NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans got destroyed by the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13, 35-10. It led to massive change in the organization and the immediate firing of former general manager Jon Robinson. Turns out the Eagles had some help from the former Titan AJ Brown who was giving away information on the Titans’ offense all week.
AJ Brown went on the “Raw Room” podcast hosted by former Titans’ linebacker Darren Bates and had some interesting things to say about his approach to the matchup against his former team. When recalling the week leading up to the game Brown said, “I gave every detail..to Philly. I’m talking about the cans, everything, I gave it all. Cause they don’t change nothing. They don’t change nothing.”
This isn’t the first time we have seen a defense know exactly what to expect from the Titans’ offense under former offensive coordinator Todd Downing. Infamously, for Titans’ fans at least, the Cincinnati Bengals' defensive backs joked about knowing the Titans’ calls on offense after one of the three interceptions on Ryan Tannehill during the 2021 divisional matchup.
One reality to acknowledge though is every football team, NFL or lower levels, has audibles, cans, signals and words they use to communicate out on the field. So, the Titans can’t be blamed for using that method. What they can be blamed for is making minimal changes from year to year. AJ Brown played for the Titans in 2021, not 2022. Him being able to give away the Titans’ communications in Week 13 of a season in which he did not play for them is baffling. Worth noting the coordinator responsible for that offense is now fired. Seems deservedly so.
One of the co-hosts on the show even pointed this fact out saying, “but that’s every team. They just use different words. It’s all the same, ‘Liz, Wanda.” This is a valid point as mentioned above. Teams do all use these terms to communicate at the line of scrimmage. Again, the issue for the Titans is a player from the 2021 team being able to know all the calls for the 2022 team.
Some folks are rolling their eyes right now because once again an AJ Brown-Titans story is making the rounds, but until this franchise gets a guy as talented as Brown or wins a championship, these sorts of stories will never go away.
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