Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Revenge: Mike Vrabel Returns to Tennessee | Can Titans Survive Onslaught?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Patriots are good, the Titans are bad. But what this game is about is Mike Brable's Revenge. It's crossover Thursday here on the Locked On Podcast Network. You are Locked on NFL crossover. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome in Titans, fans, Patriots fans. It's a locked on Titans, locked on Patriots,

Starting point is 00:00:34 crossover Thursday, getting you ready for this week seven matchup before we dive into the biggest storylines for either team, which I think there might be a little bit of an intersection in the biggest storyline for these teams. The biggest matchups, the keys to victory for this game. Do want to let you know that crossover Thursday is presented by prize picks. Download the prize picks app today. Use the code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5. lineup. I am Tyler Rowland, host of Locked on Titans here with my guy, Nick Cattle's host of Locked on Patriots. We also happen to do Locked on NFL for the Friday show. So make sure that

Starting point is 00:01:09 you guys check that out as well as you get ready for your football weekend. But it's crossover Thursday. We got this game to get into Nick. I mean, how in the world is there any other outcome here than Mike Vrable absolutely slapping the Titans around this weekend? I mean, that's the story, right? You mentioned it at the top, man. Brable returning to Tennessee and just can they handle all the emotions? Can Vrable handle his emotions? The team handle their emotions. Vrable speaking to the media on Wednesday said, you know, this isn't going to be a win one for the Gipper here. Okay. This is not going to be an emotional thing. There's interesting. There's important. This might be interesting, but really

Starting point is 00:01:49 is it important? All those lines that I'm sure you've heard before, Tyler, during his time in Tennessee. But the other part of this game, too, beyond just the Mike Vrable part in those emotions is that this is the third straight road game for the Patriots, which is a tremendous challenge, no matter who you're playing at the NFL level. And of course, they right now sit atop the AFC East for the first time in 2021. So a lot of emotions, a lot of expectations, a lot of things that deal with on Sunday for the Pats. Yeah, and the Titans are actually just coming off a three-game road stretch of their own, where they went to Houston and then Arizona and then Vegas. So coming home, there's got to be some sort of relief there. Obviously, you know,

Starting point is 00:02:29 We could talk about Mike Brable and his revenge, but the Titans have a lot on their plate when it comes to coaching. If Patriots fans weren't paying attention or didn't hear about it, the Titans fired Brian Callahan this week. They're going with Mike McCoy, former San Diego Chargers. Yeah, that's how long ago it was, folks. They were the San Diego Chargers when Mike McCoy was their head coach. But Mike McCoy taken over as the interim head coach,

Starting point is 00:02:50 Bill Callahan, Brian Callahan's dad, the offensive line coach also went with him. But everything else is relatively the same. And outside of the Mike Vrable revenge factor, like you was saying for the Titans, it's all about can Mike McCoy get more out of this team? Again, coming off the road, three straight games, coming back home. And quite honestly, I don't know how you feel about this, Nick, but to me it feels like all of the pressure is now on the Patriots. The Titans have admitted that their season is in the gutter.

Starting point is 00:03:16 They fired their coach. They're not expected to win. They're five and a half point underdogs at home. I think it might even be six and a half at this point now. All of the pressure is on New England to beat a team. team that they should be. And listen, Mike Vrable could say it's not a win one for the Gipper, but we know how sports work. And we know that if they win this game, and I, you know, would think that they would, that the Patriots players are going to go crazy and be happy for

Starting point is 00:03:40 Mike Vrable. And no matter what Vrable says publicly, he's going to have a little bit of happiness internally as well. Oh, I agree with you across the board, Tyler. I mean, you look at this game, the Patriots have all the pressure. There's, there's literally no pressure on Tennessee. The world expects them to not be good. They have. haven't been very good. As you say, they said goodbye to Brian Callahan on Monday. And it can't get worse, right? I mean, Brian Callahan, to me, was one of if not the worst head coaches in football. He didn't know simple rules, let alone clock management and timeout usage and all the things that you should know as a head coach. It was a disaster for him in Tennessee. So, I mean, Mike Vrable has as many

