Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Rashaan Evans, pass catchers, AFC South wrap-up

Episode Date: October 9, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked On Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? I'm doing alright. What's up, man? Not too much. So today we obviously had a Mike Vrabel Monday press conference, so we'll get into that a little bit. A new addition to the roster. A new old addition, I guess, kind of, to the roster. So we'll talk about that, and then we'll talk about, kind of just checking on the rest of the AFC South in Week 5. Before we do that, I remind you we write for musiccitymiracles.com, where we cover the Titans for SB Nation. So you can check us out there. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb. And you can check out the podcast account at LockedOnTitans.

Alright, so Mike Vrabel press conference on Monday. And, you know, one thing that Vrabel has been really good about is, you know, I think there were a lot of people, and I think I saw somebody saying this today. Maybe it was Kaharski. I can't remember who, but thought that we would get some, like, defensiveness from Vrabel after losses, especially tough losses like we saw on Sunday. You know, and just kind of some snipping back and forth with the media.

And he hasn't really done that. He's been really good in these press conferences. He's been really consistent with his message in talking about correcting mistakes and moving forward and that kind of stuff. So that's been good to see. There's not just, you know, that other kind of distraction around what's going on. So that's been a positive thing. You know, and today he said, look, we need more than what we got basically from everybody besides Brett Kern and Ryan Suckup in the game on Sunday.

So, you know, not singling out anybody, but talking about having more effort. He's not afraid to say something like that, whereas coaches in the past have been afraid, for whatever reason, to admit that type of stuff. So I thought that was good. He's kind of singled out a little bit the touchdown run by Josh Allen and how they needed better effort on that play. If you watch that play, I think Rashawn Evans specifically is a guy that they could have given better effort there and might have been able to stop him short.

And, again, you know, just give the defense another chance to either stop them, force a turnover, you know, whatever it may be. And Rashawn Evans, we didn't talk about this last night, but tweeted after the game about, you know, people being in his mentions talking about, you know, criticizing him about inside linebacker, and he's not even primarily an inside linebacker, or whatever it was that he said. He later deleted the tweet.

It was just stupid. I mean, I don't understand really what the point was. He is an inside linebacker. That's what they drafted him to be. I'm sure he can do other things, but that's his primary job. And he specifically looked like he could have given a better effort on the Josh Allen TD run, had a chance to stop LaShawn McCoy on a run later in the game and just kind of missed him.

So some specific things there that don't necessarily have anything to do with being an inside linebacker, just kind of mistakes that he made in the game. So not really a good look for him for that tweet. And I'm sure, you know, the Braves will hate talking about it, you know, and that kind of mistakes that he made in the game. So not really a good look for him for that tweet. And I'm sure, you know, the Braves will talk to him about it, you know, and that kind of stuff. But so hopefully, you know, they need more from him. You know, he's a guy that was the first-round pick, and I know he missed time and all that kind of stuff.

But he's a guy that they really haven't gotten enough from to this point, and he missed time and all that stuff too. But he's a guy that they're going to need to step up and to be a difference maker, especially when you talk about a guy that's been a first-round pick on. Yeah, especially with Wesley Woodard banged up. He was drafted to be that guy. I'm going to give him a pass.

There's no reason to have high expectations right now considering he missed all of training camp, and he's playing such an important position on the defensive side, you know, on the inside linebacker part. You know, he's in the teeth of that defense. So he's learning on the fly. Didn't have a good game on Sunday. I'm not going to overreact to that.

You know, I'll be the first to tell you I wasn't in love with that pick. But mainly the reason I wasn't in love with that pick was because it wasn't Harold Landry. The Titans ended up getting him anyway. So I think it will come with Evans. But, man, that tweet was bizarre. I would love to know what position he thinks he's supposed to be playing here because he was drafted to play inside.

He wasn't drafted to rush the passer, you know, maybe a little bit on some blitzing downs, but he certainly wasn't drafted to play on the edge. So that was really bizarre. So that was a little eye-opening to me. I'm sure Vrabel, you know, just knowing how he operates, seeing how he's handled the team in a short amount of time, I'm sure he handled that internally. So interested to see his development,

interested to see how long Wesley Woodyard's out, because that's going to be a big loss until he can come back yeah absolutely and then the other i think big note from the press conference was you know the taylor lawan injury um he's having an mri on his foot today and i don't know what the results of that were at this point and i don't know if we will ever know what the results are we'll just kind of have to watch his status in practice as the week goes along. The good news is that Dennis Kelly was able to do some work last week in practice, made the trip to Buffalo. So I think that there was at least a chance he could be active this past Sunday,

which should mean that he will be active on Sunday against Ravens. So if LeJuan can't go, you've got Dennis Kelly out there at left tackle instead of Taylor Merritt. Kelly's obviously still a big drop-off from LeJuan, but not as big of a drop-off as Merritt's is. The thing that sucks about this is now we've played five games, and you've had one game where you had your complete offensive line out there playing together and healthy.

