TITANS VS BILLS
Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020
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Q. What was it like to be back and make such a big contribution right out of the gate?
AJ BROWN: Means everything, to be honest. I was battling the injury, a lot of uncertainty during that injury. I didn't know when I was going to be back, so I just put it in God's hands. Tonight just told myself just be bold, be courageous and let God handle the rest, and made plays for the team.
Q. You guys have been through some serious stuff over the last 16 days since you guys played a game. What does this win mean to you even though it's only five weeks into the season?
AJ BROWN: I think the team mindset is just another game, to be honest. Yeah, we had to deal with certain stuff, but that is like life. You know, curve balls will be thrown at you all the time. You got to keep on moving. So, us getting this win is just what we expected to do. Come out and play hard, play physical. That's a great team over there. Shout out to them, but we just try to come out and do what we do.
Q. AJ, I mean, sort of following up on Buck's there, how impressive is this as a team to be able to do this? Guys have had three practices in 16 days; haven't played in weeks. Just kind of cruise out there and knock around an undefeated team. I don't know, is that impressive to you?
AJ BROWN: I'm a very humble guy. You're going to get the same answer out of me. Like I said, we just expect to win every time we go out there. We get a chance to play, we expect to win no matter who we playing, so that's just our outlook on the game regardless of what we were going through throughout the week. None of that mattered. You got to find a way. That was out motto the whole way. We're going to find a way. They let us play, we're going to play.
Q. AJ, can you take me through the rehab process for you? I know it had to be difficult not being able to be in the facility this last week. How did you manage to get ready for today?
AJ BROWN: I kind of -- funny story, I kind of did more than what I was supposed to. To be honest, they didn't expect me to be back this soon, but during the time I couldn't go in the building I would go to a field, run routes, just to see where I'm at. I would ice my knee like every hour. I mean, like every 30 minutes into the hour I'm icing, icing, because I be sore afterwards or whatnot. I kind of did more than I expected and I came back and I told them, I think I'm doing a lot better than a lot of people think, so I want to give it a go, you know what I'm saying? I have good days and I have bad days.
Q. They had a veteran corner on you and basically coverage and still did what you did after missing two games. Do you feel like that was a statement that you needed to make to show that you shouldn't be a guy that draws that coverage?
AJ BROWN: To be honest, all that stuff handles itself. I was able today to go out there and make some plays on a really good corner. I let God handle all that stuff. I let people talk for me. I don't talk for myself.
Q. AJ, how much did you work even harder to get back knowing that the Titans wouldn't have Corey or Adam tonight?
AJ BROWN: I kind of put it on me. Just seeing those guys end up being – I kind of put it on myself, because during the week I was having like a bad week. I told myself, I'm going this week, I'm going this week, so I have to. A lot of the guys, a lot of people depend on me, and Ryan (Tannehill) just kept talking to me, 'We need you this week, we need you this week.' I just told myself I'm going, and that's that.
Q. I know you weren't there for the first two, but that's 106 points in three games for you guys. Is that now the standard? Should you guys be scoring 30 or more a week?
AJ BROWN: Every time we touch a ball we expect ourselves to score. I don't know about those stats, but every time we touch the ball we expect to score.
Q. Before you guys took the field I think you came out of the tunnel and there was a huddle of wide receivers. It was you and three undrafted guys. Those guys had to do more than they normally do. A lot of people had to do more than normal. Curious just about what you all said to each other or what you said to them coming out and what you thought of those guys and how they rose to the occasion?
AJ BROWN: I told those guys, 'When we leave this game we need to be mentally and physically exhausted.' There's only four of us, and that's all you need. No matter where you come from, none of that stuff matters. You can't match the heart, and that's what we brought to this game, our heart. It was only four of us, we rotated a lot. Shout out to those guys for helping me out because I couldn't breathe half the time. But shout out to those guys for lifting each other, playing as group, as a unit. We did really well.
Q. You all talk a lot about the belief that you have in each other and in this team. I think we maybe saw why that is a little bit tonight. But what is it about this team that is so special and that leads you all to have the belief that you do?
AJ BROWN: When you go through things you grow through things, to be honest. Prime example, we just dealt with. We stayed together as a team. We communicated. We Zoomed a lot. We just tried to stay on top of things. Just tried to keep a positive mindset. That's what we did, and I definitely feel like this whole episode of COVID, whatever, definitely made us closer.
Q. Is the sky the limit for this team, do you think?
AJ BROWN: Sky is the limit.
Q. I know you don't get too caught up in stats or anything like that, but Ryan never puts up the stats that wow people, and yet you guys keep winning with him at quarterback and beating guys like Lamar Jackson who won the MVP last year or even Josh Allen today who people were talking about maybe an early MVP type player. Do you think that Ryan's value, when you're talking about most valuable or high-end quarterback, do you think that gets lost simply because he doesn't throw for a lot of passing yards, and how do you feel about his value at that position in this league?
AJ BROWN: Ryan (Tannehill) is a really good quarterback. He may not come out and throw for 500 yards or whatnot like other guys, but we get wins. That's what it comes down to. We're not here for any visual stats. We're here to compete as a unit and go out and do it as a unit. So, when we have a big game, who cares if he doesn't throw for 500 yards? As long as we get the win, we do what needs to be done, all that matters, that's the only thing that matters. I don't know about to the league, but he's definitely a value to our team. He's the general, he's the head man in charge, he leads us. He's a great leader.
Q. What is the challenge now of recovering from this and getting ready to play a game here in about five days?
AJ BROWN: I don't know about other guys, but I'm about to go get in the cold tub like tonight, like a couple times. But we're definitely going to recover, try to shake back, watch this film and try to clean up the little things and get back out there. Move forward. We got a big game coming up, division game.
