Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Oct.4- It's Tuesday and we go Four Downs & More.

Episode Date: October 4, 2016

It's Tuesday so we go Four Downs and more as we examine the firing of special teams coach Bobby April #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 with your host, Terry McCormick of Titan Insider, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titan Pro Bowl left tackle, Brad Hopkins. It's Tuesday. We've got our current news segment coming up. And of course, every Tuesday we go four downs and a lot of interesting things today in those four downs, Terry McCormick.

But let's start with the current news. And, of course, that means Bobby April, the firing of the special teams coach yesterday, announced by the Tennessee Titans after his special teams unit gave up basically 10 points in the loss to Houston on Sunday. Yeah, Coach Mike Malarkey said yesterday that he just was not seeing the progress that he needed to see as a special teams unit. In explaining April's firing, he said that they didn't look markedly better than they had been the previous couple of years. And that certainly was evident on Sunday when they had this 12-minute on the field penalty during the punt return that allowed the Texans to put their field goal unit back on the field and get three points.

And then also late in the game, the low-line drive punt from Brett Kern and the Titans unable to cover on special teams, and he goes virtually untouched in the end zone for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown. So Bobby April out and Steve Kaufman in as the Titans' new special teams coach. And obviously we'll delve into those two, April's firing and Hoffman's hiring, in two of the four downs today. We'll give you a preview of what that's going to be.

But other current news for today, Antoine Woods, the defensive tackle that knows tackle that most everyone, yourself and I, Terry, included, thought to have a real shot at making the roster in training camp, did make the practice squad, but he was released last week in favor of wide receiver Jordan Leslie, who came in, spent one week on the practice squad. He's now gone. Antoine Woods returns to the practice squad for the Titans. Right. I think this was a move made made basically precipitated by Al Woods' injury. Al Woods is going to be out three or four weeks at least with a calf injury

that was sustained in Sunday's game. So Angelo Blackson is going to move over, take over the nose duties. Austin Johnson, who's been inactive for three of the four games thus far this year, will be active over the next few weeks. And they needed another body on that defensive line to help out in practice to be on the scout team. And so Antoine Woods is back and Jordan Leslie is out. Some injury updates. Of course, there are three players you mentioned, Al Woods and his injury. Also, Denora Searcy missed last week because of an injury, as well as Cody Riggs. Updates on those three gentlemen. Well, it looks like, as I mentioned earlier, Al Woods is going to be out

possibly up to a month. And then with the other two guys, the news is a little bit better. Denora Searcy, who had a high ankle sprain and was in a walking boot last week, was out of the boot yesterday. Looks like he won't practice on Wednesday, but the Titans are hopeful that he might get on the practice field sometime before this week is up. And same thing with

Cody Riggs and his hamstring injury. He probably won't practice on Wednesday, but the Titans are confident that he might be able to practice sometime before this week is over. And so there is at least a reasonable chance that one or both of those guys might be active this week. And if not, they probably would be back by the next game against the Cleveland Browns. Now, Cody Riggs was an interesting name because a lot of people speculated that he might have been the gunner on that punt return touchdown for Houston

had he been active in place of Valentino Bryant, who got washed to the inside, obviously gave up the edge there to Will Fuller. So that is an addition returning if Riggs can come back on the special teams where he does most of his work. Yeah, Riggs is one of their better special teams players. I think that's where he made his mark with this team in his first season last year. Came back, made the roster again this year. Now he was released for one week when they needed a roster spot elsewhere

once they had claimed Josh Klein. But Riggs quickly brought back to the active roster. He's been one of their core special teams guys around here now for a couple of seasons, and I think him not being available to them on Sunday kind of reared its ugly head because, as you mentioned, Valentino Blake got pushed to the inside as he was going down trying to cover the punt,

and it opened up the lane for Will Fuller to take it to the end zone. And certainly having perhaps DeNora Searcy back as well on the active roster, injury-free, will be a bonus going into this next stretch of games, which we'll cover that in one of our down segments as well. But the Titans need all hands on deck. This is a team that really can't stand to have the amount of injuries that they've had so far this year. And you mentioned Riggs hamstring. There's another one of those. There've been far too many hamstrings this year, haven't there? Yeah, that seems to be the injury bug that

is going to bite this year is the hamstring injury. And, you know, he's about the fourth guy that's had a hamstring injury. And the good news is that, you know, guys like Delaney Walker, and the good news is that guys like Delaney Walker, Derek Morgan, and finally Kendall Wright have all come back and are back in playing now, but Riggs out with that hamstring injury last week and it remains to be seen if he's going to be able to go this week. I know we've talked about it here on this podcast, but has it been addressed by the Titans and by Mike Malarkey specifically about why they feel like there's been so many of these hamstring injuries this year?

