Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans SMOKED by Atlanta Falcons, Cam Ward's BIG Concern & Callahan Confidence Collapse

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

The Tennessee Titans had a terrible showing against the Atlanta Falcons in joint practice on Tuesday and it is starting to be concerning how the team is performing over the last few weeks. These struggles and the reasons for them starting give you Cam Ward concerns, but not about Ward, for Ward. As the Titans supporting cast on offense and the coaching staff, could make it tough for Ward to overcome and get wins. It wasn't ALL bad for the Titans though as team stars, Jeffery Simmons and Calvin Ridley, both had good days. The Titans also had some success in the run game, which will be critical when the games matter. Finally, the Titans are teetering on a confidence collapse and need to come back at Wednesday's practice and give a better effort. 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!Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Play Now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl.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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.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 got smoked in their joint practice against the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday, and I have some Cam Ward concerns. I'll explain on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the 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 Fandall.

Football season is right around the corner. Visit the Fandle app today and start planning your futures bets. Now, on today's show, we are going to break down a tough practice for the Tennessee Titans against the Atlanta Falcons where the Titans certainly were not the better team. I'm going to talk about why it's so important that they bounce back at Wednesday's practice. Talk about some of the good things that did happen at Tuesday's practice, but I want to start with my Cam Ward concerns, which are really concerns for Cam Ward, not about Cam Ward.

Before I dive into all of that, 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 subscribed. It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there. tuning in Monday through Friday, couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one.

The Titans have joint practice tomorrow. I'm going to be here to break that down. Then I'm going to be previewing the Titans second preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons. And I'll be here live immediately after the game against the Falcons on Friday night to break down everything that happens. So again, make sure that you get subscribe, stay subscribed. It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. But it was a tough practice for the Titans,

whether you want to look at the Tennessee Titans side of the reporting, when you want to look at the Atlanta Falcons side of the reporting. It all basically told a similar story, and it's that the Tennessee Titans really struggled out there against the Atlanta Falcons. The first hour of practice, like the one-on-ones, the 7v-7, all that stuff. Didn't matter whether you were looking at people from the Falcon side of things,

or again, the people on the Titan side of things. It was mostly struggles for the Tennessee Titans out there. They struggled to get anything going, and then you get into the team periods. And Cam Ward those two interceptions on the day. One of them was a tip that went up into the air and there was some debate on Elegio Manor's performance in the practice and how he was attacking the ball.

I saw multiple people talking about. Iommander needs to be more physical, needs to attack the ball for his quarterback more. So maybe there's some blame to be shared in those situations. But there was one where Cam Ward just threw it straight to a defensive back. And that's not the only struggles. The Titans defense got absolutely picked apart in this practice by Michael Pennix. There were numerous deep passes, a big, long touchdown down the field to Casey Washington.

Drake London was absolutely unstoppable against the Titans secondary. Talked about multiple completions for 15 plus yards over the middle of the field for Drake London in the practice. Coming from the Atlanta Falcons side of the reporting and, you know, even the Titans players were out there saying that it was a bad practice. You saw Jarvis Brownlee Jr. call the practice BS, the long version of that. Jeffrey Simmons even had some complaints. And we'll get more into that at the end of the show when I talk about why the Titans absolutely must bounce back in that practice. But at the end of the day, that's why I say I have Cam Ward concerns that aren't necessarily for camp or about Cam Ward, but that are for Cam Ward. And it's more than just the roster, but that's a great

place to start. You know, a lot of people are telling me because of my reaction online that, oh, doing this over one practice, but it's not one practice. Look, how long until we start to have some concerns about the performance of the offense and the team in general, we go through multiple weeks of camp, and we're like, oh, it's just camp, the Titans had that ugly Sunday, that ugly weekend of practice before going into the joint practice against Tampa Bay. And then, you know, they have the down beginning, slow start to practice where they don't really get things going early in Tampa Bay.

