Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Sept. 22- Big injury news for the Titans this Thursday morning!

Episode Date: September 22, 2016

It's Thursday and there is some big injury news plus it's time for our Coaches and Players Corners and more. #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. And welcome to 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. We are locked on Titans and Terry McCormick it is Thursday which means that Brad not with us today as per the case on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

But still a lot of things to get through today as we talk about the Titans. but still a lot of things to get through today as we talk about the Titans. And it starts in our current news segment today where several injuries dot the report, most notably that to Chance Wormack. And we've talked about this earlier this week. Tore some tendons in his middle finger on his right hand Sunday prior to the game against Detroit. He has opted for surgery and has been placed on IR. What exactly does that mean?

Because there's certainly a couple of designations that can take place with IR. Well, they're going to place him on IR. He is elected to have the surgery. It was his choice. The Titans had explained the options to him that he could either have surgery or he could play with a cast on his hand or he could try to play without a cast on his hand. And it's about a one-month injury. But Mike Malarkey said that when he came back,

he would probably still have a cast on his hand while he played. But they decided to go ahead and put him on IR, which effectively could end his season, although the Titans have one spot on injured reserve where you can bring a guy back after eight weeks. So at a minimum, Chance Wormack is going to be out for the next eight weeks. But a worst-case scenario is that his season is done, and most likely his career as a Titan could be done because the Titans declined his $11.9 million fifth-year option back in May, which would make him a free agent in March of 2017.

And therefore, that would point to the possibility that his time here with the Tennessee Titans might be over, and he might have to look for a fresh start somewhere else in the league, which I'm sure some team would take a chance on an offensive lineman who is a former first Titans might be over and he might have to look for a fresh start somewhere else in the league, which I'm sure some team would take a chance on an offensive lineman who is a former first-round pick. And certainly that could mean also that his contract, or they could re-sign him at a lesser value, having sat out this season. Obviously it's going to damage his earning potential, if you will, in any new contract, be it with the Titans or another team moving forward. That is true.

They might be able to get him at a reduced price, kind of at a discounted price. And that probably would be his best chance of coming back to the Titans. Because remember, John Robinson comes from the New England Patriots, and the New England Patriot way is to not pay interior linemen and continue to shuffle through them and replace them. They've had a number of guys play the center and guard positions over the years up there, and it looks like that may be the plan here with the Tennessee Titans, although they did go out and bring in Ben Jones to play center

and locked him up to a long-term deal. So, you know, it's a never-say-never type of thing, but it certainly does not look like right now that Chance Womack's future with the Titans is a bright one. There are several other injuries, of course, those to Kendall Wright and Derek Morgan, hamstring injuries that we've talked about this week. They had some limited participation in practice today,

but their status still very uncertain for Sunday versus the Raiders. Yes, it is. Both those guys were able to do a little bit. Kendall got into drills a little bit. Derek Morgan mostly did some running. Both those guys were listed as limited on the injury report. We're going to have to monitor them throughout the week to see if they can increase their reps

and have a chance to play on Sunday. If I was going to guess which one might have a shot, it might actually be Kendall Wright because I think he actually did a little bit more today than Derek Morgan. But still, both those guys are going to be major question marks.

Other guys who sat out of practice, Delaney Walker, out with a hamstring tweak. I talked to Walker in the locker room. He said it's nothing big, just kind of a veteran day, as he said it. And he said that he expects to be back out there and expects to certainly be in the lineup against the Raiders on Sunday. Other guys that did not practice, cornerbacks Bryce McCain twisted a knee on the turf there at Fort Field in Detroit on Sunday, so he was given today off to work on that. And then Valentino Blake was out with a chest contusion, so a bruise on his chest. And then finally, Philip Supernaw, another tight end,

had a lower back strain and was limited in work today. So the injury report has grown a little bit since the first couple of weeks when there were only one or two names on it. And, of course, for those that might not know or recognize, the artist formerly known as Antoine Blake, now Valentino Blake. That, of course, is his middle name. And, Terry, I was asked this question today on social media about Jason Morrow.

Of course, the Titans picked him up off waivers. He has not been active. Delaney Walker a little bit banged up. You mentioned Phillip Supernaw as well. A chance, perhaps, that we could see see Amaro on Sunday for the first time suited up in a Titans uniform. It's possible. I would think a lot of it might depend on the availability of Philip Supernaw

and how his back comes along. Delaney Walker has pretty much already declared that he's going to play, and my guess is that Delaney Walker believes he's going to play, that Delaney Walker's going to play on Sunday. But with Supernaw, it might be a situation where they need to monitor him. You know, he was out there at the start of practice, and then at the end of practice wasn't doing a whole lot, but it was limited.

