Week 2 Postgame Transcript: Titans Head Coach Mike Vrabel, Titans QB Ryan Tannehill, Titans OLB Harold Landry III, Titans RB Derrick Henry, Titans TE Jonnu Smith, and Titans S Kevin Byard

HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

Q. I guess second straight week that you pull one out there at the end. Can you talk about just I guess the stick-to-itivness this team has losing the lead and then showing the poise to come back and hang on?

Well, man, unfortunately you don’t know when they’re going to be blowouts or when you’ll have close games. Obviously the way this league is designed, I think we prepare for all kinds of situations, close games, and building a mindset that if it’s not going your way, that we don’t need any front runners.

A lot of credit to Jacksonville and Doug and his staff and that football team for battling back and coming back in answer. We have to play better. We have to coach better. I’m confident that we will, but excited to be 2-0 for the first time here in Tennessee.

Q. Mike, you were watching Gostkowski in warmups. He clanks one off the left upright, but was what your confidence in him to see him again do a second straight game winning field goal?

The confidence is the same for every player that’s here. They’re expected to do their job, so we have a lot of confidence in their ability to do their job. That’s what we had to do. It came down to a field goal kick and you could see it was a really good kick, plenty of distance, accuracy, protection was good.

So that’s what we needed today.

Q. If you could talk about the play of Ryan Tannehill, throws four touchdown down passes on a day when the running game is tough to come by. How impressed were you?

Yeah, I’ve always had a lot of respect for this defense and their coaches and players. They play hard. That’s a young group over there. They’re talented. But I would say the guys went up and made plays and helped Ryan out like it is all the time. Humph or Corey, Jonnu. Those guys went up and caught the football, attacked the football, and that was really good to see.

It’s not all one guy. We understand that. So that was where we were today.

Q. Mike, look, for most of the game obviously it was tough to stop Jacksonville. What do you do especially well in the last two drives that enabled you to stop them?

Able to get off the field on third down and able to create a turnover again. The turnovers were huge, our ability to take care of the ball on offense and get two turnovers on defense. Thought the play at the end of the half is kind of where we want to be as a football team.

Hold them to a field goal, execute the squib defense, use our timeouts, execute a play, and then kick a field goal. That’s positive, good to see, and it ended up being a huge play in the game for us.

Q. Congratulations. Just wanted to ask, second half in particular, was the bigger issue for your defense Minshew getting rid of it too quickly or you just couldn’t get there fast enough?

I think a little bit of both. I think they busted a couple runs, which I would say is not ideal, to change some field position. We knew coming in if we didn’t disrupt the timing he was accurate. Got a lot of respect for him as a quarterback.

We have to rush better. We have to cover better. We have coach better. We have to coach all those things better. But we were able to disrupt the football and there late in the game and got the turnover that was the difference.

Q. Mike, Kalu’s play there on the squib kick, pretty remarkable. Have you seen something like that before, and how much of that is luck and how much is him being heads up?

It’s coached and it’s executed in practice. Again, it’s going to be great to teach off of just to explain to the guys why we do this stuff here at the end of the half or the game.

It’s a huge play. And so all the credit to Craig Aukerman, Ryan Crow, being able to teach that and get these guys ready to execute it when it comes up. It doesn’t come up very often, but it did.

And then also to the offensive staff to be able to put the players out there to gain 15 yards that we needed and then call the timeout.

Q. Mike, Jonnu Smith again, the big start to this game. Couple touchdowns early in the season. What’s he doing maybe a little bit better than you’ve seen him last couple years right now?

I think he’s just focused on being able to go and attack the football, use his speed. He drew a huge penalty, so he continues to improve. He’s a great teammate. He’s an unbelievable player to coach and be around every day.

You know, I’ve always admired his upbringing. I know that his mom has done a fantastic job raising him and he’s just a great teammate. Works hard. You’re always happy to see good things happen to those type of people.

Q. Some of the offensive players talked last week about wanting to look a little crisper and be more efficient this week. Do you think they got that today?

I think at times, but then obviously not. There are too many plays that aren’t positive, runs that are at or behind the line of scrimmage, penalties.

