NASHVILLE – Titans coach Brian Callahan held a press conference on Monday, one day after the team's 33-19 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Next up is a home game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Here's a look at some of the hot topics from today's presser:
-With an 0-2 start, and eight consecutive losses dating back to last season, Callahan was asked about the pressure to win.
"Yeah, our urgency is high to get a win," he said. "That hasn't changed. It's been high for two weeks now. I mean, it's not for, for lack of urgency or lack of intent. Certainly would love to get to win so that our players can feel that feeling and we can get ourselves in the right track, but those are things that we're all working hard towards."
-Callahan said he saw more improvement from quarterback Cam Ward.
Ward completed 19-of-33 passes for 175 yards, with his first career touchdown, against the Rams.
"Yeah, he sees the field really, really well, that part has been really encouraging," Callahan said. "I think we had one or two missed opportunities that you can't miss in a game like that, that we had a chance to generate something explosive, potentially. I thought that he was better with his footwork and with his progressions this week than he was the week before. I think he gets better every time he walks on the field and that's really good to see. The biggest thing for him is the ball security portion. Just trying to keep two hands on the ball moving to the pocket. That's a thing that all young quarterbacks got to get used to. There's arms and bodies and people all raking at that ball at a really high rate and we got to do a better job securing it in the pocket, but there's a lot of really great things from camp. Some of the throws, the location, some of those balls to Elic (Ayomanor) down the sideline, there was some really, really good stuff from the game that I'm incredibly encouraged by. Again, you stack another week of practice and another game, and you like to see it continue to get better, and I think we will."
-The Titans have been outscored 33-9 in the second half of their two games this season.
Callahan was asked if the criticisms of the team's inability to do in-game adjustments are fair or overblown.
"Those adjustments are ongoing, it's constant," he said. "I mean halftime feels like it's about five minutes long by the time you get in there and make any adjustments that you haven't made yet. Really we're adjusting in between every series. We're going through the looks that we got the series before, what the next calls are that are coming up, where we want to head, what direction, how they're playing us, how do we counteract it. Those things are sort of ongoing conversations. And I've always been a huge believer in that this halftime thing it's very much overblown in terms of what you can accomplish in that short amount of time that you don't already accomplish in the conversations in between series. That's really where the adjustments happen is in between series, they're a lot more immediate than waiting for halftime to make an adjustment, I think. So anytime you don't perform in those moments though, you're going to be open for criticism and I understand that. But I would say that there's— it's not necessarily a halftime adjustment thing. That's constantly happening throughout the course of the game."
-The Titans have allowed 11 sacks in the first two games, including five more on Sunday.
Callahan said it's not just an o-line issue.
"As I've said a million times, that sacks are an offensive problem," he said. "They're not an offensive line problem. It felt like a handful of our sacks were avoidable. One of the sacks is Cam (Ward) running out of the pocket and taking a two yard loss outside the pocket, which isn't an offensive-line thing. I think a lot gets made of sacks being an offensive line stat, and while I'm not dismissing the fact that we've got to play better up front, that's certainly not the case, but the sack thing is an equal parts problem. We've had two or three pressures in sacks come off of some running back protection things. It's not just them. And so yeah, the number in and of itself is concerning. Don't like that number. Don't want to have that. That's not going to help us win any football games. But I do think there's an extra onus that gets put on our offensive line based on what's happened here before and how it's looked that the sacks are all on them. There's 11 sacks and oh my god that looks terrible. I think it's a little more nuanced than that and I think there's more things that can be done to help from a quarterback perspective, from a receiver perspective, from a running back perspective. So it's an everybody issue that we don't just pin the blame on them, we've got to be better everywhere on offense I think for that number to improve."
-The play of the game on Sunday was Ward's pass across the field to receiver Elic Ayomanor.
Callahan was asked if Ward has the green light to make improvised plays like that.
"Yeah, it's certainly a fine line, but those are the plays that make him special," he said. "That's what makes him unique. That's what made him a number one overall pick is the ability to make those types of plays. Really, it was smart on his part. It's third and nine from the nine. That's like a major green light to extend the play because even if you take a six, seven yard sack, the field goal is in your pocket. You know what I mean? It's a situational awareness thing, and that's where the good quarterbacks in this league buy time. If they know it's third down, they're inside the 10 yard line. It's like— it's street ball, baby. Like that's, that's what it happens. And that was an unbelievable throw and catch and really the reaction by Elic (Ayomanor) was the one that was the most impressive part of the play other than the throw. But yeah, that like the old Mike Holmgren and Brett Favre clip where, you know he's the— they got the old clip on where he's like, "No, no, no. Okay, okay, okay. That's a good play." That is what it feels like sometimes. And you don't want to take that away from him because those are the plays that he is capable of making."
-The Titans have been penalized 23 times for 193 yards on the season.
So, what needs to change?
"The end result is controlling the controllable ones," he said. "You're going to get called for holding. Defensive players are going to be called for defensive pass interference. That's just the way it's— some of it's subjective. It depends on the crew. All that stuff. Those are the ones you don't necessarily have control of. But the ones that you do, the pre-snap and post-snaps, alignment, those types of things— you can— we jumped off size three times yesterday and those are five-yard penalties and on a first and 10, now it's first and 15 and now it is second and 10 and now its third and eight. Those are the rhythms you are trying to break and ultimately are penalties predictive of wins and losses, are they predictive for playoff teams? It's a little bit looser in the penalty thing that is per se like the turnovers. Turnovers are incredibly predictive. Good teams who don't turn the ball over, they make the playoffs. If you don't take care of it, you don't win games. That's tried and true NFL formula for every team in the league. The penalty part is a little bit more variant. There's not as many concrete things that you say if you— less penalties equals more wins. That's not necessarily the case, but there is a brand of football that you try to play where you're not beating yourself. That's happened for us a few times as we're trying not to put ourselves in position to lose games we're trying to win them and you have to start there by taking care of the things that don't get you beat. And I think ultimately that's where the emphasis started and what we landed on is that that's how you have improve your football team is taking care the things you can control because there's a lot of things you cant but the things we can we got to do a better job of controlling."