So I think, you know, that's a situation worth monitoring. And if, you know, if there's any doubt, and if they want to hold him down for a week, then Jason Morrow would be the next man up. And with all due respect to Phillip Supanoff, certainly you can withstand his absence on Sunday much easier than you can that of Delaney Walker, who should be a key weapon against the Raiders

and a defense in Oakland that struggles, and certainly he's a guy that can control the middle of the field. We saw him do some great things, caught a touchdown pass the first one in the comeback on Sunday, so he would certainly be a big absence were he not to be able to go. But as you said, with it being Delaney and he says he's going to play, he's going to play. Right. And the thing with Supernow is he has inherited some of the role of the blocking tight end that became available when Craig Stevens retired during training camp.

But I think when you look at his value, it's as that blocking tight end, and it's also as a guy who can contribute on special teams. So if Jason Morrow is forced up, then you've got to reshuffle your special teams because Jason Morrow may not as well versed in that or as a blocking tight end. You're listening to Locked On Titans on the Locked On Podcast Network. And, of course, you can follow Terry and his work on TitanInsider.com. Be sure that you do that. Check that out from time to time.

Terry, as we move along this morning, it's time for our coaches and players' corners. We'll start with the coaches' corner. And, of course, what we do there is take a quote from the opposing coach and an opposing player, in this case from the Raiders, opposing coach and an opposing player, in this case from the Raiders, and give the fans a little bit of what the opposing coach and player have said leading up to the Titans game. And we start with the Raiders head coach, Jack Del Rio. Of course, he appeared on a conference call a little bit earlier on Wednesday with the

media, and he was asked about the familiarity he has with the Tennessee Titans, having played them last season, and of course, having played them just about a month ago in the preseason, and this was the comment from Del Rio. Well, certainly we played them a month ago, so we saw each other then, and then we did play last year in the regular season, so I think there's a little bit of familiarity, not quite what you get with a division rival or anything, but we've seen each other in the last year two times. Definitely some familiarity there, and excuse me for butchering that,

but those are the thoughts of Jack Del Rio. And it is obviously, Terry, a little bit of familiarity, though. You can throw some of it out the window as far as the preseason goes because there wasn't a lot of game planning or scheming it was two teams going out there granted the Titans got the better of it even against their starting unit but still I don't know how much and I don't think you can put a lot of stock into that I think certainly the Titans offense can do some things, obviously, because the Raider defense has struggled through the first two weeks of the season. But where do you kind of find a balance there between what we saw in the preseason and what we might actually see on Sunday? Well, I think you look for formations, you look for tendencies and things

like that when you go back and you watch that on film. You know, you couple that with the game that they played last season and into, you know, where the Raiders won by three points. I think you can, you know, glean a little bit of something out of both those games that might help you on Sunday. But by and large, you're going to pay more attention, I think, to what the Raiders have done over the first two weeks, and that is be a prolific offense but also be a team that, like you said, that has struggled on defense.

They've given up 500 total yards in each of their first two games. The Titans certainly hope to add to that streak if they can, although the Titans certainly not as prolific a passing team as the Saints or the Falcons are right now, preferring to rely on the run a whole lot more. Well, certainly I would think that even though the numbers don't necessarily bear it out, that the Titans are probably a better run team than the Saints or the Falcons at this point in time. What would you say, if you had to make an estimate,

would be the rushing yardage needed for the Titans to have a chance to win this game. Obviously, you want to limit that prolific offense, and the best way to do that is to not have them on the field. So running the football seems like the best way to go. Where would the Titans need to be yardage-wise to have a realistic shot at winning this game? I got to think that they got to get at least up in the 130, 140 range, you know, getting contributions from both DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry,

maybe even a scramble or two from Mariota along the way. But if they can get up there in that range, then they will have done their job and kept the Raider offense off the field and maintained life of drive in terms of keeping things down, keeping that Raider offense off the field, maybe keeping the score down, much like they did against Detroit where it was 16-15. Now, we saw in watching a little bit of the game last week, the Raiders' defense. Obviously, Julio Jones, one of the top wide receivers in the NFL,

he torched the Raiders' defense. So the Titans should be able, I think, as well, not necessarily obviously having a Julio Jones or anybody of that caliber, but some guys that can make some plays. There's still some plays to be made in the passing game for the Titans in this one. Yeah, there are. There's some plays that can be made in the passing game. But like you said, they don't have that dynamic receiver

like Julio Jones to turn to. I think what you look for is joint contribution out of the Tajay Sharps and out of the Rashard Matthews. If you can get Kendall Wright back, maybe you get something out of him. And then, obviously, you want to go with Delaney Walker. The Raiders have had trouble with tight ends, and I think you want to go with Walkeraney Walker. The Raiders have had trouble with tight ends and I think you want to go with Walker and get him involved as much as possible just like they did against the Lions.