I thought we protected well for the most part. Gave Ryan some time to work through his progression. But, again, we just have to continue to improve. We’re happy to be 2-0. We have to play better. We have to continue to improve. That’s what the best teams in this league will do, they’ll continue to improve.

Q. We’ve talked a lot this off-season about what it would be like playing with no fans. Today you could hear some of the individual fans trying to make noise on third downs and whatnot. What was it like out there in that atmosphere?

Same as it was last week, except — I mean, it’s quiet. We’re excited to be able to get fans back here as soon as we can. Hopefully we can play well enough that they’ll want to cheer as many of them that are here.

It’s different, but I think we’re kind of used to it now being the second game. Our play and our own personal attitude has to bring the energy. We have to make positive plays to continue to transfer that energy from group to group and unit to unit.

Q. Could you address Tannehill’s excellent effort, or Jacksonville’s ability to move the ball so well up until the end?

You know, just the ability for us to get off the field on third down, that’s what it came down to. There were so many third and shorts. We’ve got to create more negative plays early in the drive so that they’re not sitting there on the third and two.

Had the whole playbook open. Gained two and a half yards, it’s still first down. To me, there was a few X plays, which was a key to the game. They’ve got big receivers. They want to move the ball down field. They hit a couple runs that we can’t have. Changed field position, changed momentum.

And then I’m not sure what you asked me about on offense other than Ryan with his four touchdowns. I thought there were some great catches and great efforts to be able to protect. Gave him a lot of time to progress on as well as those guys going up and catching the football.

I know Corey went up and got it, Jonnu. I thought that Humph’s play was outstanding there in the end zone.

Q. Kristian Fulton gets his first pick and seemed to be playing more in the second half there, I guess the slot guy. What did you see about his play today and how did he end up getting more reps as his game improved I guess?

Well, I’ll more reserve the evaluation for after having a chance to watch the film. I thought it was good he got his hand on the ball, and then just being ready to go. Some guys went down, and these are tough games early in the year. They’re tough games.

So we got to get healthy and get guys ready to go back on the road and go up to Minnesota.

Q. Coach, just wanted to ask you about the push you got from Jack Crawford. He had the big sack and came up with the tip on the interception.

Have always since he’s gotten here enjoyed coaching Jack, being around him. He’s a perfect fit for us as far as just versatility, doing whatever is asked of him for the team and his effort.

So was happy to see that he had — was able to get the sack and then also help there at the end of the game. Really appreciate his effort as well as everybody else.

QB Ryan Tannehill

Q. Ryan, on a day where the Jaguars seemed to be setting out to stop Derrick in the run game, how nice was it to be able to attack through the air the way you all did today?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, I feel like we were pretty balanced. I think they did a good job up front of not really stopping Derrick (Henry), but limiting him from getting those explosive plays. Derrick is such a tough, strong runner. He’s able to fall forward for positive yardage on a lot of his runs. That run he had in the fourth quarter in the two-minute drive, it got bottled up at the line of scrimmage and somehow he was able to break through, break tackles. I think he was carrying a guy. Really an amazing run. But proud of the way that Derrick just battled. Obviously wasn’t in his normal groove. Nothing that he could do about it. But the fact that they were doing a good job on the other side of the ball, he just kept battling, just kept toting the thing, and made a huge run there for us at the end, and then we were able to play off of that the pass game.

Q. Ryan, can you take us through that touchdown pass to Adam Humphries when you were staring down the blitz? What’s going through your mind? How were you able to get that ball off?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, they ran a game up front and someone shook free, I saw a safety came down, knew Humph (Adam Humphries) was going to be able to win across the field, and just had to kind of stand in there and take it to the chin and make the throw. Humph did a good job adjusting to it. It kind of fluttered on me a little bit. Wasn’t able to get as much on it as I wanted to with a guy in my face. Humph did a great job of adjusting to it and then going up and making a play in the end zone for me.

Q. And then you guys once again pulled off a close win. How crucial is it to have a guy like Stephen Gostkowski who can make the long field goals for you?

RYAN TANNEHILL: It’s huge. Obviously coming off last week I know he wanted to get out there and bang them through today, and that’s what he did. Came up huge for us there at the end. I don’t know what that was, (49)-yard field goal, something like that. So, tough kick and a crucial point in the game, and had nothing but confidence he’s going to bang it through and that’s exactly what he did.

