Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Breaking down a win and a playoff berth

Episode Date: January 2, 2018

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Happy New Year, everyone. Welcome in to a playoff edition of Locked on Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you? Doing good. Got another week of game talk, so that's always good. Yeah, so I mean, it was obviously a very exciting game. I mean, that's one word for it. You know, two teams that struggle to do much on offense you know we've seen that from the titans all year long and then you you knew um facing up against the jaguars defense that is you know they just they basically eliminate outside receivers which is not that much of an issue for the titans is going to really use theirs anyway but um you know that they've

been they've even been good against the run since the marcel darius trade him earlier in the year the jaguar struggled against running backs, but they haven't struggled with that since they got Darius. I mean, you know, just a really great defense. You know, a team that's going to go down with, yeah, as probably one of the best defenses or, you know, top 10, 15, whatever defenses of all time. So you knew that points were going to be hard to come by.

Throw in the weather, you know, being so cold here in Nashville, that was obviously an issue. And then, you know, we didn't know how the Jags were going to play this game. They came in locked in as a three seed win or lose. There was nothing that they could do to improve or hurt their seeding with this game. Doug Marone said all week that they were going to play the game to win. And they did. I mean, they had their guys in there for the entire game. Doug Marone said all week that they were going to play the game to win, and they did. I mean, they had their guys in there for the entire game, and the Titans were able to overcome some stuff. The Titans got some breaks,

and they were able to get a win when they really needed it. So that was fun to see, and it's just really exciting to be talking about playoff football for the first time in, you know, almost a decade. It was your typical Titans game. It seemed like the Titans took control in the second quarter, carried it through the third quarter, and then had a disaster happen in the fourth quarter and had to hang on.

So if you've watched Titans football over the past two months, you've become accustomed to that because that's kind of what they did over the stretch of that Bengals, that Ravens. So that was nothing new. We've talked for a long time. If this team could just put it together, eliminate the mistakes, they could really play with anyone, just about. We still haven't seen that, but they get a chance to do it next week in the playoffs,

which is a big deal. But they get a chance to do it next week in the playoffs, which is a big deal. Considering that this team lost three straight to get up off the mat and beat what's a pretty good Jacksonville team. That was a big deal. So I think it kind of speaks to the locker room that they didn't lay down when they could have against a tough opponent. So, again, found a way to win, and that's kind of been the Titans' mantra this year.

I'm not sure if that's a good, solid, long-term plan, but it is who they were this year, and we'll take it. Yeah, and so obviously the biggest change in this game for the Titans was the fact that DeMarco Murray was out. And I don't understand why it took him so long to declare him out. You said that Paul Kars gave us a video from before the game where Murray was walking and couldn't even bend his knee. So pretty clear that he never really had a shot at playing this game, although Mike Malarkey tried to lead people to believe that he did early in the week. And he still hasn't closed the door on DeMarco playing on saturday against the chiefs but i just i don't

see any way it happens so obviously that forced the titans to go to derrick henry exclusively um you know and there was some i guess i don't know we didn't know how they would divide up the load between henry and flew ellen if they wouldn't have Flewellen out there at all. They didn't. DeMarco Murray played on 63 of 65 offensive snaps. Dave Flewellen played on one. So it was obviously a Derrick Henry show. Now, I guess a little bit of a mixed bag as far as Henry's concerned.

You had the screenplay, which he was able to make a couple guys miss, and we know that if Henry gets in the open field and is able to accelerate, he can run away from anybody. He's shown that multiple times this year. The issue is more him getting tripped up before he gets to full speed. They had the play, and like you said, the disaster in the fourth quarter. After the game, Malarkey said Derrick Henry went the wrong way on that play. I mean, I'm going to take his word at that. And so, I mean, at least a little bit there,

you see the fact that the coaching staff has had concerns with Derrick Henry in certain spots, whether it be third down, protection, catching the ball back, whatever it is. They've obviously had some concerns with him this year. That's part of the reason he hasn't played more than he has. And so, I mean, we saw that yesterday. You know, he made a mistake that didn't end up costing the Titans the game but could have.

It was at a crucial time. And so, but, I mean, overall, he was able to carry the load. He was able to get done what he needed to get done. And, you know, I think they're a better team with him out there instead of Marco Murray. I agree with that. And, you know, we talked on this podcast, why hasn't Derrick Henry gotten the load?

He's been clearly the more talented back. Well, I think we saw it. I think it's a playbook issue. I think it's just a matter of being in the right spot and doing what you're supposed to do. You know, it wasn't just that fourth quarter play that he messed up on. It was three or four times. You saw him go to the wrong side, and you saw Marcus had to pull the ball down and kind of save the day

and escape a broken play. So I don't think the ability is the problem for Henry. He's a unique back, but it's the playbook. I mean, you've got to run to the right side. It's year two. You're at the end of year two going into the playoffs. There's no reason you shouldn't know the playbook. So that was kind of eye-opening for me.

He was okay yesterday. I don't think he's great in between the tackles. We saw him at Alabama. We saw him run through some huge holes. If he gets space and gets up to speed, that's where he's at his best. He's one of the best in the NFL when he gets up to speed, but the problem is getting there. Titans weren't able to blow open many holes for him,

so he was running in tight spaces, and that's just not his game. I thought the call from Hrabisky to dial up that screen was brilliant. It kind of took the Jags' aggression out of the game, and they over-pursued, and once Henry got the ball in space, it was all over with. So maybe going forward, maybe next week in Kansas City, that's something that they see that they need to do more of. Because Henry at speed

is it might be one of the titans best play playmakers on the field yeah absolutely and that's the thing i mean they figure out ways to get their guys in you know positive situations um and we've talked about that and you know like you said that was a great call on the screen there and so we're we're obviously really hard on Hrabisky. And, I mean, most of the time deservedly so. But in that situation, he dialed up a perfect play. And it worked out good. So, you know, the other play that I would point to, Derek Henry, the, like, 12-yard loss on the handoff early in the game,

at the beginning of the first quarter, where they're kind of backed up against the goal line already. And then Henry goes to the right. There's nothing there. I mean, Sifarm's a guy. But at that point, you're not going to be able to cut it back and do anything. And he ends up losing a bunch of yardage, backs him up against the goal line. Just kind of something like that that you can't have in the NFL.

You can't have in year two. So, I mean, yeah, there have been some issues with that. But if they can find ways to continue to get him the ball where he can get to full speed and, like, on the screen pass, I mean, I think they could do some more of that. And, you know, the narrative that he can't play in the passing game has always been kind of silly to me. People point to the fact that he didn't do it at Alabama. Well, they didn't ask him to do it at Alabama. You know, they were handing the ball 40 times a game and just let him run over people.

I mean, he can do it. You know, then you obviously have the concerns about knowing where to go, protections, that kind of stuff. So we did see a little bit of that. So, I mean, a little bit of credit to this coaching staff. We've been hard on them for a lot of the year about not getting him out there more. We saw a little bit why they haven't. Hopefully, you know, he can get it together. Because, you know, if you have a mistake like they had in the fourth quarter in Arrowhead,

you're probably not going to be able to overcome that. So I'm going to keep an eye on him this week. You know, and then obviously the play on the last drive where, you know, Marcus Mario drops back to pass, nothing there pump fakes gets past the first guy stiff arms church gets the first down stands up and you know kind of walks back at church i mean that was like we never see that from marcus mariotta that that's not um that's not the attitude that we see from him you know you we hear players and coaches talk about how he has it, but he doesn't ever show it. And in that moment, I mean, that was, you said,

it was like just a defining moment for this team for this season, an iconic moment, I think is what you said. We haven't seen a lot of those from this team. We haven't seen a lot of those from this franchise in a long time. So it was really, really good to see that, and good to see him improvising and making something happen with his legs and there's something there down the field he's looked at times this year like he's almost afraid to do that and i don't know if it's how he's being coached or if it's

the leg or you know i mean he's had the hamstring and then obviously the the injury from last year i don't know why it is that we haven't seen him improvise as much and make plays like that you know we've seen it some on the design run still but we haven't seen him improvise as much and make plays like that. We've seen it some on the design run still. But we haven't seen him break and taint and do a lot of that stuff this year. Really great to see and really great to see him be the one to kind of put the team on his back, get that first down and end the game to make the playoffs. I mean, that was just, you know, we love Marcus. We talk about that all the time.

But it was just so good to see that from him. Yeah, you kind of talk about the Titans playing boring football. That's kind of been the case for years now. To see that, and if you didn't get up and jump off your couch, you don't have a pulse. You know, that was just an awesome moment. So, you know, the Titans really haven't had that huge moment. I think back to Chris Johnson taunting Troy Palamalu as he danced into the end zone.

You know, stuff like that. Stuff like that stands out in your memory. That one will stick with me for a long time. So I thought the Titans asked him to run the ball a lot more. It was pretty clear that they asked him, hey if you've got a running lane take it you know i thought he was dropping his eyes a lot faster yesterday and and maybe not necessarily in a bad way just just kind of taking what the defense gave him you know it was pretty clear to me if seth the staff told him hey if you've got five yards go get it uh and maybe that was a a factor of demarco not being available so you gave

derrick henry 28 carries uh marcus carried the ball a lot too so and he had some tough runs and i think back to a couple third downs where he kept the ball and really ran between the tackles it's tough runs runs that we typically would not want him to go do. And he went and did it and toughed it out. So that was good to see. And you'll probably see that a little more next week. Just judging on that DeMarco video I saw, I don't see how there's any chance he plays. But, of course, Mark, he said that there's a chance he was going to play.

So we'll see. But I thought it was a concerted effort from the staff to get Mariota running the football just to kind of take some pressure off of Derrick Henry. And it worked. You know, offense only scored 15 points. They could have scored more. They can always score more. You had the turnover deep in Jacksonville territory in the fourth quarter

that almost cost them the game. But good to see Marcus running the football. I think his team needs it. I think just from a moving the chain standpoint, this team needs it. A lot of three and outs over the last month. Having number eight in the backfield running the football is going to make it a lot easier to convert some of those third and three third and fours yeah and you wonder how much of that too is

just him being willing to do more when the game slash season is on the line you know how much of it is a thing where he's like i gotta go ahead and make a play if we to win. And so some of the stuff that he's been coached not to do or, you know, whatever it may be, or some of the hesitation he's had because of his legs, all that stuff kind of goes out the window when you're in a Week 17 win-in game, when you're in the playoffs, that kind of stuff. So that gives me a little bit of, I don't know, hope is the right word.

And we'll talk, obviously, a lot about the Chiefs as this week goes along. But I don't know. If we could see him play with a little bit more— reckless abandon is not really the right word. But if we could see him play with a little bit more of that improvisation, a little bit more of that, I think this offense is better when he's out there doing that kind of stuff. And so hopefully we'll see a little bit of that.

And it'll be a different game against the Chiefs because you won't have those guys, the corners that the Jaguars have, you don't have those guys out there taking away the outside receivers like we talked about. Now, we can talk about whether or not how much of, you know, how much the Titans would use those guys anyway. But, you know, it's a different game going up against the Chiefs than it is the Jaguars. So it'll be just a whole different animal. And before we move on to talk a little bit about the playoffs, we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about this defense.

You know, they, the thing that we were concerned about coming into the season was the defense and how much, you know and how many games the Titans were going to lose because they gave up 40 and they were only able to score 30. That was kind of our thinking coming into the season. The season has been the exact opposite of that. We've seen the defense save this team on numerous occasions, and yesterday was no different. They were able to stand up and make plays all day long.

You were more confident than I was. We were texting a little bit, you know, kind of at the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth quarter, about the game being over because, you know, the Jaguars couldn't do anything. And, you know, you had the big turnover, and that kind of changes everything. But it's been the defense that has kept this team alive. It's been the defense that's led this team to 9-7. And they did it all yesterday again without having you know their big ticket free free agent acquisition logan ryan out there from the majority of the game he got hurt early wasn't able to come back wasn't able to

play as much as he usually would um so i mean i don't know it's the defense is to me has been the story of of the season and we haven't spent, I don't think, enough time talking about it because we've talked so much about the offensive struggles. Granted, it's been aided by a soft schedule, sure, but we'd have to admit that the defense has been a lot better than we thought it would be coming into the year. No doubt about it. Brian Arakpo is great.

I thought he sealed the game. Last night was a big sack on second down that kind of forced a third and 20. So the pass rush was pretty good. And the Jaguars were without Cam Robinson, which was a big deal. But still, defense made enough plays to win. And, you know, we've got to say it's a different game if D.D. Westbrook catches that touchdown. And to be fair, it hit him right in the hands.

D.D. absolutely torched Ty Smith. And if that ball's caught, you're talking about Jaguars taking the lead when they scoop and score on that touchdown. But still, forced enough turnovers. Blake Bortles was horrible. He was just terrible, I think you were saying earlier in the season. He was facing some bad teams, and people were getting on the Bortles train. Well, we saw who Blake Bortles was yesterday.

