The OTP | Covering 4 Downs from Week 5 at the Commanders

Amy Wells and Rhett Brian. I'm Mike Keith, Mike Vrabel, blunt, not a lot of gray area with that guy trying to get into the Nate Davis thing too yesterday about so was this uh? It was this something a Sunday morning or a Saturday because when we got the inactives you have today morning, we were very surprised to see Nate Davis on there, right, And all I got was no surprise, it's nice try thanks for playing. Got some

serious head coach answers there, Yes, yes I did. He was glad to win that ball game though at Washington, no question, and to have it won in the dramatic fashion. I mean, good Grace, I mean, what are you gonna do? That's awesome. It was a little intense down there for a while. What was your vantage point of the final So the final play was in the corner of the end zone, on the opposite side of the field from me, but I was on about the twenty or thirty yard

line just watching everything, I mean through my fingers. Essentially, you knew the Titans were going to do something. You just felt it in your bones that someone was going to do something. And it was intense. I mean you could on the Titans sideline you could hear a pin drop. It was crazy. Mike. The interesting thing, of course, to tell folks where we were yesterday. It's one of the worst views in radio for yeah, I mean, it's just bad.

And we actually were a little closer to the home sideline and a little better angle than we were eight years ago. But it's like calling a baseball game. I mean, if there's home play right there and we're doing calling baseball,

it's perfect, but it's not. It's football. But that play happened in front of us in our close corner, and you know, seeing it digest against one thing but going back and looking at it the film today, David Long, it was so impressive because here comes Terry McLaurin and he throws a vicious block on him, shucks him off, and then he just goes right over and steps in front of m kissing because McLaren's trying to pick him, Yes, and he ain't having none of it, and he can

do that. There were some in the media up there that pointed out, well, David Long made contact with Terry McLaren. Well he can because it's within five y'all. Yes, this is short goal line play. And for him to just pick the pick, so to speak, and then go over and make the pick nice. I like, how you did that? Wow?

I mean that was a great play by So. Philip Noel from our Titans radio team said something interesting last night that he watched the tape and that Christian Fulton was in really good position regardless, and he didn't believe that McKissick would have scored had the ball even gotten to him, and the ball had a downward trajectory anyway, So it may have turned out well for the Titans even had Long not made the fantastic play. Have you seen the same thing. Yeah, I did notice that after

he had messaged us about that, and he's right. Christian Fulton. First of all, Christian Fulton, I think is really playing some great ball for the Titans. But yeah, he was

well within range right there. All right, So before we go to first down, I want to talk about Christian Fulton for a second and a taxiim Yes, that was something that you and I Amy were having conversations about on Saturday when the new league policy came out, saying that if you showed any form of a taxi, which means more or less, I'm just going to generalize that if you're not stable, if you wobble, if your head you know, moves back and forth, if you're just not clear,

and it's apparent from the first moment, not if you just get knocked down and you have a hard time getting up, but if you are unstable, then you cannot return to the ball game. We referenced this on Titan's radio when Fulton came up and made that tackle and didn't just bounce up immediately as they got him to the sidelines. Did you notice a difference in the observation process from what you had seen before when they thought

a guy might have a concussion. Absolutely, and the league has always been, in what I have noticed, very thorough in their evaluations. This is not a knock on how it has been done in the past, but it was incredibly thorough and attentive. So I noticed, like to the point where they're asking the questions, you know that they asked to kind of get an idea of your mental clarity and that kind of thing. But they were listening not only to his answers, but the way that he spoke,

which is part of that ataxia thing. They were making him kind of do some walking and movement to establish if he had that stability. There were a lot of things that they were looking at, and there were more people involved in the assessment than I typically would see. How many would you say, would you just guess five? No, kid, Well, you have to remember there's team doctors, then we have

the trainer, Todd Torselli. Then you have the independent neurological evaluator, right, and then there's a couple other people who were kind of because there was this new policy, you could tell there were more people involved making sure they had everything correct. I had spoken to one of our team doctors, the day before, and he had mentioned the new policy and how interesting it was going to be for that to

go into effect. So the fact that we had a situation the next day where that was able to be put into place, I think they all wanted to make sure that they hit every mark that the league had laid out. So there were probably a little bit more people involved than there will be going forward now that they've kind of got an idea of what this is