Starting point is 00:04:21 wins in New England as Callahan had with Tennessee. And it's been six weeks in New England for Mike Rable. So it really can't be any worse for the Tennessee Titans. So I agree with you on that accord. And I also think there's, you know, there's some mounting pressure on Drake May. Drake May right now, honestly, is playing MVP level football. I mean, he's, he's one of, if you look at the analytics and the stats and all that and just the eye test. He's literally been one of the top six or seven quarterbacks in football unequivocally through the first six weeks. But as you continue to move forward this season, and it's all on him with no run game so far, you know, you wonder, is there going to be a point where he slips up because it's human

Starting point is 00:05:02 nature and you can't always be as good as he's been unless you're a top two or three guy at that position. So I also think there's some mounting pressure on Drake May to continue to make this offense work pretty much all on his own out there. Well, speaking of quarterbacks, Cam Ward has obviously had a struggle. to start the season statistically. You know, I understand Patriots fans are looking at Cam Ward stats and going, man, this guy's terrible. But there's so much more context there.

Starting point is 00:05:30 Like, they just fired the head coach because quite frankly, he was trying to make Cam Ward play his system. And Nick, as you know, the test of a good head coach is molding what you're doing to what's best for your players. And I would say that that was one of Callahan's outside of the game management stuff, which is funny because he's like the anti-vrable. Offensive guy, scheme guy, not a C. CEO leader type, but didn't know the rules.

Starting point is 00:05:54 Like it was so bad when Vrable, Vrable was making rules with the competition committee. He's so locked in to things like he could find any loophole possible. So it was like a total 180 there for what you were looking for from the coach. But for Cam Ward, the Titans have to help him more. They have to get him on the move. They have to do more play action. They had a season low play action percentage rate last week against the Raiders. It made no sense at all.

Starting point is 00:06:17 They got to do what he does best. Let him use his mobility. He's not Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, by any means. But he's best when he's outside the pocket, can read the field, use his spatial awareness, do those sorts of things. And the Titans simply haven't done that stuff enough. So helping Cam Ward, like getting the best out of Drake May has been one of the, in my opinion, one of the biggest feathers in Mike Vrable's cap.

Starting point is 00:06:40 I was uncertain about whether Mike Vrable could be the best head coach possible for a young quarterback in need of development. But along with Josh McDaniels and the offensive staff, I think Vrable has done a great job of getting Drake made to the best football that we've seen from him in his young career. The Titans need to hope that Mike McCoy could start helping Cam Ward get back on track. And I think a lot of that starts with doing things that Cam Ward is more comfortable with. Yeah, if people are watching the video, I'm smiling as Tyler's talking because I actually think Patriots fans are the fans that will completely understand everything you just said about Cam Ward because it's almost a carbon copy of what has. happened with Drake May last year at his rookie season, right? The offensive line issues, I would say the Patriots offensive line last year was

Starting point is 00:07:24 worse than Tennessee's offensive line is this year, but the lack of weapons and in trying to get Drake May to move out of the pocket and utilize his athleticism, which Alex Van Pelt didn't do a ton of last year. And so a lot of the things that you just said, I think match up with Drake May in 2024. And now you see that step in development, as you just mentioned. and it's been huge. Josh McDaniels has been huge so far, trying to fit the offense around him. Interestingly enough, you mentioned play action. Not a lot of play action last week.

Starting point is 00:07:54 I actually thought Josh McDaniels walked into the game against the Saints last weekend on a heater. I thought he was doing a really good job. But in the second half against the Saints, I thought he was too predictable. The offense lacked some creativity. They ran the football on first down five straight times, the final five first downs of that game. They were run plays and hardly any of them. work. They lost yardage on most of them. So I'm interested to see how Josh McDaniels kind of pivots from last week's second

Starting point is 00:08:22 half to this Tennessee defense, which obviously I'm sure a guy will talk about an awful lot throughout this episode is Jeffrey Simmons. How do you account for him? How do you account for some of these other players on that defensive line? You know, it's going to be an interesting thing after what happened last week. 100%. And speaking of the Pat's offensive line, Jeffrey Simmons, maybe the other way around as well. Let's talk about some of the matchups that may determine. this game in week 7. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Mint Mobile.

