For the first time in organized team activities (OTAs), we heard from Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen on Wednesday.
In case you’re interested in a recap of the most important events from the latest open session of OTAs, you can check out our biggest takeaways here.
Naturally, the majority of the discussion was their initial impressions of the rookies, but both touched on the progress of veteran players.
Specifically, Downing noted that while quarterback Ryan Tannehill has come under tremendous scrutiny following his 2021 season and playoff performance, he’s not the only one to blame.
“Ryan (Tannehill) hasn’t changed. He’s not the only one taking some criticism out there. We all understand that this is a performance-based business,” Downing said. “We didn’t end the season the way that we wanted to, so naturally, there is going to be some critique of that. But we were banded together. The cool thing we have going offensively, and overall as a Titans culture, there’s no one person who succeeds and is immune to critique, and there is no one person that is going to shoulder all of the blame. We’re all in this together, so I’m definitely grateful that Ryan is our quarterback.”
Here’s what Downing and Bowen said before Wednesday’s OTAs, and what Titans head coach Mike Vrabel and select players said after practice.