TITANS SQUAD SHOW: The BIGGEST PROBLEM with Brian Callahan and Cam Ward CONCERNS

TITANS SQUAD SHOW: The BIGGEST PROBLEM with Brian Callahan and Cam Ward CONCERNS

I’m Julian Minnzone and today on the Titan Squad Show, I’ll tell you the biggest concern I have with Brian Callahan and the coaching staff. I’m Tyler Roland and I’m here to tell you that even if they do make a change, I’m not certain that things will change. I’m Brad Hopkins and the Virgo in me is constantly trying to come up with a solution. Can you help me? Tighten up. It’s the Titan Squad. Everything Tennessee Titans every week covering all the big hits and gamechanging plays from the heart of music city the way only the lockdown podcast network can squad up. The Titan Squad Show starts now and welcome to the Titan Squad Show. As you heard off the top right there, I’m Julian Minzone joined by my friends Brad Hopkins and Tyler Roland. Uh, we want to thank you for joining us and listening to us wherever you may be today. Remember, like, comment, subscribe, all that fun stuff. We’re here on the Titan Squad show two times a week. Also, you could be in every day every day to Tyler’s show, the Locked On Titans podcast. We are here to hear your concerns. So, please put them in the chat. We’re going to answer questions throughout the show. We want to be interactive with you guys. Uh, we want make you feel like you’re part of the show because there’s a lot to talk about with the Titans and I know some people need to hear maybe some good things or maybe some clarity on things. We’ll try to do our best. Tyler being a guy who’s uh done his show for the last almost decade, right, Tyler? Seven years going on, Brad. He can give you that player perspective and then me covering the team from behind the scenes. We can we can give you the best of what we can offer here at the Titan Squad show. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. On today’s show, as you guys, if you’re watching with us on YouTube live can see on the run down there. We’re going to talk about the biggest coaching problems that we see so far. As we talked about offair, you guys didn’t hear it, but what makes a bad team a bad team. We talk about Cam Ward, some of the concerns we have from him um when it comes to maybe him regressing a little bit. Who knows? We’ll see. And then we’re also going to play Titan up versus Titan down. So, um, guys, uh, you know, we were going to lead with Titan up tight down, but Brad started this discussion, um, off air here. What makes a bad team a bad team? Everyone’s calling the Titans one of the worst teams, if not the worst team in the NFL. So, what makes a bad team a bad team in your guys’ eyes? Well, since I was, you know, kind of throwing it out there kind of tongue and cheek when we before we started the show about comparing this team with other teams around the league that are struggling. We saw two 0 and3 teams last night playing each other, the Jets and the Dolphins, right? Just like the two 0 and3 teams that are playing each other in Houston over the weekend, you know, and one of them is going to come out a winner. But what makes a bad team a bad team? A bad team obviously is by definition one that isn’t winning. that doesn’t have success, but there are things within that dynamic that make them who they are. And how different is what’s going on in Tennessee than what’s going on in New York, and what’s going on in New Orleans, and what’s going on, you know, in some other places that just haven’t yet got a first win. To me, it really comes down to execution, doing the plays the right way, discipline, not making those mistakes that shoot yourself in the foot. And I mean, we talked about talent. That’s probably debatable. Maybe we stop there as far as the third being the difference between some of these teams because I do think that at some point on a team that even is struggling, there are bright spots. And regardless of this team’s record, there are players on this team that you could see flourish on another roster, which means that they are pretty talented in who they are. You know, I thought that Tony Pard might be one of those guys that could be, you know, a bellcow someplace else. You know, I mean, he was really good when in Dallas. I think he was worth the minerals for us to buy him here. Um, I think that even Jeffrey Simmons, the leader of this team going into his seventh season, has reshaped himself to be more of a cog, uh, that has to deal with a lot of attention from that defensive front, but yet we still see him getting in the back field. We still see him with a couple of sacks, maybe not as many as we would want, but still being a guy that just can’t be ignored when he’s on the football field. So, there are some advantages, but just the question simply remains, you know, what is what is it about this team that makes them who they are? And Brad, I I thought you made a pretty good point right before we jumped on that in the NFL, the reason that the NFL is a league of parody is because it’s very hard to get a significant talent advantage over other teams. You only have so many picks in the draft. You can only sign so many players. It’s cap space and you’re limited in what you could do. So that’s why the NFL is so great because parody I is a real thing because it’s just really hard to get a significantly more talented roster than the rest. Which is why what I would say in that equation and my answer to that is what makes a bad team bad is coaching. Like if the talent around the league is pretty similar across the board, you know, we’re looking I think the Jets have a little bit of a better roster than the Titans, but I don’t think that like the Carolina Panthers have a significantly better roster than the Titans or the Saints or the Dolphins, you know what I mean? or the the Bengals. Now, they’re dealing with their backup quarterback, so maybe that’s a little bit different. But, you know, I I think the reality here is the creativity of coaching. And I appreciate the player perspective. Brad’s like, we got to execute. We got to be disciplined, which is things players have to do. You’re right. They do have to do that. But I think that there’s a creativity in coaching, and we see it from some of the best play callers around the NFL. I I watch the Titans stuff every week and you know I don’t get to watch every other team but when I’m prepping for the Titans next opponent I catch two other teams every week and I just feel like the lack of creativity from Brian Callahan specifically on offense and if we want to blame Bo Hardigree now like we’ve talked about on the show it’s a committee approach to calling plays like that the offensive design is not just one person’s job and now it’s different because it’s a different play caller I think that the creativity and the coaching the ability to layer plays on top of each other, show the stuff that you show pretty much every week and then divert from that to confuse the defense. Like, we simply don’t see it. And I think the reason that it looks like Cam is regressed and the reason that the they went from being competitive against a good team in Denver to getting blown out by their biggest margin of loss with the worst team record-wise that they’ve played all year in Houston. Like, they’re going