Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Nov.28- Monday we go Four Downs & more.

Episode Date: November 28, 2016

A win Over Chicago and Four Downs on a bye week. #BHop #TerryMc #GregA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Guys, it is a Monday, and it is a good news, bad news day for the Tennessee Titans. The good news, as we jump right in, guys, to our current news, the Titans get a win on Sunday, 27-21 over the Chicago Bears in Chicago. But it was not without drama after the Titans were able to build a big lead and then surrendered that lead late with Chicago actually having a chance. And, guys, honestly, when we talk about it, Brad, Terry, the Chicago Bears probably should have won this football game because a drop pass in the end zone on first down

that would have given at least a tie to the Bears, an extra point would have put them ahead. Brad, you obviously being a former player, how does that happen? Well, that's the way games are decided, guys. I mean, if you think about it, how many times has a drop pass, how many times has a penalty, how many times has something that's uncharacteristic happened in the play to basically make the Titans lose?

Well, this time it worked in their fortune. And it's just one of those things that happens to a team that's obviously had its own struggles because it wasn't just Bellamy's pass that was dropped in the end zone. It was Thompson's pass, too, at the end had a chance. It hit a guy hitting a guy in the chest, even though it had to go through a couple of few defenders. So they were snakebitten on a few occasions.

Give Matt Bartley credit for basically taking advantage of a defense that was without a couple of the key starters in the second half because he looked like a completely different quarterback in the second half. But for the most part, you know, the Chicago Bears lost that one. Call us lucky. Call us whatever you want to, but we're winners. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think, you know, the Bears had every opportunity to come back

and pull that game out. And, you know, if you're the Titans, you're happy to escape with a win, but you're probably not very happy in the fact that you let the Bears scramble their way back into the ballgame. You know, to me, part of the problem is I think they kind of took their foot off the gas on offense just a little bit earlier than they should have. One more touchdown, and that would have put the ballgame away for good, and all the fourth-quarter heroics and potential heroics of Matt Barkley

wouldn't have mattered. We'll get into more specifics when we go offense and defense here in just a few moments, guys. But obviously another solid performance by Marcus Mariota on the day. This offense, once again, does not turn the football over. Didn't score as many points, just 27, as they had been when they were going over the 35 mark repeatedly three weeks in a row there.

Enough to get the win. But Marcus, very, very solid once again in the game today, which is very encouraging, obviously, for the Titans and Titans fans. Yeah, it really is. You know, he now has 25 touchdown passes on the year, which moves him into sole possession of fourth place in terms of single-season touchdown passes. Only George Blanda two different times and Warren Moon once are ahead of him now. He passed the late, great Steve McNair today. McNair's best year in terms of touchdown passes was 24,

the year that he was the co-MVIP of the league in 2003, and Marcus with number 25 today. Yeah, and you've also got to give Marcus some credit when you're talking about the guy that, you know, basically has become a part of the rushing attack just as much as Derrick Henry and DeMarco Murray because today they ran the football very effectively. Marcus Murray would have chipped in four carries for 46 yards.

You can tell that that was probably part of the game plan today. The Titans well over 100 yards rushing, which is what you need to do on the road. Very effective passer. 126.4 passer rating. Two touchdowns. You talk about no interceptions, no sacks. Protection was good. He made good decisions

not giving the ball to the defense. He contributed on both passing game and the run game. Through all of that, the most impressive statistic, though, for Marcus to this point through his year-plus NFL career, over a year and a half now, is the fact that he has not thrown an interception in the red zone. This guy is just as solid as he can be, money, as they say.

When you get him inside the 20, you can bet that if he throws the football to the end zone, he's going to connect and it's not going to be intercepted. And that's just amazing for anybody. You don't see Tom Brady and Peyton Manning when he was playing have those kind of stats that this guy has been able to put up in the red zone. Yeah, that's amazing because he's had 32 career touchdown passes in the red zone and zero interceptions so how long does a streak like that go on you know you want to obviously want it to be extended for as long as you possibly can but it's really just absolutely incredible and

especially a guy who's really only in his second season and only three-quarters of the way through his second season, Brad. Yeah, you're exactly right. And let's just pat Marcus on the back one more time before we move on to other facets of the game. When you look at the first, say, three or four weeks of the season, he was really contributing to turnovers, which were ultimately causing the demise of the Titans at the end of the day.

