Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Nov14.- The Titans crush Pakcers 47-25 on Sunday

Episode Date: November 14, 2016

It was a big win for the Titans as they exercised some demons. #BHop #TerryMc #GregA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. 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 titaninsider.com, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titans Pro Bowl left tackle, Brad Hopkins. Guys, it's a Monday and a lot, obviously, to talk about coming off of a huge win for the Tennessee Titans where they put up 47 points in a 47-25 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. And certainly, Brad, obviously this is on you

because you were the person that picked the Titans. Oh, yeah. Terry and I went against the Titans because of Aaron Rodgers. The only one of us three that did it. Now, it wasn't a three-point differential like I thought. If I was going to be a more competitive game from the Packers standpoint. But I've already been on the phone with the guys. They'll be contacting you shortly here.

Just a quick idea. No, actually, just fast start. You know, Terry, we talked about that earlier on Friday, just how this team had to jump out in front of Green Bay to basically make mistakes, and that's exactly what they did. They really did. 21-0, 21 points in the first quarter. And what I like even more than that, really,

is not just that they scored 21 points in the first quarter, but I like the fact that they kept the pedal to the metal. They got 14 more points in the second quarter, so they had a 35-10 lead at one point in this ballgame. And that's what you like to see if you're the Titans and you like to see being able to keep a team at bay, knowing that they've got a guy like Aaron Rodgers who can strike at any moment. You like to see them not go conservative, not go in the tank,

and run the risk of losing that big lead. Terry, Greg, am I reading the stat sheet correctly? Did it say four touchdowns and no interceptions for Marcus Mariano? That is not a miracle. No turnovers on the day. Maybe that was the thing that contributed to them getting out of the fast start and winning today. You think about this, and I said this to some people sitting around me

in the press box during the game, Brad, that were it not for the turnovers, potentially Marcus could be looking at a trip to go home to Hawaii to play in the Pro Bowl because his numbers, and certainly there was a stat that came out today, most touchdown passes since week five of the NFL season. That's ahead of Tom Brady, Roethlisberger, you name it. Marcus, since week five, leading the NFL in touchdown passes, but those negative plays, the turnovers, the fumbles

that turn into points for the other team, have killed him to this point. 19-26 for 295 yards, 149.8 passer rating, Terry. That's pretty darn good. Of course, DeMarco Murray gave him a run for his money with a 147.9 passer rating with the trick play. And by the way, I just want you to know, that thing in practice looked like a wounded duck.

The thing is, I saw it leave his hand, and I thought, what a nice tight spiral. He must have some quarterback in his background. So you're telling me during the week he didn't look like that. He did not look good at all on Thursday or Friday or whenever he ran it. What were you thinking when you saw him roll out to run it? Oh, my God, he's going to throw it. Yes, well, last year you remember Antonio Andrews

threw a touchdown pass to Marcus Mariota. And at practice some of us were going, maybe they should let Antonio Andrews throw it. Well, Andrews was a high school quarterback, won a state championship, so he does have a little quarterback background. Guys, as always on Monday we do offense and defense where we look at these particulars,

and we've gone through some stats here for Marcus and the Titans offense but the big news obviously for the Titans offense today was the ejection early on of Taylor LeJuan the Packers took a cheap shot if you will or an after the whistle play I don't necessarily want to say cheap shot maybe but certainly after the whistle they hit Marcus and LeJuan and the Titans took exception to that. Luan got involved in a heated exchange, and in the course of that, made contact with an official, which is a no-no, and got himself ejected from the ballgame, Brad. Yeah, I tweeted out that actually I totally gave him props for coming to the defense of his quarterback

because that was just silly for you to jump off sides and then go ahead and lay a lick on the quarterback that lays him on the ground. That was totally uncalled for. So for the guys to step up, Terry, Greg, I totally expected that. But what you can't do is let your emotions get ahead of you and then start slinging the officials to the side. That's not going to work ever. Brad, I don't want to go down a sore path with you,

but I know you experienced that once in your career. What's that feeling like when you're having to walk to the locker room and there's still 54 minutes of football or whatever to play? It is. It's very disheartening because you see your guys out there in the thick of battle and you want to be there for them, and particularly at that instance on the road when it's really tough. But for Taylor LeJuan, I thought, you know, he's got to be thinking,

this team is playing exceptionally well without me right now. I'm not sure how he felt about that. Kind of you want to see him do well, but never when you're not on the field or anything like that. But yet and still they had a commanding lead, took control of the game early. So I'm sure that while he was on the sidelines, he felt comfortable not being in the fray. To his credit, after the game in the locker room,

he was one of the first guys to stand up. Obviously he didn't have to worry about showering or getting dressed. He had plenty of time to take care of that before we got into the locker room. But he stood up, he talked in front of the media, and we've got some audio to play of Taylor and what he said in the locker room after the game today, rather, or on Sunday. And as we have issues with the audio, guys, I guess we will drop back and punt on that one.

