Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Nov.15- Tuesday is Four Downs & more.

Episode Date: November 15, 2016

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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. It's Tuesday, which means Terry McCormick and I join you for this edition of Locked on Titans.

And Terry, as per usual on Tuesday, obviously our current news, which we start every podcast with. And then Tuesday is our four downs, where we look at four topics of interest that surround the Titans this week. And as we jump right into the current news, the good news is that this is a very healthy Titans team heading into this very important week and a road trip coming up on Sunday to Indianapolis to face the Colts. Yeah, Mike Malarkey said today that he expects all 53 players on the roster

and plus the practice squad guys to be able to practice on Wednesday. So that means that DeMarco Murray appears to be past the toe injury and Derrick Henry appears to be past the calf injury, those being two guys that they've had to monitor in the last week or two with their various injuries. So good news for the Titans all around, at least. You know, very unusual for a team to be that healthy, really, when you've played 10 games and haven't had your bye week.

That's true. And, of course, you know, last week at this time we were kind of worried about the health situation because we were dealing with Quentin Spain being out, Rashad Johnson still being out, DeMarco Murray obviously with the toe. There was a question if Derrick Henry could even go on Sunday. My, how things can change on the injury front in just one week's time. Yeah, you know, very fortunate for the Titans. You mentioned Quentin Spain. They let him play a backup role on Sunday because they felt like he wasn't quite fully recovered, but it sounds like he's going to be a full go in practice on Wednesday

and have a chance to reclaim his starting job, although Mike Malarkey certainly praised the play of Brian Schwinke, who they ran over his side there on the very first play of the game for that 75-yard DeMarco Murray touchdown. That was something, and while it's not one of the things we have on our four downs, I think that's certainly something worth noting and talking about is the fact that Brian Schwinke, who is a center by trade, came into the league as a center, was the starting center for this team. With Ben Jones coming over, he's been relegated to a backup role.

But since he has become a starter, this offensive line really hasn't missed a beat. They've kept right on going as if nothing ever really happened. And that's certainly a credit to Brian to be able to come in, step into that guard spot in place of Quentin Spain, and keep right on rolling. Yeah, it's really a tribute to that offensive line. I think, you know, you look at it, you know, the lineup they finished the game with yesterday had only two of the starters that they began the year with.

Ben Jones at center and Jack Conklin at right tackle. Taylor LeBron was kicked out of the game. Dennis Kelly finished up for him. Josh Klein came in after the first couple of weeks to replace an injured Chance Wormack. And then Spain giving way to Schwenke there for the last few weeks at the left guard spot. And that's certainly a good luxury I guess to have, to have a guy that can come in and do that. We saw Schwenke, and of course, we talked some on the Monday edition about Dennis Kelly

obviously being thrust into that role to step in and play almost the entire game, all but about four minutes of it, in place of Taylor LeJuan following his ejection. And Terry, I think that's one of the things that, to me, and again, not to get too far off topic here, but that is most impressive to me and a reason why I think John Robinson certainly should be a candidate for the executive of the year in the NFL because of what he's been able to do in a short time, where this team has come from this season as opposed to where it was a year ago.

And while the move was largely panned by most people when they traded for Dennis Kelly, giving up Doriel Green Beckham in that deal with Philadelphia, as of yesterday it turned out to be a pretty shrewd move. Yeah, it paid some dividends. I was one of the people that was kind of critical of it, thinking that they didn't get enough for a guy who, in Green Beckham, certainly possesses all the physical traits that you would ever want in a wide receiver.

But Dennis Kelly came up big filling in for Taylor LeMond yesterday. There were some people that even went as far as to basically compare Dennis Kelly to a bag of hair in that trade on the national level and certainly I felt like he was better than that but I agreed with you that certainly didn't think that the value was quite equal but at least for that one game he certainly did more than enough to to earn his place with this team after that trade deal. So, Terry, as we move forward today, the good news again, the team is healthy. There's really no other news to speak of. It's just a matter of this team going back to work this week,

getting ready to take a road trip and try to break another jinx. You and I talked about several times over the course of this season in making predictions how the Titans couldn't beat an elite quarterback. Well, they've done that now. Now they've got the task of they've never beaten Andrew Luck. They've never won a game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Can they get that monkey off their back this Sunday? Yeah, that's a big question. I think that's something that's been hanging over this organization's head for quite some time.

