What's the cliff notes version of how it all happened in your mind?
I thought our ones went out and played pretty good offensively, scoring on two possessions, which was jumpstarted by our return game, which I think the two returns early in the game was really critical for us to get going. It's good to see that, both the kickoff return and the punt return, that flipped the field for us. Defensively, had a slow start on the first drive and then sort of bounced back and dug in a little bit after that. So that was good to see as well. I thought we got after the quarterback on their end, and I thought we protected the quarterback well on our end. We were pretty efficient. I thought we ran the ball well enough. I feel like there was 100 short yardages in that game. I don't know if you guys feel that way, but I think it was like 10 or something. Every time I looked up, we were in third-and-one or fourth-and- one. Just disappointed we didn't convert the two fourth-and-ones, that would have been great to see that, especially that 17-play drive where we're fourth-and-one in the low red zone and a chance to kind of break the game open and couldn't convert that. So, those were kind of the highlights. But I thought for the most part we played clean. I mean, we had zero penalties in the first half, which is good to see. And I thought we played an efficient brand of football, I think, offensively. So, that was a good start for us.
Your take on the two returns, scheming and how much did those two guys just make a play?
It really just guys blocking well and then those guys just doing what God let them do and using their talent. There wasn't much scheme to those. It was pretty straightforward. Go punt return, go kick return.
Just two series, but to come up with 14 points on 14 plays with your starters in there, how nice is that to set the tone that way?
Oh, it's good. Any time you can come out in the game and play efficient and put two scores on just to start out for our offense, being a new unit together with all the new faces, I think is really positive. It's just nice to be able to have some success. I think success is a good thing in preseason games when you have it, it doesn't really matter who you're playing against. It's just important to sustain some success and build some winning habits, I think, in the process. And so, I think that part was good to see.
Steven Stilianos and David Martin Robinson, how do you like the way that back end of the tight end group is working?
Really happy with that. I thought we missed (Steven) Stilianos, if we could have got the ball up a touch earlier, I thought he might have scored on that one on the sideline that he didn't get in. But I think it's a deep room. I think those guys have got talent. I think we have young players that are developing. I think Justin Outten's doing a really nice job with that room as well, just getting those guys back on the train of learning how to play tight end, and I think he does a great job. So, I'm happy with those guys and they performed well for themselves tonight.
The O-line was good in pass protection and also opened up some holes, especially the first group out there. How much of that was scheming? How much of it was just guys going and winning against their man?
Both. We did want to have at least some semblance of—I wouldn't say we game planned for the game, but you want to put guys in position to have success. We made sure we had the right type of runs versus the defense we were facing, and I thought we did a nice job of putting guys in position to have success and have a chance to go execute. So, that part was good. So, it's just a combination of guys just playing well and doing things right, and then have a little bit of scheme to go along with it. So, I thought it was a good day and on the ground for sure.
How beneficial was it to have the offense have a short yardage situation to go down and score and then also have to drive as well to score?
Yeah, it was good. We've talked about all camp on getting in football shape and being able to go, I think one of those (drives) was 17 plays. That's a lot. That's a long drive for guys to go out there and play. I think it was good for everybody to feel that, feel what that felt like and see where we are conditioning wise after 17 plays. If we feel—I thought we looked pretty good. I didn't think we look tired at any point. I thought our team looked fresh. And then they played really hard tonight, so that was good to see.
How do you feel about the timing of the passing game? The one play to David Martin Robinson in particular from Mason Rudolph seemed like there was a lot that had to go on for that to work timing wise.
Yeah, I think timing wise has been good. Any time that you—I was intentional about trying to keep the quarterbacks out of harm's way to some degree. So, the ball was coming out pretty quick and some of those play-action passes were really efficient for us. They popped open. But I think our timing in the passing game is coming along really well. A couple more weeks of this and a couple more games, I think I'll feel really good about where we're at entering the regular season. But it was good to see tonight that we could be on time and play on time and operate together. It was good.
Will Levis goes in there and gets some himself popped pretty good. Is that something that you have to have a conversation with him when he comes off, or do you feel like that's good for a guy, when he's been wearing the red 'Don't touch me jersey' all offseason?
I think there's something to that, a guy just taking a good shot early on and feeling like he's ready to play. All quarterbacks will tell you they like to get that first hit out of the way. So, we got it out of the way early. Hopefully we don't take many more of them. But it was good. I didn't mind what he did. It wasn't really an egregious put himself in real harm's way (type of hit). But, yeah, the less hits, the better obviously.
