The OTP | Covering Four Downs from Preseason Week 1

Published Aug 12, 2024, 2:26 PM
Mike Keith, Amie Wells, and Titans Radio's Rhett Bryan cover Four Downs in the latest edition of the OTP, presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans

This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans in the Game of Health Coverage. Farm Bureau Health Plans is the MVP. Tennesseeans have relied on their unmatched rates, coverage and service for over seventy seven years. With Amy Wells and Rhett Bryan of Titans Radio the ever reliable one. I'm Mike Keith. Welcome to the bet MGM studio. A preseason game is in the books and we've brought it back because she's back. It's the OTP Four Downs. This is a show. If you are new to the OTP, if you've just become one of the ot people in the last year, welcome well which by the numbers most of you have. Yeah, and thank you.

We're happy here.

We're very happy here. We used to do this on Mondays, yes after games. We would go through four Downs, and the feedback we got was actually quite fabulous from people. They were wonderful about it because like, oh, yeah, I hadn't thought about that, and you know, it's something where we take the game apart, kind of look at what's happened and what's to come. And I get to be a game show host.

You do because I came up with the game are you contributing? Are you a contributor?

A contributor in this It would be kind of like Alex Trebek chiming in on the questions. He asked the questions and sometimes he just gives the answers to.

Well, yeah, he was a very smart man.

He was a very smart Do you ask yourself and third person, would you like for me to what is what is world economics?

Mike for three hundred? What? Thanks Alex? Okay, So we're going to get on with four downs here now that we've explained it properly. First down, who was your player of the game, And, much to Amy's chagrin, I've already said that no one can pick Chance Campbell, the linebacker who had nine tackles, a sack, and the game ending interception. And I said that because that's the person most people would go towards, would be Chance Campbell. He played very well. Yeah, everybody understands he had a really good game. Brian Callahan on Titan's radio after the game was effusive in his praise, which I thought was quite a tell based on the fact that a lot of times coaches will say, yeah he did okay, but I'm sure there were some things on. Now He's like, no, he stepped up and he really got a chance to play a lot of football and did well.

Statline didn't lie first of all, leading tackler, interception, quarterback, sack. But in an opportunity, I think he had his best game as a Titan preseason, regular season, right, I mean, he you know, because he just hadn't had any opportunities.

They got hurt last year. They thought he would come on and develop into a backup caliber linebacker, maybe even a guy who could push for playing time last year, and then he gets hurt and it's just basically a lost year for him, and so he stepped into the breach. And you know what's really happened is Jack Gibbons and Kenneth Murray are the first two linebackers, and I don't know if that's going to change, but somebody else has to get in there and be able to take reps because the chances of them playing all seventeen games not great. That's not generally how it works with people who have a lot of contact in this league. And so Garrett Wallow, I mean, he was really playing well and he was running with the twos a lot. He's out for the year with the torn pack. Then you've had some other injury. Cedric Gray has been banged up and so he is not getting it chance to take part. Luke Gifford went down on the opening kickoff with a concussion in the game against San Francisco, So suddenly somebody was going to get to take a lot of snaps early, middle, and late. And it was Chance Campbell.

Yeah it wasn't. I mean, he took coach's point rose to the occasion. He did exactly what you need to do when you are trying to earn a spot on a professional football team, and that's make big plays and make sure everybody's talking about you the next day. And that's what we're doing.

That's what we're doing. So Chance Campbell off the board as player of the game.

I don't like you making rules like it.

But it's my game. Did you come up with your own game?

The game within the game?

Okay? Now, all right, that's fine.

That's so that's Merrett Brian.

Since you are our esteemed guest technically in the Snickers hot seat, because you are the guest, who is your player of the game from the Titans seventeen to thirteen went over San Francisco.

Well, because you took Chance Campbell out of it, I'm going with the Amy Wells answer.

I've got two.

Right off the top. We've been doing this thirty seconds.

Breaking the rules, Rett Bryan, Yep, right off the top.

But I think these two should be mentioned seriously. And it's you affectionately called them the Jacksons last night and Kiarras and Jaquan Jackson in the returning games men, I mean they helped set the table. Those were two of the touchdown scoring drives right there. Really nice work by both of them, and both of them have had nice camps.

You could make the case that those two players are battling for one spot because you don't need two returners per se, because they're gonna I think they're gonna use a lot of people on kickoffs during the course of the year, and they didn't use several guys on kickoffs in the game against San Francisco that they could have used. And yet these two guys might force you to keep them both because Jakwan Jackson is that sneaky guy and Kierras Jackson and run run As. Coach Mack likes to.

Say, well, and having two guys who have skill sets outside of the returner role where they can be plugged in is helpful.

If you get to seven.

