Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Divisional Crossover Wednesday - Titans vs Ravens

Episode Date: January 8, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is crossover Wednesday, and we're going to take a little bit of a different approach this week with it being the playoffs. We are going to have Kevin Allstriker from the Locked on Ravens podcast with us for all three segments. He is going to open us up in our first segment. We're going to talk injuries coming out of Tuesday's initial practice for both teams

and where things stand and what to expect going forward throughout the week with those injuries. In our second segment, we are going to start our crossover conversation, dive into the game plans. I'm going to ask Kevin a lot of questions about the Ravens and what we should expect to see on Saturday night. And then we will flip that in our final segment. And Kevin will ask me some questions about the Ravens and what we should expect to see on Saturday night. And then we will flip that in our final segment. And Kevin will ask me some questions about the Titans.

And then we will do a little bit of a prediction at the end of it all. So this is the second installment in our game prep schedule. Yesterday, we set the statistical foundation for who the Ravens were on offense and defense. Today, we will add context with someone who is on the ground in Baltimore reporting on the team. And, of course, tomorrow we will end things off with our Tic Tac Titans film breakdown. But for now, let's jump into this crossover Wednesday conversation. As always, subscribe to the show if you are not already. And please follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for more.

Let's get it. Welcome back to the first Crossover Wednesday for Ravens fans, but the second one for Titans fans, I am Kevin Ostreicher of Locked on Ravens, and we are here today with Locked on Titans. Tyler Rowland from Locked on Titans joins the show, and this is going to be a great game. The Titans were able to knock off the defending champions, the New England Patriots, and earn the honor of traveling to Baltimore to play Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, and Tyler's going to help us Ravens fans understand what we're getting in the Titans and vice versa. I'm going to help Tyler understand just what this Baltimore offense and defense can do. Tyler, how are you doing today? I'm doing fantastic, Kevin. Thank you for having me on and it is an honor to have the opportunity

to play in the divisional round. The Titans clearly don't get a lot of playoff chances. Luckily, as of late, we've been a competitive ball club that's given us a few good opportunities to play some playoff football. So it truly is an honor to advance and have your team play another week. What an impressive win it was for Tennessee. I mean, beating the defending champion New England Patriots in a game where the Titans were considered underdogs. And Tyler, you and I think we have a little bit in common

where our teams are pretty much counted out regardless of the circumstance, the Titans dogfighting it out for the sixth seed. And even the Ravens being the one seed have gotten some criticism here. And people seem to be a little bit split. And when the final score predictions have come out over the week so far,

it's been Ravens winning for the most part. But I expect the Titans to put up a fight. part, but I expect the Titans to put up a fight. I know you probably expect the Titans to put up a fight, but that all starts with, you know, who's healthy and who's not. It's important to understand that there might be some key players who are banged up or who might not even be playing in this game. So I wanted to start off the show by asking you, I know that Jayon Brown got injured in the game against the Patriots. Deion Lewis had a little bit of a thing. Who practiced and who didn't for the Titans yesterday,

and what could it mean for the Ravens? Well, Jayon Brown left Saturday's game pretty scary circumstances. He was pretty emotional coming off the field, and honestly you didn't know whether his shoulder was separated or if he had a broken arm or anything like that. There were a lot of different things that could pop up based on the way he was acting on the field. But luckily, it looks like it was just a, you know, I wouldn't say mild, but it was a shoulder injury. He's really sore. But, you know, right now we can't rule him out or whether or not he's going to be able to play. He did not practice today, though. That's what we know for certain.

to play. He did not practice today, though. That's what we know for certain. Now, in addition to Jayon Brown, who, if Ravens fans aren't completely familiar, is the Titans' really stellar pass coverage linebacker. He plays all three downs, but his specialty is in the passing game. He's a smaller, undersized guy, six foot, but he's fantastic. He's one of the best linebackers in the league this year, and especially adept in pass coverage. Adam Humphreys with an ankle injury. He's one of the best linebackers in the league this year and especially adept in pass coverage. Adam Humphreys with an ankle injury. He hasn't played in weeks. The Titans slot wide receiver, I wouldn't expect him to play and he didn't practice today. Adoree Jackson, who battled a foot injury throughout the back half of the regular season, was able to play against the Patriots and actually played very well when he was targeted. He did not practice today with that foot injury. Now,

in my opinion, I would expect that to be a maintenance day for a guy who had been banged up for quite some time before last week. And then Titans rookie right guard Nate Davis had an illness and didn't practice, but I don't see that as anything that would be an issue. The Titans did get back their fifth wide receiver, but their kick return and punt returner Khalif Raymond he got a concussion if Ravens fans remember he got knocked out at the end of the Saints game and what the NFL should have called a helmet to helmet hit and would have kept the Titans with the ball but he got hit went unconscious midair fumbled the ball the Saints picked it up and won that game he was able to come back and practice today after missing all of last week with that concussion and and that'll really help the Titans in the return game, and that's something that the Ravens fans should obviously be looking for. Other than that, just our sixth wide receiver,

