Tennessee general manager Jon Robinson got his NFL start as a scout with the New England Patriots Kerryon Johnson Color Rush Jersey , the same team his new head coach Mike Vrabel won three Super Bowl rings as a linebacker.

Yes, it seems like the Titans are trying to implement the Patriot Way in Music City.

Vrabel said that’s what it looks like – until the Titans win big themselves.

”You have to be able to win championships before people start giving you ways to do things,” Vrabel said Monday. ”So that’ll be our ultimate goal. … Until we can win a championship doing that, there’s not going to be this Titan Way. It will be talked about in the building. But people from outside the building, they won’t believe in us, they won’t have faith in us until you win.”

The Titans introduced Vrabel as their new coach Monday. They agreed to terms with Vrabel on Saturday , just five days after firing Mike Mularkey coming off the franchise’s first playoff win in 14 years.

This is the first head coaching job for Vrabel, 42.

Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk noted Robinson and Vrabel have known each other for years. She also likes Vrabel’s experience and vision for building on back-to-back 9-7 seasons.

”I believe he will do everything he can to bring this town a championship,” Strunk said.

Vrabel is coming off his first season as defensive coordinator for the Texans. Vrabel started his NFL career in Pittsburgh under coach Bill Cowher before signing with New England under coach Bill Belichick, and he finished in Kansas City. In 2011, he joined the staff at his alma mater, Ohio State Tracy Walker Color Rush Jersey , coaching linebackers and then defensive linemen.

He said nobody’s ever really ready to be a head coach for the first time in the NFL, though Vrabel feels as ready as he can be thanks to his doctorate degree in coaching he picked up working with some of the best in the game.

”There will be things that I take from New England, from Pittsburgh, from Ohio State, from Houston,” Vrabel said. ”I mean there will be things that I take from everywhere. You draw on these experiences just like everybody else would in life … The nice thing is now there’s things that I didn’t like that Billy did, I get to change them. So there’s things I like that he did, I get to use them.”

Vrabel went to Houston in 2014 and coached linebackers with the Texans for three seasons before becoming coordinator. The Texans won the AFC South in 2015 and 2016 thanks in part to strong defenses. The unit slipped this season amid injuries to players including J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus.

Building on the Titans’ playoff win in Kansas City means putting Marcus Mariota in position to blossom. Whoever Vrabel hires as his offensive coordinator will be Mariota’s third going into his fourth NFL season, and Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Ryan Day reportedly is the early favorite for the job in Tennessee.

”I think Amy’s going to trust me to hire the right guy for Marcus,” Vrabel said. ”Jon’s going to trust me to hire the right guy for Marcus or I wouldn’t have been hired.”

And Vrabel made it very clear he knows the potential for Mariota, the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner and No. 2 pick overall in 2015. He recalled Mariota pulling a hamstring Oct. 1 against the Texans.

”A special talent, a special kid Da'Shawn Hand Color Rush Jersey , and I can’t wait to work with him and help him through taking that next step in his career,” Vrabel said.

This was Robinson’s first head coaching search since being hired in January 2016, two days before the Titans took the interim tag off Mularkey. The Titans went 21-22 with Mularkey taking a team that had the NFL’s worst record at 5-27 combined over 2014 and 2015 to a team that lost in the AFC divisional round to New England.

Mularkey was fired less than 48 hours after that loss. The Titans interviewed only three people with Vrabel first to meet with them Thursday. The Titans also interviewed Carolina defensive coordinator Steve Wilks and Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur .

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SAN FRANCISCO — Right-hander Jack Flaherty returns to the scene of his major league debut last September when he closes out a four-game series for the St. Louis Cardinals against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon.

Flaherty (3-4, 3.19 ERA) will attempt not only to give the Cardinals a 3-1 win in the four-game series but to reward manager Mike Matheny with his fifth series win in seven return visits to San Francisco, where he played the final two years of his career.

Matheny has never lost a series as a manager in San Francisco, winning four and tying the other two. He is assured of at least a tie in this one as well, with the Cardinals having posted 11-2 and 3-2 wins sandwiching a 3-2 loss on Friday night.

Flaherty was just 21 years old when he debuted for the Cardinals last Sept. 1 in an 11-6 win in San Francisco.

He did not get credit for the win, going only four innings, during which he was roughed up for five runs and eight hits. He’s thus 0-0 with an 11.25 ERA against the Giants.

Brandon Crawford doubled and homered against Flaherty, and Hunter Pence lashed a two-run triple.

The California native will be seeking to snap a two-game losing streak. He has allowed eight runs and 10 hits in 10 innings in losses to Cleveland and Arizona.

Flaherty will be backed by a Cardinals defense that has been superb against the Giants, having committed just one error in the three games. That lone miscue was an errant throw by backup catcher Francisco Pena on a steal attempt.

“That’s kind of the initiative we have going on right now: bolstering our defense,” Matheny noted Saturday. “Let’s play a cleaner defensive game. And then hope that we get contributions offensively. Let’s figure out ways to make sure we’re catching the ball to help reinforce the great starts that we’ve been getting.”

Luke Weaver JK Scott Color Rush Jersey , John Gant and Carlos Martinez have provided that pitching in San Francisco. The Giants have totaled just seven runs in the series, extending to six games their streak of scoring three or fewer.

Martinez even contributed an RBI double to Saturday’s win.

The Giants have hit a cumulative .167 in their last six games, five of which they’ve lost.

San Francisco will be counting on ace Madison Bumgarner (1-3, 2.58) to contribute both on the mound and at the plate in the series finale.

The Giants have supported their pitching leader with just 14 runs in his six starts. He hasn’t helped his own cause; the slugger with 17 career homers has gone 0-for-14 so far this season.

The left-hander has pitched brilliantly in his last three starts, allowing just three runs (two of which were earned) and 12 hits in 21 innings.

Bumgarner often has not been at his best against the Cardinals in his career, going 3-5 with a 4.38 ERA in eight starts. He hasn’t beaten St. Louis since 2014.

One player who has never figured out Bumgarner is Kolten Wong, who has been the big hitter in the series with six hits, including a double and a triple, and two RBIs.

He’s 0-for-9 with two strikeouts in his career against Bumgarner.