DL MALIEK COLLINS
What's in been like for you to become a starter as rookie?
"Short answer, it's been a dream come true. Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a starting center in the NFL. But it's been a lot of work for sure, learning a new offense in just a couple of weeks, but everyone around me has been great and really supportive. It's been chaotic initially, the first week was pretty crazy, but so far it's been amazing."
Who is the best musical trio of all time?
"You heard me conversing about that this morning? That was a conversation I had with a couple of people this morning. I don't know. It was kind of a tie. Someone said the Bee Gees which I guess was a good addition."
A tie between who?
"Destiny's Child. Dixie Chicks were up there. I don't know. I don't have a definite answer on that."
Better answer for a quartet?
"No. I need more time to think about that one."
What was it like going back to Pittsburgh to get the Burlsworth Trophy?
"It was great. I was happy to go back to Pittsburgh and finally meet with Burlsworth family in person. The Burlsworth Trophy is a special award, just because it obviously remembers Brandon Burlsworth and such an amazing but tragic story he had. It really honors walk-ons all across the country. It's a tough battle to get a scholarship and play and have a successful career in college. I was really fortunate and that's an important award to me that I will always remember. It was pretty cool to me going back home."
What have you learned about yourself in your time in the NFL so far?
"I haven't really had enough time to slow down to think about that. It's kind of just hitting me. Today, I was talking to Paul Quessenberry. I don't know what the number is of guys in the NFL, but I think it's less than 2,000, and think about how many people play football. I haven't really stopped to think about what I learned about myself, but it's been a crazy experience. Just try to take it day by day and realize that I am a professional football player. It's pretty awesome."
What's the adjustment like for you and QB Tyrod Taylor getting to know each other and getting on the same page?
"Tyrod is phenomenal. You can tell he's a true vet. It's been really smooth. He handles a lot of it, and I do my job at the line, but I couldn't ask for a better quarterback to play with. That whole room has been fantastic between Davis (Mills), Jeff (Driskel) and Tyrod leading the show. Especially the guys I play next too. All four of them know exactly what to do. It makes my job a lot easier."
This week will be one of rare times where you have the same starting offensive line for consecutive weeks. How helpful is that?
"The more reps I can get with the guys, it's been better obviously. The more weeks you can pile on, the more comfortable you get, and more experience means a lot more in the success that we have. Like I said, I'm new to the show, but it's been a comfortable situation with the guys I play next to and I really like playing, especially next to Justin (McCray) and Titus (Howard) and when Max (Scharping) comes in too. They've all been phenomenal."
As a younger lineman what do you think you bring to the table?
"What I bring to the table is really just doing my job and make sure I accomplish what's asked of me and making sure my effort is second to none out here. That's what I am going to do. Try to do my job to the best of my ability and give it everything I got for those 60 minutes."
In the effort of improving the run game, what are some things you think you guys do well?
"I think just straining on blocks. Communication up front is pretty good. We just need to establish a rhythm. Obviously we got it pretty early on in Miami and then kind of fell off. Whether that was from one little thing here or one guy making a mistake, we are very close. Hopefully we can put it together this week in Nashville."
What do you see from Jeffery Simmons and the challenge of blocking him?
"He's a fantastic player, but every week you are going to play a fantastic player. One of my best friends in the league, his name is Brian O'Neill, I played with him in Pittsburgh. When I was in college I was like, 'What's the difference between college and NFL?' He was like 'In college, you circle three games like guys you are going to see that are going to be high draft prospects, in the NFL you see them every week.' Jeffery Simmons is one of those dudes. He's at the top of the list. I'm excited to play him and it will be a good challenge."
What brought up the debate over the trio?
"I don't know. I was getting taped and Migos was on. Someone said, 'How famous is Migos?' and I just thought who's the most famous trio in music."
OL JIMMY MORRISSEY
What's in been like for you to become a starter as rookie?
"Short answer, it's been a dream come true. Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a starting center in the NFL. But it's been a lot of work for sure, learning a new offense in just a couple of weeks, but everyone around me has been great and really supportive. It's been chaotic initially, the first week was pretty crazy, but so far it's been amazing."
Who is the best musical trio of all time?
"You heard me conversing about that this morning? That was a conversation I had with a couple of people this morning. I don't know. It was kind of a tie. Someone said the Bee Gees which I guess was a good addition."
A tie between who?
"Destiny's Child. Dixie Chicks were up there. I don't know. I don't have a definite answer on that."
Better answer for a quartet?
"No. I need more time to think about that one."
What was it like going back to Pittsburgh to get the Burlsworth Trophy?
"It was great. I was happy to go back to Pittsburgh and finally meet with Burlsworth family in person. The Burlsworth Trophy is a special award, just because it obviously remembers Brandon Burlsworth and such an amazing but tragic story he had. It really honors walk-ons all across the country. It's a tough battle to get a scholarship and play and have a successful career in college. I was really fortunate and that's an important award to me that I will always remember. It was pretty cool to me going back home."
What have you learned about yourself in your time in the NFL so far?
"I haven't really had enough time to slow down to think about that. It's kind of just hitting me. Today, I was talking to Paul Quessenberry. I don't know what the number is of guys in the NFL, but I think it's less than 2,000, and think about how many people play football. I haven't really stopped to think about what I learned about myself, but it's been a crazy experience. Just try to take it day by day and realize that I am a professional football player. It's pretty awesome."
