 A victory today gives the Tennessee Titans their 12th win of the season. That 12th victory means the Titans are the number one seed in the AFC playoffs. Sack! Kyle Peco! Tannehill stops, looks, looks, fireman is wide open. Berkser, touchdown Titans! Touchdown Titans! That's A.J. Brown. Touchdown Titans! Tannehill, he's buried, he gets away, he rolls to his right, he throws down Phil Westbrook and Keita Hololow. Fires, Julio Jodes, touchdown Titans! Finally, Julio! Hey, it wasn't pretty but we got it done man, number one seed, lockdown. All you did was get yourselves in the elite age, congratulations. You burned it. Just getting started man, keep pressing, take advantage of it every day from now until we go again. Win on three, one, two, three, win! Is the Mike Vrable Show. The first of what we hope are several post-season additions. The Titans win at Houston 28-25 to go to 12-5 on the season and clinch the number one seed in the AFC. The Titans have a buy this weekend. A lot of heroes from Sunday's victory but as we bring in the head coach Mike Vrable, I want to ask you about who I think might have been the biggest hero of the day at NRG Stadium Coach. The Titans fans, unbelievable performance. You could hear them all day long. Absolutely, they came early and they were out there when we came out of the tunnel. I think they enjoyed watching our guys come out of the tunnel and warm up, get a chance to get some autographs, to take pictures, whatever they wanted to do. That was impressive, that was fun to see. The fan base is peaking at the right time as you get ready for the playoffs. Having these games at Nissan Stadium, they have a chance to create an incredible atmosphere. They do, they have a chance to make it hard on our opponent to come in here and communicate offensively and be able to hear the snap count and when they're in shotgun and all those types of things and also bring our team a lot of energy and we have to play hard for them. We have to create some of that energy ourselves but I know our fans will respond. Great job by them at Houston and a great job by the Titans coming on to win this football game. Offense, defense, special teams all contributing. But first of all, let's look at Mike Vrabel's first of two six-packs and look at a chunk play down the field early in the ballgame to Nick Westbrook Akita. Yeah, I mean this is a lot of trust, a lot of confidence. You know, the Mike Linebacker is running with him. Ryan stands in there and you know, he's going to take a shot. You know, those safeties doing a nice job of coming in there and split safety stuff and you know, I think Ryan obviously has a lot of confidence in Nick going down the middle and Nick's toughness and the things that he's been able to do for us does not go unnoticed. Nick Westbrook Akita with a super catch right there. The Titans also get their 42nd sack of the season. Second straight week that Kyle Peco hits the opposing quarterback and knocks him down. Yeah, and this is an effort sack. You know, you could see early on he gets blocked. He transitions, gets into the pocket, you know, is able to come back in and get the quarterback. You see the guard come down on him there. He swims the center and you know, really two guys on him on that play and he's able to factor. We need some other guys helping him out, but you know, that was certainly a guy taking advantage of his opportunities. His snap count went up and his performance went in. No score after one. The Titans get on the board in the second quarter. Ryan Tannehill, the first of four touchdown passes. He begins with Anthony Furkser. Yeah, he does a nice job there, setting the route up. Ryan's transitioning, but there's a pocket. You know, I mean, Ryan, you could see not many times where a quarterback can turn, look one way, come back, set his feet, you know, and find Furk on the front line there. So really just nice job by everybody involved and taking advantage of really their mistake and dropping Furk along the front line. Furkser's caught a touchdown pass in each of the last two weeks. Titans get good run defense in the first half. This is a Monty Hooker, one of several Titans who ran to the ball. Yeah, well timed, you know, well timed blitz. I thought it, you know, good call, but his timing allowed him to come free and a good tackle there. And guys, guys obviously swarming and trying to help. Furk had taken down here. Titans limit the Texans to under 70 yards rushing in the win. Titans get two touchdowns in the last 134 of the half. The first one was to AJ Brown. Yeah, I think this, you know, we had Don Trell, you know, again, I thought the protection was there. Probably could have gone up top to Don Trell. Waited for AJ to clear the traffic. AJ, you know, gave him a good ball where he knew he would drop step away from the coverage. And, you know, there's Don Trell again, finishing longer than the guy with the ball. He turns and blocks his guy so there's not a collision there at the front pylon. That makes it 14 to nothing. The Titans