August 11, 2025 • 40 mins
Taylor Zarzour and Coach Mac look back at all the action from the Titans first preseason game against Tampa Bay. Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson join the show to talk all things defense and throwing everything a Cam Ward in practice. Plus, specialist Morgan Cox, Johnny Hekker and Joey Slye on building a strong connection on the field and golf course.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is the OTP from Flowery Branch, Georgia, as the
Tennessee Titans road trip continues. That's the head coach of
the Titans radio broadcast, Dave McGinnis. I'm Taylor Zarzer. You
don't see Jack and Max, but they are here. They've
positioned us in a good spot. And I don't hear
a fire alarm going off.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well I heard one yesterday, so we're two for two
for fire alarms. But this is a beautiful setting right here.
I mean when I saw where we were going to
do it, this is just like anything else. When you
travel with the Titans, you travel first class. This is
really nice.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
You know, coach in basketball, hockey, and baseball, those teams
that play those sports and professional sports, they go on
long road trips together. You don't ever see this in
the National Football League where you go on a ten day,
nine night road trip, which is what the Tennessee Items
are doing in the preseason to prepare for the regular
season played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa were down
(01:06):
there for three days and the middle of the night
after the Tampa game, flew to Georgia and they're here
all week before they play the Atlanta Falcons. What do
you think the significance of all this.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Is, Well, I mean it's important. This is a young
football team, and we saw the importance of just of
practicing first of all against the Bucks in one. We'll
get two practices here, but this is important. Look, this
is a rebuilding football team and you've got to have
time on task and time on task in football, Sooner
or later, you've got to do it. And here's the
other thing too, Taylor. You've got to put these players
(01:40):
in positions where they're not comfortable, because the game of
football is not comfortable until you've been through it. So
I like what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, and Coach, it used to be, I mean, you've
been in the game the National Football League for thirty
nine years. It used to be you would leave and
go to a training camp facility and you would go
stay in doors as a team together and there's a
lot of team building that goes on for weeks that
just doesn't happen as much anymore. The National Football League
and its teams aren't doing much of that anymore. And
(02:10):
because of that, you kind of have to create something,
which is what the Titans have done. And with that,
a lot of team building happens over the course of
these ten days.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, and especially nowaday when you only have three preseason games. Yeah,
this is critical, and we talked about it earlier on
previous OTPs. Teams across the league are going to start
doing this. You've got five teams right now that are
going away to camp. That's it. Yeah, five teams. It
used to be everybody and you would go away for
five and six weeks at a time. I can't count
(02:40):
the number of dormitories I've slept in in my career
in the National Football League. This is not a dormitory.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's a different world. But being gone and being out
of your element is something that you have to learn
to adapt to. And so I like what we're doing.
And major props, major props to the ops crew, to
the support staff because this takes a lot of work
to make something like this happen.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
All right, you the last time we were on the OTP,
you talked about how you thought the best thing the
Titans have done in the offseason was the practice they
had with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. For those
that missed it, just explain why you thought that was
so necessary for this Titans team to do well.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It was a hostile environment. And then I mean, you
have to test yourself against other people. Because you get
comfortable practicing in your place do of business, you get
comfortable going against the same people all the time. It's critical.
It's going to be critical for these two days that
were down here because the ball games take on a
different tone in a temper, especially in the preseason, Taylor,
(03:46):
because you're trying to get a limited number of reps
to ninety one players, and that's hard hard to do
when you're practicing against somebody. The coaches control it. The
coaches on both sides control it. So it's it's night
and day as to the number of reps that you
can get and also the points of emphasis that you
can go to.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
We're going to talk to Denard Wilson, the defensive coordinator
of the Titans, on this edition of the OTP coming
up in a little while. We also have all the
specialists that are going to join us that are better
at golf than I am. Morgan Cox, Johnny Hecker, and
Joey sli are all going to join us on the
OTP as well. Coach let me get your thoughts on
how you felt the preseason game went against the Tampa
(04:28):
Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, it was I mean it was a preseason game.
I mean and early on when you had both teams
with some of their starters out there not all. Yeah,
you know, Todd Bowles declared early that he wasn't going
to play many, if any, of his starters. There were
a lot of guys missing. But Tampa Bay's an established
football team. They are an established team. This is a
(04:50):
rebuilding team the Titans are. But I like the fact
I like what happened with the offense because the offense
went three and out on the first one. I mean,
I can get into the weeds football wise, while that
first series was three and out, but basically it was
a three man nine ball stack that got jammed up
on third down and you know the ball was held
too long and they'll get that corrected. I love the
(05:13):
bounce back that the quarterback. The quarterback made when he
when he came back in the second series that he had.
I mean, you could tell if he's going to have
time to throw and people can have time to develop routes,
this is going to be good.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay, Well, a lot of people that watched it were
really impressed by what you just said. They were really
impressed by cam Ward on that second series that he
was in there, and the biggest positive they took from
the game was that cam Ward really looked the part
and made some good corrections on that second drive. Was
that your biggest positive to that, Well, he's got poise.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I mean we've watched him. I mean I've watched him
ever since the you know, ever since the draft, and
I've been at every practice and just I mean, the
guy has got poise. You can't fake poise. I mean
he's got it. He's got it, and he's he's able
to bounce back from something that doesn't go well. And
you could see kind of the rest of the team
coalescing around that. Now, he didn't have all his starters
on the offensive line, but the offensive line when they
(06:08):
gave him a chance in the cylinder, and then the
receivers were running really good routes. I mean, he clearly
he's got a connection, you know with Ridley. I mean
there's a connection there, But just the poise that he
had standing in the cylinder, being able to discern the
routes and then I mean he got fooled on one.
He got fooled on one coverage where he just about
(06:28):
threw a pick into a cover two they that they
made look like it was a three deep and then
they rolled, they bogied and rolled to a cover two.
He got fooled on that one, but he learned from it,
and so there's gonna be a lot of learning instances
for him in all of this. But the poise is
what I really like.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, Cam finding Calvin Ridley three times on that drive
for fifty yards. He had a twenty seven yard completion,
and on that completion, he had all the time in
the world. And you kept saying on the broadcast, this
is because he he has time to look down the
field and survey what he has. So let's talk a
little bit about that. This offseason, the Tennessee Titans went
(07:08):
and got Dan Moore from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's now
their left tackle and he's one of the better left
tackles in the National Football League. And he's young too,
still in his mid twenties. And they moved J. C. Latham,
who his senior year or his last year at Alabama,
I guess his junior year he was the most coveted
right tackle coming out of college. That's the position he
(07:29):
played at Alabama. When he came to the Titans after
being a first round draft pick, he was the left tackle.
Last year, they moved him back to right tackle, and
it sure looks like, at least from this untrained eye
through the last couple of months, that that has worked
really well for the Titans. Putting More at left tackle
and Latham at right tackle. How would you evaluate it?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Well, yeah, I mean it's a work in progress. But look,
More has been in the league and he's been very
very he's been he has been very available, and that's
important for offensive linemen. They've got to be able to play,
you know, they got to be available to be able
to play. He's done that. To me, JC Latham is
going to be a premier right tackle in this league.
(08:09):
And the other thing that he did, he got jumped
way ahead of the game. As far as improving his
body from his first year to his second year. He
gets it, he understands it. And they didn't have their
entire offensive line intact for the ballgame as you as
you know, they're missing two yell they're missing two starters.
One with Lloyd Cushionberry who's still not cleared to play yet,
(08:31):
and then Zeigler on the at the right guard didn't play,
but still the group I thought was very cohesive. Being
able to again going against who they were going against,
you know, was fine. You can only you can only
play and practice against who the opponent puts out there,
but that that was encouraging to me to watch that
whole operation work.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
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(09:13):
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Speaker 2 (09:19):
Now back to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
You're always gonna have players that get banged up in
the preseason. That's just a part of it, and UH
coach Callahan has talked about hopefully getting Taj Spears back
in the next couple weeks. He was banged up in
the game. I really thought Julius Chesnut and Klelle Mullings
that both came in and played a lot during the game,
look good. And you have talked a lot about them
(09:43):
in the last few weeks and you've been impressed by them.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well, they're just gonna have They're going to have to
play because you know, especially now with Taja, you know
is going to miss some time. He's going to miss
some time. And anytime you put them out there between
the white lines. I mean, I've learned this in my
thirty nine years in the league. You got a chansformed
it to experience, to experience an injury. That's just the
way it is. But it gives an opportunity for those
(10:06):
two guys to step up. They're gonna get plenty of play,
believe me. And both of those guys they don't have
the same skill set that ti j does, but they
can add something to this offense. But what they need
to do and both of them, both of them are
physical downhill runners and that's what they need. And they
need to be contributors on special teams. So they're gonna
(10:26):
be a They're gonna be a part of the group.
That's gonna have to play. They're gonna get to play
a lot with specially with tij being out.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Cam Ward did play two series than Brandon Allen came
in the game the backup quarterback for the Titans and
move the team down the field the second the first
drive of the second half, moved all the way inside
the ten yard line. Unfortunately a turnover on downs, but
on that drive, Julius Chestnut had three great plays on
that drive, a couple of eight yard plays a run
(10:54):
and a catch, and also another seven yard run. And
then gunner Helm the tight end for the iTANs. You've
talked a lot about him coach to the rookie out
of the University of Texas.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, I think gunner Helm. I mean he just when
you vetted him, and I know that they've did the
same thing vet him coming out of University of Texas.
