Tennessee Titans - Head Coach Mike Munchak - Ingles

September 14, 2011

On what he noticed about the Ravens’ pass rush:
“To me, we have played them so much that when I turn the film on them, I see how hard they play. I think that is something you see all the time from a Raven team – they play hard, and they play physical. They got a little lead, so they were able to get after it, make Pittsburgh a little one-dimensional, which a lot of defenses try to do, because they got the lead and they were getting the turnovers, which make it very hard for an offense. They got great pressure on the quarterback. [Terrell] Suggs, again, is the guy you always have to watch – three sacks and constantly around the quarterback. They had good push in the pocket, and they change things up. They are going to give it to you a lot of ways – three-man lines, four-man lines, little overloads to one side or the other – so you are going to get a little bit of everything. I thought I saw a similar team, as far as being successful with what they do, being physical, playing hard and got the ball back. That is something they have done well against us over time is getting turnovers. That’s what aggressive defenses do, and they did it again in a big way this past Sunday.”

On if he noticed any increased blitzing from the Ravens’ secondary:
“For us, we didn’t play them last year. Obviously, we studied film from last year, but we haven’t played them in a couple of years, so I am not as familiar with that, but yes. To me, it is hard to evaluate one game, just because they had a lead in this one. I think you are going to approach the game differently than you would if the game was closer. They were very aggressive. They weren’t sitting back when they had the lead and letting things happen. They were trying to make more points, make more plays, and that is exactly what they did. Fans always complain about that you have a lead and you start sitting back in Cover 2 and letting them catch balls underneath, but they didn’t allow that. They stayed aggressive throughout the game, and it paid off because they got the turnovers.”

On what he remembers from the classic Ravens-Titans matchups:
“Obviously, Ray Lewis is the common bond, still being part of the team, which is phenomenal that he is still playing at his level in 16 years now. Just the physical part, I think of him and Eddie George – the confrontations they had – they knew we were going to run the ball quite a bit. We did. We knew what the challenge was going to be against them. The games were always close. It seemed like no matter what the records were, the games were hard, physical – probably similar to what Ravens fans are used to seeing with Pittsburgh, that same mentality. When you have a division team, it is different, but since we were once in the same division, I think we are one of the teams that we play outside of our division that really feels like a division opponent. For a while there, we were playing quite often and in big football games. That’s probably what stands out to me – the big collisions between those two. The defenses, to me, are similar in how they play – their style, their scheme, as far as the defensive side of the ball is anyway.”

On if RB Chris Johnson’s limited carries at Jacksonville on Sunday were a result of missing the preseason or if the team was playing from behind:
“Yeah, exactly, the latter point is correct. We are a running team also. We obviously want to run the ball much more than that. They were keeping the ball. We couldn’t get them off the field. Our defense couldn’t get them off the field – they kept converting third-and-ones, third-and-twos, and we were running out of opportunities with the ball, so we had to pick it up and throw it when we got down 13-0. We had to change the philosophy that we normally like to get back in the game, and it worked for us. The bottom line is trying to find a way to win games. If we could design how to do it, he would carry the ball 20 times or more, but that game didn’t go the way we hoped, and we almost found a way to win it, even though we didn’t play well.”

On if Johnson will be more of a focal point this Sunday vs. Baltimore:
“Yeah, he will be every Sunday. He was this game. The plan was, and I’m sure that the Ravens look at it that way, that he is one of the guys on our side of the ball that they have to not allow to make big plays. We will do our best to put him in a position to make them for us. To us, we’d like to see him get to 20 carries or 20 touches, maybe mix the pass game in with the run game. Chris stayed on the field quite a bit, even though he wasn’t getting a lot of carries. He still caught six balls. We’re not as concerned for his conditioning as we are just him getting a feel for the run game again.”

On how QB Matt Hasselbeck has taken over the offense:
“I think the good thing is that even though Kenny [Britt] didn’t play in many preseason games because of some nagging injuries, he did practice quite a bit. They were able to work together in practice even though it wasn’t in a preseason game. Kenny is a special receiver. It’s just a matter of keeping him on the field. He can make a lot of plays, just like he showed glimpses of that a couple of days ago in the Jacksonville game. When you have a guy like him, you get the ball close and he will make a play on it and he will make the run after catch. I think we’re happy with where that started off, and now we just need to get it in the other area with Nate Washington, with Jared Cook, with Chris Johnson being a bigger part of the offense – that kind of stuff on that side of the ball, which we didn’t do this weekend.”

On if the Ravens’ cornerbacks are a position that Tennessee may try to target:
“I think you are going to always see what’s working for you and where the weaknesses may be. With that in mind, you have to be able to have time to get the ball out of your hands, too. You have to give these guys time, and the Ravens have always done a great job of disguising what they are doing, especially when you have Ed Reed out there, that play the quarterback quite a bit. Whoever plays, we know they are going to have good players out there, but you are always looking for areas, as the game develops, where you think you make your plays, just like they will, how they will attack us. We’ll see, for sure. We think we have enough weapons to match up with anybody. We just have to go out and do it this week. Last week, we just started real slow on the offensive side of the ball and never really got anything going. Those are the areas, for sure, we need to make plays to beat these guys. If it is running or passing, we need to find what that is throughout the game.”

On if he was surprised how well the Ravens’ offensive line played:
“Yeah, I did. I am an offensive line guy, so I thought they played well. They are running a system that looks like they feel very familiar with, even though the necessarily haven’t been together as long. That’s what shows to me. If you’re together for four preseason games at least, and doing some things at practice, it’s not as bad as people may think. They did it against a good defense. We all know how hard it is to run against Pittsburgh. I think when you start with that run they had early in the game, the first play of the game, and you pop one off like that, that is a real boost for the rest of the game. I think that they buy into what you’re doing, that we have a good plan for this game. I think they felt very comfortable with that. When you have someone like Ray Rice, who is special also, Ricky [Williams]… You have some guys that get downhill quickly if you give them a crease, and that is the dangerous thing about what they’re doing in the running game. That was very impressive to post numbers like that, because on the offensive side, people want to say, ‘Well, they got seven turnovers.’ But they played well on offense. They did a lot of good things. Yeah, they had a short field every so often, but they came out and that first drive is what really set the tone for the whole game.”