Ramon Foster: The Tennessee Titans offensive line is making major improvements

raone Foster what did you like about the ones on the offensive line yesterday in newans where where do we where do we start with this man cuz it was of things man that that they did well yesterday one it wasn't much negativity they they didn't take away from the offense is what I saw for the most part yesterday um for for instance there was a point where will liset and pocket just stood up like a statue Mason Rudolph did the exact same thing and I heard Mike Keefe and Coach ma talking about the passes that was completed because of it and I'm yelling on The Talk Back Mike to Philip Noel but did you see the pocket that's all I kept saying like there was literally an umbrella around the quarterbacks and to me having the ability to operate in a safe pocket to where even I thought the guys were getting close to will lens and will L had enough confidence and Trust in his guys up front that he just stayed in the pocket stepped up and delivered a pass whether it was incomplete or not to me showed a lot about where this the growth of this offensive line has gone man um but even starting off the game one the Run blocking up front their combination blocks that I I know a lot of people don't pay attention to those dudes are moving bodies up front looking at mpf and also uh Dylan Raiden on the right side they are moving people two by two at a time and I think that's very Progressive for those dudes we hadn't well we got a lot of questions about them um I thought starting with npf I thought his stance off the side I mean his sets at right tackle was a whole lot better he's getting back he's strong enough he's big enough he's striking his hands the way you need him to and also whether he's pushing the DN by or expanding the pocket by holding them he did that well now the left side JC and Peter like run left was a thing right here in Nashville it was the way they s and Taylor the one Taylor yes those two dudes man the way I see Peter scony and J L them combo block and move guys around like there it's rare that you actually get pancakes in the NFL I know we speak about that in high school and college all how many pancakes you got those dudes are pancaking guys and I was glad to see that and it's also this too when you got a good enough quality of guys you get this Dumbo jumbo pack that they ran out there yesterday too with Bronco at fullback and also that's right for that touchdown did you see it though yeah it was violent yeah well not to cut you off from home but I think it's called something else that was jumbo jumbo jumbo there we go jumbo Dumbo crazy straight B Dan brunskill starting off as Monday morning here comes Dumbo in to play fullback number six Daniel brunskill will jump in big Dumbo here coming in drop but here's the thing what I saw um they're well coaching we see that now I think that's super important the trust of those guys up front as far as protection is getting better and better um everybody on this offensive line pulls I've seen JC pool is 100% accurate it so they got athletes and I've said everything but but cushenberry I think the one play and again here's the the one negative that they had it wasn't even on the offensive line from my understanding it was a misc communic miscommunication between julus Chesnut and Mason Rudolph where Mason went left and I think Julius went right but before that play was snapped you see LD cushenberry pointing left to the Mike like Mike's left and I don't know if it was a check with me and they were supposed to flip the play and go left and Julius didn't get it but Mason went left and then Julius did not he went right yeah but you see up front the field General and lyd cushenberry pointing to the mike to the left and I was just like that's awesome right there you got guys up front that understand the operation of this group but that's what I had on them man like they able to pull they were a they had great pocket presents for the quarterback they were physical and I even before I had myself line interview with Peter scony I I asked him off air I was like Peter man how is it this year coming into Camp you know knowing that you're a guard posed to you know transition from tackle he was like I'll be honest with you last year was a little bit of a struggle he was like I had to figure out how to play guard and this year he was like man it's it's it's been a whole lot better he's like and also going against Jeff everyday help too well yeah so it's it's been grow under pressure for these guys up front but I think they've taken it on very very well it won't be perfect but but here's the other thing too this coaching staff is tricking us with the idea that this is just going to be throwing the ball across the yard no they are if I'm not mistaken had over 100 runs this preseason which is nuts I think they have the most amount of runs of any team in the preseason per team as far as the attempts to put the ball on the ground so ran for 171 yesterday 171 and just the amount of tempts that they've had I think I was told by somebody they had over 100 tempts of running the ball this preseason which again don't think this will be a soft style of football that's going to be played here in Nashville the better this group gets up front the more you're going to be able to bully folks on the ground and that's going to make will Lev's game and whoever else they bring in here wide receiver or tight end that much better too they did a good job yesterday as far as the crowd noise no penalties and having the ability to uh I'm not sure if it wasn't any penalties but um they having the ability to grow and that's what you're asking of this group putting guys in positions that they want to play and letting them Excel when you talk to any of these guys on the offensive line specifically the starters during preseason camp you know so many of them throughout really the offseason starting in OTAs have just clarified just the growth that they've had under Bill Callahan and how he he isn't coaching them as a whole necessarily like he's coaching them to their individual like what they Thrive at right and then the the the goal is obviously to have them play together and you were kind of seeing glimpses of it yesterday they are still young and there's going to be es and flows throughout the season no doubt about that um but he's getting the most out of these guys that