Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Crossover episode with Locked on Chargers

Episode Date: October 17, 2018

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What is going on everybody? This is David Droegemeier from the Locked On Chargers podcast. I'm joined with my co-host John, and of course you know it's Crossover Wednesday. So that means we are here with the host of the Locked On Titans podcast, or one of the hosts of the Locked On Titans podcast, Terry. Terry, how's it going today, man? Doing pretty good, guys. Glad we could make this happen. Hey, honestly, this is one of the funner shows of the week for me. I know John kind of feels the same, just because we get to, you know, get the perspective of the opposing hosts and, you know, see what their fans are kind of thinking like. Yeah, it's always fun. We've really enjoyed

doing it this year. It just brings a lot of new information to the table. So always good to get this done on Wednesdays. Yeah, no question. So with this show, we're going to go over the Titans in depth, just go over that team with Terry, and then we're going to get into the Chargers side, and then we're going to wrap things up with just our final thoughts and predictions

on the game. So, John, Chargers coming off a pretty good victory. They won three in a row, and they got the Titans in London. So, just what are you thinking about this game? I'm looking for the Chargers to extend their dominance over the Titans the past, what is it, 26 years? We're winning 10 of the last 11, with that one loss being a last-second touchdown by Jake Locker. I'm looking for them to continue that dominance.

Yeah, I guess we'll definitely have to see, but, I mean, the track record does speak for itself. Terry, before we get into your team, just your initial thoughts of this game going into Sunday. Well, like John said, the Titans just don't beat the Chargers. We saw you guys on the schedule once again, and we just chalked it up to another loss. For whatever reason, this team has the Titans numbers. So there's been some close ones that have come down the wire, and there's been some blowouts.

So it's kind of funny the one win in the series of recent note came with Jake Locker and Justin Hunter. That's just a really sad statement. So, you know, I don't have much confidence considering how the Titans are playing right now. Just no offense, which I'm sure we're going to get into more. But no offense and a hot Chargers team that seems like they figured it out. So not a lot of confidence on our side. Okay, so let's go ahead and get into it.

So, you know, we're going to get into the Titans. So, hey, they're 3-3 in the year. Somehow they're in first place in their division. You know, their division's pretty weak, obviously. But they've been, you know, coming off of a really rough game here against the Ravens where they got sacked 11 times, Terry. Yeah, it was just a dumpster fire of a weekend. And that followed just a terrible showing up in Buffalo.

The Bills beat them. And that followed beating the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles. So nobody knows who the Titans are right now. We're leaning towards saying they're just a really bad offensive team with a pretty good defense. So there's a lot of holes there. They don't have a consistent playmaker outside of Corey Davis on this team. They've got Tajay Sharp and Taewon Taylor,

who just haven't been very good for Marcus Mariota yet. Mariota himself is dealing with an injury. It's a nerve injury in his elbow that's causing him to lose feeling in his fingers. So he can't really grip the football. So if you see him looking unnatural on Sunday throwing the ball, that's probably why. He's playing with this glove, and you're not getting much information out of the coaching staff as to how hurt he really is. So keep that in mind.

The offensive line has been terrible. There's no run game. Derrick Henry hasn't been good. Dion Lewis hasn't been good. So the Titans are getting blown off the football on the offensive side of the line. So a lot of issues there for a first-year offensive coordinator, Matt LaFleur. And not a lot of answers out there. I don't know what to tell them to change.

I don't know. There's just not a lot of answers right now. Unfortunately, it seems like it's a personnel issue. So it's just unfortunate because I think they're going to waste what's going to be a pretty good defensive unit. So, John, I'm going to spin it over to you since you're kind of the stats guy here. He said the offense was kind of struggling so far this year. You have some better stats to clearly define that, yeah?

