Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - How to Beat the Chiefs - Winning Trends, Titans Talk & Rowland's Rewind

Episode Date: November 7, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is the kickoff to a football week. Ready for a good Thursday night football game to get us ready for Titans football on Sunday. We are going to dive into today's episode in segment one. We are going to talk about some trends that I found in the three Kansas City losses on the season. Some things that the Titans will have to emulate. The Titans will have to make sure that they check off the list, which we never know if the Titans game plan will be smart or not. So we'll go over what I've seen in those losses and what the Titans need to do against the Chiefs to hope to have some success on Sunday.

In our second segment, I will get you even more ready for the Chiefs game by playing some of the players and Mike Vrabel's press conferences to let you hear what they have to say about the Kansas City Chiefs. And we will finish up with some Rollins Rewind, as we always do on Thursday, and have an actual really fun segment where we talk about the last time the Titans were in the playoffs. And I know for some of us it'll be a little bit bittersweet, but it'll be a lot more fun than reviewing last week's Rollins Rewind. So excited to get into all of it with you guys. Let's get it.

Your Tennessee Titans lead story are some trends that show up in the three losses that the Kansas City Chiefs have on the season. So the Chiefs currently sit at 6-3, looking like they will get Patrick Mahomes back at starting quarterback. But even with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, there are some trends that show up in the three losses that I think the Titans, it'll be obvious that the Titans will need to do these things,

but some things that are obvious that the Titans offense need to do don't always get followed each week. So I think it's important for me to let you guys know exactly what the Titans coaching staff should be seeing in these games. And these are some simple things that they can follow and they can focus on to help them with the game plan, which at this point in time, it seems that they need. So the first thing is time of possession. In the three losses for the Chiefs, their opponents averaged 36 minutes and 45 seconds of possession. So the Colts had 37 minutes and 15 seconds. The Packers had 33 minutes and 13. The Houston Texans had 39 minutes and 48 seconds of possession. three of those losses the Chiefs

lost the time of possession battle now why are they losing the time of possession battle that leads us into our next point and it's an obvious one for the Titans but we saw the game plan last week and it's hard to have any faith that that're going to see the obvious thing. So I want to make sure that we're on the same page here. In the loss to Indianapolis, 180 rushing yards on the ground for the Colts. In the loss to Green Bay, 118 rushing yards on the ground. And in the loss to Houston, 192. That's an average of 163.3 yards per game on the ground in the losses to the Chiefs. Put those two things together, Titans fans. Time of possession and running the ball. Now, some people have a theory out there

that running the ball isn't, you'll see these stats, when they run the ball 20 times or more, they're this successful or this win-loss record. While I agree that a lot of times, running the ball is because you are already up not the reason that you got up it's a result not the causation so I understand that that theory but in these losses again that the Chiefs took it wasn't a situation where the other team got up early and was able just run the ball all game long and salt the clock away. That's not what was happening in these games. These games were close a lot of the time. And the score at halftime or even into the third quarter, you want to look at their first loss against the Colts here.

The score was very close at halftime. It was 13-10. The Colts were up by three. And there was no scoring until the fourth quarter. You go to their next loss to the Green Bay Packers and you look at the score there but the Packers got up 14 nothing but by the second quarter it was 17 to 14 Kansas City Green Bay scored one field goal in the third quarter it was 17 to 17 at the end of the third these aren't blowouts here where people are blowing

out the Chiefs and then just sitting on the ball holding it and running rounding that out with Kansas City here or with Houston Kansas City was up 17 to 3 at the end of the first quarter and at halftime it was 23 17 to the Texans so I just want to reiterate here we aren't talking about teams getting up big on the Chiefs early and then salting away the clock that's not what's taking place in these games. And on the flip side, one of the reasons that the Chiefs are allowing this to happen, and one of the reasons that I'm telling you it's not just game flow, it's a literal game plan, it's not just the way the game is going, it's the way these teams are attacking,

