Patriots soaring, Titans sinking ahead of Vrabel’s return to TEN | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

Patriots soaring, Titans sinking ahead of Vrabel’s return to TEN | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

Is it true that you reached out to Brian Callahan this week? Is that true? Yeah, sure. Why? You know, of course I did. You know what I mean? I don’t want to see anybody that shares a job with you, you know what I mean, get get let go. That’s not that, you know, that’s a that’s a that’s a tough feeling, you know, with family and school and, you know, whether it’s in college or pro, like we’re in the media every single day. And there’s a human element to this and that, uh, I don’t want to forget. And I just remember all those coaches that or people that reached out after after I was let go. And um you know I think that that’s important because nobody texts when you lose. They all text when you win. So it’s a good reminder. Mike Vrael reminding us all that there is a very strong human element to the coaching profession. It does affect families. It affects the families of multiple individuals because when you get to the end of the season, the whole coaching staff is gone. That creates a lot of turmoil for people, but but and I understand that aspect of it. It’s very real. But there’s a quote from Heyman Roth that comes to mind when we start down this path. This is the life we’ve chosen. And when you decide at a young age, you’re going to be a GA at wherever you went to school, you’re going to work up the coaching, like everybody’s in the FFC at some point. Nobody ever makes it through 50 years of coaching without getting fired. The best That’s right. of the best. At some point the planets are going to line up in a way where they get fired. It’s inevitable. It’s inevitable and they get compensated accordingly. And again, they didn’t accidentally become coaches. It is inherent to the profession. We have so much turnover in the NFL. As many as eight coaches a year, 25% turnover of head coaches in the NFL. guys are moving around all the time. So there it still doesn’t change the fact that it hurts when it happens. But the reality is it is a profession that has a very high percentage likelihood that you are eventually and inevitably going to be told time to go. And that’s just the way it works. And I I think Brian Callahan knows that better than anybody because, you know, his dad his dad has been a longtime coach. So, he saw it with his father who was, you know, briefly a head coach with the Raiders and uh longtime assistant coach and and now for Callahan himself. And so, Vrabel understands that because he was fired by Tennessee. So, I think I like Vrabel and I’ve known him for a long time, so I have a lot of respect for him. There is a human element and I think that is the reason the reason he reached out to him first of all manto man coach to coach I understand how it is. However, who do they play this week Mike? They play the Tennessee Titans and I wonder how the phone call went after that. As you know, sorry this happened. I’m sorry this happened to you. Uh, by the way, uh, I was there, too. And I know about Amy Adams drunk and I know how tough things can be there. And by the way, you know, we play them. We play them this week. I’m just wonder let’s just talk shop here for a little bit. Uh, not that you need a lot of inside information on the Tennessee Titans. I mean, he hasn’t been gone that long. Uh, he he was fired at the end of the, you know, 2023 season. But I I think maybe Callahan could tell Vrabel some things that he will find helpful uh Sunday in Nashville. You know, that’s awfully cynical of you and uh I love it. I mean, you know, hey, hey, just just reaching out just reaching out to say sorry about what happened and then I don’t know, maybe you don’t even have to prod from there. Maybe it just goes. Maybe he just Maybe he’s waiting. Is there anything you’d like to say? Man, I’m glad you called. You want to beat those bleep bleep bleeps this week? Here’s how you do it. Here’s what you need to know. Here’s who’s really injured. I mean, I’m kidding about that part, unless I’m not. Um, but but but anyway, uh yeah, it makes sense and it is complicated, but it’s simple. They choose to be coaches. They know or should know going in that this is what coaching entails. But it doesn’t make it any less traumatic when it happens. Especially when you got little kids cuz what are you going to say when the when the kids in the in the cradle? Are you going to say coochie coochie coo one of these days we’re going to have to move and you’re going to have to leave all your friends and you’re going to have to move away from grandma. Like I mean you you how do you prepare your kids for that? When do you have that conversation? At what age can they even process that you you you have a job that may go away at any given moment in any given year. There are very few coaches who are insulated against one disastrous season. Most coaches are one disastrous season away from being fired. So that’s what happened to Callahan is what happened to Ray and they should not fire one and we Yeah, they shouldn’t have. I mean that I I think it’s and you want to go really cynical. I wonder if if they fired Callahan so they wouldn’t have to deal with the contrast, the split screen. Oh, look who the look who you you fired. Here’s Mike Vrabel returning with the Patriots. They’re four and two. You fired this guy and now on the other screen and you replaced him with this guy, Brian Callahan. Uh he didn’t even know the rules earlier this year. Uh he gave up play calling duties and right after he gave him up, the team was shut out 26 nothing. I mean, he