Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Crossover Wednesday Convo: Titans vs Colts w/ Evan Sidery From Locked on Colts

Episode Date: November 11, 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 Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented 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've joined another league, the League of Football Watchers. This football 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. And the normal content that would come on a Wednesday on the Locked on Titans podcast is our rewatch Wednesday. But considering the Tennessee Titans have a Thursday night football game this week,

we have bumped up everything on the schedule. Yesterday, we had our Tic Tac Tuesday and had our Tic Tac four pack breaking down four impactful performances from the Titans newcomers on Sunday, Desmond King, Breon Borders, Derek Roberson, and Tyre Tartt. And we also did our Rewatch Wednesday segment in yesterday's Tuesday show, giving you all of my additional analysis and extra insights from rewatching the coaches tape. So if you missed any of that excellent content, make sure that you check that out. But today, we are going to do what we typically do on a Thursday, and that's have a crossover

conversation with Evan Sidery from the Locked On Colts podcast. He has a ton of excellent information, including a defensive schematic change that the Colts have made this year that have allowed them to be one of the best defenses in the NFL. So make sure that you don't miss any of that information. But before we get into that crossover conversation with Evan Sidery from the Locked On Colts podcast, I do want to go over the most recent injury update for both teams. Typically on Thursday, we start off the show taking a look at the most recent injury reports. So we are going to do that today as practice is bumped up for both teams considering the

early game this week on Thursday. So a crossover Thursday taking place on a Wednesday on the Locked On Titans podcast. But remember, tomorrow we will have our game preview show. I'll go over my keys to the victory, go over my players to watch, fantasy gambling, injury updates, and my score and game prediction. Friday will be a game recap show. I'll give you my big points that I took away from the game. Also, grade

everything on an individual level with everyone's favorite segment. Tighten up and tighten down. Take a look at some of the schematic things that took place in that game. Friday, I'll get you ready for the weekend in football that won't include the Titans. And then next week we are back on our regular schedule

for a Sunday game against the Baltimore Ravens. So make sure that you're subscribed to the Locked On Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream so you don't miss any of the Monday through Friday content that I will be putting out throughout the entire year covering the Tennessee Titans. But the Titans do have a major game on Thursday night against the division rival Indianapolis Colts and we are going to begin our preparation today on a crossover Wednesday. Let's get it. Taking a look at the most updated injury report for the Tennessee Titans heading into a game on Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts.

And the Titans got mostly good news in terms of the injury report. So let's take a look at that. Wide receiver A.J. Brown for the Titans, who has been dealing with a bone bruise in his knee throughout the season, was a full participant in Tuesday's practice. Outside linebacker Jadavian Clowney, who is dealing with a knee injury that some reports indicate may lead to surgery, was a full participant in Tuesday's practice. That is great news for the Tennessee Titans, two major

playmakers, one on offense, one on defense. However, safety Dane Cruikshank, wide receiver Adam Humphreys, who suffered a concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals, did not play last week against the Bears. Tackle Dennis Kelly, cornerback Chris Milton, and tight end Michael Pruitt, who was injured against the Bears, all did not participate in Tuesday's practice. I would not expect Adam Humphreys to come back and be able to play, but I would expect tackle Dennis Kelly to be ready to go for Thursday's

game. And then the final piece of positive news on the injury front for the Tennessee Titans is in regard to left guard Roger Saffold. And Saffold left the game early against the Bears with a shoulder injury, but was a full participant in Tuesday's practice. So that's great news for the Titans who are already missing one of their starters on the left side of the offensive line. But the most negative news of the day for the Tennessee Titans surrounded the injury

results for cornerback Adory Jackson. And Adory Jackson has been on injured reserve the entire season for the Tennessee Titans, has yet to appear in a game. It has led the Titans to have to play some players in the secondary that simply weren't prepared for that role. It has been a major detriment to the Tennessee Titans defense this season, and there were some hopes that Adoree Jackson would return for this game and that the Titans simply did not activate Adoree Jackson for

