Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans _ Oct. 19- Wednesday's edition includeds WOAS, HDH, Pro Scope & more.

Episode Date: October 19, 2016

Wednesday's edition includes What Others Are Saying, Hump Day Happenings, Pro Scope & more. #BHop #TerryMc #GregA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. 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 Titans news and information with your host, Terry McCormick of Titan Insider, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titans Pro Bowl left tackle, Brad Hopkins. It is Wednesday, and we are loaded up with things to talk about today, guys. As always, our current news segment, we'll have our weekly feature on Wednesday, what

others are saying, things from around the league with our hump day happenings in Pro Scope. And as always, the final thoughts, and let me welcome in my co-host, Brad Hopkins and Terry McCormick. Guys, for Wednesday, the news is rather short this morning. Not a lot of things to talk about,

which is a good thing at this point in time in the season. Yes, I mean, I guess sometimes when, you know, no news is good news when it comes to being in the season. You don't have a lot of bad things to talk about, and that's probably a good thing for your football team. I think maybe one of the things to talk about is obviously the improved play of the Tennessee Titans.

Obviously they're getting from, you know, the guys that they rely on more consistent play, and we see that kind of permeating through the Tennessee Titans. Obviously, they're giving from the guys that they rely on more consistent play, and we see that kind of permeating through the team itself. And it's also good to hear Amy Adams tell Jon Bon Jovi that the team's not for sale. That's good, too. Absolutely. Our current news today, and, guys, it's off the beating path just a bit, if you will, because there has been a little bit of a Twitter dust-up that has carried over from Sunday's contest with Cleveland.

Of course, Jordan Poyer, the safety for the Cleveland Browns, was injured on a big hit near the Titan sideline from Antonio Andrews on a return. He spent the night in the hospital, has had to have a little bit of surgery done, could not fly back with the team, actually had to drive or ride in a car eight hours or so back to Cleveland. And, Terry, you and I know, and I don't know about Brad, but I know you and I have made that drive to Cleveland before. It's not fun. But in the wake of that, Antonio Andrews chose to put a little video snippet of that,

the hit, on his social media. Poirier's seeing this and took exception to it, and those two have kind of gone back and forth over the last 24 hours or so. Yeah, it's, I guess, one of those things where Antonio Andrews, you know, I didn't think the hit was dirty. You know, I kind of agree with Mike Malarkey. I think it's just, you know, something that happens in the course of football. But with Poirier being hit and injured on the play,

the fact that he was injured and spent a couple of days in the hospital, I think Andrews could use better judgment than to put it on his Instagram. I think he probably should have been a little wiser than to do that and not really go and advertise the hit, especially when the hit injured another player. I don't think it's ever good to kind of use that as a moment to kind of sort of better yourself. You're talking about a player that spent a little bit of time, even though it was just a little bit of time, in the hospital.

It doesn't do both well on him to glamorize injuries. And sure, he said he's going to get paid, but there's also going to be a reduction because of the flag that was thrown on that play. So he's going to get fined for it. It just doesn't make much sense to really kind of put that in the forefront because, you know, what does that really say? What does that really establish?

You know, what, are you going to go out and do it again next week? You know, the next week after that? I mean, I know it's exciting for you because it's an individual effort that brought about that play, but for the most part, it's not something to build about. Now, Brad, as a former player, would you ever want yourself or even teammates want them to put something like that? Even if the young man wasn't injured on the play, it was just a big hit that got the wow moment with the crowd. Would that be something that players should even think about putting up on social media,

even if the player wasn't injured on the play? You've heard of bullets and board fodder. I mean, why give a team anything to be motivated about? You know, the players find the weirdest, quirkiest things, Greg Terry, to be motivated about. And, of course, making fun of another player for being in the hospital is just something that some players need, you know, to get themselves excited and moving in the right direction. So, you know, it was an unfortunate incident.

I'm sure that even looking back at it, it wasn't something that he was trying to be malicious, just like Hugh Jackson and Mike Malarkey said. But when you turn to social media to kind of, you know, bolster that fact and just, you know, kind of showing off, really, I mean, at the end of the day, what goes around comes around. So be careful. Yeah, that's kind of the salt in the wound thing, isn't it?

