Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - California LOVE - Titans win in Oakland, #TitanUpTitanDown & Song of the AFC South

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a victory Monday. The Titans were able to get explosive on the West Coast, get themselves a little California love, and are on their way back to Nashville with a chance to take control of the ASC South next weekend. Before we jump into everything that lies ahead,

let's take a step back and just talk about how hot the offense has been, how this Titans defense that struggled in the first half was able to make adjustments and really step up in the second half and completely eliminate the Raiders offense, and how the Titans continue to keep making big plays when it counts the most in the little ways that matter most that, you know, people overlook. But the Titans care about every detail detail and we see that every week as this team just continues to roll. So I can't wait to break down everything that happened with you guys. Let's get it.

Your Tennessee Titans lead story. A 42-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders pushes the Tennessee Titans to 8-5, tied for the division lead in the AFC South with the Houston Texans, and a huge game on the horizon on Sunday. But let's talk about this Tennessee Titans offense and how it continues to explode. At the end of the third quarter, the Titans had 500 total yards. They just continued to put pressure on the Raiders defense all day long. One key that you're going to hear from me today when I talk about the defense as well, it's the biggest key to the game for me is the coaching adjustments. We saw the Titans come out in their first drive.

They had success in the run game. That was never going to be in doubt from the opening snap. The Titans seemed to have the ability to run at will if they needed to, but in the passing game, the Titans were coming out and going heavy screen. We saw a wide receiver screen. We saw a tight end screen to Johnnie Smith, and then ultimately the wide receiver screen, the third one, ended up being the interception that allowed the Raiders to get down and basically gifted them a touchdown to start the game out seven to nothing. Arthur Smith, I thought, was relying too heavily on the screens when the Raiders weren't a blitz-heavy team. They're one of the least likely teams to blitz in the NFL by percentage, so he adjusted very quickly, kind of got out of that screen game, and we didn't really see a lot of screens until there was one to Deion Lewis in the second half, so he adjusted very quickly, kind of got out of that screen game. We didn't really see a lot of screens until there was one to Deion Lewis in the second half. So we adjusted very quickly on the fly to

what the Raiders were doing, expected something, didn't get it, and was able to adjust. The offense was phenomenal. Tannehill, you thought he couldn't keep up the yards per attempt pace that he was on, and he just continues to be miraculous. 14.5 yards per attempt today. He threw the ball to 10 different receivers. 10 different Titans caught passes today. Just a really phenomenal performance. The Titans offense was able to play a 60-minute game. The Raiders offense only played a 30-minute game. One more thing of note about the Titans offense. For the first time in franchise history, including the days as the Houston Oilers, the Titans had someone throw for over 350 yards, rush for over 100 yards,

and get 150 receiving yards in a game. So shout out to A.J. Brown, Derrick Henry, and Ryan Tannehill for that trio and the production that they put up today. For the Titans defense, it was essentially a tale of two halves. They gave up 21 points in the first half. We're playing heavy man coverage and bringing blitzes. The Raiders were able to beat man coverage with the Titans banged up secondary and make some plays and get some points.

The Titans helped them out, obviously, as well on the first touchdown. But the Titans came out in the second half with a completely different plan. They made some great adjustments. They were still bringing similar blitzes with their cornerbacks and their safeties as they were in the first half, but what they were doing was they were running zone behind those blitzes instead of manning on a number of different circumstances. It confused Derek Carr. He was expecting to get the man looks that he saw in the first half, and it was able to get him a little rattled. He made some mistakes and threw to the wrong read, and the Titans were able to ultimately shut down the Raiders' offense in the second half.

Taking a look at this, on the first five drives of the second half, the Raiders had 52 total yards. They were able to get 71 yards on their final drive, their sixth drive in garbage time after the game was completely decided. But that essentially shows that when the Titans came out after halftime, the Raiders couldn't score, they couldn't move the ball, and they were able to force a turnover and get a touchdown. That's the last thing I want to mention about this game is the Titans continue to make plays and score points in the small ways, the overlooked ways. Jayon Brown, Ty Smith forces another fumble.

Jayon Brown returns it to the house against the Raiders. Ty Smith returning the blocked kick by Dane Cruikshank for a touchdown last week. You saw Darren Bates against the Jaguars force a fumble that turned into a Titans quick touchdown. Going all the way back to the Chiefs game, you saw Rashawn Evans get a fumble, take it to the house. Joshua Kalou block a kick.

