Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans-Nov.25- Prediction Friday.

Episode Date: November 25, 2016

Prediction Friday as the Titans face the Bears on Sunday. #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 all-pro left tackle Brad Hopkins. It is Friday and a lot of things to cover. Current news, as always, we'll get into some game analysis

on the upcoming Sunday contest versus the Bears. The Bears, rather. Of course, our predictions. Yes, the Bears. It's turkey hangover on this Friday morning, guys. Certainly a great holiday yesterday and I hope you guys didn't do what I did and overindulge in things that were bad for you. Yeah, I stopped at about the fourth plate, so I feel your pain, Greg.

And before we jump into everything, guys, I want to say something to our listeners and our fans because there were certainly several people that sent holiday greetings to us yesterday, thanked us for what we're doing on this Locked on Titans podcast, and shared how much they enjoyed listening to us. And I wanted to just say thank you to all the people that took the time on their holiday to wish us a happy holiday. It was certainly well-received, well thought of, and very much appreciated. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Absolutely. That said, current news. Let's jump right into things and get this thing rolling on a Friday.

Terry, we start with Taylor LeJuan, who once again was limited in practice on Thursday. Didn't do a lot. Going to get an opportunity here just a few minutes on this Friday morning to see what he can do, but the jury's still out as to whether or not he'll be a participant on Sunday in Chicago. Right, I would think that Taylor's probably going to have to see how much he can do in practice on Friday and how much he improves between Friday and game time on Sunday will probably be the

determination in terms of whether or not he's able to play. I think he was moving around pretty well just to see him walk around and whatnot, so that's probably a good sign for him, but you really won't know until he gets out there and really tries to test it. Yeah, and I think that actually, as crazy as you can look at this, this is a good thing to have to deal with this injury during the week because that means that his replacements are getting practice time together. It's kind of a weird situation when a guy gets hurt during the game

and then someone's coming in cold off the sideline. Sure, they've been practicing all week, but they haven't been getting number one reps. But this week, Dennis Kelly, anybody else that they're probably planning on using in rotation has been in practice working with the number one. So it's probably a good thing at this point to be dealing with the injury during the week. Other injuries.

I'm sorry. Go ahead, Terry. No, I agree with Brad. You know, it allows you, those guys, to at least have that mindset. Not that they don't already, but at least have that mindset that they're going to be out there if they're getting reps with the ones. And then if Taylor is able to come back,

then that kind of gives you that extra little boost that maybe you weren't expecting to have because it's like, hey, Taylor's out here with us, he's ready to go. So, you know, if it comes game time on Sunday and Taylor's out there, then it should be an added little boost for the Titans. Other injury notes, Phillip Supernaw still in the concussion protocol. He is likely out for Sunday. But the good news, guys, DeMarco Murray, Bryce McCain,

both back on the field in practice yesterday. Of course, have to see what they do on Friday. But being able to practice on Thursday is certainly a good sign going forward. And, Brad, these are two guys being veterans that really don't necessarily need a lot of practice at this point in time, do they? I mean, it's always good to have the repetition, but you can get by as a veteran without it more so as maybe a younger guy, can't you? Oh, absolutely. I mean, your experience has taught you first off how to better prepare yourself.

And even though you might not necessarily be on the field, you know how to get the mental reps because you've obviously been in those situations before. So it's just taking yourself through it during the week mentally and just doing the things in the training room to make sure that at least you give yourself a chance to compete on Sunday, Terry. Yeah, that's exactly

what you have to do. And I think the more veteran, like you said, Greg and i think uh you know the more veteran like you said greg that a guy is the better off that he is in terms of being able to you know go out there and fulfill his role uh even if he's had limited or or not a lot of work in practice due to an injury and i think you know we've seen that in recent weeks with demarco murray i don't think there's any doubt that he's going to be able to give it a go on Sunday. They've been giving him Wednesdays off as a precaution ever since he had that toe injury. And then Bryce McCain, another veteran guy who's been around and, you know,

knows the ins and outs of Dick LeBeau's defense. So he should be able to step in and not miss a beat. Let's jump in and look at some analysis on this game, guys, and start with the Titans on offense first off, where obviously it starts with Marcus Mariota and the way that he has been playing. He obviously has to continue to play at a high level for this team to be effective and have an opportunity to win, and he has certainly been doing that. So when we look at the pieces around him,

where do these Titans on offense have to find something in this game to get a win after struggling a little bit last week at times in certain phases, though Marcus played pretty well overall against Indianapolis? You know, Terry, I'll go first because I'll hand it to you. Go ahead. You see these guys up close and personal. I'm going to say basically this offense is very effective.