the game against the Bears because of a quick turnaround to play against the Colts and they wanted him fresh for a matchup against a division rival. If you remember three weeks ago on Saturday the Titans did designate Adoree Jackson to return from IR meaning that he has to be activated to the Titans active 53-man roster by Wednesday, by today, or he has to go back on the Tennessee Titans injured reserve and cannot return for the entire season. So what the Titans could do from here to avoid that is they could activate Adoree Jackson today, Wednesday, and keep him on the 53-man roster, but just make him inactive for game day in hopes to get him back for a matchup against the Baltimore Ravens in week 11. So some very negative news and unfortunate news in regards to Adoree Jackson's

injured knee, and it is still a mystery exactly what took place with Adoree Jackson, who was injured during training camp and, as I mentioned, has been on injured reserve ever since. And we do not know exactly what the injury was or what the severity was of the injury at this time. But all hopes are that Adoree Jackson can finally return to the team for a game against the Ravens, as reports do indicate he will not be ready for this game against the Indianapolis Colts but speaking of the Colts let's take a look at their

injury report it's much shorter than the Tennessee Titans the Colts are relatively healthy at this moment in time linebacker Matthew Adams did not participate on Tuesday tight end Mo Alley-Cox was limited on Tuesday with a knee injury. Tight end Jack Doyle, Colts starting tight end, has a concussion, suffered during Sunday's game against the Ravens. Reports do indicate that he will not participate in the game against the Titans and he did not participate in practice on Tuesday. And then wide receiver T.Y. Hilton with a groin injury was a full participant on Monday and on Tuesday for the Col wide receiver T.Y. Hilton with a groin injury was a full participant on Monday and on Tuesday for the Colts and reports are indicating that T.Y. Hilton will be ready to go for this matchup. He has a long list of success against the Titans in their matchups.

So if Hilton does play on Thursday will be something that the Titans have to take notice of. But that is going to do it for the most recent injury update for both teams heading into a Thursday night matchup. It is time to jump into our crossover Wednesday conversation with Evan Sidery from the Locked on Colts podcast. And like I mentioned before, he's got some excellent insights into the Colts offense, also into the Colts defense, and a schematic change that they made this year on defense that has allowed them to ascend to

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Welcome back into your latest Locked On NFL crossover special part of the Locked On Podcast Network. I'm Evan Sidery, host of Locked On Culture. My Tyler Rowland, the host of Locked On Podcast Network. I'm Evan Sidery, host of Locked On Colts. Join my Tyler Rowland, the host of Locked On Titans. Tyler, how are you doing as we're proving the early game this week on Thursday Night Football in Nashville between the Colts and the Titans? Yeah, really excited to talk about this game. This is a major game in terms of how the AFC South will work out. Could be a really nice jumping off point for the second half of the season

for both teams so excited to kind of break things down and and begin our listeners preparation for this matchup yeah Titans are six and two this year they've been outstanding so far this year a couple injuries here in our office line we'll hit on in just a few moments here it could maybe swing things in the Colts favor if they want to get an upset here on Thursday night but the Colts as well they're a game back in the AFC South standings with Tennessee at 5-3. These two teams, as we know, with Houston and Jacksville, they're already out of it.

It's a two-team race for the AFC South this year. What's been your assessment of the Titans so far this year, Tyler? Because honestly, I thought the Titans' run in January last year might have been a little bit of a fluke, just the way that Derrick Henry was going off and how much they're using him. The defense was playing very well against guys like Lamar Jackson, the playoffs as well, against New England too, ending the Tom Brady, Bill Belichick dynasty, the Patriots.

But it's not been a fluke so far. They're 6-2. They're one of the best teams in the NFC so far. What's been your overall assessment of how the Titans have been so far in 2020? Well, I think what's really helped the Titans early on, they have had struggles on defense. They've been, I would say, below average in terms of the NFL and all 32 teams, bottom 10 for most of the year.

