Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Crossover Thursday Conversation: Titans v Jaguars & Titans Mid-Week Injury Report

Episode Date: September 17, 2020

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this crossover Thursday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by Visa. Help support local businesses, whether they're your corner stores,

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We are breaking records, shattering records for the Locked On podcast network. So subscribe to the Locked On Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. Check out the Locked On NFL National Show as well. And also make sure that you are following me on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, as Wednesday I did release my first ever Tic Tac four-pack film breakdown, where I break down the four most impactful

plays from the Titans game against the Broncos. But as for today's show, we got our first injury report from the Titans and the Jags today heading into that week two matchup on Sunday in Nashville. I will go over all of the injuries and which ones you should possibly be concerned about and which injuries should not be of any concern to Titans fans. Also, the Titans made a few more transactions on Wednesday as they continue to flip over the back end of the roster. So I will go over all of the most recent news and notes surrounding the Tennessee Titans in between game days. But then, but then we will get into an excellent, absolute fire crossover Thursday conversation

with Tony Wiggins from the Locked On Jaguars. Tony was amazing in this conversation, had a ton of awesome comparisons, a ton of awesome insight about the Jags. I know you guys will enjoy that. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the next 30 minutes of excellent Titans content on the Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it!

The Titans were lucky to leave out of Denver with a relatively clean bill of health. They were able to avoid any major injuries, but they definitely do not have any shortage of players who are dealing with something. And that was evident based on the injury report that the Titans released after Wednesday's practice. They have eight Tennessee Titans listed on the report, two that did not practice at all, three that were limited, and three that were full participants after missing the game due to injury. Let's dive into the list. First, the two players who did not participate.

Number one, wide receiver Corey Davis, who's nursing a hamstring injury. This is something that we were aware about prior to the game against Denver on Monday night. Corey Davis was a game-time decision and was only ruled active after a positive workout on the field before the game. This seems to be a maintenance day for Corey Davis as he continues to rehab and deal with that hamstring injury. And then safety Kenny Vaccaro also did not participate in practice and on the injury report it is listed as illness related but we know that Kenny Vaccaro has not been placed on the COVID-19 list so that is a positive sign there hopefully Vaccaro is able to recover relatively quickly

as for the limited participants in Wednesday's practice, some heavy hitters here. Outside linebacker Vic Beasley with a knee injury was limited and worked on a side field with head coach Mike Rabel as he continues to try to be able to impact the Titans team for once in the 2020 season. Also, outside linebacker Jadavion Clowney was limited with a hip injury. He worked on a side field with Beasley and head coach Mike Rabel. This seems to be more of a maintenance day for Clowney was limited with a hip injury. He worked on a side field with Beasley and head coach Mike Rabel. This seems to be more of a maintenance day for Clowney. The people who were full participants after missing the game on Monday

were offensive lineman Jameel Douglas, who's nursing a hand injury, rookie running back Darrington Evans, who is sorely needed in the backfield for the Titans, was a full participant in practice coming back from a hamstring injury. And then outside linebacker Derek Roberson, the Titans only had three outside linebackers on the active roster on Monday night. Roberson returned as a full participant to practice on Wednesday, coming back from a knee injury,

and hopefully he will be ready to go on Sunday because it is obvious the Titans desperately need more depth at the position. As for the Jacksonville Jaguars, their first injury report of the week was released as well. They are even healthier than the Tennessee Titans, although all five members on their injury report did not participate in practice on Wednesday. That was defensive end Josh Allen, who could be the best defensive player for the Jaguars outside of linebacker Miles Jack.

