 Welcome to season 18 of Titans All Access. With Amy Wells, I'm Mike Keith, still here. Glad to be back. Glad to be back. Mike Keith, you are a three-dimensional human. I had almost forgotten. It's nice to see you not in a square. Mm-hmm. I know. It feels good to be back in our spot. Well, we've got a lot to do on this particular program, including Coach Dave McGinnis here to talk about the defense and he knows more about defense than any man alive. We're going to ask the Titans players what they learned about themselves in quarantine and then we've got a double shot of Taito LeWon, Nissan Insider where we do a little talk. And then I've got a surprise for Taito LeWon in another segment. He's a media mogul. I want to see if he can be a broadcaster. We're going to find out. Ooh, that's got to be entertaining. I feel like Taito LeWon is always up for a good surprise. He's going to find out. But what you're going to find out in this segment is that Mike Vrable is still fired up about football. Spoiler alert. I don't think anybody's surprised by this news. Not at all. Not even a little bit. Okay. In this unusual year we're having with the unusual training camp, Mike Vrable has still found ways to get his message across, going really everywhere on the practice field to make his point. Watch that in this, Wired for Sound. Turn that shit up, stretch. Our keys. Effort, finish, detail. Understand how we have to practice. The goal is to come together as a team. Okay. No more silos. No more individual. Now we're coming together as a team, Jay, on all three phases. That's our focus today. Good. Here we go in the huddle. Get on the fucking ball. Get on the ball. Okay. Here we go. You got that? On the whistle. This is pro football. Complete. Finish. I'm working. That's the way to use your speed, Derek. Little buddy. Just wait for that tackling drill on Monday, little buddy. Who's the right tackle? Yeah, he's right there. We drafted one. Not cover four. Not cover four. Different. Cover three. Let's go. We don't get fucking tired. At least not me. Here we go. Reload it. Reload it. Let it go. That hit. But if I can do that, then you guys certainly can do that. Like I expect that. So if you can sprint your ass back here to the ball and make it second and 11, you got me? Talk. I need water. I can't drink all them calories. I hate this whistle, too. That's it. Nice job, David. Nice job, Nick. It's why he wants to be a Navy seal. He loves pain. Take the free yards and turn up, man. Break a tackle, right? Got him. Got him. It's always a between Arthur listening to what I say and then uses it against the defense. Okay, guys, it's evident here that we got to continue to work on our conditioning. We come out at practice at the beginning. We're gunning. Okay, that's how it goes. We can't have these lulls in the game. Build a team, Arthur. Here we go. Team on three. One, two, three. Good stuff from Mike Vrable. He is like that. 24-7, 365. It's impressive, the level of consistency that he has. Being such a high-level intense dude. Now, the veterans are used to him. The rookies, however, it takes a little time. Like, say, second round pick Christian Fulton, a defensive back from LSU. What's Christian Fulton like as a player? Well, let's get a scouting report from his secondary coach in Baton Rouge. Here's Corey Raymond. The thing that made us kind of recruit him that he was a ball hoker. He had a lot of picks. I mean, he was a guy that made a lot of plays. He just kept growing and growing. And, you know, so I'm running track because a state track meet, you know, would be here at the time. I think we could have, you know, go see the meets. And then at the time, he just, you know, just kept sending as a football player. As he started growing to his body, you saw him being more, you know, strength-wise out there in the field. That made him keep going. His IQ has always been good. He's been a football guy. I wanted to learn a system that was really a good asset for him to have for him that he kept learning football and it kept making him better. Also, what helped him is just to work at things he did off the field. He kept working. You know, he's been running. He's doing that now and he's working on Saturdays. It's the same thing. And also, it's just a structure that we have here for guys to get better at every time, every day. He's able to process stuff from playing off the ball. He processes well, reroute combinations. He does a good job of doing that. He's anticipation. What they're going to know is he's real quiet. You want to know he's in a room. He's going to be real quiet. He's a really, really quiet person. He's going to be a real solid player, a guy that's going to come in and work very hard. You know, he's going to blend himself in well with the guys that they have over there. And he's going to be a guy that's going to do the right things on and off the field. Welcome back to Titans All Access. I'm joined by Titans Radio's very own Dave McGinnis. Coach Mack, there's a lot to talk about in this Titans training camp. And I want to start with Jeffrey Simmons. A lot of people have been watching him going into year two. What have you seen out of him throughout camp? Aimee, the one thing that I noticed is he's more comfortable. And the reason I say that is, you know, when he started playing, first of all, he had to overcome the ACL injury. Then he had to wear a brace. You know, he was not comfortable