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

Episode Date: December 19, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans and Locked on Redskins, I guess. We're doing a crossover edition. It is Wednesday, so we're previewing the upcoming weekend of NFL action. I am Terry, the co-host of Locked on Titans. Jimmy Morris has a day off. I am joined by Chris Russell of Locked on Redskins. Chris, thanks for joining us. Hey, Terry, how are you?

Happy holidays to you and your listeners and everybody in Titan land. Good to be with you on this crossover edition, man. Doing good, doing good. Looking forward to an interesting matchup. It's a team that Titans fans don't know a whole lot about. It's just a team that we don't see a whole lot of. And, you know, I've got to be honest. I looked at the standings, and maybe it's just a product of y'all playing in the same division as the Cowboys and Giants and Eagles.

But I had no idea that you were 7-7. Yeah, and it's so weird the way this season, quite honestly, Terry, has worked. At one point, the Redskins, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, were 6-3. And then Alex Smith snaps his leg, a compound fracture, as many know, and know the story of the complications and infections and all that. And then the Redskins, boom, lose four in a row. And they sign Reubenen foster and they have players going crazy in their locker room and it's just a debacle of epic proportions quite honestly

um you know for redskins nation around here in the washington dc capital area um you know and then they win uh last sunday against a team that obviously you are very familiar with in jacksonville jaguars and i'm sure tit Titans fans are like, yeah, duh, no kidding. We kind of go over them and cross them. Well, the Redskins didn't exactly do that. They had to do it come from behind fashion in the fourth quarter. But, yeah, here they are 7-7. And, you know, ironically enough, with everything that has gone on this year,

and I know it's been a lot crazier than it probably has been for you guys, they still have a chance not only at the playoff, but at the division if some things break right, and most notably starting with a win this Saturday in Nashville. Yeah, that's absolutely wild. They're still alive. Like I said, I had no idea, but clearly plenty of motivation. Change at quarterback.

Josh Johnson is now the starter. Tell us a little bit about how he's played since being inserted this starting lineup yeah josh has been great in in the five quarters that he's played now when i say great we start with not a good passer in terms of accuracy in terms of what you would consider your prototypical n, you know, upper shelf type quarterback. That's not what Josh Johnson is. But what Josh Johnson is, is a guy who can throw the shorter and more intermediate passes with some accuracy as he did consistently in Jacksonville.

And again, you know, even though they only scored three points in the first half and ultimately 16 overall in the game that's not all an indictment on Josh Johnson I mean there's other injuries on the offensive line and at wide receiver and no Jordan Reed at a tight end on top of that they also shoot themselves in the foot the Redskins uh for more than you know more than any other team in the NFL this year I can tell you that with offensive penalty after offensive penalty. So it's not all an indictment on how bad or good Josh Johnson was, but the guy's a scrapper.

He's a fighter, Terry. I don't want to use any overly cliché terms, but he didn't think he was ever going to play in the NFL again. He was the number one pick of the new AAF, which hasn't even started yet. Less than a week before, the Redskins called him up and said, Hey, big boy, come here, put down your Madden football, put down your charity basketball games, stop working out with your high school team in Oakland, and come and join us. And oh, by the way, we don't expect you to start because we have Mark Sanchez. But Mark Sanchez was so bad against the Giants there, Josh Johnson was, Terry,

three days after he signed, playing in the fourth quarter of a 40-0 blowout, and he led them on two touchdown drives. Okay, it is what it is. The Giants weren't playing that hard. We got it. But then he leads them to a win against Philly defense in the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road on Sunday so it's a bit it quite honestly I don't know how long it's going to last but it's been an amazing amazing story for a dude that hadn't completed a pass since 2011 before he got it in that fourth quarter

of the Giant blowout lost two weeks ago. It's an interesting story. And, you know, there's another one on that roster too, Adrian Peterson. You know, I kind of saw that signing in training camp and just kind of rolled my eyes. I mean, he's going to be there for a couple weeks and he'll get cut. No, he's stuck. And at times he's looked like the Adrian Peterson of old. Tell us about his kind of rejuvenated career in Washington. Yeah, so, you know, really interesting.

