 The waiting is the hardest part and the wait is over. During this playoff edition of Titans All Access, General Manager John Robinson is talking ball with Mike and Amy as the Cincinnati Bengals come to Nashville. Throughout the season the Titans had to bring in many free agents to help due to injury and our Titans Insider Buster Screen is no different. Roger Saffold has played in plenty of big playoff games before and Amy Wells sits down with the Titans left guard and it's time for the return of the King Derek Henry. The Titans host the Bengals in the divisional round of the playoffs and the winner is headed to the AFC Championship game so let's get to it Titans All Access is loaded up for the playoffs and it starts right now. Welcome to the Bet MGM Studio with Amy Wells, I'm Mike Keith, welcome to the divisional round of the AFC playoffs. Mike, do you get goosebumps saying that? I got goosebumps with you saying it. I kind of did actually, alright let's make sure you know how the matchup is set. The Titans are the number one seed in the AFC, their opponent this week. The number four seed, the Cincinnati Bengals, Nissan Stadium is the site, 330 central time kickoff for this particular contest, the game is sold out, sold out. If you want to listen to it on your local Titans radio station, Amy Wells and Rhett Bryan will be on the air with Titans Countdown at 2 o'clock central, you got 90 minutes. I like that. Are you ready? Oh yeah. A lot of talking. The winner advances to the AFC Championship game which will take place next Sunday 205 central time kickoff for the AFC Championship game on January the 30th. The Titans and the Bengals, old rivals from the old AFC central. Now Mike, I want you to give us some of the stats on that because these teams really do know each other pretty well. Well they were in the same division for 32 years from 1970 through 2001 so they played twice a year. This will actually be the 77th total meeting, only one of those in the post season. So a lot of regular seasons, a lot of big games against Cincinnati as a matter of fact the first game ever in this building, Nissan Stadium, was against the Cincinnati Bengals. That's pretty cool. It was pretty good. It was a great game. September 12, 1999 Titans trail by nine in the final minutes. Steve McNair leads the Titans to a touchdown, gets the ball back, leads them to an Aldo Greco Field goal. Tennessee wins 36 to 35 to start their run to Super Bowl 34 in that season. Well I'll take a little bit more Titans winning this weekend. And starting a run towards, I'm not going to say it. We don't say it here. But we're all for it. We're all for it. So the Titans and the Bengals this weekend Saturday at Nissan Stadium. And we come back, John Robinson talking ball presented by Duncan, guess what we're talking about? Ball. Ball. And the AFC divisional playoff game. That's next on Titans All Access. You see it there. We're back in the Bed MGM studio. Mike Keith, Amy Wells and time to talk ball presented by Duncan with general manager John Robinson. Hello John. Mike, Amy, how are we doing? What's playoff week? We couldn't be any better to be honest with you. What is the opponent? They beat Las Vegas last week, 26-19. What impressed you about the Bengals and their win over the Raiders? Yeah, Mike, I think offensively, I mean you saw them do a lot of different things. Running the football, the screen game, pushing the ball vertical to the receiving threats that they have, working the intermediate part of the field with the Titans. And defensively, it's an attacking style defense, swarming. They just, you know, they played really good football just like they've done most of the season. We hear so much about Cincinnati's offense. We don't really talk about Cincinnati's defense. What can you tell us about that side of the ball? Yeah, they're doing a nice job over there. I mean, it starts up front, you know, the lines of scrimmage at front seven. It's a good front seven. You know, DJ Reader kind of anchors the middle in there. Been there, I think, a couple of years now. We certainly know him from his days in Houston. Two good edge players, and Hubbard and Hendrickson, Hendrickson comes over from New Orleans as a free agent and a really good pass rusher. Two veteran or guys that are veteran in that system now with Pratt and Wilson at linebacker. The two safeties are outstanding players, Bell and Bates. And they're really long at corner. I think all those guys are right around six foot. They all run well. They play physical. So they've got players really at every level of defense. But certainly that front seven is, it's a stopped group. From the Titans perspective, let's talk about quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Is it too much to expect for him to stay as hot as he's been over the last two and a half games? Well, certainly hope so. It's not, Mike. I hope he continues on that trend. I mean, I hope that all of our players who've all played well at various times during the course of the season, but it's playoff time. It's time to ramp our game up. It's time to just