He's the leading receiver on a team, a Texas team
that had some dudes that could run run at receiver.
This guy's got a feel. He's got a feel, he
understands open spaces in zone. He's able to play off
of leverage in man to man, and plus gunner Helm's
(11:29):
a better blocker that people give him credit for I
mean the uninitiated when you look at I really like
what he's done. And this entire rookie class they're maturer players.
And when I say mature players, there's still got a
lot to learn. They're rookies, but the mindset that they
have there, I mean, they're all ball. They're all ball.
(11:49):
Gunner Helm's been a guy that's impressed me. Impressed me
at Texas and then he really impressed me when he
showed up here after the draft. I think he's got
a chance to contribute this year quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So there you go. There's Coach Max's breakdown of what
happened on the offense this past Saturday night. Before I
get your thoughts on the defense, let's get the defensive
coordinators thoughts on the defense. Here's Denard Wilson And there
he is Denard Wilson, the defensive coordinator for your Tennessee Titans.
Out goes coach mack incomes Denard Wilson into his chair.
(12:23):
How are we feeling into year number two?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
I'm feeling great. I'm very confident going into this year.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
The players have been really receptive, you know, of the
messaging and everything that we're doing so I'm excited for
the season to start.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
All right, let's go to last week. Let's start with
Saturday night, the preseason game. Overall, how did you feel
about the performance of the defense.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Well, I think we started all a little slow. We
gave up two explosive passes. One play versus hook he
could have made a play on the ball, but you know,
ultimately we made the guys kick field goal. We played
some soundball after that, and then in the fourth quart
it kind of got away from us when a young
guys got in, so a lot of teachable moments, you know,
(13:05):
their time, their first time getting experienced playing on the
National Football League. So it'll be some growth from that.
But overall, you know, it was it was an average performance.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It feels like there's a lot of balancing of keeping
your first team healthy, making sure you have those guys
with watching a lot of guys battle to make the
team in the preseason, Well that's the interesting part.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
You know, some guys that we have, we know what
they could do. They've producing this league for a while.
But it's time to watch the young guys developed, see
what they can do, see if they progress and grow,
and you know, just for them to have the opportunity
to go out there and show with what they're made of.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You've been around this league for a long time. You've
ever been on a ten day, nine night road trip before?
Speaker 5 (13:46):
I think one time and it was maybe about six
years ago. Okay, kind of did that. But this is
you know, it's fun time for us. Everybody's around each other,
you know, every different department. You get to talk, mingle
with people who you started to connect, get to know
a lot of people that's around you. You talk to
people that you really don't talk to on a daily basis.
And you know, I think everybody's having a good time.
(14:09):
We're getting better from it, we're getting closer from it,
and hopefully it just pays off.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
At the end.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Any big difference for you coach and teaching your players
about last week compared to this week.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Yeah, well, you know, last week going into practice, you
really allow them to go into it blind. You just
call out stuff, see how they respond to it as
a defense and versus the offense. You know, it's really
not a lot of game planning in the games.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
You know, you have your.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Set calls and you just want to see the guys
execute and play fast, So it's not a lot of
game planning like it is in the season, and that's
the big difference. You know, you're calling it off situation
and feel of the game. So you know, when we
get into the regular season, you know it'll be doubting
and on what we need to do in certain.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Situations to execute.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
How different are the philosophies of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer
offense and the Atlanta Falcons offense.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Oh, it's very similar, honestly, different personnel, different style quarterback.
You know, Pennix can run. They have a hell of
a tight end, so you know it's but it's the same.
They're from the West Coast, both coordinators are from the
West Coast tree and so you get similar concepts, similar
run games, similar past past concepts. So it's you know,
(15:24):
for our guys, it's down in try to execute as
best as they can against this new offense.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
How much are you teaching? How much are your coaches
teaching in this year compared to last year?
Speaker 5 (15:38):
You know what, I think our position coaches do a
hell of a job of just teaching not only scheme,
but these young young men becoming men. You know, I
think they do a good job of teach, motivating and
inspiring these young men. And it's it's not always about
the football player. It's about the growth of the human being.
And a lot of times when you see the growth
of the human being.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
The football stuff trd to take care of yourself.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
But I think they're excellent teachers, great fundamental coaches. A
lot of coaches with a wealth of knowledge. Been in
the league for ten, twelve, thirteen years plus. I think
opposition coaches are some of the best in the National
Football League.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I've always wondered this. You're doing a lot of instructing
and trying to get the players ready and constantly working
on their craft every day to get ready for the game.
How about you, how do you train to call the game?
Is there a lot that goes into that in the
offseason and preparing your mind to get ready to call
it properly?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yeah, of course, you know, we have scripted periods, but
the best thing for a play caller is the unscripted periods.
So now you know, Cali Hill call offensive plays by
personnel and I have to, you know, call our defenses.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
You know, depending on the situation area of the field.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
So that's the best practice you can get and then obviously,
like in the preseason games, you're working on it even
though you don't have, like I will say, all of
our good stuffs up, you know, because you're not trying
to show what you're doing and what you implemented.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Over the over the off season.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
So you know, that's when you get when you get
time on tasks is when you competing on the unscripted periods.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You spend a lot of time as a position coach
in the National Football League as in charge of the
defensive backs, and now you're a defensive coordinator. I'm sure
there's a lot of people throughout the league that you're
close to that you could go to and ask advice from.
If there are the biggest influences on you, who would
they be.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Probably still in the league as Todd Bowles. That's why
I was great to go back to Tampa. He's one
of my mentors, you know, loving to death on and
off the field, and uh, he's a guy that whenever
I need some advice or I just need to talk,
you know, he's a guy that I call and it
was just great to compete against him last week. He's
you know, he said over there watching like a proud
(17:50):
big brother, you know, seeing me on the other sideline.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
He got to go up against cam Ward last week,
a couple of times. You've been doing that for the
last few months. What do you think of the Titans
first round draft pick?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Man? I love him, you know, I just I love
the football player and the guy.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
He's super competitive.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
He can move people, which a lot of a lot
of you know, people don't see it.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
You know, the players follow him.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
He has this affectious personality that people love to be
around him. His arm talent is unbelievable. He's pinpoint accurate.
He can make every throw from every launch point. And
you know, the more and more he gets comfortable, you know,
I think this sky's a limit for him.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Are you going to him and saying, hey, watch, we
might do this to you or you might see this
in the league. Will that happen at some point?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Yeah, at some point? Yeah, you know, if he wants,
if he wants to come just talk defensive football or
philosophy with me, the door is always open. But you know,
in terms of practice, you know, we having to slow
down out against all progression, and we kind of throw
everything at him.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
And he's responded extremely well.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I know how much you love Jeffrey Simmons, de Andre
sweat the middle of that defensive blind for you. Give
me some shout outs to some other guys that are
new faces, whether that have come in via free agency
or that's a rookie.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Having Draymond Jones, you know on the edge. He's a big,
powerful man. He's all business. You know, he works hard.
He's a good leader of men. Jarvis Brownlee has taken
a tremendous step from last year to this year. His
technique fundamentals has improved drastically. He already had the wheel
of to win and compete, So I love where he's at.
(19:30):
Amani Hooker has taken another step. I think that he's
more comfortable in the system. You know, Fimi has been
a great addition with his energy and his toughness. You know,
it's a lot of guys that is on the defense
that's going to help us out, and we're going to
try to just put the best eleven out there every
time we can.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
You're building a football team, everybody with the Tennessee Titans
right now, they're building a stadium and they're building a
football team. What is the energy like in the building.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Coast, but the energy is unbelievable. Like I say, we
are connected unit, a connected team. Offense and defense guys
like being around each other, just like on this trip.
I mean, you see defensive guys interact with the offensive
guys all you know, all day, you know, when we're
outside of the practice of facilities at these other organizations.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
So it's just fun. The energy is is very high.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
We're excited to kick it off, but we still have
to take the steps to prepare to get there. And
I think we've been doing it, working hard at it,
and I think it's going to benefit this year.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Okay, before we let you go, a few fun questions
for you. You have a favorite spot in Nashville that
you found so far. How's your family connecting to the city.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
My family loves the city. You know.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
I enjoy Nashville. I will go to the twelve thirty. Okay,
So that's what got you know, when people come in town,
I always take them there. But I love I love Nashville.
