Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Brian Callahan DESERVES THE BLAME, Cam Ward Impossible Ask & Cedric Gray Goes CRAZY

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

The Tennessee Titans did not fire Brian Callahan and it may not happen any time soon, but that doesn't mean Callahan isn't to blame for the 0-4 record and those taking aim at Cam Ward and the players only are incredibly misinformed. Especially considering the situation they are asking Cam Ward to manage. With the banged up offensive line, lack of creativity on offense and lack of explosive weapons, asking a rookie QB to overcome that is a nearly impossible task. Finally, there are some bright spots from the defense as Cedric Gray was fantastic on Sunday and Jeffery Simmons has been one of the elite players in the NFL through the first month. Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.RugietReady to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to https://www.rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. SquareTo learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

The Tennessee Titans would have two wins already if they had better coaching. So why are people still defending Brian Callahan? That more on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on. Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Fandul. Right now new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins you'll get $300 and bonus

bets to use across the app on today's show. I'm going to tell you why it is ridiculous that there are people still defending Brian Callahan even if he has not been fired yet. I'm going to tell you why I also think it's ridiculous that people are already placing all of the blame on Cam Ward and it's often the same exact people and we'll finish the show with a little bit of positivity and go over to big time bright spots on the defense including second year linebacker Cedric Gray but before we dive in do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day remember Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content all year round always for free make sure that you get

subscribe stay subscribe it's your team every day shout out to my everydayers out there as well. Tune it in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't in every day or you need to be when no one is bringing the consistent content to the table for this football team like I am. So make sure that you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. But with that being said, again, I am just absolutely annoyed as I could possibly be. It grinds my gears to no end that you still have people in the Titans media, in my comment sections, online in the chat on these videos, defending Brian Callahan. It's asinine. It's disgusting. It's ignorance at its best. Like, there is no other way to explain it other than those sorts of adjectives and characteristics.

Like, if you have watched throughout the season, this Tennessee Titans team should be two and two. The Titans should have won two games. already this year. Let's just go week by week. Week one. The Titans force four turnovers, three on defense. And then Brian Callahan, before halftime, backed up in the shadow of his own goalpost,

gets aggressive. The only time that Brian Callahan's been aggressive in his play calling the entire first month of the season. And he does it when you're backed up in the shadow of your own goalpost with a minute left before halftime, and it turns into an immediate touchdown for the Denver Broncos and changes that game? The conservative play calling?

Not challenging the Elicio Manor 20-yard completion to give the Titans a first down? Like, do we forget that already? Is that on the players? Is that a player issue? No, your players forced four turnovers for you. Your players made big plays and explosive plays to move the chains. And your inability

to manage games, situations led to a loss. The Titans should have won that game in Denver. No doubt about it, they should have won that game in Denver. It's not that the roster wasn't good enough. They don't have enough talent. The O line, the wide receivers, the this, the that, the sneed, and bu the but no. The Titans players played well enough to beat Denver and their coach shot them in the foot. Then you go to week two. The Titans are beating the Los Angeles Rams,

the 3 and 1 Los Angeles Rams that just beat the Colts who the Titans lost 2 by 21. The Titans were beating the Los Angeles Rams 13 to 10 at halftime. And they should have, or could have, I should say, been up 17 to 10 at halftime if Brian Callahan again, right before halftime doesn't go ultra-conservative

and not even take shots at the end zone and settles for a field goal. The Titans were beating the Rams at halftime. Don't tell me they could not have won that game. Don't tell me that the roster is too bad to win a football game. To win a single football game. The players are too bad, the O-line, the weapons,

the defense. You cannot tell me that after the first two weeks where you should have beat the Broncos and you were beating the Rams at halftime that this team is not good enough to win a football game. And now look,

I said the Titans should have won two games already. I'm not even counting the Rams. I'm not even counting that game as one of the games they should have won. It's the Rams. They're a better team. They came back. But you guys act like some of you people

who defend Brian Callahan act like he can't win with this team. How could his team be leaving? the Rams after one half with the way that we talk about the football team. If the football team and the roster was as bad as all of you Brian Callahan defenders act like it is, then how could they ever even be competing with the Los Angeles Rams who have one of the best rosters in the entire NFL? Do the math on that. Carry the two for me. Let me know.

It's absurd. And then you get to the Colts game. Now, I'm not counting the Colts game as a game that the Titans should have won. They were going to lose that game no matter what. The Colts are a better team than the Titans. But once again, before halftime, the Titans have three minutes left.

