Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Dec.6- Four Downs & More

Episode Date: December 6, 2016

Tuesday means Four Downs & More. #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 Tuesday, the Titans coming off a bye week, and man, Terry McCormick, have we got a lot of things to talk about all of a sudden that quite

honestly we didn't think 48 hours ago we would have to talk about with the Titans but certainly Monday turned into a very big news day as it pertained to the Titans and it started with the current news that Kevin Dodd the rookie linebacker placed on season-ending injury reserve. Now, granted, the season is only four weeks, and possibly if they get there, a playoff game. But still, that's pretty big news. Yeah, it is. You know, Dodd had that foot surgery back in May and basically has been playing with soreness in it pretty much ever since.

And the pain tolerance apparently has not been, you know, what he or the Titans thought that it would be. And so they decided to shut him down for the year, and they promoted Justin Staples, who was on the roster for a little while last year as well, from the practice squad. And he will probably assume a special teams role if he is active Sunday when they face the Denver Broncos.

Obviously a little bit of a disappointment if you are the Titans in the season, and not necessarily I won't say in Kevin Dodd, because obviously he didn't plan on having the foot injury, have to go through the surgery, and then deal with the aftermath of it this season. But certainly a disappointment overall in what his rookie season turned out to be. Yes, only one sack, limited playing time, and inactive the last couple of weeks. In fact, inactive three times this year.

Missing all the work in the offseason certainly contributed to that, missing some time in training camp as well. I think when you look at where Kevin Dodd is, really just kind of a lost year for him. There's a possibility he could have to have a second surgery on the foot, but if that is the case, they want to get that out of the way as quickly as possible so that he'll be able to go through the off-season work next spring and summer. Certainly we could discuss a lot more about Kevin Dodd and some of the other draft picks in this class too that have been less than perhaps what the Titans had hoped for coming in but the

good news is Terry without going too deep into that is the fact that the potential is still there and hopefully these guys can bounce back in year two and have a bigger impact on this team than they had in their rookie seasons. Right. I mean, there are a number of guys, you know, a few of the later round picks, you expect them to be project type guys that haven't gotten on the field very much. But even some of the higher picks and the second round in particular, the guys have seemingly had limited roles this year. Dodd, of course, with the injury situation.

Austin Johnson's been in and out of the lineup, been a healthy scratch for part of the year. Of late, he's been active on Sundays and doing a little bit more. And Derek Henry relegated to a backup role, obviously, behind DeMarco Murray and

only getting flashes of appearances and showing what he can do this year as he's not been in the featured back role. You mentioned, of course, DeMarco Murray. That leads us to our second tidbit of current news. Murray with the week off, much as we expected, healthy now, and they say almost 100% should be ready to go on Sunday,

and that's good news that he hopefully is back to at least, let's say 95% to 100% of DeMarco Murray is pretty doggone good. Right, and I'm not sure he'll get back to 100% fully simply because it's a nagging type of injury that probably won't be solved until he gets a complete rest in the offseason. But the week off was good for him, and he was able to come out and practice on Monday with the Titans' return from their bye.

If he's able to practice on Wednesday, then there's a good chance he'll have his first full week of practice in five weeks as he's been given Wednesdays off pretty much for the last month. In the not-so-good-news category for the Titans is the health of Jarrell Casey. That sprained foot that he suffered against Chicago kept him out of practice as the team returned to the practice field on Monday. They're hopeful that he will be ready to go,

but still the unknown of Jarrell Casey as his availability will be found out, obviously, later on in the week. Right. Titans are going to be smart about it, but I think when you're talking about Jarrell Casey, I talked to him today and he said he wants to be out there. He wants to be ready to, you know, wants to be able to play. He feels like he will be ready to play.

So I think, you know, that's a guy that they're going to need when the Denver Broncos come to town. And if there's any way at all that Jarrell Casey can play on that sprained foot, he's going to be out there on Sunday. I would say right now probably, you know, my guess would be a 70% to 75% chance that he plays. He's certainly a key, obviously, and we know why, but to take him out of the mix in the defensive line,

and that makes things tougher, certainly on Brian Arakpo and Derek Morgan, having him in the ballgame allows those guys a little bit more freedom, and certainly Denver right now offensively, not the offense that we saw a year ago that won the Super Bowl. They've got some issues. Their quarterback, Trevor Simeon, is not exactly the second coming of Peyton Manning at least this point in time in his young career.

