 I can't be more proud to be the head coach of this football team. That's right there in the second half is our identity. So, believe in it, practice it, preach it, demand it out of each other. We write our stories. Intercept it. Fired. You just never know, and that's how we're built. We don't panic, we don't freak out, put the next guy in there. Oh, Don Trill! Diante Foreman! If you fight like you did in the second half, I'll take you in any street fight. We fight our ass off, find out who we play, where we play them, and what time we play them to hear and continue to prepare. We're going to win a ton of games. One play at a time, one practice at a time. Win every day, not just every game. Win every day. We're going to go all the way, bro. We got to take it one week at a time, bro. Let's go, baby. Hey, Titans on three. One, two, three. Titans! Is what you work for. It's January 18th, and we're talking about a football game in Nashville, Tennessee on the Mike Vrapel Show. I'm Mike Keith, the head coach not with us tonight as he is busy preparing for Saturday's Tilt with Cincinnati. So pleased to be joined by General Manager John Robinson. And John, as we turn to you, the excitement around St. Thomas Sports Park this week. Wow, you can feel it everywhere. Yeah, I mean, we're excited, Mike. It was good to have that week and allow some guys to get back healthy, but we're back at it. Rip Rowan ready to go. Watching all those playoff games over the weekend, finally seeing who we're going to play. We're just stoked to be back to work and try to keep this thing going. You know the opponent is Cincinnati. Your initial thoughts on the Bengals? Yeah, Mike. I mean, it's a young explosive team on both sides of the ball. Been in the system with Coach Taylor there for a couple years, and they're really playing at a high level. All right, let's talk about Cincinnati's defense to begin. Take a look at some of their top performers on the defensive unit. You have to start with Trey Hendrickson, who comes over from the New Orleans Saints 14 sacks. The other defensive end, Sam Hubbard plays the run well. He has seven and a half sacks. Logan Wilson leads the team in tackles and in interceptions, and the former Dallas Cowboy, Chidobi Awujie with 64 tackles and a couple interceptions. How do you characterize this overall defensive unit? What do they do under Lou Anarumo? Yeah, I think they play really good team defense. Mike, it's an attacking front seven with all those guys that you mentioned, plus reader, DJ Reader in the middle, who's a tough guy to try to move out of there. They've got a lot of different pieces in the back end that they've added. But I think one of the blue guys back there is Bates the safety. He's been in a system for a while now. He plays down, he plays back. You can see him communicating all the time. But it's attacking on pass downs where they mix the concepts coverage-wise on you and they're stout against the run. What do you have to get for Brian Tannehill against this Bengals defense? Well, I think first and foremost, it's take care of the football. Taking care of the football, delivering accurate passes to the guys when they're open, get the running game going, build off that, our play action game, the things that we do well. Do what we do well for four quarters and take care of the football is how we need to approach this game. Speaking of the running game, what should we expect from Derek Henry in his return to the lineup? Yeah, we'll see. I mean, Derek's looked good. We've worked him back in and he's anxious to get back out there. He's chomping at the bit. Guys are excited to see him on the practice field and we'll see how the game goes. But we know what he's capable of. When he's at his peak performance. Let's talk about your offensive line, too. What are the challenges for them against this Bengals defense? Yeah, like I alluded to, I mean, those two as guys that, you know, you had up there Hubbard and Hendrickson, they're both really good with their hands. They got good length. They're disruptive off the edge. We'll have to be really firm on the edges. And we got to give a pocket. You know, we got to be firm in the middle. We got to keep, you know, big DJ Reader from pushing the pocket back and give Ryan a pocket to throw from. We got to get on our guy in the run game and block him through the whistle. Not to the whistle, but through the whistle. DJ Reader listed at 347 pounds. He may weigh even more than that. When we come back for more of the Mike Vrable show, we turn to the Bengals offense and see what the Titans defensive challenges will be against Cincinnati. It's divisional playoff week. We continue on the Mike Vrable show. Welcome you back to the Bet MGM Studio here at Nissan Stadium. Titans preparing to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. We've