Yeah, I'm not roster mathing yet, I know, but I guess we need to.

Well, you've got to start to think about do you get to seven receivers? And when Brian Callahan made the comment in his postgame press conference that he said something about on game day.

Five or six got to make you go, well, some of the.

Media immediately jumped to, wait a minute, does that mean you're going to keep seven? And it's like, not necessarily, but the other I mean, you got to think about Kyle Phillips, and you have to think about Mason Kinsey.

Yeah, there's a logjam at the slot receiver position.

Well, and Mason's thing is he can play all three spots. He's been able to mean he's been in five years, so he has the wherewithal to be able to play any of the three receiver spots. And he has some returnability and he certainly didn't hurt himself against San Francisco with the way he played. Is he your player of the game?

Makers, is not.

My player of the game? Different Mason. Actually, Mason Rudolph is my player of the game. And I know it's kind of the vanilla choice, and I recognize that. Why do you say that, Well, I mean the quarterbacks.

The player of the game, good one.

But this team has been looking for a reliable, really solid backup quarterback that's a veteran for a minute. I think that's something that this team has really needed, is somebody who is a proven performer, who can learn the offense quickly, who can be a leader who knows what they're doing. And Mason Rudolph came in and showed that he is as advertised. He can. I mean, he can make the place, he can run the offense, This can go really well. He is a great guy for that spot, and I think he showed that in this game.

If the tight got into a situation where Will Levis was lost for a very extended period of time, do you believe Mason Rudolph could lead the team to victories to the point that say Garner Minshew did in Indianapolis a year ago.

Yeah, I think based on what we saw last night, I think that's exactly what this team is looking for.

And yeah, I think he could do it.

Mike.

He did it in Pittsburgh down the stretch last year.

Well, I think, and that's the standard I think Ren Carthon wanted in going and getting a backup is if will Levis is not able to play, we need to have another guy who not only ensures that our season isn't sunk, but that we can go win. And I think to your point and the way he played at the end of last year, he showed it. I mean, Mason Rudolph has developed. Brian Callahan has been very up on him, very excited about what he does. He's been excited about all three quarterbacks. History will tell you too.

I mean, think about this, if you have known O'Donnell in nineteen ninety nine, there's no way that the Titans get close to the playoffs and try to make a run. That was, you know, just short of being magical. But I mean, because you know Steve McNair is banged up and has the back and all that, he does a great job.

With that four and one right team starts one to oh Steve McNair, it's announced the next day needs back surgery in Los Angeles, going to miss six weeks, and the Titans go four and one with Neil o'donald at quarterback before Steve McNair comes back after the bye and then the team knocks off the Saint Louis Rams to get to six and one on Halloween. That's a great point, you know. If you'll remember too, the Titans signed him. I believe the date was July the twenty fourth. It was that late that they brought neel o'donald in. Wow, you know my favorite neel o'donald's story.

What, Mike, Can I.

Share this with the OT people please? So it's the early days of Titans radio. Obviously you know where. You know where I'm going with this. Let I do go. Okay, So it's the early days of Titans radio. And we went to visit a radio station I'm not gonna say where, and the guy who was the host of the morning show is no longer with us, and we liked him. We liked him very much because he put our games on and we were just so very appreciative. But we went Larry Stone and I went out during the bye week and we go in to be on this guy's morning show and the guy said, right off the bat, he goes, I got a bone to pick with you guys. This is the way he talk. I got a bone to pick with you guys. It's like, well, okay, you know, I mean we're five and one. I mean it's gone pretty well. He goes, I'm just gonna say, if y'all ain't gonna play Neil McDonald at quarterback anymore, then I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna be rooting for this team. Larry and I are trying. You know, obviously his name is Neil o'donald, not Neil McDonald, And that was the way he said it too, like old MacDonald has a farm and so. So he continues on with this diatribe about Neil McDonald has led this team and everybody believes in Neil McDonald, and we are we're trying desperately not to laugh because you're like, what I mean, you really can't correct the guy on his own radio show.

At that point, he is Neil McDonald.

He's Neil so so Larry's making the argument, and Larry, being ever the professional that he remains to this day, he's like, well, he's like so and so again, I'm not going to say his name because I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Well, so, and so he goes, Neil o'donald is has done a wonderful job. And Neil O'Donnell is a tremendous player. And Neil O'Donnell was brought in to be the backup Steve McNair. When he's healthy, he's going to be this team's quarterback. Just lays it down for him, just totally gives him the chance to just totally pick it up. He goes, Larry, you're very smart, but don't tell me about Neil McDonald never went in one year and out the other. Well, no, I don't think it went in. I don't think he I don't think he knew his name was Neil o'donald. Sorry to throw that in. It's it's a favorite story, though, really good. We went outside, and I mean we laughed for forty five miles to the next so hard at one point that I had tears streaming down my face. That's awesome, all right, second down, top, Oh, No, I've got to do my your game. So but you made was the Jackson's Yep, Amy's was Mason Rudolph. Mine is the dynamic kickoff. That's my player. Of the game. Wait a minute, the dynamic kickoff.