Over the last five weeks, I think he's thrown 17 touchdowns to three interceptions, which when you say having a dramatic turnaround, that definitely affects the offense. That's exactly what we're seeing here, him being more secure with the football, smarter with the football, and therefore the Titans are reaping the benefits. Guys, let's jump in offensively and break down some of the things in this game. And I'm not one that's overly critical of coaching very often, at least I make comments, obviously, during the games to you guys when we're together watching the games, sometimes when I'm by myself.

But I thought today that the Titans made a couple mistakes in play calling and situations. And the biggest one to me, guys, was on the very last Titans possession. They're trying to gain a first down there that would have kept possession with the Titans, not allowed Matt Barkley and the Bears offense back onto the field. And I know DeMarco Murray has had a great season. Nothing against DeMarco Murray.

But I felt like, guys, on this day, Derrick Henry was the best running back. Eight carries, 60 yards, and a score. DeMarco Murray, 17 carries, 43 yards. Guys, and Brad, obviously you're the expert here. Why wasn't Derrick Henry the guy on that third down carry rather than DeMarco Murray? I think you've seen it on so many occasions. Derrick Henry would be the same kind of guy.

DeMarco Murray, too. I think that when you look at what they've been able to accomplish this season, this is an unbelievable year for DeMarco Murray. It looks like the back that came out of the NFC East there in the Cobb with the Cowboys. So I think that it's really not by design who they're giving the football to in those situations. They're just looking at the

situation itself, trying to call best play, and whoever actually gets called on that, that's the one that gets the nerve running. Because I noticed on a couple of different occasions they were using DeMarco Murray with the between-the-guards stuff, really gaining huge chunks of yards, but then when they got in the red zone, particularly inside the five, you know, he got put to the sideline and brought in DeMarco Murray, not because of ineffectiveness,

but just because of the play calling that they got into in those certain situations. So, I mean, give them credit for having that kind of diversity. I will say that, but Derrick Henry being more involved in the game today has got to be part of the game plan moving forward, particularly when you're talking about, you know, injuries and things like that that happened during a long season. Yeah, one of the things, you know, and Greg, you kind of alluded to it there on that last series, and there was another time down around the two-yard line where they had to settle for a field goal. In the short yardage situation, this is now two weeks in a row

where we've seen the Titans offense kind of stall out in those short yardage situations. You hate to see that happen at this time of year because late in the year, November, December, that's when you want that running game really to be clicking on all cylinders and be able to get those tough yards. And they were able to get those tough yards at times on Sunday, mostly with Derrick Henry and his running at 60 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.

But when it comes down to it, I'd like to see that offense, the smash mouth part of it, that offensive line impose its will on that defense and pick up that yard or two. On that last play where you talked about the little shovel pass off the read option to DeMarco Murray, I think I would have liked to have seen them try a little play action there. Take the dive to DeMarco Murray and let Marcus Mariota have the football in his hands with the option there to maybe hit a Delaney Walker or a Rashard Matthews for a short gain and move the sticks and end that ball game?

Okay, so I'm not picking on you two, but I'm going to say that we're in the best, obviously the best situation where we're armchair quarterbacks. But if you look at basically every play that's called, there's never a situation of poor play calling. There's always a situation of poor play execution. Because they don't practice plays to fail. And in any certain situation, it makes sense for it to call that play,

but if something breaks down within that play, then a play is not going to work. But by design, they're all designed to work. So if something happens in that play, a lineman loses a block, a receiver doesn't run the right route or at least the right depth, protection doesn't hold up, the quarterback makes an inaccurate throw, the running back doesn't do something right. Something within that play, if it doesn't work, broke down within the execution,

not necessarily the play call itself. Your point's well taken, Brad, and I certainly agree with that. I was just of the feeling that today, as I said, that I think me personally as a coach, and obviously Mike Malarkey's getting paid a lot of money to make the decisions, he and Terry Robiskie and the others, but I just felt like today that Derrick Henry was a little bit better. Looked like DeMarco Murray a couple times was slow getting up. Maybe he was struggling a little bit, even though he played a good ball game,

certainly had 41 yards in receptions to go along with his 43 yards in rushing. So you can't knock what he did. But I just felt like as a running back today that maybe Derrick Henry was a little bit better back on this one day. And maybe I want him in the game on that third down as opposed to DeMarco Murray. And obviously Henry at this point in time is still a fresher offensive player because he hasn't got the number of carries this year. He's had a couple of games where he didn't really do anything to amount to anything, and that was kind of my thought process behind my second guessing, if you will,

of the decision to go as they did there. Well, it just makes them basically more predictable. If you talk about the lack of reps that you see Derrick Henry getting, of course, when you look at the tape, you're seeing almost every single thing that DeMarco Murray does. So when he's trying to get that thing to get going on Sunday, they're geared up for it. They expect to see it. They understand the tendency.

