TITANS HEAD COACH KEN WHISENHUNT PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT - October 28, 2015
(on Marcus Mariota's participation in practice)
He did all of individual and got better as it progressed. It was good to have him back on the field.
(on if he feels better about the status of Marcus Mariota's injury this week)
A little bit less unknown this week than last week, so when you actually see him doing some of the things on the field, you naturally would feel better.
(on if he is under the weather)
A little bit, yeah. It was one of those things, I got the flu shot and it worked.
(on if Marcus Mariota will do more work in practice tomorrow based on what he did today)
I think it's going to be a day-by-day thing. Like I said, he progressed today and got better as it went. We'll evaluate it on how he feels tomorrow and how it progresses.
(on how much of Marcus Mariota's soreness will play into the process)
I really can't answer that question until we see how it's going. It was one of those things, like I said today, he got better as it progressed. You could tell he felt better and we'll see where it is tomorrow. It's good to have him back on the field.
(on if Marcus Mariota is wearing a brace on his knee so that if he plays he will be used to it)
I wouldn't necessarily think that's the case. That's something that the doctors will make the decision on. I think some of it's got to do with just how he feels, but sometimes that's just a part of the process of coming back, so I couldn't answer that.
(on if there is a bigger sense of urgency to get Marcus Mariota back this week as a Titans win and Colts loss would put them within one game of first place in the division)
Well Marcus (Mariota) is a good football player, and we certainly want to get all of our players back on the field as soon as we can. But yeah, there's got to be a sense of urgency to win. It's been a tough stretch of weeks here, so we'd like to have everybody that we could possibly have to give us the best chance.
(on if it is difficult for players to stay positive given the team's recent results)
Not at all. I'm sure you could ask the guys, but there has been none of that. If you watch them practice, you watch them work, you hear them interact and talk, the way they conduct themselves in meetings. It's been really good.
(on if it is a good thing they are able to stay positive as it would be easy to get off track)
You know what, I'm going to say this: I respect what you're saying from the standpoint of the games that were close that you didn't win, and you go through a stretch, it's hard. It's hard on everybody. It's hard on the players, it's hard on our fans, it's hard on a lot of people. So it's a tough stretch, but our guys have continued to work hard and have been doing a good job.
(on if it will be difficult to prepare for the Texans' running backs with Arian Foster out)
There will be a back in there. So it doesn't matter.
(on DeAndre Hopkins as a player)
He's been very productive. They sure target him a lot, they throw at him a lot. But he's a good player and he had some success against us last year, so we're well aware of his ability to make plays.
(on if Brian Hoyer will show some of the same things he did with Cleveland despite playing with a different offense)
It's a little bit different when you change teams because it's different people that are calling it or running it, but there are a lot of similarities to what (Brian) Hoyer does well that they are doing.
(on if he is surprised the Texans haven't been more effective on defense)
I think sometimes it's just the way the ball bounces. If you look at them on tape, they look like a good front. They play hard, they've got some good players down there. Sometimes it doesn't necessarily play out the way it looks, so I wouldn't say I'm surprised. I'm impressed with what I've seen from them on tape.
(on if Andy Gallik will go through the injury protocol)
Yeah, he's working through that. It's a bunch of stages that you go through. So he's working through it. Hopefully he'll be out of it in time to play.
(on if he wants Andy Gallik to practice before Sunday's game despite going through the injury protocol, given that he is a rookie)
Yeah, I mean you'd always like to do that, but remember that that's kind of what he did before he actually played. He didn't get a lot of practice reps other than other team reps, and then he had to play and he did OK. So at least you have that to work from.
