TITANS HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
**
On the last drive: **"The two drives really, I thought getting a field goal — again at this point we had finished a few of our drives. That's probably the biggest thing. But yes after they scored I think they had momentum on their side and the crowd behind them. I thought 'Fitz' [Ryan Fitzpatrick] did a great job. I think all day long he made a lot of really good decisions. On that drive again, he had a lot of great throws. He ran a couple of times. Finding [Justin] Hunter, finding Kendall [Wright], this guy is making plays. That's what it's all about in this league, so great. Again, we didn't want to settle for a field goal. We were trying to be aggressive. We wanted to try to find a way to get the seven right there, and obviously we did."
On whether this was a season-saving win:"Definitely, and we knew going in that, in our world, it's a playoff game. We couldn't fall to 4-and-7. I'm sure they felt the same way, so yeah that was a huge drive when we were sloppy throughout the game with penalties and things like that. We blew some opportunities that could of made this game different, we think anyway. I'm sure they feel the same way. But again when we had to, it's nice to see that this time we finished and came up with a big win."
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| Justin Hunter and Kendall Wright each recorded their first 100-yard receiving games. Click here for a slideshow from the Titans' win. |
On the WRs Wright and Hunter having over 100 yards:"Yeah we feel good about that, and the running game, we didn't give up on. We were handing it off. They did blitz us a lot. They came after us pretty aggressively with inside stuff, crosses, safety blitzes. Like I said with the line we were sloppy at times. Guys were covered. 'Fitz' did a good job buying time in certain situations. I think that 'Fitz' feels like this is his offense now. The last two and a half games he's played, he's played very well."
On if he spoke to Matt McGloin and if he thought he played well:"I thought he played well. I thought he hung in there nicely. There were some times we were all around him. He made some nice throws. He made the one interception early, probably one he wants back, but I thought he managed the game very well for them. He put them in a position to win. Just a shout out for East Scranton, East Scranton beat West Scranton. Now my dad will have bragging rights at the diner tomorrow morning. That was probably the biggest thing in my mind throughout the game. I made that phone call to my dad, and he's got that bell now. They played for that bell there. The dads got together on Friday night, and so now we get to have the bell at my house for the year."* *
TITANS QB RYAN FITZPATRICK
On the last drive: "We knew we needed to go down and score. We wanted a touchdown there obviously. We didn't want to settle for anything less. We didn't want to have to kick a field goal. We knew we were going to do it. We knew we were going to drive down there, and it's a good feeling — the confidence we had in the huddle at that point and the belief that we had with everybody upfront. All those skilled guys were going to get the job done."
On whether this was a season-saving win:"We thought about it in the second half for sure, just in terms of going in at halftime and being down and falling behind at the end there. That was going through our minds. That would have been a big loss for us in terms of what the rest of the season was going to look like. We knew this was going to have a drive at the end of the game, and the guys really stepped up."
On how big of a game this win was mentally:"Well hopefully this will capture some momentum for us. Every week is a new week, a new team. But hopefully we'll capture some of the momentum we have today and use that to catapult us through the rest of the season."
On WRs Wright and Hunter having over 100 yards:"Kendall's really stepped up all year for us. He's been a real reliable guy for me — a guy that I really trust. Justin Hunter today, all his catches, he really stepped up and made some plays, and obviously the great run after the catch on the touchdown. He was making tough catches, getting hit, having to go to the ground on third down conversions. So I was really proud of him today putting together the performance that he did."
TITANS WR JUSTIN HUNTER
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On how important it was for he and WR Kendal Wright to have a big game: "**Just letting us know, the quarterback, he trusts us; he believes in us and he knows we're going to get open for him and make tough catches when we need to and just be there for him every time."
On whether this was a season-saving win: "In some way, every game is a tough game for us from now on. It's a must-win game every game."
On his touchdown:"The dude just got in my way, really. I was about to cut across the whole left side of the field. I felt energized after I caught the ball, so I was about to cut across the field and he cut me off. The other dude played over the top so I had to cut back."
On his performance:"I felt like I played good, but I think I could have played a little bit stronger than what I did today. I think I got pushed out of my route a few times but was still was able to get the ball, so I just need to work on that part of my game."
TITANS S MICHAEL GRIFFIN
On his hit on TE Mychal Rivera:"At the end of the day, as a defensive player in a situation, damned if you do, damned if you don't. You look at it, he catches the ball, first down, they're right there in scoring position. You knock the ball loose, they're still right there in scoring position. More than likely I'm going to see a fine from the Commissioner, and I've just got to go from there and continue to play football."
