This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. When it's game day for your health coverage, trust Farm Bureau Health Plans to draw up a winning play for you. They've been backing Tennesseeans for nearly eighty years. It's always good to have Brian Callahan join us at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park. So let's start off with some specific questions about Sunday's game with the Vikings. Amy take it.
Away, Coach Callahan, you wanted to see Will Levis make improvement, make progress from the Chargers game to the Vikings game. As the guy who runs this team's offense. Brian Callahan, did you see that progress that you were looking for?
I did.
I thought it was a step in the right direction from the week before, and that's what I was hoping to see. Really difficult defense to play against Smack, a lot of different things they do that are challenging for the quarterback, a lot of answers you have to have, and I thought Will executed that plan really well and made some high level throws in the process. I thought it was a really strong step. And then in his progression and I was really pleased with it.
What were some things you liked and some things you didn't like about the way the secondary played against Minnesota.
I thought they did a really nice job against a very talented group of receivers. Between Hockinson and Addison and then obviously Justin. Jefferson's the arguably the best player at the position, and I thought Jarvis battled he was in position. You know, we're still it's got a couple of flags in the back end, a little grabby at the top of routes that you know, we'd like to get eliminated.
But man, I thought they did a pretty pretty dang good job of keeping that offense in check and making some plays on the ball, and in some one on one coverage situations they didn't They didn't get and get going anything crazy in that receiver room, which is a good room. And I do think Darrol Baker's done a
really nice job stepping in for us. I mean, just to come in at the end of training camp and have the impact he's had and played as much as he's played has it's been pretty good to see him perform at the level he's performed at.
Now, you mentioned Justin Jefferson, if I had told you before the game that Justin Jefferson would be targeted eight times and that he would make six catches for eighty one yards.
Would you've taken that absolutely?
Yeah, that's a I think I might have said it on the show last week that he's going to have his production. He's going to have you know, eight to ten catches and probably somewhere between a hundred plus yard. I mean, that's pretty much every game he has, and so that will take that. If somebody said here, would you sign up for this against Justin? I said absolutely, I would sign up for that. Then that's a testament to those guys in the secondary and the way they played.
Going back through the game box, the Titans had twenty one of their fifty five offensive snaps in the first quarter. Eleven of your nineteen rushing plays came in the first quarter. So while Minnesota has a good run defense, I just wondered, did the flow of the game dictate more about going away from the running game than even Minnesota's run defense did.
It did at a certain point. One of the things in that I was we didn't have a great day on the ground, and that is I think statistically the number one rushing defense in football, and it's that way for a reason. They're really hard to pin down on their front structure. They play every front you can play. They play base people into your eleven personnel. They moved, they pressure, they stunt, they move. It's just a really
hard team to run the ball against. And we had some difficulty in that in the first part of the game, and it wasn't going great, and I just felt like the best chance was for some of our passing game to help us get into some more manageable spots. So yeah, it was a combination of both. I just felt like we were doing a decent job passing the ball and then we were having a hard time running it and hard to kind of stick with it when it's we
weren't having the success usually get. You have some success somewhere that allows you to sort of stick with it, and we didn't have a lot of it. And then the game, you know, we were down some points at in the second half we.
Were trying to climb out of When Jack Gibbons was injured, Jerome Baker stepped in and he made eight tackles against the Vikings. How do you think Baker played?
I thought he did a nice job you know, you can tell he's played a lot of football, play a lot of a lot of snapshead linebacker over his career so far, and that showed up, you know, just to be able to step in that role and settle it down and play with some consistency and make sure that we didn't have any major glaring issues or errors. And I thought he did a really nice job. And on top of that, you know, it's it's a very communicative spot on the defense, and you know, for him to
step in and do that was was impressive. And I thought he played well.
So does he become the green dot and he's calling the defense.
We'll see how that shakes out this week, you know. I mean, Kenn has been doing quite a bit of it, and Jack it's done some too, so they've all done it. But I think that we'll see how that shakes out. I don't have a definitive answer at this point.
Your defensive front end, particular, got after Sam Darnold, Jeffrey seven six pressures to and Andre Sweat five pressures, Arden Key four pressures. You had four other guys with the pressure. I mean, it was real. It wasn't just statistical. It was real, but you only came away with two sacks, So I wonder is there a coaching point that you go back to with the defensive lineman about making the pressures turn into sacks better.
I think the biggest issue is just the discipline and
the rush lanes. You know, we has the opportunities to get him down, don't get him down, but then he gets out and makes plays off off schedule and runs and throws a couple of balls on the field, and that's you know, usually when you're playing guys that can move around, it just has to be more detailed to the and the discipline to the rush lanes of being where you're supposed to be in conjunction with the rush or the pressure or whatever we have going on that's
trying to get to the quarterback and can do a better job of that of not letting him get out, you know, not losing a gap and that way he has an escape lane as opposed to kind of condensing and crushing the pocket on him where there's not really anywhere to go. And we did that a few times and got him down, but we had some opportunities. I think to do that more often and then have more production on a quarterback.
