Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Oct. 10- Examining Titan win on Offense, Defense and Sp. Teams

Episode Date: October 10, 2016

It's Monday and the Titans put a dirt road whipping on the Dolphins Sunday. We look at every phase in our Offense, Defense and Special Teams segments. #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. Locked on Titans. Your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day. And welcome to your daily source for all Titans news. With your host, Terry McCormick of Titan Insider, Greg Arias and former Tennessee Titans Pro Bowl left tackle Brad Hopkins. It's a Monday morning. We've got our current news segment coming up here shortly.

And then of course, as always on Mondays, we talk offense, defense and special teams. Let me bring in Brad Hopkins and Terry McCormick. Guys, a lot to talk about obviously today, but it certainly starts with good news, the Titans. And Brad, as you said a moment ago when we were talking before we started the broadcast, it was a dirt road whipping the Titans put on them yesterday down in Miami, 30-17, that final score. Absolutely, and I think that obviously it started up front, not only with the big boys on offense, like you talked about, Terry, last week, you know, being one of the best units in the NFL right now, but also with the six sacks, the duress that they caused for one Ryan Tannehill on the defensive side of the football. We had Brian Arakbo, Jarrell Casey, and Kirk Morgan both recording

double-digit sacks, so I'd say pretty impressive on both sides of the ball. Definitely was. Titans took advantage on defense of a beat-up Miami offensive line. They were missing Brandon Albert and then Laramie Cunsel. The first-round pick of the Dolphins this year was supposed to go over to the left tackle spot and play there, but he sustained an ankle injury just before the game. So they moved a guard over there named Butler who had never played tackle before in a game, right or left, and the results were predictable against the Titans' pass rush.

And certainly the other tackle as well, Juwan James, who had played tackle in the NFL before, struggled at times in pass rush. Derek Morgan absolutely just drove him backwards one time, threw him aside, and went right to Tannehill with one of those big sacks. So, indeed, they did take advantage of the offensive line, but they were able to do several other things, I thought, as well, guys, and that included taking away when Tannehill did have time to throw the downfield

receivers they never let them get deep on them to amount to anything other than the one play i think for 53 yards that did set up one of the scores but for the most part pretty solid on the back side as well i thought yeah just to add real quick i thought that basically um the secondary making ryan tanney hill hold on to the football is what allowed the front seven to get there. And then, of course, the way that the Titans were able to convert on third down, the way they stayed out of third and long situations, 200 and some yards amassed totally on the ground, that basically means that the Miami Dolphins weren't able to get into any

some sort of rhythm, and that's the reason why I thought that the Titans were able to get on them early, which is something that we've seen, Perry, them not customarily be able to do in the past. They were able to do it on Sunday. There's no doubt. I mean, going back to the defense for just a moment, yesterday the Titans held the Dolphins to eight first downs in the ballgame. I don't know when the last time I saw a team hold a team to single digits

in first downs was. Now, I contacted media relations with the Titans, and they told me that the last time they did it was against the Steelers back in 2010. They held them to less than 10 first downs. But, you know, you don't see that very often in a league where, you know, parity is kind of the buzzword that goes around the league. And even when the score is lopsided, you'll see teams rack up first downs and garbage time and things like that.

So kudos to the Titans all the way around for limiting Miami to eight first downs in the game. Well, you know, that goes back to a stat that I mentioned last week, guys, that Miami defense had given up 27 first downs rushing through their first four games, and by contrast, had only been able to gain nine first downs on the ground through those same four games. So perhaps that's not as shocking of a statistic when you look at that

as it might have been otherwise. Granted, again, a good job by the Titans defense to hold them to that, but this has not been what you would call a prolific Miami offense through the first now five games. And to add something real quick, when you look at the teams that had trouble yesterday, they were the teams that basically had ball security issues that turned the football over.

What didn't Marcus Mariota do yesterday, guys? He did not turn the ball over. So when this team actually has ball control on the mind and when they're actually able to not shoot themselves in the foot like we've seen them do from week one, you see what can happen. Absolutely. And guys, let's go ahead and jump in in our offense segment and talk specifically about the offense and what they were able to accomplish yesterday in this 30-17 win.

