 up on this week's Titans all access. It was a 34 31 overtime thriller against the Colts last week. Dave McGinnis shows us how the Titans were able to secure a three game lead in the AFC South. Football was taken away from Taylor Lawan last year, which has given him a greater appreciation for the game. That's the talk in this week's Nissan Insider. And I'm ready for my close up. Are you the Titans are headed to Hollywood for a Sunday night showdown against the Rams? GM John Robinson gives his take on his six and two squad. All of that and so much more as Titans all access starts now. Glad to have you with us for another edition of Titans all access. I'm Mike Keith joined by general manager, John Robinson and teams on a four game win streak. We've been opening the show with talking ball presented by Duncan and we're not changing a thing. Of course, there's been a lot to talk about in Titans country this week. The news on Monday that Derek Henry needed surgery on his foot, which he had on Tuesday. The Titans having to make some moves to replace him. And John, I like what Ryan Tannehill said about it. He said, it's not turning the page. He said, we have to move on. And your staff on the personnel side is constantly ready at moments like this because you know that whether it's Derek Henry or somebody else, you've always got to have a list of guys ready to help you move on. Yeah, we certainly had our share of injuries this year, Mike. And that's the part of our job. This part of the season is to have those lists ready. You really got three groups of players. You've got veterans who aren't on teams that you can still add those guys to the practice squad. You've got younger practice squad, eligible players, if you will, that aren't on teams. And then you've got players that are on other teams practice squad that you can go and get off of their practice squad. We've done that with Bobby Hart. We've done that with Craig Maven. You know, we look at those lists. We talk about it weekly. We have our ready list of players that we want to contact, try to get in here for a workout, see if they might fit our football team. So when an injury hits, you don't have to start from scratch. Yeah, you've got to be ready. You know, it's no different than the coaches in the game plan throughout the course of the game. You've got to be ready for the next call, you know, no matter what happens. All right, let's talk about Adrian Peterson. Obviously, people know AD very well throughout his career. He's headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Why was Adrian Peterson a good call for the Tennessee Titans at this moment? Well, I mean, he certainly knows how to run a football. He's done it for a long time. He's done it at a high level. You know, he was on one of those lists and we reached out to him. And he was fired up about the opportunity. We worked him out. He looked great. He was in great shape. And you know, we just felt like he fit our style of football in the way we want to play. And you saw him last December when he played for the Detroit Lions. He played good ball for them last year. He did. I think you ran for almost 600, 700 yards for Detroit. Still runs hard, hits the hole hard, tries to finish off runs. So I'm hoping he can bring that here for the Titans. All right, moving forward, as Ryan Tannehill said, I want to go back for just a second and ask you about Indianapolis, the game that you won in overtime to go to six and two on the season. Really an exciting, exciting football game. As you've had a chance to review it without all the emotion, what jumps out to you? Well, we certainly keep him entertaining, Mike. That's for sure. I mean, it seems like every week is another thriller that we put out there for our fans. But we steadied the course there. There were some good plays. There were some plays, you know, turnovers and penalties that cost us throughout the course of the game. But we didn't panic. You know, we came to the sideline. We regrouped. We steadied the ship. And we went back out there and we made some good plays. We made some huge plays to give us a chance there at the end to win it. Sunday night football this week, taking on the Rams. Their new quarterback is Matthew Stafford, who they added from Detroit. He played with Adrian Peterson last year. What has Matthew Stafford added to the Los Angeles offense that has taken them up a step? Yeah, I mean, he's really playing outstanding football. I mean, the line's protecting well for him. McVay does a great job of mixing the run and the pass in there together. He's really good from the pocket. He's really accurate. He's got some, you know, really potent weapons there to throw to in woods and cuff. Jefferson Higbee, they're clicking on all cylinders offensively, and I'd say defensively as well. Sunday night big challenge. Rams are seven and one. You're playing on Sunday night football. It's obviously a long trip to the West Coast. Derek Henry will not be with you, but this ball club just kind of seems to find ways. A lot of grit, a lot of determination. You don't count them out. You just can't count this group out, no matter what. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what we, that's kind of who we are, Mike. You know, we just, we got a good group of guys. We talk about finding a way to win. We don't panic, as I alluded to earlier. Our leaders steady the ship when things may look a little bit rocky. They hold each other accountable. When somebody has to step up and do more, they do more, we work a little harder so that when the time and when your number's called, we'd say it every single week in the squad meetings, you never know when your number's gonna be called and you're gonna have to go out and help the team win. That's the mindset we try to take each and every week into the game. John, thanks very much. Thanks, Mike. Talking ball presented by Duncan here on Titans All Access. When we come back, it's time to go beneath the surface. Amy Wells joins me as Titans All Access continues. Welcome back to St. Thomas Forth Park and the bubble and welcome to Amy Wells. I like being here in the bubble. This is nice. It's nice. Well, I wanted to make it convenient for you. Yeah, this is good. Very convenient. After the stress of last week at Lucas Oil Stadium, feared we needed to make it easy for this edition of Titans All Access. It was a very stressful game. Mike, you've seen so much football. Was that the craziest game you've ever seen? Yes. Really? It was actually the craziest Titans game that I've ever been a part of. For all the roller coaster rides, I can't remember a game with more big, wild swings because of so many big plays on both sides. It was absolutely nuts. It was absolutely nuts. And there's only one person that we could bring in to talk about all of that. It's Coach Mack. Coach Mack. And he picked the three key plays as he goes beneath the surface to look at how the Titans secured the 34 to 31 win over Indianapolis. This is Coach Mack. Welcome to Beneath the Surface, powered by Microsoft Surface. Let's take a look at AJ Brown's 57-yard touchdown here, first in 10th of Tennessee, 43. Titans come out in 13 personnel, which causes Indianapolis to reduce their defensive formation. We're gonna get the tight end for the Titans right going in motion. Tight end goes in motion. You can see now that it's man-to-man. And so what we've got now with 13 personnel, they know they're in man-to-man. This play action is solid protection. This is Mack's protection. And Ryan Tannehill knows that he has AJ Brown with a corner man-to-man on the outside with a deep safety in the middle. Perfect protection, this Mack's protection. Look at the great pocket that he has to throw in. Beautiful throwing lane for him to launch this ball. AJ Brown, look at the location of the football. And then AJ Brown, what amazing athletic to stay on the sideline, tiptoe, tight rope, down the sideline, big 57-yard touchdown. Now the score is not it at 14-14. And we've got a barn burner in Lucas Oil Stadium. Next play we're gonna look at is 126 left in the fourth quarter. This is on the Indianapolis eight yard line. We've got 11 personnel down here. You can see that the Titans now are deployed in a nickel defense because of the 11 personnel, Frank Wright, who is a play caller for the Indianapolis Colts. Dows up a screen trying to get out of the shadow of his own end zone. Very well played by the Titans defense. Tremendous pressure up front. Beautifully diagnosed by Elijah Molder that's over here on the closed side. Look at the pressure. Watch this pressure up front. Watch the pressure that we are going to get. Watch Danico Autry, watch big Jeff and then look at the tremendous effort from But Do Pre. But Do Pre not only defeats a cut block, gets up off the ground, rolls into the quarterback, distracts the quarterback. The quarterback has to change the ball. Wins changes the ball from his right hand to his left hand to avoid his safety. Elijah Molder very alertly. Diagnoses the play is right there on the spot. Interception touchdown. Now the Titans are up 31-24 late in the fourth quarter. Now we're looking at 6-26. We're in overtime at first intense scores. Now 31-31, very tight ball game. We've got 12 personnel, two tight ends, both off the line of scrimmage. Titans now, this is a zone defense and watch Kevin Byrd, who has been playing tremendous middle of the field, free safety for Titans all season long. Watch him diagnose this play. Look at him get the directional delivery key off of Carson Wins. Carson Wins starts to aim his shoulder over towards Byrd's right. Byrd breaks perfectly on the football, goes right to the exact interception point, cuts in front of the ball. Interception up the sideline to set up. Randy Bullock for another game winning field goal. Titans win a thriller in overtime. As you know, up