Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Crossover Thursday Convo: Titans v Steelers & Injury Report Update

Episode Date: October 22, 2020

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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 Pepsi. Thanks to a lack of natural athleticism or commitment or overbearing sports parents, fewer than 1% of 1% of 1% of people will ever play professional football. But instead of entering the NFL, they joined another league, the League of Football Watchers. This season will be different and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter

how you watch. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through any game day because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game, it's made for those who watch it. Pepsi, made for football watching. Go to madeforfootballwatching.com to check out the latest football watching content from Pepsi. I am made for football watching, and I'm sure you are too. And we couldn't be more excited to watch a major matchup between AFC undefeateds this weekend with your 5-0 Tennessee Titans and the 5-0 Pittsburgh Steelers.

And to begin our preparation for that game, we are going to have Chris Carter from the Locked On Steelers podcast on the show today to break everything down. What is the Steelers offense and defense looking like at this moment in time in the season? And how does Chris think that the Steelers will try to attack the Titans on either side of the ball? So we're going to get some excellent information coming up for you today from someone with boots on the ground in Pittsburgh to let you know exactly what to expect and get you ready and to start to get you ready and to start to get

you ready for this major matchup coming up this weekend between the Titans and the Steelers. So excited to get into that conversation with Chris from the Locked on Steelers podcast. Before we do, I'm going to bring you guys the most up-to-date and first injury report of the week for the Tennessee Titans. And outside of that injury report, Titans practice saw the return of a key defensive starter today. So I will tell you who that is and what it means for the Titans going forward. So a lot of important information on today's Locked on Titans podcast to start to get you ready for this incredible game upcoming this

weekend between two undefeateds. But we are going to dive into today's show. Before we do, I want to remind you, tomorrow it will be a football Friday with my game preview giving you the keys to the game from a schematic standpoint, the player matchups to watch, fantasy, gambling, the latest injury report, and much more. On Monday, I will be back to break down everything that took place in this matchup, giving you my keys to victory, hopefully for the Titans.

Tighten up and tighten down where I examine all the good and bad individual performances from the day. And also, we will have a recap of the AFC and AFC South to let you know exactly where the Titans stand after a weekend of football. So a lot of excellent content coming up on the Locked on Titans podcast. Make sure that you are subscribed on Apple Podcasts, following on Spotify, or whatever platform you do stream. But it is a crossover Thursday, and we have an excellent conversation between me and Chris

Carter from the Locked on Steelers podcast to get into, along with the most updated injury news possible. Let's get it. The Tennessee Titans currently sit at 5-0 and are undefeated on the season. The Pittsburgh Steelers also sit at 5-0, undefeated on the season. So this is a critical matchup, not only for the Tennessee Titans, but in the NFL landscape. And earlier this week, the Titans did get some positive news that they no longer had any players on the COVID-19 reserve list. But now, from a roster perspective, they have to start worrying about their injuries. And we got the first injury report for both teams of the week from their practices on Wednesday. And from a Titans perspective,

they had six players listed on the injury report. Three of those players did not participate at all, and then three of those players were limited in practice. So let's dive into the initial injury report for the week for the Tennessee Titans. The first player to talk about is outside linebacker, edge rusher, Jadavion Clowney, who did not participate on Wednesday with a knee injury. And then we have the recently activated off the COVID-19 list tight end, Michael Pruitt, mispractice on Wednesday with an illness and also offensive tackle the rookie first rounder Isaiah Wilson mispractice on Wednesday was designated with an illness an undisclosed illness does not appear to be COVID-19 or that would be reported on the

COVID-19 list but another setback for Isaiah Wilson, another bit of disappointing news. Now, he may be able to practice later on in the week and be available to the Titans, but at this moment in time, he has been a complete zero for the Titans so far this year, including his issues during training camp in the quote-unquote preseason, his DUI at the beginning of the season being on the COVID list two different times, the reports that he has been out of shape and not in condition during the times when he was actually out on the field. So a very disappointing start for Isaiah Wilson, who continues to not be able to provide any

value to the Titans on the football field. Moving into the three players who were listed as limited. First, we have defensive lineman Daquan Jones with a foot issue was limited on Wednesday. Starting right tackle Dennis Kelly with a knee issue was limited on Wednesday. And then tight end Jonu Smith who got hurt on the first play of the Titans' second offensive drive of the second half on Sunday. An ankle injury. He is limited, and per a previous Adam Schefter report from earlier in the week, he is questionable for the game against the Steelers, but a good sign to see him limited in the first practice of the week.

