Alan tried to sneak he got nothing, or sewing to pear at it. I got it. I did it. I did it, yes, not yes, not yes, hell yes. Welcome to the OTP four D presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Let the experts at Farm Bureau Health Plans coach you through it when you need the great healthcare coverage at a price you can afford. They've been protecting Tennessee and since nineteen forty seven. With Titans Radio's Amy Wells and
Rhett Brian, I'm Mike Keith. Four D pregame begins with Coach Mack on what was, in essence, the final call of the game he took over Amy. Oh my gosh, I mean the Music City Miracle was good. This is pretty great too. You can feel every emotion that he's experiencing as he's experiencing it and the rest of Titans fans were experienced. I don't think he got it. I don't think he got it. Oh my gosh, he didn't
get it. Oh my gosh, there it is. I mean, it was, That's exactly what every other Titans fan's brain was doing at that moment. So great to hear Coach mcnailed it. I've been fortunate enough to be present for both of those calls, and they are similar, Mike, in the terms of Pat Ryan, your color analystic partner all
those years ago, the former quarterback, the ball player. Well, you have the coach and Dave McGinnis, and while they don't completely understand delayed gratification or theater of the mind, which is what a good play by play guy does, the player or coaching them is like, yes, yes, there's the definition right here. We definitely did. They stopped him.
It's not there this gub. This ball game is over, and so there's this yen and this yang between the two of you that is I love it, and it's one of the more exhilarating calls on Titans Radio and twenty plus years of games for what it meant in the moment, for the stage that it was on, and it captures a moment on this Titans team of a Titans draft pick coming of age and truly affecting the outcome of a big game in Jeffrey Simmons talking about
Big Jeff and what he did on the play. The difficulty with the theater of the mind aspect is it's changed dramatically because New York is now in the ear of the official and there was no signal, There was no signal from anybody initially about whether he had made it or he had not made it, And I think the officials were waiting to make sure after they had been corrected the play before, they were waiting to hear
whether or not they didn't think he had it. Where they were coming into market clearly showed he didn't have it, but they wanted to make sure that they had it right because on the third down run, initially they signaled first down, and the New York group came in the headset of the official and said, you've marked the ball wrong.
You've got to move it back. It's fourth down. That's what Sean McDermott was complaining about after the game, And you know what, I think, rightfully so, because if you're the bills, with the clock and everything happening at that moment, you've got to know what the situation is. If New York's going to overturn a call without a full review,
you should stop playing that moment. You should walk over and tell both coaches specifically what has happened and allow them to set for that, So you know, that's one of the changes we're having to make in our job because New York is now doing that sort of the sky judge from New York City, and it's made it quite different. And I see, I didn't think McDermott was whining in what he said. I think he's right. If you think you've got a first down there, you're thinking
about something different play call wise than if it's fourth down. Well, and we saw that a little bit over the weekend. There were a couple games where in the final seconds Steelers Seahawks is what comes to mind, where in the final seconds of the game, the officials are trying to figure everything out and it dramatically changes the strategy in
the scheme of how a coach approaches a situation. I'm just glad that Mike Keith is the adult in the room when it comes to the Titans radio calls, because he has the presence to say, wait, there's no signal. We all have to be cool here. I was on the opposite side of the field from where the play was happening. I was on the opposite end zone. I reacted to Jeffrey Simmons' face, and I knew what was happening,
because Jeffrey Simmons knew what was happening. Is that the adult thing to do, But it's what happens when the defense comes running down the field after they've made a stop. That's ninety nine point nine percent correct. They know I thought they had made the stop. It appeared we couldn't tell from the initial look that Simmons had fallen on him the way he did, had taken Hawkins back into him and had fallen on top of him, But we knew they didn't go anywhere, and that was what the
situation was. It was a great moment for Titans fans and obviously a great moment for coach Mack. He got
a little excited. And you're right to frame it in the way that you did, because that is the part that inside two minutes, when the New York has it, you cannot challenge and those things where it's literally in skyhawk view, in the league's hands of this thing, well, and they're not stopping it anymore to do the review when they know in order to speed up play, when they know they're gonna buzz him and say move the ball back a half yard. What they're doing is they're saying,
we're not gonna go under the helmet. We see it, and you know what, they were right when you saw the look that New York had, the ball did not reach the line to gain. It was absolutely the right call. But the confusion from the Bill's standpoint was they get a first down signal, they think it's a first down and then very quickly it's not. So that makes it that's a different part of the NFL right now, right, And it makes things complicated and it makes things hard.