defense does an outstanding job to get the ball back quickly. And then a 64 yard drive sets up this touchdown. Yeah, they didn't know another good drive there, another opportunity to double them up. You know, we weren't able to, and it's a good thing that we were able to put these points on the board at the end of the first half because we didn't come out very well. Nick Westbrook, Akina with a four yard touchdown catch his fourth touchdown of the year. And that for the Titans is our first six pack as they led 21 to nothing at the half. We'll take a look at what was to come in the second half with another six pack of plays. The Mike Vrabel show just getting started. Stay with us. The Titans needed some big plays to hold off the Texans on Sunday. They got them on offense and defense in their second six pack. We'll look at some of those big plays beginning with a sack for Jeffrey Simmons at a key moment, Mike. Yeah, that was huge. We were, we needed this play. You could see the pressure in the pocket and just affecting the quarterback. We need more of that and then obviously the well run game. Jeff coming in there picking the center drive in and that's a great way to finish there. He's really improved a lot and he's playing great for us. Eight and a half sacks on the year for Jeffrey Simmons. The Titans in the fourth quarter have their lead cut to three. Great individual effort by the quarterback, Ryan Tannehill on third and five. Yeah, too many guys standing around watching the quarterback. Thank goodness he decided to finish the play. Nick Westbrook finished the play and we had to have it. You know, we were, this was a huge play in the game. You know, for Ryan to be able to stay upright and finish, keep his eyes downfield and Nick to be able to secure the catch and give us some extra yards. The drive continues, but you face third and six at the 30 yard line. How about a little more? Anthony Firks are down the same. Well, I mean, this is a lot of trust. You could see, you know, those are tight windows. Those are tight windows right there. He knows and everybody knows they're going to get hit. Ryan gave him a good ball, a great ball and Firks able to come down, secure the catch and survive the ground. 24 yards to the six yard line. The Titans need to get it in the end zone, however, and it's the fourth touchdown pass to the game. This went to Julio Joe. Well, you know, Ryan just standing there like he always does, progressing through. Got a little leakage there. Collins, you know, was able to get some pressure on him. You know, Ryan doesn't flinch. He doesn't bat an eye. When he finds Julio comes back, progresses in his read and just had a nice day. Julio Jones with five catches on the day. Titans take a 28-18 lead. Unfortunately for Tennessee, the Texans come right back and score in the next two-fifty-six. So the Titans have to run out the clock. It begins with a pass. Yeah, we had to keep her on and, you know, be able to get. Ryan, you can see him moving, avoiding the pressure. You know, I like him, you know, with two hands on the football, pulling it through all those drills that we work on. And then A.J. here is strong with the catch. It's just going on the drive. And then the really good things to finish after that. The Titans pick up a first down on a great individual effort by Don Trell Hildiard and then come back with the flip play to put it away. Yeah, you know, we had some moving parts, some motions, some misdirection, and it just felt like the way that these guys were, you know, throttled up in there. I thought it was a well-timed call. And, you know, you can see Don Trell giving it up for the team standing bounds and being able to finish there with the clock running and everybody knew the situation and knew that that was going to be the game. Don Trell Hildiard nine carries 57 yards for the game averages 6-3 per carry and for his season averaging 6-3 per carry, smart football right there staying up and just a lot of effective play by number 40 Don Trell Hildiard. Yeah, plays on special teams and played some third down yesterday and was able to pick up a pressure and, you know, just taking advantage of every opportunity that he's gotten and he's helped us. And another fine effort by Deontay Foreman getting some tough yards for the Titans in the game on Sunday against the Texans. Yeah, we probably could have blocked a little bit better for Deontay. I'm sure there's some cuts that he'd like to have back, but, you know, give them credit. You know, I felt like their movement and their speed, you know, really played a factor in our just somewhat inefficiency at times to run the football. So big pass plays, some good things in the passing game overall. What did you like about what you saw from your passing game in Houston on Sunday? Well, I think that there were times where they took AJ away and then Ryan progressed and Julio was there to help us. You know, Nick Westbrook came up big, Furt came up big. I thought the quarterback, you know, distributed the football. I