You can find great food everywhere. It's always something to do,
and it's you know, it's just a lot of people
that's that's coming into the to the city.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You find any Maryland Terrapins in Nashville anywhere, Yes, it's
a few. I called your Music City Bowl win two
years ago on TV and the team look good. I
know you're still a proud Terrapin. I know it's been
a long time. I still can't get used to you
guys being in the Big Ten though.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yeah you know, I was an acc guy. Yeah, I'm
not used to it. It is different, but I'm a
huge Maryland fan. I think Mike Loxley is a hell
of a football coach. He does a great job of
developing young men and you know, I can't wait to
see them play this year.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I think they're going to surprise some people.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
You know, they got some good young talent and hopefully
we win a Big Ten.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
He's a great man. It's one of my favorite people
to talk to. Okay, last thing for you before I
let you go. I always see you in the building
and I do wonder if you have any free time
to yourself to do anything else. Do you have a hobby,
Do you have something you do to completely get away
from football, and if so, what is it.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
I like to travel on the off season. I will
say I like the golf, but I'm terrible at it.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
You know, I can go as long as I don't
lose a lot of balls. I'm okay, But you know,
and then I just like being around my family.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
I like going back home to Maryland, saying my brother
and sister and my dad and all my cousins and
things of that nature.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
It is just being around people that I love. This
is what I like to do.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's awesome, Coach, you are connecting to those young men
out there. It's really fun to watch you. Thanks for
doing this with us.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
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to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Now, Coach, we just listened to Dinard and what he
had to say about the defense's performance, and overall just
where he is to fly going into this week's practices
against the Falcons. In the game on Friday night, Let's
go back to the Buccaneers game. What did you think defensively.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Well, I mean, I thought the first unit was the
first unit was fine. And look, I've graded a thousand
run plays in my in my career as a code.
Grading the run defense is the easiest thing in the
world you can do. It's a zero sum thing. You
either get a plus or a minus. And what it
has to be everybody has to work in conjunction with
one another. But you got to get displacement from your
(23:29):
defensive front. They've got to displace the offensive line back
towards when they where they came from. The other thing
that has to happen is your second and your third
level have to have correct run fits and they have
to they have to fit on time. You know, they
were running a play called the single back power. Oh
when it got later in the game. Let's talk about
later in the ballgame. You got misfits up front, which
(23:52):
is easy to grade. You've got misfits from the second level,
which is which you easy to grade. And you've got
contain issues from the back end, which is easy to grade.
And so look, it's either you do it or you don't.
On defense with the run, I've been involved with with
some number one run defenses in the National Football League.
But the grading system for the run game, there's no
(24:14):
nuance to it. You either get it done or you
don't and it and they weren't fitting it up right
in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
They just weren't.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Now, they didn't have Jeffrey Simmons, they didn't have and
Andre Sweat.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Having those guys, those guys will make a difference. I'm
talking about the guys that are trying to earn a job. Sure,
trying to earn a job, and so that that's that's
up to them, and it comes it comes down to
being able as a defensive lineman. I know what kind
of I know what they're being taught, but you got
to be able to shock and shed. You got to
get off. And then when they start pulling people, which
(24:49):
everybody's going to do, you've got to replace replace correctly.
But as I said, that's a zero sum event. It's
very easy to grade and you have to have depth.
I mean, that's your point. Well, that's the that's the key,
and everybody needs to keep in mind this is a
rebuilding football team, and so that's what you're trying to develop,
not only trying to develop front line, but the good
(25:12):
teams in this league you're able to develop depth. And
the only way you develop depth, I mean it's a
talent acquisition event.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
If you were to single out a player or two
defensively for a good performance on Saturday night, who would you.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Mention Cedric Gray and James william I really liked the
way those young linebackers were fitting up. Plus they were
going downhill. The thing that I always look at with
young players are they are they pulling the trigger or
do they have Do they have a quick K and
d are they not? You know what you want to
stay away from is guys at the second level we
call cameras shutter guys where the old the old camera
(25:49):
opens and closes real, real slow. Those guys will go
get it. I really like the way those two young
players at linebacker came on.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I want to give a shout out to to Isaiah
Rakes and to Timmy Horn on the defensive line.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Good good, good idea.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, and they both had a good performance. We called
their names out quite a bit on Saturday night. If
in all your time in the National Football League, coach
we talked to coach Wilson about this, but where would
you like to see improvement from preseason game one the
preseason game two?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
So those young guys that are trying to make a team. Yeah,
you know, there's there's a lot of inexperience on that
defensive front. You know behind the three guys that we
talked about, Sebastian Joseph Day, a big you know, a
big sweat and then Jeffrey Simmons, there's a lot of
inexperience behind it. I also thought, just on the edge
talk about young guys, I was impressed with Fami. I thought,
fammy Ola days. Joe showed up. He's got speed, he's
(26:44):
got range. I liked what he did. But those young
guys that are going to try to make this football
team at the back, on the defensive front and at
linebacker got to do better.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All right, there you go, there's what coach has to
say about the offense and the defense. Would you like
to give a breakdown of special team? So about kicking
and punting? Now, were are going to hear from Joey Slide,
Johnny Hecker, and Morgan Cox here, and you have said
repeatedly that you don't know anything about kickers.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We don't know anything about them.
Speaker 6 (27:09):
Here.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Look, I've been with some great kickers in my career.
I know nothing about it. I'm not going to sit
here and say that I'm an expert on kickers none.
All I know is any kicker that I had. First
of all, I always hired the best special teams coach
I could. Yeah, and then my coaching point for field
goal kickers has put it between those two.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yellow things like that.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I want that, That's what I want. And then also
the punter, I want somebody that has got all the
clubs in the bag talking about your golf game, that
can can well directional punt that thing and can cut
the field in quarters so you can get good coverage
we got. And plus, look, Morgan Cox, if we could
(27:49):
do a thirty minute dissertation on how he gets the
laces back there perfectly for where they want to kick it.
But coach Mack is not going to be an expert
because I know nothing about kickers.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Well, you just made a golf comparison. Let's go to
the golf course with the specialists. All right, as promised,
here they are the specialist. I had to come to
the golf course to find them. Shocker Joey Sly, Morgan Cox,
Johnny Hecker, also known as the Kicker, the long snapper,
and the new punter for your.
Speaker 6 (28:19):
Tennessee slash holder.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Slash holder.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
That's true. I'm sorry, I dont want to. Yeah, that's
a big yes. Don't want to.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Don't want to Short also known as the enemy. Morgan
and Me versus Hecker and Sly. By the way, Morgan,
since you've been here, you're the experienced vet on this team,
and you're welcoming in. You're a fellow specialist. You've said
very quickly that the three of you have built a
great connection.
Speaker 7 (28:43):
Well have I mean, all three of us have been
in the league a while, so we have a lot
of experience. But you know, when we got together, I
mean it was very easy to tell early on that
we were going to be uh close knit guys. And
the golf course helps, you know, uh, throwing us out
there and competing and stuff is a lot of fun,
a lot of back and forth. It's great.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Joey's the young buck of the group, but also a
veteran in the league. You kicked a couple of sixty
plus yarders last year. Joey, Why the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
I think the opportunity came up in free agency. Obviously,
Bones being here was a huge plus. He's a great
special teams cordinator. There's a lot of respect around the
league for him. So when the opportunity presented itself, and
then you've got Morgan here sixteen years of veteran experience,
and then Johnny was included in that package as well.
I feel like you asked a lot of the kickers
(29:36):
around the league where they'd want to be, and I
know they're probably happy where they're at, but a lot
of them would also want to be in Nashville as well.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Johnny, You've had a terrific career, winning a World championship
with the Rams, did well with the Carolina Panthers. Tell
me about coming to Nashville and how this opportunity happened.
Speaker 9 (29:51):
Yeah, much like Joey, I mean, you look from the
outside of the pieces assembled in the special teams room
and it's just a no brainer. Great spot to be,
awesome fan base supporting the team, a young hungry organization
to kind of flip the tides and really build on
some success moving into a new stadium with a number
one overall quarterback, and I just want to be a
great part of that, be a key contributor to the
(30:14):
team's success and do what we can to just impact
the game. Our third event.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Let me ask you more about what you just said,
because you just said it's a young, hungry, energetic team
that's moving into a new stadium in two years. You've
seen all of that happen in the National Football League,
move into a new stadium like you did in Los Angeles,
a young energetic team that ultimately ended up winning the
Super Bowl, as you did with the La Rams. Talk
(30:38):
about the process of building that and how much energy
is in the building right now with the Titans. It's great.
Speaker 9 (30:44):
I mean, it's it's you can't you can't miss it.
Everyone is just hungry. There's a lot of guys that
are just eager to improve, you know, young guys that
are developing. Coaches that are doing a lot to invest
in the young guys, bring them up in leadership leadership positions.
You know, they've done a great job in the front
office of bringing in some veteran guys from around the
lead to contribute and just do our best to empower
(31:06):
the young guys as well to take over this team
and make it theirs. And having a first overall pick
that walks into the locker room and has that instant
command sure helps.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
So I'd love to see that.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
With cam Morgan.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Since we're on a golf course, I ask a lot
of golfers this question all the time. Is it harder
to win the first time or is it harder to
win again and again? So let me ask you this
as somebody that was winning a lot with the Baltimore
More Ravens and then winning with the Tennessee Titans. Is
it harder to get there or is it harder to
get back there again?
Speaker 7 (31:37):
I think both have its battles because once you get there,
everybody's coming for you and so, but there's also that
uphill battle of finding the right culture, finding the right team.
And I think young and Hungry, like we've talked about,
is the right recipe because guys come in and they're like,
we know how to work, we know how to get there.
