Head Coach DeMeco Ryans
On his reaction to the final moments of the game after the Texans we're called for a safety
"It was a disappointing loss for us. We didn't do anything well enough to win this game. Out of all the positives that we did have, there were way too many negatives. Too many negative plays. Score, get a penalty, get touchdowns called back. Get penalties on special teams. Just way too many negative plays defensively, like unexplainable explosives for touchdowns. We just didn't play good across the board. That starts with me, obviously. We weren't ready to go as a team so that starts with me."
On the most frustrating part about this loss
"The most frustrating part about it is out of all the bad things that happened, we still had a chance to finish the game, right? Everything that could go wrong, it went wrong. We still had a chance there to tie it up and finish the game, and we didn't."
On how to address the second half struggles on offense
"Yeah, the first thing is we have to create positive plays. Too many times, whether it's run or pass, we have a negative play which kills our drive. First things first, how can we sustain positive plays and build drives. Too many drives were stalled out before we could even get started."
On how small mistakes throughout the season have impacted the potential of the team
"Again, we have to be able to finish games. That's been an emphasis of ours is going out and finishing. We didn't. We didn't execute. We didn't finish the right way. You can put that on me first."
On concerns for the need to improve the team's offensive performance
"The concern for me is we need to play complementary football, right? We play complementary football, we win games. We don't, we're not relying on one side to carry the entire time. So whatever happens, like our offense gave us enough points to win the game so that starts with the defense. Didn't do enough to stop them. We didn't stop the run, and we didn't run the ball well, and we gave up way too many points on defense. Our offense did plenty. They gave us enough points. On defense, we have to be able to stop them."
On why they increase cadence in between plays on offense in particular situations
"Yeah, that's part of our strategy, depending on the games. Sometimes we use it to catch teams subbing or to catch teams off guard."
On why the Texans struggled with the run game on both sides of the ball
"Again, it starts with their defensive line. They're a really good front. Really good front. We knew that going into the game. But it doesn't matter. Every front is good. You have to own the line of scrimmage. You have to be able to control the line of scrimmage and run the ball. We didn't. We had too many negative plays in the running game. Defensively, we didn't set the edge well, and the ball got outside a ton, and we didn't tackle well. All of those mistakes are the making for a pretty bad run defense."
On the muffed punt that CB Kris Boyd recovered and other positive things for the Texans
"Yeah, a lot of positive things happened. For us to get a turnover we talked about throughout the week for special teams, create a turnover, we did that. Defensively, to get a pick 6, get eight sacks in the game, it was a lot of really good things that happened for our team. But the negatives just right now outweigh the positives. Our guys continue to do good things, but we have to string it together where we can finish and celebrate those positives after the game."
On the good defensive performance despite not getting a win
"How I assess it is at the end of the day, it's not good enough. At the end of the day, we're trying to finish the game with a win, no matter how that looks, and we came up short."
On the decision to punt on 4th down after considering going for it in the 3rd quarter
"Nothing happened. I decided to punt the football."
QB C.J. Stroud
On the interceptions he threw in the game
"First, I want to thank Jesus for the opportunity to play in the NFL, playing on Sunday. I'm very grateful to him being my savior. The first one, I couldn't really see 'Metch' [WR John Metchie III]. I tried to put it in the window, and we just weren't on the same page. Can't do that right there. That's giving them points, which ultimately led us to lose. Then the second one, just kind of put it a little higher. If I get it to him, [WR] Nico [Collins] has a lot of space to run. Two mistakes I made that can't happened."
On the recent offensive struggles in the second half
"You can point at a lot of places, but I always point at myself. I'm the leader of the offense. I've got to get us rolling, get our rhythm, we've got to find a better way to end the first half, and start the second half better. That ultimately starts with me in taking care of the football and getting into a rhythm, running the ball well, getting us into the right reads, and the right looks. I would say that's how we're going to get better is I've got to be better."
On getting back on course and finishing the regular season
"We have to practice really hard. Have to be on each other. Everybody has to look at themselves in the mirror and try to get things fixed. That will be the plan this week. Practicing and getting better. Personally, I have to get better. As a team, we have to get better. Try to go to Jacksonville and get a win before the bye week."
On being in multiple third and long situations
"Not necessarily. I try to one-play mentality the best I can and try to execute the next play. Whatever down and distance it is, I try to put my team in the best position to get the first or to be explosive, whatever we need to help the team. That's just my mindset when it comes to that."
On what he needs to improve on to get the offense back on track
"I've got to practice better and play better. It's no secret. I haven't been playing well personally, for my standard. I have a couple good drives and plays here, but it's up and down. For me, I feel like it starts with practice and comes to the game staying focused. I've been focused. I watch as much film as anybody. Sometimes it just doesn't go your way. I've got to be hard on myself and realize that games can come down to me making plays. I didn't make enough, and I gave up the ball twice today. I've got to just be better, and I know that. But I'm not going to hold my head down. I'm going to keep my chin up, chest high. I'm still a great player, but I've got to put better stuff on the field."
