Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Kickoff Thursday - Titans Historic Streak, Texans Deep Dive & Rowland's Rewind

Episode Date: December 12, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a kickoff Thursday and we are ready to get the NFL week going. On our show today, we are going to talk about in our first segment the national crush that the football cognoscenti seems to have on the Tennessee Titans. With the recent offensive explosion and some of the historic statistics that the Titans are putting up, it appears that the national media has caught the craze of the Tennessee Titans and some of the more generous things we've heard about the team and the organization in quite some time have come in the past few days. So we will talk about that national craze and some of the statistics that are responsible for that drum up and attention for our Tennessee Titans. And then in our second segment, we are going to jump into some more statistics and some more scheme related conversation about the Houston Texans.

I just want to take a segment and talk to you guys about what they do on offense and what they do on defense. they do on offense and what they do on defense and talk a little bit more about what we can expect to see from them based on the statistics that they've shown us so far in the season. And then in our third segment, as we always do on Thursdays, we will do a little Rollins Rewind and take a look at the last time the Titans played the Houston Texans. So excited to jump into everything with you guys. Let's get it. Your Tennessee Titans lead story is the statistical performance that the team has put up in recent weeks and the national media attention that the organization has garnered because of that performance here lately in the

past few days. So let's talk about some of the statistics that really jump out to you about this recent run that the Titans have been on. They have won six of their last seven games, been one of the more dominant offenses in the NFL. So let's contextualize that. From Field Yates on Twitter, in the past 40 seasons, the past 40 NFL seasons, there have only been 34 games where an offense averages more than nine yards per play. So that's 40 seasons worth of games. Only 34 of those has an offense averaged over 9 yards per play. The Titans have done it twice in the past three weeks, the Raiders game and the Jaguars game. Think of all the big explosive plays. The Titans are just racking up yards at a historic rate, and it proves it right here.

We have yet to see a team put up multiple performances like this in the same season let alone once and let alone it being our titans who have been offensively challenged for almost two decades another statistic here from mike miracles on twitter that that points to what we were just talking about there are only three nfl teams that have multiple games in the top 30 of yards per snap. So your yards per snap, only three NFL organizations have had multiple games in the top 30 performances. The 2019 Titans have had two, the two games we mentioned earlier. The other two teams that have had multiple games within the same season in this top 30 the 2000 Rams the greatest show on turf one of the best offenses

in NFL history and the 2018 Dolphins led by Mr. Ryan Tannehill so this is something he has a little bit of experience with speaking of Ryan Tannehill he So this is something he has a little bit of experience with. Speaking of Ryan Tannehill, he was officially named AFC Offensive Player of the Week. 391 yards, three touchdowns, a statistic that I mentioned on Monday's show that of course points to the dominance that we've seen from this Titans team. It is the first time in franchise history they've had a quarterback throw for over 350, a wide receiver go for over 150 receiving yards, and a runner go for over 100 rushing yards. So any way you want to slice it, any of the statistics that you want to point to, the Titans have been absolutely incredible on offense. Been, like I said, not just impressive, but historic.

Derrick Henry right now is on pace to lead the league in rushing if he continues with his second half of the season pace. He's got 1,243 yards, 13 touchdowns, which leads the NFL in total touchdowns, rushing. The Titans are 5-0 when he goes over 100 yards, so obviously we've seen that here recently. And as I mentioned at the beginning, all of these statistical performances and these benchmarks that you're seeing the Titans hit and some of the records you're seeing them shatter for the franchise, it's turning into national attention.

