Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Oct. 14- It's Prediction Friday and more!

Episode Date: October 14, 2016

It's Prediction Friday and more as we give you our current news along with game analysis and final thoughts on the match up with Cleveland this week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Talkspace.com slash BOOM. B-O-O-M. You are Locked on Titans, your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. And welcome to Locked on Titans, your daily source for all Tennessee Titans news and information with your host, Terry McCormick of Titan Insider, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titans all-pro offensive tackle, Brad Hopkins. Brad, it's Friday morning.

It's just you and I today. Terry was some personal business he had to take care of, but we have got a lot of things on tap this morning for fans. Absolutely. And here's a game that this is a must-win situation. The Titans haven't gone back-to-back wins in almost three seasons now, so not only is this a pivotal game as far as the season is concerned, but at least from a perception standpoint, too, they need to get this one at home. Absolutely, they do.

We've got, of course, as always, our current news for you today. We'll do some analysis on the coming matchup on Sunday with Cleveland. We'll give you of course, as always, our current news for you today. We'll do some analysis on the coming matchup on Sunday with Cleveland. We'll give you our predictions, including Terry's. We've got his prediction as well, and as always, final thoughts on the day. And Brad, let's jump right into this current news, and it's good news if you're the Tennessee Titans, because on the injury front, this team is fairly healthy. Taylor LeJuan had been limited in practice on Wednesday. He returned on Thursday. He is a full go. That's, I know, a relief to Titans fans and certainly the coaches to have LeJuan, who is playing at a very high level right now, even though he may be a little bit dinged up

in the lineup come Sunday on that left side to protect Marcus Mariota. Absolutely. I mean, from an individual standpoint, a guy that's playing as well as Taylor LeJuan, you definitely want him in the lineup. But from a chemistry standpoint, I mean, we've seen so many players come and go in the interior of that offensive line. They need to keep the consistency that they've developed over the past, you know, couple of few games, and Taylor LeJuan being out of the lineup really wouldn't help that. So it's a good thing that they got him back this week.

Denoris Searcy, we talked about him yesterday during the show. He is back from injury. We don't know if he's going to start, but certainly at least having him back, whether he starts or not, Brad, is a help because of the rotation and the way that the Titans have been playing so much with the four safeties, rotating guys in and out. To have that full complement is a good thing. I think that they've gotten some really consistent play

from the likes of Parrish Cox and, of course, the veteran Jason McCourty. And it just really adds depth and, you know, at least a feel that, you know, they're not as porous as they were during the preseason when they've got Denora Searcy back in the lineup. So, you know, from a health standpoint, it is great, especially, you know, with almost a third of the season completed, that the Titans are faring fairly well as far as the training room is considered because they need these veterans every single step of the way.

Absolutely, and I think that, too, Brad, can add to the special teams, which obviously we've talked about at times this week, because having one safety down in Searcy, at times this week because having one safety down in Searcy, meaning perhaps the Titans would not use either Kevin Byard or Damian Stafford as much on the special teams, now perhaps those guys can give you some more plays in rotation in coverage units, which could help potentially to affect and maybe fix or at least improve that coverage unit on special teams.

Absolutely. I mean, we talked about that on Wednesday on Locked on Titans, the fact that sometimes when you've got a guy that's doing dual responsibilities, there is a pull away from one more so than the other. And obviously Kevin Byard has been phenomenal. He's been exceptional on special teams. And the fact that he's getting more regular looks on defense, sure, it's a good thing.

But in essence, it does affect his playmaking ability on special teams. So the more depth they have, Greg, the better this team will be. The only negative on the injury report, we still do not know the status of Cody Riggs with that hamstring for Sunday. He was limited again yesterday in practice. Obviously, Brad, you know how that goes. They will see what he can do today. Perhaps even it might be a game time decision. Obviously, a lot of times they get

guys in early to the stadium on a Sunday morning. We'll see what they can do and then decide at that point if they're going to be active or inactive for the game. So we wait to see about Cody Riggs, who obviously is a core special teams player, depth at cornerback for sure, but his biggest contribution is on special teams. Absolutely. And I think that obviously if Cody's not able to go, it's that next guy up mentality, you know. But it's also an opportunity, an opportunity for somebody to get in,

