Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Oct. 12- Our Wednesday edition includes WOAS, HDH, Pro Scope & more

Episode Date: October 12, 2016

Our Wednesday edition includes WOAS, HDH, Pro Scope & more. #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. 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's Wednesday, guys. We are actually all together sitting in the same room here at St. Thomas Sports Park to record today's show. And it's always fun when we are able to do this together and not separate. And, of course, we've got a lot of things to cover today. Wednesday, always a full day. Our current news segment, we'll talk about what others are saying, our hump day happenings, and Pro Scope,

where we look at something else from around the NFL along with final thoughts. Brad, it's good to see you. It's been a while since we've been together. It is always fun to do Locked on Titans after a win. Am I right, Terry? Well, I don't know. You guys are kind of ambiguous, more ambiguous than I would be. You can understand.

Yeah, I mean, as a former player, you've got a little bit more vested in this than we do. As media types, we are supposed to be unbiased, and we try to be. But in regards to that, it is much easier to cover a winningased, and we try to be. But, you know, in regards to that, it is much easier to cover a winning locker room than a losing locker room. And certainly the Titans have had plenty of losing locker rooms over the last couple of years. And so the attitude's a little different. Everybody's got a little more pep in their step

whenever things are coming off a win rather than a loss. Let's jump right in, guys, to our current news segment. And I guess it's a good thing when we start with current news about the opponent this week rather than about the Titans. Not a lot going on with the Titans. Obviously, Al Woods still out with the injury. Everybody else getting back and healthy. But former Tennessee Titans backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst,

who played for Cleveland on Sunday in their loss to New England in a backup role, waived yesterday. That's our headline. Of course, they're coming to town Cleveland on Sunday. And I hate to see that because Charlie was always, Terry, obviously a guy that was very good with the media, and we had a lot of interesting times talking with him over his time here. Yeah, Whitehurst was a good guy and, you know, was happy that he got another chance with the Browns

and sad to see it taken away from him like it was, but he suffered a knee injury in the game and the Browns have had all kinds of quarterback problems, Brad. They've already had five guys, including Terrell Pryor, who now is a wide receiver, take snaps under center thus far in five games this year. It's almost impossible to get any continuity in the offense when you're running through that many quarterbacks. Oh, absolutely, especially when the coordinators are smart enough to try and tailor the game plan towards whoever is in there,

which obviously adds towards inconsistencies for that offense. But I think that Josh McCown was actually cleared to practice this week, so we'll see him getting some reps, but more than likely it's going to be the rookie Cody Kessler out of USC that's going to get the nod. He's not 100%, and it was a pretty significant injury. It wasn't like I obviously wanted to keep him on the sideline completely, but one that they're going to try and protect if he's the one that actually gets the nod. And we've seen the pass rush. Terry, we were talking about it before the show started. Six sacks last week. You know, double sacks for like Arakbo, all these other guys. I think that they're concerned about the pass rush too.

Yeah, I think they are. The Browns, you know, despite the problems of running through quarterbacks, you look at on the names on that offensive line led by Joe Thomas, who's regarded as usually one of the best offensive tackles in the entire NFL. It's going to be interesting to see how the Titans attack that. I mean, obviously, Dick LeBeau over the years, very familiar with the Browns and their system. In fact, the Titans should be very familiar with it

because Ray Horton, who was here just last year, is the Browns' defensive coordinator. So the Titans are very familiar with the Browns and what they do. And Dick LeBeau's seen their offense over the years from, you know, being in that same division with the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's going to be interesting with the Titans pass rush. Brian Arakpo has been playing exceptionally well. It's going to be interesting to see if he draws any extra attention, which will free

up Derek Morgan, Jarrell Casey, Carl Klug, all the rest of the guys to go and rush the passer. Our other current news story, guys, we want to talk a little bit about Marcus Mariota. And this is not necessarily news other than it's news from us to the fans listening because when you look at Marcus at home as a starting quarterback for this Tennessee Titans team, he is one in seven. His record inside Nissan Stadium over the course of his career so far

has thrown seven interceptions and five touchdowns. Guys, why is it that Marcus has played much better at home than he has, or excuse me, on the road than he has at home, Brad? Well, I have a theory. And the theory is that with all of Marcus' ability, what he brings as far as diversity to that offense, you can't use all that on the road per se. I mean, there's the noise element.

