Titans Struggle with Urgency in Falcons Joint Practice | MCA Titans Podcast

Titans Struggle with Urgency in Falcons Joint Practice | MCA Titans Podcast

Titans just wrapped up their first of two joint practices with the Atlanta Falcons. And it was a rough day for the Titans. Not necessarily a bad day, just not a good day either. We’re going to talk about what happened at practice and maybe some larger concerns we have about this team for this season. This is the Music City Audible. Let’s get to it. Ah, welcome everyone to another episode of the Music City Audible podcast presented by Sinkers Beverages, the premier wine, spirits, and beer store in East Nashville in partnership with 440 Sports. I’m Justin Graver back on the podcast after missing Saturday night’s live stream episode. With me as always, Justin Melo. Justin, how was that live stream? I I heard good things. I thought it went well. People were entertained. They were in the chat. They were participating. The view count was very good. So, you guys showed up for that. Appreciate you sticking with us. Uh, with Ryan Watson hosting Engraver’s Place. Uh, thought it went well. Feels like it’s been a long time since I potted with you for some reason. I don’t know why. Two days in a row without potting. You weren’t on Saturday. We’ve been getting used to doing episodes every single day it feels like. So, good to be back today to recap the first of two Titans Falcons joint practices. Yeah, it does feel like we were potting basically every day. So, when we, you know, it’s been since last Thursday that we did one together. That feels like an eternity in this new world that we’re in of just producing content all the time. All for you guys out there. So, if you’re tuned in, we really appreciate you. Make sure you like the video, subscribe to the channel, drop a comment below. What did you see that might have you concerned from Titans Falcons joint practice number one? I’m going to read something that Nick Sus wrote in his recap from the Tennesseeian that I think sets the tone, sets the table well for the discussions we’re about to have. Nick wrote, “It wasn’t so much a bad showing as it was one that’s hard to even find one play worth being enthusiastic about.” So, as I said, like it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good. There were definitely bad moments. There were maybe a few good moments, but definitely fewer good moments than bad. And that’s what we’re going to talk about here. Starting with I think an overall theme that everyone who was at practice has been reporting on which is this lack of urgency for this Titans team and uh Jarvis Brownley Jr. Cha Conquo Jeffrey Simmons all separately said in post-practice media scrums that they are a bit concerned about the this team’s you know um t tendency to start slow. They started slow in the one joint practice they had with the Bucks last week. Then they came back, you know, in that practice and made it a pretty competitive even day. I would argue the first team offense started slow in Friday or sorry, in Saturday night’s preseason game when they went three and out after a Van Jefferson drop on second down after Cam Ward bailed from a clean pocket, missed a crossing open Calvin Ridley and then threw the ball away on third down, but they bounced back on their second drive. And they start slow in this practice with the Atlanta Falcons. And don’t I mean there was some element of a bounceback that we’ll talk about, but it wasn’t the same kind of bounce back as they had in Tampa Bay last week. And the the issue with these slow starts that I I would be able to look past it a little easier if this hadn’t been a massive problem last year. And Jeffrey Simmons even alluded to the fact that, you know, we start slow and all of a sudden we’re down 28 nothing. That’s that’s the example Jeffrey Simmons used. So that’s it’s in the players heads. It’s in our heads as people covering the team. What is the deal with the Titans starting slow? Is this a coaching problem? Is this a player accountability problem? Is this just a product of being on the road since last Wednesday when they left Nashville for Tampa Bay? Like where what do you think? What do you make of this, Justin? And how concerned should Titans fans be, you know, acknowledging that it is still just August 12th? Yeah, I think the boring answer, but the truthful one is probably TBD, right? Like uh I’ll say Jeffree Simmons answer was pretty concerning to me, right? Like he’s a passionate player, so he’s going to do that and get maybe a little carried away with it at times, but you know, no one wants to hear, but the truth is the truth, but no, no one wants to hear alluding to last season and 28 nothing. That was probably the Commanders game that he’s referencing, right? I think that’s the one where they they fell in that huge hole. That was right after an emotional win against the Texans, right? So, um, they’ve tried to work hard this offseason to, you know, beat this out of this team, if you will, but to hear three players say it separately after this practice. I mean, they start, like you said, started slow against the Bucks practice. You could say they started slow in that game, the pre they were down 10 nothing, right, before they got on the board. Um, and then start to start slow in this practice, which which felt really slow, right? The Falcons made some big plays specifically on the offensive side of the ball and the Titans could get nothing going early in this one. Um, I’m concerned because you’ve got a a second year head coach who went three and 14. And if we’ve got a question about Brian Callahan, you and I have both said repeatedly over the last year, we think he’s got a great offensive mind, but we don’t know about his ability to be a head coach. I don’t know a whole lot about his ability to lead men. Like if you are bad at those things, and I’m not saying he is, we don’t know for sure yet. But if you are bad at those things, these are the signs, right? It’s the you’re a penalized team last year, you’re bad on special teams, you start slow, uh you go into this next offseason here, training camp, that starting slow is is still a bit