‘Think players and not plays’ — Interim head coach Mike McCoy details changes to Titans offense that should help Cam Ward

The Tennessee Titans have a new head coach, or at least, an interim one. They’ve returned to their happy place by appointing yet another Mike to captain this ship, adding to a bizarre tapestry of Mikes who’ve come before him.

Mike McCoy is the new man with the plan, tapped to lead this team through its remaining 11 games in 2025 after serving as a Senior Offensive Advisor for the first six.

McCoy has been a head coach before, leading the Philip Rivers Chargers from 2013 to 2016. He’s been a coordinator twice since then, and was last in Jacksonville before joining Brian Callahan’s staff this past spring. He spoke with the media for the first time in his capacity as head coach on Tuesday, and tried to outline how he would be adjusting this so far putrid offense to yield better results.

Mike McCoy’s plan for setting Cam Ward up for success

The second question asked of McCoy at the podium on Tuesday was what he would be changing about the Titans’ offense. This unit is the worst in the league by most metrics, having achieved multiple depressing statistical feats through a month and a half.

President of football operations Chad Brinker and general manager Mike Borgonzi said in their Monday evening press conference that some changes to the coaching operation would be made with McCoy in charge, particularly on offense. So what are they?

Here’s what McCoy had to say about it:

“Well, I think we’ve got to—I’m a big believer as we go moving forward, you always got to think players and not plays. And I think we just got to—you look at this, we got to decide, ok, moving forward— and it’s early in the week still. So each week you look at a defensive scheme, what they’re going to run, what do our players do best. So we got to sit down and like we’ve done the last couple of hours this morning, getting into the game planning against a good New England team, is what does Cam (Ward) do best? And what do we do best as an offense? And that’s going to be every week. So that’s the big thing. When we go in there, we got to look at our scheme. What are we doing? And it’s going to change from week to week on what we do best.”

Think players and not plays. That’s a line that resonated with many fans on Tuesday. A lot of the frustration with this team so far is that it’s easy to see some of the individual talent and potential, but it’s just not manifesting in the grand scheme of things on Sundays. So, of course, this is an exciting sentiment to hear from a team that’s inspiring nobody right now.

What will really get me jazzed up is seeing what this means on the football field. Because the reality here is that Callahan said these same things. Repeatedly, in fact. And really, I’ve heard a version of this line from just about every ball coach I’ve ever listened to for long enough.

Breaking news: we want to run the plays the players are good at, not force them to adapt to my perfect, brilliant scheme. Even the brightest minds in play-calling, who could justify a bit of that attitude, such as Kyle Shanahan, don’t force their players to bend to their will all the time. Part of what makes them great is their ability to push the right buttons for the players they have.

To be clear, I’m not saying McCoy is full of it when he says this. I’m sure it’s his intention to make some changes that he thinks will better suit this collection of talent.

But I’m also sure this wasn’t some shot across the bow at a now-fired Callahan, the man McCoy has mentored and, most recently, given a job. And I know Callahan felt this same way about this team. It’s one thing to say this, and another entirely to press the right buttons in a game. So I’m excited about what this means, but will be all-in if we see it make a tangible impact on the field.