On if he was being overly aggressive:"No. At the end of the day I told the training room staff and everybody else I apologize. It was nothing intentional. I didn't try to harm anybody. I'm just trying to do my job. I get paid to not let any deep balls go over the middle and whatnot. I'm just doing my job. I apologized, I prayed for him right then and there and I didn't mean for him to cause any harm or whatnot. It's part of the game. I asked the refs, 'What more could I do?' They told me to aim low and I'm asking where do you aim low when somebody's going over the middle and he's catching the ball and he's falling at the same time? What do you do? My position and my job as a defensive player is to keep him from catching the ball and I don't know what you're supposed to do."
On the defense overall:"One thing we did, we held them to field goals. They missed two field goals and that was a good thing for us, and then our offense managed to put some points on the board, so overall, we did a great job and we didn't turn the ball over so I think that's a positive for us. We got a 'W'. We've just got to look over, watch the film, see where we went wrong and be ready to get at Indy next week."
TITANS TE DELANIE WALKER
On whether WR Justin Hunter grew in the game:"Oh most definitely. He played a great game. He made some big catches when we needed it; got us some big catches in the second half — he took a long one to the house. That's the kind of stuff we need from a rookie like that, to make plays for us and do things the right way."
On the third-down conversions: "That's what we talked about. For us to move the chains you have to have big third down conversions and we did that. Justin [Hunter] did a great job and Kendall [Wright] did a great job making some big catches for us in this game and they basically put us on their back, by making catches like that."
On how important it was to get that last touchdown: "It was very important. We talked about when we were in the huddle we said that we weren't settling for a field goal. We were going to put the ball in the end zone, and Ryan [Fitzpatrick] did a great job moving around, throwing the ball; found Kendall [Wright] there – Kendall dived into the end zone – and there you have it."
On whether it's hard to believe that they are tied for a playoff spot:"No. It's not hard to believe. We're a good team, and when we want it we show up and play. And that's what we did today. A lot of guys showed up, made big plays and that's why we won the game."
On whether the team gained confidence today after winning a close game: "Most definitely. We hate for them to be close, but if it has to be close and we can win in a dogfight we'll take that. That builds confidence and that gives you momentum. So we're excited about that and now we have to go to Indy and play another great game."
RAIDERS HEAD COACH DENNIS ALLEN
On the game: "Update on injuries as far as the guys who didn't finish the game — Mike Jenkins and Mychal Rivera both had concussions and Kevin Burnett had a quad contusion. I thought our guys went out there and I thought at times we played well and I thought we did some good things in the game. We didn't have enough to make enough plays to win the game. There's several things that you can look back — we missed two field goals in the first half. We come out and got a lead at halftime, come out second half and let them… we dropped coverage and let them hit us on a big play for a touchdown. Third downs weren't good enough in the football game. We have to give those guys a lot of credit, but our guys played hard, we just didn't make enough plays to win the game."
On Tracy Porter's coverage on the final touchdown: "Tracy was fine. It's a tough route versus the coverage that we were in. I thought they did a good job of executing. They had a nice play up, which made it tough for us to be able to defend. But if I had it to do over again, I would have been more aggressive right there and come after them. So put that one on me."
On the defensive struggles on 3rd down: "I think a lot of it had to do with them. I think they did a good job. I said all along that they had good receivers, that they were talented, that they get open. They made plays. We weren't able to quite make the plays we needed to make."
On if QB Ryan Fitzpatrick's ability to evade the rush made defense less aggressive up front: "No, we had an aggressive game plan. There was several pressures in the game that we had up. They have a good offensive line. I think they did a pretty good job in protection and then when we did get pressure, Fitzpatrick was able to elude the pressure. And that was something we knew going in that he was creative in the pocket, that he could extend plays with his feet and he was able to do that today."
On the missed field goals: "We're not making them, not consistently enough. We have to continue to work to get better there. I feel like Sebastian is going to work through this. I still have all the confidence that when I send him out there that it's going to go through. So it's just something that we have to go through and we have to get better in that area."
On if QB Matt McGloin earned another start: "Yeah, I thought Matt played well. And for him to lead us back when we needed a touchdown, he got us the touchdown we needed to give us the lead; we just couldn't hold it defensively. So yeah, I thought Matt played well."
On if it's a field goal unit problem: "I'd say it's a field goal unit problem. There's 11 guys out there; it's not all on one guy. We have to improve in that area – snap, hold, kick, protection. The goal is to get the ball through the uprights and there's 11 guys responsible for making sure that happens."
On one of the missed field goals: "It's tough to see from my angle. I don't know. They said it wasn't good."
On the defense giving up an 80-yard drive and the go-ahead TD: "When you've got a lead, we believe it's our responsibility defensively to go out there and protect the lead and hold them. We weren't able to do that so we'll learn from it. We'll continue to work. We'll continue to get better and we'll do better next time."