Clearly you turned up your pass rush from the week before.
Though no doubt it was, and it helped that those guys inside I had. That was a good matchup for us. We felt like that was a matchup we should win with consistency both on the ground and in the pass rush game and both and Jeff and Sweat really played a nice game inside.
Hey Titans fans, with a Kroger Boost membership, you'll score big with double fuel points, free delivery, and lots more. Go to Kroger dot com slash boost for details. Kroger Official grocer Up the Tennessee Titans Tighten Up.
Holm is at the forefront of all that we do. It's why we're so committed to caring for the places and spaces in which we work and live. Ashley the official furniture provider of the Tennessee Titans. We continue with Titans head coach Brian Callahan. As you begin the week, do you start off your preparation with a thought towards what you'll do at right tackle for the Houston game.
You know, uh Leroy was hurt, so that's why he was out in practice all week. And it's the same you know, the same guys, and then we got to find guys that's some that we can find some consistency with. So uh, you know, it'll be the same, same group and hopefully we can improve some of the things that need to improve on technically, and then you know they're gonna have to go win some matchups. Obviously playing a good front. Again, feels like every week we're playing in
top ten defense right now, which is accurate. We are. They're Houston's really good on the defensive side, and then they have been now for a year and a half and there's sort of the engine of that team, and they got really good players over there. So we got to work cut out for us.
Did Ia Prince do enough on Sunday against the Vikings that he stays in that mix? Yeah, I think he'll stay in the mix.
You know, he's still got he's got elevations from the practice squad, and I thought there was some things that it wasn't all all terrible, but those things that I thought he did well enough just need more of it, and so yeah, he'll certainly still be in the mix.
There were some young players that showed up on multiple occasions against the Vikings, is that one of the brightest parts of that game against the Vikings.
Yeah.
I think that's one of the things that keeps me why I believe so much and the growth that's occurring even though we don't have wins to tangibly show for it. But we got a lot of players that have really done some nice things and are really getting better every time we go out there, between Jarvis Browne and j. C. Latham and Ben Scarronsky and you know, even you at you look at got a blanket on right now. The
way that Jack was playing. Bryce Oliver steps in the last two weeks has made some catches and that was a he caught that route and he hadn't wrapped it at all during a week because I was sort of Calvin spot I was third down and Bryce hadn't played a lot on third down yet and goes in and makes a great grab and then a big first down. So there's a lot of really good things happening in
the development of our young players. In their performance is kind of week by week, and certainly would like to see more of it faster in some regards, but I'm really happy with where some of those guys are and how much they've come along.
We know, turnover ratio is a key statistic in the NFL, and it's been a problem for the Titans so far in twenty twenty four. A lesser known statu is sack ratio, the number of times you sacked the opposing quarterback less how many times your quarterback gets sacked. Titans right now are minus thirteen in that If that ratio improves down the stretch, would that show the type of overall team improvement that you need to see for this team to have more winning efforts?
Yeah, absolute, that's I think it probably goes into an even broader bucket of negative plays. You know, we've we've had too many negative plays and sacks are part of that. And then you know, right now, I think we're second to last in the league on offense and false starts and offensive holdings is a combined stat which is you know,
not good. I mean that those are backwards plays, they're negative, and the less negative plays we have, the more opportunities we give ourselves a chance to not lose the game, if that makes sense, And that's where you start. You have to when you're in position we're in, we have to find ways to not lose the game in order to give ourselves a chance to win it. And right now we're doing too many things that are losing us the game, and those are that's a part of it.
We've certainly improved our turnover margin over the last couple of weeks. I think the last three weeks we've been you know, kind of in the zero or plus category, which is a huge improvement from the negative category we lived in for the first part of the season. So that's improved. And then I think that the sack production and the sack avoidance are things that are we keep the turno turnover margin where it's at, and that that that sack avoidance and sacking of the other component quarterback.
As we bring that up, we're going to give our chance more negative plays for the opposing team and less for us. We'll give us a better chance to win a game.
Okay, So Amy's mad at me because I'm going numbers here, I know, but keep doing that, offensive guy. Here's why I like numbers.
There are people who like them even.
If I don't. Okay, So the Titans are fifty percent six out of twelve on third and ones this year, converting third down and one, you're fifty percent as well converting third and four or less for you as the offensive mind, what do those numbers need to be if you're being more successful on offense, what's a fair measure in terms of a percentage of conversions on convertible third downs? Yeah, third and one. You'd love to be you know, eighty percent, right,
you know that that would be a better place to be. Certainly, you know, fifty percent's going to put you at fifty percent on third down is going to put you at the top of the league. I mean, you know, I think most teams right the top team lead right now is probably forty something percent, forty five, forty eight. I mean, it's usually what you had a Bengals offense that was a real pain in that area. There's forty five forty six, and.