In multiple places, you see the Titans ranked in the top 10 in power rankings. Colin Cowherd's Herd Hierarchy had the Titans in the top 10. The NFL.com's power rankings that come out every week, the Titans have gone from 26th at their lowest to 9th right now. The Titans are a top 10 team based on some of these rankings, and I know that the rankings are arbitrary and they're just random talking heads and journalists who watch all the games that we watch, but it points to something that Titans fans, you know, have wanted for quite some time. And that's not just national attention, but a team that is worthy of national attention. When the Titans have been contending in recent years, it still had kind of a dark cloud over it because the

offensive performance has been so poor. They've been a very boring team to watch. This explosion has garnered the Titans a lot of weight with the fans and having a team that they can believe in. And then also the national media is starting to take note as well. There was a segment on Good Morning Football this morning with Kyle Brandt and Nate Burleson and Peter Schrager, where they literally said they would take Ryan Tannehill right now over Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, who are probably the two best quarterbacks in the all-time rankings that are playing right now. So things are just really crazy. The statistical performance, like I mentioned, is incredibly impressive and historic historic and the national attention definitely

feels good and feels rewarding at this moment in time that the Titans finally have a ball club worth talking about even Mike Vrabel had something to say about the national attention when it was brought to him at his press conference on Wednesday so I want to play that clip for you guys real quick courtesy of titansonline.com well I noticed we're up in the power rankings, which is always nice. We're trying to get to a good bowl game. Up from 26 to 9, I saw. So, you know, we're very excited about that. Looking forward to improving, you know, our rankings when those come out every week.

Just staying consistent. Continue the approach that we've had, and try to prepare each week for a new opponent, a difficult opponent every week in this league is kind of what we've done. So I don't know why that would change now. And that was Mike Rabel. So clearly it's a good time to be a Titans fan if these are the kind of conversations that we're having.

Real quick before we jump to our second segment where we talk a little stats and a little scheme about the Houston Texans just to get ready for our preview tomorrow, I want to give you guys an update on the injury report for the Titans on their practice on Wednesday. Darren Bates, Derrick Henry, Adam Humphreys, and Adoree Jackson all did not participate, so I want to keep an eye on that going forward throughout the week, and I will update you guys tomorrow as well. Jarrell Casey, Ben Jones, LaShawn Sims, and Kenny Vaccaro, who suffered a concussion during the Raiders game, all were limited.

So hopefully the Titans will be able to get all the limited guys back, and hopefully Derrick Henry is just getting his standard rest with his hamstring injury. Maybe we get Adam Humphreys and Adoree Jackson back. It would be crucial, but I'm going to operate the rest of the week as if they will not be able to go. So that kind of wraps up our injury report. That wraps up our first segment as well. We are going to jump into our second segment, like I said, with a little more of a statistical review and a schematic conversation about the Houston Texans before eventually we get to our third segment and do a little bit of Roland's Rewind. Before we get into all of that, though, I do want to remind you guys that if you're

a Spotify listener, use Spotify Wrapped to show us your top Locked On podcasts for the year. Take a screenshot and tag us at LockedOnLive and me at TicTacTitans on Twitter and we will share and retweet. Let's have a conversation about some interesting statistics and important statistics that I'm seeing about the Houston Texans and then also how that relates to their general scheme and their philosophy on both sides of the ball. So obviously in our game preview,

I only have one segment to talk about that. So this gives us an opportunity to talk a little bit more in depth about what the Texans like to do since we do have two huge matchups against the Texans like to do since we do have two huge matchups against the Texans in the next two weeks that will ultimately decide the fate of this football team. So just want to talk about their offense first since that's obviously the the marquee part of this football team. As you know Deshaun Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. DeAndre Hopkins may be the best wide receiver in the NFL. Laramie Tun Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. DeAndre Hopkins may be the best wide

receiver in the NFL. Laramie Tunsil is one of the best left tackles in the NFL. Will Fuller, when he's available, he misses a lot of games. He's missed four this year and left early in a few due to injuries. He's one of the more explosive receivers in the NFL. The backfield is not much to write home about with Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde, but they've been incredibly effective within the Texans' scheme on offense this year. So we will talk about that. Let's jump right in here. Some of the big things that stand out, and I mentioned them quickly on our crossover Wednesday event last night,

but I want to dive more into it. The Texans' red zone offense is the fifth best in the NFL, 66.7%. They really get it done in the red zone. And that's based on, you know, DeAndre Hopkins ability to get open, uh, the scheme that they have where they use play action and motion and you spread concepts that you would see in college. And then Deshaun Watson's decision making. He's just a phenomenal athlete and a fantastic football player who makes smart decisions. And to put it simply, players like that, they just make plays. So he's making plays for them in the red zone. They are great on third down, 45.9%. That's third best in the NFL. Let me tell you how those things go together. They're