Kieras at the seven to the ten, to the fifteen, to the twenty, to the twenty five to the thirty to the thirty five to the.

Forty, stays on his feet midfield forty and he is finally all rounds.

As he gets into and inside the thirty yard line. They'll say that's where he stepped out at the thirty sixty three yards for Kieris.

Jackson, that's not a person I didn't say it had to be a person player.

Yeah, it's an element, all right, proceed I love it. I'm not allowing it.

I love it. I love that we have kickoffs and kickoff returns again. And I was four taking the kickoff completely out of the game because I was so tired of seeing touchbacks. That's one hundred percent true.

That is true.

It's not because I didn't like the kickoff. And I understood the safety part of it. I understood it one hundred percent that it was not a safe play, and I'm four player safety, but I was not for watching kickers see how far they could kick it and seeing guys in the end zone doing this.

You were tired of touchbacks.

That's not a play. That's some guy to it. It's a formality. It's some guy at to driving range. And it was disgusting in the Super Bowl. I mean, that's what it looks like, just guys trying to Instead of guys trying to hit the ball as far as they could at the driving range, this was just kickers kicking the ball as far as they could. I did not want to see Harrison Butker and Jake Moody do that in the Super Bowl. What thirteen times sounds there were no returns in the Super Bowl, this great game, and yet they found this play and they're gonna have to tinker with it. But it's an it's a football play. It's not junk. It's not quirky, it's not you know, it's not all goofed up. Again, I think I think they're gonna have to get into the thing a little bit about is it the twenty, is it the thirty? Is at the forty? The live ball thing, obviously in the Jacksonville preseason game was a big deal. Ball went into the end zone. The guy thought because it went into the end zone that he could field it and then back up into the end zone and that it would be a touchback, but it's a live ball. It was a safety, right, So I mean there's there are little things with it that way, and I get it, and I get it's not traditional, but remember guys used to play without face masks. I used to play without helmets. Yeah, I mean the football used to be round. The game is ever changing.

So yeah, you are pleased.

That was my play play of the game, the dynamic kickoff.

Well, I want to change my player to the jumbo tronk.

That's what we're doing second down. Top thing that stood out about the Tennessee Titans, Amy Wells.

The tempo of the offense. Okay, and kind of the variety of the offense. I think everybody walked away, everybody that I talked to anyway after the game said, whoa look at that Titans offense. It looked different. It looked fresh. Things were moving. You saw a variety of plays. I mean, in terms of first downs, it was really kind of balanced, whether they were achieved via passing the ball or running them. Like, it was just a really different offense. It was kind of zinging around, which I know is not a football word, no.

But it's true. And mind is very similar to yours based on the ability to convert third downs on offense. Yeah, they had a lot of manageable third downs. They if they needed six yards, they ran a play and got seven yards and kept the change.

Moving cause there were variety.

Coach Mack made the point on Titans Radio consistently about that this wasn't just going to be a deep shot offense. It was going to be a chain moving offense. So the tempo, the variety, the ability to convert third downs. Because when the Titans had gotten really special offensively from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one to three years, they were really good on third down.

Yep, you have to be.

Because they had the versatility to be able to be good. In the last two years, that's gone away. They converted thirty four percent of third downs a year ago, but so much of that comes from first and second down.

Yeah, I mean, you have to be able to.

Be putting yourself in good positions for third down. So you have to have a lot of things going on. But the amount of people that are able to get involved in this offense, and I mean, we just saw a preseason rather vanilla offense, but you still saw that there's a lot of things that are happening and a lot of people that are getting involved, and this is new and exciting for the Titans, and I'm just very excited about that stood out to me.

My top takeaway was the improved techniques and things under the tutelage of Bill Callahan. This offensive line good one and in all three sets of guys throughout that entire ballgame, just think about it. One importantly, nobody touched the quarterback. There was no penalties on the offensive line. There was one in the fourth quarter for illegal formation. That was Bryce Oliver who left his guy uncovered. So there's no penalties. And I mean we go back to the third down conversions, all these things, they're a major part of that.

Well, and remember this too, to take your point a step further. Holding is always one of the points of emphasis in the preseas. I gotta knock the rust off the officials. Dude, yeah we're gonna call Well, they call virtually every hold in the preseason based on the fact that they want to go back and be able to show it to the teams. Okay, you you know, John, you can't do this, Bob, you can't try this, and that goes to the technique because so much of what the call ends up being is the perception of what the official thinks he sees. And by the way, this is Brad Allen.