There's the atmosphere that plays against you, which kind of makes them maybe streamline what they're trying to do. When he gets back at home, I think that they're trying to open up the playbook some. Not that he's not an adaptable quarterback and has the aptitude to get it done, but when you're putting so many options on a guy's plate, now you're starting to filter through what you can do rather than what you know you can get done.

You know what I mean? So I just think that maybe sometimes when they're back at Nissan, they're putting just a little bit more on his plate, and maybe that's having an effect to where he's creating the mistakes. If they can limit the mistakes, Terry, that's the biggest difference in this team this year. Yeah, I think I'm going to go a different direction, but I agree with your point and what you're saying.

I think part of know, I'm going to go a different direction, but I agree with your point and what you're saying. I think part of it is mental. I think part of it is the fact that this Titans football team has not been very good over the last two or three years. And in the time that Marcus Mariota has been their quarterback, they've not won very many ballgames. So when you go out on the road, you know, you just kind of, it's us against the world, that type of mentality. And I think they kind of accept that.

When you come home, you would expect that it would be cheering fans and people pulling for you. But Nissan Stadium also has been filled with, you know, fans of the other team in here the last several years. That's true, too. And the Titans fans often get discouraged and leave early when the game gets out of hand or looks like it's going to get out of hand. And by the end of the game, it's almost like a road game.

So I think that probably has a little bit of a factor in why the Titans and Marcus have not played very well at home. Could it be, guys, and this is obviously we'll see in time, but could we have seen the transformation, so to speak, the flipping of the switch, Marcus last week with his performance, both running and throwing the football, that maybe that's the game we look back on throughout the course later on in the season and say this is where this guy turned around a little bit

and things became easier for him as a quarterback. Only if he and the team build on it. You can't go out there and lose this week. You've got to go out there and you've got to win. If Marcus plays well and the Titans win this ball game on Sunday, then yes, you can look at that as a turning point and you can look at that as maybe somewhere as a point where the momentum started to shift back in a positive direction. I've been hearing from the talking heads nationally

that this just doesn't seem to be the right fit offensively for Marcus Marietta. This is a team that has made a commitment, obviously, with what they've done investing in the front five to block and protect and make holes with bringing in Derek Henry and DeMarco Murray. His skill set is better suited for one that does roll the pocket, that does use the mobility of the quarterback. Now, this is a guy that can adapt, and we just talked about that a few minutes ago. But he's got to find that niche.

He's got to find his comfort zone, when to pull it down, when to use design runs, things like that, when to use play action, when to stay in the pocket and deliver the ball down deep. That hasn't been a problem for them because they haven't tried it, basically. They don't have deep threats. So I just think that ultimately it's just finding his rhythm, where he fits in that offense, and therefore him getting comfortable with what he's doing.

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And as always, we take a look at some things from pro football focus as it pertains to the Titans. And the headline this week talking about the grades, DeMarco Murray and the Titans' rushing attack key in the road win, obviously. But, guys, the number that stood out to me the most was Marcus Mariota, 80.6. That is his highest ranking this season by far. And, of course, we know how he performed in that game. Some others on the offensive side, Taylor LeJuan again,

another big performance, 82.4. DeMarco Murray, 78.3 in that win on Sunday down in Miami on the offensive side. And defensively, Carl Klug, 88.7, his ranking by PFF. 81.7 for Brian Arakpo. Sean Spence at 80.4 for the Titans. So those are some guys stepping in, especially guys on the defense. Obviously, Arakpo has been there.

But when you talk about Carl Klug and Sean Spence, they are role players, not starters with this team, but having produced at a high level, at least on Sunday, Brad. That's a good thing to have, and that's called depth. Obviously, when injuries become more a part of the season as it grows, and obviously the game's about physicality, when you've got players that you can rely on and can come off the bench and give you the same kind of quality minutes that the other guy would, then that's what you want.

So it's good to have our guys mentioned in that fashion. Sure, we've got guys that are doing things that are worth mentioning, but you've also got guys below them that are making plays as well. Yeah, seeing Klug and Spence on that list tells me that the Titans nickel package played very well on Sunday because that's usually where those guys get their reps and their snaps in the course of a ballgame unless there's an injury to somebody. Klug has been long regarded mostly as a pass rush specialist who fills in some on rundowns,

and Spence is a starting linebacker in the nickel package, but usually gives way to Wesley Woodyard when they're in the base 3-4. Absolutely, and if you even look at this last game against Miami, albeit they did have protection issues, the scheme that the Titans were running to try and get in the backfield was working very effectively because Jarrell Case is a defensive tackle. He's in the interior of that defensive line, albeit when when he got his first sack he looped on the outside, but it shows what they're able to do. Attack you in the middle, attack you on both the edges with Morgan and Arakbo, nowhere to escape basically.