Right. Simeon missed Sunday's game with a foot injury of his own. And Paxton Lynch, the rookie first-round pick out of University of Memphis, got the start. His numbers weren't exactly earth-shattering. I think he had 104 yards passing. But the Broncos and their defense had a pick six for a score, and they're the type of team that they're going to rely on that defense.

They don't have their quarterback right now, whether it's Simeon or Lynch, to do a whole lot, but the Titans certainly are going to need Jarrell Casey because he occupies that double team a lot of times against the offensive line, and that does free up, as you said, guys like Morgan and Arakpo to go after the quarterback. You are listening to go after the quarterback. You are listening to Locked on Titan. You're listening to Love Advice with Leanne. Caller, you're on the air.

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Look it in the mouth, get amazing services. Thank you. Terry, it's Tuesday, rather, and as always, four downs the subject on Tuesday. And we start with the fact that the Titans are now in a three-way tie for first place in the AFC South along with the Houston Texans following their loss to Green Bay on Sunday and with the Indianapolis Colts following their pounding of the New York Jets on Monday night. Yeah, three-way tie with four games to go, all three teams six and six. I think probably just tightened the most surprising of that three to be in the race.

But in the race, nonetheless, probably going to need a little bit of help, given their one-in-three division record. The Texans and Colts play each other next week, so one of those teams is going to end up in first place unless that game ends up in a tie, in which case the Titans might have a chance to have first place by themselves if they can find a way to upset the Denver Broncos. But it's going to be interesting to see which one of these teams catches fire.

And this time of year, to me, I think one of the things you look at is quarterback play. And certainly Andrew Luck looks like he's back on top of his game. And, you know, certainly Andrew Luck looks like he's back on top of his game. And Marcus Mariota is developing for the Titans. And, you know, you would like to think that his run of success could continue. And that's an area where the Texans are actually a little bit challenged in terms of quarterback play because Brock Osweiler has not lived up to the big contract he signed with them in the offseason. But nonetheless, it's going to be a big finish here in the AFC South as all three teams will play each other over the course of that time, plus games against other contending teams and the Jacksonville Jaguars,

who are also in the division, even though they're really struggling right now. Now, you mentioned the Titans would need some help. They need some help a lot because of their own doing, in part, in that they lost the initial meeting with Houston down in Texas, had a chance to win that ballgame, couldn't get it done. The Texans are undefeated 3-0 right now in the division, still having a game to play against each of the three teams in Indy, the Titans and the Jaguars.

And the Colts, of course, we know why they're having advantage over the Titans. Two games head-to-head, and if it comes down to that tiebreaker with those two teams, the Colts then would obviously have the advantage. So for the Titans, it's pretty simple. You've got to finish with a better overall record than the other two teams because if it comes down to any type of tie in tiebreaker, you're in bad shape. Yeah, you probably are. The Titans are probably going to need to find a way to finish.

Well, you know they're going to have to find a way to finish one game ahead of the Colts if those two teams are tied, and they're probably going to have to find a way to finish one game ahead of the Texans simply because of their divisional race unless the Texans wind up losing their last three games starting Sunday against the Colts, and they also have a game left with the Jaguars in addition to the Titans. So, if you're the Titans right now, basically you've got to get hot, you've got to go on some kind of streak, and it would start at home because you've got two home games, two road games remaining,

and you really need to win probably three out of those four if you're going to have a legitimate chance, I would think, of winning this division at this point in time. Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think anything less than 9-7 is not going to win this division simply for the fact that one of the three teams here is probably going to win at least three of those last four. You know, not sure which one it's going to be, obviously,

but I think when you look at it, it wouldn't appear to be that all three teams, given that they have games against each other and that sort of thing, that they would be able to all three finish 8-8. I guess it's possible, but I think it's going to take at least nine wins to win this division. The good news is, Terry, that in December we are talking about the Titans tied for first place and having meaningful football to play

in the last four weeks of the season, as the old saying goes, who to thunk it. Exactly. I think when you look at this Titans team, this year was really the front end of a major rebuild that Mike Malarkey and John Robinson embarked upon. And for this team to be in contention, even with the division in kind of disarray with all three teams just sitting at 500, you know, it's a credit to the Titans that probably need to be strengthened as well. You've got to kind of tip your hat to this team and to Robinson and Malarkey

