September 24, 2025 • 36 mins
Coach Dave McGinnis and Rhett Bryan team up for Mac Talk, breaking down the latest news and stories.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Tuesday night, everybody. I hope you've had a good
day as.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You listen to Mac Talk.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
He's coach Mac, I'm rat Brian, and uh, we know
there's plenty you probably want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's been a very busy day.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
But first we remind you Titans are on the way
to Houston on Sunday as a part of a three
straight game road stretch to take on the Houston Texans
at NRG Stadium. We'll be on the air with pregame
coverage here on the Zone at nine with the lead
company countdown to kickoff, then Farm Bureau Health Plans Titans
countdown at eleven, and then kickoff at officially twelve O
(00:37):
two Central with Taylor Zarzer and coach Mac Dave McGinnis.
We know you have phone calls, questions, all of those things.
Six point five seven three seven, one four five. Let's
just go ahead and get to the phones. Mac Eric
in Nashville, you're up first.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey guys. You know I was with the Gains Sun.
It was pretty bummed out about the laws, but I've
let it get me down and get me the press
after the game. It didn't listen to the post game
show went to the church, had members meeting now, the cookout,
had a good time, and my birthday's Friday, so I'm
gonna just really enjoy this week, guys, as far as
Sunday goes, I was never happy for my kith getting
(01:16):
industed into the Ring of Honor. That was one of
the very pleasant things that had son. Son really enjoyed that.
But coach, my question to you is this one of
the things that kind of bothered me was a comment
I guess it was made by Michael Pittman said that
he thought the Tights players were flat. And what made
it worse is when several of the players after the
game admitted that they were flat. Just wanted to get
(01:38):
your thoughts on that. As a former coach, did you
think it was the coach's responsibility or the player's responsibility
to come out motivated And if you yourself tried to
do any tools of trade or any type of tricks
or gimmicks to try and fire up the players for
the game, or did you feel like you just didn't
need to do that. Just wanted to get your thoughts
on that. Guys. Is always just a place talk to
(02:00):
you type take care.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Of I have a good birthday too, Eric, appreciate you calling.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yeah, Eric, happy birthday to you. You know, professional athletes,
you know, they they've already reached the apex of what
they're doing. They don't really need motivation. And I you know,
as I say, anytime you win a ballgame like that,
as an opponent, you have the right to say whatever
you want to say. I've never been one to think
(02:25):
about a team being flat or I can't imagine a
professional athlete not wanting to play, so I don't put
much stock in that. But to me, if you don't
play well, it doesn't mean that you're flat. It just
means you're not playing well. And I really nearly never
ever knew what that meant. And especially in the National
(02:48):
Football League when you only have you only had sixteen games.
Now you've got seventeen games chances to go out there
and play hard for me to believe a professional athlete
would not be ready to go.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, And what Eric was referencing there was a quote
from Michael Pittman, and then I can't remember, I think
it was Calvin Ridley, maybe Roger McCrary. McCrary and Snead
is what Joseph Bonano says that they were quoted as
saying they felt like they started a little flat. But
to your point, Mac, when you look at the numbers
(03:21):
and you look at the film, they.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Didn't play well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
They had a series or two in moments where they
did and a whole lot where they didn't. So that's
where we are plenty to talk about the reaction to
the Colts game. I'm sure people are still talking about. Also,
Brian Callahan relinquishes his play calling duties on offense and
(03:45):
defers that to quarterbacks coach Bohart agree. And then this
afternoon people are kind of off their axis a little bit.
Jarvis Brownlee, the cornerback, is sent to the New York
Jets with a seventh round pick in return for a
sixth round pick, both of those twenty twenty six selections.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And you know, this is just this is the operation,
this is business. This is just what this is.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And you know, we got several weeks to the trade deadline.
But this could be this could be an indicator of
what it's going to be like. I mean, look, Mike
Borganzi told everyone he is going to turn this roster,
and that doesn't always mean the back end of the roster.
There are business dealings that happen, So here we are.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
That's life in the National Football League, and that's just
the way it is. And you cannot be surprised about
anything that happens when you don't have success on the field,
and you're always going to try to make changes that
you think may help you. And that's clearly the business
that you're in in the National Football League. When things
(04:52):
aren't going well, status quo just doesn't get it right.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
James in Nashville, you're up next on Talk, say hello
to coach Mack and James is gone, just like that. Okay, Well,
so I don't know that there's, you know, anything else
to recap on the Colts game. Everybody's talked about it.
We know what happened, and so here we are. The
(05:21):
one other thing that did happen today though, and I
don't know if three HL covered it, but there was
a footnote at the end of that trade announcement in
the official release from the team about sending Jarvis Brownlee
to the New York Jets. They added a veteran running
back to the practice squad, Raheem black Shear pounds, fourth
(05:46):
year man out of Virginia Tech, who spent the last
three seasons with the Carolina Panthers, fifty two carries, two
hundred and three total rushing yards, sixteen reception one hundred
and thirty eight receiving yards, and forty one career games,
two starts. But the other thing is he also has
special teams experience as a kickoff for TURNMN.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Those are always interesting things to watch. But anyway, we're.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Going to get into the Houston Texans, who are also
oh to three, and we'll look at the reasons why
they're owe and three, and we can go ahead and
tell you not a huge surprise. It's not because of
the Texans defense and their pass rush in their front.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It's not that at all.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
No, the Texans defense is playing really well. In fact,
the Texans defense is the reason that they've lost some
one score games. I mean, they still got a very
very efficient, efficient defense. The thing that's going on with
them offensively is they can't get their offensive line settled.
And you know, it's not uncommon in the National Football
(06:49):
League if your offensive line is not settled, or if
you're in a state of flux, you're working people in
and out. You don't have you know, five starters that
have stayed together for a while, are five starters that
have stayed healthy, then it's it's going to suffer because
that's where everything starts in the National Football League, up front,
and they have they have kept a really really strong defense,
(07:12):
especially on the edges there. That's what's keeping them in
the ballgames right now. And so that's going to be
the huge challenge for the Titans this next weekend is
being able to work that front so that you can
you can stay in front of the chains and you
can stay out of these third and double digits. That's
proven to be a big, big problems for this Titans offense.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yep, we're going to get to that in the next segment.
Right now, let's go back to the phones. Steven and Lebanon.
You're on with coach Dave McGinnis.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
What's up and nothing? Proud to be on the phone
you guys. Thanks for taking the call.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
Coach Mac, anytime.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
You're on the radio, I'm all ears.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You are just I mean, thank.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
You so much for what you do for all us
Titans fans, because God knows, days aren't too good for
the past seventeen weeks, but with all your connections, I
was just wondering, well, there's some up and coming maybe
offensive coorinators, defense, the codinators, or any of the above,
(08:14):
like head coaches that you think could be.
Speaker 7 (08:18):
Good head coaches maybe in the next hirings, like we're
so Titans.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Maybe on the market, but it long season, he could
turn it around.
Speaker 7 (08:26):
We'll see.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But I just wanted to really hear your thoughts on.
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Maybe the next round of head coach hirings.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And thank you so much, coach Mac Steven.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Yeah, thanks for calling in. You know, my mind really
hasn't you know, doesn't go there at all right now
anytime during the season The thing that I'm all caught
up in is clearly, first of all, is trying to
prep and get ready for these games on a weekly basis,
and not only these games, but to also prep and
get ready for all the radio shows and the television
programs that I'm asked to be on. I've got plenty
(09:01):
on my plate, rather than you know, worrying about, you know,
who may be able to be available for the next
round of head coaches in this league. And that's that's
something that's something really you know, at one time, you know,
I was one of those hot young coaches out there
that was was on the cycle soon. You know, when
you get hot in this in the in this league
(09:23):
and you start being able to make the rounds of
the interviews and people start mentioning your name, it really
doesn't really happen with somebody just bringing your name up.