So that I think that's probably the best way to look at it is if you're if you're converting half of your third downs in a game, you're probably moving the ball pretty well. And that's just historically what it is now. Certainly, Oh yeah, no, I'd love to be seventy percent. It's not realistic, you know, It's that's just that that's a really hard down to win on and then you you add and you love to be over fifty percent in that two to five, but it's you
know you're having around fifty. You're doing okay in that spot. All right.
I have a couple numbers, look at just a few, though, No, these are easier numbers than what math you were just spewing. It me the Titans have ten off defensive plays of thirty yards or more. Three of those came against the Vikings, three more came against Detroit, So that means that the other four spread across eight games. What do you need to do to get more of those big plays in a single game?
Regular?
Yeah, I mean I think we had. I think we had you know, I think we had eight explosives in this last game, and that's generally and that's happened. I think maybe the other game. Don think Detroit we have maybe eight, But that's generally sort of a mark for most offenses. You get eight explosive plays in a game, you're probably moving the ball at a pretty good rate and you have a chance to win. Not say this like,
you get eight explosives, you win the game. It's notially how it works, but you're in a pretty good spot, and so I think we're doing a pretty good job of it. As of late. We're finding a little more comfort level. I think Will's finding some more confidence in it. I think Calvin's playing better and some of the stuff down the field we're asking them to do, and so
we're making improvement. It's been better, and I think as long as we can kind of continue on that trajectory of a couple of those big plays a game, it's it's going to help us. And I said, if we can find those eight eight ish explosives per per game, I think we're going to be a pretty good spot.
Is it crazy to think that? Once Will has hit a couple of the long passes and he hit the forty one yarder at Los Angeles, he hit the ninety eight yarder. He had a fifty one yarder that didn't count, but it was still a beautiful play and a great throw. Do you almost get like a three point shooter who gains confidence and feels like he's going to knock it down every time if you're a quarterback that way.
Yeah, there's a there's a confidence element to it and letting the ball go on time knowing that you see the right look from the coverage for it. That's what was so cool about the long plays that you know Will saw exactly what was happening. He knew that the ball was going to go there. He threw it on time,
He threw it accurately, through it with some conviction. You know, that's half the battle sometimes on some of the balls down the field is you have to you have to throw it with the conviction that it's going to hit. And then he did a good job of that same thing with the ball the Calvin that got called back. That was still the same idea, just really sure about what he saw and what it looked like and where he put the ball. It was just really well done.
And anytime that you hit one or two of those, you start to you start to feel it a little bit. Your confidence grows, Your aggressiveness to take those grows, and then it gives me confidence to keep calling them. And again, sometimes we call those plays and then you don't get the structure, we don't get the deep ones not open, and we finally the next option. But those things have been growing, they've been more productive as the weeks have gone on.
Hey, Titans fans, seat geek makes it easy to find tickets so you can be a part of all the touchdown celebrations this season.
Whether you're buying or selling football tickets, seat geek is the place to do it. Seat Geek is the official primary ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titan.
The most disruptive idea in ticketing ticket that works.
Expect the expected. See geek seat Geek.
Rookie mistake this football season, Maybe you should.
Have had, because now you can enter for the chance to turn those rookie mistakes enterprises, including a trip to Super Bowl fifty nine.
Visit Snickers dot com slash Rookie Mistakes for details.
Okay, random one to end. I got to read this, man, are you surprised you've only thrown two challenge flags this year and you haven't thrown one since Buffalo.
No, they're not really as commonplace as you might think, especially now with the replay assist does a lot more than it used to. So there's a little bit of entery, like we don't have to throw them as much because they sort of fix the easy ones pretty quickly. But yeah, yeah, I didn't really think about it, as you know, But yeah, there hasn't been a lot of opportunities to challenge a whole lot of plays At this point. I don't know if that's good or bad. I just haven't had too
many of them. And and I think we're smart about when and where we challenge to We don't just, you know, kind of just throw the flag for the fun of it.
After being a head coach for ten games, do you think more plays should be challengeable?
If you're asking my just my very own personal opinion, it's your show, Yeah, I would, I would be I'm all for the You know what, what Bill Belichick has proposed before is just being able to replay everything.
I don't.
I don't see why not. I just think it's just there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to do that, if you know, especially now with the you know, with how much with what all this means now, and and the and the scrutiny of it all is just why not? Why not just get it right? Why do we have to worry about, you know, perception or or anything other than just making sure the call in the field is
the best, most correct call. I can't sit here and tell you I have a presentation or how it should all look.
I just I help you.
Yeah, I certainly. I just think that there's a there's a time in a place for being able to you know, especially critical calls, you know, things that things that affect outcomes of games. Is you know, let's just make sure they're right and and however that looks, whether it's replay assist or it's challengeable, whatever that looks like. I think, would you know, hopefully limit the amount of times we
have to sit on a Monday and discuss officiating. And I think that's what everybody wants, and I'm all for whatever makes their their job easier and the product cleaner.
You would have thrown more than two challenge flags if that were the case, you think so? Yes, I think so too. You would have thrown more than two yesterday probably probably so. As always, thank you so much. We appreciate you.
Yeah, thanks for having me