Speaker 1: With Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith and this is the
Speaker 1: OTP with Titan, said coach Brian Callahan, presented by Farm
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Speaker 1: Let's bring them on in, Coach Brian Callahan. Welcome, Thanks,
Speaker 1: good to be here. All right, let's dive in. Titans
Speaker 1: fall to the Colts twenty to seventeen. It's your ball
Speaker 1: club's third one score loss all games that you've led,
Speaker 1: two of them in the fourth quarter. So you don't
Speaker 1: want overall frustration to creep in on your team with
Speaker 1: this having happened multiple times, because it could. But is
Speaker 1: there a balance of anger that you kind of do
Speaker 1: want to see out of your football team at a
Speaker 1: moment like this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, anger is probably the wrong word, I think. I
Speaker 2: think frustration, Okay, probably is probably more apt. I think, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, you felt it from the guys in the
Speaker 2: post game in the locker room. Some of the things
Speaker 2: that that got said, and that that all that tells
Speaker 2: me is that we got a bunch of guys that
Speaker 2: that care and want to win, and they're frustrated by
Speaker 2: being so close but yet not being able to get
Speaker 2: it done. And it's a team but I think is
Speaker 2: fully capable of getting it done. And that's I think
Speaker 2: what makes it frustrating. It's we We We do a
Speaker 2: lot of things well for a lot of the game,
Speaker 2: and we have to find a way to make the
Speaker 2: game turning play, which we have yet to be able
Speaker 2: to do in these tight games in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: We haven't scored many points on offense, we've given up
Speaker 2: points on defense. You know, our fourth quarter point differential
Speaker 2: is what what looks like a one and four team
Speaker 2: would look like. And that's where we have to find
Speaker 2: a way to be better. Is where where do we
Speaker 2: Where do we find that play that turns the game?
Speaker 2: Because we are close, and we are doing a lot
Speaker 2: of good things, things that I feel very confident about,
Speaker 2: things that that are really positive. We've improved week to
Speaker 2: week in a lot of areas, and the unfortunate part
Speaker 2: is we don't have results and outcomes to show for it.
Speaker 2: But there's a lot of things that are going in
Speaker 2: the right direction and things that I feel very confident
Speaker 2: about and so to see guys frustrated after a game, Yes,
Speaker 2: that makes me feel good that we got a bunch
Speaker 2: of guys that care and want to win and interre
Speaker 2: willing to do what it takes to figure it out.
Speaker 3: After the game ended yesterday and since you've been asked
Speaker 3: about a lot of specific, specific players, specific plays, specific decisions,
Speaker 3: so on, so on. But as the head coach, do
Speaker 3: you have to zoom out a little bit and focus
Speaker 3: on more broader themes as you move your team forward.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's my job as the head coach. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm the play caller, but I'm not just
Speaker 2: I'm not the offensive coordinator. That's what that's next job.
Speaker 2: I don't call the defensive plays. That's Denard's job, don't.
Speaker 2: I don't manage the day to day special team, that's
Speaker 2: colt job. These are all things that I have a
Speaker 2: hand and I pay attention to, and I have input into.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, there's that's their
Speaker 2: job is to handle those specific players and the specific outcome.
Speaker 2: My job is to make sure that every part of
Speaker 2: the of the football team and the football operation is
Speaker 2: pointed in the direction that it needs to go and
Speaker 2: Certainly I have many conversations with individual players and all
Speaker 2: those things, but to me, there is a there is
Speaker 2: a there is a thirty thousand foot view that I
Speaker 2: have to take because that's my job and my role
Speaker 2: is to is to manage the entirety of the football
Speaker 2: team and not just one side of the ball or
Speaker 2: one player or one position. So those are the things
Speaker 2: that I have to I have to consciously step back
Speaker 2: from and make sure that my messaging is is appropriate
Speaker 2: for the entire team and where we're headed and what
Speaker 2: we need to get done. So that's a very different
Speaker 2: role than I've been in I've been very offense focused.
Speaker 2: And again, even though I'm the play caller and I'm
Speaker 2: focused with the offense, my job is not just that.
Speaker 2: I have a lot of other things that I have
Speaker 2: to do as a head coach, and one of those
Speaker 2: main main jobs is to message the football team and
Speaker 2: make sure we're all steering the same direction as not
Speaker 2: all I don't get. I have to not get lost
Speaker 2: in the weeds sometimes of offensive football because that's what
Speaker 2: that's what I know, and that's what I love, and
Speaker 2: that's what I like to do, and so I do
Speaker 2: have to step out of that role a lot and
Speaker 2: make sure I'm doing the right thing for the entirety
Speaker 2: of the team.