backwards. And it’s because the simplicity of the offense and the inability to be creative off of that. They’re more predictable now that teams know what’s coming. And we’re starting to see some of these inb breakers. They run the same concept. Front side, short in, deep out, or middle guy sits down and then a deep end behind it. And you’re reading that inside hook defender. What are you going to do? Like teams are starting to break on these things because it’s the same on tape every week and they know what’s coming and they don’t ever build off of that. It’s like, you know, you make tacos. People make tacos, they throw the ground beef in, they cook, they brown it, then you throw on the taco seasoning with a little bit of water, right? Well, if you want to plus that, if you want to enhance that a little bit, use a little bit of beef broth, you know what I mean? Maybe throw a little cilantro in with the meat to add a little kick. Brian Callahan is just still putting water in the taco seasoning with the meat and doing the same thing every week. And if you don’t get more creative, if you don’t move off of the tendencies that you’re creating week to week to confuse the defense, they’re just going to be on top of you and know what’s coming at all times. And that’s why I think things are getting worse because the Titans aren’t being creative as other play callers and designers around the league and they’re just doing the same simplistic things. And I think we could talk about the Bengals because the Bengals offense and Bengals fans would tell you the same thing. And when you have Jamar Chase, T. Higgins and Joe Burrow, you can run a simple offense because you have great ingredients. But when you’re the Titans and you don’t have great ingredients like those three guys and you’re running the simple offense, you get what we’re getting right now. And that’s the inability to do anything on offense. As you you mentioned, the the coaching perspective, guys, leadership, that is, I think, the big thing that makes a a bad team bad or the lack thereof. I mean, this coaching staff, and I said this on our show on Sunday, on our channel 2 show here in Nashville, this they’re not getting the most out of their players that they have on the roster. Now, this roster isn’t a Super Bowl winning roster, as we know, but we’ve seen what Calvin Ridley could do at his best. We’ve seen what Tony Fer could do at his best. We’ve seen what Cam Ward all throughout college, what he could do at his best. It doesn’t seem like this coaching staff is getting the most out of their players right now that they have. You could be 0 and4 but still be competitive and not taking steps backward what we’ve seen the last few weeks. But it seems like they’re falling short of what their talent Yeah. 46 points two weeks. I mean you didn’t you didn’t sniff the red zone once on Sunday. Didn’t even get in the red zone. Um and so I I just don’t think this coaching staff is getting the most out of the talent that they do have. So let me ask you this. What what are the Bengals doing or not doing that is making them struggle? Because here’s a team that just a few years ago with this same staff went to the Super Bowl. So, is Zack Taylor now a bad coach because Joe Burrow is gone for a few months? I mean, can we qualify and say that this that this whole system that they’re running up in Cincinnati was is inept and all of a sudden they became vanilla and they became whatever else. The difference is who’s running the system. Now, I will concede, Tyler, that you are right to a degree that if I continue to put you in bad positions, bad situations as a coach or I’m not teaching you or developing the roster, then that is some somewhat of a hamstring. But, you know, is it systemic? I mean, who’s winning and who’s not? You have to ask yourself that because there are many contests going on during every play, during every game. Who’s winning those g who those contests? I’m not talking about the g the game itself. I’m talking about like as a as a route runner, as a blocker, as a passer, as a visionary to see the things that we are working on every day during the week. Who’s winning in those instances? And why are we not finding those people when they are winning? So, I think that what are they doing that wins is something you have to ask yourself. But I do think that there is some degree of like, hey, I’ve given you the blueprint. I’ve given you the idea, the concept. Now, let’s make it work because Zack Taylor, in my opinion, is not a bad coach, but his team right now is playing terrible. They got their butts kicked last night. And is it because of one dude not being on the roster? I I’m asking the question. I I would say yes. My answer would be yes. It is because I don’t think that Zack Taylor’s offense like we see with Callahan, it’s so classic West Coast. the route concepts, twoman concept with a backside dig. Like it’s it’s it’s just so simple. And when you have elite ingredients, you can cook a simple meal. You can have the little plate with just a little piece of tuna and a little drizzle around it, you know? Yes, I am. I just woke up. I’m starving. I love to cook, Brad. So, I like I like to take things that I do know that apply. And I I’m a Colin Cow Herd uh cohort, man. I I learned from Cow Herd, and he’s an analogy guy, so I like my analogies. But um I I would just say that the answer to that is yes. And I think that what we’re seeing is kind of tied into that a couple of years ago when it wasn’t so obvious on tape when you couldn’t go back and see what they’re doing and watch the patterns and everything like that. Zack Taylor’s offense was able to have more success in the first two years of running it with those guys. But as we’ve gotten further along, they haven’t elevated the the scheme at all. They haven’t changed thing. They haven’t layered plays on top of each other to go against their tendencies and confuse defenses. And we’re seeing that with Brian Callahan through 20 games, too. They were better last year. Why? Because it was the first year of Callahan and teams didn’t know necessarily what they would do and things were fresh. But now you’ve seen everything that Brian Callahan’s going to do in each individual situation and he’s not branching off of that. So, it’s so predictable to see what he’s going to do and know what he’s going to do that these defenses are breaking on everything. So many times this year, we’ve been like, “Is anybody open?” And nobody’s open because the defense is called the perfect coverage for the route concept that the Titans are running. They run that that threeman trips concept where they have the deep sail route, they have the deep out route, and they have the short sitdown route. And it’s meant to attack cover three coverage because you have three different levels. And in theory, with two outside defenders, the curl flat, and then the deep third, one of those guys should be open. But teams know what’s coming now, and they’re running cover four against that. and the hook defender takes the medium guy and then the curl flat takes the short guy and then the the deep quarter takes the deep guy and it’s just like so many times on tape the defense has called the perfect coverage for the the Titans run a man beater and the defense runs zone and has