Trying to get Taylor LeJuan, but that's just not going to work for me. He probably said I was an extremely dumb guy in that instance, but no. I love his fire, I love his passion, and I think that that says something about the relationship, you know, that that offensive line has developed with their guy. And we saw the same thing happen with Aaron Rodgers. Right, Terry? When Aaron Rodgers crossed the goal line and Paris Cox said, welcome to Nashville. You have to score a touchdown and the guy's kind of gotten to the fray. So you can kind of understand how those big bodies are trained from a mental standpoint to protect their own. Taylor actually said, he's my quarterback, my teammate, and my friend. And I'm always going to protect their own. Taylor actually said he's my quarterback, my teammate, and my

friend, and I'm always going to protect him. But again, there's nothing wrong, and I think pretty much everybody to a man says you did the right thing by protecting him, but you've got to know where that limit is and when to stop prior to contacting the official. And Taylor went on to say that he felt somebody put their hand on him, and he didn't realize whether it was an official, a Packers player, one of his teammates, and he just instinctively kind of shoved the hand down. And obviously that's contact with the official, and boom, there it was. Absolutely. You cannot swim move the officials, Terry.

No, that doesn't work. But I think the Titans were very fortunate in the fact that Dennis Kelly came in off the bench and played very well. To me, the most poised thing that I saw out of the Titans, maybe all day long, was in the aftermath of that happening, and it becomes first and 25 or whatever after all of that mess has gone on. Your quarterback's taking a cheap shot. Your left tackle's headed to the showers.

And they go down and put points up, get a touchdown drive. That was the drive of the DeMarco Murray halfback pass. And that showed a lot of resilience and a lot of poise to me that this Titans team did not come unglued against a marquee team like the Packers after some things went against them there during that sequence. You know what, Terry Gregg, there must have been some conversation during the week about keeping level heads because they started the game out with an onside kick.

It didn't necessarily work out their way, but you could tell they were pulling out all the stops to basically get a fast start on this team. I thought decision-making was paramount. How many times did we see Marcus Mariota decide to pull the ball down and rather than force it into a tight window and causing a turnover, he would get as many yards as he could and then slide, right? And even staying in bounds to keep the clock moving.

So I thought that he was very secure with the football, and his decision-making was just on par today. It was really, really good to watch. Would it be safe to say, and you guys agree with me, that we're seeing the maturation of a franchise quarterback with Marcus Mariota and seeing a team grow up beside him? Terry, I think it's safe to say that. But with that growth does sometimes come some pains. And that's what we've experienced

for the beginning of the season where he shot himself in the foot. But there are some good things to be said amongst those mistakes. Oh, there's no doubt about it. I think when you see how he played today, and you think about this, you know, the NFL is about quarterback play. And it's about usually the team with the better quarterback play is going to win on Sunday. And he just out-dueled a future Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers. So, you know, now, if he can take that and build on it,

then the Titans are certainly headed in the right direction, and they may have found their first franchise quarterback since Steve McNair. And speaking of Steve McNair, today Marcus got his 20th and 21st, now his 21 touchdown passes. He reached the 20 plateau after 10 games. First Titans quarterback since Mack in his MVP season of 2003 with at least 20 touchdown passes in a season. Amen.

And, guys, to me, the offensive number that's most impressive, obviously Marcus had a big day, but three players with over 60 yards receiving on the day, obviously highlighted by Delaney Walker with 124, 68 for Tajay Sharp, 63 for Rashad Matthews. DeMarco Murray had another 33 yards in receptions on the game. That's spreading the football around. Now, he went back to his go-to guy, his trusted top receiver,

the guy that he's most comfortable with in Delaney Walker, repeatedly today for 11 pass completions. But spreading the football around with the way the Titans are able to run the football makes it much tougher for defenses to lock onto one thing and try to stop you. I agree with that 100%. 162 yards on the ground and 284 through the air. That is balanced, Terry. But the stat line that I'm paying most attention to is that usually we see the Tennessee Titans with three turnovers