and then they start to have some success toward the end of practice, but it's a slow start. And Jeffrey Simmons even noted that after practice that it was a slow start. He was talking to Ron Davenport from ESPN in an interview after practice about the slow starts. And again, we'll talk about that from a big picture standpoint because he had some interesting things to say. But the Titans players are admitting that they're having slow starts

to training camp, to the joint practice against Tampa Bay, to this joint practice against the Atlanta Falcons. So the players are even admitting that they're not coming out and playing their best and maybe they get a little bit going but the Titans weren't really able to get anything going down the field during this practice and you know the players are admitting that it wasn't a good practice and they got to be better and I'm sure that if every single beat reporter that was at practice and then players are coming off the field talking about how it wasn't a good practice I think that we can safely assume that some of the things that the falcons side is saying are absolutely true

and it's being confirmed on the Titan side. So when you look at some of the issues that are popping up during this long period of time, that's my point. It's not just one practice. This is three, four weeks of football that we're talking about here. And remember, you know, there's not as good of work coming forward before the regular season gets here. Again, I'll hit on that at the end of the show,

but the problems with the roster are starting to show up in a big way. Like the natural concerns that all of us had if we were on, throughout the summer we talked about all of these concerns. The depth in the secondary. If Legerius Sneed isn't out there, how that's going to look.

And the Titan secondary hasn't been able to stop anything. Think about Tampa Bay, those contested catches that the Buccaneer second string I mean, Omeca Ibuka was out there and Jalen McMillan, but that's not Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and it's certainly not Baker Mayfield. So, Kyle Trask and Jalen McMillan and Emeka-Buka are just going to dice up your first-team cornerback.

If Legerius-Steen isn't ready for the regular season, which who knows if he is right now, and how's he going to be playing at a high level if he is? Well, if the secondary performs like that, the Titans aren't going to be in a good spot. And we've been worried about the secondary, and especially the depth that cornerback coming in, and here we are. And the pass rush wasn't really able to get much going. now the field was bad in Tampa Bay, but there wasn't like a ton of pass rush love

outside of Jeffrey Simmons in this practice. And we even saw Titan side Buck Rising say the Femiola Dejo experience has been very underwhelming so far. I didn't hear anything about Femi in this practice or quite frankly, any of the edge rushers really doing too much to get pressure on Michael Pennix, who again diced up the Titan secondary for most of the practice. So if that's the case,

and then we go to the offensive side of the ball, And we're hearing complaints about the wide receivers. And other than, it's kind of like the defense, other than Jeffrey Simmons, the offense. Other than Calvin Ridley, we don't really hear about anybody making plays or anybody stepping up. The one-on-ones, the Falcons are winning. They're getting interceptions on Cam Ward and stuff like that. We're hearing multiple people say that the wide receivers need to attack the passes more, especially I-O-Manner during this practice.

So if we're honest with ourselves, outside of Calvin Ridley, If you look at the rest of the wide receiver group, it's multiple rookies. The Titans are hoping pop in year one, but how often it's like expecting I.O. Manor or D.K. to turn into A.J. Brown as a rookie is really what the most optimistic hopes are. Well, that isn't the most likely outcome, though. So the most likely outcome is that the Titans have Calvin Ridley and then have a very bad wide receiver group this year. so if the roster is in a rough spot in the preseason and the joint practices and training campus kind of confirm some of the worries that we had and then you look at the coaching staff

and one of the main concerns coming in this year is is Brian Callahan really an NFL head coach is that the truth because last year they were 3 and 14 and a good chunk of that is his fault not just Will Levis or the roster Brian Callahan made mistakes on the way. So when I say I have concerns, Cam Ward concerns, it's concerns for Cam Ward dealing with a pedestrian roster

and then a coaching staff that has not proven anything, especially Brian Callahan in the offensive side of the ball. The odds that this team is good enough to support Cam Ward are just getting lower by the day. And again, it's not one practice. It's a continuation of what we've seen so far. so for me I do have concerns for Cam Ward

and how the Titans can support him this year because you add in now we talked about the two reasons I'm concerned for Cam Ward and now you add in Cam Ward's gunslinger mentality that we talked about a couple of weeks ago he has thrown so many interceptions somebody said five interceptions to me

today and I'm like Cam Ward threw five interceptions in the first like seven or eight practices think about the seven on seven picks with Cody Barton and And he had a couple of days of multiple picks and things like that. Like, Cam Ward's thrown a ton of interceptions. And not only that, he had an interception dropped in multiple practices.

He had an interception dropped on Tuesday. He had a dropped interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'm not trying to, like, be critical of Cam Ward too much. But I'm saying his style of play as a gunslinger could lead to a rough first year as he learns what he can and can't get away with with his style of play. And that you could deal with.

