Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Oct. 13- It's Thursday and tie for our Coaches & Players Corner plus more.

Episode Date: October 13, 2016

It's Thursday and tie for our Coaches & Players Corner plus more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, it's Jamie, Progressive number one, number two employee. Leave a message at the... Hey Jamie, it's me, Jamie. This is your daily pep talk. I know it's been rough going ever since people found out about your acapella group, Mad Harmony, but you will bounce back. I mean, you're the guy always helping people find coverage options with the Name Your Price tool. It should be you giving me the pep talk.

Now get out there, hit that high note, and take Mad Harmony all the way to nationals this year! Sorry, it's pitchy. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. You're 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 Titan Insider, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titans all-pro

left tackle Brad Hopkins. Terry, it's Thursday, meaning obviously Brad not with us today, but we've still got a lot of things to cover in this edition of Locked on Titans. As always, our current news segment, we'll have our coaches corner and players corner segments where we look at comments from this week's opponents, the Cleveland Browns. We've also got something, Terry, to talk about from CBS Sports, an article that they wrote and our final thoughts on the day and welcome in as always. Well, thanks for having me.

I like doing this sort of thing and i know you do too and just reaching out to the fans and uh you know kind of give an insight as to what we see regarding the titans uh each and every day absolutely and uh you know we don't talk about it a lot and i want to throw this in before we jump into the current news but i really have fun doing this this is you and I have done print for a long time. We've done radio and interviews, and I still do radio today. But this is really fun. It's a short thing in part of our day that we put together to do this,

but I enjoy doing it and enjoy getting the information out there to the fans, and it makes it a little bit faster, doesn't it, than just the written article. Certainly we still want people to read the written work, but this, I think, is a quick daily starter for us. Yeah, it is, and I think when you, you know, sometimes people don't have time to sit down even on their phone and read a full article, but if they have time and they can download this and listen to it while they're working or while they're driving or whatever,

it kind of, you know, gives them the insight that they want, hopefully, on the team and doesn't take up a lot of their time. And we want to thank our listeners because we have been growing daily with this podcast over the last month that we've been doing this, and we hope to continue that. And we thank you, the fans, for certainly being part of that growth for us. Let's jump right into the current news, Terry. And it's a fairly big story, though I don't know that it's going to be severe come Sunday.

We'll obviously have to wait and see. But left tackle Taylor LeJuan, who many have said has been playing as the best left tackle in football through the early part of the season. Now, that's certainly an opinion. But he was limited yesterday in practice with a shoulder injury. What can you tell us about that? Well, Taylor didn't do a whole lot. Wednesday is usually the tight, padded practice.

So a lot of times if a guy is nursing a little bit of an injury, maybe nothing real serious, they'll ease him up on Wednesday and wait until Thursday or Friday to get it back in because they don't want to put him through too much contact in the week if he's nursing some sort of minor injury. I had one guy ask me on Twitter if it is the same shoulder that LeJuan injured last year. And to be honest, nobody asked that question yesterday, but I will certainly find out today and we'll have it for tomorrow's podcast to see if it's the shoulder that gave LeJuan so much trouble last year.

Well, if he's unable to go, and I don't think he will not be able to go, it seems like if he's just limited that he's probably, as you said, getting a little rest. They'll do some treatment on it, those kind of things, and come Sunday I think he's in the lineup. But if he's not, does that mean that we see Dennis Kelly at left tackle on Sunday? That would be the next option, I would think, that Dennis Kelly was brought in here in the Doral Green Beckham trade to provide some depth, first at tackle and then at guard if need be. But I would think that would be the next fan up

if for some reason Taylor LeJuan's shoulder doesn't improve. But I'm like you. I fully expect Taylor LeJuan to be a goal on Sunday because he's been playing very well. And Taylor is the type of guy that doesn't like to come out of the lineup, shall we say. Absolutely. More good news on the injury front if you are the Titans.

Denar Cersei returned to the practice field yesterday. He looks good to go and should be back on the field. Maybe not as the starter. We'll have to wait and see, obviously, but at least we'll be there as part of the safety rotation come Sunday versus the Browns. Cody Riggs still remains limited, though, in practice, and that certainly is something to be concerned about

because maybe more so the role that he plays on special teams. Yeah, Cody Riggs was limited. Those hamstring injuries are issues that you have to really make sure you're past that or you can have a back set with a hamstring. I think that's one of the things that they are trying to do is just to be careful with Cody Riggs. We'll see if his workload picks up the pace any today and if they get him a little bit more involved as we get closer to game time. The final thing from the injury report, it's not good news,

but it's not necessarily bad news, Terry, in that punter Brett Kern missed practice on Wednesday. He was sick. So undisclosed, obviously, what the sickness is. Hopefully it's a case of the stomach bug or something like that. Then in a day or two, with a little rest and some fluid, he will be good to go. I think he's probably going to be okay for Sunday is the good news, even though we hate that he was obviously sick,

