 high then pray they call truce and going high then pray it's Thanksgiving week and there's a lot to be thankful for on this episode of Titans all access like the mayor of Murfreesboro who's having a bounce back season all because of his change in mindset Kevin Byard is this week's Nissan insider a special teams ace who's made an impact on defense Ola Adani walks around the field with Mike Keith the fourth round rookie who didn't make the cut initially but is now making plays for the two tone blue Dave McGinnis breaks down Des Fitzpatrick's first NFL touchdown Titans fans we're thankful for you as this Thanksgiving edition of Titans all access starts now the monster Derek Henry welcome to Titans all access with the Everfest of Amy Wells I'm Mike Keith we hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend did you have big meals on Thursday I had the biggest meals on Thursday that's why I'm wearing such a big dress that's you know the stretchy pants are helpful tremendous stuff Thanksgiving is so great all the food all the football all the family and all the things you're thankful for and if you're part of the Titans family like we are one of the guys you're most thankful for the mayor himself Kevin Byard absolutely we're all thankful for Kevin Byard and Kevin Byard is thankful to be having a better season in 2021 and I had a chance to sit down and talk with him on this week's Nissan insider we talked a lot about his mindset going into this season for the season we kind of heard Kevin Byard's back how do you feel about that statement you know I just take it for what it is obviously the talk of the offseason where you know Kevin Byard had a down year last year and it's you know that it's kind of right I didn't put up the statistics that I'm normally used to putting up but I mean I thank John and very well done a great job bringing guys in this offseason where the Nico Bud all these new pieces Jack Rabbit and I think we've messed really well the pass rush been great and whenever you have a great pass rush you know I could be opportunistic on the back game making a lot of different players so definitely want to give more credit to the guys up front because they've been helping me having a great year. Did you have a different mindset coming into the 2021 season? Absolutely uh you know a lot of excuses can be made whether things COVID all different type of stuff but I feel like you know I had to really take a different mental approach this year because like I said I felt like I didn't play to my standard last year so I had to make sure that you know I had I had to place that chip back on my shoulder that I had my first couple years and uh it's been working so I've got to make sure I keep that chip. When you have that kind of success early in your career you ended up going to pro bowls you were recognized a lot around the league for what you accomplished early in your career. Do you feel the pressure to reach a bar that's maybe abnormally high like the field field go literally keeps moving a little bit? Absolutely because like you said I set the bar really high for myself coming in my second year having 10 turnovers that year I felt like you know I can put up those numbers every single year and so when it doesn't happen you kind of look and you kind of evaluate just say hey what am I doing differently but like I said I feel like my bar is high and I want to keep that standard high so I expect the best for myself and I expect myself to make plays every single game I'm playing so that's just something I have to keep going because like I said when I don't make those plays then I got to reevaluate. Do you extend that expectation to the guys that you're in a room with to the entire secondary really? Yeah I mean because I feel like just the standard I have for myself I feel like we all need to have the same type of standard we all have to raise the bar and I think that's my job as a leader to make sure that my standard is high to raise everybody else's standard around me and we can all you know ball and make plays so it's been something we've been doing really well this year. As a leader you lead obviously on the football field but also off the football field you are so involved in the community around here why is that so important to you? It's important to me because I understand that I'm a person that comes from you know I've been through hard times I've been through difficult times and I feel like you know everybody in this world are always going to be in a situation where you know things are always going to be great and so I relate to that so me and my wife started our foundation a couple years ago to buy our family legacy fund and we want to just extend as much grace to everybody involved because God has extended a lot of grace to us and our family. A lot of what you do involves children and investing in the youth why is that something that really kind of captures your interest? Because the youth you know they're the future I think they're going to be the ones that change the world I think we need to try to impact youth as much as possible because you know sometimes in this life and in the world you're not going to change the opinions of a lot of different people but if you can talk to the youth and try to