Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans-Dec.26- Offense, Defense In Jags Loss

Episode Date: December 26, 2016

Offense, Defense in Jags Loss. #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 is a Monday morning after the Christmas holiday, and we hope every one of our listeners had a great holiday. And unfortunately, guys, it wasn't very happy if you're a Titans fan because the Titans, of course, come out on the short end of a tough loss at Jacksonville. We'll get into that more as we go along this morning in our offense and defense segments.

But Brad Terry, obviously the current news dominated by the fact that Marcus Mariota suffered a fractured fibula in the third quarter of that game. He was tackled from behind. The tackler landed on his leg. It twisted awkwardly. He did not get up, was put in an air cast and taken off the field on a cart. His season is done. Terry, if anything, can you tell us about the schedule for the surgery

that he will undergo this week? Well, the surgery is going to be performed early this week. Generally, when you have an injury like that, they want to allow the swelling and whatnot to go down and then schedule the surgery as soon as possible. Obviously, yesterday being Christmas Day, probably not the optimal time to do that, but he will be having the surgery this week.

Don't yet know the details of it, but usually if you have a surgery like this, sometimes they put a steel rod in there to reinforce it. You know, I think to me the biggest question going forward with Marcus Mariota is, will he still have the same mobility? Hopefully the break is not serious enough that it's going to hamper his mobility once he recovers from this injury.

Well, Terry, you say that yesterday wasn't a good day to have surgery because it was Christmas. Why not? Derek Carr, his counterpart in Oakland, did, suffering the same injury. I mean, how ironic is it, guys? We're talking about two teams in the AFC that really had playoff aspirations. One of them still very much has playoff aspirations, but they both lose their signal callers to the same injury within 30 minutes.

I remember cranking the headlines open yesterday morning, and the first headline I saw from USA Today, I think it said, Merry Christmas. And I was like, hey, look at this typo. I can't believe a great big media outlet had a typo like that. But no, what they meant was it was Wary Christmas because of all the things crazily that happened. Seattle going down to Arizona.

Obviously, Oakland and Tennessee losing their quarterbacks. I mean, it was a crazy weekend of football, I will say that. Absolutely it was a crazy weekend of football, I will say that. Absolutely it was. And, guys, I know the fan response has been what you guys touched on, the fact that will Marcus be the same when he returns from this injury? Will he have the mobility to be able to run and have the same speed? Or will this be something that perhaps changes his game a little bit in taking that away from him? And obviously, Brad, that's something that will be unknown for quite some time

because he's going to have to go through the surgery, the rehabilitation, get back on the field when OTA's training camp starts next season and see just where he stands. You know, I'll be honest. The way that they've been developing Marcus Mariota, I think that his athletic ability, in other words, his mobility, are basically just side notes for what he's going to be. He's developing his skill within the pocket.

He's developing the necessary progression that quarterbacks have to have, the nuances, you know, understanding what defenses are trying to do against him rather than having to skirt the issues and run with the football athletically. Now that's something that they can use in tandem with that, but he doesn't necessarily have to be this running mobile quarterback. I mean, it's definitely a part of his repertoire. It's part of what he is, his makeup, but it's not a necessity to have him be, you know, having him to be like a sub-4-3, you know, guy like that.

It would help, but for the most part, I think that the way that he's developing, Terry, it's not necessary. Well, yeah, you obviously have seen this year how he's developed as a passer, but, you know, I think, you know, another, the extra gear, so to speak, of his game has always been his ability to buy time in the pocket or take off and run or even go with design bunch. So you hope that going forward he's able to recover his speed and his mobility and his ability to, you know, extend the play and, you know, a lot of times create something out of nothing because that is part of what makes him a special player. And I think as the Titans go forward, they obviously are building this franchise around him,

and part of what makes him special is his ability to not only throw the football and not only be a good pocket passer, but also to be able to move and protect himself and also make big plays out of the rut. Well, guys, now that the division is decided, Houston is the division champs. The Titans have been eliminated. Houston will come here on Sunday to face the Titans, and Matt Castle will be the man at quarterback.

Certainly from an experience standpoint, he has that, not necessarily the mobility. He did get a little bit of playing time late in the game, had some struggles against Jacksonville, had some good things happen, but guys obviously with a week of practice knowing that he's going to be the starter in this game, hopefully this team can come out, and certainly, Brad, there's a big difference between 8-8, 9-7 in the NFL, isn't there? Yeah, there really is. And I will say playing for 9-7 is a really significant landmark if you think about where the Titans have come in just a season. Terry, I'll hand it to you in a second.