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Starting point is 00:09:58 Today's episode's also brought to you by Bill. Nobody likes paying rent, but if you must, you might as well get something for it. That's where Bill comes in. B-I-L-T. Bill is changing the game by turning your rent payment into real rewards. you can actually use. When you pay rent through Bill, you earn flexible points that can be redeemed towards hundreds of hotels and airlines,

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Starting point is 00:11:18 and all that and the quarterbacks to the big matchups that will probably determine this game and I think a good place to start and correct me if I'm wrong Nick is the Patriots offensive line against Jeffrey Simmons in particular the Titans don't have a lot outside of Jeffrey Simmons but they're getting to Vandre sweat back this week he returned to practice after being on injured reserve he should be in line to play Jeffrey Simmons may very well be the best defensive player in the NFL through the first six weeks of the season. It would not be a stretch to say that.

Starting point is 00:11:48 And he's at minimum in the conversation. Where are you at with the Patriots offensive line that seems very much improved? And do you see any weak spots that could allow Simmons to expose that matchup? It's improved. It's improved, no doubt. But I agree with you that the top matchup

Starting point is 00:12:03 is Simmons against the interior offensive line because Jeffrey Simmons, to me, he can ruin drives, which can ruin games. And I watched the Raiders game from last. weekend. And it was a field goal drive, the first drive of the game. But my freaking goodness, Jeffrey Simmons had a run stop. He had a tackle for loss. He collapsed the interior offensive line. Like the entire interior offensive line of the Raiders was collapsed by one dude, Jeffrey Simmons, which opened up a Femiola Dejo tackle for loss. And then Simmons

Starting point is 00:12:33 had a sack on that same drive. Four impact plays. The dude is a monster. And if anybody knows it, understands it. It is Mike Vrable and this defensive coaching staff. that a lot of the guys, of course, came from Tennessee. So they understand how big of an issue it is. And look, one of the things that the Patriots offensive line has to hold up to is against size. You mentioned Sweat, who is obviously a rather large human being. And when you've got him and Simmons out there, Garrett Bradbury's had a very good season considering the expectations. He was awful in past protection last year.

Starting point is 00:13:05 He has stepped up big time this season. But he does tend to struggle at times with size because he's not a big guy. he's undersized. So Jared Wilson as well, the rookie left guard, he struggled at times with some power in some size. And Michael Wenu, who the right guard is, Tyler, he has, for the most part, played well. But there has been two or three big plays every game where he's been beaten badly. And sometimes it's on the goal line.

Starting point is 00:13:34 I mean, he picks the worst times to flop. So there are some questions, I think, the interior offensive line. of the Patriots with this specific matchup. Yeah, and I think that's fair. And listen, it's not just in pass protection too. I kind of look at this. Right now, the Patriots have 549 rushing yards on the season. That's in the bottom six or seven.

Starting point is 00:13:57 I do believe bottom six, bottom eight, they're 25th in the league right now. So it's not like they're blowing people off the ball in the run game either, which if the Titans can get them into third and long situations that can help a pass rush that really hasn't been that good. outside of Jeffrey Simmons. And sweat has had good moments in pass rush, but he still is yet to get a sack in his NFL career after only playing in the first game against Denver

Starting point is 00:14:21 and then last season didn't really get quarterbacks on the ground when he got that pressure. So given the Titans' defense, third and long situations could allow them to run more blitzes, run more stunts, and maybe they can get some pressure on Drake May because my big matchup to watch is the Patriots-wide receivers against the Titans' secondary. The Titan secondary has been generally solid throughout the season.

Starting point is 00:14:43 There haven't been a ton of explosive plays throughout the year. But Drake May is so good throwing deep passes. Like that sequence that he had against the Saints where it was the Phantom Offensive Pass Interference Call. What are we doing there? That was one of the – that was not offensive pass interference at all, and Diggs catching the ball.

Starting point is 00:15:00 But then he goes right back to Mack Hollins and it's just two back-to-back beautiful throws right in the breadbasket. I am a bit worried that Drake May, which I talked about the Patriots, maybe not running the ball. So absolutely fantastic. But they have certainly been throwing the ball very well. Number six in the NFL right now on total passing yards. I think the Titans can get attacked down the field against Drake May.

