Titans Tonight with Keith Bulluck | Colts Preview with Coach Mac

Titans Tonight with Keith Bulluck | Colts Preview with Coach Mac

Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight starts right now. I am Amy Welsh joined by Rhett Bryan and Coach Mack making an appearance here on Titans Tonight. Visit titansbanking.com to learn about their convenient mobile banking Pinnacle Financial Partners member FDIC. Guys, welcome to Titans tonight. This lovely evening. The Titans are getting ready to take on the Indianapolis Colts for the second time. Yes, indeed. Season Titans 1 and six, Colts six and one. There’s a lot to talk about in this matchup, but I think that where we should start is just kind of a a state of the union as it were. It feels like a lot of things transpired last weekend. Coaching change, getting ready for a big matchup against Mike Vrabel and the T and the New England Patriots. We play for the Tennessee Titans. Um, but it just felt like there was a lot of thing that was just kind of swirling. This week feels a little more more stable, maybe a little less chaotic. It’s a division rival, someone we’re very familiar with. The Indianapolis Colts are a team we’ve already seen once this season, and we kind of know the state of the Tennessee Titans at this point. So, Rhett, I think I’m going to start with you. What do you think is kind of the the mood or the vibe of this team this week? Uh, I’ll say this, just doing some work with our 12time Pro Bowl mascot, T-Rack, and some of the players in some community work this week, the the spirits are great. Um, do they like the one and six record? No. Who would? But um you know the three things that interim head coach Mike McCoy kept pressing as the mantra last week and it continues this week is play hard, play tough and do it together. They did all of that last Sunday. The results weren’t wasn’t what they wanted, but I didn’t see anybody hands on hips giving up. None of that stuff. So the spirits are where they’re supposed to be. Um, and and I think this week is the prime time for Mike McCoy to have another week around the block, if you will, to continue to implement what he wants to do with whatever practice changes he’s making and doing. Uh, because there’s not a whole lot that you can do at this point because you have the roster that you have. But a great way to get refocused and get ready to a game week is to have an AFC South Division game against the Colts this Sunday. Mac, you’ve been in this position before. How important is it for this team to have something to rally around? Even if that something is playing tough, playing together. Yeah. The thing that they have to really rally around is I mean they’re all they’re all playing and they’re all coaching for their careers. I mean, and that’s just that’s what’s important. And when you’re in a situation like this, I was in this situation, you really don’t even look ahead. I mean, you look right at what’s in front of you, and that that’s extremely important. Rhett’s right. Uh coach has had a chance now to kind of get settled in. Last week was chaotic for a lot of reasons. You’re, you know, you fire a head coach, you’re just named, you’re you’re just named the interim head coach, everybody’s in a little bit of an unsteady. Now, I mean, it’s happened. You’ve played a game. you just you have to move forward. The biggest issue that they have right now is the is the fact that I don’t worry about them playing with effort and I don’t worry about them, you know, putting everything they have into practice. The thing that I’m concerned about is how razor thin they’re getting personnel-wise. You know, that’s, you know, that’s the issue that that doesn’t take away from what the guys that are going to play are going to do. But just the reality of it is and it just so happened that the draw of these cards is backtoback weeks they’re playing the number one and number two offense in the league. Now that’s just the way that that’s just the way it fell. That’s what you have to do. So they’ve got plenty out in front of them and to not worry about the circumstances. They need to concentrate on the opponent which is pretty formidable this week. The injury bug is going through this this Titans team a little bit. Um some of the notable injuries coming out of s last Sunday’s matchup. Legius Sneed left the game with a quad injury. Still kind of waiting to see what that is going to mean for him going forward. Uh Jeffrey Simmons left the game early in the game early in the first quarter um with a hamstring injury. Still kind of waiting to see what that’s going to look like as the week goes on. Uh Calvin Ridley did not play last week. He has a bunch of different things that he’s kind of working through some bumps and bruises and things. Not really sure what his status is going to be as the week continues. Bryce Oliver is still working to try and get back on the field. That is still something that is in progress. I mean, holy smokes, over and over again, it’s just it feels like in all places somebody’s getting beat up. And part of that, of course, is just the time of year. You know, we’re well into the season now. A lot of football has been played. People start to get hurt. It’s a violent game. Um but the bumps and bruises seem to hurt a little bit more, right? As as the uh the record is what it is right now. Yeah. It’s uh the old saying insult to injury. Um but Jeffrey Simmons is the big big story in all of this. uh with the kind of year that he’s had and that he has produced so far. You saw the rest of his teammates for that three quarters and little bit of the first trying to adjust to that offense that was bringing it with Drake May and you know he was so surgical in his passing efforts in this. So, you saw that them trying to find center and keep moving back towards the football and make something happen. Um, as it pertains to the wide receiving core, it’s huge