it covered up. They run mesh against zone and it’s like nobody’s open because that’s a man beating concept and to me one play is oh that’s a good call by the defensive coordinator that’s one play you called it right good job you know and sometimes that happens but every single week the Titans are running certain beaters for certain things and not getting it and getting beat schematically and to me that’s a pattern and once it’s a pattern now it’s on the coaches you know like each individual play you can say Calvin Ridley didn’t beat man he didn’t do this but if you’re consistently getting beat scheme like, “Oh, they just called the right coverage for our play.” Well, then that is the defensive coordinator recognizing patterns and tendencies and knowing what you’re going to do and being there to stop you and knowing exactly what your next move is. And that is where I get to that’s probably a coaching thing once it becomes a pattern. Yeah. But I would also and and I’m not saying that the coaches aren’t culpable in any of this. Don’t get me wrong when I’m when I’m saying this, but when you have drops, those are opportunities to beat those coverages you’re talking about. When you have missed blocks, those are opportunities that were missed because your quarterback is running for his life or the play broke down. When you have something that happened in execution that didn’t allow you to win in those instances, that’s why I was asking the question, what is this team doing that wins? And why are they not doing it consistently? Because at the end of the day, there’s an offense working against a defense, right? They’re making each other better during the week. You can’t look at one another as a defense and say, “Hey, um, offense, what am I doing that allows you to exploit me?” Or offense to the defense, “Hey, defense, am I doing things that are so vanilla that make it so obvious that, in other words, are they winning during the week? Is the are the things that they’re calling on Sunday, are they working during practice?” Because if they’re not working during practice, why the hell are they seeing themselves on the field on Sunday? You see what I’m saying? So, there has to be some level of execution. There has to be some level of consistency that’s working during the week. But for whatever happens when they get out there and go up against an uncommon jersey against somebody else, it’s not working. They’re not out there going out there and practicing plays that just, well, that one sucked. Let’s keep it in there. You know what I mean? like like the the we always had 12 plays that we that we ran at the very beginning of a game, you know, and those 12 plays were designed with coverages with defensive schemes in mind of how they were going to counter what we were running, right? But they were things that we were familiar with and we had an anticipation of what they were going to do to try and stop us and we adjusted accordingly. But more so than not, we won in those first 12 plays because that was we know what we were going to do, right? versus this offense, this team, this defense. Sometimes you’re thinking, damn, is there anything that they’re working on during the week that has worked? And why aren’t we doing more of that? Concerning considering a lot of the guys said Thursday was a really good day of practice and it just didn’t show up on Sunday either. Okay, that was probably the quickest 15 minute segment we’ve had on this show. That flew by. Great stuff, Ellis. On the other side of the break, we are going to talk continuing to talk about our concerns tighten up, tighten down, as well as our concerns with Cam Ward. Is he not developing maybe at the rate we would like him to given all the problems around him? We’ll talk about on the Titan Squad show next. All right. You know the saying, look good, feel good. Well, the problem is the most dress clothes only check one of those boxes. They look sharp but feel stiff, hot, and high maintenance. That’s where uh Mizen and Maine come in. Mizen and Maine makes classic men’s wear with performance fabric, so it’s effortless to look sharp and feel comfortable. They actually invented the performance fabric dress shirt over 10 years ago, and they’ve perfected it ever since. It feels like athletic wear, but with the look of professional men’s wear. Right now, Misin and Maine is offering our listeners 20% off your first purchase at misinandm.com with the promo code locked NFL 20. That’s mizen spelled m i zen. and Maine. M a n.com promo code locked on NFL 20 for 20% off. And if you’d rather shop in person, you can find Mizen and Maine um at select stores in select states. All right, fellas. So, tighten up, tighten down. Um we talked a little bit of some of these concerns already, but if let’s go with a tighten up to start right now, and then we’ll go to each of our Titans down. So, what’s your Titan up right now, Tyler? Uh, I would say right, and I don’t want to take it from Be Hop because he was all over it, but I I would say it’s Tony Pard. Tony Pard’s running hard. He’s making cuts. I think the Titans run game is something that we can be excited about. I think the Titans run game has a chance to go on. The problem is they’re getting down and when you’re down by a lot, you can’t run as much because you got to throw more and that makes it hard to lean on the run game. But if the Titans could ever get in a game neutral script where they’re down by a, you know, a possession, they’re down by three, they’re down by seven throughout the second half of a game, they would even be be able to continue to run the football. And I think the offensive line has done a pretty good job in the run game as well. That’s somewhere where they’ve been successful. I I still I know the offensive line has had trouble, but I don’t think the offensive line was as bad of a problem in this game against the Texans as I thought they were going to be against that pass rush. like they had their moments where things didn’t go well, but like the Titans offensive line wasn’t destroying them in this game. And I’m seeing people send me mock drafts with only offensive linemen and I’m just like I don’t know if this is a controversial take or something, but the offensive line has not been an absolute disgrace. You know, like I talked about it last week, half of these sacks are on the quarterback or on a running back missing an assignment or on a tight end getting beat one-on-one against a pass rusher. The offensive line hasn’t been incredible, but it hasn’t been as bad as it’s been the last couple of years. I know that’s hard to hear for people, but it’s just the reality. So, I think the run game is something that they can build on. If they can just find a way to not get throttled in the second half and be down so much that they have to abandon the run game, then they could be in a pretty decent spot. But I would say Tony Pard in the run game. and you’re expecting to get Taj Spears back this week, who is more of a jitterbug, has more of an explosive quality to him than Tony Pard who’s been running really hard. I think that could help the Titans have some more explosiveness in the run game and and help things out. So, I know right now people throw the baby out with the bathwater when you’re 0 and4, everyone’s bad, everyone I