We Have a Good Energy In and Out of the Locker Room | Press Conference

We Have a Good Energy In and Out of the Locker Room | Press Conference

need a break from it. But what was your by-week like? Um, just taking time. Um, just getting back to the basics of football, getting my body healthy. Um, but then just resetting my mind to go play a whole another season. How how necessary or how refreshing was the reset for you? Well, it was real good. Um, just a plan to self scout myself, what I can do to, you know, help the team be better on offense. Um, what I can do to help myself, you know, just continue to establish drives. So, you know, it was a good break needed. when you did the self scouting and self-reflection, like what would you say was the biggest thing that you felt was the area for improvement? Um, for myself, I thought the biggest thing I could improve on uh was just not missing easy plays. Um, just being just overly focused um even on the little things that I could myself on. Um, but then just as a whole offensively, just doing the things that we’re good at more um more throughout the game, more in practice um and then just lead to, you know, good offensive play. I know you you’re the kind of guy that would spend probably a lot more time out there if the rules let you. You ever feel like there’s not enough time in a regular work week to work on some of the stuff you you’d like to? Um there’s always enough time. You just got to know how to use, you know, um your days. Um might it might not be a lot of time just with full speed reps um because we’re later in the season guys bodies. You got to be able to get them to Sunday. Um, but you got to be able to be a a mental um quarterback and I think that’s what I’m getting better at each and every week, just um, you know, counting walkthroughs as actual game reps. Um, just being, you know, just mentally focused on a lot of little things. It seems like for how much the coaches talk about the individual periods and the footwork and stuff that that’s only a small segment of what you do each day. Is it enough? Does it feel like enough? Uh, yeah, it feels like enough. Um, I got a lot I get a lot of it done on my own time. Um and that’s just really, you know, how the work week is. Work week is um you got to take advantage of the minutes that you get. Um you got to maximize just outside the building. What are you able to do in your entire uh just a lot of just short stepping, not overshottriding, a lot of pocket movement. Um I think the biggest thing is just not, you know, throwing from offbalance platforms if I don’t need to. Um just staying in the pocket. Do you have an example that comes to mind? Talk us through of missing an easy play. What does that look like from your end? And how do you find those? How do you correct those infield? Um the game before the bodies missing an easy throw to Van. That’s really the easiest play that I can think of. Um and just all just on me. Um protection was great. Van run a good route. Um but I just got to come through for those guys. So um just really selfcotting myself and um just really staying within the pocket and not leaving if I don’t have to. Like I guess mood, energy of the team is coming off the plat. Eight games to go. Oh, it’s hot. Uh we can turn the season around with one week. Um we try to take it one day at a time when we get a time and you know we got a good energy going just in and out the locker room. The new guys that we got in uh we welcome them in with open arms. Um but them boys ready to work the new additions we added and I think they going to help us you know win some games. What kind of conversation did you have with Quandre when he was released and what did he tell you going forward? Um really good luck u he going to be watching me really every Sunday if you’re not at the games. Uh but then just him just, you know, being able to play football with, you know, a family member, not a lot of people get a chance to do. Um but I think he made this decision that was best for him. Uh I’m always going to support him and I know he always going to support me. How does it feel to have Bridley back out there back? It feels good. Um just from a just from a receiver standpoint, we get the the best guy in our receiving room just with experience and just the way he can, you know, take a defense, you know, just over the top. That’s something that, you know, we’ve missed um just in and out of weeks without Red. Um we do a lot of stuff game plan wise for Red. Um so it’s good to have, you know, one of our best receivers back and he ready to make some plays. Kim, uh with Gunnar Helm, you got 25 targets his way. He’s caught 20 of them. What is it that makes that connection so effective? Uh he’s just reliable. Um I think he doesn’t get enough credit for just how good of body language he shows to the quarterback. um especially on option routes whether he’s going to sit break in or break out. Um and then just the just the the arm width he has the the expansion to go, you know, track deep balls, the over shoulder, you know, his range is, you know, one of the best out there. And we just got to find ways to get him the ball, get him