[Music] welcome into the 615 sessions podcast on this Friday afternoon September the 6th it is a game week and we couldn't be more excited to head up to Chicago if you're hearing this or watching this live it's Friday afternoon tomorrow I'll be on my way up to the windy city to see the Titans take on the Chicago Bears in the 2024 season opener for both of those teams we had NFL football last night and you saw what happened to the Baltimore Ravens the difference between the Ravens and the Chiefs as far as I could tell as one has Mahomes and the other doesn't and that is a tough test for any team in the AFC but that's the landscape of the AFC and that's where the Titans are trying to get to to that level of competitiveness where those two teams competing at the top of the Heap will be buying for a Super Bowl now will the Titans be buying for a Super Bowl in 2024 odds are not in their favor but it is worth talking about how big a test this first game is for will Lev and the Titans offense to pass and that's exactly what we are going to do here today of course the 615 sessions podcast is presented by Zen Sports plug in the promo code at ozt TN whether you're betting college football or pro football Zen Sports is the place where betting just gets better go to zensports dcom for more information terms ter and conditions do apply must be 21 plus and in the state of Tennessee to bet gambling problem called the Tennessee Red Line 1800 889 9789 at Zen Sports okay so this game is a fascinating matchup it is one of the more interesting week one games on the board and there are plenty of interesting week one games on the board think about this in week one not only are you getting the best game of the week as the first game of the season Ravens and Chiefs indisputably it lived up to the hype it's rare that a week one NFL kickoff game I know the last year with the Detroit Lines going to Arrowhead and winning against the Chiefs was also a fun game but it was fun for different reasons both teams showed some weak one rust both teams are good enough to keep themselves in that game and of course the Derrick Henry Factor was interesting to watch from afar for the first time if you are a Titans fan taking in what it is to experience the Derek Henry experience without having to root for it which I imagine for some of you was a pleasant experience but we're not here to talk about Derrick Henry and his new home we're here to about we're here to talk about your team and how they are going to try and get a win on the road in this big week one game so we're gon to go through a couple of different things together here on the 615 sessions podcast and the place to start is the matchup to watch so what is the biggest matchup to watch in this particular game there's a couple of different things that you could pull from but the correct answer the most important answer or the biggest matchup on the board that will ultimately decide who leaves happy and who leaves a loser is going to be the new Titans offense with Brian Callahan and will Levis versus Matt eberl and his defense one of the most successful defenses in football last year and a defense that led the league in turnovers which they are absolutely going to try to do again and start by trying to get a hold of will Levis and make his life a living hell now there's a couple of different things that will determine whether or not they are able to make this happen so first if we're going to understand the kind of things that the Titans are going to have to do to win this game you have to understand the Bears defense and I'm not smart enough to break the Bears defense down for you but the person that I have at my disposal that always helps with these things is Greg coell of NFL films so we spent a good deal of our podcast the podcast if you're unfamiliar is called the install with Greg coell and we break down the best and most important matchups each and every week for the Titans and also for the NFL so with everything that's going on with the Tennessee Titans you have to take a couple of things into consideration and things that we've talked about before on the radio show or the prime time show but it's important to reiterate here week one is a liar right week one is the most unpredictable of any of the results that you will see at any given point throughout a season of unpredictability in the NFL this is always the case but there are some things that can be determined in week one and some ways that you can go about making sure that you're in the best possible position to succeed if you're one of these teams that's walking in against a handful of unknowns in an opponent like the Titans will be doing against the Chicago Bears now the same could be said of the Bears hosting the titans this is a very different team from the Tennessee Titans of the last two seasons really a very different team of uh of the Tennessee Titans of I don't know what since Mike Malarkey was the head coach this is as big a philosophical shift as they have had since Ken wizen Hunt tried to come in here and form a passing offense in His image which ultimately and famously we know did not go the way of Ken wizen Hunt or the Tennessee Titans but this is Brian Callahan this is not Derk Henry in this off offense this is going to be what the Cincinnati Bengals run you're R Rand you're a carbon copy of them even down to this year's roster where I had a person in the Titans organization text me and say you know what's interesting you know who else kept five tight ends on their active roster this year on their 53 the Cincinnati Bengals