next for the Tennessee Titans, a trip to see the Los Angeles Rams who have a new quarterback. They absolutely do. Matthew Stafford seems to be enjoying his time in Los Angeles. Yes, Matthew Stafford is new to the Rams, but he's not new to us because the Titans saw him when he was a lion last December. Well, look at his performance in that game when we talk Matthew Stafford. When Titans All Access continues after this. Titans defense has quite a challenge this week as they take on a Rams offense, averaging more than 400 yards per game, more than 300 yards passing. Behind their new quarterback, Matthew Stafford, in his 13th year out of Georgia. Now the Titans haven't seen the Rams recently, but they have seen Matthew Stafford when he was still with the Lions in Detroit. They played him in 2020. If you don't remember that game, well, here it is. The story of that week was that Matthew Stafford would likely not play at Tennessee in week 15. Stafford suffered a rib cartilage injury on a six yard run against Green Bay in the previous game. And why would Matthew Stafford play in his 12th season with his head coach having already been fired, careening towards another losing season in Detroit with rumors everywhere that he would be traded in the off season. Why play in a game that meant nothing to his team? But Stafford chose to play in Nashville and played well. Down seven to nothing, he took the Lions down the field for a first quarter touchdown to tie the game. He hit Marvin Jones with a 39 yard pass that pulled Detroit within six late in the first half. Midway through the third quarter, Stafford's arm was still on display as he completed this 36 yard pass to keep the Lions within one score. The Titans would pull away in the final 20 minutes. It was the familiar faces doing the damage Derek Henry and Ryan Tannehill and then more Derek Henry. And eventually Stafford left the game, but not before he completed 22 of 32 passes for 252 yards and a touchdown. He impressed everyone, not just with his obvious talent, but with his desire to play on a day when few thought he would or should. That's why when Matthew Stafford was traded to the Rams on St. Patrick's Day, people who knew football knew this would be a perfect fit. A very talented experienced quarterback in a great offensive system with an exciting new lease on his football life that he clearly loves. Stafford is a tough guy who's in a much better situation with the Rams and right now he's playing incredible football. Gonna be a big challenge for the Titans defense to stop him. You know what's coming up later on the show, Mike Keith? What's that, Amy? Your key is the best part of the show. Pretty good. Yeah, but before we get to that, we're gonna talk to Taylor LaLonde. He's this week's Nissan Insider and we're going to find out about his love of football and how it has grown. How it has grown. Stick around. That's next. What's good, Tennessee? It's hard to say we're clocking in because we never stopped. Let's go to work. Welcome back to Titans All Access. Left tackle Taylor LaLonde had his season cut short in 2020 when he tore his ACL, but he's back in 2021 and he's playing some good football. Mike Keith had the chance to sit down with him in this week's Nissan Insider to talk about how his appreciation for the game of football has grown. Mentioned birthday. Yeah. He just had one. I know. I don't really want to talk about it. You don't? Turn the big 3-0, man. That's when they start talking about replacing you. No, not necessarily. But 30 is an interesting birthday wherever you are in your life because it's like, I don't want to say it's a wake-up call, but it's a little startling because you're like, I'm not my 20s anymore. College is in the rear view mirror. High school is really in the rear view mirror. I got the wife and kids. I got that thing going. Is it that way for you? For me, the age thing is just a number to me. It's, I think, I mean, I woke up at 30 and felt the same way as I felt at 29, the same way I felt at 28. And it's humbling, though. It's humbling when you've been able to play a game that a lot of people don't get to play into the 30s. And I think that was a really cool thing to kind of accomplish. Where is Taylor One different as a person and as a football player at 30 than say you were at 22, 23? I'm probably a lot more grateful. I think my last two years of my career, a lot of guys, when they go through the two years that I went through with the PED in 2019 and then tearing their ACL in 2020, a lot of guys keep acting like they're on top. I just spent a lot of time on myself this off season and a place that wasn't fun emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And you know, in times of adversity, you really figure out who you are. And I figured out a couple of things. I figured out that I'm way more grateful to play this game than I've ever been in my life. But I also know that I can handle a