Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - #CrossoverThursday: Titans v Bengals, Injury Updates & Jake From Locked On Bengals

Episode Date: October 29, 2020

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this crossover Thursday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Pepsi. This football season will be different, and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter how you watch this season. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day

and become a member of the League of Football Watchers. 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 it's the easiest segue from advertisement into show I will ever have. Watching football is exactly what we plan to do this weekend.

And I personally will be watching the Titans live from Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati in a socially distant environment. But excited to bring you guys my notes from that game on the field. And it's time to start preparing for that matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. And we are going to do that as we do every week with a crossover Thursday. I am going to have Jake on the show from Locked on Bengals, and we are going to go back and forth here and talk about what we expect to see from these teams on Sunday and why I think the Cincinnati Bengals have a chance

to make this a much closer ballgame than Titans fans are hoping for. So really excited to get into that excellent Crossover Thursday conversation with Jake from the Locked On Bengals. Before we jump into that though, as we start off with every Thursday, going to give you guys the initial injury report for the week for both the Titans and the Bengals. So beginning our preparation here on a Crossover Thursday, remember tomorrow will be a Football Friday on the Locked on Titans podcast. Got my game preview episode ready to go for you guys. We'll go over my keys to the game from a schematic standpoint.

Then go over the player matchups to watch. And of course, we will finish off of Football Friday with the most recent injury report, gambling, fantasy, and my game prediction. So an excellent Friday show lined up for you as well. And of course on Monday we will have a game recap with my hopefully keys to victory for the Titans. Our individual grades with Tighten Up and Tighten Down and give you a recap of what took place in the AFC over the weekend. So a lot of great content coming your way Monday through Friday on the Locked on Titans podcast.

Make sure that you are subscribed on Apple Podcasts, following on Spotify, Stitcher, or whatever platform you do stream. But it's a crossover Thursday. Gotta go over the initial injury report and dive into an incredibly informative conversation with Jake from the Locked on Bengals podcast. Let's get it. The Tennessee Titans began their practice week on Wednesday in preparation for a week eight matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. And with that, they released their first injury report of the week.

And the Titans had eight players listed on that opening injury report. Let's go through those players now, what their injuries are, and which of the players the Titans should be concerned about missing the game on Sunday. Number one is a player that we need to be concerned about, and that is outside linebacker Jadavion Clowney. The Titans are having massive issues with their pass rush, so they certainly can't afford to lose their highest-priced edge rusher in Jadavion Clowney. But right now he is nursing a knee injury.

It looked like he was banged up during the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He did not participate on Wednesday in practice. So that is something to watch for Titans fans going forward. Safety Dane Cruikshank was out on wednesday with a groin injury of course cornerback christian fulton with a knee injury did not participate on wednesday reports are currently that he will miss a few weeks with that knee ailment cornerback jonathan joseph did not practice on wednesday with an illness tackle dennis kelly with a knee injury did not practice, but Dennis Kelly was listed on the injury report last week with a knee injury as well and was able to play on Sunday. Defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons did not participate on Wednesday, but it was not injury related.

So a very important note there to Jeffrey Simmons that it was not injury related, his absence from practice on Wednesday and then the final Titan that did not participate whatsoever on Wednesday was cornerback Ty Smith with a shoulder injury one thing of note here is three of the Titans seven players that did not participate on Wednesday were at the cornerback position Christian F Fulton, Jonathan Joseph, and of course, Ty Smith. Now, the final player on the Titans injury report was offensive lineman Daniel Murner. He has a hand injury. He was a limited participant on Wednesday. Now, the caveat here is Wednesday is the typical day around the NFL to give veteran players

some rest. So, a guy like Jadavion Clowney, a guy like Jonathan Joseph, and although he's not a veteran, an important player like Jeffrey Simmons, and then a veteran like Dennis Kelly, those sort of names, they would typically get a rest day on Wednesday, the first day of practice for the week. So we will have to monitor the injury report going forward throughout the week to make sure we know which Tennessee Titans players we should and should not expect to play against the Bengals on Sunday. Now as for the Cincinnati Bengals who also had their first practice of the week, the Bengals had quite a few players listed on the injury report.