He did not participate with a calf injury, but local reporters are saying that this is more of a maintenance day for Josh Allen than a serious issue. Tight end Tyler Davis was out of practice with a knee injury. He is just a role player for the Jaguars, not a starter on their team. Tight end Tyler Eifer is the starter, however, and he did not practice on Wednesday, but it was not injury related. Same with cornerback DJ Hayden, who missed practice, but not for injury reasons. And then starting center Brandon Linder missed practice as well,

but of course, as mentioned, not for injury reasons. So it looks like the Jaguars are an incredibly healthy team heading into a week two matchup against the Titans. As for the transactions that we have seen from the Titans in the past 48 hours, they did sign wide receiver Nick Westbrook, the six foot-bodied target off of their practice squad and onto the active roster to make room for him. They did wave wide receiver Cody Hollister. Maybe he will end up back on the Titans practice squad as they do have two open spots at this

time. The Titans will plan to fill one of those open spots though with a defensive back as they did try out five different defensive backs earlier this week. Speaking of earlier this week, I played a round of golf earlier this week, and I have to tell you that midway through my swing on the 16th hole, I felt something in my back, a slight pain, a little bit of a sharp pain in my back, and I hadn't felt right for a few days. And at that moment, I decided to reach for the CBDMD. It doesn't matter if you're a professional athlete, a stay-at-home parent, or you spend eight hours a day in an uncomfortable office chair, which I do as well, or if you hurt

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It combines CBD with inflammation fighting compounds like Arnica and vitamin B6 to give you the support you need where it matters most. And to make it even easier to try this amazing duo of topicals and everything else CBDMD has to offer, they are offering my listeners 25% off on your next order when you use promo code LOCKEDONNFL at checkout. Next order when you use promo code LOCKEDONNFL at checkout. Once again, that is CBDMD.com promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 25% off your purchase of superior CBD oil products from CBDMD. It is time for our crossover Thursday conversation, and it is a division rival crossover Thursday conversation. Here from Locked on Jags, we have Anthony Wiggins,

Tony Wiggins in the building, one of the OGs of the entire Locked On NFL Network and one of my favorite guys to talk to. We're going to be breaking down Sunday's game where the Jaguars visit the Tennessee Titans in Nashville for a week two matchup where

both teams are 1-0 after the first week of the season. So off the rip here, just to get us started, how are you feeling coming off of that victory against the Colts that Titans fans truly appreciate as well? Surprise, surprise, huh? You hit me up today and you told me, man, you go,

good job because we can't stand those guys. And I'm like, we hate y'all worse. So don't be thankful. Right, right, right. We don't like y'all, man. So it's like, you're like one of my favorite dudes too. And it's like- I appreciate it.

But guess what? I really don't want to talk to you. I mean- Right, right. It's that mutual respect, but equal disdain, you know? It's like bird magic. You saw a bird magic special. and once they got to be friends, Bird said, I really love Irvin, but I hate magic. And I don't want to talk

to him, man. So, yeah, man, no, really a surprise for the Jaguars. Look, I've always said this about Dave Caldwell and Doug Marone. They never lie to you, man. They said that they were sold out on the offensive line at the draft, and people thought they were – they don't give smoke screens. Now, it doesn't mean they're right. But whatever they say, they're never trying to throw you off.

They're never trying to, you know, throw something one way so you can look and then, boom, they hit you with something. Whatever they say they believe, whether it's the truth or not, or whether it's going to come to fruition or not, everything that they said that they believe, they said they weren't tanking. They didn't look like a team that was trying to tank, did they? No, they did not. No, they did not. I mean, so I tell people all the time the reason why I hang on to every word that they say when I report stuff is because I would rather hold them to their word than speculate that they're lying or telling the truth. I'd rather hold them to the word. So now they this is what they decided to do. They decided to go the way that they're deciding to go. And it's it's something to behold, man. decided to go the way that they're deciding to go. And it's something to behold, man. They have 16 rookies on this team. And they went out the other day and they beat a team that a lot of

people thought was going to win the division. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, obviously I was surprised in the first game. The first game that I wanted to watch on NFL Game Pass was the Jags Colts game. That was the first one that I went to, and I was really impressed by a lot of players on the Jags roster. And one of the big groups that impressed me was the offensive line. That Colts front seven is highly talked about. They're highly touted. They added DeForest Bunkner, but I thought especially the Jaguars interior offensive line, I thought was really impressive. So I kind of just wanted to gauge your, I guess, opinion on how much this offensive line has improved and whether this was just a week one, you know, quirk in the system or whether you think this offensive line improvements are sustainable. Well, Leonard Fournette averaged