of an issue at at joint practices and maybe in the preseason games as well. Um they they’ve got to prove once the season comes that they could get past that because in all honesty um I I don’t know that it’s something Brian Callahan could survive, right? Like if they’re a slow starting team for a second year in a row that probably means they’re losing a lot of football games and it might mean they’re getting blown out in some of them because when you start slow you fall behind 28 nothing. And that might be a bit of an extreme example, but that’s the one Jeffrey Simmons offered. And you don’t recover in those when that happens. So, um, yeah, they’ve got to nip this in the butt and they and they got to do it real f and and they got to do it real fast. And I So, I was going to throw it to you, but I want to say like, yeah, the not that you’re using it as an excuse, but you said at the end, well, they’re on the road, you know, since last Thursday. News flash, they’re going to be on the road a lot during the regular season. Five of their first eight games are on the road. They’ve got three away games in a row from like week four to six, I think it is. So, we’re not I promise you if they’re one and five, one, you’re not going to be sitting here going, “Ah, they’ve been on the road a lot. Let’s forgive them.” You know, it’s they’re not good on the road, you know? It’s they’re just they start slow on the road. No, they’ve got to figure this out because they’re going to go on the road a lot in October. Well, to be fair, they’re going to come home between those road games. Like they they left Nashville last Wednesday for Tampa Bay and then they flew straight from Tampa Bay to Atlanta. So, they haven’t had a chance to come home at all. But, no, it’s a fair point and I would excuse it, maybe partially excuse it and blame it on that if this hadn’t been a theme throughout all of training camp pretty much so far and all of last season pretty much. So, that it’s a continuation of that theme that makes me sort of dismiss this like I can’t just dismiss this as being oh, they’ve been on the road since for almost a week. Like, no, you need to find a way to have that adversity moment and show up when it happens. I do think that there’s some element of Brian Callahan designed it this way on purpose to make it more difficult on them, more emotionally and mentally taxing for multiple reasons. And one is because you want practices and training camp to be harder than what you’re going to face in the regular season so that you feel prepared to take on what happens in the regular season. If it’s easier than practice, that means you should have success. And secondly, because this whole off seasonason has been about bringing the team together, playing for the guy next to you, and going through some together tends to bond you together. And so, you know, everyone is going through the same thing of like, man, I miss my family. I miss my my home comforts. They’re all going through that together. The only place they have to like lean on for comfort is each other. And that bonds them together more. So, I’ll take a couple bad practice days in the midst of a long, you know, road trip in the middle of training camp if it means that the team grows from it. And that’s the hope. And I I want to be clear that this whole talking point that we’re bringing up right now isn’t to hit the panic button and say Brian Callahan’s doomed. This team is going to be bad. Like, that’s not what we’re saying at all. We’re saying this has been a recurring problem and we’re going to acknowledge it now as something that we’re definitely going to be watching throughout the season. I think your very first answer to this question put it best. TBD. It’s all TBD. It’s August. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it a little bit. I just want fans to be clear that like we’re not in panic mode here. We’re not in disaster mode. But there is definitely a timeline that we could be going down that could lead us there. And so we’re acknowledging it. Now, I want to read a Jarvis Brownley Jr. quote from after practice because number one, I think it I think it sums up the day pretty well. And number two, it’s just kind of funny. Um he said, “Overall as a practice, it was all right. It wasn’t our intention how we usually come out here and play, but there’s always lessons to learn. We’ve got to come back out here tomorrow going 10 times harder and practice 10 times stronger because if you ask me from our side of the ball cuz I couldn’t really see our offense, it was all right. It was all right. It was We can play way better than that. It starts with the leaders though. We’ve got to come out here fast. We’ve got to come out here and set the tone, set the energy, and it’s up to us to do that. That’s why there’s always the next day to improve. So, I like a few things he said here. First, I like that he was like trying to say it was all right and then he was like, “Nah, actually, I’m just going to be honest. It was We suck today.” But also the fact that he’s taking accountability for it as one of the team’s leaders, which even as a secondyear player, I think he could easily grow into being one of the team’s leaders that they’re the players are going to take accountability. Simmons, we talked about Chica Conquo said something similar. The players are taking accountability. So whether or not we want to blame Brian Callahan or not, the players do have it like within them their power to make have an effect on this and try to improve it. If the head coach does or doesn’t do it or if it’s his fault or not his fault, it doesn’t matter if the players can come together and say screw this guys, we need to be better and then they are better. I think the like this is all a setup for tomorrow really. Like we’re not going to make any determination based on how this practice goes. And honestly, if they have another bad practice tomorrow, it doesn’t mean they’re a bad team. They probably are a bad team, but it doesn’t mean that just because of one bad or two bad practices, but it will be it would be nice to see them bounce back strong tomorrow to take what happened today, internalize