 Hi Teresa. How are you? Mike with the fourth quarter struggles having been an issue of scoring all season long is there things you can do to try to maybe adjust be more effective in that quarter to finish off games at this point of the season? I mean I think you know those things go you know kind of show up where you have to be at your best you know I think everybody has to be at their best you know in all three phases you know and there's been some games where you know I thought we played well offensively whether it's you know in a four-minute drive where you're kneeling on the ball and you're not you know you don't have to go down and score not to say that that's you know an excuse for you know where we're at you know from a production standpoint or a scoring standpoint in the fourth quarter but you know those are some you know things that have come up but we have to be you know our best not turning the football over or when we in a two-minute drive to go down there and be able to score points you know to win a football game. As you're sort of through that process so you know which guy you want to sit which guy you you want to let go like how do you manage that back and forth whereas if he's like I need to play coach but you're like I want I want you to sit how do you manage that. You know for a lot of these guys whether whatever decision it is that you know that we're working through you know a lot of respect for for most of these guys that have been here you know I mean the guys that you'd have that conversation with and I respect for all of them usually you have a conversation and you know my job is to listen you know to find out what what each and every player and coach and everybody else is thinking and then try to you know take that and make a decision that's in the best interest of the football team you know I mean I think that for the most part yet and when you talk about things like this week is I mean you got to put a team yeah I mean we got to go out there and win and so you can only you know only have so many guys that active each and every week so but for most of those you know discussions or conversations and talk to the player and you know they tell you how they're feeling and then I'll you know try to tell them what my thoughts are and you know kind of go from there. With the five game losing streak you know being in the midst of that does that make that challenge that that balance a little bit tougher to weigh out whereas obviously you need for this week I mean I just you know we just we're at where we're at you know and that does are trying to figure out what's the most important thing and what's best for the team and you know what's best for the player. In trying to evaluate and develop the league through this process of late in the year how much can you kind of add to his plate in the game plan each week. I mean I think you're trying to progress through each and every week you're trying to you know add as much as you think that each player can handle at every position you know and certainly that position requires a lot more than you know some other position so you know we try to each we try to only give them what they can handle and what they can reasonably you know go out there and expect to do. How much more is he handling versus maybe six seven weeks ago. I think it's gotten better and I think it's gotten better and I think that you know there's been some you know real positives and then some things that we're continuing to try to work on and correct and you know work on the progression and work on just speeding up things and you know the communication and all the things that go go into playing quarterback. As far as preparation standpoint this week what's your schedule look like as far as which one the field in the classroom and maybe how do you decide what's most important on a short I mean we've tried to you know come up with a plan that's been you know you know all about trying to get recovered mentally and physically with these guys and understand a toll that the game takes on them each and every week especially late in the season. We've glad that they had you know spend some time with family on Christmas and you know we'll add a little bit more than what we did yesterday from a walk through perspective and try to get moving around an individual you know today will still be you know a lot of team reps in a walk-through setting you know tomorrow we'll probably ramp that up a little bit I think that you know just some of the timing things that that go into especially throwing the football you know seeing where guys rat and seeing what we can we can do from a speed standpoint to get ready for Thursday night. What can we do from a meeting standpoint Thursday during the day since you've got a full day well you try to do get a little bit in but I don't want to like you just haven't been in those positions is sitting meetings all day you know I think it's important to get them up you know what we've done in the past is give it get them up you know get over here we're at home so we have a great facility you know feed them and have some brief meetings just to kind of stimulate them a little bit maybe get them up move them around walk through and really didn't try to give them the day to you know to put themselves in a stamp you know in a mindset to go you know prepare and win and you know perform so just because you have the extra time I don't think it's it's beneficial to sit there and meet all the way up until five o'clock but I think it's important to do a little bit in the morning and then give these guys an opportunity to get into their their routine that they have for the game right now I mean this is kind of uncharted territory for you as head coach how do you know what's too much and how far you can push yourself well I mean I think that