to watch because in addition to those injuries you outlined in that department, they are also also less a receiver. Yeah. With Tyler Lockett’s release, right, uh, from the the team. And so the young fellas that we’ve been talking about all year are going to have to step up and they are doing that as we speak. Um but Elica Manor is going to have to bite off a little more and chew and so is Chim Ray Dicki. Now the good the good thing for Chim Ray DK is he has done enough on special teams to warrant and earn extra reps and extra time in the wide receiver rotation on offense. and he is making uh strides there as he recorded his first career receiving touchdown on Sunday. Um so this team, we knew this team was going to be young. It gets younger by the moment and they’re just going to have to keep moving forward. But there there’s two young fellas right there and you pepper in Gunnar Hill right there with them and there are some options for Cam Ward. Yeah, but I mean you and it’s just it’s just you’re missing a lot of pieces. Femy’s Femy’s still not not ready to play. Ardan Key is still not ready to play. Yep. I mean, you’re missing people. And when you’re razor thin to begin with, I mean, I’ve just been in this situation as a coach before. Well, then you’re trying to figure out how not only to piece it together, but you’re trying to to figure out, you know, how that you can make up for some of that production that you’re missing because that’s I mean, that’s the whole key is is the production in the game in the one-on-one matchups. You know, that’s what you’re looking for. But this is what this is what you have. And the young players have been playing. Mhm. I mean, there’s not anybody else on this roster that’s young that’s not playing. I mean, if you know, if you got two healthy legs right now, most of the time you’re out there. And so, that’s just the situation that they’re in right now. And that’s what you do. So, as a as a coach, what you do is you plan you plan around that and you plan with that, not around it. You plan with it. We’ve been talking a lot about Jeffrey Simmons this season because he’s been playing so well all season long. Now, we’re talking about him because of an injury, which is so frustrating, not only because of what he does on the field, but also because of the leadership that he brings to this team. He is the guy that everyone has been rallying around. He is the guy who really gets them going during a game. And I know I’ve shared this, but it’s worth sharing again. when he was on the sidelines and trying to decide if he felt like he could play through this injury. He was kind of in and out of the tent for a while. You know, he went in, team doctors went in, worked on him a little bit. He came out, he tried some things, they went back in, worked on him a little bit, you know, trying to get to a place where they just knew what exactly was going on, if he could play through it, if he needed to be done, you know, the evaluation stuff. And while he was going through that, there was just guys kept going into that tent to talk to him, to to check on him, to see if he was okay. Usually, you only see that with like really traumatic injuries. Like a guy’s leg falls off and people will go in and be like, “Man, you lost your leg back there, though. You good?” Like, I I I mean, it’s usually it’s usually pretty bad stuff when you’ve got people coming civil war on us here. Yeah. Wow. You’ve got people in and out of the tent like that. Took you guys a minute to respond to that, too, which was also a little crazy. But I think that speaks to what a leader he is on this team. I mean, guys care about him. They want to know if he’s okay. And even if it’s something where like he’s on the line, guy guys want to know what’s going on with Jeffrey Simmons because Jeffrey Simmons steers this ship a lot of times. Well, he’s an impact player. I mean, he’s, you know, he he is the premier player on this team and and and when you’re missing, I mean, that’s missing literally and figuratively a big piece, you know, a big piece. But I saw it when he did it and those hamstrings hamstrings are very are very tricky for anybody because I mean, take it from somebody that’s that knows. you rupture a hamstring or you pull a hamstring or you pop a hamstring, it’s it’s an issue. But especially with big men and and he did it he did it chasing the ball way out sideways. He’s making so many plays even with with out of the in away from the context of the center guard triangle. He makes so many plays in in in the ball game and that’s how he hurt this one. I mean I could I saw it, you know, when he did it and I went that’s not good. And so the the worst thing that you do with these types of inj you can’t hurry back because if you hurry a hamstring back the first thing that you do early on you make it worse. So you’ve got to let you got to let him recover. And as painful as that is letting him recover. I mean that’s the only option that you have right now. Well a good uh spot for the Tennessee Titans defense specifically. Tvandre Sweat was back and you know the man was making plays. He had a nice sack on Drake May. Um, coach, how big of an impact is that going to have on the defense? Well, it it’s a big guy. Well, it helps. It helps, but he needs he needs big he and big Jeff together. It, you know, it’s why you brought him in here because that’s a really good duo. And I look at it from, you know, an offensive coach perspective or an opposing coach look at it. If those two guys are in there together, that’s something that you have to deal with down in and down out. If you just have one of them in there, it’s still an issue, but it’s half the issue. And so that’s where we are. Half the issue. Any other bright spots other than Tovandre Sweat returning to the game? Bright spots that you can take away from Sunday’s matchup against the New England Patriots. Well, we mentioned