make some plays, make a name for themselves, and keep this kind of momentum that they've gotten from going down there and getting a big win against Miami. Keep that thing going because, you know, for whatever reason, Marcus Mariota and company are not very good in Nissan Stadium. As a matter of fact, only one win for Marcus Mariota since he's been here. This is an opportunity for those guys with depth to come in, make a play or two, get Nissan Stadium rocking,

and in this way they can continue on to what they would hope to be a successful campaign. Now, you as a former player certainly know about injuries. You played with injuries, bumps and bruises, those kind of things that go along with being an NFL player. This team, though, right now, at this point in the season, heading into this matchup, pretty much as healthy as a team can be right now, which obviously is a good thing, especially for a team that has struggled to get wins. At least you can go in and you don't have to worry about that particular issue. You know you're going to have the inactives that come up,

but that's going to be a coach's decision as to who sits down because he has that ability because he doesn't have to worry about so many of the guys being injured that automatically take themselves out of that equation. Yeah, Greg, there's so much parity when it comes to the talent in the NFL. Everybody's got all pros. Everybody's got the captain of the football team from college and things like that. The difference is, obviously, turnovers and health.

Coming down the stretch in the months of November and December, the healthiest team usually has the best chance of not only getting out of the regular season with a pretty good record, but also going into the playoffs, having all of their talent, you know, available is one thing that helps the squad. So, you know, it's good that they're playing well right now and they're healthy, but I would hope that that will continue, you know, as the season progresses because we don't want them to all of a sudden start getting banged up, you know, after Halloween and towards Thanksgiving, Greg,

because that really wouldn't be good for this team. Absolutely. And you mentioned turnovers, which is a great segue into our next segment where we analyze the matchup. And obviously turnovers play a huge role in every single football contest that's played at any level. You win the turnover battle, you have a great opportunity to win the football game. And as you mentioned, Brad, with Marcus and the offense struggling to win games,

Marcus only the one win at Nissan Stadium. When we go back and look at those games, almost every single one, and the one that stands out the most was the Vikings game, the season opener here. Turnovers were the difference in winning and losing that ball game. So that is the first thing they have to do, I think, on Sunday at Nissan Stadium is win that turnover battle. Yeah, we'll put some emphasis on them being healthy, but like we just said, turnovers are the utmost importance.

You know, winning that turnover battle is so important on any level in almost any sport that you play, Greg, because if you think about it, the team that's focused and makes the least amount of mistakes or makes no mistakes at all, they're just waiting for the team that does make mistakes to shoot themselves in the foot like we've seen the Titans do, you know, at some point in time through almost every single game. They didn't shoot themselves in the foot down in South Beach, which is the reason why they came over to W. But if you look at every single one of their losses this year, the three that they have, Greg, it's because they've done something to shoot themselves in the foot and cause their own demise, hopefully, in that game.

Absolutely. And to me, and you tell me if I'm wrong here, but I think the key matchup to this game, obviously every matchup is important, but the key this week with Cleveland and their injury issues and the fact that they are likely to start a rookie quarterback who will be playing less than 100% coming off an injury in Cody Kessler. To me, it's that front seven of the Titans versus the Cleveland offensive line. Joe Thomas, of course, one of the best left tackles in all of football.

But I think the Titans have to win that matchup up front with their front seven. Keep Kessler off rhythm. Do not allow him to throw the football effectively, and deal with the running game. If they can do that, they limit Cleveland, and I think they have an opportunity, although maybe a low-scoring game, certainly to get a victory if they can do that and win that matchup. You wanted to jump into it. I know you did. You mentioned the run game twice for the Cleveland Browns, because guess what? That's where their strength is. If you've got a nailing quarterback, whether it's Josh McCown

or it's Cody Kessler, both of these guys, you know, are coming off of injury, coming out of the training room of some sort. So they're not going to put the ball in their hands to win. But what they have done consistently with Duke Johnson and Isaiah Crowell is run the football this year. They're probably in the top ten, maybe even the top five, you know, just below the Titans and the Cowboys for running the football effectively. So that's what they're going to try and do in Nissan Stadium.

