TITANS vs LIONS
Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020
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Q. Kevin, you finally got your first pick of the season today. How nice is it to do that, help cap a three-turnover day for this defense?
KEVIN BYARD: It feels good. It definitely feels good. The fact we got three turnovers, clutch turnovers, honestly, especially the first two, great goal line stop. I've seen that so many times. We're always good on the goal line just in clutch times, and like I said, it's good to get a pick today, but most importantly, it was good to get it with the win, so I'm happy about that.
Q. K. B., I know you understandably won't want to take a victory lap about ending the 9-7 streak, but I will ask what is it about this year's team that maybe has put you in a position to finish the season with a better record than you have in a while?
KEVIN BYARD: I mean we're just a resilient bunch. I honestly don't think we really care about the whole 9-7 thing. I mean mainly you're just trying to be 1 and 0 every single week. If it would have took nine wins to get into the playoffs, that's what it would have took. But it's really all about getting wins and stacking up wins. Do it feel good to have nine wins? I mean, yeah, but at the same time it really doesn't matter. We're just trying to get as many wins as possible.
Q. Congratulations on the victory. We've seen past Titans teams go into games where they were big favorites and not play well. You've had back-to-back games now where you guys have been big favorites and have taken care of business. Has this team turned a corner or is it turning a corner?
KEVIN BYARD: I mean, it certainly looks like it but at the end of the day even feeling on the sideline or on the field, we know we can play, a lot better, in all three phases. That's really the main thing that we're trying to do every single week. We want to be playing our best ball in December, and we feel like we can play better. So that's a great feeling knowing that we can always improve, so that's going to be the main thing this week. We're going to have a big matchup on Sunday night against Green Bay, top in the NFC North, so we're going to have a big challenge, so we're going to have to get up on them boys. Kind of enjoy this for right now and maybe in a couple of hours I'm going to start watching film of Aaron Rodgers.
Q. Did that interception take weight off your shoulders?
KEVIN BYARD: Feels good, but the main thing we got the win so I'm happy about that.
Q. Kevin, what was it like to have Adoreé (Jackson) out there for the first time this season? What did you see from him today, and what does it mean moving forward for you guys?
KEVIN BYARD: Honestly, it felt great just to see my dog out there, just in pre-game warmup, joking, laughing with him. He has great energy, love having his energy out there. Hopefully he'll continue to help us out. I mean he made some plays today. So, it's definitely good to have him out there.
Q. On one of the plays there was a second down. I think it was in the third quarter, you and Tye Smith, you kind of had really good communication on an out-breaking route, and it looked like you gave a signal to take that, and you took the other route. With the communication there, how was that an example of what you guys needed to do?
KEVIN BYARD: I mean, I think every single week the communication changes a little bit based off the detail of each play and each coverage, and I've talked about this plenty of times. My job is to make sure that everybody is on the same page, communicating, we're doing the little things right. It could be better. I mean, don't get me wrong. We could always be better. But I think the communication was pretty good today. Guys were able to make some plays, pass off some routes and stuff like that. It was pretty good.
Q. Obviously, one of the hardest things in this league to come out fired up, ready to play against a team you're supposed to beat. How have you liked the team's mindset two weeks in a row in doing that?
KEVIN BYARD: Like I said, we don't really look at records. We don't look at if a team doesn't have a good record. Every team in the NFL plays hard, and you can lose on any given Sunday. So that's our approach to every single game, and we understood that Detroit was going to come in and give it their best shot, and they did. I mean, I think it was a close game until late in the fourth quarter. We were able to get some room on them. But, at the end of the day, every team is good. Every team can win the ballgame if you don't come out there prepared to play, so we felt like we were prepared today and handled everything they was throwing at us.
Q. And sorry if I missed you talking about your pick earlier, but I know you felt like they come in bunches. How good was it to get one today?
KEVIN BYARD: Yeah, hopefully got the first one, so hopefully the trend will come. But like I said before, it's all about getting them in the W. If I get interceptions, we don't win, I'm not going to be happy. So I'm happy we got the win. I'm happy I got the interception.
Q. You guys had a lot of ups and downs on defense this year. There's always been talk about the pass rush and the third downs and stuff. But when you can balance that by getting three turnovers and turning them over on downs twice, how much does that being opportunistic kind of help things on the defense?
KEVIN BYARD: Today we definitely needed three turnovers. I would definitely say that. On the goal line, the other one they was driving and getting the pick to finish the game. We have to be better in the pass rush and we have to be better on third down. I really haven't looked at the stats yet to actually see where we were. But, at the end of the day, all those things marry together. When you have good pass rush and you get off the field on third downs, you can force a team into some turnovers, and I think we did today, got a couple of fumbles. So pretty good, but like I said, man, we have Green Bay coming up next week. We have a tough challenge with Aaron Rodgers, so going to have to make sure we're prepared and go out and try to play our best ball.
Q. Kevin, did you have any doubt that Matthew Stafford was going to play as you practiced during the week, and how much of a challenge was he today?
KEVIN BYARD: I mean we really didn't know. So, obviously, we prepared for both quarterbacks. But, I mean, knowing how long he's been in the league, what kind of player he is, he was going to try to go out there if he can go. Obviously, we found out, I think, yesterday or the last couple of days that he was going to go. I mean, I was wanting to play him. I usually want to go up against the best quarterbacks in the league. He made some plays today, but, at the end of the day, we came out with the W. So that's the most important thing.