I do. I tend to look on NFL.com and go to the actual Titans little stats page that they have on there, and it has rankings for you, and I always look at that for every opponent. And if you look at their rankings, points per game, 14.5 is 30th in the league. Yards gained per game, 262.7, 30th. Passing yards, 164.2, 30th in the league yards gain per game 262.7 30th passing yards 164.2 30th rushing yards 98.5 22nd it's it's pretty sad because they have some talent on that offense but yet it doesn't get going i'm actually shocked because i thought the titans were going to be a pretty dangerous team. And then to see them struggle like this is pretty surprising. Yeah, and I'll just add on to that.

They played Blaine Gabbert. Margarita got hurt week one. So they started Blaine Gabbert against Houston and just did not even try to throw the ball. I think Blaine threw for like 90 yards. And then Margarita came back a week early against Jacksonville because Blaine Gabbert got knocked out with a concussion. So you're really down two games there.

That's why the stats look so terrible. But there's no excuse for the last two weeks. I know Baltimore has a good defense. Buffalo is not terrible defensively. But there's no excuse for the lack of production the last two weeks. So it's been frustrating because we know this offense that beat the Eagles up down the field, we know it's there. It's in there somewhere. What happened to it? So it may have just been the Eagles secondary is just that bad. So a lot of questions without a lot of answers

right now. It kind of surprised me too though that you guys have so many injuries because as a charger fan we struggled with that the past few years and you've lost guys like delaney walker you mentioned marcus mariotta getting hurt even your left guard uh quentin spain's been dealing with some injuries and even on the defensive side there's injuries like the injury bug is really getting you guys this year. Yeah. Jack Conklin, the all-pro right tackle, was hurt to start the year. He missed the first three games, I believe. Taylor LeJuan missed two games.

You mentioned Delaney Walker, who was just a massive part of this offense. And then you flip the script, you look at the defensive side, Wesley Woodyard is starting inside linebacker, has been down. Kenny Vaccaro is going to miss a month. Now Derek Morgan is going to miss time. So injuries not doing him any favors at all. Yeah, no, I mean, that's got to be tough. But as John mentioned,

we know a little bit of something about that with the Chargers. You know, we already lost Hunter Henry to an ACL tear really early in the year. We lost Jason Verrett to a ruptured Achilles really, really early before the season even got started. That's something that we are very familiar with, unfortunately. But hey, as bad as the Titans' offense has been, their defense has been very, very, very good so far this year. So let's go ahead and jump into the defense, Terry. Who are the playmakers and who do the Chargers need to be wary of come Sunday? Obviously, Kevin Byard.

He's really come into his own as a safety. He's kind of the guy that the Titans look to when they need to play. Had an interception last week. So he's going to be Roman center field for the Titans. I'll point out Harold Landry, who's going to get a bunch of time, a rookie taking the second round from Boston College. He's looked really good in the limited time that we've seen him.

Got a lot of bend, got a lot of burst off the edge, so he'll probably be a problem for the Chargers offensive line. Hopefully Wesley Woodyard is going to be back. We didn't realize how big of a piece he was until he wasn't there anymore. Just a guy that the Titans need in the middle of the field to sustain coverage. On the flip side of all that, I'll point out Malcolm Butler has been awful starting at corner for the Titans. The Titans gave him $65 million, and he has not repaid them.

He's actually been one of the worst, if not the worst, corner in football this year. So if you're looking for a weak point, teams really target Malcolm Butler. Michael Crabtree tore him up last week in the rain. He's given up three deep balls to Kenny Stills and Jordan Matthews and guys like that. It doesn't matter who's lining up across from him. He's really struggled. I'm looking for guys, for all of those Chargers receivers to really have a nice day on Sunday.

