TITANS AT BRONCOS
Monday, Sept 14, 2020
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On letting the game come down to a field goal
"It shouldn't have even gotten to that point. I think the drive prior we did a good job of keeping them [Titans] down there. Then we punted and they had the ball again. As a defense, we need to be able to keep them down there. I know there were a couple of things that happened, like penalties on our end, that we have to fix. All in all, yes, we didn't give up any big plays, but we let up the dinks and dunks of the passing game. Then the running chunks throughout the game caught up to us. They sustained three or four drives where they ran 10 plays and had like 70 yards. Yes, the guy [Stephen Gostkowski] missed a lot of field goals, and we blocked one, but we need to be better on that end [defensively]."
On how the secondary adjusted when CB A.J. Bouye left the game
"I thought we adjusted really well. I thought we played well, and I thought we competed. There were some things that we would like back. We had our hands on a couple of balls that, me included, we should have come up with. Like I said, I thought we competed really well, but it was just the strain aspect of it. There were a couple times where we were soft in our coverage and we could have been a little tighter. Like I said earlier, we didn't give up any big plays, but all of the dinks and dunks were really what did it. That's what they are best at. They run the ball really well and they get you to bite on some play actions. They just dink and dunk you. That's just something we have to fix and it's something we can fix, we'll get better."
On rookie CBs Michael Ojemudia and Essang Bassey
"I thought they played really well. From my point of view, they tackled really well and were competing for balls in the passing game. It was a great first game for those guys, being able to go up against a team that made it to the AFC Championship game and play against guys that play really well across the board for Tennessee. They got some real-life reps with some of the best in the league and against one of the best teams. It was just a big learning curve and I think as a secondary we just have to be able to work with each other and continue to keep growing. It's just one game, but we can't let these things add up over time. We have to be able to step it up in the secondary and just compete a little bit more."
On what happened on the fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line
"It was a great look. They had I-backs, a tight end wing, and they pretty much just split it. Compared to our reads, they gave us a really awkward look and it kind of messed up a couple of our reads. That's why [Jonnu] Smith was open on the seven route, it was a look that we hadn't seen, so it was just a great play by them. I think with cleaner eyes and better technique, it's something that we could have been able to cover a little better. It was just a great play by them, definitely a play that they drew up knowing we would be confused."
