BB: We're coming into Tennessee here.
Obviously, we're hitting one of the hottest teams in the league. They've
been very impressive to watch here the last couple of days. Six in a row.
Eight out of the last 10. Even some of the games they lost early in the year
were very, very competitive games. A point here, a couple of points there.
Throwing into the end zone against the Jets in the opener. Jeff [Fisher] and
his staff have obviously done an awesome job, coming back from an 0-5 start,
even though some of those games in the early part of the year they obviously
were very close to winning. He has done a great job bringing that team back
and they're obviously playing with a lot of confidence. They have seven
touchdowns on returns of different types, and that makes them dangerous.
They can run the ball and run it very well. Travis Henry is having a great
year – 1,100 yards and he's missed a couple games. [Vince] Young gives them
a dynamic threat back there. And they make a lot of big plays. You have to
do a very good job defensively in terms of taking care of all your
responsibilities, not giving up anything, any areas, or they have a way of
finding them. They're playing with a lot of confidence, and made a couple of
big kicks to win, so they're doing a good job in the kicking game. They've
had several returns for touchdowns in that area, too – a couple punts and
kickoffs. A dangerous and explosive team. A really good running game, can
control a game, can control the clock, and they've been scoring a lot of
points. That's a big concern for us. We're going to approach this game just
like we do every other game. We're going to prepare for it and prepare to
win, and go down there and try to play our best football game. It's that
time of year. Hopefully we can continue to improve and keep playing well.
That's really all we've got to talk about is Tennessee. The rest of it,
whatever else goes on next week, we'll worry about that next week.
Q: Vince Young has won three in a row
and has made pretty big strides in the last few weeks. Can you talk about
him and what potentially makes him rookie of the year?
BB: I'd say I think the biggest thing is he's a winner. He's a winner.
He's made plays to make Tennessee win, whether it be in overtime, passing,
scrambling. He hasn't turned the ball over. He's done a pretty good job with
that. He helps set up a lot of things in the running game because of his
ability to run the ball and run bootlegs and all of that. It forces you to
account for him and that helps open things up with [Travis] Henry. Not that
Henry needs much help. They do a really solid job, but I think the biggest
thing that he's done is manage the game and win games and that's a tribute
to playing good situational football at the end of the games. They've been
in a lot of tight games and they've found a way to win them. I think a lot
of that has to do with the quarterback.
Q: Obviously he's not the first mobile quarterback to come along. Is
there something that is unique about him versus maybe a [Michael] Vick or
[Randall] Cunningham?
BB: He's a lot stronger than Vick. He runs through a lot of tackles. He's
fast, but he's strong. Guys just bounce off of him. He's a big kid. He's
strong in the pocket like [David] Garrard is. He's fast and strong. He has
good vision and he makes good decisions.
Q: Is there a common thread among rookies who have the ability to come in
and make an immediate impact on their team?
BB: I don't know. I think each guy is in his own unique situation and has
his own style of play. I would just say in terms of Young, he's done what
they've asked them to do. I'd say that's the biggest thing. He's done what
they've asked him to do. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. He handles
himself well. He handles himself well under pressure. He makes a lot of
plays in the fourth quarter, overtime, third-down key situations, in the red
area and they're scoring a lot of points. This is one of the highest scoring
teams in the league, in the last six, seven, eight games, whatever it is.
They're up in the mid-20s every week it seems like, or higher. That's really
what it comes down to, is doing the things that you need to do for your team
to win.
Q: How about rookies in general?
BB: I mean some of that is opportunity. Some guys are probably ready to
do maybe more as a rookie and don't get as much opportunity. Other guys,
their circumstances, their adjustment and transition is maybe a little bit
greater than other rookies. It's really hard to categorize them. There are
so many variables, both between the player, the circumstances that he's in
and the team that he's on and what their scheme is and what their situation
is.
Q: When you are evaluating college players, you called Vince a winner,
how much stock can you put into the fact that they played at a championship
level in college and the fact that they are a 'winner'?
BB: I think it's part of the whole package. There are other guys who come
from winning programs and haven't been particularly good NFL players. I
don't think that guarantees anything, but it goes along with a lot of other
things that he has. I think the total player is a very good one. I'm sure it
took a little bit of them sticking their neck out a little bit, like Jeff and Floyd [Reese] did, to take Vince knowing that there may be some time to
develop him because of the style of player that he was and maybe what
conventionally you think he might need to play in this league. He's shown
that he can play with his style and Tennessee has done a good job. They've
certainly adapted their offense to fit him through the course of the year
and a lot of things that he does now they definitely weren't doing when Kerry Collins was playing quarterback. There are things that are pretty
unconventional that most teams in the league don't do, run options and run
double digit bootlegs in each game and things like that. There are a lot of
plays that are designed for him to run, just like you would design for a
running back. I think it's obviously a good, cumulative effort all the way
around. Coming from a winning program and being a winning player and that
experience, I think that is helpful to any player. Does that guarantee that
that is going to be the way it is at this level? Of course not. It certainly
looks like he's doing all he can to make it happen.
