 The 2023 season is underway under Brescher Fierce and another second, Imani Hooker. Stakes, all of it, you know, so, you know, there was a couple bright spots, but on the whole it just had to be better and a lot of different areas. But I don't think we gave them away. We just, too many mistakes. Welcome to the Bet MGM studio and the Mike Vrable show presented by Seatgeek. With the head coach, I'm Mike Keith. Titan season opener Sunday in the Caesar Superdome in New Orleans. Saints went at 16 to 15. Mike, first of all, welcome back to another season of your show. Appreciate it, buddy. This is amazing. So great job to everybody that made this happen. Well, a lot of people put in a lot of work to make this look like it does. We're proud of it. In terms of the game on Sunday, 48 hours removed now, starting to wrap it and turn your attention to the Chargers tomorrow. Final thoughts as you've looked back over the last two days? Well, I mean, we've had to, we'd have to get past this, you know, much before tonight. But I would say the final thoughts are just not good enough. Just not consistent enough. We didn't get into drives. We were behind the chains offensively, made a few plays, missed more than we made. Defensively good. Not great. Not consistently great. Wasn't great when we needed to be great. Third down and there at the end in the four minutes. So special teams obviously had the punt blocked. You know, we kept field goals, but you know, we'll be better. We'll get back to work and we're excited about it. One of the great things about the start of the day overall in New Orleans was actually the opening toss. As Tim Shaw, Tennessee Titan for life, right there with the head coach and Steve Gleason also visiting with the head coach, former Saints Safety were the honorary captains for the two teams. This moment meant a lot to everybody in New Orleans and Nashville and in between who loved these teams. Well, it was the right thing to do and it meant a lot to us. It meant a lot to the Saints, but most importantly, it meant a lot to Tim and Steve. That's what this is all about and hopefully raising awareness to a sickening disease that ALS. Absolutely. Let's take a look now at Mike Vrable's six pack presented by Seat Geek and we have to go no further than the first play of the year. The opening kickoff of Monty Hooker starting safety makes a play on special teams. And again, we've talked about our right to earn and cover kickoffs and this is something that we can do. We've worked all year and all offseason about breaking a stiff arm down and knowing that the ball could be loose and just a fantastic individual play by Hook. As he pushes this guy to the sidelines, breaks a stiff arm down, the ball is loose and his outside arm and they will recover it in one motion. Again, would have liked to have it called correctly on the field or even a replay assist and save myself and the team the challenge, but that didn't happen either. A lot of the Titans newcomers showed up in this ball game on Sunday. Let's talk about number 49, Arden Key, the first sack. Well, he's had a great offseason. He was one of our award winners and worked extremely hard. Again, when we talked to Arden in the offseason, you want to play 400 snaps, you want to play 800. And he said, I want to play 800. And that's good because the more he plays for us, the more successful he's going to be and the more impact that he's going to have on our team. So, you know, he's worked hard to be in condition to play a lot of snaps and affect the game the way he did. Arden Key had an NFL high 11 quarterback pressures in week one. Let's go back to another Amani Hooker play right at the end of the first half. Seventh career interception. Well, it saves us points. You know, they hit a conversion. They hit a play there actually on Amani earlier in this drive. And I think that this is a great testament as to growth and who we want to be. You know, we've got to focus on the next play and two plays later. You know, they try to hit four verts down the seam. Amani sinks and, you know, is able to save some points there at the end of half. Early in the third quarter, the Titans get a chance to see their first ever carry from New Orleans native. He's actually from Panchatula. This is Tajie Speer. Well, I think he caught everybody a little off guard. He kind of bounced it outside. And when you do that on a particular run like this, you're kind of on your own. You can see, you know, the corner and the linebacker and everybody running. I think he was a little quicker than Marseille and thought he was going to be and to be able to, you know, get upfield. And I was there. That was the quickest 17 yards we'd seen in a while. Head coach was happy about that. I was. I was excited. All right. Let's take a look now. First play of the fourth quarter Titans converting a third down Tana Hill to the Andre Hopkins. Well, it's a good part. It starts with a good pocket and it starts with, you know, guys getting open. Again, we have to have third and less than, you know, eight or nine like we did. But that was the pocket that we need. You see the game inside hop coming into the quarterbacks vision and it all starts with the protection. You know, there it is a good clean pocket and it'd be able to complete a third down conversion. Seven catches on the ball game for Deandre Hopkins. 