Yeah, I mean, you know, on one level, you know, these guys are all rivals and, you know, they're competitive and you want to go out and you want to, you know, get the best of the other team. But on another level, too, and, Brad, I'm sure you'll agree with this, on another level, it's a brotherhood, it's a fraternity, and people are actually looking out for each other's well-being in the midst of this violent sport. And you certainly don't want to go and flaunt the fact that someone was injured

and that you caused a serious injury with a hit that you made, even if you were doing the right thing on the hit. Exactly. I mean, to put it this way, this is a violent game. It's a contact sport. We get that. And both sides have made that very apparent in their tweets. But what the league is trying to get away from are those silly things that cause players injuries that aren't necessary. So let's just look at the term unnecessary reference real quick i mean we used to just say it in passing it's just something

that happened with guys getting hand-caught in a cookie jar unnecessary reference but nowadays it has meaning behind it because doing things unnecessarily not only are going to cost your team in penalties but ultimately could end up costing you you know physically because of the injuries that are occurring because of unnecessary roughness. Players just need to be smarter nowadays. Absolutely. You are listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network, the fastest-growing sports audio network in the world.

Guys, we can throw that out there. Brag just a little bit about what's going on with this network that we're a part of. Things certainly growing fast with us, and we're very appreciative of the listeners that take their time each and every day when you have time to listen to our podcast. Totally, like Antonio Andrews or something? Well, I don't know if he's listening, but if he does,

we would certainly be grateful for that. Let's move along. It's time for our next segment, What Others Are Saying, and as per our normal on Wednesdays, we take a look at some things from the guys at Pro Football Focus, where they rank the top ten players,

Brad and Terry, every week in the NFL, and the Tennessee Titans have a rather lofty perch this week among those top ten players, as wide receiver Kendall Wright comes in ranked as the number two overall player last week just behind New England cornerback Malcolm Butler and here's just a short phrase from what PFF wrote about Kendall Wright in his performance on Sunday. The Titans have missed a wide receiver with Wright's ability all season. He caught eight of

the nine balls thrown his way for 133 yards and a touchdown. With Wright in the lineup, the Titans passing attack has more teeth and that is certainly, guys, something that we have talked about repeatedly over the course of these podcasts. The fact that the Titans did not have that guy that could stretch the field and Wright was able to do that, get some things started. Rashard Matthews added a long ball after that, but it was Kendall's 48-yard touchdown grab that got things started, if you will, for the Titans with the deep ball. Yeah, and that's something that, like you said,

had been missing from the Titans' passing game. Now that he's done that, now that he's had a breakout game like he had on Sunday, the thing is you've got to see it again. You've got to see it more consistently. You can't see it once every six to eight weeks because the Titans have had that. They had that with Kenny Britt. They had that with Justin Hunter.

They've had a number of guys who've given them a solid big-time game three times a season. They need it consistently. I'm not saying he has to go for eight and 133 every week, but even if he gives you half of that consistently, you'll take it and be happy with it. I think ultimately what the Titans want to have happen is Kendall Wright return to that form that he was when Marcus Mariota first got into the league and found Kendall pretty regularly.

We saw what he did with also Tarji Sharpe this preseason, and Tarji Sharpe's numbers have dropped dramatically since that. So I think that the overall game plan is to have both of these guys being effective at the same time on the field. And also throw Delaney Walker in the mix, too. Delaney Walker and Kendall Wright both have had minor health issues, one more detailed than the other, but have kept them away from being as productive as they were the year before.

And I think that when you look at some of the exciting play from the youngsters, even new people like DeMarco Murray, like Derrick Henry, like Tajay Sharp early, I think ultimately these guys on the field at the same time will produce really, really good, consistent results for the Titans that they could definitely need at this point in time as they chase the division down. Brad, I think you hit on something that I was just thinking as you were speaking there and the question that I wanted to pose to you guys because we have been a little bit critical, if you will, of the Titans' wide receiver unit throughout the first part of this season.

But when you look at it now with Wright returning and what he was able to do, we know Tajay Sharp, yes, he didn't have a reception on Sunday, but he has played well for a rookie, learning the system. Rashad Matthews had a nice game on Sunday. You throw those three guys out there, you throw Andre Johnson, he's given them a little something in the passing game at this point in time. It's not a great receiving group, but it is certainly a little something in the passing game at this point in time. It's not a great receiving group, but it is certainly a group that can get the job done enough for this team to win some more ballgames this season,

especially considering how they've been able to run the football with the exception of Sunday. They didn't have a great game overall, but it gives that just enough balance for this team to be effective offensively, don't you think? Yeah, I think so. I think this team, they won the football. They won't do that as their bread and butter, but you've got to have a compliment in the passing game because if you don't have that, then you're going to get one-dimensional.

