But Andy Wells. I'm Mike Keith and this is the OTP with Titan's head coach Brian Callahan, presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans in the Game of Health Coverage. Farm Bureau Health Plans is the MVP Tennessee and has have relied on their unmatched rates, coverage and service for nearly eighty years. Titan's head coach Brian Callahan is here. Welcome, thanks for joining us.
It's good to be here.
It's good to have you as always. And Sunday's loss to Green Bay, was there an area where you really felt like the team took a step backward.
I don't think so. I mean, we didn't perform as well as I think we're capable of. You know, I think the mistackles on defense was something that was out of character for what we've seen from our defense so far. That part was expected, But I don't think we took a step back. I think that, you know, they did it. They hit a couple of plays, and we continue to give the ball away at a rate that's not sustainable
and put ourselves in a really tough spot. And that's ultimately where the NFL games are won and lost.
So in some ways. Maybe you feel a little better after watching the tape.
I wouldn't say I feel better.
You were pretty down after the game.
Yeah, I mean I'm still down, but I'm disappointed because it'd be one thing if I didn't think we were capable of winning that football game, and I thought going into it, we absolutely are, and I still believe that. I think we have a team that's capable of a lot better than what we put on tape through three weeks, and I'm frustrated and disappointed, and I think I should be. I think our players are, and I think they should be because we're better than that. We're an own three
football team. We are what our record says we are. But I do believe we're better than that one three and we've got to prove it, and thus far we have not done a good enough job of doing that. But I still believe in our football team. I believe in the guys that we have in there. I believe in our coaching staff, and I do think we're close, and we got to find a way to get over that hump and get that first win and hopefully a few more come after that.
Now, you amounts earlier today, when you spoke with the media that Cheetoh Woozie has a groin injury. He's going to miss some time, and so you're expecting Jarvis Brownlee, who's a rookie, to step up and take his spot. I'm going to start with a schematic question. Do you have to do anything differently when you are expecting a rookie to step in as opposed to a veteran.
Yeah, there's always an element of what do they do well and how do we help them best? And yeah,
we'll have to find that out. You know, he played for a half and roughly a half I think is about when I remember that happening, and so that part, you know, you get the chance to see him in live action and where they can be used effectively, and I think that that helps least play a little bit last this past game and moving forward, well, we'll have to find ways to make sure that he's put in the right positions to succeed and not not make it harder on him than.
It needs to be.
So in that half or so that you saw him play, how do you evaluate what he did against the Packers.
I thought there was some good and some bad, like like any any game. Really, but for sure for him, as you know, he had a couple of spots where he could have made a nice tackle for loss and missed a tackle. And you know, he was right on top of that dagger route on third down they got given up, but it just wasn't quite tight enough to it. So there there's some things he's got to clean up
technically to be able to be in better position. But yeah, he's going to have to step up, as it always goes in the football season when you lose guys, they got to find a way whatever is being asked of them to step up and perform.
The Titans gave up seven plays of twenty yards or longer in the game against the Packers. Six of those were in the first half. What led to the increase in explosive plays by the opposition?
You know, I think they hit a couple of nice plays. I mean, the first play of the game was you know, we were they were pretty dialed in to go knock on the run out and it was a nice run action and they had a guy slide out the back door and good play. We weren't we weren't assign fully right. Obviously, That's how explosives get given up, but and then you know they they hit a one on one ball down the sideline. You know Rogerron Watson, and he won that battle,
which happened sometimes. But the ones that are the hard ones are the are the third and long explosives that get first downs where you essentially have a team off the field and they gain a first down on an explosive play when it's third and fifteen. Those are the ones that are kind of critical and killer, and that that's where I was. Explosive plays happened, but those ones in particular were just tough to tough the stomach when we're trying to climb back in the game.
Only two penalties against the Packers, and they were both in the third quarter, but they ended up being pretty significant moments in the game, which I guess when a team is losing, any mistake, big or small, is a real mistake that has an impact on the game. So I guess with that in mind, the question is do you worry about your team being so focused on not making a mistake.
I don't feel that. And one of the things that I've preached since I've gotten here and throughout the entire process is you want guys to be loose and aggressive, and that's you know, don't fear failures ultimately what we what we preach, and I don't feel that. I don't think that that's how guys are playing right now. I don't sense that they're playing like they're afraid to make
a mistake. I think we're assigned right a lot of the times, and I think we've we've had some losses in one on one spots that are that are you know, can be critical, but I don't sense it that from our team. And I think that thus far they've they play hard, they play physical, and we just need we need to do a better job of taking care of the football and trying to get it back is really the biggest I think the biggest reason that we've lost.
