The Titans could be in for a Peyton Manning type rookie year with QB Cam Ward

The Titans could be in for a Peyton Manning type rookie year with QB Cam Ward

What’s up? It is E Sports here live on a Wednesday. Gonna have a fun show. This is a topic that I’ve been sitting on for a couple weeks. Uh maybe threeish weeks. Uh where I saw something, heard something on a podcast, Pton Manning talking about his rookie year and a light bulb went off and I was like, “Oh, that sounds a lot like Cam Ward situation right now going into his rookie season.” So, I will play you that that audio uh from Pton Manning discussing his rookie year, what he learned and what that allowed him to become. Uh Landon says, “Pe Manning rookie year. Don’t put that evil on me, Ricky. Bobby.” Oh, no. We’re gonna have a This is gonna be a productive conversation. I think it’s gonna be a really strong topic, a strong conversation about what Cam Ward can do this year and what that means long term, what it means short term this season as we are just days away uh from the Titans at the Broncos. Eastston, you are going to be there. Uh and then you know people are already asking when is Zach coming back? If you missed it yesterday, Zach returns from his summer hiatus on Friday. So, tomorrow’s show will be Eastston and JT doing their season preview. Friday’s show will be Zach and myself uh doing our season preview. So, we’ve got topics on topics on topics. And then we have a pregame show. So, we have a lot of things over the next two and a half days just unloading the clip on preseason takes, predictions, takes, thoughts, throwing it all out there, getting on the record. Going to be a loaded couple of days to wrap up this week. Eston, welcome in. Hope you uh are having a good start to your week. It’s already Wednesday, which is crazy. That’s what Labor Day does for you, which is great because that means that the NFL starts tomorrow night. How about that? How about Eagles? How about that? Good morning, Austin. Yeah, it is uh it’s one of those weeks where you got to recalibrate your brain on what day it is. And uh I’ve been panicked ever since getting back from a Bachelor party trip this past weekend. The one last harrah for me in terms of what not really for the guy who’s I guess suppose a bachelor. That’s kind of the whole point of the trip, but also for me because uh we’re b hunkering down for the long winter here now that we are uh done with trips. At least I am. Uh the next trip I’m taking will be football related this weekend as you pointed out. And from here on out, it will be all football all the time throughout the rest of the year, which you won’t hear me complaining about. I can’t wait for this regular season. Going to be a ton of fun. But a week like this one, it’s like, oh, I’m behind already because I think it’s Tuesday, it’s Wednesday, got to get on it. Um, and so motivated to talk as much about the Titans as humanly possible. Write as much about the Titans as humanly possible between now and Sunday’s game. Excited to be with you on the morning show. Excited to be finishing up our pre-season episodes. The uh what is what comes before the penultimate the penultimate penultimate episode of the preseason today. So, we’re almost done. We’re almost I the the feeling in my body that I will get when we’re sitting here loading up a morning show where you and I are going to be talking about real football that took place, showing things from a game, talking about real stats. It’s I I can’t I can’t tell you how excited I am. So, um we got a good one for you this morning though because you have been sitting on this one for a while. Looking forward to diving into all of that. But you need to like the show this morning. That is the number one thing at the top of the show we need you to do like that show. I know that a number of folks are starting to pile back in. We know Zach’s coming back from his hiatus. I’m sure many of you coming back from your summer hiatus, locking back in for the Titans season. Maybe you’re you’re catching up on a number of things from the summer, trying to get back up to speed. Welcome back. We’re happy to have you. Buckle up. It’s going to be a fun ride. If you’ve forgotten the drill, you should know that you need to like the show. That is the number one thing on YouTube and on Facebook we need you to do. So, like that show. Jump into the comments because we want to hear from you this morning. let us know if you’re coming back and we’ll we’ll welcome you back with open arms and uh make sure that you have if have liked it and that’s the uh the easiest way that you can help us this morning. So with that Austin let’s get it started. So officially welcome to A to Z Sports here live on a Wednesday. I’m Austin Stanley. He is East Freeze our tide reporter for a tozports.com and we are Nashville’s ondemand sports talk network going live weekday mornings at 8 central time on Facebook, YouTube and Twitch. Uh links to the show segment by segment on our Twitter X timeline. You can follow us there at AD to esports. Hit us up on Instagram, Tik Tok, and threads for more great Titans content. Uh, give us a fivestar Google review because that goes a long way for us. We are also powered by BTA Sports and I have already uh made a bet because of the analytics that I got from BTA Sports. We’ll talk about that throughout the show, but I have to thank our other sponsors and we welcome some new friends uh on the show. Yesterday, as we kick off football season, but our oldies and goodies, Wilson County Hyundai, make Wilson County Hyundai a part of your new car buying process in Lebanon. Wilson County Hyundai.com, the Bone and Joint Institute, the region’s destination for comprehensive orthopedic and sports medicine care. Bonand and joint.org. The Bartonjury Insurance Group. Customized solutions for all of your insurance need and online at bartendingjury.com. Uh, Botter Carts, life is short, so just go buy a golf cart. Two locations will serve you locally, Columbia and Gallatin. Btercarts.com and Window Nation. Buy two windows and you get two windows for free and you make no payments until the stadium is open downtown for two years. How about that? Windonation.com. That’s pretty good. It’s pretty good. All right, so uh we’re gonna have a a good show today. Can we get more PSA on this real quick? Yes. You want me to just dive into it? Might as well. Okay, so BTA Sports, uh, so they’re new title sponsor of the show. This is our first week with them. So what they are, and I I’ll just go ahead and throw their graphic up here because why not? Uh, they’re, uh, here for us. They’re on our team. They are not on the sport. They are not a sports book. They’re an analytics company that wants us to be smarter at our sports bets and fantasy football. It’s not just sports bets, fantasy football. So, uh, like yesterday, okay, in my sports book, I had a parlay boost token that I could use, but I had to have at least three legs and that token had to be the the the parlay had to be at least plus 400 or higher. So, you gota, you know, it’s riskier, right? Um, so what did I do? I went to BTA Sports. I went to my app that I downloaded and you can get the link in the description on Facebook and on YouTube in the description right here on this on the video. You download the app. I did that. I’m I’m opening it right now. So, what I ended up doing was I I took uh let’s see, I had three NFL games. I took the the game coming up uh tomorrow night, Dallas and the Eagles. I look and see, oh, the Eagles total is 26 and a half. It had a 73% chance of hitting 26 and a half. So, I I took that in my parlay. I went and I found another thing on Sunday that I know that BTA likes, which is, let me find it. New Orleans plus six and a half. They are big on the Saints plus six and a half hosting the Cardinals. So, I put New Orleans plus seven and a half. Give myself a little wiggle room there on my in my parlay. And then I think the other one I put was the Colts total under 24 and a half. that BTA Sports, all of these things, these three individual things had north of a 65% chance of hitting individually. So I’m like, okay, if I’m going to do a parlay boost, it’s plus 400. I boost it up to plus 500, whatever it is, it’s got a 38% chance of hitting. So I was like, that’s pretty good. So that’s what BTA Sports is in a nutshell. Yeah. And we’re going to the plan is to have the BTA Sports guys on to have them explain on the YouTube channel at some point what exactly their system is. Um, so if you’re really interested in the the back end of it, that will be coming soon. But it’s just you you hear pro betterers, you hear people, they’re professionals in the stock market talking about how they have AIdriven systems that they use analytics. That’s what this is. And it’s super refreshing whenever you can get a professional sponsorship especially with a a group in sports betting that is on, as you pointed out, Austin, on our team. This is not the uh the sports books who will be sponsors and they’ll glad and be like, “We want you to win money.” Yeah, I’m sure you