Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Dec.20- Four Downs For Tuesday

Episode Date: December 20, 2016

Four Downs For Tuesday. #BHop #TerryMc #GregA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. You are Locked on Titans, your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. And welcome to Locked on Titans, your daily source for all Titans news and information with your host, Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titans all-pro left tackle Brad Hopkins. It's Tuesday, Terry McCormick, which means just you and I, but certainly as always on Tuesdays, a lot to get to with our four downs that we do. And I think we've got some interesting stuff for the listeners today.

But first, we start with current news. And on the injury front, in that current news, not good news for the Titans and Carl Klug, who is now done for the season. Yeah, it's pretty, you know, sad for Carl Klug. He's the guy who's put in six years here, been through a lot of the bad times the Titans have gone through, and now that things are beginning to look up, he unfortunately suffered an Achilles injury. He had strained it the week before against the Broncos,

seemingly had made it through that, but then suffered a tear of the Achilles in Sunday's win over Kansas City and certainly going to have surgery surgery and his season is done. And you mentioned it, of course, six years, been through the bad times, and a really good guy. You obviously hate to see anyone get hurt playing this game that they love and we enjoy watching. But especially a guy like that, that just he's a lunch pail guy,

keeps his head down. You don't hear a lot about him other than maybe making a play here and there on the football field and just a really good person and certainly hate to see that from that standpoint. Absolutely. You know, Carl Klug, about as blue-collar as it gets in the NFL, you know, with his work ethic and the way he goes about his business and conducts himself, always willing to do the interview, always very thoughtful, a hardworking guy, not above getting in a training camp fight or two, but a guy that certainly has put in the work,

and you really feel bad for a guy like that who has put in the time here and may not get to enjoy the fruits of the Titans' labor if they continue to improve and make a run at the playoffs. Another injury of concern for this week heading into Jacksonville, that of Jason McCourty, likely out for this game. In fact, Mike Malarkey pretty much said that in the Monday press conference that it looked like McCourty would be out with the chest injury that he suffered early in the game against Kansas City on Sunday.

Yeah, he went out on the very first play. You know, there's a chance maybe late in the week, if he can do a little something, they can take a look at it. But probably doesn't sound promising, I would say, at least right now. Don't know that he's been completely ruled out, but it certainly doesn't sound promising. If there is a bright side of this, it's the fact that, and we'll talk about this a little later, it's the fact that rookie LaShawn Sims has played fairly well filling in for him.

Absolutely, he has, and that's something that is somewhat unexpected because this Titan secondary certainly had struggled through the early part of the season. But now, Terry, in the last couple of weeks at least, have made some plays and have looked a little bit better. And obviously trying to figure out just what's caused that improvement in the secondary is something certainly to be speculated about. Yes, it definitely is. And I think we'll get into that a little bit with Sims,

but it certainly has been a welcome surprise for this Titans team to have the defense and the secondary playing well and I guess exceeding the slight expectations that we've had for them most of the year. Other injury news, it looks like the Titans could get two players back, Denora Searcy and Phillip Supernaw. They're both in the concussion protocol, but hopefully this week can get a practice under their belt, go through the retest procedure, and possibly be cleared and be ready to go against Jacksonville.

Yeah, they're going to have to go through the league protocol before they can be cleared to return and practice and be cleared to play in the game. Now, they can practice without being cleared from the protocol, but then once they go through a practice, that's when they have to be retested to see if they can get through the protocol and be cleared to play. So there's a process, obviously, that the NFL has put in place, and they're obviously taking concussions and things like this a lot more seriously than they have in the past, and that's part of the process. And, of course, the big current news item, the Titans, Terry, still control their own destiny to win the division first

and get into the playoffs by virtue of that if they can win out. And, of course, that starts this week going to Jacksonville and facing a team. And we'll talk a little bit more about Jacksonville as we go along today. But a team in Jacksonville that's certainly struggling in a lot of different areas. Yeah, they are. The Jaguars are kind of in disarray. And like you mentioned, the Titans controlling their own fate. If they can somehow win two ballgames here in these last two games, then they will be the AFC South champion and will go into the playoffs.

