Dan Campbell: 'Not throwing up on my shoes' is biggest concern ahead of first NFL game

(Opening statement) – “Finished what was really our third day of the week which was our red zone, goal line, short yardage emphasis and a little bit of clean up as far as mixed down stuff. It was another good day. For my vision of a Friday and what I wanted it to look like, that’s what it looked like today. The guys did a good job.”

(On if he expects CB Brent Grimes and LT Branden Albert to play on Sunday) – “Yeah, we’ll see how it goes. They’ve both been limited but they both practiced, they got a little bit more today and we’ll just see how it goes from there. We’ll see how they feel tomorrow.”

(On his replay protocol during the game) – “It’ll really be on Marwan Maloof our assistant special teams coach, who is up in the booth, will be in charge of that. He’s the eyes in the sky and everything goes with him. He’ll have the best view, he’ll have the replay and all those things and I’m not listening to anybody but him unless I’m standing right there and can clearly see it on the field.”

(On his biggest concern personally coaching in his first NFL game) – “Not throwing up on my shoes, that would be it. All that I think about all week and I don’t know if this is going to answer your question, have I done everything and am I doing everything I can to get these players ready to play the game or a better way to say it is, ‘To give them the very, very best opportunity to win this game, have I done everything? Am I doing everything I can for those guys?’ That’s all I’ve thought about. That’s all I’m thinking about and I know that I’m doing the right thing, that I’ve done it and they will be ready to go.”

(On if he is excited for the opportunity to coach in his first NFL game) – “I’m very excited. I don’t know if I’ve been this excited since I was a player, you know? Over the last 48 hours… I’m getting those goosebumps. I’m getting that feeling in my stomach and it’s a good feeling? It’s a nervous energy that if I run with it I’ll explode a little too early. I’m ready to go. Then again, I’m going to go upstairs and watch this practice and just think about from here on; not get too far out. It’s Friday. Let’s look at what the film looked like. What can we clean up? What can we do better? Then just work it into tomorrow. That’s it.”

(On if he thinks the team is ready for the game Sunday) – “At this point that’s one thing I would say is that after what I’ve seen being out there on the field for three days; really this would be five practices now just with the guys and me at the helm. I feel really good. I feel good about where we are at and yeah, I would say after this if you said we had to go play the game in three hours I’d feel pretty good about that.”

(On who will start at right guard) – “Not yet. There again, we are going to go upstairs and watch this film. We wanted to give those guys three full practices just to see what they look like and we’ll have a pretty good feeling by the end of the day or tomorrow.”

(On what they have to do in order to negate the Tennessee Titans pass rush) – “I think there are a number of things. Rhythm in itself from the quarterback will help that; that’s one. Two is: different ways that you set up the protections. We have some where I don’t want to call it max protect but we will keep somebody else in, an extra tight end, those things and it’s kind of like, ‘Hey, get it out of your hand.’ Rhythm, it could be three step, could be a little more like max protection if you will. Just being able to run the ball because now that sets up your play action pass and your play-action protections are really some of your best because now some of those guys are trying to play the run, the O-line is able to come off and get their hands on them and now you’re buying your quarterback a lot more time and it’s a cleaner pocket.”

(On S Reshad Jones season) – “He’s a stud. You don’t even have to finish. He’s a hell of a player and I’ll tell you what, you talk about a guy that’s doing everything right. He’s a team guy, he works hard, he makes plays and I’ve told him this, he’s one of the guys that we’re going to put a saddle on and ride into the playoffs with. That’s how I see this.”

(On if S Reshad Jones has a chance on achieving his goal of making the Pro Bowl)– “I don’t see why not. I would say that anybody that has to play against him, any opponents that have played against him and any opponents that watched him on film, they identify that guy. I don’t know how you couldn’t, I’m an offensive guy, you can’t miss a guy like Reshad Jones and you better know where he’s at because he can change a game.”

(On what his philosophy is on going for it on fourth-and-short)– “No, I bet you guys would like to know what I’m thinking. I’m going to sit down with (Special Teams Coordinator Darren) Rizzi and I would say it’s of course you have your own philosophy on what you would like to do, but to me it involves game-to-game, it depends on who you’re playing a little bit, what do you feel like going into this game that you’re going to hang your hat on a little bit more and that’ll be something that there again, I’m continuing to watch film on Tennessee’s offense, defense, what are they doing on special teams? We’re going to sit tomorrow with the coordinators and Coach Rizzi and we’ll talk about game management and how do we want to approach this game. I have my ideas, but I don’t entirely have that set in stone yet.”

(On if Defensive Coordinator Lou Anarumo has made the decision to be on the field or in the booth) – “No, that will be by the end of the day we’ll know that for sure. Again, he’s leaning on being on the field right now.”

(On if at any point he’s had a chance to look at the task he has in front of him)– “I would say this just to be as transparent as I can, I would say probably like day two-three I was like, ‘OK, what just happened here? What have I just gotten into?’ I remember at one point everything just hit me at once like ‘Whoa. We’ve got this, this is an issue, this is an area, we’ve got problems here and now I’ve got to deal with this and I’ve got to talk to the media.’ It did hit me and then I got refocused to what was most important and that was ‘Hey, one day at a time, how do we get the most out of these guys? How do we get them back to where they are being competitive, having fun, playing hard and all of those?’ I did that, once I refocused and set my priorities, it’s been great. It has been literally one day at a time, that’s all that I can think about, that’s all that and that’s all I care about. All I care about is the rest of this day, my son’s got a game tonight, I’m getting my work done, I’m going to go watch my son play football, I’m going to make damn sure that I get out of this building in time to get there and I can sit in the stands. Then I’m going to worry about tomorrow and everything is from that point on is Tennessee Titans, that’s it, nobody else and nothing else.”

(On TE Jordan Cameron becoming a better blocker)– “Absolutely, he’s come a long way. Here’s the beauty about someone like Jordan is outside in people look at him as more of a finesse type guy. Certainly you can say he may be suited to do more of those things; however he is an eager, eager athlete. He does not want to be known as that, he wants to be known as a complete tight end and he puts in the work and he’s tough, he’s not some soft kid and he’s an explosive athlete. When you have the ‘want to’ and you’re explosive and you have it in your hip, you can block, that’s the bottom-line.”