You had three accepted penalties with Brad Allen's crew in the first preseason game.

That is incredible, amazing.

That might be the player of the game. Thanks Brad. Keep it moving there. But they didn't have a holding penalty. No, and that's not to say they won't. But if you if you know what they're gonna call, don't do that. You know, if you know they're gonna think they see a grab or a jerk in this way, shape or form, then then don't do that. And so learn a technique where you're not showing that. Look, there gonna be moments you get called for holding, if you miss your block and your quarterback is gonna get smoked, you're probably gonna tackle a guy. Yep. I mean it's gonna happen, But don't give it away or don't put yourself in that position initially because your technique is something that allows it. That's a wonderful point.

I just I kept looking through the night and then of course looking through the game book. Again, I'm like, yeah, there was no penalties, there was no quarterback sacks. I'm sure there's plenty of things that Bill Callahan is pointing out and saying, hey, we got to do this, we got to do that. That's what a coach does. But my goodness, what a difference that man has made on that group of young men.

Well, the offense and Bill Callahan, because i mean, get the ball out of the quarterback's hands, so the offensive line doesn't need to protect for five seconds. Now it's kind of a two way street in all of that. And the Titans offense before, by design, was not as fast an offense. It was, you know, the play action deep shots and and it worked until it didn't. And now you're changing to something that's that's quicker, and I think it definitely helps the offensive line. That's really good. Red Hey, Titans fans, Seat geek makes it easy to find tickets so you can be part of all the touchdown celebrations. Whether you're buying or selling tickets, Seat geek is the place to do it. Seat Geek is the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. The most disruptive idea in ticketing a ticket that works, expect the expected seat geek.

It's an exclamation point, seat geek. We'll work on it.

No, that's just geek.

No, wow, dork, you've got let some gunnouncer.

Okay, but an exclamation point.

Well I did know that. Listen to how that sounds.

Seat geek sounds excited.

Yeah, we're not getting on the ride at Disney.

We're excited for seat geek.

I know, seat geek.

No, you say it like you're in trouble.

Geek. Professional announcer. All right, Amy, who surprised you as we go to third down?

Not a person, It's a thing that surprised.

Ah, Okay, The question was.

What surprised you? Okay, hmmm, anyway.

What surprised you? Yep, okay, write that down.

Professional announcer, got it wrong. What surprised me? And this is as a sideline reporter. The offense and the defense switched bench sides, which has completely baffled my mind. And this is on the heels of offense and defense switching jersey colors in practice also messing with my mind. So this team is just determined to confuse me, and I understand. I talked to Ermon Foster after about it, because when he came back up, I ran into him coming back from the field, and I said, did it flip you out that everyone was on opposite sides, because that.

Would have really like thrown me.

And he said, well, I was surprised when I came out of the tunnel and there were offensive linemen looking at me because usually they were on the very far side of the field. And so we were talking about that, and he said, as somebody who played in the league for a long time, he would probably know that. With new coaches, sometimes you're switching the juju and everything is different. And this is a new team, new staff knew everything. Let's just change it. Let's switch sides. See how we feel. Let's switch jersey, see how we feel. You're getting different mojo going. It's a new everything. And I get that, but my brain cannot.

You don't like change.

I don't like change, and I don't like I mean, it's so consistent.

Can we go over all the things you don't like? No, I don't.

People, I think we need to do that. What else don't I like?

I don't like dancing?

I don't I don't like dancing like on the internet.

No, that's one thing. Does that bother you? I think we just need to establish some things.

Okay, what I don't like, birds, I don't like. I mean, there's a lot of things I don't like. Creatures of most kids, I don't like a certain I don't like all of Yeah. Sure, there's a lot of things I don't like. I don't like it when people wear.

Really really short shorts to practice.

I wish that really bothers you.

Yeah, that one really bothers me.

But this bothers me because this has been consistent for a thousand years. Everybody has been in the same place wearing certain colors, and now it's backwards.

It's too hard. Okay, I don't like it. That's what's surprised me.

Rett Bryant third done what surprised you?

And in fairness, the question was what surprised What surprised sure was I go back to your excitement over the kickoff rules. I was surprised that it was as clean and well executed as it was, which speaks to both special teams coordinators in the first preseason game as far as execution, and also going back to Brad Allen.

I'm like, well, there's going to be flags on this stuff.

I just we've seen it in you know, a short sample size window in the few games that you know have happened prior to the Titans first preseason game, and mostly it has been clean. But you just didn't know, you know, there's so many layers to what's changed. But I was surprised that it was executed so clean.

