Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - 2020 Awards Show - Titans MVP, Breakout Star, Biggest Disappointment on OFF/DEF & Tannehill Gives Back

Episode Date: January 29, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. I was checking out the Grammy reviews, looking at all of the awards passed out on Sunday night in the music world, something I like to, you know, follow up on, and it made me get to thinking a little bit. We never really passed out any awards for the season for the Titans, so that's what I want to do today. It is an awards Wednesday. We are going to spend our first segment talking about the offense, MVP, rookie of the year, biggest breakout star, biggest disappointment, a couple others. And then what we're going to do is we're going to flip that. We're going to go to the defensive side of the ball. We are going to talk, you know, best play

on defense, breakout star, clutch performer, MVP. We are going to go over a bunch of different awards here for the offense and the defense and talk a little bit of special teams at the end as well and then in our final segment I just want to broadcast something to you guys that may maybe was missed throughout you know all of the the talk about the senior bowl and the pro bowl and just all the conversation around the NFL right now but just a really good deed that Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill did and is doing for someone in the Super Bowl. So in our third and final segment, I'll talk to you guys about that because I think it's important not just to highlight what these guys do out on the field,

but highlight what they do off the field as well for the community. That's very important, and I think it's a really big piece of the fabric of what this organization is. And it makes me proud as someone who covers the team to see these type of things take place. So I'm going to shine a light on that in our third segment. Ready to jump into everything with you guys. Let's get it.

Welcome to the 2020 Locked On Titans Award Show. Just kidding, I'm not going to use that voice the whole time. But what we do want to start with here are some overall team awards here. You know, we're going to do offense first. We're going to do defense in our second segment. But we have some overall team awards here. The first award that I want to give out is for Game of the Year. And I know that there are a lot of good candidates here,

but I had to go with the most important win of all, and that was the win over the Ravens, 28-12 in the divisional round. I think although that game wasn't a super close game, it wasn't down to the wire or anything like that, it just symbolized that everything that this organization is about. And with how big of an underdog the Titans were going into that game, 10-point road dogs going into a playoff game. It's just absolutely outrageous. With all the hype for Lamar Jackson, one of the best offenses of all time, the greatest running quarterback ever, they were crowning him. They were having ceremonies for Lamar Jackson.

The Titans were getting dogged on national TV. Colleen Wolfe from the NFL, Mina Kimes and Mallory Rubin from the Ringer. We saw different personalities all over national television for sports talking about how the Titans didn't even stand a chance, that it was a foregone conclusion that the Ravens were going to win that game so this kind of leads me into that's you know the build-up for that game and then the game itself while I said it wasn't a close barn burner or shootout or anything down to the wire the way that it all played out Kevin Bayard intercepting Lamar Jackson in the very first play, having him not look comfortable,

the expression, the expression on the Ravens' faces during that game, the way that the Titans just completely smothered them, any opportunity that they had to score points. Yeah, they let the Ravens go up and down the field later in the game once it was kind of in hand, but we saw a deep touchdown pass from Ryan Tannehill. We saw Earl Thomas talking crap and then get turned into a lead blocker for Derrick Henry, who ran all over the Ravens for 190 plus yards. I mean, we saw everything that we needed to see. Kenny Vaccaro was a force out there and leading the team and ended up with an interception.

We saw a strip by Jarrell Casey, who is one of the pivotal players that this franchise has had for the last you know decade or so and he was able to make a big play playing defensive end for a lot of that game so just so many different things took place and the one-handed catch by Johnnie Smith I mean my lord I know that like I said the game wasn't the closest but that has to be the game of the year for me Titans over the Ravens on the road 10 point underdogs in the divisional round of the playoffs where no one ever thought the Titans would get to 28 to 12 everything about that game makes it the game of the year for me the MVP of the Tennessee Titans is Derrick Henry. I know that the offense changed once Tannehill took over,

and there is a good argument to be made for four players, in my opinion. Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill, Logan Ryan, and Brett Kern. I think that all four players have a really good case to be made, but I would go ahead and rank them Henry, Tannehill, Ryan, and Kern. I think Derrick Henry, it's not just his play on the field that makes him the MVP of this team. It's the leadership that we saw in the playoffs that he mentioned. He was given speeches at the beginning of training camp. Why not us?

