 It's the maiden voyage in the bet MGM studio here at Ascension St. Thomas Sports Park with Rand Carthon I'm Mike Keith and it's time for us to get down to the business of the 2023 Tennessee Titans schedule. You had to hold it. You had to look at it. You had to wait with it Was it hard? Very Because you don't take I mean obviously it's the schedule. It's who we're gonna play It's our opponents and things that we could start getting ready for but on the personal side It's okay. Where where's this game? Oh, I got family I can get have to get X amount of tickets for this or the London game now you can plan for you know family travel so Excited to actually have this out public and I'm sure as soon as I take my phone off do not disturb I'll have a bunch of rolling again Let's take a good look at the schedule to begin Preseason is where we start and it's Chicago and at Minnesota both on the road and then home for the New England Patriots So two preseason games on the road New England at home The regular season opens on September the 10th at New Orleans It's a noon kickoff and you're gonna see a theme with the noon kickoffs the home opener in week two the LA Chargers back on the road to Cleveland to round out September October begins with a visit from the Cincinnati Bengals Then it's at Indianapolis for the first AFC South game on to London To take on the Baltimore Ravens on October 15th The buy is in week seven on October the 22nd Post buy Atlanta at home followed by Thursday night football at Pittsburgh Then two more road games at Tampa Bay at Jacksonville The home schedule comes in to focus down the stretch Thanksgiving weekend Carolina followed by Indianapolis Monday night football in Miami on December 11th Then home for Houston home for Seattle at Houston and then the regular season ends once again With Jacksonville ran Carthon as general manager of the Titans any immediate takeaways I think this is going to be a competitive schedule. I mean you look at the teams that we're playing They're either teams that you know our division opponents obviously are what they are in the AFC South is going to be you know a tough Climb for us this year But you look at the other teams, you know their teams are you on the upswing or teams that have become established So it'll be a good test for us to see where we are New Orleans as the opener there It'll obviously be loud in the Caesar's Superdome, but Derek Carr being there Troubling a little bit that they're gonna have a new quarterback and maybe Maybe be a little bit of a mystery coming in. No, I mean, that's what you have preseason for okay And that's why our scouts, you know downstairs They'll be working on you know having to have the opportunity to see Derek Carr see how he you know Functions with any offense and so I trust you know our guys to get us ready But that's a great test to come out on the road in such a hostile environment and loud environment And give us something to really look forward to this preseason selfishly. I'm glad the cold weather games are early And we got some warm weather games down the stretch, but that lasting with Jackson It'll probably be cold in Nashville the first weekend in January That's that's what you want against the defending division champs, right? Take any advantage you can get, you know And for me selfishly I See that we got three games in my home state of Florida There you go I'm a pretty excited to be there and have this team that I'm a part of you know get to show the people in my home State where we're made of. Rand Karthon, let's wrap up with this This and you said and Coach Varebel always says and everybody says it's the schedule You knew who the opponents were gonna be now You just know the dates but for the fan base This is sort of like a Christmas day type thing Because you start to be able to make your plans and as you know being a gator in this part of the country Football weekends mean so much to really everybody. Yeah, absolutely because you have to plan your your Saturday And then plan your Sunday and sometimes your Thursday and sometimes your Monday So it's now everybody not only here in this building But across the state across this region now we can plan our lives for the rest of the year There we go. Now the world can start for 2023 the run towards Las Vegas and potentially Super Bowl 58 begins for 32 teams Rand Karthon. Thanks for being with us anytime man Thank you. All right. We're gonna yes, sir Now another more complete run through of the schedule again the preseason at Chicago at Minnesota and against New England Again that season opener at New Orleans September the 10th team's first trip to the Big Easy Since 2015 when the Titans won an overtime in Mike Malarkey's first game as interim coach September 17th the LA Chargers come to town first Nashville trip for Justin Herbert September 24th at Cleveland last time the Titans were in Cleveland, Tennessee won 43 to 13 Cincinnati on October 1st Titans and Bengals meeting for the 4th straight season at Indianapolis on October the 8th the first AFC South game London Baltimore the opponent 8 30 a.m. Central time Titans second-ever trip to London second one under Mike Vrabel actually week seven by Week seven by is actually kind of interesting in Titans history It's the first time the ballclub has had a week seven by since 2009 It's the fifth time overall the Titans have had a week