do. You know, these guys really want you to win money. They’re working hard to help us win money. So, I cannot wait to use them all season long. Yes, it’s really fun. Um, and so we’ll talk more about that, but we gave them extra love off the top because uh they are a great partner for us and it’s not just um not just for sports betting. If you’re a fantasy football player, if you do daily fantasy, that’s a big deal uh with what BTA Sports can be doing. And it’s yeah, 99 bucks for the whole season uh for the NFL. So, and that’s with uh that link and use our code at oz and you get an extra 14-day free trial on top of it and then $99 for the whole season. That’s only for September. All right, so let’s dive into this topic overall here because, you know, I I’m a podcast guy. I listen to a lot of podcasts. I think that’s probably no shock to anybody. I don’t listen to music. I listen to podcasts in my downtime. So, I’m listening. I’m scrolling through my feed. I’m you know, you know, new dad, six months old, you know, almost coming up. I’ve got different hours of the day that I’m listening to podcast. So I’m scrolling through. I find Busting with the Boys posts their best of Bustin. It’s like a recap and they repost their Pton Manning interview from last summer. So it’s like May or June of 2024. I’m like, “All right, I haven’t listened to that. Actually, I don’t even think I miss hit it.” So I listened to this and Pton Manning said a couple things about his rookie year that I was like, “Oh, that rings a couple bells.” And so let’s go ahead and play this clip. It’s Will Compton uh asking a question to Pton Manning with Taylor Wan there in Knoxville from over a year ago uh talking about Payton’s rookie year in which he set the interception record in the NFL with 28 and how it hasn’t been broken yet uh because uh players or coaches take out quarterbacks and don’t let them finish seasons when they get off to a bad start like that. But here is Pton Manning talking through his rookie year situation and how that set the table for his overall career starter. So, put all these guys in there now. Kind of like as competitors when you start to when you have an up and down year like that and then you’re three and 13. and you’re like the you you were the f their first round pick and you do set the record for interceptions. Like the mental fortitude on trying to keep the noise out of your head going into that next year cuz I’m just I was obviously young then but now thinking about it if a rookie quarterback’s a rookie quarterback is breaking that record. They’re just getting drug across the mud. Drug. It was it was tough and I I think look playing in Indianapolis probably would have been different had I been with the Jets. I if I would have been with the Jets and hey, Parcels would have would have benched me way before the 16th game, but I don’t know, maybe somewhere Indianapolis at the time being a smaller market, maybe that helped me a little bit. So, it was bad. Uh, you know, we were playing on the CBS, you know, e broadcast team every weekend. Like, you know, there was no Madden, there was no Nance or Summerall or or Phil Sims coming to Indie. Uh, you know, no Monday Night TV. So, um, but yeah, look, I it’s the kind of season that can sort of can kind of make or break you, right? And I just we actually were in some games, you know, everybody like nobody was getting up to play us, right? We played the Niners that year, Steve Young, J Rice, we played the Jets who went to the AFC Championship, you know, they had us as a circled win, so we actually had some actually fairly close games. We’d blow it in the end, but that’s what I kind of went off of. I’m like, I think I actually can do this if I just don’t throw three interceptions in the first half. So, it didn’t break me. Um, and my coaches, Jim Mo, I had I had a tough coach, but he was loyal. He stuck he stuck with me. He said, “Hey, stay in there. Keep learning. We’re going to fight through this thing.” And sure enough, we did. I’m not sure if it’s been, but at the time, it was the biggest turnaround in history from three and 13 to 13 and three. There’s no way I do that if I don’t play all those games as a rookie. So, uh, I tell all these college quarterbacks, we were talking earlier about that camp that we have, and I tell all these guys, it’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint. Don’t don’t let a, you know, couple bad seasons break you, right? Just keep learning from it and keep getting better. Yeah. So, look, Pton Manning threw 28 interceptions as a rookie, and the title shows Titans could be in for a Pton Manning type rookie year with Cam Mo. I’m not saying Cam War is going to throw 28 interceptions as a rookie and break Payton’s record. Uh, I’m not saying that at all. But I do think there’s a lot of things in that two minutes and nine seconds of Payton talking about his rookie year on busing with the boys over a year ago that make me think Titans 2025. It’s the fact that it’s number one overall pick, terrible football team picking number one overall. Obviously, uh you got all these uh CBS broadcast team E, right? That’s another one. Small market team uh in Nashville, Indianapolis, there’s four. And then you’ve also got uh the fact that uh that they’re not on any prime time games. There’s five right there off the top on and Cam Ward’s mentality because what Pton Manning said there that I thought immediately was like ding. Cam Wards got kind of the same way is man we uh we lost a lot of close games. If I don’t throw three picks in the first half, I don’t I don’t do all these dumb things in the first half. Maybe we could have won more. And I’m looking at Cam Ward at what he did at Miami and he only threw seven interceptions all year at Miami. But there was a couple games during the Hurricane season last year. Cam Ward against Virginia Tech and Cal the two that stand out the most where yeah dumb pick against Cal had some silly mistakes against Virginia Tech early on. And Miami was able to win those games in dramatic fashion uh late at night with some heroics at the end. but he only had to be heroic because he was bad in the first half or made some bad mistakes early on. And so that made me think of Cam Ward knows how to respond to adversity. And so Cam Pton Manning obviously did too. So I think there’s a lot of a lot of similarities here. Eastston, we have a question we’re going to get to here uh about Cam Ward’s rookie year, but what’s your overall big picture thoughts on uh the topic at hand when it comes to uh what Pton Manning was talking about his rookie year and Cam Ward’s current situation? The topic and the title of the show are pretty funny because at first you see it and it’s like, “Oh, clickbait. P Yeah, I’m sure Cam Ward’s gonna have a Pton Manning year.” And you think about it for a second and you’re like, “Wait a minute. Rogue Gamer. This is clickbait.” No, just chill out. Think more, Rogue Gamer. No, I I know. But then you think about it for a moment and you realize it’s actually the inverse. It’s like, wait a minute. I sure hope he doesn’t have a Payton Manning rookie year because it was quite bad. They won. But what was But what was year two? What did Pton Manning say? If I didn’t play all those games and learn all those lessons, there’s no way they would have gone from three and 13 to 13 and three in year two. Right. Right. But that’s the rub. That’s what we’re talking about this morning is even though that happened and obviously you that’s some serious cope logic. It’s like well if he only wins three games this year that means that next year like obviously not everybody’s going to do what Pton Manning did year one to year two. But the reason why I really hope he doesn’t have a Pton Manning rookie year, and I’m sure everybody hopes he doesn’t have a Pton Manning rookie year where you throw 20 interceptions, you win only three games, is because it’s 2025. And in the modern NFL, that is the the rub that Payton was talking about right there is that these guys just don’t get the leash that they used to. And NFL teams don’t have the patience they once had to develop guys. It’s why you’re seeing uh it’s it’s frankly it’s why you’re seeing kind of a shift in the way that college quarterbacks approach their college careers, how long they choose to stay before coming out. For a moment there in the past 10 years, you saw guys rushing to get out right before NIL really rushing to get out. You know, let me do two years high-profile SEC school and let me get to the NFL. And it’s not that they all came in and failed, but the the the raw developmental draft pick, the the Tre Lance and the Anthony Richardsons of the world, um it didn’t go well for them. And it’s not to say that it would have gone well if they stayed in college longer, if they had played in Pton Manning’s era when, you know, teams were willing to give you three years and 30 starts before they gave up on you. Um because Zach Wilson literally got that and he he didn’t work out. So, it’s not to say that they definitely will if you just have patience, but