Before halftime. And they run five straight run plays and waste all the clock. Five straight runs with three minutes left. When you're down, 17.6. If you get aggressive there when you should get aggressive, you go down and you score a touchdown. Now it's 1713. Heck, even if you don't just run five straight runs and just concede that you're going to kick a 60-year-ard field goal, if you have even a modicum of

intelligence and you push a little bit, it's 17-9, you're down by one score. But no, Brian Callahan runs five straight run plays. waste a bunch of time doesn't get aggressive enough to give Joey Sly a decent look sets him up with a 60-yarder they miss the Colts take the ball immediately right down and get a field goal of their own now instead of being down one score

you're down too but it's all the players it's Cam Ward's a bust that you can't win with this O line the weapons aren't good enough the defense the it's not Brian Callahan's fault he's set up to fail

What? What? And then, because Brian Callahan is so terrible at his in-game management, if you want to say, oh, this person, that person, you don't know, you don't know. His bosses, Mike Borgonzi, who just came from Kansas City and was with Kansas City for over a decade putting that championship squad together, he looked at Brian Callahan's decision-making and said, you have been so bad

that we have to make sure that you only focus on this. If Brian Callahan wasn't to blame and it's just because the roster is so bad and Cam is bad and the O-Line's bad and blah-blah, then why would the organization have made Brian Callahan give up play-calling duties? For Fonzie's? No, it's because he was doing a terrible job.

And then you come to this week. and the Titans run two stupid trick plays and the Titans have another insanely conservative surrender drive before halftime and you're going to look me in the eye it was 6 to nothing 6 to nothing at halftime

and we're going to pretend that this Titans roster isn't good enough to win what if the Titans don't call those stupid trick plays when they're actually driving down the field. If the Titans don't get so conservative before halftime that they settle for another long field goal, they're probably winning 7 to 6, 10 to 6 at halftime. And you're going to look me in the eye and say that the roster

isn't good enough to win a football game? This team would have beaten the Broncos, this team would have beaten the Texans on Sunday if they had better coaching. And Brian Callahan may not be 5.000. yet because he's a meat shield for the organization and they want everyone to be mad at him and blame him so that they don't go up the chain But I'm sorry. I cannot take anyone serious whether you're a fan whether you're in the media What no whether you're on a different planet if you are seriously saying and sending out messaging and implying

that Brian Callahan should not get the bulk of the blame because this roster isn't good enough to win you are an idiot Period. Not only is this team good enough to win, this team should have two wins already if they had a better coach. So get out of here with Blaming Brian Callahan and it's funny how the people who don't want to blame Brian Callahan are the same people who all of a sudden are starting to blame Cam Ward. Do you want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by missing and Maine, you know the saying look good, feel good. The problem is that most dress clothes only check

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fan or love diving into the stats, Fandle makes the game day experience so much better. So what are you waiting for? Visit fandle.com to download the Fanduil app today and get started. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of Locked on Titans. I dove into the film on Monday morning. Yep, I watched the game again.

All right. and especially went through and watch the offense. And, you know, it's the same people every week and their motivations are very clear if you understand what's happening and you look at who's getting to talk to who

and who's getting the exclusive interviews and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're defending Brian Callahan and now people are starting to blame Cam Ward. Same people. Oh, Brian Callahan can't win with this roster. Oh, he's blah, blah. Cam Ward's got to get the ball out quicker, but it's so obvious.

And this is why people don't trust media, right? This is why you guys come to my show. Because nowadays in the NFL and in the world, you can see the media's motivations for defending who they defend. And it's pretty clear that they may not be bought and paid for, but there's a give and take in the media where, oh, you defend me and I'll give you this. and it's pervasive in the entire media sphere

not just in this country, not just in sports but all over it transcends you know the give and take of access and media and it's so easy to see through people are so bad at hiding it and they're so disingenuous with how they treat their audience thinking that people will believe that kind of stuff

so you want me to believe that Brian Callahan is not doing a bad job and it's Cam Ward's fault okay well as the great American Philosophizer Mori would say the lie detector test showed that

that's a lie okay because I watched the tape all right and I'm not going to sit here and tell you again I'm not going to lie to you I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Cam Ward doesn't need to get rid of the ball quicker I'm not going to sit here and tell you

that Cam Ward didn't make a bad throw to Elic Io Manor that bounced off his hands and turned into an interception as a matter of fact that ball never should have went to Elicio Manor on the front side of the play, which was the beginning of the progression. Cam Ward had two people open that he could have throw the ball to, and he didn't. And then he scrambled, and then he made a bad throw to Elykeye-o Manor

that was inside, too fast, went off his hands, and turned into an interception. But outside of that play, I would say there's only two other plays of the Titans' 50-some offensive plays where I thought Cam Ward didn't do what he was supposed to do or didn't get rid of the ball a long time. You know what there's a lot more of on tape? Nobody being open. The same basic route concepts