So when Derrick Henry comes in, someone that you've seen very little of throughout the season, what he's able to do is kind of really surprise the most people. Receiving-wise. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Terry. I don't disagree with that. I think, you know, obviously, you know, and to me, you know, I think what you saw out of Murray today, I think you're seeing a guy who's a little bit banged up,

and I think you're seeing a guy who probably is ready for a bye week. And I think the week off is probably going to do him as much good as any Titans player on this roster, simply for the fact that he's carried the load most of the year. I think a week off to heal that foot up, you know, and to get some time away, I think it's going to recharge the batteries and help him for the stretch run of those final four games. Receiving-wise, guys, we continue today to see Rashard Matthews.

Receiving-wise, guys, we continue today to see Rashard Matthews. He is fast becoming, if not the top target, certainly 1A to Delaney Walker in the passing game. Three receptions, 64 yards, an incredible diving touchdown from Marcus Mariota. We also saw, of course, Delaney Walker with three receptions for 50 yards. Harry Douglas had two receptions for 60 yards. I mentioned Murray a few moments ago, 41 yards on five receptions for him. Tajay Sharp, two catches for 11. So Mark is spreading the football around,

but he is getting big-time production from a lot of different people. Yeah, you're right. And Rashard Matthews continues to impress. That was his seventh touchdown catch of the year, and he's really been on a roll, been doing it over the last seven or eight games. And when you talk about Rashard Matthews, he's already set a career high now in touchdowns, a career high in reception, and a career high in receiving yards.

So that's money well spent by John Robinson this offseason on a receiver that they needed to help bolster this passing game. You know, we'll give the offensive line credit for being up there as far as one of the top teams in the rest of the football. When you look today at how many receivers Marcus Mario

was able to find, Rashad Matthews took 64 yards, Jerry Douglas 60 yards, Delaney Walker 50 yards, DeMarco Murray 41 yards. He spread the football around, which means. Delaney Walker, 50 yards. DeMarco Murray, 41 yards. He spread the football around, which means that he was comfortable in the pocket. And how are you comfortable in the pocket? That means protection is found.

He was actually able to go through a progression, find a number of different receivers, unload the ball in a timely fashion, and move the ball down the football field. So we used to have to see Marcus let the play unfold in front of him because he had the time to actually go through his normal progression.

But you used to have to see a lot of different receivers reaping the benefits of him actually developing as a quarterback. Brad, you touched on certainly one of the points that I was going to bring up. I actually had two things, but we'll go to the offensive line. As you mentioned there, the protection was good. I thought they played a good game. Obviously, no sacks allowed today. Two things,

the Taylor LeJuan, a couple of penalties on the face mask there. One of them I thought was a really good play by Taylor, the one right before the half. He took the 15-yard penalty in a situation where it didn't really hurt the team. It was the end of the half, and he kept his quarterback from having a hit or taking a hit. So I thought that was a good time to take that penalty. He had one other on the course of the day. But that goes back to what he said, Brad, about doing what it takes to protect his quarterback. I've never understood why a guy would sit there once you get beat by a defensive end,

just sit there and watch this dude take a few steps and just unload on your quarterback. I mean, you're going to get 15 yards regardless of you hold him. Would you rather have the holding penalty or have your quarterback in traction? So it never was something that upset me whenever I saw an offensive line that obviously got beat to reach out and grab a guy because we see basketball players do it all the time. When you get beat on a fast break or something like that, you don't want to give anybody an easy layup.

So what do you do? Just grab them. You know what I mean? You think I'm going to get them straight to the line either way, but you didn't allow them easy access to the basket to therefore either further affect the team by either points or obviously taking out your quarterback, Greg. I don't disagree with that.