I think it’s fair to say that a number of these guys more recently have been as as many people in the NFL have said, as as Dave Ziegler, Titans assistant GM, pointed out to us uh in an article I ran a couple of weeks ago, the saying goes, more franchises fail young quarterbacks than young quarterbacks fail franchises. And I think that this is right in the hip pocket of that idea of Pton Manning would potentially have not I mean it it sounds ridiculous, right? But would Pton Manning have ever become what he became if the Colts hadn’t been patient with him? Now it only took one year of patience and he was a very high draft pick. So even by today’s standards, if Cam Ward had a Pton Manningesque year, I don’t think that he’d be yanked before next year. Right. Right. But when you’re left with a super high draft pick, if next year there are we’re talking about five or six first round quarterbacks, which some people think may be the case in in days gone by, the Titans could have the the second or the third or the fourth pick in this year upcoming draft because Cam Ward had a rough first year and there would be no consideration towards giving up on Cam Ward. But in 2025, it would be a talking point for months if that were to come true. And if the Titans were in position to potentially replace Cam Ward because our collective patience has has waned. Yeah, 100%. And I I see Malachi had a comment too. The biggest difference between Manning and Ward, Manning was 1998 technically where a Toz and others didn’t dissect every throw and decision. Fans were more patient. It wasn’t the fans were more patient is that fans didn’t have Yeah. Fans did not have the platforms to be as loud as they are today. Right. and media was not as broad and widespread. It’s a lack of uh you know it’s that social media and microwave society as somebody else mentioned as well and Pton Manning brought it up. Will K brought it up like if the the reason why 28 interceptions have not been outdone by another rookie quarterback is because they get drugged through the internet glass on the floor and so does the coach with them. Right. And I think another comp to this Pton Manning rookie situation and what Cam Ward’s going into is Payton talked about his head coach Jim Moira who was a tough coach but a patient coach said stick with it. Stick in there. Brian Callian’s not getting fired this year unless something unforeseen happens. Right. I you know we’ll this will kind of lead into our other thing is that the Titans are remaining patient with Cam Ward and with 2025 and they want everything to stay the same around him from his from the people above him and that structure to to build and not reset for 2026, right? And so if what if the P what if the Colts fire Jim Mora after three and 13, right? and they go playoffs, playoffs, trying to win a game. And so then then they draft Edan James, Hall of Famer, uh, in the fourth overall in the next draft because they sucked. And then guess what? Boom, 13 and three and Pton Manning figured it out. It clicked. Then Eddie George runs for 60 plus yards in the RCA. Titans win and go to the AFC Championship game. We all know that. So, all right, let’s go ahead and ask this question here, East, because there’s a lot of layers to this, and maybe we’ll replay the Payton conversation and talk more uh about a different layer here later on, but this first question is an interesting one. So, I think it’s just trying to understand where we’re at with our patience for Cam Ward out of the gates. Okay, where are we at with our patience with Cam Ward out of the gates? How many interceptions is definitively too many? How many interceptions is too many for a Cam Ward rookie season? So, how many interceptions is too many for Cam Ward in his rookie season? Uh, we will throw that in the chat and Eastston, you will tell us all about our new friends at Bero Carts. Yes, Bero Carts. Excited to have them on for the season. The sell here is that life is short, so buy a golf cart. I mean, who doesn’t want a golf cart? I know that I want a golf cart and it’s going to be tempting for me talking about Beroc carts all season long not to think about getting a golf cart because Bero carts is the place you need to go if you decide to get a golf cart. 0% financing for 36 months on these carts. So you don’t have to have the lump sum cash on you right now. You don’t have to worry about them nickel and dimeming you to death with some outrageous contract. Cart starting at just $6,700. Open seven days a week. Full service, sales and rental, all handled by this one dealer. Botto’s got you covered nose totail. 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Uh so check them out right there in that link in the description on both Facebook and YouTube. So Eastston, we asked the question uh to everybody watching here. How many uh interceptions is too many interceptions for Cam Ward in his rookie season? talking about the Payton Manning rookie year uh where he threw 28 as the record and all the com all the comparisons uh to that that we’ll play again maybe here in a bit from Busting with the Boys from over a year ago. What are you seeing from the chat so far? I am scrolling. I am scrolling. I’m seeing a lot of numbers. Rogue Gamer says 10. A very strict bar from Rogue Gamer. Okay, like I said 20. Eric says 17. Daniel says 13. King JP says 15 to 20 is the range. 15 16 18. Tall Texan also strict and today’s passing scheme is 10. I I don’t even know what that means. I’m about to I’m about to in a second when I get ESPN.com to load properly. I’m going to uh tell you the list of quarterbacks who threw 10 or more last year. Okay. Darius says around 14. Cap says 10. Kyle Robinson says 20. Darius says around 15. So we’re all over the place. D. Christophel says 20 plus. But it also depends on the number of touchdowns. Just Smash says 17 games. So he’ll allow one a game because of his rookie status. So 17 is the number. That’s the overunder for Just Smash. I am shocked by how many people like Joshua are saying 10 to 12. That is uh really you guys are strict. Bri Brian 10 interceptions. Uh Austin, do we have a list pulled up? Are we available? I’ve got a list. So the guy who threw 10 or more interceptions last year. All right. Now, the list is a very mixed bag, but I think you’ll understand the point of the list. Uh, so starting at the very top, uh, 16 picks last year, Cousins Baker Mayfield, uh, 15, Gino Smith, 12, Jameus Winston, 12, Jared Goff, 12, Sam Darnold, 12, Will Levice in 12 games, 12, Brock Py, 12, Rookie Boicks, 12, Anthony Richardson in 11 games. Uh, how about 12, CJ Stra? How about 11, Aaron Rogers? How about 11 Patrick Mahomes? How about 11 Kyler Murray? 11 Jordan Love. 10 Gardenner menshu in 10 games and 10 rookie Drake May. So for anybody who says 10 get off your own lawn, that is stupid. That is a ridiculous take because Joe Burrow threw nine. Mason Rudolph threw nine on top of Will Levis’s 12. And so 21 interceptions if you want to count all Titans quarterbacks from 17 games last year. I think that’s useful information. Jane Daniels Allstar rookie of the year also threw nine. Matt Stafford, Dak Prescott each threw eight. So guys, you know, raise the bar slightly. That’s ridiculous to just say 10. I’m trying to envision a season in which he only throws 10. It’s either an incredibly efficient season or one in which he just doesn’t throw the ball very much like hurt and plays limited games. Well, yeah, let’s not put that in the air, but you’re right. I I I don’t I don’t want him playing football in a way that allows him to only throw 10 interceptions. Like, I It’s not that I want him to throw interceptions, but if he’s going to be a gunslinger in a higher volume passing offense, which is what I think he wants to be, it’s what I think his coaching staff is hoping he becomes. It’s certainly what I want to watch on my television screen, then you’re going to throw some picks, and that’s okay. My answer to this question, Austin, is that I’m going I I don’t often cop out on too many, right? Yeah, I don’t often cop out, but I’m going I’m going to bold-faced cop out on this answer. And it it my answer is it has everything to do with how many touchdown passes he’s throwing. Okay. I frankly Yeah. So, I frankly don’t care what the ultimate number of interceptions is. Now, don’t go pulling a Jamus Winston 30 for30 season. Let’s not let’s not get crazy on that. I don’t want 30 interceptions. But as long as if it’s 30 for 30, I’m down as a rookie. All right, you’re on an island with that one. I No, I’m saying I’m I’m jumping off your ship. You can have that one by yourself. I I do not want a 30 for30 season. I I would like a season in which because here’s the thing with with Cam. It is all about the comeback for him. It is all about when he gets knocked down, how he responds. And we’ve talked about it all summer long. that juxtaposition between what we believe he can do based on college and his mindset versus what we saw from Will Levis last year where it’s Cam Ward throws an interception makes a big mistake single-handedly