Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - AJ Brown Inactive?? Injury Report Update, Titans Talk & Rowland's Rewind

Episode Date: October 3, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is the kickoff to the football week. I cannot wait for all the games to get started and then eventually Sunday will be here before you know it. Today's show, we are going to get into A.J. Brown being inactive. Blake Bedingfield had some comments on the midday 180 this week that we're going to talk about and I'll give you kind of what he had to say and what I think is really going on with this whole entire conversation that's happened. And then in our second segment, we're going to do a little bit of Titans talk with the return of Taylor LeJuan. Taylor spoke today or spoke on Wednesday after practice and a lot of his teammates had things

to say today about his return. So I want to make sure you guys get all that information in our second segment. And then in our third segment, we're going to do Roland's Rewind, and we are going to take a look back at the last time that the Titans played the Bills. A lot of you will remember, as I call it, the Nick Williams game. We will just take a look at how that game played out, because I do think there will be a little bit, some key themes we can take from that game that we should expect on Sunday, even though it's different teams and an entirely different year.

So we're going to get into all of that today. Really excited. Once again, kickoff to the football week. Let's get it. your tennessee titans lead story is blake beddingfield who is currently a contributor at the midday 180 and was a scout for the titans for over 19 years finishing as the college director of scouting before john robinson came in and made some changes he had some comments about aj brown on tuesday saying essentially that he could see him being inactive for some games. I want to give you guys the full context here that he was talking about. So just to give you a little bit of what was said on Tuesday. Essentially, Blake Bedingfield made a comment where he said that A.J. Brown, who's best working inside routes and a

bigger, more physical player who's easily covered up downfield because he lacks speed, and he could see him being inactive at certain times. Here's a quote for you guys. Quote, yeah, so he played 24 snaps, which would say he's situational in this game. He had three catches, kind of an inside route for a TD that he took outside, a fade route for a TD, which was a really physical one-on-one matchup. There are going to be times when A.J. Brown has these type of opportunities. This game, Cleveland, you saw it. There are other games when he's not in Jacksonville or he's not going to be as active. Even in this game, the Titans didn't make him active. He was not on the field. So when

you say there were 60 plus plays on offense, he was on the field for 24. Somebody else was playing. So I'm saying he was situational. Situations just happened to be good when he was out there. And that's what's going to happen with a rookie wide receiver, especially someone that was used to lining up inside in college and is now playing on the outside more. He's still better on the inside than he is out consistently. This was a little bit more of a softer coverage type team than it was versus Jacksonville, and they were a little more in his face at the line of scrimmage

and making him run precise routes and get off that bump and run coverage. They didn't do that this week. They were playing more of a man, and he was able to take advantage of that. Paul Kuharski countered. He's not going to be inactive though. To which Blake Bedingfield finally responded, it just depends. Tajay Sharp has kind of fallen through the back a little bit in this offense. He is going to be inactive. We'll see how the rest of the season goes. We are just a quarter of the way there. Right now, I would say no. Why would you make him inactive? But there are times where it could be more of a Tajay type game. That is

obviously when I thought they would have a vertical stretch guy with Tyjuan Taylor, but that's not there either. So this is what they have on offense, and they are going to try to be bigger on the outside, more physical. In certain games they'll have opportunities like they did this week and games like Jacksonville they won't. So that's his full quote right there and as you can tell some of his thought process is a little frantic. It was hard for me to read quite frankly because he was jumping all over the place. I think the idea think the idea that AJ Brown could be inactive for a game day for the Titans when he's healthy is just absurd considering what he showed so far and how high he was picked in this last 2019 draft in the second round the 51st overall pick there's just no way with that information combined with the production he's given the Titans in the first quarter of the season that he would be inactive for a game regardless of the scheme or the type

of secondary that the Titans are going against. I think in this situation, something to consider is not everything that he said is wrong. A.J. Brown probably would be more effective out of the slot. He's not a precise route runner at this time. He's more of a guy that's a weapon once you get the ball in his hands. So the Titans are going to give him easy routes to run that they expect will create separation through the scheme and they can get him the ball. And like we've seen, he's so good after the catch with the yak, the yards after the catch, so good and physical in the open field that the Titans do want to put him in easy situations that are easy to process for him, that he comfortable doing he's a rookie wide receiver so some of what Blake is saying is not wrong in terms of how he's scouting A.J. Brown as a player but just the