I know I haven't heard anything from him on that subject. No, it's not anything that's been broached yet in terms of why there's been so many hamstring injuries. I think maybe that's something that can be brought up this week, but obviously it has been an issue. I think a lot of it is probably just coincidence, because last year there were MCL sprains that three or four different players suffered and cost them time, including Marcus Mariota with two different MCL sprains last year.

So I think sometimes it's just the way it runs. You get a rash of injuries and it all is either at one position or it's all one type of injury that seems to happen. and it all is either at one position or it's all one type of injury that seems to happen. Football is back, and SeatGeek is the smartest, easiest way to find tickets for the games you want to see up close and in person this season. There's nothing like being in the stadium for the biggest plays of the year, and with SeatGeek, it's never been easier to get the seats you want for a great value. SeatGeek has the best deal on every ticket in the house, wherever you want to sit,

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And I've got a question to pose to you, and it's kind of a four-parter here. Is Bobby April being kind of made a scapegoat potentially? Is this a panic move? Is it an indication of something perhaps deeper that's wrong with this team? Or was it the right move to make? something perhaps deeper that's wrong with this team, or was it the right move to make? Well, I think it was probably a scapegoat move of those four options there.

I do think that the Titans' special teams have been a sore spot on this franchise for a number of years, and certainly not all of that is Bobby April's fault. It existed long before he got here, and it's going to be interesting to see if Steve Hoffman can eradicate that and get the Titans special teams units back to playing better and certainly more penalty-free football. But I think what happened with Bobby April was that it's the old Houston thing. Last year they went down to Houston.

Ken Wisenhunt was the head coach. He was not max protecting to help sack Mettenberger out. Mettenberger was sacked seven times, and the Titans were embarrassed. And on Amy Adams' trunk, put her foot down. Wisenhunt was fired two days later. This year, special teams unit cost the Titans 10 points, essentially cost them the football game

down in Houston, and Bobby April has shown the door. So I think some of it may be a little bit reactionary. Some of it may be, I don't know, maybe it's just coincidence that it's happened in Houston both years, but it seems like that in regards

to where this team is, those things seem to be magnified when they go down to play Texas. And Bobby April paid the price for it on Monday. Well, now this is, as you said, been something that has been wrong with the Titans for several years. It's not just something that occurred this season under Bobby April. The Titans really have had issues with special teams in a lot of areas, maybe not the same one every week,

but it seems like it's been kind of consistent over the last two or three seasons where they've had a breakdown in coverage at some point in time, had obviously Brett Kern got the punt blocked, fortunately got bailed out on that, and actually I thought he was injured when that happened, so that was good news that he wasn't injured. But these things have kind of been going on, and certainly the return game has been anemic for the Titans,

especially in the last two-plus seasons, the last two years prior to this year. And even this year, even with the return of Mark Mariani to take over that role, they're still not getting a lot out of the return units. No, they're still not getting a lot out of the return units. No, they're not. And I think, you know, some of that is the fact that, you know, the league is, you know, kind of taking returns, especially kickoff returns, out of the equation in large part, you know, by having more touchbacks and they're trying to have less injuries on kickoffs

and kickoff returns, things of that nature. But you're right. Titans' special teams unit have been subpar for a number of years. And I think when you look at it, Bobby April was brought in here and he was charged with fixing that. And when Mike Malarkey didn't see any improvement in his estimation, then he decided to make the change. He said the decision was made by him and him alone.

