TITANS HEAD COACH JEFF FISHER
"You know, I really felt after this week's preparation this team was ready to play. Obviously we didn't get it done in the first half. We ended up, when it's all said and done, got beat in all three phases. Where we go from here? We go back to work. That's what we do. We go back to work and keep working and we try to win a ballgame. That's what our emphasis is going to be. Sorry I don't have anything more enlightening for you. That's the way it is. It's not fun. We don't like it, they don't like it, and we've got some work to do."
(on if he questions his team's effort at all) "I'm not questioning their effort at all. They were ready to play. We had a good week, a great session all week. They were ready to play. What happens is when you don't make plays, the big plays … you know, energy feeds off of big plays. When you get three-and-out and you're giving up a drive, it's hard to get energy. We need to make plays. We have a fourth-and-two at the start of the game, and the defense is three-and-out, we get a facemask penalty, give up a scoring drive. Then you get a poor kickoff and you have a horse collar tackle, and field position and things, they just slip away. There are little things that compounded on us today."
(on if there's a greater sense of urgency for the team) "This team's practicing hard, it's preparing hard, it's just not winning ballgames. Today we got beat."
(on if he needs more out of QB Kerry Collins) "We need more out of everybody. We need more out of me. We all need to come back to work. And everybody needs to do a little better job."
(on what it would take for backup QB Vince Young to get in the game) "Kerry's our starter. Kerry gives us the best chance to win. There was a little bit of life left. We got some points and if we would've got the onside kick, it might have quieted down and he might have put his starters back in. That was my decision today, to stay with him and try to find a way to win."
(on if he's looking for something to give the team a spark) "I believe this team's some potential. I believe this team's not an 0-4 team. Clearly we've got a tough stretch ahead of us, but we're going to give it our best shot."
TITANS PLAYERS
QB KERRY COLLINS
(on today's performance) "You've got to give Jacksonville credit. They came in with a good gameplan, and we, for whatever reason, weren't connecting like we need to. We were coming up short on some third downs and didn't give ourselves a chance to put anything together."
(on the 0-4 start) "All I know when you're in a situation like this is that every man has to take it upon himself to figure out what he needs to do. As a team, collectively, we need to come together and not listen to the criticism from the outside and keep believing in what we're doing. I take it upon myself to not give up and I know the leaders on this team will take it upon themselves also to not give up as well. We had a great week of practice this week, and as long as we keep working, we have a chance."
(on getting behind early) "You don't want to completely abandon your game plan. Last week, we came back and were able to even get the lead. There's no reason to completely abandon what you're doing. I thought we had a pretty good game plan coming in, but they played well. I absolutely, 100-percent believe we were ready to play when the whistle blew."
(on RB Chris Johnson) "Teams are going to find ways to try to stop him. He's such a dynamic player and can hurt defenses. They are going to have him marked as the guy to try to stop. We weren't on the field long enough to try to do some different things and that responsibility falls on me."
DE JEVON KEARSE
(on the 0-4 start) "We can't put a finger on what's wrong and we don't want to point fingers at each other. Whatever we're doing, we're doing as a team. We've been losing together, but we've been doing it as a team. There's a lot of stuff we need to do that we haven't been doing yet."
(on Jaguars' passing game) "We didn't expect their passing game to go off today. We've been doing a pretty good job all season stopping the run, but the pass has been breaking our backs. We have to do a good job equally of playing the pass and run."
(on staying focus) " We have nothing to lose now. Any team that we go up against they don't want to lose against a winless team, so our work is cut out for us. We just have to go out there and play football."
WR KENNY BRITT
(on lack of offense today) "We got off to a slow start so we tried to come back in second half, get motivated and throw the ball around to just do something to get into the red zone. When we did get into the red zone, we wanted to score. We just didn't play our best game today."
(on Jaguars' defense) "I really don't believe that the Jaguars were doing anything unusual. I knew if there were problems on offense, the offensive line is good enough to take care of it. That's what we did in the second half and we had more opportunities to move the football.
(on trying to get first win next week) "We go back to work, like we get paid to do, and start from scratch."
RB CHRIS JOHNSON
(on winless start) "I really don't have an answer. I don't know what's going on. We're just not winning. I've never been in this situation before. Last year it was totally the opposite situation. I can only speak for myself and just keep working hard and become better. Next week, we'll try to make more plays than we made this week."