It's usually because of performance of what you've of what
you've been doing. But as far as me now in this,
in this in this capacity, you know, for thirty one years,
I've made a lot of decisions, was asked, you know,
(09:46):
to be in on a lot of decisions. As as
you know, trying to find people to do things as
far as as coaches and place coaches and those types
of things, that's not really my lane anymore. So right now,
I've got to be completely honest with you. My mind
really doesn't ever go to that because during the season
I am pretty much inundated with prep work, trying to
(10:09):
get ready not only for the upcoming ball games, but
also being able to prep for all the shows you're on.
Because if you're not prepared to do that, that's what
my job is now, then you know I'm not doing
the right thing for the listeners, and I'm not doing
the right thing to fulfill my contract like that. So
I got to be honest with you, I haven't even
(10:30):
given that a thought. As you get towards the end
of the season, might have a little bit clear thoughts
on that, but right now that's really not even on
my radar screen.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well, so much can happen between now and then, even
for national pundits who are discussing names. And to coach
Max's point, a lot of stuff gets cherry picked from
coaching staffs that are having, you know, great success deep
in the playoffs, even win Super Bowl whatever that usually
(11:02):
is in that cycle. But there's fourteen games left in
the season, and even the ones that look good now,
that are off to a good start, now, that stuff
can change in a minute. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
But there's just so much football left. And you know,
listen to Titans zero and three. Nobody wants that, nobody's
happy about it. But there's a lot of ball to
(11:23):
be played, a whole lot of ball.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, And as I say, I've got I've got plenty
on my plate rather than worrying about you know, who
might be out there that might be available for a
head coaching job anywhere else, and I'm really focused in
now on what we're doing week to week and also
focused in on the opponents because I've got to get
(11:46):
to learn to know a lot of rosters pretty quick
during and then be able to react immediately during the
ball games as far as to what's going on. So
my mind's not even there yet. Plus that's that's not
even in my purview anymore used to it's not now.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Speaking of what's on the table this week, we're going
to discuss the Houston Texans. Uh, they are familiar, but
they have roster turnover as well, and there's some things
on offense, as Mac has alluded to, that is going
to tell you a lot of the story of why
they're oh to three, just like the Titans are looking
for their first regular season win of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
We'll break those guys down.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Another AFC South Division game that is this Sunday at
NRG Stadium in Houston. The Texans coverage begins here at
nine a m. We're on the air with Titans count
down at eleven, then kick off at twelve o two
with Taylor Zarzer and coach Mack. Got a question for
Mac six one, five, seven, three, seven one four to five.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
All right, just go back to the.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Phones here, Devin, and Nashville coach Mack wants to talk
to you.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
What's up, Hey, how are you all doing today?
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Hey, Devin, doing good?
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Thank you, thanks for taking my call. So obviously the
Titans this year we've got a penalty problem. And my
question to you is is I see a lot of
posts or a lot of comments online about, you know,
it's all coaching, the coach needs to go because of
the penalties and stuff. And you made a comment earlier
about the after Michael Pittman said we were flat. You
made a comment about a professional athlete you know, should
(13:17):
never be coming out flat because he's kind of reached
the peak of the sport. And so my question is, like,
how much of the penalties now being in week three
really is on the coach versus really is on the
plate professional athletes. I feel like they should know, you know,
not to hold someone or not to fall start by
this point, and I just I just want to know
(13:39):
your dog on like the differences between what is a
coaching problem and what the player problem. Thank you guys
so much.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Thanks Devin, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Yeah, thanks Devin. And you know, I've it's good. It's
a partinent question. As far as about penalties, I've talked
about this before, which is very true. I've got no
problem with competition penalties. It's going to happen, you know,
when you're competing at a high level, you know, against
somebody else equal or it's sometimes even better ability. Even
though these are the top one percent that are doing this,
(14:06):
there's gonna be times when they're going to win. They're
going to win. But if you make if you have
penalties during competition, I mean, that's that happens during the
course of the ballgame. The penalties that that bother me
and that bother coaches, and that that you you have
no excuse for, are the mental penalties. That are the
(14:27):
pre and post snap penalties. You know, any pre snap penalty,
you know, being able to line up incorrectly, being in
double motion, jumping off sides, you know, you know before
the snap, lining up all sides. Those have nothing to
do with competition. Those have something to do with concentration,
(14:48):
and professional athletes should be dialed in and should be
concentrated on that so that those faults squarely on the
athlete that is competing at the time. All the year
as that I coached in this league, which is over
three decades, I've never ever found fault with somebody that
was penalized, you know, for something that happened during the
(15:10):
course of the competition. But if you're doing something before
the ball is even snapped, or even after the ball
is snapped, that's completely on you as a professional player.
Completely well, and let.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Me follow it up with something because a lot of
people have been surprised at the sudden trade of Jarvis Browne,
and everybody knows how much I love Jarvis Brownlee. I
was really like that pick last year, and when you
look at what his season had started as just piggybacking
off of this question and this call in your comment,
(15:46):
one hundred and twenty eight snaps, seventeen tackles, one pass breakup,
two tackles for loss, eighty percent completion rate allowed, fifty
nine passing yards allowed, one twenty four point six passer
rating when targeted, one touchdown allowed, three penalties. Not a
great start, and he didn't even play in the third game.
(16:07):
That was in the first two games. So for those
who are, you know, wondering and scratching their head, could
it be something else off the field. I'm sure I
don't know whatever, but there's the part that may have
ignited some of that in terms of facilitating the trades.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, and look, as close as Rhett and I are
to it, we're not involved in any of these decisions.
I mean, and we have no idea why, because that's.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
All we're not privy to that.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
No, And as I said, you know, for thirty one
plus years, you know I was I was charged with
fixing problems. You know that was paid a lot of
money to fix problems. But that's not my lane anymore.
And also these decisions that are made off the field,
as I say, we found out about that about probably
the same time all of our listeners did. But we
(16:56):
appreciate the calls. The calls are good.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Well, and let's let's go a step first here, because
something happened in Houston today that has some people scratching
their heads a little bit. And this just goes to
show you this is not just a Titans thing. This
happens in the league.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Gardner Johnson, one of the starting safeties opposite Jalen Petrie,
who we should have seen or was going to see
Sunday at NRG Stadium.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
He was released by the team, and.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Jimmy Ward comes off of the commissioners and commissioner's list
and all that stuff, and it looks like timing. But
you start reading some other things that have come out,
and here's a guy that is a Houston Texans beat
writer dj BN a me and he says, each of
the Texans three losses have been by a touchdown or less.