Let's go through them now. The players who did not participate for the Cincinnati Bengals, veteran defensive tackle Geno Atkins and defensive tackle Mike Daniels. Both of them are listed as rest players though, so it appears that although they are dealing with some injuries, Wednesday was just an off day for them so that they could rest. Offensive tackle Bobby Hart has a knee injury and did not participate on Wednesday for the Bengals. Center Trey Hopkins has a concussion and did not participate on Wednesday for the Bengals. We know that Bengals offensive tackle starting left offensive tackle Jonah Williams will be out for this game. So with Bobby Hart and Trey Hopkins listed on the injury

report for the Bengals, it is possible that they will be missing three starting offensive linemen on Sunday. Running back Joe Mixon is most likely going to miss his second game in a row with a foot injury. He did not participate on Wednesday. Cornerback Darius Phillips as well with a knee injury. As mentioned, Jonah Williams with a stinger did not participate on Wednesday. And safety Brandon Wilson with a knee injury. As mentioned, Jonah Williams with a stinger did not participate on Wednesday, and safety Brandon Wilson with a knee injury did not participate on Wednesday. Limited in practice for the Bengals on Wednesday, linebacker Marcus Bailey with a neck injury,

tight end Seethan Carter with a shoulder injury, and then the big name here, starting wide receiver A.J. Green, but as with Geno Atkins and Mike Daniels, he is listed as a limited participant just for rest and then starting cornerback William Jackson III this will be a big name to monitor for the Bengals going forward has a concussion he was limited and then guard Michael Jordan with a back injury was limited as well a full participant was John Ross who does have an illness in Wednesday's practice.

So that'll do it for the Bengals injury report for Wednesday. But make sure you stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast. I will have my Football Friday game preview tomorrow where I will update you on the injury status of all of the Titans listed

and all of the Bengals listed as well. So that'll be a big component of our Football Friday game preview. But we have a crossover Thursday conversation to dive into to begin our preparation for that game against the Cincinnati Bengals that'll culminate with our Friday preview show. So let's dive right into the conversation with Jake from the Locked On Bengals podcast. Excited to go over this excellent conversation with you guys. A ton of really good information and a ton of really good context for some of the stats

that we're seeing from the Bengals this year. So excited to dive into that. Before we do, I want to tell you guys about rockauto.com. Before we do, I want to tell you guys about rockauto.com. So rockauto.com has been serving online customers for over 20 years. They're a family business. So make sure that you go to rockauto.com right now to shop for any of your auto or body parts needs. They have everything you could ever desire from hundreds of different manufacturers. They have all the different brands, specifications, and best of all, prices that you prefer.

Here's the thing if you go to a chain store. They have different price tiers for professional mechanics and do-it-yourselfers. Also, you're limited by what the store actually has in stock. We have learned as a society that the most efficient way to shop is by doing it online. So why would you not apply that thought process to buying your auto and body parts? Go to rockauto.com right now and take advantage of their unique catalog. It's remarkably easy to navigate. You don't need a membership or an account login.

Just go on rockauto.com and see all the parts available for your car or truck. And best of all, if you write locked on in the how did you hear about us box right underneath your shipping information, they will know that I sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need, RockAuto.com. It is time for our week eight crossover Thursday conversation. I am Tyler Rowland from the Locked On Titans podcast here with Jake from the Locked On Bengals podcast. First and foremost, Jake, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing well, man. I'm living on my island on the west coast of Canada, which I know is unusual for a locked on football host, but I'm living my best life up here, living that island life. Hey, that's all that matters,

and island life is something that nobody can disagree with, but I'm going my best life up here, living that island life. Hey, that's all that matters, and island life is something that nobody can disagree with. But I'm going to jump straight into some Cincinnati Bengals analysis here. And obviously the season isn't going quite as well as you would have hoped, or maybe this was your expectation coming in with a team still trying to turn the roster over a little bit. But this far into the season, there have been, you know, some bright spots for the Bengals, a pretty solid young group of wide receivers. Obviously, Joe Burrow has been impressive despite, you know, all of the adversity that he's facing with the Bengals line. So kind of just with that offense in mind, give me a general assessment of

what you've seen from the Cincinnati Bengals offense so far this year I think that the offense is actually coming together pretty nicely with Joe Burrow with a couple of exceptions obviously against the Ravens they just could not handle the blitz stuff that that Martindale threw at them they just they just were unprepared they made mental mistakes and Joe Burrow actually started to be shook under pressure in a way that you didn't really see him start to give in to pressure at LSU. And actually, that carried over just a little bit into the next week when they played the Colts.