at least at some point yesterday. Yeah, I think probably just needed a day to rest and recuperate. I would think that Brett Tarn should be fine and should be probably back at practice today and good to go on Sunday against the Browns. And certainly when you look at an injury report and you're having two guys limited and one out as sick, that's pretty good news. This is a fairly healthy Titan squad at this point in time. Obviously, probably guys dealing with some soreness, the bumps and bruises, of course,

that goes along with playing such a physical sport. But at least they seem to be in good shape. And this is a critical time for them during this three-game stretch, starting with Cleveland on Sunday. And they need all hands on deck. Yeah, they do. And I think, you know, you kind of hit on it there. This is a pretty healthy team right now.

Sort of with knock on wood that the health continues if you're the type. team right now. And you sort of would knock on wood that the health continues if you're the title. Because really the only injury that they've had that's really been a serious issue since training camp started was the injury to Chance Wormack where he had season-ending surgery. Everything else has been kind of minor. And to this point, they've been pretty healthy.

And generally, healthy teams, and I know you have to have depth, pretty healthy. And generally, healthy teams, I know you have to have depth, but generally, the healthier a team is, the better they're able to play. You're listening to Locked On Titans on the Locked On Podcast Network. Today's show is sponsored by Talkspace, the online therapy company. For a fraction of the price of traditional therapy, you can pick an experienced, licensed therapist you relate to and feel comfortable with. Each and every therapist has at least a master's degree and has completed over 3,000 hours of supervised work.

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Terry, as we... Today's show is sponsored by Talkspace, the online therapy company. For a fraction of the price of traditional therapy, you can pick an experienced, licensed therapist you relate to and feel comfortable with. Each and every therapist has at least a master's degree and has completed over 3,000 hours of supervised work. To match with a perfect therapist, go to Talkspace.com forward slash boom.

And to show your support for this podcast, use code boom to get $30 off your first month. That's boom, Talkspace.com slash boom, B-O-O-M. Back into our Coach's Corner segment. off your first month. That's boom. Talkspace.com slash boom. B-O-O-M. Back into our Coach's Corner segment. We've got, as always, a comment from the opponent's coach. And this week it is, of course, Hugh Jackson of the Cleveland Browns as they get set to come to Nashville on Sunday to face the Titans. or Browns as they get set to come to Nashville on Sunday to face the Titans.

And he talked about, Terry, the quarterback situation there with the Browns, certainly some injury issues with their quarterback situation, perhaps some uncertainty as to who might play, though we feel like it's going to be Cody Kessler. Yeah, I would think it would be Cody Kessler. There's a chance that it could be McCown, but most likely the signs are pointing to Cody Kessler. Yeah, I would think it would be Cody Kessler. There's a chance that it could be McCown, but most likely the signs are pointing to Cody Kessler, who went out of last week's game with a chest injury and ribs injury. But it sounds like that he could be on track to return.

Quarterback situation for the Browns and just keeping somebody healthy has just been ridiculous this year. They've already gone through four or five quarterbacks, even having to use Terrell Pryor as the former Ohio State quarterback who is now a wide receiver. So, you know, the situation with the Browns is pretty desperate at quarterback. I would think that, you know, they would like to make a decision and settle in on the guy that's going to play on Sunday as quickly as they can

based on the health of the two quarterbacks they have available. Here's the comment from Browns head coach Hugh Jackson on the conference call with Nashville Media yesterday. Obviously, it's a little challenging. He's speaking of the quarterback situation. But I think we've gotten through it pretty well. Cody's had a good day of practice, and hopefully we can continue to move forward with him. Again, I think it's a little early.

He practiced today, and I think that's what's important. I'll get together with our medical staff later and see exactly where he is. Again, speaking of Cody Kessler, but it sounds, as you said, Terry, and as we think, that the Browns want to go with the rookie Kessler in this game on Sunday because, quite frankly, he's probably played the best of anybody that they've had as a quarterback so far this season through this 0-5 start. Probably so, although the sample size with Robert Griffin III was so limited that you really couldn't get a real feel as to how he was going to do. He had gotten off to a pretty good start before he was hurt.