The problems that it has are turning the ball over. I don't think that the game plan coming up schematically during the week, I don't think that even the talent itself is the reason why this team is just teetering around.500. I think that obviously the mistakes early in the season that you cannot have have ultimately

given the negative knocks on the squad. For the most part, the game plans have been consistent. The way that they've actually approached playing teams, the effort has been there. It's just the simple things that can obviously plague a team, like making simple mistakes, are the one thing that slows this team down. Other than that, Terry,

I think this team's on the right track. I think so, too. To me, the biggest thing is, you saw it last week against the Colts, you can't have a slow start. I mean, they should be a heavy favorite this week with the Bears so depleted at a number of different positions, including quarterback. You know, you can't fool around and let the Bears hang around and let the score be 7-3 midway through the second quarter.

They need to start fast, go ahead and deliver the knockout punch, and let the Bears know that because they're shorthanded, because they're missing several key players, that it's not going to be their day. I think if you're the Titans, you have to go in looking to get a fast start, looking to put 14, 17 points up in the first half to take command of this game, and then you should be able to dictate for the remainder of the contest because you're going to make the Bears one-dimensional in a way that they don't want to be,

which is having to throw the football with an inexperienced quarterback. To me, that's the whole key on offense is for the Titans just to come out, To me, that's the whole key on offense is for the Titans just to come out, score early, get a lead, and then go into the mode of, okay, now see if you can catch it. Now, Brad. I agree with you. I agree with Terry 100%, especially when you're talking about usually in the first part of ballgames is when Marcus has made mistakes

that obviously put this offense in the pickle to where they're having to try and play catch up. So I agree with you 1,000%, Terry, about getting off to a fast start, therefore dictating the pace of the game. Greg? Brad, now I'm going to put you on the spot with this one because we sat there last week inside Lucas Oil Stadium, watched the Titans struggle early, fall behind 21-0, a fast start by the Colts.

Is there something that you can put your finger on as to why this team started that slow last week, or is it just something that happens from time to time and it's something you have to deal with? What exactly, and how do you go about having that fast start? Three words. Three and out. Whenever you have the home team actually scoring on its first couple of possessions, and you are punting basically on your first couple of possessions, there it is right there. Whether they're trying to get after you pass rush-wise and not giving you the

time to move the ball down the field or, you know, the blocking just wasn't up front, you know, for them to be able to get, you know, the consistency of the run game intact, you know, moving the change, things of that nature. But when you're punting, and Greg and Terry, you can speak to this too, when you're punting, your offense is being ineffective, particularly when that offense that you're going against is already scored.

Oh, there's no doubt about it. I think that's exactly what happened last week against the Colts. The Titans were knocked back on their heels. All of a sudden it's 21-0. The game plan's in the trash can, and you're trying to figure out whatever you can do just to get back in the ballgame. And the Colts are already moving on to the next thing of how to protect the lead and how to finish you off.

So I think, you know, it's very important for the Titans this week because they should have the advantage in personnel, especially on the offensive side of the ball. And they should be able to take advantage of that. And if they can, then it should be, you know, they should be very favored to win and win big. If not, if they allow the Bears to hang around and stay in it, then they could be in for more than they bargained for. Well, one thing, guys, I looked at the weather report because in trying to decide my prediction for this week,

I wanted to know what the conditions were. 52 degrees, the high temperature in Chicago. Of course, always windy there, but only a 10% chance of rain, so it looks like the conditions will be very good for this contest, and that shouldn't play a factor in anything that goes on. Now, obviously, anything can happen, but Brad, you guys played in Chicago. You know how it is up there, the weather conditions, but again, that shouldn't be a factor this week. Yeah, it shouldn't be, but I want to go to that party that Terry's at right now. I'm not here to practice, Phil. This is the music they're playing during individual. Yeah, the funny thing is, I was going to say,

Greg, Terry, that the Tennessee Titans usually don't practice being down 21 points. So, like you said, Terry, the game plan being in the trash can, I can definitely agree with that. I just think real quick, wrapping up before we move on, this is an environment probably. They are having a party at St. Thomas Sports Park this morning, guys. Well, we'll put it this way. You know what, guys?