going to look like. But it was interesting to see how many people were involved, how many people came out to make sure that they were in agreement with what the evaluation was of his mental clarity and his ability to continue. It was a very interesting thing to watch, and I kind of positioned myself in a way where I could see and hear a little bit more than I normally would if someone's being evaluated for a concussion, because normally it's okay, they're in the protocol, will let

you know later, you know. But I was interested to see what this was going to look like. I was very impressed by it and just how many different facets of his mental stability, I guess, and his kind of health and wellness they were able to tick off in a pretty quick amount of time. Ataxia is listed as abnormality of balance, stability, motor coordination, or a dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue. If a player shows any hint of that rat he's not going back in the game.

Before if he showed that and then he sort of got back to a normal baseline, he would be allowed to go back in the game. That is reportedly what happened with to a tongue of Iloa in Miami is that he was wobbly, but that he sort of bounced back to normal, and that was what everybody was so upset about. It's like, how could you allow him to

go back in the game. What they've learned is that was what the policy want, is that if he got back to normal function and everything appeared to be back to normal, then it was just a sort of a temporary setback. Now, if you have a temporary setback, you are not going back in that game. Well, Mike, first of all, I thought you explained it very well on the broadcast yesterday that this is went from a general rule to more expansive into how everything is evaluated. And

I'm glad that you. Amy shared what you saw yesterday in regards to Christian Fulton, because that is exactly what we saw on the Thursday night football game that started week five. When there is you know, the independent neurologists. He wears a red NFL hat for those or he or she does, and then there was about the same amount of people looking at a surface tablet at the contact and then going into the protocol and trying to

figure all those things out. So it's much more detailed now and looking for telltale signs that maybe just would have been a kind of a glance over because it was a more general, broad rule and now it's more finite. Absolutely, I think that again everyone took this seriously before. We're not saying that it wasn't taken seriously previously, but what they were looking for the criteria was a little bit

more vague. I think. I think it left a little bit more up to the discretion of the people who were there and kind of determining, well, he's back to a baseline, so that's fine. Now there's a little bit more of a finite, rigid set of rules and criteria that need to be hit. Well. I think it's just more protection of the player automatically, rather than because you know, the guys want to go back in the game. They're the world's best competitors. Yeah, they absolutely want to go back.

They're saying I'm fine. But now instead of making that assumption, they're going the other way. They're saying, Nope, you wobbled when you stood up, which Fulton didn't. Fulton got right up, he walked off. He was not being assisted off the field. You could see, Okay, maybe he's not. And not every hard hit, not every time you're shaking up on the play, is it a concussion? But sometimes if it is, or it has that evidence. Now instead of sort of giving the benefit of the doubt to going back in the

benefit of the doubt, says you're out right. And that's the difference. I think it's a good thing. I don't think they were doing anything wrong beforehand. I don't think they were trying to leave guys in games who were punch drunk or no. They're just doing more. They're doing more, and I think that's a good thing for everybody. And I don't think anybody was doing anything intentionally wrong. I don't think the medical people were trying to stretch it

out in different ways. But I think this is better for everyone involved. And the other thing too, it's it takes a lot of people with teams off the hook because now if it's like this, I mean, if you do what to a tongue of ioloa, did you you know you're given it the you know, the Michael Spenks wobble against you know, against Mike Tyson. You are not going back in the game. And that's a good thing because nobody has to make a decision. It's like, that's it,

You're out. Yeah, right, Nobody has to be the bad guy and say I'm sorry, you can't play. There's no negotiation, can't talk yourself back onto the field. That's exactly right. But I'm glad they gave Christian Fulton his helmet back and sent him back out. Well, and I'm glad. We're all glad. He's okay, yes, first and foremost, and he's more than okay as a player, no doubt. All right, first down and you cannot say the David Long interception.

You can't on it. You just can't do it. Your play that turned the game is Tennessee beat Washington twenty one to seventy. You really can't say that point. How could you not? I mean, that's gonna because that's the answer. I mean, that is the answer. They won the game because a guy went intercepted a pass at the one yard line. But what you're saying, Mike is we give the ot people more more, we do deeper. It's just better. Okay.