Like, these are winning plays nonstop all over the field, and the Titans have players that are just getting it done everywhere right now. Complimentary football, special teams making plays, defense making plays, the offense being explosive. Lastly, I mean, just how much fun are we having right now? That's the most important thing that I want to point out is the Titans have had a lackluster offensive team for quite some time, and they are just bombing people, throwing up points. The defense is battered, but they're not breaking when it matters most. Just really impressive football,

and now the Titans have an opportunity to take over the AFC South with a home game against the Texans next week it'll be a huge matchup and speaking of the Texans in our third segment we are going to talk about everything that happened around the NFL as it pertains to the Titans playoff push in song of the AFC South and our playoff picture preview before we do that in our second segment we are going to do everybody's favorite tighten up and tighten down, talk about some individual performances from the win over the Raiders. Before we jump into either of those segments though, I just want to let you know that if you're listening on Spotify, use Spotify Wrapped to show us your top locked on podcasts for the

year. Take a screenshot and tag the Locked On Live account and me at TicTacTitans on Twitter and we will share and retweet. This episode is sponsored by Blue Chew. Guys, remember the days when you were always ready to go? Now you can increase your performance and get that extra confidence in bed. Listen

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way, and then we can jump back on the positive train with the titan ups my first titan down and i want to you know put some caveats out here first week with the team first meetings first practices first time in this defense tremaine brock uh blew uh an assignment with man coverage that resulted in the the raiders 49 yard touchdown that was kind of a gift i haven't seen the titans defense blow a coverage that bad in quite some time, so it was quite the shocker, but when you're having so many injuries in the secondary, you're having guys shuffled in and out, learning these schemes, and the Titans are running complex coverages and complex blitzes. That's got to be tough for Tremaine Brock, but one thing he said in his initial interview is one thing he could do was come in and play man coverage, and that was a mental mistake, not a physical mistake, so I want to see if he's able to clean that up because the Titans are going to need him going forward. Who

knows when Adoree Jackson or LaShawn Sims will be healthy. The next one is Dean Pease's initial game plan. Knowing that the Raiders were going to come out and kind of do what they were trying to do on offense with the quick passing game, they were struggling in man coverage. The Raiders were going to come out and kind of do what they were trying to do on offense with the quick passing game they were struggling in man coverage the Raiders had people at wide receiver and at tight end that are clearly hard matchups for the injured group of cornerbacks that the Titans were throwing out there and they were just not able to keep up so the Titans were running their customary blitzes and pressures but the Titans weren't able to keep up, and that was allowing the Raiders to get them on mental mistakes and get some good matchups and make some plays and score 21 points in the first half, even if the Titans helped them a lot with

blown coverages and the turnover. Still, just didn't really like that idea. When the Titans came out in the second half and went zone, they were still running the same pressures and the same blitzes that they were in the first half, just having zone behind them instead of man, and it caused confusion for Derek Carr. There were a couple plays specifically that I plan to point out where he was confused by the blitz, threw to his hot read, the person who he's supposed to throw to if it's a blitz, but the Titans weren't in man anymore, and there was a defender waiting there, so a lot of those little plays helped the Titans in the second half turn things around so Dean Peay's a Titan down for his initial game plan but his adjustment was incredible so kind of a asterisk on that one Derek Henry's hamstring

that's got to be a Titan down I'll give them both of mine I don't need them for real I don't he can take them either way that's definitely going to be a concern and everyone who kind of laughed off his absence at practice on Wednesday and saying he's just getting a rest day and things like that clearly that's not the case clearly it's something that needs to be concerned the coaches will take care of that probably manage his load even more and we saw a lot of Deion Lewis in the second half for that reason which I was perfectly fine with and and definitely encouraged and it couldn't hurt to get Deion Lewis going, so hopefully Derek Henry's hamstring is fine. We will need him going forward. Same with Kenny Vaccaro. He left the game with a concussion. I sure hope he is okay, first and foremost, but secondly, I sure hope that he'll be able to get through protocol and play because the

Titans need as much help in the secondary as they can get right now can't afford very many injuries there and my last titan down is ryan suck up missed a field goal missed a 42 yarder yes he made all six of his extra points and i'm glad that he's making extra points and a really good clip at the moment but lord we're gonna need some field goals as we play these last three tough games and at this point i don't see how the titans can't consider going with Santoso full-time or maybe getting Parkey back in the building. So just really not comfortable with having Ryan Suckup determine the fate of the Titans on some of these plays.

