Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On TItans- Oct.24- Monday we talk Titans in the aftermath of the loss to Indy.

Episode Date: October 24, 2016

It's Monday and we go in depth in our Offense &Defense segments as we look at the Titans Sunday loss to the Colts. #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. 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. Guys, it is Monday, and as always on Monday, we have our current news segment, along with our look at offense and defense for the Tennessee Titans and what to say and where to start because it was a gift,

an early Christmas present, if you will. The Titans had everything, guys, set up for them to have an opportunity to win a football game and get over the 500 mark for their season record, yet unable to do it 34-26, the final score. The Colts come and steal one. Yeah, it's, you know, if you're a Titans fan, you look at this and you look at it as an opportunity loss because this was a game that should be in the W column. They were up 23-20 with 6.02 left. Now you knew Andrew Luck's ability to take the Colts down the field and, you know, put them in position to either tie or win the game. And he did that. And the Titans had their

share of defensive lapses and then turned the ball over on the ensuing series on offense. So when you add it up, it's a lot like, you know, if you look at the college level, the struggles that one program has against another, like, for instance, Tennessee against Alabama. They've lost, you know, ten straight times, just like the Titans have now lost ten straight times to the Colts. And at a certain point, a team just gets your number. And I think right now that's where the Titans are with the Colts. Greg, Terry, I'll tell you what,

for a team that is this dysfunctional right now, there's just too many positives to take away from the game. Now here's a contest where Andrew Luck has never lost to the Tennessee Titans since his induction into the NFL, but yet they play them down to the wire, and unfortunately, like we've seen so many times this year, a mistake takes them out of winning a ball game. Now I'm not trying to put this all at the feet of Marcus Mariota, nor will I, because I still do believe 100% guys that he is the answer to the things that plague them.

But he's also the problem that plagues them, too, in just simple ball security. It seems like a young man's issue. He needs to get that shorn up quicker than later. And certainly, guys, we'll talk more offensively and defensively about how this game unfolded as we go along in today's episode. But two things of concern, I guess, for the Titans. They were injury-free for the most part coming in, but had two players carted off, literally, off the field today,

one of those being Parrish Cox. We pretty much know what his issue was. He took a shot, friendly fire, got hit by Sean Spence on a tackle. It's a concussion situation. The other, Quentin Spain, the starting left guard, left on a cart, was unable at the time when they stood him up to put any pressure on his right leg. Don't know if it's knee, ankle, what exactly it might be. But the Titans now down at his knee. Two players injured that certainly would be big losses if they miss any time

or certainly extended periods of time with those injuries. Unfortunately, there are two key positions, Terry, because one, you're talking about offensive line where cohesion is paramount. Obviously, consistency comes from those guys playing the same reps together. Parrish Cox, in that rotation that Dick LeBeau is starting to implement now with that back end of having fresh bodies on the field, obviously if you were one man short, it does help the fact that you've got other guys that can get on the field and actually do a good job because they've been in the rotation.

But yet and still, you don't want to see your starting corner go down, especially when they've had issues solidifying those ex-receivers that have been giving us problems. Yeah, and it did seem like that once Parrish Cox went down, even though there were a couple times he got picked on before that, once he went down and the Titans were a man down at the cornerback position, that life got a little bit easier for Andrew Luck and the Colts' offense in terms of being able to spot open receivers down the field. I think real quick also, another observation I made was the 50-50 balls.

Greg and I were talking here just a second ago, Terry, and we were just talking about a second ago, Terry, and we were just talking about when the ball is not necessarily designated to one receiver coming out of a route or a break or something like that and it's up there for anybody to grab, we have to high point those balls and come down making big plays like, unfortunately, teams are able to do against us. Yeah, this is one of the things, too, that I was concerned with coming out of camp. You know, we've talked about this a little bit in the past, but there are three types of receivers

in the NFL in my mind. There are possession receivers, which you know they're guys who are going to move the chains, they're going to catch the ball, probably not a lot of run after catch with those guys. Then there are your speedy guys who create separation either on the route or once they catch the ball and make a move, they can turn a 5-yard play into a 25-yard play very easily. And then you've got your big physical-type receivers, guys who go up, catch the football at its highest point, win those 50-50 balls like you were talking about.

