The Tennessee Titans face the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 in a pivotal home matchup, and fans are demanding some signs of life after a listless Week 1 debut against the Jets.

But you can already look ahead to the second giant revenge game on their schedule (pun intended): Tennessee heads to New York in Week 3 to face the Giants, and there is a gigantic (sorry again) list of revenge-spot figures in this matchup.

None bigger than the Titans’ former head coach, Brian Callahan.

Callahan available to media ahead of Week 3 reunion

Callahan was fired before any other head coach last season, the first domino in what ended up being a bloodbath for coaches by the end of the year. He was let go quite early, after a Week 6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. After spending some time in the offseason considering his options, Callahan ended up joining former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh in his first season with the Giants as passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

There’s an ironic twist layered into all of this, of course. Brian Daboll, the former Giants head coach, came to Nashville to become Cam Ward’s offensive coordinator, while Callahan, the coach who was part of drafting Ward in Tennessee, headed to New York to be Jaxson Dart’s quarterback coach. The two top quarterback picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, linked by a strange coaching carousel.

As is the cadence in the NFL, position coaches are only required to be made available to media every other week, and that week for the Giants happened to be this one. So even though the game is more than a week away, Callahan was available for the last time before their Week 3 matchup. Pat Leonard of NYDN Sports posted quotes from Callahan on X on Friday afternoon. Leonard asked Callahan about facing his former team and former quarterback Ward in Week 3. What are your emotions about facing the Titans coming up, and how much confidence do you have in Cam Ward after a tough Week 1 for that team to keep building as a player and a quarterback?

Callahan, ever the professional, answered:

“Don’t think about them at all at the moment, to be honest. Have plenty on our plate to go get ready to play the Rams. I love Cam as a person and a player. I root for him. I hope for him. When we play him, I hope we do our part, but I’m fully focused on what we’ve got. We’ve got a tough game ahead of us and a lot of things that we’ve got to do well, and we’ll worry about them next week.”

A professional answer that deserves a healthy dose of skepticism

A very professional statement from Callahan expressing his positive feelings toward and rooting interest in Ward succeeding. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Callahan was a part of the group that ultimately decided to pull the trigger on making Ward the first overall pick. He was knowingly tying his career to Ward in that moment, and while I’m sure he has many emotional, direct, and harsh things to say about how the next six games went and how short six games was as a leash before he was cut loose, those six weeks with Ward were spent doing everything in his power to enable the young quarterback to succeed.

Do I believe everything he said in this comment? Absolutely not. Not even close! He has to say what he has to say, and he does so professionally, and I respect that. But if you think Callahan really doesn’t think about the Titans at all, especially after a Week 1 loss as brutal as what Tennessee endured and a Giants primetime win as encouraging as theirs was, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Or maybe some beachfront property right here in Nashville.

He’s had that game circled just like head coach Robert Saleh had his game against the Jets circled since the calendar came out in the spring. Based on Week 1’s action alone, Callahan has to be feeling pretty good about his team and his quarterback’s chances when they host the Titans in Week 3.