This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Plan on paying less for the coverage you need with Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP dot com. I'm Mike Keith. The Titans are back from London after losing to Baltimore twenty four to sixteen. I visited with Mike Rabel on Monday to discuss the loss to the Ravens and what to expect from bye week. Here's my conversation with Mike Rabel on the OTP. Mike, you met with the media this afternoon, and you're obviously
asked about Ryan tannehill status. If you don't mind for those who didn't have a chance to hear kind of update people on what you said about your quarterback.
Well, you know, he's got a high ankle sprain and we'll see you know, he's been through this before. And you know, I just got caught in the pocket there and a guy came down on it, and I know how tough Ryan is.
And we've got a little bit of time, so uh to.
Have to give you any more information that I don't have any more than that.
So we'll have to make sure.
That you know that we get everybody ready, you know, whether that's Ryan or whether that's Malik or will we'll we'll have to have a plan based on on his health and everybody else's health.
Get back from London. Obviously, the two guys with the concussions are of concern to Titans fans, Chris Moore and Josh Wiley.
How are those guys doing right now? Great?
From what I've seen, both doing well. And they'll they'll work their way uh through through the protocol and and we'll see how how they progress and what they're going to be able to do this week or heading into next week.
How much will you do this week as far as practice, would like.
To do some you know, I think everybody's got a different plan.
But we have to you know, we have to think about winning this week, you know, finding a way to win this week and get stuff accomplished for each player, for each position group, for each unit, and for this team. So that's my goal, that's my thoughts, is trying to do the things that we feel like are going to help us at this point in time.
Talked about some of the good things that you saw during the course of the game with Baltimore. One of the things to us would have been Harold Landry. We called his name quite a bit as you reviewed the tape on the way back. Did he play as well as we thought he did?
He ran around and chased and you know, we have to win one on ones, you know, whether that's Harold, Jeff, Denico Arden, guys that we think that that can affect the quarterback when they get one on ones, that that's the expectation. So they all have to we all have to win more one on ones. It's what this game comes down to, whether it's coverage, whether you're trying to get open or you're trying to block somebody, you're trying to get past them.
Sean Murphy Budding is another guy who continues to show up his ability to battle one of the things you admire most about him. Well, I think he's an instinctive player.
I think he's smart. I think he knows kind of what to get away with, what what can't.
You know.
I think he sees the picture and kind of you know, challenges you know when he has to. And you know, again those are the things that we're talking about. The play that he made is just making the ones that you're supposed to make and you know, took advantage of an errant throw and again it was there and he made the play.
And that's that's what we're talking about.
It is not doing anything above and beyond just making the ones that we're supposed to make.
Have you made a decision what you're going to do at the left tackle spot after Nicholas Petifrere comes in for Andre Dillard yesterday.
I know I'm not going to make those decisions less than twenty four hours after the game. So we've got a long a lot of time before we play another game.
All right, Now, let's talk a little bit about some of the other guys who've jumped out in the first six games of the season. And I want to go back to Taja Spears. I mean, takes that quick screen and just making people miss all over the field.
That's the part of the game you love about him.
We have to manufacture more touches, but he didn't do that on his own. You know, there's there's three offensive linemen out there, there's a receiver out there at the point of attack, and there were some really really cool efforts and once you go watch that play again, uh Nick Petite and uh Brew watching those guys run and everybody trying to finish, and then obviously, you know, the.
Guy with the ball has got to do his job, in which Taj.
Did, and you know, I'm just going to continue to need those types of efforts from him and from everybody else that we give the ball to.
We said that a lot out of Aaron Brewer, and it feels like he's taking more and more of a leadership role, not just with his words, but with his style of play. Is he becoming that type of player who really sort of symbolizes what you want the Titans to be?
Well, I hope that would symbolize anything that we would want to do with this organization on the field. Off the field. It certainly plays with a with a level of speed and effort and violence and in the way that he carries himself. Not the biggest player, but you know, I think he's kind of doing the things the way that we would want him done, and you know, we just need to kind of get that consistency throughout the rest of the unit. And and I think that we're
close at times. There's a lot of cool runs in there, a lot of good protections in there, and then you know, sometimes not so good.
Unfortunately on third down.
The difficulty for the Titans in the ball game against the Ravens just forty six offensive plays.
It's not enough to create enough place. It's not enough to get the ball to Derek enough. It's not enough to get the ball to Taja enough or check or hop and you know, any of them.
That's just.
You have to be so good with the forty six that you have, you know, and when you look at the forty six plays and how many of them were third downs, how many of them were two minute when you're down two scores. So really in the bulk of it, just just not enough plays that to complement each other.
As a coaching staff, what are the things that you'll focus on during the course of this off week, Well, it's about self improvement.
It's about trying to figure out what our players can improve on, making sure that there's a level of cohesion to our position group, that we're focused on unit execution in all three phases, and then also building the team pride and team success is critical, and those are the things that we're going to focus on that I'm going to explain to the players.