With LeJuan getting hurt in week one, Jack Hoslin obviously didn't come back until the Eagles game. So the Eagles game is the only time you've had all five guys that are supposed to be your starters out there. And so it seems that you're in the second game, LeJuan gets hurt. This sounds like an injury that he's dealt with before. I think he'd only missed one game prior to this year, was for the concussion back in either his rookie year or his second year.

So a guy that's had good luck in the health department, so hopefully this is something he can come back from and be able to be out there because the Ravens are a very formidable defense, and the Titans offensive line is going to need to be at full strength against them. Yeah, it's not really something we talked about. They played a lot of that game without Taylor LeJuan. So, throwing the Merrits into the lineup again, just kind of doing it on the fly, that's kind of been the Titans' M.O. this season.

But it's hard to understate what LeJuan means to this squad. So, I'm sure that hurt the run game. The run game wasn't very good, especially with Deion Lewis in. Derek Henry found some holes, but nothing really substantial. But, yeah, you said it. They haven't been able to really gain some chemistry early on here. They need to string some games together. It's just injury luck, and the Titans haven't had much of it.

But we'll see if they can get that in the future. Because I really want to see this offensive line work at full strength when they understand what they're doing really three, four games in a row. Yeah, and that's the biggest thing is just having that continuity. And, you know, look, we can go through all this, and I'm going rounds and rounds with people on Twitter about Marcus Mario and all that kind of stuff, and he needs to be better. I mean, I don't have any doubt about that.

He's also not getting any help. And then when you look at the offense and the injuries and just the inability to have anything consistent out there, it's just tough for them to be able to do, you know, just a lot of things that they want to be able to do when you're down. I mean, obviously they're going to be without Delaney Walker for the rest of the year, but when you're missing, you know, different offensive linemen every week and Marcus Mariota had the hand injury and all that kind of stuff.

So it's just difficult to really know what they have and what the offense is going to be able to do. So anyway, we'll see how that plays out. And like I said, I think the only indication that we'll get on LeJuan's status will be practice reports and that kind of stuff because we know that Vrabel's not very forthcoming with injury information. So we'll kind of keep an eye on that as we go. All right, and then one more thing that I talked to, you know,

he was asked about, you know, need for help at receiver, that kind of stuff. And he, you know, just basically said John Robinson is evaluating that position, you know, daily, basically, like he does every other position. And so that will kind of lead us into our next conversation. But before we do that, Trevor's favorite sponsor, Blue Chew, is back for another round. BlueChew.com, that's blue like the color blue. And listen, if you're looking for even just something a little extra in the bedroom,

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Again, that's BlueChew.com, promo code LOCKEDON to try it for free. Blue Chew is the better, cheaper, faster choice, and we thank them for sponsoring the podcast. All right, so Anthony Ferkser, Mike's favorite player, is back for, I guess, a second round with this team. You know, was on the initial 53-man roster and then was cut to make room for, I mean, I can't remember whoever it was at this point.

The Titans released Dalen Dawkins when they promoted Ferkser, and I would assume they'll try to bring Dawkins back to the practice squad because they have an open spot there now after calling Ferkser up. Listen, Ferkser is fine. He did some good things in the preseason. I think that he can

probably give them a little something as a pass catcher for this team. It can't be anything less than what the tight ends have given them since Delaney Walker went out. The only thing we've seen from Jonu Smith is drops. The variable did mention Jonu as being good in pass protection in the game on Sunday.

But they need to have some type of threat from that position. Fergster is not known for his blocking. That's not really going to be his thing. But I don't know. Maybe he gives them a better option than Nick Williams or somebody like that where they can have two tight ends on the field. Maybe that can give them some type of a

pass-receiving threat. And then you can be in a three-wide receiver set instead of two. Not that he makes a huge difference, but maybe he gives them a little bit of an upgrade from a weapons standpoint. Maybe. Maybe.

Janu's been so bad. Maybe he's an upgrade over Janu. Janu, it's been shocking. I really thought it obviously was going to be a struggle. He's not Delaney. But he showed us enough last year to where you thought he could be somewhat capable, but he just hasn't been involved in the offense. And the few times that we've seen, you know, the one time it stands out was when Marcus Mariota scrambled and converted the third down.