Plus, you give up your sack, you've lost the down. You give up the holding penalty, you still get the down even though you've lost the 10 yards. Yeah, exactly. Now, guys, there's one thing on offense that I want to get your opinion on because this guy's been on a milk carton since his first game back. Kendall Wright had one target today. What's going on, Terry, with Kendall Wright,

and why is he not becoming more of a factor with this offense? I know Matthews has ascended up the ranks, but still there's got to be a place for Kendall Wright to do something to help this team other than coming in today and being a punt returner. Yeah, he was the return man at the end of the game on two kickoff returns there. I think they're trying to find ways to use him, ways to get him involved, but he certainly has not been a vital factor of this offense over the last three or four games. We thought it looked like several weeks ago that he was getting ready to break out

and to be a go-to guy in this offense. He had a couple of big games over about a three-week stretch. But here lately, he's kind of disappeared again, like you said. And I think part of it is simply for the fact that Richard Matt uses emergence and kind of the reemergence of Tajay Sharp has kind of made, you know, less plays and less throws to Kendall Wright. So when he's the third receiver and when the first two guys are doing okay, then I think, you know, there's less opportunity for Kendall Wright. Well, the way this is designed, in my opinion,

you're going to catch balls in three different ways. You're going to catch balls out the back of the field. You're going to catch balls out the back foot. You're going to catch balls in the mid-range stuff, usually where Delaney Walker lives. And, of course, there are a few options deep down the field. And those options being divided amongst guys like Rashad Matthews, Harry Douglas, of course, Taze Sharpe, and Kendall Wright when available, it's just there's not a whole bunch there, basically.

So I think that when you look at timing and basically Kendall Wright missing so much time in the very beginning, that affected who Marcus was comfortable going to. And that's how you saw guys like Rashad Matthews, obviously a proven veteran, be able to make the kind of connection and rapport with him to where Marcus wants to continue to go to, particularly in big play situations. So it would just behoove Kimberlite to be on the field and try and just, you know, work his way back into that same kind of timing that he had with Marcus Mariota when Marcus first got here.

Let's jump over on the defensive side of things, guys, where obviously the big news for the Titans today was once again the secondary. Granted, the pass rush struggled a little bit. They didn't get to Barkley very often, but still, especially in that second half, Barkley able to put up some big numbers, 316 total yards on the day through for three touchdowns. And as we talked about in the opening, guys, really probably through the game winner there a couple of times had a couple of drops in the end zone that would have given the Bears a lead there at the end.

What do the Titans have to do? Obviously, I think the bye week will help some to get some rest and healing, but what do they have to do to fix this secondary, Brad? Well, I mean, you just said it right there. I mean, this bye week couldn't come at a better time for the Tennessee Titans because the secondary is definitely helped by having a more effective pass rush. Not taking anything away from Derek Morgan and Brian Arakbo, but whenever you have a Jarrell Casey that either occupies double

teams or at least gets into the backfield himself, it creates havoc in the backfield and that's not something that we saw in the second half of the game. It was completely a tale of two halves for Matt Barkley because in the first half he only threw for 63 yards. He threw for almost 253 yards in the second half because one, they didn't have the

same effectiveness getting around him in the pocket in the second half and you one, they didn't have the same effectiveness getting around him in the pocket in the second half, and you didn't have Jason McCourty, who obviously left with, I think, with a knee injury or something like that, which made them start basically focusing on Sims, seeing how they could affect kind of the new fish in the secondary there. So they were smart in their game plan trying to at least expose some of the weaknesses in that defense,

and one of those weaknesses would be a guy with limited time with that defense. Right. You know, not only do they target Sims, but, you know, Parrish Cox seems to be a weakly target for opposing teams. And I think, you know, you saw the Bears try and pick on him, even with their backup quarterback in and with a depleted wide receiver core. I think, you know, this tight and secondary, you know,

truthfully it's probably not a situation that's going to be fixed until the off season when they can go out and add some new blood, maybe get a free agent or two, get a draft pick or two to kind of plug in there. But right now they're just having to make the best of what they can do with kind of a patchwork group. And, you know, they're helped out when the pass rush can really get there. But when the pass rush can't get there,

then a lot of times they get exposed down the field. And that's something that they're just going to have to continue to work on and continue to try and scheme around. Hey, Terry, don't good offensive coordinators basically show you who the weak links are, particularly in defensive secondary, because they're going to strive for those targets that they know don't put up near as much of an opposition. So if you're ever wondering, actually, who's the best

or who's the worst in somebody's secondary, look who gets passed the court against them more and more or less, and that's going to tell you right there. The guy that doesn't get aimed on his direction, he's probably the best one, right, Terry? Oh, it's absolute. I mean, you know, when you go back and you look, you know, the reason Deion Sanders' interception total wasn't as high as some other guys,