As improbable as that sounded when the season began, that is a realistic possibility with two games left. Absolutely, and when you look at the preseason prognostications for this team, not a lot of people had these guys, the Titans, winning at least eight games and possibly as many as nine or even ten if they can win out in this thing. So certainly a lot of exceeding of expectations has been done by this franchise this year. Yes, it definitely has.

I think when you look at it at the start of the year, most people would have said six or seven wins, maybe eight at the most would be a good year for this team, but certainly that was not the goal for Mike Malarkey and John Robinson and the players on this roster. and John Robinson and the players on this roster. It certainly has been a nice change that the Titans have made here and probably exceeded nearly everybody's expectations. Yeah, I had them with six wins coming into the season, 6-10,

with a possibility of seven or eight with some luck. And certainly I think it's been more than luck that this team has had because you don't use luck to beat the Denver Broncos, the defending Super Bowl champions in Kansas City on the road in back-to-back weeks. Oh, no. I mean, I agree. You look at the wins that the Titans have, and they have wins over five, I think five of their victories so far have been over teams that are still well in the playoff chase.

Four of them I think would actually be in right now. We're talking about the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions and the NFC and the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs and the AFC, not to mention the win over the Broncos, which the Broncos were in the playoffs before that loss of the Titans. Now they're still in contention, but on the outside looking in. You are listening to Locked On Titans on the Locked On Podcast Network.

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when the Titans visit Jacksonville, and one is the possibility that this energizes Jacksonville. We went through this last year when Ken Wisenhunt was fired here in Nashville and saw the Titans come out and win in New Orleans in the first game under Mike Malarkey as the interim head coach, and Jacksonville now facing that this week. Yeah, you don't ever really know what is going to happen when a team fires a coach in the middle of the year, whether it's going to be something that motivates them or if it's going to be something that causes them to mail it in.

You know, you look, the Titans last year got a short-term boost from the firing of Ken Wisenhunt when they were able to win that game in New Orleans, like you mentioned. And then earlier this year when the Rams fired Jeff Fisher, of course, they played on a short week on Thursday night in Seattle, and they laid an egg, didn't really show up at all. And, you know, I think a lot of it just depends on the team. You know, the Jaguars have been fighting hard. They've been playing well and playing hard for Gus Bradley

despite not winning any ballgames. You know, even up until the very end, they had a lead on Houston Sunday, and for a while it looked like they were going to pull the upset and do both the Titans and Colts a big favor, but it didn't turn out that way. And I think when you look at, you know, the way the Jaguars are playing, you know, the fact that, you know, they're still playing hard to have it mailed in like you're seeing with the Rams or the Jets or the 49ers, other teams that know they're out of it, you know, and playing horrible football right now. You know, if you're the Titans, this really kind of sends you a wake-up message, not that

you needed one because you're in contention, but it does send a message to you that you better watch out for the Jaguars because they may have just a little extra motivation coming at this point now. Absolutely. I agree with that. But let me pose this question to you. Obviously, Jacksonville, with just two games left to play, would that factor into this that they know, hey, we are out of it?

Yes, we've got something to play for. Yes, we can affect the eventual winner of the division. But with only those two games left and all this going on, obviously I think it's a possibility that it flips the other way. And even though they've been competitive and playing hard, they could now go into the tank. It's really an unknown for the Titans. Yeah, it really is.

I think it's a matter of probably just how the game unfolds early on. It's probably a situation where if they come out and, you know, they're in the ballgame and they are, you know, competitive for the first quarter, the first quarter and a half, then they probably hang in the game pretty much the whole time, I would think, and have a chance to pull the upset. If they come out and the Titans go up 17-0 really quick and the Jaguars are in a hold,

then you can see a situation probably where the Jaguars wind up mailing it in and not performing very well. So it certainly is a situation that could know, that could go either way. It just probably depends on how the game unfolds. Let's move on to second down and talk about Doug Marone. He is now the interim head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. And there are some interesting ties, Terry, to both Middle Tennessee and to the Titans with Doug Marone because he is the son-in-law

of former MTSU great head coach, football coach Boots Donnelly. And he also, Terry, interviewed for the opening with the Titans prior to Mike Malarkey being hired last offseason. So certainly a little bit of a familiarity there between he and the Titans organization. there between he and the Titans organization. Yeah, it certainly is interesting because I think when you look at the thing, Doug Marone is a guy, like you said, that does have some ties to the area.

