Tennessee Titans HC Brian Callahan is looking forward to getting on the field at Nissan Stadium today. Coach Callahan said the team will work on red zone and 3rd down situations today, and commented on Cam Ward's progress in those areas so far.
00:00It feels like football is getting a little closer, and training camp's about to hit its stride, I think,
00:05because we get into our pads next week on Tuesday.
00:07We're sort of working and building to that day.
00:10Really excited about that, to be back on the field with some football pads on and playing ball.
00:15And so far, so good.
00:17Training camp had a lot of good competition.
00:18Guys have been competing, gotten a lot better kind of every day, which is what the goal is.
00:23So, with that, I'll let you guys go ahead.
00:24So, we're going to see some red zone today, or maybe what else will we see at practice?
00:28Yeah, I didn't bring my script with me.
00:30But, yeah, we're going to have a little bit of a little red zone.
00:34There'll be some third downs.
00:35There'll be a base down period.
00:36So, we're kind of hitting all the spots, I think, over the core situations of the football game.
00:42Still structured like a normal practice, but we'll have a little bit of everything there situationally.
00:47That little red zone.
00:48I mean, we didn't, you know, we knew, we had some inkling about Cody before the emergency process,
00:53but I don't think I had quite the idea he had the leadership ability, the mental capacity,
01:00the football intelligence that he has shown.
01:03Those things have been super impressive from that standpoint.
01:06He's an excellent communicator, and he allows the defense to do a little more
01:11because of his ability to see, communicate, diagnose, you know, pre-snap and post-snap.
01:18The high level of football intelligence and character that, you know, he loves football.
01:22He's always around.
01:23He's always studying.
01:24He's always talking about football with the guys in the room.
01:27I think he's also been a reason why I think those young guys, you know, said,
01:30and James have started to really improve is because they have a guy like him helping him out, too.
01:37Cody's been everything I think we could have hoped for from that perspective,
01:39and we'll see how that comes together with, of course, training camp,
01:43but from all those intangible perspectives, now that we've got to know him,
01:47it's no surprise he's performing the way he has.
01:49I think nothing fundamentally about the scheme is going to change.
01:54You know, I think we still were a team that was pretty aggressive taking shots down the field,
01:58but there's a balance, so you still have to be efficient when it's required,
02:04but it's really hard over the course of a game, over the course of a season,
02:09to continue to go 10, 12, 15 plays in a drive.
02:15Defenses actually like you to have to do that because the margin of error is so small
02:19that the chances of you doing that successfully enough times to score enough points is challenging,
02:25and there's the ability to create explosive play to get 20-yard gains and 50-yard gains
02:31or 60-yard touchdowns is what the best teams in this league do,
02:35and so there's an emphasis on trying to find ways to connect and be more explosive on offense in general.
02:40I guess what maybe has changed that's compelled you guys to want to emphasize that,
02:45is it Cam being here?
02:46Is it building an offense that plays to his strengths?
02:49I think that's always what we're trying to do is build an offense that plays to his strengths.
02:54He's pretty adept at throwing the ball down the field.
02:58It's something he did really well in college,
03:00and he's not afraid of being aggressive with the football, which is a good thing.
03:05And then you add some of the players we've added and some of the traits that they have with our young players
03:10and some of the veteran receivers we've added that have the ability to stretch the field, too.
03:13We've got some, you know, there's no secret.
03:16We have a lot more speed now at receiver than we've added, and that's exciting.
03:18What's up with the hands?
03:19They've been really good.
03:21Two really smart young players.
03:23They have very minimal mental errors, which is really good to see for rookie players.
03:30They pick it up quickly.
03:31They work really hard at it, so every time they come out, they minimize their mistakes,
03:36which I think is the starting point.
03:37You have to know where to line up and know what to do, and then you've got to know how to do it.
03:41And I think those guys have done a really good job of taking all those things kind of step by step.
03:45So, again, early in camp, and so far they've been good when it comes to knowing what to do and how to do it.
03:51What would you say the biggest hurdle is for both of those guys?
03:53Maybe it's different for each of them to being an impact early.
03:56Yeah, the biggest thing for me for young receivers is when you put pads on and you start to play against press coverage.
04:02You know, that's the difference from what these guys see more of now in the NFL.
04:06Colleges play a lot of softer coverages, off coverages, just in general.
04:10And so now you're going to deal with guys up in your face on a scrimmage, how do you release, what's your play strength versus guys when they're on your body.
04:17That's going to be a big point of emphasis and a big area of revelation to see how they handle those things early on.
04:24It's great for me, but, yeah, we're going to have a little bit of a little red zone.
04:28There'll be some third downs.
04:30There'll be a base down period.
04:31So we're kind of hitting all the spots, I think, over the core situations of football game.
04:37Still structured like a normal practice, but we'll have a little bit of everything there situationally.
04:41That low red zone and third down period, the timing is so important.
04:45How has Ward done just to be able to make sure that he's always on time?
04:49He's been really impressive with that stuff.
04:51There's a lot that goes into third down.
04:53Normally you have somewhere, usually you have two play calls, you know, man's own answers.
04:58You have pressure protection answers, max protection checks.
05:03Third downs is probably the hardest spot to perform, I think, as a quarterback in the league,
05:07both for us and, I think, around the NFL.
05:10There's a lot that goes into quarterbacks' play that they have to handle,
05:13and I think so far it's been pretty impressive with what he's been able to take from the meeting room
05:17to the classroom and apply it.
05:19And I think every time he goes out, he sees something new and makes an adjustment
05:22and gets better for it.
05:24So as many third down periods and work that we can get for Cam is he's going to put in
05:28a place where he should be ready to go for the regular season as far as handling
05:31what NFL defense is bringing at you in the game.