on their category. No, it was the Green Bay Packers that actually had three turnovers. So you can definitely see that was a difference and the Titans were able to capitalize on the Packers' mistakes. And you said it balanced. 30 called runs, 29 called passes. Doesn't get much more balanced than that. No, that's right. And offensively, I really thought, and we need to mention Dennis Kelly, the big offensive tackle that was pushed into play when Taylor LeJuan was ejected. He came in in a tough situation, but I spoke to him after the game and he said

that it was early in the game so they had just finished warm-up so he hadn't been standing there for an hour or so trying to just watch the game he was still warm and loose so he came in and was ready to go Terry when that happened so he played well in the absence of Taylor one to Taylor LeJuan today and a credit to Dennis Kelly for being prepared and being able to do that. Absolutely. And I think that's one thing that is really underrated around the NFL. I've seen one time there's a system that ranks the value of offensive linemen.

Obviously a left tackle is first, and I think it's a right tackle is next, and then I think it's a center. And then actually ahead of one of the guards, they say, is a third tackle. The guy can come off the bench in case one of your tackles is injured or in this case ejected and be able to not let the quality of play on the edge drop off. You have to be able to be a guy that can pass block in space. That's what tackles are able to do.

Guards, they're a little more interchangeable because there's protection on either side of those guys, either by a tackle or a center. So I think that when you have guys in depth that can actually come in and provide you, you know, the same level of protection or the same level of approach in the ground game, it does actually aid a team, I think, a lot, as a matter of fact. Let's move over on the defensive side of things and talk about what we saw from the Titans today in that area of the football game. And certainly if you're a fantasy football fan or player,

when you look at Aaron Rodgers, 371 yards, if you had him today, you're happy because the final score of this game doesn't affect your fantasy points. But a lot of that yardage, guys, came because of the fact that, one, the Packers can't run the football. They had a receiver playing running back a lot of the day today. And the fact that they got behind early and had to throw the football so Aaron Rodgers was able to put up those big numbers. Now, granted, he's going to put up big numbers most of the time anyway.

But that certainly, I felt, lent into the numbers that he was able to put up today, and he never really threatened the Titans as far as ever getting close to taking a lead. You know what, I'm not going to say inflated numbers because we are talking about Aaron Rodgers here, Terry. Those numbers are usually validated, but I'm not going to say garbage time either, but the game was well in hand, two or three touchdowns pretty much since halftime, but there is one guy in particular, because I know Brian Arakbo had a couple of sacks. I think Derek Morgan had a sack. But one guy that had a sack today and seven solos who, while you talk about Dak Prescott,

Ezekiel Elliott, all these other rookies that are doing some great things this year, what about Kevin Byard? This kid has stepped up amazingly, and he had a terrific game today, like we just mentioned. Got in the backfield, got Aaron Rodgers down, plus had a couple of solos today, or seven solos today. The guy is actually developing nicely, Terry. Oh, absolutely. Would have had an interception if his own teammate hadn't knocked him away. No! Jeez! But that's the way it goes. You at least like to see them aggressive and going after the football. But you're right. Kevin Byard did have a nice game. One of those underrated kind of guys that is really

coming on as a rookie. And Brian Arakpo, Derek Morgan, both getting sacks. Arakpo with two. Daquan Jones getting in and getting one too. So you're talking about, you know, an all-around effort from the defense. And I think the thing that you, you know, and Greg broached it there just a bit ago, the imbalance, the fact that the offense got them a lead and then they were able to pin their ears back.

55 pass plays for the Packers and 13 runs, that is very disproportionate. And you can win, even against a guy like Aaron Rodgers, you can win a lot of football games when there's that sort of out-of-balance perspective on the defensive side of the ball. And I'm not putting this back on the offense, but the offense definitely helped the defense today, scoring touchdowns on their first four possessions and making the Green Bay Packers punt. So when you're dealing with a lead like that, like you just said, it's great for the defense

to be able to pin their ears back because the offense is now in more pedestrian, predictable situations trying to get the ball down the field and match their scores. And obviously by scoring touchdowns and staying on the field, you've won the time of possession battle and Aaron Rodgers can't hurt you when he's standing on the sideline without the football in his hand. Ironically, they did win time of possession today. They had 30 minutes and some change and the Titans had 29 minutes, but still it was right there. It wasn't lopsided. Yeah, I think when you look at this defensive effort, we know that the Titans' defensive backs have their shortcomings. There's been