I think the play itself is going to be much less penalized though, with the players being closer together. I think the blocks are going to be cleaner. I think the tacklers are going to be in better position, less reckless, abandoned. Yeah, I just think less opportunity. There will be some holds, and there will be blocks in the back, and there will be face masks and horse collars I'm sure at times. But I think it's a good football play. And in the games that I've been watching, I've thought the same thing. Can you tell him for it? You are?

Really?

That makes me happy though, Yeah.

And Mike's right. I mean it's a meaningful play. It's a very meaningful start to finish. It's usually a meaningful play. But I mean, you see Kiris Jackson go sixty three.

Yards righting, It's fun Yeah.

That's a ballplay, man. That's why we like football. Guy running with the ball, breaking a tackle and then somebody from San Francisco tracking him down, and that's a really good play. What surprised me is the overall enthusiasm for Andrew Rupsig in the offensive line. And here's what I mean by that, And I mean this is as a great positive. Ramon talked to me at practice the other day about Rupsige and how much he had improved technique wise, and I thought, you know, in watching him some you know, specifically after Sadik Charles was making his decision to retire, I'm like, is Rupsige in this thing? And he very clearly is. Brian Callahan shouted him out again at the postgame press conference that Rupsige continues to do good things. And I say this, I mean, he started two of the last three games a year ago at right guard when Brunskill got hurt. But it's it's as if it's very similar to Mason Kenzie. Mason Kenzie's in this thing. I don't know if he's gonna make the fifty three, but he clearly has his best chance to make the fifty three for the first time since he got here. The initial fifty three, that is Rupsig does too. And you know, Mason Kenzie comes out of Barry College. Rupsige comes out of Coal for Stockton College, which is an NAIA school. And when I saw it initially, I think for six months, I was convinced it was somewhere in California. I was convinced it was somewhere in northern California. It is not. It is in Canton, Missouri. Yeah. You know they've liked Rupsigs since he got here. The former staff liked him in his progress. But you for this whole off season, we heard all these names being thrown about. Oh here, these are going to be your five and whatever. His name was never mentioned as a possibility, and not because people were not doing their jobs. It's just like, is he a continuous practice squad guy? He's in it, man, I mean he and Raidn's I think you're gonna have a battle. Let me tell you what else I like about Culver Stockton. What Because I was looking up their website again just to make sure I had some of this right. They're the Wildcats, okay, so they have their own official Wildcats podcast or whatever. They actually looks like they have multiple podcasts. Good job, but they refer to them as podcats.

Ah, that's pretty good.

Culver Stockton, Bravo, Bravo for the podcasts Podcvo for the podcats.

Almost as good as the otp but not quite.

I mean, shoot, if we could do podcats and make it work, I'd do it in a second.

I'd fully imagine how great that meeting was.

Listen, guys, listen, let's have an idea.

Let's call it. And you know, everybody in the room went, that's really dope.

It went then it stuck.

But then they're walking around going, you know, it's pretty good.

That's how we got ot people.

It was going to be otpons.

Yeah, and I said no, because you're better than that.

You're better. That's a derogatory connotation, you think, So you're not you're a people. A lot of people thought it was kind of funny.

Yeah, I know, fun you know.

To the fan, he's like that, come on, man, Yeah, yeah, but.

They are only like sixteen people at the time.

Yeah, we could call whatever we wanted.

They all called us on our home phones at that point until.

The episode coming out, and it was my mom and Neil McDonald.

I'm just not gonna follow this team if he's quarterback. Quarterback, I think he bought a farm. Now, Neil McDonald has a farm. I'm telling you, though, keep an eye in seventy six and it's a good story. He's a good player. He was really always meant to be a guard. They thought that's where he would end up because he's not the long arm guy. I guess he's six six three twenty fives, you know, something like that, but he doesn't have like the thirty six inch arms. That's going to be a battle and there may be other Lachavious Simmons may get in that too. He played a lot of snaps at guard and has done some good things, So again, you know that. To me? Starting last week, when Ramone said what he did, I was like, well, I was kind of thinking, I don't know anything about offensive line. I just know who's rotating in. And I thought to myself, are we seeing what we think we're seeing? And we are so good for him and good for Culver Stockton. What or who are you watching over the next seven days?

Red Brian The player that I am watching over the next seven days is linebacker James Williams.

Okay, And.

First of all, he has a fascinating story as to you know, how he made his decision to go play for the University of Miami. But you know, he was number one safety prospect in high school that year coming out.

I was a top fifteen player and he was a consensus five star, right, which is crazy.