is the Chiefs' inability to run the ball. This is the reason they weren't able to sustain drives and to win that time of possession battle and it's simply being ineffective they averaged 59 yards on the ground per game in those losses 36 to Indy 53 to Houston 88 to Green Bay so if the Titans are able to limit the Chiefs running attack so that they can't get easy manageable third downs if you stop the run game of the Chiefs force them into third and long situations make it as difficult as possible on that offense and then when you get the ball you hold it for a long time make sure your defense is rested and give yourself easy and consistent third and shorts third and manageables then you're going to give yourself a chance against this

dynamic offense even if they are so talented and So amazing. I mean quite frankly, they're amazing with the talent that they have So those are some key themes that the titans are going to have to follow in our second segment We are going to do some titans talk I'm going to let you hear from a few players and coach mike grable as they prepare you for the game against the kansas city Chiefs in our third segment. We will do roland'sind and cover the last time we played the Kansas City Chiefs. Do you ever find yourself wishing you could make some extra cash with your NFL knowledge? At MyBookie, they want to make your dream come true this season. Right now, all players are invited to play in the free $50,000 Survivor Contest. Winner takes all.

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And before practice kicked off for the week, we got some information from a couple of different players. We'll start with Kevin By byard and then aj brown and then logan ryan before finishing out with head coach mike rabel and his assessment of the kansas city chiefs i mean guys one of the most explosive players in the league i mean this guy and one thing about it is i mean guy maybe five five eight five nine or whatever but this guy can win 50 50 balls down the middle of the field so like i said that's gonna be one of our big things this week, making sure we stand deeper than the deepest, just not allowing big plays. I think that's one thing that teams that played great against them,

they didn't have a lot of explosive plays. So, if we can limit explosive plays and kind of contain those guys and affect the quarterback, regardless if Mahomes or Matt Moore plays, I think that's going to be a big key for us this week trying to win a ball game. Yeah, I don't think we've done a well enough job. I think at times we've played well. I think we've limited some guys, but it's just always those couple. And I feel like it's been like that the whole entire year.

It's been always those couple big plays every game that we give them crucial situations that we have to fix. And I think that's one of the main things we're going to have to do this week is make sure we eliminate those big players with 10, 17, and all those guys, even LaShawn McCoy out there. So I think if we can eliminate those big players, we'll put ourselves in a great position to win the ballgame. I mean, I think he has deceptive speed. I think this guy runs great routes. I think, in my opinion, I think he's the best tight end in the NFL. I mean, this guy has all different types of stances. I think he understands leverage. He's a long target. So I think, you know, even if you try to get your hands on him, he's able to use his hands, get off routes and different things like that.

So we're definitely going to have our hands full with this guy, but at the end of the day, I have confidence in our guys that we're all going to get our chance to cover him. And I think it's going to be a great challenge for us, and I'm excited for it. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you don't know what he's going to do. But he's a great quarterback. I mean, any time you go up against a reigning MVP like him,

kind of get your juices flowing on a Wednesday, because at the end of the day, you know you're going to have a great quarterback. Anytime you go up against a reigning MVP like him, kind of gets your juices flowing on a Wednesday because at the end of the day you know you're going to have a great challenge. You should have a great crowd out there on Sunday. We're super excited, ready for the challenge, and ready to go try to get a W against the Chiefs so we can get back to.500. I would say so. I think just even going out there today at practice, we have to practice at that level of urgency

as if we take every game almost like it's a Super Bowl. You know what I'm saying? Because at the end of the day, we have to find a way to string on some wins at the end of the day. And I think that's how it should be every day for the season going forward, no matter what the record is, no matter what's going on, that we have to play with a super level of urgency to be able to go out there and improve and keep getting better.

And like I said, try to get some Ws. Like Ryan said, we're definitely hungry to get back to work and try to get better today. That's the most important thing is to get better today and we have another opportunity in front of us. We have a great team we can play. It's going to give us some challenges but it's a great opportunity. It's very important every time we get on the field try to make these drives last a little bit.