If those guys can hold up in the back end, making the quarterback hold onto the football just a second longer with their great coverage, this could be a pretty good situation. Great chemistry for that defense. Guys, I want to fall back to Marcus just a moment. Obviously, we talked about him and his performance at home, but here's some numbers for you. Under pressure was when Marcus was most impressive Sunday because he completed 72.7% of his passes when facing pressure, and all three of the touchdown passes came when he was under duress in that

game. So he faced the pressure, and he stood in there and made good throws, those three touchdowns obviously, but at other times, that's a big number, 72%, over 72% accuracy when you have guys flying around and in your face. Yeah, and I think that had been the primary criticism of Mariota was that in the face of blitzes and pressure, that's when he was making the mistakes, overthrowing the ball and getting intercepted or having to throw it away and not be able to complete the pass. I think that is a major step in the right direction if he can continue to sustain that sort of play in the face of the pass rush pressure. He's definitely improved his accuracy in the pocket because he's always been, in my opinion, relatively proficient in hitting his marks while he's rolling because he's a rolling quarterback. I just think that asking him to make

the tough throw, like we've seen him be able to do, I'm not saying drop dimes in like Ben Roethlisberger or anything like that, but at least putting it and making it catchable for Delaney Walker, like the one that we saw on the seam route on Sunday. Let's move along to our next segment, Hump Day Happenings, which we do every Wednesday talking about something pertaining to the Titans. And Terry and I, Brad, talked about this on yesterday's show. We want to get your thoughts and opinion on this. But special teams, obviously.

We know of the firing of Bobby April that took place on Sunday, or a week ago rather, and then on Sunday, the Titans give up another punt return touchdown. They also have struggled a little bit in getting some return yardage when they're receiving the football, but the main thing we talked about was the fact that starters, and I mentioned Nick Saban in Alabama in this because he is notorious for being a guy that has a lot of defensive starters, and I mentioned Nick Saban in Alabama in this because he is notorious for being a guy that has a lot of defensive starters, linebackers, cornerbacks, even wide receivers that are on special teams covering kicks. Now, I know the NFL is certainly a lot different, but is that something that maybe we look at to see is to try to get some other guys, and Mike Malarkey even commented

about this and said, you know, maybe we have some starters that step up and say, hey, I want to play on special teams to try to fix whatever's going on with this unit. You know what, at the end of the day, this is a results-based industry based on the talent of a player. You know, obviously every team has talent, but, you know, to what degree and where your leadership comes from are huge factors in that. So when you're asking a coach to hold players accountable, how well does he do that? Because if you think about it, they practice every single day out here doing the right things. I guarantee you, Terry, in the practices that you've watched,

you didn't see the returner on cover team just run by the cover team. It doesn't work that way. Why? Because schematically, they've got the answer, right? So why does it break down in the game? Because someone did something that they weren't supposed to do, period. They practiced it all week. So then when that happens, from a's standpoint, it falls on who?

The coach. Holding players accountable. If you haven't answered the questions to the mistakes that they continue to make, it ultimately is him. Even though he might have the great scheme, it's just unfortunate that he wasn't reaching those guys the right way to make sure that they didn't continue to make the mistakes. My contention, too, is that I think it's an underlying role in this.

Because Cody Riggs, who's one of your core special teams guys, he's a gunner on the punt cover team. That's a guy that's been out a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. And when he's been out, Valentino Blake has taken it over. Not that it's all Valentino Blake's fault, but they've had two

returns for touchdowns in the last two games. Donor Cersei plays some on special teams, but he's regarded as your starting safety. With Cersei out, Damian Stafford, who's your special teams captain and one of your primary special teams players, getting more looks at safety. So he's either not as fresh for special teams or he's not on special teams at all giving way to somebody else. How much of a role is that playing?

Yeah, well, you talk about just from a physicality standpoint as far as running down, covering a kick or something, and getting back in there and being the guy to be the savior in the back end. How about your focus? You've gone from being this guy that was just basically delegated to special teams in whatever lanes you had to run in, who you had to cover, all this other stuff, to now being a part of the game plan. You're spending more time now trying to make sure you know what you're doing

schematically on defense or offense than you are with special teams. It takes away from your focus. But you know what? That's ultimately what every player wants to happen. No one basically comes out of college and says, man, I hope I make special teams. They're saying, no, I want to be a receiver in the league. I want to be a cover guy in the league. I want to be a cover guy in the league.

