Titans coordinator Arthur Smith getting used to calling plays

[T-Rac]

Spring practices are often a chance for players to get used to new systems or unfamiliar roles.

For Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, it’s as close to a dress-rehearsal as he’ll get to call plays.

While he’s the longest-tenured Titans assistant, he’s never called plays before, which makes every practice an important one for him, as he said he’s “taking reps as well.”

“You’re [getting] ready,” Smith said, via Erik Bacharach, of the Nashville Tennessean, “but it’s not the same pressure you’re going to have when it’s third-and-5, fourth-and-2 and the game’s on the line.

“But it allows you to, right now, you may take that risk and just kind of play scenarios out in your head. You go through it and you go, ‘Here’s what I would call here. Here’s what I like.’”

The Titans promoted Smith for a sense of continuity after Matt LaFleur left for the Packers head coaching job. He’s been with the team since 2011, working under the last four head coaches.

“[That] allowed me to get ahead a bit, and try to prepare from it,” he said. “But also the different systems that I’ve been in, I’ve been able to go back and look at stuff that we’ve liked and didn’t like and maybe add something here or there. It’s been pretty smooth so far. I haven’t had to call a real game yet so we’ll see how that works out.”

That’s a lot of pressure on Smith, in a year in which the team wants to go from “good to great.”