NASHVILLE – Titans head coach Brian Callahan talked to reporters on Monday, one day after the team's 20-13 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Here's a look at the hot topics from the presser as the team turns its attention to Sunday's season finale at Nissan Stadium against the Houston Texans:
-The biggest news of the day centered on the quarterback position, and I wrote a separate story on the subject.
Callahan on Monday said the plan is for both Will Levis and Mason Rudolph to play on Sunday against the Texans, but he declined to name the team's starter.
"I'm actually going to probably play both of them, to be honest," Callahan said at today's press conference. "I'll let those guys both have a chance to play, some opportunities. I'll let you know by the end of the week, (who's) the starter and all of that. But I think both guys should play some football at the end of the year."
Here's the full story: CLICK HERE.
-Callahan said there's a chance running back Tony Pollard could return to action on Sunday after missing the Jacksonville game (ankle/illness). The status of running back Tyjae Spears, who left Sunday's game with a concussion, is also uncertain, but Callahan hasn't sounded very optimistic about his chances.
-Callahan said guard Dillon Radunz (shoulder) could potentially play as well.
-Callahan was asked if the team could potentially play more younger players in the finale.
"There's some guys that are going to play some, but I wouldn't say it's any different than what we would do going into a game," he said. "Again, still trying to put together a winning performance and giving what the guys that give us a chance to do that play. So certainly, guys will get opportunities like they have all year. But I wouldn't say it's going to change dramatically at this point."
-Callahan was asked about a recent report that stated he and much of his staff will be back in 2025. Callahan said he'll keep any conversations he's had with owner with Amy Adams Strunk private.
"I think that every conversation I've had has been positive," Callahan said. "We have conversations that are needed to be had and that goes with Ran (Carthon) and Chad (Brinker) as well. So those, I don't really pay much mind to those reports. I just come in and try to do my job as best I can and do it as long as they allow me to do it. And if for some reason at some point—hopefully it's years from now—that someone says we don't need your services anymore, then that's how it goes. But I don't pay too much attention to the good or the bad reports, to be totally honest. There's been plenty of negative ones too, I think. So, I just try to keep doing my job and let all the other stuff handle itself and just continue to communicate and have the conversations needed to try to improve our football team. So don't put too much stock in them, to be honest."
-Callahan raved about tight end Chig Okonkwo, who has 22 catches in the past three games.
"He's really started to play well," Callahan said of Okonkwo. "He's playing with a lot of confidence right now, he's playing fast. Everything about what he's doing in the pass game and the run game as a tight end has been really encouraging. He's put really good performances together. He's caught the ball when it's thrown to him. He's made yards after contact and yards after catch. He's got explosive ability, as we've seen a couple of different times with the ball in his hands. So, try to find ways to get the ball in his hands and the reverse was one way we could do it. We've throw him some screens, we try to do a lot of things to just get him in space and moving because he is hard to tackle. He's fast, he's physical. He does a really good job in the run game, too. He's really developed into a really pretty good NFL tight end, both in the run and the pass game. So, he's come on in the last handful of weeks, his production has picked up, but the biggest thing is he's playing with a lot of confidence within the system and the quarterbacks have a lot of confidence in him. So really cool to see for Chig, a lot of work has gone into that and I think Justin Outten as well as tight ends coach should receive some credit for the improvement that Chig has made this year. It's been good to see."
-Callahan was questioned about why Calvin Ridley wasn't a bigger part of the game plan in the first half on Sunday.
Ridley had five catches for 84 yards in the contest, but only one catch for nine yards before the half.
"The biggest part of the first half was the weather, truthfully," he said. "We tried to run the ball pretty good that first part. It was still pretty wet. It rained really hard in the pregame and then it was still precipitation in the first part of the game. They do a good job, there's some things defensively they do that make it hard. They pay a lot of attention to Calvin (Ridley). They pressed, they challenged him at the line of scrimmage. There was usually a safety helping nearby. They were intentional about finding ways to not let him get going. It's an aggressive press corners, two-high man-ish coverage. They do a good job with that part of it. So, a little bit of that early on, we were trying to take advantage of some of the underneath matchups with the tight ends and the running backs. But then he kind of found some rhythm in a spot and ended up being a really productive game for him."
-Callahan was asked if JC Latham is unquestionably the left tackle going forward or there's a scenario where he is moved to right tackle.
"Hard for me to make any statements about something like that," he said. "I don't know enough about the draft to make any definitive commentary on it. I just know that we're always open to adding as many good players as possible. So, take that for whatever it's worth. I don't really know what's available or what's out there, but we're always looking to add as many good players as we possibly can. And I would never essentially close the door if it meant that we could add a particular player. So yeah, I would say it's probably pretty safe to say he's the left tackle unless we change our mind is probably the best way to put it."
-Callahan said the Titans will consider a number of players at right tackle in the finale.
"Same ones as we've had," he said. "One thing I will say is I thought John Ojukwu came in there and really fought and really played well. That was good to see, see him do that. So, we'll see. I think that you might get to see some John. Obviously, we got Nick (Petit-Frere) there as well and if JD (Jaelyn Duncan) is healthy and available, we'll see where he's at by the end of the week. But yeah, pretty much the same as it's been most of year."