we're seeing at least on the starting offensive line right now and I'm talking about Dylan Raiden and I'm talking about Nicholas petite frer where we don't know exactly what they're going to be this season we hope and it looks like they're going to be a lot better than we've seen in the past um and I think even uh ran carthon was in the booth for News 2 yesterday in the preseason game and I was actually shocked about this because he talks a lot with Jeffrey Simmons right like him and Jeff will just sit down and talk and I guess Jeffrey Simmons was mentioning he had seen a lot of improvement on the right side for Jeffrey Simmons to say that you know a guy that's seeing this offense this front every single day is pretty impressive and I'm I'm not g to say they're going to be World beaters by any means but those are positive things coming from your veteran leaders on the team from the opposite side of the ball that's very encouraging I just see the hustle on every play too guys I can't remember the play it was but it was Dylan Raiden and and Peter gronsky they were like down in secondary like like part of the field still like blocking I mean these guys are just Relentless in terms of the effort and I think that's what you have to do if you're going to play for a Bill Callahan line like he's not going to accept anything less than that so it it is encouraging just from what we've seen or not seen in the past couple of years yeah I honestly don't think they could have been any better in New Orleans I don't care they're going up against backups uh previous Titans offensive lines did not look like starters against backups yeah they they looked like Ones playing against backups and to me and again my untrained eye that is all that is my headline for the Titans offensive line they looked like starters the look like backups that is a step in the right direction for this group and I thought specifically the way that these guys are pulling that's the the first thing I noticed because I remember Ron saying that last season that they're not trying anything different they're just getting beat over and over they weren't trying to pull two guards all the way around they weren't trying to take the aggressiveness of the defense and then bam pop a guy in the side of the head because he gets too far up field and punish him for that a little bit like it does feel like this offense is very comfortable playing Brian and Bill Callahan's style of football and specifically offensive line it I don't see anybody thinking too much I see them making plays and being aggressive being violent I I loved what I saw from the Titans offensive line yesterday it was good it was exactly what I needed to see to feel better about them and the tight end played their part yesterday too I I thought even with the screen games and then the Run game like the way coach Brian Callahan window dressed a little bit yesterday we had two tight ends and he motioned them both in if you guys notice later in the game he did the exact same thing except with the tight end and jaquin Jackson too like so the ability to run the same plays and different variations and window and undressed defenses the way they did yesterday I thought was super unique something that's necessary in this game too and will to your point um and just what the offense is capable of doing they went empty and motion Taj Spears back into the back field that's something we've spoken about for a lot of different times as far as the different variations on how to get yards for this offense but it's it's easy to do when you're balanced left and right right and I know npf's probably going to all of them going to have some struggles along the way but you have a better product of where they've been this year than I think you have last year and you talk to any one of those guys and they bring up the idea they understand that it is a luxury being coach by guy like like Bill Callahan they do and as I said earlier like before I interviewed I was just ask him little stuff because I just honestly want to engage him a little bit to see how he felt about the coach and he I brought up Bill Callahan and how he correlate the Munch he was like yeah we got us a good dude we understand and he said the same thing and you guys saw when we were out at practice they do the exact same warm up every single day they hit the big Bera and and ogga they hit the long sled every single day and that's to train a system of just understanding that if at if it all goes back going back to to the basics and doing Simple technique is going to save me every single time and what's unique about it is they're not doing anything overly crazy in practice it is simply the basics but when you got an offensive line that you can build a good foundation with and employ them to say look this is how we move this is how we step this is how we punch and from that point you just allow them to be themselves he's not going to teach npf to play like JC Leon he's not going to teach Peter scy to play like Dylan Raiden like it's a super unique group and again this all comes growth and at some point coach Bill callah let go a little bit and let those guys become better naturally but having them right now be on the same page again the way they are hip to hiip on their blocks they're finishing they're looking for work and I don't think we understand like being on the road with that crowd and I don't care who the rushers were but to have a pocket to what we've seen those guys stand up vertically the quarterbacks and just deliver long passes down the field that to me showed the progress that this group has made and also with the quarterbacks too bran Callahan spoke about it yesterday this was the head coach evaluating the specific plan and the intention behind the starting offensive line playing the entire first half that was my design that was by Design we um we wanted to play our skill guys for two series for sure we got two long drives and pulled most of them out um the intent for the offensive line was to play um a considerable amount more we wanted those guys to play we have a young line they need reps together um we didn't get any reps against Seattle because we were trying to make sure we you know those there a lot of Reps for those guys during the week so it's good to see them play a good extended amount of time it'll be good film to watch and they just need to play together so um we wanted to make