You could deal with a talented number one overall pick rookie quarterback who's a gunslinger going out there making a ton of plays, making special stuff happen with the occasional turnover and turnover worthy pass and this and that. You could live with that. But when the wide receiver core is showing and proving

to be about as bad as we thought that it could be and the pass rush is showing and proving and now the secondary looks worse than it did at times last year and the depth is worse than it. was at times last year like I'm not saying freak out and panic over this thing but I think some of the things we were worried about with the team are confirmed and when you think about how that can support Cam Ward and what he might go through in year one it just does bring you

back to reality and that's kind of been my theme throughout the week is so far through the training camp and the joint practices in the preseason game I just feel much more heavy towards the this team will win four or five games than I do they'll win six six or seven games. So some people call that panic. Some people say you're throwing in the towel on the team. No, I would just say based on the evidence and the data that we've collected since training camp started in all the different areas, I just feel more confident in some of the things going the wrong way more than I do, some of the things that we thought could go the right way. So if you aren't at this point and you're just as optimistic as day one of training camp,

than more power to you, but I guess my overall point is with what I'm seeing and how I feel my confidence level is certainly down that this team can surprise us this year and win seven games or plus. I just don't, I feel very confident at this point that I don't see that happening. But that's the doom and gloom, that's the bad. There was still some good at practice

and the Titans' best players look like the Titans' best players. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches. For just 24 hours, Fandle is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you're calling your MVP, I in a long shot division winner,

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Fandor. Play your game. Titans fans. Let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Recapping everything you need to know from Tennessee Titans joint practice against the Atlanta Falcons. Again, it was a tough practice for the Tennessee Titans overall. Multiple cam ward interceptions. No real connections getting going on the offensive side of the ball.

The defense, they were getting themselves torn apart in the back end by Michael Penix and the weapons from the Atlanta Falcons. But it wasn't all bad. And I want to make sure that we talk about some of the positives coming out of this joint practice against the Atlanta Falcons. Again, they have practice against the Falcons again tomorrow. I'm going to be here tomorrow night to make sure I break all that down with you guys. After that, game preview for the preseason game,

and I'll be here live on Friday night after the game to break down everything you need to know from that as well. So make sure you stay locked in with the Locked on Titans podcast. It's your team every day. But the Titans stars look like the Titans stars. Now I would tell you that they only have two of them as currently constituted. Maybe Cam Ward is the third star. You know what I mean?

I'm not saying that can't be. But right now, the Titans have two star players that I think you could actually point to. Jeffrey Simmons and Calvin Ridley Now, Legerius Sneed was a star player When he was on the Kansas City cheese For that final year

And finally got the love and was a lockdown corner But can't really put him in that right now The NFL is a what have you done for me lately business So can't call Lageria Steed a star right now And he wasn't out there anyway So it wouldn't matter He did walk to practice though It felt like seeing Bigfoot or something like that

You know what I mean? Like Ligeria Steed oh there he is You know what I mean? But Calvin Ridley especially early on roasted A.J. Terrell in one-on-ones. And these weren't like crazy, drawn out, double-moved, blah, blah, blah. It was three out of four reps. They exclusively went against each other,

a number one lockdown corner, and a very good player. I found a bunch of Falcons fans hating in the comments yesterday. I get it, you're mad at the title, but I give the Falcons a lot of love. They have a good offensive line. They have good weapons. You know, they have star players in the secondary and Jesse Bates and AJ Terrell

But in the practice, Calvin Ridley was able to give AJ Terrell a little bit of the business Here and there And Calvin just looks as ready And as primed as possible He's just going to have a massive season And even when Cam Ward had a couple of good plays There was a team period, the second team period

Where the Titans did start to get things going There were some first downs and moving the chains according to the reports and stuff like that. So that wasn't all bad, but usually when it's good, it's Calvin Ridley. And when the Titans get things going east and freeze, he had a funny tweet where he's like, the Titans just had a big completion to get the offense going finally. Guess the quarterback and wide receiver,

and everybody's like, you know, Calvin Ridley and Cam Ward. Because duh, and that goes back. It's full circle. Like everything that I'm talking about in today's episode has symbiosis is symbiotic. You know what I mean? like, who else out there can go make a play except for Calvin Ridley? And when defenses start to shade towards Calvin Ridley even heavier during the season because they're not worried about everybody else, will ChimDK be ready?