seven by October 29th Atlanta at noon Arthur Smith brings the Falcons to Nissan Stadium for the first time since 2015 at Pittsburgh Thursday night football on November the 2nd Titans were one and one on Thursday nights last season at Tampa Bay at noon on November the 12th Titans have won three in a row over the Bucks and Then the first meeting with Jacksonville on November the 19th as the team starts to crank up action in the division The next weekend Carolina at noon at Nissan Stadium only the seventh all-time meeting between the Titans and the Panthers Good chance. We'll see Bryce young in that one to December We move and it's time to finish up with Indianapolis at home then to Miami for Monday night football It'll be the Titans 45th all-time Monday night football game. The team has won 25 of those Houston comes to town on December 17th, and then on December 24th It's Seattle if Geno Smith is the starting quarterback for the Seahawks He'll make his third career start at Nissan Stadium, but amazingly his first since 2014 And then at Houston also played the Texans twice in three weeks in December 2019 if that looks familiar week 15 and then at Houston week 17 And then winding it up with Jacksonville Titans radios coach Dave McGinnis joins me. Hello coach Mac You know, I was wondering if I was gonna get to talk Mike I mean, I've been standing up here looking like a puppet and I've met most of y'all upstairs And if I didn't meet you that's my fault so cool that you're here so cool that you're here. This is my no, I'm talking Okay, this is my this is my 38th season in the national football league straight I've done a pretty good job of tricking people for that long like I know what I'm doing But every year this year this time at this time of the year is so exciting It really is because everybody's got fresh hope you got a fresh start and it's it's really good And since I haven't been coaching since I've been doing this with Mike Keith now I get to interact with y'all which y'all are the lifeblood of what goes on y'all the lifeblood of this stuff We had a season where we had nobody in the stands how strange was that strange strange, okay? I don't ever want to do it again, but I'm so happy here to be here with you guys Now what do you want to ask? Okay? What I want to ask you is what you think of the schedule coach Mac well to me when as a coach as a former coach For 31 years in this league the first thing you look at if you look at where your divisional games are, okay? We've got a pretty good Backloading of our divisional games. That's important. You also look at your altered scheduled games Everybody looks at at your sheet. We've got three altered scheduled games right, okay? And so when you look at that because as a coach you're looking at your schedule as to how you're going to get Your guys ready the next thing and we'll find out when we get a master plan I always wanted to look at and see how many teams I am playing after they're coming off their buy Right and especially where it is during the schedule because that makes a difference Because this stuff takes a toll on these dudes bodies out here And you'd kind of like to know where you where you line up there the next thing the next thing you look at Not only is where are the national games? How do the national games fall as far as what happens after them then do you have any sandwich games? We had a sandwich game last year with Indy before you play a game opponent play another game That's what you look at as a coach. This to me is a much more linear and an even schedule than last year last year Was very very chopped up, you know as far as Thursday night games How much rest you had how much you didn't I'm just telling you as a former head coach That puts a lot of strain on you trying to decide how much to work your guys when to work them Special with the injuries that we had last year That's a double load on you to do that And so that's just a little overview of what you look at as a coach when you look at this stuff here Let's look at the month by month if we could in September the Titans obviously open the season on the road at New Orleans Can we stop you minute? Yes, sir. We go to Chicago, right good preseason. Yes I was a head coach of the Bears for six hours didn't know what for three true story true story true story All right, so back to the preseason. Here's August one more time Okay, I'm gonna write a book so y'all get a copy when I write it. This will be two chapters in fight now go all right So that's your preseason. That's obviously August We don't have dates and times yet Those will be set as we go forward as the clubs work this out and we figure out what the TV schedule is So to September we go and you look at the home game with the Chargers Sandwiched in between the road games at New Orleans and Cleveland October's an interesting month Because the Titans bounce around First of the month and the end of the month home games Indianapolis and a trip to London and the buy on October 22nd Mike Vrabel is five and oh after buys in his time with the tight night. Great was a good football coach guys I mean, I know good from bad in this league and Look, I know he's a good ball coach, but when he's looking at this He's telling you some of the same things I'm telling you right now as far as in his mind now how the wheels are turning how he's going to get his teams ready