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Emmitt Smith is currently the all time leading rusher with 18,355 rushing yards. Derrick Henry going into today had 11,423 18,355 11,423 6932 yards to go I'll be tracking this race in this thread. I'm legitimately hoping he gets it at this point.

I just watched the Maddencast of the Bengals@Ravens. It’s not perfect yet but once this concept has a optimized I’d watch it over the regular. The good they have down so far: The camera angle is changed to a higher up all-22 style. You get to see the entirety of the play. All players running routes have route trails to show their route is nice as well. The commentary is a tad deeper than standard broadcast. Kurt Benkert and Tyran Matthieu were rough though with minimal experience. They also list out offensive and defensive players on the field by position. The Bad: Too much madden bullshit. They put stupid icons under and above the players like madden. The buttons above their heads is silly. If this thing gets reshaped into the BallknowersCast I have a feeling it’ll become the boards preferred watch.

If this was already posted then oops https://mainstreetmediatn.com/articles/injuries/amy-adams-strunk-likely-behind-stripping-brian-callahan-of-his-play-calling/ A league source indicated Tuesday to TitanInsider.com that Tennessee Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk was likely the impetus behind stripping the play-calling duties away from head coach Brian Callahan three weeks before he was fired. Adams Strunk’s fingerprints were also all over the way Callahan was fired on Monday, as in a conference call with Brinker and Borgonzi, she apparently indicated her desire to move on from Callahan to them, and dispatched them to break the news to the coach that he was being fired six weeks into the season.

Titans have granted permission to former Pro-Bowl LB Harold Landry to seek a trade, per sources. Landry started all 17 games last season, finishing with 71 tackles, nine sacks, 18 pressures and four pass deflections. The 28-year-old Landry has 31.5 sacks in the last three seasons he has played, and is due a $17.5 million base salary this season. https://x.com/AdamSchefter/status/1894729070090334434

Often I struggle to put into words who I consider to be responsible for things that happened during a game and to what degree. Hopefully a visual representation is helpful. Don't hold me to it but if people like the concept, I'll try to make one of these after every game. Agree with me, make your own, or fight me! That said, here is my blame pie for our week 1 loss vs the Broncos. I used this site so if anyone else wants to post their own please do: https://www.meta-chart.com/pie#/display

I'm interested in seeing what the Titans plans are with all 3 of these guys. I think Hooker is a big priority. He's one of the team's best players and is still only 27(just turned 27). He's had some concussion concerns and has missed some games but it's not a huge amount. He's going to get a big deal somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised to see him signed before the season. McCreary is also a very good nickelback. I'd try and keep him too. He's looked bad when forced to play outside but last year he was outstanding inside. Chig is possibly the easiest to replace with Helm added but Callahan gushed about Chig and Helm on the field together. The really need to keep the young secondary together.

I don't follow college much and don't pay attention to the prospects until close to the draft. Early on I fell in line with the talk of it being a terrible draft class for QBs. Terrible year to have the #1 pick, trade the pick, draft Abdul Carter! As the process went along it became clear Ward was being lumped in with the group as a whole and not being judged individually. Listening to people I trust they began to talk about how good Ward was. Cosell(yes he's wrong too) said he didn't know why he wasn't being discussed as an elite #1 QB prospect. How ridiculous people put Ward and Sanders in a group together as equals. Then as "experts" start looking at the film everyone starts saying the same thing, holy shit, this dude is great. More than that he's great at the things that matter the most in terms of transitioning to the NFL. Processing and delivering accurate passes and having an innate ability to sense and escape pressure. He throws with anticipation and throws people open. Many evaluators point out the most impressive part of his game is his play inside of structure. The shown highlights are his improvisation but his down to down consistent play inside of structure is what's most impressive. These are things a novice fan can see for themselves. From Justin Graver: Cam Ward set the Miami Hurricanes single-season passing records for yards (4,313), completions (305), and touchdowns (39) while throwing to a collection of UDFA receivers with a 7th-round RB, just FYI. I saw some other detailed stats I can't find. #1 across the board in a huge number of key stats. 3rd down. playing from behind etc... Miami stats last year offensively: #1 in points, yards, yds per play and 3rd down conversion. I don't think the opposing competition matters as much in terms of whether or not his skills translate. You either have those passing skills or you don't. He's also throwing to scrubs. Ward has also been improving every year at a rapid rate. He's going to continue to get better and he's already good. I honestly believe it's very likely Ward will quickly become among the best QBs in the league. I do think he'll be in the discussion with Mahomes/Allen/Lamar.