There's no way in the world they're going to try and chuck that rascal around, especially with no deep threats. Josh Gordon is going into rehab, so that would be the only formidable opponent you would have to worry about in the back end. So they're going to try to run the football and keep those chains moving and keep the Titans' offense on the sidelines, so to speak. So they just basically have to make as little mistakes as they possibly can to establish their own running attack,

and then therefore it will create more pressure for Cleveland to have to try and put the football in the air, and that's where our guys like Searcy and Cox and McCourty can definitely be effective in what they do. Where do you see the pass rush this week for the Titans? Obviously they had a big game last week with the six sacks, three players each with two apiece in that game. Can they do the same thing versus this Cleveland offensive line, or is this line a little bit better than the Miami line we saw a week ago? It doesn't matter about their offensive line. Look at Jarrell Casey. Two sacks on the season, I think, to this point. At least he had those in the last game. From an interior defense

alignment, Brian Arakbo is a guy that's already established before he got here. Derek Morgan had an injury-riddled season the first couple years he was here, but he has emerged as one of those guys that in the AFC, you know, you have to pay attention to. So they've got three, at least three, legit pass rushers, plus scheming from Dick LeBeau to get in the backfield from maybe linebackers at that depth or even, you know, zone blitzes and things like that. I mean, this team has the ability to confuse, to hamper, to scare any sort of offense.

It's just a matter of not allowing those big plays to happen that keep the team that they should beat in ballgames. You mentioned those three defenders in Morgan, Arakpo, and Casey, but let's throw Carl Klug in there also, who is the unknown guy, so to speak. Certainly Titans fans know about him, but perhaps a lot of people around the league don't. He has been really playing well, not necessarily getting the sack numbers,

but certainly getting pressure and affecting play of the quarterback, and that can be sometimes just as important as getting those sacks. Absolutely, and Carl Cluess is one of those guys that we don't mention that much because of guys around him that kind of have those stars around their name. But he's a guy that's just played consistent. He's one of those work-hard guys, those guys that obviously get the job done. You can rely on them, and they just quietly are having career days, basically, without even being mentioned.

So I think that Carl Klug is a guy that's obviously making a name for himself, not only around the division, but the conference itself, and I expect him to have a big game on Sunday. Well, I feel like that the front seven of the Titans defensively versus Cleveland's offense is the key. We certainly don't want to overlook the Titans' offense. Obviously, they have to have a good game, and again, going back and not turning the football over.

But you mentioned Cleveland running the football. Certainly the Titans want to run the football. This could be a very short game in terms of the time it takes to play it because both teams likely are going to want to run the football. Obviously, I think the team that runs it the best obviously has a better chance to win. But again, this could shorten the game because the ball likely to spend a lot of time in the hands of running backs.

You're right about that. The clock will continue to move. You know what I mean? I don't think you'll see a lot of drops, incompletions, things like that that kind of slow the pace of the game down. With both teams trying to establish the run, you really won't see a lot of exotic looks or things like that, especially from Cleveland that's going to be on the road.

They're not going to come in here with a whole bunch of bag of tricks. Maybe a special teams play here or there to kind of control field position. But for the most part, I really expect them to be more pedestrian than most would expect. Now, they're going to try to take their shots, because this is a desperate team that hasn't won a ballgame yet. But you've got to remember also, these quarterbacks are ailing. So with that being said, there's going to be more opportunities

for the Titans to put pressure on these guys. They're going to be more cognizant of what their injuries are, I think. So it's just going to be one of those situations where you're going to see a lot of DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry and maybe those defensive linemen in that back of Cleveland Browns. Am I being a homer by saying that I think the Titans have the better offense in this game? Obviously, statistics back that up.

But, again, when we go back and look at the Titans and how they've performed, including this season at Nissan Stadium, they've not been very good. Well, they don't have a Pro Bowl tight end. They don't have a – I'm talking about Delaney Walker. They don't have – and, again, the Titans don't have necessarily a real deep thread either. So maybe that's a wash there. We've got established running backs.

They've got guys that are running the football effectively, but consistently over the years haven't been recognized as, say, a DeMarco Murray. We've got the Heisman Trophy winner on our side. Marcus Mario, I think, would win the tail of the tape between the two quarterbacks, or in this case, three quarterbacks potentially. So I do agree with you 100% that this team, when they play well and focus without making mistakes, is the better offense. But that's obviously the caveat. Perhaps the one area where Cleveland has an advantage, Brad,

and this has played out over the last two weeks by the Titans, could be in the return game because regardless of who Cleveland has back there, it's not going to be Josh Gordon. Obviously, you mentioned him a moment ago. But still, they could potentially have an advantage there if the Titans don't get these special teams concerns taken care of and don't make plays in the special teams and give up another return.