And the first thing, guys, that I want to mention is, to me, the biggest stat of the game, and that's the fact that the Titans had three individual players, Marcus Mariota, of course, DeMarco Murray, and Derrick Henry. All three of those guys individually rushed for more yards in that game than the Dolphins did collectively as a team. The Dolphins had 51 rush yards. Derrick Henry, the low man of the three, with 54. That's a pretty telling stat right there when you have three guys that can outrush an entire team in one game. Well, that's called imposing your will. And that's what the Titans offensive line did yesterday.

You know, we saw it some, you know, a few weeks ago when Marco Murray went over 100 yards, but you we saw it some, you know, a few weeks ago when Marco Murray went over 100 yards, but you really saw it, I think, for the first time in, you know, this season on Sunday. You saw the Titans play a more complete game on offense. Granted, the passing numbers weren't great from a yardage standpoint, only 163 yards, but three touchdown passes from Mariota and then you couple that with the 235 yards they had as a team rushing and you're seeing a team that finally showed some of the balance that they've been wanting to show this entire season actually you know what i

agree with you 100 terry they put a lot of pressure on their front five to be able to keep mariota protected especially against jim wasburn's pass rush, you know, featuring Cameron Wake and Indomitian Sioux and these guys. The smart thing for them to do would have been to stay out of third-long situations, stay out of obvious passing situations where that defensive front could pin their ears back. And them basically not being able to get to the quarterback because of them not presenting the options I thought was one thing that not only kept the Titans on the football field,

but it also kept them in control of the game. Because then, basically, Miami's offense trying to get back in the ballgame became more predictable and obvious because they needed to put up points which allowed our edge rushers and interior defensive linemen to get after the passer and do what we thought might have happened to the Titans. Because, you know, we obviously know that pass blocking is not the best suit for this front five, but we know getting after it and providing holes for Derrick Henry and DeMarco Murray is.

And we saw a lot more Derrick Henry also yesterday. You're listening to Locked On Titans on the Locked On Podcast Network. Football season is here. Get in the action and play like the pros at mybookie.net. It's the most exciting online experience for sports fans. MyBookie features real Vegas odds and incredible player props on every football game. Game already kicked off? No problem.

MyBookie has live in-game with odds updated in real time. It's never too late to make a play. It's optimized for smartphone users for non-stop action on the go go online type my bookie in your browser and sign up today use the promo code titan to be entered into their million dollar prize pool or call 844-722-2837 join the thousands of online players already playing. Only the biggest, only the best, only at MyBookie. Sign up today. Use promo code TIGHT. Guys, as we continue on, just a moment on the offense. Terry, I think you mentioned it, or perhaps Brad, about the yardage. It wasn't the

biggest yardage total, obviously. There were certainly a lot of guys in the NFL yesterday threw for more yards, but the three touchdown passes that Marcus threw, I thought each one of them was placed perfectly. It was by far his most accurate day. Obviously, he had the one to Andre Johnson in the Detroit game for the game winner, but the first one to Andre yesterday was a similar type pass. Put it between two defenders, the throw to Rashard Matthews, threw it to the outside shoulder, put it where the receiver could go get it. That's the kind of thing, accuracy-wise, that we expect to see out of Marcus. And if he can continue to put balls in good spots,

this offense can really be effective. I agree. The other thing that I liked about what I saw from Mario yesterday was that when the pressure did come, when the play kind of broke down, he surveyed the field and then made the smart decision. He scrambled out of danger and he threw the football or else he took off and ran. And then I think by him taking off and running like he did

and moving the chains a couple times was the first down. That's big because that's part of his game and that's part of what he brings to the table as a mobile quarterback. So I think what you have to do if you are the Titans and Marcus Mariota is to continue to look for those opportunities, not necessarily on the design run, but those scramble plays that can not only move the chains but help demoralize them.