puts the team in a hole and what do we see him do in college a whole lot be the one that single-handedly pulls them back out something that Will Leves wasn’t able to do last year Levis makes a mistake he’d get tight he’d get in his head things one mistake would lead to spiraling right so for me it’s can Cam Ward avoid spiraling Can Cam Ward be uh can he has amnesia on each drive that he goes out there and can he do more good than bad? That’s that’s really what I what I care about. So, as long as the you know the touchdown to interception ratio is a positive one for him. And obviously I don’t you know you don’t want it to be 21 to 20 either. You’d like it to be maybe a 3:2 ratio touchdown to interception. But for me it’s less about the numbers and more about how he comes back and how they allow him to continue to gunsling because that’s the other thing. I don’t want him going out there making some mistakes and the coaching staff yanking the res on him. That’s not a thing that I think would be good for his development this year either. And it that goes back to what Pton was talking about. Not only would it have been bad for his development to fire the coach or make changes in year two, but even in that first year if they had not allowed him to go out there and make mistakes and continue to push and continue to experiment, if they had tried to, you know, make this a a a baby proof, dummy proof training wheels offense for him mid-season because they were scared of him making more mistakes. That also would have stunted his growth and I think it would stunt Cam Ward’s growth if the Titans did the same. I don’t think they will. That’s something that would concern me if he starts out with a a higher number of mistakes. Yeah. I think where I think the I and maybe Eastston are missing with some people in the chat is because we’re we’re asking the question, how many is too many? Like where is the line of like okay now like this is bad, right? Like understanding that interceptions happen and there’s a every interception has its own story, right? It tells its own story of whose fault is it? How did it happen? Good play by the defense, bad throw, bad read, receiver mess up, tip drill, whatever. Um, and then you’ve got just the fact of like natural pushing the ball down the field. Do you throw a pick at the end, Hail Mary at the end of the first half that doesn’t matter. Like all these things go into play here. But we’re asking how many is too many? Like when like how many are like this is this is bad now? And I think that’s where people are like off on this because caps I don’t know. I hope this is sarcasm. 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions is fine. Fine. That’s I mean he’s he’s technically right. That is fine. I agree. Like that’s that’s fine as hell. Like that’s not just fine. So 30 and 15 that’s also incredible. Like that’s that’s rookie of the year status which maybe that’s your maybe that’s your expectation. But we’re not talking about the expectations. We’re not talking about what success. We’re doing the opposite. Like how many technically true from Corey here. 100 is too many. I’ll say it. That’s too many. Landon says ideally no more than 12. I think that’s, you know, still not okay. It’s a high bar. Uh King Titan says 2:1 TD to INT ratio minimum. Wow. I think that’s a really high bar there, too. Andrew says, “What about a 30 and 25 season?” I think if you’re getting north to 25 touchdowns for Cam Ward, I don’t give a damn how many interceptions follow. Bingo. That’s the answer is if Cam Ward if they this is a high enough volume passing offense for Cam Ward to be throwing 25 to 30 interceptions. Unless his interception number starts with a four, I don’t care. Which is never happened before. Right. So that’s where I’m saying I if the if the interception number starts with a two then the touchdown number has to be above it. So where do I say too many interceptions like that? I’m like kind of freaking out like I just said 30 and 25. I that sign me up because you’re you’re understand you’re having success to throw 30 touchdowns. You’re having enough learning moments to throw 25 interceptions, but you’re going through all of those waves and all those experiences. So, I honestly think how many interceptions is probably too many. You know, I think it’s it’s when the interception number starts with a two and touchdowns are less than that number. That’s too many. I’m okay with anything one through 19. Like, I I’m living with that. But when it gets to 20 interceptions, I have to know other context around it. Uh, and that’s where I’m I’m looking kind of sideways at some decision making and some bad practices. Well, well, let me ask you this, Austin. Are you expecting that high a volume of touchdowns from Cam Ward? Because I’m not. No, I’m not. I’m just talking about like extreme. Like, we’re talking extreme here. Like, when does he throw so many like how many interceptions are you like questioning the future of the quarterback? Right. Sure. And that’s where I’m saying, okay, maybe this guy’s way too reckless or, you know, but as long as the touchdowns are are matching it or and slightly above, then I’m okay with it. I know. I just think it may be worth reframing the discussion a little bit because if we are expecting, you know, if the overunder on I I should go look this up in a minute. What What’s the overunder on Cam Ward passing touchdowns this season? I would guess total shot in the dark, it’s around the 20 21 touchdowns mark. I don’t know. Maybe maybe that’s maybe that’s uh a little bit off, but we can check that here in a second. But whatever it is, I mean, looking last year’s touchdowns thrown Jaden Daniels, obviously perhaps the greatest rookie quarterback season of all time, threw 25 touchdowns. That’s a heavy number. CJ Stout threw 20. Caleb Williams, a guy whose rookie season, we have talked about Cam Ward maybe that being the bar for through 20. Um Jaylen Herz, Super Bowl MVP through 18, by the way. Totally different offense. Yeah, last year. Totally different offense. How many times How many one-yard touchdown runs did he have? Well, we don’t need to talk about that. He might Did he have more one-yard rushing touchdowns? No, there’s there’s no way he had more touchdowns running, but it was I mean, it was probably at least 10 more, right? So, um, yeah, I just I think that if Cam Ward throws, if we’re if we’re talking about a 20 touchdown season, 18, 19, 20, 21 touchdowns for him, then that interception number needs to be, you know, less than 20 ideally, I think, is fair. Yeah. And so, somebody asked, would I would I take a 24 touchdown, 19 interception season? Absolutely. Like that would be a because that that’s you’re setting yourself up for the long haul the right way. I I think it’s you’re you’re learning the hard stuff. There are no expectations for the Titans this year. Like we know that, right? Like we have By the way, Jaylen Herz 14 rushing touchdowns last year. The Yeah, sorry. I was looking at in in 15 games, 18 passing touchdowns, 14 rushing touchdowns. Crazy. Uh but go back to the cam. The cam word number by the way is over under 19 and a half passing touchdowns this year. That’s ju to the under. So Vegas thinks it will be exactly 20. Yeah. And I think that’s a fair expectation uh when you look at the Titans and and what they can do. But like you know somebody asked, did Kim Worth throw a lot of picks in college? Not really. I mean he threw seven um last year, 39 touchdowns, seven picks. Uh but his his interceptions came at some goofy times to put his team in a hole and then he got them out of it. Uh and not every time, you know, the two games they lost uh against Georgia Tech and against um Syracuse, uh he threw for 300 plus. He threw for 340 plus with five touchdowns, zero interceptions in those two losses combined. So he was not the problem in those two losses. that was the Miami defense uh as well. But he, you know, in Cal Vekch, those games he created some bad situations to pull himself out and he did. And so that’s where I want to get back to the Pton Manning conversation uh and clip again because I do think another layer of this conversation is needed because like I mentioned I was going earlier the Titans don’t have expectations to really win much like everybody’s we’ll get to our season win loss predictions uh on Thursday with JT and Eastston and on Friday with Zach and I and so we’ll do all that but you know we’re we’re thinking between you know eight or less Right. I don’t know. We We’ll figure that out. So, what does that mean long term and what do those games look like? That’s what I kind of want to get to next. So, let’s let’s uh let’s go ahead and hear from Pate Manning again here in a second. But before we do that, uh East, tell the people about the Bone and Joint Institute. The Bone and Joint Institute, the region’s destination for comprehensive orthopedic care. We love our friends over at BJI. They are here in the Middle Tennessee area. So, they’re very easy to find right off of 65 in Franklin. Whenever you get hurt