it, realize they need to be better, and come out strong tomorrow. I think that’s what I’d like to see. Again, nothing, no like sweeping determinations about this team will be made in August, but this is what we have to talk about right now, so we’re talking about it, and I think that’s where I’m at. I’m not hitting the panic button. I’m not saying this team is doomed. I just bet money on this team to win seven plus games when I was in Vegas over the weekend. So, like I have some faith in their ability to at least get to seven wins. But right now, you know, there are some little red flags that are raising and that’s what we’re talking about now is just like pointing those out and hoping that they can be addressed before it’s too late. Well, I would definitely like to see them have a good practice tomorrow and we’ll be back to recap it again. Um, I think I think you kind of sold that a little short because for me when Jeffrey Simmons is talking about we’ve got to start fast like and I’m tired of saying we got to do it tomorrow and Jarvis Brownley is talking about we want to come back and have a better day. It wasn’t our best tomorrow. Well, I want to see it tomorrow. The good football team would be able to respond tomorrow. And yes, you’re right. Not the end all beall if it doesn’t happen. They haven’t lost a football game yet officially. Not one that matters. So, no, you’re not doomed when you’re zero and zero. But when you’re talking about that, you’re talking about how disappointed you were and you want to practice better. You want to practice faster. If you don’t actually do it, then yeah, that that’s a bit of a problem. They’re undefeated. Justin, preseason doesn’t count. Regular season games. I said they haven’t lost a football game that matters. 25 Titans are undefeated. That’s what happens tomorrow. They’ll be zero and zero. All right, let’s talk about some things like specifically that happened in practice and the reason that we’re calling it a slow start and a lack of urgency. Oh, one last point I wanted to make on the lack of urgency. This is something Eastston Freeze wrote about in his practice board. I thought it was a really good point because I’ve been thinking about this since the preseason game essentially that when it comes down to roster cututo down day, if I if I was doing a projected 53man roster right now, Justin, I think I would only project 50 players on the Titans to make the roster. Now, obviously they their first roster will have 53 guys on it, but then all the cuts around the le are going to happen. And the way that the Titans operated over the weekend, which we’ll get to, the roster moves they made, tells me that they are not happy with the depth and the back end of this roster, and that they’re going to be constantly churning the depth of this roster. And the fact that the Titans have an extreme lack of depth means that they’re probably going to make, I would guess they make three waiver claims, maybe more. or maybe they signed somebody who’s not a waiver claim but like a Preston Smith that they were reportedly interested in after training camp after cuts and those guys are like ready to actually get back into football. Um I think that there like only 50 guys that are in training camp with the Titans right now will actually be on the 2025 Titans team. Um and that’s another element of the urgency factor and this is what East and Freeze wrote about is that every player on this team is fighting for their life. You know, if you’re not a starter, if you haven’t locked yourself into a starting role, you are fighting for a roster spot because the special teams and the depth is all going to be determined by like just because you’re a second string guy, if you aren’t given anything on special teams, they may be fine with a third string guy taking your like so the lack of urgency is concerning to me from that regard because I almost wonder like do these guys not realize what’s at stake for them? And I didn’t want to add too long of an addendum to that conversation, but I thought that was a good point that Eston brought up and it’s something I’ve been thinking about too, so thought I’d say it there while we’re talking about urgency. Well, safe to assume. I mean, they made two Ross waiver claims last year and Daryl Baker Jr. and Alli Day, both of them who are still on the team as of right now. So, they’ve got the number one waiver wire priority. Yeah, they’re definitely going to put that to to good use. So yeah, I think you know if you if there was a line in Vegas 2.5 on how many waiver claims they make and you’d be you’d probably be crazy to to hit under on that. Uh I don’t think it’ll be only two, but I don’t think it’ll be five plus or anything. Let’s not get crazy, but I guess it’s in the three to four bucket. I I agree. I think they’re going to be turning at linebacker, at cornerback, possibly at edge, possibly at tackle, and we’ll see how all that plays out. But um that’s what I’m expecting right now. Okay, into the actual practice things that happened today. Let’s start. We’ll do this. Let’s break this up between offense and defense. So, we’ll start with the offense. Um, up and down day for the offense. I would say more downs than ups. Cam Ward, more downs than ups. We’ll start with Cam Ward who in the 11 on 111 periods. Uh, Nick Sus tracked Cam Ward as having a 14 for 29 day. That’s about a 48% completion percentage. He had two interceptions. One where he just didn’t see a zone defender sitting underneath over the middle and threw it right into his belly. Another where it was a third and short and he tried to squeeze a slant in to Ella Manor. AJ Terrell tips the ball into the air and it’s picked off by Jesse Bates and I think possibly returned for a touchdown. The Falcons forced six total turnovers in this practice and three of them were returned for touchdowns. So, this is that kind of game, like if this was a game, sorry. This is that kind of day where that slow start puts you in a 28- nothing type of hole because not only is the defense giving up 52 yard touchdowns that we’ll talk about in a second, but then the offense, not only are they turning the ball over, but