John, I mean, what are you thinking about that? Pretty good knowledge there. Well, I'm not surprised that Malcolm Butler is struggling. Most Patriot players that were no-names, that go to the Patriots and make a name, end up becoming no names again because Belichick just knows how to use those players and once they go to another team they don't have that stat status anymore they don't have that game plan circling around them that makes them fit really well they just go so and they go oh you're really good here here's money

and then it comes out oh man you got to make a new scheme for me. Nope, not happening, bye. But guys on this roster that I'm worried about are guys he's mentioned, like Landry. He's maybe a second-round pick, but I thought he would have been first-round talent, in my opinion. There's also guys like Rashad Evans that were also, like, the first-round picks for the Titans. But Kevin Beard, oh, my God. Evans that were also like the first round picks for the Titans but Kevin

Beard oh my god this guy is all over the field I like to compare him to German James a little bit because he's literally all over the field and every time I think of the Titans I think of him I don't think of Mariota or Delaney Walker I think of him and this defense is all over the place this defense could be even better. Like if you look at their rankings right now, they give up only 17.8 points a game, which is third, 337 yards, which is eighth, 217 passing yards, which is fifth.

The worst thing they do is give up rushing yards, which is 123.2 a game. They could have even better stats if they had an offense. Yeah, and that rushing yard stat, I should point out, I don't think the Titans are very good against the run. They kind of clamped down on Baltimore last week because it was pouring throughout the second half of that game. So I don't – outside of Jarrell Casey, they don't have any true difference makers up front on the line.

They've got some decent pieces, Daquan Jones and Austin Johnson, guys like that, but no real difference makers. So Jarrell Casey is a guy, kind of a short, squatty guy that's going to dart around, and he's pretty agile, and he can shoot some gaps. But outside of that, you've got Rashawn Evans, the linebacker who's coming along. He missed all of

training camp. So he's just now kind of coming into his own. He's been forcing the action with this Wesley Woodyard injury here. Titans run defense can be beat for sure. That's pretty worrisome with Melvin Gordon coming. And Austin

Eckler. Don't forget Austin Eckler. Number one ranked running back in pro football focus. Yep, the diminutive running back from Western State in Colorado. Pretty crazy that he is the number one rated running back by pro football focus, but it's true.

It is damn true. So, that pretty much wraps up the Titans. We're going to go ahead and get into the Chargers next. You know, ever since I started this podcast, people have been asking me for advice. Usually it's what team to bet for this week. The truth is, I don't know who's going to win, but if you think, you know, you got to check out my bookie. Like for example, this week, the chargers are six and a half point favorites over the Titans. And I am leaning towards definitely taking those odds. So remember who you're betting on is just as important as who you're betting with. That's

why I always tell people to bet with my bookie. Trust me guys. They're your best bet this season. They've been in business for years, have great reviews online, and their mobile site is easy to use. Lay down some cash and win big today. I would only recommend a service to my listeners that's been good to me. That's why I'm urging you to make your way to MyBookie. You win, they pay. They have in-game live betting, the most rewarding player perks in the business, and for you fantasy guys out there, you can even bet the over-under on how many fantasy points a player will score each game.

Join now, and MyBookie will match your deposit dollar for dollar. Use promo code LOCKEDON to get this offer. Visit MyBookie online today. That's M-Y-B-O-O-K-I-E. And don't forget to use the promo code LOCKEDON when creating your account to claim the bonus. You play, you win, you get paid. Alright, so we went over the Titans and now it's time to get into the Chargers. John, the Chargers offense has been one of the best in the league so far this year,

and I think they really put it all together, well, for the most part last week. The running game was very impressive. The running game was amazing. I was actually pretty shocked that it was as smooth as it was. I was actually expecting the Browns' defense to make it a little bit hard for us to run the ball and make it really easy for us to pass the ball, but it was a little bit on the opposite side. We had to get Tyrell Williams to get some of the most amazing catches of the year just to get the passing game going outside of

Keenan Allen but the running game went for big game like even on the first play right up the middle already got a big game you could just tell right away this is going to be a good day yeah no doubt about it so uh Terry uh you know I kind of ran the the you know the Titan segment asking you questions. I'm going to go ahead and flip it over to you to ask us some questions and get some info on the Chargers. Yeah, a hot start for the Chargers. I wanted to put it to you guys just as kind of a general question.

