Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Fowler to the rescue

Episode Date: October 30, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? I'm feeling good, Jimmy. Justin Fowler is going to solve all the problems. Justin Fowler is back. It doesn't get any better than that, leading up to the trade deadline, and we acquired Justin Fowler. Anyway, we'll talk a little bit about that, what that means. Get into some of the receiver names that are rumored to be available. We'll try to keep it to reasonable targets that could be out there instead of just any receiver in the NFL. But we'll talk a little bit about that. And then kind of an interesting line on the game for Titans-Cowboys

coming up Monday night, so we'll get into that as well. Before we do all that, I want to remind you, we're right for musiccitymiracles.com. We're covering Titans for SB Nation. So you can check us out there. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb.

You can get the podcast, Lock on Titans, wherever you get your podcasts. Just search out Lock on Titans, and you'll be able to subscribe and get the newest episodes as soon as they are available. All right, so, yeah, Jowson Fowler, the big news of the day. The Titans re-signed him. I guess that's kind of a funny term to me when he hasn't been here for a year and a half

or a year, whatever it's been, and hasn't been in the league at all, I guess. Apparently, he was with the Falcons maybe in training camp or something because if you go to his NFL.com page, at least this morning, it said Atlanta running backs, Atlanta running back, Charleston Fowler. So anyway, you know, listen, we're waiting for them to add a receiver, waiting for them to add somebody that can, you know, do something dynamic in this offense.

Charleston Fowler is obviously not that guy. I think this says more about the tight ends than it does anything else. I think that they need or they want an H-back type guy, and the guys that they have right now, the guys that are playing tight end are just not getting it done. Yeah, he was using Luke Stocker in that spot, kind of a hybrid fullback lead blocker type. Now you're bringing in

Fowler, so that kind of frees up Stocker to go back to his tight end spot. I think it says something about Johnnie Smith. I just think that says all you need to know. They want Luke Stocker in that spot perhaps

over Johnnie Smith, especially in run blocking. So you kick Stocker back to the tight end spot. You kick Johnnie Smith off the field. You bring on Jowson Fowler on rundowns. That's an upgrade because, like we said, Johnnie Smith can't block. It's pretty clear he wasn't ready to take on that tight end one role. So I think you hit the nail on the head by saying this is more about the tight ends than anything.

Now, I think it was Paul Kaharski that was tweeting earlier today about, you know, you're basically telling the opposing defense what you're going to do. I mean, if you've got 11 players out there and two of them are Luke Stalker and Jalston Fowler, that obviously limits your weapons in the passing game. And it does, I guess, tip your hand a little bit as far as that's concerned. How much of a concern do you think that is? Yeah, I think Kowarski is absolutely right there. Obviously, you go heavy, you're probably going to run the football.

But still, I don't know, Johnnie Smith hasn't're probably going to run the football. But still, I mean, I don't know. Johnnie Smith hasn't done anything in the past game either, you know. So I think it's an upgrade all the way around. I tell you, Johnnie's been maybe the most disappointing on this offense, most disappointing player on this offense, which is saying something. Just a guy that we thought was really going to take a step forward. Maybe even be used as a receiver. You talk about the Titans

receiver struggles. That's a guy that Mike Malarkey split out wide and ran some deep routes with. I understand what Kowarski is saying there, but at the end of the day, you've got to get better. I like getting Stocker on the field to block.

Our buddy Superhorn has tweeted out several GIFs pointing out Johnnie Smith's deficiencies in run blocking, particularly in that Buffalo game. So I think it's an upgrade all around. Titans are going with these heavy sets. They want to establish the run, so I don't have a problem with it. Yeah, and I mean, like you said, Jonathan Smith is definitely in that conversation as far as most disappointing guys on the offense.

There's a lot of guys that are up for that award, which is obviously unfortunate and tells you really all you need to know about what's been going on so far this season. But, yeah, I mean, you know, it's just laughable now, isn't it, that, you know, when they drafted John Smith, you were like, oh, you know, two or three years, there's your Delaney Walker replacement. And, you know, I mean, I guess the timetable was sped up a little bit this year.

