Tennessee

Titans conduct head coaching interview with Mike Macdonald, Antonio Pierce

Published

2 years ago

January 14, 2024

Titans conduct head coaching interview with Mike Macdonald, Antonio Pierce

The Tennessee Titans have completed an interview with Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald per a team announcement Saturday night, getting the opportunity to talk to one of the NFL’s youngest and brightest defensive minds.

The interview with Macdonald comes after the Titans have also completed interviews with Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Las Vegas Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce. The Titans have reportedly requested the opportunity to speak to as many as nine candidates to fill the vacancy left after firing former coach Mike Vrabel on Jan. 9.

HOT BOARD: 15 Tennessee Titans coaching candidates after Mike Vrabel fired, from Jim Harbaugh to Jim Schwartz

Get to know Mike Macdonald

At just 36 years old, Macdonald has quickly risen through the coaching ranks thanks in large part to his relationships with famous coaching brothers John and Jim Harbaugh. Macdonald’s first NFL coaching gig came in 2014 when he landed with the Ravens as a coaching intern. Over the next six years he rose through the ranks in Baltimore from defensive assistant to defensive backs coach to linebackers coach.

He gained his first experience as a coordinator when he jumped to the college ranks in 2021 and took over as defensive coordinator at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh. Michigan improved from 95th in scoring defense in 2020 to eighth in 2021, with Macdonald’s defense helping lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten title and College Football Playoff berth.

Macdonald returned to Baltimore the next year as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator and has experienced even more success. In 2022, the Ravens ranked top-five in the NFL in points allowed, third down conversion rate allowed, red zone defense and rushing yards allowed per game and per play. The unit was arguably even better in 2023, allowing the fewest points per game and yards per pass attempt in the NFL while leading the league in takeaways and ranked top-five in sack rate.

COLLABORATION TIME: The Tennessee Titans want more collaboration from its new coach. What that approach could look like

One thing that made the Ravens’ defensive success in 2023 so remarkable was the caliber of opponent it came against. Miami, San Francisco and Detroit all had top-five scoring offenses in the NFL this season; Baltimore went 3-0 against them, holding those teams to 19, 19 and 6 points respectively. The Ravens constricted Detroit’s high-flying offense by holding it to its second-fewest number of yards and first downs on the season and turned the normally efficient Dolphins and 49ers offenses into mistake machines, forcing eight turnovers across two games.

Just like at Michigan, Macdonald reinvigorated a Ravens defense that had struggled prior to his taking over at coordinator. The 2021 Ravens ranked 19th in the NFL in points allowed, 25th in yards allowed per game and last in the league in yards allowed per play.

Get to know Antonio Pierce

The Raiders promoted Pierce to interim head coach with nine games left in the 2023 season and Pierce led the team to a 5-4 record, including a win over the Kansas City Chiefs and a dominant 63-21 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

Before his interim stint, Pierce had been the Raiders’ linebackers coach since 2022. Prior to that Pierce worked at Arizona State for four seasons, serving as linebackers coach, recruiting coordinator, defensive coordinator and associate head coach at various times. He began his coaching career at the high school level, working as the head coach at Long Beach Poly in California, the school famous for churning out future NFL stars such as DeSean Jackson, Willie McGinest, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Titans legend Jurrell Casey.

Pierce played linebacker in the NFL from 2001-09, starting his career in Washington before gaining notoriety playing for the New York Giants from 2005 through the end of his career. Pierce helped lead the Giants to a win over the unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII and earned a Pro Bowl berth in 2006. Pierce started 94 games in his nine pro seasons, logging 691 tackles, including four years where he surpassed 100.

The Raiders averaged 7.1 more points and 40.1 more yards per game and allowed an average of 7.4 fewer points per game and 7.7 fewer yards per game after Pierce took over as interim than in the first eight games of the season under previous coach Josh McDaniels.

The Titans are the only team other than the Raiders who have reportedly reached out to interview Pierce.