wearing that brace. And so to now he looks much more comfortable to me. The other thing that looks to me is he's much more confident. He understands what's going on now. He not only came in last year wearing a brace in the middle of the season, but he also didn't quite know what was going on. And it takes a while to learn that center guard triangle. So I see a much more comfortable player this year. And I see a much more confident Jeffrey Simmons. Speaking of second year players, DeAndre Walker missed his rookie year. He's getting a lot of snaps at outside linebacker this year in year two. What has he done to impress you? Well, the thing that I like, he looks to me, he's gotten stronger than what he was when he first came in here. The other thing is he can't get too many reps in practice. I mean, all the reps that he's absorbing right now are going to do nothing but benefit him down the line. They're playing him on both sides of the ball, which is really smart. They're playing on both sides. It ends the line of scrimmage, which I really like. And just watching him, he looks very comfortable day to day to day. So I like his progress. Last year, I thought, beginning with the second week of preseason, he was getting ready to make a move. Then he got hurt. I think he'll start making those incremental steps now. Jayon Brown and Rashawn Evans have been a nightmare for the Titans offense. They've showed up every single day and been making plays. What has stood out to you about their performance? Just their comfort zone with playing with one another. They are so familiar with each other now. I pointed out a play to you during the scrimmage at the stadium. As to where Jayon, because he recognized a set, he moved his alignment up about another half yard. Rashawn backed up a little bit. Jayon shot. Rashawn was able to come over the top. Those types of relationships for guys that play behind the line are very, very important. They have to be able to communicate without talking to one another. I like the way they're working together now. Malcolm Butler missed the second half of the 2019 season with a wrist injury. He's back on the field this camp. What kind of an impact has he had on that secondary? Well, Malcolm Butler is a very physical corner, and that physicality gives some energy to the defense. The other thing that he brings, he's a veteran player, and you can tell that he was eager to get out there, you know, after his injury last season. You can tell that when he started, he had worked all year to get ready, all the off-season to get ready for his moment, but his physicality is the biggest thing that he brings, and he understands what this defense is. When we have him on the field and a dory on the other side, the defense is clicking. Let's stay in the secondary for a minute because Christian Fulton, the second round draft pick, has already started to make an impression out in practice. What does he need to do to secure a role for himself? Well, I think he's going to have a role, but what he's got to do, Amy, is he's got to get involved with the defense mentally. He's got to understand because this defense, especially in the back end, does so much pre-snap disguises, he's got to get in sync with everybody else. He's got the physical and requisites to play, either outside or inside. He's got to get mentally tuned in to a defense that's so multiple that he's got to be on the same page as everybody else. All right, Coach Mack, let's wrap this up with one final question. What does the Tennessee Titans defense need to do to take the next step in 2020? I think they'd probably like to be more consistent in the red zone with the defense this year. You know, they had some fabulous stops in the red zone, especially goal line situations towards the end of the year. I think that throughout the season, though, they would just right outside of the top 10 in scoring defense last season. I think that they'd like to tighten up their red zone defense this year consistently week one through week 17. Coach Mack, you are the football guru. Thank you so much for being here today. Guys, Dave McGinnis is on Titans Radio. You can catch him pretty much all the time. There's a lot more coming up on Titans All Access, including the Nissan Insider with number 77, Taylor Lawan. Stick around. First Titans All Access of the year, you have to have a big guest to open the Nissan Insider. Nobody's bigger, literally, figuratively. Then three-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle, Taylor Lawan. Welcome to Titans All Access. It's so good to see you. Electrosite to be here, Mikey. Thank you for having me. It feels good to have us back together. It's good to be back together. Interesting off-season for you, daughter number two, correct? Yep, I'm officially a girl dad. It makes me a little closer to Kobe status, but very, very lucky to have a healthy daughter and she's healthy, mom's healthy and very, very excited about it. You made it clear in one of the media sessions that you wanted to take on more of a role as a leader. And a lot of people, I mean, that really got picked up all over the place. And the source of a lot of discussion. Were you surprised that people jumped on that the way that they did, discussing how Taylor Lawan as a leader would look or becoming more of a leader? Well, I'm going to give you a quick spoiler alert. It's not going to look much different than who I am now. For me, it was