But I think that going into the week, obviously, you lose your quarterback, the one that's been doing it for you all year, and you might have a somber feeling. But if you look at how exciting the future possibly is for the Tennessee Titans, the way that they fought this year, I think that it's

a pretty good way for them to end the season if they can. Because if you think about this, guys, I think next weekend you're going to see a lot of Brock Osweiler. You know, I think that, you know, the reason why I say that is because they don't necessarily have to win the game, obviously. So why would you put all your guys in there to let the Tennessee Titans defense, you know, beat up on your offense when you need to be as healthy as you possibly can? So maybe they kind of take the Dallas Cowboys approach and be conservative with their starters and start pulling guys maybe after the halftime

or something like that. So I think that maybe you will see some Brock Osweiler under center this weekend. It's possible, Brad, but also keep in mind, too, Tom Savage is a very inexperienced guy. That was only Sunday or Saturday, I should say, when he played. That was only about the third or fourth time

he's actually been in a game because of injury. So if I'm going into the playoffs, first of all, you're right. I want to protect the guy. I don't want to put him in harm's way. I don't want Jarrell Casey or Brian Arakpo breaking him in half. But on the other hand, I've got to get this kid some experience because he's about to step into something that he has never thought of before, likely facing a Kansas City Chiefs or Miami Dolphins team in the postseason,

something that he's barely tasted anything in the way of regular season experience. And to go into postseason experience, that's certainly going to be an uphill battle for Tom Savage and the Houston Texans. So I think they probably will play him quite a bit in this ballgame as long as they keep it protected, like you said. Guys, let's jump into the offense-defense portion and look at the Titans' offense. And the stat, guys, that jumped out off the page to me is the fact

that the Titans rushed the football for just 58 yards on the afternoon, and they did that on 20 carries. Guys, that's not a winning formula for this team. And Brad, looking at the Titans' running game on Saturday, what was the issue with it? Was it just that Jacksonville played that well, or was there something else that maybe we can put our finger on? Yeah, something we've been applauding the Titans for almost all season is their offensive line play.

They just were basically beaten at the line scrimmage. They were beaten at the line scrimmage protecting Marcus Mariota. They were beaten at the line scrimmage trying to get Derrick Henry and DeMarco Murray involved in the game plan. I think that they just were physically outmatched. And sometimes, you know what, there are matchups like that. I think any Sunday, you know, this team could run the football effectively against the Jaguars.

But when you look at, you know, Derek Marks playing emotional because he's playing against his former team. You look at Malik Jackson trying to live up to that big contract that he got last year. Of course, the defense itself feeling they have so much talent, even though they're young, but not living up to their potential. They really came out, controlled the line of scrimmage. They came out with an energy and conviction that the Titans didn't have,

and that's the reason why they got out to an early lead and kept it. Brad, I'll let you respond to this, but I think you're exactly on the right path here. I think there are some times that you go into your game plan for the week. Like when the Titans played the Broncos and the Chiefs a few weeks before, obviously their mindset on the defensive side of the ball or on the offensive side of the ball was they were not going to let Von Miller of Denver or Justin Houston of Kansas City

get to their quarterback because they knew that that was the bread and butter of both those teams, that pass rush, and how they were able to, you know, and how they're able to disrupt and change games by getting pressure on the quarterback. Conversely, I think the Jacksonville Jaguars defense went into this fall game saying, you will not run the football on us. That is the one thing we're going to take away from you. You're going to beat us some other way if you beat us.

And sometimes it's just the mindset that a team is determined to take away what you do best and try to force you to find another way to win the ballgame. Terry, when I heard Brian Redwell, when I heard Taylor LeJuan, when I heard all of these veterans say, it's funny I said Taylor LeJuan is a veteran, but when I heard Brian Aragbo, when I heard Taylor LeJuan, when I heard all of these veterans say, it's funny I said Taylor LeJuan as a veteran, but when I hear all these veterans say, you know, we got outplayed, they had a different energy, they came with a purpose. You know, that's what I heard synonymously from the players

and their response on Sunday, you know, to the game on Saturday. And when that happens, they knew what happened. The Jaguars came in basically feeling release of their pressure release because they just fired um gus bradley you know they basically had nothing to lose essentially uh they played at home you know they had everything the momentum swinging in their favor because you know blake world has been talking about so bad the titans had um injuries to the deep part of their secondary, which obviously was going to be a factor.

It was like a storm that just perfectly matched up for the Jaguars to come in there and really take it to Tennessee. Now, guys, when we look at the passing game in this one, Marcus struggled once again. Eight of 20 for 99 yards. He did throw the one touchdown that the red zone touchdown pass to Delaney Walker. So he continues to be magical in the red zone. But they struggled early after having a big first play of the game. The drive kind of bogged down.

