Patriots 36, Titans 13
BB: Good football team, a lot of good competitors, tough guys there. Proud of the way our guys stepped up. We missed some opportunities in the game but again, we're going up against a good team. It's going to happen.
But in the end we were able to not turn the ball over and take the ball away, made big fourth down -- two big fourth down stops there on the goal line, one six minutes to go in the game. I thought our special teams came through for us again and good coverage, and you know, competitive yard in the return game. Gunner really helped us out at the end of the half and had a couple sparks there and thought we covered well and Nick banged them through like he usually does. Good all around effort.
Again, left some plays out there. Certainly some things we could have done better. But you know, we'll take it and move on, finish this game up tomorrow and get ready for Buffalo.
Q. One of the mantras we have heard coming out of the locker room is that football season starts after Thanksgiving. Is the team come together and does this win establish where you want to be heading down the stretch in the final months?
BB: Yeah, I don't know. Play Buffalo on Monday night. We'll see. Eight games -- look, eight games isn't enough to clinch anything or win anything. We have a long way to go.
Q. What did the Titans do with their running game that created so many problems for you guys?
BB: They did a better job of coaching it than we did. We have to coach and play better.
Q. You mentioned Nick, what he did today, and I guess what he's done the last couple of seasons, five of six today with some big-time kicks.
BB: We have talked about it a bunch of times this year. Really consistent. Does a great job in all areas every week. You can really count on him and he's delivered for us time after time. Really fortunate to have him, his consistency. Not easy kicking out there as we saw on the other side as well. So yeah, Nick is very professional and very consistent.
Q. Specifically about the plays by JC and did he have on where they knocked the ball out, how much -- maybe just reacting to what your eyes tell you?
BB: Look, there's great plays defensively to have that awareness and recognize it and use proper technique to get it out. We talk about it but ultimately the players have to make that split-second decision as they are coming out in the ball and coming out on tackle and be able to get that punch and get that pressure on the ball cleanly to get it out. Sometimes it comes out. Sometimes it doesn't. But if you don't punch at it, it's not going to come out as much.
Players really worked hard on that starting back in October, really, started putting a bigger emphasis on it for us and to help our offense just going the other way for us there, too. And it's nice to see that start to come out on the other side here, so hopefully we can keep doing that.
Q. Devin McCourty, can you talk about his leadership? He made a big play there. How big has he been for you these six games during this streak here?
BB: He's been big for us for 13 years or whatever it's been. Yeah, Devin gives us great leadership, a lot of confidence back there in the secondary. Makes great adjustments and helps get some things straightened out when they give us different looks and formations and splits and so forth. He's a very aware player and has good understanding of the defenses than any player I've ever coached in the secondary. He really knows what everybody's doing and can make quick decisions on the field. It's not just knowing what to do but can be decisive and do the right thing. It was a great play.
Very similar to the play he had in the Cleveland game where he had tipped it and almost got it on the over-route. Similar-type play but really kept it alive and JC, you leave any trash laying around, he's going to pick it up.
Q. Just on the owned of what you mentioned with JC, is it practice? Preparation? He's always in the right place at the right time? Does the ball just find him? Why is he always around it?
BB: It's probably a little of all of those.
Q. Bill, what did you see from Kendrick Bourne today with his check two touchdown catches?
BB: KD has given us a lot of explosive plays through the course of the years. He made a great catch and run here today and I thought Jakobi made a really timely block on the sideline to kind of get KB down there and KB ran well on the sideline, didn't go out of bounds, fought for the extra yards. Had a nice, stiff arm. Finished the run, so that was it.
It was a great play by KB. He's done that a few times. You know, those explosive plays are just such game-changers and obviously today we didn't do a great job in the red area. We left a lot of points on the field but when you get a play like that where you can run it in last 40 yards and not have to -- not have to run a dozen plays down in the red area makes it a lot easier. Love to see those plays happen. Obviously missed a couple opportunities there earlier in the game. But that was a great play.
Q. You mentioned your kicking game in your opening remarks there. It looks like the Titans started all of their drives behind their own 30. What's been the key to that group being pretty consistent here it looks like these last few weeks?
BB: Yeah, again, it's the whole team. So the kickoff team, starts with a kick. You know, coverage, they tried to run some sideline returns, double teams going to slam it up there n there and you have to battle through those and then they try to bring it back to the field, and as you start to overplay the sideline rushes and the back side start to squeak down, sometimes there's an opportunity at the back side like Gunner hit at the end of the half or like Rogers tried to hit there and I think we tackled him inside the 20-yard line.
Again it's everybody doing their job. It only takes one guy to break down, lose his lane, lose his leverage, miss a tackle and in this league, these guys are gone. So a good job by the players on the outside setting the edge. Good job by the guys inside winning their blocks and holding their lanes and their leverage and good job of tackling and got some good kicks. The punting game was pretty solid, too, with Jake and the protection. They tried to rush us, so that leaves it up to Justin and Slate to make the play.
When they make the rush, we have to state in there and block them and we have to count on those two guys, if they return, a lot of times those two guys get doubled and you need everybody covering. Those guys play well together. They work well, play off each other good, preparation, good communication. Hopefully we can keep doing that. But there's no question, putting them on the long field, that's the best way to play defense.
Q. You mentioned Meyers block on Kendrick Bourn, second touchdown. How challenging to throw that block in a way that you're not going to get whistled for the personal foul when the defender is coming around that way?
BB: I don't think it's that challenging. It's just a decision that you've got to make on those kind of open-field plays whether it's Jakobi on that play or whether it's a player blocking on a kickoff or punt return, broken plays that ends up in space like that. You can't blind side them. You can't block back towards the goal line. We all know what the rules are. You have to do it in a way that's legal, which he did, and still effective, which is was.
So you know, they have taken away some of those blocks out of the game which are obviously good for the game, good for player safety. But I think that was a good example of showing how you can still do it and -- from the league and from a safety standpoint, player safety standpoint where still get what we want but we are still able to effectively screen guys out of the play. I think that's good for the game.
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