Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Mariota breakdown with Jonathan Kinsley

Episode Date: February 16, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked On Titans. I am Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? Doing pretty good. What's going on? Not too much, and tonight we have a special guest on with us. You know him as AtBrickWallBlitz on Twitter. His name is John Kinsley. John, how are you? I am doing perfect. How are you? How are you? I am doing perfect. How are you? We are doing well.

So we're going to ask John about the Titans offense, his impression of the Titans offense. And we were talking a little bit before we jumped on here. I think sometimes Terry and I are so close to everything that, you know, maybe we need to take a step back and get some impressions from somebody who is not necessarily a Titans fan, but is just looking at the film objectively and his thoughts on things. So that's why we thought we'd bring John in. Follow him on Twitter, at BrickWallBlitz.

Great follow. Has done a lot of breakdowns of different guys. I got drawn in with the Mariota stuff, obviously. So follow him there. Before we get started, Terry and I cover Tennessee Titans on SBNationMuseCityMiracles.com. So check that out. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm.

Terry is at TLambertFB. All right, so we'll get started real quick with the first question. Obviously, this will be kind of Marcus Mariota-centric, focused on that and then kind of what we can look at with the offense going forward for next year. Focus on that and then kind of what we can look at with the offense going forward for next year. So, John, real quick, give me your impressions of what you saw in the differences between Marcus Mariota in 2016 and Marcus Mariota in 2017. Well, obviously, no one's going to really say that Mariota was a better quarterback in 2017 than he was in 2016. Obviously, if you look at his numbers, you might be under the impression that he regressed.

13 touchdowns and 15 interceptions and a 79.3 passer rating. Those obviously aren't good numbers at all. However, to me, the reality is that Mariota massively overachieved statistically in 2016, which says less about his quality and more about how awful the coaching around him was on offense. In 2016, the Titans ran a near-identical offense to the one they ran last year. There was a big emphasis on the run game, we know that, as well as a barrage of trick plays that required perfect execution nearly every single time to be successful. Back then, like, this was even overwhelming for Mariota back then,

but he was still phenomenal that year regardless. The way he was able to fit tight balls, I mean, fit balls into tight windows with seven- to eight-man protection schemes and two isolated routes downfield was just something that you would rarely see in an offense this backwards. So in terms of AFC South quarterbacks, like even with regards to AFC South quarterbacks, Andrew Luck also comes to mind in regards to functioning

and non-functional offenses. So last year, 2017 that is, defenses noted, like they noticed how the Titans gave their offense, sorry, excuse me, gave their QB an offense that required perfect play on nearly every play. They noticed that the Titans did not call versatile route combos. In fact, having two receivers downfield every play was a staple that a lot of Titans fans began to notice as the season progressed.

So with that knowledge, defenses adjusted to this offense and blocked every route downfield. The offensive line would do a great job of protecting, but what good was that if there was two guys running downfield that are completely covered mario therefore would only have two options run or fit the ball through an impossibly tight window so as a result mario's touchdowns went down his interceptions went up mario was put in terrible situations all year which is common knowledge in the fan base, we know this. No quarterback could in my mind put up monster stats in that offense like 35 touchdowns, I mean. So one exception to that

would probably be Aaron Rodgers, but that's obviously because he's Aaron Rodgers. So that offense was entirely too predictable and offered arguably the worst play calling and the worst scheme in the NFL. Like, yeah, on the same level as the Browns. Of course, other factors contributed to Mariota's statistical decline, and the skill players played a big role as well. Delaney Walker, Eric Decker, they both dropped too many balls.

DeMarco Murray fell off completely, and while Derek Kennedy wasn't spectacular, like he rarely started until Murray went down to the injury at the end of the regular season. Both running backs were practically absent in the receiving game. In fact, I believe they barely combined for 4,000, like 400 receiving yards. I mean, if they had 4,000, it would be spectacular, but they had

400. So, uh, Corey Davis, Corey Davis showed a few flashes here and there, but never really got comfortable and struggled with injuries. Rashard Matthews probably had the most consistent season from any receiver that I saw, but he himself doesn't even have the most well-rounded skill set to begin with. Finally, Mike Malarkey and Greg Robitsky. Oh, man.

