TITANS 28, TEXANS 25
Q. I wanted to ask you about how you felt like you guys played this year, especially here at the end, and what you think about the prospects of returning and possibly David Culley? Thank you.
MALIEK COLLINS: This year I feel like -- I'm just going to speak defensively because that's the side I'm on, but I felt like we had some up-and-down moments, but I felt like we improved as the season went on, for sure, when it came to turnovers, when it came to being a little more stout in the run game, just more production in general. I feel like some guys really blossomed in this defense. Yeah, that's pretty much for the defense.
You asked me about Culley. I feel like he is a great guy. He is the same guy every day. He is consistent. That's what you want in a head coach. That's what you want in a leader of men.
Q. Today in purview of the entire season, Lovie Smith was talking earlier this week about playing complimentary football, and the offense comes back in the second half and then what you see on the defense in the second half.
What do you feel is coming together as a complete team going into the offseason and where you guys can work out there in the flow of the game?
MALIEK COLLINS: I feel like it's definitely something to build on. Playing complimentary football, we've got to get some turnovers, though. That's the main emphasis. We've got to get them more opportunities to score and get a stop there at the end, but I feel like we definitely are going in the right direction.
Q. Culley said tomorrow is when they'll have exit interviews with players. What do you expect to say, and how do you expect that to go, and you're on a one-year deal, and where do you expect to be?
MALIEK COLLINS: I'm going to just come in and be me. That's what I've been doing all year, and I don't think nothing will change tomorrow, but I will come in and just talk to the coaches like the regular relationships we have on an everyday basis.
Q. Maliek, I know you're on the defensive side of the ball, but you've been in the league six years. From your vantage point, what did you think of Davis Mills with the season over now?
MALIEK COLLINS: Man, for real, for the way it started for him -- you know he kind of had a rough start -- to the way he finished, I'm proud of that guy. I was just thinking about talking to him when I was in the locker room just to tell him how he didn't blink at all. He stepped in for Tyrod when Tyrod got hurt, and then he came back in on the back end of the season, and I really seen growth in that guy, and I seen the potential that we all thought he had in the beginning. I'm proud of the way he finished the season.
Q. Maliek, going back, you mentioned that some of the improvement that you saw over the course of the season. What would you attribute that improvement to?
MALIEK COLLINS: For me, or are you talking defensively?
Q. For you personally, defensively. Just whatever you referenced in improvement earlier.
MALIEK COLLINS: Improvement for me, I felt like I was a better run player this year than in the past. It's hard to not improve from what I went through last year in Vegas. That wasn't my best year. That's not a year that I'm really proud of, so seeing the growth and the improvement from that to this year, I felt like it was a huge improvement. Shout out to B.K. and Albo.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports