preseason game and obviously, we got a lot more room for improvement.
**
(on role in new defense)
Coach is putting me in situations where I can make plays. I am trying to learn the various protections and just try to free myself where I can be a one-on-one rusher.
**
(on excitement generated by first game)
You have to give it up to the defense. They did a pretty good job today. Styles G. White with the interception and sack were big plays. You can't forget about the young players, Dre Moore, Kyle Moore, and Roy Miller all came in a did a great job. Also, we know we have a lot more room for improvement.
**
(on comparing defense from a year ago)
Right now I really can't say. I really like both defenses. Right now, I am just trying to learn and grasp everything and we will go from there.
DE STYLEZ G. WHITE
**
(on progress of defense)
It was our first preason game. For the most past, we are grasping the new defense, but want to get better in the system. We have OTAs and training camp and trying to get better as adefense and just play without thinking. We have a lot of potential.
(on being sidelined during OTA's due to motorcycle accident)
I missed a couple of days due to the injury and missed the reps. Now, I am embracing every rep.
(on importance of preseason games)
I have to play every play very hard. I have to because I am trying to make the team. We have a lot to learn and a lot to improve on, but I am excited about the opportunity we have and am looking forward to it.