How good was it for you to see that connection with Will Levis and Calvin Ridley there on that run after catch?
It was great. We were trying to get the ball to Calvin (Ridley) two or three times there. We tried the fade in the red zone, and we tried one earlier that they kind of got their flat defender out underneath and Will (Levis) checked down to the back. But it was good to just get Calvin going and you see just how explosive he can be with the ball in his hand. So, anytime they get a chance to complete a ball together, then that's great. Just one more rep for us that we get to bank going into the regular season. Their connection is coming along really well, and I think Calvin is such a fantastic receiver. I told Will the other day that you haven't really thrown a guy like this before. He's a different style of receiver than he's probably ever played with. So, the work is coming and so far, so good.
Did you noticed Chance Campbell a lot and how was it to see him come down with that interception?
There's opportunity for those guys in the linebacker room, and I think he made the most of it. Generally speaking, in that situation, you'd like to knock the ball down as opposed to pick it off. But it was just good. He made plays kind of all night long, and I think he made a bunch of tackles. He made some hits on the quarterback. I think he sacked the quarterback once, if I'm not mistaken. But just to see him come alive a little bit was great because we're looking for guys to keep coming in that room for depth purposes. Obviously, we lost Garret Wallow. And so, there's opportunities there and he did a nice job taking advantage of it.
As you left the field tonight, it looked like you looked up at the crowd. Did you have a chance, at what point tonight did you really start to take it all in in this first game?
That's a good question. Probably not much. I was pretty focused. In the pregame, I kind of stood around and soaked it in for a second, which was cool. You know you only get your first time your first time. So this was the first time I got to actually coach the team and be out there as the head coach of the Titans for the first time, and it was pretty awesome. It's a responsibility I don't take lightly, and it was a cool moment just for a very short period of time to reflect on that. A lot of work to go still, but it was nice to have a moment to do that.
How do you like the way things went operationally? You being that guy regulating everything.
Yeah, I thought it was really good. Our communication, like amongst the staff, and the play calling process, and on defense was great. There's one or two things that—we got really close to it and we kicked that field goal with the play clock, it almost ran out. That was partly because I didn't communicate with Colt (Anderson) fast enough. So, there's some things we'll iron out. Just more so the special teams to me, that's a tricky process sometimes we're going for it or when we're not. But I would say operation, I thought it was really good. Got the play calls in on time, the quarterbacks didn't have any issues with the play clock, we didn't have any delay of games. Those are all things that, as simple as it sounds, you try to avoid and put them in a position to not have to deal with that. So, did my best to get them in quick. I think I might have run off—I ran off the play clock maybe one time before the button went out on me and Mason (Rudolph) just had to go call a play. But other than that, I felt pretty good about the operation and the communication in the game, and there'll be some things we debrief on and make sure we get better for the next time.
How happy were you with Will Levis' willingness to check down in this game?
Very happy. There's going to be plenty of times where he's going to take balls down the field, and we're going to take shots and then there's going to be a lot of times they don't give those to you and you get a chance to check the ball down. And again, I think that's the difference between, a 58 percent passer and a 68 percent passer is being smart and efficient with the ball. And when you get a chance to go let your arm live and be live down the field, then great. But there's plenty of opportunities where efficiency can take you a long ways. And so, I thought all three quarterbacks did a nice job of that tonight.
Despite it being the preseason, how good does it feel to get your first 'W'?
It all matters to me. I think that there's habits in winning. I think that winning does mean something. Even in a preseason game, the mood in the locker room is always different when you win versus when you lose. I know it doesn't count for anything in the long run, I'll probably forget about the score of the game and who did what in a year's time. But I do think in the moment, these things matter. I think you're trying to build a winning team and a winning culture. It validates your work you put in, and so that helps. So, anytime you get a chance to go out and compete, you want to win, and I think that that's the mindset our guys had tonight. The way that they played, the effort they played with was fantastic. And so, again, even though it doesn't count, I'm still happy that we won.
A lot of firsts for you, I noticed you walked out with your dad. Who cool was that? Do you think it will become a weekly tradition?
I don't know, we'll see. I think that sort of organically happened. I think we were just kind of standing around as we all just started walking out. It was cool to walk out with him, that was neat. I think what was more fun for me was just the communication in the game about calling the run game and getting his input and going back and forth on what we were going to call next. That was a really cool process for me to be a part of just father to son, you know what I mean? I've never been able to do that with him before. So, that was great. But yeah, I don't know, maybe, we will. Now that I'm aware of it, maybe I'll do it.