(31:59):
We just need to come together as a team. And
so it's gonna be an exciting year, Like we've talked about,
just young, hungry and wanting to prove ourselves.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I think the loudest moment of the twenty twenty five
Titans so far, actually I'm certain of it was when
this guy kicked a sixty six yard field goal on
the back together weekend in Nissan Stadium a few weeks ago,
which would have been good from seventy five. I mean,
I just saw somebody make a seventy yard or in
a preseason game.
Speaker 6 (32:27):
How's the leg feeling right now?
Speaker 8 (32:28):
Leg feels great?
Speaker 6 (32:30):
Obviously, shout out to Cam.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
He had a huge ball the other day and has
definitely put himself at the top of the postol. And
then I know there's a lot of hungry kickers that
are waiting to get an opportunity to hit from seventy
as well. So we might be able to see some
more bullets flying throughout the last couple of weeks of
this preseason. See who can hit from seventy to seventy fives.
Just keep on going back to who ends up being
(32:51):
the champion of this one?
Speaker 6 (32:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Calli Brian Callahan, the head coach of the Tennessee Titans,
says that you can influence the way his mind works.
Once the Titans get into positive territory. Are you getting
in Cali's ear? Are you getting closer to him as
they get near the forty five yard line? What's your
kind of persuasion tactic when the Titans are getting into
the scoring area.
Speaker 8 (33:13):
Yeah, I think it's kind of death by a thousand swords.
I kind of walk around him as he's going through.
I can hear him talking to the offensive guys, but
I just kind of just chirping behind him, like.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Oh, hey, coach, we're good here.
Speaker 8 (33:23):
Yeah, coach, we're good. And Morgan was doing the higher
math the other day and I went behind him and say, hey, coach,
we're good from here, and Morgan kept him He's like, Joe,
I think we're I think it's like an eighty or
a field goal.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (33:34):
I think my math was a little bit off on
that one, but uh yeah, I mean I just try
to instill some confidence on his side, knowing that, you know,
when he's making those decisions, we can figure out, you know, hey,
do we need to get five yards and we get
fifteen twenty whatever? And ends up being But if I'm
able to just keep saying like Hey, we're good to go.
Make sure that I'm communicating with Bones as well. He's
going to also install that confidence and Cali going forward.
(33:56):
So just letting him know constantly throughout the game that
we're good to go, never whenever they call upon me.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
You've mentioned the special teams coordinator a couple of times.
His nickname is Bones Coach. Fossil comes over from the
Dallas Cowboys and is regarded as one of the best
best special teams coaches in the game.
Speaker 7 (34:12):
Why Morgan honestly like having been with him, uh, just
so far this season, I can tell he brings an
energy to the room really that makes guys really want
to play hard. You know, do their job certainly, but
but give that little extra little bit to like, uh,
you know, because they feel like they're they're part of
(34:33):
something special. And uh, you know love Bones of schemes.
I've seen him from AFAR being an AFC, He's been
in the NFC for a long time. But you know,
just that that fear that he instills in other teams
because teams do play so hard. His crew always play
so hard no matter what team he's with. And I
see why because he brings that energy to the room.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Okay, I gotta ask you something about Morgan. So I
just recently saw that somebody put out an you know,
all these off season predictions and they put together like
the greatest teams, and Morgan was on an All century
team of the twenty first century.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
Is the best long snapper.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You're always catching his football, whether you're holding it what
you get full credit for by the way I love it,
or or if you're punting. What makes him such a
great long snapper.
Speaker 9 (35:18):
He's consistent, you know, And it's not just what he
does with the football, it's who he is around the
locker room. He's an encouraging guy. He's always helping guys
be at their best. And I think when you have
a guy like that at a key position, who's you know,
he starts to play on a lot of crucial downs
and is a key contributor in some big moments in
football games. So he has him that's dependable, that has
a track record of doing it for a long time.
(35:40):
You know, he's overcome a lot of adversity in his
career as well. You know, he's worked through a lot
of things and has earned every single bit of recognition
that he's gotten. And I know he's probably the first
guy to say he doesn't really want it. He don't
really care about that attention, but it's very earned. And
Morgan's a stand up guy that we all love coming
to work with every single day.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Can we work on the celebration when Heck pulls off
a great fake plant this year? Can we work on
what that celebration is going to be? Have we thought
about that yet?
Speaker 7 (36:05):
We've thrown around a few things, but I don't know.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
We're keeping that close to the You're not gonna reveal
anything yet.
Speaker 9 (36:11):
Yeah, sometimes you just got the spirit leader in the moment,
you know.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Have you got any ideas, Joey, No, I just let
the energy fall.
Speaker 8 (36:17):
I think Johnny's got a good ability to just come
up with something on the spot. So I'm more excited
to see that after the faith than actually run on
the f.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Who is most obsessed with golf me included of the
four of us, I think it might be Joey.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
Who do you think it is?
Speaker 9 (36:31):
I'm going Joey, You're going joe Joey's got the bug
pretty hard.
Speaker 8 (36:34):
I got lucky this offseason not having the wife at
the house to make sure I was going straight back
home for that. There's a couple of times where I
offered up, hey guys, I'm gonna go play some golf.
You guys are good for it, and uh not to
throw the life under the bus, but they had to
go home to some priorities.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
So uh.
Speaker 8 (36:49):
Obviously my wife's not with me when I was in
Nashville for a spring, but definitely wanted her there. But
I will say my golf game did get a little
bit better.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
So good recovery there.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yeah, he threw out.
Speaker 7 (36:58):
Yeah, he threw up many opportunities for us to uh
to go out. But yeah, like you said, we got
to have some uh gotta have some family time. But
but Joey loves to break down you know, movement and
exactly how you're supposed to swing a golf club and
strategy and uh yeah, he's definitely got the bug for sure.
Speaker 9 (37:14):
Yeah, still sucks.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
I want to make this clear.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
This is a football trip with a little bit of
golf included. It's not a golf trip with a little
bit of football. I just want to just wanted to
make that clear before we finish up. My partner at
Bryan who works with coach Mac and me on the
Titans radio broadcast said something I really like. He said,
we're building a championship level stadium next door, and we're
putting a championship level football on that field, and we're
(37:41):
building that right now.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
You like that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (37:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (37:45):
The energy in the building across all departments and everything
is really exciting to see what we're gonna have to
open the new stadium.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
For sure, a team that gets better and better as
a season goes along.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (37:57):
I think you know, this offseason is all about just
building our process, making sure that whenever adversity hits or
whatever whatever comes throughout the season, we know what our
process is going to be like. And I love the
process that we have right now on a special teams unit,
and the approach we have is going to let itself
to impacting the games in a positive way, bring in
some more wins.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (38:15):
I feel like the opportunity here. People want to win here.
They don't want to win somewhere else. They really feel
like they want to get it done here. And I
think the coaching staff and the front office has done
a really good job of bringing those people here to say, hey,
let's go ahead, grow some roots. Let's win some championships
here and a build an organization that we'd be proud of.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Would you do you want me to tell everybody about
my game winning Joey Slye call?
Speaker 6 (38:38):
Do you to reveal that now?
Speaker 8 (38:39):
You get to reveal it now? Or you can save
it for when it happens.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I mean I can just tell everybody right now, sly
Lets it fly, bulls eye.
Speaker 6 (38:47):
Okay, we okay with that? Love it perfect.
Speaker 8 (38:49):
I think Little Wind wrote that probably one of them problems.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
He really, I am stealing that from somebody. Guys, It's been
so much fun to get to know all of you.
It's great to see the chemistry that the three of
you have. And it's gonna be a great season with
you guys. And the Tennessee Titans appreciate you.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
Keep it up. Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Tighten up all right?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
There you go. Your guy Johnny Hecker, by the way,
hits it a mile off the tee, the great punter
for the Tennessee Titans. Fun to catch up with all
of them. Coach. Two things before we go. One, tell
me the biggest goal when you go from preseason game
one to preseason game two, all week practicing against the
Falcons and then playing them. You are in charge of
(39:30):
the Titans. What is most necessary to do this week?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
You want to flow. You want to continue the flow
that you had in that second possession on offense, that's
what you want. You want that flow. And then defensively,
I've said this before. I know Denard says it. I've
coached with all of these coaches for a long time
on very successful teams. These defensive coaches that they want
to stop the run and they've got you got to
get you just you got to get better at that.
(39:54):
That's important. Now, they weren't game planning anything, but as
I said, the run defense, there's and it's really easy
to figure out who's supposed to be aware.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Getting to be the voice of the Tennessee Titans is
one of the great thrills of my life. I have
to say, incredibly fulfilling. To be the voice of this
team and to get to work with you last Saturday
night was truly a dream come true to be on
this with you. We have a lot more to do,
my friend. I can't wait for game.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Number two now, Yes, sir, here we go.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
That's Dave McGinnis, the head coach of the Titans radio broadcast.