So one thing to mention here is Wednesday practices are typically a rest day for starters around the NFL. You would give your veterans an opportunity to rest on a Wednesday as you walk through the game plan for the week. Thursday's practice can be a little bit more taxing on the body, but it's also more extensive, so you would want to have your players out there for that. But Wednesday, it's very typical for NFL teams to give their veteran players and their banged-up players a little bit of a rest day.

So no time to panic for the did not practice players or the limited practice players for the Titans. Relatively a small list when you compare it to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And we are going to jump into Pittsburgh's injury report, but I do want to tell you some additional roster information about the Titans. And that was cornerback Adory Jackson did return to practice for the Titans on Wednesday. He is quote-unquote designated to return from the injured reserve list. And what that means is that Adory Jackson can stay on the IR, but practice with the Titans for up to three weeks before he's required to either stop practicing and stay on the IR

or be activated to the 53-man roster. So a good sign for Adoree Jackson to be designated to return and to be out on the practice field. But at this time, the Titans don't have to actually activate him for at maximum three weeks, although he would still be eligible to come off IR this week if healthy. As for the Steelers, linebacker Devin Bush will be out of this game with a knee. Cornerback Mike Hilton, center Mike Pouncey, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster, defensive end Stephon Tuitt, fullback Derek Watt, and guard David DeCastro were all limited.

But remember, Wednesday is very common to give your banged up veterans a little bit of a rest. So at this time, you can expect to see all those players in the game. And wide receiver Deontay Johnson for the Steelers was a full participant and will play on Sunday. I will continue to monitor the injury report for both teams. And on tomorrow's Football Friday game preview, I will make sure to give you the latest updated injury information from Thursday's practices. So make sure that you are locked into the Locked on Titans podcast

and subscribed on whatever platform you do stream so you do not miss that game preview. But we are going to begin preparing for this game and previewing this game against the Pittsburgh Steelers by having Chris Carter from the against the Pittsburgh Steelers by having Chris Carter from the Locked on Steelers podcast on the show to give us his perspective of what the Steelers could do against the Titans, what they should do against the Titans, and then ask me some questions about what he expects the Titans to do.

So a lot of great content coming up in this conversation with Chris from the Locked On Steelers podcast. Excited to get you guys into that conversation. But before we do, I want to tell you guys a little bit about rockauto.com. With the ever increasing number of makes and models, it's basically impossible to stock all the parts that you would need at a traditional chain storefront. So why endure the pointless questioning when you could just go online on your computer or in your pocket on your phone and get access to rockauto.com. You'll have the ability to browse all of the different parts, specifications, and brands that you need for your vehicle, whether it's your classic or your daily

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It's Locked On Steelers, Locked On Titans. We're going at it again. It's so funny, my man, because we were just here, what was it, a month ago? Three weeks ago? I forgot how long it was. But now we're doing another preview show. Now we can finally play this game. Yes, it looks like the game will actually be played.

There's not a lot of uncertainty surrounding this one at this moment in time, so hopefully that stays the case. Hopefully, hopefully, but we've got a lot to talk about. I've got new questions because our teams were undefeated going into the first game, and they're still undefeated. Still undefeated. It's pretty crazy right now. First questions. Just looking at the overtime win over the Texans, I was able to watch that. I was actually – it's funny. I was actually in Miami because I was coming off of covering Pitt

versus Miami down in South Florida. And I had to be able to watch the Steelers game, so my boss had me stay there to watch it at a bunch. Oh, no. Oh, no. That was terrible. But it worked out. Luckily, the place was very COVID up to code with keeping the space out.

So, so far, I don't have COVID. The deal. But I was able to watch that Titans game because it was on all the other screens. And I got to say, man, just Derrick Henry, we all knew how much of a beast he was. But in that game, you just saw him really remind everyone, like, how serious of a runner he is. You know, it's weird how I hear, like, people talk about how he's a great running back, but I don't ever hear him get named as the best running back nationally.

