Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Is Tennessee Titans Will Levis For Real?? Blocking Steelers Front & Targeting Titans Secondary

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

The Tennessee Titans have a much more difficult environment to get a win in against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football. Rookie QB Will Levis will be tested and will show whether his debut was real or not. Also, the Steelers will likely get back Cam Heyward to go with T.J. Watt and the Titans may have trouble blocking them. Also, the Steelers will plan to attack the Titans' secondary. Finally, turnovers will decided this game along with the run game and Tyler and Chris give their predictions.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashGet 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply.Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is Will Levis for real? We're going to find out on Thursday Night Football, and we'll break it all down on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to Crossover Thursday here in the Lockdown Podcast Network. I'm Chris Carter of Lockdown Steelers.

He's Tyler Rowland of Locked On Titans. And we're here bringing you a preview from the Locked On Podcast Network on Thursday night. Football Steelers Titans. Big matchup in the AFC coming on tonight. As always, Crossover Thursday is sponsored by PrizePix. The easiest, most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to prizepix.com slash Locked NFL and use code all lowercase locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to $100.

Tyler, it's been a minute, man. We didn't get to talk all last season. You and I always have such good talks when we talk football here, but I got to ask you about Will Levis because I got to admit, in the draft, I was doing a show with a cue from the Raiders and I kept like messing with him like oh y'all gonna take Levis and he's like no no no there's no way the

Raiders take a little we can't do that they can't do that right it's like it was kind of like the joke who's gonna get Will Levis but who's laughing now because in his first start he comes out with four tutties through the air what what was so special that let him have that kind of success in his first start? Well, number one, more than anything, his energy, his passion. It's just noticeable. I tweeted out at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter when he did an interview. Basically, once it was pretty much announced that he was going to start the game and Tannehill was going to be out last week before the Falcons game,

he did an interview. And, man, you could just feel his energy on the screen as he talked about his opportunity, as he talked about how he got 23 ticket requests for the game. Cause he's starting with family and friends and his, his energy is contagious. There was a video, the NFL films put out a Jeffrey Simmons,

who I'm sure we'll talk about later in the episode. Sure. Steelers fans have heard of Jeffrey Simmons, but just a little, but Jeffrey Simmons is on the sideline after that Levis first touchdown going, that Will Levis, man. That Will Levis. That's a quarterback.

I told y'all. I told you so. Like, there's just something about his energy and his feistiness that gets his teammates going. It's something that really resonates, I think, in a physical sport like football. Outside of that is his intelligence. He was praised by the offensive coordinator on Tuesday for having a full

command of the offense. They didn't limit the playbook at all for a rookie who had never started a game before and wasn't even active the first six weeks of the season as he was the third emergency quarterback, which what are you doing? Mike Frabel, you got this guy on the bench and completely inactive, but anyways, we'll move along from that. So his intelligence and his ability to grasp a playbook he was one of the smartest athletes in the entire country when he's in kentucky an all-american scholarship athlete whatever they

want to call it academic all-american he was brilliant uh through his academics so he has that he has the fiery personality to inspire his teammates. And then, of course, the cannon arm, which I think anybody who saw the highlights. He does have a cannon. It's elite. It's elite. His release is quick. It looks like Aaron Rodgers almost.

It's a quick, lightning-fast release. He's got absolute velocity, absolute speed. He's a good athlete, too, for a guy. He's 6'4", you know, 230 pounds. He can run a little bit, too. I mean, he's not Lamar Jackson or anything like that. So he's got physical tools. When all that goes well, that's great.

But, Chris, I did a film breakdown on Will Levis for Sports Illustrated at AllTitans.com. And while everybody was, you know, understandably throwing praise at Will Levis, there were some inaccurate passes that he got lucky on. The second touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins was a pass behind. There were some bad decisions where he took shots downfield, and they weren't bad throws, but maybe you should dump it all short, take what the defense has given you, live to see another day, pick up the easy one, stuff like that.