JAGUARS HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO
"I thought it was a real solid team effort today. I'm real pleased to finish the first quarter of our season with a divisional win here at home and coming off last week's big win on the road down in Houston. It was imperative that we get back to preparation and come out here and execute to give ourselves a chance. I think we did that today, in particular early. I thought we were real sharp early when we jumped on them a little bit, so it was a good effort. Tra Thomas stepped in where Eugene (Monroe) was too sick to go. We sent Eugene home. He came in trying to see what he could to do but he wasn't ready to play. Uche (Nwaneri) stepped in at guard, Mo (Williams) stepped out to right tackle the way we finished last week for Eben (Britton) and so it was good to be able to overcome that with two guys being out. I thought they did a nice job with that."
"I think keys to the game, we thought going in the run game, they ended up with a few yards against but it felt good in crucial situations. I felt like we were pretty stout when we had to be, and I thought offensively we did some things to be able when it counted to move the football and so I thought that was a key for us. I thought we did well there. Turnovers are always important. We're plus-two there. That's always an important element in the game. Special teams in particular early gave us outstanding field position and a chance to jump out on them. So, solid throughout. I think David Garrard played outstanding football today. He made plays and you know when you're going up against the Titans as stout as they are against the run, you know you're going to have to have your quarterback make plays and I think he stepped up and made a bunch of plays today and gave us a chance as a football team to move the ball, possess the ball and score points and so a very good outing for Dave."
"So anyway it was a good solid effort. I think the one injury thing we had, Scotty Starks got a hip flexor or groin, not sure which they're calling it but he wasn't able to generate enough power to return so he was out for the remainder of the game. That's the only one I've been made aware of."
(how do you explain today's victory against the Titans, who had home field advantage in the playoffs last season?) "I think really we just came out and executed well as a football team. We had talked all week internally that the story could have been a lot of different things, but we wanted to make sure we kept it for us on preparing for this opportunity and going out and playing well. So we did our best to keep that as the focus and worked well putting a plan together and worked well going out and executing that. We saw a lot of good things today. We saw some things that we'll want to correct and be better at,but I'm real proud of the way the guys came out with some good fight and pulled out a big victory for us."
(as well as Tra Thomas and Mo Williams seemed to play, do we have an offensive tackle controversy brewing?) "No, I don't think so. It's great to have the depth and great to see those guys playing well and we'll continue to lean on the depth of our football team. We finally got Rashad (Jennings) going a little bit running the ball. Greg Jones carried it few times today as well so that was good to see. Mike Thomas was involved. I think some of our tight ends that we've worked on with Ernest (Welford) and Zach Miller showed and made some plays and Mercedes (Lewis) had some nice plays today. So we'll keep working. We're going to use everybody. I think you'll that throughout the course of the year. As a football team we're doing as coaches all we can to utilize everybody that we have and putting together a plan where we can do some things where guys can get out there and do some of the things they're good at and together we put it together and hope that it's good enough at the end of the day."
(they had homefield advantage in the playoffs last year and you're going through major roster reconstruction, yet you beat them. What does that say?) "It just says that it's a tough league and we've been fortunate enough to execute well the last two weeks and get our record even, that's what it says. It's a tough league. As I said all week leading up to this game, this is a football team coming in that could easily be 3-0. They've got good players, good coaches. For us what we want to do is continue to focus on being a football team and developing and getting better. We've got to get better in several areas, but it was a good day today. I was happy to tell our team, 'enjoy this for the next few hours and then let's get back to work."
(at wide receiver it seems you're so much quicker now. Is that quickness a key to offensively playing better?) "Well, it certainly helps to have a little juice with your skill people. I think Mike Thomas gives us some of that, I think Zach Miller gives us some of that, I think Ernest (Wilford) as a tight end gives you some of that. So we're getting some of that. Torry (Holt) and Mike Sims-Walker are really sure-handed guys that can run. I think all in all we're just trying to utilize our weapons. I think David did a great job of utilize all of those guys, and it was a good solid day."
JAGUARS PLAYERS POSTGAME QUOTES
(on WR Mike Sims-Walker) "I've been saying throughout OTAs, training camp, Mike Sims-Walker is a weapon, and we have to be able to use him more. Now he's just being used. Now he's doing and showing everything that he can do. I told you guys that when he's not hurt and he's on the field playing, he's one of the best. He's very easy to throw to. He moves so seamlessly. Very smooth, great body control. He has a great range too, so I can put the ball pretty much anywhere and he's going to make the play for me. And he's a good guy to give you some yards after the catch. Mike is just being Mike. He's finally able to show it now."
