Tennessee Titans special teams coordinator John Fassel gets wide-eyed when talking about the impact special teams have in a game of football.
Fassel wears the passion for his job on his sleeve after 21 seasons as an NFL special teams coordinator. He seemed especially pleased that the league’s most viral sequence in Week 1 belonged to Washington Commanders safety Tyler Owens
, who’s a special teams star now.Owens bullied two Philadelphia Eagles blockers to the ground while covering a punt, then capped it off with a violent tackle of Britain Covey at the Eagles 38-yard line.
Fassel was asked about the play at practice Sept. 17 and said he showed it to his players after a rough 23-10 loss to the New York Jets in Week 1.
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“It was a great rep,” Fassel said, repeating himself three times. “(Owens) is a big strung gunner. That's how it should be … All the action that got him there was incredible, but the tackle was superb. That’s how you should tackle.”
Titans cornerback Alontae Taylor said Owens' play was "all grit and want-to."
The Titans fell flat in all three phases of the Jets game. On Fassel’s side, 2025 All-Pro rookie Chimere Dike fumbled during a kickoff return, the opening kickoff went out of bounds and there was a collision on a Dike punt return.
For all the turnover the Titans have withstood over the past several years, their special teams units came into 2026 with some carryover. Fassel is one of the few familiar faces from last year; he was hired in 2025 and retained by Saleh after former coach Bill Callahan was fired.
That didn’t seem to help last week.
“Week 1 it felt like it was a little bit .. I don’t know if clunky is the word,” Fassel said. “There wasn’t a lot of momentum or flow to that special teams game for us.”
Fassel didn’t apologize for the result of a “dirty ball kick” on Joey Slye’s opening kickoff.
“A kickoff out of bounds is (placed) at the 40, a touchback is at the 35. You’re talking about 5-yard difference,” Fassel said. “We’re trying to create a drive starting at the 20-yard line with a dirty ball kick. We wanted to be aggressive.”
Dike said his kickoff return fumble was a ball-security issue. Fassel said the play was blocked up correctly on all but one player, Marcelino McCrary-Ball, who forced the fumble as Dike spun the other way.
On the collision, the Jets' punt landed 12 yards shorter than the Titans estimated, and Micah Robinson was blocked into Dike as he ran to catch the ball. In that situation, Dike is supposed to make a “poison” call while signaling fair catch, Fassel said, so Robinson knows to pull off.
“It all happened in a matter of about one second,” Fassel said. “As much as coaches want to say, ‘make a Peter call,’ the corners hardly ever hear anything. They’re so locked into blocking the gunner, they don't see or hear anything we think they should see or hear.”
Fassel never called out the Titans' effort, but showing them Owens' highlight underlined how they can elevate the offense and defense.
“We talk to our special teams guys a lot about how what we provide for special teams play is important for that play, but what does it do (for other sides of the ball)?” Fassel said. “As far as a little blast of adrenaline or morale or momentum or whatever it might be.”
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Tennessee Titans showed players NFL Week 1 viral special teams highlight