Jeffrey Simmons gave an interview in the locker room after the game, and one of the things he said is we need to focus on the guys who are ready to play, and the guys who are not ready to play, they need to move along. I don't know if you heard Jeff's comments that we played earlier, but strong statement from number ninety eight as a former player and now as a head coach, is that the kind of thing you want to hear at a moment like this from him specifically.
And Jeff's earning the right to say what he wants and what's on his mind. And again, when you lose, you're frustrated. You know, We've we want to win. That's why we come to work, That's why we do what we do. And yeah, we need everybody. We need the guys that are out there to play better. We need the ones that aren't out there, uh to come and help us so that we, uh, you know, we could
start putting something together. And uh, you know, but I'll say the guys that you know to stepped in, whether that's a practice squad or guys that uh you know, played more snaps and than maybe what they normally would. You know, I got we got some pretty good efforts from.
Them, like Jaliel Johnson or Kyle Peco in the defensive line.
Absolutely.
You know, I think Jalil played uh much improved from from the indie game. Played with his hands, played with some pad level showed up.
You know. Peco is as good as he's been for us in the game.
It just did not only his ability to to knock back the tackle a few times and create some some no game plays one on short yardage. I had a couple of cool effort plays. And those are the things that we're going to continue to do that are going to help us win. There's some things that we're going to have to eliminate, but we're going to start there with the things that help us win.
You felt like you got your run defense back under control against Baltimore or more of the way you wanted it least.
And a quarterback, however many he had when he dropped back to throw the ball, I mean where they're not even playing a.
Schedule on a run.
Whatever those were, Take those out.
And then they're not going to take out the ones that he kept in his own read. That's the responsibility we have to make sure that we're good there, But there were some pretty good, pretty good walls, pretty good edges, some pretty good tackles, toss crack they tried us on and you know we had guys running to the football and tackling.
That's my Monday talk with Mike Rabel. It's always game on with Duncan. So grab a coffee and kick off the action. Whether that's drinking a cup of coffee on your way to the game or grabbing one to go before watching the game at home, Duncan is always there to help you get your game on. Just like the pros, we need to be at our best come game time, which is why Duncan is the most important part of your game day ritual because it's always the best call
for Football America runs on Duncan. And now welcome my fully caffeinated Titans radio broadcast partners Ret Brian and Ramone Foster. Retbrian is actually having a Duncan.
What are you having? Cole Brew?
Cole Brew with a little almond milk in there? Nicely done? Ramone? How are you hanging in there? Are you jet lagged at all?
It won't hit me until you know later in the later in the week. How it always comes and bites you back. But you know what, the flight wasn't back coming back, and we all made it back safely. And I think that was a little bit of a turbo in that playing coming back. I think we'd bet timming, y'all.
It was nicely done, well done by the piloty congratulations all right. So I have gathered some things to discuss and I'm just going to throw them out and you can respond however you wish. They're just some notes, some stats. I don't know if they're very newsworthy, but they seemed insightful to me, So here we go. TAIJ Spears got only four touches at New Orleans. Over the next four games, Spears averaged nine touches per game, with those numbers growing weekly.
In London, however, TAIJ Spears had only five touches, the last of which went for forty eight yards on a quick screen.
Are you surprised by that? Surprised by his use a little bit?
Yeah, because he's been proven the more reps that get, the better he does. And it's not like he has to have you know, the high number, double digit numbers, twenty, you know, thirty, it's just his ability to pop an offense. His ability to be a splash player is what you saw. I think the tailtale sign of it was in the second half of that game, when the Titans were behind.
You give the ball to a guy like Taza and it's not like he had, you know, tons of guys in front of him, his bob and weaving inside of defensive traffic, almost making Kylevin NOI rip his growing As far as the way he made him split on the run and get down to the tight red zone. I think it shows you the capabilities he has when it comes down to his play making ability. That's what's most exciting about him. And you have to ask that question, what more can he do with the ball in his hand?
Even more moving forward? And of course that means you may have to take reps from somebody else that somebody else may end up being Dereck Henry. But if this is something that can be very advantageous to this offense, the ability to include more explosion plays, the ability to keep defenses unbalanced is what Taj kind of proves for you. And also having the ability to run your offense.
It's good.
I'd love to see a little bit more of it, But of course I'm not the OC or the head coach.
You gotta make those decisions.
But when you look at the results of what he's capable of doing throughout the course of the game when he's had those opportunities, he's earned it for sure, Mike.
I think it's what they liked about him and hoped for him when they drafted him, and I think now that they're seeing things, even in the smaller sample size, as long as those plays start becoming explosive, I think you will see an uptick in his touches in this. We'll see after the bye week, they got thirteen days before their next game, and then we'll just see how this all plays out.
Next one.
Titans are averaging twenty four rushing attempts per game. The opponent actually more twenty eight rushes per game. Of course, coming off two games where the Colts went for one ninety three and the Ravens went for one thirty nine. Derrick Henry averaging sixteen carries per game, which is down for him. Did we ever think the Titans would average less rushing attempts than the opponent or is it just the fact that they've been behind.