Q: I know stylistically they are not similar players, but in terms of
impact, what Vince has done this year, how similar do you think it is to
what Tom [Brady] did here in the '01 season?
BB: I don't know. It was Tom's second year. They're both good players.
They've both had a strong impact on their team.
Q: With Vince Young, I know you've seen a lot of film on him from the
draft…
BB: In all honestly, I didn't spent a lot of time studying Vince Young in
the draft.
Q: In that film, he was throwing to David Thomas who you were watching.
Thomas had a big game for you this past week. Can you talk a little bit
about what you saw from David in watching film?
BB: Yes, that was a big game for Dave. I don't think it's been sudden to
anybody around here. I think anybody who has watched David play and practice
could see David performing consistently at his position, improving as a
blocker and as a receiver. He's always had good hands and good ability to
catch the ball. We saw that from the first mini-camps when he was here. I
think David had some opportunities and he certainly capitalized on those
last week. But he'll meet new challenges this week and I'm sure he'll
continue to work hard on those. If he does, he'll keep improving. He's done
a solid job for us. I think he's been consistent and pretty steady all year.
He caught the ball well in college. There's no question about that. Vince made a lot of similar looking plays in college. His scramble against Ohio
State looks not that different from the play he made at the end of the first
half against Buffalo, or the end of the game against Houston a couple of
weeks ago. To be honest with you, when you're watching a couple of players,
and Texas had a lot of them, to tell you the truth, Vince wasn't really one
that I studied. You just kind of notice some things that he does, but I
couldn't say that I studied him. We weren't in any position to draft him,
and even if we were, given our quarterback situation, I just don't think
that would be the kind of pick that would be good for our football team,
even though he's a great player. There are only so many number one
quarterbacks you can have on your team.
Q: In the Houston game, it was suggested by a former player that Vince should have actually thrown the ball and not ran it on that play. What was
your take on that play?
BB: They blitzed. Houston had a free guy. The way the blocking developed
there was a gap there, and Vince saw that gap, and there was nobody behind
it. Could he have thrown it? Sure. The way the play opened up he just kind
of stepped around [Demeco] Ryans. Ryans never really had a shot at him. He
kind of got screened by another one of the rushers. There was a clear gap
there and he just split it. I don't think anybody touched him.
Q: Going back to Thomas, the catch and run play, is that a part of his
game that we shouldn't be surprised to see?
BB: I think that Dave is a good athlete. He's going to make some yards if
he has a little space to work in. I don't think he's going to be the next John Mackey, I'm not saying that. I think he can gain some yards
after the catch. He's a good athlete. The guy is on all the special teams
units. We've seen him run and catch. There have probably been other tight ends that are a
little better after the catch than he is, but I think he has some skills to
do something.
Q: How do you feel the passing game has progressed?
BB: It's definitely improved. It should after all these practices and
games and meetings and everything else. I can't imagine that it wouldn't.
There's always room for improvement. There are a lot of things that we can do
better in all phases of the game. We're going up against good competition
again this week. We'll have different challenges with what Tennessee does
than what Jacksonville did, or what Houston did, or Miami – their style of
play and the things that they try to emphasize. We'll be challenged every
week, in every phase of the game – the passing game, the running game,
defense, special teams. We'll just have to try to meet those challenges
every week. How we'll do this week, I don't know.
Q: As the head coach, not to speak for Tom, but given the changes at that
position, do you feel like maybe this was a particularly challenging season
for him more so than in the past? I know they're all challenging.
BB: Every game is challenging. I can't think of any game that we've had
that hasn't been challenging. I would put every one of them in that
category, and they're all different. The circumstances are different, what
we're dealing with and what our opponents present. There are different
matchups every single week, even if it's in your division and you're playing
the same team in the same year. They're still different. They're always
different.
Q: Is there ever a dilemma in this type of the game on how long the
starters should play and whether they will play the entire game?
BB: We're going to approach this game just like we approach all the rest
of them. I don't know how else to put it.
Q: Is there ever a side of you that says maybe we'll take Tom out early?
