Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Instant takes from preseason game No. 1

Episode Date: August 10, 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? Doing well. It was a bit of a struggle to make it through the second half of that game. Yeah, man. Preseason. We get excited for it because it's football and it's all that good stuff. We haven't seen competitive football in a long time, but the third and fourth quarter of the first and fourth preseason games especially, they're just kind of brutal. But anyway, all right, so Titans lost to the Packers tonight. We will go through kind of our takeaways here in just a minute. Before we do that, I remind you to be right for musiccitymiracles.com,

so you can check out everything there. We'll have a ton about this game, everything kind of recapping over the next couple days. So be sure and stay tuned into that. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb. And then you can find the podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts, just search Locked on Titans, and you can find us there.

All right, so, I mean, we talked last night about some of the things that we wanted to see. And the main thing, I think, for both of us was the offense, the quarterback. We talked a little bit about that. Marcus Mariota came out. First-team offense was really sharp. Went down the field, converted a couple of big third downs, had one really nice throw to Nick Williams that turned into a big gain. And then they, you know, ran a play that, you know,

had a little pick play for the touchdown. They kind of checked all the boxes for everything we wanted to see. Obviously, that doesn't mean that the offense is going to be great, markets is fixed, and all that kind of stuff. But we talked last night about how we would feel better about things going forward if we saw a good, solid series from the offense, or however long they played. They only played that one series. That was just very reassuring to see from the offense, or however long they played. They only played that one series.

So, I mean, that was just very reassuring to see from the beginning. Yeah, the biggest thing was Marcus Murray went down the field and scored without his top two receivers. So, big play to Nick Williams. It was kind of a busted play. Nick Williams broke a tackle. It was only about a six-yard little slant route that Nick Williams busted open, but still it counts. But I mean, I think the biggest thing of the entire day for me was that

play that you were talking about. It was just a really simple concept. It was three receivers on one side that two inside guys kind of took off and set picks, more or less, and Darius Jennings kind of came underneath and scored. It was really easy. It's a concept that you see all around the NFL, but the Titans did not run it last year. So we know the malarkey struggles have been well documented. So that was good to see.

It looked easy. Titans made things look was good to see. It looked easy. You know, Titans made things look so hard last year. Everything looked easy tonight. Yeah, and that's the thing. I mean, you saw that. You saw them run a few screen plays, not really with the first team. But as they got on, they tried a couple, or they tried at least one to Akron Wadley. You know, and the Titans have not been a good screen team,

I don't think, the entire time they've been here. I think that's going to change with this new group. I think that'll change with Deion Lewis. So you saw a little bit of that. And like, yeah,

I mean, just kind of the takeaway from the offense as a whole. And like you said, it's going to be a little bit hard to judge what they're going to do, especially with the receivers, when you don't have Corey Davis and Rashard Matthews out there. Corey Davis made the trip.

He went through warm-ups but didn't play. So, I mean, I think as far as Davis is concerned, again, Brable's giving no information, and we know that. But I think the takeaway from that has got to be that he's at least close to being back. I don't think at this point it's an injury that is going to— I mean, what he has right now is not similar to what he had last year in training camp where he's going to end up missing a whole bunch of time. Because if he had no chance to play, they would have left him home

because guys like Arakpo, Benny Logan, Rashard Matthews, I mean, Conklin, they're obviously on PUP, but those guys stayed home. They didn't make the trip. So I think that's probably good news for Davis, and hopefully we'll see him out there as soon as they get back on the practice field, I think, on either Saturday or Sunday. I think they're on the field Saturday and Sunday. So hopefully he'll be back then.

But, I mean, don't you agree it's encouraging that he was at least there and went through warm-ups? Yeah, it seems like they're just being cautious, which is absolutely 100% the right call. Again, we don't know what the injury is. But there's no reason for him to be out there if he sustained an injury this week. So the receivers look better than I thought. I thought it was interesting that

Tasha Sharp kind of played in that second group. Darius Jennings played ahead of him. We've seen that a lot in practice too. Taylor didn't get much runs tonight. He played like a starter. He sat like a starter.

I think he got his one drive and then he sat. I might be wrong on that. But they gave him a look in the red zone, threw him kind of a fade route that was going to be six points if Taylor doesn't lose his feet and trip and stumble there. It's a perfect ball from Marcus Mariota, who, again, we only saw four or five throws, but, man, they look sharp. And Taylor in the end zone came free there.

