Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Nov.1- It's Tuesday and we go Four Downs

Episode Date: November 1, 2016

It's Tuesday, which means we go Four Downs & more. #BHop #TerryMc #GregA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com slash BOOM. B-O-O-M. You are locked on Titans. Your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day. And welcome to Locked On Titans, your daily source for all Titans news and information. With your host, Terry McCormick

of Titan Insider, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titans Pro Bowl left tackle, Brad Hopkins. It is Tuesday, which means, Brad, not with us today, Terry, but certainly a lot of things to cover today as we get set with our current news and, of course, four downs as we do on every Tuesday. And let's jump right into the current news Terry and it was a big announcement today from the Titans camp and in particular one player as Andre Johnson announces that he is retiring from the NFL and of course as a member of the Tennessee Titans walking away from the game obviously means that now there is a roster spot available for this Titans team.

So some decisions to be made by John Robinson and Mike Malarkey. Yeah, it is. I think, you know, Andre Johnson walking away on his own terms, you know, certainly, you know, deserves to go out the way he wanted to. And if he had indeed lost his zeal for the game, then congratulations to him for moving on and starting the next phase of his life. I think we can all pretty well safely assume that in a few years from now, he's going to be in camp.

I think the move kind of caught the type a little bit off guard. I think Mike Millar told the media today, he told us that Andre Johnson called in last night and asked to meet with him this morning and broke the news to him then. And so once that happened, it certainly, you know, kind of had the Titans in a mode to get, you know, looking for who's going to replace Andre Johnson. And, you know, certainly they'll have options with Trey McBride, and they'll be bringing in some players to try out tomorrow.

I think it's a situation where the player that they get is probably going to be a guy that can help on special teams, regardless of if it's a wide receiver or not. Obviously, you mentioned that Andre Johnson is able to walk away from the game on his own terms, which is certainly something that everyone wants to do in the NFL. And, of course, you also mentioned him heading to Canton. Obviously, in five years when his time is up, I think that's a no-brainer that he will be a first ballot guy there.

And certainly, he was a guy, Terry, that obviously when the Titans signed him, we got to meet in training camp, and he was a quiet type of guy, but certainly I think was a good influence on this Titans team, and in particular in that receiver locker room. And Mike Malarkey said as much in his comments that he was a guy that kind of taught some of the young guys how to be a professional. Yes, and, you know, talked to some of the other receivers today, Kendall Wright, Tajay Sharp, and, you know, they talked about that subject as well,

how that, you know, they listened to stories from when Andre Johnson was at Houston and that they, you know, watched his mannerisms and the way he carried himself, and I think they learned a lot even in the short time that Andre Johnson was here, a span of really about two to three months. He signed right before training camp opened, right around the 1st of August, and then here now as November rolls around, he has decided to retire. Tajay Sharp took to social media today on Twitter and tweeted to Andre Johnson about his retirement

and actually called him Sensei, which got a lot of retweets. And that kind of, though, Terry, gives you an insight into at least what one young man thought about Andre Johnson and perhaps the relationship that even though Andre is no longer with the team going into retirement now might still continue because Sharp might just have his phone number to be able to call him up and say, hey, what about this? That is true. I think, you know, obviously, you know, the way that, you know, Johnson was able to bond and connect with these receivers, especially Sharp, and he sat with them

several of his flights to road games and all, kind of picking his brain. You know, it's certainly a good resource for him to have had and to continue to have whenever he wants to call. Obviously other news surrounding the Titans from today, the injury front, which we continue to look into. And I guess the news somewhat better today, obviously overshadowed by the Johnson news.

But take us through the injury situation as it stands right now on this Tuesday. Well, it looks like that most of the guys who were out of the game last Thursday night against Jacksonville are going to probably be able to heal up and be okay. Parrish Cox is still in the concussion protocol, but they expect that he could be out of it by Wednesday and ready to practice. Quentin Spain is a guy that may not play this week, but they think that there's a chance he could be able to do a little bit in practice by Wednesday. Elsewhere, DeMarco Murray with the foot injury,