you know to be in these positions to be able to you know withstand and handle adversity and you know we're at we're at I mean it's it's you know nobody wants to have been in this position nobody wants to you know have the amount of players in the turnover that we've had that we've had to have but it's also my job to figure it out and to to communicate to lead to you know be honest with where we're at and you know I kind of handle it by by being around the players being around the coaches I find that that's always best you know that when you you concern yourself with other people you have less of a chance to sit there and worry about yourself so that's what I try to tell the team that's what I you know prescribed to I try to be around the players and and teach and coach you know I think that there's a lot of trial and error I think I've got a lot of help you know from from things that we've tried to do as a family or you know just when you work through things and you're just getting back to fundamentals getting back to you know the consistency some of the guys that you've mentioned as mentors like Ron Rivera Bill Cowell no I mean I think that this is you know I know I mean other than to say Merry Christmas you know I mean and keep grinding you know that's what I texted Ron no it's no I this isn't no this isn't too much for us to work we're excited you know I mean we're excited where we're at excited for the opportunities like I said the other day like you know watching guys like Jordan Roos you know just prepare and leave it out on a field and again played well up until you know that's plays that he'd like to have back and late in the game in protection but you know every every one of our favorable runs or our our explosive runs he was there finishing or pulling around making something happen and you know it's those guys when Corey Levin or or any of them that have gotten an opportunity because of the situation that that's presented itself for whatever reason that they've gotten that chance is taking advantage of it all that you've had to go through with the injuries and southern guys in and out that the fact that there still is an avenue to the playoffs is pretty simple how much does that kind of keep the carrot out there dangling yeah I mean that's what we're all you know I mean we're all fighting for it is to get in into the tournament and then figure out a way to do that we have a game Thursday you know we have a we have a huge opportunity in front of us you know on a national stage you know and I think that you know you know again whether you look at some of these games that were close and for other reasons didn't go our way you know that that's disappointing because you had some opportunities and you could say well it was because of this or that or you know you're you're beating a jag wires and you turn it over four times and don't do a good enough job on sudden change on defense or then you go out to LA and you know it's competitive and it's on and on and on but now it's you know it's focusing on you know where we're at with the Cowboys some of your veteran players have kind of managed locker room keeping guys I can't say enough for those guys for for Kevin Jeffrey you know the Nico Derrick you know I know Ryan's hurting you know Ryan's you know he's disappointed because he can't help us right now because it means a lot to him he he he knows what his impact is to the football team as the starting quarterback you know so there's just a lot of guys throughout there you know I think you know Bobby you know Robert Woods has provided some veteran presence and you know I'm sure he would have liked to caught a lot more balls through the course of you know 17 games or 16 games or 15 games but he hasn't wavered in his approach his daily approach being out there being available being a leader blocking has never hesitated I mean 15-yard reverse to trailing and he's and he's finishing and he's blocking and that's right on down the stretch this week this game doesn't affect your ability to get into the tournament but how important is it to see one get into the win column and kind of find that winning formula again before the the ultimate step I mean it's a great test against a talented football team a good football team that just you know just won a lot of games and so that that's that's what we try to do each and every week is figure out who you have figure out you know what you can do what you can run and you know get them as healthy as you can and then get them you know go play and go play hard and and do the things that we know that win you know each and every day just do them a little bit more consistently how much harder do you have to work or maybe more creative have to be to get the ball in his and chicks hands because they're they're good with it in their hands yeah I mean I think you can only be as creative as you know the guys out there will lie I mean I just don't want to put too much on guys plate you know the whole operation you know there were plays where you know we're trying to get those guys the ball you know quarterback waited on it for you know couple instances and you know trailing's got to run a better route or get open quicker and it's on and on and on and tricks not you know can't drop the ball when we throw it to him and so you know we're gonna do all those things but you know just making sure that some of the scheme stuff that we do do you know everybody's on the same page so that you know you're not hurting yourself well I think it starts with everybody just doing their job and not doing too much and saying well this you know it's do your job first do it really well and then you can you could figure out ways to help other people I think that's that's where it starts you would like to have a foundation and what you're doing so that that there is some