 Welcome to the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Farm Bureau Health Plans where you are the plan. Farm Bureau Health Plans makes it easy to get the health coverage you need for less than you think. See how at FBHP.com. With Titans Radio's Rhett Bryan and Dave McGinnis, I'm Mike Keith. We are glad to have you with us from the Bette MGM Studio. And what I think is a very special edition of the OTP. Well the OTP is for the OTP people. That's right. And this is a prime example of that. It is a prime example. We ask you to visit, if you were a person who visited my Instagram account which is at 10 voice, at T-E-N-N voice. We ask you to submit your questions for Coach Mack because everybody always wants to know what does Coach Mack think about this? What does he think about that? I couldn't get through on Mac Talk. And so here on this edition of the OTP, we have placed Coach Mack squarely in the Snickers hot seat. And Rhett and I will be feeding him your questions. So here we go. I'm going to go first. After being at both the college and NFL levels of coaching, what do you think is the biggest difference from a coach's perspective? The level of preparation. You know, in college you're limited with the number of hours you can have. The National Football League, it's 25-7. Just the college, just the level of, not only preparation, but the level of intensity that you have with your players preparing. Because this is their livelihood. This is everything. And so all professional players want is what can you do to help my game? And they don't want a lot of verbiage. What can you specifically do to help me every week in my career so that I can prolong it? But just the intensity of the preparation is a huge difference. When you were asked to come on Titans Radio with Mike Keith, who was someone you studied on in broadcasting to prepare you for the role as color analyst? You know, that to me is a great question. Because really before Mike called me, I never really thought about doing this. And he didn't give me much time. We didn't have much time. Because I understand now the circumstances. But I was called on a Monday and as we were talking through it, I said, well, when do you need me there? And he said, well, we're going to New York Saturday. And I went this Saturday. And so I really didn't have a whole lot of time, you know, to do that. Since then, since then, I pay a lot of attention, you know, to the broadcasting and what's going on. And I know that he's not a play-by-play guy, but I've always been a huge, huge Jim Nantz fan, just by the fact of just how professional he handles what goes on. And so... We're talking about a gold standard broadcaster. But I mean, I think that's what Titan's radio is, is a gold standard. And so anyway, there you go. What is the best name of a play call that you've ever heard? I've been a defensive coach until I was a head coach. And then I was an assistant head coach, so I was in charge of all it. But defensively, when you have to call out the formations as far as they line up in, Kings, Trips, Speed, Flip, Left, X-Wide, Z-Yo-Yo Motion, Y-Flare. So what is that defense? Kings, Trips, Speed is 11 personnel. Because in the National Football League, some people use numbers, you know, 10, 11, 12, 20, and some people use deck of cards, ace, kings, queens, you know, flush, jacks. So Kings is 11 personnel. Trips, Speed means all three receivers on the one side of the formation, the tight end is X, he's on the wide side of the formation. On the Trips, Speed side, you've got Z, W, and Y. Yo-Yo Motion, okay, Kings, Trips, Speed. You've got Yo-Yo Motion that means the inside receiver from the speed side starts to the center and then Yo-Yo's back to get into what we call a nine ball stack on the three receiver side. That's what that is. Okay. Your question, Rick, Brian. Yes. Wow. How do you remember all that? That's an excellent follow-up. The same way you remember everything you remember, I mean, you've got to, I've done it for a long time, a long time. It's been my life and so, you know, that's how. I've been doing it a long time. Same way you, and you've got to, when I first went to the Bears, they didn't ask this question, but it was before we had computers so, you know, I was the linebacker coach, but I was also the defensive quality control coach and so, the playbook that we put together to incorporate Buddy Ryan's 46 and then Vince Tobin's defenses, you had to draw it all by hand. You had to draw it all by hand and then you wrote it out and then you gave it to the secretary and she typed it, you know, on that paper that made copies and then you ran it off, you know, on the machine. So, I wrote that whole thing. I wrote the whole thing and so when you do that, you learn it. It becomes that. Say that again one more time. Kings, trips, speed, flip, left, X, Y, Y, Y, yo, yo, motion. Isn't that a great example, as you repeat that, of why young players, rookies, have such a hard time coming to the NFL where they don't have play calls, especially the offensive players, they don't have play calls. They never deal with it. They just see courage on the sidelines and that tells them what to do. That's a perfect example why it really is. That's got to be brutal. It really is. And that is, that's a defensive version of that, you know, being able to talk about like on the headset, what are they doing, Mike? I got Kings, trips, speed, flip, left, you know, X, Y, Y, you know, yo, yo. Before we had all of these tablets and things, the West Coast offense is even more intricate than that coming from the offensive side of it. Wow. Mind blown. Mind blown. All right, this one, this is an excellent conversation at OTP to begin with. This is going to raise it a notch. Do you think NFL officiating is getting worse, better, or is it staying the same? Because I listened to you and Mike during Titans games and I always agree with your assessments on what's happening on the field. It's not as good as it used to be. It's not as good as it used to be from top to bottom. I think, you know, a lot of the best officials right now are in the television booth and you had some really, really veteran officials retire. And so people coming in, it's just like rookie