Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Nov. 8- Wednesday means Four Downs & More.

Episode Date: November 8, 2016

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. You are locked on tight. 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 Pro Bowl left tackle Brad Hopkins. It's Tuesday, Terry McCormick, and we've got a lot of things to cover today.

The big news in current news, and there's a lot of that we'll get to in just a moment. Of course, as always on Tuesday, we go four downs where we take four subjects related to the Titans and go through those. And let's jump right into that current news. And the big news, Terry, is obviously the fact that there's probably something perhaps more serious than maybe first thought with Derrick Henry and his calf muscle. As the Titans made a couple of roster moves yesterday that directly impact or concern the injury to Derrick Henry and his calf muscle as the Titans made a couple of roster moves yesterday that directly impact or concern the injury to Derrick Henry? Yeah, when they made the move late yesterday to bring up David Flewellen from the practice squad, that kind of signaled that Derrick Henry is probably not going to play at least for this week, and Mike Malarkey saying he might be out a couple of weeks.

That sounds pretty accurate regarding the calf injury. You mentioned Flewellen coming up. He is a guy that, Terry, you and I both and some other people in the media that watch this team throughout training camp have been impressed with the way this young man runs. He runs hard. Most fans, if you haven't been to practice or didn't pay attention into the preseason games,

and obviously a lot of people don't to preseason games, you might have missed him, but he is not necessarily a chopped liver, I guess, if you want to use that term to describe this guy. Yeah, I mean, he has shown some burst in practice and in preseason. He's a guy that has shown that he can gain some yards, and now he may get a chance to do just that in a regular game. He's obviously third in line, so part of the reason he was brought up may be to help on special teams, but I would think that Antonio Andrews probably is number two behind Murray. But Flewellen is a guy that might sneak in and get a carrier soon and see what he's got.

I find it interesting that the Derrick Henry injury got very little coverage early on. In fact, I don't think anyone knew it. Certainly the Titans didn't release it to the media prior to the game on Sunday that he had been dealing with the injury that he apparently suffered in warm-ups and so the first real thought that anybody had was when you saw Antonio Andrews in Andrews excuse me in there getting carries early in the ball game rather than Derrick Henry in a spot where Henry would normally have been the guy right I think uh you know that was kind of a question that a lot of people had, you know, was why is Andrews being the guy that's getting that carry rather than Derrick Henry, the Mark Murray's not carrying football.

And I guess those questions were obviously answered with the revelation that Henry had been injured during the pregame warm-ups. Obviously, after the inactives were released, or otherwise they would have scratched him and kept somebody else up to help out. The corresponding move for David Flewellen coming up to the 53-man roster was the release of Cody Riggs. And that's a little bit of a surprise, Terry, because he had been a guy that had been a core special teams player,

been very good in that. Now he's been dealing with a hamstring injury, was out a few weeks, and has been inactive, but still a little bit of a surprise when I saw his name at the bottom of the transaction list. Yeah, I was a little surprised by that, but for whatever reason, you know, Cody Riggs is a guy that's kind of fallen to the bottom of the roster. I would expect that he'll be re-signed to the practice squad and maybe even elevated back to the regular roster once Derrick Henry's healthy.

But for now, he's out there on waivers, and anything that wishes to put in a claim could do so and bring him in. And certainly the buzz on social media immediately after putting that out yesterday on Twitter, Terry, was people saying, why didn't they release McCain or Blake, two guys that have struggled at times, and fans wanting to see Cody Riggs get a shot to play more. And obviously that's kind of the mentality of fans, though, Terry, is when somebody's struggling, they want to see the next guy up. Yeah, that's absolutely correct.

I was talking to another media member yesterday, and he was telling me that he thought that Cody Riggs, he'd like to see him get a shot to play some in the nickel and get some snaps in the defense just to see what he could do because he likes his approach to the game and his mentality. But now that's obviously not going to happen, at least for a while, since he was let go yesterday. And like I said, he's probably going to be added back to the practice squad, but obviously not able to be up on game day

when you're not a member of the 53-man roster. There is some good news in our current news segment today, and that is the health of Quentin Spain and Rashad Johnson, two guys, Terry, that have been out a couple of weeks with some injuries, one with a leg injury, the other with a concussion. And it seems like both those guys are at least scheduled to get back on the practice field this week and see what they can do and perhaps, hopefully, maybe be available for Green Bay on Sunday. Yeah, I think both those guys, it looks like,