have people telling me, Jeffrey Simmons sucks. How come they didn’t win? And I’m just like, how can you look at life in that way? Like, result bad. So, I mean, what if you studied for a test for hours and hours for a week and you only got a C? You got to look at yourself in the mirror and say, “Look, the result wasn’t what I wanted, but I worked hard and I had a good process and I did the right things. And if I continue to do that, things will happen for me.” So, I I’m just like, you know, the offensive line is moving bodies in the run game. I think that’s something we should all be excited about. And with Taj Spears coming back, I think the run game will continue to to be good. And if they could, again, my big issue is the simplicity of the passing offense. I think that is the biggest problem with the offense right now. And I I’m pretty satisfied with the run game, which goes back to Bill Callahan, who’s the run game coordinator. Yeah. You know, no one wants to hear you say that, you know, that you need to run the football more because it’s just not sexy football, right? But not running the football has lent to this team’s problems because what does running the football do? Running the football, if you’re effective at running the football, that means that you’re winning up front, right? If we say that Tony Pard is their best offensive player to this point, at least most consistent. That meant that something that the guys are doing up front is creating opportunity for him to be this player that we’re talking about affectionately. they’re winning. So, I would do more of that because what happens once that is established is everything else opens up from there. It doesn’t work pass first, then the run works. No, it’s run first, then the pass works. Now, we put a lot more credit or blame on the quarterback position because they are the most identifiable position on the football field. They’re the ones with the most responsibility and how that guy plays seems to be more indicative of how an offense seems to run, right? But it doesn’t always have to be that way. I was thinking about it last night. We would all agree that Steve McNair is a great quarterback, right? Warren Moon was a great quarterback. These are two guys that I block for and have a lot of respect for. But you know what they had behind them? Awesome running backs. And I mean awesome running backs. Lamar Jackson, I think, is Lamar Jackson in part because he has Derrick Henry when he holds him to the football. You see what I’m saying? So, in other words, it was easier for Steve to be Steve when he had 27 behind him that was sometimes unstoppable. You’ve got to have that balance. It just doesn’t work quarterback first, especially if you don’t have as an offensive arsenal dudes that are catching everything in the radius downfield or taking full advantage of the balls once they do catch them. So, I’m saying that once you start establishing the physical aspect of this game, which is winning up front in the trenches, which we’ve seen this team do at times, that’s when the playbook becomes more expansive. And guess what? Like you’re saying, Tai, Tyler, that’s when you become less predictable. You see what I’m saying? Because if you don’t know that I’m gonna keep running this thing until you stop me and all a sudden I hit you with a pass somewhere, you don’t know what I’m going to do unless I’m in the most predictable passing situations that make it obvious that I’ve only got a few options. So, I guess I would say my my titan up would be they haven’t lost to the Cardinals yet. It’s as simple as that. Which means that let’s do something during the week that can prepare us for this opportunity that has not been lost yet. Now hopefully it works. But at the end of the day, the Titans not having lost their fifth game is the only thing that I can see right now is being a potential tighten up because we don’t know what’s going to happen next week. And Brad, a couple of things to add on to that. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs. Everyone’s been dogging their offense. They’re not explosive anymore. They can’t get anything going. What did the Chiefs do this week? They lined up under under center more than they have in years. They play with two tight ends more than they have in years. They ran the ball. They found a way to get their run game going with their three-headed trio. It’s like Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback on earth, right? But even he looked better when they finally got a run game going and they were a little less predictable because they were doing things that they haven’t done before. You know what I mean? Like that is a great example of exactly that. And look at the Bengals. Joe Mixon goes away and now the offense is falling apart. You know, I’m somebody who believes that you do got to have balance, but the passing game is what ultimately is what you need when you got to have it. But you’re right, there has to be some semblance of balance here. And the problem is the Titans get into the second half and they’re down by so much that they can’t keep running the football the way that they want to. And now the defense knows that they’re going to pass and the pass rushers pin their ears back and then that offensive tackles look worse because they know what’s coming and it just it’s a domino effect that you know the crap rolls downhill on them like that. So I I I think you’re you’re definitely on to it there. Well, it’s winning obviously in the first couple of downs. Just real quick, I’ll wrap it up. It’s W you In other words, for not for third down to not be a problem, you got to win in one and two, right? I’ve got to make some positive gains. I got to make something happen. I’ve got to move the football in those first couple of plays. And going back to what you were saying, Tyler, maybe it is the first play that I call in that drive or the second play that I call in that drive because those two d those two um downs have to take place before I’m in a predictable third down situation that then determines what my play calling is because I’ve taken it to three downs. Like what if this team got first downs in two plays and didn’t get allowed? Are we allowed to do that? Do they know? I think it’s allowed. But where does this team become more predictable? It becomes predictable when in third down. Because in first down, it’s first and 10 and I’ve got two more downs to do something with it before I have to punt, right? So if I’m getting to third down, which has been a huge problem converting, now there’s the problem. You see what I’m saying? So maybe it is at some degree execution in the first two and the plays that I’m calling in those first two that can be an issue. And when you get 21 yards on two back-to-back run plays and then instead of continuing to do that you run a flea flicker on first down that gets a sack for six yards and now it’s second and 16 and it’s just like what are we doing folks? Leaving hypothetical uh tighten up something we talked about on the show on Sunday. be hop small victories but the sacks were down and the penalties were down you know um so you know when you’re the most penalized team in the league and the most sacked team in the league and it goes down you know I mean hey small victories what can you do so um you you know when Brian Callahan gave up the play calling I think the misconrusion was oh he’s giving up you know his entire offense it’s still his offense you know I mean it’s still his playbook there’s just a different trigger man and the whole idea of him changing the changing and relinquishing the play calling was so he could better manage the game And from that aspect, I I guess it was for the most part pretty clean on Sunday. I mean, I I mean, there was there was no real still super conservative before halftime. He still once again went uber conservative with a timeout in his pocket. 