And I understand. I think it's a valid complaint that he has, but you don't really care. But I care absolutely none. Well, I was very cautiously enjoying the moment for coach mac because I know what he saw. He knew what he saw. Jeffrey Simmons saw what he saw. And of course I'm back there with Philip Noel and we have a monitor on the side of the wall there in the Titans radio booth, Boot seven, and when we saw that replay, I'm like, because it didn't look
like he had forward progress. Man, it was clear he got nowhere as nowhere. Jeffrey Simmons submarined in there, pushed the guy back into him. It was a stone wall. It looks to me too like Naquan Jones is also somebody who got some serious penetration. I'm very interested to ask Mike Vrabel about that guy who played a pretty good game rookie out of Michigan State who has started to show up a little bit more. Titans didn't want to let him go, so they activated him to the
roster even though he didn't play right away. They think he has potential much like Tier Tart. And so, man, if you're able to develop another undrafted defensive lineman who can help you, Wow, that's a help to not only your football team, but rent to your pocketbook. Any time
that you can get help from undrafted free agents. And we've seen teams throughout the decades who went and got the small school guy in a late round or got really really lucky in evaluation and procurement and working with a guy to polish him up to get it to pay off. And you know, the Patriots have done that. I mean there's several yeah, I mean they like write
the book on it. But so many teams have done that through the years, and this is exciting to know that that may be a possibility you are a veteran team who doesn't have extra cap room. It's huge. It's absolutely huge, especially because then if a draft pick doesn't work out, which inevitably happens, then that guy basically takes the draft picks place in your draft class. I mean, look at Nick Westbrookakina right now, what did he give you on the last drive? What is he giving you
on special teams? This guy's twelve catches on the year. Yep. He had three for twenty seven on the game winning drive to go ahead. Yeah, when you couldn't get Julio Jones because the hamstring flare up and golly. I mean, and that's the thing that's amazing to me about a Nick Westbrook Aquinas. The poor guy had moments last season where it's like, gosh, he can't catch a cold. Now he's reliable. He's reliable Nick Westbrookoquina, and he's special teams
Nick Westbrookakina. It's huge. Yep. Those guys become the foundation of your team because it gives you something consistent, It gives you depth, and it gives you some versatility. But then it also gives you extra money to pay those key pillars that you need to have. So teams are built on those guys, and we don't talk about him enough. Nobody talks about him enough because they're not the big
stars all the time. But those are the people that are holding your team together, and we don't talk about him enough because they're the ones that do the real dirty work. They get their hands dirty. Good player. Nick Westbrook a keena I said right here on this show on the OTP four D, I really believed he was going to be a factor this year, and I still believe it. I think he's I think he's going to be a part of this football team going forward. Who
is a regular contributor, who who? And the fans know him now? The ot people certainly know him all right. First down, let's get right to it. Coach Mack's call of the game was the highlight though, no question, no question. First down, your play that turned the game. Amy, You can't say the Jeffrey Simmons play. I am going to say the Jeffrey Simmons play, but I'm saying it from the angle of a sideline reporter, Okay, if that makes sense, from the angle of a thank you. I've been working
on this for a long time. The reason that that was so important in my mind, besides the fact that it was a call made by the Bills to go for the fourth down instead of kicking the field goal and sending it into overtime. I don't think the Tennessee Titans would have won this game if it had gone
into overtime. I think that this would have been a dramatically different situation for the Titans because had this game gone into overtime, not only would there have been a momentum swing towards the Bills, but there also would have been a issue with the amount of bodies that the Titans had. They couldn't catch a break when it came to injuries, right, yes or no answer, Sean mcdermot's your coach, you're a Bills fan. You kicked the field goal? Yes
or no? Yes you wanted to kick the field goal? Yes? Yes, I want to Yes, I want to go to overtime because I see where the Titans are injured. You're way more healthier, I mean way more healthier. Although Jim Why made the point the Titans had scored were done every one of their final six possessions outside of the end of the first half, where they basically ran out the clock and the end of the game where they ran out the clock, so I guess that's what he was thinking.