for this The reason he is so good after a buy because he he Assesses where his team is and then he knows how to get him ready with a little extra time. All right So let's look at November. It's a tough month three straight road games to begin The Thursday night game at Pittsburgh then at Tampa and Jacksonville finally home for Carolina Those three straight road games. That's a tough test. That's a tough test and what you got a Thursday night game in there So what you want to do with a Thursday night game is? Because you're gonna be coming off of a short week with that Thursday night game It's really really important to have your guys as healthy as you can be going into that one Because that's the stretch there to me when we're looking at November when you've got Thursday Then you've got at Tampa Bay at Jacksonville. That's gonna that's gonna test your medal a little bit that one right there Then five games in the month of December three of them division games wrapping up with Andy and then back to back or Houston in three weeks play them two times in three weeks some tough work there and as you go into January just sort of a Continuation then the home game with Jacksonville a lot on the line for the Titans down the stretch But the schedule plays back into their hands with all the home games and all the home Division games down that's such a huge point Mike because look the clearest way to the tournament and the national football league is to win Your division and so having that having that back loaded like that You need to have your team hitting on all cylinders when we reach that point and look the league does this on purpose guys They do it on purpose because all of these games really they're all important in the national football league Because you only got 17 chances, but back loading everybody's schedule with division games That's a big big stretch there and the divisional match-ups Indianapolis and Jacksonville Early on and and really you talked about Indianapolis in week five Jacksonville on November the 19th and then Indy Houston Houston December Jacksonville in week 18 if the Titans can do enough to put themselves in contention Then they have a chance to take care of their business on their own as you move down the street Yeah, and you know when you roll it back and you start looking you know when I was coaching We had 16 games so it's very easy to do the math We would divide it into quarters now that you got 17 you still want to divide it into quarters But you've got you've got a mile post you want to reach in each of those months and to do just what you said Mike Put yourself in a position to make a run for the pole in the in the last month of your schedule I want to talk about flexible scheduling for just a minute Sunday night flexible scheduling for Sunday night football twice they can flex games between weeks five and ten and then at the NFL's discretion Weeks 11 through 17, so there is flexibility there this year We'll also have Monday night flex scheduling potentially the NFL can flex games in weeks 13 through 17 Games can be moved throughout the year from noon to the 305 or the 325 window Week 18 is interesting because there are two games on that Saturday, January 6th 330 and 715 and then on Sunday There are noon and 325 starts and then obviously there's a Sunday night game start times Networks for everything announced at the conclusion of week 17 So as they sort of map out the horse race They can do whatever they need to to make week 18 as exciting as possible Well, and that's why they do it of course we all know that television drives everything that we do, right? I mean, and then that's that's why they do it I mean, it's genius the way they do it now as a coach again As I say when if you've got a chance to be flexed then you've got to start making Two schedules you start making two schedules because regardless of when you're playing You got to be ready to play right and so But the league has done a genius move there because every game Especially in the last month and then the last two weeks of the season is going to be meaningful because you can pick and choose Who's playing on the prime time shows depending on what the record is all right So if you look at the schedule and you say how do we end up with these opponents in these situations? The Titans and the rest of the AFC South this year play the four teams from the AFC North the four teams from the AFC South and the NFC West opponent who finished in the like position as you last year this year for the Titans That's Seattle Seattle finished second in the West. So that's the opponent divisions You kind of look around you say well, how does it affect your schedule in terms of the win percentage? Jacksonville is playing the toughest schedule in the division this year 477-win clip Titans opponents last year won 44.8% of their games Indianapolis 434 and Houston 431 No real big advantage in any of that. Yeah, all that stuff, you know really is nice to look at numbers wise But it depends on where your team is at that time I mean, that's what you're looking at now and we know we're going to play these guys twice, right? So without even looking at numbers, I know this we've got to beat these people twice every one of them That's what we have to do If you could win five of six, you'd be happy. You'd be real happy coach You'd be very happy and the hope springs