thought we protected well most of the day. I think it could have been better at times, but, you know, they're going to have some plays where they're affecting the quarterback as well. You know, I thought that we were strong to talk and the ball security and everything was good. They batted a couple passes down, which, you know, we'd like to not have happened, but I think it was a very efficient day all in all, throwing the football. Second half wasn't as good from your defense as you want to see, but in the first half you did a lot of good things. How do you build on that, Mike? Well, I'm not trying to build on anything right now. I'm trying to fix the miserable third quarter, our ability to affect their quarterback and cover, you know, rush. We got a lot of resources up front and, you know, we have to be able to come through and affect the quarterback when we rush the quarterback. All right. Time now for your favorite part of the show. I love it. It's Delta dental time. Can Mike Vrable guess? I know you love it, Coach. You're trying to build on this. I like that little snarl right there. Yeah. All right. We're going to go to break and see when we come back if Mike Vrable can guess this particular Titan. You got the one last week. I'm going to have to see that the whole break. Stay with us. Welcome back to the Mike Vrable show. Delta dentals, can you guess this Titan? I think Mike Vrable has this one. I don't know why, but I think he's got it. Mike, can you guess? It's not that easy. It's not easy? No, it's not easy. All right. Well, who are you going with? Nate Davis. Nate Davis, he said. Yes. Oh, yes. Look at that. It's kind of got a little snarl going right there. That's fake. They were telling me to pose. He's like one of the nicest guys you've got. He is. He is a super nice guy, good football player, quality human being. You know, he is. He is. He's been an unbelievable addition to our football team and watched him grow. And you know, it's just been he's improved each and every year, I think. And obviously he means a lot to this football team. You know, he's like that. That that bear you see at the zoo that that you're like, oh, look, that cute little bear. And then all of a sudden it's just like how he gets on guys and I mean, he gets on him and he can block him and he can move, move people out of the way. What about your five starting offensive linemen played every snap in the game in Houston? First time all year. That's happened. Well, I'll be. I don't know. I don't know how I'm supposed to react to that, but you know, we just try to have everybody available and I know that the guys behind them are ready to go. Sure. As it comes to that and that group got to continue to play well for us, you know, as we enter into the playoffs. When we come back, it's time for the Titans files. Amy Wells caught up with the mayor of Murfreesboro to talk about what was an exciting regular season for the Titans, but what's to come. Welcome back to the bet MGM studio. Amy Wells is always hustling for great stories for the Titans files. But this week the story is pretty simple. A win that gives the Titans a buy in the first round of the playoffs. One of the guys who's been the spokesman for this football team this year is the guy who calls the coin flip on the road, one of the captains, the mayor of Murfreesboro, Kevin Byrd. In this week's Titans files, the mayor spends time with Amy Wells talking about a successful regular season. Kevin Byrd, the Tennessee Titans won the AFC South. They are the number one seed in the AFC for someone like you who has been a part of this Titans team for a while, who's really seen the evolution of this team. What does this victory mean to you? It means a lot, man. You know, just understanding that, you know, we got guys on the team that's been in the league 10 plus years. Never had a number one seed. So I definitely understand the impact of this. I understand that these things don't come that often. So I'm definitely grateful, happy. We're definitely going to celebrate that. You know, going to this playoffs, man, it's just a good feeling that, you know, in fact, we have a first round by, you know, we're kind of already in the elite eight. Get to watch some playoff games next week and find out who we play. What do you do with that first round by? Because you don't know who you're going to be playing in that second round. Do you use that time to reset? Do you use it to rest? Do you watch all of the football games that happened that week? Yeah, I wouldn't say we necessarily reset. You know, I definitely think that obviously we get an extra week to get some guys healthy. But at the end day, obviously I watch all the playoff games or whatever, but it's really about keeping this thing rolling. Obviously, it's going to be sudden death, you know, win or go home type thing. So that mentality is going to be getting echoed throughout the entire building that, hey, you know, we got to win one game a week. So, you know, it's go time. Describe that playoff mentality for