Cody Hollister, and running back Deion Lewis were both limited, but were able to practice, so that kind of wraps up everything from the Titans' perspective. Yeah, and with the playoffs coming around for the Titans and with the Ravens, it's two very different circumstances. The Ravens had a lot of rest in terms of being able to rest their starters, rest their veterans, and make sure that they're fresh Henry, obviously the 34 carries against the Patriots. That's a lot to handle. It'll take its toll. Absolutely takes its toll. Exactly. But, you know, Derrick Henry is a physical specimen, you know, one of the best running backs in the NFL, if not the best. I mean, he sure played like it this year. But for the Ravens, it's a little different because they had a lot of opportunities to rest their guys, as I just mentioned. For them, Mark Andrews was limited in practice yesterday with an ankle injury. Parker Einger, who's a backup offensive lineman, he did not participate

with a shoulder injury. Jimmy Smith and Earl Thomas also did not participate, but these were non-injury-related practices that they missed. Those were just veteran days. Earl Thomas said in his press conference before practice that he was going to get a veteran day, and he said before the Steelers game that his body needed the rest, and it was going to get a veteran day and he said before the Steelers game that his body needed the rest and it was going to benefit him to you know the utmost level because guys like Earl Thomas for the Ravens, Jimmy Smith, Brandon Williams, Marshall Yonda those have been guys who have been getting veteran days you know every Wednesday sometimes every Thursday to make sure their bodies can stay healthy and can take on the toll of a 16-game regular season, plus now we're in the

playoffs. The one big injury for the Ravens, and I'm sure Titans fans have heard a bit about this, is Mark Ingram left the Cleveland game in Week 16 for Baltimore with a calf injury. It was a non-contact thing. It looked bad. It looked like an Achilles injury, but luckily for the Ravens, they escaped with a strained calf for Ingram. I believe it's a grade two sprain. And he was actually doing some things towards the end of the week in practice on Friday. And John Harbaugh expected him to play and go to about a full speed practice starting this week.

But Mark Ingram actually did not participate in practice yesterday. And the reason for that is because of the fact that Ingram said he felt a little tightness in that calf and he wanted to pull back and make sure that he didn't re-injure himself in practice yesterday, and the reason for that is because of the fact that Ingram said he felt a little tightness in that calf, and he wanted to pull back and make sure that he didn't re-injure himself in practice. He didn't want to take any chances with it. Calf injuries can linger for a bit. They can be extremely difficult, and so while it was an opportune time for the Ravens to get him the rest, there is no guarantee that he'll be able to play in this game, nor that he'll even be fully healthy. Now, being a Ravens fan and seeing how tough Ingram is and seeing what he's done over the course of the season, I fully expect him to give it a go.

How much he'll play, I don't know. But the Ravens luckily have one of the best backup running backs in the NFL who arguably could be a starter on a few teams in Gus Edwards. And Edwards has been absolutely phenomenal this season and dating back to last year as well. In 11 games of the Ravens last season, Edwards averaged 5.2 yards per carry on 137 rushes. This season, in a full 16 games on 133 carries, 5.3 yards per carry. If Ingram is forced to miss this game or is limited in any capacity, I am confident that Edwards can really take a step

in for the Ravens and make sure that they don't miss a beat on offense. And obviously, Mark Ingram, it's a little difficult with him because he adds an element. He adds an element in the pass game. He has an element in pass blocking. But with the Ravens' depth, and they have depth across all their positions, the Ravens have the depth to sustain injuries like this. And obviously, you don't wish an injury on anybody, but this is time for Edwards to maybe get an opportunity, and he got it against the Steelers, and he ended up having 21 carries for 130 yards and a touchdown. Actually, no, he did not have a touchdown,

but that's where it gets a little tricky for the Ravens because you have to balance it out. But Edwards, if Ingram is not able to go or is limited, they can kind of rest Ingram a bit and say, look, Gus Edwards, here are your carries. You're going to get a little more today, of rest Ingram a bit and say, look, Gus Edwards, here are your carries. You're going to get a little more today. And Mark Ingram is going to rest a bit.

And if the Ravens do end up winning this football game, that's going to benefit them to the utmost degree. Yeah, and I think that having the depth that the Ravens have, you know, throughout the entire roster, not just in the running back room, is something that's helped them make this push. And, you know, it's not just about having depth for injuries. It's about guys competing against each other in these practices that we're talking about. And having the depth and the talent that the Ravens do allows them to have really competitive practices, which iron sharpens iron, only makes guys better.