Not many people expected, including myself, to stick around. This is a guy that I've been advocating for the Redskins to pick up since he originally became a free agent after being let go by Minnesota, and the Redskins had no interest. And the Redskins said, no, no, no, we know more. We know more than you. We'll take these ham and eggers, these 9-to-5ers, and we're going to fit them in because that's the mentality in the NFL

that any running back will fit. You don't have to spend money. You don't have to have a big name. And some coaches, some schemes, some systems, that has worked, clearly. The bottom line is it didn't work. So they go out and they lose the guy they draft darius geis from lsu in the second round they lose him first preseason game torn acl he's obviously done here but even then they don't bring in adrian peterson they wait

another injury samaj ap ryan for a week and a half before bringing them in they bring them in they sign them right away because he says they don't break they said he didn't break a sweat during his workout look great bing bang boom he's playing three days later and i don't want to say it's been all downhill since then clear there's been some tough games there's been some moments and sunday was a perfect example he had like 20 rushing yards there before the final drive on that final drive he kicked everybody's ass quite honestly if we're being honest he shoved it right down a tired jacksonville jaguars defenses and they were on the field for plus minutes already entering that final drive of the redskins and jay gruden went back to adrian

peterson and that's the type of thing that he's brought leadership character which is weird to say being that he's had to off the field but he's brought leadership he's brought a savvy he's brought a example of how you can fight through some nagging and some tough injuries and keep your body going and keep your mind fresh he hasn't complained yet hasn't been a prima donna he hasn't been great great stud but he's been good enough for the most part and had some big big games and some big big moments where the redskins would be lost without adrian peterson titans are suddenly banged up in the secondary they lost logan ryan for the season uh kenny vaccaro suffered a

concussion his status is kind of up in the air uh redskins have some some pieces with some upside that probably haven't put it all together quite yet. Tell us who Josh Johnson is going to be throwing to on Saturday. So that's really the two guys where you kind of lack the big-time, at least nationally known stud at wide receiver. Paul Richardson was supposed to be that guy. He battled shoulder and knee injuries all year they finally shut him down midway through the age and acquisition and speedster from uh

seattle so you know now you're looking at josh dachshund so another josh who was a first round pick at a tcu a couple years ago but quite honestly terry if we're being he's far from a game breaker far from a dynamic difference maker he's supposed to be a lot better in the red zone he not really yeah he's not really whether it's him not being able to get separation then not get him or 50 50 balls it just hasn't worked out he's fine he's a possession receiver he's okay he'll make a couple of catches he'll probably have 40 or 50 yards, and that's it. And that's really, and quite honestly, you know, their number one outside guy, the guy that the Titans, I think, are going to have the most issues with in terms of controlling,

is Jamison Crowder, who's finally back healthy. Last couple of weeks, he's been able to play after missing seven games, I believe it was, in a row. He is the guy that you guys, from a receiving perspective, from a receiving perspective, often from the slot, is going to have the toughest matchup with because he can run any route and they clearly target him. And he's clearly a big part of the Redskins offense. And he's fast enough, while not being a speed demon,

that he certainly, if you're over aggressive and you bite on a double move or if you slip or for whatever reason if a safety is looking in the backfield off of a play action he can run past you for a deep post and they'll hit him uh and josh johnson's got a inaccurate arm for the most part but he's he's got a good enough arm to get it to him if Jamison Crowder can slip past a defender. Wanted to shift to the defensive side of the ball. Derrick Henry's been running wide the last two weeks, backed up a 200-yard game with

a 170-yard game. That's going to be the primary focus for the Washington front. How have they held up against the run this year and in recent weeks well in the last seven weeks they've been absolutely awful against the um i don't have updated numbers for you uh in this regard but they allowed 171 net rushing yards to the jaguars on sunday and only i want to say it was 46 of that was to Leonard Fournette, including a 25-yarder, so they allowed Cody Kessler to scramble on a bunch of big third downs and make some plays, a couple other guys.

So again, it was a big rushing day cumulatively for the Jaguars, but they only had less than 200 yards of offense, so the pass got them down. But specifically for the run run in the six games before last sunday's win and again five out of these six games were losses here they had allowed 4.99 yards per rushing attempt hopefully that's not a good thing when you're looking at what derrick henry is the last two years now they have to hope that they get the derrick henry quite honestly of the first 12 games not the last two games and clearly they're going to have to make sure that they're not tackling big boy around his shoulders

and around his chest and that they're going without the of the belt line and making sure that they're gang tackling and flowing to the football they did a better job much better job on sunday being more gap disciplineddisciplined, sound fundamentally, not missing as much to try and generate pass rush pressure. Some of that was because Jacksonville's offensive line stunk, so they didn't have to blitz as much, so that allowed them to be more gap-disciplined, which has been a major, major problem. So again, real quickly in summation, they were really good the first eight games of the year, and really, really bad the last seven, I should say the first eight games of the year really really bad the last seven i should

say the first seven games of the year they've been really bad the last you know overall seven games of the season so it's been a 50 50 mix they do have a lot of talent a couple of big old alabama first round picks and jonathan allen rain uh those guys have been pretty good for the most part against both the run uh and getting upfield and trying to get after the quarterback early on in their NFL career. All right, Chris, good stuff. When we come back from this break, I'll toss it to you for some questions on the Titans. Absolutely. Sounds good.