I want to be a quarterback or lineman, whatever. But special teams are part of the game that obviously need to have positions, but their ultimate goal is to be a part of the game plan come the week, the regular week. Whatever the answer to the problem is, and I know that the coaching staff and the players want to get it fixed. I don't have any doubt that they're not trying to do that, but I think they've got to get it fixed starting this week because Cleveland is a team

that's struggling and you cannot allow them to have a big return score against you in this game. If that happens, that's a recipe for disaster for the Titans trying to win at home. I think what I've realized here, and you can probably back me up on this, when a team hasn't won a game, there's the air of desperation. And when they do something that's just completely out of conventional wisdom and they pull it off because it's against a team that, you know, is not ready for that stuff, it seems to always happen here. You know what I mean?

So I just would hope that they would, and I'm sure this is a quality team with quality staff. They're thinking about all the crazy scenarios, all the possibilities that Cleveland could possibly spring on them because they're pulling out all the stops, man, because they've got nothing to lose. So with that kind of mentality, they have to be careful and mind the store in East Sun Stadium.

Oh, there's no doubt. And the Titans, like you alluded to, they've had problems with winless teams in the past. They went to Indianapolis in 2011, lost to an 0-13 team. A couple of years ago here, Jacksonville came in 0-8 and beat the Titans at home. So you're talking about it. You don't want to be that guy, as they say.

Don't be that guy. And the Titans don't want to be that guy on Sunday. Moving along, our next segment, Pro Scope, where we look at things from around the league. We've got two guys. The first one, is there going to be a quarterback controversy in Big D? Zach Prescott, the rookie, is playing out of his mind right now. Tony Romo set to return in a couple weeks from the injury.

Do the Cowboys make a switch to Romo the veteran, or do you stay with the hot hand that is doing so well right now and has you currently sitting at 4-1 and winning some big games? You know, I think that it is a conundrum, but really is it? I mean, we know that Jerry Jones has spoke up earlier this month and said, hey, look, when Tony comes back, he's our guy. And I understand that because of the relationships. Very intimate between those two.

I understand that. And for what he's meant to this franchise. He and Des Bryant have been the only bright spots in this team in a number of years that have culminated in losing seasons. But now you've got momentum. And guys that you didn't even expect to be a part of it. Sure, Ezekiel Elliott, he was the first top five pick. You know you're going to see him on the football field. And he's lived up to the billing. But no one saw Dak Prescott coming out of preseason being this guy that to this point has only had one turnover, and that's albeit a sack, you know, that he stripped was fumbled.

So I think that when you look at the momentum of this team, it would behoove Jerry to just kind of stay out of the situation, let Jason Garrett do his job, and keep this team moving in the same direction, not making a change that ultimately could stall them out. Here's why. I stay with Dak Prescott for a couple of reasons. Number one, Tony Romo has been injured often the last few years. He's been a guy that has not been able to stand up for 16 games and play a full season. And I think when you look at that, Dak Prescott is playing very well right now. The offense is

moving the ball behind the offensive line. Ezekiel Elliott, Prescott is playing very well right now. The offense is moving the ball behind the offensive line. Ezekiel Elliott, Prescott's doing what you need him to do by not turning the ball over and making enough plays for you in the passing game to keep you going. You ride the hot hand because right now, if you go back to Tony Romo and then he somehow again is injured again, can you restart it with Dak Prescott the way you had it going out of the gate this year? I'm the way you had it going out of the

gate this year? Not sure you can. And here's the other thing, too. Romo's not a spring chicken anymore. He's, what, 35, 36? Mm-hmm. You know, for the last two or three years, people have been asking Jerry Jones, when are you going to draft Tony Romo's successor?

You know, they thought he was going to draft Johnny Manziel. They thought he was going to draft Jimmy Garoppolo. You know, all these sorts of things that people thought that they needed to find the successor to Romo. Well, here it appears, at least in the short run, that they've stumbled into this guy and Dak Prescott as a fourth-round pick. I don't think anybody expected what we've seen out of Dak Prescott thus far. So, if I'm the Cowboys, I give Dak Prescott a long leash, and I ride him for as long as I can. You know what?

I think that with the whole Dak Prescott situation for Jerry Jones, it's like when you put that old coat on that you haven't worn in a couple, a few months or whatever, and you find a $20 bill in the pocket. It's like, oh, snap, I remember this. See, you had that on a roster. You weren't planning on it being something that you were going to use, but ultimately it comes in to pay off big. So, yeah, they've already got their answer, I remember this. See, you had that on roster. You weren't planning on it being something that you were going to use, but ultimately it comes in to pay off big. So, yeah, they've already got their answer, I think.