I'm Taylor's Arzer, filling in for the President of Everything,
Amy Wells. Here on the OTP
This is the OTP from Flowery Branch, Georgia, as the
Tennessee Titans road trip continues. That's the head coach of
the Titans radio broadcast, Dave McGinnis. I'm Taylor Zarzer. You
don't see Jack and Max, but they are here. They've
positioned us in a good spot. And I don't hear
a fire alarm going off.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well I heard one yesterday, so we're two for two
for fire alarms. But this is a beautiful setting right here.
I mean when I saw where we were going to
do it, this is just like anything else. When you
travel with the Titans, you travel first class. This is
really nice.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
You know, coach in basketball, hockey, and baseball, those teams
that play those sports and professional sports, they go on
long road trips together. You don't ever see this in
the National Football League where you go on a ten day,
nine night road trip, which is what the Tennessee Items
are doing in the preseason to prepare for the regular
season played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Tampa were down
(01:06):
there for three days and the middle of the night
after the Tampa game, flew to Georgia and they're here
all week before they play the Atlanta Falcons. What do
you think the significance of all this.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Is, Well, I mean it's important. This is a young
football team, and we saw the importance of just of
practicing first of all against the Bucks in one. We'll
get two practices here, but this is important. Look, this
is a rebuilding football team and you've got to have
time on task and time on task in football, Sooner
or later, you've got to do it. And here's the
other thing too, Taylor. You've got to put these players
(01:40):
in positions where they're not comfortable, because the game of
football is not comfortable until you've been through it. So
I like what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, and Coach, it used to be, I mean, you've
been in the game the National Football League for thirty
nine years. It used to be you would leave and
go to a training camp facility and you would go
stay in doors as a team together and there's a
lot of team building that goes on for weeks that
just doesn't happen as much anymore. The National Football League
and its teams aren't doing much of that anymore. And
(02:10):
because of that, you kind of have to create something,
which is what the Titans have done. And with that,
a lot of team building happens over the course of
these ten days.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Well, and especially nowaday when you only have three preseason games. Yeah,
this is critical, and we talked about it earlier on
previous OTPs. Teams across the league are going to start
doing this. You've got five teams right now that are
going away to camp. That's it. Yeah, five teams. It
used to be everybody and you would go away for
five and six weeks at a time. I can't count
(02:40):
the number of dormitories I've slept in in my career
in the National Football League. This is not a dormitory.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
No, it's not.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's a different world. But being gone and being out
of your element is something that you have to learn
to adapt to. And so I like what we're doing.
And major props, major props to the ops crew, to
the support staff because this takes a lot of work
to make something like this happen.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
All right, you the last time we were on the OTP,
you talked about how you thought the best thing the
Titans have done in the offseason was the practice they
had with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. For those
that missed it, just explain why you thought that was
so necessary for this Titans team to do well.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It was a hostile environment. And then I mean, you
have to test yourself against other people. Because you get
comfortable practicing in your place do of business, you get
comfortable going against the same people all the time. It's critical.
It's going to be critical for these two days that
were down here because the ball games take on a
different tone in a temper, especially in the preseason, Taylor,
(03:46):
because you're trying to get a limited number of reps
to ninety one players, and that's hard hard to do
when you're practicing against somebody. The coaches control it. The
coaches on both sides control it. So it's it's night
and day as to the number of reps that you
can get and also the points of emphasis that you
can go to.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
We're going to talk to Denard Wilson, the defensive coordinator
of the Titans, on this edition of the OTP coming
up in a little while. We also have all the
specialists that are going to join us that are better
at golf than I am. Morgan Cox, Johnny Hecker, and
Joey sli are all going to join us on the
OTP as well. Coach let me get your thoughts on
how you felt the preseason game went against the Tampa
(04:28):
Bay Buccaneers.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, it was I mean it was a preseason game.
I mean and early on when you had both teams
with some of their starters out there not all. Yeah,
you know, Todd Bowles declared early that he wasn't going
to play many, if any, of his starters. There were
a lot of guys missing. But Tampa Bay's an established
football team. They are an established team. This is a
(04:50):
rebuilding team the Titans are. But I like the fact
I like what happened with the offense because the offense
went three and out on the first one. I mean,
I can get into the weeds football wise, while that
first series was three and out, but basically it was
a three man nine ball stack that got jammed up
on third down and you know the ball was held
too long and they'll get that corrected. I love the
(05:13):
bounce back that the quarterback. The quarterback made when he
when he came back in the second series that he had.
I mean, you could tell if he's going to have
time to throw and people can have time to develop routes,
this is going to be good.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay, Well, a lot of people that watched it were
really impressed by what you just said. They were really
impressed by cam Ward on that second series that he
was in there, and the biggest positive they took from
the game was that cam Ward really looked the part
and made some good corrections on that second drive. Was
that your biggest positive to that, Well, he's got poise.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I mean we've watched him. I mean I've watched him
ever since the you know, ever since the draft, and
I've been at every practice and just I mean, the
guy has got poise. You can't fake poise. I mean
he's got it. He's got it, and he's he's able
to bounce back from something that doesn't go well. And
you could see kind of the rest of the team
coalescing around that. Now, he didn't have all his starters
on the offensive line, but the offensive line when they
(06:08):
gave him a chance in the cylinder, and then the
receivers were running really good routes. I mean, he clearly
he's got a connection, you know with Ridley. I mean
there's a connection there, But just the poise that he
had standing in the cylinder, being able to discern the
routes and then I mean he got fooled on one.
He got fooled on one coverage where he just about
(06:28):
threw a pick into a cover two they that they
made look like it was a three deep and then
they rolled, they bogied and rolled to a cover two.
He got fooled on that one, but he learned from it,
and so there's gonna be a lot of learning instances
for him in all of this. But the poise is
what I really like.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, Cam finding Calvin Ridley three times on that drive
for fifty yards. He had a twenty seven yard completion,
and on that completion, he had all the time in
the world. And you kept saying on the broadcast, this
is because he he has time to look down the
field and survey what he has. So let's talk a
little bit about that. This offseason, the Tennessee Titans went
(07:08):
and got Dan Moore from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's now
their left tackle and he's one of the better left
tackles in the National Football League. And he's young too,
still in his mid twenties. And they moved J. C. Latham,
who his senior year or his last year at Alabama,
I guess his junior year he was the most coveted
right tackle coming out of college. That's the position he
(07:29):
played at Alabama. When he came to the Titans after
being a first round draft pick, he was the left tackle.
Last year, they moved him back to right tackle, and
it sure looks like, at least from this untrained eye
through the last couple of months, that that has worked
really well for the Titans. Putting More at left tackle
and Latham at right tackle. How would you evaluate it?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Well, yeah, I mean it's a work in progress. But look,
More has been in the league and he's been very
very he's been he has been very available, and that's
important for offensive linemen. They've got to be able to play,
you know, they got to be available to be able
to play. He's done that. To me, JC Latham is
going to be a premier right tackle in this league.
(08:09):
And the other thing that he did, he got jumped
way ahead of the game. As far as improving his
body from his first year to his second year. He
gets it, he understands it. And they didn't have their
entire offensive line intact for the ballgame as you as
you know, they're missing two yell they're missing two starters.
One with Lloyd Cushionberry who's still not cleared to play yet,
(08:31):
and then Zeigler on the at the right guard didn't play,
but still the group I thought was very cohesive. Being
able to again going against who they were going against,
you know, was fine. You can only you can only
play and practice against who the opponent puts out there,
but that that was encouraging to me to watch that
whole operation work.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
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(09:13):
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Speaker 2 (09:19):
Now back to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
You're always gonna have players that get banged up in
the preseason. That's just a part of it, and UH
coach Callahan has talked about hopefully getting Taj Spears back
in the next couple weeks. He was banged up in
the game. I really thought Julius Chesnut and Klelle Mullings
that both came in and played a lot during the game,
look good. And you have talked a lot about them
(09:43):
in the last few weeks and you've been impressed by them.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Well, they're just gonna have They're going to have to
play because you know, especially now with Taja, you know
is going to miss some time. He's going to miss
some time. And anytime you put them out there between
the white lines. I mean, I've learned this in my
thirty nine years in the league. You got a chansformed
it to experience, to experience an injury. That's just the
way it is. But it gives an opportunity for those
(10:06):
two guys to step up. They're gonna get plenty of play,
believe me. And both of those guys they don't have
the same skill set that ti j does, but they
can add something to this offense. But what they need
to do and both of them, both of them are
physical downhill runners and that's what they need. And they
need to be contributors on special teams. So they're gonna
(10:26):
be a They're gonna be a part of the group.
That's gonna have to play. They're gonna get to play
a lot with specially with tij being out.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Cam Ward did play two series than Brandon Allen came
in the game the backup quarterback for the Titans and
move the team down the field the second the first
drive of the second half, moved all the way inside
the ten yard line. Unfortunately a turnover on downs, but
on that drive, Julius Chestnut had three great plays on
that drive, a couple of eight yard plays a run
(10:54):
and a catch, and also another seven yard run. And
then gunner Helm the tight end for the iTANs. You've
talked a lot about him coach to the rookie out
of the University of Texas.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, I think gunner Helm. I mean he just when
you vetted him, and I know that they've did the
same thing vet him coming out of University of Texas.