Q. Ryan, really needed you, the team really needed you today with the defense struggling to kind of contain the Jags. Four touchdown game, I’m not sure how many you’ve had, but what did it feel like to produce on that level?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, we had guys making plays. You go back to first one, Jonnu (Smith), kind of off schedule, shook his guy loose late and made him throw high and away, and Jonnu was able to go up and get it. I mentioned the Humph (Adam Humphries) touchdown where he was going up and getting the ball in the end zone. CD (Corey Davis) in the back of the end zone being physical, going through contact, and making the play. Really had guys – Jonnu catching the ball underneath and physical finishing in the end zone when he got hit short of the goal line. So, really, just hats off to the guys around me. They were making plays all day. I have a lot of confidence in those guys that if I put the ball in the air that they’re going to make a play on it, and that’s exactly what they did today.

Q. I’m just wondering what was it was like — I know you played in the fanless atmosphere. That was on the road. What was it like out here? Did you detect the handful of fans who were yelling for different plays, and was it a struggle to muster energy, excitement without fans?

RYAN TANNEHILL: I mean, it’s weird. I don’t think it’ll ever be not weird to play football in an empty stadium. It’s a weird feeling. I felt like our guys played with energy. It’s different. We feed off each other and create our own energy, which I feel like we did today offensively. I did see a few fans back there, but it’s tough to make a whole lot of noise with just a handful people. Yeah, it’s going to continue to be weird until we can get more fans in there. Proud of way our guys came to play, brought our own energy, and fed off each other.

Q. I know you feel like you need to clean up some things, but how important is it starting off 2-0, and how did you like just the overall effectiveness of the offense?

RYAN TANNEHILL: It’s huge. You’ve got to find a way to win. Not every game is gonna be all pretty in the NFL. It’s a tough league, and teams that can find ways to grind out tough wins in close games are usually teams that are going to win a lot of games. Proud of the way our guys battled. You know, got off to a good start, then hit a little bit of a lull there, but found a way to make some crucial plays down the stretch and put points on the board to win the game. Like I said, just proud of the way the guys battled and had belief in each other and the confidence that we’re going to make a play and win the game.

Q. And I’m assuming you were watching. What went through your mind when you saw the ball batted up in the air and Harold come down with it?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, I saw the ball get batted up and I was screaming, ‘Pick it, pick it,’ not knowing if anybody was around. Couldn’t really see if we had any other defenders around the ball. I saw Harold (Landry) elevate and go attack the football and make a huge play. Man, I was fired up. That was exciting to see those guys make a play in a crucial situation. Pretty cool to see Harold elevate like that and go make a play as he’s getting blocked.

Q. You mentioned Jonnu Smith. Three touchdowns in two games. What is making him such a reliable option there in the end zone?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Jonnu (Smith) does a lot of good things for us. Man, he’s explosive. He is strong. He is physical with the ball in his hands. Really, he’s a weapon that we can use all over the field. We saw the first play of the game, him go – I don’t know how many yards that was, 60 or something like that. Just have a ton of confidence in Jonnu. He has a great skillset, and he’s been showing that the past two years. We have a lot of confidence in what he can do not only in the red zone, but in the open field as well.

Q. It won’t show up in their stats, but the pass interference that Jonnu drew, Firkser drew, how important were they, and how much of that is a product of those guys doing the right things to get those calls?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, it was huge. The first one, third-down play, had Jonnu (Smith) one-on-one on the outside in a matchup we liked, and put the ball up. Was feeling really good about with (where) Jonnu was at on that play. I think the DB kind of panicked and made a lot of contact trying to push him out and got the pass interference call, and then the other one on third, D-line there at end, (Anthony) Firkser did a good job of trying to create some separation, and the guy hooked him and pulled him back. Really just a good job by those guys doing what they’re supposed to do and creating those penalties for us.

Q. I was curious, obviously you guys had the four touchdown passes. I wonder, did the absence of AJ allow Jacksonville to focus on the run even more so than usual? Was that part of the reason you think that the running game wasn’t at large as usual?

