Callahan gives playcalling to Hardegree (QB Coach)

[titanruss]

Blaine brought up a question... 

 

Anyone think they asked /discussed with Cam his opinion on Cally giving up play-calling duties? 

 

 

[Mythos27]

3 minutes ago, VaTitan said:

and this is why I was hammering "miss amy" when vrabel was fired.  Poor leaders overreact to certain scenarios and just "react", rather than set a strategy and stay the corse......  Cally has to own his failures, but I put all this at the feet of "miss amy".  She's improved many asppects of team operations, but has failed routinely at HC/GM.  Brinker better look over his shoulder, since he's presided over all this too....  He'll be next if this season bombs out.

I've soured on Amy greatly over the last few years. 

[Jamalisms]

7 minutes ago, TeamRamrod said:

The collaboration stuff started when Vrabel was still here 

 

I don't remember that. What I remember is it being almost embarrassing how much they said it during the hiring process.

[Starkiller]

Taking away the play calling duties is a better decision than firing Callahan now because they would bomb the coaching staff in terms of simply guys on the job. If Amy fires Callahan then Bill Callahan and Holz are also out instantly. They may not be doing a good job, but it would leave the staff significantly shorthanded.
 

Hardigree has a rapport with Ward so it’s not going to be too disruptive for him to be playcaller. And he has NFL experience as a playcaller so he makes the most sense.

 

I guess if things turned around between now and the end of the season then Callahan might not get fired. But realistically, he’s all but out of here come January.

Edited September 23, 2025 by Starkiller

[TeamRamrod]

1 minute ago, Jamalisms said:

 

I don't remember that. What I remember is it being almost embarrassing how much they said it during the hiring process.

It definitely did. Came with Ran. 

[titanruss]

3 minutes ago, TeamRamrod said:

It definitely did. Came with Ran. 

 

I thought it was a little before we got Ran. They said they wanted it, Ran came in and said he'd do it.. so they hired him. 

[titansfan]

Got dammit fuck. 

 

Callahan's ineptitude has me agreeing with every single word from Oilerman in this thread. Now, ill give him shit for being late to party and not seeing this after week 1 (where he demonstrated REGRESSION from the previous season), but hes right. This is an in-season termination.

 

The team is simply trying to maintain a level of stability which is probably not a bad idea, but make no doubt if you made predictions on Sunday like I did that either Callahan would be fired or we would hear reports that it was considered then you can take your victory lap.

 

Anyone arguing this needs to look at this objectively. One of Callahan's selling points to the team and city AND what he described how he sees himself is to be 100% in control of playcalling. That is gone. They stripped him of how he identifies himself  AND what's left is the very thing hes proven to be 32 of 32 at which is game management.

 

Or see it this way-- "What has to happen to where he gets to keep his job beyond this season?"

 

Think about it. The team would have to likely win 9 out of the next 14 games. Now ask do you see that happening?

 

There is no returning from this and is 100% obvious that this is a top down dictated move. He doesn't even get the benefit of blaming failures on offensive talent. Brinker/Borgonzi have spoken and they think Callahan is a significant part of the problem

[TF_Titan]

1 hour ago, ctm said:

He can't embarrass the franchise and be a national story.

 

I think this is exactly why he wasn't fired outright.

 

Firing him 3 games into the season would absolutely embarrass the franchise and be a national story...not to mention the turmoil it would cause in the locker room. Putting him on a more gentle glide path out the door will cause less of a media shit storm.

[scine09]

4 minutes ago, titansfan said:

Got dammit fuck. 

 

Callahan's ineptitude has me agreeing with every single word from Oilerman in this thread. Now, ill give him shit for being late to party and not seeing this after week 1 (where he demonstrated REGRESSION from the previous season), but hes right. This is an in-season termination.

 

The team is simply trying to maintain a level of stability which is probably not a bad idea, but make no doubt if you made predictions on Sunday like I did that either Callahan would be fired or we would hear reports that it was considered then you can take your victory lap.

 

Anyone arguing this needs to look at this objectively. One of Callahan's selling points to the team and city AND what he described how he sees himself is to be 100% in control of playcalling. That is gone. They stripped him of how he identifies himself  AND what's left is the very thing hes proven to be 32 of 32 at which is game management.

 

Or see it this way-- "What has to happen to where he gets to keep his job beyond this season?"

 

Think about it. The team would have to likely win 9 out of the next 14 games. Now ask do you see that happening?

 

There is no returning from this and is 100% obvious that this is a top down dictated move. He doesn't even get the benefit of blaming failures on offensive talent. Brinker/Borgonzi have spoken and they think Callahan is a significant part of the problem

I don’t think they need to be over .500.  They just need to show massive improvement, particularly in the second half of the season and he needs to show massive improvement in his own in-game decisions.  That and Ward needs to continue to develop.

 

They don’t want to fire him.  They’re going to look for any reason they can to keep things as they are now.

[rns90]

7 minutes ago, TF_Titan said:

 

I think this is exactly why he wasn't fired outright.

 

Firing him 3 games into the season would absolutely embarrass the franchise and be a national story...not to mention the turmoil it would cause in the locker room. Putting him on a more gentle glide path out the door will cause less of a media shit storm.

Do you think he lasts through the entire year?  I don’t .  I think he’s outta there if he gets an embarrassing loss put on him .

 

 

[titansfan]

I was officially out on Callahan this season but became heavily skeptical of him after he allowed the crowds boos to drive him to making a game decision he clearly didn't want to do. It showed to me he lacked foresight, a handle on the game, and honestly self respect.

[rns90]

4 minutes ago, scine09 said:

 

 

They don’t want to fire him.  They’re going to look for any reason they can to keep things as they are now.

They don’t want to fire him because they would look like gigantic fools.

 

It’s totally different if they didn’t want to fire him because they believed in his coaching and thought they were on the right track.

[rns90]

1 minute ago, titansfan said:

I was officially out on Callahan this season but became heavily skeptical of him after he allowed the crowds boos to drive him to making a game decision he clearly didn't want to do. It showed to me he lacked foresight, a handle on the game, and honestly self respect.

The PC’s last year where he started blaming people were pretty bad as well.  
 

 

[japan]

1 hour ago, OILERMAN said:

As far as the rules. Remember when Donavon McNabb didn't know an NFL game could end in a tie? That's Callahan with some of these rules. You wonder how these guys can coast through their careers and not know this basic stuff. 

 

I thought the same thing about McNabb when Callahan didn't know the rule.  Big difference is that it doesn't matter if McNabb is an idiot about the rules.

[freakingeek]

2 hours ago, EC34 said:

Takes a strong man to admit that he is not performing to expectations. If Hardegree is able to improve playcalling while Callahan is able to increase his big picture focus, this has a chance to succeed. In truth, it wasn't working the other way. At least the team shifted direction. Will it get better?  Guess we will find out soon.

The optics of firing Callahan 1/4 of the way through the season would be horrible for the franchise. This gives BC a chance to be HC and not HC/OC. If things continue to go south, it gives the organization an opportunity to fire him and save face while not interrupting Wards development.