Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans 10/11/17: Resetting the AFC South Picture

Episode Date: October 11, 2017

With an extended week, we take a look at how the AFC South is shaping up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Fearless is just one tap away. With the new FEP Blue app from Blue Cross and Blue Shield, you can access your health benefits on the go. Download it now at fepblue.org app. You are Locked on Titans, your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm your host, Jimmy Morris, joined by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight?

Doing good. What's going on? Not too much. So we figured tonight we will kind of go around the AFC South because, again, the Titans don't have to submit a practice report until Thursday. So obviously we're all waiting to see what Mark's and Mario's status is going to be, what they'll list him as, his practice and all that stuff. But we won't give you that information until Thursday.

So we figured tonight we would kind of go around the AFC South a little bit and talk about just how the division looks through five weeks and how it's kind of shaping up to this point. Before we do that, again, we've got to talk about pro football focus. Again, they're running a deal with Locked On that if you rate and review the podcast and you leave your Twitter handle in the review, you'll be entered to win a year-long subscription to PFF. Again, there's just a lot of cool stuff on there, especially fantasy stuff.

If you're into season-long, daily, any of that stuff. A lot of neat tools on there. They give you some edges as far as matchups and that kind of stuff. And then they've got a lot of draft content. And then just week in and week out game content. You'll hear us reference a lot of the PFF stuff in podcasts, especially the night after the game because I get an email with stats from them. It's just really cool and useful. So, again, if you want to be entered to win that subscription,

just go to the Locked On Titans page on iTunes. You can go to iTunes and search Locked On Titans. We'd love for you to subscribe, obviously, but write and review the podcast and leave your Twitter handle to be entered into that. All right, so we'll start with the Colts. You know, the Titans, obviously, put the Colts on Monday Night Football. And, you know, the biggest thing with them has obviously been the absence of Andrew Luck.

You know, we kind of have speculated all along that we thought he would be back for this Monday Night game. Apparently that's not going to happen. They're saying at least week seven before he's back, possibly into November. But you've got to give them props for what they've done in his absence. I mean, they're 2-3, but they went out and got Jacoby Brissett, who has been good enough. I mean, he's been serviceable for them.

Still some more holes that they need to fill, but again, that's something that's going to come along. Now that they've got a competent GM, you should see them kind of take a turn, kind of like they did with John Robinson. So what are your early thoughts on the Colts here? I'm not sure they're for real quite yet. They're still in year one of Ballard, who turned down tons of jobs and finally took one. I think it was smart to do that, to kind of land with a quarterback.

But still, he's got a long way to go on this roster. The defense just still is not very good. They don't have a pass rusher. Secondary isn't very good. Just not a lot there. Offensively, they're fine. I think they've got some issues up front. But T.Y. Hilton, obviously, great playmaker,

probably going to smoke the Titans on Monday night. Just look for that. And then, you know, they're still rolling with Frank Gore, who's still just chugging along. He's pushing 40. He's amazing. The guy I'm scared about is Marlon Mack. He seems to have turned a corner. A really explosive kid out of south

florida so look for him on monday night um are they for real though i don't think i'm buying it um 40 wins over the 49ers uh browns they're two and three andrew luck's probably out till november jacoby brissett's been okay uh he can probably keep the ship afloat until then, which is all you can ask. But I don't know. I see too many holes. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm glad you mentioned Marlon Mack. I need to go put a waiver claim in for him in fantasy because, you know,

he's a guy that's got a lot of talent, and I think we'll use him more as the season goes along. And everybody on the offense, you know offense gets a little bit of an upgrade once Andrew Luck comes back when that does happen. But like you said, the defensive questions are really what's going to get them. And that's been their issue really for the last couple of years anyway. Their defense hasn't been good enough to support the offense that they've had in the years when Andrew Luck has been healthy.