over four yards to carry last year. Most of his yards came on the left side. There was always the talk that he could have got more yards on the right side, except that he didn't go where everyone thought he was supposed to go. He's not a they were running the West Coast offense and on offense with West Coast principles. And he's just not that type of guy. He's a power guy. So Doug Marone by trade is an offensive line coach. He was an offensive lineman in the NFL.

And when a guy tells you that those guys in their development are at a certain stage, that's where sometimes as fans and even sometimes as media people, we don't take into consideration the fact that a coach has his pulse on the team more than we do. And he understands where they are and where they could be based on the development and based on the projection and where they're going and where he hopes to take them. And sometimes we just don't get it because we don't see it. And he's supposed to, and this is what I've always said,

he's supposed to see stuff. And I've criticized him in the past for not seeing stuff before we see it. They're supposed to see stuff before we see it. They are the coaches. That's right. So, therefore, this is one of the things I got to give them credit for. They saw that stuff in the offseason. They had 12 draft picks, and all of that –

they didn't address it in free agency. Out of 12 draft picks, they took one offensive lineman, Ben Bartsch, in the fourth round from like a division three school and they believed in this crew of guys that they had and you saw the other day what they were able to do for gardner men's shoe so kudos to them for sticking to their guns and knowing what they had regardless of what it looked like to us they knew what they had so the outside world yeah absolutely well i mean and admittedly in my my Jags preview before the season I said you know it's kind of an average offensive line but based

on what I saw it could be an above average offensive line and they need to be that to protect Gardner Minshew and probably maybe the most impressive quarterback performance overall from week one or at least the most surprising Mins Minshew was 19 for 20, I believe 170 yards right around there, a couple touchdown passes. What do you think at this point in time? You know, a lot of people said they're tanking for Trevor, all this. What do you think about Gardner Minshew as a long-term answer, or do you think he's more of a, you know,

a Terod Taylor-type bridge quarterback for the next guy? I think he's better than that. Right. What he is is he's better than that. I think what he is, is he he's a coach on the field. Don't be surprised. And I'm not trying to rush this kid's career. Don't be surprised. If you hear the words Gardner Minshew for the next 35 years,

the way you heard the words Dick LeBeau for like 48 years, right? Gardner Minshew is, and people are tired of me saying this, but he's Sean McVay in pads. That's what he is. He talks the game. He acts that way. And coaches love guys that can talk the game,

that can chalkboard the game. But he actually is a physical guy. He looks small in demeanor, but he's not. If you ever get close to him, he has tree trunk legs, and he goes about 230 pounds. He's just like six feet, six feet and a half, but he's athletic. And the thing about it is he can actually go out and run this stuff because of what he ran in college, and he's super, super, super smart,

and he's the perfect quarterback for a guy like Jay Gruden, who was coaching in the Arena League. And he played under Mike Leach. And this is the kind of stuff that he's going to do. Now, at some point, he had maybe 13, 14 completions, and he wasn't even cracking 100 yards. But he hadn't made a mistake. And then he got some chunk plays in there at the end.

And he ended up with a buck 73. And 19 out of 20 reminded me of a Phil Sims performance in the Superbowl against the Giants. I think it was back in like 86. Sims went 19 for 22. I've never seen a quarterback complete 95% of his passes. And that one pass that he did not complete the drop. LaVishka Chanel almost had the ball. He could have caught the ball and he dropped it. Yeah. Well, that's actually a perfect segue into my next question. So I'm pretty impressed early on with Leviska Chenault, a guy I have to admit I wasn't too high on him coming out of college, but he's just a lot more physical and strong than I expected him to be. And he looked the part on Sunday. What do you think about some of these young options we're seeing? Obviously, everybody knows about DJ,

but Chenault and Robinson at the running back position, what do you think about these young cast of characters? Do you think that they can improve throughout the season and really be playmakers for this offense? Well, yeah, because in the past, the Jaguars asked these guys to do a lot because they were a bad team, so they were these guys to do a lot because they were a bad team. So they were asking guys to do a lot. Now they're not doing that.