Everything that we saw from Derek Henry off the field shows that he is the type of leader that this team rallied around. And it makes sense that on the back of his play and his leadership, the Titans made this sort of push. He had over 100 yards in 8 of 19 games, 1,540 yards and 16 rushing touchdowns on the season. And I mean, late in the season, he absolutely dominated. We saw the three games in a row over 180 yards, which is an NFL record. We saw two games in the playoffs over 180 yards, which is an NFL record. So a lot of things that Derrick Henry was doing on the field transcended the running back position. He was the type of leader and had

the type of gravitational pull and the type of impact on the game that a quarterback would normally have. He gave that kind of faith to the team. So Derek Henry is the MVP for me with Ryan Tannehill being a close second. And then the coach of the year, in my opinion, has to go to Arthur Smith. I thought Dean Pease had a better season the season before in terms of defense. Now a lot of that had to do with the health of the Titans defense in Pease's first season. But you look at Arthur Smith's numbers across the board. The Titans were number one in the red zone scoring touchdowns when they got the opportunity. Top 10 in points scored with 25 plus a game.

Got to 12th in the NFL in yards at 362. Had the third best rushing attack at 138. And not only that, but you look at those numbers and think of how much better they would have been if not for the first six weeks of the season, where the Titans struggled to score, were terrible, quite frankly. So if not for that, how much better would the numbers even be? It's fair to say this is a top 10 offense. So you've got to give credit to Arthur Smith for giving the Titans the best offense they've had

almost since the team moved to Tennessee, to my recollection, and definitely just the excitement of watching the offense play. And it was the way that he schemed it all up to using Tannehill's mobility and his athleticism to run bootlegs off of play action and utilizing the play action with the strength of Derrick Henry being a one-cut runner and running outside zone and getting the ball in the hands of playmakers that the Titans have, like A.J. Brown and Jonu Smith, who can get the ball and then break tackles and get downfield. So he utilized the personnel as best as possible, I thought. And to me, that is the hallmark of any good coach, is that they don't force the players

into their system. They create a system that's best for their players. So Arthur Smith was the top coach of the year for me. So let's get into the offense specific awards now after we've covered some of the more overall team awards. The best play for the offense of the season, in my opinion, was the Adam Humphreys game winning touchdown 23 yard catch to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. I thought that game turned the season all the way around and that was my number two candidate for game of the year, number three being the Chargers game. So I thought that Humphreys touchdown catch to win that game over

the Chiefs totally changed the Titans season from, hey, we're a good team, we're playing well with a new offense to, hey, we can really make a run here. We're a good team. Beating a team like the Chiefs who, you know, ultimately ended up in the Super Bowl and could win it, obviously beating that team gave the Titans valid and reasonable confidence coming out of that. And I thought that game changed the whole tenor of the season from, hey, you know, we're having a pretty good year to, wow, we can really make a push. And that was the springboard, in my opinion, that created the run that the Titans ended up going on moving down to rookie of the year AJ Brown I mean I'm not going

to try to get cute with you guys for any reason 52 catches 1051 yards eight touchdowns he had the rushing touchdown he was just an impact in the Titans offense from the moment that he finally got the opportunities that he should have been getting well you know he's a rookie he had to learn a lot I know I understand that but we even saw him make a huge impact in the Browns game from week one so he had a catch in every game in the regular season for the Titans and was the most consistent receiving threat and most explosive receiving threat they had all season. As a rookie, that's incredibly impressive, and hopefully he's able to win Rookie of the Year from the Associated Press overall on Saturday night at the NFL Honors.

Moving to the breakout offensive star, I've got to give that to Jonu Smith. A.J. Brown got Rookie of the Year. He's an obvious choice, so I wanted to diversify things a little bit. Tight end Jonu Smith, 35 catches 35 catches 439 yards three touchdowns the biggest example I can give is that once Delaney Walker got hurt there was a lot of concern about the tight end position going forward there was a lot of concern about how much the Titans would miss Delaney Walker well the Titans didn't miss Delaney Walker so that's the best example I can give a Johnnie Smith's breakout the second best example I can give is forever and all eternity, well at least the last two to three seasons, people have been