every single week. I talked about it coming in. Outside guy does a short end. Inside guy does a deep out. Outside guy does a deep in. Inside guy does a quick sit down or a fade to the out. Or we want to go deeper. We have a vertical route on the outside

with an out route on the outside. A backside cross. from the slot, a backside dig route. It's the same, simple, rudimentary high school level route concepts every single week. And guys, I'm going to show some humility. Everybody says I need to humble myself. Never let a hard time humble us. But I'll be humble right here and I'll say, I don't know as much about football as Brian Callahan. I'm always open about that. Brian Callahan has forgot more about football than I'll ever know. But if I, and I always say I have like a high school graduate level knowledge of football,

there are people out there with bachelors and masters and doctorates and professional expertise levels of football that are far past me. I just try to take what I know and explain it to you guys or people who maybe know less than me. You know what I mean? And that's all I can do. But if I am able to watch the tape every week and say the Titans are only going to run these certain route concepts

or we see the zone beater that they run with trips where they do the deep corner route, the medium out route and the short sit-down route, it's the same concepts every week. And teams know it. Teams know what's coming. And they're starting to break on the ball. And not only that,

but when you don't have the most talented wide receivers and when you don't have the best offensive line it is on the coaching staff to get creative not continue to run what you run yeah that offense worked when you had Jamar Chase T. Higgins and Joe Burrow sure but they don't have that so running that stuff

that simple rudimentary based offense, when you don't have elite talent across the board, it's not going to work. And a lot of these people are saying, Cam needs to get the ball out of his hands quicker. They're showing as TTT is time to throw. It's over three seconds. It's going backwards. It's regressing. Well, you know why is because the same route concepts that they ran in the early weeks of the season

that defenses know we're coming now aren't open anymore. because they're simple and the defense can easily take them away. So we're going to blame Cam now and not act like this coaching staff isn't drowning. Drowning. I threw an extra D in there. Drowning? No, I think I did it right.

Drowning. It's a complicated word, okay? I'm drowning in the pronunciation right now. But like, it's just so frustrating to me how easily and quickly people want to turn on cam right now when look at the tape, there's no one open. And we also have

a problem that's been a problem before Brian Callahan even showed up. All right? And it's a lack of creativity in the offensive play calling and a response to the worries about the offensive line. So what the Titans are doing is

just like they did in 2022 and 2023 and 2024 and now 2025, they're so worried about the offensive line that they're leaving seven people in to block. All right. Now, do some quick math. If there are seven people in blocking and one quarterback, how many people are out in the routes?

Three. Now let's do some more math. If the defense is only rushing four people, how many players are dropping back into cover? coverage. Carry the two. It's a seven. So, if there are seven people in coverage and three people on routes and deep routes at that, how's that going to work? Seven on three. How's that going to work?

And then people go, well, Cam Ward's holding the ball too long. He's got to get rid of it Well, he's looking at seven defenders guarding three guys Where do you want him to throw? I put out a quick cut up On Twitter I'm probably going to dive into it

More for a longer film review On the Tic Tac Titans channel Subscribe over there We're getting close to 5,000 subscribers over there But like no one is open So you have

players who can't beat man coverage and Tyler Lockett Calvin Ridley then you have a schematic disadvantage for the quarterback because he's going three on seven and you want to blame Cam Ward and compare him to Jamarcus Russell

and then everybody says oh well Will Levis Will Levis do we have any like semblance of reality in our brains Cam Ward has made some bad plays, but is it anything even close to the boneheaded plays Will Levis made at the beginning of the year

last year? No. So you get in the comments and he said, oh, he looks just like Will Levin. No, he does. Like, what are we doing here? What are we doing? So, I guess I'm just at a place where I'm

seeing some people defending Brian Callahan and blaming Cam Wars. when if you look at the film it's so obvious and I want to bring up the Washington commanders from last year

the commanders had the number two overall pick the commanders had a bad roster with a bunch of aging veterans that they brought in on free agent deals they didn't have a good offensive line they didn't have a pass rush but they had Dan Quinn and Cliff Kingsbury and it took the number two overall pick

and a rookie quarterback to the NFC championship game. Now, I'm not asking for the NFC championship game. I'm not asking for the Titans to go 11 and 5. But you guys are telling me that this roster isn't good enough to win a single game. And I'm sorry it's nonsense. This team should have two wins. And it's not Cam Ward's fault. it's the uninspired coaching staff

that wants to run a rudimentary basic offense that they ran in Cincinnati without the Cincinnati offensive talent. So I'm sorry, I think it's shameful, I think it's disingenuous, and I think it's disgusting and dishonest to an audience to act like Brian Callahan is doing a good job and it's not his fault,

and it's Cam Ward's fault for not getting the ball out of his hands. watch the tape or watch the game and look at all the bad decisions that Brian Callahan consistently makes and tell me that coaching isn't the biggest problem this team has yeah the roster isn't incredible