All right, we are back. Locked on Titans, locked on Redskins. Crossed over. Chris, fire away with your Titans questions. All right, Terry. So we were just kind of wrapping up before we get to Mariota and the rest of the Titans. We were just talking about Derrick Henry

and obviously what he's done the last two games. For those unaware, six touchdowns combined. We saw it really on Thursday night football against a good Jaguar defense. I don't know how much you can take from a giant defense, but still effective. And nevertheless, what have you seen in terms of the change for Derrick Henry? Has there been some aha moment, or is it just big physical back as teams are wearing down, finally hitting his stride? Well, I think there's something to that late-in-the-year thought.

The numbers for his career go up in December. That may be more of a product of the cold. You break out the run game in the winter. But overall, I think it's just his confidence. And I don't know what it took to get to this point, but early in the year, he just did not have it. Deion Lewis was the more effective back. It was not even close. He offered more in the year, he just did not have it. Deion Lewis was the more effective back. It was not even close.

He offered more in the pass game. He was a more dynamic runner. Then just out of nowhere, it flipped in Jacksonville. Someone got to him and pissed him off. I mean, that's the only way I can put it. You're talking about a guy that ran small, 3'3", 250 pounds, but he ran small. He would not lower his shoulder and run over people. He would rarely break out that stiff arm.

But Jacksonville came to town, and he was ready to roll. So all of his yards against Jacksonville came after contact. So we really haven't backed it up. And then we saw him back it up in New York. So maybe he has turned the corner. Whatever they did to motivate him, you know, there was legitimate trade rumors going around on him. There was legitimate speculation that he could flip him for a receiver.

So I'm not sure. But whatever it was, it was much needed. Hopefully it will continue. And like you were saying with the redskins struggling to stop the run that's probably a bad formula for a win in national yeah you mentioned lewis and mostly free agent acquisition who yeah again derrick henry is going to be the number one x factor for both sides in terms of whether he can you know keep this hot streak going with the titans to win

and whether the redskins who else do the redskins uh because i mentioned you know a similar type non-descript receiver group i know delaney walker uh you know has missed the year a tight end who else would you say redskins fans really have to worry about um besides again derrick henry of course marcus mariotta who will get to it has had some some big games the passing game as a whole has just kind of been down They really haven't used to pass the game the past two weeks, but the guy that can really break a game open has been day one Taylor he's some down the field ability. He's hard to keep up with down the field. So if you start getting Derek Henry rolling All of a sudden they're going to throw play action at you and go over the top with Taewon Taylor.

So those safeties have to stay alert. They've really started attacking that since Taylor came back from injury. So that's definitely my eye on. Outside of that, there's just not a lot there. Marcus Mariota has pretty much nothing to work with this year outside of Davis and Taylor, who are nice players but haven't really shown the consistency quite yet. So Marcus Mariota, really his numbers are down.

I think he's still playing at a pretty high level, but he's had an inconsistent offensive line protecting him. So I'm not too concerned about numbers. maybe marcus mariotta using his feet is another x factor but really it's just as simple as they're going to pound derrick henry uh and until that doesn't work you know that's what they're going to do all right terry so you just mentioned marcus mariotta there so i guess we'll go there next that you think he's playing at a pretty high level uh the question i have for you is, what is he doing well, in your opinion, that he can control?

Obviously, he doesn't have control over lack of talent on him. He doesn't have control over offensive line issues. To some degree, he does in terms of avoiding sacks or hits. But what is he doing well that makes you say, hey, this guy's still playing well besides pedestrian numbers and the struggles of the passing offense in general? I think he attacks the middle of the field really well. You see that next-level stuff.

You see him looking off linebackers and safeties. It's something he's done since his rookie year. He's getting better down the field as a player. He'll have his misses or two. He's been a really good quarterback when he's been healthy that's been the problem though So when you evaluate him this year, you've got to take into account the week one nerve injury in his elbow He was forced to come back early at Gabbert got knocked out of the Jacksonville game So he was playing without feeling in two of his throwing fingers.