mocking tight ends to the Titans in the first round even though any analyst that actually covered the team or any fan that followed the team knew that there's no way they would be going tight end in the first round. So it was just kind of lazy analysis from a lot of the national guys having a tight end to the Titans in the first round. And this will probably be the first year where we don't see that. Finally, the Titans' tight end position gets respect, and it's crazy that it would be Jonu Smith who impressed so many people and leave them feeling that way, rather than Delaney Walker, who's been one of the better tight ends in the NFL during his tenure, during his career. So, Jonu Smith, breakout star of the season, leaving the Titans in a position where they don't necessarily have to attack for a starting tight end or even a high-level backup tight

end. I do think they need to improve the position, as I mentioned on Tuesday, but Jonu Smith broke out and that left them in a really good position. The biggest disappointment on the offense, probably Corey Davis. As the fifth overall pick in the first round, you would have had to expect much more production from him throughout his career. And obviously he's been hindered by the quality of the offense during most of his early career in the NFL. It's obvious now that it's not just the other things around him to blame. Corey Davis had plenty of opportunity to produce a bit more,

have better statistics, and help this team out a lot more when the offense was humming, and Tannehill was playing better than we've seen in quite some time, probably since Marcus' breakout season in 2016. LeSai, Corey Davis only had 43 catches, 601 yards, two touchdowns. Quite frankly, that's just not enough from a fifth overall pick who's supposed to be in the vein of an A.J. Green, Julio Jones. You know, you got to expect high level, high level production from a fifth overall pick.

And Corey Davis, unfortunately, just hasn't shown it. And you can't make any excuses for him anymore. I will say he's one of the best blocking wide receivers in the NFL. Hands down, it's something that I want to highlight later in the offseason, but you don't draft a guy fifth overall to be a blocker. So Corey Davis is my biggest disappointment for the offense and the clutch performer for the offense is quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Gotta give him an award in here somewhere. 9.4 yards per attempt, led the NFL. 117 quarterback rating, led the NFL.

70.3 completion percentage, 2,742 yards, 22 touchdowns, 6 interceptions. He had three game-winning drives against the Chargers, against the Buccaneers, against the Chiefs, of course, almost against New Orleans, and I contend he would have had another if not for that missed call against Kalief Raymond. So, got to give Ryan Tannehill the Clutch Award. He made plays at every single step of the way when he needed to to lead the Titans on the type of run that they had, and although he underperformed a little bit statistically in the playoffs he still made the plays when he had to he the bomb to Khalif Raymond the beautiful throw to John Smith we saw in the wild card round he got the Titans on the board early which is something

people weren't given proper credit for as the Titans were passing to get those leads and then salting the game away with the run so Ryan Tannehill was clutch throughout the season and couldn't be more impressed with the way he just stepped in after not playing for six weeks, getting traded to a new team, having a new roster of guys around him, having a new system to learn and new coaches that he's never been around before. All of these roadblocks that most quarterbacks would use as excuses, Tannehill was able to overcome and

probably be the NFL's comeback player of the year so the clutch award for the offense goes to Ryan Tannehill that is going to do it for the offensive portion of our award show in our second segment we are going to jump over to the defense talk defensive MVP breakout star biggest disappointment and everything else make sure that you're following me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Let me know who you think should have won the awards if you differ in opinion. Let me know there and make sure you're subscribed to the show, Locked on Titans on whatever platform that you do stream as I'll continue to bring you guys content throughout the offseason.

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And I picked this player, not just, I mean, their play on the field completely warranted it as well. But if you've heard me talk at all about who the Titans need to bring back, this player was not just so important because of his play on the field. He was important because of his leadership, his intelligence, and the type of mentality that he has off the field. And that was one of the big reasons why I named Derrick Henry the MVP of the entire team. But it's another core reason to why the defensive MVP is Logan Ryan. Four interceptions, four forced fumbles, four and a half sacks, 113 tackles. I mean, the guy does everything.

And because we have Logan Ryan, the Titans have the ability to play nickel, to play dime all the time, even against an offense like Baltimore that will come out with two tight ends and a fullback or three tight ends. Logan Ryan is so physical in the run game. He's basically exactly in the middle between a safety and a linebacker, but he plays slot corner. He does struggle a little bit in one-on-one coverage. He's not the quickest, most agile guy at this point in his career. But his intelligence, his physicality, his understanding of what the defense and the offense is trying to do out on the field, and then his leadership. We talk about the work he's willing to put in.

