INDIANAPOLIS — Welcome Inside the Huddle. We're at the Colts Complex, joined by defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
You're coming off a loss to the Denver Broncos. The defense played, for my money, their best game of the season, but five turnovers on the offensive side of the ball. As you get further removed from the game, what do you take away from it? It was high stakes, came up short. As a leader, what do you think?
"Yeah, it was a tough loss," Buckner said. "You know, all season we've struggled with playing complementary football, you know what I'm saying? ... It's not just one unit doing well all the time, it's the entire team feeding off of each other. We just had too many mistakes all around and came up short."
So as a leader on this team, what's your message? You guys aren't eliminated from post-season play. Lots got to go your way, but what keeps you going as a leader and what are you passing along to your teammates?
"Yeah, it's another opportunity. You know, it's a division opponent coming into our house and we've gotta finish the season strong and everything else will shake out. So we gotta take it one week at a time, starting with the Titans," said Buckner.
Three weeks remaining. You haven't been home in a while, it feels like. What's that gonna be like, finally playing at Lucas Oil Stadium. Three games to go and you can still end this thing the right way.
"No, it's exciting. We love playing at home. I'm hoping the fans raise all the energy like they normally do and let's get this win," Buckner said.
How much has this Titans team changed since the last time you saw them? It feels like forever ago and they're obviously having some issues of their own on the offensive side of the ball. What do you see?
"I think they're finally starting to establish themselves, you know, understanding who they are," said Buckner. "They want to run the ball and defensively, we have to have another solid week in the run game like we did last week, you know, carry over the things that worked and clear up the things that didn't and just eliminate the run game this week."
Riley Kid of the Week
Each week on Inside the Huddle we recognize a Riley Kid of the Week, who have we got this time?
"It's Ezra Hayden. He's in fourth grade from Lafayette and he has his own YouTube channel," Buckner said.