I wanted to have Johnny drop the pass. So, I don't know. He's been frustrating. Ferkser showed some things in camp, certainly. He also dropped some passes in camp, though. So, I don't think he can be relied upon. I just think they're going to have to add something at receiver. It's just flat embarrassing that Nick Williams, Darius Jennings are Marcus Mariota's fourth and fifth options,

who, you know, they play a bunch. I think I saw Darius Jennings played 35% of the game, and Nick Williams was close to that. So those are important spots. And right now, what the Titans have, just flat, is not good enough. Yeah, that's the biggest thing. I mean, when you talk about, it's just frustrating because there's just not –

there's not enough options out there. And even, listen, when you were talking about your number two and three options being Taewon Taylor, who, I mean, we've seen some flashes of some good things, but it certainly has some issues. Tajay Sharp being the third option, not exactly lighting the world on fire. We talked about this. If you go back and listen to our conversations heading into free agency, I thought they should add a pass catcher.

Now, I know that even the secondary guys, the secondary receivers that were available ended up getting a ton of money, probably quote more than they're worth. But I don't know. It seems like at this point it would have been wise for them to bring in somebody else. Like you said, when you've got, you know, they played 54 offensive snaps on Sunday. Nick Williams played 19, 35%. Derrick Jennings played 8, 15%.

But, you know, really the difference between Nick Williams and Derrick Jennings was Derrick Jennings dropped the big pass last week. So, you know, Nick Williams seemed to kind of, I guess, work ahead of him this week. But they want to have a fourth receiver on the field for 35-plus percent of the snaps. And they need to be better. Now, Des Bryant is the name that keeps coming up, right, because he's still a free agent. He's still sitting out there.

Again, we go back to the thing. Look, we're five weeks into the season. He's not on an NFL roster. There's a reason for that because the Titans are certainly not the only team around the NFL that could use another pass catcher. I mean, his old team, the Cowboys, are worse off at receiving the Titans. And there's plenty of other teams that could use him. At this point, though, I don't know what the harm is in kicking the tires there.

Maybe bringing him in for a workout, seeing what he could do. I don't know if it would be the locker room or whatever it may be. And listen, we've been opposed to Devin Bryant. We were the ones saying they didn't need him when he was first released in Dallas. But at this point, I'm not sure. There's a lot of talk as the NFL trade deadline approaches. You'll see different spots talking about one deal every team should make. I think it was Pro Football Focus or somebody like that

had a post like that earlier last week or whatever it was. And Devontae Parker of the Dolphins has been a huge disappointment out there, hasn't been able to stay healthy. He's had issues when he's been on the field. The Titans have traded for him. That's kind of been the consensus. Again, at this point, I don't know what the harm is. If they were able to give up a late-round pick to bring him in,

certainly people would get too excited about the possibility of him being here if that did happen. But I don't know. I think at this point they need to do something to shake it up a little bit. Yeah, got to do something, anything. Status quo and working. So Parker's interesting, a guy that stays hurt. You know, if you want reliability, which Titans seem to need, he's probably not your guy. But, you know, what else are you going to find out there on the free agent market?

So he's a guy that a lot of people liked coming out in the draft process, a guy that can really get up for the football. He just seemed to float in college at Louisville. So the ability's there, but he can't stay healthy. He can't stay on the field. So would I give up a seven? Probably so. I'd probably, if your scouts feel good about it, if your doctors feel good about it,

if you can determine that he's not going to break in two, I'd kick the tires there. Dez is just, you know, I really didn't think I'd be saying this, but Dez is just seeming better and better to me. I know he struggled with drops. I know he struggled with drops. I know he struggled with separation. But when you're comparing Nick Williams and Darius Jennings to Dez Bryant, I mean, I don't see the harm in kicking the tires there. See what he's got left, bring him in for a tryout, workout.

You know, a veteran president, a guy that might be able to even teach Corey Davis a thing or two. You know, Des Bryant can't do what he used to do, but he knows how to get it done on a high level. So it might not be the worst thing there. Obviously you have to come in with the, you know, mindset of getting his mind right. He's not going to be getting 10 targets a game.