He's the leading receiver on a team, a Texas team
that had some dudes that could run run at receiver.
This guy's got a feel. He's got a feel, he
understands open spaces in zone. He's able to play off
of leverage in man to man, and plus gunner Helm's
(11:29):
a better blocker that people give him credit for I
mean the uninitiated when you look at I really like
what he's done. And this entire rookie class they're maturer players.
And when I say mature players, there's still got a
lot to learn. They're rookies, but the mindset that they
have there, I mean, they're all ball. They're all ball.
(11:49):
Gunner Helm's been a guy that's impressed me. Impressed me
at Texas and then he really impressed me when he
showed up here after the draft. I think he's got
a chance to contribute this year quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So there you go. There's Coach Max's breakdown of what
happened on the offense this past Saturday night. Before I
get your thoughts on the defense, let's get the defensive
coordinators thoughts on the defense. Here's Denard Wilson And there
he is Denard Wilson, the defensive coordinator for your Tennessee Titans.
Out goes coach mack incomes Denard Wilson into his chair.
(12:23):
How are we feeling into year number two?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
I'm feeling great. I'm very confident going into this year.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
The players have been really receptive, you know, of the
messaging and everything that we're doing so I'm excited for
the season to start.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
All right, let's go to last week. Let's start with
Saturday night, the preseason game. Overall, how did you feel
about the performance of the defense.
Speaker 5 (12:43):
Well, I think we started all a little slow. We
gave up two explosive passes. One play versus hook he
could have made a play on the ball, but you know,
ultimately we made the guys kick field goal. We played
some soundball after that, and then in the fourth quart
it kind of got away from us when a young
guys got in, so a lot of teachable moments, you know,
(13:05):
their time, their first time getting experienced playing on the
National Football League. So it'll be some growth from that.
But overall, you know, it was it was an average performance.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
It feels like there's a lot of balancing of keeping
your first team healthy, making sure you have those guys
with watching a lot of guys battle to make the
team in the preseason, Well that's the interesting part.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
You know, some guys that we have, we know what
they could do. They've producing this league for a while.
But it's time to watch the young guys developed, see
what they can do, see if they progress and grow,
and you know, just for them to have the opportunity
to go out there and show with what they're made of.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
You've been around this league for a long time. You've
ever been on a ten day, nine night road trip before?
Speaker 5 (13:46):
I think one time and it was maybe about six
years ago. Okay, kind of did that. But this is
you know, it's fun time for us. Everybody's around each other,
you know, every different department. You get to talk, mingle
with people who you started to connect, get to know
a lot of people that's around you. You talk to
people that you really don't talk to on a daily basis.
And you know, I think everybody's having a good time.
(14:09):
We're getting better from it, we're getting closer from it,
and hopefully it just pays off.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
At the end.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Any big difference for you coach and teaching your players
about last week compared to this week.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Yeah, well, you know, last week going into practice, you
really allow them to go into it blind. You just
call out stuff, see how they respond to it as
a defense and versus the offense. You know, it's really
not a lot of game planning in the games.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
You know, you have your.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Set calls and you just want to see the guys
execute and play fast, So it's not a lot of
game planning like it is in the season, and that's
the big difference. You know, you're calling it off situation
and feel of the game. So you know, when we
get into the regular season, you know it'll be doubting
and on what we need to do in certain.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Situations to execute.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
How different are the philosophies of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer
offense and the Atlanta Falcons offense.
Speaker 5 (15:02):
Oh, it's very similar, honestly, different personnel, different style quarterback.
You know, Pennix can run. They have a hell of
a tight end, so you know it's but it's the same.
They're from the West Coast, both coordinators are from the
West Coast tree and so you get similar concepts, similar
run games, similar past past concepts. So it's you know,
(15:24):
for our guys, it's down in try to execute as
best as they can against this new offense.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
How much are you teaching? How much are your coaches
teaching in this year compared to last year?
Speaker 5 (15:38):
You know what, I think our position coaches do a
hell of a job of just teaching not only scheme,
but these young young men becoming men. You know, I
think they do a good job of teach, motivating and
inspiring these young men. And it's it's not always about
the football player. It's about the growth of the human being.
And a lot of times when you see the growth
of the human being.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
The football stuff trd to take care of yourself.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
But I think they're excellent teachers, great fundamental coaches. A
lot of coaches with a wealth of knowledge. Been in
the league for ten, twelve, thirteen years plus. I think
opposition coaches are some of the best in the National
Football League.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I've always wondered this. You're doing a lot of instructing
and trying to get the players ready and constantly working
on their craft every day to get ready for the game.
How about you, how do you train to call the game?
Is there a lot that goes into that in the
offseason and preparing your mind to get ready to call
it properly?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Yeah, of course, you know, we have scripted periods, but
the best thing for a play caller is the unscripted periods.
So now you know, Cali Hill call offensive plays by
personnel and I have to, you know, call our defenses.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
You know, depending on the situation area of the field.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
So that's the best practice you can get and then obviously,
like in the preseason games, you're working on it even
though you don't have, like I will say, all of
our good stuffs up, you know, because you're not trying
to show what you're doing and what you implemented.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Over the over the off season.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
So you know, that's when you get when you get
time on tasks is when you competing on the unscripted periods.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
You spend a lot of time as a position coach
in the National Football League as in charge of the
defensive backs, and now you're a defensive coordinator. I'm sure
there's a lot of people throughout the league that you're
close to that you could go to and ask advice from.
If there are the biggest influences on you, who would
they be.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
Probably still in the league as Todd Bowles. That's why
I was great to go back to Tampa. He's one
of my mentors, you know, loving to death on and
off the field, and uh, he's a guy that whenever
I need some advice or I just need to talk,
you know, he's a guy that I call and it
was just great to compete against him last week. He's
you know, he said over there watching like a proud
(17:50):
big brother, you know, seeing me on the other sideline.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
So that's great.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
He got to go up against cam Ward last week,
a couple of times. You've been doing that for the
last few months. What do you think of the Titans
first round draft pick?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
Man? I love him, you know, I just I love
the football player and the guy.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
He's super competitive.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
He can move people, which a lot of a lot
of you know, people don't see it.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
You know, the players follow him.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
He has this affectious personality that people love to be
around him. His arm talent is unbelievable. He's pinpoint accurate.
He can make every throw from every launch point. And
you know, the more and more he gets comfortable, you know,
I think this sky's a limit for him.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Are you going to him and saying, hey, watch, we
might do this to you or you might see this
in the league. Will that happen at some point?
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Yeah, at some point? Yeah, you know, if he wants,
if he wants to come just talk defensive football or
philosophy with me, the door is always open. But you know,
in terms of practice, you know, we having to slow
down out against all progression, and we kind of throw
everything at him.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
And he's responded extremely well.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
I know how much you love Jeffrey Simmons, de Andre
sweat the middle of that defensive blind for you. Give
me some shout outs to some other guys that are
new faces, whether that have come in via free agency
or that's a rookie.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Having Draymond Jones, you know on the edge. He's a big,
powerful man. He's all business. You know, he works hard.
He's a good leader of men. Jarvis Brownlee has taken
a tremendous step from last year to this year. His
technique fundamentals has improved drastically. He already had the wheel
of to win and compete, So I love where he's at.
(19:30):
Amani Hooker has taken another step. I think that he's
more comfortable in the system. You know, Fimi has been
a great addition with his energy and his toughness. You know,
it's a lot of guys that is on the defense
that's going to help us out, and we're going to
try to just put the best eleven out there every
time we can.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
You're building a football team, everybody with the Tennessee Titans
right now, they're building a stadium and they're building a
football team. What is the energy like in the building.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Coast, but the energy is unbelievable. Like I say, we
are connected unit, a connected team. Offense and defense guys
like being around each other, just like on this trip.
I mean, you see defensive guys interact with the offensive
guys all you know, all day, you know, when we're
outside of the practice of facilities at these other organizations.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
So it's just fun. The energy is is very high.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
We're excited to kick it off, but we still have
to take the steps to prepare to get there. And
I think we've been doing it, working hard at it,
and I think it's going to benefit this year.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Okay, before we let you go, a few fun questions
for you. You have a favorite spot in Nashville that
you found so far. How's your family connecting to the city.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
My family loves the city. You know.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
I enjoy Nashville. I will go to the twelve thirty. Okay,
So that's what got you know, when people come in town,
I always take them there. But I love I love Nashville.
You can find great food everywhere. It's always something to do,
and it's you know, it's just a lot of people
that's that's coming into the to the city.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You find any Maryland Terrapins in Nashville anywhere, Yes, it's
a few. I called your Music City Bowl win two
years ago on TV and the team look good. I
know you're still a proud Terrapin. I know it's been
a long time. I still can't get used to you
guys being in the Big Ten though.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Yeah you know, I was an acc guy. Yeah, I'm
not used to it. It is different, but I'm a
huge Maryland fan. I think Mike Loxley is a hell
of a football coach. He does a great job of
developing young men and you know, I can't wait to
see them play this year.