A little bit of both of them behind makes you elect to throwing the ball a little bit more too.
That always plays a part in it.
But the time of possession by the opposing teams have been a little bit more than what the Titans have in the last few weeks, Mike. And with that being the case, and they're able to turn and work this defense down with them being out on the field a little bit longer, you have to resort to your sub packages to where Derek's not running the ball because you're playing catch up with what the coach did at their home stadium on how they ran the ball. You gotta
play ketchup. You got to get the ball out of your hand, and that means relying upon the passing game or going to your sub packages with a guy like Tazie Spears.
The other guys in the game.
There are weapons on this team that's just capable of making plays for you, and you love to see Derek get those reps. But when you're behind or time of possession becomes a key figure in games. You gotta get away from twenty two. And I know a lot of fans don't want to see that be the case, because there it gets better over time. But when you're pressed against the clock. These are the results of it.
Ramon, You're right, because you score gets separated in this and you have to go away from what is normally the usual hand that touches the ball. I mean, look at the time of possession difference in London. I mean the the Ravens added thirty five forty two to the Titans twenty four to eighteen. And when things get out of hand like that, you have to go to a different option. Well, it comes down to third down conversions. The Titans' only third down conversion came fifty eight minutes
into the game. It was on the Taje. Spears quick screen that went for forty eight yards. That was a third and seven play. Up until then, they were zero of eight on third downs. The Ravens finish eight of sixteen, largely because they stayed on the field.
You got it right, Rhett. The difference in time of possession was eleven minutes and twenty four seconds. The number of plays seventy for the Ravens offense, forty six for the Titans.
Third down mattters a lot. It's the continuation of plays, it's the flow.
Of the game.
If you have no rhyme or reason to what works for your offense. It confuses you. It's frustration and you could see that in this team on game day a little bit too. The ability to work a team down. Honestly, the way Baltimore Ravens did this defense is past weekend is what you look for out of a team. Seventy plays is actually above the average. Most teams average about sixty two plays a game. And for your offense to only have forty six plays offensively, that means no rhyme
or reason. That means turnovers, that means negative plays. That's nothing goods coming out of that. Because again, if you're twenty off, well almost twenty plays off of what the average is in the NFL, that's a frustrating day.
There's no way to run Dereck Henry twenty five times if you only are getting forty six plays.
Think about what we're saying right here.
And yes, Derek did have the big explosion play, right, but think about where that play came from. That came with Derek ben on the field with Taj. That also came with a fake jet sweep to Taj where Derek kept the ball and hit the side. I know I was just saying, just do that. You can't play offense in the NFL with the King Kat.
You have to get to where your.
Quarterback, your offensive line, your wide receivers, your tight ends, your running backs all move the changs. This says a team effort when it breaks down, and that's what's most frustrating.
You leave out of the game.
You kind of say yourself, what more can we have done? And the simpol as of Mike is what you just said. Convert on third downs?
Right, you want to hear a strange stat. Here's a strange stat. Opponents are converting forty one percent of their third downs against the Titans, which isn't really that bad, but they're largely doing it because they are completing nearly seventy two percent of their passes against the Titans defense. Now, I mean, that's a strong mark any time, but that's
well above the league average. The Titans are converting just thirty four percent of their third downs, and their quarterbacks or their passers whomever it might be, completing just sixty two percent of their passes, which is below the league average. So nearly it's really about a nine percent difference in completion rate. Which keeps the clock running, keeps the chains moving. It's a little fact that you don't look at, but when I saw it, it blew me away.
Ratt and it makes sense as to why just in yesterday's game in London that you had seventy offensive plays by the Ravens and only forty six to the Titans in this because they were able to keep those long sustained drives, which is exactly what the Titans were trying to do against that Baltimore Ravens defense, and unfortunately there were three and outs involved.
It was and Mike, that's so fascinating hearing that so too.
But here's the thing about it. You're dealing with.
Sometimes Jimmy's and Joel's, mattter a little bit more too. You've been without Tier Tar, you got some young guys coming into Jalil Johnson play well, Na kwon.
A plays last week.
We're looking at all these things that are going into the defensive side of the ball too, and of course you got to look at the guys that are either new or coming back from injury. Harold Landry still finding his footing is a big play in that. I look at also Ard and Key, the plays that he has to make moving forward. And what's expected of this defense. If you got one guy that's getting double team and Big Jeff gets his fair share, the other guys got.
To get home.
The linebackers have to make their plays in open space too, And it's one way to get to the quarterback. I mean to affect an offense. Let's get to the quarterback that's not happening at the rate that you love to see from your defense. And this defense has always been one of those types of teams that drags you to the deep end and they're not capable of doing that right now. And I think in person starts with a little bit of personnel with what's happening defensively for this team.
Get guys healthy, make your plays when they come your way.
