TITANS vs BROWNS
Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020
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Q. KB, obviously your first half for the defense and what you guys got undid, a lot of the good things you did over the last couple games. Just from the naked eye, what was going wrong on so much in the first half?
KEVIN BYARD: Bad communication, bad execution. You go out there and play like that you got your behind whipped. Credit to Cleveland, they were more prepared and coached better and played better. That's my answer.
Q. Anything in general surprising about their approach? Obviously they went downfield a lot, a lot of play-action. Anything they did that was any kind of a curve ball for you guys?
KEVIN BYARD: No. It was stuff that we studied during the week on film. Just didn't execute. Didn't communicate well. Just uncharacteristic of us.
Q. Kevin, what is your evaluation of the job that this locker room does in handling success? This game obviously comes on the heels of two big wins, and this is not the first time that we have seen this team follow up an impressive win or two with giving up 38 points in the first half.
KEVIN BYARD: Every week is different. I don't think momentum or anything like that carries from one week to the other in the NFL. Every game is different. You have to go out there play hard and respect the game and understand that you have to go out there and show out and prove it every week, and we didn't this week. Just got to bounce back and try to do it against next week.
Q. What's the key to handling success as a team and to keep the ball rolling?
KEVIN BYARD: Go out there and perform and execute every game; practice hard every single day. Like I said, it's not about getting up in what we did last week. It's just all about watching film and making sure we're getting stuff corrected. It's about every week going out there and playing great, playing how we played in the second half. We've got to put a complete game together.
Q. Third down, the nightmare continues for you guys. And I know you talked about communication. Is it just too much time back there for you guys to cover, or what?
KEVIN BYARD: I mean, third downs, it all works together. Pass rush and the coverage works together. We're just not executing well, honestly.
Q. Touched on this, but wanted follow up. This team came in as the No. 1 rushing team in the NFL. Was it not surprising that they threw so much in the first half and had so much success as well?
KEVIN BYARD: I mean, we knew coming into the game, like you said, they were going to try to establish the run, going to run play-action boot, take some shots and do different stuff, and we just didn't play well, honestly. Like I said, I don't think they did anything different than what we thought. We just didn't play well today.
Q. How discouraging is it after the last couple weeks and couple good wins and some performances where the defense had shown improvement?
KEVIN BYARD: We're not going to get down on ourselves. Like I said, didn't play well today. Very uncharacteristic of us as an entire team. We have to look ourselves in the mirror tonight, tomorrow, and Tuesday, and come back on Wednesday fired up and ready to go for the next week.
Q. You talk about not riding that emotional roller coaster. Is that easier said than done in these first moments after a game like this, to shake if off and move on?
KEVIN BYARD: Absolutely. Not going to sit here and kid. I'm not about to go home and be super upset. Everybody should be upset about the way we played today. Like I said, we can sulk in it today, tomorrow, Tuesday, whatever, but on Wednesday we have to come back fired up and ready to go and prepare for another NFL game.
Q. You mentioned maybe getting caught up a little bit too much in what happened last week. Are you seeing that being an issue, the ability to turn that focus from a big win to the next week?
KEVIN BAYARD: I mean, it's hard to say right now. I mean, the way we played today is not characteristic, or is uncharacteristic, to how we played the past few games. Like I said, I don't think the momentum carries over. I think every week -- you have to bring it every week in this league, and we didn't bring it today.
Q. KB, we know Vic (Beasley) is with the Raiders now. Jadeveon (Clowney) is hurt. Do you guys on the defensive side still feel good that you've got enough to finish this thing out?
KEVIN BYARD: I mean, doesn't matter name-wise who is out there. Whoever is out there has to execute at the high level that we hold ourselves to, and we're not executing right now. That's just the bottom line.