We don't know if ownership or John Robinson had any input into, you know, this decision being made. My guess is they were probably consulted when they were told, you know, when Malarkey told them of what his intentions were. Now, I mentioned this in the open in the question. Was this the right move? Well, I think it's a shake-up move. You know, it can be the right move. I think, you know, if Hoffman gets these guys to play better, and a lot of times, you know, it's kind

of like in any time you have a coach firing in the middle of the year, there's a short-term effect of it. You know, you can't fire 53 players so you fire a coach, you know, to try and send the message that, hey, things have to get better. So I think maybe that's what malarkey in part was trying to do there. And so maybe the players are now kind of on notice to say, hey, we better get this done or if we don't get this straightened out, you know, we may be out of here by the end of the year. Moving on to second down, what can you tell us about Steve Hoffman,

who takes over as the special teams coach? Well, Steve Hoffman was with the Kansas City Chiefs before coming to the Titans in 2013. So he's been here for several years. Mike Malarkey worked with him, he said, in Miami prior, when they were both assistants on the staff there. And he's a guy who has been a special teams coordinator with the Chiefs and with the Raiders. So he has experience.

Most of his experience is working with kickers. So, you know, Ryan Suckup and Brett Kern both spoke very highly of him. And they believe that he knows what to do, that he can come in and help get this unit straightened out and maybe, you know, help them in some areas that are glaring weaknesses. I think most notably the punt return and the kickoff return units, probably the weakest areas of this group, although it was the punt coverage unit that certainly let things down in Sunday's ballgame.

Moving on to third down, we want to talk about Marcus Mariota and some interesting stats that we've uncovered, Terry, and it has to do with his performance from under center or in the shotgun so far this season. And here are the numbers. When Marcus has been in the shotgun, he is completing 63.3% of his past attempts, three touchdowns, one interceptionception his quarterback rating 90.9 wow that's not bad you know i think it shows that uh you know just what we think about marcus

mariotta is that he's most comfortable in three receiver set and shotgun uh spreading the field being able to run and have a roll out throw the ball on the move. I think, you know, that's probably his comfort zone dating back even to his college days at Oregon, you know, and the Titans have not done much of that this year. I think they've been a lot of times at their best, and you saw in the fourth quarter of the Detroit game, you know, when he was able to go no huddle, get in the shotgun, kind of two-minute offense.

Conversely, under center, he's completing 53.6% of his passes, only one touchdown, four interceptions, his quarterback rating of 50.7. You mentioned the three wide receiver sets. Here's some interesting numbers on that. With three or more wide receivers on the field, he's completing 63.9% of his pass attempts two touchdowns no interceptions 91.4 the qbr with three or less with less than three receivers actually he's completing just 56.8 percent of his pass attempts two touchdowns five interceptions the qbr of 61.4 so the numbers bear

out what you said he is much more comfortable in the shotgun with three, four, five wide receivers even, or tight end guys that can go out into the pass pattern and give him an option where to throw the football. Right. And the problem with that, of course, is the more people that are out in the pass routes. If there are three wide receivers plus Delaney Walker and maybe plus DeMarco Murray in the pass route, that's fewer people to block. And one of the things that the Titans have made a priority this year

is the protection of Marcus Mariota to minimize the number of hits he's taking in the pocket from opposing defenders. So I think when you look at it, the Titans are going to have to do something to find a happy medium here between the pro-style, power-running, smash-mouth style that Mike Malarkey has instituted this offseason to try and protect Marcus Mariota

versus the wide-open, free-wheeling, shotgun, throw-it-all-over-the-place, two-minute-no-huddle type that Mariota thrived in when he was at the University of Oregon and demonstrated some last year as a rookie with the Titans. So I think what you find, they've got to find some sort of healthy mix there and try to get him comfortable again within the confines of the offense that they need to run. I'm going to give you an example or a correlation, I guess.

Last year, the Seattle Seahawks, they had a terrible offensive line, yet they went to more of this spread and Russell Wilson getting the ball out quicker, and all of a sudden this offense took off. Basically what they did was not have Wilson hold the football. It's a predetermined read. He goes, okay, this is where I'm going, throws the football out there, moves it quickly, slows down the pass rush.