stay on that trend. Offensive line has got to do a really good job staving these pass rushers off and giving Ryan a pocket to throw from. Receivers and Titans got to get open and catch. We've got to get this ground game going, too. Got to run the football. You know, we certainly need Ryan to stay on the track of taking care of the football and scoring touchdowns when we get down into the red zone. John, playoff football, Nissan Stadium this Saturday afternoon. What do you expect that atmosphere to be like? Well, I hope it's loud and rock. It's like it's been the last couple of home games. I'm so proud of our fans and what they've done this season to come out and support us. Attendance has been outstanding. There's been a ton of two tone blue in the stadium. And what better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in January than coming to Nissan Stadium and getting a little lubed up, getting juiced up, bringing the energy and cheering us on to a win. Let's get it, John. You got it, Mike. Tighten up. All right. Talking ball with John Robinson presented by Duncan here on Titans All Access. More coming up, including the Nissan Insider. Stay with us for more of the show. When you talk to people over the years, it's interesting how much variety there is to this question. A young guy will give an answer very different than an older vet. So the question is, what does this game mean to you? It means everything to me. This is 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 the attendance and meanings. And then just overall game play. I seem to just play better around this time and time of year. You know, this is the type of games that bring out the best of you. You've been to a Super Bowl before. You've been through the experience of grinding through regular season, then going through the entirety of the playoffs, then getting to that big game. How do you use that experience to help motivate or maybe explain to guys in this building who haven't had that experience before? What's about to come? Well, basically, just just off the field in general, it's a little bit tough because you see all these people just on vacation. Everybody's having a good time. They're back with their families, back in their hometowns, just experiencing life and you're still on your grind and it's tough. You know, it could get there could be a mental strain with that as well. Try to bring these guys up, especially the young guys, so they can understand that, listen, the hard work is going to work with you right now and you're going to have all the time in the world later and to just stay focused through this whole process because some people let it slip away. It's a good interview you had with Roger Saffold. Roger Saffold is the coolest guy in the world. So always like being able to talk to him. Roger Saffold is one of many Titans with a lot of playoff experience. But for one Titan, this weekend is extra special because in spite of the fact that he is well into his thirties and has been in the league for 11 years, he's never played in a playoff game. Never played in a playoff game, been in the league for 11 years. Are you talking about Buster Scream? Buster Scream, defensive back who joined the Titans on November 23rd, a big weekend for him in this week's Nissan Insider. Looking fires down the middle intercepting. So Buster, you are one of the most experienced Titans in terms of NFL experience, nearly 160 games. But you're one of the most inexperienced in terms of playoffs. How does that feel to be sort of the new guy again? Well, it feels good, definitely to be in the playoffs and last year I got a concussion late in the season so I couldn't play and the Chicago Bears played the Saints. So, you know, there's a bummer sitting up, but I'm just glad I'm here. How did you get here? How did that happen in November? Free agency, I didn't like my office and I ended up waiting. And the teams that offered me, you know, pulling them. I said, I didn't want to be on the practice squad because I know I can still play at a high level. And Tennessee gave me a chance and, you know, it worked out. What's the key to being a guy who can just basically show up and then four or five days later play and play well? I would say experience is big. And then like the mental part of the game, I always had like high confidence. So anybody lined up against like I feel like one win every day. But just a high confidence guy. A lot of your attributes stand out as we've watched you over the past two months, play for the Titans. You're smart, you're toughness. But what really jumps out is your peer fearless. Have you always been fearless? I always been fearless. I grew up like wrestling and stuff like that. So I think it probably started there and having like older cousins that are, you know, always like push me around and stuff. You know, I've just never been scared to hit anybody, even though I weigh. We're not going to say how much I weigh, but I don't weigh a lot. But that's just been my mentality. Now, when you talk about wrestling, you're not talking about Ric Flair and the macho man, you're