eternal about the NFL and this stat really bears it out since 1990 33 straight years at least four teams at least four have made the playoffs who did not make it the year before Last year six of the 14 teams that made the playoffs did not make it the year before So you every team goes in feeling like they have a real chance to get in the tournament Well, absolutely and parody is what this league is all about It's the best professional sports lead going because of the parody everybody and of course now it comes down to injuries It comes down to breaks, you know during the game But that's what makes it so exciting when Mike Keith called me and asked me to come back here and you know start broadcasting He's really sorry. He did that eight years ago But since he did I mean just the excitement and being able to be involved and especially look he does all the games Mike Keith does with the windows wide open Because he wants to he wants the feel of what it's like and I get that as a coach I was down there on the sideline for 31 years you get you get the feel of it There's nothing like it. You guys are part of it You see it the thing I'm happy about when he talked about our weather schedules. I'm so glad we play those cold teams You know early, you know, and so it's not cold because it doesn't matter what it is We've done games at Green Bay Where I promise you If I hadn't have been a lifer in this league, I'd quit. I Mean ice on the microphones ice on this and and it was last year You know it's when Brad Willis who does a great job with us and Philip Noel You know they're the they're the the brains of it and they put it all together the engineers So before Mike came in the end of the booth. He said hey look It's really cold I'm going to propose this to Mike and they all of y'all to be on my side He said if we could just keep this window over here Open and this one over here could we close these other two so we could still hear it But we wouldn't get blasted. He said is everybody with me going oh, yeah, we're with you comes in Mike We're thinking we're going to leave these he went no So I'm so happy So happy to be in Miami in December. Oh my god. That's a bit for those windows don't open anyway. No, they don't We're by J Lo's club. That's right. So we're going to London. Who's excited about going to London. I mean, yeah We're gonna play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Which is supposed to be state-of-the-art and designed for American football, which Wembley is not no No, it's not and listen playing at Wembley was awesome But sitting out amongst the people doing the broadcast is great at school desks like we were not as good as what this is going to be Baltimore in October in London our second time to go do it Awesome, this will be my fourth London trip with a team It'll be my sixth overseas trip in my tenure in the National Football League for the London Wanda Gutenberg Sweden when I was with the Bears played the Vikings and then one to Berlin to play the 49ers when I was with when I was with the Bears London look London I went to the the first one they did I was with the Bears went and played the Cowboys in 86 over there in London They were just kind of getting the feel for how this NFL thing was gonna work in London So there was a few hiccups. Okay, but the atmosphere is fabulous Now they have got it so smooth and a shout out to Brenn Acres and our ops crew because they this trip is planned so well By these people here the last time I went in 2018 smooth trip y'all are planning on going go I mean it is it's worth the trip. It is worth the trip because I see it right there saying hey look I told you The coach Max telling you it's a cool trip. It's a great experience. It's a great experience and everything is like the Super Bowl You got everybody there. They're were in different jerseys and they make noise the whole game, but leading up to it It's a cool cool experience and as I say I've been doing this for a while And I was like wow this is really good So that stadium that stadium is really cool because it's got a it's got a soccer pitch because it's a soccer stadium So the pitch but then they can the pitch can move and then they raise a football field I mean it's a it's a fabulous fabulous Mechanical marvel over there that they've built so I'm looking forward to it What kind of advantage is it that Mike Vrable is doing it for the second time big time big and it's big for Mike for this reason He's doing it for a second time and he's doing it with the same ops crew So they know exactly I mean he's Brenn Acres and those guys I mean he's already as soon as this thing popped up that we were going They already started planning as far as to what it's what was going on and It's it's flawless the way we travel It really is and for you guys that are coming it's it's it's really planned out very very well But for Mike Vrable for a coach there's a there's a feeling of it removes all the what ifs when you're a coach If you've already done it once and you've done it with the same ops crew So it's really smooth and how many different Pubs did you hang out with with Titans fans? Coach look you went to like every one. Yeah, I did We had a we had our radio show we did it one. I can't remember the name. I mean I called it bed, bath and beyond That's not what it was Not a good connotation at this moment I understand it was banker