I think that it's also more of them trying to develop Marcus Mariota, too. Obviously, when you're that prolific a runner, it's something that you tend to rely on when things start to get hairy for you. But obviously, outside the pocket, it's not a safe place for any quarterback, unless you're like Ben Roethlisberger or something like that that's got 270 pounds on your frame. So when we looked at Marcus Mariota running yesterday, remember how he slid before he stepped out of bounds?

Well, I think that that's something in the back of his mind that is basically protecting himself, which is doing the smart thing with the football. I thought it was a smart thing for him to slide because he wouldn't have made it to the sideline. Sure, it would have killed the clock, but it would have also killed your quarterback because he would have taken a shot just like Tajay Sharp did

a couple of plays before in that same series. So I think that they're trying to be very cognizant of developing his arm along with his abilities and also his progression. Therefore, he feels more comfortable in the pocket, makes the right decisions, and, you know, in a timely fashion makes the right throw, like we saw him do on the left seam to Delaney Walker for a big game early in the first quarter. He's getting better.

Absolutely. I thought it was his best game, obviously, of this season and perhaps of his career. Now, I know you go back and look at statistically in his season opener against Tampa back in 15, he was very good. But just as a whole, decision-making, everything he did, the throws that he made, when he took off at the right moments, getting down, getting yardage, but protecting himself. By far, I thought his most complete game decision-making-wise. Yep, I agree.

Let's move along to the defensive side of things, guys. And certainly when we talk defense, obviously there were some plays that the Dolphins made, though not many. This was a pretty dominating effort by the defense as a whole. You can still see from time to time there are some issues with perhaps personnel. I know obviously cornerback is going to be an issue throughout the course of the season. Jason McCourty got beat on the one deep ball. But as a whole, the defense played really well.

We talked about earlier the pressure and the sacks that were amassed by this front. And throw in Austin Johnson. I want to mention him because I thought he had two big plays. He had certainly the one batted pass, and then he had another play a little bit later on. And that coming from a rookie that hasn't seen a lot of game action and hasn't been up a whole lot that he could step in and make two plays in really his first time seeing a lot of action in a single game.

Yeah, I thought he did a good job, too. And I think as a whole, the defense played very well. The numbers bared out. They did give up a couple of big plays. They gave up the play where Damian Williams caught the ball in the flat, Bryce McCain and Sean Spence took bad angles, and that went for, I think, 56, 58 yards and set up a dolphin touchdown. And then, as you mentioned, the 58 yards and set up a dolphin touchdown.

Then, as you mentioned, the play that McCourty got burned off. But other than that, pretty banner day for the defense all the way around, especially late in the game when they're able to pin their ears back and go after the quarterback against a makeshift offensive line, and they finish with six sacks. Yeah, you're right. They had a couple of starters that were absent for this game, and the Titans definitely took advantage of that. I think that there's one play that was kind of synonymous

with the way the defense played the Dolphins yesterday, and we mentioned Jason McCourty getting beat deep. But let's also go to Jason McCourty's turnover where he basically took the ball from the receiver right out of his hand. That seemed to be like the life for the Miami Dolphins, of which the Titans' defense took it from them. We saw them take it to them early. We saw them take it to them early. We saw them take it to them often.

They harassed Ryan Tannehill. They shut down the run. And that's exactly what they designed to do. And they were actually very effective in their game plan. That's a great point, Brad. The interception where McCourty basically wrestled the ball away from the receiver was a big game. And I want to say this about Ryan Tannehill. He takes a lot of grief, and rightly so.

He's not exactly lived up to the billing of a first-round draft pick overall, but he's playing with some limitations. He's one tough customer, though, because he got hit repeatedly yesterday, took a huge shot from Carl Klug, took a huge shot from Derek Morgan, one from Casey, and the guy stayed in the game and kept trying to compete even though he is very limited, obviously, with the offensive line, not being able to do a lot in protection, not being able to allow the team to run,

and just really not having a lot of offensive support around him. Definitely true. Definitely true there. Tannehill, you know, gets his share of flack because the Dolphins have not been a very good team since he's been their quarterback. And, you know, for the last year or two, it seems like he has regressed. But, you know, a lot of that, too, is supporting cast.