talking about, which is fine. Yeah, you're talking about real wrestling. Yeah, real wrestling. Now, what did you do coming up in terms of wrestling? What weight did you wrestle at and how successful were you? So I was 124. I don't know if they use that as a weight class right now. But I was always smaller than high school. That was my weight class. I ended up graduating at 140 pounds. You know, I had partly due. I ended up at Chattanooga smaller. Yeah, I think just over time, I built up like a certain mentality mentally to like always win. And I did win state and I won under a few of that season. So that's just been me. Did you think about wrestling in college? No. I honestly didn't enjoy like the sport of wrestling. I was good, but I didn't enjoy it. But you obviously love football. Why do you love football so much? I would say just takes a group of guys that come together and all believe like in the scheme. It doesn't matter how good you are, but like everybody has to come together. Believe in the scheme, whether it's good or bad and you can win the game. So playing it throughout the week, like that whole process, just being a show guys now, like this is what we do as vets. And this is why we got there. I think that's pretty cool. This will be an application. So 140 pounds, graduating high school, you end up at Chattanooga. You fight your way into the NFL and have a lot of success. Like I said, nearly 160 games in the league. How will you feel when you take the field in the division around for your first playoff game? It's going to feel good and no moments too big. So I'm not going to like overthink it or anything like that. Just going to go out there and just try to win. That's it. Little trivia question about Buster's screen, if you're ready. OK, hit me. He is one of two current Tennessee Titans who were Chattanooga mocks. Can you name the other one? Oh, no. It's offensive lineman, Corey Levin. Well, of course, it's offensive lineman, Corey Levin. Our Chattanooga folks watching on WDF right now, awfully proud of those two Chattanooga mocks. And you know where you can get lots of facts like that on the official Titans podcast, the OTP. Oh, yes, full of facts. Go to TennesseeTitans.com slash podcast and download the OTP or the Titans Amy and Coach Mack podcast or any of our other podcasts. You can get the OTP at TennesseeTitans.com slash podcast or wherever. You get your podcast. Right now we're doing it every day. Every day because we're rolling. Yep. And when we come back, we roll a little more with the King. Stay tuned. Being ready at 3.30, you know, trying to build some momentum here with some really good practices and preparation and not being over that line before the game. You know, trying to use everything that we have mentally and physically at 3.30. On Halloween, the Tennessee Titans won at Indianapolis in overtime to go to six and two on the season. And in essence, Amy, they basically captured the AFC South that day. Yep. That was a really big day having swept the Indianapolis Colts. But the next day, not so good. When we got news that Derek Henry needed surgery on his foot, it was reported everywhere that it was a season ending injury. Not so fast. It may have been a regular season ending injury, but the King is back for Saturday's playoff. And it's so exciting to have that piece of the puzzle back on the field. And have you noticed all of the little 22 things you want to talk about? Spooky, a lot of 22s all lining up at the same time. Ah, nicely done. We're excited to see Derek Henry this weekend play for the Titans. How much will he play? How much will he carry the ball? That's shrouded in mystery right now. One of the exciting parts of this week is the lack of preparation as the Titans get ready for the Saturday game with the Cincinnati Bengals. But the King is coming back. The King coming back. Titans fans everywhere are going crazy. It's such an exciting time. And this offense is a lot better than it was when he left. So it's gonna be fun to watch. The Titans are getting a lot of attention nationally. And one of the things that the organization has done this week is they've taken all that attention and tried to help out an incredibly worthy cause. The American Red Cross says right now they have a blood shortage that they haven't experienced in over 10 years. So what did the Titans do, blood drive? Absolutely, why not? They asked all Titans fans to get together not only here in Nashville, but across the nation. Wherever you can get to a blood drive, head out and give blood. Tuesday was the one here at Nissan Stadium. And in case you didn't see it, take a look. We're here with the American Red Cross today to kind of kick off our community engagement for playoff week. There's a great buzz here around the city of Nashville and around this football team. And we're excited to be here for a stadium blood drive today. It's perfect timing for us because we are experiencing a blood shortage. Really since the beginning of this pandemic, we have had such a decline. So we really appreciate the opportunity and time to be here, to