Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Crossover Wednesday - Titans vs Bills

Episode Date: October 2, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is crossover Wednesday. I couldn't be more excited. We have Joe Marino, the host of the Locked on Bills podcast, on our show today to go over everything about the game. He's got questions for me. I have questions for him.

Hopefully, you guys have some similar questions and want some of the answers that we're going to get. Joe's a really good guy, and I had a fun time talking to him. In our first segment, though, I am going to talk to you guys about A.J. Brown. It's a hot topic right now. It's, is A.J. Brown the Titans' number one receiver? So I'm going to talk a little bit about that and his nomination for NFL Rookie of the Week by Pepsi.

So we will go into some of those things in our first segment, and then we will talk to Joe. Can't wait to do it. Let's get it. Your Tennessee Titans lead story. Is A.J. Brown the Tennessee Titans number one wide receiver? In Atlanta on Sunday, A.J. Brown had three catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns. He was dominant, whether you look at the stats or you watch the tape. He made catches over his shoulder, tapping his toes on fades in the end zone. Incredible runs after the catch on short to intermediate routes.

He did everything you could ask for when you're looking at a rookie who was drafted in the second round with the 51st pick out of Ole Miss in the 2019 round with the 51st pick out of Ole Miss in the 2019 NFL draft. Just in case fans were interested and they do want to vote for the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week and vote for A.J. Brown to win that award, they can do so at NFL.com slash rookies up until 3 p.m. Eastern time on Friday. The first week, Gardner Minshew won. The second week, defensive end from the Patriots, Chase Winovich won. Gardner Minshew won again in the third week. He is nominated again for week four, and Titans fans need to step up and

make sure that he does not win that award, and A.J. Brown does. So once again, you can vote NFL.com slash rookies. Looking at the numbers for the season, though, it's an understandable argument that A.J. Brown is the Titans' number one wide receiver. He has caught 10 of his 17 targets. A.J. Brown is the Titans' number one wide receiver. He has caught 10 of his 17 targets. Six of those have been for a touchdown or a first down. He has 223 total yards on the season, and he has a total of two touchdowns, the ones that he had at Atlanta. Corey Davis would be the wide receiver in that conversation.

And let me tell you why Corey Davis actually still is the Titans' number one wide receiver, regardless of A.J. Brown's production being above him. Fantasy football is the only reason that wide receiver one matters. Who's getting targets? Who's getting production? Who's getting opportunities? Where do I slot them in my fantasy lineup? None of that matters when you talk about the coaching staff or the scheme that the Titans are running. So right now, the Titans, and pretty much always since the dawning of time, the wide receivers in the scheme are going to be the X, the Y, and the Z for every NFL team. The X receiver is your number one wide receiver,

the guy who's lined up on the line of scrimmage furthest away from the offensive line. Typically, your Z receiver is going to be also known as a flanker, and that's what a.j brown is playing right now he's on the other side of the offensive other side of the offense close to the offensive line and one yard off the line of scrimmage the y is going to be the slot receiver we know that's adam humphries so what right now within the titans scheme cory davis is the x which makes him the number one wide receiver now another claim another claim, though, that A.J. Brown would have is, this year, looking at the tape,

anytime the Titans have been in a single wide receiver formation with just one receiver on the field, that receiver is typically A.J. Brown. So maybe the Titans' coaches are starting to view A.J. Brown that way. Another interesting factor is, the Falcons have a dominant corner, Desmond Trufant. He's been one of the best corners in the league. He shadowed A.J. Brown every time. There was only two times that A.J. Brown was on the opposite side of the formation

that Desmond Trufant typically will line up on, and he followed A.J. Brown to that side of the ball. So some of the coaches around the NFL, particularly Dan Quinn, the head coach of the Falcons, clearly see A.J. Brown as the most talented wide receiver in Tennessee that they have to stop. So within the scheme, Corey Davis is still the number one receiver. Production-wise, A.J. Brown is, but I would understand from a Titans fan's perspective why they would view A.J. Brown that way. And some of the things that we're starting to see on tape could lead that to be different

later on in the season and if AJ Brown keeps producing the way that he is there's no reason that he shouldn't become that so that's going to cover my Roland's rant on wide receiver one the battle between AJ Brown and Corey Davis either way if the Titans end up with two very productive wide receivers that'll be what's most important. Before we get into our conversation with Joe, I do just want to remind you guys that 3 million people already use Dave to save up to $1,000 a year in overdraft fees. That's why it's the number one budgeting app in the App Store. Go to Dave.com slash locked on and never pay another overdraft fee again. Fellas, let's talk about the bedroom.