And from there, it was all downhill for Marcus, at least passing the football. Terry, when you look at that for Marcus in the passing game in this thing, what was it? Because when you look at the numbers for the receivers, they spread the football around. There were a lot of guys that had a lot of receptions in this game. Yeah, it's really kind of hard to pinpoint, I think. You know, one of the things that, you know, the Titans passing game this year has had success in is the fact that

they've been able to use the running game to set up the passing game. A lot of their best plays have come off of play action. You know, deep shots down the field, you know, intermediate passes, a lot of that coming off of play action because of that running game. Well, when that running game is not there, and it wasn't there on Saturday against the Jaguars, then that puts you into the situation

where you have to throw the ball, where you are third and long, where you are in situations where you may not be able to do exactly what you want and the defense knows you're going to throw it. And I think that's a lot of what happened to the Titans. They just were not able to dictate the game the way they wanted to dictate it, and the Jaguars instead dictated the game. Oh, you hit the nail right on the head, Terry, because first off, they're in predictable passing situations

whenever you find yourself down by multiple touchdowns. But when you talk about being able to set up a pass because of what you're able to do with the run, that's where this team has been built on all season. They lay the groundwork, the foundation of being able to run the football effectively, draw guys down into the box, and then Marcus accurately can find other receivers in and around the zones as they run their crossing routes, seam routes, deep stuff, all kinds of things because of their effectiveness on the ground. So you are 100%

right. It starts with their ability to run the football. Let's jump over and talk about the defense a little bit, guys. Obviously, when we look at the numbers, the number that jumps out, Blake Bortles, 26 of 38, 325 yards, only one touchdown pass, but he made big throws. And he really looked like, for the first time, guys, and certainly a long time in his career, that he was the guy that they thought he was when they drafted him.

Now I'm not saying he's going to continue that, but at least for that day against the Titans on Saturday, he threw the ball around the yard and was magnificent and obviously exposed what everybody knew was the Titans' vulnerability, their secondary, in particular their corners, who had a hard time staying with those talented receivers that the Jaguars have. Yeah, that was the big case. As far as what the Jaguars needed to do to have success was not turn the football over.

Bortles had been having all kinds of issues with interceptions this year. I think he's thrown 16 in 14 games, which is certainly unacceptable. But against the Titans, not only were the Titans unable to pressure him into turnovers, I think he fumbled the ball one time and managed to get it back. But, you know, you're right. When the pass rush couldn't get there, that left the secondary exposed numerous times. You know, guys like Valentino Blake, Bryce McCain, and LaShawn Finn

were caught out of position a number of times, and Allen Robinson especially burned him nine catches, 147 yards. Yeah, you're right about that. I mean, I think that we kind of touched on that a little bit earlier in the ballgame when you're talking about the Titans not being able to control or dictate the pace of the game. That was something that I think Blake Bortles, feeling this release, this relaxed feeling, all the pressure off of him,

essentially when you talk about them coming to the end of the season, having nothing to play for, per se, and then playing extremely well in the very beginning against a team that had a lot of momentum coming into this game. They were actually able to feed off of how well they were playing against a team at this point that was actually playing really well. So I think that their confidence started building as the game went on. We listened to Doug Marone at halftime, you know,

eloquently talk about them making their adjustments. And he sounded like a guy that was convicted. He sounded like a guy that had purpose. And it sounded like they may have had, you know, Terry Gregg, a really good week of practice after they fired Gus Bradley to get them ready for this game. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like it became a rallying point for them. I mean, I know, you know, Gus Bradley was very well liked there in Jacksonville, but just did not have the success necessary to retain the job.

And, you know, those players probably, not only were they playing for Doug Marone, they were probably playing for Gus Bradley, trying to, you know, do for him what they could not do while he was there. Now, guys, I've got a tough question for you. We all three picked the Titans to win this game. I went out on a big limb and picked them to win big. I picked them to win by 21.

Well, I was close. They lost by 21. Does that count? But did we fall too much in love with the thought and potential of this team actually winning the division because they were there so late? And did we overlook the fact that this secondary was very suspect at best and perhaps this team might have been a little bit out of gas after a couple of tough games back-to-back with Denver, with Kansas City, having to go to Kansas City and then come back to Nashville

and then travel back to Jacksonville. Did we overlook those things and become too much of fans, if you will, in the predictions that we made in winning this game? I don't think so, and here's why. I mean, I think we knew that this was a flawed team, but, I think we knew that this was a flawed team, but I also think we knew that this was a flawed division. I think the AFC South, probably when you get right down to it, is probably the weakest of the eight divisions in the NFL. You look, the Jaguars have three wins.