So I wrote this down in game as it happened, and you're not going to be surprised why I tell you who it is because it's the Nick Westbrook a Keene sixty two yard reception in the third quarter. And I wrote it down as soon as it happened and circled it and wrote play of the game because in that moment, you felt all the momentum shift back to the Tennessee Titans. I mean, listen, the Titans had had two series where they went three and out. That was it.

You felt like, oh no, we can't get that traction again. Here we are in the third quarter of the game. We came back after the half, and the same story that we've seen for the last couple of weeks is happening again. He was able to make that play. It's set up the Titans first second half score in two weeks and all of this sudden you felt like those wheels that were kind of spinning in the mud finally caught on something, and the Titans offense was back in business.

You could feel it on the sidelines, you could feel it in the stadium. It projected that team forward, and the Titans ended up getting the score. On the end of that drive. They go up again and things feel good for a change. So that was my play that kind of turned the game. Now things got a little shaky in other spots, but that was such a colossal momentum shift that was like tangible, you could feel it, and so that's my play that changed the game for me.

It's the Ryan Stonehouse punt early on in the game because if you look in context, that was ten twelve left in the second quarter. The play before that, it was third and twenty three. Ryan Tannehill has a sack that's lost for thirteen yards, done by Jonathan Allen and Deron Payne, and so they're deep in their own territory in this and Ryan Stonehouse puts a sixty six yard punt.

Then Holmes for Washington was called for offensive holding, so now it's a seven yard penalty and Washington's at their own fifteen It's what'd you say, a seventy three yard flint. They ended up starting at their own eight yard line, So the Titans punting just outside their own end zone and Washington up starting just outside their own end zone. At that point, they had a ten to seven lead.

That's the most important part of it. Washington had a ten to seven lead, and whatever momentum was there in the stadium was there's I was surprised how few people were in attendance yesterday, right right it was. I don't know that I've seen a stadium that empty during the regular season, especially at a place like that. I mean, that's a ninety year old franchise that began as the Boston Braves. That's a franchise that's won multiple NFL championships,

what three Super Bowls. I mean, it's a special franchise. It is one of the hallmark NFL franchise. It's a legacy franchise, a legacy franchise, and there is I think between what's going on with the ownership and then I think just years of bad ball. I think the name change is a big deal to people just from the

standpoint that it's one more thing. Yeah, I don't think it would be that big a deal if the owner wasn't in as much trouble as he's in, and they weren't having all that commotion, and if they'd won recently. Washington really hasn't been a good team in the twenty first century, and to put a mild lead the fan base is interested, they're disinterested. I mean when we arrived yesterday morning and it was what a forty five minute ride from where we came, so we got there just

before ten o'clock Eastern. There was almost no tailgate, none, and every person in the parking lot that we saw, none of them had on anything commanders, none of them, and a lot of them waved at us like high neighbor. Yeah. I mean it was not one from a couple, but I but I mean, you think about those East Coast teams that are the legacy franchises, the Eagles and the Giants and the Patriots and all these I mean, when

we go to those places, Buffalo, it's rough. You're gonna Pittsburgh, you I mean, they're giving you the business man, and there was just but at the moment you're talking about ten to seven They've just thrown the seventy five yard touchdown pass to danby Brown and they're getting the ball back, and they figure to get the ball back in goodfield position, and instead they started their own eight. Yeah, it tamped

it all down in a big way for me. The play of the game was the touchdown before halftime and the way Vrabel managed the clock, the great job that he did. Because Washington's going to get the ball to start the second half. Year down ten seven, you haven't moved it well. You put together a really really nice drive that takes off the last seven minutes of the half.

You punch it in again in the red zone, and now you're up fourteen to ten, and anything they were going to take into the locker room or bring out of the locker room, it's sort of gone. I would agree if I had gone first, I would have picked the Westbrook a Kene catch as well, because at that point the Titans couldn't drive the ball. But I think to go back a little bit further, that touchdown right before halftime was just huge, and what a job by

Derrick Henry to get both of those end yesterday. All right, second down, reet, Brian, you go first, the stat that grabbed your attention. Well, and I'm gonna go a little outside the rules here because we're talking about stats within the game. But I'm just looking at this stat right here.

