 The top team in the area is like physical in your face football. This is the game for three Simmons and it goes to Eaton. She gets second, a baby in the season two and two and now they're eight and two. Coming up on Titans All Access, it's not how pretty the win is. It's just winning and winning sixth straight game sure is beautiful. General Manager John Robinson starts off the show with his take on how his team keeps finding ways to win. Winning football means making plays. Coach Mack breaks down three of the biggest plays from last week. This week the Titans are welcoming home hundreds of Titans alumni for a special ceremony for two of the original Titans. Plus, Danico Autry was a nightmare to face when he played for the Colts, but now he's a Titan and a dream come true. All of that and so much more as Titans All Access starts now. Welcome to Titans All Access from St. Thomas Sports Park. I'm Mike Keith with General Manager John Robinson of the eight and two. Tennessee Titans, congratulations on the win over the Saints and getting to eight and two. Yeah, thanks Mike. We continue to find a way each week to find a play here or there to put us over the top. It ain't always pretty, but it's beautiful. Go! Every game teaches lessons. What were the lessons the Titans learned coming out of the Saints' victory last Sunday? I mean, we talk about it all the time by complimentary football, all three phases complimenting each other. You know, I think that was the biggest thing coming out of that game was, you know, offensively we made some plays, we didn't make some plays. Same thing on the defensive side of the football, but special teams really kind of steadied the course there, came up with some plays in the kicking game to compliment the other two phases to help us get the win. Are we talking about Ryan Tannehill and what he's doing enough right now? Well, he's an important part of what we do, you know, not only for the offense, but as a team. His leadership, his toughness, his grit, he's made some plays for us, some key plays for us, certainly with his arm throwing the football, but also running the football. He's vocal, he's a hard worker, he's tough, he's gritty. He's a key part of what we're doing here organizationally. What can the Titans offense do better? I think it's consistency and details, Mike. You know, we got into some drives against the Saints that were positive. We hit a run here, we throw a pass here and make a big play, but then we'd have a penalty or we'd miss this block or the detail of this route or this run track was off and that would kind of slug us down a little bit. I think just the overall consistency with the execution and the details within the execution of the play. Great to have Christian Fulton back in the secondary. Didn't look like he missed a beat. Yeah, I was certainly good to have Christian back out there. I know he was excited to play. Yeah, back in that accident. Let's keep it going. He triggered against a run, had a couple big stops for us there in the run game, had a couple pass breakups, you know, against the pass. Like I said, he was excited to be back out there with his teammates and important part of the wind force. So we've got a lot of Titans fans in the northern part of Alabama for sure. Monty Rice was a Titans fan growing up in northern Alabama. Now he's a Titan. He has started two of the last three games. How's Monty Rice doing? Continues to improve, Mike. Just continues to get better to come in and work. He's made some plays for us in the run game. You know, he continues to improve in the pass game where he's supposed to fit in this zone. How he's supposed to match this player coverage-wise. And he's been a steady presence on the kickoff coverage. You know, had a big play for us Sunday in the same twin where he forced Harris out of bounds. He had a couple tackles a week before. So defensively in special teams he gets better each and every week. Alright, let's talk about special teams. You've already mentioned it. Mike Rables mentioned it throughout the week. Why has this group been so solid throughout the course of the year? Well, I think it's an emphasis for us. You know, right after squad meeting, we go to special teams meeting. It's at the beginning of the day. The importance of special teams. The execution of the fundamentals and the details. In the return game, you know, if you can get 10 yards, that's equivalent to a first down for the offense as a drive starter. And conversely, on the coverage units, if you can get them pinned back, you know, it's hard for an offense to drive when they're backed up on, you know, inside their own 10. So those coverage units are paramount, as is the return game. Sunday at Nissan Stadium, we get our first look at the Houston Texans in 2021. Our first look at them with their new head coach, Sparta native David Cully. What jumps out to