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about that offense a little bit, because
Speaker 3: after the game and since really you've said that the
Speaker 3: biggest issue on offense is that you haven't been able
Speaker 3: to establish consistency from drive to drive. What are some
Speaker 3: of the things that you can do throughout the week
Speaker 3: to address that and help establish that consistency.
Speaker 2: You have to be able to set that standard of
Speaker 2: what consistency looks like. And we have. We've done We've
Speaker 2: had really nice drives. We've beneficient and we've mixed run
Speaker 2: and pass, and we've action and we've done all the
Speaker 2: things that good offenses do. We just don't do it enough.
Speaker 2: And so we know what it's supposed to look like
Speaker 2: when we're when we're operating at our probably highest level.
Speaker 2: And the key is to find that in practice and
Speaker 2: to find it again in games. And look, we look
Speaker 2: at all parts of the operation as do we have
Speaker 2: too many plays in, do we not have enough plays in?
Speaker 2: Do we have too much motion? Do we have not
Speaker 2: enough motion? All those things we can sort of look
Speaker 2: at and we try to keep trying to find that
Speaker 2: sweet spot for us to be able to consistently play
Speaker 2: a brand of football that's going to again score more
Speaker 2: than seventeen points. Since you're gonna have a hard time
Speaker 2: winning a lot of games scoring seventeen points. You score,
Speaker 2: you start getting into twenty one to twenty four to
Speaker 2: twenty seven. Now you're in a range where you're going
Speaker 2: to be pretty competitive in the win lost column as
Speaker 2: opposed to one win.
Speaker 1: You mentioned that you need more explosive plays, more big plays.
Speaker 1: Two longest plays yesterday we're twenty three yards. Those were
Speaker 1: your only two over twenty Was that, at least in
Speaker 1: part a result of the fact that the Colts were
Speaker 1: playing a type of defense that was going to take
Speaker 1: away many opportunities for big plays.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's their MO. That's Gus Bradley's m O. He's
Speaker 2: always been really good at that. Forces you into play
Speaker 2: in a very patient style of football. And that's what
Speaker 2: that's what we saw. I mean, and they and I'll
Speaker 2: give a lot of credit to Gus. I think he's
Speaker 2: a fantastic coordinator schematically, really does a nice job of
Speaker 2: keeping you a little bit off balance. He does a
Speaker 2: really good job. But I thought we had plenty of
Speaker 2: moments where we could have capitalized on looks that we
Speaker 2: had and we didn't quite get that done. And they
Speaker 2: do play style that that limits explosives. But and we
Speaker 2: had to be patients. So that's where two fourteen play
Speaker 2: drives come from. Is that sort of patience and methodical execution.
Speaker 2: And it's hard to do that over the course of
Speaker 2: a game for seven or eight possessions. Sure, and so yeah,
Speaker 2: we have to find ways to be more explosive, and
Speaker 2: that's that goes that There's a lot of different ways
Speaker 2: that we can probe that. But at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, if you have seven to eight explosives, that's
Speaker 2: probably going to mean you're winning the football game. Probably
Speaker 2: it's not one hundred percent, but there's going to be
Speaker 2: a high likelihood that you've performed well enough with seven
Speaker 2: explosives that you've chewed up enough yards and field that
Speaker 2: you have points to show for.
Speaker 1: It's hard to drive fourteen plays against any defense in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Yeah, at some point they have enough athletes.
Speaker 1: Guys are going to get you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's and just the nature of NFL football
Speaker 2: is a lot and why teams play this way sometimes
Speaker 2: is that they count on you making a mistake somewhere
Speaker 2: along the way where you have a false start or
Speaker 2: you have a penalty and now you're buying the sticks,
Speaker 2: and it's just it is. You have to be able
Speaker 2: to do that, but you also have to find ways
Speaker 2: to generate and create explosives, and we didn't have enough
Speaker 2: of them in that game, which is why we know
Speaker 2: only scored probably seventeen points. Is a big part of.