I still fall in your lane, however, that I kick it right there, go to overtime and keep playing. The only guy you didn't have was Dawson Knox, especially because remember they're going into their by right. Yeah all right,
So Rhett, your play that turned the game. I go back to six seven, eight minutes left in the third quarter, fourth and two at the Buffalo twenty nine yard line, Ryan Tannehill, it's a j Brown for a fourteen yard game that led to Derreck Henry's second touchdown of the night to get them right back out in front twenty four to twenty three. That's where I thought, Okay, they
are going toe to toe. It's getting towards the eighth, ninth, tenth round of a twelfth round, fifteen round heavyweight boxing match. They can have a shot at this if they don't shoot off their fingers and toes. To me, it was the decision by Mike Vrabel early in the fourth quarter to kick the field goal at thirty one twenty four. I'm sure there were a lot of people. Good you gotta go for it. You can Nope, he says, we got nine forty five left in the game. We're kicking
the field goal right here. We're gonna get within four, We're gonna be able to stop them, get it back, and we're gonna go win thirty four to thirty one, which, by the way, I'm gonna reveal that's what Dave McGinnis was saying the whole end of the third quarter. He said, we're gonna win this game thirty four to thirty one. And obviously he was. He was all in last night, no doubt. But the point was Vrabel sat at the adult table there he said, let's keep playing the game.
When the Titans are doing their thing under Mike Vrabel, they keep playing the game. They don't end it. They don't make the decision that puts it on the line. If you don't pick up a first down in that situation and it's still thirty one twenty four, you've lost momentum, you kicked the field goal, you say we're just gonna keep going. I thought that was the decision. That's the one that jumped out to me. Very good calling opinion by Mike Frabel. Second down Rhet Brian, your stat that
tells the story. The Titans defense gave up four explosive plays, but the Bill's longest play of the night was the thirty one yarder to Emmanuel Sanders on Buffalo's final drive that stalled out with a goal line stand. It's something that they've been working on. I would like them to continue to work on it. But I thought that was marked improvement against a high powered offense that had been averaging thirty five points a game in four straight wins.
Ryan Tannehill was not sacked, which I think is a colossal improvement from all of the rest of twenty twenty one. It was the first game that he wasn't sacked, and despite the loss of Taylor Lawe, the offensive line played a game where they were able to keep their quarterback clean. And for this Titans team, keeping Ryan Tannehill standing on his feet and healthy is going to be a huge part of this offense because you can actually run the
offense when your quarterback back is standing up. So I think that that was a huge victory for this offense overall. To me, it was rushing Titans twenty two rushes one forty six and four touchdowns on the ground. Buffalo twenty three rushes eighty two yards, no touchdowns on the ground. Their longest run was fourteen yards. They had been averaging one forty per game rushing and two seventy passing one forty rushing. Yes, they ended up throwing for three thirty
five in the game. Yes, Josh Allen did a really nice job throwing three touchdown passes, but they could never establish anything on the ground. And Josh Allen nine carries for twenty six yards with a long of seven and he doesn't get in the end zone. That's huge. Here's a stat from Josh Allen when he has run for a touchdown and thrown for a touchdown in a game, they are eighteen and ozo. So that rushing touchdown is once they get him going in the ground game. That
gives him that balance to their offense. The Titans gave up a bunch of yards, and they gave up thirty one points in the ball game, but they never broke because they didn't give up the big plays. As you said, Rhett, and the Titans were able to keep the Bills from running the football through the entire course of the ball game, and that's huge. Because we talked about it all week about how he has designed runs for him. Now, second,
the team in rushing lean coming into this game. The stat I like Josh Allens was six and oz in primetime games. He's o and two in primetime games. Versus the Tennessee Titans, third down your area that the Titans have to get fixed. Rhett Bryan getting off the field on third down allowed seven to thirteen to the Buffalo Bills. They cannot do that on Sunday to the high powered Kansas City Chiefs. Got to get off the field on third down. That's simple. At one point, it was six
of eight in the second half for Buffalo. That's not a good stat I'm pigging backing off of Rett a little bit. They've got to tighten up overall because they were allowed three hundred and thirty five passing yards. That's a lot of passing yards. That's a lot of while they controlled the explosive place, didn't have those big chunks. I mean, they're still grinding it out on you. And you've got to tighten that up before Patrick Mahomes comes in here and starts slinging it all over the place.