And I think you see that all around the league. You see, I mean, does anybody doubt that Phillip Rivers and Andrew Luck are both elite-type quarterbacks? But look at the supporting cast around them and look at where those two teams are. You know, you have to have the quarterback in order to contend unless you just have a Baltimore Ravens, you know, 2000-type defense. But nowadays in the NFL, a quarterback alone is not enough.

So, you know, Ryan Tannehill, certainly not in the level of Rivers or Luck or anybody like that, but he needs a better supporting cast than what's around him on that offense. Well, the Tennessee Titans defense in 2001 weren't bad either, Jerry. Oh, no, not bad at all. Not bad at all. No, I'm just messing with you.

Because we do see sometimes when there are deficiencies, that quarterback, you know, the defense can actually pick you up. If the other team can't score, if they're constantly under duress, then obviously it's not something that's working against you. When a team starts putting up points and you can't score, those are long, long days, gentlemen. So I agree 100%. Let's move along to special teams.

And, guys, the jokes kind of wrote themselves on this one yesterday with the Titans special teams and guys the jokes kind of wrote themselves on this one yesterday with the titan special teams after firing bobby april last monday following the will fuller punt return touchdown in the texans loss yet again yesterday the dolphins return 174 yards jakeem grant on the return different special teams coach pretty much still the same guys. Not a lot on the kick return or punt returns and giving up that big play defensively. What do the Titans do going forward to try to correct the issues with special teams? Because against the Colts and against some teams that might be a little bit better,

obviously, than the Dolphins were, you cannot allow those types of things to happen if you're going to try to win football games. Well, I think when you look at the Titans special teams unit, I think it's just a combination of things that are going wrong. And you can't fire all 11 guys that are out there on the special teams unit, so you fire the coach in hopes of shaking them up and making some tweaks and adjustments. But to me, it's a two-fold problem.

There's a problem with some of the personnel that's out there. They're obviously missing assignments and not doing the right thing and that sort of thing, getting out of their lane. And then there's also probably some flaws in the system that need to be adjusted, need to be tweaked. How much of that you can do on the fly in the middle of the season is up for debate, but you certainly can't do as much of it as you could if you were starting fresh at the beginning of the season is up for debate, but you certainly can't do as much of it as you could if you were starting fresh at the beginning of the season.

Yeah, I will say, though, that when you look at coverage issues, it's usually not schematically that they're having problems because I don't see any special teams coach that puts together a game plan and says, you know, here's a great game plan, but here's our deficiencies. We hope that they don't hit this area. It's usually personnel. And maybe the problem is getting the right people on the field to do the job, in essence.

But either way, you know, when you look at Bobby April and how close he is, in fact, you know, seriously, intimately with Mike Malarkey and his family, it was a tough decision for them to make. But it was one that obviously had to be made because of them being able to assess the right talent and getting the guys in the right positions to obviously not be a hindrance in what they're trying to do. And if you're doing a great job defensively, you're doing a great job offensively, and special teams are the thing that shoots you in the foot, then definitely change has to be made, and that's what Mike Malarkey and company did.

Absolutely. I think it's more personnel in a lot of cases, and perhaps it's some guys on this unit that are maybe not the fastest guys in the world getting downfield, especially, and someone asked me this question on social media yesterday. Was it Brett Kern's fault that he out-kicked his coverage? Well, you know, he puts the ball down. He puts his foot to it. He can't always control how far it goes. The coverage teams have to get down the field and make that tackle regardless of how far that punter kicks the football.

Look, guys, there are ten guys running down on coverage. There's one guy kicking it. There are ten guys that are blocking, one guy returning it. Somebody has to win their one-on-one matchup. You try to tell me of all the 20 dudes running down the field on either direction, you know, kickers and runners are in, you know, the returners are the only ones that basically don't have an assignment other than, you know, being effective.