And I think as you get later into the season, depth is tested. And the teams with the best rosters the entire 53 the entire 46 on game day those are the teams that can survive and advance the longest so you have that here with these two teams while we talk about these injuries it's obvious that both teams have good depth throughout the entire roster so even when these injuries pop up they're able to still continue to play good football that's exactly. And you mentioned the practice and the Ravens, you know, have posed a little bit of a problem for opposing teams in terms of actually stimulating Lamar Jackson. And I know that Marcus Mariota is going to be that guy in practice for the Titans, but the Ravens

have a challenge ahead of themselves as well in prepping for Derrick Henry, who is an absolute beast. And Gus Edwards would be the closest guy to Derrick Henry on the roster in terms of sheer size and strength. But he's not preparing to start because Ingram didn't practice. So the Ravens went out and signed Paul Perkins yesterday to their practice squad, the former New York Giants and Detroit Lions running back. He's a little bigger than Justice Hill, who's the Ravens backup, if Mark Ingram isn't able to go. But Hill also plays a key part in the running game and passing game for Baltimore out of the backfield. So you mentioned the practices, the iron sharpens iron. I think that's exactly right, Tyler. The Ravens have to

do it. The Titans have to do it. And putting the guy on the field who can simulate that person, that's going to go an extremely long way when it comes to actually getting on the field and playing them on game day. But we are going to go to break now. When we come back, we are going to be talking about the Ravens, talking about the Titans, and how these two teams match up. So stay tuned for that, and we will be right back. Fellas, let's talk about the bedroom. Remember the days when you were always ready to go?

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I want to kind of dive into more of what we're going to see on Sunday now and ask you some questions about the Ravens the number one thing that's on everybody's mind is obvious how can you stop Lamar Jackson so if you would just give us your you know your general thoughts on his play this year and then if you could just end it off with if you've seen him be slowed in the games that he has been even you know contained a tad bit. How were teams able to do that? Well, first of all, to answer the first part, watching Lamar Jackson play this season, being a Ravens fan, a Ravens analyst, it's been an absolute joy to watch. And it couldn't have happened to a better guy, in my opinion. Lamar Jackson is humble on the field. He's humble off

of the field, takes every opportunity to be in the community. But when he's on the field, it's game time, and he will eliminate anybody who stands in his way. On the season, as I'm sure all Titans fans and you know as well, Tyler, he's the MVP. He has 3,127 yards passing, along with a league-leading 36 touchdown passes, compared to just six interceptions. But watching the Ravens games, a lot of those came off of tip passes from receivers. So I'd really give him two interceptions on the year that were really based off of bad decisions by Lamar Jackson. And then you can't underestimate his ability on the ground as well. 176 attempts for 1,206 yards.

That's a 6.9 yards per carry average. He also had seven touchdowns on the ground. What makes Lamar Jackson and this Ravens offense so special is the look that they give you. And I'm going to talk about one singular look, and it's out of that pistol formation. The Ravens use that pistol formation, which is, for fans who don't know, it's right in between shotgun and under center, where they have the running back behind the quarterback. And they use that option play, the RPO, where Lamar Jackson can identify the guy on the edge. If he's crashing up to stop the Mark Ingram dive, Lamar Jackson can take that football and run around the edge. If the defender is a little more worried about Lamar Jackson taking that football, he'll hand it off to Mark Ingram and make sure that that extra defender isn't there.

But there's a third option as well, and he can pull that ball back to himself. They can run their tight ends out, and he can pull that ball back to himself they can run their tight ends out and he can throw the football and the Ravens have really made their offense around their tight ends Mark Andrews Hayden Hurst Nick Boyle and you also can't forget about Patrick Ricard the Ravens fullback who also plays defensive end the Ravens might not have what's called you know a superstar pass catching threat out of out of their offense. But they have guys like Hollywood Brown, the Ravens' first-round pick out of Oklahoma, Willie Sneed, Seth Roberts.

They have Miles Blanken, guys who can hurt you in very different ways. Lamar Jackson has spread this football around. And when you look at Lamar Jackson and his improvement as a passer, you talked about how do you stop Lamar Jackson. Well, the chargers had quote-unquote the blueprint in the 2019 playoffs you talk about a guy who was a little bit raw as a passer and he came into the league he came into an offense when joe flacco was injured that was made for joe flacco and you know if you've seen joe flacco playing you've seen lamar jackson play

those are two very different quarterbacks lamar jack Jackson didn't have what it took to be a passer in the first season. Now, obviously, we all, the Ravens fans knew he had what it took to be a passer, you know, since the day we drafted him, but he was raw. And so the Chargers put seven defensive backs on the field, made sure to eliminate the threat of Lamar Jackson running the football and getting to the outside, and really beat the Ravens with pure speed. Lamar Jackson was forced to throw the football and getting to the outside and really beat the Ravens with pure speed. Lamar Jackson was forced to throw the football. He had something like three completions over the course of three quarters, but the Ravens almost came back to win that football game. Lamar Jackson

made sure in the offseason to improve his accuracy, improve the tightness of his spirals, improve his footwork, decision making, and that has all come back to really present to you what the MVP is right now. If you're talking about slowing Lamar Jackson down in today's game and in Saturday's game, it's going to be tough. But there is a way to do it. And that would be to always just play disciplined football. And the greatest threat to the Ravens offense is the opposing one.