30 seconds left playing for field goals. There was the other play in in uh they were in plus terri was it the was it the opening drive of the game they were in plus territory and it was third and 12 and they decided to run a run play. I do you remember that play? I think yeah with Julius I think it was their second drive and they had Julius Chestnut in and they ran on third and 12 from about like the 42 or something like that that that was a little confounding to me. um the the Titans down the thing. But guys, whether it’s Bo Hardigree, whether it’s I keep mentioning John Guden because people keep putting these beams up of him in a Titans hat, whatever. But the point I’m trying to make with that is a system has to be in place because it takes teams a while to get to run a system effectively. In other words, if into week five all of a sudden the Titans scrapped everything they’ve been working on all off season, all pre-season, all this other thing, how well do you think that they would run this brand new system? They wouldn’t because there’s too much newness. There’s too much thinking. There’s too much inconsistency. So, scrapping what they’ve been working on isn’t the answer. Doing what they’ve been working on better is the answer. Because you know how they say you master something, you got to put 10,000 hours into it, right? That’s how you master something, right? If you flip-flop after five plays or five attempts at doing whatever it is that you’re trying to be, great, how great will you be in the end? It makes it so much harder. So I don’t think that coming in and scrapping everything that they’ve been used to, whether it’s play calling, play design, scheme, all this other stuff, they have to make those things that they are now most consistently working on make them work versus trying to do something brand new. Because I remember when I was a freshman in um in college, they issued us brand new tennis shoes, right? And then they had us go out and run a mile and a half conditioning test in brand new tennis shoes. You know how that hurts? These shoes aren’t even broken in. They’re terrible. You know what I mean? So, it was a bad idea to issue us all this brand new equipment and then have us go out and do something like that. So, I said that to say scrapping the things that they’re comfortable with doing even to the degree that they are at this point, even though they haven’t won a game. I don’t know that that is the answer because that newness is also an adjustment that will lend to the same type of frustration. Well, Bhub for for the Titan down to your point then execution because of the consistency needs to be but they they need to sustain longer drives here because by the end of these games the defense is doing all they can through those first three quarters and then the fourth quarter they just break they’re on the field way too darn much. Uh we talked about the time of possession. I mean Houston had the ball for almost twice the amount that the Titans did. because they couldn’t move the chains and I mean if the Titans had the ball the entire fourth quarter they still would have lost the time of possession battle and and that’s and that’s concerning not even getting in the red zone. So that’s probably I’d say the Titan the consistency and execution part what you’re talking about B hop instead of scrapping everything all together whatever the the the execution of what you are already doing. Yeah, somebody in the chat, you know, asked me a question directly about what’s going on. You know, what’s happening and here, you know what, it’s not that hard. Really want to hear from BHOP has to say about all the nonsense happening right now. It was the first one we saw. And they also said Tyler how pissed he how pissed Tyler looks. I will say if you’ve watched Tyler’s show, he’s all out of the his his anger tank is all out. So, he’s just disappointed. So, um, if he looks curl, it’s that curl in his hair that gets to moving and waving. Um, I think that I listened to Legarius and the first question he was asked is about what? The second and 33. Second and 33. And did he answer it, Tyler? No, he said next question. Next question. He said, is that all you saw? Next question. So, that was a pretty big one. It was a pretty big play. It was very valid. But to me that lends down I mean it comes down to confident players not playing confident. Like you remember when Jeffrey Simmons was saying our best players have to play their best. Even Brian Callahan said that at the podium, right? Our best players have to play their best. Confident players on normally they’re not playing confident. And like Deion Sanders said, confidence wins games. Confidence has a smell to it. What’s that? That’s confidence, baby. Isn’t that what he said? But that’s what the difference is in this league. The difference is in this league for players to walk up to the line of scrimmage and say, “You know what? I’m about to whoop your butt.” And why do you say that? Because you’re confident. Confident. Because you know, at the end of the day, you believe in yourself and you believe that what you’re about to do to that guy across the line of scrimmage, whether it’s offense or defense, is going to work. And it doesn’t matter what you try and do. We don’t have any of that. They have none of that. Now, it’s hard to be confident when you’ve yet to win a game. It’s hard to be confident when there’s enough blame to go around for everybody to see that you’re contributing to the reason why this team isn’t winning. So, for me, it’s the lack of confidence. I mean, I’m going to say that those teams that we had, you back in my day, you know, well, hell, we went to AFC Championships. I’ve been to three of them. You know what I mean? Hell, I’ve been to the Super Bowl. Those are some confident teams I played on because we knew at the end of the day, man, we was bad as boy in the jungle. We dared to line up against us. That’s how we felt about ourselves. Now, it wasn’t always true because we didn’t go undefeated, right? Somebody beat us. But at the end of the day, even if we did lose in those opportunities, we still felt a certain way about who we were, and this team has yet to identify that. We’re gonna have to clip that confidence uh the the Behav’s confidence line there and and use that after a Titans. helpful. Let’s be honest. Um, all right guys, so on the other side of the break, we’re going to talk about Cam Ward. Somebody who’s never short of confidence, but maybe a little bit frustrated with the things and how they are going right now with the Tennessee Titans. We’re going to talk about on the Titan Squad show. Keep it here. All right, the NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Whether you’re a casual fan or love diving into the stats, FanDuel makes the game day experience so much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. All right, fellas. So, we’re going to talk a little bit of Cam Ward here. Um, I I’d venture to say it was his toughest performance, toughest day at the office for the as a Tennessee Titan on uh on Sunday. Um, his final stats of the day for Cam Ward on Sunday, uh, 10 of 26, 108 yards. Obviously had the interception that bounced off the hands of Alec Manor to Derrick Steinley Jr. and that was um, that was certainly a backbreaking type of play. What do you make of Cam Ward’s performance right now? Because the the the thing that I am worried about the most, fellas, is him taking steps back and stunting his growth and development with with everything going on and how how tough how tough things are right now because it seems like every week he’s taking step backward. You know what I mean? It seems like every week I it it’s it’s it’s tough sledding for the guy. I’ve never seen him that frustrated after a press conference. So, um, what do you make of how things are going for Cam Ward? Um, I just think it’s tough. Are you seeing the chat, Brad? Yes, I I I Yeah, Bill said, “You can spell something with this team, but it ain’t confidence.” That’s a good one, Bill. You got You got us all on that one for sure. I was laughing at that one, too. But listen, I I I don’t know. Like, you want Cam Ward to play better, and quite frankly, I went through all his drop backs. I would say there are three or four plays like that interception to Elliot Manor. To me, that’s a litmus test for whether you’re going to be honest about Cam Ward or not. That is a bad throw. He threw it inside. He threw it way too hard. That oh it touched his hands. He should have caught it. I mean, I manner was going this way and he had the Neo in the Matrix turn back the other way and try to get it. Like, come on, man. We got to have some semblance of reality here. That was a bad play by Cam. And not only that, but he missed two guys that were open on the front side. got a little spooked by the pass rush coming into the back field and then ran out and made a bad throw sidearm to Elio Manor that you know like let’s just be honest about what that was. So I think that was bad. There were a couple other plays where I think he missed a few guys but overall the big problem is and this is something that I’ve been talking about all week. The issues with the offense fundamentally is a domino effect. So, when you don’t feel confident in the offensive line because you’re going against a good pass rush that’s giving you a ton of pressure, you’re going to leave guys in. And when you leave two guys in, now you have seven going against four. All right? And now you don’t have a checkdown because both your checkdown guys are inside blocking and they’re getting out late and the pressure is already there and there’s nobody to check down to. And flip that to the other side. Now you only have three guys out in routes and you got seven people in the defensive backfield. So, it’s seven against three and you’re running two scissors routes on one side and a go route on the other side and nobody’s open. You know what I mean? So, I think that while things look like they’re getting worse for Cam, the reality is the the sickness of the offense is starting to have a domino effect on the math. You can’t win three against seven consistently on third and six, third and eight. You know what I mean? And when Cam doesn’t have a checkdown to go to because both the proverbial checkdowns are in blocking max protect with seven guys now he doesn’t have a checkdown to go to. So he’s got to hold it. There’s only vertical routes which he’s got to wait on. And there’s three guys trying to get open against seven and it’s hard to get open. So there are some misses there from Cam Ward. There are some issues. Get rid of the ball quicker all that. But I went through a bunch of second and long, third and longs. And it’s just like there’s nobody open. And this is a problem that isn’t unique. I I’ve been as critical of Brian Callahan as possible, but this is a Todd Downing issue from 2022. This is a Tim Kelly issue. Like these are problems that the Titans have had forever because they don’t trust their offensive line. And we can blame the quarterbacks and we can keep saying Ryan Tanahill’s washed, Will Levis ain’t the guy, Cam Ward’s regressing. He could keep doing it, but it it’s a it’s a larger problem of the offense that stems from their lack of confidence in being able to protect and it it just ruins the math problem all over the board. Well, then are you wor Are you guys then worried that because of the problems around him that then he ends up pressing and ends up stunting his growth and ends up developing that that that’s already happened. That’s already happened. He’s already pressing. He’s already playing out over his skis because he’s trying to make something happen. You you you guys know what Cam’s playing like a rookie. Yes, he is. He’s playing like a guy that he’s playing like a guy that I don’t know. It’s his first year in the league. And and this team just isn’t built to protect him from being a rookie. Period. At the end of the day, when you look back at it, one of this team’s best players, and this is the second time I mentioned him on this show today, number nine, took him three years to get into the lineup because there wasn’t confidence that in the first year of him being drafted with the number three pick, that he was going to be able to lead this offense. He just wasn’t ready. And I’m not saying that this team isn’t that that he’s not ready to lead this team, but to lead this team to some sort of success, uh-uh, that’s not happening right now. Because first off, it does take more than just the quarterback to make this thing work. And the the the guys around him in connection with who Cam Ward is to this point aren’t overcoming his issues basically. You see what I’m saying? The thinking that comes along with something that’s unfamiliar, it affects your clock. You see what I’m saying? And ultimately, if you’re going to have guys that are winning in their certain situations to create themselves as an option for him to go to and then making something happen once he does find you, it just seems like Cam Ward is playing exactly like who he is, a firstear player. Um, and they’re putting him in difficult positions, too. I just want to say that the play action rate was as low as it’s been all year in this game when play action is where Cam’s had his most success so far. They didn’t move the pocket for him at all in this game which minimizes his athleticism and maximizes the burden on the offensive line. Like they’re not running RPO concepts. The screen game is terrible. And this a a good screen game would help this group so much because teams are pinning back their ears and coming downhill with reckless abandon and no fear. And their screens are slow developing, so slow developing that by the time they get to throw the screen, the defense has recognized it like they got to hit their slip screens quicker. They got to have better execution on the players on the outside screens to wide receivers. I haven’t seen a