RYAN TANNEHILL: You’ll have to ask Jacksonville. I don’t know. I know I had confidence in the guys we had out there. Obviously miss A.J. (Brown). He’s a heck of a player. With (Cameron) Batson and Kalif (Raymond), Nick (Westbrook-Ikhine) was out there a little bit, I have a ton of confidence in those guys. They all bring something a little bit different to the table. You see (Cameron) Batson make a big play for us in the fourth quarter on the deep end cut, and yeah, we miss A.J. (Brown), but have a ton of confidence in those other guys as well.

Q. Ryan, how much confidence have these receivers given you reason to have in them, especially in this game going up and making plays for you in traffic like they’ve been doing?

RYAN TANNEHILL: It’s huge. I see them make it in practice and that builds the confidence, the trust, and then when they make them in games it only deepens that trust. I know in tight coverage if I put the ball in a good spot, then I have a strong belief our guys will go make a play on it. They did it today, and I expect them to keep doing it.

Q. You said last week you try to be a steady hand. How challenging is it to be that when you’ve got a pro ball pass rusher about to hit you right in the mouth as you’re trying to get that ball to Adam Humphries in the end zone?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, I don’t think it really changes. I could see Adam (Humphries) was going to be breaking open. That’s part of playing quarterback, is being able to stand in there in a tight pocket. Obviously sometimes you want to throw the ball away, sometimes you want to run, sometimes you can see your receiver is about to be breaking open and you have to stand in there, stare down the barrel, and make the throw. I was able to do that today. Like you said, Adam (Humphries) made a huge play in the end zone for us.

Q. Do you sense that plays like that is a — well, not the only place where, but you gain the respect of teammates when they know you’re going to give yourself up to make that play for the team?

RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, that would be a question for them. I know I’m going to do everything to make plays for this football team and go out and execute and try to win. Hopefully I can influence these guys and show them my toughness and the confidence that I play with, so hopefully that transfers over to them. But at the end of the day, I try to do my best to go out and execute and make plays.

OUTSIDE LINEBACK HAROLD LANDRY III

(on how Jacksonville found success and how much of a relief was for him to make a game-sealing interception)

We have a lot we can learn from this game as a defense. But I feel like one thing about our team is like no matter what’s happening in the game, we always play to the end. Vrabes (Mike Vrabel) does a great job of preparing us for all types of situations and Jeff (Jeffrey Simmons) was able to get his hands up which we had been preaching all week, and I was able to come down with it. It’s easier to learn from your mistakes when you’re winning, so we are 2-0 and that’s the most important thing. We’ve just got to make sure we are learning so it doesn’t continue into next week.

(on how frustrating it was that Jacksonville was able to find ways to score)

I mean, it was frustrating. We’ve got to look at the film. I feel like everyone has a part on this defense. They had success. We’ve just got to watch the film.

(on quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s four touchdown passes)

Big time. Ryan (Tannehill)’s a big-time leader in our locker room. Everybody loves him, I am happy for him. He’s a great player. Like I said, I am really happy for him and our offense. We’ve just got to step it up on defense and play better complementary football and we will get this thing rolling.

(on practicing special teams plays like the Jaguars squib kick)

I am not surprised. (Joshua) Kalu takes what he does very seriously. The staff does a great job of preparing us for all situations throughout the week. So, it’s not surprising when the game comes, we execute it in key situations in a game like Kalu did.

(on what went through his mind when he saw ball floating through air prior to his interception)

I mean, I saw the ball and knew I needed to attack it. Obviously, it was floating up there and there were other people going to try and get it. Just attack the ball and I was pretty confident I was going to be able to come down with it. I mean, Jeff (Jeffrey Simmons) did a great job of getting his hands on it and I was able to come down with it.

(on how important it was to find a way to win)

It is always awesome to win. We are 2-0 like you said, and that is the most important thing. It’s a lot easier going into the facility following a win and being able to make corrections rather than a loss. Like you said, big time to get a win in the NFL. We were able to do that and start off the season 2-0. We’ve just got to make the corrections and go on to next week.

(on what it was like to hear the sideline’s reaction after his interception)

It was awesome. Everybody was excited. It was awesome. It’s going to be awesome to have fans, but you know, it is also awesome to see the excitement from your boys on the sideline and on the defense and everything. I think that’s pretty cool.