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You don't talk about the throwback. I won't talk about the comeback. And we'll get ready for this game here on Sunday. I think we can make that a fair truce to start the pod. Thanks for having me on, Joe. Absolutely. All right, so listen, the Titans this year, it's a make or break year for Marcus Mariota, right?

That's kind of the overall consensus with this football team. Four games in. What are you seeing? What are you learning? What's the outlook for Marcus Mariota Marcus has basically been what he's been his entire career so far and that's good sometimes and bad sometimes it's funny how the first quarter of the season has pretty much been indicative and been a microcosm of his entire career he in two games against the Browns and against the Falcons through with great great anticipation, threw with confidence.

When his receivers were coming out of breaks, they were turning around to the ball. He was seeing the field, stepping up in the pocket when the pressure came in, finding places to go so that he could keep his eyes downfield. In the bad games, he drops his eyes when the pressure gets on him, panics, stops looking for somewhere to throw, starts looking for somewhere to run, ends up taking sacks. He holds the ball too long.

He stares down his first option, waits for people to be wide open before he'll rip the ball. So I've seen the good Marcus that we've seen in his career, and I've seen the bad Marcus that we've seen in his career in the middle. It is a make-or-break year. So I would imagine that he's going to have to play a lot more good games than bad games the rest of the season going forward and the excuse has been the offensive line Taylor LeJuan returns this week so we're going to see whether he's going to give us more good or more bad but it's funny that the first four games have basically been his entire career played over in four weeks yeah and you have to imagine that a pretty convincing stretch would need to happen here because you know like you

said it sounds like this has been a microcosm of the entire career he's had there's been a lot of scheme changes there's been a lot of personnel changes all those types of things I mean like what level of play would he have to perform at for him to more in extension after the season oh this is a very divisive question in the Titans community, because I don't think that you can point to anything tangible, or I guess one thing tangible and say, oh, if he throws for 30 touchdowns, 4,000 yards, if they get this record, if they go this far in the playoffs, it's kind of a combination of all things. And to be honest with you, regardless of what happens, even if he plays well throughout the rest of the season and takes

them to the playoffs, I feel like the only outcome is either he leaves as a free agent or he's franchised. Those are the only two outcomes here because there's no way, even if he performs well for the rest of the season, that you can trust that he'll stay healthy and do the same next season with his inconsistency. So I think either he's gone or he's on the franchise tag next year. And either way, I don't know how the Titans feel great. It's interesting because the remainder of team isn't like blow it up, go in a complete new direction. There's enough talent on this football team with the right quarterback to win. And so it's kind of in a peculiar spot where it's kind of get by or do you try to leverage yourself to get the

right quarterback moving forward um i want to talk a little bit about this defense right uh the team is giving up a lot of yards per game but they're limiting points right 15.5 points per game that's top five in the nfl tell us about this titans defense what are the strengths what are the weaknesses the clear strength on this defense is the secondary. The Titans describe themselves coming from Logan Ryan, probably the best corner in the secondary. They are a disguised defense. They believe they're the best disguised defense in the NFL. So the Titans will show you man, but they will run cover two. They'll run cover three. The versatility of the people in the secondary, that's Malcolm Butler, Adory Jackson, Logan Ryan, rookie Amani Hooker, starters Kenny Vaccaro, and in my opinion, the best safety in the league, Kevin Byard.

All of them are able to run multiple coverages. They're comfortable in man. They're comfortable in zone, which allows the front seven to do a lot of different things and passing downs in terms of blitzing. If we want to stack the box with all seven guys up and a base defense to stop the run, essentially the versatility and the talent of the secondary allows everything else that the Titans do to work

because quite frankly, their front four, just four down linemen, their pass rush has not been effective throughout the last three years. So the Titans have to manufacture pressure. And to do that, you have to confuse the quarterback and cause a delay in the drop back, and they do that by having very diverse and very complex coverages due to the versatility of the defensive back. So that's what really is the head of the snake, as you would say. So how do you beat this defense? Where is it vulnerable? I think it is vulnerable if you can block up the pass rush. So the Titans are going to bring blitzes. They're going to bring five, but they're going to try to confuse you.