Do you think that's weird at all? Well, I guess – see, that's the good part about football is things are so dependent on the system that you're in and the scheme you're in, and different teams want certain kinds of players with certain traits in their system. So it's kind of hard to evaluate everybody on the same plane, I guess. But, you know, Derrick Henry isn't very special out of the backfield. And although he had a 53-yard catch on Sunday in overtime that set up the final game-winning score, it was a major play.

But the reality is Derrick Henry doesn't provide much versatility as a pass blocker or as a pass catcher. So because of that limited part of his skill set, I think that he takes a knock from a national perspective and from a quote-unquote rankings perspective. But the reality of the situation is what Derrick Henry is asked to do in the system that he plays in, he's probably the most impactful running back on game day of any running back in the league other than maybe Alvin Kamara, a healthy Christian McCaffrey, something like that. Zeke Elliott before he got his contract.

Who knows if he'll ever go back to that level. But I would say that Derrick Henry on a Sunday-to-Sunday basis is the most impactful running back in the NFL because of what he does for the Titans offense and the kind of home run plays that he's been making ever since he got the opportunity to be the full-time back for the Titans. So I would say that he is the best running back in the NFL because what he does do well is so good that it outweighs what he doesn't do well, which is catch the ball out of the backfield and pass protect. Yeah. And again, that's, that's why I asked that question,

because just the things that I see him when he's running the football, he seems the most unstoppable in the league. It's a mental edge, too. People see Derrick Henry in the backfield, and that alone has such an impact on the mindset of the defense that it just opens everything else up for the Titans. It's like Steph Curry in basketball, his gravity. People talk about gravity in basketball when you have a shooter

who requires teams to jump out on them. Derrick Henry requires that you change the way you play defense on a week-to-week basis, and that in itself is enough of an impact for me to give him a bump over the rest of the running backs in the league. And that's led to the Titans having the number five rushing offense in the league right now when it comes to yards. And that's going to go up against the Steelers' number two rushing defense. We just dismantled the Browns' number one rushing offense last week. So that's going to be a huge matchup over the weekend.

But I wanted to balance off of that because Ryan Tannehill is putting together what some people are starting to recognize as a great year he has 13 touchdowns only two interceptions he's very close to having a seven a perfect 70 or a perfect 70 but a straight 70 percent completion percentage he has over 1300 passing yards already a lot of of this, you know, people are saying like, wow, Ryan Tannehill, who would have thought? But I look at this, a lot of this is set up because Mike Vrabel's team has that balance on offense. And like you said, it's the system that they're in. You know, Derrick Henry takes up so much respect from other teams that Ryan Tannehill, he can make these smart decisions because, hey,

you don't get the key off on me. You don't – you're defensive front. They're most likely not pinning their ears back to come and get me, so that gives me a chance to really get into my group. And he's proven to be one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL, and he was that at the tail end of last year too. Yeah, I think that it's starting to get to a point with some of his play where it's starting to go past just the, oh, he's good with play action. Oh, he's good on the

bootlegs. He's starting to deliver just from shotgun formation with no play action. I believe he was 22 or 25, had a great day, not in play action. So people say he's not as good under pressure. He's not as good without play action. Well, throughout this year, he's been pretty dang good without play action. He was excellent on Sunday without play action, and he was excellent on Sunday with pressure in his face. So I think some of the, I guess, cliches that you hear about Ryan Tannehill coming out of last year's performance, he needs Derrick Henry in the backfield, he needs that play action, he can't do it when he's under pressure, he needs a clean pocket. Well, those things are kind of

true for the majority of quarterbacks in the NFL, but Ryan Tannehill is starting to dispel some of those thoughts and show that regardless of the situation, regardless of what's going on on the play, Ryan Tannehill can still be a top 10 quarterback in the NFL. Of course, the play action, having Derrick Henry, the scheme that the Titans run on offense is going to boost his play. If you put a player in a perfect situation for his skill set, it should boost his play. That's only logical, but I think that Ryan Tannehill himself is making plays outside of just what the scheme is dialing up for him. And he deserves all the credit that he's been getting nationally throughout this week. Certainly, and a huge, he's a huge part of the reason the

Titans have the highest turnover differential in the league. They're in a plus six. And you look at the team at the top of this list, plus six, you've got the Titans, undefeated. Seahawks, undefeated. Baltimore Ravens, one loss to the Chiefs. Chiefs, one loss to the Raiders. Steelers right behind all of them at plus five. They're undefeated as well. I think that's it.

