Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans-Sept. 12- The Titans lost their season opener, but what went right, what went wrong and what can we look for moving forward

Episode Date: September 12, 2016

Week one of the NFL seasons is in the books. The Titans lost their season opener, but what went right, what went wrong and what can we look for moving forward 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. And welcome to your daily source for all Titans news with your host Terry McCormick of Titan Insider, Greg Arias, and former Tennessee Titans Pro Bowl left tackle Brad Hopkins. We are locked on Titans, and it's a Monday morning, week two of this podcast.

And Brad, Terry, welcome back. We had a great week last week. We've got another great week coming up this week. But unfortunately, when we start off with current news, we start off and must talk about the Titans losing their season opener yesterday to Minnesota at Nissan Stadium. 25-16 that final score. Yeah, I'll say this. Go ahead.

Go ahead, Jerry. Go ahead. Well, it certainly was a game that the Titans had a chance to win. And for all the world, for two and a half quarters, it looked like they were going to win. And then turnovers, they just let it slip away. Yeah, as a matter of fact, the game was a lot like we prognosticated it would be during the week, fellas,

in that they were going to give the ball to Adrian Peterson. The emphasis would be for the Titans to stop their bell cow back, which they did pretty much for the most part of the day because basically AP only had 19 carries for 31 yards. Sean Hill wasn't that effective, but it definitely was the turnovers, Terry, that were the difference in the ballgame. Oh, there's no doubt about it.

I mean, you look at this Titans team, it's 10-6. They're driving. They're in plus territory down around the 25-yard line or so when Mariota is intercepted by Eric Kendricks. He took it back 77 yards for the touchdown, giving the Vikings their first lead. You know, if the Titans can go ahead and punch that in, then they're looking at leading 17-6, and it's probably game over because the Vikings' offense didn't score a single touchdown yesterday,

but it was their defense that gave them two scores and won the football game for them. In other news yesterday that came out of the contest, and we need to speak about this, of course, yesterday being September the 11th, and we all know the significance and importance to each and every individual of that date, but Avery Williamson, the Titans' inside linebacker, and of course had some specially designed cleats for remembrance of 9-11 that he had talked about wearing. And the NFL, and Brad, you probably can speak to this much better than Terry and I,

having been there and if not having something happen like this to yourself, certainly other guys on the team, the NFL threatened to fine him if he wore the shoes. Well, he decided to go ahead and do it. He wore those shoes yesterday. Absolutely, and it was more about the cause than anything else. I can understand the need and the want for uniformity, especially talking about the NFL and its branding and likenesses and things like that. You can't be wearing affiliations without having gone through the league.

That's the reason why they police that so well. But also the fact that, you know, sometimes those messages can be convoluted. But I think that when you look at the 9-11 commemorative, not only by, you know, Avery Williams himself, but by the league in starting the season on September 11th and having the acknowledgement of the men and women that protect our liberties, it was just Avery Williams doing the same thing, essentially. I think at some point in time he'll have enough support by those guys internally to where, sure, there may be a fine,

but there won't be any terrible repercussions in my opinion, Terry. Yeah. Here's the one thing that I'll say about this, Brad and Greg. And maybe it's a lot like the way the NFL in this regard is kind of the way our government operates sometimes without getting too political. I'd like to see common sense prevail a lot more often sometimes than it does rather than just automatically, you know, the letter of the law. This is this. This is that. You know, I mean, I think when you look at what Avery Williamson, what the intent of what he wanted to do was, you see that it's the right thing.

You see that it's for a good cause. You know, sort of like the league, you know, the Dallas Cowboys, they wanted to wear a decal on their helmet to honor those police officers who were massacred in that attack a few months ago. And the league refused that. I don't I don't understand, you know understand where the league comes down in certain matters regarding we'll accept this, but we won't accept that. I think if the gesture and the effort is in the right place and it's the

common-sense right thing to do, then I think the league should have a little more leeway with it. Not everybody sees the value, unfortunately, Terry, of doing something like that. Sometimes people just see the method itself rather than the message. We've seen plenty of examples of that. But I also think that it's the league trying to avoid being caught in polarizing conversation. Anytime you're talking about politics, religion, there's a divisive line that's drawn, and they don't want to appeal to any one more person than the other, I think.