covered the Bengals defense. It's time to get into their offense, which you probably know is the more explosive part of their football team. Joe Burrow led the NFL in completion percentage this year through 34 touchdowns. Joe Mixon can run it. He can catch it. He could certainly score it. Jamar Chase, the best rookie receiver in the NFL. Oak Ridge native T Higgins also with 1,000 yards. The Cincinnati Bengals are the first team in NFL history with a 4,000 yard passer, 1,000 yard rusher and 2,000 yard receivers with all four of those gentlemen being under the age of 26. So John Robinson, a challenge. Let's start with Joe Burrow. How do you create pressure on him? Well, that's going to be a key for the game. Mike is really attacking this offensive line and finding ways to get into creases to disrupt his passing game. You know, it's whether it's pressure from the outside to force him to step up or pressure from the inside to get him running out of the pocket. We've got to find ways to get him off the spot, disrupt the timing because when he's back there and he's on the spot and he's in rhythm, he's pretty lethal with what he can do. Mixon is a pro bowler this year after having an injury plagued 2020. What's the challenge of defencing the former Oklahoma star when he takes those handoffs and pitches? Yeah, I mean, he's got great size and speed. Mike, he's a bigger stature back. I mean, he's over six foot. He's probably 20, 225. He runs sub four or five. He's got good pick and slide through traffic. He's good at breaking tackles. He's a hard guy to bring down, but he's not just a runner. He's really good out of the backfield. They get the ball to him on some screens and some, you know, some choice routes out of the backfield. So he's really a three down player at running back that you certainly have to account for. With all of the receiving threats that the Cincinnati Bengals have, what are the main jobs for your secondary? Yeah, certainly when it's man coverage, Mike, cover your guy. Don't let your guy catch the ball. You know, we tell it all the time when we talk to these rookies in draft prep, it's like, well, what's the most important thing? Just don't let your guy catch the ball. And if somebody around you has the ball, tackle that guy. But when we're playing man coverage, it's being sticky in our coverage. We're playing zone. Be disciplined in your zone. Don't start chasing guys around. Cover your area, you know, wait for the, you know, anticipate the throw, read the quarterback, and then make a break on it. For your defense, when you have won games this year, you have come up with plays that turned those games. How do you make that happen in a game against Cincinnati on set? Well, I think you, you know, you alluded to it. It's about pressure in the quarterback. It's about being disciplined in our coverage, continuing to find ways to create turnovers. The more you can take the ball away and get extra possessions for your all fans, it's just so advantageous for your football team when it comes to winning the football game. So, you know, those three things, it's about stopping the run, getting after the passer, being disciplined in our coverage and finding ways to create turnovers. All right. As we get ready to go to break, it's time for us now to do our Delta Dental. Can you guess the title? Right now, I don't want to say you're better at this than Mike Vrable is, but you may be better. So, we're excited to have you here for this segment. Don't tell Mike I said this. Here's your hint as we go to break. Delta Dental would like that. Pretty good look there, John. Yeah, wouldn't be much work to do on that smile. It looks pretty good to me. It looks pretty good. More coming up on the Mike Vrable show with John Robinson. Stay tuned. General Manager John Robinson sits in for Mike Vrable on a short week. Titans play Cincinnati on Saturday at 3.30 at Nissan Stadium. Right now, time for the big reveal. Delta dentals, can you guess this Titan? I don't know that John Robinson has ever missed in one of these when he's filled in. John, let's see if you can keep the streak intact. I think I've got it, Mike. It looks like that is the bulldog from Mississippi State, Mr. Jeffrey Simmons. Hail State indeed. There he is, 8.5 quarterback sacks. What a year for Jeffrey Simmons. He ended up with something crazy like nearly 60 quarterback pressures. Is that right? I don't know. It's it's a lot. You know, he's really improved as a pet. He's always been a big, strong, powerful player in there, but he's refined his patch rush technique really well and he's fine. He's found ways to get off those guys. A lot of times it's double teams and he's fine. He's found ways to crease in there and get pressure and he plays the game the way that we want to play. That's for sure. You made it