The Tennessee Titans are coming off one of their most exciting victories in recent memory. The Bills were heavily considered as the best team in football. Buffalo’s offense was scoring more than anyone meanwhile their defense was holding opponents to an average of 10.25 points per game in their last four outings. Yet, on this night, Tennessee managed to drop 34 on them in an incredible Monday night classic.
Now that we’ve all had a night’s rest to digest what happened last night, Mike Vrabel took the time to answer questions and provide updates on several key topics.
with that said, let’s take a closer look at what stood out from his Tuesday afternoon press conference.
Mike Vrabel when asked if he had fun trying to pull out the Music city Miracle play-call.
“Winning is fun, that’s the only thing that’s fun. There’s nothing fun about letting the gunner go through two guys and disrupt the play. It was a play we thought we could take advantage on, unfortunately we didn’t hit.”
Update on Taylor Lewan
Vrabel: “I saw Taylor this morning. I would say all signs lead to him being in concussion protocol. I would say he’s doing as well as he could be.”
Vrabel was asked why he felt the protection for Ryan Tannehill held up so well yesterday
“We blocked inside-out, ran ‘em by on the outside. I think our ability to run the football and our ability to work to play-pass, and play-action pass game in the second half was something that was critical. Anytime we can do that and keep Ryan clean that’s a positive. Credit to the guys that were in there.”
Vrabel gives thoughts on newly acquired Avery Williamson’s performance in limited action
“He didn’t have many snaps in the game, he was a guy that we brought in on short notice, trying to learn two positions and we’ll continue to work with Avery. I love his attitude the way he came in here, I never had the chance to coach him before… I’ve really enjoyed having his presence around last week and we’ll continue to progress with him this week.”
How disappointing it was to see a hard worker like Cam Batson go down?
Vrabel: “I don’t like to see any of our players get injured. I care a lot about them all, it’s unfortunate when we lose any of them. We understand the risk associated with this game and playing it at the level and speed in which they do. So hopefully all those guys that got hurt last night or that will continue to get hurt, we’ll take care of them and do everything to take care of them physically and mentally.”
Vrabel on Jeffery Simmons’ impact this season and If he feels Simmons has taken his game to another level
“I think he’s still trying, I think there’s still things that we still work with Jeff and show him on. But I think his leadership is something that’s been great. I think his effort, he plays a lot of snaps for us, so his effort for a big man is very good. His physicality, he’s fun to coach, he’s coachable, he takes to coaching. This team means a lot to him so he’s an important piece of who we are.”
What makes Ryan Tannehill so clutch in crucial moments?
“I think experience, we’ve played a lot of close games, unfortunately. But I think experience of being in those moments, I think things settled down for him. I don’t think Ryan was great, I don’t think a lot of us were great early in the game. So he just got into the flow of some drives and got into a rhythm offensively.”
How did Amani hooker did in his first game back
Vrabel: “Good, I thought Amani was prepared and thought he was active. He was playing well before he got hurt and hopefully we’ll see him progress through the week without any setbacks after some game action.”
Where does his teams resiliency come from considering they have won 13 games over the last three years when trailing in the fourth quarter
Vrabel: “We just try to put a group of guys together that care about each other that don’t panic. That understand that you’re gonna play in some tight games in this league. And the experience of it, the type of people that we have, the messages that we preach. It’s an impressive and interesting stat, we’d like to not be down but we certainly find ways to win and have a lot of faith in our guys to execute.”
Vrabel on level of trust in Nick Westbrook-Ikhine after he continues to step up when called upon
“The same way it was last week and the week before. We just kinda expect him to do his job and he’s done that. He went in there and got some key blocks had some key catches and plays for special teams for us.”
Vrabel on David Long’s growing curve
“He plays with a lot of energy, he plays with a lot of speed, quickness. It’s never gonna be perfect in there, but David shows a sense of passion and I love watching him play. He throws his body around and so do all the guys out there. I think he’s getting more comfortable each and every week, we saw him blitz and affect the quarterback and saw him do some things and obviously there will be some plays that we have to coach him up and he’d like to have back but he was very active.”
Will Julio Jones’ hamstring injury be something they expect to bother him throughout the season
Vrabel: “We’ll just take it day by day and see how it goes tomorrow.”
Vrabel was asked to explain the difference in winning a game like yesterday as a player and a coach
“You get the next day off if you’re a player. You know there’s just such a satisfaction from watching the guys celebrate and have success. I was lucky to be in a situation to have success as a player and it is very gratifying to watch a group that you get to coach, celebrate victories. It’s very hard to win in this league. Guys hear me say that all the time. It’s hard, it’s difficult, you put a lot into it, the games are tough. So it’s very satisfying and rewarding for me just to watch those guys celebrate and enjoy the victory.”
Caleb Farley’s unfortunate setback given his previous injury history
Vrabel: “It’s unfortunate when any of them get injured. I know and I’m very aware as we all are of Caleb’s history, and he was very emotional. But I told him rest assured that we are gonna take care of him mentally and physically. That’s probably the biggest thing when dealing with some of these injuries, it’s the mental approach that you take about willing to talk to people and be willing to let people help you that have either been there or can help you through it. I’m confident that he’ll be back faster and stronger, it’s very unfortunate.
Vrabel on Bud Dupree
“Bud factored a little bit, he just hasn’t been out there a lot. We’ll keep working him in to see how he feels, see how he responds. He had some good plays and he had some plays, like everyone else that he would like to have back.”
Difference in Harold Landry being able to finish plays as of late
Vrabel: “Harold works hard every week, he’s continued to put himself into position to be around the quarterback. One of those things was that Josh (Allen) has a tendency to hold it. So last night, Harold was able to continue to rush relentlessly and hope that some of the disguise on the back end, or the coverage would hold up for them to get there.”
Vrabel praises Denico Autry for playing smart and fundamentally sound football
“I thought Denico’s play that ended up in our interception was a very good play. He was reaching he affected the quarterback, didn’t hit him (Josh Allen), didn’t hit him high, didn’t lead with his helmet, didn’t hit him low. I thought that was a real positive play. That doesn’t go down as a sack, it goes down as an interception. But it was a fantastic rush and it’s the only reason why Kevin (Byard) ended up with an interception.
Kevin Byard’s art to being around the ball
Vrabel: “just cover your guy, I think he’s just executing the defense… we ask a lot of Kevin, we put him in different places so he will show up in a lot of different places.
How has Jackrabbit Jenkins’ settled into the defense
Vrabel: “I think there’s been some positive plays, some really positive plays, and some plays that he has to be better on, consistently. I think that’s the same thing for a lot of our guys. There’s some really good clips of defense, some really positive plays and then some plays that we have to execute better. We have to be on the same page and understand what’s going on, and Jackrabbit would be in that group with a lot of other guys on defense and this football team as well.”
Twitter