A good video!

I've long said Mason might be the most HOF worthy player that played for the Titans. His resume is way better than people realize/remember. Kudo to Chad Johnson for the recognition, Mason's stats blow him away

Former NFL DB Adam 'Pacman' Jones arrested near Cincinnati https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45470414/former-nfl-db-adam-pacman-jones-arrested-cincinnati Jun 7, 2025, 01:54 PM ET CINCINNATI -- Former NFL defensive back Adam "Pacman" Jones was arrested early Saturday morning in greater Cincinnati, court records show. Jones, 41, was booked just before 2 a.m. Saturday into Kenton County jail, according to the court log. He was arrested by the Covington Police Department and charged with alcohol intoxication in a public place, disorderly conduct, and assault of a police officer or a probation officer. Jones posted a $10,000 bond and was released around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Other details regarding the arrest were not immediately made available.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lingering-questions-part-1-the-titans-offensive/id1528622068?i=1000708555744 The Titans talk is at the very start. This is a great listen. These guys go back and review the 2024 offense to see what kind of offensive scheme Ward will be going to and analyze the 2024 offensive problems. Long story short they were pleasantly surprised how optimistic they were and the 2024 problems were almost all on the talent(QB and OL mainly). Paraphrasing First of all the Titans lost the most EPA on aborted plays(dropped snaps type), offensive penalties and turnovers. If they were only half as bad their offense would have been in the middle of the pack/mediocre. They point out penalties are a year to year thing, lack of talent and not connected to coaching. Will Levis is horrid. He has "anti-pocket presence". When he had protection he'd do poorly and when he was pressured he was a total disaster. Refused to check down and incapable to making plays when things go poorly(opposite of Ward). Rudolph had a higher floor but turned the ball over and when he was pressured he would check down or throw it away right away. He had a 4.2 yards per play on playaction(pitiful). The OL was equally as bad. Even with Levis having terrible pocket presence the bigger problem was he was pressured right away. The Titans were bad anyway but they were also injured. Their highest graded starting 5 played together among the least amount in the league. Latham had problems transitioning to LT in pass pro. They gushed about Latham's run blocking. The right side was a disaster. They pointed out even on well called screens when the OL would get a number advantage multiple OL would usually miss blocks. They believe the OL will be much more functional. The WRs got no separation. Boyd and NWI couldn't get any. Don't fret over losing NWI. Ridley was good but can't play the X spot, which is why they signed Jefferson and used the draft. WRs could still be a problem, they signed journeymen and took later round WRs. They praised the design of the run game, the perimeter and their run game from shotgun. They said the design of the playaction passing game was good and said Callahan did a good job adjusting(trying to) to the problems the offense had. I 100% believe Nihill and Brinker are way higher on Callahan than the fans. Every time I hear Callahan talk I'm more impressed than I expect to be. I think he's about totally blameless with the offensive struggles last year and Ward is in very good hands.

Cally the Crusher

Looking at how the Titans have constructed their roster it's pretty easy to see they plan on using the Big Nickel(3 safeties) as their base defense. They signed Cody Barton to be their starting ILB and pretty much ignored the other ILB spot. Newly drafted safety Winston JR will essentially play the other in the box spot. It's the same reason they tried to sign Holland, he would have filled this role. You can match up against the run and also have the flexibility to defend 11 personnel. McCreary is also an excellent tackler and run defender. He's extremely underrated for his role and has to be extended. Good coverage guy inside and can defend the run. Hooker, Woods and Winston will likely all be starters and play the majority of the snaps. With Simmons and Sweat you can still be effective against the run playing 5/6 DBs. You need this kind of speed/flexibility on defense to be able to defend QBs like Lamar/Hurts/Mahomes/Allen. It's extremely hard to defend the run against these two headed rushing attacks. They are still weak in known passing situations when they have to rush 4. They also need more depth at DL, losing Sweat/Simmons would be devastating. I love what they are trying to do. They still need to add pass rushers and get a 4 man rush

