Brian Daboll - Head Coach, titans Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-17 | Full transcript (primary source).
Brian Daboll, Head Coach of the Titans, addressed the media during a press conference on September 17, 2026, following a disappointing performance in the previous game. He emphasized the importance of making corrections and preparing for the upcoming matchup against a formidable opponent.
Transcript
Daboll: I'll just start with this. Relative to last game, certainly not what we wanted. Not good enough. That starts with me. So what you do after any game is you go back and you make corrections first as a coaching staff. And then second with the players. You meet on Monday. You go through the tape. Here's what I think I could do better. Here's what we need to do better. And then you watch it. You correct it. You make sure you're doing those things during the week, like this week right now, better at certain things that we have to improve on, all of which I'll keep in our meeting room. So then you come out here and you get ready to go to next week, which we've got a great opponent coming up. Coach Sirianni is an excellent head coach. 42 and 4 when he wins the turnover ratio, which is a pretty impressive stat. So that's going to be paramount. Coach Fangio has done this about 40 years in the NFL, plus whatever he did in college. Tremendous scheme, very sound. Does a great job of showing too high look and drop it down. So we have to be good on our post-snap reads. And then you add the players, the collection of players at how we assemble each and every year. It's a tough challenge. So certainly got to be better than we were last week. But all eyes are focused on this week. It's Thursday. And I got a big day today.
Reporter: When you look at the film and you see what Cam was not able to do in the past game, was it more that he didn't see guys that were coming open or he was too quick to get rid of the ball or do something with the ball and didn't wait for guys to come open? Or was it more of he just didn't pull the trigger on plays and decided to bail?
Daboll: Sure. So like I always talk about, it takes all 11. There's certainly plays that, first, I wish I had back. I'm sure there's plays that Cam wishes he had back. And the 10 other guys out there as well. So we got to do a better job with that. That starts with me. And that's what we're working on.
Reporter: How come you weren't able to get a run game going at all and take some of the possession back?
Daboll: Yeah, that's a great question. I got to do a better job with that relative to calling them. And we're going to have some that are 3, 4, 5 yards or 2 yards, 1 yards that stay committed to it. If the game calls, again, the first half, 3 possessions, 1 drive for 3 points, really not good enough, came out and changed a little bit of what we were doing relative to some of the injury situation that they had with the secondary. But at the end of the day, didn't do a good enough job.
Reporter: What was the offensive line in your mind? One more time, how was the offensive line's performance in your mind?
Daboll: Yeah, I mean, just like whether it's the Cam question, the coaching, the linemen, when you get beat, and we didn't do enough, that falls on me. Those guys are busting their tails. But collectively, we need better. I'm talking about starts with me and everybody else.
Reporter: In your assessment on top of those lines, how well do you think Cam is trusting the pocket right now? And how, for a young quarterback, can you help that trust?
Daboll: Yeah, again, I think there's things that we did well in that game. I know the results don't show. Certainly not the results that we work hard for. But there's good things, and then there's things we need to improve on. Whether it's that, whether it's the run game, whether it's whatever it may be, we're going to do a better job.
Reporter: Your RPOs did pretty well, according to the metrics out there, 9-9. And your EPA was significantly better in the league average. How did you feel about how they went and what you might be able to build off of that?
Daboll: Yeah, Paul, I think, again, I think there were some good things, not enough good things, obviously, relative to the result that we got. We have to build off those things. And then there's a lot of things that we need to get better at. And look, each week it's going to be like this. It's a week of, or it's a league of adversity. You're going to have ups, you're going to have downs. You certainly want more ups than there is downs, but you have to stay consistent with what you're doing relative to the process, unless you need to change something based on reps, meetings. We talk about that. That's where we start, first and foremost. Again, some good in there, Paul, but at the end of day, not good enough.
Reporter: Built for those, if a defense is given you?
Daboll: Yeah, I mean, they're in our package. They're in our offense. We've run them a bunch in years past. If we think they're good for us in that particular game, then we certainly have them.
Reporter: With Cam, he initially showed a good pocket president. Guy Freerunner came in, he took off down the lanes. As the game went on, it seemed like he was playing the pocket too early. What can you do to get him to have more patience and stay in a pocket as clean as opposed to react?
Daboll: Again, if you watch any game, that's going to be the case with, I'd say, most quarterbacks. But again, you asked me if there's plays that Cam would like to have back. I certainly know that there are coming from his mouth. And when we meet as a coaching staff, you just keep grinding it. You got to do a good job of keeping your eyes downfield, knowing where your second read is. And he does that, but there's a couple of them that we wish we had back, just like there's a couple of calls, there's a couple of routes. When you have a result like that, and you win the game, there's probably still going to be some stuff that we got to fix. And that's where we're at right now, relative to being early in the season. Again, some good, nowhere near good enough, and that's what we're working towards.
Reporter: It looks like there was some kind of muddy pictures downfield in terms of spacing with your receivers in this game. Do you think that's a fair criticism, and is that something that you're working on this week?
Daboll: Yeah, I think, again, overall, when you have a result like that, there's plenty of things that need to be better, whether it's spacing on a couple of routes where we got rerouted, which is going to happen. You're hoping it doesn't happen much, which, you know, there's a few of them, or a run block, or a play call, or a throw, and that's the game of football. And we're just going to keep working at it, try to do the best we can, keep improving, particularly early part of the season. And we've got a big challenge ahead of us this week with the defense that they've assembled personnel-wise, schematically. We're going to have to do a better job than we did last week.
Reporter: So were there explosive plays there to be had, or is it one of those situations where if you can get the run game going, it makes it easier because then you can dial up some play action?
Daboll: Yeah, well, I think you can dial up play action any time. But again, it all ties together. I think that's a fair question. It all ties together. Did we try some plays down the field? Certainly. Didn't connect on them. You need to, they're hard to connect on, but you need to try to have a few of those in there because it's hard to go 14 plays on every single drive with something else happening that's going to set you back behind a stick. So again, that's another element. You can add that to the mix as well. And I own that. That's something we got to be better at.
Reporter: What's your thinking on energy? Where does it need to come from? Where does it need to start? Did you see enough of it?
Daboll: Yeah, well, it starts with execution. Everybody going out there, doing their job, playing one play, one snap. Each of it has its own life. Make more good plays than you have bad plays. Score some points. But the guys are, you know, I'm confident in the guys and their approach and how they go about their business and their mindset just didn't do a good enough job.
Reporter: For a name though, specifically, how did he do in his first start?
Daboll: Much like all the other guys. Some good, some plays we wish we had back. But again, we just we got to be a more consistent team. That's one of the goals right here leading into this week overall.
Reporter: From a time on task perspective, how important is it for the organization to be patient as he continues to find his way to being an other team?
Daboll: Yeah, well, I'd say, look, when you're talking about offensive football, it takes everybody. Obviously, it's going to always start with the quarterback. And I have confidence in Cam.
Reporter: To the end of energy, Robert was telling us yesterday he would have bet everything he has that come out of the locker room would have responded a lot better than you did. In your experience coaching, what is that a result of?
Daboll: Yeah, again, I'm not going to speak for Coach Sal. I think he talked about what he wanted to talk about. At the end of the day, it comes down to putting a good plan together, going out there, calling a good game, and executing the plays.
Reporter: With energy, what's the chicken and what's the egg there? Just coming in to the kickoff with the energy, create the big plays that you mentioned, or the big plays need to create the energy?
Daboll: Execution takes care of everything relative to timely play calls, executing your fundamental assignments, executing the play, and making good plays. Again, I have full confidence in our guys there. Look, we didn't get the result we wanted. Obviously, it wasn't good enough. But our guys are a resilient group. We're going to face some adversity. Got to do a better job.
Reporter: How do you get Calvin engaged? No targets at all Sunday?
Daboll: Calvin's done there. I wouldn't say I'm not. I'm very confident in Calvin.
