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Here's what Robert Saleh says he'll do differently as Titans coach
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- Here's what Robert Saleh says he'll do differently as Titans coach
Whatever it's going to be, it better be different.
The Tennessee Titans formally introduced Robert Saleh to local fans and media on Jan. 29, enshrining Saleh as the seventh full-time coach in Titans history. With his wife Sanaa, their eight children and roughly a dozen Titans players including quarterback Cam Ward and defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons in attendance, Saleh took over a franchise desperately seeking stability, one that's fired two coaches and two general managers since Dec. 2022.
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Saleh's no stranger to organizational instability. From 2021-24, Saleh piloted the famously-unstable New York Jets to a 20-36 record before he was dismissed just five games into his fourth season.
Saleh managed to develop some stellar New York defenses, but his offenses were as inert as his defenses were dominant. Quarterback and No. 2 draft pick Zach Wilson busted. The Aaron Rodgers experiment failed. Offensive line continuity never solidified. Saleh's hires at offensive coordinator couldn't scheme the struggles away. Saleh never finished better than 7-10 as Jets coach, despite preseason hype that pegged the Jets as potential Super Bowl contenders in 2023 and 2024.
So what's Saleh going to do differently with his second chance as a head coach? Saleh says the list is too long to include every detail, but the big one he focused on is his choice to call defensive plays rather than defer that responsibility to a coordinator.
"Calling plays for me, it's not necessarily about control, but it's about connecting with the players," Saleh explained. "If you're a play-caller and you are calling plays, you feel the strain that you're putting on them with each call. You're feeling the connection. You're feeling what each one is going through. I can feel the weight of the play call on individual players in that moment. To be able to call plays and maintain that connection and maintain the feel for what the players are going through I think is very, very important from my seat.
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Another difference comes in staff design. Saleh says he'll retain some of the week-to-week responsibilities of defensive install, sharing that with his defensive coordinator. Offensively, he'll defer to the philosophies of offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.
In Daboll, Saleh says he hired someone who'll be the right kind of different, who knows how to find success without running the schemes favored by Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay that've been copied by 80-90% of the league by Saleh's estimates.
It's a departure from Saleh's offensive strategies with the Jets, which began with hiring Mike LaFleur directly out of the Shanahan tree.
"When you play the Tennessee Titans , it's going to be different," Saleh said. "There's going to be a lot of game planning that's going to have to change when you play the Tennessee Titans ... There's a lot of benefits to what he does. As a defensive guy game planning against [Daboll] I can tell you he's always going to strain you both run and pass. He's going to attack the (expletive) out of it. He's special in that regard."
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The Titans' fates are in the eye-of-the-beholder realm. The roster's weak, especially at core positions like wide receiver, edge defender and cornerback. But the resources available could lead to things turning around quickly, headlined by more than $100 million in projected salary cap space this offseason and the No. 4 pick in April's NFL draft.
General manager Mike Borgonzi and the Titans braintrust hired Saleh to fix what's ailing the Titans. Saleh's reputation as a defensive mind, his leadership skills and his ability to respond to adversity are among the reasons Borgonzi listed for granting Saleh this second chance.
Saleh's job will be establishing the standard, and he's pretty direct about what the standard will look like once it's established.
"They're going to pop off the tape," Saleh said. "You're going to feel like you're on the field with them with the energy and the juice, the speed, the violence. You're going to feel it from the living room sitting on the couch."
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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com . Follow Nick on X @nicksuss . Subscribe to the Talkin' Titans newsletter for updates sent directly to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh will do differently than with Jets
