HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on the first half)
I think it was all about the defense. Those guys came out and got a bunch of three-and-outs. They got two turnovers that led to points for us. We got 10 points off turnovers. They really played well tonight, and that was the key in the first half. C.J. found some running lanes and made some good runs and scored. That's encouraging for us to see. Really, the only bad thing was Jake (Locker) made a bad decision on the one throw. He was trying to make a play and probably just should have run the ball. That ended up costing us points, but he came back and had a nice drive of his own. That is what it's going to be like in this league, a lot of ups and downs, but he did a good job of coming back.
QB JAKE LOCKER
(on his performance)
It was fun to be out there for the first time having the opportunity to start. I think we started off a little slow, but the defense helped us out and played really well tonight. They gave us some really good field position, and we were able to put some points on the board. It wasn't as clean as we wanted, but we were able to score points.
(on the struggles in the passing game)
We weren't as crisp as we wanted to be in the passing game. I think we can clean up some of those things, but I thought the running game was really good tonight and picked us up. We've been working hard on that.
RB CHRIS JOHNSON
(on the progress of the running game)
We're just working every day in practice and every preseason game. It was just an opportunity for us to go out here and test our craft. We have been working real hard and paying attention to the running game. Just coming off last year, not just myself but the offensive line, we take it all as a whole for having a down year in the running game. We're just working hard, trying to make it better.
(on his performance tonight)
I just see the hard work is paying off, but I still feel we have a long way to go. We're progressing. We have to cut out a lot of the negative plays. It's nothing really big, just one guy missing a block, or me tripping, or someone not doing the right thing. I don't think we're that far away.
LB AKEEM AYERS
(on the defense's performance in the first half)
We wanted to come out and get out to a fast start. We started kind of slow last week, and that's what we stressed all this week. We wanted to establish the line of scrimmage early, and we knew it started with the front seven. That's something that we preached, and we came out on the field and executed it.
(on the interception off the pass he tipped)
I dropped back in my coverage and read the quarterback and trusted my instincts, believed what I saw. I broke on the ball, but unfortunately it bounced off both of my hands. But the good thing was we were still able to come up with the interception.
