Brian Daboll - Head Coach, titans Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-10 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 10, 2026, Brian Daboll addressed the media in a press conference as the NFL season kicked off, reflecting on the team's preparations for their upcoming game. With week one underway, he discussed the importance of establishing a routine and the challenges of facing a newly strengthened opponent.
Transcript
Daboll: Good to get into a regular schedule routine meetings practice structure post practice. You know, it's NFL season week one already game last night. And we've got some work to do here in the next couple days a good practice yesterday big day today being full pads. Get timing rhythm communication all the things necessary to go out there and play well week one a lot of unknowns week one you do a lot of tape studying of Coordinators, you know, whether it's at the Jets last year whether it was coach Glenn at the Lions. The preseason stuff the three games they played there a lot of different pieces they have on their roster. Added some strong pieces down the middle start with Davis. Just got a lot of respect for this guy's guys a hard-hitting smart tough football player. He's been that way for a long time. Obviously got sweat from here inside and then was with Minka at Alabama and Belton last year. So a lot of pieces down the middle that they've added to their roster. I think our good football players. You never know exactly what you're going to get in week one. You got to fall back on your rules the communication process the discipline that it takes to stay on track as an offense and then handles things that come up, you know throughout the game that you're not gonna always prepare for because it is week one. So like where our guys are at. I've had a good day. We had a good week last week. Got to put a lot into it to go ahead and play Sunday with all the additions they've made in their secondary.
Daboll: Are they more equipped to play a lot more mean? Do you anticipate a lot? Well, I think that'd be a good question for coach Glenn and maybe give me the answer to that again. It's week one. I think they have talented players, you know back in the secondary and Brown Lee and Thomas. Thomas is a long corner who plays really patient at the line of scrimmage. Stevens they have good pieces, you know Cisco belt and Minka how they're going to deploy those guys. You know, you can study and you can prepare the best you can but ultimately it's going to come down to the communication that it takes in on a down out down and down out basis particularly early in the season where you know, some guys you're playing there's he's been a coordinator there for five six years. Not as of late in the NFL, but there's some claims that have a you know, a long history of things that they've done.
Daboll: So again you put all the time and effort into it that's why you have training camp and OTA's to get ready for for week one and you're gonna have to go out there and play a solid fundamental game and rely on your techniques and the things that are really important the ball security this time of year really any time of year. But really right now you saw that last night with with the turnovers being a big impact in the game.
Daboll: And do things that the right way.
Daboll: Ready to take on that coverage which camp said he welcomes you want. Yeah again. You know, you can prepare all you want. That's why you have, you know, the things that we do in seven on seven and Man periods and zone periods. Look, I don't know. I don't think anybody knows except them exactly what they're gonna do. So you you have to go in with with enough so to speak plays if it becomes this type of game or becomes that type of game and be ready to adjust. Need it and it could be in the first couple series it could be at halftime but you're constantly doing that communicating and and making sure that you're giving you guys enough opportunities with what's present it.
Daboll: The operation clean last year I think between ball starts and delay of games and Illegal formations this team had like 37 penalties of that variety.
Daboll: Yeah, I mean it starts with the discipline. It starts with me getting in the play call to the quarterback and him relaying it to the other guys and the other guys having the discipline to get back into the huddle as quickly as they can and break the huddle. So you have time at the line of scrimmage. If I'm getting in a call late that's putting everybody behind the eight ball from our quarterback to the center to the skill guys to the personnel that we're switching in and out of. So that's where it starts. It goes to the quarterback to make sure he's clear on his communication in the huddle and then you know the ten other guys that they're getting up to the line of scrimmage and getting ready to play quickly.
Daboll: So if we have to make adjustments, you know, it's not to one second. Never want to burn timeouts. You want to be clean in those areas the pre snap penalties. You're gonna have post snap or in play penalties. That's just that's just gonna happen. But the thing is that the discipline which is required to eliminate pre snap penalties which is big because now you're going behind the sticks and play calls change situations change. Now you're getting a rush when maybe you thought you could run the ball or do something else. So you got to be disciplined and that starts at the top with me getting in a play call to the quarterback to him and then to everybody else. We're all we're all accountable to that. And it's an important aspect because we can eliminate some of those plays and not go backwards and stay on track. That's that's where you want to be as a play caller and as an offense.
Daboll: Progress from cam from a ball security standpoint. What are the some of the things that you actually do to try to beat ball security into a quarterback or anybody on your offense?
Daboll: Yeah, I think shade does a really good job with the individual drills. It starts in the pocket with keeping two hands on the ball that you got werewolves chasing it down and there's gonna be rush lanes that are closed closed quickly. And then making good decisions with the football, but we talked about as an offensive unit it requires all of us, you know, it requires keeping the width and the depth of the pocket so you don't get strip sacks or you got people in your face and the ball gets tipped. It requires the backs communication process in understanding when pressures are coming who to block. Route adjustments by the receivers getting opening in a timely fashion with the receivers. You know ball security it falls on the guy that's holding the ball, but it really it's encompasses a lot of other things to make sure that we're doing a good job with that.
Daboll: Their clear shift in my set up the damn more. He said the first time you got in front of them you say you want dogs. Is that something like was that you felt like you had to say that or was that you saying it's a look? This is my requirement if you want to play well?
