Brian Callahan reveals his philosophy on playing Titans starters in preseason games
NASHVILLE – With the firing of Mike Vrabel and the hiring of new head coach Brian Callahan this offseason, the Tennessee Titans are undergoing a lot of change, The roster, coaching staff, and even organizational philosophies have already seen a major facelift since Callahan was hired. The Titans are doing things differently now. That includes […]
NASHVILLE – With the firing of Mike Vrabel and the hiring of new head coach Brian Callahan this offseason, the Tennessee Titans are undergoing a lot of change,
The roster, coaching staff, and even organizational philosophies have already seen a major facelift since Callahan was hired. The Titans are doing things differently now. That includes the team's new approach to preseason games.
On the most recent episode of The OTP (Official Titans Podcast), Callahan spoke to Mike Keith about his philosophy when it comes to playing starters during preseason games.
"Preseason is important. I think I’ve learned some lessons over the years. We kind of adopted that LA Rams mentality when we got to Cincinnati where we didn’t play our starters at all," Callahan said about the old practices of himself and Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. "We had some injuries with Burrow last year where we were going to play our starters more because we had been kind of been a slow starting team out of the gate and that was one of the things we felt might help us is playing in the preseason more."
Callahan went on to share that because Burrow was injured during the preseason and unable to play, the Bengals chose not to play their other starters. If the purpose of playing your top guys is to get them live snaps as a unit, and the starting quarterback won't be out there, what exactly is the point?
That said, Callahan does believe that starters should play in the preseason if everyone is healthy and available.
"I believe in those guys playing some in the preseason. It helps you get ready for the opener so that the opener is not the first time you get tackled or are at game speed," said Callahan.
This is music to my ears. I have long been a believer in playing starters in the preseason for the exact reason Callahan mentioned. Many of the teams who do not let starters see preseason action start off the regular season in an offensive slump. There is data to back that up. It can be helpful to get tackled, work on operations at the line of scrimmage, and develop chemistry at game speed.
I love the idea of Will Levis, DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, Tony Pollard, and the new offensive line all playing together during the preseason. Especially because there are so many new faces in town.
Like any other team, the Titans will have to be careful with how they manage this situation. Levis had an injury during training camp last year that kept him out of preseason games and held him back for months. He then went down with an ankle sprain at the end of the regular season. The Titans cannot afford for Levis (or any of their other starters) to get hurt. Now, the reality is that it's part of football and unavoidable. But if any of the starters are nursing an injury, Callahan needs to sit them down for the preseason exhibition games.
As long as injuries are managed responsibly, I'm on board for this. Mike Vrabel was never a fan of playing his starters in the preseason. But I think there's a lot of value in it and am refreshed by the fresh perspective Callahan is bringing to the table.
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