are going to get an opportunity to get back on the practice field. Rashad Johnson sounds like he's going to be able to play this week and be able to go ahead and be active and return back to the safety rotation. And Quentin Spann, it sounds like, at least has a shot to not only practice, but perhaps regain that left guard position if he's healthy enough to go with that knee injury. And certainly those are two guys that can help, because when you look at Sunday in San Diego, the offensive line, offense in general, struggled to run the football. They had a good game pass blocking protecting Marcus Mariota,

but they struggled only 80 rush yards. And then conversely on the defensive side of things, not tackling very well in the secondary at times against the run in particular, had some coverage issues at times as well. So those two guys coming back could certainly help this team. Oh, there's no doubt about it. I think anytime you get guys who are starters back in your lineup, it should make you better. And obviously the Titans at this point in time can help or can use all the help they can get with Green Bay coming to town. And certainly we know what the

Packers and Aaron Rodgers are capable of doing as an offense to you. And I think Rashad Johnson could be, at least if nothing else, for depth at that safety position, certainly a big asset on Sunday. I'll just do that about it. You're listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network. Okay, Kevin, for the grand prize of $1 million, what color is the White House? I know this. I know this this i know this um five seconds oh switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on car insurance okay judges that's true kevin bill o'leary congratulations you're a winner. GEICO, because saving 15% or more on car insurance is always a great answer.

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Download the SeatGeek app and enter the promo code L-O-TITANS today. It's time to jump in. Today's show is sponsored by Talkspace, the online therapy company. For a fraction of the price of traditional therapy, you can pick an experienced, licensed therapist you relate to and feel comfortable with. Each and every therapist has at least a master's degree and has completed over 3,000 hours of supervised work. To match with a perfect therapist, go to Talkspace.com forward slash boom.

And to show your support for this podcast, use code boom to get $30 off your first month. That's boom. Talkspace.com slash boom. B-O-O-M. To our four downs today, Terry, and on first down, we want to talk about obviously the biggest thing coming out of Sunday's loss to the Chargers, Marcus Mariota and the turnovers. Yeah, I think when you look at the way that the game unfolded, Mariota played very well for the most part,

but you have those turnovers like he did, and it kind of undoes things. And not only undid things in a bad way with the two touchdowns, but it's just something that he's going to have to learn from and improve on, and somehow or other he's going to have to get past that. Now, you and I were talking before we started the broadcast today, and Marcus's numbers through his first 21 games are better than Derek Carr of the Oakland Raiders, who's having a sensational season right now. The Raiders in first place in the AFC West.

But it seems like Marcus, when he has a turnover or a bad play, it's magnified because these things are turning into touchdowns. Go back and look at Minnesota, the fumble return for a touchdown, the interception return for a touchdown. Same thing against San Diego. Now, he's had some others that haven't necessarily turned into immediate touchdowns, but it just seems like his turnovers are at the worst possible time and the worst possible situation that allows the other team to capitalize.

It's not a turnover at the opponent's 10-yard line after a long drive and you don't complete a drive and then they have to go 90 yards. He's giving it to them in positions that they can turn it into instant points. Right, and they have done that five different times already this season. When you look at the way that it's unfolded, we've seen interceptions and fumbles return for touchdowns five times already. And then when you add in two other special teams returns for touchdowns, that's seven returns for touchdowns already this season

that the Titans have given up. And that is certainly unacceptable. It's one of those things that keeps you from winning ballgames. Yeah, there's no defense for that because your defensive players are standing on the sideline helpless. You've got to hope that somebody on the offense can make a tackle to stop it, and they've not been able to do that. But, Terry, conversely, at the same time, Marcus Mariota perhaps having a Pro Bowl season

with his numbers he's putting up minus these turnovers because obviously he threw for over 300 yards he had the three touchdown passes he looked really good and accurate throwing the football for the most part on Sunday and has over the last several weeks and that is proven by his numbers that he's putting up, especially, Terry, numbers in the red zone where he is right there second only to Tom Brady in the NFL right now in what he's doing in the red zone when he gets the Titans offense in scoring position. Oh, there's no doubt.