Because we know that's what he's going to do, and he's going to try and take advantage of any holes that he sees. In this Titans defense, I think it's tackling still, and I think it's tackling because they were not good at Jacksonville overall. I think they were better in the game against Buffalo. But to me, it stands out because you're probably going to have more new guys trying to do the tackling, especially smaller guys in the secondary.
Caleb Farley could come up and hit you. Christian Fulton has shown he will come up and hit you. Chris Jackson at his size will come up and hit you. Not every guy who plays in a secondary can tackle. And you're going to have more new guys filtering through because of the injury situation overall on defense. So for the Titans, I think it goes back to tackling because these guys you got to get them on the ground.
You've got to get them on the ground in these situations because run after the catch against Kansas City is just beastly. They are phenomenal no matter who they have available. They have plenty of speed, they have plenty of athleticism. Everywhere. You've got to make the tackle. You cannot allow run
after the catch. Mike, to your point on the I believe it was the fourteen yard run by Devin Motor Singletary three miss tackles on that runs tackles, It should have been a three yard game maybe, And Caleb had missed one couple of plays before, so I was like, that's for miss tackles already. And this was early on in the ball game. Said fifteen ended up being the total in the Jacksonville game. So listen. The guys on the other side are big time pros. I get it.
You're not gonna make every tackle, but you've got to be as good as you possibly can be against the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs and teams of that ilk Indianapolis. When you see him with t Y Hilton back and with the way Jonathan Taylor has been running it lately, I mean, it's an area where the Titans have to get better. All right, fourth down one thing that you noticed and wanted to share. We're gonna let aby go first. This game felt like a big time,
prime time football game. The atmosphere at Nissan Stadium gave me chills. It still gives me chills this morning. Absolutely amazing from start to finish. The crowd. The crowd was crazy, absolutely crazy in the best possible way. I don't think they sat the whole game. I don't think they sat either. It was the first time and I can't remember how long I looked up into the upper upper deck and I thought, oh, my goodness, every seat is full. It was.
You could see it, you know, you could feel the energy. It was so exciting. Having the lights the way that they were programmed, so that every time there was some sort of a break in the action, they could dim the lights and they were flashing blue. It felt like a major performance. It felt like a show. It felt like what any person expects an NFL game in prime
time to feel like. It was crazy. It was so good, and I was so proud of the Titans and of Nashville again showing up in those big moments when everybody's watching and being able to show what this team is about and what this city can do, and how excited they are about football. It was amazing. It was just it was an epic game in a in a lot of different ways, but the way that everybody showed up
for this game crazy. It was great the view from the Titans radio booth in the closing minutes, you just delivered the final call the Titans get it done again, which was great, always great to hear and to see you and Coach Day McGinnis waving and talking to the fans, and Coach Max says to Philip Noel, and I was like, hey, come up here, let's let's talk to these people. Wave
at him. Of course, you know, I'm making sure commercials running or but I'm also I'm looking out the window and I see first of all, Bills fans in shock, and then the rest that are a lot of faces you see every week, and they didn't want to leave. And I loved that for them and was so happy for them because so many times in recent history, especially the last five ten years, the Titans may have put something together to have a big moment like that and fall short of that. And you said it best last
night in post game. The people in those seats that are season ticket members last night, they'll be there on Sunday, garanteed now. But I was so happy for them that they got the show, they got what they wanted, and they didn't want to leave, and It's a moment I won't soon forget, and quite frankly, selfishly, I wish could have lasted just a little longer. I've got two and so I want to follow on your points about the crowd.