I don't know that he himself has ever lived very much in this area, but the former Syracuse head coach, former Buffalo Bills head coach, and yes, he is the son-in-law of Boots Donnelly, former Buffalo Bills head coach, and yes, he is the son-in-law of Boots Donnelly, who is kind of a legend here in the mid-state area with his long run as the coach at MTSU, and also before that being a high school coach and coaching at Austin Peay as well. So Marone, like you said, was granted an interview for the Titans head coaching position. I think everybody pretty much knew the way that was unfolding, that the Titans were going to stick with Mike Malarkey. And Marone's interview, even though I was told that it went well,

it was probably one of those situations where he never really had much of a chance to change their mind away from Malarkey. Now, that's worked out very well so far for the Titans, but certainly if you're Doug Marone, you may want to show the Titans that maybe they should have considered you more strongly. And then the bigger picture for Marone is this is a two-game audition for him to impress Shad Khan and General Manager Dave Caldwell that he needs to be the

Jaguars' next head coach. If the Jaguars respond well to Marone and they come out, they score some points, they look alive on defense and make some plays for him and they're competitive, maybe win one or two of these games that are remaining on their schedule. They've got division games against the Titans and then next week against the Colts. Then perhaps Doug Marone can set himself up like Mike Malarkey did last year to be the next full-time head coach of the Jaguars and kind of call off the coaching search that everyone is expecting.

Moving on to third down, Terry, you wrote an article yesterday, Monday, on Titan Insider about LaShawn Sims, the rookie cornerback that stepped in in the Chicago game, struggled a little bit, but since that time has learned some things and began to play better and had a huge interception on Sunday in Kansas City. Yes, he did. You know, LaShawn Sims, in the first game he played, kind of thrown into the fire against the Bears and really got picked on by, of all people, Matt Barkley,

who is certainly nobody's Johnny Unitas when it comes to quarterbacking, although I guess he's done better than many people expected. But during the bye week and then the last couple of games against Kansas City and Denver, Sims has really acquitted himself very well, had a big pass breakup against the Broncos that helped preserve that win for the Titans, and then also had the interception of Alex Smith on Sunday

that stopped the Chiefs' drive and stopped them from scoring and allowed the Titans to stay in it and eventually win it. I asked him what changed for him, and he said that one of the veterans, safety Rashad Johnson, a newcomer here, but a guy who's been around the league,

longtime Arizona Cardinal, he said that Rashad Johnson is kind of taking him aside, taking him under his wing and watched film with him and kind of pointed out to him, you know, knowing that Sims is a small school guy, played at Southern Utah, where probably there's not a lot of complicated schemes and systems. And he's kind of showing him the ropes of how NFL receivers think and how they're going to try to attack him on a week-to-week basis.

And so Sims credits that with helping his development, but rather rapidly, I might add, over the last couple of weeks. And certainly that was one of the reasons that Rashad Johnson was brought in. It wasn't necessarily that he's been a good player throughout the course of his NFL career, not necessarily a great player, but that leadership, that's an intangible that he's helping these young guys to improve. And that's certainly a benefit and something that I think John Robinson and Mike Malarkey saw in him when they decided to sign him and bring him here.

Oh, I don't think there's any doubt about that. I think that's one of the areas that he excelled the most in. Now, he also had a couple of forced fumbles against the Denver Broncos that didn't hurt either. But, you know, he's a veteran guy. You know, he was brought in here. Most people thought that he would be the starter. But, you know, he's a veteran guy.