So if you're the Titans, you want to continue spreading the ball around because you don't have a dynamic playmaker like Julio Jones on the outside. And certainly having Delaney Walker in the game and potentially getting Kendall Wright back. And you talked about this on Tuesday, the ability for Wright to be in that 25, 30-yard range, not necessarily being the guy over the top taking the top off the defense, but can get in the middle in that mid-range area. And then once he has the ball in his hands, make some plays and perhaps turn them into some big gains that would equal those long passes even though they're they're of the shorter variety yeah i would think so and i would think that if

they can get kendall right back and certainly that is a big big hit because i'm not ready to uh commit that kendall right is going to be on the field for the titan sunday it could be one more week because you got to remember one you got to be Two, he's got to get in some sort of football shape. And, you know, all he's done is one day of limited work, you know, with the Titans on Wednesday. And so you're looking at a guy who is way, way behind. It may be wishful thinking to get him involved very much in this game. But if they can, he certainly should bring something to the table that the titans can benefit from well certainly i think they could limit him and maybe have some particular

packages or specific times and perhaps maybe even save him to the second half of the game not play him in the first half and then use him in that second half in a close ball game to try to do some things there to make a play or two that could potentially change the outcome of the game. Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, you know, if you have to limit what he can bring to the table, you know, some is probably better than none. Let's move along to our players corner segment where we look at a quote from an opposing player. In this case, it is quarterback Derek Carr of the Raiders, and he was asked about his defensive teammates and their struggles and if he feels any pressure to compensate for that,

and his answer was this. You know, I honestly don't think that way. I have so much to concentrate on as the quarterback and leader of this team that I have to be able to go out there and just do my job. I've got to make sure everyone's confident, feeling good about the game, but I don't think too much about that. I have full confidence in those guys. Now, I'm not going to say Derek Carr is telling us a story,

but when you look at a defense that has given up 500-plus yards per game in the last two games of the regular season against New Orleans and against Atlanta. I don't know that I buy that he has a whole lot of confidence in this defense, and certainly I think, and we saw it on Sunday, Terry, against Atlanta, they kind of got into a shootout with the Falcons a little bit and weren't able to keep up because they didn't get enough help from that defensive unit. Yeah, you're right. You know, when you really look at it, it's amazing now how many teams seem to be in that

situation. There are four or five teams around the league that are in a situation where everything is on the quarterback's shoulders that they're going to win a game. You know, Derek Carr is a prime example, and he's a young guy only in his third season in the NFL, and he's having to carry the Raiders on his back along with the rest of that offense. Obviously, the offensive line and Cooper and Crabtree is two outstanding wide receivers. But, you know, the Indianapolis Colts are much in the same way, banking on Andrew Luck. The San Diego Chargers are a lot that way with Phillip Rivers.

And then the two teams that the Raiders have played this year. If Drew Brees doesn't pull the Saints out of the fire they're not going to win if matt ryan doesn't pull the falcons out of the fire they're not going to win so a lot of defensively challenged teams out there right now in the early part of the season this year and quarterbacks are having to take on a lot of responsibility to keep those teams upright that certainly makes you think about the titan situation when you look at it that way of the young quarterback. Certainly Marcus Mariota, a young quarterback, and even though the Titans aren't necessarily a top team in the NFL just yet, they do have a few pieces,

and they have done well enough defensively, having given up only one defensive touchdown through two weeks, and Detroit was a pretty good offense that they were able to at least keep out of the end zone. They gave up a bunch of yardage, the bend but don't break philosophy. So perhaps the Titans may be a little bit better than some people think they are, though. As I've said several times, and I said it last week in my prediction, they still have to prove it to me. And even though they were able to get a win, they still got to prove that to me and some other people moving forward that they have the defense that can help them win a few more ball

games this year than what we've seen over the last two seasons with those combined five wins in two years. Oh, you're exactly right. I think when you look at this Titans defense and how they play, it's been a lot of bend, but don't break. Yes, they've only given up one defensive touchdown in the first two games, but the secondary has really had to scramble and had to try and hold things together