On how much the pressure and sacks have caused him to stay in the pocket longer
"Not much. I would say I've been pretty comfortable. Today I was pretty comfortable. We went three quarters without a sack. Then the fourth quarter, had a couple. Some of them were my fault. I would say I'm not really too affected by them. I try to sit in there as best I can. When it's not open down the field, then I try to take off and make a play. Just be smart with my legs as well. But I don't really let it affect me too much."
On the illegal motion penalty during the game
"We had a quick motion with [WR] Tank [Dell]. It was miscommunication on my part in the huddle. Two motions at the same time. That play kind of maybe seals the deal, you go down to the 1-yard line, I don't know if Nico scored. I stopped paying attention. But if he scored, we give our defense a chance to stand up and run it out. Or if we're on the 1-yard line, run it in or throw it in and give our defense another chance. Those are things that can't happen. I have to be better in the huddle. I've got to give the play better and make sure guys are on the same page. Even when we break the huddle, still communicate a little bit and make sure everybody is doing what they're doing. It was my fault."
On if he thought the Titans brought more pressure in the fourth quarter
"No. They brought a zero and then they brought a couple of drop-out mans and things like that towards the end of the first half. Second half, they brought a zero and some little one-backer replacement pressures, but nothing insane that we didn't think about. I wouldn't say it affected me."
On communication challenges the offense is having
"It really hasn't been that crazy. There's a couple protections here, a couple things there. I wouldn't say it's been too much, but that will cost you the game is one mistake. That's the NFL. They're the best players in the world. I told you guys how good the Titans defense was. We've got to be better as an offense and give our defense a chance to stand up at the end."
On what they can do differently as an offense to get better results
"We have to keep practicing and keep playing. I mean, you tell me. I don't know. That's all I know how to do is practice better, play better, meet better, do everything better. When it comes out like that, it's not fun, but it's part of the game. We use it as one game out of the year, that will teach us a lesson. Sadly, we have to learn right now. It will teach us in future years. For me, I'm going to use this as a time where I need to look at myself in the mirror and get better."
Titans Head Coach Brian Callahan
On the overall game
"Divisional win on the road, those are hard to come by. I thought the coolest part of the whole game was just the way that our team fought. I mean you talk about the things that we try to embody, being resilient, being relentless. Those things showed up in a big way today. Had to overcome a lot in all three phases. It was a back and forth game. That's what these games are on the road in the division. That's a really good football team. And I thought our guys did a good job of not flinching and keeping the blinders on. We've gotten in games like this before and we haven't been able to make the play. And this week we made the play and that was really good to see. A couple of individual performances. I thought Tony Pollard was fantastic today, as he always is. 119 yards and a touchdown-that's good work. I thought up front, you know, that's a really good rush unit, and I thought we held them in decent check for most of the game. The sacks are what they are. We can assign blame later, but it was enough to win up front. It was enough to win for sure and put us in good position. Defensively, the effort at the end was remarkable. The way those guys chased the quarterback around, getting pressure, followed up by a huge point from [Ryan] Stonehouse at the end, had his best punt when we needed most and pinned them back down there. Really, really momentum-swinging play for us to keep them backed up. When we were on the clock. Really, it was just great to see the way our guys fought, again. And, finally, for us we get a chance to have something to show for it, and that's what I'm most happy about. I'm sure you've seen touchdown on everything, but when you called the Chig play, kind of what are you envisioning there and how perfectly did it go?"
On the TE Chig Okonkwo's play and what he envisioned
"It doesn't get any better than that. I normally wasn't calling a drive starter on a movement play to get 70 yards, but what happened was is they were essentially doubling [Calvin] Ridley and they took their eyes off him and the action was all front side with all the polars. We run quite a bit and just a complement off the run. And Chig [Okonkwo] usually pins that defensive end, and he just slipped past him, and all the linebackers went running and as they were doubling Rid there was just no eyes on him and there was nobody left to tackle him. And he did the rest with his feet and Chig's a big, strong, fast dude when he's going full speed."
On QB Will Levis and the divisional win
"I mean it's a cumulation of the last couple weeks. I thought he [Will Levis] played, for the most part, fantastic, particularly in that first half. He had the one interception for a touchdown, but he kept battling. He'd throw interceptions sometimes, and come back and fight. It was great. But I really was happy with the way he played. He put some great balls down the field. He did some really nice things, and he protected the ball well outside the interception. So that's what quarterbacking looks like. I think he was pretty efficient. I don't know what the final stats were, but pretty dang efficient and threw for a bunch of yards and managed the offense, and at the end of the day and got us in position to score points and we scored more than they did for the first time in a while. So really proud of Will. Proud of the work he's put in. Proud of all the things that he's done to try to get himself back in the right place mentally, physically, all those things and it was a really good performance."