They limited the number of hits. I think that's something that the Titans should look at, doing quickly, slows down the pass rush. They limited the number of hits. I think that's something that the Titans should look at doing a little bit more of at times. You've obviously still got to go with the smash mouth because you've got those two great running backs that you can use to do that. But I think they need to incorporate a little bit more of what we saw Seattle do last year to make Marcus more comfortable in passing situations as well. I agree. I think they've got to find some sort of healthy mix there between, you know, what Malarkey

wants to do with DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry and running the football versus what Mariota is best at, which is in the shotgun and the no-hold rolling out and throwing the football on the move. Moving on, it's time for fourth down. Turnaround time for the Titans, Terry, coming up over the next five weeks. They play three games in the next 11 days. They'll play from Sunday, I should say. They'll play Sunday in Miami.

They come home the following Sunday to play Cleveland. And then on the next Thursday night, home versus Jacksonville, plus two more games. There are five winnable games coming up for the Titans in the next five games, and they have got to make some hay with this portion of the schedule. If they're truly going to be a turnaround team, they can't go 1-4 or 0-5 and expect this season to turn into anything, can they? Right. They can't even go 2-3, really.

They're going to have to win at least three of these five, you know, for their sake, they need to win at least four of these five because, you know, here's the thing. You're looking at a Titans team that's one and three and they, you know, are claiming that they're improved. And I think they have improved in certain aspects because they're now more competitive. They're, you know, in a lot more ball games. You know, they're not being blown out 38-10 as they were a lot of times over the last couple of years. But I think when you look at the schedule now, the five teams that they play, which is Miami, Cleveland, the Colts, Jacksonville, and San Diego, those five teams have a combined record of 4-16 so that's where you should be able

to make some hay so to speak you should be able to win some of those games, three of those five are at home you should be able to do some things that maybe to get yourself back into the AFC South race maybe even back into the wild card race

but it starts with putting together a streak. This is a team that hasn't won two in a row in over two years. So they're going to have to put together some sort of winning streak. Now, the problem with that is, yes, you're playing all these bad teams, but these teams that are 1-3 and in Brown's case 0-4, they're probably looking at the Titans the same way the Titans are looking at them. It's a winnable game on their schedule. So the Titans can't just say, oh, we're at home against the Browns.

We're going to win this game. It doesn't work that way. They're going to have to make the concerted effort, cut down on the mistakes, and go out and put together a win streak of sorts over these next five weeks if they want to have any hopes of being better in 2016 rather than having the season go as it did you know the last couple of years and then win you know somewhere between three and five games yeah we saw that a couple of years ago Cleveland came in as a bad football team and the Titans weren't able to get a win at home versus that

same Cleveland team and of course last year up in Cleveland weren't able to get a win at home versus that same Cleveland team. And, of course, last year up in Cleveland, weren't able to get a win versus the Browns, who were a bad football team. So that's certainly a point well taken on that. It's time for our final thoughts. Terry, go ahead and take it away with your final thought on the day. Well, I'm going to go back to, you know, some of what we talked about with Marcus Mariota. I think, you know, it's time for the Titans, you know,

take the reins off of him, to unbridle him just a little bit, because this is a guy that has the potential, has the ability to be a playmaking quarterback. But along that same vein, there have been mistakes. He's made interceptions. I think some of it is because he's being too hesitant, too robotic, trying too hard not to make a mistake, not to, you know,

be in a situation where, you know, he's having to think too much or having to, you know, and not just react and play. They need to let him relax, react and play, take some of the reins off of him, and let him go. My final thought on the day, huge week coming up. This is a must win for this Titans football team. Again, we talked about it just a moment ago. Obviously, these next five games are all winnable, but it starts on Sunday.

You have to go and get that. If you get that first one, then, as Terry said, it's been a while since they've had two in a row. You come back home, you get a Cleveland team the next week. That is a winnable ball game. You get a win at home, which we've talked about on this show. The Titans need to do for their fan base, get a win at home. That means you've got a two-game win streak. Now you're three and three, your record's at 500, and you can look to take the next three games of the schedule of those five weeks versus the Colts in San Diego

and try to build on that win streak going forward. But it's imperative you go to Miami and get the win this week. That's going to do it for us here, Locked on Titans. It's been another great show. Brad will rejoin us on Wednesday. And until then, we'll see you next time, Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans. You are locked on Titans. Your daily Tennessee Titans podcast.

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