Chim Ray DK, and that’s somebody that is on an upward arc. I mean, he he leads the NFL right now in allpurpose yardage, 1,025 yards. Yeah. ahead of Christian McCaffrey who has I think 981. Crazy. Uh averaging 146 yards per game from scrimmage. So nice year for him. Uh the other part is you can say what you want about Cam Ward and the ball security things. His completion percentage is starting to go up in this. Now, part of that is they’ve been working from behind the score, but um there are some things there where he’s taking a step forward. Um so, that’s just something to monitor as we go into this next matchup. But, um as we started this segment, I I’ll end it the same way. Um this team doesn’t lack any effort. Uh Mike McCoy won’t let them do that. and uh they play enough for each other that it wouldn’t be an issue anyway. Yeah. The biggest thing the biggest thing and the big the positive that you can take about what’s going on right now because there’s always positives you can look at these young players are getting a lot of time on task. They’re getting they’re you know you’re playing a lot of really young players, but there’s no you can’t manufacture experience in this league, especially on the field. You just can’t manufacture it. You can practice all you want, but until you’re out there in game situations, I mean, and so right now, all these young players that that the Titans have, they’re gaining that kind of game experience and and that kind of game experience can can can help moving forward. It’s it’s rough working through it right now with so many young ones because with the young players, you’re going to experience some issues that you wouldn’t experience with veteran players, but the experience that they are getting is going to pay dividends. It’s going to pay dividends. You just got to continue to let them grow in the game. And it helps that they’re doing it together, right? Well, sure. I mean, it’s it’s it it’s that is the one positive about this. And losing ball games. There’s nothing positive about losing ball games. nothing in this business for any of us. But the but when you start looking beyond the development of players is what you’re trying to get. That’s what they’re getting. All right. Well, we are going to continue on and talk about the Indianapolis Colts, the Titans next opponent. But first, we are going to take a quick break on Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight. Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight continues on. For more on Titans Banking from Pinnacle, visit titansbanking.com for all the details. Remember FDIC. Amy Wells here. Rhett Bryan’s here. Coach Mack is also here. And we are going to talk Indianapolis Colts. And I have been promised a plethora of Rhett Nuggies. Yes. Before we have Rhett Nuggies, may I do a couple of shoutouts to some of our Titans Radio stations because this is on Titans Radio. Yes. because there’s a couple big things that happened this week in New York City. First of all, our flagship station 1045, the zone here in Nashville, was a finalist for station of the year in the Maronei Awards. Whoa. That is, you know, the EGOT, the you know what is the acronym for EGOT? So, that’s an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. Um, and a Tony. This is all of that rolled into one in radio world. It doesn’t get any bigger than this. uh they were a finalist in that category. And then one of our fantastic stations on the network, one of our fine uh Titans Radio partners, Q107 WQLT in Florence, Alabama, Nick Martin has been very, very good to us over the years. He has been a station on Titans Radio for a long time. He won the Maronei last night for legendary radio manager of the year. Whoa. I texted him this morning once I found out and I said, “Dude, you have got to be kidding me. You won a Maronei.” And I told him I would give him a shout out. We’re going to give him a shout out both both stations on Sunday during the broadcast because it doesn’t get any bigger be better or bigger in radio than those. Woohoo. They’re very cool. The Titans Radio Network has got you I’ve met you’ve introduced me to a lot of those people. It’s really good. That’s uh that’s big time. They are the people that make it happen. Yes, they are. We talk on this end and they make sure it’s distributed on the other and everything is run through the week and the game and uh we could not do it without any of them at all. Nope. We wouldn’t be anything without our Titans radio stations and we so appreciate all of them. But congratulations to everybody that is here. Very cool. I love big news. Would you like a warehouse club pallet full of Rhett nuggies? I sure would. More the merry. So uh alphabet numbers Indian. Yes. Yes, the Indianapolis Colts are a lot like last year, last week’s opponent in the New England Patriots. Okay. And Mack will give more emphasis on that uh an explanation on that as it pertains to the offense and its operation, but the numbers are a lot like they’re the number one scoring offense in the National Football League. 33 points per game. Wow. uh so much to the fact that these are prolific numbers they’re putting up in several places. One uh 232 points in seven games, third most in their franchise’s history behind the 1964 and 1958 Baltimore Colts that had Johnny Einus at the helmet quarterback and Lenny Moore as a flanker. Anyway, uh littered with Hall of Famers. Then you get to the guys who are operating this thing. And much like Drake May, Daniel Jones on a one-year free agent deal is living his best life. 1970 yards passing, 10 touchdowns through the air to just three interceptions, completing 71% of his passes. Passer rating for the season right now at 1059. Uh has four more rushing touchdowns. And speaking of rushing, Jonathan Taylor, three games he’s already had this season with three rushing touchdowns in each of those three games. That’s never happened in their franchise. And you’re talking about they had Lenny Moore, they had Edgeran James, they had Marshall Faulk, they had Eric Dickerson. Um he is on the pathway to a career year himself. Caught another one out of the backfield. So he has 11 total touchdowns in this. uh 5.3 yards per carry, leads the league with 697 yards rushing. Their offensive stat statistical categories as a team, 380.3 yards passing per game, number two in the league. 