you know repetitiveness and that guys have gotten some work at it just because they're gonna give you a different look on offense and our defense and you want to have answers and you want to make sure that the players are you know things are sound and that they can go play I thought I think it's it's it's really good I think he's put a lot of time in I think he's been in a lot of different offenses I think he's he's working hard you know to learn what we're doing and you know being able to to manage the game and understand the operation and all those different things mentioned you know being with the guys being around this Titans family during a time like this with adversity that that's kind of helped you and a demarcus Walker said yesterday you being not too far removed as a player kind of helps these guys that are stepping in just how much does that help not being too far removed in understanding the player's perspective well I try to have a relationship with each and every player some I have a better relationship with that others but you know I certainly appreciate what they do each and every day and I guess by that I mean when the days off art the days off when the players are off those are probably my least favorite days because you know you just want to be around players you want to make sure you know you see how they're doing try to help them you know have it have squad meetings you know provide information or be able to ask information and have them spit it back to you the way that they've been coached and you know so that they know what they're supposed to be doing but more importantly their their teammates know that they're they're getting prepared for the game I think that's something that's critical I mean I just again these guys go through a lot you know there's a lot being asked of them not only here but outside of here a lot of distractions and things that they all deal with that we all deal with and you know I try to be conscious of that what says he's retiring you know him well obviously what made him a different player than most well I think he played extremely hard I think he was extremely talented I think he was athletic I think he had great size I think his instincts you know you kind of had a certain defense that you kind of coached and then you kind of had you know whatever JJ ended up doing and that's kind of how it went you know and so if you were you know saying hey man you got to play a four-eyed you got to grind the tackle like it don't end up matter and like he just gonna jump around them or do whatever and find the ball so I remember this one story we went round and around the defensive staff and we were like well how are we gonna cover this with this pressure it was a buffalo game and we went all the way until Saturday like you know what who's the end gonna take or you know who's the backer gonna come it was like some weak side bunch and so I don't even remember what we ended up going with with the coverage and the Blitz but we ran it in the game they ran the same exact thing the guy was open and JJ was as he was Blitz and intercepted the ball and ran it back 75 yards and we just were laughing like yep I guess we spent too much time worrying about how we were if we knew he's just gonna intercept it for a touchdown we wouldn't spend as much time on the coverage that pretty much sums up you know who JJ was geography well I'm better geography than some of the other stuff is your office in the new setup down in that corner or are you still in your old office there I know you're close to players just in the yeah I mean my office is pretty much this entire building you know but but if you have to know if you go down the stairs and through those doors you know that that's where my office is I don't know if it's the front or the back depending on where you're standing but you know I think that being able to when I say be around the players it's it's positive interactions in squad meetings it's dialogue it's asking questions answering questions trying to relate to them or give shared experiences it's going in the meeting rooms it's being in meetings it's being in a training room each you know every morning at you know 6 30 or 7 or 7 30 when they're supposed to be there it's being in the wait room you know making sure those guys and rehab guys of the IR guys the practice squad guys that that's that's what I mean by that at this point of the season how tough is it maybe to address some of the fourth quarter scoring issues and finishing off drives at this point and is it maybe try to get the ball into hands some of the guys who've been more productive in some of the recent games yeah you know I think obviously you're always looking to do that but we need to take care of the football I mean we've had some fourth quarter drives that have put the ball in those guys hands and haven't been able to finish the drive with the ball in our hands I guess 11 and Roosh did inside for you on Saturday they battled and you know those are two veteran guys that you know play with a lot of heart and a lot of passion and you know obviously there's some things that we need to clean up across the board at every position and myself included but I thought they played hard somewhat limited when trailing doesn't run the right route or chick drops the ball you feel like parameters on you are kind of set by some limitations of the personnel I make no excuses I gotta get guys the football and get our playmakers of football in terms of that with you know Malik only average like four and a half yards per attempt is that more of a trust issue in terms of not wanting him to chuck at 30 yards down the field or is that more of a protection issue because you got so many guys hurt online we had several routes that were they were down the field you know we weren't able to get to him for a