(17:47):
And we're going to get into those numbers, but at minimum,
according to team sources, Gardner Johnson has allowed three big
plays in those games that have contributed to the opposing
offense scoring touchdowns, adding that Gardner Johnson had struggled to
consistently guard the correct opposing player when required to match
coverage based on the Texans defensive call and routes run
(18:10):
by the offense. Struggles that also occurred during walkthroughs in
the lead ups to games. And he goes through these
other things and there's reports of, you know, some dissension
there and unhappy in his role. But what I'm saying
is this, Their general manager, Nick Cassario, just converted seven
(18:31):
million dollars of his signing bonus into a flat base
pay three weeks ago. Before this season started, and here
we are three weeks later and he is no longer
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Is I'm just.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Trying to tell everyone listening, this is not just something
that happens with the time.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Well why would they trade him off? Why?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
We don't know, but I can tell you it's not
just a Titans thing. It happens in the other thirty
one cities. That's a prime example the.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
National Football League. Believe me, I've been in it for
nearly four decades, and it's that. That's the National Football.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
League, all right, Brad and Clarksville appreciate you calling in.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Say hello to coach Mack.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
Hello, Coach Mack. Brad, you're to speak with you guys
this seven and really appreciate the work you guys do,
especially on seasons like last season, in the season like
this one looks to be headed. So you guys are
troopers and we appreciate you. I promise you. I wanted
to call in because I took exception a little bit
to what Rhett was saying there given the stat line
(19:31):
on Jarvis, and I know you like him, and I
know you're trying to be fair, and I know you're
trying to give the fans some perspective, and we understand
that it's a business, but you talked about like fifty
nine yards. Even at an eighty percent completion rate, he
had given up fifty nine yards. And Jarvis Brownlee is
one of the better cornerbacks that we had. He plays
(19:51):
a little handsy, and we all get that, but I mean,
if we're gonna start talking about why guys are getting gone,
Calvin Ridley should have been gone three weeks ago. The
man and caught a cold in the year and a half,
it feels like so I just took a little exception
with that. I do appreciate that you're trying to give
us some perspective, but I feel like it couldn't possibly
be because he is not performing to start the year.
(20:14):
I mean, with what they allow to go on, the
lack of accountability that they've provided these players to hide behind.
He's the one guy that would actually stand in front
of the media and talk and sometimes he put his
foot in his mouth, but he was there and he
was doing a lot of it while playing really hard
for a pretty bad football team last season, and so
(20:35):
I'm sad to see him go. Not that he was great,
but I mean at least he was a guy that
you felt like was working hard and trying to be
what we think Titan's football players should be. I'll just
hang up and listen to your response.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Brand I appreciate your response to that. I do and listen.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I'm glad that you took an exception to it, because
everyone's entitled to their opinion.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
And honestly, you know what we just said.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
A moment ago, we weren't privy to these discussions as
to why that was done and why that they moved
on from him. But what I was basically saying is
he was tracking towards I mean, three penalties is a problem.
I mean people talking about how many penalties the team
already has. And we're gonna get into the Texans numbers
with this in a minute, because ariantay Erserie, the left
(21:22):
tackle who was a rookie, because they had made a
lot of moves, he's got quite a few penalties himself
to start out as a as a young fellow against
these pass rushes. But thanks for the call, Brad. I
do appreciate that. I appreciate you listening. We're always welcome,
welcome anybody who wants to talk Titans and certainly, whether
(21:43):
you agree with us or not, that's what this show's for.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
It's what Mike always talks about.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Yeah, well, I mean we were Look, I have been
doing this for a long time, I regardless, and when
I was making decisions on who stayed and who went,
I never ever ever took any type of joy in
a in a in a player being released from a team.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No, no, never ever somebody's livelihood.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Yeah, and we're we're not. We'll never do that because
that's just that's that's not the way that I treated
my players, and that's that's not the way that I
believe players should be treated. But there's always reasons. And again,
as I say, if you're not on the inner circle
and you don't know the reasons, well then it's it's
the worst thing that you can do is start guessing.
(22:30):
And to me, as I say, we were big fans
of any of these football players because I know how
hard it is. I know how hard it is to
make a team, I know how hard it is to
stay in this league. I've lived it for over forty years.
So I take I take no joy at all in anybody, anybody,
(22:52):
especially in this business, losing their job coach or player.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I mean your point, Brad is is because should he
play better, should he catch ball? Absolutely, you've heard Mac
during these games. They should have caught that ball. Should
have caught that ball. As to why he's still here
and Jarvis Browny isn't, that's for anybody else to debate,
because again we were not privy to the information.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
All right, So let's talk about the oh.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
And three Houston Texans. So three one score losses, that's
where you start. They have a new offensive coordinator in
Nick Cayley, who was charged with getting this offense back
into high gear again like it was a couple of
years ago when c J. Stroud was the offensive rookie
of the year. Here's the problem, and coach Mack will
(23:39):
break it down for you. But there are four new
starters on the line that are all to the left
of right tackle Titus Howard. He's the only returning starter
because if you'll remember, they traded their stalwart Laramie Tunzel
to the Washington Commanders, and so they drafted arionte Erseri,
the rookie from Minnesota in the second round, and the
(24:00):
big fellow has had some protection issues He's had multiple penalties.
That's to be expected from a left tackle that's thrown
into the fire. Jake Andrews, their center, only had one
career start prior to this season, so this will be
start number five for him on Sunday against the Titans.
They were rotating left guards last week between Lake and
(24:21):
Tomlinson and Jew Scruggs. Jews Scruggs fifty of the fifty
seven percent of the snaps forty three percent Laken, So
they're trying to figure out the right formula and that
Ed Ingram is the new right guard.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
There c J.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Stroud sixty four percent completion, five hundred and ninety nine yards,
two touchdowns, three interceptions, seventy six point nine passer rating,
and then they're rushing twenty ninth in rushing yards, twenty
third in yardage. So that tells you the issues that
the offensive line has as the genesis of one of
the problems of this because when you look at the receivers,
(24:57):
I mean, Nico Collins is still a problem and so
is Dolllton Schultz. They're the two leading receivers in this
but you can see the points that they're not able
to put on the board and the struggles that they've had.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Well, I mean again, and that's why. I mean, there's
three phases in the game that have to be able
to contribute. And you look at the Houston Texans. I mean,
I dig into these teams really deep when we're getting
ready to play them in film study and watching it,
and the dichotomy, the difference between the way their defense
is playing and the way their offense is playing is
(25:30):
pretty stark right now, I mean offensively, and it starts
with their offensive line and RHTT just you know, gave
you a pretty good rundown of what's going on with that.
That's why they're now. The reason that they're in one
score games is because their defense is playing lights out
correct and their defense is towards the top of the
league in just about any category that you want to
(25:51):
look at. And as he said, you know, they already
have released somebody that they paid a lot of money
to only three weeks ago. So you don't know any
all everything that's going on with roster construction, our roster
manipulation during the season unless you're inside of the building.
But I do know that just from film study, watching
this right now, you can tell that the strength of
(26:12):
this football team to this point has been on the
defensive side of the football. They're still trying to find
their footing across the offensive line at Houston.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, because the other parts of this with the offense
thirty second in scoring, last in the league in scoring
and only forty three first downs, lowest rate in the
National Football League. They're near the bottom in a lot
of categories. And to your point, there's the Texans defense,
which we'll get to in the last segment, are at
the very least in the middle of the pack, but
(26:43):
in a lot of top ten rankings, and it's led
by the two pass rushers. And we'll get to some
of those numbers and who is lining up in this
thing that this offensive line that the Titans have is
going to face and cam Ward is going to face
on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
We'll do that when.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
We come back and look at some of the games
in Week four in the National Football League. Go back
to the phones. Here, one call here from Zach and
West Nashville. You're on with coach Dave mcginni's on MAC Talk.