It's a rookie in his first game, but there's definitely room for improvement. So like you said, what is going to happen now is the big storyline. It is Will Levis for real. And I'll say this, the Steelers have dominated the Titans for the last 20 years. Since 2003, the Titans are three and eight against Pittsburgh, one and five in Pittsburgh. Since 2013, the Titans are oh and four against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have dominated the Titans for the last 20 years. So is Will Levis for real? If he can go into Pittsburgh on a short week in prime time

and get that monkey off the Titans' back, I think he's going to garner a lot of support in Nashville and with Tennessee Titans fans, and deservedly so at that point. Certainly. And when you're going up against the Steelers defense, everyone knows the biggest thing you've got to be worried about is T.J. Watt and that defensive front. They get after it like nobody else.

And T.J. Watt's going to go up against an offensive line that has some new guys like Peter Skowronski on it, but they have some veterans on it. And it's one that he's not unfamiliar with, as is Alex Highsmith, who's also been playing very well this season, and even rookie Nick Herbig, who's been contributing in the tournament. Love Herbig out of Wisconsin, man. I'm telling you, Tyler, he looks great.

Are they letting him rush the passer? Are they using him in a hybrid role? There was some conversation pre-draft about that. What are they doing? He's kind of like a pass rusher right now, but like in preseason, they were starting to let him get a little bit more hybrid, but they want to keep things simple for him now.

And they'll expand to it later. I think their real vision is like next year. Once he's like a grizzled veteran, him, Highsmith, Watt, just moving all over the defense. And he could just be a serious threat

there but but let's talk about how this how this matchup with the offensive line and the defensive front could get to will levis is he a guy who you've seen in just the short time that you've seen him handle pressure and getting the ball out quick because the main way that we've seen teams and including a rookie quarterback cj stroud the main strategy that's going to slow down T.J. Watt is get the ball out fast, or if you're not getting the ball out fast, we'll call it max protect so that him and Highsmith have to go through three people each to get to our quarterback, and we can take our shot downfield. How does Will Levis handle those situations, or is he a guy that is more so

he wants to process, take his time in handle those situations? Or is he a guy that is more so he wants to process, take his time in making those decisions? Well, Chris, I'll tell you, if it's fair, I don't have the answer for you. I guess we're going to see, right? But I will say based on what I saw in the game, his biggest successes came off play action, max protect, really seeing it. Hey, I see it. I got the arm strength.

I got the arm talent. I'm going gonna let it rip that in some of the circumstances where he needed to be quick he needed to read the defense he needed to find the right guy and get it out like I said there were some mistakes in that department so the game plan against the Steelers needs to be hey we're gonna get the ball out quick you need to quickly figure out who the right guy to throw the ball to is make an accurate pass to him but I don't know if he can execute a game plan like that because what we've seen from his play action, take deep shots down the field. So it will be interesting if the Titans get in a situation where they have to just do a quick passing game out of

shotgun, try to get the ball out quick, because I don't know if Levis can do that. And that's part of, you know, the big storyline here is, is this legit what we saw from Will Levis last week against the Falcons? I think being tested by this defense and being asked maybe to do something a little bit different will answer those questions. Listen, Steelers fans, this was just like a three-touchdown game from Kenny Pickett, let alone a four-touchdown game. But in all seriousness, I think a big question for this rookie will be how can he handle the pressure of a defense that can bring it? And this is also a defense it is going to be mixing make if it's Patrick but it looks like there's a good chance that Cam Hayward could be back he's the captain of that defense right in the middle he won't be 100 most likely but his presence in the middle of the defense could change everything for the

Steelers and I could like that could shift the line of scrimmage and it'll be very interesting to see how Will Levis and how Mike Vrabel tries to help Will Levis manage those situations. We've got to flip it, and we've got to talk about Titans' defense to Steelers' offense because the Titans now have a former Steeler, and Gabley, who I thought was one of the better safeties in the league to the Philadelphia Eagles, to bring him in. We'll talk about them and how they'll match up and more in just a minute here on Crossover Thursday here on the Locked On Podcast Network.

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Apply. Back here on Crossover Thursday here on the Locked On Podcast Network, Locked On Steelers, Locked On Titans, Chris Carter, Tyler Rollins, breaking this game down. Now, Tyler, you brought up a really good point about the history of these two teams recently. And it's funny, as a little kid, I remember being like the Titans and the Steelers were just back and forth.