Eighteen point six. You know what that is. That's how many points per game that the Titans have allowed in their last three contests, after giving up forty one to Buffalo in Week two, fifty six total points, an average of eighteen point six a game. That defense, even though it's wounded, is doing more than it's part. Yeah, that was a good rule. Rule bread. I thought he was going to do yours and go like three different stat No,

I just kind of bigger, bigger picture, bigger picture. But they gave up seventeen points yesterday, and so yeah, that falls right in line. I mean they've they've done the job. You do that and you're gonna win some ball games. I mean, you're holding an opponent under twenty, you're gonna win most ball games in this league. Absolutely. Mine is third down defense by the old Tennessee Titans. One for eleven, one for eleven, And it was in the very last

drive of the whole game. I mean it was at the very very end when the Commanders got their first third down conversion. So very proud of the Tennessee Titans for being able to do that, because we all know that when you can get an offense off the field, you're stopping them from scoring points. Well, let's take all of this further and I'm going to kind of piggyback on what you've talked about. First of all, third down defense a key, turnovers a key. The Titans taking care

of the football. What about Ryan Tannehill getting womped all over the place yesterday, didn't fumble, did not fumble, which other quarterbacks around the league had been fumbling quite a bit in those situations. But they took care of the football. Red hits on it, hold them to fewer points, do a good job in the red zone, make them kick field goals, or, as in the case of the last drive,

not score. The other thing for me that adds to that, though, is the Titans continue to score touchdowns in the red zone. They had two hundred and forty one total yards yesterday. That's not good. No, that's not a lot. But they scored twenty one points because every time they got in the red zone they scored a touchdown. They are twelve of thirteen in the red zone this year scoring touchdowns,

which is number one in the NFL. That's the biggest reason they're three and two, because they did get to twenty one points based on the fact that they used what yards they had. Every time they moved the ball, they scored and that was it. That was basically the story. Yeah, it was all right. How about third down area where the Titans must improve from yesterday's twenty one to seventeen went over Washington. Ryan Tannehill cannot be sacked five times again.

We need to protect Ryan Tannehill. He will die now if he keeps getting hit like this. I mean, it's just it's a reality. You are more likely to get injured when you're getting hit well, that's true. And you got to protect your quarterback. He's where everything starts. You gotta keep that guy upright, and so whatever needs to be done. And it's a full offense problem. We've said this in the past. It's not just the offensive line. All eleven guys have to be working together for everything

to work on offense. I think a lot of it was offensive line yesterday. I think so too, But everybody needs to work together to solve this problem. But you have to have to have to protect your quarterback. Well, right, we talked about it and we expanded upon it with coach both on and off the air, coach Dave McGinnis. That is the fact of the matter is they're having to do some things to help protection. So there's some

things they can't really run. Right, They're not going to run a lot of straight drop back because they're not able to protect quite as well as what they have been. Well, guess what. Teams start to figure out what your adjustment is, and then they start to adjust to your adjustment, right, and then you've got dudes like Jonathan Allen and Ron Payne and Montes Sweat and jam and Davis and you know, on and on and on faobada, you know, guys like that who are just beastly, yes who can beat you

one on one. And then they took advantage of that yesterday. Washington, by the way, is no cupcake and they are going to give people trouble as the year goes on because they play that kind of defense as they figure out their offense a little bit with all those weapons and get Dotson back at wide receiver and see Brown take off the way he did with the two touchdown catchers. They're gonna beat some people. Not making any prediction about what their record is, but that is not a bad

football team. They're one in four football team, but they are not a bad football team. Now. They've got players, and that's the thing is. I think that maybe goes back to the fan base and being disinterested in Washington because they've got all these top picks on defense and they've got players everywhere. Well in Chase Young will be back at some point two on defense, and he's the best defensive lineman they have. Yes, all right, Ret Brian, We're on third down, still area where the Titans must

improve from yesterday. This is gonna sound silly because a lot of people are going for it more on fourth down. But the fourth down defense they have number one. Titans have the number one third down defense in the NFL right now, but they have the worst fourth down defense. I think it's been seven out of nine completed attempts

on fourth down. And you know, listen again, part of it is the byproduct of the NFL and where we are today because somebody people go forward on fourth down and it's just a crapshoot sometimes, but I think that's one place where you can clean up a little bit. For me, it's two hundred and forty one yards of total offense. I mean, I know it was great. I just said they scored twenty one points. But listen, they've got to do better than that. Got to move football.