It's not happening, And it goes a layer deeper in the Ravens game because what has been a strong in your special teams part had some big plays in sudden change. You had one with a muffed punt by Kyle Phillips on the one yard line that ends up being a field goal in that and then you'll allow a seventy yard return by Devin DuVernay.
You've hit it perfectly. Special teams produced a literal six point advantage for Baltimore. Duverna's seventy yard punt return produced a field goal. By the way, great job by Stonehouse to get him out of bounds and his GPS he tracked at like nineteen point eight four minus Ryan Stonehouse. Stone House Wow tracked crazy in terms of running DuVernay
down and getting him out of bounds. Well, that produced a field goal, and then Kyle Phillips muffed punt produced three more points right at the end of the half. Six points that the Ravens got just in the punting game.
You know what's fascinating about that, Michael is Well, we talked about the defense a second ago.
The defense is still playing well enough.
Just you gotta get assistance from those either special teams or the offensive side of the ball. I know a lot of people are thinking, man, you're supposed to just let that ball drop while we're trying to catch it. Well, his job is to feel punts. How Hell's is right. It's unfortunate that it happened three points out of that. Okay, we'll live with that. But of course, the ever by Ron Stonehouse and the efforts of that defense after that big return speaks a lot about what they're capable of doing.
But when you put yourself in bad situations like that, whether that be from the special teams or whether that be from turnovers, that makes a long day at the office. And it just, honestly, Mike, seventy plays grinds you down when it's your job.
To stop people.
And if you're not stopping people, or you're stopping people to a point, you will find yourself on the short end of the stick.
Well.
And then you have the physical fatigue of Baltimore, which is on both sides of the ball, and then the mental fatigue of having to play Lamar Jackson, which means you have to be on your toes every second of the day. You know you're gonna give up some yards against him. You know you're gonna give up some plays, and I mean, you're not holding them to one hundred yards. And that's the way it is. You're you're having to manage this guy and not let him make the big play.
And what was good I thought was in that tight red zone area except for the scrambled play. Does you speak of the anxiety of going against Lamar Jackson that scramble plates is they Flowers, Well, stop dead in this track until you keep I mean, Zay Flowers, a four to three guy. You know you're gonna lose them if you're trying to watch Lamar be dynamic. Also, but if that was your only touchdown giving up again, there's something to build on. But it's a matter of having everybody
on the same page. And I think that's why you hear some frustration from the fan base, coaches, and even players.
Now, Mike Well, I mean the defense is not playing badly.
No, And I'm so glad you pivoted to this because I'm looking at the explosive plays. You know, they give the ten longest plays for each team, and the four explosive plays they were all passes from Lamar Jackson to his receivers, including tight ends. No scores on those immediate plays, right, you didn't. Now they resulted in some But the other part is justin Tucker had six field goals in this There weren't six touchdowns.
There were six field goals. Well, here's what the defense is doing so far. The Titans six opponents are averaging three hundred thirty nine yards per game. One hundred and two rushing, two hundred and eighty seven or two hundred thirty seven passing. Titans opponents have nine touchdowns in six games, eighteen field goals. They're averaging nineteen point five per game. So, by no means is the defense playing poorly. I mean,
you can't say that. The Titans, on the other hand, are averaging two hundred and eighty four yards of total offense one ten rushing, one seventy three passing. Obviously there's some rounding in there. I know, I know one ten and one seventy three don't add up to two eighty four, but there's rounding. The Titans have scored eight touchdowns and have sixteen field goals. They're averaging seventeen point three per game.
So not a lot happening to the point where the Titans are scoring the way they want to.
Here's a weird one for you.
Justin Tucker's block pat was the first non successful kick in a Titans game this year for either the Titans or the opponents. That was the first time every every field goal has been made, every field goal and up until then, every extra point has been made by both the Titans and their opponents.
So far this year, so.
We have we have not called I have not called a kick no good on Titans Radio all year.
I called we Knew that on We Knew That on Nick Folk, But I didn't think about the other one.
That's rights to Mike the begetting to the red zone.
Well, that and the kicking has been unbelievable in the NFL this ye. Yeah, I've got a couple of the weird ones for you, But first I need to tell you about our friends at seat geek, the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. That's right, Seat Geek is the newest member of the Titans family. If you haven't heard the name yet, get used to it, because you'll
be hearing it a lot more this season. Whether you're buying or selling tickets to the Titans games or to any other live event in Nashville, Seat Geek is the place to do it. Seat Geek the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. So Titans fans can fan Ramon Foster and Ret Brian talking about some of the some of the interesting numbers, not so interesting numbers. By
the way, here's another oddity. Oh, the Titans muffed punt by Kyle Phillips on Sunday was their first lost fumble of the year.
How they hadn't lost a fumble to that point for all that has gone on, and there has been a lot.
Yeah, let's just stop that. Let's keep that at one and keep moving. Yeah, that's when you think about it all e.
It also shows you to these numbers are very very close, and you think to yourself, of all the things you've said, you're two and six, but you've had so much goal in the wrong direction for you. But it's not all best really a game of inches, and it's always a small detail that goes into wins and losses in the NFL.