like, you know, I can still be myself and help guys like Isaiah Wilson develop, even help guys like who are older than me, like Dennis Kelly and the position he's in for this football team. So, you know, it's taking every day, step by step, not being a distraction, being in the penalties and be a better leader is the overall goal, but it's not about where it sees. I've gone back and had a chance to watch the games from last year during all this time. We had the extra time. And watching different portions of the playoff games in particular, you and Roger Saffold were so dominant. And other guys on the offensive line too. But I'm just talking about the two guys playing side by side. I mean, you guys had an incredible run in the playoffs. Can you describe what that was like? It was almost like the two of you were so much on the same page, Sympatica, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. I think my entire life's as I've been playing, my entire offensive line career in life. It's been, hey, the offensive line needs to be a cohesive unit. It needs to be one. It needs to be the same. That was maybe the first time in my entire life that I felt like, wow, this is really something that's gelling and there's not any wrinkles. It's like smooth. It's to the point. I knew what Roger was doing. Roger knows what I'm doing. And it showed. I mean, I appreciate you saying those nice things. And we don't get accolades. Watching Derek get the rushing title last year was an incredible accomplishment for us. And to take that into the postseason and have the run we did, it's really special to have that kind of chemistry with the guy that you play right next to and you rely on so much. It was a beautiful thing to watch. No doubt about it. Now, you want to see more of that going into the season in Denver in a couple of weeks. Take me through what needs to happen the next couple of weeks for this football team to get ready for the season opener on Monday Night Football. Yeah, well, I mean, obviously a lot of things need to happen. We need to be, we've got to be smooth. We've got to know, we've got to be good in and out of the huddle. Right? If we're good in and out of the huddle, it gives Ryan enough time. He's got, Ryan has so many things to look at on a defense where the safeties are at based on the play, all this different stuff. Ryan, to get us in and out of plays is super important. That's one thing that us as an offensive line can help with myself especially is getting up to the line and getting set, like those kind of consistencies that we really went into in the post-season. So now it's how do we get our foot steps down, how we get our timing down. Let's make sure you don't get the pre-season game. So it's going to be those old college jitters of going to that first game, like, hey, it counts right here. You know, we have our 1% boards in the offensive line room and that is us, hey, how are you going to be better at 1% every single day. And that's what we need to focus on. Can't wait till Monday Night Football in Denver. What an honor to open the season on Monday Night Football. Titans have never had a chance to do that to open on Monday Night Football in Denver. The last game of kickoff weekend as a player, coach, broadcaster, we're all excited. It's going to be an awesome time, man, and it'll be even better if we can come out and figure out the way to score more points than the other team. He is the three-time, three-time, four-ball tackle, Tatl I. Going to be four. Let's make it four. Let's make it four. That's our man with us on this edition of Titans All Access. We got a lot more of the show. Amy Wells rejoins me after this. We're back together again. Amy Wells, Mike Keith here on Titans All Access. We were not together for four months during quarantine. What did you learn about yourself during quarantine? I don't handle time well, Mike. I don't do a great job. I need to be busy, so I do a lot of cooking. Really? To keep myself busy. That's nice. There you go. What about you? I learned I like being alone. Sorry you're back. No comment. What did the Titans players learn about themselves? What unusual things did they do? Let's find out. Patience. We don't control everything like we think. Things that are out of our control. You just have to let it happen. You have to stay patient. Just continue to grow in your own way when things don't go your way. What I've learned through spending time with quarantine this year is just it's great to have family time. Great to be able to come together and it's a lot of time to think to yourself and get to work. I probably needed a little bit of this. A little bit of time to sit, learn, reflect and just be more comfortable with myself. To appreciate life itself and what you have in front of you and the people that you have around you. Spend a quality time with yourself. Get to know yourself and being able to adapt to the new normal to make it better for yourself and anyone else too. Never take any time for granted. Every day we step on this earth and every moment that we have you want to take full advantage of because you don't know when it's your last. Value your loved ones. Spend the most time that you can with your loved ones because no day is promised. I got a lot of family time and it was unbelievable. Spending time with my daughter, my first daughter, when it's just indescribable. It's unbelievable. Man, I think I became a better dad