I think they're like 0-9 or something like that all time at Lucas Oil Stadium. They're 0-8 against Andrew Luck. So they're going to have a chance to take care of both of those if they can go out and get a win on Sunday. It won't be easy. It never has been for them against the Colts, even when the Colts were bad. But I think this Titans team certainly has something to prove, and they're coming in with a little bit of momentum,

at least on the offensive side of the ball. Absolutely, and I think one of the key things to watch for this week as the week plays out is the injury report from the Indianapolis side to see just who's going to be available. Remember, they came in here with only basically T.Y. Hilton as a name receiver that anybody had heard of, a couple of other guys that played, but they used a three tight end formation.

I'm doubting that we see that same type of thing employed again by them. As you said about the Titans looking to do some different things, I think Indy will do the same as well. Yeah, they probably will, although I think they'll employ that Max Protect thing that worked pretty well the first time. I think they'll probably use that some, maybe not as much as they did here in Nashville when their wide receiving core was pretty banged up and they had some guys unavailable. But I think you'll see that some out of them because it worked so well the first time.

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Today, we can pay our Geico bill with the Geico app. Away with hardship. In with bill pay on the Geico app. Thank you. Harry, as we jump into our four downs, on first down, we've got to talk about the Titans on offense because certainly that is the area of this team that perhaps has become the most surprising over the last few weeks of the season with the production

that they have been able to produce scoring points over the last three weeks. We talked about this on the Monday edition where this franchise had never before in its history had three consecutive games where they scored 35 or more points. Well, they've done that in the last three games. And part of that is the reason that they are currently fourth in the NFL in points scored. And as the old saying goes, who to thunk it coming into the season?

Yeah, they have 264 points scored through 10 games. They only had 299 last year. They only had 254, so they've already eclipsed that, their 2014 total. So I think you're talking about an offense that's starting to find its rhythm. It's starting to really get in a groove with Mariota and the receivers getting on the same page. And then you're talking about, you know, the running game obviously has been the key to this team all along.

And I think that the running game is helping to open up the path and vice versa for the Titans right now. They're putting points on the board. And we're seeing different guys step up each week. And in some cases, like yesterday, multiple guys. There were three receivers that were over 60 yards on the day. Obviously, Delaney Walker was the big guy, the leading receiver for the Titans, going over the 100-yard mark with 124 yards.

But then you had Tajay Sharp with three receptions for 68, Rashad Matthews three receptions for 63 yards, and then throw in DeMarco Murray, who had three receptions for 63 yards, and then throw in DeMarco Murray who had two receptions for 33 yards. But we've seen different guys, and I go back to the Kendall Wright game where he stepped up and was the leading receiver. We've seen Matthews with a 100-plus yard game for the Titans. Now Delaney Walker.

So we panned these guys a little bit because early on, certainly they're not the dynamic Antonio Brown, Des Bryant, Julio Jones types of receivers on this team, but they are getting the job done at a better rate. And, Terry, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Marcus has now had some time to get comfortable with his new selection or a group of receivers, especially Matthews and Tajay Sharp, who are starting to produce at a much higher level here midway through the season.

Yeah, I think you're right. So many of these guys were new, and even Kendall Wright, who was a holdover, didn't really have a lot of time with Mariota last year together due to injuries to both players. But I think you're starting to see Sharp come around and especially Matthews come around. He's become a real red zone find, too. He has six touchdowns scored already this season. He's been a nice pickup from the Miami Dolphins.

I think you're seeing this offense, the fact that they don't have, with the possible exception of Delaney Walker, a real superstar to build around, I think you're seeing them have to spread the ball out of necessity, and it's kind of working for them in the same way that it's working for the Detroit Lions in their passing game, Matthew Stafford having a great year, even though he lost Calvin Johnson, because now he's not force-feeding the ball to one place, and he's been able to spread the ball around.

I think Mariota's doing the same thing, not forcing it to one guy or two guys that go to receiver. He's just surveying the field, finding who's open and going where the play leads him. You mentioned Rashad Matthews with the six touchdowns this season. In four years with the Dolphins, eight career touchdowns. So he is on pace certainly and has an opportunity to eclipse his career total in a single season here with the Titans. And certainly that bodes well for him going forward

throughout the remainder of his contract with this Titans team that he's only going to grow and get better with Marcus Mariota. Yeah, it should get better over time. And I think Matthews may turn out to be one of those guys uh you know when you look back on it after all is said and done that you say hey it was a real solid acquisition you know maybe not a superstar but a real solid player who came in here and did his job and did it well sort of like nate was Washington when he signed here several years ago and wound up becoming a go-to guy and a real solid contributor. But if you look at it and go back to the benchmark for NFL franchises, the Patriots, other than