Steve McNair, Eddie George, like those like those it was close then yeah and there was even that time where you know uh what was it uh cj2k chris johnson they beat the steelers there's the snot out of them in the in 2008 and everyone was like okay they're going to go on to do it and then they lost the playoffs and that good times and then yeah and then bad times shortly after. That's right, because that was a crazy losing streak because they messed with a terrible towel. You don't mess with terrible towels. But in all seriousness, fast forward to now, Mike Vrabel has faced Mike Tomlin twice,

and Mike Tomlin's won both times, first in 27-24 in 2020, and then 19-13 in 2021. I look at this, and I see defenses still defining how this game's going to play out, much like they did in 2021. I look at this and I see defenses still defining how this game is going to play out, much like they did in 2021. Who's going to create the more turnovers? Who's going to allow the less bigger plays? And I got to ask first about this Titans secondary. What is the confidence in this secondary without Kevin Bayard? Because to me, he was always one of the better safeties in the NFL. He was a great leader back there in the secondary. They went and got Terrell Edmonds, who, as Steelers fans know, not that kind of a player,

more of a play him in the box, let him play close to the line of scrimmage guy. What is the Titans' strength now in secondary, or is this a place where there's a shaky sense of liability going on right now? Well, I'll tell you, I'm incredibly worried about the George Pickens matchup, no matter who he's on, whether it be Sean Murphy bunting on the outside or whether it be Christian Fulton on the outside. One thing that's plagued the Titans over the last few years is they can win the down schematically where they're all in the great position,

but they'll just lose isolated situations one-on-one down the sideline. It happened multiple times in 2021, 2022. The Titans set things up great, get pressure on the quarterback, but the quarterback just heaves one up down the sideline. And a big wide receiver like Mack Hollins, when he was with the Raiders, had a 158-yard one-touchdown game. Mack Hollins, because he was just jumping over top of the Titans' cornerbacks and getting the ball.

Sean Murphy Bunting, who they brought in in free agency, is a big physical long corner. He can kind of help in that department, but Pickens presents a long physical guy who also has speed. Murphy Bunting is much better as a zone corner coming forward, not a man corner down the sidelines. Titans have been playing a lot more zone this year rather than the man that they've liked the last few years, especially cover two. I'm a bit worried about the Titans' safeties meeting at the catch point against Pickens down the sideline. If Titans go with man or cover three, their corners being on them, that's a place where they could definitely take advantage. I think what the Titans should do here is, is they should just blitz and try to get as much pressure on Kenny Pickett as they possibly

can and hope that their cornerbacks don't have to cover for very long. Cause I think like we saw in the second half against the Falcons last week, if the Titans try to just sit back and play zone, that works against Desmond Ritter because he just can't be accurate and he's not going to be able to operate. And if you just drop seven guys and make him find holes in the zone, he's not going to be able to do it and he couldn't do it. But a smart quarterback like Taylor Heineke or Kenny Pickett

definitely could do that. So I think you blitz and you try to get to Kenny Pickett before he can get those balls out down the field. So that's what I think the Titans should try to do because, yes, in the secondary, there is concern. With Kevin Byard, there was concern still. Kevin Byard's a great player. He's my favorite Tennessee Titan of all time, personally, just to say.

But with Kevin Byard or without the Titan secondary is still, still a concern. And when you have a guy who can win at the catch point, as well as George Pickens, it presents a pretty concerning matchup, I guess. No, I feel you on that.

But you know, it'd be a concerning matchup for the Steelers with Jeffrey Simmons, Arden key and the guys that they got up front. What's the Steelers offensive line? Like that's, that's my big question here. I know that's been something they've been trying to improve there were some additions what's the status of the offensive line because I agree that the pass rush of the of the Titans

as you were saying against that offensive line I think will be a big factor here it's really been a roller coaster ride all season Tyler I gotta admit with the Steelers offense in general but especially the offensive line uh you know coming out the Ravens, they went up against a really tough front. Broderick Jones, the rookie they traded up and got out of Georgia, had a great game. Shut down Jadavia Clowney. He had one pressure all game, looked really solid, looked like the offensive line was trending forward.