And still, even with him coming back, I mean, you know, first of all, he's been hurt a lot. You know, Mariota gets the reputation of being injury prone. But you can say the same thing about Luck. I mean, he's had some injury issues, obviously, and this one's kept him out for a while. And so there's no guarantee that when he comes back, he'll be back to the level that he's played at before

after having so much time off and that kind of stuff. So I don't think they're a legitimate contender this year, but they're maybe the team – them and the Texans are the team that I think scare me the most long-term because I think they've got the most pieces. We'll talk about Jacksonville and that kind of stuff in a minute. But just quarterback, pieces on offense really is what I'm talking about there. So we move on to the Texans who have suffered just a couple of devastating blows

in the game on Sunday night. They lost to a J-Walk for a year to an injury. I think it's a tibial fracture or something like that, and I still don't really even know what that is. But, I mean, apparently it's something that's really serious that could possibly be career-threatening. So it's something to keep an eye on there. And, I mean, you hate to see that when they got his caliber.

And, you know, he had injury issues himself up here last year, the back injury and that kind of stuff. They also won the Immersal um to a to a torn pec in that same game so obviously a couple of blows there but you know we saw them two weeks ago when they were just demolishing the titans doing whatever they wanted uh on the opposite side of the ball with deshaun watson and again i mean i think he's i think he's got it now i mean i think i don't think he's going to be as good as he has been this first month. I think the legal adjusts to him, and then he'll have to see if he can make those adjustments, you know,

to overcome whatever it is once they get tape on him and all that kind of stuff. But, I mean, I think that he's a legitimate good quarterback in this league. And so they're in a better spot as far as their offense is concerned right now than I thought they would be at this point. But now they've got question marks on defense with those two big injuries. Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head, saying the NFL's probably going to catch up to Watson eventually. You've kind of seen this.

Vince Young, RG3 both came out and just played with their hair on fire the first few games, and then suddenly, and maybe it was year two, but the NFL caught up. So maybe they don't catch up this year, but Deshaun Watson has been outstanding. Back-to-back games with five touchdowns, I think, that's crazy. He's probably coming for that rookie record, that rookie touchdown record. So, you know, I had that in my notes. You know, the more he puts on tape, the more teams will adjust. And the Texans have done a great job of just kind of tailoring that offense

to him, you know, opening things up from the Brock Osweiler days, the Tom Savage days. So, yeah, I think the Texans on offense are scary going forward, but how are they going to react defensively? You've no longer got J.J. Watt. You've no longer got Merciless. All those double teams are going to go over to Clowney. Can Clowney even hold up?

So we'll see about that. And you don't have A.J. Bouye like you did last year, kind of locking down one side of the field. So I think there's some leaky holes there. I think you saw the Chiefs kind of expose that in the second half of that ballgame. So that's something to look forward to going forward. Again, each team in this division just has a glaring hole now.

And it's really interesting that you can kind of throw a blanket over the whole group. Yeah. it's really interesting that you can kind of throw a blanket over the whole group. Yeah, and, you know, again, I mean, I think that what we would have said that the biggest strength for the Texans would have been is their defense, obviously. They've had issues in the secondary with Watt and Merciless and all of them healthy. All of those guys healthy, and now that they're not going to be there anymore, I think they are going to have those holes. And so they're going to turn a little bit more into a team

that's going to have the score points to win games. And so that puts a little bit more on Deshaun Watson's shoulders. Like you said, five touchdowns, back-to-back games. It's never been done before by a rookie. So, you know, there's some potential there, obviously. So it'll be interesting to watch. And, I mean, I think – I can't remember what the odds were coming into the season. I think the Titans were the favorite to win the division. I mean, I think – I can't remember what the odds were coming into the season. I think the Titans were the favorite to win the division.

I mean, I'm assuming the Texans were next just with the injury luck and all that stuff and people not believing in this Jaguars team. So the Texans, I don't know. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here. They signed a couple of guys today, Lamar Houston. Who was the other guy they signed? Kendall Langford. Kendall Langford.

I mean, they signed a couple of guys today a little more houston and who's the other guy they signed kendall langford kendall langford so i mean they signed a couple guys today hey um they'll come in and you know probably be serviceable guys but you know guys that are available in week six are available for a reason so they're obviously still going to be a huge drop off from a lot and merciless um anyway so that'll be something to watch with them going forward and then the team that is in first place in the division right now the jacksonville Jaguars, who, you know, I just – it's mind-boggling to me, honestly. Blake Bortles is one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league if he's not the worst, okay? So, I mean, they – that's obviously an issue. You know, you find the quarterback.