Those are game-changing and momentum-changing type of plays. Yeah, special teams are an important phase of this game because we've seen the coverage issues that the Titans have had. This will cost Bobby April his job. If you also look at this, I'm not picking on Mark Mariani, but I want to see more from him. There's a reason why you brought him back. So let's see that Pro Bowl guy from a few years back

and get good field position and things like that. We saw him break Derek Mason's record, I think, as a rookie. So if there's some potential, there's some promise, let's see it. And that way this offense can get a good start, at least by having good field position. You mentioned him breaking Derek's record. Of course, you were a teammate of Derek. You were there firsthand to watch and see what he did, but to me, Mark's not been the same guy since he had that horrific leg injury, the compound fracture that we saw there in the game at Nissan

Stadium. Not as fast, not as explosive, still sound. He's going to catch the football. He's going to make good decisions in the return game from that sense. But do you agree with that? He's not really been the same guy as explosive of a player since that injury? Not even close. I brought that up for a reason, not to pick on him, because I really do like him. I love him as a person. He's an awesome guy.

Right. And he's a pretty good player. But for what, you know, his career started like him, for what we're seeing now, there's a vast difference between the two. So I just want to see him kind of, you know, get into that same mindset, that same confidence level that he had when he came into the league and people were really excited about him and what his potential was. And, of course, before the injury, you know, he's a really good player.

Let's see him push that behind him and really start contributing. Now, prior to Mark's return to the Titans and taking over as the kick and punt returner, the Titans used a lot of guys. Obviously, Dexter McCluster was here. He is no longer with the team, doing well in San Diego to this point. But they used Kevin Byard. They've used Harry Douglas.

They've used Den Douglas. They've used Denoris Searcy, Parrish Cox. These are all guys that have been back there. Trey McBride is a guy on the practice squad that has been back there returning punts and kicks during the training camp portion of things. Would you consider making a move to one of these other guys, giving them a shot in the game to see if you can give a jump start to the return game? Or is this stick with Mark because you know this guy's going to make the right decision, he's going to field the ball, has sure hands, and put you in at least decent field position? Listen, it's not broken.

Okay? And what I mean by that is, you know, he hasn't fumbled the football, he hasn't, you know, been, you know, some sort of hindrance in the special teams game itself, but he's just not giving us what I would want, which is just good field position, potential of taking one to the house, that kind of stuff, because he does have that kind of ability. But if you switch things up, now you're admitting that there's a problem. Now, is there a problem per se?

Not particularly, but I will say that when you're a special teams coach and you're special teams players, you want to be as effective as you possibly can, and that means getting the football past the 20-yard line. That means covering teams inside the 10-yard line, giving your defense at least something good to work with as far as long field, and I think that just consistently they need

more from that. So, if you take Marcus Marriott out, Marcus Marriott out, and put in somebody else, now all of a sudden, eyebrows get raised and people start saying, hmm, maybe he wasn't doing the job that he was supposed to be doing. Well, that's just not the case. He's not hurting the team per se, but I just want him to help the team a little bit more. And obviously it's not all on him. You have to have some blocking as well, because no matter how good you are, if you've got 11 guys on top of you, there's not a lot of chance to return the football. Oh, I know that's right.

I mean, put it this way, laying responsibility, all those simple things that special teams coaches harp on from the beginning of spring camps to even the regular season, it's just really having the kind of rapport with you guys to really listen to what you're saying and can take that instruction and produce good results on a football field. That's at the end of the day what it's about. It's time for our prediction segment, Brad,

and obviously some analysis to go with it. I'll go ahead and tell everybody Terry's prediction. Of course, again, Terry not with us today for some personal reasons, but he's taking the Titans in this one, Brad. 23-17 is his projected final score again. The Titans to win. Your thoughts, your projection, and why you think it's going to play out that way.

Well, I think that if the Titans can get on the board early, it's going to force Josh McCown, Cody Kessler, whichever one gets the nod this weekend, to really put the ball in the air, which, in my opinion, lends towards the Titans having a score or two on defense. So I expect either defense to contribute a big play or a special team to contribute a big play.