going. Um I got to continue to put the ball, you know, his, you know, perimeter. He going to come down with it. That and that’s the thing. You look at the Chargers game. I think we only have one target. Is it just a matter of you having to go elsewhere or what can you do to get him more opportunities? Um, I think we could do just different stuff offensively. Um, whether it’s emphasizing Gunner or just getting in 12 personnel, getting two tight ends, give him a better chance to, you know, get the ball. Um, but we just got I think what would help, you know, not only us but him is just moving the ball efficially efficiently, not having to get in get back on track situations, whether it’s second or third down. Um and then so we can play above the sticks and get everybody the ball. How much you guys looking forward to getting another shot at Houston given what happened in the first game? We’re looking forward to it. Um they’re a good team all around. Um and you know they they beat us, you know, the first time. Um but we got to own up to the little things that we did wrong in that game and we got to correct them. Uh so we know we got our hands full with that group of guys. It’s going to be a big time game for us. We got to try to go out there and get a win. You played a good defender the second time against Indie compared to the first time. How valuable was it getting that second swing at a team and how do you kind of translate that this time? Um, I think it’s good because you see it one time already. Um, even though defense can do a completely different thing the next game, you just got a sense of just how you know their defense plays. They got two good edge rushers over there. Um, so really myself stepping up in the pocket. Um, and then also getting the ball out the O line. What’s it been like for I guess in college your team is your team. What’s it been like for you in the NFL where you’ve got teammates that here one day, gone the next? You mentioned new guys coming in. What’s the conversation like when somebody new comes in the locker room to see? Um, it’s always high vibes. Every person that, you know, we brought through that building um through the doors. Um, they come in with great energy. Um, everybody on team goes up to them, introduces theirself. Um, I think the the best thing is that you get to just experience new people. Uh, you get to learn about new people where they from. Um, and then you also count on that person to, you know, help yourself, help them and help the team win games. So, it’s going to be a fun journey, you know, with those new guys and I’m ready, you know, to support them any way they need. What’s been the biggest thing you’ve learned about yourself and your game as you go through the struggles of a rookie season or a team that’s not winning? Um, I think you just got to remain just the process. Um, from habits to routine to, um, doing more than what you think you don’t need to do. Um, cuz there’s always a little thing that you have to do. And it’s always going to be ups and downs and whether no matter if you’re on the worst team or the best team in the league, um, you’re never going to have a perfect game. And I just think for all of us, especially the young guys, we just continue to play the next play. um remain confident and you know just got to put our trust in the system and we just got to uh at the end of the day try to get better each and every game. And what do you see are the biggest challenges on crucial downs such as third down that’s been an area that you guys have struggled at this season? I think just not being in third alone. Uh it’s been the biggest thing for us. Um that’s something that we lacked the first you know games of the season and just something that we got to do better you know the last eight games of the season. So I just think the more we can stay ahead of the sticks it ain’t going to you know hurt us. He’s just going to be able to propel us. Okay, just kind of little uh for practice. What you’ll see today is uh Zeitler will be on a rest day. Um Mullings and Brown obviously, as you guys know, the return to play, their windows been open, so they’ll be out there today. Uh you will see Ridley and Ardan out there um in the return to play to see where they’re at. Um, Chig will be limited at practice today as you’ll see that designation later today and then you will not see uh Jeff will not be out there. CJ won’t be out there. Uh, and Woods will not be out today. That’s kind of an update. Uh, so when you go out there, no surprises. Who are the limited again? I’m sorry. Simmons. Who’s Limited? The last three names you said. Simmons. Simmons. CJ and then Woods. will not be there. They will not be there. How good to kind of get Calvin or especially guys that are missing time back in the flow and uh nearing a return I guess. Well, it’s great to get everybody you know back out there to see where they’re at. Uh this is the next step uh you know in the return to play policy that we have and how we want guys to be ready to go. We’ll kind of see as the week goes on to see kind of where everybody’s at, you know, but it’ll be great to have those guys out there. They’ve worked extremely