If the Titans can impose their will on offense, make the Ravens play from behind and chew the clock, that's where the Ravens' bread and butter comes from, running the football, taking nine minutes, taking ten minutes off of the clock, and just making sure that the offense of the opposing team can't get the ball in their hands. Derrick Henry might be a beast, but if he's not on the field to actually do anything with the football, the threat is neutralized. So the Titans' best weapon against Lamar Jackson, it might be their own offense. Yeah, and a lot of times you see that if you want to stop the other offense from scoring,

well, then you need to just try to prevent them from having the ball. But one thing I do want to touch on, and you got into it there, the Ravens use all these multiple tight ends. They have Lamar Jackson, who's gone over a thousand yards and had the most dominant rushing season from a quarterback that we've seen. That running game is outrageous. You start to look at the numbers here, over 200 yards rushing per game, 206. That's just insane. Now, the reason that they're able to do that is, like you mentioned, a good stable of running backs, not just one guy, the quarterback, the tight ends, the blocking scheme.

But my question for you is, back to our first segment, if Mark Ingram is limited or perhaps misses this ballgame, what about his play is different than what you get from someone like Gus Edwards and Justice Hill? And then I guess what are you guys going to be missing from Mark Ingram? And then also, what are you not going to miss? What can Gus Edwards and Hill give you that can make up for what Ingram does? But what about Ingram sets him apart that makes him the starter and that you'll be missing if he's not able to play up to his full potential? Well, I think the number one thing that you're missing when Mark Ingram isn't on the field is that leadership and that swagger and that playoff experience.

And we can talk about Mark Ingram, the player, and we can look at all his accolades, all of his statistics, and obviously he is a game changer and a game wrecker when he's on the field. But part of what makes him that game changer and game wrecker is he has been through battles. He has been through the trials and tribulations of going through a playoff run. Gus Edwards, he had one game of that. Lamar Jackson, he had one game of that. The Ravens are going into this as a relatively young offense and an offense that doesn't have a lot of playoff experience. And as we saw just from wildcard weekend, everything starts over when it's the playoffs. You have to be on your toes. Every play matters. The officials kind of let up in their play calling and their penalties. So it's a different environment. And Mark Ingram, obviously, he'll be in the Ravens ear on the sideline if he's not able to play. But on the field,

being able to make split second decisions, that's something that the Ravens will miss and will value a lot if he is on the football field. When you talk about on the field, Mark Ingram excels as a pass protector. He keeps Lamar Jackson clean when he is in the pocket, and he can also roll out and kind of trickle out in the backfield and make some stuff happen. Mark Ingram has actually been sneaky good as a receiver this season. When you look at his stats, 247 yards, but five touchdowns through the air from Lamar Jackson. He's a guy who is kind of the check down reader. And when you look at a guy like Justice Hill, who's a little bit of a more shifty running back, he actually isn't as big of a threat as a pass catcher as some might expect him to be.

And Gus Edwards last season only had two receptions for 20 yards. And he hasn't really done a lot in the air this season, only getting seven receptions for 45 yards, and he hasn't caught a receiving touchdown. So the Ravens running back passing game kind of goes out the window when Lamar Jackson doesn't have Mark Ingram there with him but Gus Edwards is a phenomenal talent and something that he excels at is not losing yards he has been phenomenal at making sure he falls forward doesn't lose yards I think he's actually the top-rated running back in the league in not losing yards. And, you know, there was a stat last year, I think, on all of his carries. He maybe lost yards twice or three times on his carries.

So when you give the ball to Gus Edwards, you know that you're at least getting back to the line of scrimmage at a bare minimum. I know that sometimes, maybe on a second and five, second and six, you'll want to draw up the middle or an HB dive and the defense will stop it for a pretty big loss and make it third and eight, third and nine. And that can really change the outcome of a drive. But with Gus Edwards, he can get you in those third and two, third and one situations where the Ravens thrive in. And if they don't make that third down, you can almost bet John Harbaugh is going forward on fourth if they're on the 50 yard line or even a little bit in their own territory. John Harbaugh has been analytics-driven this season. So I'm not overly concerned if Mark Ingram misses this game.