So they've been really struggling on defense, but they have been able to create turnovers, which has really helped them kind of stem the tide as a defense. On offense, the Titans are doing the same things that everyone saw from them on their run last year. They're running the ball to Derrick Henry on zone runs they're coming with the boot play action fakes with Ryan Tannehill getting their incredible you know receiving options who are good with the ball in their hands after the catch getting them opportunities in open space so the Titans are

really doing exactly what they were doing last year they just have some pieces missing on defense that have hurt them. Missing Logan Ryan as a versatile slot defender has definitely showed up throughout the year, and the Titans made a move to replace him with a trade for Desmond King last week. They're still without Adoree Jackson. Their number one corner probably will be without him again on Thursday, so that's had the Titans kind of on their heels on defense, but we're seeing what you would expect to see from the Titans offense, and they've been handling business relatively well with some consistency and then the defense has been poor especially on third downs but they've been able to create turnovers in the first half of the season

and that's kind of helped them stack up that six and two record ryan tannahill tyler he's been outstanding so far this year again maybe a lot of people may have thought that when you see that contract extension they maybe see their eyes pop out a little bit with just having about 10 games prove himself last year of course that deep playoff run last year as well helped secure the Tennessee for offices to why I should pay Daniel that type of money but he's definitely proven right so far this year has been outstanding efficiency wise just like he was last year one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL over the last year and a half. I think it's easy to say, Tyler. What's been your overall thoughts on Tannehill so far this year, entering into year one of his new contract extension? Because who would have thought? I mean, look this time last year, Tyler, when he takes over from Marcus

Mariota, and really this team takes a leap from being just average to possibly an elite NFL team. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty surprising, but I think the key is if you had an understanding of what the Titans were as a football team before Tannehill took over, as an organization, they wanted to play solid defense, have a good special teams unit, run the ball, take care of the football, things like that. And they just wanted to be the picture-perfect example of a complementary football team that does it in all three phases. And they just weren't able to do that with below-average quarterback play.

You don't need top-five quarterback play in the league, but you at least need league average a little better than league average. So Tannehill was able to give them that. And he's been stellar. You look at the box scores, he's been a good quarterback this year. But the reality is he is who we thought he was. If you get him in shotgun on third and long and you ask him to dissect the defense and just make accurate pinpoint, accurate throws throughout the game,

he's not going to be able to do that. You've got to get him in those boot play action situations, give him more open throwing windows with play action, use his athleticism, get him on the move. So Tannehill does very well what he's asked to do. He still struggles in some of those areas that he struggled before he got to Tennessee. But the key is that his skill set marries so perfectly with what the Titans want to do on offense that he's rarely asked to consistently throughout a whole game do things that he doesn't do very well.

And in terms of his contract, when it was first signed, he was, I believe, number eight or number nine in terms of the average pay per year of his contract. Well, there have been some more extensions signed since then and some more quarterbacks signed since then. And now Ryan Tannehill is about the 12th highest paid quarterback per average salary per year. So when you think about what he's providing them on the field in terms of production, and then you look at where he ranks in terms of how quarterbacks are paid, it's actually quite a steal for the Titans, despite how that contract felt initially in terms of how heavy it was in the guarantees

and the years. I know that it felt kind of weird at first, but when you look at how the contract stacks up in terms of all the quarterbacks in the NFL, he's actually being paid less than probably what his production suggests he should be paid. And one of the coordinators I love, I mean, he's really helped change his Titans offense as well. Arthur Smith, the Titans offensive coordinator, hit on him for a moment. Just Tyler, for those out there who from the cold side thinks you don't really know much about Arthur Smith, because I feel like he's a he's a honest head coach in 2021 who should be a hot coaching candidate to be a head coach because he single-handedly changes Titans offense he's made guys like Ryan Tannehill be elite he's made this offense look stellar so far throughout this whole calendar