for putting them in the position to take advantage of the mediocrity in this division and be able to compete. Hopefully better days to come. Let's move on to second down where it seems like the NFL tried to make another blunder, but might just get this one right, Terry, because the promotion, my cause, my cleats, that took place around the NFL this past week during the Titans bye week, players got to wear cleats specially designed for the charitable causes

that they support. The Titans were initially told that they would not be allowed to do this because they didn't play last week because of their bye. Some players threatened to go ahead and say, the heck with it. I'll take a fine. I'm going to do this. And now it looks like the NFL has changed their mind and said, yeah, the right thing to do is obviously to allow everybody to do it.

So the Browns and the Titans will then have a chance to do that this week. Right. Those two teams were on a bye, and Jason McCourty had the cleats that he was going to wear on Sunday in front of his locker. I got a picture of that, tweeted it out, so you can look at that and see what it is that he's going to wear. They're pretty much the same as the cleats his brother Devin,

who plays for the Patriots, wore in Sunday's game against the Rams. And so it's a good thing that the NFL has, you know, relented here and allowed the Titans and the Browns to go ahead and take part in this worthwhile endeavor. Absolutely. And if I'm a Cleveland player, I think I would have win one soon on my cleats. That would be my charitable cause going forward because there's still Ofer coming off the bye,

and obviously right now very close to, if not already, solidifying and locking up the first overall pick in the draft, which is certainly where the Titans were last year and have made great strides to get from there to where they are now. Moving on to third down, Terry, there was a report that came out today from CBS Sports about the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team within the division who, when you look at them on paper, certainly have some talent in place. They've got two very good receivers.

I think they've drafted well on defense. They've got some young talent there. I think they've drafted well on defense. They've got some young talent there. They've signed Malik Jackson from the Denver Broncos to their defensive line. So they've got some things in place, but they have struggled to put it all together. And the report is that the Jaguars might be interested in a reunion with Tom Coughlin coming back to be the head coach. Yeah, that would be interesting.

You know, Coughlin was kind of run out of town on a rail because he was you know an old school disciplinarian and that had kind of worn thin on a lot of the players you know he he did preside over the best tenure uh in Jaguars history back uh in the late 90s when uh they rose from being an expansion team to being a powerhouse, really, in about two years' time. They had a core group of guys like Mark Brunel and Tony Buscelli and Jimmy Smith, Keenan McCardell, among others, Fred Taylor. Had a lot of good players, especially on the offensive side of the ball. And Coughlin, having won two Super Bowls with the Giants, obviously knows how to get it done.

There's some talent in Jacksonville. The biggest question is, can Blake Bortles be fixed? And if not, what are you going to do at the quarterback position? If he can be fixed, then maybe you don't have to go out and try to find another solution at the most important position on the field. But the thought of Tom Coughlin returning to Jacksonville would have to be something exciting for Jaguars fans in a season that has been totally lost in a franchise that has just seemingly been shipwrecked with, you know,

double-digit losses now six years in a row. Absolutely. The division right now, the AFC South, as you said, mired in mediocrity. The Titans are getting better. We know the Colts have the potential with Andrew Luck to be very good and get better. If the Texans find a quarterback, if Coughlin goes to Jacksonville, who knows, maybe in another year or two, we might be talking about this division being one of the best in football. We'll certainly have to wait and see on that. Moving on to fourth down, getting healthy is the subject,

and that, of course, directed at the Tennessee Titans. The bye week, Terry, allowed them to do some of those things to get healthy. Certainly, I think guys came back refreshed a little bit over bumps and bruises and some of just the general soreness that goes along with playing 12 consecutive weeks of football in the NFL. And when we looked at the schedule early on, Terry, to see the bye week that late, it was kind of like, wow, that's not very good, especially for a team that's not expected to be that good.

But as it plays out with where the Titans are now, that might actually turn out to be a good thing. Yeah, they actually got through it healthier than a lot of people probably would have expected, myself included. But I think when you look at where they are coming off the bye now and headed into the stretch run, they're actually in a pretty good position if they can somehow take care of business beginning Sunday against the Broncos.