That's what everybody says. That's how you start a franchise. That's what you issue. You know, you find the quarterback. That's what everybody says. That's how you start to franchise. That's what you got to do. The Jaguars had a terrible one. But so far, through the majority of the season, they've been able to hide him. They've been able to rely on, you know, their top five rookie running back, top five pick rookie running back in the 11th four net. It was a stud.

I mean, anybody that watched him play in college knew that. But they've been able to hide Bortles, run the ball with Fournette, and play just outstanding defense, forcing turnovers. And they've lived off of taking turnovers by him. They had to pick sixes against Roethlisberger this past week, just turn the ball over. But you saw against the Titans, you can kind of keep at an even game script,

and the team that's playing the Jaguars is able to take care of the ball, it becomes really difficult for the Jaguars to do much in those types of matchups. The Jaguars are just defying all means of logic. I mean, you go back to free agency, and everybody's preaching you don't win games in March. Well, the Jaguars went all in in March for two years in a row. And part of that is because they drafted so bad that they didn't have anybody to resign,

so they literally just had all this cap room because they had so many busts on their team. So they have all this money and they spend it and they load it up on defense, and it's working for them. Again, like you said, how far can you go with Blake Bortles, though? I just don't think this is a sustainable blueprint. I mean, it's clearly their best option right now, but what happens when you're not getting three, four, five turnovers a game?

So I don't know. They've kind of got this. They're really inconsistent. What we would expect out of a Blake Bortles team, they've got this kind of up-down trend going. You know, they opened with the Texans and killed them. Then the Titans killed them.

They killed the Ravens. They lost the Jets, and then they destroyed the Steelers this past weekend. So, looking for consistency for Jacksonville, that's the thing. And I'm just not sure you're going to get it with Blake Portals. Yeah, and so that'll be the thing to watch, obviously, with them. Like you said, that defense is legit.

I mean, there's no doubt about that. They have, if not the best defense in the league, one of the best two defenses in the league. So they are going to be able to win a lot of football games like that. Honestly, it's not that much different than how the Titans want to play. Now, the difference is the Titans

have, when healthy, Marcus Mariotta must be our quarterback and not nearly as good of a defense, at least from a personnel standpoint. They don't have nearly the corners or some of the guys up front that the Jaguars have. But, you know, it's a similar, I guess, style of football that they want to play. I think if, you know, Mike Malarkey had his preference,

then, you know, they would run the ball 30, 35 times a game and not have to throw it very much. But they've got the tightness and the ability to do that, again, when Mariota is on the field and it's like you said i mean i just think when you get into the playoffs and stuff like that i just don't think if they are able to make it that far i just don't see that as being a a sustainable thing that's going to carry them a long way once you get into those types of games you're going to have to score points um because you're going to be playing against teams that are really good at taking care

of the football because that's how you win games, taking care of the football. That's how you get to playoffs. You're not playing basically sort of retired Ben Roethlisberger in the playoffs. Anyway, actually they may because they may still win

the division. Scratch all that. For the most part, those are not the type of games you see in the playoffs. So I just – I don't know. And, you know, we sit here and we're poking holes in the other teams, and obviously our team has plenty of glaring holes of its own, again, and we'll talk about it from the standpoint of when Marcus Mariota is healthy. Again, and we'll talk about it from the standpoint of when Marcus Mariota is healthy.

I still am a believer in this offense once you get Mariota and Corey Davis out there healthy. I think in that scenario, it's the best offense in the division, even with a healthy Andrew Luck and the guys that he has there. I mean, the Titans don't have a T.Y. Hilton. Maybe Cordaeus can be that. We think he can. We don't know that yet. But the Titans have a better offensive line than the Colts. They have a better running game than the Colts, you know, all things equal. And the Titans' defense is better than the Colts, but, I mean, obviously not on the same level as the Jaguars and the Texans. So, I mean, the biggest question for the Titans, once everybody gets back,

is is the defense good enough to keep them in those games so that the offense can score just enough points to win? I think that we still have – again, it's funny, right? We spend a lot of time last night talking about Tiger Biskey. But he's the one that gets all the heat. But the bigger questions that we should be having are on the defensive side of the ball. Again, once Mariota's back and you're not having to worry about compensating for Matt Kessel. Yeah, it's funny.