Yes, he is an absolute X factor for Baltimore. But with the guys behind him, like Gus Edwards, like Justice Hill, I think that they can carry the load if Ingram misses time or is limited. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like we mentioned they have a talented roster so I don't think it'll be too big of a drop off but obviously you lose a little something with Ingram wanted to make sure Titans fans knew what to look for when you're talking about that injury and who's on the field my last question for you about the Ravens here is switching over to the defensive side of the ball. Clearly, the defense has been almost as excellent as the offense. Third and points per game only given up 17.6 points per game. They're excellent in defending the pass, only given up 207 yards per game, 93 yards per game in the ground game. That's top five as well. So they're an excellent defense, but this defense was struggling at the beginning

of the year in terms of allowing points it's once they got Marcus Peters in a trade from the Rams that this defense really took off and from week seven forward they only gave up 20 points once and 21 points once so every other game that they played through the back half from week seven down they gave up less than 20 points other than two matchups with the Patriots and the Jets. So what about the defense change with Marcus Peters, and what have they been doing lately? Obviously, we know about the blitz numbers first in the league at 54% of the time they're blitzing. So what about that Marcus Peters trade changed the defense, and what should Titans fans expect from that defense on Saturday night? Well, you know, you mentioned Marcus Peters,

and he has been outstanding. The Ravens signed him to an extension just a few weeks ago. But it really all started with weeks three and four in Kansas City and then against Cleveland at home. The Ravens gave up back-to-back 500-yard performances, and that's not what you really expect from a Ravens defense, right? You see Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs and Haloti. You don't expect the Ravens to be an offense-first team,

but that's what the Ravens were, and then they went out and they knew something had to change after that Cleveland game. They lost 40-25 at home, were absolutely embarrassed. Earl Thomas and Brandon Williams had a little dust-up where Brandon Williams didn't play. Earl Thomas questioned, you know, oh, you should have been out there. And Brandon Williams kind of spat back at him. The Ravens went out and acquired Josh Bynes and LJ Fort. Two guys, two middle linebackers with veteran experience. And when you look at what they have done to this

team, they were relying on, the Ravens were, Kenny Young and Patrick Owosso and Chris Board at middle linebackers. Three guys who are pretty young, didn't have a lot of experience, and people expected Patrick Owosso to really take that next step forward after being C.J. Mosley's sidekick and doing a really good job at it. C.J. Mosley left them free agency. The green dot, the communication dot, was transferred to Owosso, and there were just communication breakdowns all over the place. The Ravens couldn't tackle, they couldn't do this, they couldn't do that. The Ravens transferred that green dot from Owosso to safety Chuck Clark

once Tony Jefferson went down with a knee injury that ended his season. Thus, the Ravens skyrocketed. This is where you kind of talk about the Marcus Peters trade, and the Ravens brought in Dama Tapeko, they brought in Jihad Ward, Justin Ellis, a lot of guys who have really transformed what this defense is. Now, I mean, you mentioned it, the Ravens, a top five unit, they ranked fourth in the league in the regular season, giving up just over 300 yards per game. percentage in the league but the way they're able to do that is because they have such a good secondary they brought in Earl Thomas who has barely been thrown at this year teams don't dare challenge Earl Thomas and they have Marcus Peters on one side they have Jimmy Smith who's a tall corner can cover on the other they have Marlon Humphrey in the slot who actually is not a slot cornerback by trade and sometimes has struggled in the role a bit because he's more of an outside presence the Ravens lost their slot cornerback who's considered to be one of the best in the

NFL before the season even started he went down with a neck injury and he hasn't been on young right Tavon Young he went down throughout you know I think I believe it was the second preseason game and that was a tough loss and the Ravens have suffered secondary loss after secondary loss they lost Tavon Young. I mentioned Tony Jefferson. They lost their backup safety to Sean Elliott the week after that. And not even in the secondary, they lost Pernell McPhee, who was one of the Ravens' best pass rushers. And the Ravens struggled to really generate a pass rush throughout the first few weeks of the season. They ranked 29th in the league for a pretty long time. But then their young guys started to step up, Jalen Ferguson

and Tyus Bowser Matthew Judon has been an absolute force on the edge and so the Ravens have just put it all together and made sure that their offense doesn't have to put up 30 40 points a game they can kind of relax a bit as the game goes on and the defense as Matthew Judon said a few weeks ago they just want to play heroes sometimes too and when the offense is struggling the defense is more than capable of putting up a performance to win the Ravens the football game. Yeah, they have a great defense paired with that groundbreaking offense.

And not to mention, if you want to cherry on top, they got the best kicker in the league. So a lot of things going well for the Ravens right now. With that in mind, though, we are going to transfer over to our third segment here. I am going to jump into the chair and answer some questions from Kevin about the Titans. So we will do that next. Welcome back to the final segment of this crossover Wednesday episode between Locked on Ravens and Locked on Titans. Kevin Oshkosh is still here with Tyler Rowland,

and I'm now going to be the one asking Tyler questions about the Titans, about how they got here, and what the Ravens can expect from this Tennessee team. And I think, you know, my first question, Tyler, has to be about how the Titans got here, and I think that starts with the transition from Marcus Mariota to Ryan Tannehill, a transition that might have just saved the Titans season. Just how big of a transition was that? It was a huge transition.