Things are going to shut you down like Cleveland did or tried to do and did so with a fair amount of success on Sunday and forced the Titans to turn to the pass. So I think when you look at it from that perspective, these wide receivers have to be productive enough and have to make enough plays for Mariota just enough to keep the defenses honest so that they can do what they want to do in running the football. You know, I will say, though, it's not like they, sure, Kendall Wright has developed into

the deep threat, I think, since his return to the Titans. But you've got to remember how diverse Marcus Mariotti is and how Terry Rubisky can kind of really be exotic when it comes to how he uses Marcus Mariotti. I think he's rushed for 124 yards already on the season, and they may tap into that more as the season progresses and teams try and take away the deep ball. So I don't think we should expect him to have this big 350, 400-yard game just using exclusively his arm because that's just not the way this team's built, especially when you talk about those ground pounders,

those road graders up front that want to run block for DeMarco Murray and Chris Henry, Derek Henry. So I think for the most part, you know, by keeping their offensive production by design, it just makes it more manageable, and I think that they'll get good results at the end. Brad, you lead us into a nice segue there to our hump day happenings segment. And the first thing we want to talk about in that are those road graders up front, and in particular the bookends Taylor

Luan and Jack Conklin who surprisingly guys especially considering Conklin's a rookie these two have not given up a sack all season long now granted there's a lot of football left to be played but that's still pretty impressive and on Sunday against Cleveland neither of those two tackles even gave up a pressure. And Brad, we'll start with you, obviously, because you played tackle, left tackle specifically. How hard is that to do, not give up a sack and then go through a game and not even give up a pressure? I mean, a lot of times it doesn't even fall on you. When you're zone protecting, you know, when there are responsibilities that,

you know, that offensive line are trying to take care of, but sometimes, you know, there are leaks and there's pressure. But I think that when you look at what Taylor LeJuan is saying, you know, about his focus, about not paying attention to the little silly things that got him distracted and ultimately made him a distraction to the team, you know, making those little mistakes, you know. He credits it to his fiancee. Well, whoever it is that's speaking the message into his ears, kudos to them because it's made him a better player.

And I think from that, Jack Conklin sees a better role model. When I say role model, these guys are very close in age, but yet still Taylor's been here a year or two before Jack and can kind of teach him some of the things that Jack doesn't know. And obviously when Jack sees Taylor making mistakes like he's been making, it makes it kind of harder for him to develop, in my opinion. So I think these guys playing consistently have played well for the team and ultimately are one of the real reasons why this team is where they are right now,

knocking on the door of leading the AFC South? Well, to me, you know, I think Taylor LeJuan is starting to grow up. He's starting to come into his own. But I'm going to talk more about Jack Conklin. To see a guy come right into the league and play the way he has and, you know, be not only a consistent part of the run game, but with his pass protection, what he's done as a rookie. Granted, first-round picks are expected to come in, start right away,

and be difference makers on your team. But to come in and play at a high level, the way Conklin has right off the bat, that's kudos to him, kudos to Russ Graham, kudos to Mike Malarkey and the staff, and kudos to John Robinson for zeroing in on the guy he wanted in the draft and getting it. Absolutely. That may turn out, guys, in the future to be one of the shrewdest moves of this draft was the way that John Robinson maneuvered to get back after trading out

of the top overall spot, get back up there to get Conklin and add him to this roster. Of course, still some things to do roster-wise, obviously, to improve going forward. But improved they are. And, guys, one of the things that has improved and improved on Sunday was the play of Marcus Mariota at home. We talked about this last week.

He had struggled at Nissan Stadium throughout the course of his career, just one win. Obviously, he had his best game at home as a professional quarterback on sunday and that improved play from him has got to continue and carry forward if this team as a whole is going to continue to improve yeah i think you're right and i think marcus is at a point in his career now where he's got you know has to take those steps forward each week now there's there's obviously going to be back sets you know there was the interception on Sunday where he

threw across his body late down the middle which is a real no-no for any quarterback I mean you know even though Brett Favre did it you know hundreds of times in his career a lot of those passes were intercepted and turned out to be problems. And even as great as he was, he never really conquered that. I think the more Mike Malarkey said this, the reason that Marcus does those things sometimes is because at times he's made it work, but it's simply not worth the risk. I think the more he goes along, he's a smart guy, the more he goes along, I think the more he will learn when you can take a chance