So, and that lingered on for a month afterwards. So you don't really know when exactly he got right. You don't really know how it was affecting him. But you saw him get into a groove in the middle of the season. But the drops, just the talent around him just was not there. Titans should have beat Buffalo. Marcus started through a game-winning touchdown pass, and it was dropped by a coach that was wide open who was cut the very next day.

So just a whole bunch of stuff working against him. This is his third coaching staff. It's like his fourth offensive coordinator. It's just ridiculous. Let me jump in on you there if you don't mind how is how has he transitioned and worked with matt lafleur because i was mentioning to you off the air before we began recording this you know i covered matt when he was you know just a young up and coming quarterbacks coach with robert griffin and kyle and mike shanahan you know, Matt has learned from some of the best. He was with Sean McVay.

You know, and now he's running the show for Mike Grable in Tennessee. How is that relationship, and how do you think he's developed as a play caller? It's been, I'll be honest, you know, coming over from the Rams, we just thought, oh, we're going to have this big 21st century offense, and we're going to beat the Rams, and it's gonna we're gonna be the Rams and it's all gonna be great Didn't happen And you know, we had people Rams people tell us it's gonna take some weeks to get the groove and we understand that to a certain extent

But I think the offense has been stunted by some some injuries. You mentioned Delaney Walker early Rashard Matthews left the team. That's a big deal because he's the Titans' number two receiver. So just all kinds of curveballs coming at Marcus Mariota and the Titans' new coaching staff there. So they've really been through it all. I think it's probably unfair to really give a grade on a Fleur to this point. I think you're starting to see him hit his groove, though.

Derrick Henry's finally stepped up. The offensive line has finally stepped up. You're starting to see some sort of identity. So I think you're going to continue to see Marcus Mario to go as a play-action passer, especially as Derrick Henry continues to roll. On the flip side, on defense, just so we don't go too long here, I know losing Logan Ryan is obviously a significant blow. I know from a Redskins first-round pick, Ryan Arakpo was hurt

and don't know moving forward, so maybe you can touch on that. But on defense, it really probably starts with Mike Grable's defensive line, right, in terms of the strength of this football team, or does the strength lie elsewhere? I think the strength is in the linebackers. Okay. Up front, they're okay. You know, they've got Jarrell Casey, who is an outstanding player.

But outside of that, they're just okay. Jayon Brown, Wesley Woodyard are great. You know, Rashawn Evans is coming on. He missed all of the Titans' first-round pick. He's become an impact playmaker. They get a lot of action out of that linebacker core. They blitz because they're not able to really rush the passer off the edges. Brian Arakpo is dinged up right now,

but unfortunately, the years that he has done, just not made that big of an impact this year. So the Titans have been forced to go elsewhere and really bring pressure in the middle on passing downs. So I think the strength is in the linebacking core. Titans had a decent secondary before Logan Ryan went down, and it's going to be interesting to see how that group responds. You've got Malcolm Butler who's bounced back at a brutal start to the year. You're going to insert

LaShawn Sims into that lineup. Dory Jackson might get some more run. This is kind of an unknown for us going into this one. You mentioned Butler. You think he's certainly made the progress. Maybe he couldn't have been at the beginning of the season. How do you think he's certainly made the progress? I mean, maybe he couldn't have been at the beginning of the season. How do you think they kind of evaluate him? And, again, would that be a guy that, even though he's had some big, big moments, as big of a moment as you can possibly get, that if you're the Redskins

and you're trying to team a passing attack, would you try and go after Malcolm Butler, or would you just try to avoid him being that, again, he does have some ball hawk-type tendencies? I think he's definitely attackable. He gave up a deep ball in, I believe it was five of the first six games. So he's a guy that can really be attacked down the field. For whatever reason, he just ends up being a step behind down the field. Adoy Jackson has had success this year.

They've kind of started letting him shadow, but he's certainly had his down moments. T.Y. Hilton really got after him in Indianapolis. And then LaShawn Sims, he's the new guy. He's pretty active. He's a big corner. He can get physical with you, though. So, again, that's the unknown.