What they're doing is they're using guys. It's almost like Chanel is a gadget guy because they have their one alpha. And that guy is DJ Chart. So they're asking guys to just do your job. They have four or five guys they can get the ball to. And that's what's helping them. They're not going to have one dominant player do anything. If they do have one guy who's going to dominate,

it's going to be DJ Chark because he's the guy that if they really, really need – like if they play a team that can match up with everybody and take everything away, then they go to DJ Chark because he's that guy that's one-on-one. But Chenault, man, up close is built like Andre Johnson. And he's actually built like he was created in a lab. He's about 227 pounds, 6'1", maybe 6'1 1⁄2", but he looks like a Robocop up close. And they put him in a backfield at running back. He's very, very hard to tackle. He had like three catches where they never got him

to the ground. He had to blow the whistle. So we all hold our breath here because he had some injuries in college. We want him to go ahead and go to the ground. He wasn't going to the ground, man. It was like five people holding on to him. He wasn't going to the ground. He has tree trunk legs. He's fast. He's hard to tackle. Just think Anquan Bowden with a little more speed. That's what he's built. Those are some great comparisons. Just think Anquan Bolden with a little more speed. That's what he built. Those are some great comparisons, honestly. And yeah, I was incredibly impressed with what I saw in week one. It is early, though, but I want to move on to the defensive side of the ball for the Jags. And the obvious question on defense is, you know, how do you think the Jaguars are able to replace what Yannick Ngakwe gave them?

Obviously, Josh Allen is an incredibly talented young edge rusher, and I thought Caleb on chase on had some pretty good plays on Sunday. But outside of those two, and obviously chase on still a rookie, what are the Jags doing up front on the defensive line to kind of deal with the loss of Ngakwe? Well, not much so far. They didn't get much pass rush at all. They really did not.

The Colts have a good O-line, though. It's an excellent O-line. Yeah, they did. But normally the Jaguars, it doesn't matter if your line was good. In the past, the Jaguars have been able to generate pressure. The other day, the only pressure they got is when they blitzed their linebackers. Josh Allen is going to learn what it's like to play without Yannick Ngakwe and Calais Campbell. And the other day, he did not do much, but they were able to,

the best thing the D-line did the other day is they had a couple of goal line stances, and then they were able to, on third and one and third and short, make some pivotal stops to stop drives and create situations where at some point the Colts lost confidence in their ability to convert on short yardage. And that started to make them one dimensional. And when they did that, the Jaguars were able to play coverage and back balls down and even got a couple of interceptions and forced rivers into some bad throws.

So that, that stuff kind of plays hand in hand. The good thing is Miles Jack showed up to finally play like a superstar. That was my next question, Wig. The very next question I was going to ask you is just talk about Miles Jack, man. He got back to his 2018 form. I thought he was excellent. Well, what happened is when he came into the league, Talvin Smith was on the team and he was entrenched as the wheel linebacker.

So they played Miles as sort of just a football player at Sam. Then they tried to move into Mike and it didn't work. So Talvin has been gone for a couple of years. They moved him finally to his true position at a weak side linebacker because now they have Joe Sherbert, Joe Showbert in the middle. Miles let loose the other day. I mean, he looked like the best football player on the field. And he was fast. He was disruptive.