And you started to see his base going wide, his eyes dropping, just a little bit, just for like four plays or so. But then last week against the Browns, against Miles Garrett, against a better pass rush on the whole in Cleveland versus Indianapolis, in my opinion, all that was gone. All those bad habits that I was worried about, I was like, if this continues, we have a real problem here.

That kind of disappeared. So the offense for me trending in the right direction they found a way to get AJ Green involved and he's not the AJ Green he used to be but he's not the washed up guy that we saw for the first few weeks of the season either so things trending in the right direction there things were trending in the right direction on the offensive line too quite frankly played one of their better games of the season against the Colts two weeks ago came out, played one of their better games of the season against the Colts two weeks ago. Came out again, played pretty well, all things considered,

against the Browns. Miles Garrett got his. He had a couple very splashy highlight plays, including a strip sack. But then they lose three offensive linemen. And that, for me, is the story this week. Jonah Williams, very unlikely to play. They're calling it a stinger. Center Trey Hopkins concussion no way

he's going to be ready in time and Bobby Hart who for a long time has been the punching bag for this Bengals team just put together probably the best game of his career he actually played really well against Miles Garrett like legitimately played well I went back and watched it PFF put him on the team of the week Bobby Hart PFF team of the week. Incredible. And in that week, he has a bad knee injury. He gets rolled into when he's engaged in a block. So they're down four starting offensive linemen at this point.

Well, I know that there are some reinforcements on the way. And of course, you know, the Bengals are making some headlines with some trades, a trade of Carlos Dunlap and signing some offensive traded for, you know, Finney in that trade as well. It looks like you guys might be signing Quentin Spain, obviously still up in the air right now. But the reinforcements could be on the way. But you talking about some of the limitations that they're going to have on the offensive line here this week, that kind of leads me into my next question about the Bengals offense. week. That kind of leads me into my next question about the Bengals offense. And it's no secret that the Titans, uh, number one pain point is that defense and specifically the secondary and the pass rush their third down defense. So what do you think the Bengals might try to do against this Titans defense? That's struggling as well. What do you think they might try to do to, to pull out a

victory and keep this one closer than some Titans fans are expecting which for the record I do think this game will be much much closer than maybe even some Bengals and Titans fans think that it will be how would the Bengals keep it close on offense they just have to score and and they have to rely on the offense I don't think there's any way that they're getting stops on defense when the Titans have ball, I think Derrick Henry is a nightmare. I think Ryan Tannehill is a nightmare. I think A.J. Brown. You know, you go down the list and you talk about tight ends.

The Bengals are probably the worst defense in the NFL still for like five years in a row or 10 years in a row or however long back you want to go at defending tight ends. So it has to be the offense. It has to be... Is Jadeveon Clowney going to play? If you had to say yes or no right now what do you say yeah he most certainly will play in my opinion though his knee is banged up a tad bit they've been giving him maintenance days and practice and i i think ultimately he will suit up and get out there i know that he he's definitely

feeling that knee injury, but when I look at the Tennessee defense, it doesn't scare me the way that some of the other defenses that the Bengals have played this season scared me. There's no premier pass rusher here. Harold Landry could turn into that. Maybe he's just underperforming this year a little bit. I actually really like Harold Landry. I do this shadow draft every year where I pick along with the NFL draft and Harold Landry's on my team. I love Jeffrey Simmons. I absolutely this shadow draft every year where I pick along with the NFL draft and Harold Landry's on my team. I love Jeffrey Simmons. I absolutely love that draft pick. And I really like Christian Fulton, too.