65 yards. Four catches for 58 yards for Nick Westbrook Akene. This one went for 24 yards. Yeah. And then again, you see the defender trying to take a chance. Ryan with good ball placement outside where only Nick could catch it. Not running out of bounds. Taking a short game, catch and run and giving us the next play right there. Nick continues to be a guy that whatever you ask him to do, he does it to the best of his ability. That's a pro. Knows a lot of positions, plays special teams for us and, you know, is it helping in the passing game and in the special team. So he's a valuable asset. All right. The next two games are the six pack of plays sponsored by Seat Geek here on the Mike Vrable Show. When we come back, the head coach shows us a play in film study. There was a big one for the Titans and one that they hope they can use more this season. That's coming up next as you watch the Mike Vrable Show presented by Seat Geek. Stay tuned. The Mike Vrable Show presented by Seat Geek continues and we've got a new contraption for the head coach. Give us a little film study and what we're going to see with this that we're really excited about. A first in 10 play, 429 to go second quarter. Titans at their own 30. This one goes well, coach. Show us why. Yep. So again, a normal formation that this is a formation that we're in a lot. Okay. So obviously two Titans, two receivers, Derek back behind the quarterback. Do a lot of different things out of this. We can run our power scheme. We can run our zone scheme, play action pass. Keeper game. But what you're going to see here is we're going to work Derek through and then back here to the weak side, trying to sell a couple of double teams here and here as we work back fanning and then let them up the field. You're going to see the normal play action pass route that we would normally throw deep shot, whatever it may be, but then marrying it with a screen. Great way to get Derek to football off of something that we normally do. So let's see how this works and you'll see it from the end zone. So here as we start to play, you can kind of see here, there's the double team. So you get run action, you get the linebacker to run through and then Derek's able to slip out with a lot of space back in here. So you see the receiver selling it. Brew just has to get up to the one week safety and you'll see him able to slip out from blocking the nose guard. That's what 21 miles an hour looks like. That however, Coach Mike is not 21 miles an hour. You're moving good though, Coach. No, not good enough. So let's take a look at it from the end zone because this is how we have to be able to marry plays and be able to get things understood where we're able to sell these things with Derek here and then back out. But this is the guy right here that we got to get and you can see how Brew, like you said, uses his athleticism to get out in space. Everybody sells it. Peter loses inside and now we're able to get Derek and a whole bunch of space right there. Lyman, not down the field illegally. But Peter's supposed to lose inside. That's what you're talking about. Correct. When we would throw a pass, we want to talk about inside out. But we're trying to create this space over here for Derek. So Peter kind of sells it and then loses back inside and is still able to kind of get up here and get a hand on Saunders. All 11 men do the job to make that work. Well, certainly. Well, those are the plays that we need to get to Derek and be able to sell and marry that off of formations that we are normally doing a lot of different things out of. Great job. That was super. Thank you. This is awesome. All right. So the Epic Western Spotlight is next and one of Coach Verable's favorite stories of the preseason is included in this. Stay tuned as the Mike Verable Show continues presented by Seeking. It's time for the Epic Western Spotlight on the Mike Verable Show. Defensive line coach Terrell Williams is one of the most respected people within the walls of Ascension St. Thomas Sports Park. He's been a defensive line coach in college and in pros for nearly 25 years. But while he's good at his job, he's more than just a position coach. He's a guy who encourages people. He's a friend of people. He's an ear that the players feel like they have at all times and encourager. Well, this past winter, a knock on the door from Mike Verable added a formal title to his overall role. So I was sitting in my office in the dark burning a candle like I normally do. And he came over, shut the door and said, hey, I want to do this. I want to make you an assistant head coach. Nothing's really going to change because of what you do already. I don't, a title for me doesn't change who I am or what I do with this football team. I care about the football team. Anybody that knows me know that I love these football players. He had more Terrell Williams news for the media on August the 7th. Just five days ahead of the preseason opener at Chicago. Terrell Williams whacked as the head coach for Chicago. Starting on Friday. So I think this is a great opportunity for him and for us and everybody involved. So Big T will handle that. Clint will handle the defensive line. The move was wildly popular with the Titans players. They and everyone else saw Terrell Williams ace his pregame press conference. He then blew away the broadcast crews in his production meetings. His defensive linemen? Well, they see it. Every day. So they were not surprised. I know he's going to do a great job. You know, probably one of the moments he's been waiting for it. Even though, you know, he is just for a weekend right now. But, you know, hopefully eventually, you know, that that job come a bit before him in the future. And then it was time for the game. Terrell Williams patrolled the sidelines at Soldier Field as the Tennessee Titans head coach. Let's go, Sammy. Let's go. Come on, dawgs. Knock somebody back. I got to go down with my guys. The linemen. I got to go with my guys. Good. Good. Touchdown. Good job, boys. Good job. Jog it off. Run off. Hey, let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Hard ball. Hard ball. Hard ball. Hard ball. Hard ball. Hard ball. Hard ball. Hard ball. Hard ball. Let's go. Let's go. Hard ball. Hard ball. Off it. On the ball. On the ball. That's Big T. Terrell Williams. And that was a special weekend for the Tennessee Titans for everybody who is around the team, loves the franchise. And for Terrell, he said it was just an amazing experience that you gave him the chance to have. Yeah, it was nothing that I gave him. He earned it. That's the most important thing that I want everybody to understand is, and nothing's changed. And his, like he said, being the assistant head coach, he loves this football team, offense, defense, special teams. We're lucky to have him. We've got a great staff excited about the, you know, the growth that we're all going to continue to make with this football team. All right. Terrell Williams getting a chance to run the show for the Titans. And certainly his defensive