Take advantage because they got a lot of weapons on offense. They can square it any time. We don't really want it to be a shootout. We've just got to take care of the ball and move the ball and tip over when we want to. I do. I do. Like I said, it's a great opportunity against these guys

and come out and just handle our business. They play a lot of different coverages. They play hard. I can testify on that, under our business. I'd have put a lot of different coverages They play hard I can testify on that watch the film all guys play hard No, they run to the ball and then they just try to disguise coverages and mix things up I'm not too worried about tired. I'll turn man because he's not my guy. That's a that's an Adam Humphreys course but He's a great player. He's gonna show up. Yeah, he's just got a good way to keep him alive and that makes everyone's job tougher.

You got to cover a little longer, but you know a man covers, I got to cover my man, whoever that may be. I'm sure it'll be a variety of guys like every week and it's got to do my job a little longer, but the situation of the season we're at, how important this game is for us, I'm willing to do that and we got to go out there and play our defense. We got to go out there and play our defense they go out there and play aggressive play smart and we got to take the ball away like we did last game against last time at home against Jameis we gotta go play our brand of defense versus their brand offense and there'll be a be some fireworks Randy Moss is

pretty good pretty fast I mean yeah Tyreek is really good receivers and work he's a good receivers been working on his game and he's developing out the years and he's a good player I mean we could talk all day they a really good receiver. He's a good receiver. He's been working on his game, and he's developing out the years. And, yeah, he's a good player. I mean, we could talk all day. They're really good on offense, guys, the best offense we've seen all year. So we pride ourselves on being good on defense around here. And I saw the Colts get after him a little bit. I saw Green Bay get after him a little bit.

I've seen some defenses. Houston got after him a little bit. They played man-to-man. They covered those guys up. So we've got to do our best to do that, and we'll see what happens at the end. Yeah, there's a total sadness. I mean, Malcolm competes so hard, and, you know, I'm with him every day, see the work he puts in.

And any time you have an injury, take away your season, take away a game, you only get so many opportunities. So, yeah, we all feel for Malcolm here. That's for sure. Malcolm will want us to play well and move on and let LeSean get his opportunity, and that's how football works. It's about his work ethic. He's probably one of the best press man-to-man corners in the league. He was the best corner in training camp this year, anyone covering training camp. He didn't let up

a catch in one-on-ones for 25 straight passes. I've never been a part of that. I've never seen anyone that good at that so he's a good player. It's just this league's about opportunity. He hasn't had it yet so now is a great opportunity for him to be get some reps and I was a young corner before I had a good player. It's just this league is about opportunity hasn't had it yet. So now is a great opportunity for him to be to get some reps. And I was a young corner before I had to come in. It's hard to come in spot duty. So for him to get some chance here to get to feel his game out and to put it to test is what this league is all about. What I said earlier, I got my first start when I keep to leave.

Got hurt seven years ago and I made the most of it. Malcolm got his first play in the Super Bowl. He waited 17 games or 18 games, play in the Super Bowl. He waited 17 games or 18 games and got in the Super Bowl and now we know Malcolm Butler as Malcolm Butler. So that's how this league works and I think LaShawn's as ready as anybody and we got a really deep group. That's what we talked about. Not just a good group at the top but we got a deep group of players so what better opportunity to get your first start against Mahomes and the boys and go out there in Nissan Stadium. He should remember. As long as we win the game, we'll take it.

So whatever happens, we've got to win the game. We made adjustments throughout that game, and Evans had two catches in the second half, and we won the game. So as long as we win the game, we'll take it. I have no idea. I don't think so. I'm preparing off what I see. He's a game-changing player, but I don't know if he's going to play or not.

So I'm not going to chase ghosts here. I'm going to prepare for their offense and have a good Wednesday practice here and get a good start. And we'll see whoever goes out there. I'm sure we'll have a plan for them. Third down is huge. We don't want to play 70, 80 plays anymore. So third down is big.

We've got to get back to being not just a good third down defense but a dominant third down defense. And those are things we're cleaning up on. You know, tomorrow's a big third down day for us today. It's first and second down. So we'll take it one step at a time. But I think that'll be a good game within the game is third down. Again, the comparisons in this league are always difficult.