And we put a stat up today of our turnovers and you know, I think seven turnovers and two block punts, so that's ultimately nine. You know, we're minus nine right now if you count the block punts. They don't count officially as a turnover, but in my mind they do. And we've given up fourteen points off interceptions, seven points off of a block punt, and then two fumbles and plus territor that led directly to field goals. That's six more points, and I think we ended up with our
point differential being at thirty points. We lost by seven twice and we lost by sixteen, and then we've also given up thirty points on turnovers, and so when you look at thirty points, there's and that's it. And that's encouraging and discouraging all at the same time, you know, because I think we have the makings of a good football team, and we've been competitive and ultimately haven't made enough of the plays that help us win a game, particularly in the fourth quarter.
So Ernest Jones led the team with thirteen tackles. Kenneth Murray had eight tackles and two sacks. Are you pleased overall with the of your linebackers.
Yeah, I think it's a group that, you know, we had to remake in a sense, you know, we had to we had to go get two linebackers, and I think Jack's dide a nice job too. But Artis has really stepped up and played really well. That group was one that we had maybe some question marks going in the season, and thus far they have answered the bell and really played pretty well for us. I think both in the run in the pass coverage.
Let me ask you about Devondre Sweat. Seems like we talk about him every week four tackles in the ball game. Most active he's been from a statistical standpoint is he gets his first four tackles as a Titan. Did he continue to make progress? Yeah?
And he's made progress really every time we've we've went out there and his every week that's gone by, he's gotten better. Him and Jeff are against the run particular, are a force. I mean, they're really we're really hard to run the ball to the middle of our defense right now, and they do a really nice job and sweat and just keep showing up. And that's why we drafted him where we did, because we saw that he
had the potential to be an impact player. And guys that are his size and move like that and are really hard to move off the line of scrimmage are what you need in the NFL nowadays. And he's been everything we've hoped he would be so far. He just has to keep coming.
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The Titans got off to a really good start against the Packers. They had a touchdown drive right off the bat, but then the offense wasn't as consistent as you would like for it to be. Where do you feel like you maybe left some opportunities for it to have been a little bit more productive day, you know, just.
The third down conversions when we've had opportunities, you know, we go down, we score, We answer their their score with a score. Opening drive felt good. Did a lot of good things in that drive. Finish it with a touchdown in the red zone, which which we have to do.
They go down and kick a field goal. It's ten to seven and we get our second possession and we throw on reception for a touchdown on our I don't know what it was the eleventh play of the game and now at seventeen to seven and puts us a little bit out of rhythm, and then we get back
into a third and manageable. And then we took i think two sacks on third down in the first half on some unscouted looks which we knew was going to be something that we'd have to deal with because the film was limited on Jeff half of their coordinator, and they showed something they hadn't shown in two games and
caught us. They played a snap of man coverage in the spot they played primarily zone, so we had a zone style play verse man and that didn't go great and have to hold the ball and we get sacked.
And then very similar thing they did third and short that we got sacked on was, you know, we're trying to uncover man verse zone and we have kind of two plays called in the play call, and they react to emotion and they show essentially man coverage everywhere, and then on a snap they drop out into too Tampa. Really well done on their part, but forces us to hold the ball and react. It's not what we thought
we were getting. And then took another sack there. So just the execution on third down, the plays, the selection, the process, everything just needs to be better so we can keep getting opportunities to drive the football, because when we drive the ball and we get first downs, we've generally been pretty good, but we've had way too many three and outs.
DeAndre Hopkins' performance was that the biggest positive to come out of Sunday's game for the offense at least.
Sure he's back to normal, it feels like, and made plays on the ball when the balls in the air found ways to get open, and he did a nice job. I mean, we needed we needed his help in that game. We needed him to make some plays and he did and he looked like the Hopkins that that everybody knows and love around here, and what he's done for his whole career. He's he's got a knack for getting open even at his at his years in the league, he
just knows how to do it. And he's a very very very strong catcher of the football and so in those contested plays like on the touchdown, he goes and grabs the ball and makes play. And that's what we need more. We need more guys to make more plays like that, where it's just it's a it's a one on one that's us versus you go make the play.
Ball's in a good spot. He goes and gets it and then finishes it with a touchdown, And that was really encouraging to see him back to the Hopkins that I think we all were hoping to see early on.
He clearly helped Will Levis. How do the other receivers work going forward to be that same sort of help to your young quarterback?
Yeah, I think I think we've seen glimpses of what they're capable of with with Hot having a nice game and then Calvin had a really nice game last week. And now we got to find a way to get more opportunities for both those guys. And Tyler does what he does, which is convert third downs and and like he did in the first drive of the game. Those
guys are all productive players. I think they're all right about I think they all have what eight catches right now, I mean, but I'd like to see them all have more. That would be the goal. And you know, we didn't get it, didn't get the run game going very well in this past game. We didn't have many carries. Part of that was the game got away a bit and they were making it hard to run it, and so we just started to throw it and it was relatively effective.
But again, I think we've yet to hit on all cylinders at any point on offense, both in the run game and the past game, and need more opportunities so guys can keep having opportunities to make plays.
The Titans are going to take on the Dolphins on Monday night football. How do you plan to use the extra day of preparation.