He came from the Patriots. He's won two Super Bowls. He knows exactly what you need to do to win in this league. He's talked about it himself. He knows what his role has been here in the three years that he's been in Nashville. So I think Logan Ryan is the defensive MVP for multiple reasons, and that's all of them. And I really do hope, as I mentioned in yesterday's episode, that Logan Ryan is back on this team on, you know, a team-friendly deal. But I don't see him getting over. I really, I don't see an overpay coming. So I really think Logan Ryan is back on this team on a team-friendly deal, but I don't see him getting over. I don't see an overpay coming,

so I really think Logan Ryan needs to be back on this team. He's my defensive MVP. The best play of the season for the defense, in my opinion, was the goal line stop against the Chargers. That's right in the thick of the moments where the Titans season can either go into tank mode or they can start a run like we saw them go on. And having the guy we're going to talk about next make plays up front in his first game

and then a veteran like Wesley Woodyard who played a role. One of the things that makes this team what it is, is that every player on the team really does play a crucial role. And we saw Wesley Woodyard in a reduced role this year as kind of a third, fourth linebacker, special teamer, come in in one of the biggest plays of the year, get a strip on the goal line to end a game. We saw pressure from the line up front. We saw Rashawn Evans get some penetration as well and make Melvin Gordon dance outside.

So a lot of people are responsible, and that's why I think that is the best play of the season for the defense, because it took everybody to get it done, and multiple people and multiple roles were utilized to get that stop. And there were multiple plays, multiple plays that the Titans had to defend one yard, and I think they are the best defense in the NFL at defending one yard. They were at least in the 2019 regular season, so that goal line stop symbolizes everything that this defense was. The rookie of the year, it's got to be Jeff Simmons. I mean, David Long had some good moments. The strip against Kansas City played against the Ravens quite a bit. Imani Hooker got tons of snaps out there in the Titans diamond formation where he

would be playing the deep safety so that Kevin Byard could move around the field a little bit more and Rashawn Evans would go to the line to rush and Vaccaro would go to linebacker with Jay on to play coverage. So because we had Amani Hooker, it allowed the Titans to do a lot of things on defense that were very successful for them schematically and personnel wise. to do a lot of things on defense that were very successful for them schematically and personnel-wise. But Jeffrey Simmons came in in that game against the Chargers, was able to get a sack, was able to get incredible penetration on the line during the goal line stand. We saw him absolutely destroy, along with the help of Daquan Jones,

destroy the interior front for the Patriots in the playoff game. Like I mentioned, the Titans are the best defense in the NFL in 2019 at defending one yard. We saw them stop the Ravens twice on fourth and short, and one of the biggest reasons for that success on fourth and short was Jeff Simmons. Big Jeff, hate the nickname, love the player, but Jeffrey Simmons, 32 tackles, two sacks, four tackles for loss, coming off of a torn ACL, a rookie season, no training camp, no preseason. I mean, what else could you ask from that guy? He's going to be a force going forward if he's able to stay healthy and stay in great shape. So look forward to seeing Jeffrey Simmons perform next year with, like I said, an actual training camp,

an actual preseason, and an actual beginning to the season so he can get in football quality shape, football quality fitness. It's going to be exciting to watch him and the breakout star for the defense, Harold Landry, work together for years to come. Landry had 43 tackles, had an interception, had nine sacks on the season, really wanted him to get that double digits, but nine sacks is a great you know production for a second year player one forced fumble 14 quarterback hits Landry did tail off later in the year but it's

because of all the attention he was getting and people knew that if they shut down Landry because Jarrell Casey really didn't have a fantastic year so if you can hold Landry if you can move away from Landry with action in the pocket, boot away from him, slide away from him, have the offensive tackle try to push him back. Landry could have done better himself as well, but teams were really focusing on him in the back half of the season. He'll need to continue improving and continue to gain consistency in all his pass rushing moves to not be able to be taken out of the game plan in that way.