So I thought that was an interesting concept, given his size. So all signs point to Taylor being a really big part of the offense, and that's good to see. Yeah, and the surface was apparently slippery tonight because you saw a couple different times where guys on both sides were slipping around. But, yeah, that would have been a touchdown. I think you're absolutely right on that play. I feel like he caught a pass from Blaine Gabbert.

Yeah, I could be wrong. But, yeah, I mean, I think it's pretty clear that he's going to be the third guy in three-over receiver stats. Now, we don't know exactly how he's going to shake out when everybody's back. But, like you said, interesting that Darius Jennings is playing ahead of Tajay Sharp. You know, we've looked at these things and done projections and that kind of stuff. We haven't necessarily – I mean, I didn't include Darius Jennings on mine. I thought if anybody – I thought if any of these, you know, off the top, you know, four or five guys were going to make the roster, it would be Deontay Burnett.

But, you know, Darius Jen Jones is getting a lot of runs, so that's got to keep an eye on. I didn't notice him on special teams. I wonder what he did there. But, yeah, like I said, it's good to see the offense click like it did. Blaine Gabbert played for, I guess, about a quarter, and he was better than Matt Castle. I mean, I don't know.

He's still playing Gaffer, right? Setting him really low. Right, right. But, you know, they made the point on the broadcast as well. He's a guy that can do a lot of the same things that Marcus Mariota can do. He's got a good arm. He's got mobility, that kind of stuff. So, you know, you don't have to change a whole lot

if if something happens and marcus does go down during the year um you don't have to you don't have to mess with much of what you're doing in your offense it's obviously not going to be as good but um you know again that's we hope that it doesn't come to that we hope that he's not on the field at all but we saw last year i mean you know that dolphins game if you if you have a if you have a competent quarterback in that game the titans win that game so um it's a it's at least a it was at least a hole on the roster and it looks to be at least a a little bit of an upgrade yeah i mean the titans literally went from maybe the worst backup situation in the league to somewhere in the middle. So, yeah, I mean, Gabbert's going to give you a big live arm.

He's not going to come with the accuracy that you saw from Marcus Mariota. You saw that tonight. You saw a couple of overthrows. But you just have confidence that the Titans can stay afloat if Gabbert has to enter the ballgame. Yeah, absolutely. All right, so coming over to this, we'll talk about our impressions of the first-team defense and then get into just a few of the guys that are kind of maybe on the roster

bubble and what we noticed from them tonight. So the first-team defense did not fare very well in their series out there. The Packers, led by Brett Hundley, went right down the field and scored. The big play on the drive was a big, deep pass to Devontae Adams. And the play by Malcolm Butler had fairly good coverage, but couldn't really find the ball, and Adams made a nice move to create separation and catch that pass. So, you know, it's hard to judge much on the few snaps that they played.

But early in the drive, they completed a couple passes on a Dory Jackson. So, you know, I mean, again, I don't want to make too many judgments off of, you know, just watching a little bit that they played. watched it a little bit that they played but we might need to temper the expectations on how like all world the secondary is going to be uh when we see them playing against you know better receivers than what the titans are putting out there day in and day out again i'm not saying they're not going to be good and i'm not saying they're going to be they're not going to be like a top 10 unit even but you saw tonight that they're not quite as dominant when they when they're facing a little bit stiffer competition it's kind of deja vu yeah logan ryan gave up that big ball against the jets

in the preseason last year um malcolm butler comes back and does the same thing this year so there's your big ticket free agent giving up a big play to start off the preseason so it's not what you want to see uh it's definitely not a big deal, though, I don't think. Again, one series, Adory Jackson got beat. He slipped on one rep, and it was just 10-yard gain. So, again, you're going to see vanilla stuff in preseason. You're not going to see much blitzing. You've got a new safety out there in Kenny Vaccaro.

The chemistry might not be where it needs to be right now, but it'll get there. The Titans have talent out there. I'm pretty confident that this is still going to be one of the better secondaries in the league. Yeah, and so, like I said, I mean, it's just...

I'm excited for this next week because the Buccaneers are here for a couple of practices on Thursday and Friday, I think it is. And so, you know, we're going to get to see them again. I mean, because the Buccaneers have got, obviously, Mike Evans. They've got Deshaun Jackson, Chris Goblin, who had a couple of good games last year. So it'll be interesting to see how the secondary, you know,

lines up against those guys. Harold Landry, as advertised, right? I mean, we're all excited about what he brings. And, I mean, if you were listening to us back during the draft time, I mean, we were banging the drum for Harold Landry in the first round and obviously felt like he was a steal in the second round. And you saw what he can do tonight. Came around the edge, showed that bend that everybody's talking about

that he has, you know, the sack force fumble. The Packers ended up recovering it. And he had another one where he was right there. And I think it was – I can't remember who was playing quarterback at that point, but got it out right before he got there. So he's just a guy that's different. He's different than even, you know, Brian Reitman and Eric Morgan have both been good as outside linebackers,

and they're able to create pressure. But Landry just has that speed rush that those guys, even in their prime, didn't have. So he's going to be fun to watch, and I really think the sky's the limit for him. Yeah, the Titans haven't had a speed rusher like that. I couldn't tell you when. That's just going to be a difference maker, I think. So I know you've got to consider who they're playing against, and I get all that.