players coming in. They have to learn the game. They have to learn the game and they only, you can't manufacture experience in any profession, but especially in this business because everything is so immediate. And that's why you see so many. And when I'm sitting up there with Mike Keith, I mean, he's always spot on. I mean, he can call out and tell you what the penalty is and how much they should mark it off and where the ball should be immediately because those are the details. And we've seen games as to when, you know, they've marked off 12-yard penalties and there's not 12-yard penalties on a 10-yard penalty play, you know, from... So just the administration of it, it's not as good as it's been. It's really not. Hey Titans fans, it's always game on with Duncan. So grab a coffee and kick off the action. Whether that's drinking a cup of coffee on your way to the game or grabbing one to go before watching the game at home. Duncan is always there to help you get your game on. Just like the pros, we need to be at our best come game time, which is why Duncan is the most important part of your game day ritual because it's always the best call for football. America runs on Duncan. Your questions for Coach Mack, you submitted them to me at 10voice, my Instagram account, and we're passing them on. Titan's immediate football question comes next. As well as Tajé Spears is playing right now, what ways can Tim Kelly keep he and Derek Henry involved without limiting snaps or telegraphing plays? Pony personnel is what we've seen both in the backfield at the same time and what we call a red set. You've already seen that. We saw it a lot, you know, during the practice as we get to go to before the season started that we can't talk about, but we saw him doing that a lot and he's using it in a red set which is a split back set and he's alternating whether he sets Derek to the tight side of the formation or to the open side of the formation and you're going to see a lot of different plays come off of this because it opens up a multitude of things you can do bringing them across the backfield, double screens. There's a lot of things that he can do, I mean just a myriad of it and plus with the threat of both of them being able to run and they're distinctly different runners both very effective with what they do. The pony personnel I think we'll start seeing more and more of. After the first two games of the season what is your opinion on Tim Kelly as the offensive coordinator? I think he does a nice job of layering calls and layering calls as a defensive coach you always when you're scouting the guy that's calling plays that's your opponent, you want to see first of all if he's layers calls which means is he building calls one upon the other with his personnel groups depending on what you've deployed over there on defense and then is he stacking calls and then the other part is is he setting up calls because the really good play callers set calls up in other words they'll set calls up series by series set calls up by you know put a certain personnel group out there in a certain formation see how the defense on a down and distance is going to adjust to it and then come back to something that can counter the way he's now sees the defense after that I think he does all of that. All right so I've got two sort of back to back here that tie in if that's okay. Coach Mack in the Snickers hot seat here it comes. Coach Mack who is the one current player in the NFL you wish you could coach? Oh that I like that. I like that question a lot. It can either be offensively. Yeah it does not say defense or offense. It could be anybody. Well I'd love to have Miles Garrett. Yeah I thought you were going to say that. If I'm calling defense. Why is he so different than like other edge rushers? He's a big man. He's a big man that plays like a little man. He can he's speed to power. He's athletic out through the roof but he's also a gumby bendy edge guy. You can line him up in multiple places. He can stand up in two point. He can go down in three point. He can do it all. He's the number one pick in the draft for a reason. Some number one picks in the drafts have not been legitimate players. This guy is a physical phenom and he's a good good football player that you can do so much with and he's a smart guy. 275 pounds plays like a guy. 235 or 240 in terms of his movement. You got it. I mean right there. And plus I mean he's a relentless player. He is relentless. He was that he was that way at Texas A&M. I mean he's a special special player. Alright so this may be the same answer. If you could add one NFL defensive player to the Titans roster this year who would you add and why? Well how about that dude? Well that's what I figured you say. So let's take Miles Garrett out. Who else would be a guy that you would add if you could add one defensive player to the Titans roster this year. What would you add and why? I would really I would really like to be able to I would really like to be able to add a shutdown corner. Okay. Just a true a true. Now that that can be a varied opinion on who that dude is. But to me one of the most pure shutdown corners in this league still. Now we're saying that he's completely healthy is a Jalen Ramsey. Jalen Ramsey. Yeah and some guy can just you know I had one of those guys in my long coaching career in Aneus Williams. And I could do anything I wanted with him and we were in the NFC East at the time and I knew going in game planning against the Cowboys twice a year that I could tell him in that first meeting Nicky you've got Michael Irving and the rest of the ten of you here's what we're going to do to try to stop the rest of them. You know Emmett Smith and all that group but when you have that guy what's your feeling as a defensive coordinator when you're able to do that all those teams that Deion Sanders played for that was the guy and it makes a big difference. Alright this was going to take a minute to lay out here in your answer but this person's asking explain fourth quarter roles of a head coach including challenges, coaching, play calling, clock management and any other duties. Well first of all when you're an assistant coach you very rarely think of any of that