 On this week's Titans all-access left guard breaks attack on the five Derek Henry reaches a career milestone that would have seemed impossible just five seasons ago plus Not one but two Titans mic'd up as the Titans remain undefeated at home Titans all-access starts now Welcome to the bet MGM studio for another edition of Titans all-access. I'm Mike Keith Five years ago this weekend on December 2nd 2018 the Titans beat the Jets 26 to 22 Derek Henry did not start it running back that day and he had 10 carries for 40 yards and a touchdown Henry's performance was right in line with his 2018 season to that point less than he or anyone else had hoped but four days later in a Thursday night game with Jacksonville the king exploded for 238 yards and four touchdowns since that December night Derek Henry has been on a five-year run that ranks as one of the best in the history of the NFL over 70 games he has averaged more than 100 yards rushing per contest has averaged nearly five yards per carry and has scored 69 touchdowns on the ground astounding last weekend he crossed the historic 9000 yard barrier for how it was going for Derek Henry in 2018 no one could have seen this coming what we didn't know is that Henry was putting in serious work while he was going through his tough time and at one point in late October he looked for advice from one of the only people who had been in his shoes for Titans at 25 presented by Bud Light this is the conversation a conversation in exchange of sentiments observations opinions or ideas it's not part of the definition but sometimes a conversation involves advice advice that can be career changing advice that can be franchise changing Derek Henry and Eddie George had a conversation like that in 2018 and the results changed the course the arc of both Henry and the Tennessee Titans you know the story the leading rusher in high school history in newly florida the heisman trophy winner for the national champions at alabama the era parent to demarco Murray with the Tennessee Titans 2018 was Derek Henry's time to take the throne and then it all went wrong i wondered at that time how much longer Derek Henry was actually going to be a part of this roster that was a real question in my head i wasn't sure honestly at that moment who would trade for and what the Titans would be able to get but i thought he was on his way out of the rotation and maybe on the way out of Tennessee the story could have ended here it usually does the person who has been a star their entire life cannot handle failure and they give up but Derek Henry wasn't the normal star his football pedigree might have said royalty but his football heart beat like every other person who loved the game with a passion much like Eddie George so when things look their most bleak Derek Henry turned to the only man who understand he began a conversation with Eddie George and Eddie told him the truth i was very blunt and honest with him and and you know it was one particular play that they when they played the charges in london when he was matched up in the hole against a little smaller um linebacker and he elected not to challenge him but to try to outrun him and hit the home run he was easy tackle and i just challenged him to front the defender up your your best asset is your size you know impose your will and everything else will come and it was just the stuff that i needed to hear and um it was right after one of the games we actually played and one of the charges and he was there and um you know season wasn't going the way i wanted to and i was like let me call eddie you know because you know he's a premier back in this league thank you organization you just want to get his full movement really far and he shot me straight and i definitely helped it's pretty good for her you have to respect eddie george in that conversation right i think even Derek will will listen to eddie um because eddie walked the walk and i think eddie's honesty is what makes him eddie he comes from a place of love he comes from a place to try to help the man um and so i think it's easy to receive feedback from eddie that was huge because he said he swallowed his pride set it to the side and trying to figure out how he steps forward it's great and for eddie to have that honest conversation the impact that he has is because of that conversation now he had to go out and do the work without question it didn't happen immediately Derek henry ran with the titan scout team just to get extra reps the work paid off when his hometown team the jacksonville jaguars hit nashville for thursday night football in early december gives it to henry henry bounces it outside five ten fifteen stiff arm 20 25 30 40 stiff arm 50 40 30 he's on his feet big chase 2015 while the numbers have piled up he hasn't let it go to his head like eddie george Derek henry has embraced his role as team leader community leader and face of the franchise he is the pride of tennessee titans fans and has accepted that every move he makes will be scrutinized evaluated instead of becoming a shrinking violet Derek henry has blossomed to become a star to a level that no titan has ever reached well except for maybe eddie george Derek henry is 29 years old he's running hills he's doing ridiculous stuff in the weight room he's practicing every day and it's because he demands excellence in himself and excellence of his teammates lead that way every day it's often forgotten that there was a moment in time when Derek henry was on the verge of failure that fact makes his incredible five year run more impressive and it all started with a conversation and the humility to be willing to ask for help welcome back to the bet mgm studio as