The Colts are under.500. The Texans have a terrible quarterback situation. I think when you look at it, the Titans were probably the most dangerous and I don't want to say complete team in this division because they certainly have their flaws. Those flaws were exposed readily by the Jaguars on Saturday. But I think it was just the fact that they had beaten Denver and Kansas City in back-to-back weeks.

It was all laid out right there for them. And we figured that this team would probably take advantage of it. I think what we didn't figure on was that this was a young team that's still going through the highs and lows of learning how to deal with certain situations. And one of the situations you have to deal with as an improving football team is you have to learn how to deal with things not only when you're an underdog and it's you against the world, which they obviously did against the Broncos and Chiefs.

You have to learn how to play when you're the favorite team and you're expected to win as well. You have to learn how to take care of business. You know, I think that you have to ask yourself a few questions. Can the Titans beat the Jags? Yes, I think most people would say they could. Did the Jags play inspired? Yes, I think that they did

play inspired, which was unique to the way that they've been playing for most of the season. But I think when you look at if the Titans were actually doing what they're actually capable of doing, if the Titans played their game plan, they'd win this game easily. The road would have been a problem for them because they're familiar with Evans Bank or whatever the

name of the stadium is down there. They're familiar with the opponent. I just think it's like what you said. Matter of fact, I think I even heard a couple of guys say that they had it on cruise control, thinking that they were going up against an inefficient opponent with an easy track to setting up the stage for Texans coming into

the National Division next weekend. And it obviously didn't happen that way. So the Titans made a crucial mistake, which was letting their guard down, thinking that they can keep the same momentum going and not necessarily have to put their dupes up in Jacksonville. And they got punched in the face for it and lost the division. Guys, certainly some great stuff there. As always, we close the Monday edition with our final thoughts.

Brad, your final thoughts on this Monday. You know what? I think there's a lot to be excited about for this team moving forward. I think that they really have cemented an impression within the AFC as to what next year could look like. And, of course, that all is contingent on the health of Marcus Mariota, his development coming back. But I know the work ethic.

And, Terry, Greg, you guys know the work ethic of that young man. He's going to do everything that he can to get back to full form before, you know, live bullets start firing next year. So I expect him to be okay. But if you seriously look at what happened to the Tennessee Titans in one single weekend, I mean, they brought that momentum to a screeching halt by, you know, reading their own press clippings. They read about the five Pro Bowls that they had this year

and the excitement that there is for them to possibly get to the playoffs, and they lost their focus for a minute, guys, and the Jacksonville Jaguars took advantage of that. That's what happened to the Jags or the Titans over the weekend. Terry? Yeah, good words there, Brad, uh you know this is a team that like you said you know they probably got a little bit caught up in the momentum of uh thinking that they were going to win the division that they were arriving maybe ahead of schedule

uh when you know this rebuilding process first began undertaking with Mike Malarkey and John Robinson beginning to assemble the roster. I think, you know, when you look at this scene, yes, the future is bright. But they have to take what happened on Saturday and apply that, not as a setback but as a stepping stone to where they want to get to with this organization. What they've got to do is to focus, much like the Denver Broncos did back in the late 90s when they were supposedly a Super Bowl-bound team, and then they lost to an upstart, well, coincidentally, Jacksonville team in the AFC playoffs that year.

And everybody wondered if that was the end of the line for that Broncos team, that they had failed to meet expectations because they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in a game that they should have won. But instead, they used that as a focal point and as motivation. That team wound up winning back-to-back Super Bowls the next few years. I'm not ready to say that the Titans are going to make leaps and bounds and win back-to-back Super Bowls, but I think you use this as a learning point, as a tool going forward to say this can't happen again.

Brad, you are 100% correct in your final thought. Terry, I agree with yours as well. This can be one of those motivating factors moving forward for this team. Obviously, some work to do for John Robinson and Mike Malarkey in continuing to retool this roster. They obviously need help in the secondary. I think that will be a focal point. There's some other positions, obviously, as well that need to be addressed.

But for me, the thing that i want to say to the listeners and the fans is don't let this ruin your good feeling for this season because when you look back this team was six games better this season than they were one year ago if you look back over the last two seasons they were three games better in one single year than they were in the last two combined so this thing is going in the right direction the titans have figured some things out they've still got to find some more pieces and re again re continue to retool this roster but i think in the end next season is going to be a year with a lot of anticipation for a lot of people and a lot of things with this team.

And I really think that this team will continue next year on the upward trend. Obviously, as you guys said, a lot of it has to do with Marcus Mariota's health, how he comes out of this. But, Brad, you mentioned the work ethic. He certainly got that. And I think, obviously, the mental portion of the game where he is in that sense is in a good spot, and as long as the physical is there when he returns, he'll be okay,

and so will this franchise. Guys, that will do it for us on this Monday edition. Enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll talk to you again on Tuesday. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.