You're turning over the ball, holding onto the ball on the offense, getting the ball to turn over on defense. Huge story of that. And looking at that, I wanted to ask you about this Titans defense because they – I believe they have, what, 12 turnovers on the season? Total – no, nine. I'm sorry. They have nine forced turnovers on the season,

and that ranks them sixth in the NFL. But at the same time, you look at their numbers across the board. Against the pass, they're giving up – they're 28th in passing numbers across the board against the pass they're giving up their 28th and passing yards allowed against the run their 26th and rushing yards allowed what do you think is the overall makeup of this defense right now because there's being opportunistic but when you're giving up those kind of yards and those opportunities don't come is this a team that can rally around itself and say hey hey, we're not forcing turnovers, but we can force those three and outs to keep the offense from having to keep putting up points? Well, this is something that I think is the formula

for the Titans. Do I think that they have a top half of the league defense? No. Do I think that they will improve on defense? Yes. The Titans' number one cornerback, Adoree Jackson, has been out for most of the season. So from that perspective, the Titans haven't had a guy that not only is their number one cornerback, but is their matchup guy. A lot of the speed threats, like Will Fuller. Will Fuller had a great game against the Titans because there is not a single person in the Titans secondary who has the speed and the experience to be able to take on a player like a Will Fuller. So the Titans need a Dory Jackson back right now. They have Jonathan Joseph and Malcolm Butler starting at cornerback.

That's the two – that's the slowest pair of starting cornerbacks in the league. And it's hard to run the multiple defense that the Titans want to run where they mix up zone coverage. They mix in man. They mix in all these different zone pressures, man pressures, five-man blitzes, drop in linebackers, drop in linemen. It's hard to have the varied scheme that they want to have when you can't play man coverage.

And the Titans literally cannot play man coverage right now with Jonathan Joseph and Malcolm Butler. Malcolm Butler's been targeted the third most of any player in the NFL, and for good reason. Another basketball analogy, I'm a big sports guy of all kind. I like to mix them together. You're open for a reason. It's something they say in basketball, when they're leaving a guy open to take shots on purpose, like a Giannis Antetokounmpo from three or a Ben Simmons or even a Rajon Rondo before the playoff run the Lakers just had. So you leave guys open on purpose so that they shoot. Well, they are targeting Malcolm Butler

on purpose. It isn't just a function of what the play is giving them and that guy happens to be open. Teams are intentionally going after Malcolm Butler, going after Jonathan Joseph and trying to find ways to find matchups against those guys. So when you have that going on, it's going to be difficult for the Titans' defense to excel. And then the other aspect of it is not just a talent thing. It's a production and a play thing. The Titans' inside linebackers, Jayon Brown and Rashawn Evans,

while they haven't been terrible at missing tackles this year, they're not getting off blocks the way that they need to to stop the run. Also, in the secondary, Kenny Vaccaro and Kevin Byard, the Titans' pair of safeties, especially Kevin Byard, who's been an all-pro in this league, they just aren't quite playing up to their potential. Kevin Byard has not been good this season. He's not been terrible, but he's not been all-pro,

pro-bowl- level Kevin Byard that the Titans are used to, and we don't have a reason for it. Not a lot of injury concerns with Byard, so right now, some of the Titans' best players, they're interior, second level four, the two safeties, the two inside linebackers, they have to play better in pass coverage and run defense if the Titans want to get better as a defense and then add in Adoree Jackson eventually when he comes back he did start to practice this week although he's still on IR just designated to return so that's something to watch for Steelers fans but from the defensive perspective the Titans have to get Adoree Jackson back so they can go

back to being the the varied team and the multiple team that they try to be in coverage. And then also they need to have their better players, Jayon Brown, Rashawn Evans at linebacker, Kenny Vaccaro, Kevin Byard at safety. They just have to play better. That's what it comes down to. I hear you there. My last question isn't necessarily a football question,

but more of an insight question from you on the Titans. Because there, of course, with the national story that broke out, you know, when this last game was – when this last game was postponed, there was an investigation that did show that Titans players were practicing off of the facility while the facilities were closed, and there were protocol violations, and there was national narratives going behind that. And, you know, I think people had justifiable anger at seeing some of those things and seeing some of those narratives play out.