6.3 yards per play. 6.35 yards per play on offense. Number one in the league. So, think about that. Every time they touch the football, it’s next and short and manageable on every play. Uh top seven run game at 130 yards a game on the ground. Top five passing game with 250 through the air. Eight just a little over eight yards per play uh passing play in this. Number three in the league. Number one in uh first downs over 23 first downs per game. 29 yards per return on kickoff return. Number two in the league. Top five in third down, fourth down. uh red zone efficiency, plus seven in turnover ratio. It’s all there. You can certainly see why this team is six and one. And we’re going to get to the defense and the other phases of this, but Mack, the offense is what is driving this machine. No, it really is. I mean, that you just those numbers that you put out again, when I start grinding tape, you know, on a Sunday after our game’s over with the next week’s opponent, that’s what I do. And when I started looking at I went I mean it’s very efficient. It’s an efficient offense. And what he’s what he’s talking about, you very seldom see them first of all behind the chains. And when you when you start breaking it down by series, they’re never behind the chains. The quarterback has got complete command of what’s going on. And their offensive line doesn’t get a lot of credit because they lost two of the the starting dudes from last year off the offensive line. They are. Jonathan Taylor has always been a problem, but he is having his best year, but those people up front and the tight ends are involved in this, too. Their run game is so so efficient. And because of that, then the play action passing game goes on. And we haven’t even talked about the guys. You know, they they drafted a a kid number one, Tyler Warren, a a tight end that plays more than a tight end. He’s a very very unique piece in an offense. Uh he and Michael Pitman Jr. uh they’re a problem, but they can get the ball to them because defenses, all the defenses that I watched, all the games that I watched, the defenses are constantly on their left foot because of the down and distance is in the offense’s favor. This is a very efficient offense. I mean, when I was looking at it and that same thing I said last week after grinding the tape on the Patriots, it’s it’s not anything it’s not anything that just, you know, spectacular jumps out at you, but you start looking at the efficiency of it series by series and then down by down, you understand why it’s such a struggle for defenses against them. And then all of Rhett’s alphabet numbers, I mean, bear, they bear all of that out. And that’s what he and I do. we compare notes, you know, on on Tuesday when we start going through the car wash of getting everything uh put together. So, this offense, they’re earning right now. They’re the engine that’s driving it. It’s not like the defense is asleep, but the defense has points to play with. They got points to play with. They’ve got what, a 13point separation. They’re allowing 20 and a half points per game. So, the difference in points, 13.1 points per game, number one in the league. Yeah. So, when you’ve got nearly two touchdowns to play with as a defense, I can just tell you from having called defenses before behind offenses that are controlling the ball, it’s a lot easier. So, follow up nuggies with what he has. Michael Pitman Jr., Tyler Warren, the rookie tight end from Penn State. Both of those guys between them, eight receiving touchdowns, doubledigit yards per catch. Both of them 70% plus catch rate success. That’s and that’s huge. And again, people sometimes don’t understand what all of this means, but that means seven out of 10 times that the ball is thrown to them, it’s a catch. They’re catching it. Wow. And then we haven’t talked about Josh Downs, the speedy, smaller receiver who they move work in and out of stuff. Their deep threat is and always has been in the last few years, Alec Pierce. He had uh five for 98 yards last week on deep shot targets. So, they work him in with all this stuff. and Mack with his talk about the offensive line. So they lost uh Will Freeze and Ryan Kelly, the center in free agency to the Minnesota Vikings. So Tana Bordellini and Matt Gonzalez that they both took in later rounds, both of those guys at the Senior Bowl, uh they are the starters in this and they have done really well with all the cast of characters to their left and right. What’s crazy with all these Nuggets to me is that this is all supporting cast. Daniel Jones, their quarterback, it feels like keeps playing better and better and better. And that’s not what we had seen historically from him. He has found the perfect situation with the perfect scheme with the perfect group around him to really make an impact. Well, here’s the other thing too that that I think is important. You’re seeing this around the league and people call a lot of these quarterbacks when they, you know, leave someplace and then all of a sudden resurrect themselves at another place reclamation projects. It’s really not that. It’s the fact that they’ve got time on task. It takes a while to understand what that position is. And you’re you’re right in saying this, Amy. He’s now he’s in the right place, but he’s on a one-year $14 million deal, but now he’s a veteran that’s surrounded the surrounding cast is tremendously supportive. But he is smart enough now to know how to drive the train. He knows how to