Speaker 3: It is the current situation where this whole team finds
Speaker 3: themselves right now, one where you are extra thankful maybe
Speaker 3: that you have your dad on this staff for no
Speaker 3: other reason than he's been in your shoes. He's had
Speaker 3: this role before. I would imagine there aren't too many
Speaker 3: people that you encounter just in the world who understand
Speaker 3: what it is that you are trying to kind of
Speaker 3: navigate through right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's not many people that know it. It's a
Speaker 2: huge help to me. His value is as a as
Speaker 2: a mentor, not just if you just take my the
Speaker 2: father son part out of it, but just as a
Speaker 2: professional mentor. Yeah, he's seen it all. He's been through
Speaker 2: every bit of this every which way, has learned with
Speaker 2: some lessons and maybe would advise me to do something
Speaker 2: different than he did, and because he's already seen it
Speaker 2: and been through it, so he he's been a huge, huge,
Speaker 2: huge help. I don't know that it's Yeah, it's hard
Speaker 2: to do without someone that has that experience. And I
Speaker 2: lean out other guys on the staff too that also have,
Speaker 2: you know, the experience of being in the NFL for
Speaker 2: a long time and seeing these these things happen where
Speaker 2: you're on a team that's good and they we do
Speaker 2: a lot of good things, but we don't finish and
Speaker 2: our results haven't come and year one and what that
Speaker 2: looks like. There's just there's guys that have all experienced that.
Speaker 2: I do lean on all those guys, but my dad
Speaker 2: has been pretty invaluable when it comes to working through
Speaker 2: some of these things.
Speaker 1: Speaking of offensive line, you mentioned that Leroy Watson did
Speaker 1: okay at right tackle. You were not ready to say
Speaker 1: that he is the right tackle going forward. So what
Speaker 1: does Leroy or somebody else have to do to nail
Speaker 1: that spot down?
Speaker 2: The same thing that I that I said about Nick
Speaker 2: Petit was, you know, there just needs to be a
Speaker 2: more consistent play and when we have to go block somebody,
Speaker 2: we can go block them, whether it's in pass pro
Speaker 2: or the run game. There just needs to be a
Speaker 2: consistency that we haven't been able to achieve yet at
Speaker 2: that spot. And again, like I said, there was Lee
Speaker 2: Roy had some good moments and he had some not
Speaker 2: so good moments, which is I guess the best way
Speaker 2: to define what okay means, you know, But yeah, I
Speaker 2: think that there's there's We were just looking for more.
Speaker 2: We need more consistency, more performance from that spot than
Speaker 2: than we've had thus far. And again, maybe maybe it's
Speaker 2: still Leroy this week. Maybe Jalen Duncan is up to
Speaker 2: the task. Maybe maybe Nick is up to the task.
Speaker 2: So we'll work through that over the next couple of
Speaker 2: days and see where that lands.
Speaker 1: All right, Will Levis got the ball out very quickly
Speaker 1: on Sunday, which was your design because you did not
Speaker 1: want him to take it. Levis was not sacked in
Speaker 1: the game. Were you more satisfied overall with your protection
Speaker 1: based on okay?
Speaker 2: I think we. I think we are making weekly improvements
Speaker 2: up front, and that's all five of those guys. I
Speaker 2: think JC Latham, I think every week he goes out
Speaker 2: there gets better. It's never perfect, it's never gonna be
Speaker 2: I think Peter's done a nice Peter's grown every week.
Speaker 2: I think Lloyd's been very solid for us. I think
Speaker 2: Dylls really come on a bit. I think he's improving.
Speaker 2: So we're after that week to week improvement upfront, and
Speaker 2: there's it takes time to get good upfront. It takes
Speaker 2: time to learn a new system and new language and
Speaker 2: new ways of doing things. And I think those guys
Speaker 2: have done a nice job. They've put the time and
Speaker 2: work in and the improvements has been noticeable. I mean
Speaker 2: that's two back to back games where I thought we've
Speaker 2: been really physical and run the ball well, and we've
Speaker 2: been better in pass pro.
Speaker 1: Dave McGinnis on Titans Radio yesterday was impressed with the
Speaker 1: left side of your line moving some people in the
Speaker 1: run game. Was it as noticeable on tape?
Speaker 2: I certainly was. Yeah, those guys have done a really
Speaker 2: nice job. You know, that combination is one with with
Speaker 2: JC and Pete on the left side that we've always
Speaker 2: felt like was an advantage for us. They do a
Speaker 2: really good job. They're they're physical, they're powerful, they can
Speaker 2: move the line of scrimmage. We certainly try to get
Speaker 2: behind those guys when when we can, as much as possible.
Speaker 2: But they've done a really nice job in a run game,
Speaker 2: and it's they've opened some lanes and some really big
Speaker 2: runs for us.
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Speaker 1: we continue with coach Brian Callahan, let's talk about some
Speaker 1: of the good things from Sunday that he mentioned.