They've got to move the football, and they've got I mean as they go forward, and in essence what we've seen now, Titans are three and two, Colts are two two and one, Jaguars are two and three, the Texans are one three and one. We're really starting all over. I mean, in essence, this is kind of where everybody thought we would be, the Titans and the Colts would be at the top, and the Jaguars would be third and the Texans would be fourth. But everybody's completely bunched up.

I mean you look at the numbers. Houston can win the division. Yeah, I mean they are. They are so not out of it right now, which means you're gonna have to take what you're doing going forward and improve upon it. The Titans are going to have to be able to put up more numbers on offense. You know, you can't drop passes that would give you first downs, you can't get the penalties, and some of the penalties were I mean, they were oddly called. I mean it was.

It was very such a nice way to say that, it really is, because I'm thinking of the Jeffrey Simmons was on defense. But that's a bad I mean, that's a bad call. That's just a bad call. When an official is over fifty yards away from the play and can see something, he or think he sees something, and I don't know, some of it just didn't make a lot of sense. When the umpire throws holding, Okay, when the referee throws holding, I got it. But when guys from way on the other side of the field, that's

what always gets me administratively, I just don't. Yeah, I don't. Anyway, offense has got to get better. They got to gain more yards. They got to score more points. They need to get not only over three hundred yards per game, closer to three hundred and fifty yards per game, but they've got to get into the upper twenties and scoring. If they're gonna make a run, they've got to start scoring more points. I think what will help them is as some guys come back. The defense will get better,

I really do. I mean you think about who's not out there right now and who they're going to get back in the next month, and they can improve a lot. But the offense, regardless of the defense plays lights out, the offense has got to do more. All right, fourth down, your player of the game, Rett Brian gets to go first. But I know who this is gonna be. Yeah, me too, it's mine too, So go ahead, you go first, your first.

It's Big Jeff. Yes, it's been you know, we talked privately and even on the air, off the air that Big Jeff needed a Big Jeff type of game, and he did. One and a half sacks, quarterback pressures, had five tackles, had one downfield on Terry McLaurin that would have been a busted play and first might have been a touchdown right and a twenty three yards down the field and a PBu and he gave their the offensive line.

Now they didn't, you know, batter. You know, Carson wentz with regularity like you know what Ryan Tannehill went through yesterday, But they made his life difficult by the way. So the pressure stat that's done in the press box when they grade the film. That's the what they called the official pressure stat seven quarterback pressure from the coaches film from the coaches, Wow, is what he was given credit for. Seven. Unbelievable. He had a big Jeff day. That's the great way

to say. He got tackled more than once too. Yes, I mean they could have called holding. Maybe that guy's sixty yards away could have seen that. Am I wrong? Here's the other way too. Does anybody else think the ball where Christian Fulton was called for past interference, which I'm not sure it was anyway, watching it back, he and they're they're fighting. Ball was uncatchable. It was not even a little bit catchable. No, you were one hundred

correct nor crazy. You're right if they called holding, it doesn't matter if the ball is uncatchable or not, but it passed interference. It has to be. It has to be a catchable ball. Yeah, Amy, Well, No, I mean I because my player was big Jeff as well. I mean such a dominant player. And just I talked to him after the game for Titans Radio, and man, he is just so fired up about this team. He's so

fired up about the defense. He is just he's kind of the heart and soul of the Titans defense right now. And I'm just so excited that he's part of this team. And it made me laugh that he was so annoyed, not that David Long Junior got the interception, but that he ran it back as far as he did. He's like, listen, bro, I'm tired. That was exhausting. Quit making me run so far. I played eighty seven percent of the snaps again, and he just wanted them to get down right, stop running right.