To me, the Titans really, other than perhaps Kendall Wright flashing occasionally, they're a team loaded with too many possession receivers and not enough guys who either create separation or win 50-50 balls. Touche. You're listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network. And, guys, as we say that, we transition into offense now. We'll talk a little bit about, obviously, what went on. There were several things that you can look at in this game and say that was part of the reason that the Titans lost this game on Sunday.

Obviously the biggest, and we touched on that, Brad, in the opening segment talking about the current news, was the fumble. Marcus Mariota once again stripped of a fumble late in the game. The Titans trailing but had the ball in just under two minutes left with a timeout, a chance to drive and get in position to score what would have been a game-winning touchdown. And yet he loses the ball security, has the ball swatted away. It's picked up by Robert Mathis of the Colts,

and he returns it for a touchdown. And then obviously at that point in time, all hope was lost. Robert Mathis is still on the field? Shoot, I played against this guy like ten years ago. Real quick, Terry, before I take it to you, is when I look at their efficiency, they were 60% on third down, which means they stayed on the field. They converted some third and seriously long balls today, which obviously was a compliment to what they were doing offensively.

I just think that obviously the inconsistency comes when you think you're about to make a play and then they make one on you. And you talk about the poke out, basically. He's patting the ball, patting the ball. Next thing you know, some guy sticks his hand there while he's being blocked and Robert Mathis scoops it, and next thing you know, the ball game's over. That's just not something you plan on. But I thought for the most part, Terry, they were pretty effective moving up and down the field.

They were, and a lot of that, I think, was due to DeMarco Murray, who had a nice game, 25 carries, 107 yards. In fact, there were a couple times on third and short the Titans opted to throw the football. I wish they would have just stuck it in number 29's gut and said, go find me two yards or three yards or whatever it takes to move the chains. Here's something else I want to talk to you about, Brad, and I think this is something that has not been talked

about enough. And it's the way Marcus Mariota is throwing the football. When he misses, a lot of throws are missing high and wide. Now, I know from coaching baseball that when a pitcher is struggling, that means he's not striding out far enough. If he's missing high and wide, he's not striding out far enough, which could mean either he's developed a bad habit, there's something impeding him, or there's some kind of minor tweak or injury that's keeping him from being able to do his normal routine in terms of how he throws the football. Now, obviously the Titans have pinned some of this on the receivers,

saying that Marcus is putting the ball in the right spot and they're not getting to the right spot or they're being held up on their route or not running the right depths, those sorts of things. But there were a couple times today that the ball sailed high and wide out of bounds. So I know Andre Johnson's route is not carrying him out of bounds. Do teams sometimes, and this may have happened early in Steve McNair's career before he became a polished passer, head coaches it seems like sometimes alibi for a starting quarterback when he's not exactly in the groove at times

and they point the blame other places because they don't want to ruin that guy's confidence or his psyche or put too much on him even though he's the leader of the team do you think that's the case because i know you've been you're not in this titans locker room but you've been in titans locker rooms past that is a brilliant deduction terry but knowing the person that we know marcus mariotta to be if there were to be some blame at his fault he would take it even to mark mike malarkey stood up there and said terry greg brad it's the receiver's fault it's not marcus's marcus would say au contraire mon frere i had something to do with the you know with their issues too

and that's a good quality to have i'm saying but there is something to that i think that a lot of instances he's aiming you know i'm saying it's like he has a spot that he needs to get you to throw that ball and sometimes when he's inaccurate it's while he's doing it while mobile. Not a lot of guys are pinpoint accurate like Aaron Rodgers when they're being chased out of the pocket. When he has time to throw and actually can go through a progression and have a nice follow through with his ball, he's extremely accurate. Look at the one that he hit DeMarco Murray in the back for in the flat when DeMarco wasn't looking for a simple it wasn't a dig, it was just a simple in the flat pass

and DeMarco Murray wasn't looking for it. I think that is more indicative of some of the things that plague this offense. Them just not being on the same page all the time. So a number of guys maybe even cut a route off because they didn't know the ball was coming their direction. Maybe they're thinking it was going someplace else. You've always got to be thinking that that ball is coming your direction, even if you know you're the third progression in that whole series. You see what I'm saying? So I think that it's just one of those things of them understanding where they're going with the football, what they're trying to do on certain downs, and if Marcus needs to communicate that to his guy, like give him an ear nod or something like, yeah, it's coming to you. Run that skinny post. I'm going to hit you in stride.