so successful with their third down conversion rate and their red zone touchdown conversion rate because they have a balanced offense. So in years past, the Texans have relied heavily on the passing game. They've had a mediocre middle-of-the-road rushing game. This year, the running game is finally there to match. They have the seventh best rushing attack in the NFL right now, averaging about 130 yards per game. When you're running the ball like that, which is something that the Titans have been able to do,

when you're able to run the ball like that, you're going to get yourself in third and manageable, third and short. And then when you have a receiver like DeAndre Hopkins, who can get open in zone or man, especially in man coverage, if you try to guard him one-on-one,re Hopkins who can get open in zone or man especially in man coverage if you try to guard him one-on-one he's going to get open for two to five you know two to six yard completions at will essentially at that moment in time it's going to be easy for Watson to find him and that's what they're giving themselves a lot of manageable situations on offense one of the ways that they're doing that is with a quick passing game. They're getting the ball out of Deshaun Watson's hands. They're using motion. They're

using guys coming across the formation. They're using tight ends motioning to the opposite side. They're faking quick play action and getting the ball out fast. And that's going to help an offensive line that has been one of the worst units in the NFL the last few years they've definitely stepped up this year with the addition of Laramie Tunsil they drafted Titus Howard the rookie they've only given up 39 sacks on the year that's 11th best in the NFL so not bad but a lot of that is like we saw with Oakland who had only given up 18 sacks that was third best in the NFL they they're getting the ball out quick. So Bill O'Brien is trying to do that.

And one of the ways that he's able to get the ball out quickly is to spread you out. So schematically speaking, what the Texans like to do is they like to go with 11 personnel, one tight end, three wide receivers. Sometimes they'll even have two wide receivers, a tight end, and two running backs, but they won't have them in an I formation. You're not going to see the Texans in an I formation very often with a fullback. They'll have Carlos Hyde as the running back and use Duke Johnson, who's more inclined to catch passes, have him out there on the field as well with Carlos Hyde, something

that you see the Browns do with Kareem Hunt. You see the Bears do with Tariq Cohen. So they'll have Duke Johnson almost playing a slot receiver role. So they really are out there in an I formation or with a fullback, but they will use two running backs. But a lot of the time they want to spread you out with pistol formations, single back formations with just one running back in the backfield, and shotgun, use some motion, get people moving on the defense to isolate guys. So one thing you'll see

the Texans do a lot is they'll have Duke Johnson in the backfield and they'll motion him out of the backfield to have five wide receivers and a shotgun formation because the Texans like to throw these quick breaking routes that beat man coverage or that allow DeAndre Hopkins to find a hole in a zone. So they're having third manageable situations. They're spreading you out in the run game. They're spreading you out, which gives them good lanes in the run game. They're not a power running team is going to run it down your throat and heavy formations. Like I said, they're going to get you in single back. They're going to get you spread out pistol shotgun formations, motion people out of the formation to identify man coverage or zone

coverage. They're going to run when they're in shotgun to try to limit the amount of people in the box, which puts them in third manageable situations, which then they spread you out, get the advantage, get the matchup that they want, and then hit on some quick breaking routes to beat zone in the holes in the zone or beat man coverage with someone like DeAndre Hopkins. So it's a pretty smart offensive attack. I'll talk more about what the Titans are supposed to do a pretty smart offensive attack. I'll talk more about what the Titans are supposed to do to beat that offensive attack in my game preview tomorrow, but that's what we're looking at here when we're dealing with the Texans offense. So moving to the Texans defense and what we should see from them, a much less successful unit on

defense for the Texans. So let's just do the raw counting numbers to start here to give you an idea of where they sit. So the Texans give up 109 rushing yards a game. That's 18th in the NFL. They give up 265.8 passing yards a game. That's 27th in the NFL. They give up 23.8 points per game. That is 20th in the NFL. So just on the raw counting numbers and your standard counting numbers, the Texans do not have a good defense. But when you start to dig deeper, you can see why. So the Texans only have 26 sacks on the year.