Going to the Titan Ups. It was a great game. I hate having any Titan downs, but definitely some things that I wanted to point out. First, Derrick Henry, the king, continues to reign. 18 carries, 103 yards, and two touchdowns with a bad hamstring and clearly not running at full capacity. There was a moment in the time where Mike Vrabel took him out. He had a pretty good-sized run, but it was obvious,

and even the broadcast team mentioned it, that he wasn't going full speed. Vrabel took him out. You could tell he was having a very stern conversation with him about whether he was healthy enough to continue to play. But even the circumstance of the injury Derrick Henry was incredible and he is the foundation of this offense that makes the play action go Ryan Tannehill again just burning it up I mentioned the yards the pass yards per attempt earlier 14.5 he had 21 for 27 391 touchdowns. The one bad interception that he shouldn't really have thrown, should have just, you know, cashed it down to the ground and not even tried to make

that attempt. But one bad mistake, which he's prone to give us every game, but he's just playing lights out at this moment in time, ran for a few first downs. So really good game from Ryan Tannehill as he continues to play the best football of his career. A.J. Brown, I mentioned these three earlier, five catches, 153 yards, two touchdowns. What he's able to do in his physicality after the catch is just impressive for a rookie, and he's starting to get himself into the conversation for possibly some votes in Rookie of the Year. I know Josh Jacobs has been incredible, and there are some other candidates as well, but

A.J. Brown has really been great down the stretch here. Logan Ryan, nine tackles and continuously had good coverage on whether it be Darren Waller or the slot receiver for the Raiders. Just played a really good game out there when they needed it the most. I was impressed with Kari Blossom game at the fullback position. Looked like he had really good burst. Kind of seems like he has a close to running back speed, and he was the Titans' second leading receiver in yards with two catches for 47 yards Ty Smith again a big play he had the touchdown last week he forces a fumble that ends

up going for a touchdown for Jayon Brown this week he had eight tackles just really impressed with what he's been able to do stepping in here and I really like his name it's nice as well Ty it's a good one uh Jayon Brown seven tack tackles, a tackle for loss. Took that TD back. Just obviously a good game from him. And like I said, the Titans need as much defensive talent as they can possibly get right now with how banged up the secondary is. And Arthur Smith, last Titan up. Just got to give Arthur Smith some credit.

The route combinations that he's putting together, how he's putting plays together right now, using the play action to complement the run game, the outside zone, bootlegs off of that. We've seen back-to-back weeks now with a bootleg throwback touchdown. We saw it to Jonu today. He's using all of the tight ends. Mecole Pruitt had a real good catch. Like I said, Ryan Tannehill completed passes to 10 different Titans today, just distributing the ball all over

the place to all the Titans' weapons, while Arthur Smith is using all of these chess pieces and putting them in positions to be successful. So, all the credit to Arthur Smith, and after some of the struggles at the beginning of the year that, you know, may be tied to not just Arthur Smith, just with the shakeups in the offensive line and Marcus's subpar play. Maybe the Titans have stumbled upon a really good play caller here. It's possible. You got to see it sustained for a second year. But hopefully the Titans and Arthur Smith can continue this hot run that they're on on offense.

And big shout out to Arthur Smith. He deserves it. A lot of people were calling for his head early in the season. And a lot of people, including me, were wrong about that. So nice to see him contributing and just really doing a great job. There's nothing else to say other than he's coordinating a fantastic offense and one of the most potent and explosive offenses in the NFL right now. That's going to do it for our second segment of Tighten Up, Tighten Down.

In our third segment, we have some exciting things to talk about in Song of the AFC South and our Playoff Picture Preview. So we're going to talk about everything that happened around the NFL on Sunday. Before we do, I want to let you guys know that the original Casper mattress combines multiple supportive memory foams for a quality sleep surface with the right amounts of both sink and bounce. Get $100 towards select mattresses by visiting casper.com slash locked NFL and using locked NFL at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Now, if you can't visit Casper right now because you're not laying down on a super comfortable bed,

and I just want to say a bed is so important. A bed is so important. You need to be comfortable when you sleep. But if you aren't comfortable right now, you're driving, you don't have access to a computer, you can visit all of our Locked On sponsors and have access to all of the Locked On sponsors offers at LockedOnPodcast.com slash offers. Song of the AFC South and our playoff picture preview. First things first, let's jump right in the Denver Broncos consider me an

honorary Broncos fan until next Sunday the Broncos take down the Texans in Houston 38 to 24 dropping the Houston Texans to 8 and 5 tied with the Tennessee Titans for the lead in the AFC South with a huge game on the horizon. Now, we have an entire week to talk about the Texans game and everything that's going to go into that. And what the Titans plan needs to be and how the Texans are going to attack. And all the questions that everyone has. I'm really excited to get into it. But for this moment in time, let's just enjoy the fact that the lowly Broncos found a way to take down the Texans. And I know that some people think that that'll make the Texans mad and give them extra motivation