what did the Titans do they kept five tight ends on their active roster the Titans brought over the Bengals slot receiver to play in the Bengals offense with the former Bengals offensive coordinator there's a bunch of Bengals ties all over the place which is great if you're the Titans because you're looking at this and saying if I'm gonna compete in the AFC I have to have a more balanced and efficient offense it's not just about the passing game in fact this game to me is very little about the passing game and I'll explain why here in just a second but with everything that you're going to be taking in everything that you're going to be processing everything that you're going to be watching play out in front of you the most important thing I think in this particular game is going to be this new Titans offense against this Bears defense so first let's understand the Bears courtesy of Greg Co Bears week one matchup so in particular this Matt Eber flu defense and as you mentioned Jaylen Johnson who got paid in the off season montat who was an inseason acquisition last year who helped fortify one of the better defensive fronts in football uh a year ago how do you kind of how do you well what is the conceptually what is Matt Eber Flo running and what are some kind of tendencies that you've observed from his defense over the course of time well there are fourman dline front defense in both base and sub and in their sub defense they're high percentage nickel they only played 30 snaps a year ago of dying so they do not want to take their two linebackers off the field traine Edwards and t uh taine Edmonds and TJ Edwards both very good players they both stand out on tape they're very active players um they're not a high percentage Blitz defense although their their Blitz percentage does increase on third down as many teams do um they use both linebackers Edmonds and Edwards as part of pressure packages they also use their slot Corner in nickel uh Gordon um he's a very very good player they use him as a Blitzer as well he comes from the University of Washington he played opposite Trent McDuffy who many will know because he's with the Chiefs um and Gordon just like McDuffy is physical competitive he's really good in the slot um but their two outside corners are very good too you mentioned Jaylen Johnson getting his money he predominantly plays to the field they play Tyreek Stevenson who was a rookie a year ago who I loved coming out of the University of Miami he's the other corner he predominantly plays the boundary Corner he's very physical both as a run Defender and can play press um you know this is a team that plays a lot of zone for the most part but then on third down they'll play a lot of man um I've spoken to offensive coaches who say that Matt eberl who's their head coach and essentially it's his defense that on first and second down you kind of know what you're getting but on third down they're not very predictable and they present some problems yeah and certainly this uh this so that is a snippet of the Bears Titans preview that Greg coell and I did on Wednesday and it's available in your favorite podcast feed it's called the install with Greg coell simple as that so how do you attack a defense as GRE Greg just described it a defense that's going to keep the numbers advantage and coverage a defense that's going to play primarily Zone and then get Man heavy on third downs and a defense that is going to get pressure with four because they have great players like Montes sweat now Montes sweat is officially questionable as is Kean Keenan Allen for the game the expectation in Chicago is that both of those players are going to play where is for the Titans and I have the injury report for Tennessee here in front of me it came down about 130 today uh only four players listed on the injury report but two of them are of great consequence here you have chobia wer who is questionable and was a limited participant in practice dealing with that calf injury he of course is one of your starting outside corners and he missed the entirety of training camp with that calf injury now uh he had no injury designation the first two days and in fact this is the first day that he appeared on the injury report so perhaps that's just you know trying to play some mind games with the Bears perhaps that is legitimate and we will see what ultimately the determination they make on chobia wer is come Sunday and then there's DeAndre Hopkins who continues to miss time with this knee strain this MCL tear that he's got my expectation for what it's worth is that I don't expect DeAndre Hopkins to play on Sunday in fact I would be surprised now something could change perhaps they feel better about his status than the MCL tear would indicate he's had considerable time to rest it to rehab to continue to try and recover and get ready um but my inclination based on what I've heard for the better part of a month at this point is that they expect this DeAndre Hopkins injury to bleed into the season or at least the recovery period to bleed into the season as they try and get him 100% right we've talked about this before he's 32 years old you want to manage him as best you can and that would be their Preference they don't desperately need him of course he would make them better but you need the best version of DeAndre Hopkins that you can have and right now it is fair to expect as he continues to deal with this by the way he practice all three days this week which is not inconsequential and may lead them to feel more optimistic about this than they did perhaps on