variety of reasons you know and as he continues to grow and mature I think he'll be able to see some things a little bit quicker I think I can put him in some better positions and all in all where it's all hands on deck to get it figured out pretty productive do you think it's diminishing returns if you do a lot more or is skies the limit there and you should grow on that I think you have to be wise about what tenancies maybe you created formationally or how teams might adjust to the RPOs and you know with some other RPO teams throughout the league you get some evidence of how they might play them so I gotta take all that into account but it's certainly a you know an asset of his how much you adjust the offense in the system to fit Malik as opposed to you know running what Ryan has run here for the last four years yeah you know Ryan was a pretty mobile quarterback before his ankle injury and so there are a lot of things you saw Malik do that we've run in the past with Ryan when he was healthy and so I think there's a balance there to answer your question directly you don't want to jerk the wheel and make everything new and cause ten other people to you know do a bunch of new stuff but you certainly want to highlight his assets and his skill set so you know I think that there's a balance there like the mental mistakes and things like that that's something that coach Vray will talk about the coaching staff even along with the players everybody putting in a little bit more from your perspective like what can you do to put in a little bit more to help avoid some of those issues yeah I'm trying to find ways I can be a better teacher each and every day you know ways that I can get through to guys that you know might see things a little different or need to see things presented a little differently and you know that's it's an ongoing self-evaluation and and process of how I can put these guys in the best position and make sure they're prepared to go and and evaluate if we got too much or too little or what have you so I certainly will lead with accountability in that regard being a starter now I know last week I said that it's not as much of a teaching moment is more like you know I forget exactly how you phrased it but are you spending more time with him you know to work to get him to be able to grasp everything a process better yeah I believe I said that it was more of a dialogue and conversation and and that's true you know he's starting to ask the questions based off of certain defensive looks or you know what do you want me to get to here or where should the ball go versus coverage as opposed to you know maybe a Glacier football clinic so you know I think that's a process and I think that that's something that you know each and every week that we get to spend together that will grow closer and closer to where it needs to be it's certainly in process and you know certainly we have some things that we got to work on from Saturday but you know we're gonna continue to work very hard until they tell us we guys stop playing beyond all those conversations about the X's and O's with Malik and how it's become more of a dialogue I guess from a mindset standpoint how have you seen Malik handle all the lows that have come with being kind of thrust in the fire yeah I think that's a challenge for any young quarterback and I've been very fortunate in my career to be around a number of young quarterbacks and see how they've handled some of those situations you know from being with Matthew Stafford in Detroit and you know a team that you know had it struggles his rookie season and then you know working with E.J. manual and Derek Carr and they were in their second years and you know how that process went hopefully I can give him some encouragement and advice that he's got to move on from the lows as quick as he can move on from the highs and young quarterbacks sometimes learn in this league by fire and that's the bottom line is that there are gonna be mistakes and they're gonna be plays you wish you had back situations you never experienced in college there are gonna be times that you think that your abilities that have worked for you all of your years previous don't work anymore when you're going against a different level of talent and some of those are learned unfortunately by experience Malik you know is a wonderful human being I think that he has what it takes to be able to mentally move on from the good and bad and reset and I think that he's you know in process with that right now you can see why he is an aeronautical engineer I mean he is a very very bright bright young man and he is working really hard to try to pick everything up there's some familiarity in the system he was in in Cleveland you know carry over in terminology I was with coach Stefansky in Minnesota and so I know that there's some same as I can try to give Spanish to English for him a little bit and so he's in process he's working very hard I believe anybody we put in between those stripes is is gonna go out there and try their best to do it our way and the way that we've set the standard to around here you know so I would expect no different from him yeah you know I think you know as long as you can identify what he's comfortable with by the end of the week that'll determine the volume you know and and so that's a process we go through whether that person's starting or whether you know it was Malik in a backup role to Ryan I always try to identify okay well if he goes in the game what is he comfortable with and you know make those notes on my call sheet and off we go I say it's a bit in jest so don't don't think I'm being a smart alec here I'm never gonna encourage Derek not to run hard you know we want him fighting for those yards being who Derek Henry is we need as many guys finish into the ball as we can so that