(on the Titans' defense) "They do a good job of putting eight guys in the box and still trying to play coverage behind it. They're trying to fool you in a way with the safety down, but we've seen enough of it. We practiced it all week long. I was able to see it throughout the day. Coaches put together a great scheme, and to be able to have those passes off of the run game is huge because it really makes the defense play it honest. When they don't, when they pack it in there, you've got to rely on your receivers to make that quick catch and try to get some yards after it."
(on the offensive line) "I'm happy to see them all day long doing a great job. It was a mixture of guys today with Tra Thomas out there - guys that have been doing it. I knew whenever he got his chance to go out there, if he ever had it, he'd be able to step in no problem. I was sad to see Eugene Monroe not able to be out there, but he's battling the little bug that's going around. For Maurice Williams, he's been right tackle, right guard, left guard, right tackle. He's been all over the place, but I know what he can do and I know he can get the job done. For them to go out there against that defense, to be able to execute the way they did, and keep the guys off me, allowing me to look down the field long enough to get the ball out. You can't ask for anything better. I really have to take my hat off to them for the way they played today."
(on today's offensive line) "I'm happy with the guys that we put out there. Everybody has done a good job to this day, so I'm happy with whoever is standing in front of me. I know they're going to do a great job of keeping the defensive guys off of me."
(on the tight ends, knowing how receivers normally get a lot of attention) "I love that the receivers get a lot of attention, but I don't like how the tight ends don't get enough. Marcedes Lewis is a great tight end. He is so big and strong and when he catches the ball, he turns into a small guy because he can make guys miss and get up field. You saw on his touchdown today, how he can just make plays with his feet. So give him the ball more, is definitely something we have to do. He's just too talented of a receiver out there. Also, Zach Miller is young but is a guy that has great hands. And he has a little bit of wiggle too, so we have to be able to get the ball in his hands as well. Even Ernest Wilford. Ernest has been around here long enough. He was a receiver back in the day, but now he is a tight end or slash. It's great for him because it puts him on slower guys - linebackers and safeties. He still has that speed of receiver, but he's more bulky now. Just putting the ball anywhere for Ernest, he's going to catch it. He has really good hands and great range. I'm really proud of him and the way that he operates."
RB MAURICE JONES-DREW
(on the game plan)* *"We got some new guys here that can play. Zach Miller came in and got some crucial plays. Mike Thomas did well today, (Jarrett) Dillard did great. Torry (Holt) did great, Mike Sims-Walker did awesome. David (Garrard) scrambled when he needed to. On top of that, Greg Jones got the ball and Rashad (Jennings). It was a team effort today on the offense and O-line and they just kept grinding."
(on the replacement of both offensive tackles)* *"Tra Thomas came in and took charge. He was going up against (Kyle) Vanden Bosch and he did a great job with what he had to do. He gave David (Garrard) time and Mo Williams going on the other side up against (Jevon) Kearse and we realized we got to keep playing. We just got to keep improving week after week."
WR MIKE SIMS-WALKER
(on all phases of the game working together)* *"That was one of the best team efforts I have ever seen. Our offense clicked and the defense contained their offense pretty good. On special teams, Mike Thomas had a lot of great returns. (Josh) Scobee didn't even let them return the ball. The punter was great, punt return was solid. Everything that you look at in the game we did pretty good."
(on his confidence level)* *"It is the same. It never changes. It is just finally coming along for me. I had some bad breaks early in my career but that doesn't have anything to do with confidence. I am the most confident man in the world. I am just trying to stay humble and make plays."
WR MIKE THOMAS
(on the offense clicking)* *"It is great. That is what you practice for. Especially being a rookie just being able to come in there and help as much as I can, it is awesome for me. I am going to keep grinding, keep working hard and hopefully get better each week."
(on executing what he practiced)* *"You are clicking on all cylinders - special teams, defense and offense. We played a pretty good game all the way around. You can't ask for too much more."
DT JOHN HENDERSON
(on if there's any doubt of the team's confidence)* *"I didn't doubt it, I just went on with it. I bought in to whatever Coach and them were doing and I think that is what all the guys did was buy into it. When you buy into it anything can happen. It will be an incredible year if we all buy into it."
(on key 3rd down stops)* *"We were a little down in third downs the last two weeks. Coach has been pushing us to get off the field and guys just took it to heart and went out there and did it."
LB CLINT INGRAM
(on key division wins)* *"It is good to get where we are now but there is no time to rest now, we need to kick it into overdrive."