Will Ellic I.O. Manor be ready to take advantage of a one-on-one opportunity against a starting NFL cornerback? You know what I mean? Like, we can't be certain of that, especially early in the season. That's why I talked about on a recent episode that the Carolina Panthers, who went, what, five and 12 last year. A Carolina Panthers season actually wouldn't be that bad for the Titans, where they come out early and they struggle really, really bad, they have a tough schedule, it's a

very young team, a lot of new pieces, coaching staff is questionable, and then they have a really strong finish to the year where Cam Ward looks really good, they compete against some good teams, they get some Ws, they stack up some wins. If they were to get three wins in the last, you know, five, six weeks of the season and Cam Ward looked good and think, look like things started rolling in the right place, that could be a season that could still be good and we could feel good about leaving, but it still matches kind of where I'm feeling the team is right now, which is about 5 and 12th.

I think if I had to make my season prediction, and a lot of that has to do with outside of Calvin Ridley, nobody else could really do anything. And that was a problem in Tampa Bay. We saw five good reps. But outside of those five good reps in Tampa Bay and the one-on-ones with the Titans wide receivers, everybody else reported that it was pretty ugly after that.

outside of that, it was pretty rough. So the Titans just don't have people right now who are able to create separation or even win one-on-one. And when you have Tyler Lockett at the stage of the career he's in and you have Van Jefferson who's never really been a, oh yeah, that guy is a good starter. No,

he's usually like a wide receiver three who's like part of, like in Los Angeles. He was a part of bigger packages where they could have three bigger wide receivers out there because he can block and do all that stuff. But like in one-on-ones and when they're doubling Calvin Ridley and it's third and six, and they're in man coverage.

Is Van Jefferson going to beat somebody in one-on-one and win? You know what I mean? Like, is he going to make the play? We just saw that play. The first throw from Cam Ward, Van Jefferson, it was a little late. It was a little off-target. Was Van Jefferson sitting down too early? I don't know, but make a play also.

But Van Jefferson's not the type of guy to, like, make the extraordinary play to help his quarterback. They have Calvin Ridley. And that's really it right now. That's the only proven guy that can do that from the weapons aspect. So, that plays out here in this practice, but from the positive side, Calvin Ridley looks awesome. And Calvin Ridley is good, and he's going to remain good, and he had good on good wins against AJ Terrell with AJ Terrell being a good player. Also, on the defensive side, Jeffrey Simmons.

I saw multiple Atlanta reporters, I think Orlando Ledbetter was the one who put out the specific tweet of. Jeffrey Simmons had two sacks during team period against the Falcons or he said the Atlanta Falcons have had a really hard time with Jeffrey Simmons or Jeffrey Simmons has been a problem for the interior offensive line trying to remember off the talk either way the point remains Jeffrey Simmons was good in the practice Jeffrey Simmons made an impact he made it tough now Michael Pennix was dealing out there

and some of the Falcons reporters who keep track of the stats like the stats look good for Michael Pennix out there He really had a nice day with the Falcons offensive receivers. But Jeffrey Simmons also had some big moves. And when we talked about the Falcons offensive line yesterday, I said they have three really, really good players on that offensive line. But there are a couple of questions. And one of them was the center.

And Jeffrey Simmons, Interior Offensive Line, there we go. You know what I mean? Jeffrey Simmons had his day. That's what I wanted to see. I wanted Jeffrey Simmons to have a good day. There was no Tavondre sweat in this practice. Still no Kevin Winston in this practice. well, which maybe those guys would help. Um, you know, Amani Hooker got beat deep for the 65-yard

touchdown. Again, the Titans cornerbacks have had trouble with contested situations for forever. So, Kevin Winston, who's a longer at 6-foot-1 with long arms, a longer secondary player, maybe he could come back and help with that and things will be better when he gets out there, but now you're relying on a rookie, you tour his ACL less than a year ago. Again, it's just hard for me to get too overly optimistic about where the team is at after the last couple of weeks of what's going on. And then the run game had moments. The Titans, I wouldn't say based on any report on either side,