you know spark their brains you know it can change the whole trajectory of their life so that's what I'm about. You've done a lot of different things it's not just football camps or school supply giveaways or things like that you really have a diverse portfolio of things that the foundation gets involved in do you have a favorite project that you guys have been able to work on? Well I mean last year we partnered with Ryan Tannehill and we did a really great Christmas event we held it actually at Nissan Stadium and I think we gave away like $50,000 worth of gifts and toys we was able to give a family a new Nissan car which was awesome and I also enjoy doing Thanksgiving I love giving away Thanksgiving meals family meals to families who may not may not can afford to turkey or afford a meal so see the faces of the people especially the faces of the children just to have a great meal and family meal Thanksgiving you know it means the world to me. That was a great Nissan insider. Well thanks Mike, Kevin Byrd's a pretty cool dude. He's a pretty cool dude something else cool that we're involved in with the Tennessee Titans the Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Awards we will present them at Nissan Stadium on Tuesday December 7th earlier this week we announced the finalist the guys who will get to come to Nissan Stadium for the big lunch in that day as we go to break on Titans All Access let's take a look in division one the first three classifications the three finalists from each division back to Titans All Access one of the new additions to the Titans family is Ola Adani he's a guy that we have loved to watch playing on Sundays and we've loved getting to know him Mike Keith took a walk around the fields at St. Thomas sports park so that you could get to know Ola Adani a little bit better. Ola is your nickname. Yes sir. How do you properly pronounce your full name? Ola Sankami but then you know when you put the accent what if you hear my mom say it's Ola Sankami. Ola Sankami. Close enough. Nice huh? Is there a significance to your first name? Oh yeah uh it means my wealth is coming um so my brother's is my wealth is here and mine is my wealth is coming. What's your brother do? Uh he's a medical student. Wow where'd he go to school? UTSA. Okay San Antonio. Okay San Antonio so you moved from Nigeria to the United States when you were eight? Yes sir. What did you think when you moved here can you remember? Man come in come in here it was the land of opportunities my mom wanted us to have a better life here so you know we came and shoot I ain't getting back yet. Did you speak English at that point? Yeah our primary language is English but we have uh our second there is Yoruba so I'm Yoruba and then so my mom at home she speaks Yoruba and English to us. Okay so that was advantageous you didn't have to necessarily learn the language all over Vietnam. The Nigerian people who immigrate to the United States often end up in the Houston area. Uh huh. Why is that? Because Houston is like second Nigeria man it's like it's hot the traffic is crazy and it's just that's where everybody migrates and it's a affordable place to live you know. But it really is welcoming in that way in that there are people who could help you assimilate very quickly and it seems like people do really well once they go from Nigeria to the Houston area. Oh yeah for sure um like I said Houston is the second Nigeria and you know a lot of people move there and you know they have a great time. All right now you weren't a football player to start with? No I was not. How did you get involved in football? So when I got here um you know I was a soccer player I played well football in Nigeria soccer um so I played soccer came here got to eat and got fat you know got a little chunky couldn't move like that no more so my high school coaches like came up to my mom well they was calling my mom trying to give me the play she wasn't having none of that it was academics first academics first academics first my uncle eventually convinced her to let me play when out there I started playing and you know I fell in love with it ever since. Okay so what's a what's a traditional meal you can throw at us for somebody who is of your bit to say? Man I'm a big fan of Jaluf rice and beans I crush that whenever I got to eat so whenever I got to put weight on Jaluf rice beans chicken rice and stew fufu eba I'm like all those but I got to lay off some of them just because like they put a lot of weight on me. All right so you'd obviously laid off of them when you went after Russell Wilson at the end of the Seattle game because man you look quick was was that the best moment of your career so far? Oh man for sure um that was my very first career sack uh during the regular season uh man it felt great just a blessing to be out on the field and you know help the team win. What has it been like for you to live here in Nashville and for Titans fans to really come to know who you are I mean very quickly you have become a named player since moving here. That y'all ain't never seen me like you in Cowboy. All that. Um man it's like I said it's been amazing man I ain't go live to you when I first was thinking about Nashville I didn't think you know I would be in the position that I am here today. They created the opportunity for me I came out here you know I did what I had to do and you know it's love just getting a lot of love from the fans and it's just it's different for me and I'm enjoying every part of it. Y'all already know I don't never got to say it it's game day come on. All right so what's your goal for the rest of the season? All right man just keep stacking the wins um keep improving every day and just you know keep getting better. What's the key to being a good pass rusher what are you learning about that that's making a difference? After and finish after and finish because Baywood says it all every day our day after the finish. A lot more Titans all access to combat as we head to break we want to give you more Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Award finalist this is classes four through six. This is Coach Mack we're going beneath the surface powered by Microsoft Surface. This is first down you can see it's on the plus 18 yard line what we're lined up in here this is 11 personnel you've got three wides one tight end and one back. Lovey Smith defensive coordinator is showing Blitz she's got a free safety in the post and what you're going to see here you're going to see a nine ball stack up here to the offensive right side what they are trying to do with this is come out of this nine ball stack in a starburst formation and once they get into the starburst watch the quarterback look off the post safety safety that's in the middle of the field he's going to look him off this fits Patrick makes a nice move to the outside to stick the corner comes inside right towards the goalpost perfect throw perfect catch they bring five the five people that they bring on this Blitz are blocked up perfectly now the score 19-6 after this touchdown it's time for us to talk ball presented by Duncan with general manager John Robinson hope you get to spend some time with your family on Thanksgiving Day a little downtime at least yeah it was good to break a little bread with them have a little family fall ship all right so we just saw coach Mack showing us Des Fitzpatrick's touchdown catch last weekend Des Fitzpatrick is a pretty interesting story after you drafted him in April he doesn't make the ball club initially for 75 days he's on the practice squad and now he's part of the team talk to me about his improvement and what he adds yeah I mean he's really worked hard and probably improved as about as much as any player on the football team every receiver is different they've got to kind of find their niche and you know Des is improving on doing that he made some contested catches for us in the Houston game and we're going to lean on him here as we move forward all right let's talk about this weekend's opponent the Patriots they've won five in a row they're seven and four and it seems like the improvement has largely been keyed by a defense that is just stopping everybody what's got their defense going now yeah they're they're playing really sound defense Mike you know they got a bunch of good players on that side of the ball but they're all playing well together you know high tower and Bentley in the middle you know those are two big fast linebackers that don't really lead the charge they've got Van Roy and Jude on on the edge really disruptive edge guys I think overall team defense they're playing really sound football right now what has impressed you about their rookie quarterback Mack Jones I think it's his poise you know he has been really poised you can tell that he's played at a high level at a big-time program like Alabama he's taking command you can see him being vocal in the game on the sidelines he's been decisive with his throws he's making good decisions stage certainly hasn't proved too big for him so no surprise big challenge this weekend for the tight yeah we're going to play good football this weekend Mike talking about good football right now let's talk about some of the top players in the state of Tennessee earlier this week the announcement made the finalist for the Tennessee Titans mr. football awards which will be presented on December 7th John Robinson is going to be there excited to have that all go down why is it so important for this organization to support high school football in the state of Tennessee well I mean I think that's where the foundation is laid you know from a football standpoint you know that's where these guys learn you know the importance of hard work and teamwork and dedication and sacrifice and accountability being a part of that supporting that putting our arm around high school football here in our great state is something that's extremely important to us thank you for your support of that and thank you for taking time to talk ball with us go my tight not presented by Duncan John Robinson as we go to break on Titans all access let's take a look at our mr. football finalist in division two and our finalist for kicker of the year we welcome you back to Titans all access the Titans in the Patriots this weekend and we know about the matchup it's the third time that Mike Vrable is coaching against his former coach and his former team and that story line's already been thrown out a bunch this week yeah yeah it's what they talk about and every time the Titans play the Patriots that storyline is going to be thrown out as long as Mike Vrable is the coach of the Tennessee Titans but here's something that may surprise people we had a little fun with the Titans rookie class when they came in back during the summer we asked them did they remember Mike Vrable's playing career not so much watch this i heard the name before but i didn't like know who Mike Vrable was no yeah he's pretty he was a beast have you ever seen Mike Vrable play football i have not seen it i've seen a whole bunch of snippets and stuff just him talking and obviously i watched Taylor the Ones podcast so just hearing all that but i have never seen him play football no i never watched my thing maybe i heard of him when i was little i remember his name i remember playing as him on matting when i used to play video games and all that stuff so it's kind of a trip do you tell the head coach that you used to play with him as man i mean it'll probably come up but i feel like no i watched the videos of him at pro days over and over going against other players in the draft from years before because i was worried about him coming to my pro day and me having to go against him because he's big no i hate to admit that i hate to admit that i'm a camera but i'm gonna go watch him today yes my dad and i done a lot of research no do you know that he did play football yeah do you know where he played football no what did he play football i read it but i forgot oh my god no i don't even know we play why am i even sure here like i do i know he's he was good he was good i know he was a very good player uh ohio state okay where you went to college okay i'm gonna look that up yeah i was on twitter somewhere and i totally forgot he played defensive end and he played for the stealers uh i don't know who else he played for he also won a super bowl he played linebacker right oh yeah he played lumber okay good all right he was linebacker yeah but he also played special team so i know he's a grinder yeah it's gonna be fun to go back and watch those tapes he's good that was fantastic they really didn't know no they really didn't know and maybe for future jobs they will google their boss or at least run it through the interwebs a little bit it's it doesn't seem to be affecting him they're doing okay no everything turned out just fine for the titans rookies yeah but i'd say after this week they know mike brable played in the nfl yeah i think they're aware they're aware all right we need to get a break when we come back we talk titans patriots and what do we talk about the keys the keys i got them right here it's the best part of the show right here come back for them stay tuned welcome back to titans all access it's time for mike keith's keys and these keys are so good we finally got them sponsored so mike keith this is your new tag mike keith's keys presented by visit myrtle beach dot com i love myrtle beach titans fans belong at the beach myrtle south carolina i've been to visit myrtle beach dot com they have great offers well mike keith they are now sponsoring your keys take it away let's do it all right key number one receivers gotta win not sure who's playing receiver for the titans this weekend we're not so sure but they got to get separation at the line of scrimmage they got to make the catch and they have to make contested catches this defensive backfield for the patriots 18 interceptions on the year they're ball hawks titans receivers can't let it happen they got to win what's your second key front seven on the titans defense has to have a big day that means stopping the running game for the patriots which is vastly improved and getting pressure on rookie quarterback mac jones that front seven of the titans has to play bigger than they did last weekend they got to be good this weekend against the patriot all right the third and final key to beating the new england patriots win turnover sack ratio now maybe you've heard me talk about this in the past you combine your turnovers and sacks against the other team's turnovers and sacks last weekend titans turnover sack ratio minus seven they got to win that this weekend they got to take the ball away on defense they got to get quarterback sacks they've got to not turn the ball over on offense they've got to protect ryan tana hill those are big plays those are game changing plays those are plays of emotion especially on the road you can't let bad things happen to your offense and you've got to inflict some pain on the offense for the new england patriots those two things have to happen up front when the turnover sack ratio all right those are three pretty good keys and you know if the titans end up getting that win over the new england patriots you mean win there will be a big party in myrtle beach there you go yep there you go visit myrtle beach dot com sponsor of the keys yep thanks very much all right so we're on our way to new england we'll play in foxborough the game kicks off at noon central time we're on the air at 11 a.m central amy wells ret brian with titans countdown we hope you'll join us on your favorite titans radio station for amy wells i'm mike keith happy thanksgiving weekend thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time