And he was all over the place. So he looked really, really good, man. He finally looked like he was at home where he doesn't have to think as much. And he could just use his athleticism to let it rip. So that bodes well for him because he was the only guy, the only guy out of all of those guys that they've drafted, all of those defenders, whether it's Jalen, Yannick, Dante Fowler, he was the only guy, the only guy out of all of those guys that they've drafted, all of those defenders, whether it's Jalen, Yannick, Dante Fowler,

he was the only guy that they re-signed. And they re-signed him as a Mike linebacker, and they gave him all of that money, like $50 million. And when they're moving the wheel, it's like there's no wheel making that kind of money except Levante David, and he might be a Hall of Famer. So how is he going to justify it? So he went a long ways the other day to justifying that money.

So now he just has to keep that up. He has to really keep that up. Yeah, that'll be key. And it's funny how you mentioned that they wanted him to be a Mike and you think that a talented guy, you can just change positions. But to me, this is like when a starter goes down on your offensive line and they say, oh, well, take the right guard and move him out to right tackle. Well, now your right guard, who's an excellent right guard,

goes to right tackle where he might be mediocre. and then you bring in a backup right guard. Now you got worse at two spots instead of just one, and that's kind of something that you're talking about for Titans fans. Jayon Brown, when Wig talks about a weak side linebacker, think about how Jayon Brown is used as a pass coverage linebacker, and Rashawn Evans is more that bruiser in the middle. That's how the Titans system kind of mirrors what Wigg is talking about with Miles Jack. But my last question for you is about another young guy who I was impressed with, and that's cornerback C.J. Henderson. So before we switch over and I get in the hot seat for a few questions, what are your thoughts on the rookie and his initial performance in the opening week of the season? He was an enigma a little bit in

practice and in camp because he didn't play well. In fact, Luke Barcu, who was undrafted, had outplayed him. And CJ had hanged his head a little bit, had kind of ticked off some of the veterans, hitting guys after being a little more physical than he should have been in certain situations. And even some Gator fans.

Now, this is a Gator country. They were lukewarm on the pick because there was a knock on him that he didn't tackle very well. Right. One thing that I always said was, and Tennessee fans can remember this name, I said athletes are going to athlete. I said it reminded me of Dale Carter and a former Tennessee Vol, where athletes are going to athlete. I said it reminded me of Dale Carter and a former Tennessee Vol, where athletes are going to athlete.

He kind of reminds me of Dale Carter, sort of reminds me a little bit of a key to lead. Guys that are a little bit tall and for some reason they know when the lights come on they're going to play. He played better yesterday than probably we've seen any cornerback play in the game, even including Jalen Ramsey any cornerback play in the game, even including Jalen Ramsey, with the exception of the game against Antonio Brown. And that's why I have to say this.

Jalen Ramsey played his absolute best in two games against Antonio Brown than I've ever seen anybody play here. But CJ, as a rookie, played better than any rookie cornerback I've ever seen. And the thing is, is he didn't do that in practice. So what that tells you is this. He's just a dude that's a gamer. Some dudes don't practice well. And he's just that guy.

He didn't practice well in camp. There were two or three corners that looked better than him. But when the lights came on, athletes are going to athlete. The same reason he was a top 10 pick is the same reason he showed up the other night or the other day when it really, really mattered. So some guys just aren't going to practice well, man. But when the lights come on, that's it. That's why he got picked. And that kind of gives you some insight into why or as to why guys get picked that high, even if the tape or the practice says one thing. Right. Because scouts know what they're doing, man. You can't duplicate what he did the other day.

Practice? You talking about practice? Exactly. Yeah, I understand. And the Titans have a guy like that on the team right now in Jadavion Clowney. But some excellent analysis there. Just absolutely hitting it out of the park with the comparisons. Fantastic.

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And now we are going to jump into the second portion of our crossover Thursday conversation. Have Tony Wiggins here from Locked on Jaguars. I am Tyler Rowland from Locked on Titans. I'm going to hop into the hot seat here and take some questions from my division rival. How you doing? I am ready to go. Yeah, man, I sent you an Instagram. You got the email I sent you today? Yes, yes, I did.