If you can find a way to maybe keep a couple extra blockers in and get your talented wide receivers, somebody like John Brown, if you can find a way to give Matt Barkley, Josh Allen, whoever plays just an extra couple of seconds against this defense, then they'll find a way. The problem with playing coverages like that is you open yourself up if the quarterback has a lot of time. So when the Titans go to some of these complex coverages, they can catch themselves out of position if the wide receivers have enough time to find the holes in the zone. So it's kind of a catch 22 where the Titans, the strengths of the defense cause the havoc, but those same strengths, if you don't get there, can get flipped on their head and leave them very vulnerable in the back end. It's interesting. You like to think maybe Tennessee is a Belichickian disciple type defense with Vrabel and with Dean Pease, and you think about Matt Patricia in Detroit.

You didn't really describe a Belichick defense to me this scheme sounds like it's evolved a lot since those guys were in New England yeah absolutely and I think that just comes with the evolution of the game and people are different so Belichick is a different guy than Vrabel and even if Belichick is the best of all time as a defensive coach Vrabel is still his own man is is going to see it one way. And Dean Pease was a defensive coordinator in New England, but then he went to Baltimore. So I think that the Titans' defense right now resembles more of what we see from the late aughts

and early 2010s from Baltimore than what we see anything New England, obviously, is very multiple in their fronts. They run 4-3 base, 3-4 base. They change that up. The Titans are basically a nickel and 3-4 base. They change that up. The Titans are basically a nickel and 3-4 team. So I would say what they do more resembles those Ravens teams rather than the Patriots in any way, which it suits the Titans defensive personnel more than what the Patriots

do. And I think that's one good thing about Vrabel is he does focus on what his players do well. It's interesting. And I was really impressed with Mike Vrabel last year. This team was really banged up and they found a way to win nine games. You know, I mean, from a coaching perspective, at least from someone who's not in, you know, into the weeds every single week, it feels like he's doing a good job. Yeah. The roster and the coaching staff, even though Mike Vrabel has made some questionable just split second decisions this year schematically speaking how he gets his players in a position to win on defense at least offense he's obviously had a different offensive coordinator but I think the way he manages the time the way he manages a game and on defense the way he sets his team up to be successful I think he's an excellent coach

from those standpoints sometimes his in-game decision-making, whether to go for it, whether to kick, who to put back at punt returner, some of those decisions I think he's really missed this year. And it's been concerning. But overall, the other positives I mentioned, I think with him, his staff, and then the other talent on the roster other than quarterback, like you mentioned earlier, that's going to keep this team at a competitive level no matter what. And that's how you get 9 and seven three years in a row. We've talked a lot about Marcus Mariota in his role offensively, but let's talk about this offense in totality. New offensive coordinator, right, Matt LaFleur's gone. He's the head coach of the Packers. Arthur Smith's the new offensive coordinator. They bring in Adam Humphreys, Delaney Walker's back. You like these running backs here and Derrick Henry and Deion Lewis. Taylor Luan's been suspended. He's back.

What are we going to see from this Titans offense and how do you expect them to attack a very good Buffalo defense? The Buffalo defense is scary. I watched some film today on them, looked up some information on the defense, obviously, to prepare for our conversation. And Sean McDermott has those guys ready to go. I think I saw this coming just personally. I think he's an excellent coach. And especially seeing those defenses in Carolina, you had to know that that would be the case. I love Edmonds in the middle.

I think he's a perfect modern day linebacker. So I don't really think the Titans can focus on trying to beat the Bills any type of way. I think the defense is really solid all the way from the back end to the defensive line. So the Titans should probably just focus on what they do best and making their players as comfortable as possible rather than going out and doing something drastic schematically to try to beat a defense that's really good. The Titans need to line up and do what they do well. That's going to be outside zone runs off the tackles with Derrick Henry. Get him in space against a defensive back. I don't care how good you are as a defensive back. You're not going to want to tackle Derrick Henry by the third quarter.