Wednesday but it's a management type of situation now it will probably be a management type of situation throughout the course of the season and the best way to hedge your bets against managing it for a basically the entire year is to try and get him as healthy as humanly possible before you end up putting him out there so tayin Burks uh is going to be relied upon if DeAndre Hopkins cannot go again my expectation he's not officially out he's ruled as questionable but my expectation is I would not I would again be surprised to see DeAndre Hopkins out there in week week one now for that part of things DeAndre Hopkins is something that we will get to here in just a second uh a reminder that the podcast is made possible by Zen Sports promo code ATN is how you bet on all the football action this weekend make sure you use that promo code to get up to $100 on your no danger first wager so Hopkins in the knee worth paying attention to this was Hopkins in the locker room yesterday after his second day of practice ultimately he would practice all three days this week I feel good man [Music] go ahead feel like on track to go Sunday uh feel great uh we'll see Sunday is it just a pain tolerance thing at this point just kind of dealing with that uh you know football players we all we got a lot of pain all the time so I don't know who's not in pain playing football sure but this early in the season is it frustrating to you to kind of starting out this way starting out with the injurying camp how how tough has that been uh it's not traing all I've been playing for uh for 12 years you know dealt with a lot of things that held me back you know from uh starting so you know man it's just just another day another game if you do get a chance to get out there Sunday I mean they got some good Corners over there jayen Johnson what do you know about his game and how much more do you get excited to know hey I might be going up against one of the top corners in the game uh jaylen's obviously one of the best doing it played against him a couple years ago in uh Arizona uh just watching him on film is his name his game has definitely improved since then uh which is why you know he's deserving of the contract that he's gotten so uh you know he's got to be ready uh two good cornerbacks over there obviously a ton of changes for this offense this year just how comfortable are you how confident are you you can turn music down you want to you want to tell them hey y'all hit the music right quick yo turn hit the music appreciate that see how confident are you in everything that you guys have done offensively to kind of turn things around change things here oh man you know football you got to you got to uh roll with with what you have and uh Callahan has done a great job of getting us prepared especially in this offense you know so uh new offense doesn't matter man uh we're professional athletes so uh it's our job to go out and execute know the answer here so that is DeAndre Hopkins speaking in the locker room with media yesterday uh with all that being said um he is questionable there is the potential they're calling it a game time decision my educated guess is that DeAndre Hopkins does not play uh even in a limited capacity but we will wait to see on Sunday and find out I'll have more updates for you from Chicago on Titans radio when we are doing the Lee company countdown to kickoff from 9:00 am until 11 am on 1045 The Zone and then of course I'll be a part of the Titans radio pregame broadcast on at 11:45 is when Jim Wyatt and I are scheduled to do our hit with Rett Ryan in the Titans radio Booth so we'll have more information for you as things continue to roll along so with all that being said put up or shut up time for Tay and Burks if Hopkins can cannot go and that is something to keep an eye on here and that will of course impact Calvin Ridley Tyler Boyd though as I've said multiple times since this Hopkins thing started since the injury discussion started if you spent this much money on your wide receiver core and you're still desperately pining for DeAndre Hopkins then you didn't spend your money the correct way a lot of people are going to have to step up but none more so than tayin Burks that will be a critical part of this uh all right so let's wrap things up with season expectations I told you guys I was going to give you expectations I don't do fcks but I'll give you season expectations um and I'll tell you that I would probably be inclined to bet on you uh I don't bet on NFL games you know this is a reporter it's a conflict of interest but if I was betting with your money I might be inclined to take the Titans on the money line I think this is a game that is imminently winnable now for the season that becomes a little more complicated and I I went back and forth on this and I tried not to I tried not to let the fact that I only watch I mean I only cover right on a day-to-day basis one team and sometimes that can influence you positively because you know more because you see everything every day because you talk to people every day about it and it's you know it's all consuming and it also can impact my opinion negatively because I can get caught up in seeing too much of One Thing versus everything else within the division or within the conference and sometimes that can skew your perspective so I really had a hard time trying to figure out what I thought the Titans were going to be capable of doing this year and I can't wait for uh the expectations for you guys to run back in my face as soon as uh as soon as something goes differently than