As a part of the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium, NFL coaches and general managers take to the podium to talk about their team, the Combine, the NFL Draft and more. When it came Titans Coach Mike Mularkey's turn, he kicked it back to his Steelers days.
Steelers style: Mularkey, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator from 2001-03, last week said he would like to bring 'exotic smashmouth' football to the Titans offense.
When asked at the NFL Scouting Combine to explain it, Mularkey said it was an offense that was run during his time with the Steelers when Jerome Bettis' pounding running style was the bread and butter of the ground game, but the team had weapons like Kordell Stewart, Hines Ward and Antwaan Randle El that kept defenses on their toes.
"I was asked about the style of play in Pittsburgh and it was described in Pittsburgh, not by me, by somebody that described the style of play that we had as 'exotic smashmouth,'" said Mularkey. "A lot of that was because what we did. I'm a big believer in you fit the scheme around your players' talents. We ran a lot of exotic plays with Antwaan Randle El, Hines Ward, Kordell Stewart. We had guys that gave us the ability to do a lot of things that kept defenses off balance. The exotic part is basically what that was describing. The smashmouth was, you knew you were going to be in a physical football game when you played us. I'm not describing this team, this offense as that. That's what was described back in Pittsburgh when I was there."
Throwing a curve: Mularkey said the plan for the Titans interviews with players at the Combine is not the same as many other teams.
"The thing most of these guys have been programmed for are the answers," said Mularkey. "A lot of questions are going to be the same in every one of these rooms. We are not going to do that. We're going to do a lot of board work, get them up on the board, things that they're not going to be prepared for, to see how they are in an environment with a group, in really a critical, the biggest time of their life right now, to see how they respond to things they're not prepared for."
The 2016 Steelers Fan Blitz presented by Xfinity will be held at Heinz Field on Saturday, April 30. For ticket information and details click on Steelers Fan Blitz.