It's just a reality. So they have to get him going off the tackles. Utilize Taylor LeJuan being back. And some of those left outside zone runs we've been missing. We've been going to the right a lot with Jack Conklin. so now it'll help the offense to be able to go to both sides more and having Taylor LeJuan back again the Titans are just going to have to utilize their outside receivers and crossing routes and play action over the middle so really we want to get some play action going hopefully those athletic and talented linebackers for the Bills will bite just

a second to give us just an edge to get Delaney Walker or A.J. Brown over the middle on crossers. That's really all they can hope to do, and that's the things that the Titans' offense does well. So they just need to focus on playing their game, especially with enough points to stop to win the game when the Bills may not be able to score as many on offense. So I think a limited game plan and focusing on what our players do well, the Titans do well, rather than doing anything drastic about how the Bills play defense. So you mentioned a lot of outside zone play action, probably a lot of scheme throws. a lot of outside zone play action, probably a lot of scheme throws. I'm guessing we're not going to see a lot of empty backfields, have Marcus Mariota survey the defense and make decisions. That's not going to be the game plan on Sunday.

That's not his game. And even going back to his success in college, Mariota was not someone who sat back, went through a bunch of progressions and reads and then found the open guy. Things were very defined in Chip Kelly's system in Oregon. His first read was typically open. If not, his second read was going to be open. So where people give him credit for being a good guy, have an IQ, really, if we're talking about quarterback IQ, sometimes he doesn't process things very well on the field in terms of what coverage the defense is in and things like that. So it's best to not have him drop back and have five wide and do

all those things that people think that they should do because it represents what Oregon did really we need to make things easy hopefully the screen game can pick up because those are easy completions for the quarterback and try to like you said scheme some guys open to give him easy windows because this defense is is a lot better than Atlanta's and things aren't going to be as easy or open all right we've talked some scheme stuff what the offense looks like what the defense looks like when you look at these units specifically who are some of the key guys that you're looking at and saying they're going to be very important to the Tennessee Titans finding success on Sunday any x factors as well I think an X factor is going to be on the defensive line.

Daquan Jones is the Titans nose tackle, and he typically doesn't play if there's any chance of a pass. But in this situation with the bills possibly limited, we don't know Josh Allen's status. I keep going back to that, but we just don't know right now. It's the possibility that the Bills are going to lean heavily on the run game. Right now, they're able to run the ball. I'll get into some of those things when I ask you questions in our next segment, but clearly with Frank Gore, possibly the return of Singletary, the Bills are going to be able to run the ball. They have an improved offensive line, so the Titans' defensive run defenders, we're talking about Daquan Jones, we're talking about Isaiah Mack, definitely going to get Jarrell Casey in there as well. But Daquan Jones specifically,

who plays the nose tackle, he's going to have to be disruptive on the front line and mess up this Bills run game because I feel like the game plan may lean heavily on that. Play action will be off the run game. So Daquan Jones as as the Titans nose tackle, will be really important this game, probably get more snaps than he typically does, and he'll have to have an impact against the Browns, or the Browns, the Bills' improved offensive line. I appreciate that. At the end of the week, it's great to sit down,

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I am the host of the Locked On Titans podcast. I am here with the Locked On Bills podcast host, Joe Marino. Joe, how are you doing? Hey, I'm doing good, Tyler. Getting ready for this game. It's an important one for both teams. Yes, both teams are right in the thick of it. So whoever wins this game and it being an AFC matchup, it'll definitely have playoff implications down the line. Both fan bases are hoping. Joe, I'm going to get into a few questions with you, just some things that

I picked up that I wanted to ask you about. Going first, we might as well get this out of the way. Josh Allen took a pretty vicious and, in my opinion, dirty hit in the game against the Patriots on Sunday. Seems like he's probably not going to play in the game, but you never know with something like a concussion and how a player can get through protocol. If Matt Barkley does have to play in this game and does start, do you think that it changes the

game plan and if so how? You know it's we're all waiting to hear if Josh Allen's going to play in this game and you know one thing we we do know is that on Monday when coach McDermott addressed the media at four o'clock he was not out of concussion protocol so that was probably the first sign of there being some doubt that he would be available. If he was out of protocol, we'd be talking about him playing in this game. And when McDermott speaks to the media on Wednesday, we'll have a lot clearer picture on his availability. Now, if he's unable to go, the Bills have Matt Barkley.