Speaker 7 (27:08):
What's up, Hey, good evening, guys, want to talk to
you guys. So, yeah, Staton was going to a national perspective,
the Giants moving to Jackson Dark today. From when I
heard they were going to go ahead and procrastinate on
it until they needed him, is it actually feasible, Coach Mac,
(27:32):
for a quarterback to be ruined by getting thrown into
the fire too early. I'll hang up and listen. I
appreciate you guys, Thank.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
You, Zach. Appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Zach appreciate the call. We've appreciated all the calls tonight.
That's what's what Mac Talk's for, is to get everybody
involved and put their opinions out there. Look, in this
day and age, I would have said that when I
first started in this league, you know a lot of
years ago, that the answer would have been, you give
a quarterback time to come in and sit. That's not
(28:03):
the way the league works anymore now that with free
agency and the salary cap the way it is, if
you take a quarterback fairly high, what you're going to
do just because of the fact that you can build
a team structurally and financially around a quarterback if he
is a guy, you can build a team quicker because
(28:24):
you've got you've got a quarterback on a rookie deal
on a rookie deal, and that allows you to put
more people around him. So my answer to that would be, now, no,
if you draft somebody that you're in because if you
don't have a quarterback, a viable quarterback, whether he's whether
he's just brand new, and you're going to suffer through
(28:45):
some issues with a young quarterback. Still, if that ability
can be able to start to improve while he's playing,
and the advantage that you get salary structure wise to
be able to have a young quarterback and then build
around him. It's to your advantage to play him early
and to get him into the flow so that you
(29:07):
can build a team around him. So it's changed that
mantra has changed. Used to be, when you had no
free agency and no salary cap, you had a chance
to bring a quarterback in and let him sit, let
him soak for a while. You don't have that luxury anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, because now with what guys are making in that
position take up thirty five percent of your cap.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Correct, it's ter deals. It's a different world now. It
is a completely different world, and it's a different world
financially in the National Football League that it was nearly
forty years ago when I first started in this list.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
That's the conversation that they're having starting to have in
Houston right now with CJ. Stroud getting towards the back
end of his rookie deal and with the troubles that
they're having currently. Somebody actually wrote about that in The
Athletic today.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
But what they were able to do, we talk about
how how strong their defense is. They were able to
build a defense right because they had a.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Two division championships, two playoff wins.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
They had a quarterback on his rookie deal.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Let's talk about the Texans defense for a second. So
we talked about the offense as woes. The defense that's
a little different deal. So they're the pressure Kings of
the NFL thirty two and a half percent quarterback pressure rate.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So Will Anderson seventeen pressures.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Through three weeks, three quarterback sacks, daneil Hunter eleven pressures,
two quarterback sacks, thirty nine total pressures as a team.
Sheldon rankin in the middle five quarterback pressures himself.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
That's the issue.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
That's what not just the right side of the Titans
offensive line, but all five starters that walk out of
that tunnel in RG stadium on Sunday are about to face.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Well, I mean, that's again, that's the strength of this
It's the backbone of the Houston team right now is
their defense. And we said earlier in this program the
reason they have had so many one score games and
not putting up very much productivity on the offense is
their defense is so strong and that's not going to
change this weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
They are allowing one hundred and nine yards on the
ground to the opposition, sixteenth in the league.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Forty.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Just over forty and a half percent on third down.
So your point's valid about if you can get the
run game going, you.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Could stand a chance. You got to get the run
game going right.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Well, and well, you've got to do that, and especially
you know in the situation that the Titans are in
right now. The first three ball games, I mean, when
you watch it and you break it down, they've had issues.
Their issues on offense. A lot of it can go
to the fact that you don't have success on first
and second down and you're chasing third and double digit
on third downs, and that makes it. You know, I
(31:57):
called defenses for a long time in this league, and
if I could get a team to third and double digits.
Whether it was through my good play or through the
problems that they had had and putting themselves in a hole.
I could do anything I wanted to defensively, because I'm
not worried about playing the run. I'm one hundred percent
playing in the past. I can also take my coverage
(32:19):
and stand them back on the sticks and then single
up everybody on the front, put everybody up with which
people are doing right now, and just sending pressure and
not have to worry about the results of sending pressure.
So you've got to be able to move the chains
on first and second down. Doesn't necessarily have to be
with the run, but you have to be functional on
(32:40):
first and second down to stay ahead of the chains
if you're going to stay ahead of a rush team.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
That one of the first third downs that the Titans
converted in that first half on Sunday was third manageable.
It was third and six.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Yeah, and third and six is right on the fringe.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Right, You know, third tund was the best of the numbers,
because I remember I read the numbers when we started
the third quarter, and that was by far the best
out of that bunch. You bet, third and six is
an ideal, but it's better than third and twelve and fourteen, right.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Well, I mean, and on the defensive side of it,
you're always your your your point of demarcation that you're
trying to use his third and seven plus. If you
can get him to third and seven plus, you know
a greater percentage of the time you're going to win.
And so you know, third and six is right on
the cusp.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
All right, So let's take a look at some of
the games that are in Week four starts Thursday night,
Seattle at Arizona.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Arizona is going to be minus uh.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
They're one of their Starbucks and James Connor, who I
think he dislocated and broke his ankle, but he's out
for the year.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
But that should be an interesting game.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, and it's a division
game too, so.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
And I'm always interested to see that's one of the
you know, we're going to see them in a couple
of weeks.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
So right, well, let's see what they look like.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I was in that that NFC West for several years
and so those are those are big all right.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Some of the overseas games are starting so in Dublin,
Ireland and that starts. That'd be eight to thirty hour
time on Sunday morning. Minnesota and Pittsburgh. But no Jj
McCarthy for the for the Vikings. He did not travel.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Yeah, that's rough. That's rough right there for the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
All right, let's see what else we have here. Cleveland
at Detroit. Detroit taking advantage of two fumbles from Derrick
Henry last night and beat the Ravens in Baltimore. Cleveland
holding the Green Bay Packers to ten points Sunday and
getting their first win of the season.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
That should be an interesting game too.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Well, this is going to be a defensive game because
you know, Cleveland is really strong. I mean, you've got
Miles Garrett to deal with out there on the edge.
Cleveland's really strong defensively, and we all witnessed what Detroit
was last night.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Let's see what Carolina does now, because they put a
thumping on the Atlanta Falcons. They're in Foxborough to take
on Mike Rabel and the Patriots at noon on Sunday.
Let's see if they follow it up with anything.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Well, the Patriots just lost too, so you know that
they'll be gunning.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Of course, the Chargers at the New York Giants, and
they've got running back issues. Tyrone Tracy separated shoulder out
three four weeks. Looks like it's going to be the
Camp Scataboo show. And obviously Jackson Dark as per our
previous caller there a minute ago, gets his first start.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Scataboo showed up last night. I mean he was you
know that guy. You watch him play long enough in
Arizona State. He's got something to him that's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Absolutely all right. What's a couple of keys to getting
a win on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
You've got to control their edge rushers. I mean that's
number one. And how you control the edge rushers, You've
got to be able to control first and second down.
That's just huge. The other thing that's got to happen
is is Bones, Fossil and this special teams unit, all
of them have got to continue to stay on a
really strong track. They're on a strong track right now.
They've been on a heater. They need to stay on that.