And I expect the Titans to at least get two or three touchdowns offensively this week against, you know, the Cleveland Browns defense. So with that, I see a 10-point differential. My score, 31-21 Titans. I'm going to take the Titans in this one. I think they, and you hit on it it Brad, need to get on the board early if you can take. And by the way, question for you Brad, when was the last time the Titans scored a touchdown on their opening drive of a football game?

Did they do it this past weekend? No sir. It's been a while. I thought you were just being excited about what the Titans did, but I guess it has been a while. It was the opening game of the 2015 season in that route of Tampa Bay in Marcus Mariota's very first game as a Tennessee Titan. That was the last time that the Titans' offense scored on their opening possession of a football game,

and I think that is a key. We've talked about Brad snapping these streaks, getting two wins in a row, winning at Nissan Stadium. That's a streak that needs to be snapped. They need to score on the opening possession. I know I'm putting extra pressure on them here, but get a score early. As you said, get Cleveland behind in the game where they are forced to have to throw the football, and then when you do that, that pass rush becomes even more of a force for the Titans with a young, injured

quarterback that's, I should say, less than 100%, maybe not injured per se. But I'm taking the Titans in this one, 27-14 my final score, and I think, again, they have to get off to that quick start. They can do that, put Cleveland behind the eight ball, so to speak, get them in that mindset of, oh, boy, here we go again, we're down. They just got blown out last week by the Patriots. Granted, it's the Patriots, but still, they were blown out. Absolutely.

Get those RPMs up in Nissan Stadium, huh? Absolutely. When they first time out, that's a raucous environment the Browns don't want to deal with. Absolutely. And depending on what the crowd's like, again, we've talked about this before, how many times have we seen a crowd, and even Cleveland a couple years ago came in here with a very large contingent of fans

that almost matched what the Titans had. Now, it was a fairly empty stadium for the most part. There weren't probably 25,000 people in the place, but a lot of those were Browns fans, and I think they'll have a big crowd come this week. The problem is the Titans crowd needs to be larger and better, louder, make it a home field advantage, and again, getting off that quick start scoring early will help to do that. Absolutely. This team has to at least give the fan base something to stick around for after the

third quarter unless it's a complete blow up in the titan side they just want to go party they need to be in that stadium with butts in seats you know for the duration cheering this team on the victory those are our predictions for this week all three of us and guy and brad we were uh correct last week all three of us took the titans to win that was the first time all year that we'd all three gone the same direction. So we're 1-0 when we all three picked the same. Let's see if it becomes 2-0 after this week. It's time for final thoughts. Go ahead and take that away for us. Well, actually, this is the week I think the Titans can really start, you know, getting people to notice how good this team

can be. We've seen them shoot themselves in the foot pretty regularly in the first three games, which kind of like make people feel, from a perception standpoint, this is the same old Titans team. Well, this is an opportunity for them to do two things. One, win a game in Nissan Stadium, which you haven't done since I don't know when. And also two, win back-to-back ballgames, giving you the confidence that you can actually play well during the season. So this is a very pivotal game, one that they can win. Let's see if they can actually go ahead and bring home faith.

My final thought goes back to what we opened the show with in talking about the turnovers and the mistakes, and when I say mistakes, the stupid penalties. I really want to see Taylor LeJuan, who has played exceptionally well at left tackle, go through a game and not have the bad penalty. Now, he got a holding call last week in Miami that was an effort penalty. It was a reach. He was trying to move down and get a guy that was off of him.

As we talked about on Wednesday, Brad, you'd rather take that 10-yard holding penalty than have your quarterback get killed. It was the right play. I'm not talking about that kind of play. I'm talking about the boneheaded 15-yard penalty, the hands to the face, the things that he can avoid. Have a game like that. Get a game like that from the rest of the team.

Don't turn the football over. And I think we're talking about, on Monday, a Titans team that will be 3-3 for the first time in a long time, six games into the season. And I think that's certainly something that we need to see, not only for us, but for the first time in a long time, six games into the season. And I think that's certainly something that we need to see, not only for us, but for the fans. Brad, another great show in the books. Thank you, my friend. And look forward to doing it again on Monday.

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