But like I said, he's a second year player. He had no help on the line from a pass rush perspective, really. I mean, the second best edge rusher on the team this year was Kamalei Correa. So Jarrell Casey, as I mentioned, didn't have a banner year from a pass rushing standpoint. Jeffrey Simmons really wasn't able to get up to speed in the pass rush, more of a focus on the run game. Daquan Jones, Roberson was added late. Reggie Gilbert was in and out of the lineup. And that moves us to our biggest disappointment, and that was Cameron Wake, because the Titans' pass rush is clearly the biggest need on the team. It was the biggest disappointment unit-wise overall. Throughout the season, the Titans were not able to get a consistent pass rush with our defensive linemen. That includes the interior defensive linemen,

but you got to focus on the edge when you talk about the pass rush that we're discussing right now. Harold Landry was a breakout star, but he had no one to help him, and that allowed some of his regression in the second half of the season. That's because Cam Wake wasn't out there. He was injured for most of the season. He had a great week one. Two and a half s the season and that's because Cam Wake wasn't out there he was injured for most of the season he had a great week one two and a half sacks had that safety against Baker Mayfield was fantastic and as I mentioned yesterday he was efficient in his rush opportunities throughout the season but he just wasn't out on the field enough and when you pay a guy eight million dollars to come in and fill a role immediately it's a huge disappointment to see Cam Wake not be able to stay on the field.

He was a guy who everyone talked about in the preseason, has talked about throughout his career, that he takes great care of his body. He has a wonderful diet, very professional when it comes to taking care of his fitness off the field, and I'm not saying those things didn't happen. I'm just saying that's part of the disappointment. If you talk about all the things that would happen with Cam Wake, all the different possible outcomes for Cam Wake throughout the season, you wouldn't possibly think that he would only play in, you know, eight to nine games, nine games, and end up on IR. So if Cam Wake would have been out there, the season

maybe would have been a little different from a pass rush standpoint, but that's the biggest disappointment I think on this defense for the season is the absence of Cam Wake and his inability to give them any production for the eight and a half million that they were paying him during the season. The most clutch player for the defense, our final defensive award, Kevin Byard. Got to give it to KB here. He didn't have the best season that he's had of his career, either interceptions or tackles or general impact. You know, he had his lapses later in the season as the health of the secondary was obviously compromised, but he still had five interceptions on the year, 79 tackles.

I gave him the Clutch Award because he made plays in the biggest games. He made plays when the Titans needed it most as well. So it's a combination of those two things at the same time. We obviously saw him, as I mentioned earlier, get that interception on Lamar Jackson to open the divisional round. We saw him get an interception in the very first game of the year against the Browns. So in the last game, the last win of the season, the first win of the season, he's out there making huge plays and critical moments to shift the momentum of a game for the Titans. And when things were down, when things were bad in the toughest times of the season, and I would point out the two weeks against Buffalo where the Titans only scored seven and lost at home,

and then the next game against Denver where they were unable to score on the road and had zero points, Byard got an interception in both those games. He was trying to bring this team back in their darkest moments. He was there getting over a hump like winning in Indianapolis. He got an interception for the Titans there. The last game of the season against Houston, a win-and-in, win-or-go-home game. Kevin Byard gets an interception. So he makes the biggest plays in

the biggest moments when the team needs it the most, whether that's, you know, in the best moments or in the lowest moments, he always seems to be the one who's there to flip the momentum for this team and give them the ball back. And he's been doing that his entire career. So have to give the clutch award to safety, Kevin Byard, and that's going to conclude our defensive awards I have to mention Brett Kern he got first team all pro he got the pro bowl nod he's widely considered the best punter in the league but I mentioned him in the MVP conversation at the beginning of the show because I wanted to make sure that I got his name he's clearly the most important person on the special teams unit the Titans have a lot of good special teams player but everything pales in comparison

to what Brett Kern does flipping the field for the Titans creating an advantage in the field position battle he's just excellent the best punter in the game and that's that's all that needs to be said about him and his deservedness of the special teams MVP so he definitely gets that award we are going to move forward to our third segment. As I mentioned at the beginning, it's a thing I want to shed a spotlight on here in the offseason. The Titans players are not just great on the field and great in the locker room. They're fantastic off the field as well. So I want to take the opportunity to highlight not just a Titans player who's doing good