because you're dialed in you're dialed in with your people if you're a coordinator you're working your side of the ball when I became a head coach you're thrown into a different world of the game the world managing a game is much different than coaching a position during a game and so you have to be aware of everything the thing that happens to though guys is it's really really important to have somebody you really trust in the box you've got to have somebody you really trust you've got to make the call but if you've got somebody in the box you can trust that can give you information when you ask for it in an instant, in an instant and especially with the challenges and those types of things that make a huge difference managing timeouts or being able to play the clock game I was very fortunate in my career to start out Mike Ditka was really good at this stuff and I come here and work for Jeff Fisher Jeff Fisher was really good at this stuff and so when I became a head coach then I would pick the brains of those guys as to how it was Dan Reeves was really good so I would sit with those guys you know when I would have opportunities just what we're doing right now and talk about those instances but they come up and they happen so fast that you've got to go into it you can prepare all you want but you have to be able to react in the moment but you have to have a real working knowledge of the rules because the rules make a difference Mike Vrables got a great handle on this he understands the game within the game but as a head coach much different than being a coordinator is now you're playing the big picture throughout all of it as to where coordinators are playing their side of it Coach Mack it doesn't come up often but I think the rule about fumbling the ball through the end zone is maybe the worst rule in all of sports would you be in favor of changing this rule and do you think it would pass if it was presented to the competition committee? It's been presented for years and it's never has passed and the reasoning is is an entity unto itself is an entity unto itself and so things are different down there and there is a premium on holding onto the football until you cross the goal line and that's always been I've been in meetings competition committees I've been through all of this this is not the first time it's come up but that is the argument that the goal line is the final outcome that offenses are trying to do and part of the goal line is getting the ball over the goal line get the ball over the goal line and if you fail to do that then there should be some sort of retribution rather than just saying the ball is out of bounds if you fumble it through the end zone and you don't and has it crossed the goal line and you're not in possession of it then it comes back out to the 20 I think it makes total sense because I mean what's the object of the game is to score more points than the other team you score points in various ways but the most obvious way is to score a touchdown which is to be in possession of the ball when you break the plane and if you're not in possession of the ball when you break the plane then there has to be a punishment for that if you get there and you fumble I think he certainly doesn't ever think it will pass competition committee while he's on there no and it sounds like you've been in the competition committee you know who you sounded like just then and this is a real compliment Mike Pereira by the way can we shout him out and hope he feels better what a good dude and look you talk about the officiating that we talked about earlier on when he was in charge perfection I tell you what Pereira brought to it he brought a transparency and a clarity to it when he was doing it for the league and some of the other guys Dean Blandino did a good job but Pereira was the gold standard because suddenly they were a little bit like the Wizard of Oz ignore the man behind the curtain sort of we don't ever question it and Pereira took that down he said well we didn't get this one right or we did get this one right or here's why we're doing this a lot of times when they explain things like we've just had the discussion about fumbling the ball through the end zone when you stop and think about it in that way it makes more sense a lot of the talking heads on TV and in media just saying oh that's awful they don't stop and think about why the rules of the game were put into effect and the game in that way still hasn't changed we don't win games on stats in fantasy on Sundays when we win games by who scores the most points and the end zone is sacred and see and that's why I say and I was very honest when I said that's the way Pereira would explain it I've been in competition committee meetings and meetings with just head coaches when you go to the owner's meetings and when he would stand up and explain things he did just what you did and everybody would go okay one of the greatest things I ever saw was after the tuck rule game when you know the raiders I mean there's microphones the raiders stood up and called him out brought a football and said explain this to us and he did and he did and he did just like that so shout out to Mike Pereira and for you for sounding like him on that well thank you I'll take that as a compliment it is a compliment if the team wins and Andre Dillard appears to struggle is Nicholas Petty Freire what does this tackle since Chris Hubbard seems to be doing an adequate job on the right side well Nicholas Petty Freire's got to get back into the swing of things first I mean that you know you can't expect somebody to come off of a six week suspension without having done football things I'm sure he's working out on his own because he cannot be in the building but you know to come back in I mean he's going to have to work himself back in first it's pretty far in the future right now and we've seen this a little bit though just with what Dylan Radence has done you know and so if you're on the team you're an offensive lineman the biggest value is if you can play multiple positions and so but as I said the first thing that NPF has got to do is get back in the swing of playing NFL football what is your favorite defensive and offensive package to