That's why so hard to win.
But that's also why you celebrate wins and loss and what wins better than losses in this league too, Mike, it is wins come at a premium, and it's always the smallest detail that gets you to that point of understanding, like, look, it's a game of inches, man, And when the guys go out there giving their the all to what goes into this game and you come up short, it's not like they're trying to lose. No, you're not trying to
lose the ball bounces in there on there. Having one second left before the half in London should be a telltale sign of what it means to win and lose in this league.
Titans have fifteen quarterback sacks. They have allowed twenty three, so the team's sack ratio is minus eight, which is not horrendous. It's not great, obviously, but it's not horrendous. I mean four of those came in the fourth quarter with Malik Willis in the game yesterday trying to rally the troops, so you could say that's a little misleading. The Titans turnover ratio is only minus two, so I mean, that's not awful. That's not end of the world bad.
The Titans are averaging six penalties per game for fifty yards.
That's that's not bad. And I mean.
Maybe some of what we're talking about right here is where Rabel is saying we're closer than you think, and the ret the whole world doesn't want to hear that right now, and I get it. But you usually find when you start parsing numbers going into the by, you usually find all this damning evidence, and the third down stuff is damning, the red zone stuff is damning. But the stuff that you usually is out there is not.
Let me give you just as you're speaking about this, I'm looking at the game yesterday with the Ravens seventy two tackles on the defensive stat sheet, forty one of those came from the second and third level defenders.
Well, that's the game within the game.
He tenues to be a prob I mean right now, Kevin Byron ten tackles, that's too many for a safety.
And Amani Hooker had seven, seventeen from your safety.
Yeah, and then you had Gibbons and al Shier combined for twenty four. And the guys up front for the second game in a row, did not make a lot of plays. Harold Landry did have five. He had two tackles for loss in a sack. I think we've talked about Harold already, best game he's played all year as he comes back from the ACL and if he's rounding into shape, that's a big deal.
The numbers in the front better than it was last week, because I'm seeing Jalil Johnson with four, Autrey with four, Jeff with two, Kyle Pecko with two. I think it was only six tackles up front last week, so doubled that output the better.
And when you look at the scores of these games also, and I don't think that's been anything to say, oh, yeah, well they were behind and just let them score. The one off, you know, set game in this game in this season is the Cleveland Cleveland twenty seven through twenty four points spread. Right. Everything else has been within a score as far as being able to win a state in the games in London, I mean, you get that touchdown.
There were leading scores on the interception return, or Derek finishes the runs or Taje finishes the run.
I mean, let's go to those two special teams plays that allowed that allowed for six points there. Let's say they don't happen there, and then the Titans come out and score, and it's not.
Well, what you're saying, Ramoni is you're saying, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong. In five of the six games, the Titans have not been.
Outclassed, not blown out.
This isn't like the old teams I used to play with the Cleveland Browns, where you just knew he was gonna blow them out and everybody just be ready to go home immediately after game. It's not that type of down. Okay, it's not that type of game. You're fighting in these games, and that's why the frustration sets on variable, That's why the frustration sets with your team players. You just hear if you listen to us postgame, Kevin Byers, speed, you
hear Big Jeff Speed. You hear these guys try to find answers for you, and the answers are You're that close but figuring out how to either get a stop, score in the red zone, convert on third down. And I've been a part of teams where that's been a big emphasis. We gotta convert on third down, we gotta score in the red zone. And all it boils down to, y'all is this reps, training of it, detail of it. And that's something that in the course of a game, a defender throw you off your route. I mean, it
could be as simple as that. It could be you know, the offensive line picking up a and they were just better on you, better than you on those plays. It's the flow of the game, but it's also the detail of understanding that, Okay, we just got to strip it down a little bit and get to get back to zero.
I'm figuring out how we get past these points. And of course you talk about the indie game, not giving up the big runs, right in the Saints game, three turnovers, playing to play in it, you know, having a play and a part in it. We can pinpoint certain things and every game except for the Cleveland game that you say to yourself, take this away, we win well.
Of course, now Cleveland has put up numbers defensively through five games that have not been seen since nineteen seventy one in terms of yards allowed. They're giving up two hundred point four yards per game through five games. Only two teams in modern NFL history in nineteen seventy and nineteen seventy one two teams have done better. So if you're having a bad day against Cleveland, they're gonna make you pay for it. You know, they did it to
San Francisco. Rock Purty is no longer the new Tom Brady, at least this week, based on a performance against Cleveland, So you take that into account. I think another thing about third down and red zone that I've noticed over the years, and Ramon, you played in the league and you've covered the league for a long time, been around teams, so you take it first. To me, those are the moments like you're taking the final exams. It's the tests.