drive it. And and that comes with time on task. And that comes with what we talked about earlier in the first segment about young play. I mean, he he got baptism by fire when he was early on as a young quarterback, just like all these young quarterbacks do. But you’re seeing this throughout the league if you just start really checking what’s going on with some of these quarterbacks that have that have gone from one club to another to another. Pretty soon they’re all playing at a pretty high level, but because they understand the game now, and it takes time to understand the game, and the only way to understand it is by playing in it. The recent example, Daniel Jones is the 2025 version of Sam Darnold last year. And then Sam Darnold financially did very well for himself this off seasonason. Well, that is exactly what Daniel Jones is setting up for himself in this. But Max’s right, he has time on task. Uh he was Danny Dimes there for a little bit in New York and then he got to throw in Danny Pennies and they didn’t like that and it was pick sixes and stuff but he is and you hear uh Shane Stiken and and that offensive group up there rave about his acumen, his knowledge, his prep. Like he’s a veteran pro quarterback. Yep. And sometimes that’s just that’s the missing piece for everybody involved. It’s the supporting cast, but it’s also that veteran leadership. It’s 100% right. And it’s experience. It’s experience. You just can’t manufacture it. You just I mean it’s it’s true in any profession, but especially in professional football and especially at that position. Well, I want to talk Colts defense, but I think we’ve got to take a break first. So, let’s take a break. And when we come back, we’re talking Indianapolis Colts defense. Stick with us right here on Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight. Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight continues on. Rep. Brian, Coach Mack, Amy Wells, gangs all here and we are going to talk a little Indianapolis Colts defense. Rhett is the one with all of the Rhett nuggies as we like to call them. The little bits and pieces of information that we just love to gobble up. So Rhett, I’m going to pass it over to you for your defensive nuggies. And so the defensive nuggies for the Indianapolis Colts, a lot of the team stats rank somewhere in the middle, sometimes to the bottom of the league, but the most important thing is what Max said when we started the show this evening is that the point differential. They’re allowing 20 and a half points on defense. The team is scoring 33. That’s a 13-point swing. Number one in the league. So you got house money to play with. And I preface all of that by saying Colts defense has 19 total quarterback sacks this season. Their issues recently in the last two games they’ve allowed over 400 yards of offense. 420 is exactly uh the mark last week against Justin Herbert and the Chargers at Sofi. But there’s that’s just part of the story because when you think of how far they get out in front of a team, the team is playing from behind. So they’re going to throw the ball more. And the other part of it is they’re still getting turnovers and giving the ball back to their offense. So you can give up all the yards you want in chunk plays if you’re not giving up the points. That’s what Mos I don’t care about yards. Points. Where’s the points? Mhm. That’s where it’s at. So when you look at the production of their parts in this, it’s the same cast of characters. You’re talking about upfront Quiddy Pay. You’re talking leatu lu. But the two guys in the middle are the ones that are the enforcers. And that’s DeForest Buckner, who had 10 quarterback pressures and two sacks of Justin Herbert last week. Wow. Grover Stewart, who did some incredible work against Herbert. He matches hands with him, catches a point blank matching hands pass and intercepts it for his first career interception. And then you look throughout this, they picked up Germaine Pratt in the linebacking court. Zier Franklin is all over the place making plays. Um, and in the back end of this secondary, Nick Cross had an interception last week as well. They have contributors and that’s the other part is they’re doing their part. They’re bending. They’re not breaking. So, that’s just where they are right now. Yeah. Well, and and again, the defensive part of it, you call defenses differently when you’ve got a big lead. I mean, you’re not you’re not going to do a lot of things to take it because you’re you’re willing when you have a big lead to let a team have yards. You’ll let them have you’ll let them have yards. You just don’t want them to to have points. And what you can start to do with that because teams that are behind and a lot of these numbers, they’re throwing the ball all the time against them because they got to catch up, right? Because they they beat the Chargers by two scores, two full scores. Where they’re really good, like last week, is against the run. So that was the number two or three rushing team in the league at 83 and change per per game. They’re number six allowing 90 yards per game. And then the other uh on teams number two in the league only allowing 4.3 yards per punt return. Uh top 10 in and allowing what they allow in kickoff returns. Um, and that’s the other place where you can see in the third phase of this, how they’re playing three phases of complimentary football, just exactly like coach Mike McCoy wants the Titans to do. And the numbers are they’re telltale. You can So, Anthony Gould is their primary kick and punt returner. Right now, he has a better kickoff return average than Chim DK. He’s 27.2 yards per return on kicks. Wow. Uh he is uh only seven yards per return on punts. Um where Chim is at almost 14 yards there. But the disparity in having to give the ball back to the other team, Johnny Hecker has punted 32 times for 1523 yards. Now he has done a fantastic job as the