that the Titans' run game had a great day because the Falcons really kind of shut things down. But, but I did see on the Falcon side, someone reporting that the Titans' run game was able to get some gashes. And Tony Pollard specifically had a couple of really good runs. So Jeffrey Simmons, very good player. Calvin Ridley

very good player Titans run game did some good things Cam Ward had one drive where he kind of put things together and the Titans offense had some movement but other than that again it wasn't a great practice

and the players if you want to be like oh you weren't there you don't get it you don't know blah blah blah fine say whatever you want but the players the Titans players and both reporters on both sides of things all seeing it the exact same way was not a good day for the Tennessee Titans

even with a couple of the bright spots but the thing is the bright spots are the things that we thought would be good this year we knew Calvin Ridley would be good Jeffrey Simmons is a good player the offensive line should be improved Cam Ward will have some good plays

and then all the things that we thought coming into the season that aren't likely to be good the wide receiver group the pass rush secondary depth aren't good so I will tell you this, I did hear that Xavier Restrepo had a good return in special teams. That would be big for him moving forward, so I want to throw that in there. But we've talked about why the practice was bad and everything that's happened.

Now we need to talk about how the Titans have to bounce back because looking at everything that's happened so far and going back to Brian Callahan, I am worried about the confidence of this football team. Today's episode is brought to you by Yahoo Fantasy. It's the best time of the year. NFL kickoff is almost here and that means fantasy football season is back in full swing. And this year, Yahoo Fantasy is turning things up with a fantasy football experience like never before. This year, I'm going to be playing on Yahoo Fantasy and you should too, whether you're a first timer or a veteran making your millionth league. Yahoo has been doing this forever.

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at Yahoo!fantasy.com slash Locked-on NFL. about the terrible joint practice that was for the Tennessee Titans, why I'm concerned for Cam Ward based on what's around him, what was good about the practice, but now I need to spin it forward. The Titans must bounce back against the Atlanta Falcons. I'm going to dive into why I see it that way, but before I do, do want to thank you again

for making Locked on Titans your first listen. NFL fantasy draft season is here. So your second listen should go to Locked-on Fantasy Football Pub. with host Vinnie Eyre and Kate Majuk. Listen, every single day is an opportunity to prep for your fantasy draft and to become the most informed manager you could possibly be so you can take home your league's trophy this season, find locked on fantasy football on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Titans got to have a better practice against the Falcons tomorrow. They have to. Time is running out. And that's my response when I see a lot of people saying, This early, this early, this early, this early. It's not early anymore, folks. The Titans have 20 days when I'm recording this, 20 days until they traveled to Denver on the road to play a playoff team with a good roster in the Denver Broncos.

Against Sean Payton, a Super Bowl winning head coach against Brian Callahan, who went 3 and 14 last year. That is a tough matchup. And then in week two, they come home after going out west and a hard environment on your body because of the elevation and it's the first week of the season

your body's not in real football shape yet anyway and you've got to do it in elevation against a good Broncos team that's physical and aggressive tough they're not ready for that right now and then you come home and you play the Los Angeles Rams

one of what the best six teams and maybe Matthew Stafford misses the game because of his back injury but let's be real old man Stafford is probably just not doing anything in the pre-examination season and by week two he's going to be out there playing and now you're dealing with one of the best teams in the NFL last year probably be a pretty good team this year too and Sean McVeigh a Super Bowl winning head coach against Brian Callahan

like it's coming quick they play the Texans in week four right like that's a tough first month and in my opinion you bring this back to the disaster weekend on offense for the Titans a couple of weekends ago, one week from last weekend, where they added an extra practice on Friday because they weren't good enough during the week. Brian Callahan did not

feel like they were good enough, did not feel like they were ready. And because of that, they had five padded practices in six days because he added that extra practice. And then he cusses out the team at the end of the weekend on that Sunday.