It's first down's one thing, second down something else. But third down everybody starts to feel it, particularly on the road because the crowd's loud. Oh, I've got to make sure I stay in my stance properly. The guy on the outside. I've got to make sure I run the route to the perfect depth. I've got to make sure I'm thinking exactly what the quarterback's thinking. Quarterback knows I need to throw a good ball. People on blitz pickup have to be perfect. Red zone's exactly the same way.
There is pressure, so when you don't do it well, all of the sudden, your confidence is weakened. When you do it well, as the Titans have done the last four years, even in practice, whatever, there is belief. So when people ask Vrabel to me, why are you not doing the red zone as well as you did the last four years, and he says, well, it's a different year, a different team. That's true, but this team hasn't built the confidence that they built, and I think it at times shows unfortunately.
And let's take it a step further, because we have seen this in every one of the six games that they have played so far. Let's say they've done it right on first and second down, and so they have a third and very manageable third and two let's say, and we've had the self inflicted wounds with a penalty of off sides or whatever you want to call it, that ends up dipping you down low again, going, oh, no, we've made a mistake again. You know, another example of
you can get to a low sure. That's happened so many times in this season so far.
Well, and they had the penalty on the one play where Derek had picked up the first down, and then they come back and they don't make it, and then they punt and Duverne returns the punt seventy yards. And so those are the things that show up so big when you are continually not executing.
Talk about the pressure. Part of the pressure.
Part of it is is that the defense knows what you're doing at that point, usually the third down and in a rezon here's what a lot of people don't speak about to and I know we've heard coach Mack bring this up. Also, you get to the red zone, the defense gets a twelfth man because you get the do you get the end zone, you get the sideline, you get all those things. The playbook shrinks because look,
when it's tight red we can't go yard anymore. We got to make sure it's ten to thirteen yards or it's five to seven yards on the players we're trying to make to get to the red zone. You have the systems, like I said, of the back end out the end zone.
You have that.
You also have the idea that more times than not in the red zone you are going to pass it, especially in third down, because in the red zone you're trying to get as many athletes as you can out there, and more times than not that's usually four or five pass catchers, so the ability to run the ball is usually out, especially if it's third and six. You got
to talk about the management of it too. And let's go specifically here because I felt like we were going to see something in London that never actually got there one just watching Josh Waally Chris Moore both out. No trailing weapons matter if we're trying to convert on third down, and it seems like every game there's been somebody out, somebody you know can cuss, somebody have an ankle, somebody.
You lose and you lose the ability to make place.
So if we get to the shorter part of the field and I play book shrinks, but then our personnel shrink. That's a hard day at the office. Good point, it really is. And when you look at okay, all right, we on our morning showy Heyler, will a.
Lot of people just saying will check us out.
You have a lot of people that say, use Derek in this situation. But here's the thing. You line Derek in and backfield and you decide to run the ball, and teams know you're going to run the ball with Derek or they're ready for the screen. It's not a player you rule in the run right there, because it's not open.
Field like what happened to Indianapolis.
Yes, sir, I mean, let's speak about the reality of what you're asking to be. Why why you're not successful or need to be successful in the red zone. It's because of those things. You either lost players, got penalties, or you find yourself third and loan.
And that's a hard sledding, especially.
When you're down trailing. You're down Chris More, you're down n w I Wiley, Wiley, Josh Whally. When I saw Josh Wiley catched that ball down the scene, I was thinking to myself, all, here we go, here's the here's the weapon we've been looking for, because you got a big target that's not afraid to go down the field. And it's unfortunate that he was knocked out of that game. And it's unfortunate that Chris Moore was both in the red zone both red zone moments well.
And the bottom line two with Josh Josh Wiley is growing. When you see Mark Andrews yesterday. I'm not saying that Josh Wiley is going to be Mark Andrews, but your dream would be that he could grow into something like that. When you see his catch radius, when you I mean he's he's shown up. I mean he made a great catch even at the end of the Indianapolis game to
keep a drive alive. Quarterbacks like to throw to him because he's six seven and he's long, and he's Wiley pardon the punt in terms of what he can do, and he's figured it out. You know, two months ago he was the guy going, now, what is it, dude that I do? And even a month ago he was. But you see the lights start to come on with guys. This is what happens, and people are like, well, why were we not playing him early? Well, he probably didn't know the plays, or he was having to think about
it so much. He was either making mistakes or he wasn't playing quickly enough. Suddenly a guy like Josh Wily, the light comes on and you go, yes, he's going to help our football team, and I think he is. I like this player. I like to pick ret No's. It was a great year for tight ends. He was a unbelievable value in round five. And I hope he's not out long because I think he's going to.
Help this team.
Here's the other thing about Josh Whillly we haven't discovered as we're talking about him growing literally physically growing. Here's a guy that is getting with Frank Rhino in this strength and conditioning staff. He has a chance to grow into his body with a little more bulk too, and that's gonna right. So, I mean, we haven't even talked about that part when he gets an NFL body on him, and then the brain part continues to grow as he is learning the playbook and knows what to do.
That's where it really becomes dangerous.