So in this instance where they're trying to say that justice is blind, regardless of what your situation is, these are our rules, and therefore you cannot break them. I agree with you 100%. They should at least look more in detail at what specifically is going on, but then that means they're having to do more work. Yes, exactly. Well, kudos to Avery Williamson for standing up and doing this

because this wasn't a me moment. He wasn't looking to promote himself or a specific company or brand outside the NFL. He was looking to do something for his country in remembrance of this tragic event. And, of course, through the last 15 years since this occurred, how many times has the NFL actually played on Sunday? If memory serves, this is just the second time that they've had games on a Sunday where players actually had the ability or the want to to do something like this. Right.

I think, you know, since the games were on September the 11th, you know, not the 10th, not the 12th, not the 13th, you know, I think that's what made it all the more special yesterday with the opening of the league on September the 11th. And therefore, I think that's also one of the reasons Avery Williamson felt compelled to do this. And my hat's off to Avery Williamson because, you know, you look at Avery Williamson, this is what, his third or fourth year in the league. So he's 24, 25 years old. He was a little kid when this happened.

He was 9 or 10 years old. He was a little kid when this happened. You know, he was nine or 10 years old. He didn't really have the full, I guess, remembrance of it in the way that people who maybe were older than him, you know, adults, when that happened, did. And it's really, you know, a credit to him to have that remembrance and that desire to remember those people who sacrificed and gave their lives in the 9-11 tragedy. You're listening to Locked On Titans on the Locked On Pods Network. For those of you that might be interested in other information, you can find any other team in the NFL under their Locked On team name. And you can also find the NFL under Locked On NFL.

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As we did last Monday and every Monday on Locked on Titans, we're going to do our segment called Offense and Defense where we look at specifically each side of the football. And guys, we'll start with the offense. And we touched on it in the news segment. Obviously, the two turnovers, the interception return and then the fumble return for touchdowns, were both the main keys in the Titans' loss. But there were some other things of note that came out,

and I want to just throw these numbers out to you. The running backs who we were so excited about, and rightfully so coming into the season, DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry. Murray yesterday, 50 snaps, guys, offensively in the game, only 21 for Derrick Henry, but each provided some things. Derrick Henry, of course, had that one reception, and he turned into a 29-yard gain.

So some things to be positive about, certainly, on that offensively, Brad, as we go forward. Yeah, as a matter of fact, they had control for most of the game. They had the lead 3-0 in the first quarter, 10-0 at half. It seemed like there could have been a little more involvement with the running backs. Obviously, 50 carries has been the slot yet, but it definitely was the turnovers that even affected the offense

and what they were trying to do. Because at that point, they had to start employing the receivers to get back in the ballgame because they found themselves down a couple of scores, not because of what Minnesota's Vikings offensively were doing against the Titans' defense, but particularly because of the turnovers in that situation. Taji Sharp was a nice addition. I think seven receptions, 76 yards, I do believe, some of that nature.

He's shown himself to be a true go-to guy for Marcus Mariota. I expect to see that relationship develop. But this team will get back to its bread and butter. They just need to have answers, obviously, on offense when they get behind in points and need to put up points. Yeah, Brad, I want to expound on that a little bit, especially with what's coming up on the schedule. The Titans go to Detroit next week.

The Lions put up 39 yesterday in beating the Colts. And then the following week they come back home and play the Raiders, who put up 35 on the road against the Saints yesterday. So they're going to face a couple of high-powered offenses. So there's two ways that they can go about trying to combat that. One, they can get in a shootout with them, which I don't think this team is really equipped to do. Or two, they can try the formula that they used yesterday, which was control the ball, control the clock, run the football, something that was working until they turned the football over. The thing that bothers me about this offense is that with that lack of explosiveness

that they seem to have shown in the first game, they simply have no margin for error, and that margin for error is going to get even less the next two games against high-powered offenses than it was yesterday against the Vikings. Well, guys, to me, the formula was working. They were able to move the football and do some things, but I was a little disappointed in the run total numbers. Now, granted, Minnesota's got an outstanding defense, but at times the offensive line wasn't quite as good,

and I think that's probably a lot to do with being a product of the preseason. They weren't necessarily playing the best defenses and teams that had planned and game-planned and schemed for them, but I think there's still a little bit of work to do with this offensive line to get a little bit better to help the running game be just a little bit stronger because when you look at the total numbers, it was certainly a far cry from what we had seen produced average-wise from Henry and DeMarco Murray in the preseason.