I think, you know, if you could just cut out the turnovers, he'd be in great position. And the story that I'm working on in comparing his numbers through 21 career starts to that of Derek Carr through 21 career starts, Mariota's numbers are actually superior. And so when you look at that and you say, maybe there are better things ahead for the Titans and for Marcus Mariota, but certainly the growing pains are still there. One thing, Terry, perhaps that I'd like to see the Titans do more of is go up tempo. We saw that on Sunday against San Diego when they went to the hurry up

and not necessarily hurry up in the fact that they were running at breakneck pace like we see some college teams do, but they were coming to the line, standing there, getting the play called, forcing the defense to have to stand there, not to be able to make substitutions or adjustments, and go with a little bit more of an urgency. They were very effective in moving the football. They were, and they did it toward the end of the first half, scored a touchdown with no timeouts left in a minute and a half,

and then opened the second half, took the kickoff, went back to the same thing, went right down the field, took the lead, and then for whatever reason they got away from it and didn't get back into it until they were behind again and kind of desperate for points there, thanks to the turnover. So I think they do need to use that, you know, not only as a changeup, I think they need to use it at least about 40% to 50% of the time. I would certainly agree. I would think that's something that you would want to do at least once a quarter,

get into that, try to move that pace up. I know it doesn't necessarily wear down the defense the same as the smash-mouth running game with Murray and Henry when both are healthy and available, and you don't take time off the clock. But still, if you can score points doing that, does it really matter? You're getting points. Exactly.

And, you know, that's the name of the game is scoring points and scoring more points than the other team. It doesn't matter if you do it grinding it out with a 12-play, 80-yard drive, or if you do it in three plays and hit somebody with a 60-yard touchdown. It's all the same in the end. It's points. Let's move along to second down where we want to talk about the running game, Terry. And obviously a big part of that running game is the fact that the Titans

struggled for the first time to run the football being held only 80 yards by San Diego on Sunday. Now they came in giving up just a little over 90 yards a game so certainly credit them their run defense is pretty good but at the same time DeMarco Murray dealing with a little bit of a toe injury. Now he didn't look like he was having any ill effects from that Sunday. Obviously we don't't know, and he wouldn't tell us. But then not having Derrick Henry and having to go to Antonio Andrews for a couple of carries certainly didn't help anything either. Is there an issue that we need to worry about here,

or was this just an anomaly of sorts in this game, and it looks like the Titans will bounce back and the running game will be okay moving forward? Well, I think it's really a product of the fact that the San Diego Chargers have a pretty good run defense. When you look at how they're built, that is the strength of the defense of the Chargers is to be able to stop the run.

They've been vulnerable to the pass, and we saw the Titans exploit that on Sunday. So I think when you look at it, part of the Titans had, obviously, was due to the fact that the Chargers' run defense is obviously a very good run defense, and they were capable of stopping DeMarco Murray and slowing him down. I thought that the Titans, Terry, maybe didn't run Marcus enough. Now, granted, I'm not crazy about him running a lot,

but I think they need to pick times. I know he had the 14-yard touchdown run there on the opening drive of the second half that obviously was a big play in the game. But I think there's times where they need to run him a little bit more, design things to spread out the teams, if you will, defensively, and to just give them that extra option that they – I know they plan for him to run, but when you see it, it's different than when you just watch it on film and go, okay, this guy can run. Is he going to? I think they need to use that and make it a weapon.

I agree. You know, I think, you know, they want to incorporate some of that. They, you know, said that they are, but then, you know, it doesn't seem to be a consistent part of the package. And I think that's, you know, an issue that, you know, if they can get, you know, 30 yards on three carries from Mario to a game, you know, on average, that should be able to, you know, boost those rushing numbers and maybe even, you know, make the defenses play a little more honest.

Absolutely. Let's move along to third down where we slide to the other side and talk defense and the fact that the Titans gave up 196 rush yards to Melvin Gordon on Sunday. Is this something to be concerned about going forward? Have the Chargers exposed the Titans' defense and given a blueprint for other teams? And certainly not every team has Melvin Gordon, but is that a blueprint going forward for others?

Well, it's possible. And I think a lot of what they did was off draw plays. They caught the Titans rushing up the field and then handed off the ball with that delayed draw to Melvin Gordon, and he gashed them time after time after time, and then you had missed tackles on top of that, and it was certainly an issue for the Titans in that ballgame. It'll be interesting to see. I know the Packers have had trouble running the football all year long. It'll be interesting to see if they try to employ any of that

by using the pass to set up the run like the Chargers did. You mentioned the Packers. That brings us to fourth down because Green Bay, the opponent this week, they come to Nissan Stadium, and this week Aaron Rodgers, Terry, has called out his teammates for their play. Green Bay obviously struggling, and when you looked at the Titans' schedule at the beginning of the season, you probably said, okay, this Green Bay game is a loss for the Titans.