Let that happen, because I've seen Steve do that in more cases than not, where it's just a simple thing where it might not have been by a play design, but they're seeing something structurally in that defense that they can take advantage of and they'll say to someone, he'll look at Drew or Derek and say, yeah, go. I got your hitch. Next thing you know, boom, we got a big play. Those little things will come as this team continues to play together. Two things that I want to ask because there were two items today offensively that I felt like were on a milk carton for the Titans. And one I've said a couple of times is Derrick Henry.

This is a second-round draft pick. You gave him the ball one time on one carry. You threw the football to him late on that last drive where you're trying to go down the field. The guy, and not to make excuses, but he's been standing on the sideline for the most part cold all day. And you bring him in and put him in a clutch situation, and he was unable, and he should have caught the football.

That's on him, but still, you're not giving the guy opportunities, and the second thing, guys, is where was Marcus Mariota running the football today? I know they don't want to overuse him in that aspect of the game, but he didn't run the football today at all. There was not a time that he took off on a designed run to put pressure on the Colts outside to force them to do something. Terry, is it a situation more so where they see this running offense is pretty productive, second only to the Dallas Cowboys in yards per game?

Shoot, DeMarco Murray finished with 107 yards today like you just talked about. So why would they need to kind of change it up if it isn't broke? I know this is an excitement about getting a Heisman Trophy winner, you know, running the rock, but DeMarco Murray seems to be doing a phenomenal job, Jerry. He is. But I kind of see Greg's point here. I would like to see Derrick Henry, if you're going to have him active on Sunday,

he's not a special teams player. And if you're going to have him active on Sundays, you might as well have him carry the ball seven or eight times to see what he can do with it because, you know, he's a big guy. He can go between the tackles if you need a third and one. As far as Mariota running the football, I'd be completely there. That needs to be a designed element. You know, last year the Carolina Panthers led the league in rushing offense.

Why? Not because of their running backs necessarily, not because of their offensive line, but when you added Cam Newton's yards to what their running backs were getting, it made that offense much more potent, and the Titans are going to have to be the same way. And when you talk about Derrick Henry, he's a second-round draft pick. You're getting great production out of Jack Conklin, your first-rounder.

You had three second-round draft picks. Only one of those guys is even contributing on the field. Austin Johnson has been inactive. Derrick Henry is dressed. You're getting nothing out of him. Kevin Dodd is dealing with an injury. He's had some foot issues. So, really, you're not getting much out of those three second-rounders at all,

and Henry has no excuse other than the fact that they're not using the guy. I think the only excuse that they could actually use would be the example that you brought up. Even though he should have caught that ball, he didn't. When you look at DeMarco Murray and how they use him in the pass run options, this guy's pretty good. Got those nice soft hands, can find the holes in the zone, sit down where he needs to be, smart player like that,

can also catch and get vertical immediately. They never have asked Derrick Henry to do that, to be that kind of person. Now, maybe that's just by schematically, by design, how they're actually playing it. Maybe a little more conservative and not allowing Marcus to get out and run. But I think essentially, like you just talked about, when they evolve that offense into being multiple

and having multiple threats and that almost like the read option or the triple option where you've got to defend the running back, the fullback and the quarterback, at least giving the defense something to think about. Marcus' ability to run might at least loosen up the box and help people, or at least on the offensive side, get down the field. Your point is well taken on DeMarco Murray. The guy is special. He is still one of the best backs in this league, regardless of his age. But Terry and I, and you were

out some at training camp, we saw the Titans do different things with Derrick Henry. I don't buy the guy can't catch the football. Now, he butchered that one today without doubt, but he caught the football when asked, and he wasn't asked much at Alabama. But, Terry, I don't want to give away all the plans or secrets here, but they even lined him up in training camp in the slot as a receiver and threw the football 20 yards down the field. The guy can catch the football. There are things that they did with him in training camp that we're not seeing in the season that gets

you another playmaker with speed on the field. I've seen him use him in a toss sweep a lot of times, too, when it seems like a big body will be more effective between the guards, right, Terry? But yet he does have that deceptive speed, and when you take a wrong angle on him and he puts that stiff arm on you, you're going to be eating grass. This is a guy that's pretty effective. He just needs to get more reps to be more fluid in the offense here. Yeah, I would agree with that. I think when you look at, you know, the way that –

when you look at the way this offense is structured, it's based on running, based on running the football. And if you've got a second guy who can come in and spell DeMarco Murray for a series, why not go with it? Yeah, that's a good point. Let's move along, guys, and talk about the defense. And obviously there are some issues there in particular. And, guys, I wrote an article that appears on Titan Insider about the secondary.