Starting point is 00:15:23 And I'm worried about Amani Hooker, Xavier Woods at safety, quandre Diggs. Woods and Diggs and Hooker, none of them are very fast, in my opinion. They're all slower. Hooker's slowing down. Woods is near 30. He's slowing down. Diggs is near the end of his career.

Starting point is 00:15:38 slowing down. So if they can get some speed down the field, I think it could be a big problem, especially like a Pop Douglas, who hasn't been maybe as good as, you know, Stefan Diggs and Kishon Booty, who has been awesome this year, it seems. Douglas has that speed that I think they could get him down the field and make some big plays for Drake May. You know, it's an interesting passing attack because it's like every single week, it's somebody different. You had Stefan Diggs who had the back-to-back big games against Carolina. And then, of course, his revenge game in Buffalo, which was just he was terrific. But it's really every week somebody else.

Starting point is 00:16:13 Week one, it was Kishon, Booty. You can throw Hunter Henry in there. He's had a big week or two. Last weekend was Pop Douglas and Booty. Pop Douglas should have had a bigger game, as you mentioned, if it wasn't for the Phantom OPI call on Stefan Diggs. So they've really been able to pick apart defenses with different weapons at different times, which is, you know, an old school.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Oh, Tom Brady, who's his favorite receiver, the open receiver, that old saying, right? It has that kind of feel to this offense. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Josh McDaniels worked with Tom Brady for so long. And Josh McDaniels is, again, the offensive coordinator. You mentioned the run game, though. I'll tell you the Pat's run game has been an abomination. It's been a joke. It's been embarrassing.

Starting point is 00:16:55 And it's really across all levels. I mean, the offensive line is to blame. The running backs are to blame. The tight ends are to blame. The wide receivers are to blame. Josh McDaniels sometimes, like I said last week and again, against the Saints, his predictability on first down, I think was part of the problem as well. They got to figure that out because, you know, at the top, I was talking about Drake May and really

Starting point is 00:17:19 him, you know, carrying this offense, it's been all on him and you can't expect that to continue to be the case for the rest of the season. It's just asking too much. So the Patriots, I say it every week, Tyler, they can't be one dimensional this weekend and hopefully they figure it out. The other thing I would say, you know, when you look at matchups, Harold Landry versus J.C. Latham is an interest to me. And, you know, you look at it, Harold Landry did not practice on Wednesday. It might be them managing him because he's a vet. Frable's done a lot of that this year, managing the older players.

Starting point is 00:17:52 But Harold Landry did have a pretty ugly looking play against the Saints where I thought he was done for the season. They showed the replay. Adam Archillette sounded like he wanted to throw up in the booth. I don't know if Harold Landry is Gumby, but he went back out there and played the rest of the game. I have no idea how he did it. So I don't know if this is, you know, stemming from that play against the Saints. And there's really an issue. And maybe he gotted it out last weekend and maybe he's having some problems this week.

Starting point is 00:18:21 We'll have to wait and see because I think that matchup, you know, Latham's second game back from IR. I'm not going to read too, too much into last week because, again, it's his first game back. And it's Max Crosby, who's one of the best players in football. But Harold Landry, I know Tennessee fans might be like Harold Landry. We watched him last year. he looks like a different guy his first step is there the quickness is there he's comfortable with this system he's comfortable with rabel and if harold landry's not out there you know they've got some problems on the edge so hopefully he's out there for the patriots sake yeah they would need

Starting point is 00:18:53 him and the crazy thing about harold landry to me is he's using different pass rush moves than he ever used in tennessee like he basically only had the speed rush the dip in the bend now he's using cross shops and two-handed swipes and stuff. He's just totally going to another level. Five sacks on the year leads the Patriots and pressures with 25, according to pro football focus. He's definitely been an impact player and that'll be something to watch there. I do think that it's funny to go back to the Patriots run game and the Titans run defense.

Starting point is 00:19:24 The Titans run defense is bottom 10 in the NFL. They're giving up 133 yards per game. The Patriots run game is bottom 10 in the NFL. We talk so much about strength on strength stuff, but that's weakness on weakness and whoever can take advantage of the other team's weakness I think will be in a great spot to win but speaking of winning, we do need to talk about the keys to victory

Starting point is 00:19:43 in this game and it's no secret that the Titans are underdogs so I think that the Titans need to go with a classic underdog playbook that we've seen since the beginning of time with football to win this one. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Mazda.