hard, like I mean I’ve been telling you guys forever. Um, you know, since each one of those guys have been injured the past couple weeks, just they’re the beauty of it is when you look at it all is the type of guys they are and the leaders of the team and you see them on the sideline during games and stuff. You see those guys who’ve been out uh the veteran leadership you see it’s it’s been phenomenal. So, uh, and they’ve worked extremely hard. So, we’ll see where that the next couple days. Simmons on social media had made it kind of sound like he, you know, was close to getting back and that he might be back. Is it more just caution or hamstring? You got to be careful with those. Well, we’re always going to like with any injury, you know, we want to make I keep saying this return to play policy is I want to make sure or we want to make sure when they come out to play, they can be themselves and go out there and do what they do. So, um, you know, they’ve all been trying to get out there every day, you know, since they go out and, you know, some guys, everybody’s different. So, you have to rely on them, communicate with the medical team of of exactly where are they and and when are they ready to go? So, um, as soon as they can get out there, they’re going to be out there because they’ve been working extremely hard to get out there. So, where is Jeff at injury-wise? What do you mean where is he? Where is he in the process of coming back from? He’s working extremely hard to get back and as soon as he’s back, as soon as he’s ready to go and he knows he can go out and be Jeff, he’ll be out there. Do you think that could come this week? We’ll we’ll determine that next couple days. We’ll see where he’s at. I don’t want to say one way or the other. He’ll go through practice, you know, and what he’s doing right now. And then if he can go through a practice and do that and moving forward, we’ll see the next couple days where he’s at. Like every player, like, you know, a couple guys will be out there today. We’ll see where they’re at. they’ll kind of have a better uh answer for you guys moving forward later in the week on where each player is at because it it really is I mean and I’m not trying to hide anything here. I I want the guys to be able to go out there and be themselves and go out there and fly around and be the players they want and it’s critical that those guys can go out there and do that. What’s Manor need to do maybe to get back to where he was when he was at the top of his game? Well, I I think you know there there’s going to be the ups and downs of every game that you’re playing in. And as a young player, uh you’re we’ve said this about a lot of guys. You’re learning. Uh and there’s growth that you’re looking for. Um and sometimes you hit a little bit of a roadblock at times and you might you might press a little at times and try to do too much and you just keep fighting through it. You keep fighting through it. Uh, but just go out there and be himself. And that’s what we always tell every player, not just the younger guys, but just keep going and be yourself. And it’s never it’s not always going to be perfect. Uh, but continue to learn. And he’s a very talented player, so he’ll be fine. The last couple of games, how do you feel like the tackle play has been that the Texans have one of the better pass rush combos in the league? How do you feel like Dan and JC can hold up against those guys? And how important would it be to have JC back since he didn’t play in the first meeting? Oh, it’s great to have him back. Uh, without a doubt to have him back in there. But I think, you know, it’s uh they’ve got two of the best pass rushers in the league, man. You you know, you it’s not just going to be uh the tackles one-on-one the whole entire game. There’s other ways you we’re going to have to help them. Uh and it starts with a good running game and then from there it’s, you know, the presence on the edges, all that and do certain things that you’ve got to do. And you know what what every time you see a team play this team, everyone trying to mix it up to give I mean any team you play with great pass rushers, you try to mix things up so it’s not just them full speed ahead going to the quarterback every play. Um, but you know, I think as a tackle in this league, like a lot of the other positions there there’s you’re playing against the best in the business and so you’re going to have your fair share of wins and then you get beat a couple times and you know it’s our job to put those players in a position to be successful and that goes you like I talked about running game protection, help on the edges, things like that. Cam getting the ball out of his hand that’s one big thing too and making good quick decisions with Gunner Hill. It seems like whenever he does get a target, you know, it’s a completion. Uh would you like to see more opportunities for him, especially after against the Chargers, he only got one target. I want to see more completions all over the board, not just to him. Everybody, you know, we got to do a better job to be more efficient offensively. Uh and when he gets his opportunities, without a doubt. So, so