What's different about this team? What makes them different from the same old Chargers that seem to finish 8-8, 9-7, and just miss the playoffs every year? What's different about this team? So I'll go ahead and go first. For me, it's the coaching. I mean, I think before they had Malibu Mike, who was always laid back and very vanilla, you know,

both in personality and coaching style. And, you know, now you've got a man in there, you know, by the name of Anthony, who just kind of demands respect. He's a Super Bowl winner, former player, running back, running back's coach in the league for a long time. Just a guy who has a presence. The Chargers caught fire last year, winning nine of their last 12. They finally got a leader to bring some discipline to this team,

and I think that really has paid dividends so far. Well, to touch on that, you also have a coach who's not trying to be the player's friend. He's trying to be the father figure, if you will, of the team. He's going to put you in your place when you need it. He's going to support you, but he's also going to be on your ass. He's not going to sit there and try to be like, man, it's okay. We'll just go catch a beer after the game. We're getting paid. No, he's going to sit there and he's going to be on you, discipline you, and that's what players appreciate because at the end of the

day, they're going to go, man, I'm so glad coach got on my ass about that because I would have looked so stupid. I'd probably be getting cut right now. Players appreciate that. Yeah, so I wanted to dive into this passing game a little bit. That's kind of, you know, I talked about Malcolm Butler. This rotation of receivers is pretty stout. Tyrell Williams, you know, you've got Keenan Allen working out of the slot. out. Tyrell Williams,

you got Keenan Allen working out of the slot. Then you got Mike Williams who Titans fans know well from that draft class. For the Titans, it was either Mike Williams or Corey Davis. Specifically, how has Williams come along in his NFL development?

Well, I mean, so far this year, he's done very well. Last year, he was hurt you know he missed all of training camp missed you know several games uh during the season as well and just was never right you know he was dealing with a back injury that really limited his ability to be who he was he couldn't jump he couldn't contort his body like he is supposed to and by mike williams is a big physical receiver and he kind of you know he go his main gifts are you know to go up and jump up and high point of football and be physical at the catch point and get some yards yards after catch because

you know he's just a big bodies he's hard to bring down uh and you know this year he's been able to actually showcase that a little bit john John, he's already scored three touchdowns. Yeah, but he's been really quiet the past few games. I think he's had two catches over the past two games. He hasn't really been as productive as he was to start the year, where he was on absolute fire. He was running great routes. He was beating players deep.

He even beat Marcus marcus peters deep on a touchdown and i don't think there's many wide receivers you can say they've done that especially when he's philip rivers is kryptonite and yet he beat that guy deep caught a ball while getting tackled for a touchdown my thing is last few games he's been pretty slow. He hasn't had many catches. He hasn't been getting open. I don't know if it's because defenses are keying in on him, but if they're keying in on him, why is Keenan Allen getting open when Keenan's the better receiver?

Yeah, well, I mean, Keenan's getoff is ridiculous, so I think that has a lot to do with it. But I think, Terry, just to finish up the question, Mike Williams has shown potential but hasn't quite put it all together yet. Okay, yeah, that's kind of where I was going with that. Looking at defense here, the Titans faced a couple of really good corners for the Ravens. Corey Davis couldn't separate.

Taewon Taylor couldn't separate. They had a lot of issues there in the passing game. Tell me a little bit about Casey Hayward, Trevor Williams, top two corners for the Chargers. Well, John, I mean, I think Casey Hayward's been pretty good so far this year. After a slow start, he's starting to pick it up quite a bit. Trevor Williams, I don't know. He's kind of been inconsistent to me.

What are your thoughts? Trevor, I think, has had one bad game this year. The rest of them have been pretty good. I mean, we weren't expecting Trevor to ever even be what he is. We were expecting him to be that, like, fourth, fifth string guy, kind of like what Craig Mager was for us. And he showed up last year tremendously. And now we're like, oh, we could be having Casey Hayward with Jason Verrett

and Desmond King, and then Trevor Williams could fill in for any of those guys if they need a rest or if they get hurt. And then Jason Verrett went out, and we still had Hayward, King, and Williams, and we didn't even bat an eye. We were like, we are good. We got this. Hayward has been phenomenal this year. Desmond King's been really good, especially the last game with two interceptions.

