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Quotes: Titans Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt

Opening remarks:

"Okay, obviously a tough day for us on a lot of fronts. It didn't go the way we wanted it to. I thought we fought back in the second quarter after a terrible start and tried to make a game of it, but ultimately, two turnovers in the second half hurt us and that was frustrating. We had a number of injuries. I can tell you the ones that I know. [LT] Taylor Lewan's got an ankle. [C Brian] Schwenke's got a knee. [OLB] Kamerion [Wimbley] has got a hamstring. [S Michael] Griff[in] has got a shoulder. And we have two backs – [RB] Dexter [McCluster] and [RB] Bishop [Sankey] that are both being evaluated for a possible concussion. And I'm sure we've got a few others in there because I know we had a lot of guys nicked up today."    

On whether the injuries were a result of a short week:

"I don't know. You know, you hear a lot of things like that, but I don't know.

On the Eagles' opening kickoff return for a touchdown:

"Well I mean, when you're on the road in a place like this against a team that will score some points, it's not the way you want to start the game off. So it's tough. But to get down 17-0, I thought we made a good recovery in the second quarter. But that doesn't do you good if you can't finish.

On whether the lanes being sloppy contributed to the first Tennessee fumble of the game:

"Yeah. We had a guy that was supposed to be outside in the coverage that got boxed in and he just missed it."

On the plays that hurt the team:

"Well I think one of the ones that hurt was when [S] Daimion [Stafford] got an interception and then we fumble the next play. That was the one that really hurt us the most. So, give them credit. They're a good football team and they make plays. So it's a tough place to play, come in here and play, and we didn't get the job done." 

On how much the run game would have helped to take some pressure off QB Zach Mettenberger:

"Well it would have been good, but you know, you have to convert some third downs, which we didn't do, in order to do that. We mixed the run in during the course of the game. We had limited effectiveness with it. We fumbled the one time when Bishop did it. We missed some third downs. To me, that's the way you create your successes in the running game is when you convert some third downs."  

On whether Mettenberger's five sacks can be attributed to him holding the ball too long or the offensive line:

"Well you know, probably both I would say. At some point, you got to hold the football, especially when you're third-and-12 or third-and-11, if you want to have a legitimate chance to get those. And that's our fault. We had some penalties that put us in long situations with some of the things that we have been fighting this year and that hurts you. Obviously this is a pressure team. They bring it after you. I thought we did okay early picking it up, but we obviously had a period where we didn't do well."   

On whether he would have preferred Schwenke to try to catch the ball and run with it or just bat it down:

"Well obviously you don't want him to fumble. He's not a ball carrier. So running with the football and fumbling it is certainly not a good thing. I don't have a problem with – sometimes you just react when the ball is right there in front of you and catch it. But we can't fumble the football."  

On whether he was disappointed that the team wasn't able to hold Eagles RB LeSean McCoy in check:

"Well I mean of course when you're an opponent. A guy runs for some yardage, you're always disappointed. He's a good back. I think I said that earlier in the week. So give them credit, they had success with their plan."  

On whether he thought the Schwenke fumble was going to be overturned:

"I thought his elbow was down, but I'm 0-for-whatever this year. Obviously it wasn't a challenge flag there, but we haven't gotten one of those calls go our way the whole year it seems like."  

On the team's inability to respond quickly enough to the Eagles' fast start:

"I would say that the second quarter, that was a little bit of a response, wasn't it? So there was a response. It just wasn't as quickly maybe, if that's what you're referring to. I don't know. I said it was tough that we didn't start out good, but we did respond in the second quarter. I think we had 17 points and moved the ball down the field, so it wasn't a complete shutout. But obviously when you go into a place like this against an offense like Philadelphia has, those hurt you early when you do that." 

On the comfort level of WR Justin Hunter on the field:

"Justin made some plays for us today. There were some other ones maybe he could have made the plays on that he didn't, but certainly I think we're all trying to get better as a team and I have to look at it and see from the tape."

On the Titans' sloppy tackling today:

"We were sloppy tackling, which is another thing that was unfortunate, but not being in pads is not an excuse for not being better tackling. Some of it you have to give them credit for – they're good players. But obviously we have to be able to tackle better than that."

On the composure of Mettemberger when the team was down 17-0:

"Well I don't think much fazes Zach from that standpoint. I think he's obviously, from what he's done in college and playing in the SEC, he's prepared for that. As far as handling that, I think he did a good job. As far as his play for the entire day I'd have to look at it and see it on tape. I know from talking with him on the sideline, because we talk about plays and what we're trying to do, and the way he handles himself in the huddle, for a young quarterback he's learning, he's growing and he's doing a good job with that."   

On whether the team made progress today or if it was a setback:

"I have to look at it on tape and see. I mean it's a tough loss. Emotional. I don't want to say something that might not be accurate."

On whether he's pleased with TE Delanie Walker's play after returning from injury:

"Yeah.[TE] Delanie [Walker] is a good football player. It obviously [was] disappointing that we didn't have him last week and it's good to have him back, no question. He made some big plays for us today."  

On CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson being inactive today:

"He was just really a strategic thing. I shouldn't say strategic. It was just more of a matchup than anything else. With this offense being a spacing offense, that was really the thought behind that."

On how worried he is about Lewan's injury:

"We got strains everywhere. We got guys banged up all over the place. So I really won't know more about that until the next day or two."

On his message to the team coming off the loss:

"It's hard. This is football. It's not easy. I think what they have to understand, what we all have to understand, is we're working. Guys are working hard. They want to win. And that I respect, there was no quit in them. We got to look at the tape and we got to correct some of the mistakes that we did. Obviously tackling was one of them. We got to do better on third down. We can't turn the football over. Those are all products of why we sit on the losing end of it today and they are the things we have to do better."

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