FLOWERY BRANCH — Tennessee head coach Ken Whisenhunt, who is off to a 1-4 start, spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on a conference call on Tuesday.
Here’s what he had to say:
Q: How are the Titans doing? How do you see things?
A: We've had two games very similar to what Atlanta faced in Washington and Philadelphia. We weren't able to finish them at the end. You know, we felt like we played well enough and then we just made some mistakes, so that hurt us. Last week, we didn't play very well against Miami. We had a bad game. We feel like we've made some progress as far as our team goes. But we're not there because we haven't been able to finish in games.
Q: What’s the update on your quarterback situation?
A: It's a day-to-day thing. He didn't do much today. But he's doing better than we thought. As the week progresses, we'll know more and see if he has a chance to play.
Q: How did Zach (Mettenberger) do in his action against Miami?
A: Zach did fine. He moved us down the field and we missed a protection call or we would have had a chance for a throw on the last play. Instead he took a hit. But he did a nice job. He's obviously worked hard and was comfortable going in. He handled himself well.
Q: How’s the juggling along the offensive line coming along?
A: That's the NFL. Sometimes those things happen. We lost our center Brian Schwenke and that's always tough. But the next guy steps up. (Andy Gallik) played a few (plays) in the game last week so at least he got his feet wet. It will be a challenge against these guys because they've got a good front. He'll get a full week of work and hopefully be prepared to play.
Q: How do you try to get the most out of your running backs crew?
A: It's funny because the production is spread out. We've been much better running the football as a team. We have different packages that involves those guys. It seems like we try to find something during the course of the game that's working, so it seems like every week one of them has had a little better game than the others. Dexter (McCluster) is a part of that. We're trying to incorporate him because he's an explosive player. Antonio (Andrews) and Bishop (Sankey) are kind of our more traditional type backs. So, we are trying to work and keep those guys in different packages that fit what they do well. Hopefully, that will work for us.
Q: How’s Harry Douglas fitting in with the Titans?
A: Harry has done a tremendous job for us. He's a great leader. I think he's helped us in that room. He's done a good job playing for us. He works hard and is a good teammate. He's a little banged up (ribs) this week. Hopefully, he'll be good by game time.
Q: How is wide receiver (Dorial) Green-Beckum developing for the Titans?
A: He's like any young player, he's coming along. I think certainly missing his senior year or missing that last year of college football and not playing much (has slowed his development). It's hard when go from not having played competitively in 20 months to getting on an NFL field. We're working him in. He's made a couple of plays for us. Hopefully, he'll continue to improve. He's going to be a good football player. The more that we can get him in there and he can grow, it's going to help us
Q: How’s the combination of Derrick Morgan and Brian Orakpo working out the Titans’ defense?
A: I think they are a good mix. Derrick is having some success and I think part of that is because of Brian on the other side. Teams can't just focus on Derrick now. Jurrell Casey is doing a nice job. Our defensive front has made some strides for us this year. They certainly have helped us. Our defense has played well at times. We know that we have a huge challenge going against this Atlanta offense. But, it's nice that Derrick Morgan and Orakpo have been laying so well.
Q: How’s the back end of the defense performing?
A: We feel good about our secondary. We got Perrish (Cox) in here as a free agent and he was a great addition, but we have a couple of young guys in Cody Sensabaugh and Blidi Wreh-Wilson. Cody actually has been playing really well for us. Blidi missed a portion of camp, but we've got him, Jason McCourty and Cody all back. We have young kid in Cody Riggs, who's Dad (Gerald), as we all know, played for the Falcons. We've got a good group. Our safeties have been playing well for us. Michael Griffin and Da'Norris Searcy back there at the safety. They are going to have their work cut out for them on Sunday, we know that. But we like the way they've been working.
Q: What’s your analysis of the Falcons’ offense?
A: They are tough. They do a nice job. We know that we just have to try to limit them as best that we can, knowing that they are going to make some plays. They've got a good mix of what they do. Number 85 (Leonard Hankerson) is making some plays for them. The quarterback is playing really well and obviously, Julio (Jones) is an outstanding football player. When you add that running back (Devonta Freeman) and the way they are running the football, that makes them a diverse offense. It will be a big challenge for us.
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