Matt Barkley came in and was unbelievable in the one start he had against the Jets last year. The Bills won that game. He was 15-25 for 232 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions. And the Bills blew out the Jets very unexpectedly. And he's had a really good preseason, right? The Bills feel very good about having Barkley as their backup quarterback. They extended him over the offseason. as their backup quarterback they extended him over the offseason there's you know it's this isn't a situation where the bills are going to an undrafted type player or just a random throw-in

player they like matt barkley they're very confident matt barkley and they have reason to believe that because of the preseason because of the way he played against the jets now when he got tossed into that patriots game last week it wasn't uh his best performance but i think his supporting cast let him down quite a bit. And obviously the Patriots offense is outstanding. What does the game look like differently? Well, Josh Allen's not in it. And maybe in some ways that's a good thing for Tennessee

because you don't get some of the variance that comes with Josh Allen. But Josh Allen's a dynamic player. Obviously he took a step back against the Patriots, but the Josh Allen we saw in weeks one through three was a pretty good player that was tough to stop. He was hitting things in rhythm and extending plays with his feet and really just presented a lot of problems for defenses. And the question is, if he can come back, which Josh do you get? Do you get Patriots Josh,

or do you get the one that we saw the first three weeks of the season? Obviously, they're just completely different players. Matt Barkley's a pocket passer that is going to get the ball out quick and on schedule, and Josh Allen's going to be a little bit more in the way of improvising and making throws of higher degree of difficulty because of his physical talent. So you've got really different quarterbacks that you have to deal with. And if you go back to that Jets game last year, one of the things that even Jamal Adams said was, we were getting ready for Josh Allen, and we got Matt Barkley. And to me, that should be something any reasonable defense should be able to adjust from. But in terms of really preparing and spending the time getting ready

for a certain type of player, you couldn't have a bigger difference. So on one hand, you look at this game from a Titans perspective and say, well, the Bills could be without their starting quarterback. But on the other hand, it creates a challenge because they might have their starting quarterback and they're very different players and it changes the way you have to prepare. Yeah, not knowing the outcome and what you said, the difference in the players and how different they would be to scheme for. I definitely could see with Josh Allen's turnovers how maybe that helps, but his improvisation and doing plays on the run and getting out of the pocket,

all that, it's definitely a tough thing to scheme for now either way. Whether he plays or he doesn't play, the Titans are stuck in a position. One thing that I don't think will be very different when it comes to the Titans scheming for the bills is the run game. 150 yards per game right now. It's very impressive, very dominant. Frank Gore, how is he still getting it done? That dude's a hammer downhill, man. He gets the ball. He's decisive, and he's going to dare anyone in his way to challenge him, and he's going to run a lot of guys over. He's getting a lot of yards after contact. The Bills' run blocking has been a lot better than what we saw last year specifically, but Frank Gore

is doing a good job of taking advantage of space and being decisive with the football. Now, one player that Titans fans will want to pay attention to this week and his availability is Devin Singletary the Bills third round pick and what he does is he provides a very important compliment to Frank Gore if you look at the Bills run chart last week against New England it was all sea gap to sea gap there was no real perimeter threat and what Devin Singletary does is he gives you that more elusive type player that can work off tackle and you you saw going back to the Bengals and Jets games, it was very much, excuse me, the Jets and Giants. He was injured for the Bengals. The Jets and Giants games, the Bills are able to get off tackle.