The Thugs of Tennessee. I called the Titans a bunch of thugs, man. The thing that I was, and I'll probably play that too for you guys. I think I probably did in the opening segment. But my thing is this is a young team in Jacksonville, and the Titans are where the Jaguars were in 2017 they came up a little bit short by going to the AOC championship game they made an addition they made an addition in Jadavion Clowney what impact do you think Jadavion Clowney is going to have

on a football team that got that close they added Jadavion Clowney they added Vic Beasley who at some point I didn't think was going to show up, but he finally did. And I heard they both worked out individually. Yeah, that's my point. I heard they both worked out today. Mike Vrabel on the side, of course, Vrabel, who was a past Russian specialist himself. What impact do you think Clowney first and then Beasley and then both of them. What impact do they have on the Titans this year? Well, Clowney's impact is going to be bigger because he can wreck the game not only in the pass, but especially against the run.

He's actually a better run defender than he is a pass rusher. But the thing about Clowney is he's a gap shooter. He's the kind of guy you just line him up all over the place and say, hey, dart through that A gap, dart through that B gap. You see a guy lean one way dart through. Now the problem with that, and we got both good clowny and bad clowny on Monday night. The problem with that is when you dart gaps like that and take chances, it's like for, for an analogy, trying to match you in the previous segment for an analogy, it's like in basketball. When you see somebody go for a steal in the passing lane and they kind of dart towards it. If they don't get that steal and the pass gets through, they're going to be caught behind

the offensive man out of position. And then they're either going to give up a wide open shot or a drive to the basket. Clowney's the same way. He will make splash plays behind the line of scrimmage when he darts through and he guesses right. But if he guesses wrong and he gets out of position, he's going to give up some big runs. He's going to lose contain on the edge, and we saw the Broncos take advantage of that a few times on Monday night. Overall, though, I think his impact will be more positive than negative, but we got both sides of it, and as for Vic Beasley, I'm frustrated with Vic Beasley. He hasn't been able to get on the field, showed up 10 days late, was hurt when he showed up, hasn't been able to get on the field.

So he hasn't really given the Titans anything for the money that they paid him. It seems like almost a wasted signing at this point, but he's really good at stunts and twists when you can get him out in space against offensive linemen. He's not going to be a one-on-one lineup against the tackle and beat him with moves. You got to get him on the move and create openings in space for him. So if you do that and the Titans scheme is set up to do that, which is why they brought him in, I'm imagining, I think Beasley can have an impact. Now, ultimately, he's not going to be an every down player for the Titans because of his struggles against the run,

but he also adds some value dropping back in pass coverage. So I expect him to let the Titans be more versatile in their front, allow Clowney to get better matchups, because if you can put Beasley and Landry on the edges and allow Clowney to line up against the weakest interior offensive linemen, you take advantage of both of them even more. So their value is kind of tucked together in a way, more for Beasley than Clowney,

but that's the way I see them going forward in the season. That's what my next question was. The kid out of Boston College, Landry, how has he adapted and what do they expect from him? I was actually shocked when they went out and got Beasley a little bit because I thought he had achieved a little bit in Atlanta, but has Landry really lived up to, he actually slipped a little bit in the draft, but has he lived up to the expectations that a lot of us had out of him when he came out of BC. I would say a lot of people considered Harold Landry a first round talent, but if the Titans would have taken him in the first round that year at 25 was

their original pick, I believe they traded up to 22 to get Rashawn Evans who got ejected from the game. It was a foolish move, but back to Landry, Landry was taken in the second round. He did fall because of injury concerns. He's been pretty much healthy in his career so far, knock on wood. And I would say because of that, he has lived up and slightly exceeded his expectations as a second round pick. Now, if he would have gone in the first round, I think he would be maybe just a tad bit, uh, uh, he would probably be right on point with, with his value and where he's supposed to be. He had nine sacks last year, but he wore down late in the season because he played 85% of snaps for the Titans defense last year