tight end screen all year as well. Like while Cam Ward is starting to regress and playing like a rookie, there are simple things that they could do. Incorporating more RPO, which he did in college, which puts the defense in a bind and gives them quick avenues, doing better in the screen game, like the rolling out the pocket, more play action, which goes to running the ball more, which we talked about earlier. Right now, Cam Ward is being asked to play quarterback on the most difficult setting. He’s playing on all Madden right now. And when you’re a rookie, look at Jaden Daniels last year. That’s why so many people like Cliff Kingsberry as a potential head coach again because he put the game on easy mode for Jaden Daniels gave him RPOS’s and stuff he did in college. The screen game was creative in the run game. Got the ball out of his hands quick. It’s not like the Washington Commanders had an elite offensive line last year. That’s why they go out and trade for Laramie Tonsel because they knew they had Sam Cosby at guard and he was really their only elite offensive lineman last year. but the design of the offense and the incorporation of what he did in college and all those things. I think Brian Callahan really struggles with with doing what’s best for his players. I think Brian Callahan plays his offense and what he does and I think he he struggles. We saw it with Will Levis last year. What’s Will Levis good at? Play action and then ripping over the middle of the field down the field. But Callahan wants to run these twoman west coast concepts to the outside that are all about precision and timing. And that’s not quite what Will Leves is good at. And that’s maybe not quite what Cam Ward is good at. So, I just think the things that they’re asking Cam to do don’t help out a rookie quarterback enough. And that’s why I continue to come back to coaching. But here’s my thing, why I said at the beginning, I don’t know if a change is going to make change because like you’ve said, Brad, and like you said, Julian, it’s still Callahan’s offense. No matter who’s pulling the levers and pushing the buttons, they’re still within the same confines of the box. So, I Cam Ward has regressed a little bit. He needs to be better and get the ball out of his hands, but they are asking him to play on hard mode and not doing simple things that could help him get the ball out of his hands quick, help him use what he is good at and and help him have some easier opportunities. Bonnie Taylor wrote a song holding out for a hero. Right. Well, that guy on this roster. Sing it. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, exactly. But um I gotta go back to Eric. Um Ericinard that comment for you B Hop here because it kind of explain everything. Yeah. Julia, how long have I been saying that? How long have I been saying it on Sunday too on our on our post game? Exactly. Exactly. What was what was Justin Fields’s best play last night against the Dolphins when broke down? Exact. He scrambled and used his feet and he ran. At least like you’re talking about Tyler, that creates another op option, right? It creates something that the defense has to think about. RPOS’s and also 12 personnel. Okay. Having one more blocker up there up front than the defense can block, that’s going to create opportunity. So, while it might seem more vanilla, it just the grassroots of football, guys. It’d be awesome to be exotic every single play and do things that put the ball in the air and let Cam Ward feature his arm and all this other stuff. At the end of the day, those are the things that are creating situations that are hard for the Titans to overcome to have success. And Brad, Brad, not to cut you off, but let me tell you this, just to add numbers to that, right now in the NFL, uh, as of today through four weeks, the team in the NFL that has played the most 11 personnel, and for people watching, 11 personnel is one running back, one tight end, which means three wide receivers. The most 11 personnel team in the NFL right now, Tennessee Titans. 86% of their plays have come out of 11 personnel. The second closest team is the Minnesota Vikings at 75. The Titans are 11% higher than the second team in the NFL with their uses of 11 personnel. I said before the season, 11 personnel is Brian Callahan’s baby blanket. It’s what he feels safe in. It’s what he feels comfortable in. And when you’re starting tight end is Chica Conquo, who isn’t a good blocker, right? And you’re not using more tight ends to create that illusion. It’s so predictable. Everything that we have talked about today, guys, is a full circle conversation. Like everything perfectly ties into one another. 86% 11 personnel for the Titans. I don’t care what the game script is. That’s not going to get it done. And they’re negative 50.99 and expected points added on those plays. They are getting destroyed in 11 personnel and they won’t get out of it. Um, for those who are listening on audio, the the comment we are responding to is from Eric Reinhardt where it says, “It just looks like the offense isn’t suited to the strengths of the QB. Get him rolling, play action, RPOS’s, uh, you know, simp simplify reads, run, run, third and nine, drop back is not going to do it.” Make sure you guys put in the comments uh, any questions or concerns that you might have. We’re going to answer them here um, on the other side of the break for you guys in a little Titans therapy session as we end the Titans Squad show. Keep it here. All right, guys. You’ve probably heard of Viagra or Seialis. Maybe you’ve even tried them. But if you’re looking for something beyond the usual pill, it’s time to meet Riiet Golong. That’s exactly where Reiet Golong comes in. This isn’t just another ED pill. It’s a total game changer for confidence. Um, the effects can last up to 36 hours. That’s confidence all day, all night, and even into the next day. So, ready to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to rugit.com and use promo code lockdown NFL for 15% off your first order. That’s ruggit.com. Promo code locked NFL. Make sure to use our code so they know we sent you. All right, guys. Um, wanted to answer some questions for from some of our viewers here on the YouTube live chat. Remember, we are live on YouTube every time we have a show here in the Titan Squad show. So, make sure you keep your um comments and questions coming in. We will try our best to answer them. Like we said, Tyler has been covering this team from his show for a while. Be hop obviously with the um former player perspective and myself covering the team. Um here here’s what some Eric Reinhardt another question from him. He had the one at the end that comment about the offense. Here’s another one he had to say. He said, “I’m not a Titans fan. Objectively, I’d fire Callahan and let Cam sit all year so he doesn’t take 13 more weapons and lose his confidence. He’s talented. Don’t ruin him. What do you guys feel about um maybe not sitting him the entire year, but um it ruining his confidence and and and and continue maybe the I guess, for lack of a better term, steps back or regression that we’re talking about. I think it’s the opposite. This is Yeah, this is baptism by fire, bro. Because right now, if this team, Brandon Allen ain’t coming off the bench to make this