if it pops out we got more bodies there we got to finish our blocks better I got to get schemes and designs better and Derek knows he has to hold on to the football you know he's trusted with a lot for this team so it takes all of us and there's no single person or no big adjustment we need to make to Derek's run style we simply just need to have all hands on deck to take care of that football you know obviously in in recent games that has been a difference maker for us I'd talk about a talented player and he lines up all over the place he is a very gifted athlete in so many different ways not just rushing the passer where you see a lot of his statistics show up you know but he's very disruptive force over there so we have to account for him on every single play how much has this been a week-to-week thing for you based off who is available in other words how much of you had to change what you're planning to do in week one versus what you're doing now I don't think that's changed at any point my time is the coordinator here you know that's the approach that we take you know it's whoever is out there whoever gets a jersey on Sunday we have a standard and it's my responsibility to get the offense playing to that standard we haven't done that well enough or consistently enough throughout the course this year but there's certainly been flashes of who we know we can be so I won't stand up here and talk about who's in or who's out or what week this what week that you know I know what my job responsibility is and look forward to finishing this season strong I'll find out more from coach variable as the week goes on look like himself in his return and I guess just the way he battled I guess not surprising you the success you had yeah I felt like he he came back ready to go not get some rust off with a few things but for the most part I think we felt his presence out there like we have previously and hopefully that continues here this week and as we get going next week their skilled position players is as good and as deep as any you're gonna see all see yeah they're talented I mean the two backs are special I mean they're both getting up there close to a thousand yards I think they're I think they're good up front I do it they run the ball really well they protect the quarterback I think they're fourth in sex allowed and now obviously with lamb and Gallup and Schultz is having a good year for those guys outside so we're gonna have our hands full it's a big challenge you know I'm gonna have hopefully defend defend what we can against them you know try to slow them down make them earn it and see where it goes Thursday night doctor give me has made the most of his opportunity here doctor give me yeah he's he's done a good job for us he's he's been smart engaged understands the scheme think understands his skill set and ways to help himself when he's out there it was good to see him go out there on Saturday make some place for us seeing some some of the bigger guys covering I mean you're covering Keenan and Mike couple weeks ago to help prepare him for what he's gonna have yeah I hope you know I hope I think the more you go up against the same body types that style receiver you gain experience from it they're all a little bit different and how they play the game but anytime you can get those reps against those bigger guys and understand your skill set verse their skill set and how to maybe use yours to advantage or to protect yourself a little bit I think that plays into it Pollard and Zeke Elliott different backs that you have to make sure who's in the game at a different time or how different I think it's pretty similar with what they're doing schematically I don't think their their scheme changes a whole lot based on who's in there a little bit different running style they're both really good jump cut guys who can get back on those outside zones they can all stick their foot in the ground and cut and get downhill so I mean a little bit of variation in them but I think in terms of our defense we're just going to have to be able to fend the whole gamut in terms of their scheme done since he's gotten regular duty there's an inside lineback I think he's improving I do I think the more he plays the better he's going to be just seeing everything and I've alluded to it before just missing the off season missing training camp and then kind of get thrown in the fire here there's still some things he's catching up on you know and sometimes you got to catch up on the fly is what kind of where we're at right now but I do I see improvements as we go there's things that you look back on that he's learning from and he's not making the same mistake and it's really all you can ask when you're looking at development of football play you need to get in the end zone now we need to do what we can to stop the offense you know like hopefully we can continue to create some turnovers create some field position means that's part of the game and stuff to play defense in the league and stop teams drive after drive if you're not able to get some turnovers and then it's complementary football being able to put our offense in positions where they don't have to drive the length of the field you know it's hard it's hard on offense as we we preach that right like make them earn it if they got to drive the field make them earn it don't give them a big plays and at some point they're going to falter so as much as we can get those turnovers and set up good field position we'd like to be able to do that stress as far as tackling goes now not only practicing much in pads but you're not able to have a lot of speed practices either me how much difficult does that make it and how you think guys have handled it yeah I think it is it's hard at this point I mean the one thing about the NFL is we really don't do a whole lot