The Tennessee Titans (1-5) came out flat last week and lost to the Las Vegas Raiders (2-4) by a score of 20-10.

That was the nail in Brian Callahan’s coffin. Mike McCoy is the interim, and he now welcomes the red-hot New England Patriots (4-2) to town, led by former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, to give this matchup some texture.

Here are three reasons for optimism in Week 7.

Callahans’ gone

Simply put, Bill and Brian Callahan were a massive drain on this football team. These two disappointed the majority of the time in Nashville. Bill could never figure out or develop a functional offensive line during his stint. Brian, being the architect of this staff and playcaller, provided more uninspired football to this franchise. The fanbase will not miss them because the win column is missing them. Their absence brings optimism immediately.

Two defensive studs

Cedric Gray and Jeffery Simmons have been playing elite football over the past month. Simmons has been known as a defensive stud for a while, but he has taken a new level of his game. He is leaner, faster, and more disruptive than ever. He looks like the best defensive tackle in football. Cedric Gray has recently exploded at linebacker. He always looked athletic enough, but in his mental acuity, he has finally acclimated to the NFL. Gray and Simmons will give this defense a fighting chance week in and week out.

Patriots’ lackluster rushing attack

A thing that stands out about the Patriots so far is a lack of apparent rushing attack, ranking 26th in rush yards per game. The team added the exciting Ohio State man TreVeyon Henderson to the room, but they still don’t average 100 yards per game. This is something that the Titans’ defense should exploit. They can plan a little bit better to focus on stopping the pass game with a rushing attack like this. It simply isn’t enough to keep a defense honest.

This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Tennessee Titans vs. Patriots: 3 reasons for optimism in Week 7