(on what it was like to play against Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew)

I think he is a baller. I think he knows what he does well. He doesn’t try to be someone he is not and he goes out there and executes. I thought he did a great job for the Jags in that game. My hats off to them, I thought they played really well. But like I said, feel like we prepare hard for these situations and no matter what the situation is in-game, you know, if the game is close in the fourth quarter one of the key things is we try to finish. I feel like we did that and it’s just a great feeling to be 2-0.

(on what it feels like to play that number of snaps played in Week Two)

I feel like being a pro you have got to be able to perform whenever coaches put you out there. I feel like that first game in Denver, playing in that atmosphere kind of helped us out for the rest of the season. I feel like I felt better this week than I did last week. It is what it is and you have to do your best to perform.

(on what has to be done moving forward)

We’ve just got to watch the tape and make the corrections. It’s not rocket science. I feel like everybody has their job to do. We’ve just got the make the corrections and make sure we learn from it, and learn from our mistakes and stay on top of them and improve. It’s all about improvement. You know, the best teams in the league improve each week.

RUNNING BACK DERRICK HENRY

Q. Derrick, wondering on a day like today, when they’re so clearly determined to stop you, what it feels like to watch Ryan Tannehill just go out and fire four touchdown passes.

DERRICK HENRY: He’s on fire. He did a great job in the red zone. That’s just what he does. When he needs to deliver, that’s what he does. The guys did a great job catching the ball and scoring touchdowns, and getting upfield and making plays, key plays.

Q. Derrick, what does it mean for this team to be 2-0 for the first time in 12 years? I know there’s probably a lot to clean up and work on. A lot easier to do that when you’re 2-0 instead of 1-1 or 0-2?

DERRICK HENRY: Definitely. Definitely off to a great start. I don’t want to get too caught up in it. I enjoyed this win today, make the corrections when we get back in the building, and keep improving as a team.

Q. Derrick, how much do you enjoy watching teammates around you make plays when other teams are focused on you? You had Jonnu make a couple big plays, Humphries with the catch, and how happy are you especially for Jonnu?

DERRICK HENRY: I’m just happy for those guys. See them working in camp, all those things are paying off. Those guys have been doing that all in camp, and it translates to the game. Those guys are playmakers, and they’ll be making big plays, and hope it continues. I know it will continue by the way they work.

Q. Derrick, congrats. Talked to Jonnu about this just previously. Wonder if there was any difference in the way between last week’s game-winning drive that set up the kick and this week’s game-winning drive. Any difference in the emotions or just kind of status quo?

DERRICK HENRY: No, man. You know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to win a game. Different emotions. Just focus on what we have to do.

Q. Derrick, you know you’re going to have fans back in the building in October. Are you almost just glad to get this one over with?

DERRICK HENRY: Football is better when you start to play football. Like I always said, we’ve got a job to do and that’s come out here and play good football and win games. That would be a big old plus. I know we’re all excited to have the fans back, and we can’t wait for that moment. So whenever they get back in there, it will be even better. But we definitely want to come in here and play good football and win games. That’s what we do this for.

Q. Derrick, just curious, when Stephen Gostkowski’s getting ready for the big kick there, what’s kind of the reaction of you and guys on the sideline? Do you watch? Do you not watch? Do you say anything to teammates? How do you feel at that point?

DERRICK HENRY: Feel like he’s going to make it and put us up to win the game. That’s how we all felt. Nothing other than that.

Q. Derrick, congrats on the win. Just curious, this franchise hasn’t been 2-0 since 2008. Given how you guys — how far you guys went last year and the high expectations for this year, just how does it feel to get off to a 2-0 start?

DERRICK HENRY: It’s great. I just want to keep this momentum going, playing good football, improving each and every week, making each other better throughout the week, and going out here and executing and keep winning games. Definitely good to be 2-0. Like I said, we’ll enjoy this and then get ready to make corrections and improve for next week.

Q. Derrick, I know for the most part the stands were empty today, but you guys did have seven fans in attendance. I’m wondering if at any point you noticed any of those seven?

DERRICK HENRY: I was so zeroed in. I think I heard some noise from some fans, but we were just focused on the game. Happy they were able to come out and see the game.


