We Have to Continue to Have Urgency | Press Conference

We Have to Continue to Have Urgency | Press Conference

question. Walk us through the touchdown pass, what that uh what that felt like and what went into it. Um just really, you know, the O line giving me time. Um Elliot, you know, just knowing what I like in scramble drill. Um and then just us connecting on the play. Um so it it’s exciting to, you know, throw my first touchdown. Um, but you know, I just wish it came out the win. How did it feel kind of getting in that good rhythm in the second quarter there where especially with you and Ellen just seemed like second half, you guys weren’t able to put anything much consistent together. What What do you feel like changed? I don’t think nothing changed. I just think we just got to continue to have urgency. Uh, I think at times it drops. So, I think that’s the biggest thing. Offensively, we have to have urgency every play. Um, but the end day, I mean, we just got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. um my turnover um just penalties constantly throughout the game, both sides of the ball. So, you know, we just got to lock in about the play he made on the touchdown and play on the sideline. How’s your confidence kind of growing in him? Uh I’ve always had confidence in him since day one. Um and I knew it from the jump me and him went to the to the rookie premiere. U we didn’t have workouts or nothing. Me and him both wake up working out and we throwing in the hotel room. So, I I just knew that, you know, me and him connect on a lot of plays this season. You know, I’m glad for it to be, you know, a big game like this. You know, try to continue off that. When you guys fall behind the chains the way you do, like whether it’s penalties or a bad play in the first couple uh downs and what’s your mindset? How do you go about keeping from panicking knowing you know that pressure is coming? I think that’s the biggest thing about us right now. Every time we get behind the sticks ends up we end up shooting ourselves in the foot. Whether it’s we got to punt, whether we not end up with points. I think the biggest thing is us staying behind the sticks. And I think the the stuff that I noticed about is that especially in NFL, it’s hard to overcome that. U we got to stay above the stick, stay on schedule. And you know, the more we do that, the more successful drives we have. You know, you don’t want to overreach and you’re going to stay within what you’re asked to do, but how much more do you feel like you’re you’re capable of doing? Well, I think I’m capable a lot. Coach Kahan, he he’s gave me, you know, a lot of authority. Um so I want more of it. Um, and that’s the relationship that, you know, me and him are just building every day. Um, he’s only called two games for me. Uh, I want him to call a lot more games for me. He he’s one of the the coaches who’s going to do what’s best for his players, get his players in the right situation, run game, pass game. Um, and you know, we just continue to grow. I think that’s the biggest thing. Is it hard to be I don’t say hard, but there’s a lot of patience involved in this thing and you’re you’re playing the long game inside the short game. Are there challenges to that? I wouldn’t even call it playing the long game. is I’m trying to win every time I step on the field. Um that’s our mindset as a team. I just think we have to, you know, do it at a faster rate. Um we got to have continue to have more urgency every day. We got to get better every day. It it is all a process. It’s all about patience, but at some point it just comes to like you just got to go take it. Did you communicate to Ell first to kind of reverse field and go to the left side or did he tell you that that he was headed that way? Uh it’s kind of both. Um he knows what I like. We watch film all the time. Um, he knows how I see the field and I just think I gave him a little point and, you know, he did the rest and so, you know, he made a made a contested catch in the end zone, you know, got us a touchdown. Cool to see him do your celebration there afterward. Hell yeah. Um, and I mean Ell’s somebody that like he he’s someone you want on your team. He’s a great teammate. He’s there early, there late, and the the guy’s from Stanford, so he’s smart. It’s like he he teach me a lot of stuff. um Justin how he sees it from a receiver standpoint and so you know he’s getting me better every day. Do you feel like there’s anything different you could have done ball security wise on the phone? Um I would say not slip on the turf as much. Um hopefully we have we get grass. Um so I just I just think you know it all came down to me. I stepped up in the pocket. I didn’t you know have it firm enough and you know just it slipped out you know especially in you know our territory. I can’t have that happen. So, it’s just something that, you know, I got to watch him learn from. There’s typically a degree of danger to throwing back across your body. You’re pretty good at avoiding danger when you do that. How confident are you as you’re letting that ball go that that going against a a rule there isn’t going to get you in trouble and that you’ve got room to make that play? Um, I just think it just comes with confidence, comes with film, it comes with watching DBs, how they play scramble drill. I think a lot of people don’t watch scramble drill enough. Um, and then I I would say just me just playing football. I I live for plays like that, but end of the day, it is a time and a place to have those plays. We got the perfect look for it. No one’s backside and, you know, Ellie made a play. Two two weeks in a row now, Cam, you faced two of the most dangerous or two of the league’s most dangerous uh defensive fronts as far as pressure. Do you feel like you’re kind of caught up with the speed of the game now and navigating that pressure and being able to still make plays for his offense? Yeah. Um I think it comes every week the speed of the game. Um you play different front um every game and you also remember we playing different DC every game. So everybody could see me different or our offense different um and so you know we just continue to get better, continue to try to you know limit the mistakes you know that we’ve been having