But still, you saw what made him special at Boston College. You saw that on display tonight. It was a simple dip, bend, and got to the quarterback, turned the corner. Wasn't even all that quick off the line of scrimmage, but he still turned the corner. So really good to see. It just tells me that he just was not healthy last year at Boston College. So he looked like the 2016 version of himself tonight.

We just saw a couple flashes of it. But I just think it's going to be hard to keep this guy off the field yeah in 2015 harold landry or 20 yeah 2016 2016 harold landry is a top 15 pick right he's i mean if he yeah if he comes out that year so yeah like you said if he's healthy it's gonna be fun to watch and you know back to the whole speeder thing i mean they haven't had a speed rusher since they went to a 3-4 that I can remember. So, I mean, yeah, he just brings something completely different. And so that's going to be fun. That's something that this defense desperately needs.

And, again, start to combine all these things. The secondary is going to look better when he's coming off the edge and the quarterback is worried about where he is and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, obviously not as good of a showing for the defense, first team defense, as the first team offense. But, again, we'll kind of take it with a grain of salt, you know, only a series and all that kind of stuff and not, you know, putting the full thing in.

So, like I said, it's going to be a fun week. I think it's a week we're going to learn a lot about this team when we see those practices against the Buccaneers. And, you know, then you've got the game where the starters will play probably close to a quarter against that game, and they play the Steelers the next week, and they'll play probably a full half. So we'll get a little bit more of an

indication of where everybody is in that, and, you know, hopefully we can get Corey Davis back, Rashard Matthews back, you know, some of those guys, and you really see what this team, Brian Rakpo, really see what this team looks like at full strength. As far as kind of off the, you know,

what we think is a 53-man roster right now, guys, who did you notice? Well, I think this guy's going to make the team for sure, but we've got to talk about LaShawn Sims because he just, I mean, single-handedly stopped a drive. I think it was the second quarter. Yeah, it was. Yeah, they got down the field. They got into the red zone.

For whatever reason, they kept throwing at LaShawn, and LaShawn just kept knocking every pass away in the end zone. So I think he had two pass breakups in a row. Just a really solid night. A guy that started last year that's been bumped down the depth chart, we assume he's going to stick as the fourth corner on this team, and that's just really nice depth to have. Yeah, absolutely. We talked about Ty Smith and his loss, but yeah,

LaShawn Sims had a really nice night. And yeah, like you said, you've to have – you've got to have three. You need to have four in case one of those guys gets hurt. And we've seen LaShawn Sims. I mean, he's come up big at different times throughout his career. So, yeah, good to see him playing well. Akram Wadley had an interesting night. He's a guy that, you know, I don't know if he's going to make his roster or not.

It's hard to say. David Foyle actually looked pretty good running the ball. But, again, we kind of know what he is. With Wadley, you know, you think he brings a little bit something different. But, you know, he had a really nice – they threw a ball to him on fourth down, and he caught the ball, made a nice move, he got the first down, was pretty close to scoring. But then he comes back in the third quarter, I think it was either the third quarter or early fourth,

and has a fumble on a play where he really shouldn't have fumbled. He just kind of got knocked out from the side. And then in the fourth quarter, he's back to return a kickoff and mishandles it. And luckily, it got called a touchback. They very easily could have downed him at the one there. And then the next kickoff he returns like 60 something yards so we just kind of an up and down night for him which is maybe not necessarily what you want if you're battling for that roster spot i mean obviously the ups are good

but you want to show some consistency so he's the guy that we're still going to be you know keeping an eye on but i don't know that he necessarily improved his chances of making this roster tonight yeah if you're a running back that's on the bubble uh two things you don't want to do is do dumb stuff on special teams and fumble the football and he did both of them tonight uh so yeah it's interesting because he looked pretty good running the ball looks good catching the football um so a true up-and-down night for him. I'd still, I mean, personally, I'd still prefer him over Flewellen just because of the upside, the use that's there, his ability in the pass game, which we saw a little bit of tonight.