But then you saw the Titans after beating the Bills being like, everybody hates us. We, you know, we respond well to adversity. And there was a little bit of pushback there. And I think it was somewhat reasonable because you're saying like, well, wait a second. This wasn't, you know, maybe the initial outbreak wasn't, outbreak wasn't anybody's fault, maybe that was just a mistake. But some of the things that were clear violations that were found out by the investigation, that's not necessarily adversely put on by the Titans. It's adversely that they're just dealing with because some of the people on the team are doing that. But I wanted to get your response, just your thoughts on how that's played out, both in the conversation on it and how the Titans have dealt with it sure so I'm gonna try to be I guess level-headed in this response I don't want

to be you know too Homer ish for your Steelers audience but here's what I would say I would say any anger directed at the Titans is short-sighted because it could be your team and like what happened with the Patriots like what we've seen happen today with the Raiders we saw a scare with the Colts over the weekend there's going to be more teams that have issues like this so it's all fun and games to say you know ban the Titans just punish the Titans blah blah they messed up but when it's your team how are you going to feel and I guarantee that a lot of people who were calling for the Titans head as an organization, if it were their team, they'd be in a totally different seat of the discussion.

So that's how I feel about some of that misdirected anger. And here's what I would have to say. You talk about protocol violations. Well, at this time, the only protocol violations that the NFL has officially announced is that there were some people in the facility who weren't wearing masks. It was a miscommunication in terms of the off facility practices. Now, you could have a moral debate about whether the Titans should have or should not have gathered and had an offsite practice. We could have a moral debate on whether that was a smart idea or a dumb idea.

But and I think we can all lean on that probably wasn't a smart idea. Considering the circumstances, we can all agree there. But the reality is the NFL sent out a memo barring those kinds of workouts on October the 1st. And those workouts took place on the 29th and 30th of September. So if we want to have a moral argument about whether that was right or wrong by the Titans players, then I can fully submit and say, Hey, that was wrong of them to do that. That's a risky maneuver. But as for committing any violation of protocol, the only thing that the NFL came out

and said they did was they reviewed video of the facility and there were instances of some people not wearing masks when they should be. And then from the Titans' perspective, when you talk about – so I guess that's how I feel about that. The anger was misplaced because the Titans truly didn't break protocol. That's not the route I would go if I wanted to criticize them. I would just say it wasn't a very smart or risk-averse decision to have that off-field workout. So there's a reason that the Titans aren't being punished

in any significant way by the NFL because they shouldn't be. They didn't break any protocols significantly or do anything that a lot of people said that they were doing. So from that perspective, that leads me into the next part of your question and the next part of the answer here. And that's the Titans, I guess you could say they caused the adversity themselves because of that workout. But when you take what I just said, how the anger was misdirected, the Titans did not break protocol with those workouts from a law perspective or a rule perspective. Like I said, morally, you could say you disagree with their actions, but you can't say that they should be punished for not breaking the rules. They technically did not break the rules. So continuing that forward from the Titans players

perspective, they probably feel like, hey, we didn't break any rules. It's a miscommunication. A lot of people are in the media right now, like Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk saying they're going to get a $10 million fine. They're suspending Robinson and Vrabel for the year. They're going to lose draft picks, forfeit the game against the Bills. And then it turns out the NFL says, no, there's some miscommunication here. We're just going to give them minor fines for not having masks on all the time. They didn't break any protocol. So from the Titans' organizational perspective, they're saying, hey,

all you guys are saying, we messed up, broke the rules, we should have this punishment, that punishment, but we didn't. so it's all fake media nonsense talking about these punishments that the NFL was going to levy so from that perspective when you have every fan base except your own in the NFL and highly respected national NFL media people putting misinformation and misleading information out into the NFL cognoscente, and then you come back and you win anyway, I mean, from the Titans' perspective, I could most certainly see how they would say that the adversity was against them and it wasn't their own doing because of some of the misleading and misinformed reports that came out. But I can at the same time say,

yeah, in the NFL and in sports, people manufacture motivation in the silliest ways possible you'll have the favorite in a game and their coach is saying no one believes in us so yeah it's a little bit of silly season Patriots said that for 20 years yeah exactly nobody believes in us but yet you've been a dynasty for 20 years so that's just something that happens in sports all the time so I'm not shocked that the Titans turned the situation into no one, everyone's against us, rally around each other, because that's just blah, blah, blah, NFL standard. But from the other two perspectives,

the Titans technically did not break protocol. And having so many people in the media and so many fans come down on them like they did do something incredibly wrong from a rules perspective, that could probably be frustrating from their view. So that's how I feel about that entire loaded question, but I understand it is a polarizing topic still to this day. I felt like it would be irresponsible of me not to ask it and get the Titans' perspective on that.