Obviously the Titans need a QB and the talk mostly centers around them, rightfully so. I have no real opinion on whether Ward is good enough to be drafted at #1. I'll trust the new regime to make that determination and if they draft him I'll be content with it. The next important position in the NFL is pass rush. If you're going to have a consistent contending team you have got to get pressure on the opposing QB with a 4 man rush. The Titans have the ability to make their 4 man rush a strength by drafting Carter. Hopefully Sweat works out and becomes a consistent dominant inside disrupter next to Simmons. Simmons is still only 27 and any negative talk about him is ridiculous, he was dominant last season. Abdul Carter just now turned 21, Sweat is 23 and Simmons is 27. They can be together 3+ years, an eternity in NFL years. The duo of Simmons and Carter could be dominant by themselves. They do have to decide what to do with Landry and to a lesser degree Key. Landry has a 17.5 mill base and he was honestly pretty bad last season. If they draft/plan to Carter I'd guess they outright release Landry unless he agrees to a straight pay cut. Key has a much smaller salary but he's also pretty spare. I would not only draft Carter but I'd try and add another edge at some point and maybe a free agent interior rusher. The Titans might not can fix their QB problem this off season but they are in position to make their pass rush a real strength.

Since AJ Brown was traded to the Eagles it has been a total disaster from the Titans point of view. He was often injured with the Titans, now he's an iron man. He's been with the Eagles and Titans now 3 years each. Titans: 185 receptions for 2995 yards Eagles: 261 receptions for 4031 yards. LOL @ Vrabel. He got some offensive player of the year votes since joining the Eagles. I totally expect him to have a huge game and win SB MVP to keep this open sore going.

Here is the real problem with the Titans as we sit here today. This is why Carthon has to go This team entered 2024 in a rebuild mode with no QB, depleted draft capitol and a ton of cap space. They ignored the QBs in the draft, better QBs by all accounts than this class. They skipped Penix, McCarthy and Nix and were dead set on Levis. All 3 look ten times better than Levis. Rather than add draft capitol they traded picks away. Carthon traded a 72nd pick in 2023 and a 2024 3rd rounder to move up for Levis. Then he traded a 3rd for Sneed and gave him a big contract. All quality draft picks with nothing in return. Then Carthon did the oldest mistake in the book, huge free agent spending spree. Did the Titans need to add some free agents? Sure. They overpaid big time. Has anyone noticed the loss of Cushenberry, CB may have improved after Sneed went out, Murray is bad etc... Ridley is def overpaid even if he improved the WR core and he's 30 freaking years old. A year later the team still needs a QB, has less draft picks and will soon have to start cutting the 2024 free agents. Forget the record and how competitive the team is. They are worse off overall than they were a year ago. They added Latham, who was pretty shake the last 6 games and some other pieces but big picture they are worse off.

I normally don't praise RBs but this season I've had to eat some crow. What Barkley has done for the Eagles is very impressive. A lot of these top RBs are easily replaceable and their impact is totally overrated. Barkley is truly the foundation of the Eagles offense. Hurts isn't quite capable to carrying the Eagles and the addition of Barkley has really vaulted the Eagles back into contention. I read that Barkley a 100% success rate vs the Rams. We're not talking about a guy plodding along then having one run to give him a nice stat line. Barkley gets it done down to down. Also the ultimate 3 down RB. He's on pace to beat Dickerson's all time rushing record. Also, a little more crow. I'll admit I thought he was over the hill and washed, but clearly Joe Mixon can still get it done.

https://x.com/TDavenport_NFL/status/1873438805912674404 Per @ESPNStatsInfo Jeffery Simmons has recorded a league-high 19 run stuffs this season and is tied for the most run stops (43) among defensive tackles. Simmons has also generated 37 pressures with 16 of them occurring in under 2.5 seconds, tied for the 7th-most quick pressures among defensive tackles. https://x.com/TDavenport_NFL/status/1873438559450890559 W/ T’Vondre Sweat on the field, the Titans have allowed 4.2 yds/per carry, the 7th-fewest among all defenses. W/out Sweat, they have allowed 4.9 yds/carry, which would be the 3rd-highest mark in the league. Titans have also contacted rushers behind the line of scrimmage on 45.1%

Yesterday was a prime example of how weak(soft) this team is in the trenches. The right side of the OL is pitiful. Pollard and Spears have made a ton of their yards with terrible blocking and we know about the pass pro. This team need quality at RG and RT, not just replacements. And the defensive front lacks quality and depth. They have Simmons, Sweat and Landry and that's it in the front seven. The other 4 guys are JAGs or terrible. Their ILBs are as bad as RT. The depth is laughable. All the contenders are dominant on both sides of the ball. The offseason should focus on this first and foremost

