Don’t call the Tennessee Titans soft.
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There is no doubting this has been a disappointing year for the Titans, who have been eliminated from playoff contention and this week turned to veteran Mason Ruldoph after turnover-prone second-year quarterback Will Levis struggled in Monday’s loss to Cincinnati.
But coach Brian Callahan was quick to leap to his players’ defence after one journalist asked him about an external perception of the team being ‘soft’.
What followed was a nearly two-minute rant which was jam-packed with expletives as Callahan declared the claim “bulls***”, adding: “If there are opinions out there that feel that way, then they don’t know anything about NFL football”.
“I mean, you really want to get me going today?” Callahan told the reporter.
“Yeah, I think to be honest with you, I think that’s complete and total bulls*** if you want my honest opinion.
“These guys are tough f***ers, man, they go after it every day. They play hard as hell, and at no point have we ever put on tape at any point this season that this is a soft football team.
“I can’t even wrap my mind around how that would even be a conversation. I mean, just because we don’t win games doesn’t mean we’re soft.
“These guys play their arse off, they play hard, they play physical. You can ask any team that plays against us that when they come off the field, they know they played us. Yeah, that makes me relatively angry that that would be some presumption.
“That means you just don’t watch the s***. You don’t know what you’re talking about, you don’t know what you’re looking at. So, I’m not going to stand for anybody calling this football team soft. I think that’s bulls***.”
The Titans have actually, at least by the numbers, been one of the stingiest defensive teams in the league, giving up on average 297.4 yards per game, which ranks second only behind the Philadelphia Eagles.
They have, however, conceded an average of 27.1 points which rates the third-worst in the NFL and speaks, more than anything, to the Titans’ special teams woes in the 2024-25 season.
The special teams unit has been particularly bad, which explains why Tennessee hasn’t given up much yardage.
After all, teams don’t have to throw or run the ball for that many yards if their punt returner is able to get the ball up field with relative ease.
Callahan later went on to challenge anyone to “walk in there and call one of these guys soft and see what happens”.
“This is not a soft football team at all, mentally or physically,” he added.
“And I think one of the things mentally that’s really been impressive about the team is the way that they keep fighting through the way this season has gone. They’ve not shown at any point that they’re not up to the task. They come out every day and work, they have…”
At this point Callahan, clearly recognising how fired up the question had him, paused and said: “You’re gonna really get me going now”, before continuing on his rant.
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“I mean these guys come out here and they do everything possible to win games,” he said.
“And if there’s any assumption anywhere that’s outside of this building — again, we don’t focus on all those things, but there’s no possible explanation to say that this team is soft any way, shape or form, mentally or physically.
“And the way that they go about their work, it’s insulting to me, to them, to everyone that works here… no chance ever in hell would I ever admit that to be the case, and neither would anybody in this locker room.
“So you can kind of shove that one right up your arse to be honest.”
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