I remember talking, you know, in the summer with fans that were realistically thinking, you know, 12-13 wins. And I'm just like, man, I don't think the defense is going to be there yet. And, you know, for the Titans to win 12 or 13 games, they were going to have to score 30 points a game. And I just didn't think the offense was going to be that consistent. And, you know, unfortunately I was right. And we've lost Marcus, so you can kind of throw that out the window. But still, Marcus Mariota is not right, even when he's been healthy.

And I don't know what is up with the slow starts. Nobody can answer that question. But Marcus Mariota has come out stone cold, and it has doomed the Titans multiple times already this year. And I don't know what the answer is. Maybe the answer is getting the run game going, getting it going early, and they haven't been able to do that. So I don't know.

The Titans just aren't clicking offensively or defensively yet. We've seen it for a half again against Jacksonville, and I'd argue for another half against Seattle. But still, it's concerning that this offense has yet to get really going yet. Maybe that happens when Mario is back, when Corey Davis comes back. If the Titans can just stay away from the injury book, I think they'll be okay offensively. Defensively, you're still going to have some bumps in the road.

That's just how it's going to go with an inconsistent pass rush. When you can't get after the passer with four guys, you're going to be inconsistent because you're going to have to blitz and you're going to give up big plays, especially with a second-year corner and a first-year corner out there. So, unfortunately for the Titans, I just don't see that defense being there yet. They're probably a draft class and a free agent class away from being really good. And you'd certainly hope that maybe John Robinson could add, like,

a free safety type and an edge rusher type in next year's draft. But I don't know. They still feel a couple pieces away defensively. Yeah, and so, I mean, it's funny when you just look at the division as a whole. I think that it's better than people thought it was going to be. With the Jaguar defense being as good

as it has been. With the emergence of Deshaun Watson for the Texans. And then again, when Andrew Luggett's back. I think at that point it's not the laughingstock that it has been for the last couple of years, but still a division with teams that have a lot of holes. And I'm sure if we sat down and went division by division,

we could do very similar things to most teams in most divisions. I mean, that's just kind of the state of the NFL right now with the parity and all that stuff. It's just kind of what happens. But there's been a lot of focus on how bad the AFC South has been. And I think it's better this year than people give it credit for. And I think that by the time when the dust settles at the end of the year, I do think that these teams will be – I don't think you're going to have have I don't think an 8-8 team is going to win the division or 9-7 even

I think it's going to take 10 or 11 wins to win this division because you do have a couple teams that I think can put up that number it's just a case of can the Titans do it and again the majority of that stems on Marcus Mariota being healthy and like you said

can he play better than he has been when he is healthy? Because so far he hasn't been the Mariota that we expected. Still obviously a huge upgrade over Matt Castle, but hasn't been the guy that can transcend the team and take them to that next level. So that's something that would be interesting to watch. I just thought it would be good to kind of have this discussion tonight discussion tonight again because there's not a whole lot of not a whole lot of news around the times other than what we've already talked about um they will be on the there's

malarkey said on monday that the times are going to practice on wednesday but they won't be required to you know give out any information as far as injury status and that stuff goes because they don't have to do that until thursday since they're playing on Monday. So I don't know if we'll get anything tomorrow or not. But we'll come up with something else, obviously, to talk about tomorrow night. Maybe just a Colts preview if nothing else. We can kind of do that tomorrow

night and talk about how the specific matchups in this game break out. Anything else, Terry, you want to touch on? That's all I got. Alright, so like I said, again, don't forget the Pro Football Focus promotion that we have. Rate and review the podcast. Search Locked on Titans in iTunes.

That'll get you to the page. Rate and review there. Subscribe, please. And then you'll be entered. Leave your Twitter. You'll be entered into a contest or a drawing to win your loss to PFF. So we'll be back tomorrow with another episode, Colts Preview, and you're ready for Monday Night Football.

And hopefully we'll have maybe some good news on Mark's Mario, but that'll be kind of the thing that we're watching heading into the site. And obviously check out musicofmiracles.com. We have a ton of content on there going up every day. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm, and Terry is? At tlambertfb. At tlambertfb.

There you go. All right, so that's all tonight. Yep, I'll get one of these days. Thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we'll talk to you all tomorrow.