Yeah, I agree with that. You stay with Dak Prescott at this point, let him go, and then if he struggles, you've got the veteran to come in. If he were to be injured by chance, you've got a guy that you know can come in and play at a high level. Moving on to the second item in our Pro Scope, Tom Brady. Obviously, he returned last week, destroyed Cleveland, threw for over 400 yards in his preseason matchup against the Browns leading

up to their appearance here this week. Brady goes home to play his first game at home. Obviously, it's going to be a very warm reception when he comes out. The fans likely will do a standing ovation and more for the guy. Look, it's like this. The rest of the league should be angry at Roger Goodell in the league for suspending Tom Brady for four weeks because that's only going to make him more motivated and angrier. And the rest of the league, he's going to take it out on the rest of the league. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Patriots win like 11 of their last 12 and just run through the playoffs because the motivation and the anger and the

I told you so is there with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick right now. It has fine-tuned his focus. He knowing that all eyes are on him, even more so than they normally are, that he needed to be ready to play. And to say ready to play, that's an understatement. I listened to his press conference on the way up here to 460 Great Circle Road, and I'll tell you what, this guy is mechanical. He's mechanical in his preparation, he's mechanical in systemically finding out what works, and he's making sure that

all the other pieces around him are doing the same thing, so that ultimately makes everybody better. Be on notice, everybody. Tom Brady's back, and it's a scary thing. He is what I would call the textbook definition of a professional football player. Obviously, Peyton Manning was the same in his time. He's now retired. Right now, Brady is the guy that's setting the benchmark still for quarterbacks in the NFL. We're running up against the end of the show, guys. It's time for the final thoughts, as Brad take it away all right last week we saw a tremendous performance against a pretty inept defense 235 yards on the ground is pretty good and we'd obviously have to think that that's what Cleveland wants to do is probably take away the strength of this team which is to run the football

because one thing that we did win last week was time of possession the other offense can't score when we continually move the chains and and uh the football field. So they have to understand that this is going to be a dangerous, desperate team that's going to do whatever they can to get on the scoreboard and try and stay ahead of this team. So if that does happen, you have to be ready for all scenarios. You know, if something bad happens, keeping that focus and keeping to the game plan to get you through those things, we'll see if they can stick to what they've worked on all week to possibly put their second consecutive win back together that they haven't been able to do since win.

Terry, I can't even tell you. The end of the 2013 season was the last time they won two in a row in the same year. That's ridiculous. So that's what they need to do. All right, my final thought, I'm going to the offensive line. I know people have talked a lot about how well Taylor LeJuan and Jack Conklin have played, and they've talked about the addition of Ben Jones.

I'm going to single out the two guards. I'm going to go Quentin Spain's a guy that had to work all throughout the preseason just to retain his spot and earn the right to be a starter on this team, and he's graded out very well. And then on the other side, Josh Klein has come in, picked up off waivers at the start of the season from the Patriots, comes in after Chance Wormack has gone down with a season-ending injury, and the line hasn't missed a beat.

In fact, in some instances may have even played better since Josh Klein has come along. And I think that's a credit to Russ Grimm and a credit to the offensive line for putting together the type of unit that this team has to have in order to be effective. My final thought, guys, and Brad, you mentioned this, Cleveland wounded. They are like a wounded animal coming into this game. They are winless.

They've got nothing to lose but a football game, and they've lost five of those. I think they're going to come in and throw everything they can at the Titans in every way that you can imagine. But let's not forget, Terry, you mentioned earlier Joe Thomas being one of the best offensive tackles in football. There's a guy named Joe Hayden in that secondary that's not bad. This team has some players. They have some guys that can make plays. And obviously, when you look at their running game with Crowell and Johnson and the rest of those guys, they've got some running backs that

can do some things. So the Titans have to, again, stay focused, pay attention to detail, and come out and take Cleveland out of this game, I think, early. They cannot allow these guys to hang around and have an opportunity in the fourth quarter. If that happens, we may wind up leaving Nissan Stadium on Sunday seeing more of what we've seen of winless teams coming in and getting a victory. That's going to do it for us today. We hope you've enjoyed it. It was great, guys, being able to do the show today together.

Maybe we'll get together again soon for another live version. You are Locked on Titans, your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.