Quotebook: Players, Coaches on Titans' Loss to Patriots
For the first time in more than a year, the Tennessee Titans have lost consecutive games. And for the first time in several weeks, they lost the top spot in battle for AFC playoff seeding.
The Titans were not overmatched in their 36-13 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday. In terms of total yards, the teams were nearly equal. The difference was that while Tennessee’s defense forced the Patriots to settle for field goals (five of them), New England’s defense created turnovers (four of them).
Each team is now 8-4, but the Patriots have the tiebreaker edge – if it comes to that.
Here is a roundup of what both sides had to say after the contest.
On the result …
• Patriots coach Bill Belichick: “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.”
• Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill: “It's tough. We had opportunities. We did some really good things. The turnovers, the fumbles hurt us obviously. We ran the ball extremely well the whole game.”
• Patriots center David Andrews: “We just didn't finish some drives there early on and we started to put it together a little there at the end. But they're a good team, obviously they have good coaches and good players and had a good scheme.”
• Titans coach Mike Vrabel: “I think you're always obviously disappointed, frustrated when you lose. We did some good things. We did some obviously things that are going to get you beat. That is somewhat frustrating. Can't go on the road, especially against a good team, and do those types of things and have penalties and start drives on the 10-yard line. Penalties on special teams, turnovers. So you don't have to look too hard on why we lost.”
• Patriots safety Devin McCourty: “"It was just a gritty win. I think Tennessee is very similar to us. They don't care who isn't playing for them. They have a style of play, they're tough, they're going to fight you for everything. I think obviously with Mike Vrabel being there it is just a very similar team as how we're built and I think that's how the game played out. Just a battle.”
On New England’s offense …
• Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons: “They were trying to run the ball against us as you see. I think I saw they had like 47 rushing yards coming into the fourth quarter. We knew that they were going to try to be bullish and see who is going to get bullied and they were trying bully ball. They're trying to knock you off the ball and try to run the ball and then we were standing up to stopping the run.”
• Patriots wide receiver Jakobi Meyers: "Our coaches do a great job of scouting and game planning. We were pretty well prepared. They did some things that caught us by surprise. But that's football. We had to do our best to adjust to them on the fly."
• Vrabel: “They were able to throw it. Complete passes. We didn't rush well enough and cover well enough.”
On the Titans’ season-high 270 rushing yards …
• Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan: "We knew what we had to do. Anytime you go on an away game, you've got to have a strong chin and a big heart and pack a run game. I think we did those things. I think the effort was outstanding from everybody on the offense and we just got to keep those guys going.”
• Patriots defensive lineman Davon Godchaux: “Any time you give up more than 100 yards rushing that's not a good day. But I'll take it, you know 13 points. … Yards don't beat you but points do.”
• Belichick: “They did a better job of coaching it than we did. We have to coach and play better.”
• Titans running back Dontrell Hilliard: “The o-line did a wonderful job moving guys around and creating those lanes for me to get through. I definitely thought we had a winning game plan, I commend the coaches for that, putting together great packages.”
On Tennessee’s four turnovers (New England had none) …
• Titans safety Kevin Byard: “Their defense had a bunch of turnovers and we had none. You're not going to be able to win games like that. Like I said, I feel like we played good in some spots, but it wasn't good enough overall. We're going to have to get back to the drawing board, figure out ways to win ball games and figure out who we are.”
• Patriots quarterback Mac Jones: “The goal is to not turn the ball over on offense and do what (the defense) did today and get the four takeaways. You can see how much they play together and celebrate, and it's exciting. We have to capitalize on that and make points for them and not turn the ball over as well.”
• Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill: “You kill the momentum. We're marching the ball, marching the ball. I felt like every time we touched it, we were doing good things. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a couple times by putting it on the ground. So, just have to be able to clean those things up.”
On New England’s two touchdowns in five red-zone trips …
• Jones: “The goal is to score points and the best teams in the league are like 70 percent on touchdowns and we can be better there getting up to that number. But at the end of the day when you have control of the game, the goal is to get points and obviously we want to score touchdowns.”
• Belichick: “[Kicker] Nick [Folk] banged them through like he usually does. … You can really count on him, and he's delivered for us time after time. Really fortunate to have him, his consistency.”
On the current state of the Titans …
• Byard: “I think the past few weeks we've been doing a lot of uncharacteristic stuff. We have to find ways to win ball games and figure out what our identity is."
• Simmons: “We're good team and I feel like once we get everybody back or coming off this bye week when everybody's mind is clear, we are going to get it back rolling. You know, of course everybody is probably thinking we are not that team anymore, but I have a lot of faith in my guys and I have a lot of faith in this team. And like I said, coming off this bye week we're going to come back."