they’re not just turning it over to where the defense can hold him to a field goal, they’re giving up return touchdowns. So, a spiraling bad day if this was, you know, to happen in a game setting. Luckily, it’s not a game setting. It’s a practice. And we don’t know what the offense was trying to accomplish because there were multiple reports from all the all the beat writers out there, Falcons guys, Titans guys, who were saying that the Titans were throwing a ton of short stuff in all the team periods that there was basically zero deep targets in this practice at all. It’s kind of what we heard at the very beginning of training camp before they started doing some other periods. But they were also doing like move the ball 11 on 111. Is it Brian Callahan calling a specific thing? like we don’t know what the offense is trying to get out of the day and we’ll see if tomorrow like feels vastly different in that regard and then we might have a a better understanding of like what the behind thes scenes goals are. But regardless of what the goals were, the offense struggled to move the ball, struggled to convert, and anytime your quarterback goes 14 of 29, I would say that’s a bad day. With two interceptions, that’s a bad day. Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, a bunch of beat reporters also described it as the Titans are putting too many balls on the ground. Not just fumbles, but incompletions. I mean, even on seven on seven, they weren’t winning a whole lot and a lot of those balls end up on the ground. And what do we always say? A, not real football, but also b slanted towards the offense, or it should be. So, to have so many balls end up on the ground and seven on seven is not a good day. And 14 to 29, two interceptions goes without saying, not a good day. That Falcons defense came to play. And you know, it wasn’t just Simmons and Brownley. I know we we said it already, but the defenders who talked about the slow start. Chica Conquo on the tight end side also talked about it. So, I think it was evident in the in the lack of success that the offense had um you know throughout the practice. I will say Camour did have some positive moments. It wasn’t all bad. Now, I think the overall read on that is a bad day, but it wasn’t all bad and there’s always good things to build upon as well as bad things you need to fix. Um, reportedly Cam Ward started to hit a bit of a stride during the second 11on11 period. He converted multiple first downs in a row. He had a nice throw to Calvin Ridley on the run. He had some connections with Shimray DK. And that leads me to Calvin Ridley and Shimmer DK who seemed like maybe the lone bright spots on offense for the Titans today. Calvin Ridley cooked AJ Terrell in three out of four one-on-one reps and they only they didn’t match neither of those guys matched up with anyone else. They they went head-to-head four times and that’s the Titans number one receiver and the Falcons number one cornerback who was a second team all pro last year. That’s a great strength-on strength matchup. And to see Calvin Ridley win it three out of four times and even you know like h just completing the pass if it’s one thing for Calvin Ridley to win the route and get open but then not complete the pass. So it’s nice to see that the whole process was there including the throw from Cam Ward to make sure that those were completed and Calvin Ridley looked really good in those moments there. I think Ben Arthur posted the three wins and all three of them were clean nice wins. One was a bit of more of a contested catch, but a nice a nice period for Calvin Ridley who stood out I think like I said as one of the lone bright spots for the Titans today. Carried that momentum over from Saturday right where he had three catches for 50 yards on Cam Ward’s best drive of of that preseason game. Best on best the Titans best receiver, Falcons best corner. Honestly, maybe it’s a Titans fault. They the Falcons also I don’t think have a ton of superstars, but the Titans certainly don’t have a ton of superstars. So going into this one, I mean Calvin Ridley versus AJ Terrell might have been the best matchup. I mean Jeff Simmons vers Chris Lindstöm is up there. We’ll get to that. If Luxurious Sneeed was healthy, it would have been nice to see him with Drake London, but that’s obviously not the case. Uh so you know Calvin Ridley, AJ Terrell, one of the better ones out there. Great to see that Ridley won those matchups. I mean, he’s had a phenomenal training camp, off to a great start in the preseason, obviously, and I’d say that momentum just, you know, kind of carried through Tuesday’s practice. Was probably the Titans best player on the field on Tuesday. Yeah, I would agree with that. And I’ve, you know, I’ve been teasing a little bit over the last few weeks, my 2025 stat projections, specifically my Cam Ward stat projections. And there’s a reason that I haven’t like just finalized them, put them together, and recorded the video yet. And it’s cuz I kind of wanted to see how these wide receiver reps would shake out and how the performances would would evolve throughout training camp because I originally put in like a 22% target share for Calvin Ridley expecting that there’d be a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of just like passes going around to all to everybody. And the more the further we get through training camp, the more I’m inclined to put down like a 30% target share for Calvin Ridley. I think he could potentially be top 10 in the entire NFL in targets on a team that might not be top 10 in pass attempts. Like I I just feel the Titans might win three games this year, they might win six games this year, they’re probably not going to win more than eight games. Um but no matter how many games they win or lose, I feel pretty confident saying Calvin Ridley is poised for potentially the best year of his career. and he continues to show why we all have that confidence in him by showing up consistently every single practice in the preseason game like you mentioned. It’s just been a constant stream of success for Calvin Ridley stacking days and stacking that connection with Cam Ward that