That is sixth worst in the NFL. They are pressuring quarterbacks only 18.3% of the time. That is second worst in the NFL. They are pressuring quarterbacks only 18.3% of the time. That is second worst in the NFL. They're giving up touchdowns 67.5% of the time in the red zone. That is second worst in the NFL. And on third downs, they are the worst defense in the NFL, giving up first downs on 48.5% of their third downs. Why is the Texans' defense so bad? Well, I took a look at some of their recent games where they struggled, especially that Denver game from last week,

to look at what exactly is going on with a Texans' defense that's not terrible on paper when you look at some of the names that they have. Tashaun Gibson is a decent free safety. You look at a cornerback like Jonathan Joseph, a safety like Justin Reed, cornerbacks like Bradley Roby, Garyon Conley, like I said, Jonathan Joseph, Lonnie Johnson from Kentucky. I mean, they have some guys. So, you're looking at the linebacker group. Benadryck McKinney, Zach Cunningham are decent inside linebacker group benadryck mckinney zach cunningham are decent

inside linebackers i'm actually a big fan of cunningham and you know they're missing jj watt of course but they still have whitney merciless merciless dj reader is a decent player they traded for jake martin who's had an impact with 3.5 sacks so you start to look at why they might be struggling and at some point in time my conclusion from watching them came to the coaching I don't think they're put in a great position they are an excessive man coverage team they play mostly man and I just don't think that they're cornerbacks while they're long and rangy and that's what they want them to do they just aren't getting the job cornerbacks, while they're long and rangy and that's what they want them to do, they just aren't getting the job done in man coverage.

And it's been happening all year, especially you look at somebody like Drew Locke, a rookie quarterback. Like last week, the Broncos didn't even really have to run the ball in the first half when they put up a lot of their points. They were just able to shred the Texans in the passing game. And it's because the Texans players are not being put in a great position to succeed, and I'll explain why when you're in man coverage and you're blitzing. So the Texans will blitz usually one guy, so they're bringing five people, whether that be a cornerback or a linebacker. They're going to bring five, and they're going to put their guys in man coverage. If you're unable to get home, which the the Texans since they've lost J.J. Watt Merciless has been a bit banged up they haven't been able to get home I mentioned the sack numbers

only 26 sacks six worse 18.3 pressure percentage second worse so you're consistently putting your cornerbacks in a position where they have to cover for a long time because your pressure and your blitzes are not getting home you're not getting sacks and not only are you not getting sacks you're not really getting pressure at all either to make the quarterback think about it so now you're putting your defensive backs and your linebackers on an island and man coverage and they're just not talented enough to hold up for that long and the Titans cornerbacks at this moment in time aren't either so you see the position that put the Titans defense in,

and I just covered this on Tuesday in our Tic Tac Tuesday segment. The Titans were bringing blitzes and playing man coverage against the Raiders, and they weren't getting home, and the Raiders were eating the Titans up in the first half. So the Texans have been doing that for an entire season, essentially. They're not equipped to play zone. Their corners are more man corners. essentially. They're not equipped to play zone. Their corners are more man corners, so they're kind of forced to play this way, and they don't have the pressure on the quarterback to help themselves out, and it's just putting them in a bad position where they're not really able to stop the pass whatsoever. Another issue that they have is they're not disciplined in their

pass coverage. The Texans got eaten alive by the Broncos in play action. The linebackers were jumping up. The safeties were jumping up, and that's where the Titans like to attack. So I'll talk about that more tomorrow, but that's going to leave the Texans susceptible, especially their linebackers. Bernard Rick McKinney and Zach Cunningham are both better in the run game. So you're going to be able to play action, throw the ball over their heads. They're going to be out of position anyway because they're not incredibly disciplined and they're not communicating very well what they're supposed to be doing. So you kind of put their lack of pressure with the scheme being manned with what their linebackers are not doing well and that's handling