that I had today and you know at the end day we got to grow from it fast. those plays more you find like the second play within the play, you know, like the third down last week, the pard, the the toss to uh Helm uh this week, how do you make sure that the guys are on the same page like as as far as knowing, hey, this play is going to extend. I got to stay alive. Um just all the conversations we had over the offseason watching film, um those guys, they they know who they have at Corvette. They somebody who wants to distribute the ball to them. Um, and I think the more that I continue to get it out to my playmakers like I did with TP last week, Gunner this week, I just think it’s going to end up opening up our offense a lot more. Despite the outcome, Cam, do you feel like like Cali said earlier, he thought you made some strides? Did you yourself feel like you made some strides from one week to another? I I think I did. Um, especially in just getting in out of huddle, the speed of the game. Um, but at the end of the day, I mean, I I don’t I’m trying to win. And so that that’s what, you know, our goal is here to do is to win. And, you know, we got to turn around fast. You know, we just got to continue to work, come in next week with the right mindset like we have every week and, you know, just continue to try to get better. How much of a sense of urgency is there with a divisional opponent next week coming into town? Um, big urgency. Um, that’s a must-win game. Um, every game is a must win game, but especially in division. So, you know, I just continue to, you know, lead my guys, continue to, you know, make sure we still have that team camaraderie and, you know, just get better from one week to the next. You say some of the lessons that you kind of learned in this first two games in the NFL. I would say situationally is the biggest thing. Um, I think I’ve got better at that from last week to this week on some key downs. And I think just I would say taking care of the ball. um th those would be the biggest who take care of the ball. Even though we had we had two turnovers last week, one turn this week and just staying on schedule. Um offensively, we have to stay on schedule. We’ve yet to do that. And the more we continue to stay on stay on schedule, it’ll just continue to be, you know, just good drives for us. Every time we don’t stay on schedule, it’s always a bad drive. So, you know, just continue to get better, you know, up front locking in, myself locking in, the receivers and running backs locking in. at the end of the at the end with Cody’s interception. Did you lobby Cali to uh take a shot at the end zone? Uh yeah, I I always want to go deep. Um that’s my mindset, but uh at the end of day, the goal is to get points out of there. Cody made an incredible play for us. We got points out of it, and so you know, that was a win for us right there. Thanks. Thanks. Appreciate it. Yeah. All right. Frustrating uh to start the season 0 and2 certainly. Um, I’d still got a lot of belief in our football team uh that we can win games in this league uh in this season. Um, but right now we haven’t put together a game that’s that’s worthy of winning against two really really good football teams to start uh today. You know, Matthew Stafford, Hall of Fame caliber quarterback. We didn’t do enough to disrupt him overall. Um, too many explosive allow allowed in the second half totally. Didn’t get any rhythm going on offense. Again, the penalties are still a problem. Uh, we got to keep trying to get that fixed. Um, but we’re in a we’re in a we’re in a we’re in a battle of a ball game deep into the third quarter and almost into the fourth and uh didn’t make the plays necessary to to put ourselves in position to win at the end in the fourth quarter. Uh, too many things got away from us. That sack fumble was obviously killer for any momentum and any chance to to try to keep ourselves in the game. So, um, got to bounce back. We got a division game coming up this week, but I’ll let you guys go ahead. What’s the disconnect between the penalties and all the emphasis that you guys had about the sense of the offseason? You know, it’s it’s something that I’m still trying to figure out. You know, I think the we had a couple false starts today. U we had just an illegal lineman downfield on the first drive, which is, you know, you just got to come flatter on a screen play and just things that just frustrating. It was very frustrating to to be in that spot. Um it’s obviously something that we had a problem with last year. It was a problem before. It’s it’s still a problem and and we’re trying like hell to get it fixed and so far we haven’t been successful at doing that. What kind of explanation did you get on the blind side block call against Cedric? Uh, not nothing really crazy on the field. They didn’t really say much. They just they just said it was a blindside block and I just obviously I was irritated by it, but um, you know, I guess got to go with what they tell you. What happened on on that strip sack that you referenced there? And did Cam have any chance of getting that away do you think or Yeah. Uh, hard hard to know in the moment without seeing the actual play again, but um, you know, I think he was probably a little loose with the ball in that spot trying to pull up in the pocket. um you know had had a shot maybe at something coming across the field but um just trying to escape some pressure and a little loose with the ball which which he’s he’s learning you know he’s learning about how you know these guys are trying to get their hands all over you every time they get a chance and it doesn’t take much you know we know and emphasize very much on our side too that the quarterbacks around the league have the worst ball security so uh he’s got to do a better job protecting it I know high side is always 2020 but any thought going into halftime on taking a shot with how Ward and I matter seem to be cooking uh just because of distance to the end zone. It would have been a I just didn’t want to do anything where we put the ball in harm’s way in that particular moment after a big turnover and a chance to go kick the field goal and take the lead, you know, going into the half. I thought that was a huge 10-point swing for us and so wanted