but the NFL is about parity this Titans roster is not significantly worse than the Panthers than the dolphins then the Saints like again I just can't take it serious, and I'm glad that

at least I'm here to keep it real with you guys. But with that being said, let's end this show on a positive note, because there are some great things happening on the defensive side of the ball, and two players in... Two players specifically, I'll say

really deserve some love. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you. By Ruggiat. What do you get when you have a bald Eagle standing on top of a silverback gorilla riding a T-Rex. Confidence? Pure confidence. If you're looking for something beyond the usual pill, it's time to meet Ruggiat go long. Guys, you've probably heard of Viagra or Seattleis. Maybe you've even tried

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Titans fans let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast we talked about why Brian Callahan should get the majority of the blame not less We talked about how Cam Ward as a rookie should get less blame than all of the crap around him

but now I want to talk about some good stuff. All right, now before we do, thanks again for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day remember Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content all year round always for free make sure that you get subscribe, stay subscribed to your team every day but Jeffrey Simmons is an absolute freak all right and we talked about it yesterday

and I tried to give him his shine but like, it's even more apparent. He is the best interior defensive lineman in the NFL this year. Like, legitimately, the best interior defensive lineman in the NFL this year. He's playing at an all-pro level, playing at a defensive player of the year type level. And I know that that's hard to believe and understand when the Titans are 0 and 4 and the defense has had moments that they've had.

But Jeffrey Simmons had four tackles for loss yesterday. That's the most by a Tennessee Titan since 2008. Jeffrey Simmons had another sack yesterday Jeffrey Simmons once again led the Titans in pressure rate Jeffrey Simmons once again led the Titans in total pressures period with four

four pressures four tackles for loss one sack and I mean that sack that he had where he literally swim moved and got right back into the back like he was certifiably unblockable yesterday Unblockable. Incredible. Run defense. Pass rush doesn't matter. So,

I know that there are some of you guys who throw the baby out with the bathwater. Like if the Titans are 0 and 4, everyone's terrible. Everyone played bad. Nope, we have no good players. Everyone's terrible. And I just, I simply don't subscribe to that. Like, that is not

that is not how I look at life is bad result everything bad that to me that's a very silly and immature way of looking at life and process but like there should be no complaints about Jeffrey Simmons he has lived up to the contract he has lived up to the hype from the preseason

about the losing weight and all that Jeffrey Simmons has truly been incredible and he deserves love for his performances so far this year he is doing literally everything that he can and look I know that there are people out there

who are like we should trade Big Jeff if they can get a first round pick for him but like I don't know you can't just get rid of all of your best players like you just can't do that you know and Jeffrey Simmons is playing so well that if you just gave him

imagine if you just put Ruben Bain with Jeffrey Simmons the Titans pass rush would be a lot better immediately and sweat still isn't back of course he's on IR but like just because Arden Key and

Draymont Jones and Femio can't get to the quarterback at all doesn't mean that Jeffrey Simmons isn't as good as Jeffrey Simmons actually is so we just had to take four or five minutes here and talk about just how freaking ridiculous. Jeffrey Simmons has been

and not only Big Jeff, but Cedric Gray was insane. Cedric Gray was one of my players to watch in this game, and Cedric Gray came to play. He had a pressure in the backfield. He had 17 tackles. Cedric Gray has been better than Cody Barton. Cody Barton's been bad, folks.

He has been bad. And it's sad because I love the arm sleeves and I love his personality and has miced up stuff before the season. and I wanted Cody Barton to be awesome. But he's been bad. He has been bad. Been one of the Titans' worst defenders.

Can't get off blocks, out of position. It's been bad. But Cedric Gray is flying all over the place. Sideline the sideline, coming up the field, making tackles. A solid tackler, too. He's not missing tackles either. Cedric Gray was great in that game.

And that's a great sign for the Titans because at the end of the day, they need good young players to play well and be good. And if Cedric Gray can be their number one linebacker for the next three or four years, that would be huge. That would be huge development for the defense

and the future of the team, even if it's not going to help them this year. So, I know they gave up 26 points, gave up a bunch of points in the fourth quarter, it's going to make everybody mad, everybody played terrible. But the truth of the matter is, Jeffrey Simmons and Cedric Gray were incredible.

in that game. And they deserve credit for how well they played, even if everybody around them did not play well. So those are the big things that I guess kind of stand out to me on tape, the issues on offense, the rush to hate Cam Ward when I don't think it's really his fault, and then some guys on defense that were absolutely incredible despite the fact the Titans lost.

That's what the tape showed me. But with that being said, that is going to do it for me. me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowan, and this was Locked on Titans.