For sure, for sure. It's been a national topic that everyone's talking about, and its impact. It impacted our game. The game that we did a show about a month ago. So, and I agree, you know, when you look at it and you see that the actual violations, if being the Mets part, that, you know, that's a different part of the story. I just, I still feel like, you know, it may have not been written down in the rule book that you shouldn't have been practicing off campus.

written down in the rule book that you shouldn't have been practicing off campus but to me that's like that's like when i'm a kid and my parents didn't tell me to to not go outside and run in the and run in the street it's like no you should have known not to do this because that anyway that's the moral discussion like i said morally you Morally, you can say, hey, that was super risky. We're in the middle of a pandemic. Your facility got closed down because of the risk, and you guys went out and had a group meeting anyway. Morally speaking, you can say that's wrong. You shouldn't have done that.

That's a bad move. It could have jeopardized the whole season even further. So from that perspective, I can agree. And I think everyone also was panicking at the time because after that was reported there it was like what wait well how many days in a row did the Titans go of getting a new player or a staff member being announcing having to go there was a two-day break where they got two negative tests early in the week a couple weeks ago where you thought they might

have their game played but then they had three straight days again of tests so I think it was like 13 out of 16 days or 13 out of 15 days that they had tests. So I agree from a moral perspective and from just like a, hey, come on now. You didn't break the rules, but come on. I think it was a lot of people just saying, not my football. Don't take my football. Hey, I feel the same way. Don't take it away.

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I am Tyler Rowland from Locked on Titans. We have Chris Carter from Locked on Steelers. One of the biggest matchups of the season, two undefeated teams. I just answered some questions from Chris about the Titans and what to expect. So we are going to kind of flip roles here. I'm going to put Chris in the hot seat and get my fiery darts out to toss at him. So we will just kind of dive right in here. I want to give you a little bit of a blank canvas. The Steelers are a fantastic team.

It's obvious by their record and by their performance on the field when you pop in the tape. So I just want you, who's on the ground, you know, covering the team on a daily basis, start on the offensive side of the ball. What is Steelers' offense doing well right now that it's allowing them to? They scored 38 points against the Browns last week. I know they haven't been a juggernaut on offense this year but they've obviously won all of their games so what are the Steelers doing so well on offense and from that what do you expect them to

try to do against the Titans defense that has been uh porous at best that's the thing man this offense is efficient they don't do it in any one way anymore. Like when you think of the Steelers offense over the past 10 years, you think of Antonio Brown. You think of Le'Veon Bell. Even if you go back, you think of Mike Wallace and Hines Ward and just big-name players making the big-name plays, Tyler. But that's not this team.

There's been a different receiver or target who's led the Steelers in receiving for four of their five games. Last week, Chase Claypool was the first player to repeat that with leading the Steelers in receiving. But he wasn't the most targeted. That was James Washington. And it's been that balance, I think, that the Steelers have been finding. And it's been Ben Roethlisberger's efficiency. You know, I was talking about Ryan Tannehill's efficiency with his 13 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Ben Roethlisberger's got 11 touchdowns and one interception. And they're finding different ways to beat you. And quietly, that's the thing, it's quietly, the Titans offense, they're number two in scoring right now. They're at 32.8 points per game. You know who's right behind them? The Steelers, they're fourth best in offense and 31.2 points per game. The Steelers are actually averaging over 30 points a game, which was their whole goal, you know, over the past like five or six years when they had

superstars. But the key has been, Tyler, it's been efficiency. The offensive line has played very well. Kevin Dotson, the fourth round draft pick rookie, has played extremely well in filling in. David Castro might be back this week, but Deontay Johnson, when he was in, he was making plays. He's been out, but when he's been out, Chase Claypool had a four touchdown game against the Eagles. Should have had five touchdowns off of a bad call, and he had another touchdown last week. James Conner on the ground, 300-yard rushing gains, four straight games with a rushing touchdown. It's tough to lock in on this team and say, hey, if we take away this one thing, they're going to have to struggle and figure out a different way to beat us

because the Steelers, they balance their offense really well, and I think that's where their strength has come from. How do you think they're going to utilize that balance against this Titans defense that pretty much is struggling against everything? I think they're going to keep mixing it up. If Deontay Johnson's back, I will say that I can see them, the Steelers, planning to feed him the ball a little bit more. But Ben Roethlisberger has been very decisive with the football this year.