(36:04):
You need that a lot. And then you're gonna need
to turn the ball over. I mean, Houston's had some
turnover problems. You need to get some turnovers.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Tennessee and Houston this Sunday. Here on the Zone. Coverage
starts at nine am. We're on the are at eleven
TZ and MAC have it at twelve o two. For
coach Mac, I'm Red Brian. Thanks for listening to back
talk
Happy Tuesday night, everybody. I hope you've had a good
day as.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
You listen to Mac Talk.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
He's coach Mac, I'm rat Brian, and uh, we know
there's plenty you probably want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's been a very busy day.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
But first we remind you Titans are on the way
to Houston on Sunday as a part of a three
straight game road stretch to take on the Houston Texans
at NRG Stadium. We'll be on the air with pregame
coverage here on the Zone at nine with the lead
company countdown to kickoff, then Farm Bureau Health Plans Titans
countdown at eleven, and then kickoff at officially twelve O
(00:37):
two Central with Taylor Zarzer and coach Mac Dave McGinnis.
We know you have phone calls, questions, all of those things.
Six point five seven three seven, one four five. Let's
just go ahead and get to the phones. Mac Eric
in Nashville, you're up first.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey guys. You know I was with the Gains Sun.
It was pretty bummed out about the laws, but I've
let it get me down and get me the press
after the game. It didn't listen to the post game
show went to the church, had members meeting now, the cookout,
had a good time, and my birthday's Friday, so I'm
gonna just really enjoy this week, guys, as far as
Sunday goes, I was never happy for my kith getting
(01:16):
industed into the Ring of Honor. That was one of
the very pleasant things that had son. Son really enjoyed that.
But coach, my question to you is this one of
the things that kind of bothered me was a comment
I guess it was made by Michael Pittman said that
he thought the Tights players were flat. And what made
it worse is when several of the players after the
game admitted that they were flat. Just wanted to get
(01:38):
your thoughts on that. As a former coach, did you
think it was the coach's responsibility or the player's responsibility
to come out motivated And if you yourself tried to
do any tools of trade or any type of tricks
or gimmicks to try and fire up the players for
the game, or did you feel like you just didn't
need to do that. Just wanted to get your thoughts
on that. Guys. Is always just a place talk to
(02:00):
you type take care.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Of I have a good birthday too, Eric, appreciate you calling.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yeah, Eric, happy birthday to you. You know, professional athletes,
you know, they they've already reached the apex of what
they're doing. They don't really need motivation. And I you know,
as I say, anytime you win a ballgame like that,
as an opponent, you have the right to say whatever
you want to say. I've never been one to think
(02:25):
about a team being flat or I can't imagine a
professional athlete not wanting to play, so I don't put
much stock in that. But to me, if you don't
play well, it doesn't mean that you're flat. It just
means you're not playing well. And I really nearly never
ever knew what that meant. And especially in the National
(02:48):
Football League when you only have you only had sixteen games.
Now you've got seventeen games chances to go out there
and play hard for me to believe a professional athlete
would not be ready to go.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, And what Eric was referencing there was a quote
from Michael Pittman, and then I can't remember, I think
it was Calvin Ridley, maybe Roger McCrary. McCrary and Snead
is what Joseph Bonano says that they were quoted as
saying they felt like they started a little flat. But
to your point, Mac, when you look at the numbers
(03:21):
and you look at the film, they.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Didn't play well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
They had a series or two in moments where they
did and a whole lot where they didn't. So that's
where we are plenty to talk about the reaction to
the Colts game. I'm sure people are still talking about. Also,
Brian Callahan relinquishes his play calling duties on offense and
(03:45):
defers that to quarterbacks coach Bohart agree. And then this
afternoon people are kind of off their axis a little bit.
Jarvis Brownlee, the cornerback, is sent to the New York
Jets with a seventh round pick in return for a
sixth round pick, both of those twenty twenty six selections.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And you know, this is just this is the operation,
this is business. This is just what this is.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And you know, we got several weeks to the trade deadline.
But this could be this could be an indicator of
what it's going to be like. I mean, look, Mike
Borganzi told everyone he is going to turn this roster,
and that doesn't always mean the back end of the roster.
There are business dealings that happen, So here we are.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
That's life in the National Football League, and that's just
the way it is. And you cannot be surprised about
anything that happens when you don't have success on the field,
and you're always going to try to make changes that
you think may help you. And that's clearly the business
that you're in in the National Football League. When things
(04:52):
aren't going well, status quo just doesn't get it right.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
James in Nashville, you're up next on Talk, say hello
to coach Mack and James is gone, just like that. Okay, Well,
so I don't know that there's, you know, anything else
to recap on the Colts game. Everybody's talked about it.
We know what happened, and so here we are. The
(05:21):
one other thing that did happen today though, and I
don't know if three HL covered it, but there was
a footnote at the end of that trade announcement in
the official release from the team about sending Jarvis Brownlee
to the New York Jets. They added a veteran running
back to the practice squad, Raheem black Shear pounds, fourth
(05:46):
year man out of Virginia Tech, who spent the last
three seasons with the Carolina Panthers, fifty two carries, two
hundred and three total rushing yards, sixteen reception one hundred
and thirty eight receiving yards, and forty one career games,
two starts. But the other thing is he also has
special teams experience as a kickoff for TURNMN.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Those are always interesting things to watch. But anyway, we're.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Going to get into the Houston Texans, who are also
oh to three, and we'll look at the reasons why
they're owe and three, and we can go ahead and
tell you not a huge surprise. It's not because of
the Texans defense and their pass rush in their front.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It's not that at all.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
No, the Texans defense is playing really well. In fact,
the Texans defense is the reason that they've lost some
one score games. I mean, they still got a very
very efficient, efficient defense. The thing that's going on with
them offensively is they can't get their offensive line settled.
And you know, it's not uncommon in the National Football
(06:49):
League if your offensive line is not settled, or if
you're in a state of flux, you're working people in
and out. You don't have you know, five starters that
have stayed together for a while, are five starters that
have stayed healthy, then it's it's going to suffer because
that's where everything starts in the National Football League, up front,
and they have they have kept a really really strong defense,
(07:12):
especially on the edges there. That's what's keeping them in
the ballgames right now. And so that's going to be
the huge challenge for the Titans this next weekend is
being able to work that front so that you can
you can stay in front of the chains and you
can stay out of these third and double digits. That's
proven to be a big, big problems for this Titans offense.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yep, we're going to get to that in the next segment.
Right now, let's go back to the phones. Steven and Lebanon.
You're on with coach Dave McGinnis.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
What's up and nothing? Proud to be on the phone
you guys. Thanks for taking the call.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
Coach Mac, anytime.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
You're on the radio, I'm all ears.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
You are just I mean, thank.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
You so much for what you do for all us
Titans fans, because God knows, days aren't too good for
the past seventeen weeks, but with all your connections, I
was just wondering, well, there's some up and coming maybe
offensive coorinators, defense, the codinators, or any of the above,
(08:14):
like head coaches that you think could be.
Speaker 7 (08:18):
Good head coaches maybe in the next hirings, like we're
so Titans.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
Maybe on the market, but it long season, he could
turn it around.
Speaker 7 (08:26):
We'll see.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
But I just wanted to really hear your thoughts on.
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Maybe the next round of head coach hirings.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
And thank you so much, coach Mac Steven.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Yeah, thanks for calling in. You know, my mind really
hasn't you know, doesn't go there at all right now
anytime during the season The thing that I'm all caught
up in is clearly, first of all, is trying to
prep and get ready for these games on a weekly basis,
and not only these games, but to also prep and
get ready for all the radio shows and the television
programs that I'm asked to be on. I've got plenty
(09:01):
on my plate, rather than you know, worrying about, you know,
who may be able to be available for the next
round of head coaches in this league. And that's that's
something that's something really you know, at one time, you know,
I was one of those hot young coaches out there
that was was on the cycle soon. You know, when
you get hot in this in the in this league
(09:23):
and you start being able to make the rounds of
the interviews and people start mentioning your name, it really
doesn't really happen with somebody just bringing your name up.