We don't know how this rotation is going to go. But if I'm the Redskins, I'm still finding Malcolm Butler. I'm still probably going to test him deep a few times. Yeah, and last thing for me, for you at least, and then I'll turn it over to wrap us up here. My guy Will Compton, who I got to be pretty close to, I know he's made a little bit of an impact on special teams. How has he kind of fit in for Redskins fans that remember Will as a good leader

and certainly an inside linebacker with some deficiencies but also somebody who can contribute on specials? linebacker with some deficiencies, but also somebody who can contribute on specials. Yeah, he was an important player for the Titans in the early weeks. Like I said, Rashawn Evans missed all of training camp. Unfortunately for him, come on, you know, Compton's kind of come off. But he's fit into the Titans culture really well. You know, Taylor LeJuan is such a personality.

Will Compton kind of shares that personality. So he's been a presence in the locker room, and the Titans fans seem to love him. Yeah, absolutely. Good character guy, and like I said, can help out on special teams. Yeah, so I will come on back here on this crossover edition of the Locked on Titans and

Locked on Redskins podcast with some game predictions, right? That's right. All right. Sounds good. We will take a quick timeout, our final timeout, and be back with Terry and my predictions here on Crossover Wednesday. Locked on Titans, Locked on Redskins. Good to have you with us.

All right. We are back. All right. It's time to kind of lay it out on the line here. What do you think is going to happen on Saturday in Nashville? Yeah, short week for the Redskins, short week for the Titans, but the Titans don't have to tear. They're obviously at home.

They're the better football team. I don't think anybody would dispute that. I disagree with the, I believe that last check, it was a 10 and a hook on the point spread. I'm not a big point spread guy, but I do think that's a little bit of an insult, quite honestly, to the Washington Redskins if they're shooting straight here. However, I do think the Titans are the better team. I do think Josh Johnson, not that he'll come back down to earth.

I think he is what he is, but I don't know if he'll have quite the success taking off, running, improvising, making some plays late as he did through the passing game that the Redskins quite honestly got against. Yes, a very good defense at Jacksonville. So I think the Titans win. I think it's a close one. I don't think either offense here, as we know, is really explosive. And I have have to believe even though the redskins have really really struggled to shut down the run uh i have to believe they'll at least reasonably keep derrick henry under control the question will be do they let a big one and this is my from a redskins perspective a big one that you're not expecting get behind them and cost them the game yeah it's interesting from a Titans perspective because this is the first time that I've had confidence in this team

really since they beat the Patriots. And, you know, they beat the Patriots and they come back and get blown out by the Colts and Texans. So I'm a little scared of this confidence, honestly, because, you know, they were in a similar situation with the Jets a couple weeks ago and let the Jets get out to a 16-0 lead. They were lucky to come back and win that game. I could certainly see a scenario like that playing out.

I just think this team has found something with Derrick Henry. I think they're going to ride him. I think Washington is going to struggle to consistently keep him at bay. I think it's just going to be kind of, but I can see the Titans sort of getting control late into the third quarter, early into the fourth quarter. So we both have the Titans. I'll just jump in here.

I'm going to go 20-13 Tennessee as my final score prediction. Again, I think the Redskins will cover the number, whatever it turns out to be. Again, at last check, it was about 10 and a hook. But I think the Titans can get to right around that 20 mark against this Redskins defense. And don't forget about the fact they allowed a punt return for a touchdown last week. It's normally been a good unit. So I see the Titans winning, you know, about a touchdown game, maybe a little bit less. Yeah, I'll go something like uh i'll go 16 10 i think this titans defense is playing pretty well it's going to be a pretty stout test for josh johnson all right so you have a lower scoring

game than me i don't think anybody should be expecting one of these 35 31 back but you know that would put obviously really really good positioning for an AFC playoff berth, of course, as they try and get back there for a second year in a row after beating Alex Smith, now the Redskins quarterback, who, of course, is injured in Kansas City last year ahead. You know, again, I don't want to say it's a Christmas miracle, but it would be kind of a Christmas miracle magic carpet ride and great story if Josh Johnson and the Redskins somehow, some way, could find a way to win this game in Smashville.

But I just don't think it's going to happen. Absolutely. Well, Chris, thanks for the good stuff. Good luck to the Redskins the rest of the way. Absolutely, man. Great to catch up with you and your listeners on the Long Titans podcast. Happy holidays, everybody. And, you know, look forward to watching this game on Saturday.

I hope everybody has a good holiday season. Yeah, we'll be back tomorrow with our Redskins preview. You know, check out Locked on Redskins a couple more times before the game on Saturday. I'm sure Chris will have some more stuff up before then. So as always, thanks for joining us. We'll catch you tomorrow.