in life, you have to know who to trust. And we trust bone and joint TN.org for all of our needs in that department. Check them out because they have a one-stop shop set up for you in Franklin Clinic, testing, imaging, surgery, rehab. It’s all on that one campus, a state-of-the-art rehab facility they’ve got to help you with your recovery. Schedule an appointment today at bonejinttn.org. Also powered by our friends at BTA Sports. Download the BTA Sports app. Use our code ATOZ. When you download it, use the link in the show description on Facebook and on YouTube. Uh, and you get a full season pass for 99 bucks plus a 14-day free trial. So, you can be a better sports better and a smarter fantasy football decision maker. That deal uh 99 bucks. So, the 14-day free trial with code at oz is only available through September. So, use that link in the description. uh and Facebook and YouTube right there. Uh shout out to King VC who says lock in or like the show. Hit that like button if you have not yet. He thinks 13 interceptions is too many. I think that’s uh too few for King VC’s bar there. So, let’s hear from Pton Manning again because I want us to focus on what Payton said about the close losses the Colts had in his three and 13 rookie season in 199 starters. So, put all these guys in there now. kind of like as competitors when you start to when you have an up and down year like that and then you’re three and 13, you’re like the you you were the f their first round pick and you do set the record for interceptions like the mental fortitude on trying to keep the noise out of your head going into that next year cuz I’m just I was obviously young then but now thinking about it if a rookie quarterback’s a rookie quarterback is breaking that record they’re just getting drug across the mud drug. It was like it was tough and I think like playing in Indianapolis probably would have been different had I been with the Jets. I if I would have been with the Jets and hey Parcels would have would have benched me way before the 16th game but I don’t know maybe somewhere Indianapolis at the time being a smaller market maybe that helped me a little bit. So it was bad. uh you know we were playing on the CBS you know e broadcast team every weekend like you know there was no Madden there was no Nance or Summerall or or uh Phil Sims coming to Indie uh you know no Monday Night TV so um but yeah look I it’s the kind of season that can sort of can kind of make or break you right and I just we actually were in some games you know everybody like nobody was getting up to play us right we played the NerS that year Steve Young J as we played the Jets who went to the AFC Championship. You know, they had us as a circled win. So, we actually had some actually fairly close games. We’d blow it in the end. But, that’s what I kind of went off of. I’m like, I think I actually can do this if I just don’t throw three interceptions in the first half. So, it didn’t break me. Um, and my coaches, Jim Mo, I had a tough coach, but he was loyal. He stuck he stuck with me. He said, “Hey, stay in there. Keep learning. We’re going to fight through this thing.” And sure enough, we did. I’m not sure if it’s been but at the time it was the So there’s Pton Manning there. So three and 13 followed by a 13 and3 season his second year and the whole idea of those close games and you know if I didn’t throw three picks in the first half and it would have been a better spot, right? So I went and counted it up um and I think you can probably count up a lot of the teams on the Titans schedule of like how many fan bases are circling the Titans right now as they win, right? I think many, right? I mean, we could just do that here in a second, but the Colts had eight of their 13 losses were by one score. So, eight points being one score, right? Uh, with a two-point conversion opportunity. So, eight of the 13 onecore losses and against some pretty good teams. right now. They got blown out against uh the Jets and the the Patriots and then some other games as well, uh against the Bills and and some some good football teams in those in the 90s. But I mean, I think that’s the thing, too, is what does that mean for like close games, close losses, one-sore losses this year, and how does that play into this 2025 Titans team, East? What are your what were your thoughts on that from Peyton? Yeah, I was trying to on the fly find at one point I knew this and over the summer I forgotten it what the one score record for the Titans was last season. I know that it was quite bad because to only win three games you have to lose practically all of the one-sore games that you’re in. Um now the Titans did get blown out some as well, but that’s the nature of the NFL, right? every single year around November, December, a staple graphic to go flying around the internet is the well, here’s what the AFC and NF NFC playoff standings would look like if every one game result was flipped and it’d be like, oh, the Chiefs are the 14th seed in the AFC and the Jets would be the one seed or something like that. That’s the margins we play in in the NFL, right? So much of it is uh coming down to essentially coin flips at the end of the game. Now, that’s not to say that it’s all luck. The better teams perform better in the clutch, right? We know this, but there is a luck factor and there is an element of um regression there because it’s not a sticky stat when you track year-toyear teams performances in one-score games. Even the best of the best, it regresses to the mean eventually because there is a luck element involved. And last year, the Titans were quite bad in one score games. I know this because they were two and six. Thank you. They were the uh worst NFL team in history when it comes to sports betting because they went I believe one and 16 against the spread uh which is two and two and 15. They were the worst team ATS in the history. They they covered against Miami because they won that as an Okay, so they went two and 15. Whatever it was, I know for a fact I think I think they pushed against the Patriots at overtime. Okay. Well, they they were the worst team in NFL history, however long Vegas has been tracking it against the spread, which means you lost a lot of games, not just uh by, you know, one point or two points, but just barely too many points to have uh lost by what you were supposed to lose to according to Vegas. That’s neither neither here nor there. The point is, um that’s going to regress. If they were two and six last year, that’s not to say, well, this year they’re going to be six and two. No. But are the odds that they are closer to 500 this year strong? Yes, especially especially when things are supposed to normalize when it comes to because what what what caused them to lose the spread a number of times last year? Not just lose the game, but lose the lose the spread. It was, “Oh, well, if they hadn’t allowed that, you know, kickoff return touchdown. Oh, well, if Will Levis hadn’t, you know, yonked the ball sideways and allowed like the the ridiculous turnover that led to the free three points.” It was the little disaster thing. Yeah, it was the little disaster things that put you over the edge from barely losing honorably to losing in embarrassing fashion and losing the spread. So, that’s something that I think will change this year. And I think the other two and six in one score games doesn’t show the whole story because Eastston, you and I were talking throughout the season and live, you know, week to week of how many times the Titans have the lead or a tie at halftime. Yeah. One score halves. Yeah. One score like first halves. I I remember we’re sitting there 1010. Titans are in Buffalo. Mason Renov looks pretty good. I was about to say back toback weeks. Buffalo. We were sitting at halftime like wow they’re taking the Lions and the Bills pretty seriously here, aren’t they? And then they get murdered in the second half. The Lions one was like it was 2814 at half, but it should have been 28-21 at half because they botched the end of half goal to go situation. Yeah. Didn’t the Titans have the lead halfway through the second quarter and then they allowed two quick touchdowns right before half and it took all the air? Something crazy. I believe that’s what happened. Yeah. So, and then you have like games like uh the Vikings game and the Chargers game, right? Like the the Roger McCreary fumble return for a touchdown that was overturned because they went like half frame by half frame for Justin Herbert’s throwing motion because the NFL’s like, “Hey, the Chargers need to beat the Titans. Come on, let’s go.” And so, uh that’s that’s what happened. I honestly I do I do think that’s what happened. I think they hit the Buffalo Wild Wings button and figure that out. So, uh but you know that was a close game. The Vikings game the next week I think objectively you can say had a lot of questionable things that happened. That is true. And so those were 10 10-point losses that could have been way different. So, you know, if you take, let’s just say you take those two 