directional punter for this team. But to show the difference and how much the Colts are scoring and that offense is moving, Rigberto Sanchez has punted 20 less times in the same window. Wow. 12 punts, 608 yards. And they’ve got a good team’s unit. So between all three of those phases, it’s easy to see why they are six and one. But the offense, they’re the ones driving the train. The offense is driving the train, but the defense, and Red said it very, very well. And I mean they’re they’re holding up their end of it, but they’re playing and again it just goes with I’ve done it before when you’re playing with leads constantly. And you also your offense is possessing the football because when your offense possesses the football like these people possess the football, when your opponents get it, they not only need points, they need points quickly to catch up. It changes the complexion of the game as far as the way you call it defensively and your mindset defensively as to what you do. So, Mac, you’re Dinard Wilson. What do you do to combat some of these things that the Colts are doing so well on off? Well, I mean, you first of all, you’ve got you’ve got to be able you’ve got to be very sound against the run. That’s number one. And the other thing you have to do is is through is throughout the first and second down, you’ve got to find one of those downs where you win. You’ve got to win one of those downs because I you can look through this and I promise you just I know by drilling the tape they’re not in very many third and 10 plus. They’re not in too many third and seven plus. So they are winning first and second down. So as a defensive coordinator you need to look at it and see how can I win one of these downs every series. And if you do that then you put them in a position they haven’t been in much which is behind the chains. If you can do that, that’s what you have to do. But to do that, everybody’s got to be on point. You got to be gap sound. And then, especially against this back, because we’ve seen this before with this back, you got to tackle him. And you got to you got to tackle him. And you got to group tackle him because arm tackles won’t get this dude down. And the other thing about him is if he gets in the open, he’s gone. He’s gone because he outruns most everybody on defenses that they play. So, you’ve got to find a way to win first and second down through a series. That’s how you have to play it. Yeah. In his career, I think both explosive play runs of 20 and 40 plus yards. I think he’s in double digits in his career already. Um I was reminded of that by the Monday Night Football game with uh the Detroit Lions. Jir Gibbs already has uh 20 plus yards explosive runs of I think 35 or 36 in his career already. That’s just, you know, hitting out of the gate. But to to Mac’s point, before this game Sunday against the Chargers, Jonathan Taylor had a league high 41 forced missed tackles being elusive and had recorded 239 yards after missing forcing those missed tackles. So that’ll just speak there of of the elusiveness. And Max, right, he’s 88 now the gate if you don’t get him. Rhett, you brought up an interesting thing, which was how productive the Colts have been on special teams and the impact that that has had on their season overall and their record right now. The Titans are also playing pretty well on special teams right now. Um, what can they do to make an impact on this game overall on that special teams phase? Well, the bit the first thing you have to do is the smaller wide receiver that is their primary punt and kick return guy, Anthony Gould. You have to bottle him up. You your coverage teams have to make sure that you can get him and work him towards the sideline and let that be your extra defender and friend or just, you know, tackle him with two or three guys because he’s pretty pretty elusive himself. Uh the other part is you just need more Johnny Hecker to do the excellent job he does. I mean that that punt he had Sunday where he had some English on that thing and it hit at the one and spun back to about the five or six yardd line. That kind of stuff that’s what you need and then obviously Joey Sly when you need him to put it through the uprights. But the kick coverage teams on this especially, and they’ve done a great job, but until Bryce Oliver gets back to help, uh, they’re gonna have to be on alert for sure. Yeah. And the thing that this the special teams has to do first and foremost, Amy, when you’ve got an offense that’s struggling or or you got score separated, you have to win field position metrics. And if you win field position metrics, it’s just it’s it’s it’s directional kicking. It’s squeezing the coverage. It’s not letting anybody It’s not letting anybody out because a lot of times and they’re doing a great job with their returns, but you can’t count on returns consistently. What you can count on though is coverage and kicks. And so they have to win field position metrics on that side of it consistently and then they’ll let the rest of it come. Speaking of special teams, and this has nothing to do with that, but I think it’s worth mentioning. Bones Fossil is just delightful. The Titans special teams coordinator. We had him on uh Titans Football on Tuesday night and he was the team’s television show. Yeah. And he broke down a bunch of Chimray DK’s plays on the teleustrator. My man showed up to break down this film with a whistle on, with his sweat pa bands on. He was in his full coaching outfit. He’s ready to go. And he was with every play he looked like he was just going to dive into the screen and do it with them. Bones is the best. He was the most entertaining. I mean best best thing on TV on Tuesday night was Bones Fossil breaking down Chim Ray DK’s film. Well, first of all, he’s passionate about it. He loves it. And second of all, uh you know, I was in Bones’s meetings every meeting he ever had for five years. And