So I hope that he didn't do himself in tonight. I don't think he did, but certainly can't do that two weeks in a row. Yeah, and other than that, I mean, if you listen to the broadcast, every, you know, all 90 guys have had great camps, but it's kind of hard to keep track of that. But, you know, Wormsley

was a guy, the defensive lineman, came up a few times, met a couple plays, tipped the ball, and did some other things, created some pressure. So, I mean, he's a guy to keep an eye on. That rotation is kind of fluid. So, Benny Logan didn't make the trip. So, kind of some guys to watch there.

But was there anybody else that stood out to you? Kind of in a bad way. The rest of the secondary, really in the second half, Rico Gafford, Demontre Hurst, Joseph Esty, they all had rough, rough fourth quarters. Packers kind of lit them up there at the end. Really, I think after Kaitlin Reed came off the field, the wheels kind of fell off for the Titans,

and that's where the game kind of got away from them. But, of course, that doesn't matter. And like we were saying, there wasn't exactly a spot to be won at cornerback, so these guys are just kind of putting together tape for other teams, but none of them really had good nights. Yeah, and then the other

thing that stood out in this game was the penalties. Titans had something like 12 penalties, and it was just, I mean, it seemed like every play was a flag, and it just makes it that much more brutal when you just really kind of want the game to be over. This had no flow no it was it was very choppy and i don't know but that obviously mike brad was not going to be happy with that and you know i think that's a that's a point that he'll make even though you know the majority of those were committed by guys

that are not going to make the team anyway um but i'm sure that's a that's a big point that he'll be making over the next couple of days um you know gotta clean that stuff that stuff up and be disciplined but i don't know i liked um speaking of rabel uh he was different on the sideline than i thought he would be now against preseason and none of this matters so before you know it's just just observations watching him um wasn't as much wasn't as fiery as I thought he would be but I liked when he he interviewed Corey Curtis coming out coming back out before the second half and Corey Curtis made a comment about about LaShawn Sims and about him competing and all that stuff and

Bray was just like well yeah that's what that's what we expect them to do and I just like that because I mean basically you know I mean I think obviously being a player and all that stuff he understands that what the preseason is but um you know i think that's been a message that he's been preaching and every day he's got there to compete you know you know do that stuff and like you said if you're not gonna make this team you're trying to put tape out there for other teams and that kind of stuff but um anyway he was just he's a little bit different than i thought that's not good or bad. It was just something that I noticed as I was watching the game. How about the uniforms? I thought they looked great.

I thought they looked clean. I still think the numbers could be a little bit thicker. But just based off when I first saw them and then when I saw them on the field tonight, I thought they showed up on the field really, really well. Numbers really popped. The names really pop. A really clean look for the Titans. It took me a minute to get on board, but I'm there. I'm a fan.

That's something I noticed on Twitter. A lot of the national type people I follow, a lot of people comment on how good they look. The Titans have long been the team that, you know, people said had one of the worst uniforms in the league. So, yeah, I'm with you.

There are some numbers that still, like an 11, I think it looks awful. But for the most part, everything looks pretty good. So, yeah, that was cool. And, I mean, I love the helmet. I think it looks awesome. So, anyway, so that'll be kind of the takeaways from the game there. We'll learn about one thing we didn't mention. Dan Cruikshank

left the game after the Harold Landry strip sack play. That was special teams. It was a special teams punt. Yeah, I really don't remember. Yeah, anyway, it was a fumble. He was going after it and it looked like he kind of got his arm twisted under and fell on his shoulder. So, I really don't remember. Yeah, anyway, it was a fumble. He was going after it, and it looked like he kind of got his arm twisted under

and fell on his shoulder. So, I mean, obviously, unless he has an IR, we won't really find anything out about that. But that's something to keep an eye on because, you know, obviously they're already fended safety, or they were fended. They brought in Vaccaro. So it's something to keep an eye on because they don't have a lot of depth there. So hopefully he'll be all right

and it won't be something that's going to end his season. But that was the only major injury that I noticed. So anyway, that's good. That's the biggest thing is you want people to come out of this game healthy. So all right, we'll keep an eye on all that. Like I said, check out musicmiracles.com and we'll have all that stuff there.

Then we'll be back beginning of next week with podcasts and then going through the Bucs game next weekend. Plan on going to the two practices they have here. We'll do a report from those. Thanks for listening to us. Check us out on Twitter at

jmorsmcm, at tlimbertfb. Search out Locked On Titans wherever you get your podcasts. Check out museummiracles.com. So for Terry this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening and we'll talk to you next week.