Opening comments:
"Let's start with the injuries. Obviously, [Tennessee Titans S] Mike Brown had the ankle injury, and then [Tennessee Titans S] Kevin [Winston Jr.] and [Tennessee Titans S] Xavier Woods had the hamstring injuries. So after the first couple series in the game, we've lost our three safeties. We had to shuffle the deck on the back end there, and then at the end of the third, [Tennessee Titans G] Kevin [Zeitler] came out. What a tough guy. We just love everything about him and the way he fought through. [Tennessee Titans LB] Cedric Gray had the concussion there in the fourth, and then [Tennessee Titans WR] Van [Jefferson] came out with the back injury after he made the great catch there, so that's that. When you really look at the game, we had slow starts in both halves. [Tennessee Titans QB] Cam [Ward] did a great job in the two-minute drill there to get us in field goal range, but we unfortunately missed it. San Francisco is a really good football team. They're well coached and execute at a very high level. We didn't make enough plays for four quarters, and we didn't slow them down."
Coming out of halftime, is there something you could have done to stop the drives the 49ers were putting together?
"I think it's different every week. We'll go back, look at the tape, evaluate it, and see how things worked or didn't work. There were certain things we'll look at, like third-down conversions, but we have to watch the tape early and kind of dive deep in there and see exactly why things didn't go the way we wanted them to."
What's a reasonable 3rd-down percentage you're aiming for compared to the 49ers 9-15?
"Well, that's the big thing. We have to be able to get up the field and convert at that high rate. That percentage is tough, and that's when you can't give up all the points. You have to be able to get up the field on 3rd down."
It seemed like even when you got down 21, you had the run game out there and the jumbo formation set for a while. Did you just not want to get into a drop-back game at that point?
"You have to mix it up. You have to make some of those plays there. When you look at it, we had some big runs in that situation, gaining X number of yards. You have to mix it up, and that's something we have to be able to do, both run and pass. You can't just drop back every single down when you're down a certain score. They're going to know that. So you have to mix it in. I think we did a good job of mixing those in, getting some big runs, and staying in manageable situations on 3rd down."
What are you seeing that's allowing them to hit some of those deep shots?
"Well number one, you love Van going up and getting that ball. That was huge, to go out there and do that. There's so many things that go into plays. You asked this a couple weeks ago, that we haven't hit this and that, well, we had one to Van, but there was a protection breakdown a couple of weeks ago. We had a double move to Van today for what probably would've been a touchdown. We missed it. So there's the up, there's different reasons for everything, but the more you attempt, the more you're going to hit. I think it's everyone doing their job. It starts with the protection up front. So Cam could set his feet and make certain throws and then make sure you have the right coverage in the back end like today where Cam Ward put it up there and it's that button jump ball that Van went up and made a big play on. So excited for him."
What would you say happened on the one where they didn't catch it?
"We just missed it. I'll look at the tape. To be honest with you, I kind of looked up as the ball was being thrown and I didn't see where Cam was. I looked to where Van was and we just missed the throw. I'll look at the tape and see exactly what happened."
Did DT Jeffery Simmons do a good job of keeping himself alive on that touchdown?
"Well before we got the ball, we looked really good. To get the fumble. You absolutely love the way Jeff plays, the way he leads. You love everything about him and you see him catch that ball. Those are natural hands. That was pretty sweet. And he's caught a couple balls like that in practice that him and Cam might be joking around at times and Cam will missile one to him. He just snatches it. But what a great effort. That's one thing Cam did, moving around the pocket at times, some plays that he made today. What a great effort by everyone to get that touchdown there."
San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy's elusiveness in the pocket. Did that seem to be more of a problem than you thought it would be?
"Yeah, we let him get out of the pocket too much. That's what he does. And they make some explosive plays that way. You go back and watch it week in and week out, whether it was him or [San Francisco 49ers QB] Mac [Jones] in there. We do a good job of stepping up and moving the pocket, but yeah, we have to keep him in the pocket. Too many plays that he made outside the pocket and running and filling it."
Can you talk about the safeties? How much does that alter things before you had to manage with three guys out?
"You're limited to a certain package. We had [CB] Marcus [Harris] back inside and then played some other guys outside. Everything you thought in your game plan you're doing, you can't do different packages with different safeties in the game. You're limited. That's part of when you're adjusting on the fly. We always talked about the experience Marcus got playing nickel for so long and then got bumped back outside, but they went right back in today. His experience there for a number of weeks helped him."
Is that a team this franchise should aspire to be like?
"They've done an outstanding job, [San Francisco 49ers Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan] does an outstanding job here in all phases. He's won a lot of football games."