sure they could do that uh yeah I think that's the the guys that finished that first half uh at this point are probably are starting five for week one so um again there's there's things to be talked about still but at this point yeah how much more confident or are you more confident at all in this offensive line today from when training camp began it started with that right side uh well we didn't even know really what the right side was I'm more confident well I don't want to give a number on it is but no yeah I'm not asking for a number just are you more confident today than you were when Camp started yes I think everybody's got to be absolutely I think you are I mean it's not guaranteed that they're like I said g to go out there and be perfect in every game but I thought it was telling too yesterday when JC leam was on the sideline with Cory Curtis during that fourth quarter and he asked Cory Curtis did about Bill Callahan I could not believe he said this he said there is actually a possibility while it probably could never happen to play a perfect game under Bill Callahan because that's how good of a coach he is I was like whoa that is High Praise right there for a guy to come out and say you could get close to playing a perfect game because of how Bill Callahan coaches I was like that's a bold statement I liked it though yeah now behind the starters then things get a little more interesting a little bit more chaotic yeah Jaylen Duncan Cole Spencer Dan brunskill Andrew rupich and JN auku was the Titans backup offensive line uh the third group had jiren Christian at left tackle uh Cory Levan coming in at center with those guys rone who is this team's third tackle in your opinion today or is the team's third tackle on the roster was was wild as I think we got our first seven in that first series with Bronco and J auku but I don't know if John anduku is the third third third tackle is he you're right that's the question is he just your jumbo package like big tackle for goal line settings does that also make him the swing tackle if he's going to be playing that role yes on Game Day simple answer yes because I don't think you're gonna have four tackles up no of four guys that are just tackles because again in a pinch you could move Raiden outside mid game if you absolutely had to but I think this team also doesn't want to do that and I think you can get eight on game day if I'm not mistaken to that new rule says you can get eight guys on game day but the but the dudes that are getting in the game early was Bronco in the fullback roll and John auku yeah so your extra three then in that scenario would be auku brunskill and rupich probably yeah or Duncan maybe Duncan and I'm not sure about that one so run on Duncan I don't know jayen dun Jaylen Duncan that is I don't know will to be completely honest there hadn't been enough separation of the third tackle for me to say well I don't know if it's Juku or one of donon Christian Jaylen Duncan or A Juku but right now is sits at the top seven is as I said a second go Bronco and Nuku so that means Nuku is your third tackle at this point and I don't really feel great about that to tell you the honest truth and I think you have to listen to what Brian Callahan Rand carthon said it on the broadcast yesterday in the booth that they've obviously been looking at other teams the past couple days you know been locked in rooms just kind of watching other you know guys that are out there that could be cut I I do feel like that is a position they could go grab someone from clearly Bill Callahan's a part of that conversation as well because you know he's had these guys inside that building for a few months now and it's always easier to kind of work with those people you know but if there's a better Talent out there I would think that they would bring him in well there is a guy available with starting tackle experience think Dennis Dy still has his locker we I'm going to say this no I'm I'm serious I'm going to say this completely seriously this is not a joke there are far worse options oh I I am not advocating for bringing back Dennis Dy do do not hear me say that however that is the caliber of player you're going to get if you want to bring in another tackle from another team like I just honestly like that's what you did the first time the Titans swapped picks and brought in Dennis Daly at the end of camp for a guy that was about to be cut by Carolina so they made a pick swap for him to bring him in so I I do think that is a good measuring stick for like all right like if that's your swing tackle level then that's probably the caliber of player you're going to go get is Calvin throck Morton Dennis Daly like that Surplus offensive lineman level that's I don't know I think they are still enamored with Jaylen Duncan's potential enough to do what it takes to keep him on the roster as the swing tackle I think if Jaylen Duncan was giving you this performance in year three he'd be done you'd give up and cut bait but I think they internally like him enough and his ceiling to stay with him well yeah cuz look at the guy he has all the physical attributes so did uh like Andrew Dill Andrew Dill Andre Dill excuse me I mean he had all the physical traits right but at what point and he's been under Bill Callahan now for a few months now granted he was still hurt I think at the beginning of the off season but I just haven't seen enough from him even under Bill Callahan to be like oh yeah I've seen some growth in him I really haven't seen much of a difference in in jayen Duncan at what point is the project not a project anymore and you're just you know turning it in unfinished well he's still only in year two and even though you didn't see a lot of grow even though you didn't see a lot of growth he didn't get worse the way auku did over Camp as well well and I'm not I'm not fighting his Ro in getting minimized like I felt like got minimized a little bit and again I I think the swing tackle is a important spot on this team they don't have one it is by the way to real quick separation of last year and this year I saw JC leam get pushed back and lifted off one leg but size and strength stopped it that's one thing I think Dillard lacked in the last two tackles that played that spot of LA watch the tape he gets lifted but his strength and size allowed him to Anchor back down those legs 615 737 1045 we can catch up on phone calls coming up next