Tennessee Titans: Mike Vrabel talks Jayon Brown, ‘good to great’, O-line

Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel addressed multiple topics in his first press conference of the week.

The Tennessee Titans’ mantra going into the 2019 season was “good to great”, meaning going from a solid 9-7 team to one that could take things to the next level.

While the Titans went 9-7 once again, there’s no doubt this team has taken itself to an entirely new level with back-to-back playoff wins against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the Baltimore Ravens.

When asked about going from “good to great” this season, Vrabel had this to say, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.

"“Well I think that we have certainly improved, I think we’ve made progress. Something that we focused on awhile back is just trying to continue to improve each and every week. So how close we are, I don’t know that. I know that we’re going to do what we’ve done for a long time, and what we know is to prepare to try and go in and play with confidence and execute. Try to build momentum throughout the week and see if it can translate to the game, and be ready to make adjustments as the game goes on.”"

Vrabel is clearly being modest, but there’s no question his team isn’t just “good” anymore.

Jayon Brown “update”

The normally tight-lipped Vrabel didn’t have much of an update on Jayon Brown, as his status is still very much to be determined at the moment.

Brown originally injured his shoulder against the Pats and was forced to miss the Divisional Round game against the Ravens. Brown was hopeful that one more day would get him ready to go against the Ravens, but he was ruled out on Thursday anyway.

Tennessee deployed Wesley Woodyard and David Long in his place, and both linebackers performed well and split snaps evenly. Long played a season-high 46 snaps and finished tied for the third-most tackles, while Woodyard totaled the fourth-most.

We’ll get a better update on Brown when the Titans take the practice field for the first time on Wednesday.

Vrabel got jokes

What has been somewhat lost in Derrick Henry‘s domination of teams of late is just how great the offensive line has played, and in particular Rodger Saffold and Taylor Lewan.

When asked about the left side of his offensive line, Vrabel cracked a joke about the amount of money each of those players are making.

Hats off to the rest of the Titans’ offensive line, also. Ben Jones, Nate Davis and Jack Conklin all deserve as much credit as Lewan and Saffold. This group has not only been dominant in the run game, but it has also allowed just two sacks in two playoff games.