The guys that are listening to the Locked on Titans podcast, this is what it's going to sound like on the football field for your offense when they're on there. They won't be able to hear themselves, so they're going to have to rely on verbal cues and things like that. And they're also going to leave basically exotics on the bus because you're not going to be able to hear yourself verbally, things like that. Communication errors can definitely create turnovers.

So I think you've got to go into this game plan, not vanilla per se, but at least giving your offense a chance to not make mistakes and be consistent in what they're trying to do. Right. In those situations, Brad, I'll go ahead and ask you this. When you're on the road and when you cannot hear, do you prefer to run the football as opposed to throw the football simply because that's a simpler thing to do?

That's a great question. I will say this, because the short passing game is such a huge part of what the Tennessee Titans do. You can't go completely running the football, even though that is exactly the more comfortable situation for offensive linemen. But consider three-step drops. Consider Mariota in the gun at five yards,

and that ball is coming out of his hands immediately to slant routes, seam routes, things like that, tight ends, running backs out of the backfield. You don't have to necessarily put them in subsequent danger by dropping back 10, 12 yards. But for the most part, this offense can still implement the passing part of the offense, but just in shorter increments. Let's move over on the defensive side of things, guys, where this matchup with the Bears, I said it properly that time,

can actually or should actually, yeah, should actually favor the Titans because when you look at Chicago, it's a train wreck. No Jay Cutler, Alshon Jeffrey out, Miller the tight end out. They've got injuries everywhere. They can run the football, but the Titans know this when you look at the injury report. So it favors the Titans in pretty much every aspect of this game, I would think, going into this matchup, especially with a defense that's been pretty good against the run for the most part this season.

I definitely think so. I definitely think it does favor them. And the reason it does is exactly what you mentioned. You're talking about first-teamers against second-teamers. And, you know, very few teams in the NFL these days are able to overcome key injuries to key personnel, especially at the quarterback and the receiver position and on the offensive line. You look at the Colts last night.

How did they look without Andrew Luck? You knew going in they had a very, very slim chance to pull that game out, even though they were at home. To me, I find the Chicago Bears to be in a very similar situation, a very slim chance to win, and it's up to the Titans to take advantage of that on Sunday by putting their best foot forward early and getting control of this game, taking the crowd out of it.

Yeah, you're right 100% there, Terry. Brian Hoyer has been in six games this year. Jay Cutler's been in five games this year. Matt Barkley's had one start this year. We're nine games, ten games into a season, so there's inconsistency at quarterback. Of course, Alshon Jeffries is going to be serving a suspension for the next couple of weeks, so he won't be a part of that offense. A huge target for them offensively.

You're talking about Jeremy Lankford has been good, but inconsistent, only starting six games this year. So there is some opportunity there with the Chicago Bears being down a little bit to get a jump ahead early in this ballgame. But I'll throw this back at you guys. Talk about the pressure that comes when a team should be outplaying the team that's depleted and all of a sudden, you know, the back of their minds are thinking, here we go again.

Yeah, that can certainly be a big factor if the Titans come out and struggle early. So I guess, guys, that's obviously what you've been talking about. The key to this is to get in front early and to take the Bears out of it because if you leave them in, then it gets into your head as opposed to being in the other team's head. You're struggling when you're the prohibitive favorite going into this game, and they've got everything lined up against them. Yeah, I agree with that 100%.

I think when you're facing a team that's an underdog, the last thing you want to do is to give them life and to give them hope. I think, go back to it again, the fast start is something that you've got to have if you're the Titans. That doesn't mean that you don't play 60 minutes of football, but that means that that first 15 to 20 minutes of real-time game clock time has got to be dominated by the Titans in order to deflate whatever hope is left in the Bears, who obviously are coming in at less than full strength.