You've got to think that at some point in time it's the guys being able to win their matchup. Get off of your block, stay in your lane, and make a tackle. You know, he's got to run through one of us, and once one of you gets there, then let the other guys arrive naturally. We didn't see that and haven't seen that consistently. Absolutely. Let's move along. We're closing out on our time here today, and it's time for our final thoughts.

Terry, we'll start with you on this one. Your final thoughts on Sunday's action and what perhaps we will talk about throughout the week as we go forward and prepare for Cleveland coming up next week. Well, my thought is on Taylor LeJuan. Obviously, you know, he's been a lightning rod for attention, both good and bad this year in terms of that he's played very well, but he still had issues with penalties.

There was a time yesterday where he nearly got into a skirmish out there in the pile and had to be dragged away by teammates to avoid a penalty. And then after that he was called for a hand to the face and a holding penalty, still having not been able to regain his composure. Taylor LeJuan is having a fantastic season between the whistle, but he has got to maintain his composure. I know it's a fine line for a guy that plays a lot on emotion and is wired the way Taylor LeJuan is, but he's got to be able to keep his cool.

Otherwise, he's not going to fully reach the type of potential that he has and not going to be fully, I guess, given the accolades for the way he's playing because these other things, his extracurricular activities, are still interfering. Terry's phenomenal assessment of the offensive line has basically made me give my final comment on the same thing. Not necessarily on Taylor LeJuan, you know, the mistakes he's been making, but more so the Taylor LeJ wand on the guy that's being recognized

as one of the best offensive linemen in the league today. I will admit that you're 100% correct when you're talking about doing things that actually plague the team or put them in a pickle. But when you look at the nastiness, when you look at the perceptions of offensive linemen, defensive linemen, when they know they're going up against LeJuan and Conkle and the rest of those guys, and they are just completely monstrous and mauling you, that's one thing that they're paying attention to more so

than giving back and putting their numbers on the quarterback. I was on the air this morning on SiriusXM with Jason Taylor, and we were talking about the perceptions and the ideologies of good offensive linemen. And nasty, sure, that might be a bad word publicly, but that's something that you want to have synonymous with your offensive line, and that's exactly what Taylor LeJuan is. If you limit the mistakes, this guy could be a pillar.

He could be, I don't know, Brad Hopkins. I'm totally joking. I'm totally joking. If he is that good, Brad, he's in good shape. He has that kind of career, though, no joke. Totally joking. If he is that good, Brad, he's in good shape. He has that kind of career, though, no joke. I think most Titans fans would accept a 13-year career out of Taylor LeJuan.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm totally kidding. You guys stole my thunder. I actually had two things, and the first one was Taylor LeJuan, and obviously I don't want to pile on the guy. He obviously knows his situation and the mistakes, and he knows he's got to cut down on those.

Terry, you and I witnessed him in the locker room after the penalty at the home game where he was just almost despondent sitting in his locker room and finally did talk to the media a little bit later on. He knows this, so not to pile on the guy, I'll move on to something different from my final thought, and it's about DeMarco Murray. Question marks coming in about DeMarco from the media pundits around. Well, he doesn't have anything left. Only 700-some yards last year in Philadelphia. Wrong, guys. This guy's got a lot left in the

tank. My concern with DeMarco Murray, though, while he's still got something left in the tank and he is having a phenomenal Pro Bowl-type season so far. I'm just worried that perhaps the Titans are going to run him out of gas down the stretch. I think we maybe need to see a little bit more of Derrick Henry. He had a big game yesterday. He had been kind of nonexistent a couple of games before, but I think we need to see a little bit more of Henry along the line, not because DeMarco's doing anything wrong,

but because you want that guy playing at the level he's playing at right now in week 16 if this team is going to have any chance of being in the playoffs. That's my final thought on things today, guys. Another great show in the books. We look forward to the remainder of the week. We'll pick up, start talking about Cleveland moving forward because the Browns come to town and the Titans have an opportunity to put together a winning streak. When was the last time we saw or said that? That'll do it. You've been listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network.

Have a great day, everybody.