of full speed tackling throughout you know I'm saying I think the technique is vital understanding angles is vital understanding how guys run what they're looking to do when they're in the open field or when they have some space but to us it's always been about our technique right being able to close the distance being able to come to balance not crossing over not hopping not taking poor angles not diving off the diving board being able to stay on our feet all those little things that I think you can rep in an individual drill on a bag or on another body where there's not full speed contact at the point his ups and downs he's had some really good plays like the interception that he called it on the tip and then he's also had some plays where he's gotten beat is that just typical for life as a rookie corner back in the league I hope not you know I hope we got high expectations for we do and everybody gets beat everybody does you like to be hopefully be able to respond and stop the next time but that's the life you live out there it's a tough position it is you're going out there you're gonna be one-on-one in a lot of situations especially as that ball gets down the field but you got to be able to have thick skin you got to be able to learn from it if something does happen you got to be able to turn the page and keep playing with confidence regardless of how beat up you might be about a certain play in that defensive room where it's like you know you talked to Simmons and he always says like we have to put out the fire and I mean we'll be honest as a situation where the defense is for the most part doing what they have to do offense is a bit of a lack like how do you go through that process like keeping that edge but also not pointing fingers yeah I mean I think there's a plenty of stuff that we can I mean we gave up nine points in the fourth quarter last week on two drives regardless of what happened like we didn't do enough to win that game we show one that game defensively by not letting them score in the fourth quarter you know and I mean we have expectation we have a standard here of what we're trying to do and our jobs to play defense regardless of all other stuff wherever the ball is our jobs to go out there and play defense they tell them all the time if the ball is inside the ten yard ten yard line our jobs to go and keep it there force a punt set up field position if they get it in plus territory our jobs the home to a field goal you know like that's the nature of the deal regardless of offense special teams whatever else is going on like put the ball down that's what we say put the ball down let's go out there and play football because our jobs to play defense regardless of where it's at says he's retiring your time with him what made a different guy yeah special player I mean he's obviously had a tremendous career I learned a lot from him that was early on when I was getting in the league but just makes unbelievable plays I think is worth that work ethic stands out really smart really dedicated to learning the game learning his opponent weekend and week out and then being able to translate that to the field and that was really good leader in that D line room when I was in Houston so happy for him congrats to him he's had one hell of a career obviously hopefully he can deserve a little time off and rest and taking care of that body a little bit several of those returns I guess Traylin and Robert were both back there was that something just Texans related weather related or how do you think that works for you a little bit of both obviously the weather was a little bit of a factor with the cold weather and also their punter did some different things whether he would hit a traditional punt or he would end up hitting a hook punt we would want to have two guys back there and plus it ends up having a little deception of we can do multiple things whether it's a throwback or reverse or one guy going up there and lean block and so we wanted to have them kind of guess a little bit which you kind of saw that out there they end up pointing out to our guys a little bit so really had had to deal with weather and a couple other things yeah you just say coach I need somebody no I mean KB is has been in our meetings all the time and like we said a couple years ago when he you know got paid he was the highest most expensive personal protector in the national football league too but you know KB is going to do anything that he can to help the team win and you know even during the season he's like coach anytime you need me out there at PP I'm more than willing I'm money hookers another guy that can do that stuff but we're happy to have a guy you know like KB back there kind of controlling the huddle gives our guys confidence to go out there and plus having another really good defensive player out there on punt team helps us out yeah if you ask him he'll say no and he would rather throw it almost every single time but you know that's the confidence that you like in him whether it's getting our protection right whether it's to go throw the ball run a fake or anything like that having a guy back there that you trust and you understand that he'll do whatever is best for the team gives us a lot of confidence chestnut has chestnut doing as as a kick returner and feel like he's getting a better feel for things yeah he is you know the last time he really did it was in in college early in his career so we threw him back there to see what he can do it's a big body a guy who can run north and south hopefully can break some arm tackles I think each time that he goes out there whether it's practice or in the game he builds more confident confidence in himself and then the players like him so they're willing to go block form so each and every time we feel more comfortable with Julius back there