About the Tennessee Titans coaching search

Per NFL rules, the Titans may only conduct virtual interviews with all coaching candidates employed by another organization until the end of the second round of the NFL playoffs. The Titans are free to interview any candidate not currently employed by an NFL organization at any time and have been able to conduct virtual interviews with employees of teams that missed the postseason since three days after the completion of the regular season. The team will be allowed to conduct virtual interviews with coaches on teams that made the playoffs three days after their first playoff game ends.

TIMELINE: 11 dominoes that led to Mike Vrabel being fired as Tennessee Titans coach

This is the Titans’ first coaching search in six years. Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk dismissed Vrabel citing a want for the franchise to improve its collaboration and alignment between ownership, the front office and the coaching staff.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

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TN special election: Voters to decide between Republican Van Epps, Democrat Behn to fill vacant congressional seat

Published

1 hour ago

December 1, 2025

Press Room

TN special election: Voters to decide between Republican Van Epps, Democrat Behn to fill vacant congressional seat

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – It all comes down to Tuesday, December 2, as voters will decide between Republican Matt Van Epps and Democrat Aftyn Behn to fill Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District seat left vacant by former Rep. Mark Green.

The 7th congressional seat was formerly filled by Green, a combat veteran, emergency room doctor and former state senator, who announced his retirement from politics twice to pursue a career in the private sector.

Results – Special Election: U.S. House of Representatives 7th Congressional District

District 7: The 7th Congressional District spans 14 Tennessee counties, including Benton, Cheatham, Davidson, Decatur, Dickson, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Perry, Robertson, Stewart, Wayne and Williamson.

Latest: Poll shows Republican Van Epps holding slight lead over Democrat Behn in Tennessee’s special congressional race

A new survey from Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey shows that 48% of voters support Van Epps and 46% support Behn. It also found that 2% plan to vote for one of three third-party candidates on the ballot, and 5% are undecided.

Here is the official list of candidates:

Matt Van Epps – Republican
Aftyn Behn – Democratic
Teresa “Terri” Christie – Independent
Bobby Dodge – Independent
Robert James Sutherby – Independent
Jon Thorp – Independent

Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville): State representative elected in a 2023 special election who says she has “fought to keep our families safe, standing up to those who siphon wealth from our neighborhoods while stripping away our freedoms.”

Matt Van Epps: A combat veteran who worked in the Tennessee Department of General Services under Gov. Bill Lee, who says he “understands the values of hard work, personal responsibility, and service to community that define this great state.”

Previous: Trump-backed Van Epps and Democrat Behn win Tennessee primaries for US House special election

Here are when Special Election Day polls will open in each District 7 county:

Benton County – 8 a.m.
Cheatham County – 7 a.m.
Davidson County – 7 a.m.
Decatur County – 8 a.m.
Dickson County – 7 a.m.
Hickman County – 8 a.m.
Houston County – 9 a.m.
Humphreys County – 9 a.m.
Montgomery County – 7 a.m.
Perry County – 9 a.m.
Robertson County – 7 a.m.
Stewart County – 8 a.m.
Wayne County – 8 a.m.
Williamson County – 7 a.m.

All polls will close at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 2.

Only registered voters who live in the U.S. House District 7 are eligible to vote in this election. Voters can check which congressional district they live in and also find their polling locations here.

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Tennessee

Titans report card: How we graded Tennessee in Week 13 loss to Jaguars

Published

13 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Press Room

Titans report card: How we graded Tennessee in Week 13 loss to Jaguars

The Tennessee Titans (1-11) took a massive step backward in their Week 13 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, looking more like the undisciplined, unprepared team from earlier in the season than the unit that put up a fight against the Seattle Seahawks a week ago.

Tennessee struggled to get anything going, and between penalties, poor offensive line play, and allowing too many explosive plays, they had no chance against a Jaguars team that came to play and left with a share of the AFC South division lead.

The Titans will regroup and prepare for a trip to Cleveland to face Shedeur Sanders and the Cleveland Browns.

Before we move on, here’s a quick report card from Sunday’s action.

Offense

Cam Ward was not sharp, and he got little help from his perimeter receiving corps, who could not gain separation throughout the afternoon and had too many drops. Couple that with a dismal performance on third downs, and the unit got nothing going after the initial drive of the game.