This is just a bad secondary. I'm going to come out and say it. I understand that they have had moments where they have done some things, but in the last two weeks at home, we've seen this team give up almost 700 yards passing, 336 yards to Cody Kessler, a rookie with the Browns. The Browns have who is a wide receiver that anybody has ever heard of, and no disrespect to any of their players.

I don't mean that at all. But they don't have star-studded wide receivers. There's no Antonio Brown on that team. They had Terrell Pryor, who's a nice receiver. He's developing. He could one day be a superstar, but right now he's just an average NFL receiver. You look at the Colts. Yes, they had T.Y. Hilton, but that was it. This wasn't Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. They had three tight ends that they used. None of them were Dwayne Allen. And T.Y. Hilton and a cast of three tight ends and two other receivers that you've not really heard of as an NFL player were able to go for 353 yards. Now, granted, Andrew Luck's a big part of that.

But the Titans secondary had far too many times where these guys were running wide open and able to catch passes that they should have been covered on. Greg, I think your point is well taken. And I think part of the thing was with the Titans today, I think they put too much faith in their pass rush and getting there without the blitz. You know, I think when you look, the Colts were max protecting. They had three tight end, two and three tight ends on the field a lot of the time.

They were chipping guys. They were, you know, keeping guys into blocks. Sometimes there were only two or three, two, maybe three guys out in the time. They were chipping guys. They were keeping guys into blocks. Sometimes there were only two or three, maybe three guys out in the pass pattern rather than four or five because they wanted to keep that Titans pass rush off of Andrew Luck and allow the deeper routes to develop.

And this Titans secondary, like you mentioned, they're a little short on speed. And once the protection held up, it allowed T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle or whoever to get down the field for deeper gains, and they burned the Titans several times with that. I think when you look at, like you talked about, putting more of a manufactured pass rush on the field, drawing it up to where you're blitzing, fire zoning, zone dogging, all those things, I think that it makes people almost rotate to fill the vacated spot, because

there's so many times where I saw four guys in the secondary and some dude sitting right in the middle of them making a big catch. I think that that's obviously the difference, though. It's the big plays that we just don't make. We're talking about the defense. We're talking about the lack of turnovers. Good defense, right. Good defense is basically get the ball back for their offense.

We haven't seen those plays, those interceptions, not a one today. Now, fortunately, Marcus Forteota didn't throw any either, so I guess, not a one today. Now, fortunately, Marcus Forte didn't throw any either, so I guess that's a good thing. But yet still, when you see that being the difference, someone making a mistake and someone capitalizing on that mistake, for whatever reason, the other sideline is always capitalizing on the mistakes that the Titans seem to make. Now, far be it for me to criticize Dick LeBeau

because the man has more skins on the wall than anybody else in this league, including Bill Belichick and the Patriots. This guy has seen and done it all. But it looks to me like today, in this one game, in this one instance, when you're not able to get home with the blitzes. They did get to luck, sacked him twice, but they're not getting there regularly. You know they're max protecting. You're getting burnt down the field.

Should you just stop blitzing, let him stand there, try to drop back in coverage, do something different to try to stop that? Or how do you go about doing that? The only way that you can get him uncomfortable is to be making him think about that rush. That pocket's got to be dirty with bodies. You know what I'm saying? With the opposite color jersey. You have to give him something to think about

and no time to go through a progression and find a route. And with that being happening, think about that. The secondary definitely is a benefactor of that, of a duressed quarterback that's trying to throw the ball because it's not going to come out accurately and it's probably going to come into your hands. So it's a two-fold situation. The lack of pass rush and obviously the lack of coming up with the big plays when the ball is sent up in the air for anybody to catch it. At some point in time, it's got to flip for the Titans for them to be able to take advantage. Yeah, you're right. And I think it's a little bit misleading. You talk about this has been, you talk about this has been a top 10 defense and statistically

that has been the case because it's based on the number of yards allowed per game. But I think the bigger thing is not getting enough turnovers. You know, the last two games, they've not gotten any turnovers and they've come out of that one andone. And when you think about that, they're probably fortunate to come out one-and-one when you're not generating any turnovers. Now, I think, obviously, if you look at the teams around the league that are the best defenses, what do the Denver Broncos do? They create pressure and turnovers for an offense that's really limited. What do the Minnesota Vikings do?