he drafted a quarterback number one overall and and the guy doesn’t look like most of the time, I’m talking about Cam Ward, most of the time doesn’t look like he really knows what he’s doing. And so, do they fire him so they wouldn’t have to deal with that all that chatter during the week? I mean, I think they were going to fire him anyway, but it’s just maybe they accel it it was accelerated because the Patriots were coming to town and Mike Brael was going to be there. I think you’re giving him too much credit. And this is the thing. When you’re dealing with a dysfunctional organization, it’s hard for the rational mind to understand why they do what they did. Because if you’re going to clear out Brian Callahan so you don’t have that that awkward split screen, you do it before 6 days prior to the game. You give Mike McCoy a chance. You give him at least one game to get his feet wet against the Raiders. And maybe you get that bump. See what they should have done. They should have fired him after the blowout shutout loss in Houston to the Texans, the town from which the Titans came. I thought he was done then. And I think a normally functioning team that was also sufficiently dysfunctional that they were 0 and4 and had lost 26 nothing to the Texans. But a normally functioning team would have fired him then. They gave him another week. They got a gift from the football gods. They got multiple gifts from the football gods. They got the demarcado. North Korea dropped the football out of the end zone. Titans get the ball at the 20. They score a touchdown. Then they get the unholy roller and they get another touchdown and they somehow win the game. That was the reprieve cuz I think he would have been gone after that game. Then they play the Raiders. They lose 20 to 10. Out goes Callahan. Oh, and Vrabel’s coming in six days. The mere fact that it took them multiple hours to name the interim coach, it just tells you that at some level or multiple levels, they don’t know how to function as a normal sports organization because what they do is so different than what we expect. We expect coach to be fired, interim to be named, if not immediately, within 30 minutes. It was four hours on Monday and who knows what the hell was going on behind the scenes. So, it’s just a dysfunctional organization like the Browns, like the Jets, like the Dolphins currently and it all flows from the top. And sorry, but that’s the way it is. And I know it sounds harsh to criticize these owners, but they don’t have to prove anything to anyone. You just have to have enough money to buy a team or be related to the right person. You’ve done nothing in your life to qualify yourself to be owning and operating a football team. you just have the money or the family connection to do it. So, you are fair game for criticism when you decide to put a spoon in the stew and you screw it up. And that’s why when you look at uh if you have options, if you are a coaching candidate with options, you really want to study the owners and not just figure out what the owners are about, but this is what a lot of veteran coaches say and it it drives them crazy. who has the owner’s ear because is it somebody who is does that person is that person trustworthy and is that person uh have a functional balanced relationship with the owner? Meaning uh let me say it simpler that person’s not a suckup to the owner and says yes to everything the owner says even if it’s nonsense. Do you have someone? You want somebody who has an owner’s ear who can tell the owner like you’re being no, you’re being irrational here. Don’t do that or that’s too impulsive or give him another year. And so it’s hard it’s hard to find those situations because who really stands up to the billionaire. Like everybody in most organizations there’s the owner and how many people go up to the owner and say that was so dumb and then hold on to the job. uh not many. So, it’s really a a a tough situation to be in because you assume we you have to play the game and you act like they know the right thing to do with the football team. In a lot of cases, they don’t. They just got the money. They have the money to own the team, but they don’t necessarily know the right way to run the organization. Hey, there’s this assumption that Arthur Smith, who had been the Titans offensive coordinator before becoming the Falcons head coach, is going to be the next coach of the Titans. Don’t assume that. Arthur Smith learned the hard way what happens when you go to an organization where things aren’t where they need to be. For your second act, you better be damn sure you’re going to a place that isn’t dysfunctional. And the Titans are. And hey, if anybody with the Titans don’t like it, prove me wrong starting on Sunday. Beat the beat the Patriots. Don’t lose by I think they know, you know, and they don’t fans have to know that. And they probably complain about it. The human dynamic is very simple. We all want to hear what we want to hear. And when we have sufficient power and influence, we can surround ourselves with people who tell us what we want to hear. And we ignore or shut out the people who dare to tell us what we don’t want to hear. Hi, it’s Mike Florio. Thanks for watching PFT on YouTube.

As Mike Vrabel prepares to return to Tennessee for the first time since being fired in 2024, PFT explores how his success with New England brings more questions about Titans ownership to the surface. #NBCSports #NFL #ProFootballTalk #NewEnglandPatriots
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Patriots soaring, Titans sinking ahead of Vrabel’s return to TEN | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC
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