TIGHT END JONNU SMITH

Q. Jonnu, just wanted to ask you about your chemistry with Ryan and how much it pays off on off schedule plays like that first touchdown and how much did working one-on-one with him in South Florida during the off-season pay dividends?

JONNU SMITH: It translated huge, just building that trust in one another, him just seeing me do it over and over and know we’re good. That builds confidence, and you know me, that things get off schedule, he’s going to be looking my way. So just trying to do everything I can to continue to build that trust and hope I’m making those plays.

Q. Ryan was just talking about the confidence and the belief that you all have on offense. Can you speak to that and maybe how much your confidence and knowing what you’re capable of is helping you to have outputs like you did today?

JONNU SMITH: Yeah. We all have a standard that we set on the offensive side of the ball. We’re just having everybody just play for the finish. Guys just flying around and making plays. Like I said before, if you continue to see people do it over and over and over again and have progress — you know, we all have a sense of trust, a certain amount of trust. So we set a high standard with one another, and we know that we just got so much ability and belief in one another. So we just go out there on Sundays and just let loose.

Q. Jonnu, on the first play of the game, what did you do to shake loose? And when you are that wide open, how long does it take the ball to get there?

JONNU SMITH: Yeah, just trying to navigate my way through a lot of traffic. I just — you know, I was just bluffing a guy and kind of just trying to find my way through all that traffic. I popped free. Ryan made a great throw, a great catch, and I’m actually kind of mad at myself because I wanted to score on that play, but I made up for it a couple plays later.

Q. This is the second week in a row you guys have been in position to drive down the field to try to set up either a touchdown or a game-winning kick. What was different about last week as opposed to this week? And what were kind of the emotions that were going on in the huddle as you guys were preparing for that?

JONNU SMITH: It’s not even — I won’t even say it was different from last week. We just put ourselves in that situation. We go over so many situations in practice, and we execute in practice. We know whatever situation is called upon us, man, we’ve got to execute.

It was very similar to last week. Like last week I had all the faith in our kicker to go out there and do his thing like he’s been doing the past few years. We got down there, and he got it done.

Q. Jonnu, it seemed like all through camp, almost every day you made some kind of big play. At what point did you feel fairly certain that this sort of maybe breakout season was on the way for you? What led you to that point?

JONNU SMITH: Just when opportunity meets preparation. I work hard, man, and I’ve been blessed with a God given ability. It would be a disservice to my teammates, myself, if I didn’t live that out. So it’s been — this is my fourth year.

I never started the season out as tight end one, and with that comes a lot of great things, man. You’re able to have more opportunities and make plays and put yourself, put your team in a better position to win. So I just work really hard, man, and I’m so blessed and humble to actually be able to showcase everything that I’ve been blessed with and work for.

Q. I’m sorry I missed the first wave here. Your ability to make such a big impact early. How good did it feel to set the tone in this one with the big play early and then the touchdown early?

JONNU SMITH: It’s always great to get the guys going early, man. As you all see, there’s not a lot of support due to everything that’s going on in the country right now with COVID, but we’ve got to bring our own energy. Just having to make those plays early, man, and bring the guys momentum is always great to get them going early.

Q. Jonnu, if you could describe your relationship with Coach Vrabel, any time he’s asked a question about you, he goes on and on what a great guy you are, what a great teammate to be around, and he even brought your mother up today and said she did a great job raising you. What’s your relationship like with Mike, and kind of how much does that make you want to play even harder when you have a coach who supports you like he does?

JONNU SMITH: I played this game for a long time, man, and to me, the best coaches that I’ve been around were those who were more than coaches, and that’s what you’ve got in Coach Vrabel. He’s more than a coach. You don’t just see the football side of him. You see genuine love and care for all of his players. I respect the heck out of him for that. To come here every day and actually care what’s going on in our lives outside of football.

So to be around a man like that for the past three years, it’s been great for me. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to be coached by a man like him. Just happy to be here and happy to be a part of this organization.

Q. Jonnu, so far, three touchdowns in the red zone. What is it that’s clicking for you and Tannehill in the red zone that’s making you so effective that way?