year even dating back to last year can you just give those who don't know much about Arthur Smith just a quick synopsis on who he is and why he's made this Titans offense so good? Yeah, well, one thing about Arthur Smith is he has been around the Tennessee Titans organization for five different coaching staffs. So five different head coaches have come through Nashville and said, you know what, I'm going to keep that guy on my staff, actually. Can we get him back in the building? So that in itself says something for Arthur Smith. A random fact about Arthur Smith, his father is Fred Smith, the owner of FedEx. So that's an interesting note about Arthur Smith, but he's really grinded his way to the opportunities that he's gotten. Like I said, he had to be the tight ends coach on five different staffs before he got

the opportunity to be an offensive coordinator. So he certainly hasn't had anything handed to him in his career. But one thing about Arthur Smith, and I think this is something that coaches should be in any sport at all levels. You don't have a system and then try to fit square pegs into round holes. You take what your players do well and you build your system around their talents. And Arthur Smith has done that perfectly. Matt LaFleur laid the groundwork, the head coach from the Green Bay Packers with his zone run offense with the bootlegs. But Arthur Smith just kind of took what he was doing and took it to another level. They got Ryan Tannehill in there. I talked about how his skill set marries with the scheme. But look at the other options the Titans have. Jonu Smith at tight end. He's not an excellent pinpoint route runner. He doesn't have

excellent hands, but he's built like a running back, and the Titans use him like a running back on pitch sweeps sometimes when they need to, when they're giving Derrick Henry a breather. So if you get him the ball in space, like over the middle on a play-action fake where the linebackers are sucked up, well, once he gets the ball in his hands, now he uses his skill set. Look at A.J. Brown, Corey Davis, similar body types there. They're big bodied physical guys who aren't the most, I guess, artsy route runners. They're not a Jerry Judy. They're not a Calvin Ridley and Amari Cooper or Julio Jones. But if you get them in space and you get them the ball, then they can break tackles and take it to the house. So Arthur

Smith has just taken all the skill sets of the players he has on offense and built a system that accentuates what they do well and minimizes what they don't do well. Yeah, Arthur Smith is obviously a coach everyone should be watching out for in 2021, like I mentioned, because he's really helped single-handedly change this Titans offense, and they're one of the more explosive teams we've seen in Indianapolis over the last calendar year. And a tough test on Thursday, of course,

for the Colts going against Titans offense here. But last thing on the Titans offense, we're diving real quick to their defense. Can you hit on just the offensive line right now? Taylor LeJuan, of course, is out. Roger Saffold is out as well, it sounds like. What's the Titans offensive line look like right now, Tyler? Because this could be a situation where the Colts could be having an advantage

on Thursday night. Well, one thing that will maybe damper Colts fans' excitement to have a banged up Titans offensive line, and it looks like Roger Saffold, Titans starting left guard, who's been their best offensive lineman so far this year, it looks like he will be able to go. He was a limited participant. I don't want to speak too far ahead, but reports coming out of the Titans building indicate that he should be able to go with a little bit of rest. Now, obviously, starting left tackle Taylor LeJuan has a torn ACL. He won't be able to go. But the Titans have replaced him with veteran Ty Sambrello,

who played for the Falcons for quite some time. Sambrello has quite a bit of starts in his NFL career, and he's been holding up pretty well. Now, the big problem with that offensive line and where it will affect the Titans from a schematic standpoint on offense is they're leaving in running backs. They're leaving in tight ends to chip on defensive ends and help out that offensive line.