And he's been a punt return phenom the past few games, too. But Trevor Williams has had one bad game this year, and no one even probably would know who he is. If you were to go up to somebody randomly, some Bengals fan on the street and go, what do you think about Trevor Williams? He'd be like, who's that guy? I'm sure that you're probably correct on that. But one guy I wanted to emphasize was Desmond King. Desmond King came off a phenomenal game.

As John mentioned, two interceptions. The guy plays in the slot, Terry. So that's a cornerback that the Titans fans should be wary of come Sunday. We talked about the Titans' standout safety. The Chargers have one of their own now. Derwin James somehow fell to you guys in the draft. I'll never know how.

Just take me through that. How he's being used here and what he's done so far. Derwin James has been a Swiss Army knife. He's been used all over the football field. You couldn't have been more right. When he fell to 17 all of us were just astounded because we all universally thought that this guy was a top five talent overall and he just kept falling and falling and then we got to the

raiders we're like oh they're definitely gonna to take him. Nope, they didn't. They went with Colton Miller. And then we're like, oh, wow. How did this happen? And all-star, all-pro caliber safety falls into our laps. And Tom Telesco had to be skipping up to the podium, John, because he's been phenomenal and a potential defensive rookie of the year candidate. He has been that guy that is getting pass rush, but is also stopping the deep ball. I don't know many safeties that you could say that about.

Someone that's actually quick off the line is getting sacked, but then if you've got some guy that's really fast going deep, he's catching up to him and keeping speed with him. He's doing everything. It's kind of like what we had for Adrian Phillips last year. When we took Adrian Phillips and we put him in as a hybrid linebacker slash safety, he was the thing that started helping our run defense. And now Dermot James is here, and we're like, run defense?

What run defense troubles? We were coming here like, what's the run defense going to be like? We're going to be screwed. We're going to get ran all over by kareem hunt we've been really well besides the rams game we've shut down the run after being one of the worst last year i think a lot of that is derwin james that leads me right into my next question just looking at this front seven you know no joey bosa but of that, it just kind of looks middle of the road. Expand on that run game defense so far this year and just overall your thoughts on this front seven.

So it's underrated for sure. I mean, you say middle of the road, but they have done a really, really good job of keeping some really, really prolific rushing offenses like the 49ers and, you know, last week against that. I can't remember the damn team. I'm sorry. The Raiders? Yeah, and last week against the Browns.

I'm sorry. Yeah, and last week against the Browns and, you know, the Raiders? Yeah, and last week against the Browns. I'm sorry. Yeah, and last week against the Browns. And, you know, the Raiders as well kept them all to 110 or so rushing yards or under. And it's just contributions from guys like Darius Phylon, Damian Square, Brandon Meebane in the middle. You know, now they got Corey Legit back back and he's you know providing some depth on the rotation uh honestly it's not not been anyone in particular it's just been a really very much a collective effort john would you agree i would also like to add in that it's also been more schemes being used without boza being in there the defensive coordinators and the defensive line

coaches and all those guys have actually switched some stuff around a little bit to try to get those guys effective because if boza's there it's really just okay boza ingram you rush you two guys in the middle whoever you're going to be whether it's phylon square whoever you just make sure the quarterback doesn't take off up the middle. That's it. Now it's like, okay, without Boza, what do we do? We don't have that effect. And they've created a good scheme,

and now these guys have become even better for it. So in a way, you could say Joey Boza being gone was a blessing in disguise to helping create depth on the D-line, because if Boza comes back and we happen to go to the playoffs, you have depth at D-line now, and we're 11th in the league right now with Lallin only 96 yards rushing a game. I know David and I are like, what, only 96 yards? Last year we were giving up like 130 or something a game, but we've only given up 96 with a bunch of no-name defensive linemen, David.