I thought it was great, but yeah, I mean, he's playing the majority of the game and at a high level every single snap. It's amazing. It's unbelievable. He's amazing. I could have voted for him. You could certainly vote for David Long with the eleven tackles in the interception. I'm going in a different direction though, Ryan Tannehill. Ryan Tannehill's numbers were pedestrian. What he's fifteen of twenty five,

one eighty one and a touchdown. That's correct. But he got hammered several times, sacked five times, but never lost the football. Never really. I can't remember him coming close to throwing an interception and just piloting the ship, getting them down there being cognizant of everything, finishing drives with touchdowns. That was winning quarterback play on a day where you absolutely had to have it. That was Ryan Tannehill at

his best. And something that struck me yesterday. I have a lot of sideline reporters thoughts today apparently, but something that struck me yesterday was even with the amount of times that he was getting hit and kind of the beating that he took, he never came over and was frustrated with the offensive line. He never came over and had like a moment or was yelling and screaming trying

to get guys. And I mean, you have to imagine that there were some parts of that game that he was not having like the most fun he's ever had in his life, but he never lost his cool. He would come over and he'd make corrections, he would explain things that maybe needed to be different or what he was seeing, but he always had something positive and encouraging on the back end of that. He was so much a leader to me in that moment where he could take the hits, he'd take the shots. All right, let's

course correct again. Okay, let's course correct again. I was so impressed by his demeanor because if I was him, I would have gotten mad and mean because that did not look fun sometimes getting hit. He took a beating, yeah, and yet he kept getting up and he kept running the show. And it's what it means to have a guy. And a lot of people undersell having a guy now. Heem Heinz said it after the Titans Indianapolis game, and

I thought it was a great comment. He said, he said, the biggest advantage the Titans have is they've had the same quarterback for four years. We got a new guy every year, and so we got to get used to him. He's got to get used to us. And there are nuances to it. There's things that everyone just knows together because they've been playing together and having that impact. And I just thought that was a great illustration of what is the best thing about Ryan Tannehill, which we knew

from the start, is he's tough. He is a tough, tough guy. Continuity is vastly underrated. Farm Bureau Health Plans has Continuity seventy five years of it, providing Tennesseeans with high quality health coverage at an affordable cost. Visit FBHP dot com to learn about our history in Tennessee to end Amy Wells, where were you when they decided that we were gonna play one more play? We're on the field. Oh,

I was in the middle of the field. Jeffrey Simmons is doing a jersey swap and so he's got like a full arts and craft situation going on. There's like the multiple sharpies involved. They've got everything laid out. They're like down on their hands, and he loves Manta Sweat and that's who he swapped with. Yes, that's one of his best friends. You know. They came out in the same draft class, and it was it was a whole like experience. I've never seen someone lay it out as

intricately as they had. No but like what if it was available the bedazzler. It was intense and so they've got all this stuff laid out. I'm standing there waiting to do an interview. It's great that I hadn't started doing that interview for Titans Radio because they would have had to just play around me. I mean, I'm not moving, but they so. Our PR guy Dwight Spradling comes over and says, hey, I'm not sure if this is real, but don't let anybody leave the field. Okay, So I'm

kind of like, what is this gonna be? So then they come over the loudspeakers and they're saying, all right, everybody needs to clear the field. Yeah. Everyone just kind of looks around. Coaches scramble like rats, trying to just find enough players to put on the field. They're running up and down the sidelines. We're all clearing the field. The equipment guys are very confused because they're shortened to pack everything up, so they're confused about what's going on.

And I look back and I see Jeffrey Simmons just like scooping up all of his stuff and just walking to the sidelines. It was one of the weirder things that I've experienced on the field in my time in the National Football League. It was just very confusing. But then I start thinking, am I gonna get in trouble for being out on the field. I mean, I'm supposed to be here, but like, shoot, I better get out of here, so I start running real fast. It was weird.

It was very weird. The whole situation was odd. Would you agree with the bizarre moments? Yes? Titans win twenty one seventeen at Washington, and uh, that's going to wrap it up. We've talked enough here for Reet Bryan and Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith. Thank you for participating, for listening to the OTP four Deep welcomes the Big Show where the legends go. I never boughten knows it's our house finding thoughts, Tennessee. Making three Greatness is a be