So that limits the amount of guys that can go out and actually run a route and be available to catch a pass, which makes it easier for teams to guard. And I know that the Colts obviously aren't a blitz heavy team. They're an execution defense. They sit back and they say, hey, we're running this. You got to beat us at it. So that's going to make it very difficult for the Titans when they're not trying to do a bunch of exotic stuff on defense that'll get them out of position. They're just sitting back and playing the defense that they're so good at playing. And that's going to make it tough for the Titans to leave those tight ends in and chip because you know the less

options you have to throw the ball to the less players that are going to be open and the easier it is for the Colts secondary to kind of key in on certain guys so going to be interesting what the Titans do from a schematic standpoint to try to limit the amount of times they got to keep tight ends to chip but that's the effect that you know missing your starting left tackle will have on your season let's hit on real quick Tyler the defense for the Titans if you were going against Tennessee defense let's say you're Frank Reich Phillip Rivers on Thursday how would you go about trying to exploit them because we all know that they are really struggling so far with pressure this year even with the sign of Jadeveon Clowney not a lot of sack tot total so far this year what's your overall opinion of this defense and how would you go about attacking it

from the other side well unfortunately for the colts perspective i don't know if they have the personnel to do this uh philip rivers i know that he still can throw an accurate deep ball we saw him throw a couple last week but it's not something that the colts offense wants to do all game is chuck it downfield like a Bruce Arians offense. And that's one place where I can see the Titans getting beat. Malcolm Butler is a physical cornerback, but he isn't the speediest cornerback in the NFL. So you could beat him deep if he's trying to play press man coverage. If you have a receiver with good releases, they can get around him, get down the sideline and beat him deep. Likewise, Desmond King, who is quite an improvement for the Titans in the slot, but he, again, is not the most fleet of foot cornerback. He's more of a physical guy who relies on instincts and coming downhill. He's not excellent in vertical man routes. So

if the Colts can find a way to attack the Titans vertically, I think that's the best way to take advantage of their limited secondary in terms of their athleticism and speed since they won't have a Dory Jackson. But in the run game, what the Colts really need to focus on is double teaming Jeffrey Simmons and Daquan Jones. If your offensive linemen can get up to the second level, Rashawn Evans and Jayon Brown at linebacker for the Titans haven't been great in run defense this year. If offensive linemen can get up to the second level and get the running back past the first level, the first defensive line, then they can have success blocking the Titans linebackers who haven't been great in run defense. And that can help, you know, get the Colts to spring off a few

big runs. The Titans don't give up a lot of explosive plays. They really make you nickel and dime it all the way down the field. So the Colts would go a long way to try to attack the Titans vertically, see if they can get their running backs to the second level, and that should allow them to have some explosive plays against the Titans defense that doesn't give up a lot. Great stuff there from Tyler on the Tennessee Titans. We're going to hit on our next segment talking about the Colts with myself, Evan Sidery. Tyler will ask some questions on that. Before we do so, though, a quick word from our sponsors. Built Bar is the best tasting protein bar ever. Last time we had a promo code running with Built Bar, you guys sold out their inventory and that was just based on their 12 original flavors. Well, now Built Bar is back and better than ever with six brand new,

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this and let you have the opportunity to take advantage twice. So go to BuiltBar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll get 20% off your next order and a free cooler with your purchase while supplies last. Once again, use promo code LOCKEDON for 20% off at BiltBar.com. All righty. We are back for segment two of our crossover special today, talking about the Colts versus Titans, the early game this week on Thursday Night Football in Nashville. Tyler, I'll give you the floor here and I'll ask some Colts questions. Yeah, absolutely, Evan, and excited to get some of your insight here. And

what I've kind of been doing with my portion of the crossover show is I want to kind of give you a blank slate on a few questions. Like you asked me, can you just give me a synopsis of where this Colts offense is right now? What do they like to do? What do they not do well so far throughout the first half of the year? Yeah, it's been a really mixed bag for the Colts offense so far this year. As you all know, the Colts defense has been carrying them so far this year, and the offense has just been very inconsistent.

Phillip Rivers, he loves to test the deep ball sometimes. He has guys like Marcus Johnson as well, who's kind of been coming out of nowhere over the last couple weeks to do well for himself. But really not much else outside of that. T.Y. Hilton's been struggling as a deep threat this year. He looks like he's lost a step or two. He obviously missed the game last week against Baltimore.