Randy Moss, have they ever really had a true superstar wide receiver? They've had guys that played roles. Now, granted, they played those well. They got a lot of receiving yards, obviously, playing with Tom Brady. But we're seeing John Robinson, who comes from that Patriot organization, kind of trying to do some of the same things here. And it's looking similar in a lot of ways to what we saw of the Patriots when they began their rise to being the franchise team

that everyone uses to look up to in the NFL. Yeah, that's true. You know, like you said, other than Randy Moss' run there, and maybe you could throw Wes Welker and some of the years he had in there. But, you know, they haven't really had a whole lot of superstar receivers over the years, but just guys who quietly produced and did the things that Tom Brady needed them to do. And the Titans, if that's the model they're going to follow,

then that's not a bad one. Moving on to second down, Terry, today in his Monday press conference, Mike Malarkey, I don't want to say took a shot at the Packers fans per se because it was not anything derogatory towards them, but basically what he said was the fact that the Packers fans were the ones that got to leave the game early and not in a good mood because obviously the Titans had blown them out. And that's something that we're not used to seeing.

And I kind of like that. I like some of the fire and some of the little things that Mike Malarkey has said at times that kind of motivate not only the team but perhaps the fans that weren't there yesterday to think, hey, look what these guys did to Green Bay. I need to get out there, get my tickets, and get into the stadium and cheer for this team because there's something brewing here. Yeah, I think you're right. I think a lot of those Packer fans, they probably had bought those tickets

when they first went on sale back in July. And that was still when the Titans obviously were not a very known or appreciated commodity coming off two terrible seasons. So plenty of good seats were available. And obviously, the Packer fans showed up in full force yesterday and made up a good portion of the crowd. But the Titans were able to take them out of it real quickly with scoring 21 points right off the bat, leading 21-0, leading 35-10 at one point in the first half. Never really allowed that Packers crowd to get into it except for a couple of chants.

And even then, they were still at least two scores down. You and I sit together in the press box on game days, and when we looked out our window right in front of us, and then especially looking at the upper deck on the Packers' side behind their bench, there was a lot of green and gold in that crowd. I don't want to say 50-50, but certainly you could make a case just by looking at it that it might well have been a 50-50 crowd in that game. Now, obviously, we don't know what was above us in the red and upper deck seats,

but I got a feeling it was a lot like what we saw throughout the rest of the stadium. So what the Titans were able to do was come in and put their stamp on it and start to say, hey, this is our place and we're going to now be a team that has to be reckoned with even at home, whereas teams used to come in over the last couple of years and think, ah, it's the Titans, we can go in there and win. Right, and I think they're doing a lot to erase the home field disadvantage that they've had over the last three or four years where you'd see like Sunday

Packer fans or the first game of the year Vikings fans, Raiders fans, Cowboys, Steelers, whoever you want to name. You know, most of the NFL storied franchises, their fans would come in here and pretty much take over the stadium, especially at the end of ball games when the Titans usually were going down to defeat. But maybe it's a sign that things are starting to turn around and things are starting to turn for the better for this team. Third down, we want to talk about the Colts rematch, Terry. Obviously, coming up this week, going to Indianapolis, we kind of mentioned that in the current news.

A couple of streaks to be broken. The Titans, Malarkey saying they would have a different game plan basically. Obviously part of that game plan is still going to be the same. They're going to run the football with DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry. That won't change, but some of the little intricacies I guess of what they're going to do will be things that they'll work on and change up to give the Colts something different to think about coming up on Sunday. Yeah, I think you have to do that. I think you have to do that. I think you have to mix it up a little bit.

You have to take what worked the first time and, you know, keep that, throw away what didn't, or modify what didn't. And I think the game plan will be, you know, I think it will have some similarities, but Mike Malarkey said it will change quite a bit. It will be interesting to me to see how Dick LeBeau tries to attack Andrew Luck this time around, given that the Colts max protected last time and what kind of remedy he has for that if the Colts decide to go through with that again. And also how they plan on slowing down T.Y. Hilton,

who had a big game, 133 yards, receiving the first time they met about a month ago. Absolutely. It certainly will be an interesting chess match between LeBeau and the offensive minds of the Colts. Let's move on to fourth down, Terry, and it's something that we don't normally do, but after yesterday, you and I and pretty much everybody else felt it was a comedy of errors that took place in the Titans game

with the officiating crew. Jeff Triplett, the lead official, had several occurrences yesterday where he made comments on the mic to the crowd and obviously going across the television that were somewhat comical and several times actually incorrect. Now, I know, and you and I obviously being in the business where we talk for a living, everybody makes mistakes. It's not something that anyone is immune to, but there were some questionable calls and certainly some things that just kind of left you scratching your head