BB: I can't talk about a different situation because we're not in a
different situation. The only one I can really comment on is the one that
we're in. That's the way I see it. If the situation was different, I don't
know maybe it would be different. I would have to know exactly what that was
and so forth. Right now, we know where we are and I've told you what we are
going to do, so that's what we are going to do.
Q: [Jim] Schwartz is another guy off of your staff in Cleveland. Are you
surprised at some of the success that he's had?
BB: I've talked about Jim many times. Jim is really a bright guy, a smart
guy, did a lot for us at Cleveland. No I'm not surprised that he's done well
at all. I recommended him for that job and it doesn't surprise me…he was not
the coordinator at that point when he went there from Baltimore, he had a
lower-level position, but I recommended him for jobs because I had
confidence in him that he would do a good job. Now we have to play against
him. Jimmy is a smart kid.
Q: I was hoping you could clear up one thing from the Jacksonville game.
When Brady got hit, on TV they said it was a 'spear'.
BB: I'm not getting into any officiating questions if that is where this
is heading, okay? I'm not getting into it. I told you 100 times, it doesn't
matter what I think. It does not matter. Talk to the people who officiate
the game and see what they have to say, and let them tell you what the right
and wrong answer is, because it doesn't matter what I think.
Q: How would you evaluate Rodney [Harrison's] performance his first game
back?
BB: I thought defensively we did some good things in the game and I would
say that probably is true for every player. There are other things that
could've been better. That's obvious. I would say that for every player as
well. There were some good things and there were some things that we need to
improve, and mistakes that we made that hopefully we won't make those again.
That would include everybody.
Q: If a player has missed a significant amount of time, what is usually
the last thing that comes back to him?
BB: Football is a game where you have 22 people moving out there with a
lot of skill and a lot of speed. No matter how much you train for football,
whether it's prior to training camp or during the time that you're not on
the field, you can do sit-ups, you can do push-ups, you can do wind sprints,
you could run 78 marathons, but it's not the same as being out on the field
with the other 21 players at the speed that they're playing at and the
timing that the plays occur at. You can watch film. You can go through walk-throughs.
You can go through it in practice for a few plays. You could be the best
conditioned athlete in the history of football, but it's not the same as
playing football. It's still the playing speed and the timing and the
recognition and the speed of the game. I don't mean just the speed of the
players, but calls coming in from the sidelines, adjustments when guys go in
motion, things that happen after the snap that are maybe a little different
than what you anticipate is going to happen on that play. That's all
reactive timing. It's millionths of a second, or hundredths of a second, or
whatever it is, who knows what that timeframe is, but that all has to do
with how quickly a player reacts and performs. You're talking about a sport
where most plays the play is over in four or five seconds at the most.
Everything happens quick. You don't have all day to figure it out. You have
to react really quickly and see it quickly and make quick decisions and
that's what this game is about. The only way to really see that and practice
it is to be out there and see it and practice it. You can prepare for it in
other ways, but ultimately that's what it comes down to. That's what
experience, that's what repetition and that's what being in playing
condition, I'm not just talking about physical condition, but the mental
condition, that's what that is all about.
Q: With that in mind, was it good to get Rodney those snaps before the
playoffs start?
BB: It is good to get every player on the field that we can get. We hope
that every player is 100 percent healthy for every game and can play every
single game during the regular [season], and whatever other games we have.
That's our goal and that's what our hope is for every player. Realistically,
I don't think there's any team in the league that that's going to happen
for, but that's what you hope will happen. It's great to have everybody out
there that we have and the ones that we don't have, we hope they will be
back as soon as possible because I know they can help us.
Q: Was Rodney making the calls out there? I know Artrell [Hawkins] was
doing it before when he was out. Did he take that responsibility back?
BB: Defensively, the linebackers and the safeties, they have to make
whatever communication you have. That's inherent in really any defense. It
would be like the catcher giving signals in baseball. It doesn't make a
difference whether the guy is a 50-year veteran or if he's a rookie. He has
to give the signals to the pitcher. In the secondary, the communication has
to start on the inside of the defense and then work its way out. You can't
have one corner making a call all the way across the field to another
corner. So the linebacker, starting with the middle linebacker and the
safeties, have to communicate with their side of the field because a lot of
times you have calls that on one side of the field aren't the same as what's
on the other side of the field. So it isn't just everybody is playing one
thing. It could be this over here and that over there based on the split of
the receiver, whether the back is offset or whether the tight end is on or
off the line of scrimmage, so forth and so on. If I'm the left safety, it
would be hard for me to make a call on the right side of the field even if I
looked over there and saw it, I'm just too far away.