I could honestly see him approaching 200 targets this year. So, that’s going to color my my stat projections when I get to that. As it should. And I don’t know if you were going to say it later, but I’m going to say it now because it feels appropriate. But, um, it wasn’t just the one-on-one wins against AJ Terrell. Like, he arguably made the best, if not the best, the second best play of of practice for the Titans during a team period where, uh, Cam Ward was under duress, rolled to his left, and hit Calvin Ridley for a big completion. So, again, that was during a team period. So, wasn’t just a one-on-one wins against AJ Terrell. You’re seeing that chemistry between Cam Ward and Calvin Ridley just sort of, you know, carry over, right? And another guy who had a nice day for the Titans offense was reportedly Shimmer DK. Um, Zack Lions told me this in a in a chat group that he had a good day. We also saw him win a one-on-one rep that a video of that was posted. And shout out to the to the very few videos we got cuz if you’re not aware of this, if you’re not super online, you may not be aware. The Falcons have a a very strict media policy, video policy specifically. Each credentialed media member who is at practice can tweet out up to 90 total seconds of video. And this includes player interviews on the field after practice or at the podium. So, if you were wondering why there were so few videos of the Titans practice today against the Falcons, it’s because the the beatw writers out there were saving their seconds for post-practice interviews where they want to tweet out some sound bites and tweeting like 4se secondond clips of one one-on-one rep to just like get something out there but not use up their entire 90 second limit that they have there. So, that that was something to be um aware of if you’re not aware of it. But we did get one video of Shimmer DK winning a one-on-one rep and it was a great route. He gave him a little shake to the inside faint, hit him outside and and created a ton of separation. And there were was also reportedly some plays in the team period that Shimmer DK got open, made catches, and was connecting with Cam Ward. However, the other Titans rookie drafted receiver struggled today. I think struggled mightily today. I believe, I’m not 100% sure about this, but I believe both of Cam Ward’s interceptions came on targets to Ella Manor. He reportedly struggled in the one-on- ons, struggled with some of the physicality from that Falcons defense that we know, you know, the Titans secondary coach last year came from the Falcons that had been AJ Terrell’s coach, and we saw that physicality. Like, this is a team in the Falcons defense that wants their quarterbacks to be physical, to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage, to give them the business. And it sounds like Alec Ayam Maner struggled with that in when in uh Tuesday’s practice. I think it’s a learning experience for him. I I saw one beat reporter mention that he just wasn’t attacking the ball with enough physicality and urgency. U you know that’s something they’re going to identify that on tape and they’re probably going to give him a bit of an earful. Use it as a teachable moment. So um he’s just got to a theme of the day. you got to play with a bit more urgency and that’s especially notable when attacking the ball in the air, especially against NFL caliber quarterbacks. If you don’t do that, they make you pay because if you’re not attacking it, chances are they are. So, uh, it’s something he’s got to learn from. And he looked like a rookie out there on Tuesday. Yeah. And I mentioned that Cam Ward’s first interception was one where he didn’t see a zone defender sitting underneath it right and threw it right at him. But there was also reports that the receiver on that play ran too deep or the timing was off and didn’t get hit out of his break in time. And that can make it look like Ward is throwing right to a defender he didn’t see. If the receiver was supposed to break underneath that defender and catch the ball in front of him, that there could be some miscommunication there. And I saw that reported by multiple people. So, it’s hard to say if that interception is on Cam Ward or on the receiver. The point is it’s on the offense. And the offense had plenty of moments today where they just weren’t in sync. Like you said, too many balls on the ground. So that’s the overall takeaway. I’m not going to judge Cam Ward or Elica Manor off one practice like this, but I am going to say that where the team is at, you know, Brian Callahan said last week that he liked the trajectory they were on. And it sounds a little bit like they took a step back on that trajectory at today’s practice. And that’s okay because if you take one step back tomorrow, you can take two steps forward, but you got to have days where you’re taking steps forward. and that’s what we’re looking for um basically the rest of this week tomorrow and in Friday night’s game. Uh one last note on the offense, Bryce Oliver had what was reportedly called the catch of the day in seven on sevens on a pass from Cam Ward. So you like to see that. And then one other thing on the offense that I’m just going to bring up because it it strikes me as extremely odd is that there was a report of the like Cam Ward’s completions in an early seven period who he who he was targeting and the players were guys like Josh Wy, Jaquan Jackson and TJ Sheffield and then the Bryce Oliver. Why? What’s going on? What? Why is Cam Ward getting so many reps with Joshua Wy who we expect to get cut with Jaqua Jackson who we expect to get cut with TJ Sheffield who we expect to get cut? I mean, we’re not talking about reps with like the fifth fifth receiver, sixth receiver, seventh receiver that he might have to, you know, it’s good if he has some chemistry with them cuz they’re going to play at some point in the year. No, this is guys that will be either off the team completely or at most on the practice squad. Why are we wasting valuable training camp reps with with Cam Ward sharing the field with those guys? Like I honestly I don’t know that there’s an explanation you could give me that