Turron Davenport
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Interim Tennessee Titans coach Mike McCoy spoke to the media for the primary time Tuesday and outlined his plan for serving to rookie quarterback Cam Ward. By means of six video games, Ward's eight turnovers tie him for the second most within the league.
“That is one factor we have now to wash up,” McCoy mentioned. “You see what occurred the opposite day within the sport the place there was some drifting after which the ball safety within the pocket, issues like that we received to wash up and that is our job as coaches.”
McCoy talked about a few of the earlier quarterbacks he is labored with together with Phillip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Jake Delhomme and Trevor Lawrence. Earlier than coming to the Titans, McCoy was the quarterbacks coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2022 -2024. He mentioned one of many issues he did with Lawrence, who was in his second season after they first labored collectively in Jacksonville, was use constructive reinforcement. That is what he plans to do with Ward.
“It is going to be the identical factor each week,” McCoy mentioned. “You are getting higher. That is what I stored on telling Trevor and what I'll inform Cam.”
McCoy mentioned the teaching workers met Tuesday morning to begin on the sport plan for when coach Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots come to Nashville on Sunday. They targeted on emphasizing what Ward does greatest and the way it meshes with the general strengths of the offense.
“That is going to be our primary focus,” McCoy mentioned. “How can we get Cam to be extra environment friendly and have extra success?”
Quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree will proceed to name the performs in line with McCoy, however with extra involvement from tight ends coach Luke Stocker and working backs coach Randy Jordan.
The defensive workers will stay the identical. McCoy mentioned he plans to depend on the leaders to assist set the tone for the crew, particularly defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons.
“Seeing what Jeff does every single day, there is a purpose why he goes out and dominates each sport,” McCoy mentioned. “The way in which you see him on the finish of video games, on the sideline with the offense as they're coming off, no matter what the rating is. That is only one man that I am mentioning. There's loads of guys, the veteran gamers we have now right here, they know what it means to play this sport every single day.”
Simmons mentioned the Titans had certainly one of their worst weeks of follow main as much as their 20-10 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders final Sunday. When requested about Simmons' feedback, McCoy revealed that Simmons stepped up in follow final week and demanded they begin over as a result of he felt just like the low power wasn't acceptable.
“I really like that,” McCoy mentioned. “That is the accountability issue. He desires to win so dangerous. He is an important instance to have a look at from any participant on this soccer crew and say, ‘If all of us play — if all of us work as laborious every day and go on the market and play the best way he's enjoying on Sundays, nice issues are going to occur for this group.'”