We use it on the front end of the week to pick up an extra day. We'll keep our normal coaching staff routine. We'll treat this like a normal week, and then we pick up a little bit of time at the end of the week to refine. Now we won't necessarily like stay till midnight tonight because we have the extra day, so you kind of space it out just a little bit, but we try to be as
ahead by the end of the week. Whereas the players, you give them a little bit the extra day on the front end to get off the game, and so tomorrow is the off day. Wednesday is like a bonus day where we have a walk through introduction, so you kind of take half of what you do on a normal Wednesday, do it then, and then do the other half the next day when you actually start your week on what is Thursday. And it's kind of weird, but Thursday is Wednesday for us on a Monday night game.
So we walk around doing that all week and it confuses people. Monday is Thursday is Wednesday, and Friday is Thursday. Peeople look at you like you've got six hands.
Yeah, but we were in It's just the way our world works. But that's how we'll do it. We'll give the players the front end, then we'll try to be ahead as a coaching staff with the game plan, and then we catch up a little bit at the end of the week as they work through the normal process starting on Thursday for the Monday night game.
So like last week, you're not going to know who the opponent's quarterback is going into all of your prep. What's a little different, though, is with the Dolphins and kind of their mix of guys. Guys they could change a lot of what they do offensively based on who they decide to put in that spot.
Is that concerning, I mean, it's always concerning. Yeah, it's it's just an element of what it is in the NFL right now, and I think Mike is as an excellent offensive football coach. He knows how to put his players in great positions. And whatever quarterback we have, you know, is going to be put in those advantageous spots as best they can. They're going to help the quarterback every which way as possible, and they we have to be
able to play with the rules. We have to make sure we're tackling sound, make sure we're sounding every which way we are because they're already a difficult scheme to go against. They just they do a really nice job and they got good players in the perimeter, and so they'll put the quarterback in spots to be successful. And I think that you just you have to be on your rules and be ready for whatever it is they're
going to do. And it's a copycat league on top of it, so if you if you show that you had troubles stopping something, you should expect the probably see it again. And I'm sure we'll see some some copycat things that the Packers did that we'll have to make sure we correct so we don't make the mistake again.
In all of your travels in coaching, have you overlapped any with Mike McDaniel at all, And are you guys being offensive guys, are you really acquainted?
I've known Mike for a long time because he's running. He was in that same circle that that the floor is and and Kyle Shanahan and all those guys. They we sort of. I was kind of in the same progression as them. I was quality control and they were quality controls and all those things. So I've always had a respect and admiration. I've never worked with Mike. You know, I spent some time in Denver probably you know he had been there at one point, and so a lot
of mutual friends, a lot of mutual respect. I think he's proven to be one of the one of the best comatic coaches out there, and they do stuff that everyone tries to emulate. They got a really unique blend of skill players and uh in a really unique scheme that that's really hard to defend.
Another week and another great corner. This time it's Jalen Ramsey. What kind of a challenge does he pose to your entire passing game.
He's able to take away receivers and that's what these these corners do, and they find ways to eliminate half of the field when they can. And you know, we've played against Jalen before and he's fantastic. He's as good, He's as good as they come. I mean, we just we go from Jalen Johnson the sauce Gardner, to JayR Alexander to Jalen Ramsey and so the hits just keep
on coming. I mean, there's every team's got good corners, and we happen to be playing against defenses that are really good defenses, and a large part of that is because of the type of corners that they have, and they make life really hard offensively. So we got to work cut out for us. We got to find ways to put our guys in position to go attack the defense. And you know, Jalen's a hard corner to go scheme against. He's really good and the highest paid player at the
position for for a reason. So we have a work cutout for us.
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Visit snickers dot com slash Rookie mistakes for details. What is your offensive line specific challenge going against the Dolphins defensive front?
Yeah, different, different style than we've played against the last couple of weeks. You know, really a little bit similar to our defense with Anthony Weaver there as a defense coordinator new this year, comes from the same staff as then Art came from and so there's some carriers of Raven Raven the Raven defense. It's, you know, a bunch of people now are running and he's part of that family, and he's got his own twist and his own things
he likes and does. But the core of the system is one that we've we've practiced against, so that is at least has some redeeming quality that you got some familiarity. But they'll have their own twists, and they got different players in the front has traditionally been a three to four style front over the years, and a little bit different than the upfield jet penetrating defensive lines we've played the last couple of weeks. So just different style doesn't
make it good or bad. It's just different. So they got a good front too, and Klays Campbell's out there still after all these years playing at a high level, which it's like him and Cam Hayward, they just don't ever go away. They're just still out there wrecking people's games.
He's a monster.
Yeah, he's They're good. He's he's he's one of the best to ever do it.
Wow. Good stuff, Brian Callahan, thank you so much for the time you got it for Brian Callahan and Amy Wells, I might keep thanking you for joining us for the OTP