I mean, obviously, you know, the Titans signed Delaney Walker to an extension before camp started, so they weren't planning on moving on from him anytime soon. But, man, you've just seen how big of a drop-off. And we knew it would be a drop-off from Delaney to Jonu, but we didn't think it would be like falling off of a cliff, which it has been, because Jonu

at best has been a non-factor. And, I mean, he's been a non-factor in the passing game, and he's been, you know, a negative in the rushing game. So it's just, I don't know, man. It's tough with what they've had going on. And just this whole offense has been just not in sync, and you've just lost these guys, and it's just been this,

one thing after another all year. And so if Jocelyn Fowler is a guy that can come in and stabilize that a little bit, if you can at least, I mean, even if other teams know you're going to run the ball, if you still do, if everybody does their job, that's not the end of the world. You can gain yardage in that situation. So, you know, I don't know. I get that argument, but at the same time, you're not running it successfully when they don't know you're running it.

So I don't really know how much it hurts you to maybe telegraph it or whatever that may be. And, you know, again, you've been saying all along that a big part of the reason that Marcus Mariota has struggled so much is because there isn't a run game. They need to get the run game going for him to get going. And so, I don't know, at this point, you've got to do whatever you can to make that happen. So, that's it.

I mean, that's it. You know, they brought in Fowler, and obviously it's not the big move that we were all hoping for, but there's still time for them to do something in the receiver department, and we're going to talk a little bit about their options for that coming up before we do that we're going to tell you about vivid seats because these have been sponsoring this podcast pretty much this whole season we appreciate them for doing that look we all love a night out whether it's going to a game a concert theater whatever it may be and vivid seats is the best option that you can you can use to get tickets

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would do something during the bye week to get a guy in here to be ready to go for practice this week or have a little bit of extra time to get in the playbook or whatever it may be. Obviously, that didn't happen, but there are still some options. There are still some receivers out there that are rumored to be available. Golden Tate is a guy that we've – Bill Barwell had written an article a couple weeks back about how the Titans are trying to trade for him. That has always kind of seemed like a little bit of a pipe dream to me

for various reasons. I mean, he's still a good player. The Lions are still competing for a playoff spot, all that kind of stuff. But then there was the report today, Tom Pelissero, or however you say his name for the NFL Network, he said that the Lions would have to be basically blown away to move Tate, but then he said that a fourth-round pick would blow him away. I mean, if I'm John Robinson and all it takes is a fourth-round pick

to get Golden Tate, I'm all over that. Other guys rumored to be available, Demarius Thomas, Deshaun Jackson, Randall Cobb. Any of those guys would be an upgrade over what they have now. Yes, those guys all have their different deficiencies or whatever it may be, drops or injuries or whatever. But it's just funny to me. I said something about Randall Cobb today because he was healthy on Sunday and played less snaps than he was the third or fourth on the Packers in receiver snaps play. Everybody's like, oh, you want a guy that's always hurt to come in here.

Well, like I said, any guy that's available, there are going to be some kind of issues with him. Of the guys that I mentioned, I think Deshaun Jackson, Golden Tate's obviously the best player in that group. Deshaun Jackson, to me, makes the most sense for this team because you've got a guy who can still get down the field, still take the top off the defense, something the Titans desperately need, and you can probably get him for pretty cheap.

He is signed through 2019, but his deal for next year is, I think it's $10 million. It's all base salary, so you could cut him and not have a hit against the cap. So of those guys that are mentioned, Terry, who's the guy you think they should target? Well, the Golden Tate thing is interesting because you're talking about giving up a fourth-round pick and everyone's calling him an eight-game rental,

acting like he's going to walk to free agency. Would Golden Tate not want to re-sign here? I mean, he's from Nashville. It seems like a good fit, a place where he could work out of the slot and probably get the most targets on the team. So that seems like a really good fit. Now, again, like you were saying, it doesn't really make sense from the Lions' perspective

if they're serious about wanting to get back into this playoff run. But clearly he's on the market. I was like you. I didn't think it was possible. And then that report comes out today that they're listening. So a fourth round pick for Golden Tate,

I think, I could be wrong, but I think he would be interested in perhaps finishing his career in Nashville. That's where I'd start. From there, Deshaun Jackson, yeah, if you put Deshaun Jackson in for Taewon Taylor, how many more games did the Titans win this year? I mean, probably at least two, which is rare to say for a receiver, but that kind of speaks to how much of a problem

the receivers have been. As for Randall Cobb, I'm kind of out on Randall Cobb. I'm kind of like the general population. He's always hurt. It just seems like his body's breaking down on him late in his career. A guy that interests me, and we seem to disagree on a little bit,

is Ty Montgomery, who had the meltdown on Sunday. Apparently, he was told to take a knee in the end zone. He went ahead and took the kick out, and he seems to be upset. Buried on the depth chart, working as a third running back, but came into the league as a receiver. So that's kind of interesting to me.