and when you can't take a chance. And I think you're starting to see that because the interception, he's only had one the last two weeks, and he's had six touchdown passes. Yeah, I mean, that's the mark of improvement. You know, when you see a guy that understands that, you know, he is the straw that stirs the drink, but also recognizes that him forcing the issue sometimes hurts the team. He just doesn't know to what degree he has so much input

that his mistakes are huge. And I think that as he further understands what his role is on this team and better understands the system, and also just has more confidence in himself, the least mistakes that he makes. He's developing into the quarterback that a lot of people prognosticated him being. And it's kind of exciting to watch. Now, Brad, I'll pose this question to you. Terry, you can answer with your opinion as well.

But when you look at it, this league is about mistakes, isn't it? I mean, granted, you have to have talent. You have to have the physical ability to be there. But a lot of times, if all things are equal physically, the guy that makes the least mistakes is going to be the guy that comes out on top. And if Marcus cuts down on those mistakes, certainly the physical ability is there, isn't it? Absolutely. I think that when you look at the great coaches like Nick Saban,

Nick Saban says that mistakes are basically failures to do the right thing. I mean, think about that. Doing the right thing ultimately is what you practice doing every single day. When you practice doing mistakes, you take those mistakes into the game, and that's not something that most teams practice. So obviously the turnover ratio, making as few mistakes as you possibly can, particularly pre-snap mistakes, is silly stuff that you can control.

That's obviously the tail of the tape when you're talking about a league that's full of talented players. What is the difference? Focus. That's the difference. I think you're right, Ben. I think it's that way with just about any sort of in-depth, whether it's athletics or not.

The people who have the most focus and put their undivided attention to things and attention to detail, those are usually the people who find the best success. Moving along, it's time for our Pro Scope segment, where we talk about something from around the NFL. And, guys, it was unanimous when we discussed what we were going to talk about today in the pro scope segment. Cam Newton, he had another meltdown, I guess, if you will, on Sunday in the press conference following their latest loss to New Orleans.

And, guys, it's kind of been my contention that since he failed to fall on that fumble in the Super Bowl near the end of the game, Denver got the football back and ultimately won the game. He had a meltdown in the press conference following the Super Bowl, which is somewhat understandable. It's the biggest stage of a young player's life. He lost the game. But since then, there's been more of the same with this guy. It's kind of been repetitive, if you will. He's not really gotten back to what he was when he was happy and dabbing and doing the things he was doing last year. It's kind of a frontrunner, if you will.

Oh, that's exactly the word I was going to use in terms of how to describe Cam Newton. You saw the way he reacted in the press conference on Sunday, where he just kept saying next question or giving one sentenceence short, abrupt answer and then eventually walked off the stage and didn't finish his press conference. That's the quarterback. That's the leader of your football team. You've got to stand tall when things are going well,

and you've got to stand tall when things are not going well. You can't get caught up in the emotions, you know, like, you know, a wide receiver or a linebacker or, you know, somebody else on the team does whenever you make a play. You've got to be the voice of reason. You've got to be the leader. You know, I look back, you know, I thought about some of the craziest celebrations I've ever seen, you know, in just terms of the type. I can think of two.

I thought of Chris Johnson playing the Bongos in Kansas City, and I thought of Dave Ball's turkey dance after an interception in return for a touchdown in Detroit. Could you imagine a quarterback doing those kind of crazy celebrations? It just doesn't happen. Yet Cam Newton does those crazy end zone celebrations with his dance. And that's fine, but you open yourself up to criticism, and you double down on the criticism when you act like that when things don't

go well. It's time for Cam to grow up. Well, I will say this. I know that what he's been doing over the past couple of years have created energy. They've created a different atmosphere down there in Carolina, and borderline made them a contender. Admittedly, he's probably the most talented player in the league at that.

But what iris people are the swings of emotion that obviously he partakes in when he's playing football, taking a lap around the stadium. I mean, that's the beauty is over the top, creating a dance culture after you score, where you've got coaches and media members dabbing and silly stuff like that. I mean, those are things that I think can be fun and good for the game. But here's the flip side.