But Christian Fulton now on the injury report with a knee injury as well. So I see this as a matchup that actually looks pretty good for the Bengals offense. I don't see this defense very differently than I see the Browns defense in terms of talent level, except there's no Miles Garrett in Tennessee and there's no Denzel Ward in Tennessee so I think that there are probably a few levels of the defense where where they're a little bit better but overall I expect that they should be able to protect Burrow adequately they won't necessarily maybe not adequately maybe slightly less than adequately, but I don't expect it to necessarily be a Titans-level disaster or the issue they faced

in week one with Joey Bosa absolutely being a game wrecker. I kind of expect it to be, he'll probably have like three, four sacks maybe at the most, kind of look like the Indianapolis game when they really managed to move the ball quite a bit. And I feel like the wide receivers are when they really managed to move the ball quite a bit and I feel like the wide receivers are really coming into their own and the chemistry is is developing Joe Burrow starting to see the defense the same way as AJ Green a lot more they have one bad communication error against the Browns it should have been an interception where AJ kept going on a go route and Joe Burrow wanted that back shoulder throw

as long as you don't see too many of those mistakes, as long as we don't see the turnovers happen, I could easily see this coming down to a last possession kind of game. You got to remember, Joe Burrow is six and one against the spread in his NFL career. Well, yeah, they will cover. I will say that I don't think you're wrong there the the talent of the Bengals wide receivers definitely has the opportunity to give problems to the Titans cornerbacks especially if Titans number one cornerback Adoree Jackson does not play in this game so that's something to watch for but one stat that stuck out to me when I was taking a look at

the Bengals offense is their 11th best in the league in terms of the time their drives average the Bengals are averaging two minutes and 55 seconds per offensive drive like I said that's 11th best in the NFL so they do have ways to move the ball down the field and anytime you can move the ball down the field and then you're going up against this Titans defense you have the opportunity to score as well but that's going to lead me speaking of defense into the Bengals defense which has not been as impressive as the Bengals offense so kind of give us a rundown on what the Bengals defense will be looking like on on Sunday against the Titans battered I mean they're healthy in two position groups and the defensive interior they're they're down like

five guys at this point i think they're on the idl six seven and eight right now gino atkins is playing on a very limited basis he's very obviously hurt he's not playing at a high level he's not going to be out there for more than a handful of pass rushing snaps in the game unless he suddenly gets a lot better this week which we haven't seen in terms of his health since he started playing again uh i i think that the the defensive line is a bit of a mess that they're okay in terms of run defense they're still finding ways to perform relatively soundly in terms of gap responsibility on the defensive line at the linebacker level there's a little bit less gap integrity so so they are still having some issues against run but i

thought they did a really nice job against kareem hunt i thought they did a really nice job against the colts and run defense and there's still an opportunity there because neither of those guys have derrick henry who is terrifying for me when I when I watch this from a Bengals perspective but the the cornerbacks also banged up they they are currently hoping that William Jackson can come back and that makes a significant difference he's by far their best corner and obviously Trey Waynes was lost for most of the season in the preseason so they're they're at cornerbacks potentially three and four on the outside if william jackson can't go and the the safeties are healthy i'll say that for them but von bell should not be asked to cover in man

ever uh especially tight ends and really anybody in man he when he covers guys in man it tends to not go particularly well even when he's in a good when he covers guys in man it tends to not go particularly well even when he's in a good position he's just not making the plays that he needs to make you see the david and joku catch last week you'll get a feel for what i'm talking about right and so there's some real opportunities there to exploit aj brown i think uh that matchup in the slot is he mostly playing in the slot still, I assume? The Titans actually don't play him in the slot very much, but something we saw against Pittsburgh late in the second half, the Titans started putting A.J. Brown in the slot to take advantage of a matchup against the Steelers backup slot cornerback. So if you are saying that the Bengals