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Starting point is 00:21:02 All right, speaking of the impossible, I think the Tennessee Titans are in a tough spot with getting a win. And that's why when we go to the keys to victory here and what has to happen for each team to win the game. For me, I look at the Titans, and they've got to go with the classic underdog playbook, Nick. They have to win time of possession, run the football and keep the ball out of Drake May's hands because he's going to create explosive plays. They need to win the turnover battle. And that's something that, you know, you look at the Patriots in the games where they've lost this year. It's mostly been because they had major turnover issues.

Starting point is 00:21:41 So it's not completely unrealistic for the Titans to think, hey, you know, we could potentially win here. Like, their two losses on the year, it was they tied the turnover battle. Their other loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, five turnovers and still only lost by seven points. Probably a better team than the Steelers, if we're honest. But if the Titans don't win the turnover battle, which feels like they haven't since Denver week one and Cam Ward every time he gets hitty fumbles and tip passes at the line of scrimmage are going to be big this week.

Starting point is 00:22:10 You know the Patriots are going to be all over that. Mike Vrable is going to see how many tip passes Cam Ward has had. The Titans need to win the time of possession battle. They need to win the turnover battle. And I think they need something crazy to happen. They need like a kickoff return for a touchdown or a punt block or a field goal block. They need something crazy like that to happen

Starting point is 00:22:30 to beat a team that is better than them on paper and better than them overall. So they're going to need the classic underdog playbook to be able to win this one. Yeah, if I'm Mike Vrable, if I'm Zach Corr, who has replaced Terrell Williams due to prostate cancer as the defensive coordinator and the play caller on Sundays,

Starting point is 00:22:48 my number one priority defensively is to put this game completely on Cam War. Put it all on the rookie quarterback. You know, keep shutting down the run, the Patriots have been one of the best run defenses in football. And they've really done it against some good offenses as far as running the ball, right? We see what Carolina is doing running the ball last weekend. Rico Dowdell loses his mind and goes off.

Starting point is 00:23:09 The Patriots shut down James Cook and Buffalo on Sunday night. So their run defense has been very good to the point where I don't want to take it for granted, but I almost feel like you walk in every week and you feel pretty good that a team's not going to be able to run over you. So if you can shut down the runner, at least limit the run significantly, enforce this game into the hands of Cam Ward. You get the rookie quarterback with the interim head coach. It'll be interesting to see if Tennessee

Starting point is 00:23:34 changes anything. You mentioned some of the offensive things that you think they should be doing. We'll see if they do it. Your turnover point is a good one. And look, Drake May, the best thing about Drake May's 2025 so far is that he's practically cut his turnover-worthy

Starting point is 00:23:50 play rate in half from last season to this season. And the last few games, he has not put the ball in harm's way. You go back to the loss against Pittsburgh. You mentioned it five turnovers, two by Drake. So one of them was, you know, in the red zone, in the end zone with a pick. And then he had to fumble carelessly holding the football. So I agree. They got to take care of the ball. The other thing for the Patriots, I think, is that they've got to finish drives. And in, you know, Tennessee's defense hasn't been great, but they are, they are 12th in

Starting point is 00:24:22 the NFL in red zone defense. So they've done a pretty good job of limiting teams, finding dirt when they hit the red area. The Patriots middle of the pack offensively in the red zone. They're 17th in the league. So, you know, you look at last week's game, Tyler, against the Raiders. Patriots get the ball inside the five after a Drake May scramble. And it's a bleep show that the first play is a run for about a yard. The second play is a run falls apart because the offensive line. They lose three yards. Then Drake May and explicably gets a delay of game, which pushes it out to the nine yard line. And they run a safe screen to Stefan Diggs that gets three yards and they kick a field goal. So if the Patriots can finish drives and put some points on

Starting point is 00:25:00 the board, that's even more pressure on Cam Ward. Yeah, 100%. And I think when you talk about Cam Ward to go along with the underdog playbook, the Titans got to find a way to hit some big plays. Right now, the Patriots are the worst defense in the NFL in yards per attempt. So when the Patriots past defense does give up things, they're giving up big plays down the field. And the yards after catch are as a big thing as well. So the Titans have to find a way. to hit some shots down the field and likewise on the other side of it the Titans yards per attempt is terrible