10-point losses where the games were actually closer than the two scores they ended at, you’re talking about like two and eight in those games. And so how do you get to even on that? What does that mean overall? That means you’re winning, you know, if you’re even, you’re winning six or seven games last year. Uh so I think it’s pretty impressive how they were able to just squander all that. So with Pton Manning, eight of those 13 won losses. And I think it’s just trying to find out how can you be more competitive late. And I expect this team to be more competitive late than last year’s team because the defense was pretty good until they could no longer be pretty good by holding up. Right. And for me, and the defense is an element of it. I don’t want to dismiss that. But for me, it really does all come down to Cam Ward’s ability to not spiral and for the offense to stay on the field for longer and not force the defense back out there. And for Cam Ward, um, another thing that we haven’t really talked about, and frankly, I think we’ll get our first glimpse of it this weekend. When the Titans are trailing and forced into obvious pass situations, what does that look like? Because that wasn’t Will Le’s forte either. the Titans are going to do their best to keep the the game on schedule and not have the pendulum tilt too far in that direction because for any quarterback, it’s a disadvantage to be put into obvious passing situations every time you go out there. But yeah, um against Denver, I think a lot of the second half could be that. And if that’s what that is, how does Cam Ward handle that level of pressure? How does the offensive line hold up against that level of pressure? I think those are two things that should be improved this year. Yep, for sure. All right, I’m gonna play a game um here in a second. So, I’ll I’ll do this on the fly game, but first want to tell you guys about our great friends at the Barton Jury Insurance Group, Customized Solutions for all of your insurance needs. They’re online at bartendingjury.com and we have their phone number. How about this? This is new East and I teased this to you last week. You did giveaway, right? So if you call Barton Drury Insurance Group at 615861265-615861265 for the phone number right there and if you inquire and about any type of insurance policy that you got because they’ve got umbrella they’ve got rental home auto shy bonds right they’ve got 401k plane that you can do individually as a family or if you’re an employer like us like Zach and I you can do all types of things right but if you call Barton Drury Insurance Group with that phone number 6158061265 and you tell them AD to Z Sports is where you heard about them, you will be entered to win a giveaway for a Titans jersey of your choice from me from a Toz Sports. So do that. We’ll do that once a month throughout the season. So at the end of September, everybody who calls Barton Jury Insurance Group for a just inquiry, right? A Toz Sports will give one of those people every month a chance a a a Titans jersey of their choice. randomly selected here. Uh so that’s a a giveaway we’re doing here with Barton Insurance Group. They’re great partners. They’re big-time Titans fans and sports people overall. So check them out online at bartendury.com. Like that phone number 6158061265 Titans jersey of your choice via az sports. If you inquire about any type of insurance policy with bartendury.com, you could be the proud owner of a Xavier Estrepreo Titans jersey should you choose. We are powered by BTA Sports. excited to be partnered with PTA Sports all season long, powering our bets here on the show. Going to be doing a lot more betting talk on the show. So, I hope you guys are ready to make some money and BTA Sports is who’s going to help us with that. So, download the app, use code ATZ Sports, check them out. BTA Sports dominating the game. All right, so I’m going to go to this comment from Billy, I think it was. Uh, Bill, I think the Titans are going to surprise the people this year. So Payton said that a lot of teams that they played as his rookie year had wins circled. How many teams have the Titans circled as a win on this schedule? All of them. Every single one. You think every single fan base? Yeah. Has the Titans circled as a win? Yeah. I was joking about this with somebody yesterday where they were I forget what the conversation before this was but it led up to talking about well you know if they we were talking about games on the Titans schedule that seem winnable and they offhand were like well and you know both the Colts games seem winnable and I I just pointed out the the juxtaposition of how Titans fans probably look at their schedule and think oh both Colts games are winnable. What do you think the Colts fans are thinking? They’re looking at this schedule and going oh well the Titans games those those two are are are winnable. So yeah, I don’t see a single team on here that doesn’t expect to beat the Titans this year. No, no, no. Different. Okay, so here’s what I’m saying. Like, you know, when we do when I do schedule predictions, I go through and I do the automatic wins, the automatic losses, and then the toss-ups. Sure. So, I want the I want teams that think the Titans are an automatic win. Automatic win. Okay. So, a higher bar. Yes. An automatic win. That are circling that are just like passing it over. They see the Titans thumbtack logo, they say, “Okay, W. Green W. Roll. Keep on going.” All right. You ready to count? Yeah. Broncos one. Rams two. Texans twice five. No, four. Sorry. I mean, I think the Cardinals fans are pretty hot, but we’ll we’ll not give it to them. We’ll not give it to them. We We’ll keep the Raiders off as well, conservatively. Uh the Patriots with Varable, the Varable thing, a thousand% they expect to murder the Titans. Is that fair? I think that’s just I think I don’t know if it’s fair, but I if if we’re keeping the Cardinals and the Raiders off, we’re putting the Patriots on because they expect to murder the Titans. That’s fine. Five. We’ll we’ll we’ll not include the Colts either time. Uh the Chargers absolutely do. Yep. Six. Uh I don’t think that the Seahawks do necessarily. Uh the Jaguars, we’re not going to I mean, let’s give one of the Jaguars because they’re pretty hot about their their offense being a lot better. So, one of the two Jaguars games, we’ll give it to them. Not the Browns. Definitely the Niners. Definitely the Chiefs. Eight. Nine. Not the Not the uh Saints by any means. In fact, the Saints game may be the only one that even my bar, the original bar, maybe maybe the Saints don’t expect to win that game. I don’t know what Saints fans think about that situation. I don’t think Saints fans care about this season. Sure. So, I I think it’s So, we just kind of nine. Is that less than you thought it was going to be? Um, yes it is. I mean, yes. Yeah. Yes, it But but also no because they play in the AFC South and they have a fourth play schedule. So they got some walk they got some they got some they got the ners because they were a fourth play schedule. Well yeah and they also got the Saints and the Browns. The Saints. Good point. Not the Saints. The Browns. Who? Pull that back up. Who are there Who are there handed to them only because they’re Oh, we have two schedule graphics. I was afraid that was the wrong one for a second. Um the the fourth place games you’re looking at. Well, the ones that they only got because of the fourth play schedule and not from a divisional standpoint. So, the Browns, the Saints and the and the Niners. No, they not play the West. Yeah, it’s just those two that there should be there should be another AFC team that’s like that. Patriots. Oh, Patriots. That’s right. Patriots, Brown Saints. Good point. So yeah, two two teams that are of benefit and one that people seem to think will I I listened to Kaharski on a podcast yesterday and I I think that he shares the sentiment of a lot of people. He expects the Patriots to he thinks Mike Vrabel he what did he say? He said I’m not sure that Mike Vrabel has even game planned for the first six games of the year. He might just be focused on the Titans game already. which is a joke, but also if you don’t think Mike Vrabel, the psychopath that he is, is is going to come into to town and pull out every stop, maybe a little bit irresponsibly for week seven to make sure that he murders his old team. You got another thing coming. He 1,000% is going to do that. Now, will they win? I’m not as convinced as a lot of folks. like I want to see it with the Patriots first, but um it we’re going to be we’re going to be spending a lot of time these first six weeks talking about the game of the week and the upcoming Patriots game. I I feel like that’s going to be a common theme. So, but nine nine games on the schedule that are circled as dubs for the other fan bases. Here’s a fun one, Austin. Of those nine, how many where would you set the Titans win upset over under? Is it a half game? Is it one and a half games? How many of those nine do you expect the Titans to like? But