I would say, “Oh, that makes sense.” Like I think any explanation I would just say that’s dumb. Don’t do that anymore. Give him reps with the rookie receivers with Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett, and Van Jefferson. Don’t just don’t give me a chance. Give me a chance. I I agree with you that it’s probably stupid, but there’s no way it’s a coincidence. There’s no way it’s an accident or a mistake. So the only thing I can think of is rationale is you know I I think Josh Wy and Jaquan Jackson for example they’re probably right on the roster bubble like I yeah I expect him to get cut but it’s close like Jaquan Jackson might be ahead of Xavier Estreco at this point which could technic I mean he played ahead of him on Saturday this might be Jaquan Jackson versus James Procha for that final roster spot so uh he’s on the bubble and Josh Wy same thing in that mix for tight end three with with with DMR only thing I can think of is they’re trying to give those guys a chance to show why they should make the team or kind of separate themselves or make up ground even in the position battle. And maybe one of the better ways to do that is to give them reps with the first team quarterback. Hey, you want, you know, you’re you’re struggling with Yeah, Tim Bole’s not there anymore, but you were struggling with Tim Bole, yada yada. Go make something happen with the first I got dinged for a mellowism. That’s fine. You’re struggling to catch passes from Tim Bole. He’s not there anymore. But you can’t use that as an excuse, right? If you’ve got a a chance to make this roster, go make something happen with the first team quarterback. Show me that if we put you with Cam Ward, you can do something. Uh that’s the point of some of these joint practices, right? It’s not just to win the day. We would have liked to see them win the day, but it’s not just about that. It’s also to continue evaluating your team. And I guess for that period, they use that as an opportunity with Cam Ward at quarterback to evaluate some of the backend guys. I suppose that does make some level of sense. I still don’t like it because I just like I get it that you need to evaluate those guys and I also totally get why you might feel that Brandon Allen and Tim Bole who is no longer there were not giving them a chance to evaluate those guys. That that makes sense. But what’s the most important thing? The most important thing is that Cam Ward is ready to face the Denver Broncos in week one and giving him wasting reps with TJ Sheffield who yeah Josh Wy may be in competition. Jaquon Jackson may be in competition. You’re not going to convince me that TJ Sheffield is in competition. Um, so anyway, that just kind of irked me. I want to see Cam Ward succeed. I want them to put him in the best position to succeed. And running reps with TJ Sheffield isn’t going to help him week one against Denver. That’s all I’m saying. Uh, defensively, Titans uh, couldn’t stop a nosebleleed today. Is that right? Yeah, kind of. Michael Pennix was 13 of 17 on 11 on 111 according remember that is real football or as close to it as it gets in August. 13 of 17 on 11 on 111 and we were uh there was a Falcons beat reporter said five of those completions were intermediate too deep. So uh no the Titans had no luck stopping Michael Pennix and the Val and the Falcons passing attack on Tuesday and we got multiple reports. I mean, Drake London was absolutely cooking them. We saw, I mean, seven on seven or one-on-one, totally not fair. He mosses Armani Ruier on a rep. He was eating a quote unquote across the middle of the field. They couldn’t stop Drake London. They had a hard time stopping Michael Penn. They couldn’t stop Casey Washington where you could insert the Snoop Dog meme. Who? because Casey Washington caught a 50 yard touchdown on a play I believe two 52 yard touchdown on sorry for the two yards 52 yard touchdown on the play that was worth interrupting me 52 yard touchdown on a play uh 52 yards on a D touchdown where I believe it was Ammani Hooker was late getting over the bigger problem with that rep surprise surprise it was reported that Michael Pennix had multiple seconds in the pocket there was no pass rush on that play there was a pass rusher just wasn’t doing anything useful on that play. Uh and Casey Washington ends up coming free for a 52yd touchdown. Yeah, don’t don’t cheat Casey Washington out of those two yards. Who knows how many opportunities Casey Washington’s going to have to get those two yards. I mean, who the hell is this guy? No, I think Falcons fans are excited about Casey Casey Washington, but um with uh with uh who’s the guy that’s out and missing a ton of time for Darnell Mooney’s hurt. There you go. Um, not that it matters to Titans fans, but uh, yeah, the defense struggled to stop Drake London. There was also Bejian Robinson caught a wheel route touchdown over Cedric Gray in the seven period where he just apparently burned him. I wouldn’t ask Cedric Gray to cover BJ Robinson one-on-one in space. But if you’re a starting linebacker in the NFL, covering running backs in the passing game is part of the job. So, um, I think on wheel routes, it’s almost always a linebacker, right? And so I think James Williams has sort of established himself as the guy to beat to knock off in the linebacker competition and Cedric Gray is more competing for a roster spot than he is for a starting role. Um but plays like that one giving up a touchdown. Now granted, you know, this is starting quarterback to starting running back and linebacker three at best in coverage. So you hope that that situation doesn’t have to play out in a game. But if somebody gets hurt, Cedric Gray is going to be on the field and like you want to you want to see him make some plays in those moments. And I think the overall theme of the day as we as we’ve been talking about here is that the Titans just simply didn’t make plays today. However, on either side of the ball, however, there were a couple moments of them making plays. Now, Jeffrey Simmons reportedly had two wouldbe sacks and was basically unblockable according to uh the Falcons beat writers that were out there talking about