Real quick, Greg, before we transition to the defensive side, I think that it may also be in formation offensively why there's a huge difference. You know, having a tight end on the line of scrimmage, having Marcus Mariota under center, it allows them defensively to get the necessary momentum to get that push. Anytime you're working from a shotgun position, in my opinion, and you defensively to get the necessary momentum to get that push. Anytime you're working from a shotgun position, in my opinion, and you're trying to get the running attack off, you're basically hamstringing yourself in play-action situations that allow guys to be tricked and fooled and also opening up those holes. So maybe they need to think about formationally

how they can be more effective also to get that running game involved. That's a great point. And certainly they used a lot of formation, showed a lot of different things, and that will be something that other teams have to spend time looking at on the film moving forward. But there's certainly some things, and the old coaching and football adage goes, guys, that teams improve the most from week one to week two. And certainly if that's the case, the Titans have some things that they can get better on going into next week when they head to Detroit.

As Brad said, let's transition over to the defensive side of things, and guys, the two biggest things here were the fact that they held Adrian Peterson to just 31 yards rushing. If we had heard that last week and said the Titans hold him to 31, we would have felt good that they had an opportunity to win. Throw in the fact that they didn't allow the Vikings offense to score a touchdown, and Terry, certainly it boded well for the Titans to get a victory. Obviously, the turnover is the difference there, but the defense certainly did some things that they can build on. Yeah, I think so. I think there are a couple things I'd like to see them do a little better. They didn't get enough pressure on Sean Hill, had no sacks,

and that especially was evident once Derek Morgan went out with a hamstring injury. They weren't getting as much pressure on the quarterback. And I think the other thing is they didn't get any turnovers. You know, if you're going to be a team that's going to play it close to the best, you've got to win the turnover battle. This defense is going to have to get to the point where not only can they do what they did and hold the other team's best player in check like they did with Adrian Peterson, they're going to have to get to where they can force a few turnovers

and set this offense up in some short field position situations. Terry, I agree with you 100%. I think that speeding up Sean Hill's clock was obviously part of the situation, but also keeping a lot of numbers in the box to keep Adrian Peterson from getting basically off into the next level because that's where he's obviously most affected. They didn't allow the Minnesota offense any more options. And this is a defense that basically was coming into the regular season, guys,

with a lot of question marks. They gave up a lot of points during the preseason, and people were wondering if they were going to be a good balance to what we saw offensively as at least a consistent play. They did that. They did it very well. They harassed the quarterback when necessary until they got into situations where they were behind in points

and basically Minnesota could do what they wanted to offensively. Sean Hill found Stephon Diggs seven times for 103 yards. They converted third downs. Those things to basically stay on the field. Defensively, they just need to make a few more plays to get the ball back to the offense, especially when the offense is in a situation where they need to score points and stay on the field as long as they possibly could. I thought it was a great job stopping the run.

I thought it was a great job harassing in the backfield. But obviously when you talk about Derek Morgan and some of those pass rushers going down, it definitely had an effect and allowed the Minnesota Vikings offense to open up just a little bit more. Brad, I want to ask you this, and this is my evaluation of the Titans secondary after one game.

From what I saw of the Titans secondary, and this is corners and safeties too, I saw guys who were pretty good tacklers that didn't miss a lot of tackles, but they didn't play that well in coverage, as evidenced by the stats throughout there of Stephon Diggs having seven catches for 103 yards. Is that enough for a secondary to be sure tacklers but not to be ball hawks and not making enough plays on the ball?

Or does the secondary have to continue to work on that and get better? Oh, absolutely. Because if you think about it, it doesn't make to you any good if you have a great pass rush if all of a sudden the ball is in the air and the receivers are open. It's great to have guys that can tackle in open space. It's great to have guys that can fill the holes and play two-gap responsibilities and allow them to be exotic as far as bringing in blitzes and fire zones and things like that.