But he looks like he's going to be a full go this week against Tennessee. So that'll be a good little bounce back for T.Y. to come back against his Tennessee team that he really needs to come back and help this Colts offense out for. Michael Pittman Jr. as well, he just came back from an injury, so he's still getting his feet under him. He had a good game against the Ravens on Sunday. But outside of that, though, really not a lot of weapons for this Colts offense right now.

We're desperately missing Marlon Mack, who went out week one due to an Achilles tear. Jonathan Taylor has not been exactly what we expected in Indianapolis as far as the bell cow running back goes. He's still getting adjusted to the NFL speed, I imagine. But the Colts, I attest, are deep. They like to use their tight ends a lot, too, especially Trey Burton, who was really quiet against Baltimore. But the prior weeks before that, he was filled for his favorite target.

So I'd expect Trey Burton to get involved. Jack Doyle will probably miss this game due to a concussion he suffered on Sunday. So expect him and Molly Cox, those two tight ends, Burton and Cox, to be the two heavy hitters as far as the playmaking goes. Maybe MPJ, Muck Pippen Jr. will be more involved as well. And T.Y. will be more of a decoy, come back from his groin injury. But this offense is very depleted of playmakers, and that's not a good sign of a Titans defense that really is aggressive,

that likes to get after it a little bit. So it might sound bleak, Tyler, but, I mean, right now the cover's pretty bare for this Colts offense, especially if Phillip Rivers is a quarterback. He really can't do much as far as mobility goes. If the offensive line keeps him protected, it helps out a little bit. But last week against Baltimore, we saw his deep ball for Phillip Rivers very inconsistent, almost like

really like a wobbly duck out there as far as throws 10 plus yards down the field. So this offense right now is really in a state of confusion to me, and one that looks like it's going more downhill than uphill right now, but expect to use a tight end, expect to try to establish the run early on, like the Colts always try to do here, but right now, I mean,

if I was the Titans' defensive coordinator, I wouldn't really be too scared of any guy on your list as far as any playmakers who really try to watch out for. Yeah, well, that's going to be one of the more interesting things to watch for is the strength of the Colts offense is that offensive line. I would say one of the strengths of the Titans defense is their interior defensive line and their defensive line in general with Harold Landry and Derek Roberson and Jadavion Clowney if he is able to play, which things are looking optimistic right now. And then the weakness for the Titans is their short to intermediate coverage with their cornerbacks. But the Colts don't really have great weapons to take advantage of that. So it's like

weakness on weakness and then strength on strength when it comes to the Colts offense versus the Titans defense. So it will be interesting to watch. But let's flip over to the other matchup. It'll be the Colts' defense, which has been absolutely fantastic. And I do want to point out how strange it is that the Titans and Colts are playing and the Titans' offense is the one to talk about and the Colts' defense is the one to talk about when that had been historically flipped throughout the last, you know,

10 years or so of this rivalry. But taking a look at that Colts defense that has been excellent, again, an open floor, what are the Colts doing on defense this year that is allowing them to have so much success? They're being a lot more exotic, Tyler, in their looks. They used to be just like a 75, 80% of the time run, just base cover two vanilla looks really not much outside of that.

Really rely on Darius Leonard, Bobby Okereke, Anthony Walker, the linebackers to just play sideline to sideline and cover up a lot of loose ends for this Colts defense. But acquiring DeForest Buckner in that trade last year to get him on board for the first-round pick has changed everything for him. He's been a three-level impactful defender. The pass rush has gotten so much better. The run defense has gotten a lot better.