They placed way too much emphasis on Mariota's running ability than his pocket play. And this is something that really bugged me when analysts discussed Mariota's skill set all season. Guys like John Gruden thought his pocket play was lacking and that he was at his best a runner. So don't get me wrong. While I do think his running ability is important, he is a good runner. He's not a spectacular runner like Cam Newton that can bulldoze through defenses or offer a huge dimension to his respective offense with that multi-dimensional skill set so really i think mario is at his best as a pocket passer i often compared him to tom brady because he has an

identical skill set he's extremely quick at cycling through his reads and reading defenses and offers lighting fast footwork in a quick throwing motion but to me what really puts him over the top to me is how he'll move the secondary of his eyes as he is throwing the ball i repeat that how like he'll move the secondary with his eyes as he's throwing the ball then throw this sort of no look pass which creates all these wide open windows it's all him in that regard, and his ability to do so is something that I've rarely seen. Tony Romo was another

guy that could move defensively with his eyes as he was throwing, and I think Mariota did it as well as him, if not better. So to wrap this question up, with bad wide receiver play, bad backfield play, and bad coaching, what else was Mariota supposed to do?

I'm not going to act like he was perfect all the time. He had his share of bad mistakes. But any quarterback that plays in the offense he had in 2017 is going to make a lot of mistakes, regardless of how good or bad they are. So while Mariota didn't have as good of a year as 2016, it was natural given the circumstances he was dealing with. So I put less blame on him as I do everything surrounding him. You can even make the argument that Mariota carried this offense to playoffs

and made two big plays to complete Tennessee's last two wins. The run at the end of the Jaguars game to clinch a playoff spot and the block for Henry to up to the Chiefs in the wildcard round. Okay, Terry, real quick before you go. A couple things from that. Number one, John, you're not a Titans fan, right? I am not. Okay, so just real quickly on that, because Terry and I got killed a lot on Twitter during the season

about being apologists for Marcus Mariota. And, you know, seeing the same things that you're seeing, but, you know, fans watch the game, and they're like, oh, he's terrible, you're just making excuses for him, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I just want that to be real clear this is this is somebody who objectively watched the offense and noticed these things the things that we were saying but again i think sometimes fans and us too but i mean fans in general are too close to the team so you can't see a lot of the things that that you're talking about here because you're you're just too close to it um i mean a lot of of interesting stuff there.

A comparison to Tom Brady, which I hadn't heard before, but we'll maybe get you to elaborate a little bit more on that in a few minutes. But just remember that, that we're talking about a guy who was in an offense that was just not suited for the NFL and just had very little chance to be successful in the NFL. All right, so just my two cents on what you just said there. Go ahead. Yeah, John, you sound like me just with the frustrations on the offense. You watch 2016, and you're just like, he didn't just forget how to play.

So I think some of the stuff you were doing, they were doing kind of regressed to the mean like you were saying, so I think that's a really good point. Obviously, you're getting a new offense in Nashville. Matt LeFleur coming to town. What specifically from Mariota, though, needs to improve going into this year? Well, to start off, I think I'll cut down on the bad decision-making in 2018. But one thing I haven't really been high on in the past that a lot of Titans fans were high on was his downfield accuracy.

