HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO
(opening statement)
That was a good victory for our football team today. We talked about the need to be committed to our purpose and to be unified. I thought the guys came out today and played that way, played with great resolve and determination. It was a big, big win for us today to get on the road in a tough environment against a very good football team.
Obviously Fred (Taylor) going over 10,000 (career rushing yards) was very special. I know the guys in the locker room are very proud of that, proud that it happened on a win. During the win, he joined some elite company. An outstanding football player, he deserves to be in that elite company. In the five years that I have been here Fred has been our workhorse and a heck of a football player. I'm really happy for him. I think that it is fitting that all three running backs that carried the ball for us got touchdowns today. That kind of speaks to the unselfish nature of what we have going on here in that running back room particularly. Fred's a great leader in the room and those guys play very unselfishly and I'm proud of that.
Nice start to the second half of our season. Opening it on the road here, in the third and final game of that three game road stretch we were on, it was very important to be able to find a way to get a win. A big divisional game, big conference game, against a team that really [was more physical than] us the first time around. We came out today and gave a better effort, and we're able to go home with a nice win.
I don't have much in the terms of injuries. I think we came out fairly healthy.
(on DB Rashean Mathis' injury)
Rashean (Mathis) rolled his ankle but I don't think it was anything major.
(on QB Quinn Gray's performance)
Quinn (Gray) did a nice job. He made some timely throws. He didn't throw for a lot of yards but made some big plays. Obviously on a fourth down conversion there on the drive that let us pull ahead by two scores, it was a huge play in the game. Yeah, Quinn did a nice job directing our offense today and getting us in and out of plays and doing the things he needed to do to help us win.
(on comparing the defense from this week and last week)
I'd rather not go back and talk about the defense last week. There was enough last week to talk about. We can move forward. More like what we expect to do in Jacksonville. We've been a good defensive team and we've been a good football team. It took a complete team effort to come in and get a win.
(on the difference in facing the Titans earlier in the season)
We were much better at the line of scrimmage, we were much better tackling and we were much better swarming the ball. All the fundamentals that we believe in, we were better at today, so that helped to slow them down. They are pretty good at what they do. I think they are very well coached. Mike Munchak does a great job with their (offensive) line. They put a hat on the ball. They've got good, hard runners. It's a heck of a challenge.
(on how the offensive line played against the Titans defense)
I think they did a nice job. We knew there was going to be some tough sledding in there. We knew it was going to be a physical ball game. It usually is when these to ball teams get together. It was important for the offensive and defensive lines to play well today to have a shot.
(on how Quinn Gray has progressed in the last three weeks)
Quinn did a solid job each week understanding what the plan was and giving our football team a chance. That's what we ask of all of our guys when somebody is out for a reason, whether it is injury or what not, we ask the guy that steps in to step up and to play well for us. Quinn was able to help our football team by doing his part to win two out of three games he has started. We are happy he was able to do that.
(on being in a good position for a Wild Card game)
It's too early to think and talk like that. I think the primary focus for us is the next opponent and the next challenge. Obviously you have got to win. What you have got to do is continue to win games. Anything beyond that is just talk and you guys can have fun with it but we need to just focus on the simple fact of preparation for each opportunity you get to perform. The guys really focused in this week and did a nice job working with urgency throughout the week understanding the challenges that we were facing. I thought they pulled together and were very sharp in terms of being prepared for what we need to do here.