Starting to get healthy. DeMarco Murray, you know, back after a week's rest of his injured toe. Jason McCourty back after injuring his knee. Taylor LeJuan another week past the knee injury that he had. So they're starting to get healthy. You know, if they can get Jarrell Casey back, which they are hopeful of doing with the foot injury, then they should be in pretty good shape for this stretch run.

Obviously, we'll make predictions on Friday of who and why we think either team, the Broncos or the Titans, will win this game on Sunday when the two teams meet. But when you look at this schedule back prior to the season and you went through and all of us in the media did that and said okay we think the titans will win this game they'll lose this one they'll win they'll lose depending on the week and we came up with our total of how many games we thought the team would win i picked six and ten i'm not trying to brag i've hit the six i think they're better than that i think there were a couple of games that got away from them that they certainly obviously could have won earlier on in the season. But this was one of those games when you look at it,

okay, even though it's in Nashville, these are the defending Super Bowl champions. This is a loss. The Titans are going to get beat in this game. Not so much right now. I think the Denver Broncos certainly defensively are still a better football team. But I also think that the Titans are good enough

to get a win in this thing. Yeah, I wouldn't think that for this game, I think the Titans are in good shape to maybe pull the upset if they can keep from turning the ball over and if they can protect Marcus Mariota. I think when you look at, as you said, going, you know, as you said, going through the schedule, you probably would have put this one in the L column. I don't think very many people with the Titans coming off what they did last

year and the Broncos coming off a Super Bowl championship would have penciled this game in as a win for the Titans. But truthfully now, you know, given the blossoming of Marcus Mariota at the quarterback position, the Titans may not be the better all-around football team, but I think they at least have a chance in this game to pull off the upset if they can play well. It's the Apollo Creed, Rocky Balboa, the puncher's chance in this game for me with the Titans. They've got an opportunity.

Things have got to go their way, but certainly they could. And, again, we'll get to that and make predictions on that as we go on through the week and on Friday. Terry, time for our final thoughts on the day, your final thought on this Tuesday edition. Well, you know, the Titans, it may not be the way that they would have drawn it up. But, you know, the fact of the matter is they are in first place,

or at least hold a share of first place with the Colts and the Texans here in the AFC South with four games remaining. And, you know, I know, you know, as a journalist, you're supposed to stay impartial, but you can't help but be happy for a lot of guys that have been around there a long time and haven't had a lot of success, guys like Jason McCourty, Derek Morgan, Jarrell Casey, Carl Clue, guys who've paid their dues. It's good just to see those guys get to play a meaningful game,

a game that means something after the first four or five games of the year and not have to continually answer questions of what's going wrong and why this team isn't any better you know as you know i know the fans out there have to be very happy for it and you know and even myself as a guy who's there on the beat uh day after day you know it it's it you like to see people who work hard rewarded and you know this is you know a nice reward for some of the guys who suffered a lot with this team absolutely and i'm going to piggyback off your final thought there i had a different final thought coming in but something you said just kind of stuck with me

and you mentioned journalists and supposed to be impartial and you and i and i think everyone else in the titans media for the most part tries to be impartial about this and I and I think everyone else in the Titans media for the most part tries to be impartial about this team report the good and the bad but as you said it's nice to see guys that work hard and when you go in the locker room Terry as we have over the last couple of years and see the Casey's the Klug's the Morgans the guys that have been there that stand up week after week even after all the losses as tough as it was to go and win two games in a season and then win three games the next year, five years over the last two years combined for this team. Those guys stood up and talked to us.

And it wasn't always easy. We asked the same question. What happened? Why did the team lose again? They got tired of hearing the questions just as much as we got tired of asking the questions. But it was our job to ask and their job to answer. They did that. And you can't help but be happy for and maybe even root for a little bit these guys to have some success.

Because obviously when the team has success, it makes our jobs just a little bit easier. And so for that, we are thankful that this season has been a little bit better. The fans obviously more interested. It makes things easier for us as we go along. And that's a credit to these guys for the work that they've done and a credit to John Robinson and Mike Malarkey for the plan that they came in and put in place to improve this team. And so far, so good.

That's going to do it for us on this Tuesday edition. We hope you've enjoyed it. Brad will be back with us and we'll have more Locked on Titans for you coming up tomorrow on Wednesday. Until then, have a great rest of your day and we'll talk to you on Wednesday. You are Locked on Titans.

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