Real quick, let's not misconstrue what fast start means either. Fast start doesn't mean chucking the football down the football field and getting early scoring strikes. What that means is, like the Colts did against the Titans last week, that means score on every early possession. If you hold the football for 12 plays, running it consistently, and then you end up scoring, that's just as good a fast start as, say, dropping back in the first couple of plays and hitting a 40-yard strike

for a touchdown. You want to be able to control the pace early, and that's what the Titans need to do, guys. Absolutely. So, guys, why does this matchup scare the stuffing out of me? And that's a considerable amount after yesterday. But, you know, it just seems like everything, and we've seen this time and again with this Titans team,

everything's lined up in their favor, yet they find a way to lose some of these games. So I think this is important that they get a win in this situation. That's another one of those mental things to get over that hurdle, if you will, and to not lose one of those. And to get over that hurdle if you will and to not lose one of those and to their credit they've played well after losses this year they've come back and bounced back and had some good games so that's something that you kind of have to factor into this as well well i think part of the reason for that greg is you know just the history of this team we're talking about a team that in the last three or four years has lost games to quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel and Geno Smith,

guys who really didn't pan out in the league. And when you lose games that you should win and you lose games against subpar quarterbacks, those types of things kind of haunt you. So here they are against Matt Barkley with another opportunity to erase some of that. And I think that's probably part of the reason that you feel a little bit of trepidation. Yeah, okay, look at really good teams this year, like the Dallas Cowboys.

The Dallas Cowboys are undefeated on the road. The Tennessee Titans, comparatively speaking, 2-3. So there are issues when this team is on the road, and that's probably one of the reasons why you have some concerns. But I think maybe the environment of a team that's probably the reason why you have some concerns but I think maybe the environment of a team that struggling itself won't be near as I am adversarial let's put it that way as they ask another situation like your team attacks when you have something to

play or so they understand the difficulties of getting a good road win but against the team right now they're still trying to struggle to find wins at home in Chicago there are opportunities there to be had. Guys, it's that time again. Time for us to put our best foot forward, to make a prediction. Now, not to bring up bad memories, but a week ago we all three took the Titans going into Indianapolis, and by various scores

that the Titans would win that ballgame. And obviously none of us were quite accurate in that one, so we're looking for a bounce back this week. Who wants to go first? Go ahead, Brad. Okay, sounds good. Okay, so listen. Last week what the Indianapolis Colts did uncharacteristically for the season

was develop a pass rush. The Tennessee Titans have been better rushing the passer than the Colts did, but ironically last for the season was develop a pass rush. The Tennessee Titans have been better at rushing the passer than the Colts did, but ironically last week the script was flipped. So I think that this week when you're talking about a quarterback that's a little inconsistent because he hasn't been under center all the time, that means that there's opportunities for him to hold on to the football, let Jarrell Casey, Derek Morgan, Brian Arakbo, any of the blitzing secondary guys, whoever, get in the backfield and get to scrambling around Matt Barkley.

He's a young quarterback. Basically, he'll be easy to rattle him. Dick LeBeau knows exactly how to handle freshmen. Basically, they're a youngster when they're coming in. So there's an opportunity there. And, of course, this is still one of the most respected run games that's in the NFL itself. So attack the quarterback, run the football,

the Titans get on the plane, a winner. And your score? Oh. Titans 50, Sub Bears 0. Wow. Are you confident? Yeah, you want to stick with that one, or do you have another score in mind?

That might be a little Norm from Cheers. Remember the Saturday Night Lights skit? Yes. Road wins, ground game, give me 21-14 Tennessee. All right. Terry? Well, I'm going to echo a little bit of what Brad said, but I'm also going to put it in this perspective.

When you've got a young quarterback out there in Matt Barkley, a guy that doesn't have a whole bit of what Brad said, but I'm also going to put it in this perspective. When you've got a young quarterback out there in Matt Barkley, a guy that doesn't have a whole lot of experience and what experience he has had has not been met with a lot of success, I think one of the things that you want to do, you want to take advantage of his inexperience. You know he's probably going to stare down his first read a lot. So there should be an opportunity to intercept the ball or at the very least break up some of those passes

because he's probably going to be looking at Eddie Royal a lot or he's going to be looking at somebody else as the first read and the defense is going to pick up on that. Offensively, Titans should be able to have a nice balance of run and pass against the Bears defense that has not been very good for the most part this year. I think this is a game that the Titans need to make a statement that they are going to be part of the mix down the stretch in the AFC South. And I think the Titans will manage to come away with a win.