Speaker 3: You could start, I can start, all right, Let's talk
Speaker 3: about the touchdown pass to Nick Westbrook Akine. It was
Speaker 3: a very well designed play. Was that designed specifically for Nick?
Speaker 2: It was, Yes, it was, it was.
Speaker 1: There.
Speaker 2: There were some things about Nick being in the game,
Speaker 2: running pass and all that stuff that obviously we were
Speaker 2: aware of, and putting him in the game and then
Speaker 2: putting Calvin in a spot where he would potentially get
Speaker 2: the ball was was sort of the intent. And really
Speaker 2: what the two of them did was such a great
Speaker 2: job of selling it. Really was we were trying to
Speaker 2: sell essentially throwing a bubble screen to Calvin with Nick
Speaker 2: being the point blocker, and they they did a great
Speaker 2: job of selling that horizontal speed they're both are, They're
Speaker 2: both flying out of there, and so the dB things, oh,
Speaker 2: here comes the bubble, and they both just and they
Speaker 2: react not on the pump or the or or on
Speaker 2: anything that will does. They react purely based on the
Speaker 2: speed that the two were running. And I and the
Speaker 2: point made all a week for Nick was like, just
Speaker 2: keep stretching and as soon as you feel the stretch
Speaker 2: and he triggers, just slip them. And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2: And it was it was a play I felt good
Speaker 2: about all all through the process. I mean, I told
Speaker 2: those guys that it was that that was going to
Speaker 2: score and I knew and I felt very very good
Speaker 2: that that was going to be a touchdown play and
Speaker 2: it would be as open as it was in the game.
Speaker 2: And so when it works like that, that makes you
Speaker 2: feel good every night, every Saturday night. With the quarterbacks,
Speaker 2: we as we go through the call sheet in their favorites.
Speaker 2: We The last thing we do after we go through
Speaker 2: that whole process is we we we all pick our
Speaker 2: touchdown play, and it's everyone just picks what they think
Speaker 2: the first play to score was. And I was very
Speaker 2: adamant that that was the one that I was glad
Speaker 2: they left it for me because I picked near the
Speaker 2: end because I'm one of the older ones in the room.
Speaker 2: We picked by you know, youngest to oldest, and that
Speaker 2: was my touchdown pick, and I felt that's how confident
Speaker 2: I felt in the play.
Speaker 1: Is that fair because you call the plays, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: would feel like it feels like you could control.
Speaker 2: That well, you'd be I mean, Mason Mason won. Mason
Speaker 2: won last week against Miami. The last game. Mason had
Speaker 2: had pegged that run that Taja had as the play
Speaker 2: that would score. So it's not fully it's not fully rigged.
Speaker 2: I mean, I I certainly wouldn't.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty It was a pretty play in practice,
Speaker 1: if you don't mind me saying just.
Speaker 2: I mean, it looked just like it didn't practice in
Speaker 2: the game, which is always a nice feeling.
Speaker 3: Tony Pollard is someone else who has looked very pretty
Speaker 3: recently and I feel like we need to talk about
Speaker 3: it because he has been the most consistent weapon on
Speaker 3: this offense. At what point do you expect opposing defenses
Speaker 3: to start specifically planning to stop Tony Pollard?
Speaker 2: That is that they've done that. That's not something that's uh,
Speaker 2: that's that's new. People are trying are aware now that
Speaker 2: we could that we're a pretty solid rushing football team,
Speaker 2: and they're trying to find ways to slow that down.
Speaker 2: But Tony is so dynamic and so versatile that you
Speaker 2: don't you know, we throw the ball with him in
Speaker 2: the game, He passed, protects great, He never really has
Speaker 2: to ever come out and and so there it's hard
Speaker 2: for people to pin down necessarily just because he's in
Speaker 2: if if we're going to run the football or not
Speaker 2: run a football, or what's is he going to release
Speaker 2: in a pattern? What all those things? So that part
Speaker 2: helps him. But he has been just an absolutely fantastic
Speaker 2: playmaker for our offense. He's been a great leader. Uh,
Speaker 2: he's been a great uh locker room presence, and on
Speaker 2: top of that, he's made and especially yesterday, most of
Speaker 2: our plays it was fantastic.
Speaker 3: I know you have things you want to talk about too.
Speaker 3: But before we move off of Tony Pollard, would you
Speaker 3: mind talking about his blitz pick up on ZAYR. Franklin
Speaker 3: just for a second, just to kind of talk about it.