this week's edition of titans all access continues nfl films gets to mic up a team's head coach and select players throughout any given season in addition to what our internal staff captures each game so it's a particular treat when two players are wired for sound simultaneously as they were on sunday and now i invite you to listen up with duncan as nfl films had their focus on rookie quarterback will love us while we were following veteran wide receiver deandre hopkins on an overcast day thanksgiving weekend at downtown national tennessee welcome to nfl football all of these types of games when you're in them they're big big games just because you need to get the reward of what all the hard work is in this league and that's winning ball games the titans have won every ball game so far nissan we need to continue that today for a lot of reasons let's go get after today let's go here we go okay i got me okay i got you the fastest parts ever ran let's go all first get this thing going hey let's go first play first now i dealt to me didn't it doubled him essentially too he went live they had two people on me go run boy go run hey hey keep coming that way i'm gonna push them down keep coming good kicks they don't go catch play fake in trouble firing for a cock well he's got it at the eight a cock well to the five a cock will die hey good pass boy that's a touchdown they know what's coming who cares let's go let's go levis gives henry henry pounding second effort on the board there what good job boys good drive yeah i forgot yeah my bad guys i'm mic'd up i'll bring double donuts next week avril Lavigne my favorite uh pop star though for me to be washed up they show down me i'm trying to go on me with two or three people huh he's in trouble he doesn't know what he's here he loses the ball i got you here's henry left guard breaks the tackle the five six that far i told you he said come that way yeah i better call it time out folks kick is on the way takes to snap tennessee 17 carolina 10 win is win good good game dude i'm happy for you dude have you had enough of deandre hopkins on titan's all access i didn't think so after the break the second part of my interview with number 10 stick around for more titan's all access next welcome back to the bet mgm studio and titan's all access last week we visited with titan's wide receiver deandre hopkins about his career in football this week we give you part two of this interview where deandre talks about things other than football here's deandre hopkins in this week's nissan insider my cause my cleats is coming up and you will be representing uh the non-profit smooth that you founded with your mother it's done some very special things empowering women against or who have been affected by domestic violence safe to say this is a personal issue for deandre hopkins absolutely a lot of you guys know my mom was involved in the incident many years ago um and you know just found ways to to turn that that negative into a positive and this was one of them starting a smooth foundation to help other women who um could have been or was in a situation like that you know to try to prevent it and so uh you know it's something that definitely hits home for us all right so let me ask you about uh going back to college to finish your degree have you been surprised at how many people are fascinated by deandre hopkins going back to finish his degree at clemson i am surprisingly shocked you know i didn't think it would be a big deal i didn't know that going back trying to you know graduate or get a degree was a big deal but you know i'm just doing something that i promised my mom and my father that i would do it was just that simple really it i mean there are other things you want to do in your life and finishing a degree i'm sure is something important to you but it's still a big deal it is it is and uh that's a big deal because you know in my community now a lot of people make it to college and you know better yet graduate so for me i want to you know kind of be the person to set an example for for the youth in my community uh the graduate is important not just playing sports okay so it's in parks recreation and tourism management trip okay how many hours do you lack man i'm lacking a couple i probably got two semesters left that's not too bad it's not yeah nothing crazy what do you want to do with that degree uh well you know i've always been into country music i want to i want to throw and have my own uh festivals and concerts so that's my plan after football uh one of them to get into the festivals of country music uh you know alternative music uh that world yeah man what what sort of gets you interested in the concert festival promotion aspect of i went to a concert in south carolina where i'm from there was a small festival and it was actually like one of the biggest festivals where i'm from not the you know highest promoted but uh you know it was something for my small town for us to get a joy out of and uh you know it meant a lot to us locals having that little festival there and i'm just seeing everybody come out you know all the people who make IPAs and just you know all the locals who do all the little knickknacks in their backyard you know come together and i always thought that was cool as a kid you know how something like that can bring a community together but it's so impressive because it's clear you love the game and you take the game seriously and you put everything you have into the game but there are other parts of your life too the game is not your entire life fair very fair to say um you know i i like art i like ceramics um you know love music you know so uh you know man it's a lot it's a lot to