As emotional as Cam is about celebrating, he's more emotional about losing. And as we see a guy stand on the podium and be elated, you know, we shouldn't be surprised when we see him up there with a fat lip. But I think that when you look at guys like Bill Belichick that aren't necessarily gracious when it comes to the media contact and things like that, the reason why Bill gets away with it is because you don't see Bill up there cutting jokes and smiling, showing all 32 teeth when things are great,

and he's this exceptional personality when they're winning. He's the same way all the time. So if you're going to be pouty, if you're going to be distant, if you're going to be, you know, whatever, then do it all the time, basically. Don't just have these swings of emotion that confuse people. Because if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Youngsters know that. Absolutely, Brad.

I think that's a great phrase. There's nothing wrong with being upset when you lose, but you still have to go out. And I'll say this, Brad, and you knew the man better than obviously Terry and I did, but you never saw Steve McNair, who was physically a similar player, big, strong, physical, tough guy, super arm. You never saw Steve McNair do those kind of things. He was the same guy, basically, win or lose. He might be a little upset because of a loss, but he never acted that way in front of the

camera. And I think that's what Cam needs to be a little bit more like is what Steve McNair was. Yeah, I mean, put it this way. Steve was a man's man, though. You know what I mean? Steve was a guy that, you know, he played the game his way. It wasn't for anybody else.

He didn't have to, you know, righeo the crowd with his, you know, antics. He just, you know, threw up his Omega signs and went back to the huddle. You know, that's just the way that Steve played the game. And, look, to each his own, okay? But when you start to affect the team negatively because, you know, the way that you deal with things as a leader is immature, then, you know, I guess it's one thing we have to just kind of accept is like, you know what, look, this is part of the first nine.

If we're going to cut them, it's not going to happen. But regardless, you think that maturity will come in at some point in time. And he'll grow up and look back at what he was doing as a youngster and be like, man, I can't believe what a bonehead that was. It's time to wrap up things today. And as always, we end the show with our final thoughts. And, Brad, take it away with your final thought on the day. You know, the Titans are on, I say, new precipice our final thoughts. And Brad, take it away with your final thought on the day. The Titans

are on, I'd say, new precipice because it's been, what, 2011 since they've at least come even close to winning, to getting a lead in the division. They're coming off of back-to-back wins, something that we haven't seen here in Tennessee in quite a while.

Marcus is definitely taking some of these things that he's been able to accomplish as of the past couple of weeks and really use them as fuel. And he's obviously, in my opinion, improving from week to week, but I think that he shows even more improvement when he makes little mistakes and even makes less and less mistakes as the season goes on. Because that's what's going to come down to. We talked about mistakes earlier in the segment.

When Marcus doesn't make mistakes, this team is almost unbeatable. I'm looking forward to his progress. It's good to see that the team is not moving to Buffalo where John Bon Jovi lives. Terry, your final thoughts on the day. My final thought is about how the Titans should win this game on Sunday. I'm not saying that they will win, but I'm saying they should win. When you look at this matchup, yes, I know it's the Indianapolis Colts, and for the Titans, that's like putting Alabama uniforms on a high school team and sending them out to play Tennessee.

It's just, you know, there's a fear factor that goes on there, the intimidation factor. But it's time for the Titans to move past that. You look at the numbers. Andrew Lux has sacked 23 times already. The Titans have 12 sacks in the last two games. That's an advantage for the Titans. The Colts are defense, melted down at the end of the game against the Texans,

giving away a ball game that they could have, should have, and had won. But if you're the Titans, it's time to go out this week and show the Indianapolis Colts that you're not the same team you have been, that you are the better team on the field on Sunday. And the only way to do that is to put it in the W column. My final thought for the day, and let me start by saying, we like Jon Bon Jovi. It's nothing personal for any Bon Jovi fans out there.

It's just the rumor that's been floating around, obviously, and we joke about it. And, you know, if it happens, it happens. But I don't think it's going to happen. But never say never, stranger things have occurred in the NFL. My final thought. Hey, Greg, we like Peyton Manning, too, but we ain't selling it to him, either. Absolutely.

There you go. Peyton and John together, maybe, and we will talk about that when it happens. Final thought for the day is the Titans just have to continue doing what they're doing. Go to practice today. Go to practice Thursday and Friday. Continue to improve. Take care of the little things,

the details. Come out on Sunday. This is a very winnable game, as Terry mentioned. It's a game that they probably should win. It's a game that they are favored in, and you just have to take care of your business, win this football game, and then worry about moving on to Jacksonville, stack them one on top of the other, get wins, and move forward. That's going to do it for us today.

We hope you've enjoyed it. We'll see you Thursday. You've been listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day.