Starting point is 00:25:32 like the passing game has been awful even on defense they haven't been good with that so I am worried about the deep passing and I think to add to some of the stuff that I said earlier you're going to need if you're the Titans you're going to need to hit some deep passes and get some major chunk plays because you're not going to be able to grind it out

Starting point is 00:25:50 against this defense like you said with the run defense that's just simply not going to happen so the Titans are going to have to find way to get some deep passing going, something that they've really struggled with throughout the year. Who in the secondary right now? I know Christian Gonzalez has come back here. Who in the secondary has been struggling and who do you think they can rely on to play well? Well, I think some of the early issues, you know, the first game, some of those stats are just crippled by the first game against the Raiders when the Patriots gave up nine, nine plays of

Starting point is 00:26:19 20 plus yards in that game against the Raiders and Gino Smith. They've had their trouble. Last week, first played the game, they blitz Carlton Davis, and Carlton Davis, pretty much with the speed of the tin man, can't get to the quarterback, and that leaves Kyle Dugger one-on-one against Chris Alave, which nobody wants, probably including Kyle Dugger, and Spencer Rattler hits Alave for 50-plus yards. So Jalen Hawkins did not practice on Wednesday. He's been a starting safety. He was out last week. If you want big plays, I think you try to get matchups against Kyle Dugger, who has struggled mightily. especially the past couple of years in coverage and giving up big plays over the top. So the other safety is Craig Woodson.

Starting point is 00:27:02 He had some issues early because he's a rookie, but he's improving. And I think he actually played pretty well last weekend. Gonzalez is a game changer. It's interesting the Patriots don't really let Gonzalez travel with the best receiver. So they've pretty much stuck to sides. Last week, they played a lot of zone against Rattler. I don't know what they're going to do this weekend against Cam Ward. I will say, you know, there's kind of two thoughts here.

Starting point is 00:27:26 You can either try to play a man against the questionable weapons of Tennessee. I'm not really wowed by any of their receivers. So maybe you play a man and say, no, we can lock them down and we can devote extra people to the run game and spying on Cam Ward to make sure his legs don't go bananas against us. Or you can play zone and test the patience of the rookie quarterback and hope your pass rush gets home. So I don't really know what they're going to do, but they are better since Christian Gonzalez has been back. I'll take a guess here and I say they play more man coverage The Titans don't have anybody that can beat you in man

Starting point is 00:28:00 It's been a problem for the Titans Going before Cam Ward They haven't had good answers against man coverage I would bet they play a little bit more man Than they normally do this week But looking forward to the game Nick We don't need exact score predictions But I have a hard time seeing the Titans pull off this win

Starting point is 00:28:17 Even with the you know The fired coach performance bump That you see sometimes I think the Patriots are just too good, and I have a hard time believing that Mike Vrable would allow his team to lose this game. I think the Titans fall here to 1 and 6, and I think the Patriots move to 5 and 2. The Patriots should win, will they? I actually wait to give my prediction on my Friday episode, Tyler. So I'm going to hold it out there. They should win. Everything tells you they should win,

Starting point is 00:28:43 but do I think they'll win? I guess Patriots fans, Lockdown Patriots, listeners, viewers will have to wait until Friday to find out what I think about that. Hey, locked on Titans fans, tune in too. still get more behind-the-scenes information there. That's right. I'll make another guess, and I guess that you think the Patriots are going to win. But we will see how everything shakes out. We're going to be making more guesses on games all over the national football league

Starting point is 00:29:06 on Locked on NFL, the Friday episodes. So make sure that you guys check that out when me and Nick talk about our best bets of the weekend. But that's going to do it for today's crossover Thursday episode, went over the key storylines, the matchups to watch, the keys to victory as well. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Locked on Titans, Locked on Patriots. That's going to do it for us today. And again, make sure that you tune in Friday for our full game preview episodes.

Starting point is 00:29:28 Everybody take care out there.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Revenge: Mike Vrabel Returns to Tennessee | Can Titans Survive Onslaught?

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