Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans 10/9/17: Offensive woes doom Titans vs. the Dolphins

Episode Date: October 9, 2017

Another ugly loss for the Titans. What happened in Miami? Breaking down the Matt Cassel disaster and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com slash BOOM. B-O-O-M. 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 Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you? I've been better, Jimmy, but that was an ugly football game we had today.

Absolutely it was, and we'll talk a lot about that. So everybody buckle up for some exciting discussion there. But before we get to that, we've got to tell you about MyBookie, which is a sponsor of this podcast. You can check them out at my bookie uh which is a sponsor of this podcast you can check them out my bookie.ag um they have a really really good mobile site you don't download an app or anything you just log on you use the site from your phone you can bet before the game you can bet during the game um you can queue with everything so uh it's safe it's really awesome so try it out like i said during the game the game, you've got Major League Baseball playoffs going on, NFL, all that stuff. NHL just got started.

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Titans go to Miami. Lose to the Dolphins 16-10 in, like Terry said, one of the ugliest football games that we've ever had to watch. You know, I'll let Terry get his reaction at first, but I would like to say it was something different than what we expected, but it's really not. That's kind of what we expected based on what we've seen from Matt Castle in the year plus that he's been here,

watching him extend time in the preseason and that kind of stuff. So not really a big shock that he wasn't very effective. Terry, what else stood out to you? Just to lose to a team as inept as the Dolphins seem. It's disheartening. It's a team that you should be able to beat without Marcus Marietta. This team is built to run the football, and they just didn't do it. 20 carries for 69 yards.

That's just not going to get it done. DeMarco Murray went 14 for 58. Henry went 4 for 9. It just wasn't good. Once again, they just kind of tried to line up and run right over the Dolphins, and it didn't happen. Like we've said, that's what they were able to do last year. The passing game kind of rebuilt off of that success.

So you don't have that success now, and you throw Matt Castle into the mix, and, yeah, it's going to be ugly, and that's what we saw today. And that's the thing that I think some people will lose in all of this. I mean, obviously a lot of the discussion is going to center around how bad Matt Castle is, and now we're into this rabbit hole of a debate on backup quarterbacks and all that. But this team is built to run the football, and they're built to be able to line up and be better in the trenches

in the team that is across the line from whoever that may be. The Dolphins, they have some good players up front, but they're not the best defense in the league. And they couldn't get the run game going. They couldn't get established today. They haven't been able to get it established really all year. And this is something that Terry and I were talking about before we came on here. You know, the offensive line didn't look good in the preseason.

And, you know, we kind of glossed over it a little bit. It was a preseason, you know, with the new rules. They don't get to practice as much together and all that stuff, continuity, blah, blah, blah. Didn't look really good against the Raiders. Honestly, we're through five weeks. They've played two good halves of football, second half against the Seahawks, second half against the Jaguars.

That's really the only time we've seen this offensive line look like the unit that we thought it was going to be. And then when you look at some of the numbers numbers today and these are from pro football focus Matt Castle was under pressure 42 percent of his drop back so 16 of his 38 drop backs he was under pressure today now Matt Castle under pressure is a disaster I mean we all know that and that's the thing you know with Marcus Mariota back there if teams get pressure on him he can you know break contain hit a run move outside the pocket throw the ball on the field and all that stuff and matt castle's not going to do that stuff so if the titans were going to have a chance to win this game today and they still had a chance to win the game and you know a couple calls that don't go their way whatever um but if they were if they're going

to be able to sustain success with Matt Castle, which obviously we don't think can happen at this point, the offensive line has to be really, really good. I mean, that's been built to be the strength of this team, and they just didn't show that today. Not at all. And it's frustrating because you think you've built this foundation going forward, and you think you've got DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry in the fold

and the Titans are just going to run over people and control the game and it's just not happening. I don't know where you go from here with the running game. I don't have an answer for you. I think we need to have a conversation about DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry too.

Are they dynamic enough? Are they good enough? It's kind of interesting. Just looking around the league, you've got these electric young backs with juice and speed, and they change offenses. DeMarco Murray's not going to do that anymore. I tweeted today, he runs like an old man. He just doesn't have a lot left in the legs.

He's a good third down back. I don't think he's a workhorse anymore. And Derrick Henry, he kind of is what he is. He's not really electric. I think he's a starter in the league. He's just a different kind of player. I thought today the Titans could have used some speed. It was just kind of line up and go at the Dolphins, who have a really beefy front, and it just didn't work. So it was frustrating to see, you know, a little bit of heat needs to go to Terry Rabisky, I think. Just lack of creativity.

And granted, he had Matt Castle, so let's cut him some slack there. But, you know, I thought Taewon Taylor could have been used. I was kind of begging for him to get some touches. And you don't have to throw it to him. You know, get him a handoff like you did in the preseason. Line him up at fullback. Run a screen to him. You know, something.

That's an electric playmaker that you drafted. So where is Taewon Taylor? That's kind of something to watch going forward for me. Yeah, just on Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry, to me, is a volume back. You know, and not that much different than what Eddie George was in his prime here. I'm not saying that, you know, Derrick Henry obviously hasn't done as much as Eddie George did. I'm not really necessarily trying to compare the two.

But just saying that, you know, it's a guy that the more carries you give him, the stronger he gets, he gets better as the game goes on. Of course, the problem with that is if you can't get into that positive game flow, positive game script or whatever, however you want to say that, then he doesn't have the opportunity to do that kind of stuff. And that's kind of what we've seen, I think, for the most part in this season. And so it would be nice to have a guy that can change the game um you know but kind of by himself and i think you make a good point on taylor because the the thing that you you

have to do when you've got a guy like matt castle back there you've got to find some way to manufacture a big play um because trying to sustain a drive with Matt Castle is a losing proposition. I mean, we saw that today. We knew that coming in. And so right now the only guy that you've got that is electric is Taewon Taylor. I mean, who else are you going to, you know, Eric Decker is what he is. Delaney Walker is a very good player, but you don't necessarily think of him as dynamic. So, I mean, it would be good to get the ball in your playmaker's hands, and they just weren't able to do that today. So, you know, that's something that we'll have to keep an eye on going forward.

I'll talk about the defense here in a minute, but before we do that, I'm going to tell you once again about my bookie. And, again, check them out. It is really cool because, like I said, whenever you get that inkling to put someone in a game or, you know, whether it's before the game, in the game, or whatever, log on to their mobile website. It's really easy to use.

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They've done a really good job with that. Again, no app. Just hit the site, mybookie.ag, and you're able to do that so check them out um all right on the defensive side of the ball they looked better defense looked better today than they did against the texans um and which you know would it be a disaster really if they didn't look better because there was nowhere to cope it up. Now, Jay Cutler, you and I were talking about Jay Cutler before we jumped on here. I mean, he always gives off that he-doesn't-care impression. But today, he's really funny to watch play. But I thought overall you saw a much better effort from the defense.

And again, the Dolphins have some talented receivers. I mean, you've got Jarvis Landry, Devontae Parker, and he didn't play for very long before he, you know, went out with an injury. Even Kenny Stills is a guy that's dynamic and can get down the field. And the Titans didn't allow any of that stuff today. I thought Adoree Jackson had a really good game. And PFF had a note on him as well. Said he had his best day in coverage on the year,

targeted five times, only got up two guys for 15 yards, and got an 80.2 grade from them for the game. So, you know, Droid Jackson, he's been up and down so far. But I think we have to say at this point there's been more up than down. And, again, we have to take into consideration the fact that, you know, they weren't necessarily counting on him to come down and come in and be a shutdown corner in his first year because they were they said basically he's gonna have to spend some time learning the position because he didn't

get spring practices and all that stuff at USC we've talked about all that but I mean I think they have to be positive positively surprised with what they've gotten from him so far and again it just sets the the foundation for you know once he gets a little bit more work in i mean i think he has a chance to be a really good core in this league and then as well as you know the dynamic returner and stuff that he brings yeah it's i've been impressed with jackson he's getting better every week but as a defense a whole it's hard to know, anoint them after Jay Cutler. Right. He handicaps that offense so much.

It was pretty brutal to watch. For as bad as Matt Castle was, Cutler might have been worse. You know, he just looked out of control out there. You know, 12-26 for 92 yards, averaging three and a half per attempt. That's pretty terrible. And, again, the Dolphins lost Devontae Parker in the first quarter to an ankle injury, so it was pretty much all

Jajai, who they gave 25 carries to. So, I don't know. To me, this was more ineptitude from the offense rather than the Titans defense being very good. Again, next week you get Indy, who looked rather than the Titans' defense being very good.

Again, next week you get Indy, who looked decent today, put up some points against the 49ers. We'll see how they look there. But, man, let's address the elephant in the room. Those two penalties that are one penalty and one call really changed the flow of the game. What was your take on those two those two calls well okay so on the we'll start the fumble um you know it looks if you just watch the play as it happens um you're thinking well that's an incomplete pass there's no way to fumble

right because just how far the ball goes and all that stuff before you get to where you can see his arm and that kind of stuff and i said on Twitter that that fumble looked better than some of his throws. So there is that. But when you went back and watched the replay, the fact that they called it a fumble in the field, I think his arm did get hit before it was going forward. So I can see how they let that call stand. I didn't like it, obviously. And that ends up being basically the difference in the game. If that doesn't happen, then

the Titans are at least tied with a chance to win the game. There's that going for you. These offensive pass interferences, I don't know. I mainly just watch the Titans every Sunday. I'll catch bits and pieces of other games, but I don't sit down generally and watch any other games for the most part.

Does it not seem like the Titans get more just ticky-tack offensive pass interference calls than anybody else? I mean, DeAndre Hopkins is like full arm extended shoving off people last week. Yeah, that was dangerous. And they don't throw a flag on him. And he did it tonight on his touchdown against the Chiefs that we were watching earlier before we recorded. And, like, they never called.

And then we run, it just seems like a pick play, a rub play, whatever you want to call it, that everybody else runs, and they flag us for it every time. The Titans for it, Tom. So, I mean, I don't know. I just, maybe I'm biased, but I feel like the Titans get that called against them more than any other team in the league. It does seem like the NFL is cracking down on the rubber outs

or picker outs, whatever you want to call them. I thought the call on the Delaney would have been a touchdown. On the Delaney play, it was ridiculous. But on the fumble, you could kind of make the argument that the ball was coming out, and the ball went forward. But again, the key is what it was called on the field, which was a fumble. They didn't have enough evidence to overturn that. So, I don't know.

I didn't get outraged over that call like everybody else did. I kind of saw the logic in it. And it was a tough call. It was borderline. But no doubt, those two calls right there just turned the game on its head and ultimately probably caused a loss yeah and that's what i mean um because i was actually watching alabama game last night and you you saw a similar type play where the officials didn't blow the play dead um alabama recovered

and ran it back it was clearly an incomplete pass when you when you when you went back and watched the replay and so they went to replay and overturned it. So, I mean, they got into that discussion about, you know, should the officials call what they see or should they let it go and then let it go to replay? Because, you know, obviously the argument here being is if they blow the whistle, then even if replay shows that it was a fumble, then you know they can't they have to call it dead because the whistle was blown whereas if they let it would they let it play out then they can go to replay and they can actually get it right so i mean you know i don't know what the right answer is there i i would prefer referees to officials to call what they see um but i do get the other side of that as well um so i mean i think that's probably what you had today i'm still really

really surprised that you didn't get a whistle just based on how far that ball went yeah uh more times than not you're gonna see that and everybody on twitter was going crazy but oh there couldn't have been a fumble because i mean i i understand the logic there but again if you went back and watched it and this is you know as titans fans we're titans fans so i mean we do have a little bit of bias here but like when you go back and watch it you can understand why they didn't overturn it i mean that i wasn't as i wasn't as mad about that one honestly as i was about the the johnny smith pass interference yeah i just don't know how you make that call real time like how do you watch it full speed and determine that that that's not an incomplete pass that when you slow it down it's real

borderline but at speed i'm just i'm not sure how you make that call yeah so you know that that's basically that's the difference in the game like you said i mean because that it's a 14 point swing so when you think about it that way i mean you know that that's one the dolphins got that maybe shouldn't have and then one that's taken away from the Titans. You know, if those plays go the other way, then we're having a different conversation right now because it would have been a win. Things still were ugly. It still would have been a terrible football game to watch.

But at least they would have gotten a win, and you'd be sitting at 3-2 instead of 2-3. One more thing, I think, before we get out. There was the play late in the fourth quarter um where i mean when you watch when you watch it it looks like that jhia was short of the first down that they gave him the first down i really thought the titans would challenge um especially considering that they took a timeout not long after that anyway um what what were your thoughts on that call that you see the – I think it was Clay Travis that tweeted the picture. And from the picture, he clearly looks like he was short.

But, again, the yellow line is obviously not official. What was your take on that play? Yeah, real time, it looked like a first down. Again, it's a matter of real time versus slow motion versus a snapshot in time. And, again, the yellow line isn't always accurate. So that picture floating around Twitter might not paint the best picture. But I was scrambling to finish up the game summary. But real time, I didn't really have a problem with it.

I thought it was pretty clear with first down. But, you know, generally I'm never a challenge the spot of a ball type guy it just generally doesn't go too well but you know at the game on the line if there was any doubt absolutely you got to throw the flag well that's what i was going to say so two things that i agree with there one you very rarely see them move the ball back um that that's just not something that happens those are generally losing propositions on the other hand where you are in the game the fact that you're going to use a timeout anyway um you know even and then if you if you challenge it you lose you lose your timeout

um you uh you lose your challenge or whatever but at that point in the game you're about the two minutes anyway so you're not going to have the opportunity to challenge again so i don't really know what would have been to lose there but you know whatever um you see anyway so i mean going forward now you know they got the culture on monday night um you know the i think the thing that we all need to be just hoping and praying for right now is that mario is able to play um. The Colts offense has come around. You know, we kind of talked about how we thought that this would be the week that Andrew Luck plays, but then there were multiple reports this morning stating that he's not going to be back until November.

So it sounds like it will be Jacoby Brissett and the Titans see on Monday night. But he's looked better the last couple weeks. I mean, he's looked like a competent backup quarterback, something the Titans don't have. The last couple of weeks, I mean, he's looked like a competent backup quarterback, something the Titans don't have. So, you know, we just – I don't like their chances very much at all. If it's Matt Castle again, I think you have to like their chances pretty well. If it's Marcus Mariota, maybe Corey Davis gets back.

Maybe Ciprian gets back. Maybe you'll get a couple of these guys back. We'll have to keep an eye on Taylor LeJuan's status as well. But, you know, like I said, the biggest thing right now is we just got to hope that Marcus Mariota is ready to go. Yeah, and the report out this morning, I don't think we touched on this, was Mariota would miss two to four weeks. And we don't know if that's starting from the date of the injury

or starting over fresh from today. But he did practice in limited form all week long. So I don't know. I don't know how much I buy into that because, you know, going from my game time decision today to potentially out for four weeks doesn't really add up to me. So, again, we're going to monitor it really close, check the site every day. We'll probably post a new update every day.

Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, I mean, for the most part, Mike Malarkey has been pretty up front with injury news. He's not a guy that really likes to play games. Now, I would suspect they probably knew all along that Marcus wasn't going to be able to play today, probably just hoping like we were that he would heal quicker and that he would be able to go.

But I also don't think that there's a chance that he misses a month. I mean, just based off everything that they've said, you know, like I said, the fact that he's been willing to rule Corey Davis out really early in the week, every week for the last couple weeks, just to me says that he's not a guy that really plays games that much with the injury report. So I'd be shocked if it's a month. I'm not 100% sure that he's going to play on Monday night, but I think there's a much better chance that he does than this week.

We kind of told you from the beginning this week we didn't really think he'd play this week. But like you said, keep an eye on that. Newseedmiracles.com will have updates on that. Every piece of information that we get out, we'll leave an update on that. Anything else, Terry, before we get out of here? Yeah, Castle versus Brissette, just like ESPN drew it up, huh? Yeah, I mean, the ESPN executive has got to be praying as much as we are

that Marcus gets back. I mean, Titans and Colts fans will watch that game, but there's not going to be a very big national audience if those are two starting quarterbacks. So anyway, all right, so that's what we got for tonight we'll be back tomorrow um we'll have an update from mike we'll have mike malarkey's press conference talk about from monday um get a good idea of some injury updates and you know hey maybe we get core davis back maybe mark's can play hopefully they're the ones injury not that serious. So, we'll keep an eye on all that

as we go along. Terry, thanks as always for joining me. Yep. All right. And so, again, don't forget,

rate and review the podcast on iTunes, Pro Football Focus, subscription you can win. Leave your Twitter handle in the review and mybookie.ag. Check them out

for all your sports betting needs. So, for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening and we will talk to you tomorrow.