But if you can't keep the slot receiver covered, if you can't protect the out routes, especially when they're trying to get the ball past the sticks and keep the chains moving, things like that, then obviously you're going to have problems. Because converting third downs is what that offense is trying to do. And if you can't basically get in good position to defend those balls before it gets to the receiver, or at least make it a challenge, then you're going to have 100-yard receivers every single weekend, and that's not going to play well for the Titans, nor their defense. Well, certainly one thing that we, I think, knew already going into yesterday, and certainly

now even more so, is the importance of Derek Morgan, because in the first half of that game, Derek Morgan was an absolute terror. He forced not only pressure on the quarterback, but got a couple of penalties called against him when he was being held on some plays. And when he went out, certainly some of that slipped. Now, we kind of knew this from last year, but it was reinforced just how good and how important Derek Morgan is to this defense going forward yesterday. And certainly that's going to be something to keep an eye on this week

is his hamstring condition and how it will affect his availability to play against Detroit next week because they're going to need pressure on Matthew Stafford if they're going to be able to slow down Detroit. As you guys mentioned earlier, a lot of points put up yesterday by Detroit in their season opening win. Absolutely. Yeah, to your point, Greg, I think, you know, the guy,

if Morgan is not, you know, going to be 100%, if there's a chance that he might, you know, be limited or be out this week, I think it becomes very important to be able to get a guy like Kevin Dodd up and ready because I think that's the primary reason they drafted Kevin Dodd is to be an extra pass rusher. Now, David Bass has been a nice player for this team, but David Bass is not the pure pass rusher that Derek Morgan is. David Bass is going to be more of a guy who's going to clog up the passing lanes,

but he's bat down some passes, and he's also kind of a Johnny-on-the-spot guy as far as finding the football. But I don't think he's the pure pass rusher that Derek Morgan is, as far as finding the football, but I don't think he's the pure pass rusher that Derek Morgan is, and I think that if Derek Morgan is not able to be at 100% this week, then they've got to get Kevin Dodd up to speed quickly because he is sort of the same type mold that Derek Morgan is. I would certainly agree with that.

Guys, we're down to our final three minutes of the show, so let's go move ahead and talk about our final thoughts kind of wrapping up week one for the Titans. You know what, guys? I'll go first. I'm not going to say because of yesterday's mistakes that they made the same old Tennessee Titans team because there were silly mistakes that obviously a young team makes.

They need to clean that up. But I didn't see the disheartening mistakes made by not knowing what you're doing or lack of effort, things like that. So I still think there's a relative need for excitement here. This team will win a lot more ballgames than they did last year. They just need to stop shooting themselves in the foot. Once they stop

those issues, then they'll be a more competitive team, I think. Greg? I certainly agree with that. I certainly agree with that. and that was part of the reason guys, when we made our predictions on Friday, and not to brag, but I did pick Minnesota for the simple fact that I feel like this team still has to learn how to win, and it was a close game. They had an opportunity, and as you said, Brad, they shot themselves in the foot. When they clean that up,

it's going to be a much better team and product going forward, and that's just part of the process to learn how to do that. Well said, guys. I think, you know, I agree completely that this team has to learn how to finish ballgames, has to learn how to win close games. And, you know, once they do that, I think they'll be very competitive this season. But until that happens, I think you're going to continue to see the type of disappointing finishes like we saw yesterday.

So the sooner they get that figured out, and I'm sure Mike Malarkey and his staff are already going back to work and stressing that, the sooner they get that figured out, I think obviously the much better off this team is going to be. Well, certainly one thing that we saw in the locker room yesterday after the game was guys that were disappointed, but they weren't overly disappointed. It honestly, to me, didn't seem like guys were thinking,

okay, same old Titans, here we go again. This is a different viewpoint. There's a different attitude with this team. I would agree with that. I think, you know, right now they're still, you know, even though they lost, there's still that certain amount of optimism that was there throughout the offseason and the preseason. And now you just got to win here in one of these next games to try and validate

that and go forward. Brad, Terry, another great show. It's Monday is gone. We're looking forward to the rest of the week. And some great things coming, guys. Thanks so much. Have a great day.