And if someone knocks off his sunglasses during the process Michael Gallup Jersey Cowboys , not a problem.
”Yes, that’s fun,” Vrabel said Thursday after the Titans’ first day of training camp. ”That’s when you know it was a good punch. I use that as a barometer when the sunglasses go flying off. But, they’re doing it the right way. They’re delivering a blow and trying to transfer power to stop a guy’s charge, in that case, the punt team and get out and cover.”
The Titans’ season opener and Vrabel’s debut as a head coach in a regular-season game is just 45 days away on Sept. 9 in Miami. His preseason debut comes Aug. 9 in Green Bay, and Vrabel was starting to drive his wife and son crazy being at home waiting for the start of training camp.
”You wake up in the middle of the night thinking about should I call a time-out in this situation? Then I’m like, I’m really losing my mind. It’s just good to have the players back,” Vrabel said.
Not only did Vrabel play in the NFL and win three Super Bowl rings, he’s been an assistant at Ohio State and with the Houston Texans. That means he got to watch some of football’s best make crucial decisions during games, including Bill Belichick, Urban Meyer and Bill O’Brien.
Now it’ll be Vrabel’s turn to decide, and he’s been doing his best to prepare for kickoff by doing what he did so much of as a player: watch tape to help figure out what he can and can’t challenge, figuring out how to use his timeouts, defending an opponent trying to run clock at the end of a game.
”We’ve got a library of 10 years Cheap Johnny Townsend Jersey ,” Vrabel said. ”You can go back and pretty much get whatever game we want and pull up a scenario and play it out.”
For now, Vrabel is trying to improve a Titans team that is coming off consecutive 9-7 seasons and the franchise’s first playoff victory since January 2004 – all of which wasn’t good enough to keep Mike Mularkey on the job . Music plays throughout practice to help simulate game-day noise, and his assistants spent parts of Thursday’s session working on fundamentals like tip drills.
The Titans saw their coach throw himself into camp with the same participation and intensity he displayed during offseason organized team activities.
”Oh man, that feels good all the time when you get to hit the coach a little bit,” three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jurrell Casey said. ”It just shows you know the stuff that he was doing OTAs wasn’t a fluke. He’s continued to do it.”
Rookie linebacker Rashaan Evans joked that going up against a coach could be a way to work out some frustration. He said it was impressive to see Vrabel working in the trenches, and his new head coach already has given him a tip on how to play better.
”He’s always told me not to think so much but just to play ball,” Evans said. ”He says you’re going to make mistakes. But you play fast and aggressive, everything else goes that’ll get corrected.”
NOTES: Two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan reported for training camp Wednesday with his agents talking with the Titans about a contract extension past this season . Lewan did not take part in team drills, and he said that might be the Titans waiting until the new deal is done. Vrabel disagreed, noting Lewan already is under contract but missed the team’s mandatory minicamp in June . The coach said the left tackle will rejoin team drills when the Titans feel he’s ready.
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Jason Witten mostly held it together while announcing he was retiring after 15 years with the Dallas Cowboys to go into TV.
One wavering moment came when the tight end turned to owner Jerry Jones on a stage in front of his family, teammates and club employees in what normally serves as the dining room in the team’s practice facility.
”The hardest part of this decision was knowing that I would never be able to hand you that Lombardi Trophy,” Witten said during his 15-minute speech Thursday. ”I told you back in 2006 that I would not let you down. I hope that in your eyes, I held up my end of the bargain.”
Just days away from turning 36, Witten is leaving to be the analyst for ESPN’s ”Monday Night Football” telecast, a move the network confirmed after Witten’s retirement announcement.
The decision by the franchise leader in games Carlton Davis Youth Jersey , catches and yards receiving is the same one friend and longtime teammate Tony Romo, the club passing leader in yards and touchdowns, made last year with CBS.
They joined the Cowboys together in 2003 – Witten a third-round pick out of Tennessee and Romo the undrafted quarterback three years from becoming the starter. They left without getting Dallas to an NFC championship game, and the Super Bowl drought for a franchise with five titles is at 23 years and counting.
”Jason has given so much to this team, to this franchise. He emptied the bucket here,” Jones said, responding to a question about that missing Super Bowl after speeches by all three on stage: Witten, Jones and coach Jason Garrett.
”When I look at where we were with the great legacy of our fans that have had 56 years of being around some of the greatest people and names of players ever … to me, no one has ever given more of himself and no one has ever made any bigger impact.”
The circumstances for Witten and Romo were different. The Cowboys were anticipating a 16th season, which would have been a club record, from their 11-time Pro Bowl player. Romo had lost his job to Dak Prescott while injured and was deciding last offseason whether to play elsewhere.
As recently as two weeks ago, Witten suggested he might play until he was 40 and said he ”absolutely” was returning. He acknowledged the offer from ESPN changed things.
”In those moments, those other things didn’t exist,” said Witten, set to call the Cowboys’ home game against Tennessee on Nov. 5. ”I was certain when I went through it that I wanted the blessing of Jerry and his family Authentic Saquon Barkley Jersey , an opportunity I have to stay around the game.”
Dozens lined Witten’s walk from the entrance to the team’s headquarters, down some stairs and a long hallway to the dining room.
His retirement ceremony, with Prescott and star running back Ezekiel Elliott watching from the same row, came not far from a huge picture of Witten’s signature moment – a 2007 game when he ran nearly 30 yards and was tackled without a helmet after it was knocked off.
The Cowboys hung that picture over the entrance to their indoor practice field long before Witten pondered retirement. He spent two seasons walking under it.
”Whenever young kids come up to me and ask me, `How do you grow up and play for the Dallas Cowboys, and have that type of career?”’ Witten said. ”My answer was always the same, the secret is in the dirt. I was never the most talented, never the flashiest, I relied on grit.”
Witten was also known for durability, holding club records for consecutive games (235) and starts (179). He missed one game, the fifth of his rookie season because of a broken jaw, and returned 23 days after rupturing his spleen in a preseason game to play the 2012 opener.
With 1,152 catches for 12,448 yards, Witten joins Tony Gonzalez as the only NFL tight ends with at least 1 Sam Darnold Jersey Youth ,000 catches and 10,000 yards. His 15 seasons are tied for the most in Dallas with defensive end Ed ”Too Tall” Jones, safety Bill Bates and late offensive lineman Mark Tuinei.
”He’s one of the best and most complete tight ends ever to play this game,” Garrett said. ”The stats and the credentials speak for themselves. They don’t really begin to tell the story. Over the last 15 years, he’s played virtually every play.”
Witten is third on the Cowboys’ list with 68 touchdown catches. He trails Dez Bryant, released last month with 73 TDs, and Hall of Famer Bob Hayes (71).
Without Witten and Bryant, the Cowboys are missing their top two receivers from last year and essentially for the past six seasons. Among the tight ends left behind, only one has a catch in a regular-season game: Geoff Swaim with nine over three seasons.
The Cowboys are high on Blake Jarwin and hope that former Baylor basketball player Rico Gathers can develop after missing his entire second season with a concussion. Dallas drafted Stanford’s Dalton Schultz in the fourth round last week.
”There’s an old saying in pro football, the circus doesn’t stay in town forever,” Witten said. ”And when you’re young, I think it takes on a meaning that when your opportunity comes, grab it. I’ve decided that the time has come for me to pass the torch to the next generation of Dallas Cowboys.”
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