JONNU SMITH: Just the trust, man, like I said. Just doing it over and over again and seeing me make those plays. He just has the trust in me that I’m going to go up and get it. This is what I’ve got to continue to do and practice, making sure we’re on the same page in meetings, and it’s all going to translate out there on the field.

SAFETY KEVIN BYARD

(on what needs to get cleaned up moving forward)

I think we can clean up everything honestly. Obviously it feels good to win. It feels good to be 2-0, but being one of the leaders on defense, I wasn’t pretty pleased with our performance out here today. We missed a lot of tackles including myself. We didn’t stop the run, we couldn’t get pressure on the quarterback and didn’t feel like we challenged the receivers good enough. But at the end of the day we did win the game, and that just shows that we obviously have a lot to clean up, but doing it at 2-0 is better than doing it at 1-1.

(on getting two stops at the end of the game and injuries in the secondary)

We practice a lot of situational football. I think, credit that to (Mike) Vrabel and all the coaching staff having us prepared for those situations. I think we did pretty good. We did allow a field goal at the half, and then (Joshua) Kalu recovered the ball and we kicked another field goal. Those types of plays in game situations, those are plays that are going to win ball games in the NFL because you are not going to be able to blow everybody out. Games are going to be close. Guys are injured. Tt’s the NFL, 100 percent injury rate. You have to play with injuries. I had a little shoulder whatever, but you just got to keep playing, get in the treatment room and get ready for the next game.

(on outside linebacker Harold Landry intercepting a win-sealing pass)

I was just happy we won the game. It doesn’t really matter who makes the play out there. I am going to be excited no matter if it is me, my teammates, I was just happy we won the game. When the ball was coming down I was actually coming down, and thought I was going to get the interception, honestly. But Jeff (Jeffery Simmons) batted the ball down. Once he caught the ball, I just heard a roar from our sideline. Actually when I am out there I’m not concerned with the crowd, but hearing the roar from our sideline was good enough.

(on what it was like playing with a handful of fans in the stadium)

We kind of knew what it was going to be like this year with no fans. I mean, we were going to have to bring our own energy, bring our own juice. I don’t think the energy as far as the crowd noise really affected us as a football team. Sometimes we just were not executing our defense and sometimes we were, and it showed out there today. But we ended up getting a win, abig win for our team. It’s big to be 2-0 with the Minnesota Vikings coming up next week.

(on if 7000 fans will make a difference at the next home game)

For sure. I come from Middle Tennessee where we always didn’t have our stadium packed out, so I kind of know the difference between having a little bit of fans and having a packed out stadium. But whatever the case may be, it’s my job and our job as a team and coaching staff to make sure we are ready to play regardless if there are fans out there or not. It’s all about being locked in and being more detailed.

(on what it means to be 2-0 for the first time as a Titan)

It’s not really a significant value. I know talk about being 0-2 is a death sentence as far as not making it to the playoffs so I feel good about that. It feels good to win a division game. We have a lot to fix. We have got to be more detailed as a team, as a defense. Obviously it feels good to have to fix it a 2-0. We have to come back next week and go back to work. It’s a lot we can fix out there.

(on getting off to a 2-0 start)

It feels good, obviously I haven’t been 2-0 since I have been here. It’s kind of a place – this organization is getting things turned around in a good way and we are actually winning football. It will feel good going into the meeting room. Always there are things that can get fixed whether we were 0-2, 1-1, 2-0, things can be fixed. Being 2-0 definitely feels great. Feels great to be a Titan right now.

(on having kicker Stephen Gostkowski as a weapon)

Obviously he didn’t have his best game last week. He ended up kicking a game-winning field goal last week. I think everybody on the team kind of backed him up and trusted him, and knew he was going to make his kicks. He came back this week and I think he made all his extra points, and made the game-winning field goal again. He is a pro and he has been doing this for a long time. He’s made a lot of game-winning field goals and he we have trust in him.

(on if giving up nearly 500 yards is alarming)

I wouldn’t say it was alarming. It’s early in the season, we have a long season, but we are definitely on high alert because we have a lot of things to fix. So like I said, next week we are looking ourselves in the mirror, understand we aren’t playing up to our standards we set for ourselves. That’s really what this is all about. 2-0 feels good but at the same time it’s like a gut check.