the way that I expect it to go that's why their expectations not fixed but I think that this is a seven- 10 football team I think that we're ultimately talking about the third best team in the AFC South and I think that we'll see uh that play out throughout the course of the season now of course the the variable that none of these teams can account for uh especially at the start of the season because your roster looks much different by the time you get to week 10 week 15 week 18 than it does on September the 8th when most teams will kick off of course there is the Friday night game between the Eagles and the Packers tonight Packers by the way on the Titans schedule in the not so uh not so distant future but it's seven- 10 football team from my perspective I think that the Texans and the Jags are clearly and obviously better I can't say that the Colts are clearly and obviously better even though I think that Richardson has the highest upside of any of the quarterbacks in this Division I would pick the Colts to finish fourth and the Texans and Jags one and two with the Titans coming in third I only think that one team out of the AFC South is going to end up in the playoffs this year but of course that remains to be seen and that's why they play the games but the AFC continues to be stacked and I think there's just only going to be one room for or excuse me there's only going to be room for one uh Team out of this particular Division and so winning the division is going to uh of course be a priority for any team competing in the NFL to try and secure home field advantage for at least a game and try and make the playoffs as easy on you as humanly possible but you know it's kind of like the Colts uh I don't know what Richardson is so I can't in good Consin say that the Colts are going to be better than any of these other three teams where Trevor Lawrence is still until such time as CJ Stout passes him uh Trevor Lawrence is the best quarterback in the division CJ Stroud may end up being the best quarterback in the division in the future but right now it's Trevor Lawrence so Trevor Lawrence and stout are one and two Levis is more known more of a known commodity than is Anthony Richardson but you know I think for all the same reasons that we've talked about a million times over there's no evidence to be completely sold on will Levis yet now I buy I talked about this before many times I'd buy stock I'd buy low on will Levis because I do think that they've set him up well but decision- making the accuracy the pocket presence and all the different mechanical stuff that they've tried to finetune is something that we have yet to see play out in a game so going into the season seven and 10 feels right we'll see how much better or worse they ultimately Faire but there's no question that will Levis knows he's not a proven commodity either which is something that we talked about with him when he was on the radio show uh what two weeks ago there's wrong you know you always you always have that that motivation right what however you described the chip on your shoulder and whatever that may from player to player and stuff like that but for you in particular like it felt like you bought yourself a ton of Goodwill with the way that you were able to debut against the Falcons and how great you guys were as a team on that day and you know maybe the Oilers uniforms have something to do with it there's a little bit of Po poetry to that in and of itself but it seems like you were that was very quickly put aside from the vast majority of the fans who might have doubted you at that point and it feels like you have a lot of that buy in already prior to you know accomplishing what you ultimately set out to accomplish for sure yeah I think that that first game definitely helped and that was very special um you know I wish that I can have a lot more performances like that so people you know don't remember that game as much you know I just to think that a lot of people keep pointing back to my first game when I you know I played a bunch more games after that uh I'm due for another one like that and to to keep pushing myself to uh performing to to the level where I know I can so um you know I I know we got the guys to do it this year I got conf in myself and just just got to keep working and keep trying to reach those Heights like I said that we're so uh that's part of the will Lis interview uh and you can go check that out if you want to watch the entirety of it on 1045 the zones YouTube channel Jack Tripper says is this really live or pre-recorded it's live I do the six one side live sessions live I don't have time to pre-record why would we why would we do that if this was recorded I hate him so much so yes those are my season expectations I'm heading up to Chicago my laptop's about to die so we have to end this godforsaken podcast mercifully so I can get on with my day BD says that's how he feels after last night talking about Bert yes and unfortunate all right we're ending the show thanks everybody coming out uh lee company countdown to kickoff starts at 9ine uh Titans radio takes over at 10 Rett briyan coach Mack mikee Keith the whole Titans radio gang uh seven 11 11 you're you're on at 11:45 though uh with Jim Wyatt everybody appreciate it uh can't wait for football to finally start tonight uh kickoff in Brazil Packers Eagles uh can't wait for the Ravens week one game to start against the Raiders in Baltimore I will be there eating pounds of Jimmy Seafood we can't wait now everyone scream and laugh at this child who gets abducted by a kite w