are having health issues at the slot, then I would not be surprised to see the Titans find a way to take advantage of that matchup with their best wide receiver i think it'll actually be outside they'll keep him out there on darius that's where he typically plays though so that's what you're expecting then he'll most likely play out there to find the best matchup yeah okay because because the bengals best corner if william jackson can't play is going to be mackenzie alexander in the slot so there there are ways to get mismatches on this bengals defense they're not going to be able to generate a pass rush i i don't see them really doing a whole lot to impose their will on the titans if they want to throw the ball they're going to be able to throw the ball and derrick henry is a train he's just a train yeah that's the truth i i mean i will

say something for titans fans to think about and this is something I'm going to talk more about on my, on my Friday preview show, but out of the last four games that the Bengals played, they've held their opponent under 90 yards rushing in three of those games. So, and especially you look at a team like the Colts and the Browns who really like to run the football. I think there's a little bit more potential in this Bengals run defense than Titans fans are thinking. And I think they will have to do a little bit more throwing than maybe they expect. I will just say that there is some game script component to that. The Bengals managed to score early in those games. And so if the, yeah, look, if the Bengals offense can keep putting up points and force Tennessee to throw the ball a little bit more, you might not see as much from Derrick

Henry, but I think that the numbers you're seeing there that you're referencing in terms of Bengals rush defense aren't necessarily a product of good play, although they've been better against the run than the pass. It's kind of a product of the game script. That is literally the exact kind of context that Titans fans are looking for when we take a look at this performance. Without you with your boots on the ground on the scene covering the bangles we would not have the context to put to some of these numbers so that's a great piece of information but that's going to do it for this opening segment of our crossover thursday edition between the

locked on titans and the locked on bangles the first step in getting you guys ready for this matchup on sunday but we are going to transition over into the second part of our conversation. Jake is going to put me into the hot seat, and I will answer some questions about the Tennessee Titans. This football season will be different, and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter how you watch this season. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day and become a member of the League of Football Watchers.

These passionate fans are the real generational talent that Pepsi fuels. 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. We're now joined by Tyler Rowland from the Locked on Titans podcast to talk about the Titans matchup and talk about what's going on with this Titans defense,

which was really a strength of this team last year. And coming into the game in the preseason, I look at it and I'm thinking, OK, yeah, Ryan Tannehill was really good last year. He's probably going to be pretty good again. Derrick Henry is probably going to run straight down Main Street against the Bengals. But the defense was pretty scary for me at the time with a rookie quarterback and a banged up offensive line or a bad offensive line, you take your pick of what the scenario is.

Currently it's banged up and also not very good. But that hasn't really been the case so far this year. Struggles in the secondary, struggles in the second level. The defensive line on paper still looks pretty good, anchored, of course, by Jeffrey Simmons, a standout second year player. I really like Harold Landry, the big splashy acquisition in jadavion clowny but what's going on with the defense this year why are there so many points being scored on the titans tyler well the number one reason that you could point to is the third down defense i believe that the

titans are giving up about 60 percent of their third down opportunities on defense, which is a historic rate at this moment in time. It's actually the highest rate of third down conversions for a defense in the last five years in the NFL through this amount of time, so a historically bad third down defense. But the problem that the Titans are really running into is they don't have a third NFL-level cornerback. They have Ty Smith, who's NFL level cornerback. They have Ty Smith, who's their fifth cornerback, who's starting to be rotated in because their fourth cornerback, Jonathan Joseph, who had a great career, as you pointed out, off air, but at his

age, being in his late 30s, he's just not an NFL cornerback anymore. So that's the real issue that the Titans are running into. They like to be a disguise zone blitz defense. And it's just hard to do some of those exotic things when you can't trust your back end to play man coverage. So the Titans have been forced to play more zone than they want to play throughout the year. They can't blitz as many people blitz and six blitz and five because they have to keep people back in coverage because they can't rely on their cornerbacks and it's not just that but some of the other more reliable pieces of the titans defense especially in the back end jay on brown at linebacker kevin byard kenny vacaro at safety those guys just simply haven't played as well as they have played in previous seasons now

whether that has to do with the limited uh off season the limited ramp up to the season i don't know but we're halfway through the season now and that can't be used as an excuse anymore so the titans most reliable players in past coverage uh have not been reliable in byard and jay on brown at linebacker byard a safety brown at linebacker and then missing a dory jacks and the titans number one cornerback has just limited what they can do schematically and how effective they can be with what they try to do from a scheme standpoint on defense. And as for the defensive line, Jeffrey Simmons has been an absolute stud,