knowing when he does get those opportunities, it seems like it it’s frequently a completion. So, like is there something you can do to get him the football a little bit? you know, you go there’s plenty of plays that he’s in there that you have a game plan for uh to say, you know, we’re going to he’s the number one guy in the target and they take the play away. So, it depend on what the coverage is. Uh that happens in every, you know, with every player you have, you have certain targets. If you looked at a call sheet, there’s certain things you want to get to the backs to, you know, receivers that are in there, tight ends that are in there, and there’s a certain coverage. But, yeah, you know, he’s definitely made the most of his opportunities, so he should get the ball more. Has Peter shown you a a steady rise over the course of this season? Yeah, but he’s been very consistent. Yes, that’d be an accurate statement. You’ve talked about how you’ve met with Cam and talked about ways to help him improve here in the second half of the season. How important do you think it is for him mentally, for the team, for him to kind of finish on a strong note? No, you still got half the season to go, but to be ascending. Yeah, that’s one thing um you know we always talk about is trying to get better every game and especially um you know being a rookie quarterback in this league league of just continue to learn and I know I’ve been saying that often um every time we get in here about you know consistently you know getting better week in and week out. Um and there’s nothing you know the second half of the stretch of the season you starting to see um you know like this week for example playing Houston for the second time of the season. So having, you know, more knowledge and having played against them uh earlier in the year, have a better understanding of what they try to do and that’s just going to come with experience. So yeah, you’d love to have him uh finish the second half of the season off the right way. Has Larius been in the building since the injury or is he building? Yes. Do you address off the field stuff with him with the rest of the team? We put a we um we sent a message out um in a statement. So I’ll leave it at that. Or or do you just kind of let the players We we discuss certain things with team. you um I guess some uncertainty about who their quarterback’s going to be. You just prepare for their offense this week. Well, I think they have a system in place and I think with regards to who plays, they’re going to focus on their system first and then there there’s going to be a couple things that, you know, depending on who that guy is, they might lean on a little more, but I think their system is uh well established on what they want to do if you watch, you know, looking at the tape and see regardless of who’s playing and then you you obviously you lean on what players do best. Scoring is always a top of the list goal, but when you play a team for a second time after they shut you out the first time, is there more of a drive to, you know, try to get on the board and and and make it very competitive? Well, you definitely got to score more points. That that’s that’s a given. Uh, you know, that’s week in and week out you’re trying to score more points. So that that’s that is a key with the offense uh last in the league in yards per game and your experience on the offensive side of the ball. Y in what areas do you think you could most realistically make some strides in this last chunk of the season to improve that? Well, like we talked about on Monday, you know, uh success on third down, being more efficient on third down so that you u sustain drives, keep them going. You know, someone may asked the question about, you know, not crossing the 50-yard line and not this and that, but that all that all stems when you’re good on third down, you keep drives going. Same thing uh in the you going to about scoring. When you’re in the red area, you know, it’s those four-point plays on third down. Do you keep the drive going or do you got to kick a field goal? So, that that’s that’s the big thing is be be more efficient on third down to, you know, continue to keep the drive going. It’s probably it’s probably not something you can rank up rank, but when you’re talking about sustaining drives, third downs versus more explosive plays, is there one that’s more of a priority of creating the explosive plays versus sustaining the drives, or do they kind of have to go hand in hand in your ski? Well, I think third down is critical because you sustain those drives to give you more opportunities. uh if it’s just trying to get explosive plays and throwing the ball downfield, you know, if it’s a lower percentage. Um you know, so I I would think, you know, you like to do both, but I think number one, we got to make sure that we sustain drives that are more efficient, so then you can take more shots.

Titans QB Cam Ward and Interim Head Coach Mike McCoy address reporters on Wednesday at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park.

00:00-07:37 – QB Cam Ward
07:38-17:27 – HC Mike McCoy

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