and try to keep big play receivers from making big plays. They were able to do that against the Lions by holding them to a lot of field goals and rattling Matthew Stafford just enough to get him off his game. To me, the Titans' defense is all predicated on the pass

rush. If Brian Arakpo, Jarrell Casey, Kevin Dodd, Carl Kluge, the rest of that front seven, Derek Morgan, if you haven't, if they can get going and they can hold their own, they can make this secondary better. If not, it could be a very, very long day for the Titans

against the Raider offense on Sunday. I have a feeling that we're going to see a little bit more of Dick LeBeau on Sunday, and by that I certainly mean the exotic blitzes, the zone blitzes, the things that we saw some of in the first two games, but not an overwhelming amount. I got a feeling, though, with Amari Cooper back there being the game-changing type of deep threat receiver, and then, of course, the other weapons that you mentioned, that Dick LeBeau is going to have to step up his game just a bit this week in doing some of

those things to help this defense. Yeah, I think you're exactly right. in doing some of those things to help this defense? Yeah, I think you're exactly right. I think the creativity that Dick LeBeau can bring to this defense and has brought to defenses that he's coached over the many years he's been in the league, that he's going to have to pull out all the stops. When you go against the high-powered teams and the teams that have more weapons on the offensive side than you do

and actually have more weapons than you do on the defensive side of the ball. You've got to out-plan and you've got to out-scheme and you've got to get those guys in the right positions and also get those guys believing that they can do it and that things can happen and breaks can go your way. It's time for our final thoughts of the day for this Thursday edition of Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network. And, Terry, give us your final thought. Well, my final thought is, you know, going back to Chance Wormack,

you know, it really, it's kind of, you know, if this is the end for Chance Wormack, it's kind of sad that his run here ended the way it did. And, you know, he was a guy that when the Titans drafted him in 2013, Mike Munchak and Bruce Matthews were his coaches. Munchak, the head coach. Matthews, the offensive line coach. And, of course, Munchak having previously been an offensive line coach.

You know, they were predicting things for this young man. They thought they could just plug and play him, and he would be a Titan for the next 10 years. But as you know, Greg, things don't always work that way. The Titans underwent some radical changes. They brought in Bob Bostad under Ken Wisenhunt as the offensive line coach. That was an unmitigated disaster the previous two years.

So then they scrapped that. They bring in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line for Mike Malarkey this year. So another chance to reshuffle the deck, regroup, and try and move forward. And now the injury to Chance Womack. And it's really, I guess, a bit of a disappointment probably for him and probably for the Titans that things haven't gone better in his four-year run here. Well, I certainly have to agree, and that leads me to my final thought. And in the vein of full disclosure, Chance Wormack, and Terry, you know this,

one of my favorite players in the Titans locker room, he and I have had a lot of conversations over his three years, and I certainly am disappointed and hate this for him and if it is the end certainly I think he will have an opportunity to move on someone will give him a chance to play somewhere if it's not re-signing with the Titans if he does not get back on the field this year of course having that option perhaps to come back after eight weeks and rejoin the team but my final thought comes from that because now Chance Wormack's going to have to be replaced. This was an offensive line, and you know as well, and certainly Brad talks about this

often with us, the offensive line is a five-man cohesive unit. They have to play together, work together, and become almost as one working to make sure that they have the combinations, that they get the calls correct, that they know the assignments, that the adjustments when they're called upon at the line of scrimmage. And now all of a sudden, after having all of the OTAs, the mini camp, training camp together to work and grow as a five-man unit, they had this group together. Now all of a sudden, you take that out.

You're going to replace it with either Brian Schwinke, Sebastian Tritola, or Josh Klein. One of those guys is going to step into that role and take over as the right guard for the Titans, and I just wonder how much of a change that's going to be, and will we notice perhaps some ineffectiveness, if you will, about this offensive line on Sunday because of the fact they've had to make that change, and they're not now the same five-man unit. They've got a new guy that they're trying to get up to speed to catch up with that starting particular unit.

And, of course, we'll see on Sunday what that means for the Titans. We certainly hope that whomever steps in there can fill in and pick up the position quickly. Yeah, I think you're right. Anytime you make a change on the offensive line, it can affect the cohesion of that unit. Now they're forced to make a change with Wormack being out, and most likely it's going to be Klein or Schwenke taking that. I don't think they're ready to hand it over to Tertola just yet. But it's going to be interesting to see how this new five meshes together

again this week against the Raiders. That will do it for us. You've been listening to Locked on Titans. We'll remind everybody that Brad joins us again on Friday where we'll make our predictions on the Raiders game. Have a great day. We'll see you Friday. Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network.