ADAM SCHEFTER off-season 2059

I caught up with the Titans GM DT after his defeat in the Wildcard today at the hands of the Bengals and asked him some questions?

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You've now won the Division 4 years running and can be considered as a AFC Power house, congratulations! The first three seasons you won the division with ease, this year it went down to the wire with Texans going into week 17 at the top of the division. Firstly how does it feel to be the GM of a powerhouse and secondly tell us about the the up and downs of the divisional race this year?
Hey Adam, always great to be talking to you though I'd hoped we could have put it off for a few weeks .Houston certainly gave us a run for our money and we had to get some lucky results down the stretch to recapture our title. Any time you win the division multiple times in a row you're going to have a target on your back, but this season more than any other we really didn't feel deserving of the title. Houston came out of the gates a little hit and miss, likely finding their feet with the new GM but by mid-season they were firing on all cylinders and rocked us on the way to a 7 game winning streak. At that point all we could do is try to play catch-up and hope for some help. A powerhouse we are not.

It seems you have a new threat in the division, the Texans under Juggernaught. Do you feel they are the team to beat now in the division and what are your thoughts on the super stacked Jags?
Juggs certainly came in strong with his first season. He came into a great situation with the rebuild that the previous GM had been working on there, he's got a stud QB and RB and pieces all over the place to work with, I don't doubt he'll be winning division titles sooner than later. On paper the Jags should be the team to beat with all that talent and (not looking but guess) I'm sure tons of high picks coming down the pipeline to strengthen it even more. It's really just a question of when that flip is going to be switched, but your guess is as good as mine there. You didn't ask about him but Wack shouldn't be written off either, everyone saw what he could do to build an offense around Wilibanks when he was here and dominate the division, it may just take that one guy being available for him to shoot back up the standings.

Your QB Lamont Daniel has finished in the top 3 rated QBs for the last 2 years, his rating is not great but his bars are. What's been the secret to him over the last few years and how highly do you rate him?
I don't think there's really any secret to using him, it's really been matching up receivers with skills that compliment his and trying to give him the latitude to play the game the way he wants to. As good friend-of-the-show El Gato Gordo might say, it comes down to listening to what some of the smarter GMs around the way put on the radio and trying to use that as a blueprint for what we do in the offseason to put him in the best position to succeed when the pigskin starts flying.

I'd definitely rate him pretty highly for what we want to do. A few GM's had asked about him in the season or two following drafting him and there was really no thought in our head about trading him. He's probably not everyone's cup of tea, and he's definitely not one of these elite guys coming out in the top-3 of drafts, but he can throw short-intermediate, has some pocket presence and can pick up yards with his legs every now and then, and most importantly he doesn't put the ball in harms way and he's able to make a defense pay for its mistakes.


Rookie (taken at 1.7) Rickie England has been an absolute sensation for you, over 1400 on the ground for you, the leagues leader of yards from scrimmage and rookie of the year. Tell us about him?
Yeah, he's been great. We really loved his ability to find a hole and run routes out of the backfield when he was coming out and we paid the divisional tax to go get him. He had a few games this season that he took over either as a runner or a pass catcher, and we fully expect that to only increase as he fully develops and the offensive line in front of him starts to settle and gel. A lot has been riding on Nichols arm and it's good to be able to take some of that pressure off of him.

We heard earlier from the Raiders GM who's gone 0-3 in the playoffs over the last 3 years, you've actually gone one worse at 0-4 , 3 of those games by a combined total of just 5 points, what the hell has to happen for you win a game or perhaps just get some luck?
Your guess is as good as mine. My one consolation is two of the times we lost (by a combined total of 3 points) the team that beat us went on to win the bowl. Maybe this year will prove to be 3/4 for that particular factoid. If we get past those first games do we inherit the results? We haven't done a single thing to demonstrate that we would, but it's a nice thought that helps me sleep at night, and you can't take it away from me. Ok!? SO STOP TRYING!!!!!!

*ahem* Sorry about that, been a tough day around these parts.

On to todays wild card game, a tough loss by just 2 points, you had a FG blocked in the 4th quarter and then they get kick a 50 yard FG to win it by 2 points. You've been reasonably balanced on offense all season but today you passed alot, was that the plan? Also tell us about those FGs (trying to to swear)
It's been a bit of a season-long experiment trying to find the right balance as we work in our new RB to our gameplan, and I don't know that we ever really got there. I think we would have liked to have run it a bit more, but we were also a bit worried about the injury he's been carrying and that, combined with having to shuffle around some of our OL and CIN coming in with the #1 defense against the run, had us a bit leery to try and lean on the young guy on the ground too much.

I really don't want to talk about the FG's. Mathis is fine. Don't go looking for him. He's fine.