In previous seasons, Titans fans were lauding him as this downfield passing master when really the Titans were the ones that made him throw downfield a ton. He wasn't bad, but to me, like he just offered a case of volume over efficiency. So when I charted him for the deep ball project after 2016, his accuracy on all throws of 16-plus air yards was 43.6%, which ranked 26 out of 31 quarterbacks that were charted. However, in 2017, his accuracy in the area was 62.4%, which would have ranked fifth if it were charted however in 2017 his accuracy in the area was 62.4 percent which would have ranked fifth if it were charted in 2016 so it's it's kind of ironic that i thought

mariotta took a giant step up in accuracy on vertical throws in a year where everyone thought he was terrible to answer your question uh if there's one area where he could improve it's i guess i guess it's in the arm strength. He doesn't have a weak arm, but it's never really been an arm that can compare to guys like Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, or Matthew Stafford. Guys that can just throw with ridiculous velocity and fit the ball anywhere, any side of the field. Some of his passes on really long throws tend to sail a bit as well. But that's just being nitpicky to me. Mariota's one of the most poised quarterbacks I've ever seen.

Hopefully this new coaching staff will give him breathing room in 2018. So, you know, along those lines, Matt LaFleur has said in his initial press conference with the Titans media that he's going to look at the personnel the Titans have, obviously that includes Marcus Mariota, and tailor a system to what fits them. So, you know, along those lines, what do you think is the best offense for Mariota to be in,

and what do you think this offense will look like with Matt LaFleur in 2018? Well, the Titans need to move, like, first off, move on from DeMarco Murray, obviously. And they need to get it back after that can compliment Derrick Henry and maybe a guy like C.J. Anderson if he's available. So as far as the offense will look, I'm hoping Matt LeFleur will have his blueprint on the offense's identity. As offensive coordinator with the Rams, he and head coach Sean McVay

took a talented offense, like a group of really talented receivers and a talented running back like a group of really talented receivers and talented running back, and absolutely skyrocketed their ceiling with how efficient the play calling was. So if you're familiar with the Eagles and Chiefs offenses, Jimmy and Terry, Rams offense isn't that much different. It's play action heavy and uses misdirection routes to create openings for the antenna receiver, and the occasional jet sweep is also a staple.

So as long as LeFleur takes what he helped install with McVay last year, the Titans' offense should be significantly better in 2018. Derek Henry obviously isn't quite as good as Todd Gurley, but LeFleur should be able to do with Henry what he helped do for Gurley and give him more space to allow him to use his athleticism. Corey Davis, as LeFleur mentioned, has potential, and LeFleur should be able to get the most out of him as long as he's healthy. Walker had a down year with all the drops that he had, but he should be able to make up for that

and have at least one more good year in Tennessee, considering how old he is. So with your question on Mariota, LeFleur needs to combine Mariota's potential on run-pass options, because he's obviously like a running quarterback to an extent, and place more of a focus on his pocket passing than Malarkey and Wabiski ever did. To me, like I already said this before in great detail,

that Mariota is just like, he's way too good as a pocket passer, and his statistical performance didn't really show that. It was basically how the coaching staff operated him. And like with the Rams, LaFleur is inheriting a talented offensive line and should be able to install more diverse line formations so that the Titans don't have to have seven guys blocking in each play. But really, how the offense will look is uncertain because we don't know how good the floor will be, who the Titans will pick up at free agency, or even who they'll draft.

So the floor should prove to be a good hire to me. But as for the rest, it's kind of a mystery. So that's a good transition into my next question you brought up free agency there the talk of uh the titan circle so far has been sammy watkins uh not really it's interesting me and jimmy did a podcast a couple days ago and we said a receiver is not really too big of a need. They just need some depth guys. But Sammy Watkins is a guy that I think still has some potential to really be a nice piece of the offense. What do you think about Sammy potentially landing in Nashville?

First off, you guys love Watkins, don't you? I'm lukewarm on Watkins. I thought he was inconsistent. Granted, I haven't watched the Rams tape like I'm sure you have, but it depends on price. A lot of Titans fans have tweeted me how much they love Watkins, like a lot of them really want Watkins there. They love receivers.

