Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - EMERGENCY POD - Instant Reaction to Tennessee Titans Victory Over Atlanta

Episode Date: August 14, 2021

EMERGENCY POD!!The Titans defeated the Falcons 23-3 on Friday night in Atlanta. The Titans defense was the big story of the night led by Rashad Weaver. The Titans offense had bright moments with both back up QBs playing well and the special teams had a solid out also. Tyler breaks it down on the quick instant reaction.Follow Tyler on Twitter @LockedOnTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodCheck out the Locked On Titans YouTube page!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Tyler Rowland here, host of the Locked On Titans podcast, with my instant reaction to the Tennessee Titans' first preseason game of 2021. The Titans were able to come out victorious in Atlanta on Friday night, defeating the Falcons 23-3. And although this game doesn't count towards the Titans' season-long goals, there are still a lot of positive takeaways for us to discuss. Number one, the Tennessee Titans' defense was excellent on Friday night. They held the Falcons to only 2 of 10 on third down conversions. They held the Falcons to only 2 of 10 on third down conversions. They held the Falcons to only 52 combined passing yards.

They had five total sacks on the night and forced an interception. So a great night overall for the Titans defense. But the defense was led by rookie edge rusher Rashad Weaver. Weaver had two tackles, two tackles for loss, one and a half sacks, and even knocked down a pass at the line of scrimmage as well. Weaver was all over the field. The Falcons backup offensive linemen were unable to block him. Now that's a great sign for the Titans who definitely need more reinforcements with their pass rushes. They try to improve upon the historically bad pass rush season that they had last year. And Weaver will be a big part to fixing that group. Now, of course, there are some concerns

off the field at this time, but if Weaver is able to stay on the field and play the entire season for the Titans, have to think that he'll be a contributor. Also, on the offensive side of the ball, the Titans obviously scored 23 points, so some good production there, led by the two backup quarterbacks who are fighting for that QB2 spot. Logan Woodside, the best of the bunch. He was 10 for 15 on the day, had 84 yards, and an awesome touchdown pass to Cam Batson on a perfectly placed back shoulder throw in the end zone. So Logan Woodside, who I personally have given a lot of criticism, played an excellent game, and it makes sense that he has the advantage right now in that back-up quarterback race. But not to take anything away from Matt Barkley, who got the second half of the game on Friday night, and Barkley was 5-for- eight, 54 yards and a touchdown pass. Had a really nice pass to Miller Forrestal for

that touchdown on a wheel route into the end zone. So both the backup quarterback options for the Titans played very, very well in this game. But it wasn't just offense and it wasn't just defense for the Titans. There was also the special teams unit and we saw a big play from punt returner Chester Rogers who had a 57-yard punt return to put the Titans in scoring position in the first half. Also, you got some excellent kicking on field goals from both the field goal kickers Tucker McCann and Sam Thicken. The Titans were five for five on the night on field goals with Tucker McCann going two for two on both of

his field goal attempts and then Sam Thicken going two for two on his field goals and one for one on his extra points. Now, the downside of Friday night's game were the injuries for the Titans. Five pretty decent injuries coming out of this game. Number one, rookie or second-year running back Darrington Evans was hurt after only four carries in the first half. He came off the field limping with what appeared to be, just from my armchair doctor position, a hamstring injury. So hopefully Evans is able to rehab quickly and get back out on the field for the Titans. He will be an important piece to the offense this year.

We also saw some defensive role players like Trevon Colley, BJ Bellow, Brady Breeze also go down with what appeared to be lower body injuries. Hope all of those guys can get back to 100%. They're all fighting for a roster spot, and any time missed in camp can certainly doom that opportunity. And then also, late in the game, we saw an absolutely dirty play that was flagged as well. A roughing the kicker penalty where an Atlanta Falcons defender came through and just irresponsibly smashed into Tucker McCann. He drilled the kick, of course, so great job by Tucker McCann,

but he was clearly hobbled after taking the hit to his kicking foot and did not appear in the game with Sam Ficken taking the rest of the kicks that were possible. So a little bit of injury, but football, 100% of the players who play will be hurt, so that's to be expected. Luckily for the Titans, we didn't see any injuries to any key players because the reality here is most of the Titans key players did not play in this game. I would expect to see them a little bit in the next one, but overall, a great performance by the Tennessee Titans in their first preseason game of the year, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 23-3. I'm going to be going into even more detail on Monday's Locked on Titans podcast.

So make sure that you follow the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you stream podcasts. Also, make sure that you subscribe right here to the Locked on Titans YouTube channel and smash that notification bell so you know when my videos go live. The Tennessee Titans, again, victorious in their first week of the preseason 23-3 over the Atlanta Falcons. Thank you.