Speaker 4 (21:27):
I think they're going to surprise some people.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
You know, they got some good young talent and hopefully
we win a Big Ten.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
He's a great man. It's one of my favorite people
to talk to. Okay, last thing for you before I
let you go. I always see you in the building
and I do wonder if you have any free time
to yourself to do anything else. Do you have a hobby,
Do you have something you do to completely get away
from football, and if so, what is it.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
I like to travel on the off season. I will
say I like the golf, but I'm terrible at it.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
You know, I can go as long as I don't
lose a lot of balls. I'm okay, But you know,
and then I just like being around my family.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (22:05):
I like going back home to Maryland, saying my brother
and sister and my dad and all my cousins and
things of that nature.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
It is just being around people that I love. This
is what I like to do.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
That's awesome, Coach, you are connecting to those young men
out there. It's really fun to watch you. Thanks for
doing this with us.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
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(22:43):
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to the OTP.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Now, Coach, we just listened to Dinard and what he
had to say about the defense's performance, and overall just
where he is to fly going into this week's practices
against the Falcons. In the game on Friday night, Let's
go back to the Buccaneers game. What did you think defensively.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Well, I mean, I thought the first unit was the
first unit was fine. And look, I've graded a thousand
run plays in my in my career as a code.
Grading the run defense is the easiest thing in the
world you can do. It's a zero sum thing. You
either get a plus or a minus. And what it
has to be everybody has to work in conjunction with
one another. But you got to get displacement from your
(23:29):
defensive front. They've got to displace the offensive line back
towards when they where they came from. The other thing
that has to happen is your second and your third
level have to have correct run fits and they have
to they have to fit on time. You know, they
were running a play called the single back power. Oh
when it got later in the game. Let's talk about
later in the ballgame. You got misfits up front, which
(23:52):
is easy to grade. You've got misfits from the second level,
which is which you easy to grade. And you've got
contain issues from the back end, which is easy to grade.
And so look, it's either you do it or you don't.
On defense with the run, I've been involved with with
some number one run defenses in the National Football League.
But the grading system for the run game, there's no
(24:14):
nuance to it. You either get it done or you
don't and it and they weren't fitting it up right
in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
They just weren't.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Now, they didn't have Jeffrey Simmons, they didn't have and
Andre Sweat.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Having those guys, those guys will make a difference. I'm
talking about the guys that are trying to earn a job. Sure,
trying to earn a job, and so that that's that's
up to them, and it comes it comes down to
being able as a defensive lineman. I know what kind
of I know what they're being taught, but you got
to be able to shock and shed. You got to
get off. And then when they start pulling people, which
(24:49):
everybody's going to do, you've got to replace replace correctly.
But as I said, that's a zero sum event. It's
very easy to grade and you have to have depth.
I mean, that's your point. Well, that's the that's the key,
and everybody needs to keep in mind this is a
rebuilding football team, and so that's what you're trying to develop,
not only trying to develop front line, but the good
(25:12):
teams in this league you're able to develop depth. And
the only way you develop depth, I mean it's a
talent acquisition event.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
If you were to single out a player or two
defensively for a good performance on Saturday night, who would you.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Mention Cedric Gray and James william I really liked the
way those young linebackers were fitting up. Plus they were
going downhill. The thing that I always look at with
young players are they are they pulling the trigger or
do they have Do they have a quick K and
d are they not? You know what you want to
stay away from is guys at the second level we
call cameras shutter guys where the old the old camera
(25:49):
opens and closes real, real slow. Those guys will go
get it. I really like the way those two young
players at linebacker came on.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I want to give a shout out to to Isaiah
Rakes and to Timmy Horn on the defensive line.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Good good, good idea.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, and they both had a good performance. We called
their names out quite a bit on Saturday night. If
in all your time in the National Football League, coach
we talked to coach Wilson about this, but where would
you like to see improvement from preseason game one the
preseason game two?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
So those young guys that are trying to make a team. Yeah,
you know, there's there's a lot of inexperience on that
defensive front. You know behind the three guys that we
talked about, Sebastian Joseph Day, a big you know, a
big sweat and then Jeffrey Simmons, there's a lot of
inexperience behind it. I also thought, just on the edge
talk about young guys, I was impressed with Fami. I thought,
fammy Ola days. Joe showed up. He's got speed, he's
(26:44):
got range. I liked what he did. But those young
guys that are going to try to make this football
team at the back, on the defensive front and at
linebacker got to do better.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All right, there you go, there's what coach has to
say about the offense and the defense. Would you like
to give a breakdown of special team? So about kicking
and punting? Now, were are going to hear from Joey Slide,
Johnny Hecker, and Morgan Cox here, and you have said
repeatedly that you don't know anything about kickers.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
We don't know anything about them.
Speaker 6 (27:09):
Here.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Look, I've been with some great kickers in my career.
I know nothing about it. I'm not going to sit
here and say that I'm an expert on kickers none.
All I know is any kicker that I had. First
of all, I always hired the best special teams coach
I could. Yeah, and then my coaching point for field
goal kickers has put it between those two.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yellow things like that.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I want that, That's what I want. And then also
the punter, I want somebody that has got all the
clubs in the bag talking about your golf game, that
can can well directional punt that thing and can cut
the field in quarters so you can get good coverage
we got. And plus, look, Morgan Cox, if we could
(27:49):
do a thirty minute dissertation on how he gets the
laces back there perfectly for where they want to kick it.
But coach Mack is not going to be an expert
because I know nothing about kickers.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Well, you just made a golf comparison. Let's go to
the golf course with the specialists. All right, as promised,
here they are the specialist. I had to come to
the golf course to find them. Shocker Joey Sly, Morgan Cox,
Johnny Hecker, also known as the Kicker, the long snapper,
and the new punter for your.
Speaker 6 (28:19):
Tennessee slash holder.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Slash holder.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
That's true. I'm sorry, I dont want to. Yeah, that's
a big yes. Don't want to.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Don't want to Short also known as the enemy. Morgan
and Me versus Hecker and Sly. By the way, Morgan,
since you've been here, you're the experienced vet on this team,
and you're welcoming in. You're a fellow specialist. You've said
very quickly that the three of you have built a
great connection.
Speaker 7 (28:43):
Well have I mean, all three of us have been
in the league a while, so we have a lot
of experience. But you know, when we got together, I
mean it was very easy to tell early on that
we were going to be uh close knit guys. And
the golf course helps, you know, uh, throwing us out
there and competing and stuff is a lot of fun,
a lot of back and forth. It's great.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Joey's the young buck of the group, but also a
veteran in the league. You kicked a couple of sixty
plus yarders last year. Joey, Why the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 8 (29:14):
I think the opportunity came up in free agency. Obviously,
Bones being here was a huge plus. He's a great
special teams cordinator. There's a lot of respect around the
league for him. So when the opportunity presented itself, and
then you've got Morgan here sixteen years of veteran experience,
and then Johnny was included in that package as well.
I feel like you asked a lot of the kickers
(29:36):
around the league where they'd want to be, and I
know they're probably happy where they're at, but a lot
of them would also want to be in Nashville as well.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Johnny, You've had a terrific career, winning a World championship
with the Rams, did well with the Carolina Panthers. Tell
me about coming to Nashville and how this opportunity happened.
Speaker 9 (29:51):
Yeah, much like Joey, I mean, you look from the
outside of the pieces assembled in the special teams room
and it's just a no brainer. Great spot to be,
awesome fan base supporting the team, a young hungry organization
to kind of flip the tides and really build on
some success moving into a new stadium with a number
one overall quarterback, and I just want to be a
great part of that, be a key contributor to the
(30:14):
team's success and do what we can to just impact
the game. Our third event.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Let me ask you more about what you just said,
because you just said it's a young, hungry, energetic team
that's moving into a new stadium in two years. You've
seen all of that happen in the National Football League,
move into a new stadium like you did in Los Angeles,
a young energetic team that ultimately ended up winning the
Super Bowl, as you did with the La Rams. Talk
(30:38):
about the process of building that and how much energy
is in the building right now with the Titans. It's great.
Speaker 9 (30:44):
I mean, it's it's you can't you can't miss it.
Everyone is just hungry. There's a lot of guys that
are just eager to improve, you know, young guys that
are developing. Coaches that are doing a lot to invest
in the young guys, bring them up in leadership leadership positions.
You know, they've done a great job in the front
office of bringing in some veteran guys from around the
lead to contribute and just do our best to empower
(31:06):
the young guys as well to take over this team
and make it theirs. And having a first overall pick
that walks into the locker room and has that instant
command sure helps.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
So I'd love to see that.
Speaker 6 (31:15):
With cam Morgan.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Since we're on a golf course, I ask a lot
of golfers this question all the time. Is it harder
to win the first time or is it harder to
win again and again? So let me ask you this
as somebody that was winning a lot with the Baltimore
More Ravens and then winning with the Tennessee Titans. Is
it harder to get there or is it harder to
get back there again?
Speaker 7 (31:37):
I think both have its battles because once you get there,
everybody's coming for you and so, but there's also that
uphill battle of finding the right culture, finding the right team.
And I think young and Hungry, like we've talked about,
is the right recipe because guys come in and they're like,
we know how to work, we know how to get there.