Rashad Johnson with the neck injury, both those guys are expected to be back. And so it looks like the Titans are getting these guys back, and the little mini-bye that they had probably was very beneficial. Absolutely. I think that came at a great time because the actual bye week is still a ways away, a few more games to be played before the Titans get to that. And Mike Malarkey addressed that in his comments today, saying that that mini bye, having the actual weekend off

where the guys could get a little extra rest and get a little time away and a little bit more distance between games, was actually a very good thing for this team. Oh, there's no doubt about it. I think, you know, with the bye, the real bye, off week coming so late in the year, being the first week of December, I think, you know, being able to play that Thursday night game, and, yes, it's an adjustment to try and, you know, get ready and play with, you know,

very little rest and very little time to relax. But I think when you look at coming out the other side of it, being able to rest some guys and, you know, get some guys healed up, then it certainly can be beneficial in that regard. You know, I know the NFL has a reason for doing the bye weeks the way that they do, but when you look at it and their teams taking the bye week in the second and third week of the season after playing just two or three games, and then you have other teams that play 10 or 12 before getting a bye week,

I'm sorry, I'm an objector to that. I think the NFL ought to go into week eight and week nine of the season, put half the teams on byes that week, let the other half play. The next week, go back to the half that were off, they play, and the other half get the week off. That way everybody gets it in the middle of the season and it's fairly equal for everybody. What do you think about that idea?

Yeah, I think that's pretty good. You know, it certainly would be beneficial and allow the teams to get the break that, you know, they need as opposed to having to wait until very late in the season or taking it very early in the season before maybe the injuries start to mount up. So I think your point is well taken. You're listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network. And Terry, I'm going to take a minute here for us to toot our own horn about the show. Obviously, we are a relatively new show to the network,

but we've got a lot of things going on. And I think we're doing something here that fans are enjoying just by looking at the numbers of people that are looking and listening to us on the downloads. Obviously, what we do is give you up-to-date information on the Titans on a daily basis. And in the process of that, it's something that is compact. We're 22 to 23 minutes of a show.

And at the same time, Terry, it's something that people can listen to when they want. It's not something that you have to be there at a specific time to get. So that's something that people certainly, I think, enjoy about what we're doing in this venture and venue of podcasting. and joy about what we're doing in this venture and venue of podcasting. Yes, I hope that people can get some information out of this and be able to glean something every day out of it that they can learn about the Titans and hopefully use in terms of their watching and enjoying following the team.

Of course, it is Tuesday, and on Tuesdays we go four downs, four different subjects involving the Tennessee Titans that are of relevance to the team this week. And let's jump right in, Terry, to first down, and we want to talk about Mike Malarkey because today, during his press conference, obviously he spoke about Andre Johnson, but he also spoke about the plan of trying out some players to try to see who's going to fill that position. So certainly there's some guys on the practice squad, and we'll

get into those here a little bit as we go along, and one of those obviously is going to be Trey McBride, but the Titans will certainly take a look at some outside people, and interestingly enough today, Terry, Jonathan Banks was cut by Tampa Bay. He's a long, lean corner. The Titans might be able to use somebody of that nature. He might be a guy, along with some others that are out on the street, that get a look. Yeah, it is possible. They'd have to put in a waiver claim for him.

And, you know, they no longer have the number one spot by virtue of having a 4-4 record. They're probably somewhere around the middle of the pack as far as waiver claims. So the Cleveland Browns would have first dibs at 0-8, would have the first shot at making any waiver claim on Banks or anybody else. I think when you look at this roster, every Tuesday, unless you're getting ready for a Thursday game or whatnot, usually on Tuesday, that's when you're getting ready for a Thursday game or whatnot, usually on Tuesday that's when you bring in players for tryouts,

and those guys fill your emergency list. If you have somebody injured, you want to be able to pick up the phone and have a list of guys and say, okay, if we lose a cornerback, then this is the first guy we would call, this is the second guy we would call, that sort of thing. You bring in players and work them out, and you have an idea. Once in a while, a guy impresses you enough that maybe you sign him and you place somebody on your roster with him.

And in this case, the Titans, when they look at players tomorrow, if somebody really impresses them with an open roster spot with Andre Johnson's retirement, they can just add the guy immediately and not have to release anyone. Yeah, that certainly makes things a little bit easier when you don't have to worry about, okay, we're getting rid of somebody to put this person on there. That brings us, Terry, to second down, and obviously with it being a receiver in Andre Johnson that has retired, there is a guy on the practice squad, Trey McBride. I mentioned him a moment ago. I think you mentioned him early in the current news segment that got a lot of attention.