Yeah, and my question too. I figured everyone loved him. Just real quick is how healthy is he? I mean, I don't know that any of us can answer my question, too, just real quick is how healthy is he? I mean, I don't know that any of us can answer that question. But, I mean, I think the foot thing has obviously, you know, followed him and has been an issue for him. That's what I want to know, how healthy is he? Because I think he's a great player if he's healthy, but I'm just not sure where he is on that. That was like the foot injury was something that happened during the middle of the season,

I believe. I think it showed up in one of the vertical throws I charted on with Jared Goff where Watkins was about to get open, but as he was cutting towards the middle of the field, you could see that he was uncomfortable. His foot kind of sprained or whatever, and he just stopped running around and just pointed to his foot. I would say, like, otherwise, I'd say he's pretty healthy after that.

Yeah, so, I mean, do you think he's a good fit for – is that something that you think this Titans offense needs? Because, I mean, we talked a lot last year about them adding a deep vertical threat. And, I mean, I think there's the chance that Taewon Taylor could be that guy. But if you can get Sammy Watkins for a reasonable price, I mean, I think he's a guy that has the upside of being a number one wide receiver. But what do you think he would bring to the table in this offense? wide receiver, but what do you think he would bring to the table in this offense? So as you guys probably know, I'm in the middle of a Sammy Watkins thread where I've tweeted about 11 gifts so far, and we'll probably tweet more after this podcast, to be honest.

Anyway, Watkins, like Mariota, he's been heavily criticized for his stats this season, last season, whatever. He had eight touchdowns, but only 39 catches and 593 yards. These stats, however, do not come close to representing the quality he has as a pass catcher. He's not close to having all of his

athleticism sapped at this point, despite all the injuries he's had. And in fact, actually did really damn good last year, in my opinion. The main problem Watkins was faced with last year is that Jaredared goff is not an accurate quarterback he's not an accurate downfield passer so in regards to his skill set walkins is an extremely fluid fast athlete and this is a fantastic job creating separation of vertical routes and it seemed like every game goff's accuracy for walkins downfield was way off we We're talking like Watkins is wide open.

How the hell do you miss these throws? There was one truly bad example of Goff missing it over Watkins. I believe it was Week 7 in Arizona. It was early in the third quarter. Rams were inside the red zone in Cardinal territory. Watkins was positioned outright. Patrick Peterson was on him. And when the ball was snapped, Watkins pushed off his right foot then faked that he was on a shallow crossing route

and that completely fooled Peterson so he was wide open broke to the end zone wide open and goth's pass wasn't even in the same area code like it was just way overthrown there was like there was just no excuse for that miss like goth had a clean pocket a wide open to receiver on his initial read and the precision just wasn't there it's like it's it's in the thread i was talking about as well you can see out there anyway watkins was in a position in 2017 that sean jackson was in with the right redskins in 2016 defenses feared him so they installed heavy coverage on him. And while that had an impact on his statistical output,

it also allowed these other receivers to get extremely wide open. So Watkins was providing value in that just with his very presence alone. And on offense with Gerald Everett, Tyler Higbee, Cooper Cupp, and Bill's teammate Robert Woods. Four other receivers that could be legit wide receiver ones or wide receiver twos. Most of them are wide receiver twos, but nevertheless. It was very hard for Watkins to make the major impact statistically people would expect, but even so, he still made his presence felt, and I think he would be a very big loss

for Rams if he left. So Watkins not only offers the vertical threat the Titans need, but obviously we all know it, he's familiar with offensive coordinator Matt LeFleur. He's also a guy that can be a monster at yards after the catch because of his raw speed and quickness, and I'm hoping that he can be used on a lot of bubble screens in Tennessee if he were to sign. It feels like Watkins has been in the league forever, but he'll actually be 25 in June, and despite all the injuries he's sustained, I'm not seeing any of his athleticism drained at all, which is partially because he's young, but he's also one of the smoothest route runners

I have ever seen in today's game. I don't usually use the word mentor like a lot of people do to help people, mentor or whatever, but in theory he should be able to help mentor Corey Davis and compliment him in a vertical passing game if he were to sign with the Titans. Personally, I think he's a top 20 wide receiver, maybe even top 15.