But first, I want to point out that you are going to garner a lot of favor with the listeners of the Locked on Titans podcast for saying Mariota instead of Mariota, which is still some respect on his name. Right. It's still something that it's just a plague league-wide. No one knows how to say his name. It's turned into an Alvin Kamara situation where it's just acceptable both ways.

But yes, Mariota. The reality is this franchise wanted to give him every opportunity to be the guy that they hoped he would be when they drafted him number two overall in 2015. They had the best core of weapons that I think this franchise maybe has ever had, or at least LeJuan's four-game suspension to start the year, never really got to give Marcus what they hoped it would. But he didn't hold up his end of the bargain either, and whether that be from all of the hits that he's taken so far, a loss of confidence, the change in scheme, all of the different things revolving around him, whatever the reason happens to be, he didn't hold up his end of the bargain either. And in his fifth year, some of the mistakes that he was making, he would miss some really easy throws, throwing out into the flat, wide open throws. He was taking sacks by holding the ball too long. Obviously, there's a lot of blame to go around, but he wasn't really holding up his end of the bargain either so once the transition was made you saw the differences in play and no one in Tennessee

wants to talk about it none of the players none of the coaches want to talk about it but Ryan Tannehill was able to stay in the pocket make throws not drop his eyes down not run too quick take hits make throws anticipate open. Marcus had this thing where he had to see the guy be open or he wouldn't throw the ball and you can't survive in the NFL like that. Tannehill was just taking chances. Marcus was kind of playing scared, not wanting to make mistakes. Tannehill was out there. I mean, this is his second wind. What's he got to lose at this point being on a second team and being a backup. So you saw the difference in mentality and confidence going out there. And quite frankly, Tannehill has a better arm.

I think last year, Mariota injured his funny bone, essentially, and it caused numbness in his arm throughout the entire season. And I still think that maybe that's showing long-term effects because he did not have pop and energy in his throws. Tannehill just clearly has a stronger arm was more accurate was willing to take more chances was seeing what was going on in the field better and everyone in the NFL saw the results as the Titans quickly became one of the best most explosive offenses in the NFL under Tannehill's leadership yeah and there's that transformation that he performed with this titans offense it was magical but someone who was also transformed i mean we have to talk about

derrick henry the absolute beast of a running back 1 540 yards this season average 5.1 yards per carry 16 touchdowns and i'm gonna kind of take a page out of your book here tyler and ask you what's gone so well for henry this season and if the ras have to stop him, how do they do it? Well, I think what's gone so well for him this season is a combination of his individual talent, the improvement in the offensive line, and the scheme that he's in. So the Titans run zone for Ravens fans. There's two different kinds of blocking schemes that you'll find

primarily in the NFL man schemes where you have one specific guy you're looking to block like pools and counters and misdirection and then you see zone schemes which became really popular in the west coast system Kyle Shanahan is someone who does that the Ravens obviously mix in some zone run and power run like the Patriots multiple. Well, the Titans basically stick to the zone scheme where the offensive line just fires out and they have a particular area where they're supposed to be blocking. And what that allows is it allows the defense to kind of pick where they want to go. And once they pick where they want to go,

the Titans offensive line says, okay, I'll wash you that direction that you already committed to. And then it allows Derrick Henry to survey multiple different holes in the offensive line and ultimately pick which one he wants to go to. And he's a one-cut burst runner. Once he makes that initial cut and decides on that hole, then he starts going downhill straight north and south. And quite frankly, I don't think there's anyone in the NFL that can one-on-one take down Derrick Henry once he makes that cut and decides and gets

north and south. He's a freak of nature physically. We're talking about athletic gifts that can't be cultivated on the practice field. You could work forever as Mark Ingram, work forever and never have the athletic gifts that Derrick Henry has. He's 6'4", he's 260 pounds, he runs a 4'4". Typically, week to week week he'll go over 20 miles per hour 21 miles per hour running the ball down the sideline and at that size and that speed that's what he's been able to do so fine the Titans drafted a guard in the third round Nate Davis he was expected to start at right guard but had some injuries early on in training camp and preseason wasn't able to get going

until week four. Taylor LeJuan, who is the highest paid left tackle in the league, wasn't able to play for the first four games due to suspension. And football fans know the offensive line as a unit relies on chemistry and relies on reps together as one, all five guys together, more than any other unit in professional sports. So having that continuity with the offensive line after week four for the next four weeks allowed the Titans to get on this run that you've seen Derrick Henry get all the praise for, and he deserves it because his individual talents are a big chunk of the pie when we're giving out credit here. But the offensive line improvement and the particular scheme that the Titans run

is a perfect marriage for what Derrick Henry has become yeah he's been an absolute force to watch this year and he's been really fun to watch now you know on Saturday he's not going to be fun to watch for Ravens Nation and I but right now you you can't deny the physical gifts that this guy has just as you went into and I have to talk about this Titans defense next I mean there is a lot of talent on paper when you look at this defense you talked about Logan Ryan who led the team with 113 tackles but not far behind were for linebackers for Sean Evans and Jayon Brown who you also mentioned but Kenny Peccaro, Kevin Byard, Harold Landry, Adore Jackson, Jarrell Casey I mean I could go all the way down the list. There's talent all over on paper, but how have they really gelled this season? And I know that they've had some struggles covering tight ends.