lot of things and take it on the chain and keep moving forward. The main word I keep running back to is grateful and humbled because I'm still gonna be me and I'm still gonna talk trash and still gonna go play as hard. But I think a lot of fans will hopefully notice that for me, being on the field is a gift I don't wanna lose. And so I'm very happy. So it sounds like you have not only more appreciation for your football career, but it seems like you come into 2021 with more of a sense of responsibility with more of a sense of purpose in terms of where you want to not only protect the left side of the line for the Titans, but also to kind of put yourself back on the mountaintop as the best left tackle in the NFL. Yeah, and I think, I mean, that's the goal every single year. I know what I'm capable of. I started last season, I only played five games. I know penalties was a huge deal for me. I had zero penalties in 2020. I had zero sacks in 2020. And it's just going back to what I know I can do. I think there's a lot of checks to be cashed as far as the success that I've put myself in or the opportunity to put myself in. What did your wife do for you in the process of coming back from the first, as you said, the first major injury of your entire career? When I played my first year, I was, I made the All-Rookie team. I didn't start for the first six games. Michael Ruz got hurt and I made All-Rookie team. My second year was an underwhelming performance. Three and 13, I know there's a specific game that I joke around with Paul Koharski quite a bit that I got dumbed by Whitney Merciless. There was a mood point for my career. How was that gonna look? And I remember it was, we had the first pick in the draft and we were talking about Lamy Tunsel, draft Lamy Tunsel, that's the guy and we were gonna move Taylor to right. Well, in my head, I'm not going to right. I played left tackle. I played left tackle, so I was a senior in high school. And that offseason, I met my wife. When I met my wife, it wasn't about like I've dated other people, but there was no one I'd ever met that was like her that wouldn't put up with the BS that was, she's literally been the rock the entire time. My wife is, she's like me from a personality standpoint. She jokes on people, but there's a soft side of her. The way she is able to, her emotional maturity is beyond anybody I've ever met in my life. And for her to be able to look at things, well, I'm telling her something, well, this pissed me off and I didn't like this. For her to look at it and dissect it and usually starts with, well, what did you do? I owe my career to her. She is. Flat of Titans All Access left you guys, including the best part of the show, Mike Keith's keys. Stick around. Play fake in a deep drop. Fires down the field, the ball is lectured after that. Out of the hold of Brett Turner. The moment has arrived, Mike Keith, your keys to beating the Los Angeles Rams. The offensive line has to own it. This has to be a game on Sunday night football where the Titans, five guys up front, win, win, win. Whether the Titans are running the football, even if it's without Derek Henry, or in the pass game, protecting Ryan Tannehill and giving him time, a bunch of good pass rushers on the front for the Rams. The Titans offensive line has to play their best game of the year. They have to win, win, win. All right, Mike Keith, Waste key number two. Big special teams play. Titans need one. This is a team that has given up some returns, particularly in the kickoff section. You can make a play in the return game. Maybe it's Chester Rogers, maybe it's somebody else, but the Titans need to make a big play on special teams. This is an area where the Rams have had concern that Titans may be able to take advantage and steal points on teams. All right, the third and final key. The third and final key is heat up. Matthew Stafford with inside pressure. I'm talking about Big Jeff and Danico Autry in particular. Laurel Murchison would factor into it, as would probably some interior blitzing linebackers. But the bottom line is Stafford is not a guy with tremendous mobility. He can really spend the football, particularly if he has time. Interior pressure gives every quarterback trouble. It especially gives a quarterback trouble who is not very mobile. The Titans must get heat right up the gun. Mike, those were well-rounded keys. Offense defense special teams, I like it. I like balance. Yeah, I know you do. I play complimentary keys. You do, I like that. Coming up, the Titans and the Rams from SoFi Stadium Sunday night is actually an Inglewood. California to be precise, kickoff 720 central time. This lady, Amy Wells and her friend Rhett Bryan, with Titans countdown at six central on Titans radio stations throughout the region. We hope you'll join us for all of the action. For Amy Wells, I'm Mike Keith. Thanks for joining us for Titans All Access and we'll see you next time.