clear when you drafted him, you thought his upside was incredible and one of the reasons is he loves football so much. And I think you've just touched on one area where that's proven and that is the way he works to get better and has gotten better every single year. He has. And I think one of the most important things is his leadership. Mike, you know, when you come in as a rookie, it's really hard to establish yourself as, you know, a kind of a voice for the football team, but it seems like every year Jeffrey has gotten a, you know, a bigger voice on the football team. Guys have always respected him, but he's become more vocal. He's been a vocal leader for our football team. He's just a great person off the field, an outstanding teammate and a leader for us on the, you know, on the team and certainly on game days. And he's a great guy to have coming off the bus first too, isn't he? Oh my goodness. Yes. His boots fit a little bit better than mine do, Mike. Jeffrey Sevens, this week's Delta Dental. Can you guess this Titan? Titans need a big game from Big Jeff. When this edition of the Mike Vrable show continues, we're going to have a Titans file with another big guy, only he plays on the offensive line. Amy Wells standing by after this. If you play for Mike Vrable and John Robinson, football had better be important to you. And that's a key this time of year. When you get into the key moments of different playoff games at those times, the guys that it's just vitally important to seem to make the plays that win the big games. In this week's Titans Files, Amy Wells talks with a Titan who loves football and plays it like it's his last game every single week. We're talking about number 76, Roger Saffold. Roger, the 2021 season has brought challenges for everybody, but for you specifically, we've seen you battle through injuries. We've seen you battle through personnel changes within your own offensive line. We've seen you battle just personally through life and being a human being. What has the season been like for you? It's definitely been like a mental strain. You know, when it comes to life in general, you got so many things you deal with outside of the game and then you have these struggles inside the game and, you know, luckily I've been talking to the right people and helping me through that and I love how consistent I've been and just, you know, my approach and just trying to make every day as best as I possibly can make it. Everyone talks about how hard you work. That grind really shows through. Where does that, I guess, mental toughness, that mentality come from and just the ability to keep going no matter what? Oh, man, it was something that was instilled in me at a young age for my father. You know, we used to always talk about, you know, how hard work beats talent. And, you know, even when I was a young kid and nine years old, I used to do push-ups, sit-ups and run around my neighborhood. Like, that was my training as a little kid and it kind of stuck. It kind of stuck and, you know, you get happy with the results at the end of the year and I've just been trying to stay consistent with that through my career. What makes all of this worth it for you? It's the grind. I fell in love with the grind when I was a little kid. You know, learning how to work hard was kind of like my whole MO, my entire life and then, you know, picking up on some talents here and there. But, you know, just the fact that there's always a journey, it's always the one goal. It gets so fun around this time of year. What does this game mean to you? It means everything to me. This is another opportunity to get closer to the goal of winning a championship. And for me, it elevates my game completely. The focus goes up, the hard work goes up, the attendance and meetings, and then just overall gameplay. I've seen it just play better around this time of year. You know, this is the type of games that bring out the best of you. The return of Derek Henry is something that has Titans fans losing their mind, like actually going crazy. For this Titans offense, how much of a help is it to get a big, strong physical back like Derek Henry back in the lineup? I mean, honestly, I think it's like, what is the difference when you have your star player on the field? I mean, he takes a lot of attention in many different areas. He's going to make things easier for AJ, Julio, all of our wide receivers, tight ends. He's going to make those playfakes a little bit harder to see. It's just great to have him back on the field, have another leader on the field, have another star on the field, and see what exactly these defenses can do to really stop us. How much better is the offense now than it was in October when he left? Honestly, I think it kind of came down to just how consistent could we be in just being efficient