But it would be interesting to see. So I'm not saying it should happen, but I'm saying I'd be open to bringing him in, seeing what he's got left in the tank at the very least. And the other thing, too, is, to be fair, the conversation is different now that Rashard Matthews is not here. We were having that conversation back whenever it was that Dez got released. We were assuming we had Corey Davis and Rashard Matthews is not here. When we were having that conversation back whenever it was that Dez got released, we were

assuming we had Corey Davis and Rashard Matthews and then your three and four were Taewon Taylor and Tajay Sharp. As consistent as Rashard Matthews had been and all that stuff, it's a big difference between where they are now and Rashard Matthews quitting on the team. And so then now Taewon Taylor is forced into the

number two role. Toshie Sharp obviously bumped up, and then you've got Nick Williams, Eric Shanks, whoever. So from that standpoint, it's a different deal. And so I don't know. I just think at this point, you know, it would be wise for them to explore all options. I know that obviously, you know, when Richard left the team two weeks ago,

you didn't have a lot of time at that point to turn around before the Eagles game. I don't know, but I'm going to be disappointed if we don't see them at least bring some guys in. The free agent market, it's not like, again, you're in week six, so it's not like there's all these guys sitting out there that are just dynamic presences that you're going to bring in and are going to change your team. But at this point, you've got to do something. And kicking the tires on one of these guys has been disappointing somewhere else,

you know, for a later on pick or something like that. I just think that, I don't know, it just feels like this team has a chance to be good enough to be a contender in the AFC. They're obviously good enough to be a contender in the AFC South and win the division if they can play well. It just seems like a missed opportunity if you're not going to at least try to do something to upgrade the weaponry. Yeah, I totally agree. It's just embarrassing that we think of Marcus so highly, and this is what he has to work with. You know, that thread that Titans Filmer tweeted out, that just perfectly sums up the season.

You know, Marcus just standing on his head, making play after play after play, only to be rewarded with a drop. You know, he's got to be frustrated. So I don't really buy into the fact that quarterbacks need weapons. The quarterback kind of makes the weapons. But that gum, I mean, how many examples do you need just this year alone? Yeah, and that's the thing. I mean, like you said, there are certainly Peyton Manning could turn guys.

I mean, Brandon Stokely, right, is just kind of the prime example of a guy like that but you know like you said marcus does everything he can to keep that play alive on sunday and you know find nick williams wide open and you can't throw a better pass and all that stuff because even like if you go like you said the titans film room did the the breakdown all the drops and we go back to week one, the Taewon Taylor catch, again, he made it kind of weird, and he's going to the ground. That's kind of a tough catch, but you're not going to ever find an easier catch than what Nick Williams had the opportunity to make on Sunday. So, yeah, it's just at this point they just need to do something,

and I would be surprised if we don't see them make some type of move there this week. So we'll keep an eye out for that. right to finish up the show today we're going to talk a little bit about the rest of the afc south and what they were able to do in week five before we do that we're going to talk about my bookie my bookie has been sponsoring this podcast really as long as we've been doing it um like we've we've said all along where you bet is almost important as who is almost as important as who you bet on and with my bookie you play you win you get paid that's their slogan that's the thing you don't have to worry about doing the run around and all that stuff for your money if you win they're gonna they're gonna

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and then the next moment they're like, oh my gosh, we had a quarterback, blah, a quarterback blah blah blah and we talked about that about how they should have made a run and alex smith or somebody like that in the offseason that they could have actually managed their offense but so you know the titans jaguars are still tied titans obviously on the tiebreaker at this point after they beat the jaguars a couple weeks ago um they like listen jaguars went to kansas city and got boat raced. The Chiefs are really good. We talked about it last night. I mean, they're, you know, one of really two teams in the NFL that are

consistently good week in and week out. The Jaguars, I think, are still going. It's going to be the Jaguars and the Titans at the end, I think, that are going to be in the mix. But, you know, again, we just see week in and week out their upside is capped as long as they're running blake bortles out there at quarterback yeah you're not keeping up in the modern day nfl um you know jaguars are not gonna keep pace with the rams uh it's just not gonna happen uh i don't care how good your defense is. Rams, Chiefs, guys like that, teams like that, even Patriots.

You saw it last year. They had a couple bounces go their way. Just not built to win teams that score points like that. You never know when bad Blake Bortles is going to show up. So they're going to always be handicapped until they get rid of him. Yeah, I was impressed with the Colts. What they did up in Foxborough, I know that game got away from them late. But considering all the people they had down,

they lost, I think they had 44 healthy guys go up there. They lost three or four more during the game. Andrew Luck had nobody to throw to. They kind of closed the gap in the second half and showed a little something. So that group might be something to deal with. Andrew Luck is doing it by himself, you know, like he tends to do. But Andrew Luck looks like Andrew Luck again. And that's probably bad news for the AFC South in the long term.