a lot of passes completed against them. But a guy like Parrish Cox, who does get picked on at times, had a couple of nice pass breakups in the end zone to prevent some touchdowns by the Packers. So as much as sometimes he does get beat in coverage, same thing with Bryce McCain, occasionally those guys do rally and make a nice play, and when they do, it does seem to come at a critical juncture

every now and then a blind squirrel finding out right there well certainly certainly we know that is an area that's going to be addressed to look to improve the talent level if you will coming up next year in free agency but guess adequate, Brad, would that be a fair assessment of what they are? They bend. They give up a lot of plays, but they also make a play occasionally that wins you a ball game. We saw Parrish Cox and Detroit seal the game. They made enough plays today down the stretch to be able to do that,

even though Aaron Rodgers had the huge numbers passing. That's just par for the position. And, Terry, you can expound on this a little bit. Players do give up ground, and they gain ground. The ones that don't ever make those kind of mistakes are the ones that are wearing yellow jackets. And they walk around a little differently than everybody else. But for the most part, by coverage, by design of the schemes, sure a guy's going to get beat every now and then. Just not too often and they can stay on the field. Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. I mean, the secondary

had their issues this year, but, you know, and the final numbers may not look great, but they did their job. And they, you know, once the Titans got a big lead, they knew, you know, there's going to be completions, you know, the Packers are going to move the football through the air. But as long as we stop them at the critical points in the game, all is well. And one thing, guys, that was important today,

because when this game started, this looked like a Packers home game. This place looked like Lambeau Field South. There were more Packers jerseys in the stands than there were Titans jerseys. And part of that, Brad, we felt like was because when these games went on sale, the Packers fans went out and bought tickets for this game. It wasn't that the Titans fans necessarily went out and sold the tickets for this game because certainly the Packers have that kind of following. And they bought them up early because nobody expected the Titans to be and play as well

as they have at this point in time. But they were able to withstand that, take that crowd out of the game and actually send them to the house early, which is something we haven't seen from big opposing crowds at Nissan Stadium in recent memory. I will say this, though, going into this ballgame, if you listen to the national prognosticators, Terry, Greg, it was almost preposterous to think that the Titans could actually get a win today. And that was definitely evident in the way that they called the game.

Even when the Titans were up, you could hear the guys that were actually calling the game talking about what it would take for the Green Bay Packers to come back. Not the dominant performance of a team that was struggling just as much as the Packers, but didn't come into this contest with that much reverence. I mean, I don't know how many Green Bay Packers commercials I saw during the breaks, you know, advertising everything under the sun with the Packers in. I thought they were a road team this week. Where are the Titans commercials? Hey, P.K. Subban has a Bridgestone commercial, but we can't get one Titan to do anything nationally?

What is going on? Marcus Mariota had a Subway commercial at one point. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, he's in the Heisman commercials too. Okay, that's about it. Okay, so you're not helping me here, guys. You're not helping me here. Small market.

It's a win, though, guys. That's the most important thing. Obviously, now this team prepares to go on a two-game road trip. They'll go to Indianapolis next week. They'll go to Chicago the following week, and then they get a bye. They're 5-5 right now, guys, ten weeks into this thing. I don't know that a lot of people would have thought that possible before the season started,

but they have a realistic opportunity to go to Indianapolis, play this way, if they can continue it, get a win, go to Chicago and get a win. Now, I know I'm taking them more than one game at a time, but you could conceivably, best-case scenario, go to the break seven and five and be right in the hunt of a playoff chase in this AFC South, obviously nobody's going to run away and hide with this.

I've got a loaded gun for my final thoughts, Terry, so I'm kind of trying to hold off a little bit on what I'm thinking about, you know, the potential future or even the very close future, the very near future for the Titans. Absolutely. I don't really want to go there yet either, but, you know, I'll just say this. You know, next week allows them the opportunity, but I'll just say this. Next week allows them the opportunity,

and I'll expound on this in my final thoughts. Next week's game is huge against the Annapolis Colts. And it's huge for a lot of different reasons, obviously, and we won't go further there. Leave that for the final thoughts, but certainly it's a good win. It's a win that I think is going to draw positive attention, Brad. You were talking about it, the negative, or not necessarily negative, but the attention to the Green Bay Packers. Now the Titans get this win. They've beaten an elite quarterback, which we've talked about,

and I said two weeks or three weeks in a row now, that the Titans have struggled against elite quarterbacks. That monkey's off their back. And this wasn't a fluke by chance at all. This wasn't, you know, one of those situations where the Titans just got lucky. They took it to the package from the very beginning of this game. Their game plan was effective. And what I think that has to be recognized nationally is the fact that