in the community, but also highlight a member of the Tennessee community who deserves a little recognition as well. On Monday, Ryan Tannehill announced that in partnership with the insurance company USAA that specifically serves military veterans, he would be providing two free tickets to a local Tennessean who had served in the military for 16 years. Dustin Maxfield from Clarksville, Tennessee spent 16 years in the Army, started out in the Army Reserves, and actually had five different tours of duty, including Iraq and Afghanistan from 2007 to 2017. Due to a medical accident in 2015, he was medically discharged in 2017,

but his journey did not end there, and Maxfield did not stop helping his community and his brothers. He currently works with service dogs, training them, rehoming them, getting them into a better position, works with service dogs, training them, rehoming them, getting them into a better position, and also helps with homeless veterans and trying to ease their pain and help with their current situation as well. So someone who gave all they possibly could give to this country and to their fellow citizens, but as soon as that time was over, continued to work and try to give back to their community and give back to the people who helped them as well. So shout out to Dustin Maxfield. I think anybody who does that kind of work deserves a ton of recognition. And it's nice to see Ryan Tannehill take this opportunity to give him Super Bowl tickets,

get him to an opportunity that would be very difficult for your average person. Even someone like Maxfield with a decorated military career would be difficult for someone to afford or find it feasible to get to the Super Bowl. What I really love about this story is that Maxfield will be taking his father, Rodney, to the game as someone who was raised by a single father. The bond between a son and his father is something that I cherish and something that I respect greatly. So to see Tannehill give back to this person who

has given so much to this country and to all of us and him have the opportunity to give that back and push that forward to his father and give the opportunity to his father. Well, I don't think that you're going to find a better story in relation to the Titans this week. So shout out to Tannehill. Shout out to Dustin Maxfield. Shout out to his father, Rodney Maxfield as well. You have to love these kind of stories and love everything that Tannehill is doing, not only on the field, but off the field as well. And with Maxfield being a Clarksville, Tennessee resident,

you would really love to see Tannehill come back. Clearly, he enjoys the city. He enjoys the state. He cares about the people in it, and he's willing to go out into the community, even as a free agent. Think about that. Ryan Tannehill is currently a free agent. He owes nothing to the Tennessee Titans. He owes nothing to Tennessee. He doesn't even know if that's going to be his home going forward. Things are very up in the air, but he's still taking this opportunity, even though he's definitely hurt. And he even

mentioned at the Pro Bowl that he's still not over that loss and we all understand that as well that most of us are not over the loss to the Chiefs yet either but he's still taking time out of his busy offseason schedule and getting ready for free agency to take care of a Tennessee native who has done so much for us so that's something that I felt I needed to highlight for you guys. It's the biggest story around the Titans in my opinion right now and it deserves the most shine. And it's not just Ryan Tannehill. One thing about this Tennessee Titans team and the roster that's been assembled is it's full of good men. We see the work that Logan Ryan does with his animal related charity. We see the work that Wesley Woodyard does. We see the work that Kevin Byard does. Even Marcus Mariota has done tons of great work within the community.

Derek Henry has done tons of great work in the community. Rashawn Evans. I mean, I can continue to go down the list of all the players, Jarrell Casey, who have done so much for the Tennessee community. And the best part about this Tennessee Titans football team is it's not just the play on the field. It's what these guys are as men off the field that make this team and this organization so special.

And, of course, a shout-out to Amy Adams Strunk for building this culture of good people, a family environment, and giving back to the people who mean the most. We see examples of that when Mike Vrabel and the players talk about the kitchen staff, the equipment guys, the trainers. Everybody in the organization and in the state feels like family, and everyone is treated as such.

Very proud of Ryan Tannehill. Very proud to cover the Tennessee Titans and see the things that they're doing off the field for the community, and this is a great example of it. That is going to wrap up today's show. I hope you guys enjoyed the 2020 Locked on Titans award show. Okay, I'm not doing the voice anymore ever again. Well, I guess maybe until next year's award show. Tune in and find out.

But that is going to wrap everything up. We did the team awards, the offensive awards, the defensive awards. Talked to Brett Kern because he definitely deserves an award for the special teams MVP. And then wanted to shine a light on something that makes this Titans team and locker room and community so special. So I hope you guys really enjoyed today's episode. I will be back with you tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.