me. What makes it a little bit different than the regular season? Oh, it was a whole different mentality. I mean, even when you go out there in pregame, the warm-ups, the crowd, you know, the stadium's already packed out. You know, it's going to be primetime football. The whole country is going to be watching you. It's a new season, honestly. You know, when you walk out there for the game, you're going to feel like this is week one all over again. So, guys going to be juiced up and ready to ball out in primetime. Now, you didn't want to talk about it before the end of the regular season because everyone was really focused on the Houston Texans and what needed to be done. But the return of Derek Henry, having him back out at practice, hopefully being able to get him back for the playoffs, what is that going to mean for this Titans team? As a defensive player, you see this offense on the field fighting for everything that they can get. What is that going to mean? I mean, getting Derek Henry back, you know, at the perfect time in January where, you know, most guys are kind of banged up. Most guys don't want to tackle that well. And to have him out there, obviously being one of our leaders on the offense is going to be huge for us. Obviously, we talked about, you know, in the offseason, beginner to season, you know, having that three-headed monster. And I think at this point in the year, we're finally going to have all those guys healthy. So, you know, watch out for the offense, watch out. You were talking about the mentality shift for the playoffs. And that seems like something this defense is very familiar with, a mentality shift. The change from the 2020 Titans defense to the 2021 Titans defense is incredible. Just on paper alone, it's wild. The statistics and the numbers that the Titans were able to generate on defense in 2021, that had to have been a mentality shift, right? Absolutely. It started during training camp. You know, I think the guys really bought in, and it obviously 2020 definitely wasn't good enough. So, I think everybody came into this training camp with a mentality that we have to be better. Obviously, the guys that John and variable brought in from Danico to Bud, you know, all these guys that we brought in, Jack Rabbit, they came in and immediately bought in, understood the responsibility that we had to this team to make sure that we played well. And I think it kind of showed out every single weekend. Excited to keep it going during the playoffs. This is a really exciting time, Kevin Byer. You're so chill right now. How do you keep that level of calm going into this? Or is there a point where you let it fall just a little bit? No, I mean, honestly, just being the leader on this team is a lot of things to celebrate right now. But, you know, just like Kobe said way back, man, we haven't done nothing yet. The job isn't done. You know, our mentality and our entire focus on winning the Super Bowl, so obviously, it's a time to celebrate the AFC South, time to celebrate the number one C, but all it does is just put us in a good position. We still have to go out there and prove it every single week, because like I said, man, it's going to win or go home. So that's the mentality that we haven't done nothing yet. And you're doing it at Nissan Stadium? Absolutely. Hey, super excited to see all those fans. They really showed out this week in Houston, so I know it's going to be a packed out. We're really going to have home field advantage with the fans at Nissan, so definitely going to be looking forward to seeing those guys out there. What will he say this team needs to do? I bet rest is number one in some form or fashion. Am I right, Mike? Absolutely. You know, we're back to getting some mental and physical recovery and try to get as healthy as we possibly can. We need to be as full strength as we can going into these playoffs, and we have some time to potentially do that. You know, there's a fine line. We're going to have to get some work done. You can't just shut down for seven or eight days. We're going to have to work. We're going to have to mentally meet and challenge our players to improve mentally and also ground on the field for a couple of days and get some stuff done. All right, the second key, getting stuff done. That's got to be about fundamentals, right? Yeah, and we have some time to get out there and do some things and not prepare against an opponent, but just work on ourselves. You know, when you're playing very good football teams, which everybody is in the playoffs, it comes down to effort. It comes down to fundamentals. It comes down to details, and we have to be better in all three of those areas. Well, Mike, at least you get a breath this weekend. You advance in the playoffs without having to play, and that's a good thing. Congratulations. Congratulations to you. Great job. Mike Vrable joining us again this week, and we'll be back next week with another edition of the Mike Vrable Show for the head coach. I'm Mike Keith. We'll see you next time.