Yeah, no, I mean, that's why I said, Terry, I mean, it really has been just a collective effort from everyone on that D-line. All right, good stuff, guys. Well, coming up after this break, we will come back and get some predictions. We all love a night out, whether it's seeing our favorite band in person or being there in the crowd to cheer on our favorite team. With Vivid Seats, you can attend the concert, show, or sporting event of your choice at a great price. Vivid Seats is the top source for tickets for all the live events you want to go to.

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All right, so we're back. And, hey, we went over the Titans. We went over the Chargers. And now it's time to get into predictions. So, Terry, I know you said you didn't really feel too confident going into this game given the track record of previous matchups and just the inconsistency of the Titans so far this season. So, what are your final thoughts on this game

and what do you think the end result is going to be? Yeah, I think we've got too much offense on one side, not enough offense on the other. Maybe the trip to London does something weird to the Chargers. Maybe they don't react, they don't handle it very well. I just don't see the Titans being able to score enough points. I know the NFL changes in a hurry. What happened last week was not necessarily true the next week.

I just can't see the Titans getting this job done. But I'm going to go Chargers 27, Titans about 16. Okay, yeah, that's interesting. But, yeah, no, I mean, I tend to agree. I just think it's going to be a tough one. But I'll give you my prediction after John. John, you know, just going over all the things we touched on with Terria about their offense and defense, what are your final thoughts for this one,

and how do you think it's going to shake out? Man, I am, like, all over the map with my prediction right now because I've got things like the Chargers are 4-2 right now. 2006, they started 4-2, and they had the same exact schedule. And that year, they beat the Titans 40-7. But at the same time, the Chargers are going to charge and usually keep their opponents close, which I'm surprised they didn't do it against the Browns.

I'm all over the place. I'm definitely going to say the Chargers are going to win this game, but as far as score, I mean, I'm going to have to go 34-14 Chargers. Yeah, no, I kind of, you know, I'm leaning more towards that score as well. Not exactly, but I just think just looking at this matchup, you know, the Titans are going to be, you know, they're very injured. They're beat up. Marcus Mariota is hurt.

He got abused a lot by the Ravens in the last game, and unfortunately they just don't have very much on the offensive side at the moment. The defense is great, but the Chargers have a fantastic running game, and the Titans' weakness is their run defense. So don't be surprised if you see a very heavy dose of Melvin Gordon and Austin Eckler in this one and just kind of wear the Titans out. So I think the Titans will put up a fight in the first half, but I think overall the

Chargers are going to just wear them out in the second half half and the final score is going to be about 38-17. Yeah, I think all of that is valid. I think you all are fine in saying that. Just like I said, that quarterback in there that beat the Eagles, he's in there somewhere. You just never know when he's going to pop back out. So we'll see. Maybe a trip to London is just what the doctor ordered,

but I'm not getting my hopes up. Hey, David, I got a question for you. Yes, sir. Do you remember what happened the last time the Chargers went to London? I actually don't. That's a great question. Please fill me in. The Chargers lost a shootout to the Saints in 2008, 37-32,

when Breeze and Rivers were going back and forth. LT was just breaking runs, but we just couldn't come ahead. That game has been haunting me ever since someone said, oh, hey, Chargers are going to London. I was like, oh, please tell me our defense actually shows up this time. Don't leave the defense in Cleveland. Yeah, that's a good tidbit. But, hey, Terry, where can everybody find your podcast

and just kind of give them some information on that? Yeah, we're Locked on Titans. You can find us anywhere you get your podcast. We write for MusicC musiccitymiracles.com which is part of the SB Nation umbrella so lots of good stuff over there we'll have coverage from a Titans perspective

if you're looking to read that kind of stuff all week awesome so hey for the Titans fans you can find us or and of course the Charger fans you can find us on Twitter at LockedOnLAC you can subscribe us, and of course the Charger fans, you can find us on Twitter at LockedOnLAC. You can subscribe to our show on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify,

wherever you want to get your shows, just LockedOnChargers. And of course we've got our Facebook page, LockedOnChargers, and our group, LockedOnChargers. So Terry, I want to thank you so much for joining us, and good luck to the Titans after Sunday. Yeah, guys. Good stuff.