run well this is it's all predicated on down and distance down and distance because of the matchups matchups on down and distance are everything but as a defensive coach early on when it first came into existence the hardest personnel group to defend on first and second down was 13 personnel which is you would have one running back three tight ends and one wide receiver but those tight ends could split out and make it look like 11 personnel with three wides one back you can make it look like 12 you know two tights two wides and your matchups is what you're working on so now as a defensive coach you're thinking do I play base defense against this with four down and three linebackers do I play nickel do I do I do I put extra defensive back in there do I go to an extra backer package to be able to take to take care of the size they have in there now or if they split them out are my backers able to work in space so 13 personnel was always a big problem when it when it first you know came into the league you know for that defensively defensively I always liked to be able to play the big nickel because with the big nickel you know you had a chance with the four man front to use that the big nickel guy in a lot of different ways you could you know you could rob the middle with him you could play him as a linebacker you could match him on a tight end say a specific tight end that was a really good receiver but he could hold up in the run game I always liked the big nickel because that one piece you know it's like it's like what Nick Saban does and all the all the defenses in the southwest southeastern you know when the conference play this star you know thing because it gives you the multiplicity without having to change personnel groups all the time and on defense this is my final question I have what pub will coach Mack be hanging out in London so I could buy him a pint and he can educate me on how Jack Gibbons has gone from a player who was waived last year to a starter this year and is really making an impact he appears to have a nose for the football go frogs I love the question and I love the ending of that I'll be in that pub where we had the radio show when we were over there the last time Bed Bath and Beyond was that the name of I don't think that was it Barrow Boy and Banker and there it is is that where you're going so a lot of the things the Titans are going to do in London are going to be announced next week so where we might be where everybody is gathering or whatever may happen I think some of those things will be announced next week and they might ask you to go to one of those spots I'll go to all of them you're not going to go to Bed Bath and Beyond but that was so much fun last time I mean it was just it was tremendous it was incredible in fact I spent a good time with some of your family upstairs at that one it was tremendous yes my family is going again I'll be with them it was tremendous so as soon as they get those locations let me know I'll be there Seat Geek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans that's right the deal is finalized and Seat Geek is the newest member of the Titans family if you haven't heard the name yet you haven't been listening to the OTP so what's your problem that's not in there I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that not very nice seriously what's your problem you haven't heard the name yet get used to it because you'll be hearing it a lot more this season whether you're buying or selling ticket Seat Geek probably appreciates that right whether you're buying or selling tickets to the Titans game or any live event in Nashville Seat Geek is the place to do it Seat Geek the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans so Titans fans can fan nicely done Rhett the questions for Coach Mack continue I'm going to let Rhett take it home right here you do the rest of them alright we're going to take it home here where would you rank the Titans defense throughout the entire NFL when they are fully healthy yeah rankings rankings are kind of like fantasy football I mean it's all up for grabs it's all about production I would say just off of production off of production they're really stout against the run and by their own admission they can tighten it up in the back end some you know Jim Schwartz very well what does he bring to the Cleveland defense that makes them one of the league's best also the Browns have played a lot of man coverage in their first two games what are some of the concepts that Tim Kelly can run to set the offense up for success yeah I game plan with Schwartz for five seasons here as an assistant head coach and linebacker coach and so he's very intricate in what he does he studies match ups a lot but he leans on a base of a four down scheme and he does that so that he can cover with seven you talk about getting creative with your coverages any time you can cover with seven over five eligible receivers you've either got three over two and four over three I mean that's what defensive coaches work for but to get that you have to be able to take care of the run and the pass with four people up front having to bring anybody down the times where he will get really creative is if he gets you in third and seven plus third and eight plus we always had special blitzes on third down that the opponent had not seen before to be able to attack coverages but his preparation is very very detailed oriented and he covers everything as a coordinator this is for the OT people will take you behind the scenes a little when you're working on an opponent the scout team is running cards but you have to draw cards so that you can show them in the huddle as to what the offense wants to look like but those cards have to be really precise or guys are looking at them and you're trying to run practice on time and I've seen Jeff Fisher look at cards before and throw them out who drew that because the guys can't read it Jim Schwartz as a coordinator normally the coordinators don't do this he drew every card and I used to pride myself on being a good card drawer because you got to be detailed and it takes time and he told me this when I first came here to work for him I said hey look because I came in here