The thing that we see out of the booth is when there are opposing fans in the area of the Titans fans in front of us, we will occasionally see people get into it with other people. We will occasionally see arguments and nastiness. What I saw last night, for the most part, does it looked like just a bunch of people having a good time. It looked like the Bills fans were having a good time and the Titans fans were having a good time, and they were watching
Monday night football and they saw a great show. That was the most lead changes on a Monday night football game in thirteen years. Wow. I mean that was a classic Monday night football game. Amy, you're not old enough to remember, but rhet and I certainly do. There was something about Monday night games that used to produce these crazy results. Teams would play up to the stage. That last night was two teams playing up to the stage. That was great. You got your money's worth I don't
care what you paid for your ticket. You got your money's worth if you were there. And so to the Bills fans, I say this, you got a really good team and your season didn't end last night. They're loaded, they're as good as we thought. Maybe didn't have their best night on defense. Who knows. To the Titans fans, I say, this is what you can be, This is what we had hoped, and we will see if this team can find a way to keep it up with all of the issues that they have right now physically.
The second point that I want to point out is the clip we played with Dave McGinnis that shows if you are a person who's ever wondered what it was like to work, or to coach, or to play in the NFL, that tells you the amount of passion and emotion that goes into it. That was not some guy acting on a reality show. Nope, that was heart and soul at everything that he could put in it. Because he loves Mike Vrabel, he loves John Robinson, they're guys on this team he absolutely loves. He's been on our
broadcast for five years. But what you get every Sunday from Dave McGinnis is the real NFL experience. You don't get that on most networks because most networks don't have somebody scratch that. No network has what Dave McGinnis brings to our broadcast. And we are so lucky to have him to bring that sort of passion because if you really want to feel it, listen to him at the end and I just let him go. I just stopped. I handed Brad Willis my head said he didn't see me,
but I was fine. He's got it. And that's the point is he had it because as Amy said earlier, he was properly describing everything you felt in that moment. For the Titans, it was euphoria. For the Bills, it was utter devastation for one day. You know, tomorrow is a different day, next week's a different day. But that tells you the highs and lows of the National Football League. That's what a coach goes through. You know, that's what he's lived his whole life. We are lucky to have
Dave McInnis. Alan tried to sneak he got nothing or sewing up. Point at it. I got it. I did it, yes, not yes, not yes, hell yes, I pinched myself every time we do a broadcast because I, first of all, I never know if it's going to be the last, and I want there to be many, many, many more. And last night was a prime example of that. And I used earlier right here on the OTP for D about a boxing analogy. You didn't get a knockout blow, you got a technical knockout last night. It was a
split decision. It was you know it was. It was something else, but very special night for the organization for Titans Radio, for all of the fans who have been pulling for this team over and over and over again. They got what they wanted. Well, and think about this too. That's what everybody is talking about today, everybody everywhere. That's what they're talking about today. And that just goes to show the impact that the NFL can have on a community.
You know that that everybody. And if you say, did you see it last night? Everybody knows what you're talking about. I hope they heard it last night too. They heard it. They turned down the sound, although I heard the guys on TV were great. Speaking of turn turned to the folks who've been in the game since nineteen forty seven, Farm Bureau Health Plans offers the great healthcare coverage you need with a price tag you can afford. Thank you for joining us for the OTP four D, for Amy
Wells and Rhet Brian. I'm Mike Keith and as always this is the O t PO where the mountains. Everybody knows. It's our house, making three greenness. We got side and bottle running you a fence