even though he's probably one of the best cornerbacks of all time, is because people got tired of throwing at it. You know, they said, there's no way I'm going to put the ball in Deion's space and have him pick it off. So they throw to the other side against the guy that they consider to be the weaker player, and that guy gets more opportunities to make more plays on the ball. And, yeah, it's that way. Offensive coordinators and quarterbacks, they're going to go after who they think that their

man can beat. It's all about matchups. It's all about who can win a one-on-one matchup, you know, when somebody's covering them. And if there's a stronger guy out there, they're going to throw away from him. If there's a guy they consider to be a weak link, they're going after him. Yeah, we can go no further than our buddy Neil O'Donnell to ask him about that. The Super Bowl when Deion was on one side and Larry Brown was on the other. Larry Brown got a big free agent contract because of his performance in that one game

thanks to who was on the other side of the field from him in that one. So perfect example there of that, I think. I'd have just picked on Deion instead, huh? No, you pick on Larry Brown and take your chances and you tip your hat to him because he had a great day in that Super Bowl with the two interceptions, obviously, because certainly Larry Brown was less likely to score a touchdown on a return than Deion was if he got his hands on the football back then. So, guys, time for the final thoughts on the day.

Terry, we'll let you lead us off with your final thought on this one. Well, my final thought is that this Titans team got some of the help that they needed. They're still in the thick of this AFC South race. They're now 6-6 heading into their bye week. They're back ahead of the Colts by half a game. The Colts played without Andrew Luck and got demolished by the Steelers. And then the San Diego

Chargers went into Houston and beat the division leading Texans, leaving them 6-5 a half a game in front. So, it's right there for the Titans. If they want to be in this division race, if they want to try to pull off the stunning, you know, division title that none of us, I think, thought was possible, you know,

six, seven weeks ago. But it's right there for the taking. They got four games left to show it. You're right about that, Terry. And I'm going to piggyback off of you for my final thoughts in that, you know, this Tennessee Titans team, when you look at them right at 500, it's 6-6. The fact that Houston lost, Indianapolis lost, which still makes the division wide open,

and they come back against a Denver team that, let's just call it what it is. They don't have near the bite that they had last year in their Super Bowl run. I think the week before against Oakland, they got 218 yards ran against them, which is something the Titans are able to do with this multifaceted running attack that they actually present.

And the fact that you actually hosted Denver Broncos. Now, the line is going to be tested. Obviously, when you have a guy like DeMarcus Warren, you have a guy like Vaughn Miller, these guys are going to try and get in the backfield early and often. They don't have nearly effective pass rushers on the interior of the defensive line when Malik Jackson was there, who is now in Jacksonville. But for the most part, I think that this Tassie Titans team can make another statement. I'd like to deal with Green Bay and have a team that's much considered to be a contender

be just basically dismantled right here in front of our own eyes. My final thought, guys, is the bye week. Both of you guys have said it, and I'll reemphasize that. Perfect time for the Titans to get this bye week, to be able to get rested and get healthy for this final four-game stretch because when you look at it, there are two games in the division that are huge games, obviously. You get to go to Jacksonville, and you get the Texans at home.

Winning those two games would put you at 3-3 in the division, which would obviously be the best record in some time there. It would put you in a good position to be still in the race on the final day. And obviously, if you can steal one of two, Kansas City will be tough at Kansas City. Denver will be tough here. But you can legitimately one of two. Kansas City will be tough at Kansas City. Denver will be tough here. But you can legitimately think about perhaps three wins to finish at 9-7. So this bye week, even though some might have preferred it to have come earlier,

I think it's at the perfect time for this team to rest and get healthy, recuperate. They're not that banged up overall that they're going to have a lot of guys missing. So I think it's the perfect time for the bye week to be there and this team can get healthy and hopefully be able to make a run down the stretch. By the way, guys, we all picked the Titans to win. Brad, 21-14 was your final.

Terry, 27-13. I had 28-10. So I guess Brad, Terry probably got the closest. He hit 27 on the nose for the Titans. He did have 13 on the other end. So I guess Terry gets the honors this week. Yeah, there's a first time that a dog's butt every now and then, doesn't it, Terry? Right.

You did a good job this week, of course. That will do it for us. We hope you've enjoyed this Monday edition. We'll see you again on Tuesday on Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Napa know-how. It takes a lot to get excited about a bag,

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