Titans 32, Texans 27
Q. DeMeco, there was a moment late in the game, after C.J. had been called for the safety, where the cameras caught you kind of -- your eyes were wide. I was wondering what you were thinking in that moment.
DeMECO RYANS: It was a disappointing loss for us. We didn't do anything well enough to win this game. Out of all the positives that we did have, there were way too many negatives. Too many negative plays. Score, get a penalty, get touchdowns called back. Get penalties on special teams.
Just way too many negative plays defensively, like unexplainable explosives for touchdowns. We just didn't play good across the board. That starts with me, obviously. We weren't ready to go as a team so that starts with me.
Q. I know all losses are frustrating. What's the most frustrating part about this loss?
DeMECO RYANS: The most frustrating part about it is out of all the bad things that happened, we still had a chance to finish the game, right? Everything that could go wrong, it went wrong. We still had a chance there to tie it up and finish the game, and we didn't.
Q. Second half scoring has been an issue for a few weeks now. It was an issue today. What is left to try to get that going? Has there been a constant you've seen from some of the issues?
DeMECO RYANS: Yeah. The first thing is we have to create positive plays. Too many times, whether it's run or pass, we have a negative play which kills our drive. First things first, how can we sustain positive plays and build drives. Too many drives were stalled out before we could even get started.
Q. One of the things that we've all asked or you've replied with kind of an issue throughout the entire year, how come a lot of little things have been so persistent in holding you guys back in reaching the potential that you do have?
DeMECO RYANS: Again, we have to be able to finish games. That's been an emphasis of ours is going out and finishing. We didn't. We didn't execute. We didn't finish the right way. You can put that on me first.
Q. Coach, you guys lost the last two one-score games. Is there a growing concern that you need more from your offense?
DeMECO RYANS: The concern for me is we need to play complementary football, right? We play complementary football, we win games. We don't, we're not relying on one side to carry the entire time. So whatever happens, like our offense gave us enough points to win the game so that starts with the defense. Didn't do enough to stop them. We didn't stop the run, and we didn't run the ball well, and we gave up way too many points on defense. Our offense did plenty. They gave us enough points. On defense, we have to be able to stop them.
Q. There's been a couple of short situations this year where you guys have gone up tempo. What goes into the decision-making process to maybe get up to the line of scrimmage quickly. Is that something you're talking about with Bobby before that happens?
DeMECO RYANS: Yeah, that's part of our strategy, depending on the games. Sometimes we use it to catch teams subbing or to catch teams off guard.
Q. Your ability to run the football today, were the problems finding open creases? Was it Tennessee's defensive line? What went into the issues up front?
DeMECO RYANS: Again, it starts with their defensive line. They're a really good front. Really good front. We knew that going into the game. But it doesn't matter. Every front is good. You have to own the line of scrimmage.
You have to be able to control the line of scrimmage and control the ball. We didn't. We had too many negative plays in the running game. Defensively, we didn't set the edge well, and the ball got outside a ton, and we didn't tackle well. All of those mistakes are the making for a pretty bad run defense.
Q. DeMeco, obviously it's real easy to see the bad things that happened, but you did have a couple of good things. One of them was Kris Boyd recovering the fumble on the muffed punt.
DeMECO RYANS: Yeah, a lot of positive things happened. For us to get a turnover we talked about throughout the week for special teams, create a turnover, we did that. Defensively, to get a pick 6, get eight sacks in the game, it was a lot of really good things that happened for our team. But the negatives just right now outweigh the positives.
Our guys continue to do good things, but we have to string it together where we can finish and celebrate those positives, right, after the game.
Q. How do you assess performance like that when you do have eight sacks and three turnovers, one of those for a score, but also not being able to get everything done?
DeMECO RYANS: How I assess it is at the end of the day, it's not good enough. At the end of the day, we're trying to finish the game with a win, no matter how that looks, and we came up short.
Q. At one point in the third quarter, you all were trying to figure out whether to punt or go for it. What happened there?
DeMECO RYANS: Nothing happened. I decided to punt the football.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports