 I've got to get a lot of things cleaned up and look forward to another opportunity next week. Looking, swinging it downfield, Hilger's got it! We just all have to come back and be better and prepare and get ready to go face Buffalo. Presented by SHIFT4. With the head coach, I'm Mike Keith and we're glad you're with us for another season of this program. The Titans season got started two days ago. Tennessee loses to the New York Giants by a final score of 21-20. You've spent the last 48 hours going over every part of it. What are your main takeaways, Mike? Well, we didn't have the luxury to spend that much time on it, but we did spend quite a bit of time on it. Got to move forward to Buffalo. But I would say we started the game exactly how we wanted to. Complementary, got a stop on defense, three and out. Punnett in yards, went down, scored, and really held most of the momentum. We weren't able to convert touchdowns on those next couple series. But we went into halftime at 13-0. Just gave up too many X plays in the second half defensively and didn't sustain drives. Two or three and outs to start the second half. And then at that point in time, now you let them hang around. They make a couple plays and it comes down to a field goal that we weren't able to execute. In this ball game, you do a lot of good things. Sometimes when you lose, you don't. But in this game you did, does that make this one even harder to swallow? Well, it is all losing in this league and losing in anything is hard and is disappointing and difficult. But there's a lot of things that we can point to. They say, let's continue to make this a strength. Let's get some of these other things cleaned up and then let's eliminate some of those other things that ultimately get you beat. Let's look at six of the really good plays from this game for the Titans. This is Mike Vrabel's six-pack. And we start right off the bat with a special teams play. A rookie from UCLA. His name is Kyle Phillips. Well, you know, we got eight-man box. So we're one-on-one on the gunners outside. And you can see right here, Roger and Trenton Cannon are able to hold their guys off. Usually those one-on-one blocks don't last too long. Everybody's getting some extra effort blocks and 46 yards later. So it takes a lot of people to get one of these rolling. And Kyle just seems to have a knack for finding those creases. Guys kind of thought he was down, kind of broke through. So it's a great reminder that we have to finish longer than the guy with the football. Phillips finishes the game. Four punt returns for 62 yards. As Coach mentioned, this one goes for 46. And so the Titans are in business at the New York Giants 45-yard line for the first drive of the season. Five plays later. It's time for the first touchdown of the year. Yeah, Don Charles worked extremely hard in the off-season. And, you know, was able to get him matched up there with the linebacker, Nick Westbrook. Akina was able to kind of give him a little helping hand on his release. And, you know, Ryan gives him a great ball, great protection. And really just a well-executed play that gives us an early touchdown. Don Charles Hildiard running back who played well for the Titans during the second half of last year, rushing for 350 yards, comes through with the TD catch there. Titans lead 10-0 when a big defensive play happens. This is something the Titans have been talking about the entire off-season. Don't just sack him, strip him. Yeah, we have to get more turnovers. And the easiest guy to take it away from is the quarterback. And you can kind of see Jeff there doing what he does. Working the edge on the guard. It's to the slide side. And he's able to come in right there, Tomahawk that thing. Out of there, Bud's able to get there and recover it. So, you know, we're going to need plenty of those to try to change field position in momentum this year. Jeffrey Simmons in the ballgame with two sacks and that forced fumble. Titans lead 13-0 at the half, but the Giants come back in the third to tie it at 13 before Ryan Tannehill takes his team on a 75-yard drive to retake the lead. And it's a familiar target. Yeah, it was a great drive. It was well executed. Some conversions get down there. They kind of left Don Charles alone there in the flat. Ryan was able to quickly progress through and find him. And Don Charles got his head around. You'll see here as this ball gets here, it's well placed. Timing hits him in stride. He's able to beat the linebacker to the corner. That was a first in 20 from the 23 for Hilliard. Three catches, 61 yards and the two touchdowns that you have seen. More special teams play this time from the rookie punter, Ryan Stonehouse with an outstanding punt. And then we see Trey Avery leading the charge to get Richie James down. Yeah, Stoney bangs this one and, you know, guys are just kind of running. We're in our lanes and Trey popped in there and had a tackle and two assists on special teams. So big punt, 64-yard net return. After a special teams fumble, the Giants get the ball at the Titan's 11-yard line and are looking to tie the game. Two plays later, Amani Hooker with the big play. Yeah, I mean defense of sudden change was able to, you know, they targeted Barclay and they were giving it to him and we knew it was going to be a big part of the game. Unfortunately, we weren't able to stop them many runs, but, you know, Amani does a great job there getting his head around and intercepting the ball, saving us points. Titans extend Amani Hooker's contract at the end of last week. Everybody very excited for that because this is a player who has gotten better every year for this ball. Yep, each and every year and that's something that we're all going to have to do this year is we're all going to have to get better. When we come back, it's time to know your foe. We look at Monday Night Football's opponent, the Buffalo Bills. When the Mike Vrable show presented by Shift 4 continues from the Bet MGM Studios. Presented by Shift 4, this is the Mike Vrable show and it's time to know your foe. In week two, that is the Buffalo Bills, a team the Tennessee Titans have now played in five straight seasons. We'll go to Highmark Stadium in Buffalo where Mike Vrable has been a couple times in his life. 6-15 is the kickoff time. Tough place to play. It is. It's a great crowd. It's a great fan base. A lot of history. Not to mention they're a really good football team. Led by Josh Allen who had a big, big game in the season opener on September the 8th against the Los Angeles Rams. He threw three touchdown passes and was their leading rusher. He's just got a lot of arm talent. He can beat you inside the pocket. He can beat you out. If he scrambles to his right, it's not going to be good for any defense. That's going to be critical for us. They're going to run him. He doesn't slide. He's got a great stiff arm. You kind of see him just making plays all over here. He's extended to play and then diving in the end zone for a touchdown. 6-5, 2-40, he can do it all. He got a lot better as a quarterback when the Buffalo Bills obtained Stefan Diggs from Minnesota and Diggs had eight catches for 122 yards in a touchdown in the season opener. I think a real instinctive and smart intellectual receiver who's hugely talented. Like he just has understanding. Routecraft in and out of breaks, changes speeds, great hands. It's difficult. The real difficult part of playing the Buffalo Bills is their defense is as good as their offense. Seven sacks in the victory over the Rams and that big linebacker Tremaine Edmonds, he makes them go. If you get in long yard situations with these guys, it's going to be a long day. We're going to have to be really good on early downs and Tremaine Edmonds has got the speed, the length to kind of operate inside. They don't do a whole lot. They just say, here we are, come get us and we're going to have to be really good and prepare this week. Titans certainly want to run the football well against the Bills, but you have to do everything well because this is a complete team. Mike, is the most impressive thing about these Buffalo Bills of Sean McDermott just how complete they are? Well, I think they just all have an understanding of who they are, the pieces, what they want to do. And again, they're well coached and they're talented. They're definitely talented without question. The Titans in the Bills, 615 coming up next Monday night from Buffalo. Still to come, the genuine article is defined to be someone or something that is authentic. When it comes to the Titans, well, the genuine article, you're going to meet that guy coming up. Epic Western's Genuine Titan, a new feature on our show, up next in our first installment. Pretty special. Stay tuned. Epic Western now part of the Mike Frable show. We're excited to have them as part of our team and this feature is theirs. It's the Genuine Titan. For the first selection, our Genuine Titan seemed to be obvious and that's center Ben Jones. Couldn't think of a more deserving player, impactful person around our organization than Ben Jones. Ben Jones residing with the team in the off season has missed just one game since he joined the Titans organization and has never had a losing season with this franchise. Amy Wells shows us why Ben Jones is Epic Western's Genuine Titan. Get out of it! A Genuine Titan in 2022 has to be a combination of Amy Adams-Strunk's fearlessness. Mike Frable's no-nonsense attitude and John Robinson's rural Tennessee toughness. The current player who most obviously embodies all of those qualities is Alabama raised, Georgia educated, and now two-tone blue. Center Ben Jones. Ask any Titan and they will tell you that number 60 is genuine. Being me so much of this team, you know, just his smartness and everything, his leadership on that offensive line you know, just the guy he is, you know, off the field. He's like a rock, I feel like, you know, kind of a foundation in the offense of what it means to play in this offense and be a Titan. But then also like, you know, kind of starts with him and all the checks that he's making, everything that's going on, doing a play kind of starts with Ben Jones and they're like, it's just so smart. Ben Jones is there for any player, young or old, offensive defense, star or guy fighting to make the roster. Jones is a teammate to whom all players can turn. Coming in from rookie year to now, I didn't learn Ben like just from how he handed himself like physically, like mentally to like to play but to like prepping for a game week or even practice. He talking to everybody. He got a relationship with everybody on the team. That's a true leader, captain, trace like that you wanted someone like Ben, he has all those traits. The better part about him is how good of a man and how good of a teammate he is in terms of bringing everyone along, whether you're a rookie or veteran, always praising and always trying to help people out, whether they do good or they have a bad day, he always makes sure that people improve and feel good about themselves. Ben Jones isn't just a good guy. He isn't just a tough guy. He's a really, really outstanding center. Just ask quarterback Ryan Tannehill what he means to the Titans offense. He embodies what the Titans organization is about. He's tough. He's always there. He's going to fight to be out there for his teammates. He's a hard worker. He's sacrificed, he plays through paint. He's the foundation of that offensive line. And then there's a fun side of Ben Jones, a master prankster. He's been known to make everyone in the building pay on their birthday, including Mike Grable and John Robinson. Recently he got teammate and fellow captain Kevin Byard on his 29th birthday. Every birthday! Byard made it clear he didn't plan to mess with Jones in retaliation. Nah man, we don't mess with Ben. Ben is a wild guy. He's the wild event here man. He does what he want to do. Ben Jones is a genuine Titan because he genuinely loves the Titans and he loves this game. My job is to come out there and be the best player again and get guys lined up and rescued but just more to that. It's being in the locker room. It's mentoring young kids. It's going extra. Hey, helping guys find a place to live. My role is bigger than just helping on Sundays. I want to be out there with my teammates. If I'm not out there, I feel like I'm letting them down. So if I can play, if I can go out there and get up, I'm going to play. Ben Jones, Epic Western's genuine Titan. What does he mean to you as the head coach? True warrior. I think personally we have a fantastic relationship. I have so much respect in the man and the husband and the dad that Ben is. I see him with those kids and with his wife Alex. He means a lot to my son Carter. So personally he means a lot to me. What he means to this football team is exactly what those teammates said. That he's a leader. He's a captain. He is always finding a way to lift somebody up and he has a relationship with everybody here. Yeah, you mentioned that Amy Wells found plenty of defensive guys willing to talk about him. Not always the case on both sides of the ball to have a guy who extends in that way and has that kind of personal respect. Yeah, when you go in the locker room, I mean those guys recognize who is one of us and wants to be about us and puts a team first. And Ben Jones too. I want you to talk about what a good football player he is because sometimes I think that part of it gets lost in what a good guy he is. The consistency, the toughness, the way that he's able to get his job done with angles and gets everybody going. There's no doubt that I have to drag him off the field to get him out there. I like this feature. I like this feature. Yeah, nice job, Amy Wells. And thanks to Epic Western for making the genuine Titan possible on the Mike Grable show. We're back with more of the program. Welcome back to the Mike Grable show presented by SHIFT4. You never know who you're going to see at Nissan Stadium on game day. And sometimes the biggest stars on the field are not football players. I think Mike Grable might agree that the biggest star to be on the field this past Sunday was the young man who sang the national anthem to Corey Johnson. Crushes it. I mean, he earned himself an invitation back and he took advantage of it. I think he was better this time than he was last time. He's from Louisville, Kentucky. He sang the national anthem at age nine. He was back for an appearance at age 10. Watch this and know this name in this face and voice. I am so happy you're back. Thank you. I'm going to get back. Look at this. My chief is doing that. Are you scared about anything? I'm not scared, but my heart is racing. I still so respect. You did so good to have you come back. Thank you, yes. They got me coming back. And 10-year-old sensation to Corey Johnson of Louisville, Kentucky. As we honor our country in the city of the national anthem. Ever since I can talk, I've been singing. I want to be a superstar, a person who inspires things. I said, it was amazing. It was amazing. Can you imagine doing that at age 10? I mean, I got goosebumps out there. Kevin Byer and I were just sitting here, man, you can bring it. Corey Johnson, something else. When we come back, it's time for Mike Brable's keys to victory in Buffalo. That's next on the Mike Brable show presented by Shiftful. Time for the Nissan keys to victory on the Mike Brable show. The head coach with some keys to beating Buffalo in six days on Monday night football. Key number one, be good on first and second down. You say stay efficient. Stay efficient. I mean, on offense, if we aren't efficient on first and second down, these guys are going to make us pay. We get into long yard situations, second and long, second and ten, third and long. It's just going to be tough to be able to protect and get through the distance that we need to before those guys get home to Ryan. So if we can stay efficient, we can be balanced and then do better than what we did on Sunday on those third and short opportunities that we had, which I'm confident that we will. I think that's a good place to start for us offensively. Key number two is about stopping the bill's running game. Well, they'll run it as much as we let them, just like everybody else. And not only that, but it's about the quarterback. It's the quarterback out of the pocket. It's the QB design runs that they've committed to. And like you mentioned last week, he was their leading rusher. So him out on the move is going to be just as critical of stopping that than it is a tailback run. But they do have good backs. Well, they have great backs. Singletary has really developed into a nice player. Moss runs hard. So they're getting some run out of those guys where I don't think maybe they were in the same position a couple years ago. All right, let's talk about key number three, which is about special teams and it's about coverage units. Well, we got to be fast and physical. I think we were trying to do that. If we could just enhance on where we were as a kickoff unit, tackling them inside the 20, those are great ways to set the table and send messages throughout the game. So our special teams unit cleaned up a few things and hopefully it can continue to be a strength. And you called up two guys from the practice squad to the active roster, Trenton Cannon and Joe Jones, who are good kick cover guys. Yeah, they're great. They're integral parts of our special teams unit, Heart and Soul and guys that have done it for a lot of years in this league. All right, we'll remind you that the Titans and the Bills play on Monday Night Football. It is an unusual start time, 6.15 at Highmark Stadium. You'll be able to hear our broadcast on 104.5, the zone and other Titans radio stations in the region, beginning with Titans countdown at five o'clock. For the head coach, Mike Vrable, I'm Mike Keith. Thanks so much for joining us. The Mike Vrable show presented by Shift4 from here at the Vet MGM Studios. We'll see you next time.