NASHVILLE – Titans interim coach Mike McCoy held a zoom press conference on Monday, one day after the team's 31-29 win over the Cleveland Browns.
The Titans return to action this Sunday at the San Francisco 49ers.
Here's a look at some of the hot topics from today's presser:
-McCoy said the team got a boost from the win, which snapped a seven-game losing streak.
"There's nothing like winning," he said. "That's what it's all about, and that's your goal every single week, to go 1-0 and give the players credit. They had an outstanding week of practice, and just their work ethic and all their hard work, even through the difficult times. This is big because you always want to build a winning culture, and you've got to find a way to win the games to get that going, and now the challenge is to come out here and start stacking wins together. But it's just big for everybody, big for the young players for them to really understand, it doesn't matter how you win, you just got to find a way to win, and the game's never over, so you just got to keep playing, it's a great example. Just keep fighting, keep fighting, and win the game."
-Titans quarterback Cam Ward didn't seem overly excited after the win, indicating he thought the team should have played better, especially down the stretch.
McCoy said that's Cam.
"He's a competitor," McCoy said. "And Cam wants to be great. He wants to play great every week. And there's times where if you don't play the way—he's not going to sugarcoat, sometimes, what he says, and how he plays and his opinion on things. But it's about winning, that's the number one thing. And you always talk to the players about that, 'Hey, listen, there's going to be the ups and downs. It's not always going to be perfect, but as long as you find a way to win, you learn from it, and you move on.' That was a great challenge for our offense, and Cam, obviously, with all the man coverage, and playing against the best pass rusher in Myles (Garrett), and the way the guys played, and kind of neutralized him from the game. But it's about winning, and Cam knows that, but he's a competitor."
-McCoy praised linebacker Cedric Gray, who had 10 tackles, a fumble recovery, and a QB hit.
"You just love the way he plays the game," he said. "Ced, when he first got put in that position the first game he went out there and had, what was it, 17 tackles, or whatever it was, the one game, and he hasn't skipped a beat since. I think him and Cody (Barton) do an outstanding job in there together. But you just love his attitude, his effort, the way he clogs everything up in the middle, the way he plays downhill, but very happy with the way he's playing this year."
-Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was credited with a career-high 11 pressures on Sunday, along with 1.5 sacks.
"The way he plays on Sundays, he absolutely dominated the game once again," McCoy said of Simmons." He affects every play. You've always got to know—you're talking about Myles (Garrett) on the other side. Jeff is the exact same. You have to know where he is every single play, because he can ruin a game in a hurry. But it's also the way he works, and what it means, and as a leader sometimes—it's hard to be a leader sometimes. And when I say that is, he's not afraid to speak up and express his opinion, but that's what the great leaders do. They hold everyone to a certain standard, and he has a burning desire to win just like everybody else on this football team, but he's a great leader, and just so happy to see him out there, just playing the way he is and getting not only that, but getting the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, again, for the third year in a row. It just shows how fortunate this organization is to have somebody like this, and for the young guys to be able to learn from such a great pro."
-Corey Levin has started the past two games at center in place of an injured Lloyd Cushenberry, and McCoy said the Titans haven't skipped a beat.
"Well, it's not shocking at all with what Corey has done," McCoy said. "The great thing is that all the reps he took during the offseason program and through training camp, so we haven't skipped a beat with him in there. He's done a great job, of running the show. I think the inside three have done a nice, a really nice job the last two weeks with him in there. And we'll just see where everything is during the week, with the health of the team and everything as we go."
-The Titans blocked a punt for the first time since the 2012 season when James Williams Sr. got to the punter.
"Give Bones (John Fassel) and Stew (Rayna Stewart) credit for designing the scheme on how to attack the punt and what to do—get other players involved so we could free James up to get through there," McCoy said. "And we've been close a number of times this year, and they're two great coaches that are playing a lot of guys in the kicking game. I think all the players are really bought into the importance of the special teams, and there's great effort. You see a number of different guys on a weekly basis who makes the big plays. We've had a number of big plays in the kicking game, but that was a game changer right there. And blocked kicks in the kicking game really change and have a huge impact on games. So it was great for us to get points off of that, but just a great opportunity. The players—it was a well-designed scheme, the players went out and executed it."