I think the Titans could honestly use him at either position and probably could utilize him as some sort of hybrid. And a guy that would come cheap that you could probably flip a seventh for, I mean, heck, the Packers might even release him. So there's some good options on the table. And honestly, I'm surprised they haven't made a move yet. And if they don't, I'm going to be really upset. You know, even if it's not just bringing in some free agent to try and get better,

because it's clearly not good enough. That's the thing. I mean, you know, every year, whether it be the trading deadline or free agency, there's all this hype and everybody gets all excited. It always seems to be a little bit of a letdown. If you've listened to us for any amount of time,

you know that we're not the go sign all the big free agents, go trade for all the guys. That's not really what we do here. But, like you said, they've got to do something. This group is obviously not good enough. They're not getting it done. You know, I guess two games, a game and a half,

however you want to look at that, behind the Texans now. With the Texans having gotten on a little bit of a hot streak here. But if the Titans can put some things together, I think they can still win this division. I think you still have a chance to get into the playoffs now are you ready to compete with kansas city um are you ready to compete with with those those teams that are really really good you know probably not um but if the offense could come along a little bit that even has actually been you know pretty good uh pretty good to really good for the most part.

I don't know. I mean, I just think this is a year that if you can find a way to win the division and get to the playoffs, you might be able to make a little bit of a run. And it just seems like, I don't know, general manager malpractice to not try to do something now to upgrade what they thought coming into the season was going to be good enough in this receiver group. And again, we talked about the Richard Matthews. I mean, all that stuff we've talked about. But it seems like John Robinson should be able to admit at this point

that he either misvalued or mis-evaluated what he had or just circumstances beyond what he knew then. But they need to do something. They need to do something to help out their quarterback. They need to do something to help out just the offense as a whole, a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator. I mean, all those things. I just don't – I think it would be a terrible mistake to stand Pat Marcus

in his fourth year of his rookie deal. I mean, all those things, it just seems like the perfect time to make it. Again, I'm not saying they should have traded a first for Murray Cooper. That's not what I'm saying, but if they could get one of these guys that would come in and be an upgrade, I don't know.

I can't fathom being John Robinson and thinking, hey, we're good with what we have. Yeah, I really don't care at this point. You can't fathom being John Robinson and thinking, hey, you know what, we're good with what we have. Yeah, I really don't care at this point. You can't give me that line. We're good with what we have. We're happy with the receivers right now. You can't give me that.

You know, I know you've given up a six-round pick for Camila Correa, so you're already kind of down a pick. But you can't tell me you can't make the receivers better than they are right now. It's just, you know, we talk about it a lot. You know, you're wasting Marks Mariota's rookie contract. Things are going to get tougher when and if you re-sign him. That still remains up to be seen right now.

But you've got to do something. I don't care if it's a free agent. I don't care if it's Terrell Pryor. I don't care if it's a broken-down Jeremy Macklin. I don't care if it's a free agent. I don't care if it's Terrell Pryor. I don't care if it's a broken down Jeremy Macklin. I don't care if it's Des Bryant. Those guys are all better than what the Titans have because the bar is literally, are you

better than Cameron Batson right now? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's a guy that's taking up a roster spot. I don't know. We'll see. Like I said, it'll be, when you listen to this Tuesday, by the time we record on Tuesday night, we will know the answer to this question. We'll have updates on museummiracles.com, so you can follow us there.