assumption and the idea that it's possible that he would be inactive for a game is really where things just get out of hand and are insane quite frankly I just don't see that as a possibility going forward and in my opinion one of the reasons things like this come up is because these local channels these local stations throughout the week especially the midweek Tuesday Wednesday you have to manufacture content you have to find things to talk about and sometimes these situations like Taylor LeJuan's podcast, which is now not a topic of conversation because he's back with the team and his suspension has ended. So some of these things that come up that seem just asinine to us logical

people are probably just a media personality trying to bring up interesting conversation throughout the middle of the week. Before we jump to our second segment, though, I do just want to give you guys an update on the injury report. David Flewellen, Delaney Walker, Cameron Wake all did not practice on Wednesday. Unfortunate to see David Flewellen not participating after he was able to get going a little bit last week. Looks like possibly he had a setback that we haven't covered. How he's able to still hold that roster spot over some other candidates that we've seen flabbergast me at this time I've talked to you guys on Twitter

at Tic Tac Titans I've talked to plenty of people who expressed the same concern as to how he's able to hold on to this roster spot regardless of not being available to the team for the last seven to eight weeks quite frankly Cameron Wake also didn't practice with a hamstring injury. We saw him suffer against Atlanta. I'm starting to be concerned about his availability, but how they practice in Thursday and Friday's practice and whether they're able to go is going to be a big indicator. Delaney Walker I do expect to play again.

Looks like while he is banged up with a knee, some of this is just a little bit of maintenance. Darren Bates, Kevin Panfield, and Kenny Vaccaro were all limited participants they were able to go but Kevin Panfield whether he's going to be active for game day and whether he's going to challenge Nate Davis for the newly acquired right guard position is going to be an interesting topic of conversation going forward might be something I have to hit on on Friday. So for the Bills, just a player of note, Josh Allen was a limited participant. Word hasn't come out that he's cleared the concussion protocol yet, but Titans fans obviously will keep our eyes on that

going forward. So he was limited and we will keep task of that. Hopefully we have some clarity by Friday's show as to whether or not Josh Allen's going to play for the Titans schematics sake. It's like we talked about with Joe yesterday on the Crossover Wednesday episode. The offense and the scheme that the Bills are going to run with those two quarterbacks is entirely different due to their completely opposite skill sets. So that is the injury report for today. Before we jump into our second segment, I do just want to remind you guys that you can treat yourself to the meal you deserve and have your favorite restaurants come to you with DoorDash. Right now, our listeners can get $5 off their first order of $15 or more when you download DoorDash and enter the promo code LOCKEDON. That's one word, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N.

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Join now, and MyBookie will double your first deposit. Use promo code LOCKEDON to activate the offer. That's promo code LOCKEDON. Visit mybookie.ag today. You play, you win, you get paid. Titans talk. Okay, so I want to play you guys a little bit of Marcus, a little bit of Taylor, and a little bit of Mike Vrabel, just talking about Taylor

LeJuan's return. First, you're going to hear Taylor LeJuan, and I just want to say that his last answer, the last thing he says is a very passive, aggressive answer towards Paul Kaharski. One of the things we've talked about this week so far and last week is the distraction that Taylor LeJuan's podcast might have caused Paul Kaharski a local media personality in Nashville has really driven that narrative and kept that narrative alive throughout the season so it's no surprise that you see a little bit of vitriol from Taylor LeJuan and his passive-aggressive answer on the last question he's asked where he talks about what the offense is going to run. So I just wanted to give you guys a little bit of context for that one.

Hope you enjoy this segment of Titans Talk. We'll see you in our third segment for Roland's Rewind. It's been tough to be away. Obviously, you want to be able to compete and be with the boys and everything, but now that I'm back, totally focused on the Buffalo Bills in Week 5. I mean, you can do all the sprints in the world, but when you put a helmet on, it's definitely different. It takes a little bit of time.

My main focus is just trying to get this rust off as soon as possible and get ready for Sunday. I mean, the first game, sitting there watching, it was pretty cool. And then it wasn't. And then it was cool again. It's kind of like the ups and downs of how when they won, I was excited. When they lost, I wasn't. It's weird.