And so you know, his mother is tragically passes away when he's a little kid, and you know, the story he tells is that he had offers everywhere because of how well he was sought after. And when he heard the story that his mother, who used to work at the University of Miami when she was pregnant with him, would say, my little boy's going to play for the Hurricane someday. He heard that story, that was the end of it. And you know, certainly had a nice career there. But he's six or four going on sixty five and now two hundred and forty pounds and there aren't many safeties that play that. I mean, mel Blunt for the steel curtain defense wasn't that big. He's pretty close, but just seeing him go to that next level in the middle level of the defense, and in talking to linebackers coach Frank Bush about him. There's a little twinkle in Frank Bush's eyes, like, Hey, you know, I think there's something we can do with this guy. I think he can I think he's we can bring along. And Lord knows he's physical now he can thump. That dude can thump. Had quarterback hit a couple of tackles in the first preseason game.

Hey, the Titans did well on the two seventh round picks the third day period.

Yeah, the third day of the draft from Carthon and that staff.

It's exciting. It is now because Brownlee had a good game after having had really good practices and Jakwan Jackson had the punt return, and yeah, that's a good point. Cedric Gray is really the only one we haven't had a chance to see enough of yet, and I still think he's going to end up being a really good player.

But James Williams comes out of the same area of Miami Gardens, Florida, as as Jarvis Browne. They've known each other since they were kids, plaid against each other.

Hey, it's serious ball, man, I mean the ball down there and the prospects that have come out over the last forty fifty years. It's crazy. Who's from there?

You heard ran Carthon tell us the other he said, these guys are just different, They're wired different, they're mature like to These guys come in here, pin their ears back and go for it. And that's exactly what I think. James Williams is going to be a very intriguing player for the Titans in the next three or four months.

All right, Amy Wells, fourth down, Who or what are you watching over the next seven days?

Well, Mike Keith, I'm going to be watching Chance Campbell.

Oh and I can say that because it wasn't the first question, Well it was the fourth.

That's well played, thank you.

But really, I mean all of the momentum in the world is on Chance Campbell's side right now. He's had great practices, He's gotten a lot of opportunities to get reps.

He just had a great game. Now what do you do with it?

Because we've got the Seahawks coming into this building and these practices are going to be intense and there's going to be a lot of opportunities to show what you can do and show that you're consistent and show that you're legit. Now, is your time to do that, chance Campbell. So that's who I'm going to be watching to see if he can continue to grow, continue to solidify himself as a part of this defense and earn that spot well.

And as Mike said earlier, he's he was kind of the forgotten man in all this because of the injury last year, right, And he's top of mind now to your point. And if he can stack those days, as the guys say, especially against you know, Seattle team's coming in here Wednesday and Thursday, and then you know obviously a preseason game Saturday, you're right, balls in his court. He can make the most out of the situation.

I'm watching to Andandre Sweat, Oh that's a good one. Cool. He has done a really, really nice job. What has impressed me most about him is not missing a rep, not missing practice, playing twelve snaps against San Francisco, which was all he was going to play, but staying on the field looking like a guy who can be a three down player, who can give this team thirty to forty snaps a game as a starter, running with the ones. I love the way they have handled him. They've said, you're playing, we're not going to play the funny games where we do the oh, you've got to work your way up. It's like, nope, we expect you to play and play now, and so here we go for the next seven days. I want to see him keep it up. I want to see, you know, keeping it up in the two practices against Seattle. Don't know if he'll play in the game. I would guess if any of those guys do, it would be him, because Jeffrey's not going to play. I think we know what Jeffrey Simmons looks like. I think I think we're good there. I think we understand. But I'm talking about the defensive line. Several the defensive linemen showed up. KeAndre Colburn showed up, and I think, you know, having Colburn show up was a big thing for this team. Davidson showed up, mclenda showed up. Joseph Day played some, but they were going to get him out of there to and Andre is one of the most unusual prospects the Tennessee Titans have ever had. We have never had a player like this in twenty six seasons. We have never He reminds me some of Henry Ford from back in the early days. But a chance to be even better than Henry Ford. Oh yeah, and Henry Ford didn't have that. No, and he's not like Albert Hainsworth, because Albert wasn't a nose You'll remember what a fit Albert threw when he went to Washington for all that money and they made him a nose tackle. And Albert is incredibly unique. But this player is so much bigger and plays this position potentially next to jeff I mean he can be he can be a program changer, so to speak, if he can keep this up. A couple of things on too and Andre, when I'm thinking about him, and you're right, the Titans have never had a guy like this because that guy typically has been in Baltimore or New England or Pittsburgh.

Absolutely Pittsburgh. But when I think about how well he has started in this camp and how well things have gone, you said two of the three names that immediately come to mind that I think contribute to that one is certainly Jeffrey Simmons to his mentor and former Longhorn teammate, and KeAndre Coburn that's big, and then Tracy Rockers position coach. I think those are three mainstay forces in his life, and I would probably put Ran karth On in there as the people.