He's a fantastic player. You know, does a lot with the football very quick with the release makes a lot of great decisions in the RPO game very accurate outside the pocket can create keep plays alive you know I think the longer that he does that then the more opportunity for those guys that can run to get downfield. And that's where the play extension is critical that we try to limit that. You try to look at matchups and you try to identify when you can play man, when you can play zone,

when you want to try to have eyes on the zone, when you want to try to have eyes on the quarterback, when you want to try to have help, how to play guys that are big receivers, such as, let's say, Sammy Watkins this week, a bigger player with speed, but then guys that have speed and are smaller and quicker guys and how you play Hill and Hardman and Robinson.

So there's a lot of challenges. They have a few backs that they run the football with, not to mention probably the best tight end in the league. I think we have to be able to try to hit some of those. We have to be able to get some of those. We have to be able to, you know, get some of those plays downfield and try to let our receivers, like Tajay did at the beginning of the game, draw a penalty. Or like AJ did on the play that you're mentioning, you know, go make a play. We have to be able to do that. And again, that's giving them a ball, giving them a chance not to throw it out of

bounds or put it too far in the middle of the field. I think just giving them a chance to make a play and that's what A.J. did. I think that you just have to say that you have to cover them a little longer until you hear the whistle or the crowd. It's just watching this third down, you know, guys will take a peek back and then somebody uncovers and, you know, the quarterback's still alive and he makes a throw. He can throw it across his body.

He can throw it downfield. So you just can't ever relax when they go out there and, you know, the route may seem to come to an end and they kind of relax and then all of a sudden they burst on you. And I think that when you take that sigh of relief, you know, sometimes is when they get you. And hopefully we can limit those opportunities just by being able to coordinate the rush and keep, you know, the quarterback, you know,

from throwing from a well. Well, I mean, I think you have to be conscious. You have to be smart of, you know, from throwing from a well. Well, I mean, I think you have to be conscious. You have to be smart of, you know, where you're at and the shots that they like to take and, you know, making sure that you play with, you know, proper leverage and that you're on top. And, you know, we understand that they have more X plays than any offense in the league.

And that's, you know, when they're able to hit those, those chunk plays allow them to change field position, gain momentum. And so he's a large part of what they do. To get those explosive plays, he attacks the football when there's coverage. And just like John mentioned, the trust that the quarterback has to throw it up to a certain player knowing that he's going to come down with the football. Unique? Sure. I mean, I think that, you know, some guys are straight line fast. I think that when you're a punt returner, I think you have agility, quickness,

explosion, but also speed, straight line speed. quickness, explosion, but also speed, straight line speed. That's always the challenge when the guys can go sideways just as effectively as they can gain and build speed down the field. It's in the National Football League. Every game is probably as must win as you can get. It's the next one. It's a great challenge. It's a heck of an opponent

um our guys were focused this morning already um i'm hopeful that when we go out to the practice field we can carry the meetings um out to the field and and be able to start the week off on a great note all right guys so that was titan's talk we heard from Kevin Byard, AJ Brown, Logan Ryan and then head coach Mike Vrabel before we jump into Roland's Rewind and cover the last time the Titans played the Kansas City Chiefs I want to remind you that you can treat yourself to a meal you deserve and have your favorite restaurants come to you with DoorDash right now our listeners can get five dollars off their first order of fifteen dollars or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter promo code LOCKEDON. Rollins Rewind.

Let's go back. Back to when times were good. Back to January of 2018. The Titans on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs as a lowly 9-7 wildcard team expected to get blown out of the building by the Chiefs' explosive offense that was even pre-Patrick Mahomes back during the Alex Smith days, but they still had tremendous talent with Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt, and Travis Kelsey, but as we all know, this was

the high point of the Marcus Mariota era and a beautiful win. Let's talk about this game as I speak to you with a tear in my eye and an emotional state. Watching the highlights of that game, it did make me emotional. It's unfortunate that this season is kind of the end of the era, and that was definitely the peak moment. So it started pretty rough. A big play by Tyreek Hill, about 50-yard catch down the sideline, which turned into a Kareem Hunt touchdown,

which turned into the next drive, Travis Kelsey scoring a touchdown, beating Avery Williamson. Then Marcus got the Titans down close to the red zone and threw an interception to Marcus Peters at the time. Went down. It's 14-0 at this time. Titans are able to stop the Chiefs. They get the ball back. Marcus is absolutely drilled by Derek Johnson in what should have been a fumble. Marcus was inexplicably by the refs called down, but at the time, we'll take it. Titans keep possession of that ball, get a field goal, 14-3. Then the biggest play of the game, in my opinion, happens next.