They pull Mitch Morse on some longer pulls, get Quentin Spain out in space a little bit, and get Devin Singletary out into the perimeter. And it was very successful. I mean, he was averaging over 10 yards a carry. And if they don't have that it really reduces how multiple the run scheme can look against Cincinnati they you know they try to use Isaiah McKenzie who's kind of a gadget player to take some runs off tackle and some reverses and things like that it wasn't all that effective

they kind of scrapped that against the Patriots and I think they need that to get the most out of Frank Gore. So Frank Gore is effective, but for the Bills to really be diverse and multiple with the way they can attack you through the ground, they need Devin Singletary to be healthy. And so just as much as Josh Allen is an interesting player to see if the Bills will have a valuable, Devin Singletary should fit into that mix as well. Yeah, absolutely. And the reason that the Bills are able to do that is because of the improved offensive line. I know there are a lot of additions to the line via free agency and in the offseason. Who is stepping up the most or what is helping this offensive line be able to accomplish these kind of numbers in the run game? Yeah, the only return starter from last year was Deion Dawkins, the left tackle. The rest of the thing's been replaced. Left guard is

Quentin Spain, center's Mitch Morse. He was the highest paid center, the left tackle. The rest of the thing's been replaced. Left guard is Quentin Spain, center's Mitch Morse. He was the highest paid center in the league when they signed him. Right guard has been John Feliciano, who's really played well. And then right tackle has been a combination of Ty Insecchi, who's a veteran from Washington, and second round pick Cody Ford. Insecchi's

been a lot better, but they continue to rotate there. So this offensive line is just a really physical group. They have an edge to them. That was a very specific thing that Brandon Bean, the Bills general manager, was looking for. The types of offensive linemen he brought in is just guys that are nasty, want to move bodies out of the way. They've got that, and they've been effective with some pulls and creating extra gaps and just being physical. And so if Frank Gore is going to be the guy

without Singletary, you can expect a lot of downhill power runs. If you see Devin Singletary, that's where things get a little bit more interesting off tackle with some long bowls. Yeah, I'm really impressed by what they're able to do in the run game and their offensive line, like you said, very physical, very nasty. And I think those are the traits that you can't really rate in an offensive lineman that show up every Sunday as one of the more important things that you need to have on defense. This incredible defense, just some stats to let Titans fans know how dominant they've been so far. 32.7% of their opponents drives have finished in a three and out. That's best in the league and an incredible number 5.1 yards per pass play. That's best in the league, an incredible number. 5.1 yards per pass play.

That's first in the league, a dominant secondary, and fourth in yards per game in the passing game. So you're giving up the fourth fewest passing yards per game. The only thing I see here is they've only had seven sacks this year, which is bottom 10 in the league. Is there a reason they're not doing so well in the sack department because they're getting teams off the field so quickly? I'm sure that plays into it a little bit. The Bills play really good situational defense. You talked about disguising coverage. The Bills have

two safeties in Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer that just do such a good job rotating late and really making it difficult for quarterbacks to get a read on what's going to happen with pre-snap looks. And they do a really good job disguising coverage. They're fundamentally sound. They're disciplined. They bracket routes really well. They stay in the run fits.

I mean, they're just very disciplined. They're very good. They're very talented. The challenge has been the pass rush. And the Bills have had to manufacture some pressure a little bit. They did have 14 pressures last week against Brady, but they didn't sack him. And I think that's kind of been the story across four games is they've gotten pressure. They just haven't finished.

And a lot of times it's doing just enough to get the quarterback off their spot to lead to, you know, just an inaccurate throw or a throw to nobody. To be honest with you, just not really able to identify what the intent of the ball was. But the quarterbacks they have faced, if you look at the inventory, Sam Darnold, Andy Dalton, Eli Manning, Tom Brady, all of those guys get the ball out really quick. I think most of them were under 2.3 seconds per play getting the ball out, and then maybe one was 2.6. I mean, these guys, they're not staying back there long enough to get the ball out and then maybe one was 2.6 i mean these guys just they're not they're not staying back there long enough to get the ball out so uh that that's been part of it but yeah the bills i think what they have to do to to get those sacks is be a little bit more consistent

clearing contact winning 1v1 and finishing uh plenty of plenty of pressure plenty of not a lot of sacks sounds like the titans from last year, so I know a little bit about that. My last question here for you, Joe, though, is very similar to your last question for me. Keep it simple here. What are some key players who you think can make an impact, either offensively or defensively, to the game on Sunday? And who do you think is going to step up for the Bills if they're able to find success? Well, I think, you know, you look at offense and the offensive line needs to be solid. But, you know, I think the Bills supporting cast really it's been good for the most part this year, but had a regression last week against the Patriots. And so, you know, some mishandled balls, those types of things. And so, you know, those guys, John Brown, Cole Beasley, to be very good route runners, create separation for whoever's playing quarterback.