Then they go to the bye week. They come back. Broderick Jones, the guy that starts over on Dan Moore Jr., goes back in to start over Broderick Jones. I was like, that don't make no sense. Product Jones, just he's your,

he's your future left tackle star. That's why he drafted him. And then Dan Moore Jr. Had a really good game against the Rams. They shut down Eric Donald. They run the ball on them. They protected Kenny Pickett. It looked great.

And I was like, Oh, this is awesome. And then they delivered their worst performance of the season against the Jaguars. And I said that in my Stars and Skulls grading segment on our Tuesday episode this week here on the Locked on Steelers podcast. But it is such a rollercoaster ride. And guys that were even supposed to deliver it, they went and got Isaac Samala.

Isaac Samala, who was part of the Eagles that made it to the Super Bowl last year. He was getting praise from Jason Kelsey on his podcast. Like podcast like man i can't believe they stole him from us and he was just as bad as anyone else last week and so my thing is this is that i can't tell you what the steelers offensive line is going to come out and look like on thursday night because i thought that they were going to come out i knew that the jaguars had a tough front javon walker ain't no joke neither is josh allen they can bring it as a as a group but i thought that they would at least come to come together with a decent plan but you saw dan moore jr being out of place like like not even executing the right blocks at different times and i'm like man that's that's alarming if i'm the

stealer so yeah i'm not sure what kind of offensive line and that could be the thing that gets kenny pick in trouble and i think it leans right into your plan. It's the Titans send the heat, trust that you, you know, trust that your heat's going to get home or at least disrupt Kenny Pickett's rhythm and force him to get, you know,

force all the Steelers. The Steelers haven't had much rhythm or success this year on offense. They're just flat out. They're one of the worst offenses in the NFL. There's times where there's glimpses where it's like when they, when they hit on one thing, it starts to compound. And usually that happens in the NFL. There's times where there's glimpses where it's like when they, when they hit on one thing, it starts to compound. And usually that happens in the fourth quarter.

That's why Kenny Pickett has like one of the best fourth quarter passing ratings in the NFL. It's ridiculous. But he also has the worst first quarter passer rating in the NFL. So it balances itself out nicely. Um, you think that's coaching that Matt Canada just doesn't have a very good plan.

Like the Titans, um, would do well early and then do terrible late last year, like, or the opposite of that. And it's like, you have a terrible plan coming into the game, but then you're able to adjust. Do you think it's like that where Canada just struggles to put together a good plan based on what he's seeing

and then is able to adjust later in the game to do a little bit better. But just that, that planning portion isn't there for him. So it's funny you say that Tyler, because that's all. I know he gets a lot of heat. So I wanted to bring it up. A lot of Tyler.

They had the Pat McAfee show in Utah and they were chanting fire, Matt Canada in Utah. Like, it's become a meme at this point. They do have penguins games for the hockey team here in all Americans. Hey, Canada apparently blame Canada. It's just like,

it's, it's to that level right now. But I think more of some of that is just, it became the popular fun thing. Just make fun of, because it just gained popularity through just the meme of just social media. But I,

you know, anyone that's listened to the Lockdown Steelers podcast knows what I'm about to say. I don't think that Matt Canada's biggest problem is scheming. I think his biggest problem is getting his players to grasp what they're supposed to do and getting them to execute. Exactly. The teaching component of getting it to be better

because there's plenty of plays. When I break down the All-22 film, just like you do, I look at things, and I'm like, nope, this guy was open. That guy was open. This was here. Kenny Pickett needed to get here. Deontay Johnson needed to catch this ball when this was thrown on target.