His skill set is just really good, and he's a top 20 wide receiver, maybe even top 15. His skill set is just really good, and he's a massively underrated vertical threat and an underrated player as a whole. Good stuff. Again, follow John on Twitter, at BrickWallBlitz. He has so much good stuff, so many good breakdowns there. He starts threads on different guys, so you can follow along as he goes there. Johnny, any thoughts on anything regarding the Titans on your way out here?

I actually think there will be a playoff team in 2018 because of LaFleur. He should be a much better coordinator than Malarkey or Brombitsky, and he should be able to open up the offense and offer a more versatile style of play calling and I think Corey Davis should be healthy and he should be able to flash a lot more of a skill set. They should be able to give a back that can compliment Derrick Henry. Obviously the offensive line is really good and with all this, Mariota should be able to be

a lot more comfortable, and his statistical output should skyrocket as a result. I don't know. I'm setting all these high expectations, but I think Mariota's a really good quarterback, maybe even top 10 in that regard. So I honestly think they'll be a playoff team. They were a playoff team with Mike Malarkey,

so if they could be a playoff team with Mike Malarkey. So if they could be a playoff team with Mike Malarkey and freaking Terry Ron Bitsky, they should be a playoff team with a much better coordinator. Yeah, absolutely, man. Hey, listen, we agree. I mean, we think that, you know, Mariota was wasted in that system and just really excited to see what he can do in a system that you know actually does something to play to his strengths so uh like i said we appreciate you joining us and again follow john on twitter at brick wall blitz we appreciate the time tonight and we will catch

up with you again down the road appreciate you jimmy Yeah, man. All right, so just a few things as we get out here. I think that it was a good point about them relying too much on Mariota's running, and that's been a thing that Paul Karski has kind of harped on, Terry, is that they didn't seem to have a plan B in those couple games where Mariota got dinged up during the game and couldn't run. It seemed like they were lost, and so to me it seemed like in those couple games where Mariota got dinged up during the game and couldn't run, it seemed like they were lost. And so to me, it seemed like in those instances, they didn't have a game plan for him to be able to throw from the pocket. They counted on too much of that stuff.

So I'm just excited about what this offense is going to look like with a new system, with somebody that has confidence in Mariota's ability from the pocket. Yeah, I'm just excited to get an offensive coordinator in here that's going to maximize him. You just saw so many frustrations, and we talked about it. I mean, we exhausted all of that throughout the season. The two-man routes, the receivers ended up in the same spot. There's just spots where you just got to ask yourself, what's Mario supposed to do here? You know, what's his other option going to be? So like Jonathan was saying, he was forced to throw into a tight window

and he was forced to throw interceptable passes and it just ended up biting him. So the offense as a whole was just broken. So I think John Robinson and even Amy knew that this wasn't going to work. Something had to change. And I think that's what they presented to Mike Malarkey. And when he said no, they made that decision really easy on John Robinson. Yeah, and again, you know, there was a lot of talk,

especially when Amy Adams-Strunk first took over, about how she didn't care about the team and all that stuff. But, I mean, she gets credit in my book for being willing to go ahead and pull the trigger on getting rid of Mike Malarkey after a playoff win that they hadn't had in so long and stuff. So, I mean, I think that the ceiling is really so much higher for this offense next year, and so that's something that we'll see.

All right, we appreciate you joining us on another edition of Locked on Titans. Again, you can follow the podcast on Twitter. We're at Locked on Titans. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlambertfb. You can follow John on Twitter at brickwallblitz. Like I said, he has a lot of good stuff breaking down different players

and different quarterbacks and receivers and all that kind of stuff. So check him out there. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Just search Locked on Titans there, and you can find us iTunes, Spotify, Twitter, wherever. That will do it for us for this week, but we'll be back next week as we start to really dive into the combine and some players to watch there. So for Terry and for John, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening,

and we'll talk to you again next week.