A lot of people thought this was a young man that made this roster based on his performance in training camp, yet he found himself released, picked back up, signed to the practice squad. He's been there for the second year. You mentioned a guy that can help on special teams certainly he is a guy that has some value there as a return guy could also likely be a guy with speed to cover some kicks he's certainly going to be someone that's going to throw his name in there and be a potential guy that could replace Andre Johnson

on the roster yeah in fact I would think would think that given how long he's been here and the time that the Titans have invested in, he split time between the practice squad and the regular roster last year, and then he's back on the practice squad this year after a pretty good training camp. I would think that he would be the odds-on favorite. Unless somebody off the street or on the waiver wire just knocks their socks off,

I would think that Trey McBride would be the likely guy to get an opportunity to join this 53-man roster. And what he brings to the table is the ability to play special teams, and special teams have been deplorable this year in a lot of ways. We've seen two punt returns for touchdowns. We've seen missed extra points. Now, Trey McBride's not going to kick extra points, but he could probably help on kick coverage and things like that

and certainly is a guy that knows his way around on special teams. So it wouldn't be the worst move in the world to go ahead and promote this guy for the second half of the year. There is one negative, of course, when you look at Trey McBride compared to Andre Johnson and not just the career that Andre Johnson's had but the physical size of course Johnson is the big receiver big physical guy Trey McBride much smaller more in the role of a Harry Douglas Mark Mariani Kendall Wright those types of guys same relative size so the Titans are losing certainly a big

receiver and McBride certainly wouldn't fill the bill if that's what they're looking for to try to replace Johnson with another guy with that big 6'3", 6'4", big wide frame. Now, I would agree with that. You know, McBride is one of those guys, like you said, he's about 6'1", 6'2", kind of, you know, the same type of receiver, maybe a little faster, maybe not quite as fast as Kendall Wyatt, maybe a little bit bigger, maybe a little faster, but not quite as polished a receiver as Harry Douglas, or at least Harry Douglas in his prime.

But he is a guy that brings, you know, something to the table that, you know, that you could plug in as a fifth receiver. It may be during a game, you know, if you've got a guy who's game you know if you got a guy who's you know injured or a guy who's run deep route and needs a rep or two off you could plug Trey McBride in and he knows the offense he'd be able to do the job so it definitely uh like I said not the same skill set as Andre Johnson not the same body type but a guy that you could plug in you know you're not you're probably not going to find anybody at this juncture in the season that's going to come in and all of a sudden, you know,

catch 50 passes over the last eight games. But if you can find a guy who can contribute a little bit here and there on special teams and then, you know, get into the offense and get involved when you need to, then that's probably fine. If you were paying attention to our comments in the last segment on second down, you might have an idea where we're going on third down because, Terry, we're going to talk about Harry Douglas and Mark Mariani on third down. Harry Douglas, of course, a veteran receiver that has been inactive the last couple of weeks. What exactly does this mean for him? Does this

mean that maybe he gets a shot of being up on the active roster now that Andre Johnson is gone and he becomes the veteran senior statesman of this particular position group? Well, it certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility. I think it all depends on what they do. If they bring in Trey McBride with the specific intention of putting him on special teams, there is the chance I would think that they would have him active over Harry Douglas. But if they don't, if they bring in somebody else

or if they decide that Trey McBride is not ready for game day action, then certainly Harry Douglas would be a guy that they would reactivate and he would be back in the receiver rotation, probably starting out as the number five guy and going in to spell Kendall Wright in the slot and maybe spell Rashard Matthews as Andre Johnson was on occasion. Likewise for Mariani. Does this mean that he potentially could have a shot at moving up

and being more of a presence as a receiver on this team? And at the same time, if Trey McBride comes up from the practice squad to fill that open roster spot, does he have a chance to supplant Mariani as the kick and punt returner? Because, and granted it's not all his fault, but Mariani certainly has been less than spectacular in the return game so far this season. Well, that would be an option,

but I would think that McBride would probably be a backup type of guy to Mariani. I think they'll probably give Mariani the benefit of the doubt, keep him as the return man. It's possible he could pick up an extra rep or two in the offense. He was finally in the offense last week for a couple of reps. I think first time I've actually seen him on the field for anything other than a kickoff or a punt return. So his reps could, his role could increase a little bit, but I wouldn't think it would increase dramatically. Certainly this doesn't necessarily hurt the Titans, but it's certainly not necessarily at

this point helping them either with Andre Johnson retiring and the options that they have moving forward. I think personally, Terry, that Trey McBride would be my guy. I enjoyed and liked what he did during training camp and early in the preseason. And certainly, as you said, he's a guy that knows the offense and it would be an easy transition. Whereas if you go out and sign somebody off the street, it's going to be a situation where they're going to come in and be inactive on game days, much like we've seen from Jay Samaro

in the tight end room that the Titans signed him, and he's only been up because of the injury to Delaney Walker. And he's really just a guy that's kind of drawing a paycheck right now, whereas McBride could come in and give you something immediately. Right. You know, and you talk about thinking outside the box. Andre Johnson has been active on game days, and he's not really been much of a factor.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if the Titans decided to use that spot on game day that 46, you know, as part of the 46, to have Jason Morrow active and get another pass-receiving weapon in the offense, you know, to be able to spell Delaney Walker or be able to, you know, run in a two-tight end set the receiving package with Delaney Walker. So, you know, that's another option that they would have. They wouldn't necessarily have to have that extra guy who's going to be active on game day be a wide receiver.