The greatest champion, right, yeah, right, I mean he he was the great champion that that got him here. The story was told they went down to see him the week before the draft as a group to sit down with him to make him understand this is what it is, and it's a job. And if you work with anybody in any field, you love the people who are just there every day that you can you don't want to, but you can sort of take them for granted because you know they're just going to show up. There are people that you work with in any field who are spectacular and you're like, oh, so and so's really got it, and then the next day they have a hangnail and they're not there or they don't feel like doing the work and whatever. That's so much of what the NFL is. Yeah, the guys who show up every single day. It's like we're talking about a Mason Kinsey.

Yeah, it's the consistent people.

Nick Westbrook, A Kine, Jeffrey Simmons. Sometimes it's great players, sometimes it's good players. Sometimes it's mid level players. But the people are consistent workers always get the benefit of the doubt and have a chance. And if Tavandre continues to become that, especially at twenty two, he's going to have a very special NFL career.

Well, and you're right, because it's not about yesterday and it's not necessarily about tomorrow. It's just everything that happens today, and just keep stacking and moving. And you're right, and you gave some excellent examples. Nick Westbrook. Akine is one of the gold star members of the Consistency Club. I mean, it's amazing what he does because he is you call.

Me the ever reliable. He is ever reliable, it really is.

But Tovandre, I think that's when I talk about him having those people championing for him, he has. He doesn't have an accountability partner.

He's got partners plural.

That's true that I believe all in their own way are showing him that classic how to be a pro.

And if he takes to that and continues.

To take to that, that is you know how good that Titans OTP people, do you know how good that's going to be?

Oh? My goodness, pretty good? WHOA. Well, it's funny because I got to do something really fun last week. So Serius x MNFL Radio does a training camp tour and they go to all thirty two camps, and I have gotten the chance to do some work with them in the past and appreciate Nick Pavlatos and all of those guys, Tom Crests and being really nice, and they allow me to host the Titans training camp look, and Charles Davis was here and so we got to do that together. And we were talking to Jeffrey Simmons, and one of the discussion points about Tracy Rocker with Jeffrey Simmons is the fact that he's coached in college recently and he has a son, Kamar, who obviously just got through playing in college. I think, and Jeffrey agreed that he gets this generation of players. Tracy's been around a while, and Tracy was a great college player in his own right. And yet you could say, as he gets close to sixty, oh, they didn't do it like that in my day and whatever. But then there's some of these guys who have gotten that the younger people of today are different than the younger people of ten years ago, particularly at that position, because you've got to be able to push that button and connect in that way. And Tracy Rocker is a guy who's already done it with Jeffrey Simmons and you since it's happening with Devandre Sweat too.

Yeah, And that's a very interesting point because I think that that's one of the things that separate good coaches that are really able to connect with their players from good coaches who don't necessarily always have the locker room with them. Sometimes it's not that you're a bad coach or a bad teacher or anything like that, but there is something about connecting, especially with this younger generation of player, their whole worlds have been different, and they have been so dramatically different as players. There's such an emphasis on mental health now that there wasn't even five years ago. Oh, there's such an emphasis on the way that you take care of your body. There's all of the sudden money that they've been exposed to, well before anybody else normally would have been exposed to money, and all of the hardships that come with that. It's just a different world. And being able to connect with guys and understand what those challenges are for them, how to channel all of that stuff into being productive on the field, is so important.

Well, and so many of the non skill position guys have now gotten a lot of publicity in their life yep, because of social media.

And that's never happening ever, because it.

Was always about the quarterback and the running back and the wide receiver and occasionally some want at a different spot. But now all of these players are used to having had attention and they went through COVID. Yeah, and that created kind And if you have kids of that age, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was a different set of challenges. They reacted differently and just various components of what is important. And this is not even and you make such a good point, this is just in the last five years. This isn't even kids who are late twenties. No, there these are early to mid twenties who've come out of the last five years. And to be able to connect is huge.

It's in my mind, the differentiating component between good teams and great teams across the NFL. And it sounds like such a ridiculous thing because it doesn't even have anything to do with the talent of the players. But the ability to make that connection, especially with the young players, I think is going to end up being a separator, and that's why we're seeing so many coaches getting hired for these jobs and you're going, really.

That guy, huh, that seems odd.

He doesn't really have the pedigree we expected, or he doesn't really have the mentality that we expected. Or this is why they can connect with those peopure. They can talk to them, it's just different.

They can get it out of they can.

Make a move when a lot of us really can't.

Your point is so valid, and.

Really can't are you talking to all of us easy the world?