Well, and where they had faith in him Ramon is he would stick his nose in even when he didn't know what he was doing. He was not afraid to stick his nose in there. And what a player at any level. Yeah, if you've played football at any level, you've heard this. If a guy's willing to stick his nose in there, it will happen for him at some point. And Josh was not afraid. Maybe confused, maybe didn't know everything, maybe because he was a rookie. This is the ninety
nine percent of the time rookie thing that happens. But if that guy's willing to stick his nose in there, he'll grow into something.
What you're saying is effort is a talent thing, that's something that's.
In you, and physicality and he has both of those things. Yes he does.
Man And again the charges game, I think he went out with an ankle. Okay, and then this game, I don't think. I don't want people to ever think like, Okay, well you know he's injury prone type of thing. No, that was a hit that he took, he got sandwiched, and then Pole drive by Kyle Hamilton in London. Okay, not many him come back from that, and he tried to get up all those things. You saw the TV
graphics of everything that was available to him. But again, when we speak about how this team has lost in you know, the woes of third down, the woes of the red zone, the woes of trying to get this run game established, and the course, there was a change at left tackle yesday that happened to and I think we all saw immediate responses out of that. Also, the season is always a puzzle. Certain pieces gotta fit and you try to figure certain things out. It's not like
this team is just bad or been bad losses. But it's not a bad team. There's answers to the questions that you have. It's a matter of of course, detail always the ball bouncing your way sometimes. I know Kyle Fellers would love to have that back. One second, y'all, we're talking about one second, and I think they had to look at the clock to make sure that the ball was down.
Those types of things come again.
I've always had the model you want to be on an airplane ride up, not a roller coaster. If you're sending at all times, even with a couple dips because there's turbulence on the airplanes. Right, there's a little bit of a dip there. But as long as you're ascending, you got something. This team can fight out of this. Again, only one divisional game so far, and that team's gonna have to fight out of a hole itself with the coach that is, you got an opportunity to go to
a quarterback, play a quarterback soon enough. And Trevor Lawrence has had his ups and downs also, and a rookie in Houston.
All you need is to win your division. That's the goal.
Win your division, get the shirts, get the hat, and punch your ticket to the playoffs.
Here's another one, so I'll end it with this. The only Titans this season to catch touchdown passes are can you name them?
Josh Wiler. Josh Wiley is one trailer gets to the end zone. Sure, no hop.
Haden got hop hadn't gotten it either, Nick Westbrook Akine has two. That's got to change, right. You gotta get Hopkins in the you gotta and you're gonna get Burke's back, which is exciting, and I mean, who knows and a cockwo you know Chick has has factored in the offense, but has they tried to hit him on a couple of big plays in the game in London Almost there, almost there twice, you know, I don't know. Here's another one.
Okay.
So the Titans have five takeaways this season. Travis Gibson had a strip sack against Cincinnati. Two players have the other two. They have two we or have the other four. I should say so. Sean Murphy Bunting has a stripsack at Cleveland and an interception against the Ravens, had a Mani Hooker had an interception and a forced fumble and a recovered fumble in the season opener. So only three Titans. Only two Titans have cut touchdown passes. Only three Titans have forced turnovers so.
Far this year. And those I mean that has to change, right it does.
I mean just the law of averages you're saying, my goodness, it speaks to level of big playability and guys making things happen. Yes, got to step that up, especially the guys who are getting paid. And then the other part of it, too is just it happens.
It happens, it does, and nobody wants to hit add E skins, So absolutely.
Not get it.
If I'm listening to the OTP right now, I know I don't want to hear it. But if you've done it long enough and been around it long enough, you understand it will happen.
It does eventually, the nutcrack as far as what you and starts off if everybody's right minded.
So here's the thing.
So we're going onto this bye week, right, guys, and everything has the opportunity to fester a little bit mm hmm, right.
And that's what you have to fight off.
You have to have the understanding that, look, hopefully Tannehill can get back health and if not, the young guys need to be ready if there is a change at on the offensive line, figure out how you guys gonna work and messing jail together. And here's the other thing too, because we all heard the audio of Big Jeff Jeffrey Simmons kind of challenging this teammates, whether that was the offensive side of the.
Ball also included in that.
I think that has to be the case too, because if you're only you know, having forty plus plays in a game, forty is play less than fifty plays in a game. A portion of you feel that the other side of the ball feels that the offense needs to feel that pressure a little bit. Also, everybody has to put their hand in a pile. In weeks like this, there can't be any separation, there can be any fragments. When it comes down to this team, you're in a hole,
the fox hole with each other. Either you gonna come together. Keep the outside chatter at a minimum. Understand that. And I hate to even use this because you know how I feel about the same. But the Patriots just do your job. Verbel said those types of things. Everybody has to do their job. Don't try to don't screw me over trying to go. Make a play for yourself.
Make your play.
If it accounts with just five yards on the catch, take your five and get down. If it's you holding the offensive lineman so that the defensive linebacker can make a play, do that. I don't care about your stat line. We need to win as a team and that's what I feel like. Big Jeff's sentiment was after the game in London, I need people to do their jobs so we can all eat.