It's usually because of performance of what you've of what
you've been doing. But as far as me now in this,
in this in this capacity, you know, for thirty one years,
I've made a lot of decisions, was asked, you know,
(09:46):
to be in on a lot of decisions. As as
you know, trying to find people to do things as
far as as coaches and place coaches and those types
of things, that's not really my lane anymore. So right now,
I've got to be completely honest with you. My mind
really doesn't ever go to that because during the season
I am pretty much inundated with prep work, trying to
(10:09):
get ready not only for the upcoming ball games, but
also being able to prep for all the shows you're on.
Because if you're not prepared to do that, that's what
my job is now, then you know I'm not doing
the right thing for the listeners, and I'm not doing
the right thing to fulfill my contract like that. So
I got to be honest with you, I haven't even
(10:30):
given that a thought. As you get towards the end
of the season, might have a little bit clear thoughts
on that, but right now that's really not even on
my radar screen.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well, so much can happen between now and then, even
for national pundits who are discussing names. And to coach
Max's point, a lot of stuff gets cherry picked from
coaching staffs that are having, you know, great success deep
in the playoffs, even win Super Bowl whatever that usually
(11:02):
is in that cycle. But there's fourteen games left in
the season, and even the ones that look good now,
that are off to a good start, now, that stuff
can change in a minute. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
But there's just so much football left. And you know,
listen to Titans zero and three. Nobody wants that, nobody's
happy about it. But there's a lot of ball to
(11:23):
be played, a whole lot of ball.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Yeah, And as I say, I've got I've got plenty
on my plate rather than worrying about you know, who
might be out there that might be available for a
head coaching job anywhere else, and I'm really focused in
now on what we're doing week to week and also
focused in on the opponents because I've got to get
(11:46):
to learn to know a lot of rosters pretty quick
during and then be able to react immediately during the
ball games as far as to what's going on. So
my mind's not even there yet. Plus that's that's not
even in my purview anymore used to it's not now.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Speaking of what's on the table this week, we're going
to discuss the Houston Texans. Uh, they are familiar, but
they have roster turnover as well, and there's some things
on offense, as Mac has alluded to, that is going
to tell you a lot of the story of why
they're oh to three, just like the Titans are looking
for their first regular season win of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
We'll break those guys down.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Another AFC South Division game that is this Sunday at
NRG Stadium in Houston. The Texans coverage begins here at
nine a m. We're on the air with Titans count
down at eleven, then kick off at twelve o two
with Taylor Zarzer and coach Mack. Got a question for
Mac six one, five, seven, three, seven one four to five.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
All right, just go back to the.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Phones here, Devin, and Nashville coach Mack wants to talk
to you.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
What's up, Hey, how are you all doing today?
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Hey, Devin, doing good?
Speaker 5 (12:55):
Thank you, thanks for taking my call. So obviously the
Titans this year we've got a penalty problem. And my
question to you is is I see a lot of
posts or a lot of comments online about, you know,
it's all coaching, the coach needs to go because of
the penalties and stuff. And you made a comment earlier
about the after Michael Pittman said we were flat. You
made a comment about a professional athlete you know, should
(13:17):
never be coming out flat because he's kind of reached
the peak of the sport. And so my question is, like,
how much of the penalties now being in week three
really is on the coach versus really is on the
plate professional athletes. I feel like they should know, you know,
not to hold someone or not to fall start by
this point, and I just I just want to know
(13:39):
your dog on like the differences between what is a
coaching problem and what the player problem. Thank you guys
so much.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Thanks Devin, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Yeah, thanks Devin. And you know, I've it's good. It's
a partinent question. As far as about penalties, I've talked
about this before, which is very true. I've got no
problem with competition penalties. It's going to happen, you know,
when you're competing at a high level, you know, against
somebody else equal or it's sometimes even better ability. Even
though these are the top one percent that are doing this,
(14:06):
there's gonna be times when they're going to win. They're
going to win. But if you make if you have
penalties during competition, I mean, that's that happens during the
course of the ballgame. The penalties that that bother me
and that bother coaches, and that that you you have
no excuse for, are the mental penalties. That are the
(14:27):
pre and post snap penalties. You know, any pre snap penalty,
you know, being able to line up incorrectly, being in
double motion, jumping off sides, you know, you know before
the snap, lining up all sides. Those have nothing to
do with competition. Those have something to do with concentration,
(14:48):
and professional athletes should be dialed in and should be
concentrated on that so that those faults squarely on the
athlete that is competing at the time. All the year
as that I coached in this league, which is over
three decades, I've never ever found fault with somebody that
was penalized, you know, for something that happened during the
(15:10):
course of the competition. But if you're doing something before
the ball is even snapped, or even after the ball
is snapped, that's completely on you as a professional player.
Completely well, and let.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Me follow it up with something because a lot of
people have been surprised at the sudden trade of Jarvis Browne,
and everybody knows how much I love Jarvis Brownlee. I
was really like that pick last year, and when you
look at what his season had started as just piggybacking
off of this question and this call in your comment,
(15:46):
one hundred and twenty eight snaps, seventeen tackles, one pass breakup,
two tackles for loss, eighty percent completion rate allowed, fifty
nine passing yards allowed, one twenty four point six passer
rating when targeted, one touchdown allowed, three penalties. Not a
great start, and he didn't even play in the third game.
(16:07):
That was in the first two games. So for those
who are, you know, wondering and scratching their head, could
it be something else off the field. I'm sure I
don't know whatever, but there's the part that may have
ignited some of that in terms of facilitating the trades.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, and look, as close as Rhett and I are
to it, we're not involved in any of these decisions.
I mean, and we have no idea why, because that's.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
All we're not privy to that.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
No, And as I said, you know, for thirty one
plus years, you know I was I was charged with
fixing problems. You know that was paid a lot of
money to fix problems. But that's not my lane anymore.
And also these decisions that are made off the field,
as I say, we found out about that about probably
the same time all of our listeners did. But we
(16:56):
appreciate the calls. The calls are good.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Well, and let's let's go a step first here, because
something happened in Houston today that has some people scratching
their heads a little bit. And this just goes to
show you this is not just a Titans thing. This
happens in the league.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
CJ.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Gardner Johnson, one of the starting safeties opposite Jalen Petrie,
who we should have seen or was going to see
Sunday at NRG Stadium.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
He was released by the team, and.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Jimmy Ward comes off of the commissioners and commissioner's list
and all that stuff, and it looks like timing. But
you start reading some other things that have come out,
and here's a guy that is a Houston Texans beat
writer dj BN a me and he says, each of
the Texans three losses have been by a touchdown or less.
(17:47):
And we're going to get into those numbers, but at minimum,
according to team sources, Gardner Johnson has allowed three big
plays in those games that have contributed to the opposing
offense scoring touchdowns, adding that Gardner Johnson had struggled to
consistently guard the correct opposing player when required to match
coverage based on the Texans defensive call and routes run
(18:10):
by the offense. Struggles that also occurred during walkthroughs in
the lead ups to games. And he goes through these
other things and there's reports of, you know, some dissension
there and unhappy in his role. But what I'm saying
is this, Their general manager, Nick Cassario, just converted seven
(18:31):
million dollars of his signing bonus into a flat base
pay three weeks ago. Before this season started, and here
we are three weeks later and he is no longer
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Is I'm just.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Trying to tell everyone listening, this is not just something
that happens with the time.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Well why would they trade him off? Why?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
We don't know, but I can tell you it's not
just a Titans thing. It happens in the other thirty
one cities. That's a prime example the.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
National Football League. Believe me, I've been in it for
nearly four decades, and it's that. That's the National Football.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
League, all right, Brad and Clarksville appreciate you calling in.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Say hello to coach Mack.