for next week. But I would like to think that maybe some doubt seeps in when you lose a game like that and you're thoroughly dominated. Some doubt about who you are as a team and the Broncos were able to run the ball. So hoping that with them coming into Nashville, the Titans may have a little bit of a mental advantage from this game. We will see that is a whole week away, but God, I couldn't be more excited for that game. Moving forward, might as well round out the division, the other bums. The Buccaneers were able to beat the Colts 38-35, dropping the Colts to 6-7. The Chargers rocked the Jaguars at home 45-10. The Jags dropped to 4-9 and are a complete dumpster fire regardless of who their quarterback

is. So gotta enjoy that. Gotta enjoy that every second of it. I'm not mad about it. Neither of those teams are going to be in playoff contention going down the stretch here so we can laugh at their misery, which we will do. Looking at some of the bigger games in the AFC for the day, we will start with the Steelers being able to secure victory over the Cardinals. I really thought the Cardinals were going to be able to at home kind of man up here and show some fight at the end of their season in a home game, but no, the Steelers again are able to win. Doug Hodges plays a decent

game of football, and they win 23-17, improved to 8-5, and they're ahead of the Titans right now due to conference record in the AFC standings for the sixth wildcard spot so that makes that game against the Texans coming up even more important the Titans need to aim to win the division and it's been such a long time since the Titans won the AFC South or what what the AFC used to be that you really want to see them get a division title I want to make the playoffs no matter what. I get it. But a division title should be the goal at this moment in time, and the Steelers are going to make it tough to get that last wild card spot

if the Titans are unable to keep pace. Now, one thing about the Steelers, next week they play the Bills. The Bills lost to the Ravens today by a score of 24-17, dropping the Bills to 9-4 four and they still have like i've said the whole time a stranglehold on that that wild card spot that fifth seed but the steelers and the bills play next week and if the bills are able to win that that helps you know drop the steelers down to eight and six if not now all of a sudden the bills are starting to lose that stranglehold on the fifth spot and that gives the Bills five losses and the Steelers five losses and

hopefully the Titans are able to maintain only five losses next week and you know now we're talking about some different things so it really just opens up everything the Steelers also have to play the Ravens still this year which it it's the last week of the season so maybe the Ravens will have things secured as they are 11 and 2 but you never know you never know in the NFL last thing I want to point out about the AFC the Chiefs were able to beat the Patriots man the will have things secured as they are 11-2, but you never know. You never know in the NFL. Last thing I want to point out about the AFC, the Chiefs were able to beat the Patriots. Man, the Patriots do not look good right now. The Patriots dropped to 10-3. The Chiefs go to 9-4 and look to have the AFC West on lock, but all these teams seem to be jumbled together. Who's to know what kind of seed the Titans could get if they find a way to win the division. Everything

is riding on next week. It's the biggest game of the year so far, no doubt. The last thing I want to mention, it was not an AFC South result whatsoever. So, you know, obviously not part of the AFC, obviously not part of the playoff picture, but just something I want Titans fans to keep an eye on. The Titans do play the Saints the week after the Texans. There was some hope that maybe the Saints would be secure in their position and maybe have their seed close to locked up, which would help the Titans. That is not going to be the case. The Saints lost at home in one of the most exciting games of the season to the San Francisco 49ers, 48-46. The Saints are going to be behind the 49ers for sure, so they're probably going to continue to

push as hard as they can and see what kind of seating they're going to be able to get they're probably not going to relax whatsoever in week 16 it was a long shot anyway but just want to make sure we update what's ahead for the Titans and that Saints game is going to be a tough one no matter what now so that is going to do it for our show today. We did a little bit of a game review in our first segment, tightened up, tightened down in our second segment, and finished out here with Song of the AFC South in our playoff picture preview. Couldn't be more excited to finally have an offense to rally around

that will go down, score some points, throw the ball down the field, a 91-yard touchdown, just incredible. Some of the stats that I've given you guys today are really mind-blowing, and I just couldn't be more excited for the turnaround that we've seen from this team. Remember, we were 2-4, ladies and gentlemen, 2-4. What a push. Can't wait to do everything else the rest of this week. We will be back tomorrow with a Tic-Tac Titans breakdown. I want to talk about some of the adjustments that the Titans made at halftime in coverage with the defense that allowed them to completely shut out the Raiders in the second half with

zero points. So really excited to get to that. Then we will have our crossover Wednesday pod and we're on to looking at the Texans. Great football ahead of us Titans fans, and I will be here with you Monday through Friday on the show to go over all of it. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.