I remember draft night when the Titans passed on Levis at 11. Titans radio, Dave McGinnis and co. shredded Levis and talked about why he wasn't a good prospect. They didn't think he'd still be drafted. Everything they said was true. Terrible prospect. He was literally the exact opposite of what Carthon said he looked for in a QB. In training camp his rookie year he was terrible. It's easy to forget Willis was made the back-up over Levis. People tried to act like it was because Levis tweaked his hamstring. Levis suited up to play the preseason game right after tweaking his hammy. Willis was the back-up because Levis sucked. Willis was also terrible last year in preseason. Even in the Atlanta game aside from the 4 TDs Levis showed all the terrible traits outside of those 4 TDs. Then the rest of the season Levis was absolutely terrible. He led the league in turn over worthy plays. People made it about replacing Tannehill rather than honestly looking at how bad Levis was. Rudolph appears to be a weak-armed solid journeyman game manager. He absolutely destroyed Levis in training camp. Every practice report Rudolph was easily the better of the two. Honestly Willis was better. If it was an open competition Levis would have lost without question. The failure by Levis is the least surprising thing ever. He was a terrible NFL prospect and he looked that way the entire time since getting drafted. If Carthon was the main reason the team drafted Levis you have to seriously question whether or not you want him making decisions on QBs going forward.

This guy doesn't get the credit he deserves because he's on such a good overall team. Wilson currently has 8 passing TDs to 1 INT, he has a 113 passer rating and is completing 70% of his passes. He's probably the most dangerous runner in the league because of his ability to pass on the run and he always protects himself and is super smart. He's the MVP on a loaded Seattle team

No one cares? False starts galore

Some of the things that Will Levis did in his first game were already so much better than Tannehill (not to mention Mariota) could ever have done. A lot of these, you just have the natural talent, otherwise it's very hard to learn. 1, Deep ball, Throws will a beautiful arc like Russell Wilson in his prime. The most important thing for deep ball is to throw with a high arc, making it a lot easier for the receivers to catch and harder for DBs to defend. Tannehill's deep balls always looked like a line drive, very hard for receivers to catch. 2, Play actions. Levis has smooth and natural motion and footwork, looks like he is handing the ball off. Tannehill just stretches his football hand out for a mere moment and and pulls back right away. very obvious and not effective. 3. Pump fakes and shoulder nod. Again very natural and Levis already did these multiple time in one game with great effectiveness. Tannehill was never able to do it consistently like Levis did. 4. Audible, already seen Levis making adjustments at the line several times in one game, which I don't recall Tannehill doing much this season. 5. Also, everything he did you just felt that he was doing a lot quicker, handing off, footwork, and most importantly, quick releases.

After Sunday's game at Philly Zach Mettenberger has now logged 4 NFL starts, one quarter of an NFL season. He's played 2 road games, 2 home games which also includes a Monday Night Football game in prime time. 3 of the 4 teams have winning records and all 4 had winning records at the time they were played. This is a pretty good mixture of games for a rookie QB to go against in terms of getting the feel for an NFL season. Now that Mettenberger has started 4 games it makes it easier to project his stats for an entire season. In his 4 starts his stats are: 78 of 131 1086 yards 7 TDs and 4 INTs. He's just under 60% completion and is averaging 8.3 yards per pass and has a very solid 91.3 passer rating. Projected over a full season that comes out to 28 TDs 16 INTs and 4344 yards. He's thrown 2 TDs in 3 of the 4 games and hasn't had more INTs than TDs in any start. He's also thrown for 263 yards or more in 3 of the starts and is 1 yard shy of 2 300 yard games. I went back and looked at Vince Young and Jake Locker's entire career to see if either guy had a 4 game stretch that compared to Mettenberger's first four starts. VY actually had a 4 game stretch in 2009 starting in week 12 where he threw for 996 yards 7 TDs and 2 INTs. This was during CJ's 2000 yard season. Locker had the four game start in 2013 where he threw 6 TDs and 0 INTs but he only threw for 721 yards and the team clearly was geared towards running the ball and limiting passes. Those were the only two stretches either guy had that came close to Mettenberger's first four starts over their entire careers. Both guys were in their 3rd season when they put this four game stretch together, had much better run games and better pass protection. It's worth nothing that in Mettenberger's first four starts The Titans as a team ran an average of 17 times for 51 yards at 2.9 yards per pop. The Titans lost their best OL in Roos and both inline blocking TEs as well as Delanie Walker for one of the games. The offense has been constantly penalized and Mettenberger has been under constant pressure. Mettenberger has a higher passer rating than all other rookie QBs, in fact the closest one is 10 full points behind him. Football Outsiders also ranks Mettenberger higher than any other rookie QB this season. After his first four starts while looking at his production, level of competition and supporting cast I'd give Mettenberger an A bordering on an A+. Click here to view the article