How would the Ravens beat all this talent on the Titans defense? Well, I think the Titans defense was really good at the beginning of the year, a top 10 defense, and then some injuries in the secondary. It's weird because the Titans and the Ravens kind of mirror each other in a way the Ravens are just obviously a souped up version at this moment in time the strength of the Titans was their secondary and their ability to play multiple coverage and the continuity they had but then injuries in the secondary to the cornerback position really made them fall off and lost some of that Malcolm Butler broke his arm against

Carolina and was put on IR. Adoree Jackson, like I mentioned, missing five out of the last six games or something close to that. We saw LaShawn Sims, who's the Titans' fourth cornerback, get injured. They had to pick up Tremaine Brock off of waivers, pull Ty Smith up from the practice squad just to have cornerbacks. So a lot of those weeks in the back half of the season, the Titans would have their fourth and fifth, fifth and sixth cornerback on the field. Now having Kevin Byard, Kenny Vaccaro, and Logan Ryan as your slot corner, having those two safeties in that slot allowed them to still, you know, be a professional defense and not fall off completely, but it was a struggle.

Now Adoree Jackson has returned, and LaShawn sims who is the fourth cornerback is healthy again so having everyone together has allowed the defense to play much better and you saw that on saturday against the patriots when they only gave up 13 points and were able to score a defensive touchdown in the second half while only allowing 85 yards total in the second half to a patriots team that you know historically has been great on offense. So it seems like they're starting to get their rhythm back together, having more of their talented players out on the field. But I think one thing, like I said, that mirrors the Ravens, not just on defense, not to get away from your defensive question, but the reliance on tight

ends in the run game. That's how the Titans are as well. They feature three tight ends and a fullback throughout the entire game, and they use them a lot. So it's funny how these two teams kind of mirror each other throughout the season. But on defense, the Ravens are going to have trouble with the Titans. I can't even say front seven or back half because it's the linebackers, the slot corner, and then the two safeties. So the middle of the Titans defense, Rashawn Evans, Jayon Brown, if he's able to go, and

if not, David Long, who's a rookie out of West Virginia who's played some pretty good snaps. He's obviously not the player Jayon Brown is, but Logan Ryan, Kenny Vaccaro, who was an animal against the Patriots, and even the coach, Mike Vrabel, said, you know, you can feel those hits on the sideline, and that sets the tone for the game. Kevin Byard's one of the best safeties in the NFL. So with the Ravens' zone run scheme, you have to have athletic linebackers and defensive backs who are willing to tackle. Because a lot of the time, when Lamar Jackson starts coming down that alley, a defensive back has to fill it. And they just don't want to tackle Lamar Jackson at the speed he's going and the moves he could

put on him. So I think the Titans defense has to rely on the linebackers, the slot corner, and Logan Ryan, who's one of the best in the league, and then physical, versatile safeties to try to limit this run game. But you mentioned some of the players up front, Jarrell Casey, Harold Landry, who's fallen off a little in the back half, but still a talented edge rusher. And Daquan Jones is a talented nose tackle for the Titans that's going to have to play well in this Ravens game. And I think the reason for that is the Titans are just going to try to force the Ravens to run it to the running back on those zone reads. That's what I expect to see. I expect to see them plug up the edges and and try to set a contain and force force players that's what you know coaches like to call it the force player

to make sure they force everything inside so I think the Titans will try to take away Lamar Jackson on the perimeter force the Ravens to run the ball up the middle especially if Mark Ingram is limited at all you want to you know take shots at him as much as you can not that you want people to get injured but football is a brutal physical game. And quite frankly, if you know someone's injured, you want to hit them and make it hurt and see if you can find an advantage there. That's just the reality of this game that we love. So I think that the Titans will do that. Force Lamar Jackson to hand off the ball and not let him beat them on the perimeter. And the Titans interior defensive line with the linebackers and the

safeties and cornerbacks I mentioned, they're all going to have to play a big role in this run game on Saturday night. It's going to be important for Tennessee to stop the run game and make sure that Lamar Jackson really can't become the factor because if Lamar Jackson does start to get on a roll, he is very hard to slow down, just like Titans fans see with Derrick Henry each and every week. It's like basketball too. If you look at basketball, you've got to have a basketball mentality when you play a talent like Lamar Jackson.