But right now, after the Colts beat them on Sunday, and I know the Colts beat the Titans as well, but this doesn't look like as much of a sure thing in the Green Bay column right now as it probably did prior to week one of this NFL season. No, Green Bay struggled a little bit this year. I think they kind of underachieved. They had some injuries. Clay Matthews had been out with a hamstring injury.

They lost Eddie Lacy. So that's a huge chunk of their running game gone. And I think when you look at the way the Packers are set up, obviously everything revolves around Aaron Rodgers, but he also has to have a little bit of a running game. He needs to have the defense step up, and those things are just not happening right now for Green Bay. They are a little bit vulnerable, but they're also an angry team

after Rodgers called them out following the loss of the Colts. Oh, absolutely. I would think that they would be, and I would think that the Titans should be as well, especially defensively after giving up that big game to Melvin Gordon. But, Terry, the thing that disturbs me or concerns me the most, I guess, is a better way to phrase it about the San Diego game is the fact that it wasn't necessarily Melvin Gordon,

but it was a Chargers offensive line that has injuries and issues. This is not one of the better offensive lines coming into that game, yet they were able to do what they did to the Titans' run defense, and that's going to be concerning to me, at least until we see them get back on the field and go out hopefully this Sunday against Green Bay and prove, hey, this was just a one-week thing as opposed to something that might be a potential trend

that's going to start for these guys. Right, and I think that's something, if you're the Titans, you know, and you're Dick LeBeau, that's something that becomes job one this week is to make sure that that run defense is, you know, unlike it was on Sunday against the Chargers. And once again, Terry, we didn't touch on this on the Monday edition, but Antonio Gates certainly is a Hall of Famer in waiting,

but he is at the end of his Hall of Fame career, yet he was still able to expose the Titans secondary. They still struggle with the tight end, and I've got to think that Aaron Rodgers is going to know that, obviously, having watched the film and want to come in and do the same. The Titans have to figure out a way to cover a tight end. Yes, they do. And that's something they've been trying to deal with for several years now.

Doesn't matter what the scheme is or the system is or who the defensive coordinator is. It seems they are vulnerable to the tight end. It's time for final thoughts on this Tuesday edition. Terry, go ahead and take it away. Well, my final thought is, once again, on the Mario turnovers. I think, you know, they're critical mistakes, but

you still got to remember this is a young guy who's still learning his way around. I think you see progress pretty much in every start he's made this year, and yes, the turnovers are a bad bugaboo, but from the way he was playing in week one or two or three to now i think he's

starting to grow and eventually i think the turnovers will subside a little bit and i think the future is still bright for marcus mariota despite the troubles he had on sunday my final thought is on some of marcus's offensive mates and that being the wide receivers we've talked a lot about this group of wide receivers not being able to get separation, not necessarily having the dominant receiver or the speed receiver that can take the top off the defense and hit the home run for them. But we've seen over the last couple of weeks some guys stepping up. Rashard Matthews has finally, I think, gotten a little bit comfortable.

I think Marcus getting more comfortable with him. Those two are starting to produce. Kendall Wright had a big gain on a play. And we saw Tajay Sharp reemerge somewhat after kind of being lost in the pack, if you will, the last couple of weeks. Now, don't get me wrong. This is not a dynamic receiving group. This is not the best receiving core in the NFL by any stretch of the

imagination, but I think perhaps it's adequate enough for this season that these guys, and certainly getting more comfortable with Marcus Mariota because Sharp being a rookie, Matthews being in his first year, they're starting to find a little bit of something chemistry-wise there. So I think that this wide receiving group is improving, and I think that's part of the reason we've seen Marcus over the last couple of weeks improving. To piggyback off what Terry just said, obviously the turnovers, those have got to stop. If that stops, they continue to grow.

Marcus and his receivers can get more comfortable with each other. This offense can certainly do enough to win some more ball games. Now, they may not be a Super Bowl team. They may not even make the playoffs. But right now they're still in a position to try to contend for ballgames. Now, they may not be a Super Bowl team. They may not even make the playoffs. But right now, they're still in a position to try to contend for this division title. And it's got to start with those kind of things happening, the receivers and Marcus growing together, Terry,

and obviously the turnovers. Yes, I would agree with that. That will do it for us today. We hope you enjoyed it. You've been listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network. We'll see you again on Wednesday. You are Locked on Titans. Your daily Tennessee Titans

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