Speaker 6 (19:11):
Hello, Coach Mack. Brad, you're to speak with you guys
this seven and really appreciate the work you guys do,
especially on seasons like last season, in the season like
this one looks to be headed. So you guys are
troopers and we appreciate you. I promise you. I wanted
to call in because I took exception a little bit
to what Rhett was saying there given the stat line
(19:31):
on Jarvis, and I know you like him, and I
know you're trying to be fair, and I know you're
trying to give the fans some perspective, and we understand
that it's a business, but you talked about like fifty
nine yards. Even at an eighty percent completion rate, he
had given up fifty nine yards. And Jarvis Brownlee is
one of the better cornerbacks that we had. He plays
(19:51):
a little handsy, and we all get that, but I mean,
if we're gonna start talking about why guys are getting gone,
Calvin Ridley should have been gone three weeks ago. The
man and caught a cold in the year and a half,
it feels like so I just took a little exception
with that. I do appreciate that you're trying to give
us some perspective, but I feel like it couldn't possibly
be because he is not performing to start the year.
(20:14):
I mean, with what they allow to go on, the
lack of accountability that they've provided these players to hide behind.
He's the one guy that would actually stand in front
of the media and talk and sometimes he put his
foot in his mouth, but he was there and he
was doing a lot of it while playing really hard
for a pretty bad football team last season, and so
(20:35):
I'm sad to see him go. Not that he was great,
but I mean at least he was a guy that
you felt like was working hard and trying to be
what we think Titan's football players should be. I'll just
hang up and listen to your response.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Brand I appreciate your response to that. I do and listen.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
I'm glad that you took an exception to it, because
everyone's entitled to their opinion.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
And honestly, you know what we just said.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
A moment ago, we weren't privy to these discussions as
to why that was done and why that they moved
on from him. But what I was basically saying is
he was tracking towards I mean, three penalties is a problem.
I mean people talking about how many penalties the team
already has. And we're gonna get into the Texans numbers
with this in a minute, because ariantay Erserie, the left
(21:22):
tackle who was a rookie, because they had made a
lot of moves, he's got quite a few penalties himself
to start out as a as a young fellow against
these pass rushes. But thanks for the call, Brad. I
do appreciate that. I appreciate you listening. We're always welcome,
welcome anybody who wants to talk Titans and certainly, whether
(21:43):
you agree with us or not, that's what this show's for.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
It's what Mike always talks about.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
Yeah, well, I mean we were Look, I have been
doing this for a long time, I regardless, and when
I was making decisions on who stayed and who went,
I never ever ever took any type of joy in
a in a in a player being released from a team.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
No, no, never ever somebody's livelihood.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Yeah, and we're we're not. We'll never do that because
that's just that's that's not the way that I treated
my players, and that's that's not the way that I
believe players should be treated. But there's always reasons. And again,
as I say, if you're not on the inner circle
and you don't know the reasons, well then it's it's
the worst thing that you can do is start guessing.
(22:30):
And to me, as I say, we were big fans
of any of these football players because I know how
hard it is. I know how hard it is to
make a team, I know how hard it is to
stay in this league. I've lived it for over forty years.
So I take I take no joy at all in anybody, anybody,
(22:52):
especially in this business, losing their job coach or player.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
And Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I mean your point, Brad is is because should he
play better, should he catch ball? Absolutely, you've heard Mac
during these games. They should have caught that ball. Should
have caught that ball. As to why he's still here
and Jarvis Browny isn't, that's for anybody else to debate,
because again we were not privy to the information.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
All right, So let's talk about the oh.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
And three Houston Texans. So three one score losses, that's
where you start. They have a new offensive coordinator in
Nick Cayley, who was charged with getting this offense back
into high gear again like it was a couple of
years ago when c J. Stroud was the offensive rookie
of the year. Here's the problem, and coach Mack will
(23:39):
break it down for you. But there are four new
starters on the line that are all to the left
of right tackle Titus Howard. He's the only returning starter
because if you'll remember, they traded their stalwart Laramie Tunzel
to the Washington Commanders, and so they drafted arionte Erseri,
the rookie from Minnesota in the second round, and the
(24:00):
big fellow has had some protection issues He's had multiple penalties.
That's to be expected from a left tackle that's thrown
into the fire. Jake Andrews, their center, only had one
career start prior to this season, so this will be
start number five for him on Sunday against the Titans.
They were rotating left guards last week between Lake and
(24:21):
Tomlinson and Jew Scruggs. Jews Scruggs fifty of the fifty
seven percent of the snaps forty three percent Laken, So
they're trying to figure out the right formula and that
Ed Ingram is the new right guard.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
There c J.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Stroud sixty four percent completion, five hundred and ninety nine yards,
two touchdowns, three interceptions, seventy six point nine passer rating,
and then they're rushing twenty ninth in rushing yards, twenty
third in yardage. So that tells you the issues that
the offensive line has as the genesis of one of
the problems of this because when you look at the receivers,
(24:57):
I mean, Nico Collins is still a problem and so
is Dolllton Schultz. They're the two leading receivers in this
but you can see the points that they're not able
to put on the board and the struggles that they've had.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
Well, I mean again, and that's why. I mean, there's
three phases in the game that have to be able
to contribute. And you look at the Houston Texans. I mean,
I dig into these teams really deep when we're getting
ready to play them in film study and watching it,
and the dichotomy, the difference between the way their defense
is playing and the way their offense is playing is
(25:30):
pretty stark right now, I mean offensively, and it starts
with their offensive line and RHTT just you know, gave
you a pretty good rundown of what's going on with that.
That's why they're now. The reason that they're in one
score games is because their defense is playing lights out
correct and their defense is towards the top of the
league in just about any category that you want to
(25:51):
look at. And as he said, you know, they already
have released somebody that they paid a lot of money
to only three weeks ago. So you don't know any
all everything that's going on with roster construction, our roster
manipulation during the season unless you're inside of the building.
But I do know that just from film study, watching
this right now, you can tell that the strength of
(26:12):
this football team to this point has been on the
defensive side of the football. They're still trying to find
their footing across the offensive line at Houston.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, because the other parts of this with the offense
thirty second in scoring, last in the league in scoring
and only forty three first downs, lowest rate in the
National Football League. They're near the bottom in a lot
of categories. And to your point, there's the Texans defense,
which we'll get to in the last segment, are at
the very least in the middle of the pack, but
(26:43):
in a lot of top ten rankings, and it's led
by the two pass rushers. And we'll get to some
of those numbers and who is lining up in this
thing that this offensive line that the Titans have is
going to face and cam Ward is going to face
on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
We'll do that when.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
We come back and look at some of the games
in Week four in the National Football League. Go back
to the phones. Here, one call here from Zach and
West Nashville. You're on with coach Dave mcginni's on MAC Talk.
Speaker 7 (27:08):
What's up, Hey, good evening, guys, want to talk to
you guys. So, yeah, Staton was going to a national perspective,
the Giants moving to Jackson Dark today. From when I
heard they were going to go ahead and procrastinate on
it until they needed him, is it actually feasible, Coach Mac,
(27:32):
for a quarterback to be ruined by getting thrown into
the fire too early. I'll hang up and listen. I
appreciate you guys, Thank.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
You, Zach. Appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Zach appreciate the call. We've appreciated all the calls tonight.