You cannot let the MVP of the NFL beat you. If you can find a way to take him out of the game and force him to give the ball to other people, that's what you have to do. And if you still lose because this Ravens team is so talented well you know then you die that's just the reality but you can't go out letting Lamar Jackson run all over you you just can't let that happen no I 100% agree but Tyler for our final segment of the day I guess we'll call it a mini segment in here let's do some final score predictions I know that you know the worst thing you can do in January is underestimate your opponent, and I'd want to do nothing less than say the Ravens are going to win this football game. But you look at what Tennessee did. They're a dangerous team, so I'll get into my final score prediction.

But Tyler, how do you think this game is going to go? You know, I have a little bit more confidence than I think some Titans fans, and a lot of that confidence. So this is something I wanted to mention just to strike fear in the hearts of the Ravens listeners is one similarity we can take here. Dean Pease was the defensive coordinator for the Ravens when they played against the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. The offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers is Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. And that San Francisco 49ers zone read scheme that they ran with Colin Kaepernick

is very similar to what Greg Roman is running now with Lamar Jackson. So if there's anybody who has knowledge and has success against that type of offense in the biggest matchups possible, it is Dean Peaks. So I'm hoping that because of that familiarity with this kind of offense and the success that he's had in the past, along with the ability of Derrick Henry to run, and naturally Tannehill is going to play a little bit better of a game than he did against the Patriots. I think that the Titans find a way to pull out this ballgame against the Ravens and upset them at home, take a 3-2 lead, or sorry, a 2-1 lead in the playoff series between these two former rivals,

and I think that the score is 27-23. Wow, that is bold, and I give you a lot of credit because the Titans, you know, there was a team that I didn't want to play. It was either them or Buffalo, and here we are playing the Titans. I'll also pull, you know, a little Super Bowl trick here. And, you know, you talked about the two coordinators and Greg Roman and Dean Pease. That Dean Pease-led defense did a phenomenal job in the first half, but then you know the script.

The lights went out and the 49ers stormed back that dmp's lead defense gave up 468 total yards to the 49ers they gave up 31 points and it was the light i'm a ravens fan and i will say it was the lights you are exactly right but you know when i look at this game i see you know the ravens have you know quote unquote played down to opponents very little this year, and that was something that the Ravens had trouble with. And when you look at the Titans and you look at all the similarities that you mentioned, Tyler, it's going to be a hard-fought game, but I don't see Lamar Jackson going 0-2 in his first two playoff starts, especially with the way he's been playing, especially with the way that the Ravens had a lot of rest,

and I think that's going to be a key factor in this. The fact that the Titans are coming off a hard fought game against the Patriots they had to travel back to Tennessee then they have to take another day travel to Baltimore and then they have to go out and play another hard fought football game Earl Thomas Earl Thomas and his body is going to be feeling good Lamar Jackson is going to be feeling good the only guy who won't be feeling good potentially is Mark Ingram so I think that think that that's an underrated factor of this game. John Harbaugh in primetime home games at night is 14-2, I believe. That actually might be across all primetime night games.

He's 14-2. No, he's 14-1, actually. And then coming off of the bye in his career, John Harbaugh is 10-2. So I think that with the time to prepare that he's had and with everything that the Ravens coaching staff has done this year, I think the Ravens are going to pull it out, but it's going to be a hard-fought game. If I had to give a final score prediction, I'm going to say Ravens 31, Titans 24. So it's going to be a hard-fought, close game,

but I do in the end think the Ravens are going to pull it out. But Tyler, I think that concludes this Locked on Crossover Wednesday podcast, divisional round edition. Thank you so much for joining me here, and I'm just hoping for some good, hard fought football. Yeah, that's really all you hoped for last weekend delivered. I mean, the Eagles-Seahawks game was a little bit of a snoozer due to the Wentz injury, but pretty much excellent football the entire weekend, and this is what you wait for. This is why playoff football is so amazing, because you get the best teams playing the

best possible football, and hopefully that continues this weekend. And regardless of the outcome, we do get a special football game between these two teams that, you know, it used to be a very big rivalry in the AFC Central. I talked about that on my show yesterday. So hopefully here with the depth that we talked about earlier, the talent that we've discussed throughout the show, hopefully the Titans and the Ravens can rekindle at least a playoff rivalry for the next few years, and we will start that on Saturday night. Definitely.

That's all you can hope for in that rivalry. It's about to add another chapter. Once again, that was Kevin Allstriker from the Locked on Ravens podcast. Excellent host of that show. Had a great conversation there. I hope you guys took a lot from that as part of our game prep week. Of course, we started yesterday with our statistical foundation, added some context today with our conversation with Kevin, and then tomorrow we will jump into our Tic Tac Titans film review, try to get an idea of what the Titans should be doing

against the Ravens as we started talking about today. So I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation. If you aren't already, please subscribe to the show, Locked on Titans, on whatever platform you do listen. Please follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for more updates. And I will see you guys tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans.