Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Conklin, Jonnu out, Playoff picture comes into focus

Episode Date: December 10, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked On Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? Doing alright. What's up, man? Oh, not too much. It was a little bit weird. Sunday, no Titans game this late in the year. But a lot of interesting things happened, so we'll get into all that. Titans also had a couple of key injuries that were confirmed on Friday after we recorded Thursday night. So we will talk about those. Before we do that, remind you to be right for me at cityofmiracles.com where we cover the Titans for SBB Nation.

You can check us out there. You can also follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismc and Terry's at tlambertfb. You can get the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher. Just search out Locked On Titans and you'll find us there. Two big injuries the Titans suffered in the win in Jacksonville.

John Smith had a torn MCL, and he's going to have to have surgery. He will miss the rest of the year. Jack Conklin has a knee injury as well that's likely to keep him out for a couple weeks, two or three weeks is what the report was, and he's not going to need surgery, but it's something that he's going going to need surgery but it's something that he's going to have to rest before it gets better so obviously the Conklin injury forces Dennis Kelly into the lineup which is something that we've kind of been clamoring for anyway so it's not the end of the world as far as that's concerned I mean Dennis Kelly was probably at this

point playing better than Jack Conklin we talked about how he might not be right. I mean, there's just a lot of stuff. His play has definitely not been at the level that we kind of expected it to be this year. So not the end of the world that Dennis Kelly is going to be the starter, possibly even upgrade. The problem is now if Kelly or LeJuan get hurt, then you've got nothing behind them. So it was nice having that third guy kind of waiting in the wings. At this point, if you have an injury, then it is a big deal. Yeah, and above all else, for me, it gives Jack Conklin a chance to get right, get healthy.

Because I'm pretty sure he's not. I mean, I don't think you can just forget how to play the position like that. There's something up there, and the team hasn't said anything like that. But I don't think it was just rust anymore. I think something was wrong. So happy, kind of relieved to see him going to get sat down and try to get right. But with Jonu, man, that's tough. That sucks for a guy that has struggled to start the year

and kind of come on strong. He wasn't a huge threat, a huge part of this offense, but he had made some solid progress considering where he started. But now, thank goodness Anthony Fergster has come along because that's going to be – he sees the new tight end one, so he's going to have a big role to finish the year here. So glad that he's developed, but once again, now you're talking about Michael Pruitt and Luke Stocker.

So not a great tight end room right now. It's pretty thin over there yeah like you said the thing that i hate the most for john is that you know he struggled so much early season and just you know taking on the bigger role with the lenny being out and all that and i mean we spent a lot of time in the fur you know september the beginning part of october asking what's wrong with john where's john you know there are times where it looked like marcus saw him open on the field and just didn't trust him to throw the ball to him it definitely had not been the case over the last month or so and so you hate to see a young guy like that when

he's coming on like he was uh have this injury yeah tight end is interesting now like you said because now you got a bunch of guys that you know definitely nobody out of uh this city's ever heard of uh you know we've got a we got a love for Anthony Ferkser that Mike has beaten into us. And listen, Ferkser's been good, right? 14 for 14 targets and catches. So you can't argue with that. So at least they've got a guy that can give them some versatility there. But I don't know.

I mean, John, it really had come on in the receiving game and in the run blocking, kind of giving you that dual threat, and they don't necessarily have that guy. I haven't paid attention to how much Ferkser blocks, but I don't think they've had him on the field much in blocking situations. And Luke Stalker, I mean, every now and then you've got to give him a fourth and one carry. But other than that, he's mainly just here to block. So you lose a little bit of that versatility there

it'll be interesting to see what they do with that roster spot i'm assuming they will put john on ir i know that that's been done yet but if he's having surgery even if you know there's a playoff run we're going to get into a little bit of that here in a minute but even even if there's a playoff run something like that i wouldn't assume he'd be able to be back for that so you're gonna have a roster spot. I don't know what they do. Do they bring in another tight end? Do they bring in another tackle?

Like you said, you've still got three tight ends on the roster, but they've had four active in pretty much every game this year. So it's obviously a position they use a lot. So I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what they do there. But now you've just got, I don't know, just a few depth concern issues. Now it gets interesting with Delaney Walker. Again, if the Titans are able to make the playoffs, they had said a couple weeks ago,

Delaney, I guess, talked to media for the first time in a while, and kind of hinted that there might be a chance he could come back for the playoffs if the Titans make it that far. So that would obviously be a huge boost to this team and the offense and all of that. But that's still kind of a long way down the road. But I don't know. What do you think they do as far as roster move is concerned? I'd guess, if anything, they add a tight end.

Like I said, they use tight ends a lot. They run two tight end sets quite a bit. And, yeah, maybe they're they're fine with michael pruitt uh but i'd want some more depth there you know at tackle you've still got uh tyler merits uh who's played a little bit and has some experience there maybe you get another guy uh but it's tight end for me and look you know thankfully thankfully, guys like Taewon Taewon, that guy has come along and he looks like a legitimate pass catcher. I know he plays a different position, but that's going to sort of ease the blow there. So now he's gaining some chemistry with Marcus Mariota.

You know, you lose one, but you kind of get one back in him. So that's going to put more pressure on him and Tajay Sharp and certainly Corey Davis in the passing game. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't know. They've done a pretty good job as a team stepping up in situations like this because, you know, we talked about it last year, about how lucky the Titans have gotten really for last year and the year before

as far as injuries were concerned. And, you know, that's kind of gone the other way this year, which it tends to do. That's just the law of averages in injuries at the NFL. This kind of stuff is going to happen. They've had to weather quite a few storms this year. They've done a fair enough job at it, still in the mix in the middle of December. You've got to give credit to the other players, the coaching staff, but like you said, you need to get these guys.

Come on a little bit. We've seen flashes from at times. Everybody's just going to have to step up and fill in for that loss because they're not going to find a guy. John is not an all-pro tight end or anything, but he was playing well. You're not going to find a guy that's going to come in and step in and play that same

role that he has. So, yeah, it'll be kind of a, you know, a sum of all the parts and hopefully those guys can step up and help them on the stretch run here. All right. So coming up, we're going to get into a little bit of what went on on Sunday in the NFL and kind of looking forward to Titans need going forward. Before we do that, tell you about my bookie. You know, today you're sitting there watching football.

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to get a 50% deposit bonus. That's promo code LOCKEDON25. MyBookie, you play, you win, you get paid. All right, so the Titans are, you know, in an interesting position, I guess, so to speak. They don't technically control their own destiny because if a couple of other teams won out, and even if the Titans won out, they still wouldn't go to the playoffs.

But I think if you look at that New York Times thing they do with the playoff odds and that kind of stuff, if the Titans win out, they've got a 90% chance of making the playoffs. Some good things happened today for the Titans' playoff chances. The Ravens lost in Kansas City. So, you know, you've got basically if you look at it this way, so right now the Titans sit at 7-6, okay? You also in the AFC have the Ravens at 7-6, the Dolphins at 7-6,

and the Colts at 7-6. Now the Titans lost, the Ravens and the Dolphins. So if you end up in a you know in a one-way tie with either one of those teams uh use the tiebreaker because first tiebreakers head to head um they obviously have another game against the colt so if both teams come into that game at nine and six which is kind of like my my fear in the back of my head i mean it'd be a good thing because it would be the titans you know win these next next two games. But, you know, just the curse of Andrew Luck and all that stuff.

But the Titans control their own destiny against the Colts because even if both teams win their next two games, they would have a game there. The team that I'm probably the most afraid of right now is the Ravens just because their remaining schedule. They got Tampa this coming week and then they go to the Chargers. That's a

tough game. And they got Cleveland to round up the season so i mean that you know more kind of feasible they could win all three of those the dolphins i don't know i don't feel great about them as a team they got the miracle win today against the patriots um they got minnesota jacksonville buffalo remaining uh and like i said the colts it's not as big of a deal what they have left because you've got two and you've got a game against them. But the most interesting thing, I guess, that happened in ASU South today was that Colts-Texans game. And I watched most of it. Colts win in Houston.

Titans actually still have an outside chance at winning the division. That game dropped the Texans to 9-4, and so they've got three games left, obviously, at the Jets at Philadelphia versus the Jaguars. So, I mean, there's a scenario where 10-6, the Titans and the Texans both finish at 10-6. Titans would win the division. So a lot of interesting things still out there.

And like I said, good to be talking about this kind of stuff this time of year. Yeah, and of course it has to come down to the Colts. Who else would it be? But first things first, the Titans got two games. That game next week in New York against the Giants,

the Giants are not an awful football team. You saw what Saquon Barkley did today busting up the Redskins to Very long runs. We've talked about this this Titans run defense how it's kind of been pretty hit or miss But you know what's coming at you next week, but Saquon Barkley is a lot better a lot more dynamic than Leonard Fournette So they're gonna to have their hands full there.

Odell Beckham didn't play today. Not sure what his status is going to be for next week. But the line is already out on this game, and the Giants are favored by three points. So, you know, if the Titans are going to keep this thing alive, they're going to go have to pull the upset in Vegas' eyes in New York. So first things first, you've got to go win those two games. But, man, I mean, you called it three weeks ago. This all is just boiling up to this Week 17 showdown. There's Andrew Luck and the Colts, who the Titans somehow have never beat.

I don't know. I don't have much confidence in doing that. I just, for whatever reason, the Colts are just a really bad matchup for this team. So maybe I'm wrong, but just already looking ahead to that, and I'm getting way ahead of myself by doing that. But I just don't like the Titans' chances to do that. Yeah, absolutely. So the Giants, they scored 40 points today without Odell Beckham.

So they've gotten better as the season has gone along, which is kind of the opposite of what I thought would happen. You had Odell chirping a little bit at the beginning of the year. I guess he wasn't getting the ball as he liked or whatever. So you kind of thought maybe internally they would fall apart a little bit, and then you get to this game, and they wouldn't really have a whole lot to play for. They don't have anything to play for necessarily. I mean, I guess there's an outside chance for them.

At 8-8, they could still be in the mix, the NFC, even in that division because I guess the Cowboys are winning that division now. They're 8-5. So, I mean, they're still technically alive. So, I mean, they've got a lot going on up there. Like I said, the biggest thing, say, on on barkley they scored 40 points without odell um i don't know it'll be that'll be an interesting one uh like you said vegas already has it at giants minus three uh because it happens with that line as the week goes along but i wouldn't i wouldn't think it's going to go down

i mean in the titans favor i don't think there's a lot of money coming in on the titans because i don't i mean if you know i don't know i don't know bet on the titans but that just seems like a scary proposition to me i just you never have any idea what's going to happen but um yeah so it's it's it's it's something and the culture weird i mean just weird as anybody else right because now they're seven and six um they were so hot for so long there and then they went to Jacksonville. Yeah, they went to Jacksonville last week and got shut out, first time ever in Angel Lux's career.

And they turn around today and go to the Texans and win. So, I mean, I think, you know, we sit here and we talk about the Titans and their inconsistencies, and we were talking a little bit before we jumped on about how, you know, we seem like we're always in this position, right? We've got, you know, a month left in the season, whatever it is. The Titans need, you know, these three things to happen in order to make the playoffs. We were talking about this last year, talking about the year before. You know, we'd won this game.

Last year was all about that Dolphins game and Matt Castle. And, you know, if they had gotten that spot, you know, I mean, it's all that different stuff, you know, and you wouldn't be worried about it. You'd be talking about winning Castle. If they had gotten that spot. I mean, it's all that different stuff. You wouldn't be worried about it. You'd be talking about winning the AFC South and all that stuff. This year, it's the Nick Williams drop in Buffalo. If they just win that game, everything is so much easier. They don't have to win these next three and all that.

So, I mean, it's just funny. It does a lot of times feel like it's Groundhog Day. But I don't think it's necessarily exclusive to us. I think we feel like it is. And I think the thing that is exclusive to us is the Titans, the extremes that they play in. You know, like one week they look like they're the worst team in the league, and then the next week they come out and, you know, shut down the Patriots.

I mean, I think the extremes the Titans play with are pretty unique to them. But this conversation about, you know, not really knowing what to expect week in and week out and needing these three or four things to happen in order to get in the playoffs, I don't think that's necessarily as exclusive to us as we feel like it is at times. It's just kind of a weird league. I feel like it didn't used to be like this, this any given Sunday type deal. I mean, you saw the Raiders knock off the Steelers. I know Ben was hurt for some of that game, but still, I mean,

it just seems like stuff like that happens. It just seems like the margin between the good teams and the bad teams isn't very big anymore. So super competitive league, I think that's where you see these Inconsistencies but you know going back to the Colts it that defense has impressed me You know, they gave up 21 points in Houston. That's a tough environment division game Deshaun Watson and in that Texans offense So I think you're seeing that Colts team really turn a corner defensively, you know We certainly saw it up in Indy 10 points and the Colts put a date on the Titans Hope you look and they've given up 21. They've given up six. They gave up 24 to the Dolphins

So that's turning into a pretty decent little unit there And honestly, it's a little scary because they're so young so you give andrew luck um you know a defense to work with they're starting to rebuild that offensive line uh frank reich seems like he he knows what's going on up there uh it's a little concerning to see the colts have this much progress in year one yeah absolutely let's uh let's finish up with a little bit of that just talking about the the colts and the texans and how's finish up with a little bit of that just talking about the the Colts and the Texans and how that kind of projects a little bit going forward um because

I think you made a lot of good points there and something that we can dive into a little bit a little bit more in this last segment all right so yeah look at the AFC South and then just kind of looking at because I mean obviously the Titans you know we we were sitting here you know just a couple weeks ago talking about the chances that they had and if they could run the table or if they could really act like a Patriots game. We're looking at the Colts and Texans in back-to-back weeks and thinking if they can get both of those, they're in really, really good shape. If they get one of them, they're still in pretty good shape.

Obviously, they go out and lose both and get beat pretty badly in both of those games. But like you said, the Colts are starting to look like a little bit of a scary team, especially because that was the thing we said all week going into that game was the Titans are going to be able to score points here. This defense is not that good. They haven't really played anybody. Even because they won, they were getting a bunch of points. But they really seem like they're coming

together now. Again, it just makes it all the more scary staring at that Week 17 game. Projecting forward, I think the Jaguars are going to be a little bit of a mess for a while now because

they've still got the quarterback thing. They've got cap issues now because they kind of you know went all in to try to get these couple years out of it um and you know so that they're gonna have to make quite a few moves there uh you know so we look at the teams we think have the quarterbacks and all that stuff you know we'll put marcus in that conversation but with the sean watson with the texans and obviously luck with the colts um i mean i don't know i can't decide i think like i was trying to just sit here thinking while you were talking which team am i more afraid of whether it be this year or over the next couple

of years between the colts and the texans and i mean the first instinct is the colts i think just so we have that you know battered fan syndrome when it comes to the colts and your luck and all that but titans haven't had any luck against Deshaun Watson and the Texans either. Deshaun Watson is 2-1 against the Titans. I think they got pretty fortunate to play the Texans early in the season in that first game when Deshaun Watson just wasn't all the way back from the ACL yet. But when you look at, just like you said, the young talent that the Colts have and then you know

Andrew Lux never really had a defense so you think about what that team is With him now they have a competent GM all that kind of stuff I think they're the team that probably scares me the most going forward. Yeah, and what you've got to consider with the Texans is You're not you don't have Will Fuller on the field right now. I mean, when they've got Fuller, that's a totally different team. That's a totally different dynamic. Then you throw Kiki into that mix. You've obviously got Hopkins. They've got just a slew of tight ends down there.

So I think Indy and Houston are obviously the two franchises that project forward the best. This offseason is going to be really interesting for John Robinson because he chose to not load up on offense this past offseason. I'm going to be interested to see if the league kind of says, you know, to hell with defense, let's load up on offense. So you're seeing what the Chiefs are doing. You're seeing what the Rams are doing. Why don't you just sell out and get a bunch of offensive playmakers, get some proven guys?

And, you know, you don't have to go spend big. Look at the Rams bringing in Robert Woods. A guy like that has really transformed that offense. The Rams bringing in Robert Woods, a guy like that, has really transformed that offense. So I'm interested to see how John Robinson attacks it because Marcus Mariota is clearly lacking in the weapons department. So that kind of sets the Titans behind the eight ball a little bit with the rest of the league and certainly already within the division. Yeah, that's the biggest thing, I think think when you look at what what those teams have um you know who's the titan cy hilton i mean we think

cory davis can be that um but we said we haven't seen it consistently for you know a variety of reasons but we talk about like deandre hopkins and like you said fuller i mean i don't know it's yeah I just I just think that they're gonna have to go over the top and I think it seems like John Robinson has been content with what he had trying to build up the roster and that kind of stuff but they're gonna have to make a couple of moves to get a couple of guys in here they can they can be dynamic on offense they can help Marcus Mariota out and all that stuff because you know again we talked about it all off all that stuff because, you know, again, we talked about it all offseason this year about how, you know, this being the year they were going to need to see for Marcus Mariota

and, you know, decide about a contract and all that kind of stuff. You know, as we sit here on December 9th, whatever it is, I mean, I don't know that we have that answer yet. And so, I mean, I think, you know, the prudent thing at this point would probably be to you know play that fifth year option out and kind of see how it goes but i think if you if you really want a definitive answer on mariota you've got to put guys around him like you were saying and that's what you got to do to keep in this league anyway and so you're kind of putting him behind the eight ball if you don't give him the weapons that some of these other guys have. So, I don't know. Yeah, it's going to be interesting.

And this division, I think now with these teams, with the Texans and the Colts and the Titans being where they are, I mean, I think this division is starting to get a little bit more respect than it was, especially the last couple of years. But even early on this year, you know, we thought this could be a really good division, but it didn't get a lot of respect around the league. I mean, I just assumed the Jaguars were going to win it. And then, you know, we've seen how all that's played out. So I think that you've got quite a few teams here that are set up to be good for a few years, and so it'll just be up to kind of the Titans to keep pace.

So anyway, that's all kind of long-term stuff, but just some thoughts that we're having as we're watching games today. But I think the best thing from today, you got the Colts beating the Texans to keep an outside shot at the AFC South alive. You've got the Ravens losing, which the Titans really needed to happen. So some good stuff that went on there. The Steelers lost, the Raiders, like Terry mentioned, and so kind of knocks them back into that.

The Ravens, Steelers, you could see, you know, that division's not locked up yet. So a lot's still going on, but, again, the most important thing for the Titans is going to be to win the games that are in front of them, and that starts with the Giants in New York on Sunday. We'll have a lot more, obviously, about that game coming up. So stay with us this week. Check us out at UCMiracles.com between now and then.

We'll recap the weekend. Mike's got a good playoff post already up there, so you can check that out to see what the Titans need to happen. So any of that stuff that you have questions about, you can get the answers to there. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb.

And again, subscribe to the podcast Locked on Titans. For Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening, and we'll talk to you again tomorrow.