Houston Texans 26, Tennessee Titans 0
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Offense couldn't possess the ball, put our defense in some tough spots down the stretch and didn't answer in those spots, either. So all the way around, not good enough.
Q. You got a chance to take an endzone spot before Slye's second field goal. You're near midfield, third and 12 and you hand off to Chestnut. Are you going to win games playing that conservatively? Why not take some shots to the end zone in those situations?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah, we hadn't really completed much down the field at that point and it was a third and 12 and a pass rush is ripping and they're 30-something yards from the end zone. Those aren't really high percentage style throws or plays, so that's usually what the reason is. We didn't earn a right to take a shot to the end zone. It's third and 12, so you try to be smart and not put the quarterback in harm's and kick the field goal.
Q. Not a high percentage shot for the end zone at third and 12. How about a shot for a first down?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah, it is what it is, and those are the calls we make, so.
Q. Did you feel this is an accurate reflection of whether the team continues to come up short with you guys as a coaching staff?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: I mean, I think it's a reflection of all of us not doing anything well enough at this point. That's players, that's coaches, that's everybody. We haven't found a way to win a game in a while, and I think that reflects on all of us.
Q. On a day where it wasn't the sacks and it wasn't the penalties on offense, just what was the issue do you think?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Hard to say. Hard to find a rhythm. I thought we ran the ball okay in spots. Still ended up getting in some long yardage things that were hard for us to overcome. We couldn't possess the ball. That was the hard part. We couldn't really take control of the offensive rhythm. We missed some throws. I think Cam's doing some good things but he had some tough moments in this game. That's still a really good defense, you know? And we didn't play well enough against them.
Q. Defense let them off the hook several times. There were three fourth and ones, two from their side of the field and then there was second and 32 and a 37-yard pass. Why were you not able to just be able to get off the field?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah, you can't give up those plays in those spots. That's a... you're playing way behind the sticks. That should be advantage defense and then you got to make those plays and you can't give those up. You can't give up a second and 23 for a first down. You got them backed up. You got them where you want them. You earned that spot and then to give that up was disappointing. So you get them in spots like that and give up big plays, that's not going to win many football games for you.
Q. You've said this team showed you a lot of fight.
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah.
Q. Did this team show you fight today?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Oh, yeah. They fought. I don't know what -- not playing well and not fighting are two different things. We didn't play well enough, but I don't think I would question the way those guys went and played the game. They fought their tails off for the entirety of the game, so you guys can make whatever conjecture you want, but I don't see any effort issues in terms of how they're playing the game. We're not playing it well enough, that's certainly part of it, but they went out and played hard today. I don't have any qualms about how they came out and played.
Q. Coming into this game, Jeffrey Simmons, he said the best players have to play better. You got a guy like Sneed who calls out -- well, he gets himself going with the who when asked about Nico Collins. What can you do to get that back on track?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah, those are the -- when you talk, you got to back it up. Didn't do that today. That's a decision a guy makes and he's got to live with that, too. That's on them. They want to talk, then you got to back it up and didn't do a good enough job of that today. That happens, but I don't know that that's -- that's a personal thing for some guys, so.
Q. What's the frustration like, Brian, and with 14 games left or 13 games left, how do you keep that from overwhelming you at the top?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Like I said before, there's nobody that puts more pressure and eats more frustration than I do on where we're at. I don't need any help with that usually. I put enough of it on myself, so, yeah, we just got to turnaround and keep fighting. There's nobody who comes in to save you. All we got is the guys that are in there and we got to keep trying to find a way to get better and play better football.
Q. I know you didn't get the result you wanted but from an operations standpoint, how did it go with Bo calling?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah, operationally, it was solid. I think there was -- we didn't have any real issues calls getting in or issuing on the play collect or anything like that, but ultimately still wasn't -- when you score zero points, that's not good enough.
Q. Are you concerned at all about just the whole situation of the coaching staff and maybe their status after something like this?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: No. No. Again, like I said before, I show up and do my job and we do it as hard as we can. It's even on our staff. We work our tails off and we try to do everything we can to put ourselves in a position to win and we haven't. That's just the reality of our jobs in the league. So, no, I don't think about it.
Q. What's keeping you from changing that attitude or what is grounding you as the results continue to mount the way they are?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: I'm not sure I understand.
Q. You said you haven't changed the way you're thinking about job status.
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah.
Q. What is keeping you there despite the losses?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: What keeps me there is the ambiguous in the locker room and the coaches and the coaching staff. My job is to try to lead and leading is hard. It's hard right now but that's my job. My job is to try to continue to fight and continue to help wherever I can help and to continue to keep pushing our guys to keep getting better. And that's the only thing you can do when you're in a spot like this is just keep coming out, keep swinging. None of it's been good enough. We all know that. That's something that you just got to keep fighting through and you have to find a way to breakthrough at some point.
Q. Do you think this is a resilient and relentless football team?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: I know what you're doing there, Paul. I know what you're doing, and I'm not going to answer that shit right now.
Q. Those are the things that you've tried to -- (inaudible).
BRIAN CALLAHAN: Yeah...
Q. -- you're 20-something games in -- (inaudible).
BRIAN CALLAHAN: I'm just going to compose myself here before I say something I regret but, yes, I think this team is resilient. I think it is relentless. We haven't played good enough football and I think those are two very distinct, different things. We have to execute at a better level. We have to coach better. That's really all I can say.
Q. What is it that makes you believe the team is resilient and will continue to fight?
BRIAN CALLAHAN: All I know is what I see every day. They show up. They work. We work in practice. I did not anticipate a result like that coming up in a game. The attitude, the energy, the things they do during the week, there's nothing that would point to that there's any kind of lack of those things and we fought our tails off in the game and, again, we're not playing well enough. We're not executing things at a high enough level to win. It's certainly not for lack of intent and lack of effort and lack of focus. We're trying to do all the things we need to do to win a football game. Everything during the week, the guys work. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We had one of our best Thursday practices of the week so it's hard to stomach that when you practice the way we practice and you show up in a game that looks like that. Thanks.
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