me other than the game but uh football is definitely my passion to enjoy all of our interview with deandre hopkins we invite you to subscribe to the otp which is short for official titans podcast you get a new otp episode every monday and thursday night during the season subscribe today to the otp wherever you get your podcasts including tennessee titans dot com slash podcasts welcome back to titans all access from the bet mgm studio coach dave mcginnis is here from titans radio good to see you thanks mikey good to be here as always second go around with the colts upcoming the defensive front for the indianapolis colts really the front seven is just outstanding what makes them so tough their linebackers behind the ball are really really good players we highlighted xayer franklin last time we talked about him he's got a partner now in ej speed that is really starting to step up as a fifth round pick is really coming into his own in this league and then the forest but everything begins and ends with the forest but the forest but there's only six seven three hundred and ten pounds that's all he has five sacks and you look at franklin he has a hundred twenty four tackles that's the third leading total in the league but i want to touch on ej speed a little further so let's go beneath the surface powered by microsoft and take a look if you don't mind coach no you're first i'm first okay that is ej speed they're in a four man front here this is a four three front but they're not walked up into the line of scrimmage mike i want you to watch him on the backside hat and hands bang he is playing to the side of the three technique this is a three technique this is a shade here's our guy ej speed right here this blocking unit right here has outnumbered the defenders over here so somebody on this side if action goes away is going to have to be able to defeat a down block from a guy that's unencumbered hat and hands and get in the backfield excellent keen diagnosed player playing next as i hear franklin gives them two guys behind the ball that are excellent excellent players this next thing we're going to look at here this is 11 personnel right here on this side and what we've got here this is three whiteouts over here you've got a cut split so they've lined up in a four band front but you can see they've got some lurkers cj strout is trying to read which one of these guys might come which one of them might not and then they'll want to redirect it to where the extra pressure is coming from they do a nice enough job of bogeying or disguising this look that you're going to see what happens with ej speed all right let it go mike there's ej speed right there 45 on your screen there you see him coming they redirected the wrong way on top of the quarterback done so this guy is a guy they took a chance on in the draft and he's done nothing but develop along xire franklin to make this defense really really stout against the run and the pass so we see their challenges for a rookie quarterback for houston cj strout challenges this weekend for the titans rookie quarterback will absolutely trying to identify where he's going to be where they're going to come from and then also you're going to have to get hats on he franklin and butner to get a run game started that's a must in this game good stuff coach matt thank you mike keith dave mcginnis taking us beneath the surface powered by microsoft more from the bet mgm studio and titan's all access when we return it's time for the decision of the week sponsored by hughes and colman mike verbal made a critical decision with 625 left in the first quarter of sundays went over carolina with no score in the game and fourth and one at its own 30 yard line mike verbal didn't hesitate and he chose to go for it that fourth down conversion kept a drive alive and culminated in the titans first touchdown of a 17 to 10 victory over the panthers that's the decision of the week sponsored by hughes and colman it's time for my seat geek keys to the game titans play indian napless this sunday nesan stadium kickoff set for 1202 central time key number one is be ready for anything the culture six in five with a new head coach chain styken and so far he has been willing to go on fourth downs he has trick plays he's not afraid to line up people anywhere and everywhere to try to make something happen the titans must be ready for anything from chain styken and the colts on sunday key number two gather moss that's zack moss in the first game on october 8th moss rushed for 165 yards caught two passes for 30 yards so he totaled nearly 200 yards in total offense titans cannot let that happen again and key number three be firm upfront i'm talking about the offensive line indian napless has six quality pass rushers that they will rotate in the defensive front the titans can't just focus on one guy or focus on two guys they've got to block every guy who's in the game because they are capable of getting to will levis and be a disruption the titans offensive line and titans and backs must be firm upfront to protect will levis titan season ticket members a special reminder for you if you renew your season tickets for 2024 by december the 18th you'll lock in your price not only for 2024 but also for 2025 and 2026 that's right renew by december 18th and you lock in your price of your season tickets until the titans move into the new nissan stadium for more information call 615-565-4200 615-565-4200 and lock them in season ticket holders we'll see you sunday at nissan stadium titans and the colts will be on titans radio at 11 a.m central time with the award-winning titans countdown thanks for watching titans all access and we'll see you next time