in the run game and the pass game. And we've been starting to do that. One of those signs that the thing that's great about this team is that there's always room for improvement. And we have never thought that we'd just arrive. Like, we're continuing to work. The Titans faced the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 in Cincinnati. Didn't get the win in that game. Do you go back that far and look at a game that you played against a team even though an entire season has passed? Honestly, I can't. I mean, I think that the entire look of the Bengals has completely changed. There's many different players in their front. There's many guys in front on their defense. We've seen what Jamar Chase has been able to do. And we see that they've been a high score in offense. All of those are recipes for a playoff team, which they are. And for us, it's going to be yet another challenge. I think that we just have to be excited that it's at our place and on our terms. It's a great day to have your best game. Make no mistake about it. Y'all deserve this. All the work that y'all put in, y'all deserve this. John, you went out and got Roger Saffold from the LA Rams. How has he been such an important part of what the Titans have done the last three seasons? Yeah, I mean, Rodgers, he's cut from the fabric that we're made of. He works hard. Football is extremely important to him. And he plays at a high level. You know, and I'm glad he's on this team. You know, a lot of our success is attributed to, you know, some of the unnoticed things that Roger does and that line does as a whole. But, you know, I'm proud that he's here and we're going to need his best game this Saturday. That's a key. We'll also have other keys from John Robinson coming up as we get ready to take our final break and come back with the Nissan keys. John Robinson sitting in for Mike Vrable on the Mike Vrable show. Stay tuned. Titans bingles Saturday at Nissan Stadium, 3.30 kickoff. You can hear it on 104.5, the zone and other Titans radio stations beginning with Titans countdown at 2 o'clock. Amy Wells and Rhett Bryan will have that. Let's talk now with John Robinson about keys to knocking off the Cincinnati Bengals here on the Mike Vrable show. We refer to him as the Nissan keys. All right, John, key number one, a special teams goal about field position. Yeah, if we can create some field position in the return game, Mike, that's so critical. You know, if you can get the ball out past the 25, out past the 30 on the kick return game, if they give you an opportunity to run it out and in the pump return game, if you can get 10 yards, that's the first down. It's a good drive starter for our offense. And then our coverage units got to do a really good job of covering kicks and limiting the field position that we give the Bengals. All right, Nissan key to success. Number two is about takeaways. Yeah, we talk about it every week. It's such a key component to wins and losses is creating extra opportunities for your offense by taking the ball away, whether it's hammering the ball out, causing a fumble, getting an interception, finding some way to steal an extra possession and not let your opponent, you know, get points and in turn, giving your offense a chance to go down and score points can really swing the pendulum in your favor. Key number three is about the offense going down and scoring points, but not three, you want seven. Yeah, it's about finishing. That's a key fabric of our football team is effort and finishing. We get the ball down in the red zone. Let's finish it with touchdowns. Let's not walk away with three. Let's try to get those extra four points. And it's just, it gives you such an advantage throughout the course of the game. It boosts the team and boosts the defense when you can score touchdowns in the red zone. John, going to be an amazing atmosphere on Saturday. Yeah, I'm really excited, Mike, to see all the fans. They've been great throughout the course of the season here, coming out and supporting us. The attendance has been awesome. I'm just really looking forward to the loudness, the energy that they're going to bring and all the two-tone blue in the sun on Saturday. John, thanks so much for sitting in for Mike Vrable tonight. Enjoy it, Mike. Tighten up. All right, so as we end tonight's show, want to mention something very special to benefit the Titans Foundation. Place your bid to win one of two playoff VIP experiences. Lots of great things that you can see right there in terms of what you can win. Go to auctions.TennesseeTitans.com to place your bid before Thursday. Again, all proceeds benefit the Titans Foundation. That's auctions.TennesseeTitans.com to place your bid. For John Robinson, I'm Mike Keith. Thanks so much for joining us for the Mike Vrable show, and we'll see you next time.