That's always the Lion pack eats together.
And the only thing I'll follow that up with is like Rabel, teams are usually pretty good after the bye week.
They are so to that. But I can't follow it up with much else. I thought you were just gonna go amen. I mean, yeah, let's pass the offering, play right, first three stanzards of justice.
I am yes, I wouldn't try to golf there, but I promise you the passion of this game because we're close to these guys. Sure, we see their faces, we see their reactions, we hear them being in a locker room.
This is not a bad football team. It ain't.
It's not a it's a team that's not playing well right now, but it's not a bad football team. And they're two different things.
They are very much so.
And you know, you see teams stink it up, and we saw a few over a period of time, and we didn't go to the playoffs two win team and a three win team and a six win team in twenty twelve that might have been worse than the two other teams.
And there was a laundry list of things that needed to be it's a much shorter list what we're talking about.
Yeah, this can be fixed. And the schedule puts you in a position if you take care of your business, you can get back in it. But it's aiming towards Atlanta. I mean, you've got you've got to go get that game, certainly to have that momentum going into Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
And here's the thing too, there's a lot of opportunity in this if you were looking for, if Malik was looking for it, Will Levice y'all was looking for for, if Taj was in search for NPF being back into the conversation trailing, I mean, honestly, I know injuries are a big part of it, but let's figure out a way to stick with it. That group of five or six dues of youth that I've mentioned right there, we've all talked about separately too.
Now is your opportunity, Sure, run with it. You got a game.
Against a former offensive coordinator here and author Smith coming into town, a home.
Game where you're wearing the Oilers uniform.
Come on, man, and then you got to go on the road to Thursday night football. You can bang bang this thing and get right and honestly put a put a stake in a roll, you know, on what you're trying to be as a group.
And I say that younger group because they have a lot.
Of optimism and there's opportunity there for those dudes that I mentioned run with it this week, especially coming out of a buy carpe DM.
Okay, So the question I will ask you about the Oilers uniforms. If Ramone Fosters playing for the Titans and he's getting to wear the Oiler uniforms and he's wearing big seventy eight and he's looking all clean, what color shoes do you wear?
I'm wearing white white. I'm doing white white. Yes, I gotta go white with the white socks. Oh my gosh, seriously give me white socks, white white, white, white shoes.
They white shoes, Yeah, yeah, but I think I would have to wear red shoes.
With the red face mask and red gloves. Details details.
It makes a puff, I know. I tell you what else some guys have got. They have powder blue shoes, powder blue cleats.
You know the reason I said white, Mike, It's because as an offensive line, we don't get much anyway to wear black shoes. White shoes, man, that's all they give us.
Black shoes are pretty sweet, though they are, But when you got a light colored jersey, but with that face with the red faces. That's the biggest thing. It's what I want.
It's it's why I said on the OTP when she started talking about this, I said, please please wear the version of the oilers uniforms that we wore as the Tennessee Oilers, and it was the eighty one through ninety eight version. It was the last sixteen years of the Houston Oilers and the first two years the team was in Tennessee where they were the Tennessee Oilers. Because I think the helmet's the sharpest. I think the outline is the sharpest. I understand that the nineteen sixty look as
the original, you know, didn't. It wasn't my favorite. No, this is run and shoot, this is run and shoe, this is this is Warren Moon and.
This is given Ernest Gibbons. This is the dudes, you.
Know, and young Steve McNair and young Eddie George and young I mean.
It pops, it pops, it pops.
And when you see the helmet, like when we saw the helmets at practice, when when I've seen the helmet in the building, you're like, oh my goodness, oh my god. I mean it's like you you can't believe how good it looks.
And you're saying to yourself, this is going to happen. This is going to happen. See them go out there last week in the in their helmets to practice and kind of get those the fittings.
Right before they do this game. I got excited.
I got in the jerseys and they are just clean, amazing, clean, amazing.
I mean, the replica jerseys are great.
But we did the private event and Big Jeff was there and oh my gosh, so my.
Ask, I said red shoes because I'm wearing red shoes. My history is this is here. And coach Montsak talk about him too.
Yeah, and he called them the silks. They don't call them jersey nice because they look so smooth.
It like in hockey they call them sweaters. Yeah, they call them the silks. Man. I was just like, oh my, they are they are very pretty.
And of course the other thing too is when the team played in Tennessee for the two years, they wore white, and the idea was we're always going to be on the road and so we're gonna wear white and just embrace no excuses all of this.
But people didn't get to see the love you blue blue, except like in the ninety seven Dallas game on Thursday when they had the drive that took the whole third quarter and they beat Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and the cowboy Marcus Robertson had a big game. We could go on and on. We could go on and on. We we've got to stop. We have to stop. But see, there's a lot to be excited about. OT people.
Hang in there.
Seriously. Ramon Foster, thank you all, Ret Brian, thank you glad to do it.
And to the OT people, we say thank you for listening to the otpeople.