and husband. Just go fishing or something like that. I like to ride ATVs. I'm the type of guy, I don't need no one else to do something fun. I'm really like a documentary type of guy. I like to watch a lot of documentaries. But I start picking up more books and actually reading more books. That's something I'm very interested in. You know, financial education, spiritual growth books and different things like that. Well, I went fishing for like seven days in a row and I didn't catch anything. You know, I'm a competitive star. I say I'm gonna try this, this eighth day and I went out there and caught too bad. So, 2020 has been crazy. I think no one really saw a lot of these things coming, especially COVID. So, everyone has been able to take a step back and learn what's truly important. The people around you was truly important and be ready for anything. You never know what life's gonna throw your way. It's not a matter about what happens. It's how you handle it and how you push through and learn from it. So, I wish everyone the best as we finish out 2020. Malcolm Butler's fish story, one of the all-time greats. Not exactly this big. It was not catching a fish for multiple days. Why would you admit that? Well, I mean, why not? He's an honest man. He's very honest. I think that's good. Yeah. I support that. When you turn 30, you become very honest. I understand. I do. That's what I have experienced. Yeah. You know who's gonna find out some honesty? Oh. Taylor Lawan. He's gonna find out honestly if he's got what it takes to become a broadcaster. Watch a surprise number 77 and see how he does next on Titans All Access. I thought it would be good. Taylor Lawan certainly figures to have a future in some sort of communications when his playing days are over. And his playing days probably aren't over for several years. But could he be a broadcaster? Probably. I think so. Yeah. I think he could do it. He's very entertaining. Well, I wanted to see just how good he might be. So when we finished the Nissan Insider, I threw him a little curveball. Whoa. I get more questions about Taylor Lawan than any other Titans player. And one of the questions that I've gotten consistently for quite a while is, do I think Taylor Lawan is gonna have a broadcast career? And I know you do the podcast and it's great, but are you also gonna have a broadcast career when it's over? And, you know, I mean, quite frankly, Dave McGinnis does an amazing job on Titans Radio, but he won't go forever. Are you thinking you'd like to call games at some point? Is this you officially saying you want to work together someday, you and I? Well, I mean, maybe. And would you mind just trying it out here with me on a play? Would you mind being the color commentator for just a second? And let's just have just a little try it on Titans on. You know what? And I didn't go into these things before and I said, never do it again. But for you, Mike, Keith, I'll give a long shot. So let's take a look. Let's do the Jacksonville game last year. It's the Titans against Jacksonville here in November. Oh, so it was a good game. It was a good game. Well, of course. Early third quarter. Are you ready? I am ready. Now, where am I looking for this thing? Okay. I think you're just looking into the monitor. Oh, into the monitor. I think they're gonna show the play here and I'll set it up and then you take it. All right. Goal at the one. Tana Hill under center. Tana Hill drops back. Fakes it to Derek Henry. Toss a little up to who is it? That's Dennis Kelly. Mr. Seven won the undertaker. Popping out the beers to the boys. A good catch by 77. Pop it, crack it and take it down. Oh, it tastes so good when it counts for six. 13-3 Titans with the extra point pending. Let's take another look at it, Taylor. Why did this work so well? It worked well because when you look at a guy like Dennis Kelly, you never think he's gonna be the guy to catch the ball. Little did they know Titan in high school. Great fake by Derek and helping out. And sure enough, Tana Hill looks up and that ball is just sailing right to the big guy's arms. Does a good job. A little bit of a body catch could do a little bit better with the hands. Overall, we'll give it a 4.5, but that ballspin makes it a little bit better. Toss them beers out, Denny. Let's see how it tastes. You're pretty good at that. I'll tell you what, you served me up a little bit of a softball there. I appreciate that. I got nervous when you said you was gonna do something there. How'd you think he did? I think he did pretty good. I'm impressed. He tried to be the play-by-play guy, though. Well, I mean, at some point, maybe he could be a play-by-play guy. You can't do it forever. You know, Zach Streath in New Orleans left their offensive line and within two years became the play-by-play announcer. There you go. Maybe he's got a future. Good job, Taylor. Hope not here. Next week on Titans All Access, the Nissan Insider is another big man, only on the defensive line. Big Jeff himself, Jeffrey Simmons. Our friend Jim Wyatt is going to be back in the studio. I believe he's talking about the Tennessee Titans offense. And Kevin Byard has become the spokesperson for the United Way of Middle Tennessee. A Kevin Byard United Way feature, always a good thing. All that and more next week on Titans All Access. For Amy Wells, who I'm very glad to see you. I'm Mike Keith. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time.