You know, I've never since I was little had September off. So that was something to get used to, and hopefully that won't ever happen again. And I'm just excited to play week five. I mean, everyone's capable of having juice. Sure, but. I'm a positive guy. I have a lot of energy.

I'm really excited to be here. I'm stoked to be back with the boys and just get it going, get things moving, get some chemistry going with Raj and, you know, hopefully just go play well on Sunday. I mean, I try to reflect as much as I possibly can. I mean, anytime you put in a situation like this, you have two choices. You can let it beat you up. You can grow from these types of things. And I believe that I've grown from it and I prepared as much as I possibly could for the opportunity coming up Sunday, and now I'm excited to be back. It's a unique feeling.

These guys have been in it. They've been in the grind. And for me to come back in after four weeks, you know, kind of fit back into what they're trying to do and what these coaches are trying to establish as a culture and keep that moving. So there's been a lot of time for reflection for sure. But, I mean, the main thing here is my biggest focus is week five. I mean, yeah, the boys are fired up. I was excited to see everyone. I mean, I consider myself friends with probably everybody on this team.

I get along with everybody on this team. So I was definitely, I was excited to see them. And I feel like the feelings were reciprocated. No, no, that's, that's a good way of letting your ego get in the way of those types of things. I mean, these guys have done a great job. I think Dennis did an amazing job, and I would never take anything away from that. I just got to go and try to fit in, get into midseason form, and go play as best I can for Buffalo. I was at Vanderbilt with the boys, Dobson and the boys, so it was cool.

I mean, those guys are awesome. Mace took care of me. Dobson was really cool about letting me come in, get my workouts in, get my conditioning in, work on some O-line drills and stuff like that. And then they definitely put me through the ringer and conditioning area. Yeah, I mean, the thing with the NFL is everyone's good, and usually their defensive ends are really good, and Jerry Hughes is no exception to that.

So, I mean, I got my plate full my first week here and I'm excited to be a part of it. Well, no, definitely. I keep my emotions in check and try to focus on just doing my job and having as much effort and consistency as possible and trying to make sure that, you know, when they do lean on me for whatever it is they lean on me for, that I excel. Yeah, I think we should run zone left. I think we should run zone right. I think we should run, you know, inside zone left and inside zone right and maybe some power. We'll do some five-man protections and six-man protections, maybe some seven-man protections. I think the receivers will go out on routes and Marcus will throw the ball sometimes and

sometimes they'll hand it off. So that's a top-notch question there, Paul. This is Titans starting quarterback Marcus Mariota. Well, anytime you bring back a Pro Bowl type player, that's going to help, no doubt. And, you know, I think when it comes down to it, just through the few meetings and just what we've been through these first few hours with him, he's excited. And you can tell that he's got a little juice to him. I think when you bring that type of player into the offense with some juice and excitement, it's going to carry that over to other guys as well. And finally, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.

We'll see what it looks like today. We'll look at the first couple reps here today and go from there. I know that he's in shape. We'll have to get him in football shape and be ready for that. We've got a left tackle. We pay a lot of money to block their guy. That's what we got. Okay, guys, that is Titans talk.

We heard from Taylor LeJuan first, Marcus Mariota second, and then a quick snippet from Coach Mike Vrabel, who always keeps things simple. so we are going to go into Roland's Rewind next Roland's Rewind okay guys so our final segment here I just want to take a look back at the previous game against the Bills. And the only reason that I want to do that is because I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned from that game. So as you all recall, the Titans played in Buffalo week five

after that huge win over the Philadelphia Eagles. So the Titans are riding high for the boys, no respect, blah, blah, blah. And then they come out and lay an egg in buffalo so the titans have three turnovers super uncharacteristic for the titans they're unable to get anything going in the passing game with just 129 yards marcus threw a pick in that game taywan taylor had a fumble it was just a very very difficult game. Taewon Taylor had a fumble. It was just a very, very difficult game for the Titans who played down to their competition last year rather than playing up and playing their own style of football.