Your point is so valid though, because when I think about and you're right about Tracy Rocker, I think Bill Callahan is the same way. The best coaches are the best communicators, and the first communicator checklist thing you've got to have as being a good listener. So they're already good in their own skill sets with those things, and I think they just take them another layer and apply them as to trying to make that connection. Who maybe three four generations younger than then, but I think they have that inn thing in them to do just that.

I mean, telling a kid to not look at social media during football season is not a legitimate request any longer. It can't have it doesn't exist for and a lot of those reasons are monetary reasons. These kids are making money on social media, so they can't not. Okay, so how do we navigate this knowing that they are going to see the things that are being said about them, they are going to be engaging with this content all of a sudden. I remember so clearly why I started in the NFL. Guys were not supposed to be on social media. Guys were not supposed to be on their phones, they were not supposed to be tweeting, They were not supposed to be engaging in that at all during football season. And it was something that we, like the team kind of monitored because it was a way to focus in and not be looking.

At that stuff.

That's a great point.

But now it's not an option.

And that's one example of a thousand of just the ways that these coaches have to completely change the way that they are engaging with these guys because it's a different world. And so for a Bill Callahan or for Tracy Rocker, or I mean even Brian Callahan to understand, all right, these are things that are going to be a part of our lives. How can we adjust to use them as strengths as opposed to distractions. In every facet of what these guys are doing, it's different, and it takes a special kind of coach to do that well.

And also, you have to understand what's important to this group. And even if it doesn't make sense to you based on how you were raised or just what you thought or whatever.

Doesn't matter.

You've got to be accepting of it to the point that you say, Okay, we've got to make this allowance to understand that, and you find a place to meet in the middle. Yep, guys, we would appreciate it. If you don't tweet.

In meetings, yeah, please tell you that.

If you don't video this, but we know, hey, let's take a selfie on the way in from practice. Surmise absolutely, because to Amy's point, they're gonna be on their phones. They want to see what other people are doing, they connect with other players, and they want to have that ability to market themselves in this way. And if you think that's wrong, if you think that's self indulgent, if you whatever, Okay, I got that. But this is the world, this is where we are, This is where we are, and they have an understanding the brand part of it and getting that is a is a huge factor to and Andre Sweat is a guy who is well known on social media because he's a good guy. He's a big guy, he's a really good football player. He's a lot of fun. But that's part of his life and that's not going to change because some coach from nineteen, well really, some coach from twenty to fifteen comes in and says, let me tell you some son, this is not going to happen. I don't care about that. Neil McDonald. McDonald is good.

It doesn't work anymore.

Well it's not. It's not even functional. You find the compromised part of it, or else you just don't.

They just turn it off, right, those players, they'll just turn it off.

They want to know why. And for us, not so much for you, but for us, why was because I said so, that's what we heard.

Do as I say, not as I do, don't ask right.

And and that wasn't necessarily as bad as it was. That's just where it was. I mean, ask why. I mean you wouldn't think to ask why now if you're in a position of leadership really anywhere, but certainly on an NFL team, You've got to be prepared to talk about that, yeah, and talk about the why. And it's really interesting how this entire organization, over a period of several years has come to that. And they started years ago. Oh yeah, I mean there was an understand because ownership gets this, yes, yeah, and so it's not like it just happened in this off season. But this group that they've hired is a continuation of that process.

Absolutely.

I mean, to your point, this is something that Amy Adams Strunk we've seen around this building has recognized for a really long time. And that's why even the amount of resources that she put into redoing the cafeteria, redoing the locker room, redoing the right room, redoing all of these spaces where players were or it's part of it and making it it so beautiful was that guys.

Were seeing what other team's facilities looked like. Because it was on social media.

Guys knew that, like, hey, I play for the Titans, and these are our resources.

What in the world do the Jets have? What in the world do the Jags have? What in the world?

And so guys are starting to share those notes, Guys are starting to talk, Guys want to be proud of where they are. They want to be putting it on social media. They want to be It's part of the affinity for an organization, and Amy understood that from the jump, and that's one example. But there were millions. Could we do a whole podcast on just this?

I think we just think this podcast is six thousands.

I mean we really well he's part of that generation.

Yeah, he is sleepy? Right? Was fun? Yes? Four downs again? It great?

Doesn't it feel good?

Why don't we do We're going to do another OTP between now in the Seattle preseason game, but we could do this again next weekend after that?

Can we do it after Seattle? Guys, I think we're bringing it back.

I don't know.

I think we all.

I don't know that. I think it's happening with the Rules Show.

No, I don't think so. People like it. I like it for.

Rett, Brian and Aby Wells. I'm Mike Keith thanking you for joining us for the oh T