I'll say 27-13. Nice. Well, this game still scares me, guys. But I don't think it scares me that much, and here's why. The Titans, after losses, have performed fairly well this season. They've come back and not had a bad game after a loss. They've not just put it in the tank, as we saw at times over the last couple of seasons where they would be dominated by somebody.

And then even if you thought maybe they had an opportunity to win a game or to play well in a game, they wouldn't do it. They've bounced back. I think they bounced back this week from the Indianapolis game because, quite frankly, Chicago's got too many issues, just too many things against them to win this game. A young quarterback with just one start this season, a lot of offensive weapons out of the game.

Only one real threat as a receiver in Eddie Royal. A decent running game, but again, a running game that is questionable at times. Hasn't always been great against the Titans defense that's been good against the run. With Dick LeBeau calling the shots, a guy that's going to come after Matt Barkley in a lot of different ways. And I think the Titans offensively run the football, throw the football. They've got the balance there to do this. I'm going to go out on a limb here.

I'm going to go 28-10 Titans to win this thing. You're concerned, but you've got the biggest point differential. Okay. I said I wasn't that concerned. See, I kind of led you one way and then went back the other. I gave you a hip fake and went to the other side to score. Yeah, that's called a knuckleball where I'm from. Well, that's true, too.

So now you can go tell all the guys, Brad, that we all three took them. There's two weeks in a row that we've all three been Titans predictors here, and if they mess us up a second week in a row, we may have to jump back on the other side of things next week. What do you think? Where's the fun in that? Where's the fun in telling you guys, telling them that you guys are supporting them? It's more fun than looking at you crazy when I told them that you picked against them.

That's true. All right, guys, time for final thoughts on the day. Brad, your final thoughts on this week 11 matchup with the Chicago Bears. Not a lost season, guys. Not a lost season by any stretch. I think that people are quietly excited about this team playing far better than they have in recent years. And the team feels it.

Let me say that again. The team feels the support. The team feels that at least every time that you guys show up, even on Sunday down at the Nissan Stadium, I know we're on the road this week, but they definitely feel that there's a belief that this team can actually be a contender. So while, albeit this might not happen this year, it might not happen in the next couple of weeks,

this team is on the right track, in my opinion. And guess what? A road win would be just the thing that's exciting at this point. Terry? Well, I'm going to piggyback off a little bit of what Brad said. I think that this is a team that is still in this race you know i agree i think uh you know they need a little bit of help from uh you know san diego and a couple of teams that are scheduled to face the texans down the line

but uh the colts lost last night and it you know without andrew luck and it certainly was not pretty and uh so that puts the titans if they can win on sunday no worse than second place again uh in the division heading into the bye week so i think you know this is a team that still has something to play for and i think they will have that sense of urgency on sunday and then come back from the bye week knowing that if they can string together something, that there's still something to play for. Absolutely.

I couldn't agree more with everything both you guys said on that. My thought on it is the bye week. You don't want to go into the bye week on a loss, especially a two-game losing streak, which it would be if they lose to the Bears, in two games really that they were favored in in both and thought that going into that they would win and be riding a little bit of a win streak going into this bye. So this game is critical to get the victory,

to have a good feeling going into that off week, and to come out on the other side and try to, as you said, Terry and Brad, string some things together and see what happens down the stretch. But getting to 6-6 at this point in the season, and Brad, you mentioned it early in the show, nobody really thought this was going to happen, that this team could be at this point at this time in the season. And to get there, I think, is huge to keep those fans enthused

because there's still a couple of games to be played at Nissan Stadium, and the Titans certainly can use that crowd support. That's going to do it for us today. We hope you enjoy the weekend. Enjoy all of the football action. Enjoy all of the Titans action on Sunday. And we'll see you again on Monday morning. Locked on Titans.

Have a great weekend, everybody. Tennessee Titans Podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day.