Q: Laurence Maroney has obviously made a big impact for you. Are there
things that we haven't seen, beside the obvious, that he does really well as
well?
BB: I don't know, how much have you seen? I doubt that much gets by you.
Q: [Laughter] Beyond the obviously, the subtle things – protection, route
running, things like that.
BB: Again, every player can improve on what he's doing. I don't think
anybody in this organization is playing or coaching perfectly. I would never
describe it as that. Laurence does a lot of things well. He does a lot of
things that are at a consistent level. He makes mistakes like everybody
else. Certainly pass protection is something that, if any back, can't do
that at a pretty acceptable level, then it's hard to put the player on the
field. The rest of the play won't hold up if he can't do his job. Whether
it's route running, pass protection, running the ball, doing whatever
assignment he has to do – carrying out fakes,
play action, all of those things, if a player can't do those at a pretty
good level, I'm not saying perfect, because there's nobody that's perfect,
but doing it at a high level and doing it right, I don't know how we could
put the player out there on a continual basis. We just can't do it.
Q: Given he's a rookie, is it unique to see him be able to come in and
through those things so quickly?
BB: I don't have any timeframe for rookies. You never know how long it's
going to take with those guys. It's certainly a big transition coming from
the college into the NFL. It's a big transition coming from most college
offenses into our offense. I'm not saying we're anything special, we're just
different from what most colleges do. How long that transition takes and how
quickly a player can grasp it and go out and execute it, varies from player
to player. There's no set formula for that, but I do think that Laurence has
done a good job with that. He's been pretty durable. He's been on the field
a lot. He's gotten a lot of reps from the beginning of camp, all the way
through the season. He's worked on the areas that are probably less familiar
to him, with things that he hasn't had as much experience doing and he's
gotten better at them. He's done a pretty solid job. Is there room for
improvement? Absolutely.
Q: When you look at the work that Norm Chow has done with quarterbacks,
can you kind of admire that and say, 'Wow, he's done a good job developing
that position?'
BB: Sure. Absolutely. Anybody that has had the number of successful
players that he's been involved with that Norm has had, you have to respect
that. You take your hat off to it. Absolutely. He's dealt with a lot of
different playing styles and has still made them effective. Each player has
their own style, but certainly there's a contrast between some of the guys
that he's worked with, the ones that you named. Yes, there's no question,
he's done a great job and I'm sure that the rest of the offensive staff, and Jeff, and the entire organization, Floyd and all of them, when you take a
player like Vince Young, there's a big commitment to that player. When you
start the season with Kerry Collins and the type of offense that they ran
with him and then the way that it's evolved with Vince, that takes a lot of
adjustment. I also think that's a good commentary on, the thing we talk
about a lot, is improvement. Tennessee has certainly…I'm sure every team in
the league has improved, but they've improved probably at a higher rate than
most all of the rest of them. You look at them at one point in the year and
everybody wants to write them off and talk about what they don't have, but
they continued to improve and that's really what it's all about. That's why
I think it's so hard to evaluate a team after a couple of weeks early in the
season, which everybody wants to spend a lot of time doing, but the fact of
the matter is, that's not the end of the evaluation period. There's steady
improvement as a team and Vince's development as a quarterback, and Norm and
the rest of their staff's development of the offense as a unit, has been
pretty impressive. They've gone from one of the lowest scoring teams in the
first part of the season, to now they are clearly one of the most explosive
and highest scoring teams in the league. There are a lot of things that have
gone into that. Young is part of it, and he is a big part of it. So is Travis Henry. So is the offensive line. So are their receivers. So are the
tight ends. They've done a good job all the way across the board.
Q: Do you see certain things with them where you say, 'This is a well
coached team?'
BB: Running the ball, they have five games over 200 yards rushing. Travis
Henry. The offensive line is good. There are very well schooled. They work
well together. They do a great job on combination blocks and picking up
stunts and blitzes and that kind of thing. The quarterback doesn't get
sacked very often. I know he's a mobile quarterback, but he doesn't stand
back there and take a lot of hits. The running game is very efficient, both
the conventional running game and some of the other plays that they
improvise, or where they get the quarterback out of the pocket and let him
become a runner. I think they're outstanding at that phase of the game.
They're outstanding in the return game, both on defensive turnovers and
returns and special team returns. They have seven touchdowns. Only the Bears have more. There's hardly any team in the league that can say they're doing
better than what Tennessee does in that area. I think they do a lot of
things well. |