because they had nobody else. So Beasley, while had the struggles that he's given us, being the scheme fit I talked about earlier, and then also allowing Landry to maybe have some snaps off the field will actually allow him to be more productive he had a major pressure on Drew Locke late in the fourth quarter that got the Titans the ball back and he got a shout out from head coach Mike Vrabel as well after the game as one of the players of the game so although he didn't register a sack or anything like that Harold Landry is definitely living up to his billing

and having Clowney and then having Beasley is only going to help him be more effective and more consistent. Switch up to the offense real quick before I let you go. I want to save the best for last. A.J. Brown wasn't drafted to be the number one. They thought Davis was going to be the number one, but A.J. Brown is the number one wide receiver on that football team isn't he I mean in my opinion based on talent and attention from the defense yes he is but Corey Davis had a great night seven catches for 101 yards and while Corey Davis has been up and down in his career so far he did have a great night on Monday but I still do agree with you that A.J. Brown is the primary target and you could tell on defense for the Broncos on Monday night a lot of the attention

went to A.J. Brown going deep going vertical trying to create explosive plays and that allowed Corey Davis to be open underneath and on those crossing routes right above the linebackers that's how Corey Davis had success so yes A.J. Brown is still the number one wide receiver on this team. But one thing that Jags fans need to pay attention to is AJ Brown's banged up. And I rewatched the game a few times already this week. And there was a play where he's tackled late in the fourth quarter. And you can just tell anybody who's ever played ball, you can tell the way he was getting up that he didn't feel right. And now he's on the injury report. I think that it's obvious he's banged up. Hopefully he's able to go out there and play. But for the time being,

the Titans are going to need some other people to pick up the slack. Cause I just don't think that AJ Brown's a hundred percent right now. Well, I'll tell you this, my wife's grandmother, like her mom's mom and Derek Henry's mom's mom, their sisters, Derek Henry's mom's mom, their sisters. Derrick Henry's grandmother is mom's mom and my wife's mom's mom are sisters.

Now, Derrick Henry's never met my wife, but I just thought I'd share that with you. So I'm not going to sit here and pretend that, you know, like that's my cousin. No, it's not my cousin, but we love Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry is beloved in this city. Absolutely. Uli is 20 miles North of my house right now where I live. And he's beloved around here. Just like Tim Tebow,

uh, with the exception that he didn't play at the university of Florida. Um, he, he's the focal point and it's obvious. He's the focal point. He's going to present a different challenge for this uh this team this this young team because it is going to be a relentless attack and they're not going to get

cute like the colts it's going to be in your face it's going to be getting punched in the mouth how's derrick henry what kind of shape is he in and um does he have a does he have a backup that's capable not like deon lewis does he have someone else that's capable and not like Deion Lewis? Does he have someone else that's going to help him when he does need a blow that's going to present the same sort of problems that he presents when he's out of the game? I wouldn't say the same sort of problems because we don't have anyone who can match Derrick Henry's physicality.

But one positive note for Titans fans is we drafted a rookie running back in the third round out of Appalachian State, Darrington Evans, and he's an excellent runner in a zone scheme, but more he's kind of a gadget player. The Titans can use him as a pass catching running back. He has a more versatile route tree as a runner than Derrick Henry does catching passes out of the backfield. So we can use him in ways that we can't use Derrick Henry, but he still has enough talent to logically be out on the field, whereas Deion Lewis did not. And the guy that the Titans have, Jeremy McNichols, while being kind of a fan favorite, the McWeapon, he's not really an effective NFL player. So Darrington Evans was hurt last week. He didn't play in the game. He was a

full participant in Wednesday's practice. So that's good news for Titans fans. I think that he can be a competent sidecar to Derrick Henry, but ultimately, and especially against the Jags, Derrick Henry is going to be the focal point. The Titans need to get him going while he had 116 yards against the Broncos, and he got his numbers per se. It wasn't a very efficient night for Derrick Henry. He had less than four yards per carry. And watching the film, he definitely deserves some of the blame for the lack of success. Derrick Henry did not have a great game by his standards.