play action responsibilities and staying disciplined. it's just a perfect storm for their defense to be what it is and that's one of the worst defenses in the NFL so if the Titans do have a chance in this game then they're going to have to focus on what the Texans are on offense and on defense and that's what we just broke down with a few key statistics and talk schematically what they've been doing out there on the field. So hopefully that gives you guys a better idea of exactly who the Texans are as a ball club and that'll give you more context when I talk about what they need to do in our game preview tomorrow and how the Titans need to win this game. So I hope you enjoyed those stats and our schematic context that we provided there. We are going to jump into our third segment with Roland's review and we are going to jump into our third segment with roland's review and we are going to talk about the last time that the titans played the houston texans before we do that i want to remind

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at lockedonpodcast.com slash offers. Rollins Rewind. Quickly, let's take a look at the last time the Titans played the Houston Texans. We are going all the way back to last year in the middle of November. The Titans were 5-5. The Texans were 8-3. Or I apologize, the Titans were 5-6. The Texans were 8-3. And they were both clawing to stay where they need to be in the playoff race.

It was Monday night football. And it did not go well for the Titans. 34-17, the Texans were able to win. The Titans were actually up 10-0 in this game after a long Jonu Smith 61-yard touchdown. However, from that moment forward, it was basically all Texans. It was 24-10 at halftime. The Titans defense could not stop the run game whatsoever. If you remember, the Titans got a crucial fourth down on the goal line and Matt LaFleur handed the ball to Luke Stocker for his first career carry, and he was obviously stopped. Wasn't even close, never really got close,

and it was just a stupid, terrible play call, and everybody knew at that moment in time, ruined the momentum of the game. The very next play, Lamar Miller takes it 97 yards to the house, and from that moment on, it was basically a route. The Texans just ran the ball all over the Titans. Lamar Miller at 162 yards and a touchdown. Deshaun Watson, 70 yards and a touchdown. Alfred Blue even got into the mix late in the game for 49 yards.

The Titans had some success on their own in the air, but it was mostly garbage time nonsense where the Titans are racking up statistics. Marcus threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns. The leading rusher on the day was Corey Davis with a wide receiver reverse for 39 yards. Derrick Henry had eight carries for 30 yards. Just not going to get it done. Cannot have that happen again. Corey Davis did have a great game.

Four catches, 96 yards, and a touchdown. But the 48-yard touchdown he did catch was in garbage time. Some of the same issues that have plagued the Titans at the beginning of this year were plaguing them then. The Titans did lose a fumble in this game. The Titans gave up six sacks on the game. The Titans had seven penalties in the game. Just a really terrible performance.

And in our first segment, I talked about the national love that the Titans are getting right now and why that's so rewarding for Titans fans and probably the team. And it's because times like this where the Titans look like a decent team and then they come out and get destroyed by the Texans on Monday night football and everybody just takes the team as a joke again they can't be taken seriously so these were one of those performances last year where Marcus did play the whole game and the Titans still just didn't look very good they looked kind of lifeless kind of a boring team and it's those national performances that set the team back from a narrative standpoint. So glad that we can be over that, but that's going to do it for our

Rollins rewind here. I don't want to dwell too much on that terrible Texans game. Remember, that's the last time we played the Texans, so that's the one I'm going to talk about, but the game before that, the Titans beat the Texans 19-15 with Blaine Gabbert at quarterback. Before that, the Titans beat the Texans 19-15 with Blaine Gabbert at quarterback. So I have full faith that we'll see a better performance from the Titans than we saw in this game, and they'll give themselves a chance to take over the AFC South. But that's going to do it for our Thursday football kickoff preview show. We went over the explosive offense and the national love the Titans are getting

in our first segment. In our second segment, we did a deep dive on some statistics and the schematics of the Houston Texans offense and defense. And here in our third segment, we did a little bit of Roland's Rewind. So I'm going to catch you guys for a football Friday. We will have our game preview, my beautiful dark twisted fantasy preview, keeping it plus 100 for all the gambling information, and then of course we will do Song of the AFC South and our playoff picture

preview and get you guys ready for the NFL weekend. Can't wait to get into it tomorrow with you guys. For today, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.