but he's a second-year player who had half of a season last year. He hasn't quite developed his go-to pass-rushing moves and his pass-rushing counters, so he's more effective in run defense than he is pass- pass rush at this time. And then the outside pass rushers and Harold Landry and Jadavia and Clowney, they just simply don't have any similar. It's a similar problem. I think it may be tied to coaching here,

but they don't have any pass rushing moves. It's just effort based pass rushing and it's not getting home. The stunts that they're running, the four man blitzes from different places dropping a guy in coverage from the d-line bringing a linebacker bringing a corner bringing a safety those things just aren't working at this moment in time and we're seeing the result in the titans third down conversion rate it's just the perfect thing to point to i mean they had the steelers in three third and long situations in the first half on sunday

third and ten or longer. And the Steelers converted all three of those opportunities in the first half. So the Titans are playing decent defense, but when you can't get people off the field on third and long, it's going to ruin everything that you do on first and second down anyway. So that's where the Titans are at on defense. And you have to hope that with the talent they have, that eventually they turn turn that around and a lot of people think the addition of starting cornerback Adoree Jackson who hasn't played this year will allow them to begin turning things around but no one man is the answer for the Titans defense so a couple of questions there first and I guess quickly is Adoree Jackson expected to play this week I didn't see his name on the injury report today

technically he doesn't have to be. He's still on the injured reserve lifts. Last week, the Titans designated him to return. So they have 21 days to activate him off the IR. So he doesn't have to be listed on the injury report. And his practice status doesn't have to be given. But some of the people who are on the ground there in Nashville are reporting that Adoree Jackson has been in practice he's been limited he's practiced a little bit in open media sessions so they are ramping him

up but at this time the Titans won't have to tell us if he's going to play until Saturday when those activations from injured reserve are required by the NFL last question on the defense before we flip things over and talk about the Tennessee Titans offense that scares me a lot let's just say the sack the sack numbers for the Titans look very very low this year and you talked a little bit about a lack of pass rushing moves the Bengals are going to be missing most of their starting offensive line and the starting offensive line had low expectations coming into the season in the first place. Do you expect the pass rush to turn around this week or after having watched them for seven weeks or I guess six games, do you think that they're just

not a very good unit right now? Well, I think that they're just not a very good unit right now. And part of it is snap counts being exhausted in the second half because we don't have a lot of depth on the defensive line part of it is you know and technique slips when you're tired that's a reality too so maybe that's part of the problem is not that they're not being coached up but they're just you know not being able to execute those techniques when they're tired in the second half but here's thing, whether or not I expect them to turn it around is irrelevant, but they better. I mean, this is a situation with the troubles that we've talked about just right here in

this conversation with the Bengals offensive line. If you can't get right and get a few sacks against the Bengals offensive line, then it's not going to turn around for you. And clearly there's a talent issue. And I don't know how that can be the case with Jeffrey Simmons, Harold Landry, Vic Beasley, and Jadavian Clowney, that there's a talent issue, but it's either talent or it's coaching. And results have to be there against the Bengals offensive line.

So whether or not I think it turns around, I'm not certain, but all I know is it better. And if it doesn't turn around against the Bengals then the Titans have much bigger issues going forward in the season than then I or the fan base wants to think that seems fair to me I made a similar argument about AJ Green going against some softer secondaries earlier this season and he turned it around after that so I would say to Titans fans maybe the Bengals miraculously string together some good pass protection this week and the pass rush still comes together later or maybe not i i wouldn't

be surprised i mean everything is tied together so if the titans get a dory jackson back they can play better right now they have to play off coverage because of the cornerbacks they have and like big ben he was just tossing the ball very quickly after the snap wasn't holding it at all quick passes to the outside quick slants over the middle get it out of his hand because the titans have to play off so much with their corners because their corners are slow and they're just not that talented so if the titans get a dory jackson back maybe that helps the pass rush have a little bit more time to get home well we only have a few minutes to talk about the titans offense and i think that this game could very easily be a shootout. I think it has one of the highest over-unders in the NFL