All right. Coming up, we will talk a little bit about the line for this game. It surprised me a little bit. And so we'll get into that conversation a little bit. Before we do, I'll tell you about Swap.com. Sw that com has also been swapping the podcast for a few weeks now um look it's crazy you want to go buy new clothes brand names the prices are ridiculous especially if you have kids you know how quickly they grow out of stuff um so it doesn't make sense to spend a whole lot of money on something they're not going to be able to wear for very long uh so wouldn't it be

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being added on there every day so again swap.com use promo code LOCKEDON for 35% off of select items on your first order. Alright, so the line was released today for Titans and the Cowboys and I think as of this recording it's up to what? Cowboys minus six and a half? I saw seven.

Seven in some places. So, I mean, I don't know. Like, I mean, obviously, I feel like I'm a little bit of a homer, maybe. And I still have maybe more confidence in this team than I should. But I think that the problem, the biggest problem that I have with that line is I don't think the Cowboys are very good. And so even if you don't think the Titans are very good, this seems to me like a coin flip game. is I don't think the Cowboys are very good. And so even if you don't think the Titans are very good,

this seems to me like a coin flip game. And so sure, you know, you give them a couple of points for being the home team. So my guess, if you'd have asked me before I saw it, what the line would be, I would have said like Cowboys minus three, three and a half, something like that. And obviously Vegas has a much different feeling of the Titans than we do. Or the Cowboys won. I don't know which one it is. Yeah, I don't know.

It opened at four. So that's interesting that it's grown to seven. Maybe there's just a bunch of Cowboys teams that are really confident in their team acquiring Amari Cooper. So I'm not sure. This seems crazy to me because we've looked at this matchup for weeks now. That's a matchup where there's two pretty similar teams there. That's two pretty good defenses, two struggling offenses without a lot of weapons. Dallas obviously has the upper hand in the run game there.

I'm expecting a close one. I think this will go into the fourth quarter. I feel really confident that the Titans will cover seven points. If you want to fire up a podcast sponsor, MyBookie, and go place your bets,

I'd encourage that. I feel that line's way too big. It's kind of strange, honestly. What did you say the total is? Only 41. Yeah, I mean, I just – I don't see this as being a game where a lot of points are scored.

The Cowboys have struggled in offense. They fired their offensive line coach today. So I just – I'm not sure. Like I said, the Titans' defense has been good. You've had a few issues here and there. Obviously they had a couple of breakdowns in the game against the Chargers. But outside of that and the Malcolm Butler big plays that he's given up, they've been solid for the most part.

I just don't see this as being a game where the Cowboys are able to put up a bunch of points. We'll get more into the Cowboys as we go on throughout the week. But I don't know. That just seems like a big one to me. And like you said, I think it's probably a smart move, if you are a betting person, to go and jump on that. And I do think there is probably a lot of public money coming in on the Cowboys.

There's a lot of Cowboys fans out there. And when they see a game against the Titans, they're excited because they got Amari Cooper and they don't have a lot of respect for what the Titans are. And you get that. I think that's probably why the line moved as much as it did. But I don't know. I still feel like this is a game the Titans are going to win. Like I said, maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm being a homer or whatever. But I don't see – there are certain games – I thought the Chargers were a terrible matchup for the Titans.

I just don't see another team that wants to come in and run the ball. It's not very dynamic on offense. That's just not a team that scares me. And I can already see the tweets. When Amari Cooper burns Malcolm Butler deep for six. I can already see the tweets about John Robinson not wanting to give up draft picks for Amari Cooper. That's going to be terrible. Yeah, that'll be fun.

But hopefully they'll have Deshaun Jackson or somebody like that, and so it'll hurt a little bit less. But anyway, so we'll keep an eye on that line as the week goes along, see if there's any more movement there. But just kind of interesting, and I just think that's something the Titans can definitely cover. Like I said, I think they win this game outright. We'll obviously see how that plays out.

All right, so that'll do it for tonight. Tomorrow we will have our crossover episode with the Cowboys, so be sure and check that out. And then we'll do another show on uh either Wednesday or Thursday kind of previewing the game and our schedule will be a little bit different next week again you know obviously not having a reaction show until Monday night so in the meantime check out me to see miracles.com like I said you can follow us on twitter at jaymoresmcm at tlambertfb and search out locked on titans wherever you get your podcast and

subscribe to the show so for Terry this is Jimmy saying thanks for sitting locked on titans and we will talk to you again tomorrow