following that game yesterday as it pertained to the officiating. Yeah, and certainly Jeff Triplett and his crew have had their share of gaffes over the years and I think yesterday just kind of drove that point home that the NFL maybe needs to start looking a little more strongly at the officiating and see what they can do. And I know these guys are human and they do the best they can and by and large they get the calls right. But when things like that happen like yesterday like the big melee following the Aaron Rodgers touchdown run and there's you know really no flag you know thrown on that

nothing you know no sort out even if it's an all even if it's offsetting penalties you know I think you have to at least point out, you know, the players who were involved and the main instigators in those sorts of things in order to let the league know who can be expected to be fined and those sorts of things and who might, you know, and who's going to get a warning that one more incident could call for, you know, a disqualification. And I think when you look at the way that the game unfolded yesterday,

it was chippy almost from the get-go, almost right from Latroy Guyon's hit on Marcus Mariota that resulted in Taylor LeJuan being ejected. It was starting to get chippy, and I don't think the officiating crew did enough, in my opinion, it chippy and I don't think the officiating crew did enough in my opinion to cut that off at the pass and not let it and not let it escalate I totally agree with that and Taylor LeJuan Terry gave us an interesting stat when he spoke yesterday in the locker room following the game he was the sixth player ejected this season by triplets crew that by. That, by far and away, leads the NFL as far as the officiating crews for the most ejections.

The second closest has just one crew that's ejected three players, as I look today. So they have doubled up what every other crew in the NFL has done as far as ejections. Now, that doesn't make them wrong. Perhaps they've been in situations where those ejections were warranted, and certainly you can definitely make a case that Luan's was warranted yesterday. But still, based on the totality of everything that we kind of saw in that, it kind of makes you wonder if the NFL might, as you said, take a stronger look at things and maybe go to a full-time paid officiating system where these guys can work and train

and be better at their craft and improve what they do, much like the players do who, even though they don't practice as a team year-round, they have to take care of their bodies physically and stay in shape. Officials can kind of do the same thing, too, I think under maybe a little bit different system that the NFL might need to look at for the future. I don't disagree. I think it's time that they look at for the future? I don't disagree. I think it's time, you know, that

they look at full-time officials. And, you know, this is a billion-dollar industry, a billion-dollar entertainment industry, and you're going to put the officiating and the control of the games and, you know, in many cases, you know, affecting the outcome in the hands of part-time people. I mean, you know, you the hands of part-time people. I mean, you wouldn't give part-time people a big role if you're at Exxon or IBM or what have you, Apple. But it seems like the NFL seems that they're okay in doing that, and I think it's something that really does need to be examined.

Time for our final thoughts on this edition of Locked on Titans. Take it away. Well, Greg, as far as my final thought goes, I think when you look at this Titans offense and the way things have really come alive, I think a guy that a lot of people

questioned early on as to what he was doing and how he was running things, but you've got to tip your hat to Terry Robiskey in this offense. The play calls have really come around. The Titans have been moving the football. They've been daring. They've been unexpected. You've got to give credit where credit's due.

I don't think a lot of people really were overjoyed at the thought of Terry Robiskey running this offense when he was hired. But 10 games in, I think you have to say he's done a very good job. Absolutely. And you almost mirrored my final thought, but mine goes just a little bit different because when he was hired to take over this Titans team, and I'm speaking of Mike Malarkey here, it was almost a joke. The national media thinking,

why are you hiring a two-time failed head coach that has done nothing to prove that he deserves to be a head coach in this league, and this is a team, a franchise that's going nowhere. They've got a nice quarterback, but that's about it. The ownership is in disarray at odds with the league everything was going wrong and Mike Malarkey panned by pretty much everybody especially fans now there were some people that said let's give this guy a chance but for the most part he was kind of an afterthought and okay he's going to keep the seat warm for a year or two for whomever else comes in right now

five and five in this team and as you said with Terry Robiskey, they're pushing all the right buttons. They're doing all the right things. Now, yes, they've lost some games that they probably should have won, but the coaches can't do anything about interceptions thrown, fumbles being lost in return for touchdown, those kind of things. And there have been some mistakes that you can lay at their feet, but for the most part, Mike Malarkey deserves a pretty good amount of credit for what this team has done at this point and some people to at least say, okay, he's not as bad as what we thought he was

and he's got things going in the right direction. Now can they keep it going? That's my final thought for today. We look forward to getting back with you again on Wednesday when Brad will join us. Until then, have a great day, and we'll see you on Wednesday. You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.