at the end of the year, we we revisit this and we’re like, “Wow, of those nine games, the Titans won blank. Zero.” The Niners are interesting because it’s late in the year, who knows what they’re looking like. So, I think the the Niners it’s, you know, it’s in San Fran. though. Um, did we count both Texans games? I did. I I would say they could get one of those. I think I think you could set it at two and a half. Okay. Would you take the over or the under? Uh, I don’t know. That’s why I set the line there because it’s really hard to like if if I took if it was one and a half, I’d take the over. But at two and a half, I’m like, uh, sounds like you would, uh, stay away, but if you forced to take it, it probably Yeah, that I think I’m setting the correct line at two and a half. It makes you that makes it harder to pull the trigger, right? Which is what the point is, right? I think I think that they would I think that I would take the under. I think that they would they’ll win two of those and they may luck their way into a third, like somebody’s quarterback gets hurt or, you know, the worst game of the year for Brock Pury or something like that. Definitely. Yeah, I I agree completely. So, look, I I this I’m so glad that we are finally to the point of having the games because we’re exhausting every last topic that we have in the next couple of days. I have run out, man. I’m out. I’m out of ideas. Yeah, we’re going to uh do our season predictions here. Uh the next couple of days, JT and East tomorrow, uh Zach and myself on Friday. So, that’ll be a fun. Let me tease one thing, by the way. If you guys are Old Head, Eastston, and JT podcast enjoyers, all seven of you, uh if you know, you know. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a little bit of uh Titans regular season take purging. So, if you’ve got some takes to purge from your soul, uh join us tomorrow. It’ll be a fun time. Sounds good. Uh we got some takes on the new depth chart. Uh what is relevant and what is irrelevant? We will discuss that. But first, I want to tell you guys about our new friends at Windowation, Windowation.com. They have a great deal coming right now. Now, you can save big this month with buying two windows and get two windows for free and you make no payments for two years. So, you don’t have to deal with any monthly payments, not a down payment or interest until 2027. 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Uh Eastston, you have uh quick hitting topics from the depth chart because you talked about this last night on prime time. So now I got to be included on this. So I will let you go through and present your topics here and we will see if they are relevant or relevant. Uh as the depth chart is the unofficial official depth chart uh or the official unofficial depth chart, however you want to put it. Uh overall, it’s just the depth chart. Let’s let’s be real. It’s the depth chart. Yeah, it’s the depth chart. Here is what we’re looking at. And I apologize. I don’t know why it’s the lowest quality image ever, but you can still read it, so that’s all that matters. Um, the the biggest thing that stands out about the offense has to be that Alec Amanor is a starting receiver. Austin, you’ve been around a Toz Sports this summer. You’ve been reading my work. You’ve been talking with me on these shows. Should we be surprised by this? Well, surprised, I think. Uh, should this have caught us off guard? No, not caught you off guard, but like slightly pleasantly surprised that week one is when Alec Oyer passed Fan Jefferson as a starter. Sure, I think that’s a good surprise. Pleasantly surprised. That’s my answer to that. Um because I expected it to be maybe like week three or four. Sure. like on paper because like so that’s the thing about depth chart especially at position like wide receiver where you’re rotating so many guys in when does the on paper passing happen because the off the paper passing had already happened right but how many times do you see coaches just you know the whole seniority rule of saying you know the veteran is going to be the de facto starter but the younger guy might get more snaps so I think it’s a pleasant surprise. I do think it’s a relevant uh move there because Elio Manor got even and passed Van Jefferson a lot faster than I think we even expected. I remember you and I in the spring we were doing a mini camp hot takes episode. And the masses they they giggled at the idea that Alec Manor would be a household name this fall. And in that in that breakdown I said I think he’d be a week one starter. And uh that’s perhaps my greatest victory lap of the offseason. So, not to be the I told you so guy, but I did tell you so. In all seriousness, I do think that another thing that we have been preaching throughout the summer, I I’ve been saying this coaching staff is they they are promising to not be conservative when it comes to getting the young guys up the dev chart, getting them in, getting them experience. They’re not going to play the seniority game the same way that you may be used to playing the seniority game. The weeks of eye rolling and the weeks of uh caution that other teams, the past Titans teams may have taken. Now, we heard that a lot and we talked about that on the show a lot. It’s one thing to hear it. It’s another thing for them to do it. And I think it’s very encouraging that before week one, we’re already seeing them saying, you know, screw it. like ELC, you not only are we going to put you out there, but we’re going to put you on paper at the top of the depth chart because that’s where we want you this season. And uh that’s a very good thing in my estimation. Totally. Yep. All right. What’s your next one? Um this one’s kind of brief. I I want to I want to get your thoughts on whether it actually matters or not. Kell Mullings, rookie running back, buried here on the depth chart behind Julius Chestnut, a guy that we were talking about potentially being a a replacement candidate if they’d found somebody better on the on the waiver wire or on the on the free agent market after cut down day. Are you surprised by him being third in the running back room? And do you think it matters? Uh, I do think it matters. I’m not surprised. It matters because of pass protection because right they, you know, I think if Taj Spears was active and healthy, would Mullings be the third back and Chestnut being active? Yeah, probably. Because you trust Pard and and and Spears to pass protect and Khalil can be the third, right? So, I think that’s that’s literally it’s a pass protection situation. That’s that’s all it is. So, I not surprised it is relevant. Last one on the offense. How about Lloyd Kushenberry being listed? obviously is the starting center, but for him to be listed there on this depth chart without the Titans real backup center, Cory Leven, who’s on the practice squad, but that functionally he’s on the active roster and he’ll be back on the active roster eventually. Um, does it is it any more encouraging to you his availability this this first week? And I guess maybe the better question is how confident are you that it’s just going to go off without a hitch? I mean, I I think Lloyd will be fine. Like I, you know, physically like he might like with I think the Achilles will be fine. I think he’ll have to kind of figure some other stuff out. So, I think that’s where I’m at. Uh because as soon as they waved Cory Leven from the active roster or cut him, released him after the main cut downs, I was like, “Oh, then they have all the confidence in the world that Cushingberry is fine.” Um so, and they’re going to put him on the practice live on the practice squad. I do the whole call up thing. So, I think I feel pretty confident in the Achilles recovery of Cushingberry. On the defensive side of the ball, we’ve got Cedric Gray officially listed ahead of James Williams for the first time on paper. Now, after the preseason finale, we talked about this being the reality, Austin, but do you think that this is the maybe the question is, is this the right decision for the Titans to after a very strong final two or three weeks of camp where we saw Cedric Greg get the start in the final two preseason games, do well with those opportunities, for him to now be listed as the starter alongside Cody Barton. I think there’s something else here that’s more interesting than than just Cedric Gray being starter is a number change. Oh, I didn’t even catch that. Yeah. Uh, and I didn’t even see I saw Jim Wyatt tweeting about number changes yesterday. I didn’t see him tweet about that one. So, 33. We’re in the old uh North Carolina number. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think takes some getting used to. I already hate numbers. I hate when they change numbers. Overall, it doesn’t matter. I think those two guys are interchangeable. I think it’s a game plan weekby- week situation based on the opponents. Uh, so I look, I think Cedric Gray is probably a traditional better starter next to Cody Barton than James Williams Jr., but they’re both going to be playing a lot. And then finally, the special teams. What matters here in that somehow the quality went down even further. The punt return and kick return positions. We’ve got Chimray DK. You know what? One last victory lap for us here. How long this summer, Austin, have I been saying that this coaching staff ideally would like Chimra DK to be a two-way returner? And here at the buzzer, we have him listed as the starter as both returner spots. Now, is it a good decision? We’ve talked about this. We don’t know. We’ll find out. I think this is the riskiest decision that they’ve made. I’m also kind of the sleeper here is that Bryce Oliver, backup kick returner. How about that? That makes sense. And Tyler Lockett, backup pender, makes sense, too. I think it’s it’s this is a you know JT and I talked about this yesterday. A single play gone wrong on by a return guy is a bigger opportunity for the game to be blown up than anything that can happen on offense defens play I think. Mhm. So, I think it’s the biggest risk of putting DK back there to one catch it and to return it successfully um overall. But, you know, I think they feel very people feel very confident about him like returning k punts. Kicks I’m not as kicks I’m not as concerned about. Punts are the more dangerous job. Nick Sus put it this way yesterday in the media room and I think that I think that he’s all over it. He said that he’s he’s with Titan special teams this year as compared to last year. He’s very confident that the 10 role players on teams are better and that eliminates a pretty big portion of the disaster possibility, which is good. But he’s also wondering if the the I guess the skill position portion of special teams is all worse. Like the both returner positions, we don’t know, could be worse. Both kicking duties could be worse. So, we’ll see how how that dynamic works out for them. I said yesterday I think Joey Sly is my biggest concern about special teams and I feel pretty good overall about the others on the coverages and stuff. Um DK I have a concern about slightly and then yeah I think Johnny Hecker should be fine. Okay. All right. So there’s your depth chart. Okay. Let’s do some trivia. Are you doing trivia master today? Got it. All right. Here we go. Trivia time to wrap up this Wednesday show. already moving through this week out to Wilson County Hyundai. Wilson County Hyundai.com. Make them a part of your new car buying process. Go see them in Lebanon. Check them out online. Wilson County Hyundai.com. Okay, Eastston. Uh, I am ready if you are ready. Hit. All right, here we go. Trivia time to wrap this thing up. It’s the first time in a bit that I’m not the trivia host. All right. I don’t think I don’t think you and I have done trivia in a while. It’s been a while. Yeah, it’s been a while. So, Orlando says four and a half. I like that number. I like that number. Okay. He’s accounting for rust. Maybe. Maybe. So, NFL is where we’re going to start. Go around the horn and finish with celebrity mashup. Four and a half minutes is the overunder from our guy Orlando. Let’s do it. chat, lock in, help us out. NFL Tyrod Taylor has been the week one starting quarterback for the Bills, Browns, Texans, and this AFC team. Oh god. Chargers. Yes, Herbert. His lung punctured. Yep. Good call. Good call. What is the most populated country that is part of political union? Wait, am I What? What is the most populated country that is part of political union known as the European Union? That’s a weirdly worded. Okay. Um, the most populated in the EU. Well, Britain’s no longer in it. So, is Germany or France more populated? I don’t know the answer to that question. I’m going to guess Germany’s more people. Matt says Germany. I think it’s Germany. You want to send it on Germany? I mean, sure. Anybody want to I mean, this is like a coin flip. Like, I think it’s going to be like Germany or Lucas is Germany. Jeff, it’s Germany. Okay, sweet. Good. Former SNL cast member was the star and creator of the sketch series Portlandia and was the band leader for Late Night with Seth Myers. Oh shoot. I know who it is. I don’t know the name. When somebody in this chat says it, I’m going to know it. I don’t know. Oh, is it former SNL cast member, star and creator of Portlandia, band leader for Late Night with Seth Myers. Fred, that’s Fred Armison. Fred Armerson. Okay. Yep. Good uh musician. Fred is Sam Jones played a football star and defender of Earth in this cult classic 1980s space opera superhero film. What? I don’t know. Space opera superhero film. That’s crazy. Who was a football star? This is a wild plot. I feel like I need to watch this. What movie is this? This gonna be on Flash Gordon. Oh, Sam Jones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Wow, I did not know that’s what Flash Gordon was about. These wounds won’t seem to heal. This pain is just too real. Are lyrics from this 03 evvice song. Evan Essence. I said that wrong. Um, well, I only know one eancence song and I don’t think this is the one. So, any big eancence fans out there? Not exactly my uh my cup of tea back in except for that. That’s a banger. Always. My my Immortal. I’ve heard of the name of that, but I’m not familiar with the song. Strangest way to describe Flash Gordon ever, I guess. True. Helps build strong bodies eight ways and helps build strong bodies 12 ways. Are slogans associated with this brand of sliced bread? Brad, did the person who made today’s trivia, were they drunk when they typed these questions up? Sliced Brad helps build bodies eight ways and helps build bodies 12 ways. What is this about? I was thinking it was going to be V12 juice for a second, but now What kind of sliced bread helps build bodies? What are we talking about? Uh, it’s not bunny or is it Wonderbread? What a lie. Yeah. Yeah. What a lie. That’s crazy. The fourth longest active playoff drought in MLB belongs to this franchise whose most recent postseason appearance consisted of them winning the World Series. Is it the Cubs? Fourth longest. I mean that’s such a Have the Cubs been to the playoffs since they won the series whenever that was in 15 or 16 or or it could be the Royals. The Royals also in that Tigers winning the World Series. I think Bearded Kuno is right. Royals or Cubs. That’s where my head is at. I was honestly Nats. Oh, it could be the Nats. The Nats have been terrible since they won. Nats. There are a lot there are a lot of MLB teams that have been terrible since they won. Royals 2016 seems too recent though. Fourth longest active drought, right? Rangers. The Rangers have been They just won. Yeah. Cubs was my initial White Socks. Could be the socks. Sam would know this. No. When the last time that that might be the longest because when’s the last time the White Socks won the World Series? Well, I mean they they won in the last 20 years, I think, didn’t they? I don’t know. Royals were Royals were 15. So that’s 10. I think it’s Royals or Cubs. Just show Royals. All right, that was that was a popular answer. Since getting drafted 10th overall in 2018, this current Knicks player has never missed a game during his NBA career. Wow. Oh, 10th overall in 2018. Current Knicks player. Huh. But he didn’t say drafted by the Knicks. No, I’d imagine not drafted by the Knicks based on the wording. That that that checks. Never missed a game. Sounds sort of right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s the right year. Nope. All right. On the outside, that is um uh John Bernthal. How do you spell his name? Is it just John ML Bridges? Burn Bernthal. There we go. Who’s the And then who is that woman? I don’t I do recognize her, but I suck at these. I’m not sure I even recognize her to be honest with you. Elizabeth Banks. Elizabeth Banks. Okay. Yeah, I can see it. So, which of these do we feel more confident about? Muel Bridges. Male Bridges. Okay. M. Yeah. Let’s see if we were right about the three that it could have been with MLB. It was the Nationals. Yep. Yep. Yep. Uh, somebody in the chat was all over that. Let me just scroll back up and find it. Orlando was all over the gnats. So was Matt. Matt was all Matt was still not good at guesses, but he said multiple. We were we were appropriately identifying the teams that could have been because the Nats, the Cubs, the Royals have all largely been terrible since they won in the mid2010s. But the Nats have been super terrible. So that that checks out because the N that that whole team basically there was a mass exodus of all those players right after they won the series and they’ve never been good since. Yeah, that was a challenging trivia. It was what was our what was our time? I didn’t even slow Yeah. Okay. Well, better luck tomorrow. Yep. All right, guys. That is it for us today. Tomorrow’s a Thursday, which means season predictions in two parts. And uh Eastston and JT will be live at 8ish. And uh then Buck Rising live tonight for prime time. Zach and I’ll be on Friday. Catch you guys later on. Appreciate as always. Content come as always adsports.comtitans. See you later.

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