to make sure we took the points there. The touchdown you got from Cam was that kind of two players improvising that go. Yeah, it was it was an outstanding play by both uh by both Cam and Ellen the quarterback had broken contain and and broke to get open on a scramble drill. So those things are huge plays in the red zone. That’s how you score in a red zone. It’s it’s hard to scheme up plays every time. And the the good red zone teams in this league have the ability to create and improvise when the play structure breaks down. And that was awesome to see. You know, I think Cam uh again, I think Cam got better again this week. I thought did a lot of really good things uh over the course of the game. Um and there’s still things we’re working on, still things that he’s got to get better at, but um his his improvement, his trajectory has been really positive and and I think he’s going to uh come away again and learn a lot and be ready to go play another game next week. given what he’s done in these two weeks. Are you letting him do enough considering you need more than the field goals you’re getting? Um, yeah, we keep getting stuck in the fringe. You know, we we’ve had some some sacks there, some backward plays, just haven’t gotten enough cracks at it. Um, I don’t think so. I mean, we’re also being mindful that the two fronts that we’ve just played, you know, we’re trying to keep keep some some semblance of protection there, and if if you drop back every play against those those fronts, that’s going to make for a long day. It’s hard enough as it is already. So, um I would say no, probably not at the moment, but as he keeps getting more comfortable and we keep learning protect better, um we can keep trying to push the envelope. How do you think Jerry did with that expanded workload this week? Thought he did really well. I thought he was sticky. He covered he he followed Devonte around the field most of the day. Um I thought he won that matchup most of the time. You’re going to get beat at corner. He’s playing against a big time player in this league who’s got a lot of pelts on the wall, too. But I thought Legarius was was really good um without again having watched it all. But I thought just in general he was around the ball and and in position to make plays so much of an issue at times last year even against these pass rushes to see what’s happened the first couple. Yeah, I’d like to see better. I mean I think part of that’s you know we’re playing with played with a backup tackle for the fourth quarter last last week and another one again this week and that’s not an excuse. We got to play better. Um, you know, but we’re playing against some some good teams and and this is what playoff teams look like in this league. That’s what the defenses look like. That’s what the pass rush looks like. Um, and if we want to be in that mix at some point, that’s we got to be able to block those guys. Um, is there anything that led to the choice today? Um, we just felt like, you know, John had has is a steadier performer. He had better knowledge of what was being asked of him uh over the course of the week and uh decided to make that move. And again, I don’t know that that he was necessarily good enough at the moment either. So, we’ll we’ll reevaluate that again, but uh we’ll see. Is there anything that you can pinpoint as to why why you guys have had trouble maintaining momentum in the second half of games? It seems like that you hit a good flow in the first half and then after halftime it seems to kind of die out. Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll look at that. You know, I’ll take a long look at and see where we can be better there. I don’t have a great answer for you. You know, we we didn’t really try to change anything in in what was working for us. try to keep going back to those things and um change up some formations and things like that. But just yeah, we we just got to do a better job coming out from the half certainly. Did you feel like did you feel like you had some momentum there? You scored the 10 pretty quick points right before halftime. Did you feel pretty good about that? I felt great. I felt great. I felt like our team was playing well. The defense was playing well. We were doing what we were we we said we were going to do early, which was uh do our best to knock that run out. Um you know, they’re really a good rushing team. They’re committed to it. Um their play action game off of it really really good. And I thought we held that in check for the first half. Uh thought we made some plays offensively when we had to and we were in a good spot you know to have that team here um you know down at half and then you know deep into the third quarter was was really positive. I mean again it’s another really good team that that we we play toeto toe with for a while. We just got to find a way to finish against these good teams and and not make the plays that that end up putting us into hole. A sack fumble or an explosive pass or explosive run. We got to keep those things bottled up for for four quarters and we got to find a way to do that on the sack fumble. I I know it didn’t wind up counting, but it seemed like an instance of of a message not getting through. Chick seemed obsessed with punching the ball out and not with getting the guy to the ground. I’m sure your message is to get the guy to the ground. What’s a guy doing there obsessively punching the ball while guy’s carrying him seven yards? Well, we’re trying to even get the ball back off him. You know, defensive players aren’t used to carrying the football. It’s something that we emphasize. Um when defensive guys have the ball, you try to get it off them. Um they’re not used to securing it the way they’re supposed to. So, you know, I thought Chig was doing the right thing trying to get the ball off him and a turnover. Um, you know, they’re already in plus territory, so taking a shot there to try to get it off him, I think, was was the right thing by Chig. Last one. All set. All right. Thanks, guys. Thank you.

Titans QB Cam Ward and HC Brian Callahan address the reporters at Nissan Stadium after Week 2 vs. the Los Angeles Rams.

00:00-08:00 – QB Cam Ward
08:01-15:04 – HC Brian Callahan

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