You know, he was brought in here. Most people thought that he would be the starter. He's kind of dropped off into a rotation with Kevin Byard and Damian Stafford and Denore Searcy, who is hurt right now. But, you know, in terms of what Johnson has brought in, he's fine with that rotation. He's being a team guy. And I think, you know, that sort of approach, that sort of attitude, it's infectious when a team guy and I think you know that sort of approach that sort of attitude is it's infectious that when a team starts to win and guys buy into their role knowing that

hey I may be doing less than I usually do but I'm still making a contribution. Let's move on to fourth down Terry and obviously we'll get into more game analysis as the week progresses but this game a trap game for the Titans. We hear that term quite a bit, but it really is because everything points to the Titans being able to win. They've come off of two back-to-back emotional wins, basically playoff games, wins over Denver and Kansas City, and now they have the, quote, lowly Jaguars, who aren't necessarily the worst team in football, obviously, with the Browns having not won a game. But they're right there again in that pecking order for a top two or three draft spot. And the Titans really have to watch out for this one.

Yeah, they really do. I mean, you know, if the Titans want to see what a trap game can mean, all they've got to do is look back at last Sunday against the Chiefs. The Chiefs were riding high coming off a victory over the Raiders that put them in first place in the AFC West. This week, they've got the Broncos and have the Titans sandwiched in between two important division games. Now, this is a division game, obviously, for the Titans, but the Jaguars at 2-12 on paper don't necessarily scare you, but you certainly can't get caught looking forward to the Houston Texans matchup. You've got to take care of business against the Jaguars.

You can't give this team any reason to have life and to expect to pull off an upset. You know, they're in disarray having made a coaching change. Their quarterback, Blake Bortles, has struggled all year. His mechanics are a mess. You know, they're having problems everywhere. The last thing you want to do is to make the mistake of overlooking them or making some sort of turnover or committing some sort of miscue

that's going to give a team like that life and a reason to play hard for four quarters. Absolutely. And if the Titans need an even better example, Terry, just look back to one season ago. They went through the same thing, the firing of a coach, the interim coach coming in, winning that first game, going through the struggles, and now being in a much better position this year. So certainly something that they have experience with that hopefully they will fall back on

and avoid that trap and come out and get out to an early start and get a lead in this thing. Yeah, it's something they're just going to have to do. If you're going to go to the playoffs, you've got to take every game seriously. You can't just get up for when you're playing a 10-3 Chiefs team. You've got to have that same level of motivation and momentum when you're playing the teams that are 2-12 like the Jaguars. Because, you know, let's face it, this is a team that plays close against everybody.

They played a two-point game against Cleveland. They played a very close game that could have gotten away from them against the Chicago Bears, and those are two of the five or six worst teams in the league right there. So they cannot afford to take the Jaguars lightly, even though they pretty much had their way with them in the Thursday night game that was played here in Nashville back in October. Time for our final thoughts on this Tuesday edition. Terry, your final thought for today. My final thought is on just how the city of Nashville finally seems to be back on board with the Titans.

And I don't blame them for being skeptical because the product has been horrible for the previous couple of years. And, you know, fans have, you know, hard-earned money, and they don't want to waste it on a product that's subpar. But kudos to the Titans for, you know, getting this city galvanized again and supporting them because the Ryan Suckup field goal that won Sunday's ballgame really kind of drove the point home. And, you know, it was the talk of the town yesterday, you know, the whole way that game unfolded.

You know, the Titans, after several years of struggling, it looks like they are finally back, not only on the national radar as a viable team, but here they're part of the local consciousness again, and they're relevant again for the first time in quite a while. My final thought, and we've said this a few times throughout the season and tag games as must-win, but this is a must-win ballgame if you're the Tennessee Titans. Why? Well, if you're truly a playoff team, you don't lose to two and ten teams. You don't lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns. The New England Patriots

certainly wouldn't lose those kind of games, and I'm not comparing the Titans to the Patriots at this point, but the Patriots, a perennial playoff Super Bowl contending team, they win those games. They lose games to good football teams, and that's where the Titans, if they want to be a good football team and a perennial contender in the future, this to me is a must-win game. You cannot go down there and lay an egg with so much on the line and lose this game and then come into a game against Houston next week where you're a game behind and have to win just to create a tie, and then obviously you could still miss out on the playoffs.

This is a playoff game against a bad team, and the Titans must win it. That's my final thought for this Tuesday edition. Terry, good stuff as always, and we'll do it again tomorrow. All right, sounds good. Enjoy the rest of your day. We'll see you Wednesday. You've been listening to Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans,

your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.