this week. And it opened lower than that. I think it opened at like 51 or 52 and a half. And so AJ Brown, Corey Davis, Johnnie Smith, Derek Henry, Ryan Tannehill, who's going to hurt the Bengals the most? Well, like you mentioned earlier in the episode, the Bengals have never been able to cover tight ends, it feels like, for however long. And Johnnie Smith really struggled last week against a really good interior of the Steelers defense, their linebackers, their safeties, although a little banged up, still excellent in those zone coverages over the middle. So I think Jonu Smith, the Titans' tight end,

who has been great throughout the year, got a little banged up in the Texans' game, played in the game against the Steelers, didn't have a great game. I think he rebounds, and you see a pretty big game out of Jonu Smith. And, of course, A.J. Brown's always going to be there to make plays over the middle on those play action passes. So AJ Brown's going to have a big day. So two more questions and then we're going to get out of here. First question, the Bengals said to be signing Quentin Spain, former Titan. He didn't play very well since he left the Titans.

He had one great year in Tennessee. What do you think is left in the tank there? I mean, I know you haven't probably paid as much attention, but give me a quick summary. Well, what I would say is he is better in power and gap running schemes than he is in a zone scheme. That's what the Titans went to the wide zone scheme that you see proliferating around the NFL right now. Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, Kyle Shanahan,

that outside zone scheme, that's what everybody wants to do. Now it seems like it's the flavor of the week. And Quentin Spain doesn't fit so well in that zone scheme because his game isn't built on his athleticism. He's a power guy. He's a strong man. He's going to move people around. So it's better to have him in gap run plays, like you would run an an ISO lead or a half

back dive, something like that, or get him as a down blocker and pooling plays. Uh, you don't really want him to be the pooling guard because of that athleticism limitation. But, uh, if you can get him down blocking or you can get him just, just gap blocking, uh, you can have success with Quentin Spain in a limited sense. We're talking about a guy who's probably backup quality in the NFL at this moment in time. So you're not going to get a pro bowl level guard. But I think if you put him in the right type of running plays, he can still have some success for you.

And I think the Bengals have been pretty aware of that. They know that they like their big tackles. They're used to having athletic tack or sorry big guards athletic smaller tackles has been the recipe for the Bengals so far this year they've done some pretty interesting stuff with that in the running game that uh well you can go check out my twitter page actually and I got into one play in particular where they they play half zone on the left side they block man on the right side they pull the tackle they do a little uh fold block they pull them around the guard on the inside through the a gap it's kind of fun to watch because i hadn't really noticed anything like that before but i also don't pay much attention

to run games because i'm a passing guy last question i don't do predictions but a lot of people like predictions give me a prediction the the titans are favored i think by five and a half points last i saw what's your final score this weekend? I've been kind of going back and forth between 34-28 and 31-28. I think after our conversation here, I am going to settle in on 34-28, the Titans cover. I would be maybe, I don't know, that seems reasonable to me. I might be a little surprised if, I feel like there will be more points scored.

I know that's a lot of points. Maybe so, maybe so. It's a lot of points, but who knows? I just don't see these things. Two bad defenses. Yeah, and I just saw it happen with the Browns, and I see this game very similarly to the way I saw the Browns game playing out.

Anyway, thanks, Tyler, for your time. That's Tyler from the Locked on Titans podcast. Tomorrow we're both probably doing game previews. Can't wait. I'm just glad to have football. We'll keep repeating that for the rest of the year. Absolutely. Take care.

Thanks, Jake. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that crossover Thursday conversation between me and Jake from the Locked on Bengals podcast. I thought he provided a lot of great context to some of the things that we have seen in passing from the Bengals this season, but that is going to do it for me today and this crossover Thursday. I am going to be back with you guys for a football Friday game preview. We'll have my keys to the game from a schematic standpoint, the individual player matchups to watch. Also, we'll cover the injury report, fantasy, gambling, and my score prediction.

So excited to bring you guys that game preview. Make sure that you are subscribed 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.