In years past, my biggest criticisms on Ben were that he was staring down receivers too much, and it wasn't just Antonio Brown. Some days it was Martavis Bryant. Some days it was another person receivers too much. And it wasn't just Antonio Brown. It was some days it was Martavis Bryant. Some days it was another person on his team. But he would lock in on a guy and say, that's my playmaker. I'm going to feed him the ball until it doesn't work anymore. Now he doesn't do that. He's processing what defenses give you.

So what the Titans would need to do is they would need to do and try to be smart with their safeties. Use Ricardo, use Bayard to disguise different coverages, to try and fool Ben Roethlisberger with different looks. But even in doing that, Ben's still been taking the easier throws. You know, he's been trying to make sure that he gets the matchups that he wants and then confirming that and then throwing it. I can see them trying to pick at their corners, maybe with Deontay.

They haven't used Juju Smith-Schuster a lot lately, but a lot of that's been because teams are double-teaming him, and he's like – and Ben Roethlisberger just says, okay, well, I'll go to Chase Claypool who's killing everyone lately. I can see them really taking off to the air, and then once that backs up Rashawn Evans and that backs up the Titans' defense a little bit, that's when you can see James Conner coming in. He's played very strong in the fourth quarter in a few of their wins.

Ben Roethlisberger even said he was joking around on Wednesday this week saying it felt like he was handing the ball off to Jerome Bettis against the Browns with how much they were just running it down their throats. Right, right. Yeah, I mean, it was an incredible performance from the Steelers against the Browns, a 38-7 win. And I know some people hear the word Browns and think, oh, Yeah, I mean, it was an incredible performance from the Steelers against the Browns, a 38-7 win. And I know some people hear the word Browns and think, oh, well, you know, but the Browns are a pretty good football team this year.

They were 4-1 going into that game. Right, right. It's like when the Titans dismantled the Bills, although the Bills are struggling on defense. That's a good football team. So you've got to take those wins and not try to discount them by discounting the opponent. But flipping over to the defensive side of the ball,

which is clearly the hallmark of this Steelers team. They've been one of the biggest talking points of the NFL season is how dominant the Steelers defense has been. And Minka Fitzpatrick, who I know hasn't played his best football this year, really stepped up last week and was pretty impressive. So what are the Steelers doing on offense or on defense? Obviously, we got T.J. Watt on the front,

but what have they been doing on defense? Are they mixing coverages? Are they bringing a lot of pressure? Are they playing man? What are they doing to be so incredible on the defensive side of the ball? Well, they have stuck to their philosophy that if you – that they want to stuff the run and they want to keep you from making the big plays.

And that's been a huge part of what they've been able to do to opponents so far. Like I said in the top of the show, they're number two in stopping the run right now in the NFL. And that's huge for what they like to do because now they've allowed their linebackers and their secondary to back off and say, okay, we're trusting our defense in its base format to stop the run without selling out to do it. Now we can focus on disguising things against the pass. And that's the thing. I wouldn't say Mick Fitzpatrick's had a bad year. He wasn't getting targeted.

I mean, through, was it four games, he had 10 targets and was allowing seven catches through four games for like 96 yards. And the interception that he had last week, technically he wasn't even targeting. He just jumped the slant route because he saw it coming. And they love to play that cover one robber look. But what they'll do is sometimes it'll be Terrell Edmonds who jumps into the robber role and Mika Fitzpatrick drops back into deep cover one. But sometimes they'll drop Mika Fitzpatrick into the cover one role.