A lot less pressure on the secondary. A lot less pressure on the linebackers, too. As we saw on Sunday against Baltimore, Darius Leonard was roaming free at 15 tackles in that game, and he was even gipping in the second half of that one due to a leg injury. He's going to be fully fine for Thursday, though. But when you see a guy like Leonard running free thanks to Buckner, it really just goes to show you how impactful he can be for this defense and just why Chris Bauer went out and got him in that trade

because this defense took the leap from average to elite thanks to that trade and even Darius Leonard as we all know is one of the best linebackers in the NFL freak athlete he can do anything on the field for you as well and Xavier Rhodes too I think he deserves some credit as well he's really been great this year he's been absolutely fantastic one of the uh I think top three in PFF grades so far for counterbacks and he's just really great in the zone coverage too getting outside that man system in minnesota he's been able to really revive his career and be more of a a player using instincts more so than just having to play on an island and roads really has shown that he should be a player for indianapolis i guess a big contract extension this offseason because he's the one guy i really trust in the outside right now rocky has sent as well has not

a lot of touchdown this year he's really done well for himself too those two guys in the outside right now. Rocky Asin as well has not a lot of touchdown this year. He's really done well for himself too. Those two guys on the outside, Kenny Moore is one of the more underrated nickels as well. There's playing more exotic looks all around. Buckner and his pressure up front has been paramount for them. And then Darius Leonard, of course, we all know about him, but these little additions that the Colts made, getting guys like Rhodes, Buckner, Julian Blackman, the free safety in the draft, who's been a revelation for them in the back end. And just all these young guys are sitting at the same time, but you add in just two blue chip guys like Buckner, like Rhodes with Darius Leonard,

you now have three impactful guys on all three levels there. And it really shows you that this Colts defense is legit. And we saw against Baltimore last week, 56 total yards of offense in that first half before the Ravens kind of exploited them and got rid of the Colts because they gassed out a little bit. The offense couldn't do anything against that Ravens defense. But I think this Colts defense matches up very well against the Titans offense. I think they're going to bottle up Derrick Henry a little bit,

and it's going to be on Ryan Tannehill's arm to win this one. But I think, like you mentioned, Tyler, strength on strength, this offense versus defense matchup is going to be really what decides on Thursday. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be exciting to watch. And one thing that I do want to mention is I saw some people talking about that Ravens-Colts game from the week calling it a bad loss for the Colts. And quite frankly, I think some of that game was a little bit fluky. The Jonathan Taylor fumble goes for a touchdown.

That's a big play. And then that interception is criminal. I want to see the Colts lose as much as the next Titans person but that's a criminal call and without those two kind of fluke turnovers there I think this game is a lot closer and I think the Ravens and the Colts are are much more similar teams in terms of overall potential than maybe the score of the game would indicate so I hope Titans fans aren't thinking this is going to be any easier than it ever is against the Colts, but you're right about that. The Titans offense against this Colts defense. The other side, we got some really good matchups to watch. I think, honestly,

Tyler might be one of the best games of the week looking back on it by Tuesday morning. I think this is going to be the game a lot of people talk about here, but I think we both expect a close one as we predicted there. But if you guys want to go listen to Tyler all week on this podcast or outside this week as well, go subscribe to Locked on Titans or whatever you're listening to. For the Titans, go to there as well. If you want to subscribe over to Locked on Colts and hear my analysis on the Colts whenever you want to,

go subscribe to Locked on Colts. Tyler, I appreciate your time. I'm really looking forward to watching this game here on Thursday. Yeah, awesome, Evan. It's always great talking to you. Look forward to doing it again in about two weeks. Incredibly informative stuff from Evan there. So I hope you guys enjoyed that crossover conversation

to begin our preparation for the Indianapolis Colts. We are going to be talking to Evan again in just a few short weeks, as I just mentioned. So excited for that conversation as well. But more near to us is tomorrow's game preview episode. I'm going to have my keys to victory from a schematic standpoint, my player matchups to watch, fantasy, gambling, the most recent injury update, and my score and game prediction.

So make sure that you don't miss that and you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. But that is going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. you