Because he knows they're not ready. And time is running out. We've got to go to Tampa Bay. And they go to Tampa Bay and they have an up and down practice. And then they go into the game. And the game, I mean, they get absolutely rolled. I'm not going to pay attention too much to the score. But it was okay from a coaching perspective

and looking at your best players and whether you're ready to go. It was okay. And then you go into this joint practice against the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons could be a good team. They have talent. But they didn't make the playoffs last year. and you are clearly the lesser team

to the Atlanta Falcons so if you look at this Brian Callahan did not have confidence in the team and added an extra practice by the end of the weekend and all that wear and tear which has Kevin Winston still out to this day because he's so sore from that stretch of practice Brian Callahan not confident in his team during the week

adds an extra practice on Friday cusses them out on Sunday because the weekend of practice still wasn't good enough. And now we're into this joint practice and the Titans come out with a slow start just like they did against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. To the point where vocal team leaders

like Jeffrey Simmons come out and tell local media after practice I'm tired of the slow starts saying that it reminds him of last year we have Jeffrey Simmons out here after a practice mad about the way the team played

and talking about oh this is like last year I mean Keith Bullock legendary Titans linebacker even tweeted out that he had a guy who was at the practice and said that it was looking good for Atlanta

I mean like it's clear that Jeffrey Simmons is saying stuff and saying, we got to quit with the slow starts. Here's the exact quote to Ron Davenport tweeted. Jeffrey Simmons said he wants less talk and more action. He's concerned about the slow starts, especially being as though it carried over from last season.

He's tired of saying the same things over and over again. Chigakonkwo said after practice that he's definitely concerned. The players on the team, some of the veterans, Jarvis Brownlee Jr., who's exoner, expected to be a leader in that secondary. He's definitely a vocal guy. He calls himself a leader. He said the practice was, all right, all right, it was BS. You have players starting to speak out that we're starting slow, we're not good enough, it's concerning, and that tells me that there's a lack of confidence in Brian Callahan.

And he's pushing them extra hard. They're doing sprints after these practices in the last couple of weeks. I said it on that weekend, that disaster weekend, that to me it looks like Brian Callahan is on the hot seat and he knows it and he knows his team isn't ready and he's worried. And now the players are starting to reflect the identity of the coach. They are now concerned because they can feel the concern and they can tell from being out there that we aren't at the level of these football teams that we're playing against. And if the Titans confidence. And it's funny because I brought this up like two weeks ago on the squad show

with Brad Hopkins and Julian Misenone. Make sure that you guys go check those out. The squad shows are so much fun. But I brought this up that if this team, that's why I took so much and people say I overreact, but that's why I reacted so much to the extra padded practice and cussing out the team on Sunday. Because Brian Callahan is showing I know I'm on the hot seat.

And I said that if Brian Callahan is acting like, like that. And this team comes out and they aren't prepared for the joint practices that are coming in the next two weeks and the preseason games that are coming in the next few weeks and it's clear to the team that they aren't ready, then they're going to lose their confidence and if this team loses their confidence early, they don't have the talent on the roster to overcome a lower confidence rating. This is a team with low talent that needs the highest possible confidence to find a way to win games. And that's why I say the time is running out.

tomorrow Wednesday is the last joint practice the Titans will have the rest of the year and we all talk about how important these joint practices are well if these joint practices are super important and they're the closest thing that the Titan starters are going to get to real games

and they're not doing that great in the joint practices and tomorrow Wednesday is the last joint practice then they're not going to get the best reps anymore those are over and Cam Ward's probably going to play two series and the defense is probably going to play

one series against the Atlanta Falcons because the Falcon starters sure aren't going to play so it's not going to be starter on starter work for the Titans anyways. So why would you leave your starters out there too long? So now, after that, they come back. They're done with their trip that they went on that's supposed to bond them as a team. They're all frustrated, they're all concerned,

the confidence is down, and they come back and all they do is practice against each other for a couple more weeks before they have to go and play Denver. The time is almost up. So I am worried about their confidence in Brian Callahan as a coach and what it could mean early in the season

if they get drubbed with a hard schedule, things could go bad early. And back to full circle to the, that worries me for Cam Ward. If he has a coaching staff that the team has lost confidence in, his veterans aren't playing as hard as they could possibly play and he doesn't have the talent to support him and he has the gunslinger mentality to go

out there and try to make a ton of plays all the time. It could just lead to critical massive failure. So if the Titans don't bounce back in this practice and give themselves some confidence and play with some pride and bounce back and do some good in this practice against the Atlanta Falcons that they can be proud of, I worry about what it could mean spiraling forward as the dominoes start to fall. So bounce back, show some pride. step up, and be ready to go out of the gate and not start slow. That's what I want to see from the Titans in tomorrow's practice. But I'll be here to tell you whether or not they did it.

That's going to do it for me today. Folks, as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans. Thank you.