the Falcons offense were saying that they couldn’t stop Jeffrey Simmons that the Falcons O line was struggling all day with Jeffrey Simmons. And now, if I’m going to take one super encouraging thing out of this practice, especially from the defensive side of the ball, it’s that Jeffrey Simmons, while the team may have started slow, Jeffrey Simmons is means business this year and doesn’t want to be on a losing team again, and he probably will be, at least this season, but he doesn’t want to be, and he’s giving it everything he’s got. So, it’s it’s great to see him step up with two wouldbe sacks. And then the other like only other notable play on defense was Cody Barton came in for a play that was either I think the report was would have been incomplete or a strips a strip fumble you know caused forced fumble um depending on the referee’s interpretation of like did he catch the ball? Did he possess the ball or was it broken up or what did he catch it and then it became a fumble? But those were the only two guys on defense that really did anything. It’s nice to see that it was those two guys because they’re two of your big team leaders but you’d like to see more just more plays. We just you just need more playmakers to make more plays. I’m going to boil this down to something pretty simple and it’s unfortunate but it’s true and sometimes you can oversimplify things. On offense, Calvin Ridley made all the plays, right? Won the one-on ones. No one else was winning one-on- ones. Made one of the best plays. Calvin Ridley, Calvin Ridley, Calvin Ridley. On defense, we had reports that the Falcons O line beat the crap out of the Titans Dline in one v one pass rush drills. Right. Well, Jeffrey Simmons was making plays, right? Calvin Ridley, Calvin Ridley, Calvin Ridley, Jeffrey Simmons, Jeffrey Simmons, Jeffrey Simmons. The Titans don’t have enough Calvin Ridley and Jeffrey Simmons. That’s why they don’t make a lot of plays when it’s not one of those guys making the play. So, uh, probably just a honest state of the union on where this roster is right now. They need more of those guys. They don’t have as many as they need. Um, when they’re not there, it someone else struggles to make a play, right? and you just need more more young guys to step up and take advantage of opportunities and make plays and that’s you what we hope to see tomorrow. But I think that pretty much covers the practice. Were there any other practice moments that we didn’t cover or should we just move on to the quick little news items we should hit? Uh Julius Chestnut had a fumble on 11 on 11. That was one of the wouldbe defensive touchdowns for the Falcons. The word is they would have scooped that up and ran it back. You know, this guy’s got himself an opportunity with Taj Spear suffering a high ankle sprain. is going to be out multiple. We haven’t actually covered that technically because after sat Saturday’s game, um we didn’t know the status yet. So, it’s a high ankle sprain for Taj Spears. We sidelineed for multiple multiple weeks. Um a guy like Julius Chestnut, who I didn’t have on my initial 53man roster, now has a chance because I think that could mean Spears starts on the puck. We’ll see, right? But, uh when you get yourself an opportunity to climb the depth chart, you got to make plays. He didn’t do that. He lost a fumble on 11 on 111. So, not a good sign for Julie’s chest, right? All right, let’s move on to some quick news. A quick uh word about Sinker beverages. I hope everyone attended the Sinker 40th birthday Jambburye, but if you didn’t, a reminder that Sinkers is still the premier wine, spirits, and beer store in East Nashville. They don’t just throw birthday Jamberee. They have a store, a brickandmortar store that you can go to with an extremely helpful staff who will help you find exactly what you need to make the perfect drink or drinks depending on how many people you’re trying to serve. So check out Sinker Beverages in East Nashville or find them on Uber Eats. They’ll deliver everything straight to your door. If you head to the Sinker, I haven’t said this in a while, Justin. If you head to the Sinkerbeverages website or check the link in this podcast description, you can join the In Crowd. Incrowd members get access to allocated wines and spirits, exclusive events, early access to barrel releases and more. Sinkers.com, check it out. Uh, sinkersbeverages.com. Check it out. Look at that, Justin. That was from memory. I didn’t even read that off a script. It’s like riding a bike doing the sinkers read uh for me at this point. But, um, let’s finish off this episode with some quick notes. So, yes, we talked about it a lot. Tim Boille. Um, let Tim Boil, well, maybe let Tim Boil in the pot of water while we get a new quarterback here because the Titans have cut Tim Bole after his dreadful 0.6 quarterback rating performance in Saturday’s preseason game and signed or old friend Trevor Simeon, who I think we speculated they could potentially bring back um when Will Levis went down. And uh they they do end up bringing Trevor Simeon back. saw some great photoshops of Trevor Simeon in a Titans jersey right after that news was announced. So, um, Simeon was at practice on Tuesday and reportedly did okay for a guy who just walked in off the street. Um, he was throwing some passes with some anticipation apparently. I mean, all I know is that Trevor Simeon probably gives the young and backend pass catchers a better chance to do something in Friday’s preseason game than Tim Bole did. Cuz as we said multiple times leading up to that, that Tim Bole was potentially the worst quarterback in the entire National Football League. Like we said that on multiple different podcasts and he kind of proved us right and now he’s no longer on the roster. So that was a big news. And then the Titans also activated Lloyd Cushenberry from the PUP list or the pup list. Uh and that those things both happened on Monday. Any comment? I mean Trevor Simeon’s definitely better than Tim Bole. The Titans still have a backup quarterback problem probably, but they’ve made an upgrade at QB3. Lloyd Kushberry is potentially big. He said that that’s the plan when asked