when this team doesn't make mistakes, it can beat anybody. Oh, there's no doubt about it. You know, one of the things, and this was very early in the ball game, but one of the things that truly kind of set a tone for the game was when they go with the surprise onside to start the game, they don't get it. The Packers are at midfield to start the football game, and the defense comes up with a three and out. That set the tempo for the entire game that the Titans basically said,

no, this is going to be our day. Absolutely. There were some interesting stats, guys, that came out of the game today, and I'm trying to go back through and find the one talking about Marcus Mariota and the fact of what he's done in the red zone because he has now thrown 29 touchdown passes in his career inside the red zone, zero interceptions. Brad, that is a number that's phenomenal for any quarterback at any time,

but certainly a guy that's really just past being a rookie as far as games played in the NFL, 29-0 in the red zone, touchdowns to interceptions. Well, just imagine what this guy could be if he was that good in the other 80 yards that are on the football field. Am I right? Yeah. Don't make the mistakes. And guess what?

This guy is like you just said, an all-pro, a pro bowl type. And the team would be playing accordingly. Okay, here's an example. We see those two rookies in Dallas playing extremely well for their offense, right? Their defense doesn't have any different personnel than they had last year. So why are they playing so much better? Because the offense is playing better. They're not putting the defense in situations where they've got to try and respond in scores, things like that, so they're playing complementary football, which is exactly what's happening here in Nashville. Right, and I think when you talk about

the turnovers, they're magnified by the fact that the defense doesn't even have a chance to neutralize it. They're being taken back to the house five times. So the points are already on the board. There is no holding them to a field goal if they recover a fumble at the 10. There is no forcing a three and out if they get it at the 30 or whatever. There's none of that. It's going back to the house. And when the Titans don't do that, they're very effective football team. Another thing, guys, out of today the Titans set a franchise record.

First time that they have scored 35 or more points in three consecutive games in the history of the franchise. And certainly, Brad, you played on some offenses that could score some points, but you guys were never able to roll up 35 or more three straight games. Yeah, I totally understand that, too. And it's kind of really interesting considering how well the Titans are rushing the football. Usually those point differentials are held for teams that can air it out and usually have deep threats, et cetera, et cetera.

That's been one of the knocks for this team. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. The entire franchise, or is that just the Titans portion of the franchise? The entire? So that means even back during the run-and-shoot days of Jerry Glanville, that didn't get done. So that's even more impressive. Those were crazy days, too.

Guys, it's time for final thoughts on the day. Brad, take it away with your final thought. Statement game, guys. I think that when people start to get national recognition, it's because they've come up against someone that is news and noteworthy. The Packers being a parental contender, as well as they've been respected, the fact that they came in and got punched in the mouth in Nashville is going to raise the attention of a lot of people that are talking about this team.

This team is at.500 right now, so at some point in time, there has to be some legitimate recognition. Is that a word? Sure it is. That this team is actually pretty good. So if they continue to play mistake-free football, fellas, and win the plus-minus ratio, this team could actually find itself in the playoffs, which would be a surprise for anybody. Yeah, I would agree.

And I think here's my final thought. Next week, Indianapolis Colts, Lucas Oil Stadium. Lost 15 out of 16 to the Colts. Never beaten Andrew Luck. 0-9 all-time at Lucas Oil. Time to end another streak. If this Titans team wants to be a contender, that's another streak that has to come to an end. My final thought is on

Marcus Mariota. I think today, guys, we saw on a couple of different levels that this team is becoming Marcus Mariota's football team. Late in the ball game, there was a situation on the sideline where Valentino Blake gets into a scuffle with two Packers players. Who's the guy out on the field pulling Valentino Blake away? It wasn't Mike Malarkey. It wasn't any of the other coaches. It was Marcus Mariota. It was the quarterback. This guy, I really feel, is taking ownership of this team. Obviously, he's a great guy in the locker room. His teammates like and respect him. And his

play, the way he is elevating himself and what he's doing, this is becoming his team. He's just got to continue to grow, keep it on his shoulders, go out, as Terry said in his final thought, end the streak against Luck and the Colts, get that done, and keep growing going forward. He's

certainly doing the right thing, and I think we're seeing, as I said a little bit earlier in the broadcast, a franchise quarterback grow up before our eyes. Get your butt up by 65 South. It's only four hours. Get those Titans fans in that stadium up there. You might end up having a divisional leader all of a sudden. Absolutely.

That will do it for us. Enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll see you on Tuesday. You are locked on Tuesday. You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.