They create turnovers and pressure and points for an offense that's breaking in a new quarterback in Sam Bradford and has lost Adrian Peterson. This Titans defense, really, in my mind, they're probably a player or two short. And I think that probably is in the secondary and maybe one more linebacker in terms of being able to be an elite defense like they want to be and like they need to be. I think they've got some really

nice players, guys like Arakpo, Morgan, Casey, and Kluge. Those four guys are players that almost any team would like to have. But the other pieces around them have got to step up and start producing and taking advantage of those guys being out there on the field creating havoc. I think that there are maybe some issues with our corners, and there may be some issues with maybe even a linebacker core consistently because if you think about it, Andrew Luck was sacked twice today.

But how many times, Greg, Terry, were they just this close to getting a hand on his jersey, the ball comes out of their hands, and it's a completion. You know, those guys want to be rewarded for their hard work. They're so close to Andrew Luck that they can see the sweat dropping off of his brow, but yet they're still making completions and moving the chains. That just can't continue to happen for the Titans. Absolutely. We are up against the end of our time today, guys.

As always, we conclude our episodes each day with final thoughts. Brad, your final thoughts on today's Titans game. Oh, my gosh. I'm just trying to have you guys be convinced that this isn't time to give up the ship. I mean, I know obviously the same issues are plaguing this team that were there last year, but I think the mentality is different. You know, this team sees itself being able to make those big plays, and just being a step away, Terry, it's frustrating

it is, but I think that there's some quiet optimism that should be held there because this team is better than it was before, even though it does plague itself with making some of the same mistakes. When they eradicate some of those simple mistakes that they've been making, I think you'll see a completely different team, one that you can be happy with. I'm going to go ahead and spin it forward to Thursday night because it's got a short week. Jacksonville Jaguars coming in. Titans coming off a disappointing loss today.

Thursday night's game is must win for the Tennessee Titans. After Thursday night, half of the season will be in the books. They'll either be 4-4 and still in the race in a not-so-great AFC South, or they'll be 3-5 and they might as well start preparing for the draft and free agency next year because if they lose Thursday night to Jacksonville, that puts them 0-3 inside the division, and you can forget about any tiebreakers and things like that. Thursday night, must-see TV, must-win night for the Titans. I will agree with that 100%

before we hand it to you, Greg. I will say this. The Jaguars at home are coming off a 33-16 loss to the Raiders. To the Raiders, mind you, okay? Now, they're a better team than most would have given them credit for at the beginning of the year, but that's a debilitating loss for them down there. Now, they've got to come on the road to play a divisional opponent. Sure, we're not feeling too great about ourselves, but we don't have to travel, and our ball game was a lot closer than theirs was. So I would only hope that there's some quiet optimism that would allow them to say, hey, look, we can rebound from that loss, even though it was a divisional one. It means two, basically, and get this one that we're supposed to win against the Jaguars.

My final thought is that obviously being a short week, the Titans have to go back to work and do some things. And I think the secondary is the issue. Because when you look at Jacksonville, Hearns and Robinson, they're better receivers than what the Colts brought in here today. Now, Blake Bortles is not Andrew Luck. But if the Titans go out and struggle and allow Blake Bortles to stand in the pocket and throw for 300 yards, we're going to be talking Friday morning about another Titans loss.

And as Terry said, three and five, and then you're looking at the draft and free agency. So whatever they do this week in practice, and I know Parrish Cox may likely probably be out this week because of the concussion. If it's serious enough, he's carted off the field. He's probably not going to be ready by Thursday. But whatever they do, it doesn't matter.

If they've got to bring someone up off the practice squad that can help the secondary cover receivers, this is the time to do it. That's the main issue that they've got to fix because these two guys are quality receivers. And if they can't get pass rush and get to Bortles, and as you said earlier, Brad, affect him, get him on the ground, these two receivers can hurt him, and this could be a big loss for the Titans

and they've got to get that fixed if they're going to have anything else and an opportunity to win this game on Thursday that's going to do it for us today hope you've enjoyed it we'll see you again on Tuesday you've been listening to Locked On Titans on the Locked On Podcast Network the world's fastest growing

audio channel you are Locked On Titans your daily Tennessee Titans podcast the world's fastest growing audio channel. You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.