But, yeah, in terms of size, sample, and play, probably Kessler fit their best guy. And certainly this plays into the hand, Terry, of the Titans in the sense that we talked about it yesterday. The Titans desperately need a win, not only for themselves, but for the fans at home to put two games together, win two in a row, which they haven't done since 2013, but get a win in front of the home fans

and start to try to turn this thing into an improvement in the record as well as the improvement that we've seen on the play on the field so far, and they can get to 3-3. So with Cleveland having these quarterback issues and the injury situation with those quarterbacks, even if Kessler plays, he's not 100%. Josh McCown probably not as well. Really the only healthy quarterback they've got would be Terrell Pryor,

who obviously is not an NFL quarterback. He's a stopgap fill-in guy that can take some snaps, do some things in an emergency. Right. They did elevate Kevin Hogan from their practice squad the other day, so he would be available too. But still, I don't know how much you would want to put your faith in

a guy who just came up from the practice squad, even though the offensive coordinator there is Pep Hamilton, who has that Sanford tie with Hogan. But, yeah, it's a situation where the Browns are in a dilemma at the quarterback position. And if you're the Titans, you have to take advantage of that. You cannot lose to a team that is reeling at the quarterback position,

that comes in here at 0-5. That would be totally unacceptable and would wipe out the goodwill and the good feeling that they had coming off the win in Miami. You've got to build on that. Basically, one of two things is going to happen. They're either going to build on that momentum and get to three and three, or they're going to destroy that momentum by losing and falling to two and four. And falling to two and four is a nightmare, I would think,

for ownership, for John Robinson, and for Mike Malarkey. Not necessarily in the sense, obviously, that I think the ownership will go right out and fire Mike Malarkey on Sunday if they lose to Cleveland. It's certainly not good news for him, but it's the down part of this for the Titans organization is the fans and what will happen with the fan base because they're going to come in and well it's the same old Titans. They managed to lose to Cleveland for the third

year in a row as opposed to what will happen on the opposite side with the win and that fan base says okay now two in a row we've beaten Cleveland it's a winless team. It's a game we should have won and we did it. Let's move forward and look at next week, another winnable game against another team that's struggling. Oh, absolutely. I think when you look, you know, I know that upsets happen and things of that nature go on all the time at all levels of football.

But you look at the top teams in the NFL and you look at even the top teams at the college level, rarely do they lose games to teams that they are far better than. you know you should beat, and then competing with the other teams that are quality teams that can play on the same level as you and maybe even a little bit better. That's how you start to build, and the first step is by beating the teams on your schedule that you know you should win. And of course, Cleveland should be one of those teams based on record in the way the two teams have performed at this time. Let's move on to our Players' Corner segment, where we look at one of those teams based on record in the way the two teams have performed at this time.

Let's move on to our Players' Corner segment where we look at one of the comments or comments from a player, and that player is quarterback Cody Kessler. Terry, he told us during the conference call yesterday that he still has some issues from the injury, but he is feeling better. He is working to get better, and he expects to be the guy to play. Of course, we read Hugh Jackson's comments a minute ago. He wouldn't come out and say definitely that Kessler will be the starter,

but all signs certainly indicate that. And Kessler then was asked about the Titans' defense, and this is what he had to say about the Titans' defense. I mean, they're obviously a very physical front seven, and they do a great job with their back four in coverage to help them. They work really well together. They do a lot of things up front and they're very physical to get to the quarterback. If they're not getting there they're making plays on the ball and they get to make you get the ball out fast which means obviously as a quarterback Terry he thinks he's going to have to throw the football quickly. He's

not going to have a lot of time to stand in the pocket, read things, and look downfield. It's going to be a quick passing game. And obviously, I think the Browns will also try to lean on Isaiah Crowell in a running game that's not bad. Right. And I think when you hear that, if that is, in essence, the Browns' game plan, to get the ball out of his hands quickly, then that means that the Titans, sort of like we've seen teams do to the Titans' offense this year when you're trying to get rid of the ball quickly,

that means you don't really have to defend the deep stuff. You can keep things in front of you. You can cover a little tighter and maybe allow the catch and then tackle them immediately afterwards and try to keep them from moving the chains that way. But it doesn't sound like the Browns' offense has a lot of explosiveness in it in the passing game unless somebody slips through a crease

or there's a missed tackle somewhere. It doesn't sound like there's going to be a whole lot of deep threats out of the Cleveland Browns because Cody Kessler doesn't have the strongest arm anyway. That was kind of a knock on him coming out of USC, and he's not 100%. Absolutely. I think that Terrell Pryor is perhaps that deep threat kind of guy for them, but as you said, not the strongest arm.

An injury to Kessler means that they don't want him taking shots, which means they're going to have to get the football out quickly. They'll take a shot downfield just because you have to, obviously, in the course of the game to show the defense that you're going to at least try it but I think we're going to see a lot of running the football and a lot of short intermediate routes where he gets the ball out quickly trying to make sure that he stays upright if you will and healthy on the field because they certainly don't want to get to the point to have to use Kevin Hogan or even Terrell Pryor in this game for obvious reasons no I think you're exactly right.