NFL free agency starts March 11th at 3:00 PM Central and NFL fans will be watching twitter and NFL Network to see the latest rumors about who their team might sign or host on a free agent visit. NFL GMs will start throwing out crazy money minutes after free agency starts and get into bidding wars over the biggest names on the market. All of this despite the fact it's been going on for 20 years now and it's almost a certainty it's going to be a complete failure. Last off season the Titans came out of the gate and paid guard Andy Levitre 6 years 46.8 mill with a 10.5 million dollar signing bonus. After one season that signing has to objectively be graded as a failure. Levitre said he played injured and struggled much of the year and was often on replays for what he did wrong rather than what he did right. The Titans also signed guard/center Chris Spencer to the league minimum on a one year deal. Spencer only started one game but in limited action he was a solid starter who looked better than the big money guard Levitre. I can give the exact same example with Sammie Hill vs. Antonio "Mookie" Johnson. Two off seasons back it was Kamerion Wimbley, free agent bust. I could fill this page ten times over listing examples like this for every team over the last 20 years and would struggle to name the times it has worked out over the same 20 year period. This past season the Seattle Seahawks won the SB and their two biggest cap hits were TE Zach Miller and WR Sidney Rice, two big name free agent additions signed to monster contracts. Rice had 15 catches and Miller had 33 and neither guy cracked 400 yards receiving. They likely had no impact on the Seahawks SB run at all. I believe that once an NFL player gets the monetary security they all seek it's almost impossible to work as hard and play with the reckless abandon they did in order to get the money. The NFL is a violent game and it's human nature to relax and self preserve after getting paid millions of dollars. Look at the extreme example of Albert Haynesworth and compare his two seasons under the franchise tag seeking a big money contract to the player after the huge contract. So the question is what is the best route for a team(Titans) to go concerning free agency and building a roster? I've given this a lot of thought and I think there is a route that makes the most sense. The goal is to get players who are going to put worth maximum effort and give the best return on a teams investment. Who should the target be? Teams are currently purging their rosters of overpaid vets to get below the cap and to get rid of under performing aging players. This is the pool of players I'm targeting. There are so many pluses to the 30+ veteran NFL player on the open market to like. These guys are often still good enough to contribute, they are savvy vets who have seen it all in many schemes, they can get by on the limited practice reps allowed by the new CBA and they are often playing for their NFL life. Bernard Pollard was caught on the edge of his NFL career trying to prove he was still worthy of an NFL starting job and he wasn't paid enough money by NFL standards to relax. Even if a guy like this doesn't work out it's a one year deal and he's gone after the season with no dead money against your cap. Also with advancements in diet and training 30+ isn't nearly as old as it was 10-20 years ago. I think the best strategy for the Titans is to clean up their own cap and get rid of all the overpaid dead weight. Chris Johnson, David Stewart, Wimbley and Stevens all get the axe and if Nate Washington doesn't take a large pay cut he's cut as well. I want as much cap space as possible going into free agency as possible. This would give the Titans a very large amount of cap space and this is what I'd do to put it to use. I'd tag Verner first thing. Whether he's actually worth the money isn't the issue, the issue is you are putting a young player in position to give maximum effort in order to work himself into a large multi-year contract, see Albert Haynesworth. Always dangle the carrot in front of the player you sign or tag. You are also required to spend a certain % of the cap by the new CBA and this helps with that. The only players I'm signing to big money contract for multiple seasons are my own, Jurrell Casey. Signing your own players has a much better history than free agents. I'm totally ignoring the first wave of NFL free agents but there are going to be deals before free agency starts. There are guys getting cut right now and I'm all for signing a guy like George Wilson last year. These guys are often desperate to get on a team before free agency/draft begins. You don't want to be left without a chair after the music stops. The formula is very simple. Load up on draft picks and build your team through the draft, sign your own core players and then fill out your roster with cheap veterans who can be dumped and replaced yearly with no cap ramifications. Also use the franchise tag on any player worth keeping who is on the verge of a big money contract. The truth is teams have a large yearly turnover anyway so the only change is I want my roster full of 30+ year veterans instead of a bunch of 1st and 2nd players. Would you rather have a middle of the road 30 year old veteran like Mookie Johnson or Zach Clayton? It might be boring and not provide the excitement a big named free agent would cause but it's likely a much better blueprint. Click here to view the article