Speaker 2: I'm an incredible effort. You know, we generally would not
Speaker 2: like to be They timed that up really nicely. We
Speaker 2: generate to not be in an under center play action
Speaker 2: with that pressure coming right down the middle of the pocket.
Speaker 2: That's his pickup. It's a very difficult pickup from the
Speaker 2: dot where you have to wrap around the quarterback and
Speaker 2: go get it. And it was the effort, the intensity
Speaker 2: and then the desire to go get him cut. I mean,
Speaker 2: we don't like to cut and pass pro, but to
Speaker 2: go in there and cut him and give us a
Speaker 2: chance to get the ball off was pretty remarkable effort.
Speaker 2: And he had a second one later in a game too,
Speaker 2: on a third down. That's what makes him so unique
Speaker 2: is he is a he is a three down, three
Speaker 2: pronged back that is rare that can do everything at
Speaker 2: a really really high level, pass pro, run routes, and
Speaker 2: catch and then run the football. So he is he's
Speaker 2: a he's I'm so happy that he's on our football
Speaker 2: team because he's a really, really good football player.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Taja Spears hamstring makes him weak to weak.
Speaker 1: If Spears can't go at Buffalo, will Julius Chestnut get
Speaker 1: a chance to pick up some of those reps right now?
Speaker 2: He's in line for that.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Obviously we'll do our due diligence on what is available
Speaker 2: out there in the world to us, just because if
Speaker 2: it ends up being an absence longer than a week
Speaker 2: or two, we want to make sure we have a
Speaker 2: third back that's maybe played in the NFL as well,
Speaker 2: So we'll see where that lands. There's no no full
Speaker 2: answer for that at this point, but certainly Julius will
Speaker 2: have his his opportunities to carry the ball a bit
Speaker 2: more because again, no, no, you know, we don't want
Speaker 2: to have Tony carry the ball thirty times. It's not
Speaker 2: really his thing. He'll do it, but I think you
Speaker 2: still need to have some division of labor in the
Speaker 2: running back room over time. So we'll see where that lands.
Speaker 2: But Julia should have an opportunity.
Speaker 1: Jarvis Brownlee at corner.
Speaker 2: What a game.
Speaker 1: Okay, That's what I wanted to know from just our perspective.
Speaker 1: Look like he played really well. When you watch the tape,
Speaker 1: maybe even more impressive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was fantastic for a young player, and he's
Speaker 2: been he's always been a guy that we felt like
Speaker 2: had the potential to be a good player. And now
Speaker 2: that he's getting an opportunity due to injury, he's really
Speaker 2: shown what he's capable of. And then the key for
Speaker 2: him now is going to be do it again. You know,
Speaker 2: That's what separates guys in the league is really really
Speaker 2: nice building into a really nice performance, had a really
Speaker 2: really nice performance against the Colts, and now can you
Speaker 2: do that multiple weeks in a row. But yeah, he
Speaker 2: was fantastic.
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Speaker 3: So we're turning the page now. Titans take on the
Speaker 3: Buffalo Bills next. You've seen Buffalo a lot from your
Speaker 3: time in Cincinnati. What about this twenty twenty four Bills
Speaker 3: team is different or the same from what you have experienced.
Speaker 2: They are a they're running the ball well, they're a
Speaker 2: physical football team, you know. They they they're playing a
Speaker 2: really aggressive brand of defense, which they sort of always have.
Speaker 2: But they've had a little bit of change in the
Speaker 2: staff there as well, from last year to this year,
Speaker 2: Eric Washington leaving and go to the Bears, and I think,
Speaker 2: you know, coach mcdermot's probably taken a more active, hands
Speaker 2: on approach to it. But you know, they got good players,
Speaker 2: they got good scheme, they're they're a team that has
Speaker 2: battle tested, they know what it looks and feels like,
Speaker 2: and they are a contending AFC team. So we got
Speaker 2: to work cut out for us. And what is maybe
Speaker 2: one of the best environments in football to go play hard,
Speaker 2: difficult but really enjoyable to go play in an environment
Speaker 2: like Buffalo. So yeah, we got it. We got our
Speaker 2: hands full against against a team that I think is
Speaker 2: playing pretty pretty good football and is one of the
Speaker 2: better teams in our conference.
Speaker 1: Brian Callahan, thanks for the time. Can't wait to see
Speaker 1: you in Buffalo this Sunday and we appreciate you joining.
Speaker 2: Us as always, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: That's the otp Abe Wells and Mike Keith and Brian Callahan,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us.