And they love to say, hey, here's our two high safeties. We're coming out in cover two. It might be man. It might be zone. Psych, it's neither. It's cover one role and they love to to shake to say hey here's our two high safeties we're coming out in cover two it might be man it might be zone psych it's neither it's cover one robber and um and they they love to do that it got Baker Mayfield quarterbacks have just been avoiding Minkah Fitzpatrick I think Minkah's biggest struggles have been missed tackles this year he's had a couple bad ones on tape but all in all he's still doing the things that he did last year since the offenses are like hey don't throw it to 39 that guy's that guy's the problem let's pick it steven nelson and joe hayden and mike hilton and cameron sutton and even in trying to do that last week baker mayfield had some troubles but it's that continuity on defense there's no real guaranteed weak spot you

can get better matchups with against steven nelson you can get better matchups against Steven Nelson. You can get better matchups against maybe Terrell Edmonds. But at the same time, these guys are usually in position to at least challenge the pass to say, hey, if you're going to move the ball on us, you're going to do it by being consistent all the way down the field and not making the mistake that allows us to jump on it and make a turnover or holding onto the ball too long to allow TJ Watt, Bud Dupree, Stephon Tuitt, and Cam Hayward to get after you. Yeah, they have playmakers in the secondary, obvious playmakers along the defensive line and the guys that you just mentioned, Hayward, Tuitt, Dupree, and Watt. So with that in mind, knowing about all the talent that the Steelers have, and you mentioned

the rushing defense and how successful it's been. How do you expect the Steelers' defense to try to slow down a Tennessee Titans offense that, at this moment in time, might be considered the best offense in the NFL? They're certainly right up there. And I think it's this huge challenge. They take these kind of games seriously. These are the games that Mike Tomlin gets geared up for and that he gets his team geared up for.

They love these type of – you know, there's a saying with the Steelers that's gone back for like 15 years. Every game's a five-star matchup because we in it. And that's like – that's how they get it. But this is one of those five-star matchups because we in it. Five and O matchups. And that's the thing. They're both five and O, so it's even funnier there.

But when you look at the – when you look at how they've played against defenses, the key is stop the offensive line at the line of scrimmage. Don't let them get to the second level. And Vince Williams, who's a very good inside linebacker, he leads the NFL in tackles for loss. He's going to come in charging, take out the lead blocker, plug up the hole. And I'm going to tell you right now,

if him and Derrick Henry meet in the hole sometimes, there's going to be some cataclysmic booms. Like it's going to be like Marvin the Martian from Looney Tunes saying, there's supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom. That was great. These guys are just – Vince Williams I've seen for years. They do a drill called backs on backers where the biggest guys in the running backs go up against the biggest linebackers. And Vince Williams has won that for like the past five years,

no matter who he goes up against. So he is looking forward to taking on Derrick Henry. He also respects the heck out of Derrick Henry. He doesn't think he's going to be like, oh, yeah, I'm going to win that too. But them meeting there, but also the team defense. Because even when Vince Williams, Cam Hayward, TJ White, even when they get to somebody at the line of scrimmage, you're seeing the entire defense converging on it.

They're believing in their system. They're trusting their key. They're trusting their reads. And they're playing fast and aggressive. That's where it's going to come from. Now, if Derrick Henry can get to that second level, that's where the Steelers are going to have a problem. Because they've been very good at keeping running backs

from being able to make those decisions three yards and four yards past the line of scrimmage and saying, hey, your first decision on how you're going to beat a defender is going to come behind the line of scrimmage, at the line of scrimmage, or like maybe one yard beyond it. So it's going to be about sticking on those keys, winning those offensive line matchups, and the loss of Taylor LeJuan could be a huge part of that because he's been a very good lineman for

the Titans. And to me, on offensive lines across the board, I always look at who is your anchor, who are your multiple anchors in the offensive line, and LeJuan was one of those anchors for the Titans. One of two. Yeah, yeah, right. And I've seen years where the Steelers would lose one of those anchors and the offensive line wouldn't fall apart, but it wouldn't make the key blocks that you were used to seeing them make week in and week out. So I'm curious as to how the Titans rise up to that challenge while the Steelers are revving at full gear with their defensive front

being healthy. Well, real quickly, I can give a little analysis there. The Titans are probably going to be rolling out, back up, tackle Ty Sambrillo. Sambrillo is much better of a run blocker than he is a pass protector. One-on-one and pass protection. TJ Watt's brother, JJ Watt,

gave him a lot of trouble last week. Now, JJ Watt's a great player. He's one of the better players in NFL history on the defensive side of the ball. Maybe it's not fair to give a complete analysis, but against Yannick Ngakwe, Ty Sambrillo