You could have it be a fourth tight end like they did last year. That's very true. It's time to move on to fourth down. And on fourth down today, Terry, we talk about the Titans. Obviously, Mike Malarkey saying today that the team's probably going out on Friday to get out early to San Diego, get acclimated to the time change, certainly two hours in difference from our time here in the central zone to what it would be out in the Pacific. It's something that he's done before, and he's said that, and he's had mixed results. He's won some, he's lost some.

He's done it the other way going out on Saturday. He's won some and lost some. So there's no real advantage to this that can be quantified by statistics, but it's just something that they feel like they need to do with this team at this time. Yeah, he said it would probably be a little bit of a change-up in the routine to go out on Friday night as opposed to leaving on Saturday afternoon. When you've got a long flight like that, I would think that you want as much time as you can

to recover and get ready for the game, which obviously will be coming up on Sunday. It would be a 3 p.m. start, which would be later time, obviously, a 3 p.m. central start would be a 1 p.m. start out there. So, you know, you've got to get acclimated, you know, to the time as best you can. And it's also, remember, daylight savings time. So you get out there and you're getting an extra, you're getting one of those hours that you're losing back.

That's true. So it's kind of a 50-50 proposition is as malarkey said with that so uh maybe it works who knows the titans certainly can use all the help they can get because as we talked about yesterday san diego has kind of been a place that's been a house of horrors for the titans in the last a few years every time they visited out, things have certainly not gone well for them. No, you're right. It's not been a place where the Titans have had much success or really much luck at all out there.

They lost a playoff game once out there in 2007. There was a game in the regular season out there where I think Kerry Collins had a 0.0 passer rating at halftime. So they've not had a whole lot of luck out there over the years. The only time they've seemingly been able to beat the Chargers is when San Diego has come here to Nashville. It's time once again, Terry, to give our final thoughts on the day. Take it away with your final thought.

Well, I'm going to go back to the Andre Johnson situation. You know, it kind of became obvious that Andre Johnson was being phased out of the offense a little bit. He had not had a catch in the last three games, wasn't even targeted in at least one of the games. So I think, you know, I think maybe he felt like that, you know, maybe he had lost, or according to what Mike Malarkey said, he lost a little bit of his love for the game.

But, you know, he wasn't being involved enough. But, you know, you've got to give the man credit for, you know, knowing when to say when. And also, you know, he did make a contribution to this team beyond just influencing the young receivers. He had that game-winning touchdown up in Detroit. So he did contribute to this team and certainly wish him well in retirement. Absolutely. And I'm going in the same place and share a little bit of a different story. Terry, obviously you were part of this during training camp,

and this was actually after the training camp and once the season had started. We didn't know Andre Johnson well. Obviously, we have access to the team. We go in the locker room. We know some of these guys by name and have conversations with them, sometimes off the subject of football. But Andre was a guy that was fairly quiet. He was friendly enough.

But Mike Malarkey, during the hot days of training camp, and of course it's still been pretty warm here even up into October. But it would have the snow cone truck come out to St. Thomas Sports Park. And he was paying for this out of his own pocket. And the players could go over. Even the media were allowed to go over and get snow cones, whatever flavor you wanted. And after practice one day, the truck had pulled up. The players didn't know that it was coming.

And Andre Johnson, among others, went over, the truck had pulled up. The players didn't know that it was coming. Andre Johnson, among others, went over to the truck. Well, I'm videotaping as they're walking back across, and Andre walks back across with his snow cone. He and I had a short conversation on video talking about his favorite flavor. It was kind of just a soft moment from a guy that we didn't know very well, but certainly a guy that has left his mark on the NFL, and it was a pleasure to get the opportunity to meet him as a member of the Titans. And as you said, I certainly wish him well in whatever he does in life after football.

That's going to do it for us today. We hope you've enjoyed it. We'll be back with you again on Wednesday when we'll talk more Titans. You've been listening to Locked On Titans on the Locked On Podcast Network. You are Locked On Titans. Your daily Tennessee Titans

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