I think that there's a situation where, you know, if Kessler is the guy, I think that, you know, they're going to try to tailor the game plan to him and using that short pass game and trying to run the football is exactly what they want to do. Moving along, I mentioned in the tease in the open about an article from CBS Sports, and it comes from our friend Jason Lock and Fora, Terry, and I say that because... At least he's not talking about the team

being for sale. Exactly, that's where I was going. He was the gentleman a couple of years ago that first got that whole thing started, and to take up for Lock and Fora. You and I both had sources that told us that there was at least something, some level of truth to the fact that the team had been discussed as being up for sale. Obviously, it is not up for sale. I don't think that's even an issue at this point in time. We are set with knowing that Amy Adams Strunk is the person in charge. But Locke and Fora wrote yesterday in an article on CBS Sports that he feels like the Titans are in a great position to win the AFC South.

Part of the reason, Terry, is because the Titans actually have an identity as a smash mouth run the football team, while the other three teams in the AFC South have a little bit of an identity crisis with some things going on with their teams. Obviously, the Texans have a win over the Titans, but those two teams will meet again in Nashville. It's still out in front of the Titans, and he wrote that this stretch of three games is a big key because you're going to have two division games and a chance to win a game with the Browns to put you right back into the thick of things and perhaps with some luck and with the Texans' loss, even get to the lead. Yeah, it's interesting.

You're right. The article states that what's there for the Titans is an opportunity to propel themselves into contention because they do have games coming up, three here in a row, two of them after this week against division opponents in the Colts and the Jaguars. And both of those teams are struggling right now to try to find their identity on offense. I think the Colts' identity is obviously Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton, but they don't have a whole lot to go with that, and they've had trouble protecting Andrew Luck this year.

The Jaguars, you know, they seem to be in perpetual rebuilding mode, and through at least the first four or five games of the season, Blake Bortles looks to have taken a step backwards after he had really come on the second half of last year. So that has to be a concern. And the Texans, as you say, Brock Osweiler hasn't found any consistency yet. Plus, they're without their best player, J.J. Watt, probably for the entire season. So this division is not very strong.

And while the Titans are a flawed team, they don't have a lot of explosiveness on the outside. Their secondary is still a step slow in places. And they certainly have their issues on special teams. They're probably in as good a position as any to make a run at this division because I think, as crazy as this sounds, eight or nine wins might win this division. Lock and four actually said seven could do it in the article, which it's, I guess, possible considering how bad things are. We had, what was it, two years ago when the NFC South was won by a team

with a 500 record, everybody else was below 500 in the division? Yeah, I think the Panthers were actually 7, 8, and 1, and that was actually a precursor to them really putting things together, you know, over the next couple of years and, you know, making the Super Bowl run. And then you remember back even a few years before that, the Seattle Seahawks won a division and a playoff game at 7-9. Absolutely. It is time now for our final thoughts.

Terry, take it away with your final thought for the day. Well, my final thought on this Titans team is the fact that, you know, a lot of people, you know, bash Mike Malarkey, and they said, you know, they didn't like the hire, thought that he was a guy that, you know, they could have done better, could have gone and gotten somebody else. But, you know, I think when you've got a young team, having a veteran coach who's been around and having a coaching staff with a little bit of experience and wisdom

and knowing the rigors of the league has probably been a pretty good thing for this team. Now, will Mike Malarkey be a success here with the Titans? I think only time will tell. You're going to have to go through another offseason or two and just kind of see exactly where things go with this franchise. But I think having a veteran coach and a relaxed hand with a team that's rebuilding has probably been a pretty decent move thus far for the Titans at my part. Absolutely. I would agree with that 100%.

My final thought for the day goes back to the Lock and Fora article that we were just speaking about a moment ago. Folks, don't get us wrong. We're not saying this Titans team is a Super Bowl contender. Obviously, strange things can happen in the NFL. Is it out of the realm of possibility that they could make a run?

No, it's not. But I don't think so. I'm speaking here and guessing Terry and Brad would also say that they don't think that that's a possibility or a probability I guess I should say possible yes probable no don't get us wrong we're not saying that but this division is so up in the air and so bad as a whole that the Titans could find themselves in a position to make the playoffs at seven and nine or even eight and eight if they can get there have a position to make the playoffs at 7-9 or even 8-8. If they can get there, have a little luck along the way, find themselves into a playoff

spot, maybe even get a home game as a division winner. But there's still a long way to go for this team to get where it needs to be to be a true playoff contender and a true Super Bowl contender. We think, though, things are trending in the right direction with the way things are going, the way this team's playing on the field. They've just got to go out and prove us right and take that next step, win this game on Sunday that they should win, and then try to move forward and start stacking some wins on top of each other.

If they can do that, certainly this team is trending in the right direction for the near future. That will do it for us today. Remind everybody, Brad will be back with us tomorrow, and we will have our predictions on Friday where we'll tell you who we think is going to win when the Browns come to town on Sunday. For Terry McCormick, I'm Greg Arias. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

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