(31:59):
We just need to come together as a team. And
so it's gonna be an exciting year, Like we've talked about,
just young, hungry and wanting to prove ourselves.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I think the loudest moment of the twenty twenty five
Titans so far, actually I'm certain of it was when
this guy kicked a sixty six yard field goal on
the back together weekend in Nissan Stadium a few weeks ago,
which would have been good from seventy five. I mean,
I just saw somebody make a seventy yard or in
a preseason game.
Speaker 6 (32:27):
How's the leg feeling right now?
Speaker 8 (32:28):
Leg feels great?
Speaker 6 (32:30):
Obviously, shout out to Cam.
Speaker 8 (32:31):
He had a huge ball the other day and has
definitely put himself at the top of the postol. And
then I know there's a lot of hungry kickers that
are waiting to get an opportunity to hit from seventy
as well. So we might be able to see some
more bullets flying throughout the last couple of weeks of
this preseason. See who can hit from seventy to seventy fives.
Just keep on going back to who ends up being
(32:51):
the champion of this one?
Speaker 6 (32:52):
Now?
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Calli Brian Callahan, the head coach of the Tennessee Titans,
says that you can influence the way his mind works.
Once the Titans get into positive territory. Are you getting
in Cali's ear? Are you getting closer to him as
they get near the forty five yard line? What's your
kind of persuasion tactic when the Titans are getting into
the scoring area.
Speaker 8 (33:13):
Yeah, I think it's kind of death by a thousand swords.
I kind of walk around him as he's going through.
I can hear him talking to the offensive guys, but
I just kind of just chirping behind him, like.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
Oh, hey, coach, we're good here.
Speaker 8 (33:23):
Yeah, coach, we're good. And Morgan was doing the higher
math the other day and I went behind him and say, hey, coach,
we're good from here, and Morgan kept him He's like, Joe,
I think we're I think it's like an eighty or
a field goal.
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (33:34):
I think my math was a little bit off on
that one, but uh yeah, I mean I just try
to instill some confidence on his side, knowing that, you know,
when he's making those decisions, we can figure out, you know, hey,
do we need to get five yards and we get
fifteen twenty whatever? And ends up being But if I'm
able to just keep saying like Hey, we're good to go.
Make sure that I'm communicating with Bones as well. He's
going to also install that confidence and Cali going forward.
(33:56):
So just letting him know constantly throughout the game that
we're good to go, never whenever they call upon me.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
You've mentioned the special teams coordinator a couple of times.
His nickname is Bones Coach. Fossil comes over from the
Dallas Cowboys and is regarded as one of the best
best special teams coaches in the game.
Speaker 7 (34:12):
Why Morgan honestly like having been with him, uh, just
so far this season, I can tell he brings an
energy to the room really that makes guys really want
to play hard. You know, do their job certainly, but
but give that little extra little bit to like, uh,
you know, because they feel like they're they're part of
(34:33):
something special. And uh, you know love Bones of schemes.
I've seen him from AFAR being an AFC, He's been
in the NFC for a long time. But you know,
just that that fear that he instills in other teams
because teams do play so hard. His crew always play
so hard no matter what team he's with. And I
see why because he brings that energy to the room.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Okay, I gotta ask you something about Morgan. So I
just recently saw that somebody put out an you know,
all these off season predictions and they put together like
the greatest teams, and Morgan was on an All century
team of the twenty first century.
Speaker 6 (35:08):
Is the best long snapper.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You're always catching his football, whether you're holding it what
you get full credit for by the way I love it,
or or if you're punting. What makes him such a
great long snapper.
Speaker 9 (35:18):
He's consistent, you know, And it's not just what he
does with the football, it's who he is around the
locker room. He's an encouraging guy. He's always helping guys
be at their best. And I think when you have
a guy like that at a key position, who's you know,
he starts to play on a lot of crucial downs
and is a key contributor in some big moments in
football games. So he has him that's dependable, that has
a track record of doing it for a long time.
(35:40):
You know, he's overcome a lot of adversity in his
career as well. You know, he's worked through a lot
of things and has earned every single bit of recognition
that he's gotten. And I know he's probably the first
guy to say he doesn't really want it. He don't
really care about that attention, but it's very earned. And
Morgan's a stand up guy that we all love coming
to work with every single day.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
Can we work on the celebration when Heck pulls off
a great fake plant this year? Can we work on
what that celebration is going to be? Have we thought
about that yet?
Speaker 7 (36:05):
We've thrown around a few things, but I don't know.
Speaker 6 (36:08):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
We're keeping that close to the You're not gonna reveal
anything yet.
Speaker 9 (36:11):
Yeah, sometimes you just got the spirit leader in the moment,
you know.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Have you got any ideas, Joey, No, I just let
the energy fall.
Speaker 8 (36:17):
I think Johnny's got a good ability to just come
up with something on the spot. So I'm more excited
to see that after the faith than actually run on
the f.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Who is most obsessed with golf me included of the
four of us, I think it might be Joey.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
Who do you think it is?
Speaker 9 (36:31):
I'm going Joey, You're going joe Joey's got the bug
pretty hard.
Speaker 8 (36:34):
I got lucky this offseason not having the wife at
the house to make sure I was going straight back
home for that. There's a couple of times where I
offered up, hey guys, I'm gonna go play some golf.
You guys are good for it, and uh not to
throw the life under the bus, but they had to
go home to some priorities.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
So uh.
Speaker 8 (36:49):
Obviously my wife's not with me when I was in
Nashville for a spring, but definitely wanted her there. But
I will say my golf game did get a little
bit better.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
So good recovery there.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yeah, he threw out.
Speaker 7 (36:58):
Yeah, he threw up many opportunities for us to uh
to go out. But yeah, like you said, we got
to have some uh gotta have some family time. But
but Joey loves to break down you know, movement and
exactly how you're supposed to swing a golf club and
strategy and uh yeah, he's definitely got the bug for sure.
Speaker 9 (37:14):
Yeah, still sucks.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
I want to make this clear.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
This is a football trip with a little bit of
golf included. It's not a golf trip with a little
bit of football. I just want to just wanted to
make that clear before we finish up. My partner at
Bryan who works with coach Mac and me on the
Titans radio broadcast said something I really like. He said,
we're building a championship level stadium next door, and we're
putting a championship level football on that field, and we're
(37:41):
building that right now.
Speaker 6 (37:43):
You like that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (37:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (37:45):
The energy in the building across all departments and everything
is really exciting to see what we're gonna have to
open the new stadium.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
For sure, a team that gets better and better as
a season goes along.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (37:57):
I think you know, this offseason is all about just
building our process, making sure that whenever adversity hits or
whatever whatever comes throughout the season, we know what our
process is going to be like. And I love the
process that we have right now on a special teams unit,
and the approach we have is going to let itself
to impacting the games in a positive way, bring in
some more wins.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (38:15):
I feel like the opportunity here. People want to win here.
They don't want to win somewhere else. They really feel
like they want to get it done here. And I
think the coaching staff and the front office has done
a really good job of bringing those people here to say, hey,
let's go ahead, grow some roots. Let's win some championships
here and a build an organization that we'd be proud of.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Would you do you want me to tell everybody about
my game winning Joey Slye call?
Speaker 6 (38:38):
Do you to reveal that now?
Speaker 8 (38:39):
You get to reveal it now? Or you can save
it for when it happens.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
I mean I can just tell everybody right now, sly
Lets it fly, bulls eye.
Speaker 6 (38:47):
Okay, we okay with that? Love it perfect.
Speaker 8 (38:49):
I think Little Wind wrote that probably one of them problems.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
He really, I am stealing that from somebody. Guys, It's been
so much fun to get to know all of you.
It's great to see the chemistry that the three of
you have. And it's gonna be a great season with
you guys. And the Tennessee Titans appreciate you.
Speaker 6 (39:04):
Keep it up. Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Tighten up all right?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
There you go. Your guy Johnny Hecker, by the way,
hits it a mile off the tee, the great punter
for the Tennessee Titans. Fun to catch up with all
of them. Coach. Two things before we go. One, tell
me the biggest goal when you go from preseason game
one to preseason game two, all week practicing against the
Falcons and then playing them. You are in charge of
(39:30):
the Titans. What is most necessary to do this week?
Speaker 2 (39:33):
You want to flow. You want to continue the flow
that you had in that second possession on offense, that's
what you want. You want that flow. And then defensively,
I've said this before. I know Denard says it. I've
coached with all of these coaches for a long time
on very successful teams. These defensive coaches that they want
to stop the run and they've got you got to
get you just you got to get better at that.
(39:54):
That's important. Now, they weren't game planning anything, but as
I said, the run defense, there's and it's really easy
to figure out who's supposed to be aware.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Getting to be the voice of the Tennessee Titans is
one of the great thrills of my life. I have
to say, incredibly fulfilling. To be the voice of this
team and to get to work with you last Saturday
night was truly a dream come true to be on
this with you. We have a lot more to do,
my friend. I can't wait for game.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Number two now, Yes, sir, here we go.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
That's Dave McGinnis, the head coach of the Titans radio broadcast.
I'm Taylor's Arzer, filling in for the President of Everything,
Amy Wells. Here on the OTP
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