as a head coach and then I said look I understand tell me which cards you want me to draw Coach Mack I draw the cards he says you may be able to draw cards but mine are rim brands and I went really he doesn't lack for confidence and I went I went really I went really but listen to this the first time I saw him I went I look like a street painter to this it was it so anyway very detailed fascinating so his card should be in the Louvre in France rim brand okay finally Jack what do you believe are the keys to going on the road in Cleveland to come out with a win you got to control their front first you cannot let their defensive front control the game and then our defense needs to outplay their defense I mean this is what you're looking at offensively you've got to stay out of the third and chains and when I say third and chains I'm talking about third and seven plus you've got to stay out of that and then defensively and I think that they would want to do that I see get some turnovers turn the ball over and keep it when we've got it keep it but defensively get some turnovers this is going to be a big a big game for defenses trying to see who's who in the zoo out there and so this is going to be really important to control their front and then to let our front go eat Cleveland has not allowed anyone in the red zone so far this year that's good defense that's good they have not had a red zone defensive snap so far in their first two games because no I think the closest anybody's gotten is like their 25 they have given up less than 400 total yards to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh so they are allowing less than 200 yards per game that's good defense that's good defense but interestingly enough they have only two takeaways and they have only four sacks so far which is kind of strange they've turned the ball over six times and they've given up nine quarterback sacks so their offense has not been very efficient or very clean as you would say but their defense is through the roof well because he's got people it's all about the players but if you can we went back to what the difference in professional sports he gives his guys a chance to do what they do and doesn't try to muddle it up a lot so would you be willing to do this again if we ask for questions for coach Mack would you be willing to do it again I want I want the OT people to come to Bed Bath and beyond in London see and so that we can so that we can we probably got to stop joking about this because aren't they out of business anyway okay and so that's one thing and the second thing is if they aren't out of business in London the OT people will show up there expecting to see you in the Crock-Pot aisle and you and you won't be there buying a new bedspread you know I waited by a KitchenAid mixer for two hours there's literally going to be an announcement what was the real name of it Rhett Barrow Boy and Banker okay I think Bed Bath and beyond is better I don't even know what all that means but again next week information is going to come out for those going to London about what's going to happen in terms of the get together sort of thing and I'm hoping we can be there and I'm hoping you'll choose to be there but there will be like an official thing that's so great and you know I've been over there quite a few times as a coach but now when we went over as a brother I can we can interact with the fans now as well we do right as a coach you can't and you know the places that I've gone you were there for like five hours or something crazy weren't you you stayed a long time the last time we were the last time 2018 yeah why would you leave well I mean you were with Titans fans in London well I left because my family said we're leaving that's why I left well it's in the Mr. Grand Old Time Mike because let's see Javon Curse Eddie George I saw that Keith Bullock just kept going and going Coach Mac won't leave now with what I'm doing now in this second career that you've afforded me if I'm with the fans are there I'm in the middle of it I know again next week that's going to come out also want to mention that we hope that you will subscribe to the Titans YouTube channel because we've got a lot of great stuff on the Titans YouTube channel right now like everything Coach Mac does on TV the video version of the OTP different things from our various shows are on the Titans YouTube and it's easy to find it is very easy to find and it's easy to pull up and it's it's really not because I'm on it that doesn't but the production of its tremendous it is tremendous and you can help by hitting the like button when you subscribe and also hitting the notification bell so that you're notified when there's new content which there is every day there's new stuff every day everything we do I mean no matter where you are in the world if you go to the Titans YouTube channel you can find something new every day that helps you get ready for Sunday or you know like some of our other outstanding features that we do on on various things we'd love for you to tune in and stay up with it and the people over there bed bonkers and bath can bed bonkers and bath well he's pulling out a different reference trying anyway anyway they can see it too that's right and that's the thing is we'd love meeting the international fans when we went to London and you know now we're going to get at some point we're going to get to go to Germany that'll happen for us but Madrid too that's going to happen I saw that recently I'm all for that and just I was with the Bears we went to Gutenberg Sweden nice played the Vikings we was everybody for the Vikings there you think we went we went to Berlin to play the 49ers we're over there for a week it's an experience and we had fans all over the place and the Titans fans that showed up in London last time was massive it was really cool so looking forward to that looking forward to winning every game we play up until then and it'll be rolling there you go for Coach Dave McGinnis who was kind enough to take your questions and sit in the Snickers hot seat and thank you for the questions by the way to the OT people and for Rhett Brian I'm Mike Keith thanking you for joining us from the Bet MGM studio for the OT