barrel and bar, you know, it was fabulous and so many Titans fans in there I mean to the rafters a great thing about it was it, you know, I'll tell stories all night I don't know how long we got but we we went in there and the seahawks had already been there the week before right They had been they had set up at the same bar Well when we came in To set up the seahawks guy was still in there taking his stuff down And so he started trying to tell brad willis what you don't tell him anything You know about how they set up and here's how you should set up He let it go on for about five minutes And I'm looking over there at brad just and I mean his nickname is the water moxon because he will go after you And so he sure he wanted that out Doesn't matter. I mean the fabulous person. Yes. He he he went he went he finally told that guy I could care less what the seahawks did and here's what I really care about you getting out of here Everything else was really pleasant. Yeah, we had a great time over there. I mean y'all y'all come please I mean you'll love it. See this is why you should listen to titan's radio. This is every week right here Dave McGinnis. Thanks very much. Thanks guys That's great stuff. All right. So coach back is going out. Jim rice is coming in He is the vice president of titan's ticket sales And uh, there's a lot to talk about because the schedule is out You've had a chance to ruminate through it Jim rice a lot of great options. Welcome. Appreciate that Mike. We're glad to have you I'm just wondering. I'm not going to tell you to stop talking But how are you going to make me follow acts like ran and coach back? Well, that's that's why you're here We saved the best for last. How about that? Yes, let's talk flex plans. All right Tell people what flex plans are what they need to know and how they can go about getting Yes, so it's a great option for those folks that maybe don't have the time to come to all 10 games or the budget And so we've got a variety of different packages We've got a two game pack sponsored by twice daily that allows you to pick any two games that you want to come out to during the season We've got our afc south pack where you can purchase that and Come out and watch us take on all of our rivals within the division And then we've got a five game flex plan Which is a basically a half season where you get the one pre season and any four regular season games you want All right, so I love the fireball fast pass idea You you've been selling those. Do you still have some available? We got very few left. Yeah, tell people what they are Yeah, so again another option for those that are on a budget, but this one gets you to all 10 games So it's a 300 level ticket But with that it's a different seed every game And so you get to try out a lot of different options and it's only 400 you get you get every game this season So that's great. Great deal and playoff priority and playoff priority. That's with that and and the flex plans All right, so if I wanted to buy season tickets, I want to buy psl I can still do that you can still do that. Obviously, we've got the the new stadium coming up That was huge news for us a couple weeks ago But yeah psls are on sale. We've got Extremely limited inventory in the club in lower level Things have been going well for us the last couple years with the winning records and the playoff runs But if you want to give us a call 615-565-4200 we can definitely find something that fits your budget And something that's newer to us, but really exciting group sales groups. Yep been around for a couple years now So whether it's family friends company outing church school youth groups Whatever it is All you need is 10 or more pick whatever game you want put down a $250 deposit and then two weeks before the game Firm up what your numbers are and pay the rest and you guys can come out and have a grand old time So for all of these options that we just talked about 615-565-4200 you got it. What else do I need to know? Jim rice new stadiums coming up? So that's that's another big talking point. Um, and right now if you purchase psls through us The value of that psl will transfer to the new building. So that's it's a big time. That's great. That's great. All right, Jim Thank you so much appreciate it. Well done all right So one more run of the schedule as we wrap this up from the bed mgm studio Preseason at chicago at minnesota final preseason game new england Opening the regular season september 10th at new orleans Home for the chargers on september 17th at cleveland september 24th Cincinnati on october 1st at nissan stadium At indianapolis october 8th the london game against the ravens october 15th the by october 22nd Atlanta comes to town on october 29th four days later the titans play thursday night football at pittsburgh Road games november 12th tampa bay november 19 Jacksonville carolina at home november 26th indianapolis at home december 3rd monday night football at miami on december the 11th Home for houston december 17th home for seattle christmas eve At houston on new year's eve day at noon and then the final weekend week 18 against jacksonville to be determined saturday or sunday So we shall see where it all ends up, but it is incredibly exciting as we talk schedule a special thanks to rand karthon coach dav mcginnis and also to jim rice and mostly to all of you. Thank you so much