be able to collect for patients and make a difference. The turnout has been amazing. The fans have come out, everyone has come out. It has been a super fantastic blood drive and we appreciate it so much as you all are making a difference and the blood shortage right now and helping make an impact for patients in desperate need. We're gonna partner with the Red Cross the entire week for blood drives all across Middle Tennessee. So if you can't get out here today and donate, then there's opportunities all week long and even into next week as well. So you can go to redcrossblood.org and check a drive that's a little bit closer to your area, maybe fit your schedule a little bit better. We're encouraging all of our fans to go out and donate. So awesome to see so many people at Nissan Stadium giving blood. But if you still wanna get involved, there's plenty of time. Head on over to americanredcross.org slash donate. Just type in your zip code, find a donation location that is closest to you. You can head over, sit down. Doesn't take very long. It's a very easy process and you can really help save a lot of lives. You can save lives and it's easy to do. It's a great way to help your community wherever you are. When we come back, it's time to talk about the game against Cincinnati and to throw out those keys to beating the Bengals. That's next on Titans All Access. Where does this defense still have room to improve? Yeah, I think, automatically we talk about all the time, like especially late in the year, getting into playoffs, like you're always looking to continue to improve, right? And there's always something on every play. I tell the guys on every play, there's something we could have done better, you could have done better. There's gotta be a never satisfied mindset. There's gotta be a mindset of, hey, I could have took this step better or my eyes could have been better here. There's always something on every single play. Whether you're involved or not, whether it gets caught or it doesn't get caught, there's always something. And I think those guys have been critical of themselves throughout the season. They've been, they've took coaching. They understand the importance of the details. And that's the consistency of the fundamentals and the details. Like everybody's pretty much got the same scheme, right? Like certain teams major in certain things. But for the most part, a lot of teams around the league are doing the same stuff, whether it's first, second, third, down, whatever that might be. But I think being able to take ownership, understand the details of getting your job done, run, pass, whatever it might be. I think that consistency is something that you can always elevate or continue to harp on. That's the key to the postseason. You have to keep improving. The Titans defense under Shane Bowen is gonna look to do that. The offense under Todd Downing. The special teams under Craig Ockerman. Those would certainly be keys to having a successful overall postseason. As we return to the Bed MGM studio, it's time for some other keys. However, specific keys to beating the Bengals brought to you by Visit MyrtleBeach.com. If you'd like some seafood. I would, I always would. Some of the best in Myrtle Beach. Well, there you go. Crab claws, crab dip. I like all things crab. There you go. I mean, yeah, just bring it on. All right, ready? Let's get some keys. Then let's grab it around. Let's get some keys. Nice, I like how you did that. All right, key number one. Titans defensive line gotta be big. I mean, I know they're literally big, but they've gotta play really, really well in this game. Joe Mixon's one of the best backs in the NFL. Joe Burrow throws it all over the yard. If you blitz him, he can work you over because he's got these great receivers. The defensive line in these one-on-one battles, gotta win, gotta win, gotta be big. All right, Mike Keith, key number two. Get off the field on third down. I'm staying with defense. Last year, Titans lost in Cincinnati 31 to 20. The Bengals converted 10 of 15 third downs and kept the ball for 36 minutes. Yeah, that'll do it. I don't go for that, no can do. The Titans have to get off the field on third down and get the ball back for Ryan Tannehill in the offense. I am loving the enthusiasm in these keys. Hit me with the final one. The final key is Ryan Tannehill. All right. More Ryan Tannehill please. Number 17 has been great as of late and he's gotta keep throwing that football all over the yard. He's gotta be willing to run. He's gotta make plays. When Tannehill's good, the Titans are good. They generally don't lose. More Tannehill please. I don't care what it takes. I am into it. I love this. Again, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Saturday, 330 central time. Amy Wells and Rhett Bryan on Titans radio beginning with Titans countdown at two central on your very favorite Titans radio station. You ready to go do this thing? I am ready. Not as ready as you are, but I'm getting close. I'm ready. For Amy Wells, I'm Mike Keith. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time.