With about a minute 40 left in the first half, Jonathan Ciprian just lays a hammer down on Travis Kelsey. At that time, Kelsey had about four, six catches, something of the like. At the time. I believe it was 66 yards and a touchdown. He had four catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. At the time, in the first half, he was destroying the Titans. And as we know, Wesley Woodyard and Avery Williamson in coverage, not that great.

And Jayon Brown wasn't quite ready at that time, being so early in his career. So Kelsey was killing him and Ciprian knocked him out of the game with a concussion. Things really changed in the second half because of that. Kelsey was just, as I said, killing the Titans over the middle. However, on that drive with a minute 40 left, the Chiefs are able to respond and go down and drive for a touchdown, leaving the Titans down 21-3 at halftime. And then, obviously, some miraculous things start to happen. The Titans get the ball.

They come out. They drive. Marcus has the infamous throw to himself for a touchdown. Still one of the more athletic plays we've seen in NFL history, especially from the quarterback position. What an incredible play, and one of the reasons that his supporters in this fan base are so adamant about him and so supportive and believe in him so much because those plays right there that show his toughness, his heart, and ultimately his athletic ability.

So the Titans are there. You think they're in a good spot, down 21-10, but having some momentum, the defense comes out and gets a stop, and then something very familiar happens. Adoree Jackson muffs a punt. Brought me back into modern day. Brought me back into present time. But back into the time machine, the Titans defense again stands up to the test, gets the ball back. Derrick Henry's able to break off a big long run and get another touchdown. Put the Titans on the board. They go for two and don't get it. It's 21 to 16. After another few series of defensive stops, the Titans get the ball back,

and this is when Eric Decker makes up for a huge drop earlier in the game. Eric Decker gets a pass from Marcus down the seam for about 20-30 yards and a touchdown. The Titans go up 22-21, on the two point conversion again but they're able to hold the rest of the way and get a playoff victory in the Titans first playoff appearance in 10 years so what a time I remember that game

incredible comeback one of the best comebacks in NFL playoff history that's for certain and like I said I was just pretty emotional about halfway through watching the highlights of the game thinking about know, this era of football for the Titans and having Marcus at quarterback and what he was able to do during his high time, so I understand where the love comes from, from some of his staunchest supporters in this fan base, and this game was one of those moments, so the Titans were a huge underdog in that game.

Derrick Henry ended up with over 150 yards rushing, and the Titans won the time of possession battle. Just to come full circle and relate us back to our first segment where we talked about some of the trends and some of the keys and the losses the Chiefs have taken. So hopefully the Titans are able to repeat some of those things that they did in that playoff game. Hopefully they get off to a faster start as well well because now with Mahomes, I don't think

an injury to Travis Kelsey would even slow them down. So hopefully we can rekindle some of that magic and bring home a victory against the Chiefs on Sunday. That's going to do it for our show today. Like I said, we went over some trends in the Chiefs losses this season in our first segment. In our second segment, I let you hear what the players and the head coach had to say about getting ready for Kansas City this week. And in our third segment, of course, we just went over the last great game in Titans history. I guess some of those, the Eagles win, the Patriots win were good, but the last real great victory is the last

playoff victory and what a game it was for us Titans fans. So hopefully, like I said, we rekindle some of that magic on Sunday. I'll be back with you tomorrow for our game preview, my beautiful dark twisted fantasy preview, keeping it plus 100, and we will preview our rooting interest for the other teams in the AFC this weekend. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.