The offense started with one of its best drives of the season, mixing run and pass, but after that, the issues that had plagued them early in the season came rushing back, and the unit looked completely overmatched by the Jaguars’ defense. It was a rough outing and a definite step back.

Grade: D

Defense

The defense was better than it was against the Seahawks, but the lack of cornerback depth without Jalyn Armour-Davis was noticeable. The unit is already thin and struggles to match up with the Jaguars’ receiving corps. When you couple the secondary struggles with an invisible pass rush, it makes for a long afternoon.

While they were better this week, the defense still gave up too many big plays, got almost zero help from the offense (or special teams), and wore down.

Grade: C

Special teams

The special teams were anything but special. Between turnovers and crushing penalties, they were unable to capitalize on some opportunities and, for the most part, had a rough day.

Chimere Dike did rip off another big return and made some other plays that made an impact, but his first-quarter fumble on a kickoff return changed the momentum of the game, and the Titans never recovered. Joey Slye made his only attempt for the Titans’ only points, but that was nowhere near enough.

Grade: C

Coaching

Yes, Tennessee entered the game with some injuries and roster questions, but after the first series, it appeared completely unprepared to take the field on Sunday. In a game that turned into a flagfest with 23 combined penalties, the Titans’ lack of discipline again came to light, and they got the worst end of the penalty stick with 13, including multiple that gave the Jaguars new life.

Tennessee has shown some improvement in recent weeks, but that was far from the case this week, with the team looking more like the Brian Callahan-led unit than those that took the field against the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks.

Grade: D

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Tennessee player says Jaguars punter threatened to ‘kill me’ during Titans loss – WTOP News

Published

1 day ago

November 30, 2025

Press Room

Tennessee player says Jaguars punter threatened to ‘kill me’ during Titans loss – WTOP News

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Titans running back Julius Chestnut said Jacksonville Jaguars punter Logan Cooke said he was going…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee Titans running back Julius Chestnut said Jacksonville Jaguars punter Logan Cooke said he was going to kill him during Sunday’s game.

Chestnut blocked Cooke as the punter got a leg up to trip Titans returner Chimere Dike at the end of a 47-yard return with 14:06 left. Cooke was hurt and evaluated for a concussion before returning to punt at the end of the Jaguars’ next series.

The Jaguars and Titans then had another scuffle at the end of Dike’s 13-yard return with 11:49 remaining, with Chestnut and Cooke squaring off.

Officials huddled and handed out a pair of unnecessary roughness penalties to each team, and Cooke and long snapper Ross Matiscik were flagged for the Jags. Titans safety Mike Brown was ejected.

The Jaguars went on to a 25-3 win. The AFC South teams combined for 23 accepted penalties for a total of 184 yards.

“I was just trying to play hard, and he came up to me and said he was going to kill me,” Chestnut said. “So I don’t know what made him do that.”

Chestnut said he never got an explanation for why Cooke was so mad that he “came at me.”

“That was surprising to me. I ain’t never seen nothing like that before,” Chestnut said.

Cooke was not asked specifically after the game about what Chestnut said the punter told him. A message was left Sunday night seeking comment from the Jaguars.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Cooke said right after the loss that he likes hitting people. He said Chestnut got the best of him in an “eventful” game.

Cooke talked with the referee at halftime after punting from his own end zone late in the second quarter with a backup long snapper.

“I might have said some things that sounded rude, so I wanted to go clear the air,” Cooke said of his talk with the referee. “I don’t like people having grudges against me. So kind of telling him the situation and also find out his take on what happened on that play in the end zone.”

Jaguars coach Liam Coen said he’d like Cooke to be smarter when it comes to his flag for unnecessary roughness, but he was proud of his players for competing.

“There were some frustrations that were being built up with them rushing us the way they were with the long snapper issue, and we thought we maybe were roughed or potentially roughed at one point,” Coen said. “I don’t know if it got called or not.”

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AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Jacksonville contributed to this report.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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