Josh Allen was able to run for a touchdown and make some plays with his legs, which obviously mobile physical quarterbacks have given the Titans defense trouble, not just that year, but this year so far as well, speaking of Jacoby Brissett. So that is something that the Titans need to think about. And as I said, going forward, the final score of that game was 13-12. The Titans were not able to score a touchdown.

Things like that cannot happen anymore. The whole mantra of going from good to great, that is because of those kind of performances. The Titans offense cannot come out and get four field goals and lean on their defense and expect the defense to be perfect. The defense gave up 13 points and the Titans were still not able to win the ball game. Things like that can't happen. And going against Matt Barkley, one of the reasons the Titans struggled in that game is because of Josh Allen and his physicality and his mobility. Well, if Josh Allen is not going to be able to play and they're going against Matt Barkley, that leaves the Titans no excuse at this time to lose this game. Do not play with your food. The

Titans are at home in this game, and although the Bills have a great defense, there is no way that the Titans offense should not be able to no way that the titans offense should not be able to outproduce the bills offense with their backup quarterback on the road against this titans defense so that is something that's really important another thing that i already talked about was the three turnovers the titans offense doesn't have the capacity to score a bunch of points on command really not an offense that you want to get behind early talking about the scoreboard so I think it's very very important for the Titans offense to get going early get a lead and not play from behind against this Bill's defense because that'll

play directly into what the Bill's hope happens on offense. It bails their backup quarterback out, essentially. And last year, Josh Allen was a rookie, and basically the Titans bailed him out. The Titans' offense was not able to produce, turned over the ball three times, couldn't score a touchdown. All of those kind of things are going to help an inexperienced quarterback or a quarterback without high-level talent. And that's exactly what Matt Barkley is. Although he may be a high level

backup quarterback and someone who's very reliable for the Bills he's obviously not the talent of Josh Allen let alone some of the top tier quarterbacks in the NFL so the Titans cannot turn over the ball they have to do more on offense against this Bills team they cannot play down to their competition with the Bills having a backup quarterback in this game regardless of record. Those are just some things looking at the last game that I picked up that I think we have to focus on because this Titans team is not much different than last year's team and coming off a big victory on the road in Atlanta. I know it's not the magnitude of the victory or the feel of the victory that the Titans had against the Eagles in week four after their Super Bowl championship, but still it's a very big win where the Titans

were underdogs and weren't expected to win and had a good performance. So they cannot come out flat and come out down like they'd done against the Bills last year. So that's going to be some things that I find pretty important about last year's game. And then lastly, we just have to mention the Nick Williams drop. Watching that game back, I'm still as hurt as I was last year. Ten minutes left. Titans are down 10-6. Having trouble getting anything going against a pretty good defense. And Nick Williams just absolutely drops a touchdown.

The broadcasters on the game even said a nightmare moment for Nick Williams, and it really was, and it was basically at that moment in time that his Titans career was completely over. You can't bring somebody back after something like that, even though during the game he did have a fantastic punt return that put the Titans offense in a really good position. Unfortunately, as we know, they were unable to capitalize with a touchdown. But having that kind of drop is going to outweigh any punt return or anything that you had done earlier in the game. Whether that should be the case or not isn't important at this time because it was the case.

And the Titans replaced Nick Williams with somebody like Adam Humphreys, who I'm hoping is able to have a big impact in this game going forward, at least with the talent in the Bills' secondary. We're going to need Adam Humphreys and Delaney Walker to produce more than they did against the Falcons. So that's going to do it for our Rollins Rewind. We went over A.J. Brown being inactive, covered the injury report. I played you guys some of the snippets from Titans coaches and players about the return of Taylor LeJuan and our Titans talk. Then we just completed our Rollins Rewind, taking a look back at the 2018 game against the Bills.

I'm really excited to get into tomorrow's show. I'm going to do a game preview, give you guys my three key factors. I am going to do a Tic Tac Titans tomorrow in our second segment to give you guys some schematic things to look at that are tied in with some statistics that I've been able to drum up in my research for the game and then we'll finish off with my beautiful dark twisted fantasy preview and keep it at plus 100 to go over the fantasy and gambling aspects of the Titans game this weekend gonna give you guys a little spoiler I'm betting heavy on the Titans let's go all right that's to do it for our Thursday show.

I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.