linemen played very, very well in the game last Sunday. We'll continue to throughout the rest of the year because his groups always do. After the break, we've got something very special. One of the youngest Titans has a hard hitting question for the head coach. I bet. Yeah. Here we go. The Mike Vrables show presented by Seat Geek with the kids. We continue with the Mike Vrables show presented by Seat Geek. Coach loves the sessions with the media where he gets to answer questions. You just, you dig. It's the favorite part of my job. Probably is, right? Absolutely. Better than doing these shows with me. Yep. Yeah. Something like that. This is two. Media's first. Media's first. So we figured because he loves it so, we would open up this portion of the program for a hard hitting question. Here we go. Let's see what you got. You like my normal media session. My name is Emmett and I'm six years old. I'm wondering, do you like being a player or a coach better? Good question, Emmett. Do I like being a player or a coach better? I would tell you to try to play as long as you possibly can. This is love coaching. Love it. But this, there's something about playing in a national football league. So, again, having been lucky enough to do both, playing in this league is something that I'll cherish forever as well as coaching. 14 years. Pretty good stuff. Yep. But, you know, better than having a real job. It's truly good. It beats having a real job. But I think to Emmett's question, though, what I wonder is when we see you running with Derek Henry down the sidelines, there's still some of that number 50 in there a little bit. And yet you have to temper it as you become a coach. Yeah. I mean, whatever I did as a player, that's, it's never going to, I've said this, ad nauseam, never going to help us be successful. Now, some of those experiences that I can explain or talk to or guys that I played with, different experiences, I think maybe that helps. But that's just part of my package and how I'm trying to do the job and try to relate to these guys and make a connection with them. And, you know, but ultimately try to hold them accountable and win. I think Emmett did a whale of a job. It was amazing. I love that segment. All right. So he loves it. So we'll do it again next week. What? Nothing. Emmett did a nice job. Thank you. If he, if he didn't, we wouldn't do it anymore, but we'll do it again next week. Thanks Emmett for hosting. It's got a break now on the Mike Vrable show presented by SeatGeek. And as we do, let's take a look at the new Titan Stadium, stadium in 60. This is Stadium in 60. Quick update on the Titans new stadium. The new Titan Stadium will feature a versatile community space. The hope is that this facility is constantly in use. Johari Matthews is a Titans vice president and executive director of the Titans Foundation. So it is 12,000 square feet that we hope can be used as a multi-purpose area for community groups, nonprofits, a convener of spaces for organizations that may need a place to come and meet to talk about what's happening in the city of Nashville, but also for programming. We want people in our neighbors in the community to really see us as a part of Nashville beyond just football. We want our neighbors to see us as a trusted organization that they can lean on, but also as an organization that shows up in time of need, but also in times of celebration. For the latest news, visit titansnewstadium.com. It continues with Mike Vrabel's Nissan Keys to success the opponent Sunday at Nissan Stadium. Home opener, the Los Angeles Chargers. Key number one, score touchdowns in the red zone. Yeah, we just had too many drives that stalled in the high red. And then when we got down there, self-inflicted wounds, you know, main first and 15, second and 20 behind the chains. And so we've got to be able to get down there, get the ball inside the 10-yard line. You know, we've been really good in goal-to-go situations for a while now. So, you know, let a lot of our stuff work and get first and goal inside the 10 and be able to score touchdowns and not going to win games, kicking field goals in this league. Most efficient red zone offense over the last four years, so you certainly just have to get back to your standard. That's all. That's it, but you know, it just doesn't happen. You have to do it. You have to go prove it. It's not what you've done. It's what you're going to do and what you will do. Key number two on the Nissan Keys to success. Affect the quarterback, he being Justin Herbert and make him uncomfortable. Yep. You know, I mean, he can stand there. They ran a football really well last week. And again, we'll have to handle those things if they do it. But again, he's got big weapons. He knows where he wants to go with football. He can run. He can scramble. He scrambled for, you know, from first downs on third down. He knows where his check down is. He knows really where he wants to go. So what the change coverage is, try to, you know, rush him with four pressure in him. You know, if you're not, if you don't have a guy free, he's going to make you pay when you pressure him. So again, we'll have to make him uncomfortable in coverage and in rush. And of course there's a special teams key. Be great tacklers on special teams and on defense. Well, obviously defense and they're going to make you a space game. They'll spread you out with three wides out there one way. And if they like the numbers, they'll throw the bubble out there. But on special teams, you know, Davis has got six kickoff returns or excuse me, special teams touchdowns in college. He had one in preseason. So if you give him some space, this guy can go. So we'll have to cover these kickoffs and cover these punch, which gives us an opportunity to make a play. You saw them in December. Does that help? Maybe, but it'll be a different game. They got new coordinator and new players and, you know, we'll have to play better. It's going to win on Sunday. Absolutely. Yeah. Back home on Sunday, the Titans and the Chargers 12 o'clock kickoff. We hope to see you there. Thanks for watching the Mike Vrables show presented by Seat Geek from the Bet MGM Studio. Have a great night, everybody.