team any better than it is. So, at the end of the day, I would rather have Cam Ward take his lumps and learn in this fashion than to have him just sitting on the sideline getting no experience. Let him go through these growing pains, you know? Let him experience what it’s like to lose. So that way you can put that feel, that feeling, that emotion to work for you cuz you understand exactly what it’s going to look like and what it feels like if this thing doesn’t work. If you don’t put the work in, if you don’t, you’ll have answers to the to the the things that, you know, people are going to have bring against you, you know. So, you know, at this point, it just you just got to try and make him better. You you just can’t replace him. That’s what I’m only only way to bet is to is to play, right? Jump into the deep end of the pool and try to swim. That’s certainly that’s certainly what uh somebody had another funny comment here because Rouette’s one of our sponsors. I nominate Callahan for a free trial of Rouette to help him overcome some of his shyness before and during games. That’s pretty much that’s pretty funny. That’s I don’t know if Rouette is trying to undo shyness. I think uh I think Asana may have misunderstood what Rouette is really trying to do for you there. But shout out to Rouie and all their great work. But I I’m with you, Brad. I I’m with you, Julian. Listen, people just want change right now because they’re angry and they want something to change. They want Callahan to be fired. They want Cam to get benched. They want someone to be traded. They want someone to be I’m seeing people cut Legious Snee. Just get them off the team. Like I say this all the time. The finances don’t make any sense to do things like that. And people are just angry and want something to happen. They want action to be taken. Now, I do think that letting go of Brian Callahan could result in a good bump for the team and increased production. And there are numbers behind that to show that. My guy Superhorn, who does uh Titans Film on Twitter, put out a really good thread going over over the last 30 years when you fire a coach in season, what that can do for your win percentage and your success rates and things like that. So, I think that firing Brian Callahan could naturally just give the Titans a bump. But we’ve also talked about it’s going to be his offense the rest of the year and sitting Cam Ward isn’t going to make Cam Ward. Look at JJ McCarthy from the Vikings. He sat all year last year and had a red shirt year and when he came in he was still struggling to say the plays and get guys lined up and doing that. The best teacher is hands-on experience. And I have said it throughout the season and I’m going to keep saying it. I don’t think Cam Ward ain’t Marcus Mariota. I’m sorry. I’m I’m a I’m a Mariota uh detractor. I never believed in Marcus Mariota. I didn’t believe in his personality and and and his confidence as a person. I just never believed in him. And I think Cam is the opposite of that. Cam is so confident. I’m not worried about Cam losing his confidence in this and that. I I I just don’t think that that’s real. He’s too serious and motivated about winning. He just cares too much for his confidence to be shattered. Like I just don’t believe that that’s a real thing with Cam Ward. So I know people want change just to change it. You know what I mean? like cuz they’re mad. But sitting Cam Ward is not the answer here. That and and again I don’t want Brian Callahan to give up play calling duties either. I don’t think that that’s going to make him a better game manager because he’s terrible at that. The one thing that he is okay at is calling plays. So I thought that was a mistake too, but it I don’t think it was up to Brian Callahan. Um we have a comment from CA1. I thought this was pretty funny. What will it take to get Brad Hopkins back? Problem solved. [Music] Do you see this gray here? Experience. That’s the hands-on experience Tyler was talking about. That’s Yeah, I got a better chance of making the Titans right now. I mean, shoot me to do that. I get that. I get that a lot. I understand. It’s just really basically people complimenting the the success that we had back in the day, right? Because they know that I can’t play nowadays. Hell, I got a brand new knee. Oh, minute somebody hits me in this titanium knee, I’m done. Yeah. Yeah. Put this way there. There’s a reason why you don’t see 60 year old I’m not 60. There’s six. You don’t see 60 year old football players. It just because we time out. We age out. That just happens. Matter of fact, in this league, if you’re 35 years old, you’re you’re mentioned as an old guy, right? 35. [Laughter] Exactly. So, I I get it. But I and I understand the frustration that the fans have that the viewers have in that they’re emotionally invested because if you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be commenting, right? You didn’t care, Titans suck. They lost. Let’s talk about something else. But the fact that they’re venting and and airing their frustration means that they’re invested some way emotionally into the outcome of these games, right? So, it’s frustrating. And if it ain’t working, you just want to do something different. You just want to change something, right? Mhm. But at the end of the day, I mean, when you’re talking about family, this is the way I look at it. Sometimes we played our best. Sometimes we didn’t. But we weren’t talking about trading in your brother, you know what I mean? We weren’t talking about, you know, getting rid of the head of the household because things weren’t going because you weren’t where you wanted to be economically or, you know, whatever. It’s just you you wanted something within that dynamic to change. You’d be better somehow than you had been to that point. And that’s the only thing that I think that we can ask of this team because guys, as much as you want change, the change ain’t going to make things better. Not this year. We’re already a quarter of the way almost a quarter of the way into the season. So if you think about if you think somebody’s going to come in here with this this this file of of how it’s going to work, what has taken that guy so long to present it someplace else? And why isn’t he making money doing that someplace else? Because that it just don’t it don’t work that way. You know, it takes time to create something to mold what make what works and these guys have to have that feel to it and they just don’t. Hopefully they can catch a spark this weekend. We’ll see. Um taking on the Arizona Cardinals uh on the road for their second of three straight road games. Titans trying to uh get in the win column as desperately as possible. We wanted to thank you guys for joining us today. Keep liking, keep subscribing, keep commenting during the shows twice a week and also be in every day day or two Titans the Locked on Titans podcast with Tyler Roland. But for now, I’m Julian Minnzone. That’s Brad Hopkins and Tyler Roland. We’ll see you guys on game day.

The Tennessee Titans are 0-4 and Brian Callahan is still the head coach. We discuss our biggest problem with the coaching staff and how it could be detrimental to the development of rookie quarterback Cam Ward.

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