you about these Texans? Well, I think defensively it's an attacking style front. You know, Levy Smith's running the defense there. I was with Levy and Tampa. There's a lot of games. There's a lot of stunts up front. They want to play with speed, you know, in that front seven. And it's all about takeaways. I think they've got 14 on the season, you know, taking the ball away. So those are the things that are going to be important defensively. Offensively, you got cooks on at Eversever. Fast explosive. We know what he means to that offense. Lindsey and Johnson are running back. And Tyra Taylor is an athletic quarterback with a big arm. So, and it's another, it's another AFC south upon it. You know, those division games are always pivotal rivalry for us. Thanks for swinging by to talk ball. Always love it, Mike. All right. John Robinson talking ball presented by our friends at Duncan. When we come back, we'll present Amy Wells to our Titans All Access audience. She'll be right here at St. Thomas Sports Park next. As promised, she's here. Amy Wells. Ta-da. She's here on Titans All Access from St. Thomas Sports Park. Did I mention enough in the first segment that Titans are eight and two? Eight and two. I think I did. I mentioned it to John Robinson. He was pleased with that. The win over the Saints was a pretty dramatic game to get to agency. Absolutely. So there was only one man for the job when it comes to breaking down what the Titans really accomplished in that game. And that's Coach Mack. So here he is breaking down the Titans win over the New Orleans Saints in this week's Beneath the Surface. This is Coach Mack. We're going beneath the surface powered by Microsoft Surface. Person 10, Tennessee 45 yard line, 11 personnel, three by one. Insert. Four under 3D coverage. Jayon Brown does a great job of matching up with the tied in on a choice route over the middle. Trevor Simeon now has to reload. Watch Jeffrey Simmons over the right offensive guard. Two hand power move and then a real quick swipe inside in the quarterback's face. Great timing between coverage and pressure. Jeffrey Simmons continues to dominate on the inside of the cylinder. Second six of the Tennessee 24th. Watch this play. This is a five man rush. Tannehill recognizes the five man rush. Watch Marcus Johnson lined up out here. This is a switch release in man coverage. Lattimore, their best defensive back ends up on Marcus Johnson. But watch the tremendous switch release that Marcus Johnson makes once he makes this release and then Ryan Tannehill in great great timing recognizes the five man rush gets it to him immediately. Marcus Johnson is off to the races. Huge, huge game. This is for 50 yards. Huge play in this ballgame. New Orleans won the toss beginning of the game deferred. So now they get the kickoff at the beginning of the third quarter. Bullet kicks it 69 yards from the Tennessee 35 to the minus four. Deontay Harris, one of the most dangerous return men in the National Football League, takes it at the 19. Watch the coverage. Watch everybody stay lane conscious, good lane discipline, and then watch this tremendous, tremendous hit by Dylan Cole. Bang, what a tremendous hit. Ball is out recovered by Tori Carter at the New Orleans 19 yard lines. Titans will take this possession that was a stolen possession by the kickoff team to begin the third quarter and go in for a touchdown. Tremendous complimentary football by the special teams unit. That's why he runs the show on Titans Radio. Coach Mack has all the best insights. He really does, but we have more insights to come. Yeah, from Danico Autry, he's next. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Titans All Access. Danico Autry terrorized the Titans twice a year when he was in Indianapolis with the Colts. So when he became available in free agency, John Robinson did what John Robinson does. He scooped him up and made him a Titan. And man, has that move paid off. Mike Keith sat down with Danico Autry and had a chance to get to know him a little bit better. And this week's Nissan Insider. All right, so reading about you at junior college, I got to know if this is true. Did you really climb the walls, disable the cameras so you and your buddies could go play basketball? Did that really happen? Yeah, that's a true story. When would you do that? If you knew anything about school, on the weekends, everybody would leave because everybody was from nearby or close. So it would just be the out of status that's there and lock everything up. And we'd just be on campus just looking at each other. So that's something that we would do, go play basketball. So that was 10, 11 years ago. How different is Danico Autry today than that guy who sort of became famous as part of the last chance you think? I came a long way. Just the rest of the night and day from the beginning now, I'm trying to make it. You