On Will Levis' resilience
"Huge. Huge. You're going to have bad plays in a game at every position, and particularly the quarterback ones, you throw one for interception and it goes down the other way for points is challenging to overcome. But it was just really good to see that nobody really flinched at all. We just kept going and found ways in all phases to make the plays to win the game at the end. And Will is deserving of it. He does everything the way that you want a quarterback to do things. He works his butt off to be in position to help our team, and for him to get his first win of the season and for his road win on the division against a team that we gotta play twice a year is awesome."
On communication to Will Levis on bad play
"Just got a lot of football left to play. The game wasn't anywhere close to over. It was a bad play that went the wrong way and we just gotta flush that one and move on to the next. And he did a really good job of doing that and got caught in some tough field positions to climb out of it at the end of the fourth quarter there. But, really, just to not flinch is to me the biggest thing, just, hey, man, you made a bad play. It went the wrong way. Let's come back and get ready to try to win the game."
On the locker room celebration
"They're all pretty much the same celebration wise. Just proud of the way that our guys fought, proud of the way they played in the stretch of the game when a lot of these games early in the year got away from us. To see that sort of performance when we've had to overcome some things, again, in all three phases and play our best ball when we needed most, I thought that was really, really awesome to see. We didn't do that early in the year and I think that shows a lot of growth in our team and a lot of things that I talked about before I think we got to see today on the field, which was great."
On how today's win is important in terms of investment and buy-in
"Oh, critically important. Again, one of the things I keep trying to have is some validation for what we do and how we do it, and that ultimately the NFL comes in the form of wins. We finally get a chance against a really good team on the road in the division to show what we're made of. This is the team we think we're capable of being. It's the team that I've believed in all year long. The way they go about their business and the foundation and the culture of what we want our team to look like is there. We've just had to make the plays to win the game. It was really great to see that. This is a critical stretch for all of us just in terms of making sure that what we want our team to be and what the future of our team looks like, which for us is just week to week right now. But it validates a lot of the things that we've done so far."
On the team's growth and what led to that change
"That's a good question. I would think the most important thing for us is just the way that our guys don't ever react to what's out there. They trust each other. They trust the coaches. They trust the people around them. You got a lot of good people here and people in place. Players, coaches, support staff. And those guys do a great job and we've always believed in each other from the get go. It was never at any point even when things hadn't gone well, that we didn't believe we were a better football team than we showed on the field, and that's a credit to those guys. They got a ton of belief in what's in our locker room, and I feel the same way about them. And I've said the same thing for weeks now, and it's just great to be able to have a victory to show for it against a good football team."
On surviving the punt fumble
"Paul, you're just going to ruin my day here, huh? Is that what you're looking for? We can talk about it tomorrow. Those are things that we overcome. They were plays that we can't have, obviously can't fumble the ball and the return that the guys bottled up and he somehow gets out of it, gotta get him on the ground. So the performance there is, sometimes that's enough to lose you a game and today thankfully it wasn't. But those things gotta be better, and we gotta hold on to the football when we're trying to catch it."
On Amani Hooker being out and how they managed it
"I knew Amani [Hooker] was going to be questionable when we got to the stadium this morning. He didn't get on the first bus, and he called the docs and said he wasn't feeling very good. He was throwing up and all those things. And they tried everything to get him ready to go. He tried to fight through it but basically every time he stood up he threw up. Tough day to go out there and play when you feel like that. And really I think Daryl Worley stepping up in that role after not really practicing much this week -- played a little bit, but to step up in that moment and play an entire game at safety that he wasn't anticipating was pretty remarkable, to be honest. We knew probably about a couple hours before kickoff that it would be a struggle to get him to go."
On cutting the penalties in half today
"It's huge. The negative plays are a part of it. Again, still, ultimately too many sacks, but we knew we were going to get a few against this crew. They're good. Yeah, the negative plays in key moments is really what has hurt us, and some of those conversions they got on defense, I think we still had one. But, yeah, it was good. Anytime you can cut the penalties in half what they were before that's a good start for us and we gotta continue that trend."
On the protection in the second half
"No. We kept kind of mixing it up. I think we did a good job of mixing in some runs and keeping the rush at bay with some of the scheme runs we had. Did a good job with some of the movements. We tried not to be in positions to get their full-throttle rush. I thought they did a good job of staying in manageable spots for a lot of the game. It wasn't perfect, but put ourselves in position to not have to face full-throttle rush that they got going when you get in the long-yard spots. And then when we did, you know, you saw what that looked like. They were pretty dang good."