about is he hoping to be ready for week one. Good to see him get back on the field soon hopefully. sounds like he’s going to start doing some individual stuff and try to ramp up from there. So, uh, sounds like he’s on the right track and, you know, maybe there’s a chance he’s under center week one, you know, extra he’ll have some extra motivation that it’s against his old Denver Broncos team. So, great to see that he’s on the right trajectory. Yeah, agreed. And then on Tuesday, we got more news. The Titans have waved David Benda and Anthony Origy. Origy waved with an injury designation. Uh, sad day for me and my Longhorn Hookham fandom. Sad day for Tavandre Sweat, you know, who played with David Bende at Texas and um I guess he just wasn’t cutting it. So to too bad, so sad. So long. Titans did sign two more linebackers to replace those two in Khiki Hudson. Did I say that right? And Blake Lynch. Um not not sure if those guys actually practiced on Tuesday, but they are officially now Titans. And I don’t know if they’ll stick very long, but this is again, as I said before, a position that I’m fully expecting waiver claims to be made at because it’s like the Titans are just trying out everyone off the street. Who can Can you play linebacker? Can you play linebacker? Anyone want to try playing linebacker for the Tennessee Titans? Come on down. Give it a shot. We’ll give you a practice. If you suck, we’ll cut you and sign someone else. Well, this room already didn’t have enough depth. And then Anthony Orgie, who I thought was going to make the team suffered a season ending ACL injury. So this was actually a wave injured designation for him. So I think he’ll revert back to IR when he goes unclaimed. So and he’ll spend the whole year obviously on IR. So really unfortunate break for him. Otis Reese didn’t play in Saturday’s preseason game. I thought that was really weird. I’d love to know why. Um because if he’s not linebacker four, I mean I don’t know who is. And and don’t even get into the linebacker five territory. If they keep a fifth, it would be like a Curtis Jacobs. They’ve got Amari Bernie on the roster. Obviously not satisfied with Benda. They cut him. Now they bring on two guys. They’re just, you know, throwing at the wallet at linebacker to see if something sticks. Yeah. And that and that’s not a great strategy, but it’s kind of all they have right now. And I guess fingers crossed that Cody Barton and James Williams stay healthy this year because otherwise you’re going to see guys on the field who are going to give up plays. They will get beat because they just simply aren’t good enough to be starting level NFL players. Um, couple other little things. Jaylen Harrell did not practice on Tuesday. Matt Landers did not practice on Tuesday. Legius Sneed is obviously still on the pup list. And Brandon Allen apparently got like stepped on or kicked in the leg. Had to leave practice, went inside with a trainer midway through practice, and then came back out with stitches. So, uh, tough toughed it out. Good for him. Um, I know some Titans fans may have been like, “Oh, a new QB, too. Brandon Allen’s hurt.” But no, it’s just a minor little cut that he had to get stitched up. Yeah, not a big deal there. He came back and I think he only did sprints after practice was essentially what he returned for. But hey, was good to see him out there in general. The fact that he could do sprints with stitches in his leg is pretty impressive actually. Absolutely. Yeah, it’s good to see that he was able to come back and avoided anything seriously. All right, there you go. We recaped Tuesday’s joint practice with the Atlanta Falcons. As Justin said earlier, we will be back to recap Wednesday’s joint practice with the Atlanta Falcons. No promises on the timing of the release of that podcast. I have a pretty busy workday tomorrow and this Falcons practice schedule is kind of Like they don’t practice till 10:00 a.m. Eastern time in Atlanta. What’s going on with that? That’s a very late start time. Also, just the whole thing is weird. No Titans coaches spoke before or after practice. I think it’s the first practice since like I think it’s the first practice of this entire year that nobody that Brian Callahan or a coordinator did not formally speak to media. So just a weird situation all around. But Brian Callahan will talk to the media tomorrow morning and Cam Ward and maybe someone else a selected players it says. Um but at least Cam Ward will be speaking tomorrow after practice. So, we’re going to hold off on recording to get some sound from that. Um, or at least react to what they have to say. Again, I have a busy day, so not sure when we’ll get the pot out tomorrow, but it will be out recapping that practice. And then Justin, are we going to do a Thursday preseason game preview? Your call, we can if you’d like to, and then regarding tomorrow’s show, Wednesdays, as Graver said, it will be out on Wednesday. Just don’t know if it’ll be quite as early as it was today. But, uh, we’ll have a full full recap from the second and final day of joint practices with the Falcons. So, make sure you are subscribed to the channel. Remember to like this video, drop a comment below. Anything that concerned you from practice, air it out in the in the comments, and Justin and I will get in there to either confirm that you should be concerned about that or explain why maybe it’s not as big a deal as you think. Until next time, thanks again to Sinker Beverages. Y’all stay safe out there. And Samuel L. Jackson says, “Tighten up. A Broadway Sports Media production.

Justin Melo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Justin Graver⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are back to recap the Tennessee Titans first of two joint practices with the Atlanta Falcons. To start, we discuss the concerning lack of urgency from the Titans before hitting practice notes on the Titans offense, defense, and finally, some roster news.

0:00 Intro
2:04 Titans Lack of Urgency
14:37 Titans Offense Practice Notes
29:01 Titans Defense Practice Notes
35:09 Titans Roster News
40:45 Wrap Up

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