There are some analytics out there on my Twitter account at TicTacTitan showing that it's the fact Derrick Henry didn't have a very good game, and a lot of that has to do with the way that Vic Fangio, the head coach of the Broncos, fact Derrick Henry didn't have a very good game, and a lot of that has to do with the way that Vic Fangio, the head coach of the Broncos, plays Derrick Henry. But another part of that is Derrick Henry's always been a guy that gets going later in the season. It's a microcosm of how people look at him during the game.

Oh, he's going to beat you up, batter you down. And by the third, fourth quarter, those two-yard runs are four, and those five-yard runs are 10. And that 15 yard run is 75 to the house. Derek Henry wears you down. It's similar to that in the actual NFL season too. At the beginning of the year, it's just a proven fact for whatever reason that he gets a lot, he gets going a little bit slowly. And then by the back half of the season, all of a sudden he turns into a monster, the best running back in the league. So we're kind of seeing that. He was a little hesitant on some runs.

He wasn't really trusting what he was seeing. He's a rhythm runner. You know, you've got to give him a ton of carries. He gets in a rhythm, and by the end of the game, he's taking it to the house. So that's not only true in an individual game. It's also true in the season. Now, he's had some of his best performances ever against the Jags, obviously that hometown motivation.

So, you know, I don't know if that'll hold true here, but from a positive note for Jags fans, Derrick Henry gets going a little slowly at the beginning of the year, and that proved to be true against the Broncos as well, despite the 116 yards he put up on the ground. Some of it was the O-line, but Derrick Henry definitely had his fair share of blame. Well, yeah, and maybe you once told me

that he needed a pep talk from Eddie George. Eddie George told him to stop running. It saved his career. Yeah. So maybe that's what'll have to happen. So I didn't want to get too much into Ryan Tannehill because I know they're not going to really put a whole bunch on Ryan Tannehill.

If they do, the Jaguars are going to beat him. I'm going to tell you right now. If they put it on Ryanhill. If they do, the Jaguars are going to beat them. I'm going to tell you right now. If they put it on Ryan Tannehill's shoulders, the Jaguars are going to beat them because they will force Ryan Tannehill. The best thing – I'm getting bold now. I'm puffing my chest out because – Go ahead. I even had some of your fans –

Hey, finish this thing out strong, man. Let them know how you feel. Some of your fans even hit me up and said, don't ever be as negative. You remember that dude said, don't be as negative as that dude from Jacksonville about his team. I'm like, dude, they got to give me something positive to be – they're going to give me something to be positive about. So now –

Absolutely. Let me tell you something. Here's the thing that's different about this team. Gruden can dial it up. They have a plan on offense, and they have the type of guys. Everybody's on the same page and they really really truly truly believe that they can score all the time normally jacksonville they get down 10 points the game was over right that's not the case now they they really truly believe

offensively that they have the weapons to dial it up as long as they can protect garden menschew he can as hank stramp said matriculate the ball down and I and I have that same belief because I saw a little bit of it last year in him and I'm interested to see the battle to me is going to be the Jags offensive line against the pressure of the front seven from the Titans yes whoever wins that battle is going to win this football game yeah can that Jags O-line be as good as they were last week and stop the Titans exotic stunts, pressures, and blitzes? That'll be something to watch for fans of both our shows and make sure that you're subscribed

to the Locked on Titans podcast and the Locked on Jaguars podcast as well. And make sure you catch our Friday game previews, our Monday recaps. And I can't wait to talk to you later in the year. All I have to say, the last thing I have to say is everyone hating on Ryan Tannehill, man, he was awesome on Monday night. They did put it on Ryan Tannehill. Vic Fongio held the Titans running attack down and Ryan Tannehill delivered. So we will see how it plays out. You could still be right, but man, Tannehill doesn't get enough credit, but that's going to do it for us today. Can't wait to talk to Wig again later on in the season and can't wait to watch this game on Sunday.

Thank you for tuning in to this crossover Thursday conversation on the Locked On Podcast Network.