That's what's what Mac Talk's for, is to get everybody
involved and put their opinions out there. Look, in this
day and age, I would have said that when I
first started in this league, you know a lot of
years ago, that the answer would have been, you give
a quarterback time to come in and sit. That's not
(28:03):
the way the league works anymore now that with free
agency and the salary cap the way it is, if
you take a quarterback fairly high, what you're going to
do just because of the fact that you can build
a team structurally and financially around a quarterback if he
is a guy, you can build a team quicker because
(28:24):
you've got you've got a quarterback on a rookie deal
on a rookie deal, and that allows you to put
more people around him. So my answer to that would be, now, no,
if you draft somebody that you're in because if you
don't have a quarterback, a viable quarterback, whether he's whether
he's just brand new, and you're going to suffer through
(28:45):
some issues with a young quarterback. Still, if that ability
can be able to start to improve while he's playing,
and the advantage that you get salary structure wise to
be able to have a young quarterback and then build
around him. It's to your advantage to play him early
and to get him into the flow so that you
(29:07):
can build a team around him. So it's changed that
mantra has changed. Used to be, when you had no
free agency and no salary cap, you had a chance
to bring a quarterback in and let him sit, let
him soak for a while. You don't have that luxury anymore.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, because now with what guys are making in that
position take up thirty five percent of your cap.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Correct, it's ter deals. It's a different world now. It
is a completely different world, and it's a different world
financially in the National Football League that it was nearly
forty years ago when I first started in this list.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
That's the conversation that they're having starting to have in
Houston right now with CJ. Stroud getting towards the back
end of his rookie deal and with the troubles that
they're having currently. Somebody actually wrote about that in The
Athletic today.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
But what they were able to do, we talk about
how how strong their defense is. They were able to
build a defense right because they had a.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Two division championships, two playoff wins.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
They had a quarterback on his rookie deal.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Let's talk about the Texans defense for a second. So
we talked about the offense as woes. The defense that's
a little different deal. So they're the pressure Kings of
the NFL thirty two and a half percent quarterback pressure rate.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
So Will Anderson seventeen pressures.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Through three weeks, three quarterback sacks, daneil Hunter eleven pressures,
two quarterback sacks, thirty nine total pressures as a team.
Sheldon rankin in the middle five quarterback pressures himself.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
That's the issue.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
That's what not just the right side of the Titans
offensive line, but all five starters that walk out of
that tunnel in RG stadium on Sunday are about to face.
Speaker 4 (30:53):
Well, I mean, that's again, that's the strength of this
It's the backbone of the Houston team right now is
their defense. And we said earlier in this program the
reason they have had so many one score games and
not putting up very much productivity on the offense is
their defense is so strong and that's not going to
change this weekend.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
They are allowing one hundred and nine yards on the
ground to the opposition, sixteenth in the league.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Forty.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Just over forty and a half percent on third down.
So your point's valid about if you can get the
run game going, you.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Could stand a chance. You got to get the run
game going right.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Well, and well, you've got to do that, and especially
you know in the situation that the Titans are in
right now. The first three ball games, I mean, when
you watch it and you break it down, they've had issues.
Their issues on offense. A lot of it can go
to the fact that you don't have success on first
and second down and you're chasing third and double digit
on third downs, and that makes it. You know, I
(31:57):
called defenses for a long time in this league, and
if I could get a team to third and double digits.
Whether it was through my good play or through the
problems that they had had and putting themselves in a hole.
I could do anything I wanted to defensively, because I'm
not worried about playing the run. I'm one hundred percent
playing in the past. I can also take my coverage
(32:19):
and stand them back on the sticks and then single
up everybody on the front, put everybody up with which
people are doing right now, and just sending pressure and
not have to worry about the results of sending pressure.
So you've got to be able to move the chains
on first and second down. Doesn't necessarily have to be
with the run, but you have to be functional on
(32:40):
first and second down to stay ahead of the chains
if you're going to stay ahead of a rush team.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
That one of the first third downs that the Titans
converted in that first half on Sunday was third manageable.
It was third and six.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Yeah, and third and six is right on the fringe.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Right, You know, third tund was the best of the numbers,
because I remember I read the numbers when we started
the third quarter, and that was by far the best
out of that bunch. You bet, third and six is
an ideal, but it's better than third and twelve and fourteen, right.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Well, I mean, and on the defensive side of it,
you're always your your your point of demarcation that you're
trying to use his third and seven plus. If you
can get him to third and seven plus, you know
a greater percentage of the time you're going to win.
And so you know, third and six is right on
the cusp.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
All right, So let's take a look at some of
the games that are in Week four starts Thursday night,
Seattle at Arizona.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Arizona is going to be minus uh.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
They're one of their Starbucks and James Connor, who I
think he dislocated and broke his ankle, but he's out
for the year.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
But that should be an interesting game.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, and it's a division
game too, so.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
And I'm always interested to see that's one of the
you know, we're going to see them in a couple
of weeks.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
So right, well, let's see what they look like.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I was in that that NFC West for several years
and so those are those are big all right.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Some of the overseas games are starting so in Dublin,
Ireland and that starts. That'd be eight to thirty hour
time on Sunday morning. Minnesota and Pittsburgh. But no Jj
McCarthy for the for the Vikings. He did not travel.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
Yeah, that's rough. That's rough right there for the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
All right, let's see what else we have here. Cleveland
at Detroit. Detroit taking advantage of two fumbles from Derrick
Henry last night and beat the Ravens in Baltimore. Cleveland
holding the Green Bay Packers to ten points Sunday and
getting their first win of the season.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
That should be an interesting game too.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Well, this is going to be a defensive game because
you know, Cleveland is really strong. I mean, you've got
Miles Garrett to deal with out there on the edge.
Cleveland's really strong defensively, and we all witnessed what Detroit
was last night.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Let's see what Carolina does now, because they put a
thumping on the Atlanta Falcons. They're in Foxborough to take
on Mike Rabel and the Patriots at noon on Sunday.
Let's see if they follow it up with anything.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Well, the Patriots just lost too, so you know that
they'll be gunning.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Of course, the Chargers at the New York Giants, and
they've got running back issues. Tyrone Tracy separated shoulder out
three four weeks. Looks like it's going to be the
Camp Scataboo show. And obviously Jackson Dark as per our
previous caller there a minute ago, gets his first start.
Speaker 4 (35:28):
Scataboo showed up last night. I mean he was you
know that guy. You watch him play long enough in
Arizona State. He's got something to him that's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Absolutely all right. What's a couple of keys to getting
a win on Sunday.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
You've got to control their edge rushers. I mean that's
number one. And how you control the edge rushers, You've
got to be able to control first and second down.
That's just huge. The other thing that's got to happen
is is Bones, Fossil and this special teams unit, all
of them have got to continue to stay on a
really strong track. They're on a strong track right now.
They've been on a heater. They need to stay on that.
(36:04):
You need that a lot. And then you're gonna need
to turn the ball over. I mean, Houston's had some
turnover problems. You need to get some turnovers.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Tennessee and Houston this Sunday. Here on the Zone. Coverage
starts at nine am. We're on the are at eleven
TZ and MAC have it at twelve o two. For
coach Mac, I'm Red Brian. Thanks for listening to back
talk
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