Getting Dawson Knox, a rookie tight end involved, who's made some very dynamic plays over the last two weeks. So I think he can have a big role. Obviously, Frank Gore continuing to do what he's been doing. But if Devin Singletary can come back, I've talked a lot about him, how important he can be for this team. That would make a lot, a big difference for Buffalo on offense. Defensively, you know, I think this could be the week we see, you know, Ed Oliver, the rookie first round pick, really make, create

some problems. I think there's some opportunity there with this interior offensive line with Tennessee for him to really create some problems up front. And, you know, look, the team, the Bills play such good team defense that it's hard for me to sit there and say it's any one player because they're so assignment driven. And because of that, they're each one of them is rewarded with different things, whether it's a chance to make a play on the ball or, you know, that strip the football, something like that.

So the bills just need to continue what they've been doing on defense and force Tennessee, a team that, had its own issues creating a lot of plays on offense, to beat them. Just continue to be sound. So I think team defense, but then just the players around whoever's playing quarterback, got to make plays for them this week. Yeah, I understand that completely. Hey, Joe, if you don't mind, right before we go, just a quick prediction, what you think the score will be and who will be the winner, and I'll go after you.

Oh, man, you want to do this. I normally save this for my listeners on Friday, but I'll do it for you. I'll do it for you. Good man. I think this is an important game for both teams. Tennessee doesn't want to get to 2-3, and Buffalo doesn't want to get to 3-2 going into a bye week, right? So coming off of a loss to New England on the road against Tennessee,

you don't want to go into that my week with a loss. And so I think Sean McDermott is a heck of a football coach. I think he'll have this team ready to play. The Bills have proven they can go on the road and win. They've done it twice. And I think I think the Bills are a little bit backed up against the wall a little more than maybe some people think. I think the Bills go to Nashville and get a win. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, the Titans always play to their competition. So

it seems like they're always in close games no matter what. We've lost to two backup quarterbacks already. It's my opinion that Josh Allen probably won't play. And even if Matt Barkley does play, I don't think that that makes the game any more or less easy for the Titans to win even at home. I'm going to say the Titans do find a way to pull it out though, just because they are at home. Now I am the kiss of death at this moment. Oh, and four of my predictions, but I'm going to say 16 to 13 Titans do find a way to win the game late in the fourth quarter. Oh man. Oh,

and four, I'm three in one. I got the bills wrong against the jets week one. Wow. Wow. Yeah, I, I,

I did that. So, all right, well, it sounds like we're a little bit divided on this and, uh, Hey, well,

somebody will cash in a receipt on Monday at some point, at some point. Okay, guys, that is going to do it for crossover Wednesday with the host of the locked on bills. At some point. At some point. Okay, guys. That is going to do it for Crossover Wednesday with the host of the Locked On Bills, Joe Marino. Joe was fantastic. I hope you ate up all his content. I hope you had

a good time hearing what he had to say from a Bills perspective. We did cover the questions that I had for him and the questions that he had for me in the first segment. We did talk about A.J. Brown vs. Corey Davis. I gave you a little bit of a Rollins rant about that wide receiver one question that seems to be floating around out there so feverishly

anyways crossover Wednesday is always a good time hope you guys enjoyed it as well tomorrow we are going to get heavy into the game against the Bills start talking about some things I expect to see from them going forward do a little bit bit of Roland's Rewind. About the last time we played the Bills. Which that won't be fun either. But it's always best to go back and review the history. So that you don't repeat it. Anyways Titans fans as always.

Please subscribe. Follow me at Tic Tac Titans. If you aren't already. I put down all my visual breakdowns of Nate Davis on there. It was fantastic. Really enjoyed Tic Tac Titans. If you aren't already, I put down all my visual breakdowns of Nate Davis on there. It was fantastic. Really enjoyed Tic Tac Tuesday as always, but we are moving forward to a big game on Sunday.

Like I said, please subscribe to the show. Follow me on Twitter. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thank you.