Things like that, that's been the biggest problem, is that the Steelers' offense has not come to fruition. And if there's one thing to comment, Matt, about more than play calling, it's that. And I think it's starting to even – people are coming around on it. I've heard Kurt Warner talk about this. I heard Greg Cosell talk about this. I heard Tucker talk about more and more people are starting to realize like,

Hey, we've all been kind of just banging on the mat Canada drum because it was the popular thing to do. But the more we look at this offense, it's not about play calls. Play calls are there every week that you got. Like for example, Kenny Pickett,

a third down in the red zone. Steelers call a really good rub route for Connor Hayward to kind of screen off Deontay Johnson's man. He runs a slant. Kenny Pickett sees him late, throws it behind him. They miscommunicated on where he was supposed to sit, but it was just like if he sees him right away, he hits him while he's walking into the end zone,

and there's no question about it. And those are the things that Kenny Pickett hasn't done consistently. Now there's other times where Kenny Pickett will decipher that the cover four is actually a cover two and I'm going to go attack the seam right here and make the greatest throw of his life. And I'm like, where's this Kenny Pickett all the time? And that's where I come back down to. I think that Matt Canada's biggest problem is teaching to get that consistency and might

also be a Mike Tomlin thing, you know, if we're being honest here. But bottom line, that's the biggest problem I think the Steelers have on offense. And that's also where, if I'm the Titans, I'm speeding up that process as much as I can. I am not letting him get settled, feel comfortable, and let him see if he can process the field. Because that's when Kenny Pickett might figure it out and wake up on you. Yeah, absolutely.

That'll be interesting to see. But, I mean, this game is going to be tight. And we got some predictions to make. It's a Thursday night game. So, we're going to be doing some predictions as well. We got predictions coming up right here after this break here on Crossover Thursday. Chris Carter, Tyler Round, and Stick With Us. We got a lot more to discuss.

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deposit match up to $100. We're back here on Crossover Thursday. It's the Locked On Podcast Network. Locked On Steelers, Locked On Titans. Chris Carter, Tyler Rowland, breaking things down for you. Tyler, let's get to how we see this game projecting out. Normally, I like to hold back on my predictions of the Steelers game until Friday, the episode before.

But it's Thursday night football. It's the night. Yes, it is. Prime time. So we got to do these predictions. So I want to start off. before we get to scoring predictions, what is the biggest factor that you think plays into this game, picking either offense or defense for either side,

a specific matchup, the biggest factor you see leading to the result tonight? Who can run the ball? Ooh. Who can run the ball? Because I think both of these quarterbacks need third and manageable with Levis being a rookie and, again, some of the struggles that he had in his first week. I know that the narrative is that he was absolutely incredible, and he was,

but that doesn't mean he was perfect. So some of the things that he is going to struggle with are going to be accentuated if the Titans can't run the ball. The Steelers are not a good run defense statistically speaking right they're bottom six in the nfl 137 yards per game that sounds like a recipe for success for the titans but when you play a team like derrick henry or like the tennessee titans running back like derrick henry you guys know what i'm saying all right i know It changes the mode.

Bad run defenses can become good run defenses when they are laser focused and I'm shutting down King Henry. You know that they're thinking that in that locker room. We're going to shut down the King. He ain't no King here. You know, and I don't blame him. That's the way that they should think. But when that happens, it can take a –

see, the Steelers may be a bad run defense, but they have good players. If they get Cam Hayward back, they absolutely have the ability to have an outlier performance in their run defense and stand on their heads and stop Derrick Henry. If they do that and the Titans are in a bunch of third and longs, they can't do all the misdirection, backfield disguise type stuff that they like to do, get those play action shots and second and short and get second and manageable to run schemed up plays to get guys open.

If they have to get in third and long consistently, that's going to let TJ Watt tee off. That's going to let Cam Hayward, Alex Highsmith tee off. They can't do that with the Titans' offensive tackle situation with Andre Dillard probably backing at left tackle and Nicholas Petit for at right tackle. Not a good tackle pairing, and they're just going to be naked, you know what I mean if they have to

play that way so if the Titans can run the ball they're going to be able to hit those shot plays and they're going to be able to operate on offense if the Steelers run the ball which it's not like the Steelers are you know a running juggernaut at this time like you said the offense has been struggling but if you can run the ball as the Steelers, and the Titans are a very good run defense. They've had some struggles against Indy, Baltimore with Lamar Jackson, but of course it's because Lamar's running all the time. He's so good. But if the Titans can stop the Steelers from running the football

and put Kenny Pickett, on the other hand, still a young quarterback, inexperienced quarterback, if they can put him in third and long consistently again I don't think the Steelers offensive line can hold off against the Titans twists and stunts up front so for me it's about which team can run the ball efficiently on first down to set up second and short third and manageable which opens up the playbook and keeps a young quarterback comfortable so for me it's all about who runs the ball. That team will win the game. I feel you on that run. See, this is you and me, old school football.