he that’s the way he is in his meetings. And that’s how he gets his players engrossed in special teams. And and there’s no act to that. That is as genuine as as you can get. He is uh he is very he is he’s at the pinnacle of what special teams coaches are in this league. And that’s why I was so excited, you know, when the Titans were able to get him here. And you can already see the result. You can see the result. And even on a team that’s struggling to do things, they’re standing out and there. But if you ever get a chance, go sit in one of his meetings for about a week and you’ll understand why they play with the energy that they have because he is a thousand% kinetic energy. It emanates from every pore of his body and it’s as genuine as ever. and and he’s got a daughter that’s just like him. There are very few people you will meet in this life that are as gregarious, as infectious, like he’s the kind of person you want to be around. Like, put that in my veins. This is amazing the kind of And you’re right, there’s not a pretentious bone in his body. Like, it is 100% what you see is what you get. And he’s really he’s really tactical. He’s very He’s very tactical. I mean, it used to be a lot of fun to be in those meetings leading up to game plans because he would, you know, I mean, it it was is a lot of fun. You know what else I think is great about him? He understands the role of special teams. not only it as a phase of the game and what it can do strategically and how wins and losses can happen on special teams, but he also understands what that role means or could mean for a person’s career. That’s a great understands and really values that hey, we’re asking guys to play teams who have never had to play teams before because they’ve always been the guy and now they’re being asked to contribute on this this phase of the game. Some really don’t want to, but for some, this is the way they’re going to make this team. And so, they need to be recognized. They need to understand the importance. There is value to having your role be a special team’s role just as much as there is value as being a a starting receiver or a starting safety. Like, these all matter. and he is so intentional about pouring into those guys in the same way that every other coordinator and position coach is intentional about pouring into them. That’s that’s a great great observation because it’s 100% true. The you know and my years of coaching of course you know I when you’re coaching in this league and you think you may have a chance to be a head coach someday you always kind of get you a list of guys that if you get a chance there are guys that the only one I’ve ever come across that I’ve really thought really did that in my time of coaching 31 years was John Harbaugh. John Harbaugh had the same kind of mindset that and and Bones is even a Bones is different than John Harbaugh, but they’re both dialed into and you made that a great point. They value those guys and those guys all of a sudden see a value in him too because they know that he is going to make them better. Yeah, I’ve worked with both of them now and phenomenal coaches both of them. All right, we’ve got to get one more break in here and then we are going to wrap things up here on Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight. The final segment of Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight is happening right now and we’re talking a little pro football hall of fame because there’s a little bit of news, just a little bit of news, not a ton yet, but another step to getting to the Hall of Fame’s class of 2026. Rep. Brian, take it away. So, initially a couple of months back, the Pro Football Hall of Fame released its initial nominated list with 128 players. And remember, Keith Bulock poo pooed it right here on this show. He did. He’s like, I’ve been on that a time or two. You got He had a very bad attitude. His point is valid, though, is that you have to continue to be on the list because they pair it down. And it started with 128 names, 77 offensive players, 42 defensive players, and nine special teams, guys. Now, as of this week, it is paired down to 52 uh not finalist because they’ll pair this thing down until they get to the final list. Then the committee will meet about that the week of the Super Bowl. And I think they’re revealed on the night before the Super Bowl at the NFL Honors Awards if I’m not mistaken. So anyway, that being said, of those 52, and there’s some really good names in here, there are three Tennessee Titans on here. We’ll start with special teams first. Gary Anderson, the kicker for the Tennessee Titans, who has a very special place in Titans history. U called him out of retirement. He was fly fishing up north in one of those streams in Minnesota or somewhere. Uh, and so he is an intricral part in helping this team get over the hump because I’ll never forget the night in Baltimore in the wildard round of the 2003 playoffs. 46-year-old Gary Anderson kicks a 46-yd field goal to win 20-7. Let me just tell you something about getting Gary Anderson in here. And of course, you know, Jeff Fischer loved him and but he wasn’t just fly fishing. He owns a fly fishing company. That’s right. Oh, I mean he runs a fly fishing company had a business and of course Jeff Fischer is a international fly fisherman. So they love so we needed help and he called Gary Anderson and Gary came in here and here’s what Gary Anderson did at that point. He would come in. He wasn’t even at practice. He set up hula hoop rings in the bubble and would cast and fly fit and practice his casting. And then when it came time to kick, go get it in Matt Thompson, uh, you know, who’s been here forever. Go get Gary Anders. Gary would come out. Boom, boom, boom. Okay, go back in. And he’s referencing the second tour of D. That’s the second tour. Was called out of retirement twice. I’ve never seen anything like it. If we needed a 42 yard field goal, he kicked it. 42 1/2. If we needed a 36-yd field goal, he kicked at 36 and 1/2. The ball would fall like it would be like Charlie Brown, right? Oh, Yep. But it was just a lot. Deadly accurate. Deadly accurate. He kicked a 46 y that night in Baltimore to beat the Ravens. A great a great dude, too. I’m really glad to see him on that list. Also on this list of 52, the fullback Lorenzo Neil didn’t get much better with the Titans run game back in the early days when Low Neil was there making holes. And in a world where fullbacks are almost uh dinosaurs in this day and age of football, he was indeed one of the best. And the guy he was making holes for was also a big part of that night uh in that wildcard playoff game in Baltimore. And that’s Eddie George. Edward Nathan George Jr. uh is on this list. 10,04 yards rushing in franchise history. 10,440 yards uh in his career. He’s the only NFL back in the history of the league to have over 300 career rushing attempts in eight seasons of his career. Wow. He is the definition of workhorse. He was a horse. something about low Neil, you know, a linebacker coach as I was early on in my career, and that’s back when people were still running eye formation, running power leads with the fullback. Nobody really relished going up in that A and B gap against Low Neil. He was a hammer head. I mean, who and the way he was built so such a low center of gravity and and just one big muscle. Uh he was he was a hammer. You’re right. I mean, it was like hitting a F-150 bumper at about 50 miles an hour. I mean, he was I’m glad to see him on there, too. Yeah. Well, there’s still a ways to go. They’re not going in the hall just yet, but still a big deal to be on this list. Well, it’s a huge deal. I mean, I I’ve been what, seven or eight now, guys. I’ve been involved with that went into the Hall of Fame. They all go through this process. You got to be on the list at this point. You got to be You got to be able to make it through these progressions. and and you know, I’ I’ve been with some that we’ve waited forever like Steve Mcichael. Then I’ve been with some like Mike Singleary that were first ballot Hall of Famers, but they still have to be nominated and they have to go through the process. So just reaching this point, when you start reading the names, you go, “Oh, he’s pretty good.” Yeah. There nobody that has their name mentioned in this final 52 that wasn’t a really quality player. Well, you think about it this way. Every guy who makes it to this level is the 1% in in professional athletes. Now you’re talking about the less than 1% because of the thousands and thousands that have played in 106 years of the National Football League, there’s only what 350 guys that are in that thing that have gold jackets. Yep. So I mean, you’re talking the most rarified air in this. Yeah. I’ve just I’ve just seen it through fruition for about eight from about eight guys. But you have to be on this. Now Bull’s right in one thing. This is a process. Yes, it is a but once you make it to this point, you start having a better chance. You you do. And I’ll tell you the other thing. Uh and M knows this better than anybody with all the Hall of Famers he’s coached. When you get to that final selection committee the week of the Super Bowl, and they literally get into a room, a ballroom, and lock the doors, and they’re in there for 8, 10 hours discussing. You need someone in that room to stomp for you and tell why you are worthy of being that year’s class candidate nominee and elect. Well, and you got to understand that everybody everybody has somebody and they’re talking about them. Correct. So, it’s it’s kind of like lawyers. I mean, yeah. You’re presenting cases back and forth. I mean, it’s pretty interesting. And then in recent years, they’ve allowed that senior committee to be involved in this and all of the guys whose eligibility had previously expired are now brought to the light again. Uh and sometimes that works in favor of contributors of the game, right? Um Taylor Zarzer and I talked about this earlier this week. KS Bud Adams should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame without a doubt. There is end of story. The the defense rests. It’s just that simple. Well, a lot to watch as we continue on and get closer and closer to that Super Bowl weekend announcement of the final Hall of Fame class for 2026. But a great start and congratulations to everybody who’s on this list. Guys, we got to wrap it up because we’ve got a game against the Indianapolis Colts that we got to get ready for. The Tennessee Titans are heading on the road. They’re heading north approximately 4 hours on I65 to take on the Indianapolis Colts. Kickoff for that game is at 3:25 Central time. 3:25. That is different than what you think it is. It’s 3:25. Titans Countdown will be on the air at 205. 2:30. At 2:30. Titans Countdown will be on the air at 2:30 on Titans Radio. So, be sure to check that out. We’ll have everything you need to know to get ready for that game against the Indianapolis Colts. For Rep. Brian and Coach Mack. I’m Amy Wells thanking you for listening to this edition of Pinnacle Financial Partners Titans Tonight.

Coach Mac is on assignment for Keith Bulluck this week, so Rhett Bryan and Amie Wells look ahead to the Titans rematch with the Colts this Sunday on Titans Tonight with Keith Bulluck, presented by Pinnacle.

00:00 – 02:31 Opening
02:32 – 06:00 Titans’ Mindset and Injury Challenges
06:01 – 14:15 Jeffrey Simmons’ Leadership & Young Players Stepping Up
15:09 – 22:11 Colts Offense Breakdown
22:12 – 26:21 Daniel Jones’ Career Revival & QB Growth Across the NFL
26:33 – 33:53 Colts Defense & Game Plan for Tennessee
34:18 – 40:36 Titans Special Teams & The Energy of Coach Bones Fossil
40:37 – 48:44 Hall of Fame Hopefuls & Final Thoughts

Subscribe to the Titans YT Channel: https://bit.ly/2M1n3Kd

#Titans #TitanUp