Yeah, and their offensive line is really bad. So, I mean, I think that's the thing that's going to keep them from being able to contend this year. But like you said, Andrew Luck is – I hate him. Like, I really, really do. I hate his voice. I hate his voice. I hate looking at him.

Like, the whole thing is just bad. And the Titans can't beat him, you know. Hopefully they'll be able to this year. But, you know, they finally got two wins against the Colts last year when he was obviously out for the year. But, yeah, he's good. And he obviously still has the issues going downfield. And they're banged up.

Like you said, they didn't have T.Y. Hilton. They were down a bunch of starters on defense. And they got a couple more guys hurt during that game. So, I mean, I think their lack of depth and their lack of offensive lines is what's going to, I mean, I think their lack of depth and, like I said, their lack of offensive lines is what's going to keep them out. I think the Texans are interesting. You know, they got an overtime win against the Cowboys.

The Cowboys are not good either. But, you know, the Texans, I think they, you know, Deshaun Watson, it looks like he's finally starting to settle in a little bit coming off that ACL injury. You know, they obviously got the weapons with, you know, Hopkins and Fuller. And they got the new kid, Kiki Kute, or however you say his name. You know, it's kind of emerged. So I think that, you know, they're a team that I think is going to be good. And they've just kind of gotten off to a little bit of a slow start.

But the Titans obviously got a big win against them when they weren't completely healthy. So, you know, it's going to be interesting to watch. I really think that, you know, you've got three really good quarterbacks in this division, in Mariota, in Watson, in Luck, and then you've got obviously the great defense in Jacksonville. So I think that the division as a whole is going to be up,

just in what they were last year. But I still think the Titans have – I don't know. I think the Titans, when you look at talent on the roster, on both sides of the ball and all that kind of stuff, I really do think they're kind of at the top there. And I just think at the end of the day, it's going to come down to the Titans and the Jaguars, just because I think they have the least efficiencies of the rest of the league.

Because, I mean, the Texans' offensive line is really bad, too. And so how long can they keep Deshaun Watson healthy? You know, I think that's going to be an issue for them. But, I mean, do you agree that, like, I think the Titans and the Jaguars are the two most talented teams in the division? Yeah, I think that across the to be an issue for them. Do you agree that the Titans and Jaguars are the two most talented teams in the division? Yeah, I think across the board, Houston's probably better than both teams offensively. But across the board, it's Titans and Jags. You touched on it.

Offensive line is going to keep Houston down, I think. Watson's going to have to run for his life. I'm just not sure he can stay healthy because he's going to have to run for his life. I'm just not sure he can stay healthy because he's going to be under constant attack. They have no run game. Even when Lamar Miller plays, they have no run game at all. So it's all on Deshaun Watson. It's all on DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller and Kiki Coutet like that. Yeah, I don't see that formula winning them any more than what eight games so i

think jacksonville tennessee are going to challenge for 10 so um i think you're dead on on that again the wild card is colts how quickly can they get healthy how much can andrew luck do on his own again a poor offensive line so um i still think the Titans are in a good spot. You know, it's hard to get that Buffalo loss out of your head. But, you know, we saw it last year. Titans put out clunkers and then went out and beat some really good teams down the stretch. So it just seems to happen across the NFL.

Any given Sunday, anybody can beat anybody. You fast forward one more week and everything's different again. So we'll see how that changes this week. Yeah, and I think that's going to be the thing is how they bounce back this week. And obviously we'll talk a little more about the Ravens in the next couple of shows. But that's going to be, to me, the biggest test because you've got the Ravens this week, then you travel to London to play the Chargers next week.

They need to get one of these next two, and I feel like the Ravens game is the one that's a lot more winnable at home. All that kind of stuff. All that stuff's going for them, so I think they really need to get this one, and then if you can go to London and beat the Chargers, that's great, but if you go over there and lose to them, it's not the end of the

world. The Chargers are a really good team, so we'll obviously keep an eye on how that goes. That'll do it for tonight. We'll have a crossover episode tomorrow with the guys from the Ravens. Be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, check out musicandmiracles.com. We'll have a lot more stuff about

this game. I'm looking forward to the Ravens game. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb. The podcast account is at LockedOnTitans. Wherever you get your podcasts, search at LockedOnTitans. And then wherever you get your podcasts, just search out LockedOnTitans, subscribe to the show, and get to those episodes as soon as they're available. For Terry,

this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to LockedOnTitans, and we will talk to you again tomorrow.