Everyone talks about the scheming up of Pete Bukowski of green Bay Packers locked on Packers always makes fun of me. Cause I'm like old school football, dude, quarterback wins stuff like that, you know, but I was raised by an old school football coach. What can I tell you? I'm the same way running the football means so much in this game. The one thing I'll say about the Steelers run defense is that I think that their biggest struggle has been their lack of chemistry going into the season. They revamped their entire off-ball linebacker group going into this season.

And they found talented guys. I think it's just taking them time to coalesce and figure out how to work together. They've also had a defensive front that's had to get guys in and out. Cam Hayward's only played half a game so far. Marvin Leal's been out with a concussion. There's been guys kind of figuring out their rhythm. And I think that over the past couple games, they've been starting to figure it out. They slowed down the Ravens a little bit.

They slowed down the Rams a little bit. And despite their loss to the Jaguars, Travis Etienne, who was going buck wild the weeks before that game, he had a limited 3.3 yards per carry and were able to keep the run game contained in that contest. And I think a big part of it was they're starting to understand the spots that they need to be in the run fits and how they work together to create what they're actually seeing and trying to bring up when they look at things on tape. So that'll be a big question. I think my biggest matchup here is less about a team versus a team, a university unit. It's more about just who's creating the turnovers and it could lead to

what you're talking about. If the, if one team stuffs the run, they, the other team has to try more, more aggressive plays that lead to more turnovers, but the Steelers, they've been about this.

I I've been saying for a while, I've been waiting for Kenny Pickett, who is going to play in this game. He told us right to our faces on Tuesday in the Steelers locker room. So that is not a question going into this game. But I've been saying for a while, we're waiting for him to break out, to have the moment where it starts to click for a full game, not just for a fourth quarter.

But even beyond that, if he can protect the football, if the Steelers avoid fumbles, you look at all their games so far, their losses have come when they've either turned the ball early or turned the ball over often. And that's where I think the Titans, if they're going to see victory in this game, they have to find a way to turn the ball over. And vice versa. The Steelers live off of turnovers. They had three crucial turnovers that kept them in the game against

the Jaguars um and when you look at how they how they scored touchdowns on defense I mean I looked at the stats for the Steelers to get ready for this and I'm like wait how did they win these games they have 55 rushing yards and 200 passing yards what nine first downs they won a game with nine? What's going on? And the answer is scoring points on defense. Yep. And you just look at how they played.

When they win football games, Tyler, there's only one time that they only had one turnover in their four wins so far. But they had four forced turnovers against the Browns, three against the Raiders, and three against the Ravens. And that's who they are. And they had three again against the Jaguars. The Jags were just too good. That was just the thing. I think that part of it was the offense did not deliver, and then Kenny Pickett got knocked out of the game,

which put them at a disadvantage. But that's why I go back to this game will be about who creates the turnovers and when they happen. With all that being said, Tyler, give us your big turning point in the game when that happens and what that leads to your final score being. Yeah, no worries. I'll go quick to keep us under 30 minutes here. I think it comes down to turnovers and who can run the ball.

I think the Steelers' defense comes to play at home in prime time. The Titans' struggles continue at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's defense is able to get more turnovers than the Titans' defense. I have the Steelers winning the game 21-13. I feel you on that, 21-13. I have a similar score. I'm saying 20-14 Steelers. Similar thing here.

It's going to be a grind-em-out game. Those are the games that the Steelers want to win. Right now, that is just their style. I think Will Levis, he had a great coming out party last week. I think he was kind of the balancing week of that. But I think that with what I saw, I'm encouraged to see him take steps forward. He's Tyler Rowland. I'm Chris Carter.

Locked on Steelers. Locked on Titans. Enjoy the game on Thursday Night Football, y'all. We'll be back on your screens and in your ears on each of our respective podcasts on Friday, breaking down the game and giving you all the insights to hear on the Locked On Podcast Network. Thanks again for tuning in.