Daboll: I think it's our requirement as a, you know a Tennessee Titan organization starts at the top with coach Salah and the demand that he puts on the defense and offensive lines and I subscribe to that. I think the toughness is really built in the anchors and the trenches. And we need that, you know offensive linemen don't get a lot of credit. Sometimes they make unbelievable plays their names don't get put in the paper unless they get beat one-on-one and everybody sees it. But the communication with the five of those guys that are playing are paramount to our success. Their attitude the style in which we wanted to play with that's where it all starts. So I mean every position on the football team is important but the guys up there that that are protecting for the runners and the tight ends and the receivers and in the quarterback really a lot of unsung unsung a lot of times.
Daboll: Yeah, well first it's it's football. I want to let them know that it's football they've been playing it a lot of them all their life. So the things that are gonna be required of them to be a good football player doesn't really change much from high school to college to the pros except the talent is a lot better. You got to be on top of your fundamentals and techniques and the people that you're playing against are, you know 1% of 1% there. They're the best in the world.
Daboll: So there's always week one again for all of us. We haven't coached in a game in a long time. We haven't played in the game in a long time. I'm talking about a regular season game. I'm sure every player. I know every player handles it a little bit different. I think it's important throughout the week, you know leading up to it. There's there's always a different feel in the building once it starts. But to be able to regulate and keep your emotions in check take care of the process the things that are, you know, do routines really really well have a routine do the routine things routinely as I heard the other day and you know keep the main thing the main thing so there's always gonna be some nerves with guys and each of them are a little bit different. The biggest thing is let's let's control the things we can control. Let's make sure we understand the things we're putting in. Let's make sure we're understanding the opponent's tendencies and things they're doing and then go out there and let it loose.
Daboll: Workload for running backs. What's that look like during the course of the season and how wary are you of maybe not to overwork?
Daboll: We'll have confidence in all the guys back there playing running back TP Taj juice singleton have confidence in all those guys. Sometimes you ride a hot hand when you're in a game. Other times you go ahead and mix and match personnel. But they're all going to be required and we expect them to play and play well. So how many we use or who we use I think that's going to be dependent on you know how how much we're running the ball how much we're doing different things? I don't think you want to tire one guy out. I think it's important to have them all available and to use as many as you can.
Daboll: But is it fair to think that major major work on footwork for quarterback often happens during the offseason and then how important or how much of a necessity is it to see it in practice and kind of corrected out of games?
Daboll: Cam at that stage man. Yeah, I don't think you can lose sight of that Paul. I think you know once the regular season hits, you know we have a time when we practice and you're always adding new things and putting new things in and I don't think you can fall victim to the fact that you need to work those fundamentals at every single position. So, you know when the defense is out there and and they're doing their thing and the offense is is doing the show team that's a good time we take cam over and we do individual drill work with him or he might throw with a particular receiver. We're trying to use every ounce of time that we can to keep improving our craft. But during the season, you know, we don't want to be a team that loses fundamentals really at any position because at the end of the day, that's that's one of the most important things.
Daboll: What's your actual coaching point when he's outside the pocket when he's scrambling?
Daboll: Well, I've had a lot of different guys that have played quarterback. Some of them, you know, they hold it with one hand when they're outside the pocket because their eyes are downfield and then they're getting ready to throw the football. When you turn into a runner and you know, you're going to run the football that's important to make sure that you got the proper five points of pressure on the football. When you're in the pocket keeping two hands on the ball when you're moving, maybe it's a slight movement up in the pocket back. When you're out on the perimeter, you got to know, you know, you got to make sure those guys close on you fast. So look when whoever's holding the ball they hold they hold all of our, you know success or failures in their hands and that's something that whether it's quarterback the running backs receivers and again, I talked about the line doing their job and having their part in it something that we focus on a daily basis.
Daboll: What's your approach as far as scripting plays how tough is it to stick to that script in case in a situation where you get behind the sticks?
Daboll: Yeah again you kind of put together the best plan you think is going to be right for the football team. You're always balancing how much early part of the season you get to these games and you're like man. I like this. I like this and then at the end of the day you have, you know, we got to make sure we do a good job with given the players enough information that they have a chance to go out there be successful and but we have to understand if they can digest it or not and they've done a nice job with that. And then you always got stuff in the back pocket that you know maybe you're not doing much in practice but if they do this then we have to have a plan to do that and it's good as a coaching staff to talk about all the contingencies ahead of time because the last thing you want to do is not have something in your head and then just start talking about on the sideline. If you can get ahead of the game, even though you're not installing, you know whatever the plays are at least everybody's kind of on the same page at the time you have to implement those adjustments if and when they occur.
Daboll: It's it depends oh, it's not I don't have a set number it's not like hey we got to have ten plays in this section eight plays in this section, you know we try to put together the best plan we can. Things that we think our players do really well things that maybe create some conflicts for the for the defense. Again, they've they've varied there's been times where it's been a lot. There's times just a little bit I think it just varies each week of who you're playing and then it also as you get going through the early part of the season you get a better feel for the guys. This is the first game. They're gonna play however many snaps they're gonna play. We're gonna be through some ups and downs. We're gonna see how much they can handle what we need to pull back and you're always evaluating that on a week-to-week basis particularly when it's a new team and you're around new guys to see how those things will fit.
Daboll: Thanks, everybody. Appreciate y'all.