On if McGloin grew as a QB in the 4th quarter: "He led the team down the field, a couple of nice throws in there. I thought the protection was good. So whether he grew up or not, I think he went out there and executed and did his job and moved the team and that's what we expect him to do."
On if blocked punt was a designed play: "It was something that we wanted to try get pressure on them and see if we couldn't create something and make something happen and we did and we got possession of the ball in good field position. We just weren't able to capitalize on it."
On if RB Rashad Jennings was dinged up at one point: "He got a little shoulder stinger, but he was fine."
On WR Rod Streater's injury: "He was able to come back, yeah."
RAIDERS QB MATT McGLOIN
On offensive adjustments: "We just couldn't get some things going early on. You're going to have days like that. Unfortunately it was one of those days today but I thought we did a good job of adjusting at halftime and it was great to see that we were able to make those changes an continue to get better, figure things out, and work things out."
On missed opportunities:"Up and down day, but we're going to have days like that. I thought we missed on a couple opportunities offensively but we'll go back to the drawing board. We've got a quick turnaround this week so we're back at it tomorrow."
On the offensive line: "I don't think any quarterback is a big fan of sacks. Taking losses, things like that. The offensive line did a great job today, though, picking up blitzes. Pass protection was really good today and that's something we've gotten better at each week. We're definitely going to need some good pass protection come Thursday."
On who will start at quarterback next game: "That's really not my decision, the same as it was last week. I'll be ready when and if called upon."
On his interception:"Just a bad decision by me, that's really it. I didn't put the ball where it needed to be."
RAIDERS LB NICK ROACH
On the Titans' offensive success:"It's frustrating, of course, especially when you feel like you have a good idea of what they're going to try to do. That's when you've got to give them credit for being able to execute, because if they do something when you know it's coming and it still works, that's on them executing and you not being able to stop them."
On moving forward: "When you get momentum you want to keep it. Tonight we wanted to put a streak together. It does make it a little harder to get on the road, obviously. We still have some learning to do as a team on how to finish games, and that's what we need to focus on."* *
RAIDERS S CHARLES WOODSON
On Raiders defensive failure on third down: "I'm just going to say, it was one of those days. It wasn't like they were giving us anything we hadn't seen before on film. You just have to credit it to not making the play."
On disappointment of the game: "It's disappointing, especially with the way we went out and performed last week. The way we were able to get off the field, the way we were able to get off the field in red zone situations, to let a team drive down late in the game today and get a touchdown to get the go ahead score is pretty disappointing. We didn't expect to have that happen today, we felt like we played much better than that."
On what led to defensive failure on third down:"It's a combination of things but we just didn't make the plays that we needed to make. That's what it really boils down to."
On Titans crossing patterns:"On film we've seen, when I watched the game last week, that's pretty much all they ran, crossing patterns and they did the same thing today. Like I said, they didn't do anything today that we haven't seen on film and we allowed them to make a lot of those plays."
On final touchdown play:"We were in an M deep formation and we ran out; we just have to convert. Somebody has to make a play in that situation and we weren't able to get to him before he crossed the goal line."
On not being able to harness momentum from last week:"Yeah, it's tough. We've tried to emphasize getting two in a row, we just haven't been able to do it. We certainly want to win at home when we have the opportunity to play here in front of our fans and we didn't get it done."
On injuries playing a role on the final drive:"We just didn't make the play. I don't think it was a matter of who was in or out; we had some opportunities to get off the field and we didn't do it. We have to get off the field on third down situations, especially at the end of the game, the clock was running out. We have to at least hold them to a field goal if anything and tie the game and possibly go into overtime and we weren't able to do that."
RAIDERS CB TRACY PORTER
On final touchdown play: "He made a great read. The position I was in was on purpose and they threw a pitch right between me and the corner and it was difficult for both of us to make the play…It's just what happened."
On Titans success on third down:"They just out executed us, plain and simple. Game plan, whether guys were out of position on certain things, coverages, we were just out executed. They have a pretty good quarterback that can make things happen with his arm as well as his legs and we didn't wrap up on our tackles, I myself, I definitely need to wrap up on tackles as well."
On Titans game plan:"It was just him [Ryan Fitzpatrick] capitalizing on our mistakes. If you look at it, he capitalized on a lot of things we did wrong. They didn't do anything special; they didn't have any trick plays. They came out and ran things they've ran all season and just executed on the things that they were running. We were out of position and the quarterback did a great job of making us pay for it."
On thinking about possible playoff implications before the game:"Yeah, we think about that, but at the same time we can't get to that level unless we take care of what's right now. That's a long term goal, we have a bunch of short term goals that we have to accomplish, like winning back to back games…Once we get a better understanding of taking care of what's in front of us right now and taking it one day at a time, those little goals will add up to the big goal that we want."