What's the adjustment like for you and QB Tyrod Taylor getting to know each other and getting on the same page?
"Tyrod is phenomenal. You can tell he's a true vet. It's been really smooth. He handles a lot of it, and I do my job at the line, but I couldn't ask for a better quarterback to play with. That whole room has been fantastic between Davis (Mills), Jeff (Driskel) and Tyrod leading the show. Especially the guys I play next too. All four of them know exactly what to do. It makes my job a lot easier."
This week will be one of rare times where you have the same starting offensive line for consecutive weeks. How helpful is that?
"The more reps I can get with the guys, it's been better obviously. The more weeks you can pile on, the more comfortable you get, and more experience means a lot more in the success that we have. Like I said, I'm new to the show, but it's been a comfortable situation with the guys I play next to and I really like playing, especially next to Justin (McCray) and Titus (Howard) and when Max (Scharping) comes in too. They've all been phenomenal."
As a younger lineman what do you think you bring to the table?
"What I bring to the table is really just doing my job and make sure I accomplish what's asked of me and making sure my effort is second to none out here. That's what I am going to do. Try to do my job to the best of my ability and give it everything I got for those 60 minutes."
In the effort of improving the run game, what are some things you think you guys do well?
"I think just straining on blocks. Communication up front is pretty good. We just need to establish a rhythm. Obviously we got it pretty early on in Miami and then kind of fell off. Whether that was from one little thing here or one guy making a mistake, we are very close. Hopefully we can put it together this week in Nashville."
What do you see from Jeffery Simmons and the challenge of blocking him?
"He's a fantastic player, but every week you are going to play a fantastic player. One of my best friends in the league, his name is Brian O'Neill, I played with him in Pittsburgh. When I was in college I was like, 'What's the difference between college and NFL?' He was like 'In college, you circle three games like guys you are going to see that are going to be high draft prospects, in the NFL you see them every week.' Jeffery Simmons is one of those dudes. He's at the top of the list. I'm excited to play him and it will be a good challenge."
What brought up the debate over the trio?
"I don't know. I was getting taped and Migos was on. Someone said, 'How famous is Migos?' and I just thought who's the most famous trio in music."
DB ERIC MURRAY
With Ryan Tannehill in play action, how important is it to locate the ball quickly to figure out what they're trying to do?
"Well, the first step to that is stopping the run. So, if we can stop the run then we can mitigate the play action. That's our game plan."
Are the Titans doing anything different on early downs without Derrick Henry?
"I see a lot of quick gain, but more so they're committed to the run. I think that's the difference between them and other teams. They're turning to hand it off at any time, so it's a tough brand of football."
Besides the physicality Derrick Henry possesses, is the Titans run game still the same?
"That's the attitude (that) trickles down from the head coach, and that's the attitude between them and the whole team. We know they're going to turn the ball around and hand it off, and we've got to be up to the challenge."
What's the communication level between the secondary and LB Zach Cunningham?
"It's communication. He's got to turn around, he's got to communicate with everybody to get the call to them. Zach (Cunningham)'s comfortable doing that, he's done it before. They deemed the responsibility to him and he stepped up and did it."
What's it like when that responsibility transitions to a new player?
"Just a little adjustment to the voice. Zach (Cunningham) is a little quieter than other people. That's the only adjustment, but he can communicate effectively and get the call to everybody."
Do you all have to sometimes tell him that you can't hear him?
"No, his lip reading is a little harder to read than Kirko (Christian Kirksey), because Kirko's got the big smile."
Going forward, how do you all stop having so many big plays made against you?
"I think we stay deepest as the deepest, and the main thing is just everybody doing their job. If your job is to stay deep, then you stay deep. If your job is to come up, support the run and be first support, second support, do that and do it effectively."
Have you seen where some of you all are trying to make a play, but then a mistake happens?
"Yeah, and that's kind of what I said earlier. It's just people doing their job and doing what they're supposed to do. Everybody wants to make plays, it's the NFL. I think sometimes that can get in the way of if everybody did their job, then everybody eats, per se."
What do you think you have to do to hold on to the job you have now?
"Just come in and create turnovers. I think that's probably been the biggest thing. Create turnovers and be consistent tackling, and that's it."
What has been the experience moving forward and back, and working through those things?
"It's giving me a lot of perspective, just being up there, meeting with Lovie (Smith), just seeing the game in a different way. I think before I was so man-focused, like if it was a zone, somebody's man is in my zone, so I'm focused on a man. But the quarterback will tell you everything you need to know, and I think that's been the difference."
In what ways does Associate Head Coach / Defensive Coordinator Lovie Smith help you understand the big picture of the defense?
"He tries to tell us that the quarterback is going to give you the picture. Yeah, you want to have your tendencies and your formations, but at the end of the day, they can do anything they want. So, be loyal to your keys, read your keys and then read the quarterback."
DB Justin Reid talked about eye discipline. Is that something you all are taking into account this week, playing against a team that likes play action a lot?
"Definitely. Like I said before, we stop the run, we can mitigate the play action a little bit and we can play a little bit faster."