But credit the Titans for not letting him get comfortable back there. Credit Kevin Byard for always making a play on the ball. I think he leads the league in picks now. So that was cool to see. But I think this defense has pleasantly surprised us all. They've surprised me with the pass rush. You know, early in the season it was nonexistent. So Arakpo's really come on.

Erholden's been great. And then Dicklebo's figured out some stuff with some blitzing up the middle with avery and uh woodyard so i think they've made improvements uh contrary to the offense they've made some adjustments that have really just sent this defense overboard uh so and and that's kind of the calling card right now which is so weird to say uh but again they've got a huge test with some matchup nightmares and kelsey and tyreek hill and kareem hunt next week so it's going to be interesting interesting to see if they can kind of keep up their momentum we can't have another episode like they had in san francisco where jimmy garoppolo tore him up so

i'm a little concerned about that there. But you got to hats off to him yesterday for sure. Hey, first of all, you can't fault them for getting torched by Jimmy Garoppolo. He's obviously the greatest quarterback of all time. I mean, I guess so. Never lost a game. So anyway, yeah, so we'll see. I mean, the defense, like I said, they are still a couple of players away.

We've talked about, you know, they still need a nose tackle. They need another pass rusher. We've talked about all that stuff this year. They're still a couple of players away from being, just having enough talent to be a really good unit. But for the most part this year, they've gotten the job done. And like I said, they've kept the Titans in a lot of games that they really had no business being in with the offense struggling as much as it was.

All right, so coming up, we will talk about the early Sunday morning Ian Rappaport report that kind of turned the Titans fan base on its head a little bit. And we'll talk a little bit about just the playoffs in general. okay so obviously the the report came out on sunday morning that ownership had been in the building all week with the titans which i'm not really even sure what that means um but that there was a chance that if the titans lost the game of the jaguars that you know mike malarkey's job could be in trouble we spent a lot of time over the last few weeks talking about malarkey and his job and all of that kind of stuff um you know there was a section of fan base that was cheering for a loss yesterday because they want Malarkey out. I couldn't get on that train for a lot of reasons,

and we talked a little bit about them. Go back and listen to the last pod we did last week about the reasons that you should cheer for your team to make the playoffs. I think that the report made it, I guess, a little bit more concrete that it actually could happen, because I think you and I both were saying that we thought even if they lost the Jaguars to make the playoffs, that Mike Malarkey was safe. If he really wasn't, it's a little bit of a different conversation, but I still think if your team's got a chance to make the playoffs, especially when they haven't been there in

10 years, or 9, 10 years, whatever it is, you cheer for them to make the playoffs. They won, and so we'll save this conversation for next week because I still believe that if they go to Kansas City and get blasted, I'm not sure how much it changes the fact that they actually got in the playoffs. When you look at how easy the schedule was in 07, again, we've talked about this stuff at Nauseam, but I'm still not sure that just a win against Jacksonville was enough to get Malarkey another year,

at least not with considerations on offensive coordinator and all that kind of stuff. But it was an interesting little time Sunday morning when that came out, and we'll just kind of keep an eye on how it goes from here. Just real quick on Malik. Look, we said, I've said, I've written on museummiracles.com, all that stuff. I don't think he's the guy to take this franchise to the next level. But we can't go without talking about the job that he has done,

the fact that he's in this team nine and seven two years in a row. Now, again, we both agree, and the majority of the fan base agrees that nine and seven this year was underachieving but when you've had a team that has such a losing culture you know had a had the number two pick one year the number one pick the next year um to make the turnaround that they have made it really truly is remarkable he's done a great job as far as stabilizing the culture and all that kind of stuff. So I don't know. I mean, I think there are some scenarios where I'm open to them retaining Malarkey. I'm going to write provisions of what he has to do with his offensive staff. But I don't know.

What were your feelings yesterday morning when that report came out? If you're basing whether or not you're going to keep your coach based off of one game that tells me a lot of confidence in him so you're that tells me you're kind of looking for a reason and we don't know if the rap sheet report was true but it makes sense so i think everything about this comes back to marx mariotta mariotta was playing well and this team finished 9-7. I don't think we're talking about it, but it's the fact that Mariota has clearly taken steps backwards.

After a really good year two, he looks like a bottom-tier quarterback as far as passing goes. So I think that's your key here. But I don't know. Can you fire a guy after making the playoffs, two years removed from the number one pick? That's where I struggle with it. I told you I think he's a great culture guy.

He's frustrating as an X's and O's guy. And you don't, if he's open to making a change at offensive coordinator and he's willing to give some leeway and not have his hands all in the offense, I think that would be the best for this team. Like I was telling you, is there a guy

out there that really gets your blood flowing? That's really going to get you excited as a head coaching candidate. There's not really that guy out there for me. So it's a weird dynamic. I would guess that he's safe no matter what now. I don't see ownership really firing a guy after making a playoffs.

You know, 9-7 back-to-back, and this team was down in the dumps. So I don't see any scenario where it happens. You know, you said if they go get blown out next week. I think that's a tough game. That's a tough environment. I just don't see it. Yeah, and like I said, we'll get into that as the week goes along. But winning an era is never easy.

Now, they have some experience doing that. They won that into that as the week goes along. But winning an era is never easy. Now, they have some experience doing that. They won that era late in the season last year. So that should help them walking into this environment. And again, I think you made one of the best points, and it's something that I hadn't thought about at the end of the week last week, about just this team getting some playoff experience in a year where you don't expect them to do anything. You don't expect them to really go anywhere.

But for Marcus Mariota to get his first playoff game under his belt in this situation, so that next year if they do make a couple of the right moves and they turn into the team that we kind of thought they could be this year, you don't have to go through that. You don't have to play that first playoff game and all that stuff. So, I mean, I think that's a really good point, and I think that from that standpoint it's obviously great to be there. And again, we have a franchise that's been as down as this one has been.

You're not going to complain about making the playoffs. Just a few comments on the playoffs in general. It was an interesting few minutes there at the end. You and I both were expecting the Ravens to beat the Bengals and get in, and that would have made the Titans the sixth seed, and they would have won two Jacksonville. Now the Ravens lost. That allowed the Bills to be the sixth have made the Titans the sixth seed, and they would have won two Jacksonville. Now the Ravens lost. That allowed the Bills to be the sixth seed, the Titans the five.

That's what gets them to Kansas City. It'll be an interesting weekend. I think that the Titans obviously match up better with the Jaguars than they do the Chiefs. We've seen that, and we've seen what the Titans have been able to do against the Jags in their two games this year. So on one hand, I was kind of hoping we were going to get that third game next week but you know it's fun to be there it'll be fun to watch we'll obviously cheer for

the bills against the jaguars because i don't want anything good for the jaguars or their fans ever um you know and they're like trying to somebody's taking a swing at jarell casey on the way off the field yesterday so i mean just mean, that's just them. But it'll be fun to watch. And like I said, it's just good to have football season extended another week. I mean, we only get 16 for Titans fans. We've only gotten 16 of these games for so many years. So it's just good to have a football game to talk about for another week. I was pulling hard for that Jaguars matchup.

I wanted the third game so bad. It's been fun. You know how Jack's Twitter is, but it's been fun to beat them and shut them up. They were pretty silent yesterday after that loss. I wanted to beat them them third time once again. You know, the Titans did that back in, I guess it was, what was it, 99-2000. So that would have been fun.

But at the same time, you know, staying 2-0 against them, having that trump card over them the whole offseason will be fun too. But the Chiefs are so much tougher of a matchup for me. I think the Titans had the Jacksonville Jaguars number. I think it's a really, really different ballgame in Kansas City now. So you're talking about playing a team with a bunch of playmakers that seems to be getting hot when you could have been playing Blake Bortles once again.

So that was a big letdown for me, just watching the end of that Cincinnati-Baltimore game, which was a really fun game. I actually had the Titans playing the Jaguars. I had that post all done and ready to post to mutecitymiracles.com, and then Tyler Boyd caught that, so I had to tear it all down and rebuild it. But that's part of the fun of it. But, yeah, like you said, just good to be here,

good to be playing meaningful football once again, good to be playing in January. It's been since 2008, so I think it's a step for this team. I don't know if they've got the right leadership. I don't know any of that, but kind of throw that out the window. We'll talk about it next week and And just have fun with this week. Absolutely. Like I said, we'll get into the Chiefs a lot more

as the week goes along. We may try to get a Chiefs guy on at some point to talk a little bit about that. Stay tuned for that. Check out MusesTVMiracles.com. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmortsmcm. Terry is at tlambertfb. We're at MusesTVMiracles.com. And subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Locked on Titans.

Write and review there. Give us any feedback. We'd love to hear it. So that'll be it for today. And like I said, we'll be back tomorrow with another new episode, getting a little bit more Chief-specific and talking about that. So for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you tomorrow.