On the Amy Adams Strunk's excitement to win a game in Houston
"She's thrilled. She was thrilled mainly because we won the game. But, yeah. It's okay to admit that these things sometimes mean more, and I know it does for her and it does for us and we wanted to make sure that we put on a great performance down here, and we had a chance to win the game and we did. And I think that she's more than anything else just proud of our football team and the way they came down here and fought and played."
On Levis against the blitz
"My mind is a little bit jumbled when it comes to the progression of things, so I'd have to get back to you tomorrow on that. Be happy to once I watch it. I can't probably answer it accurately enough right now."
Titans QB Will Levis
"On how he feels after today's win
"Feels awesome. A lot of people have been working hard to get a win like this, and just happy, from top down in the whole organization. We talked all week about how much it means to help the front office, Miss Amy [Adams Strunk], and everybody. That win was for her, and just good to come here and get a win."
On today's rollercoaster game
"We were rolling from the start. The pass game was cooking. Just felt really good with where the ball was getting placed out there. Kind of hit a bit of a rut, those couple of turnovers, then the fringe field goal range was tough. Obviously, the pick six is hard to come back from, but I was proud of how we all bounced back from that, defense, special teams, everybody. We had our moments of adversity and were able to come through when it mattered."
On his mindset after today's interception
"Just put it behind me. Just get the ball back and can't really think about it. Didn't make any necessarily huge plays myself after that, but I just put the ball in play and made the right decisions and let our guys finish out that game. Just proud of how everyone finished."
On what he was thinking when TE Chig Okonkwo broke away
"That was awesome. We've been setting that up all year. That's the scheme we've been running out of that formation, the naked off of it. That's as wide open as you can get, and Chig's specialty is his athleticism. His speed. I'm curious to see what he hit on his GPS there on that one. He had the ball, I think, 15 to 20 yards down the field before anybody on that side even knew he had it. It was cool to see him finish that. That's the skill set he has that makes him special."
On what's clicking to make the explosive plays happen
"I think credit to the coaching staff dialing up some awesome stuff that one to Nick [Westbrook-Ikhine] was a complement of something we showed in LA. Just a double move off that. He ran it to perfection. We got him blocked up really nice. I was back there for a couple of hitches and able to let it fly. And, the third-and-long to Calvin (Ridley) was sweet. That's a very coverage-specific play that we just went up there and speed braked it. Knew I had it. Took my five. Again, ample time. Was able to put it up and let him come across the field and make a play. Those are two definitely big ones that we needed to make to win that game."
On the change in protection and production between halves
"Credit to the guys up front, holding their own. Still myself, I can look at what I can do better, just get the ball out and check it down here and there. Couple of opportunities where I felt like I could've got the ball out. I'd like to know how many sacks of one- or two-yard losses I've had this year, like trying to fight back to the line of scrimmage. Sometimes you've just got to take them, and just credit to those guys and Nick [Westbrook-Ikhine] for stepping up and playing well."
On how RB Tony Pollard's performance helps balance the pass and run game
"Tony has been a baller all year for us. With Tyjae (Spears) being out, we knew his workload was going to be extensive this week, and he was up for the challenge, and credit those guys up front. Couple trickier schemes that we were able to pull off and rip some big ones. That touchdown run was sweet, that trap we ran. Tony sees it well. He gets the yards he needs to and more, and it's fun to watch him and spectate back there."
On how today's win can be a jumpstart for the remainder of the season
"Just take it one game at a time. We knew we needed to get this one. Glad we did, and we're on to Washington. Four more divisional games in these last six games, obviously very important with how things shake out. We're just going to take it one day at a time."
On getting his first divisional win in the AFC South
"Felt great. Yeah, it didn't even hit me until after the game. I was about to throw my jersey in the wash, and I was like, 'Actually, let's hold onto that one.' It was a cool moment. To get down here and play top team in the division right now, away, and get the win, gives us a lot of confidence going forward."
On the key to sustaining today's performance
"I think we've still got to be more consistent. As we said, mistakes on both sides of the ball. We were able to kind of just overcome and hedge them in that respect, but we've got to be better operationally. Couple of things in that first half that came up and ended some drives, made us kick a field goal instead of getting an opportunity for a touchdown. But we've got to look at our offense and how we can just operate better to make these games not be as close as they are."
On what today's performance says to the team's naysayers
"I'm proud of how everyone has handled themselves. There are teams across the league in similar situation we are, just the bottom of that pack. We feel like the football we put on tape, how we prepare, how we strain every single game, that we weren't going to be seen as a team that's given up. It's credit to everybody just powering through, blocking out all the noise, keeping the blinders on and just getting a win."