got in the league. I mean, you had to fight your way into the league. Yes, sir. Talk to me about what it took for you to become an Oakland Raider, to become a full-time player in the NFL. What did you go through? Just a lot of long days, you know, extra work, staying late with the coach, trying to learn a playbook. I was some of the other guys like Justin Tug, you know, Antonio Smith, some of the other guys that showed me the way. So I brought in whatever they were telling me and took the fight with it. Who believed in Danico Autry to get you to this point? I can say Coach Jethro Franklin. It's a good coach. Great D-line coach. Oh, yeah. Great guy. My guy. He got on me when I needed it. That's Jethro, man. If you know Jeth, he's going to get you going. No matter how you feeling, no matter if you're having a bad day or good day, he's going to get you going. Okay. Now, I wonder about that from what your skill set is, because you're not the biggest guy. You're not the longest guy, but you just make plays. As, unfortunately, we've seen when you were with the Raiders and then with the Colts, you made plays against us. What is it about your game, your skill set that enables you to do that? It's all about my attitude. I just want to make plays. I'm going to fly around. It's all about my attitude. What have you learned in terms of technique or watching tape or whatever that has enabled you to gain that sort of edge? Watching something like I said in my period and older guys before me, I used to watch that all the time. I just see how they played. I used to be like, I wanted to play like that. Antonio Smith, one of the meanest guys, and he was fine. So I bought into some of the stuff he was using and doing and took flight with it. You make a ton of plays. I mean, for a defensive lineman, you are more active than the majority of defensive linemen in the league. How have you been able to do that so consistently into your 30s now? Just a kid's game. You're still football. And today, you know, it's just football. I mean, long-jews, I guess take care of your body and stay in shape. You can about do anything. So that guy from Abru Morrow, that's it, right? Yeah. That guy is still in there. Oh, yeah. He's still in there. And that's the part that is the part that is the guy who used to climb the wall and disable the camera to play basketball. That kind of guy who has that enthusiasm and that passion, that's what's really fueled you out there. That's what it feels like. Okay. So what do you bring to the Tennessee Titans playing with Big Jeff, playing with those guys on the inside? What do you feel like you're bringing to this football team that maybe we haven't had? I mean, I'm trying to be a consistent guy that's going to be mean as crap. I mean, just play ball, you know. I know what's going on. I know what needs to happen. I know what it needs to look like. So, I mean, I'm just bringing raw talent to the game. Man, it's great to have you here. And thank you. Thank you for not playing against us anymore. We're very thankful for that. Oh, thank you guys. Still a lot more Titans All Access to come, including the greatest part of the show, Mike Keats Keys. But before we get there, we're going to show you some Titans history, and we're going to celebrate a great honor. Stick around. Welcome back to Titans All Access Big Week, not just because the Houston Texans are in town, but also it's Homecoming Week. Love Homecoming Week. Do you have a date for the dance? I do have a date for the dance. Is there a dance? I'm going stag. Of course. Anyway, the best part is not the dance or the floats. It's the fact that we get to see a lot of our former Titans players come back and reconnect, see what's going on in their lives, and remember a lot of great things that happened on the field when they were Titans players. The other great thing this weekend, two of the Titan greats who didn't play are going into the ring of honor. But while they didn't play, Floyd Reese and Jeff Fisher helped establish the traditions and the fan base here in the Mid-South. That's why Amy Adams-Strunk has decided to honor them this weekend in such a special way. My dad respected Floyd. He'd been a football player. He'd been a coach. He'd been around our team for a while, and Bud just thought he would be a great general manager. He had a keen eye for talent. Floyd Reese is in his first year as a general manager, and he has to make a coaching change in 1994. And so he hands the reins to a 34-year-old defensive coordinator, and then that 34-year-old defensive coordinator goes one in five the rest of the year. But Floyd Reese had the foresight to understand there was something special about Jeff Fisher. And in holding on to him and making him the permanent head coach, he changed the fortune of the entire franchise. Jeff came in at a very difficult time for the organization. We were just starting to make the move. That's just not an easy time. You're upgrading your whole franchise. And he just had this energy that was very contagious. Hey, Nate, good job. That's it. Passing through. I got there in 96, so they were cleaning out house, changing the roster, revamping it, knowing that we were going to be moving to a new situation in the future. And once we got here in 99, we got the name change, got the new uniforms, looking field, the Titans, as you know now, we were able to go off and run with it. And they did a great job of drafting players, not just the first tier players, but free agents, the fifth and sixth rounders, guys that were starters for us that made a difference for us to make a serious run and have depth and stability within our roster. It was masterfully done. Before the game, there's something special in here, and you're starting to feel it. It's starting to happen. This was a hell of a job. Both Floyd Rees and Jeff Fisher, while very different men, were guys that loved the game of football, were incredibly competitive and wanted to win desperately. I said, start off right now, returners. Get field position off and put in the end zone. Floyd was the architect. Jeff was the builder. Floyd went out and found the right pieces and parts of what this franchise needed. Jeff was the visionary to say, hey, this is what I need for our team to be successful. This is what I envisioned for us. And with those two working together, led to a beautiful thing for us. And for Floyd, he's the grand architect of the great teams that we had here in Tennessee. Jeff Fisher won a lot of ball games. He's a great football coach. But more importantly to our organization, he was the one that helped get football established in this part of the world because of how he chose to be off the field. We're going to give the game ball to the city of Nashville. The impact Floyd Rees made in this community is that he got how big football was. He loved the fact that Titans fans got so passionate so quickly about professional football and that they embraced it the way that he did. It'll be ours. The people in Tennessee and here in Nashville wanted something that we can call ours, and that is ours. His understanding of that passion outside of just picking great players and making trades and things like that, I think was one of the keys to what he meant to our organization and to our fan base. Floyd was a great general manager and Jeff was a great head coach. But in football, it's not just a great coach or a great general manager. They have to be a great team. And those two gentlemen, they were a great team. And the Titans organization, we were so lucky to have them both during those wonderful years when we first moved to Nashville. So looking forward to seeing everybody for the homecoming celebration. Yeah, it's going to be great. Now we're going to take a quick break, but when we return, Mike Keith, who has been on fire this season, is going to give us his keys to beating the Houston Texans. If you ask nicely. Or his actual keys. We'll see. Stay tuned. What's good, Tennessee? It's hard to say we're clocking in because we never stopped. Let's go to work. Receivers. Playfix. Pan of hell. Looking pro. Titans all access. We've reached the most important part of the program. And that is Mike Keith's keys. Mike, hit it. Key number one, score first. The Titans since the start of the 2019 season are 17 and three when they score first. The Texas have had a hard time scoring this year. So if the Titans could get out to a lead and make them play from behind from the jump, it would be a big advantage. The Titans need to score first in this ball camp. All right, give me key number two. Key number two is keep playing the run well. The Titans defensive front giving up only 99 yards rushing per game. Texans have had a tough time running the ball. They'd like to do it more. Titans need to keep them in neutral in the running game. Play the run well on defense for the Titans. All right, the final key. Let's check Brandon Cook. Check is what we used to say cover, guard, whatever it wants to be. Brandon Cook caught 20 passes in two games against the Tennessee Titans last year for over 200 yards in a couple of touchdowns. He's having another good year for the Texans offense with 57 catches. Keep an eye on Brandon Cook's and don't let him beat you. This could be a fun game. It could be a fun game. It's going to be outstanding. The Titans and the Texans for the 39th time. Oh, yes. Mike Keith has seen them all. I've seen them all. I look forward to seeing this one as the Titans and the Texans kick off at noon central. Amy Wells and Rhett Bryan on your Titans radio station at 11am central with Titans Countdown. We hope you'll join us. For Amy Wells, I'm Mike Keith. Thanks for being with us for Titans All Access and we'll see you next time.