Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Sept. 7- What are other people outside Nashville saying about the Titans, plus Hump Day Happenings, Pro Scope and more. Keep it Locked On Titans.

Episode Date: September 7, 2016

Locked On Titans- Sept. 7- What are other people outside Nashville saying about the Titans, plus Hump Day Happenings, Pro Scope and more. Keep it Locked On Titans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's for my crazy day. My packed commute. All those unread emails in my inbox. But I'm getting stronger, faster, and pushing myself further every day. I don't care if I'm not like everyone else. This punching bag is the best way to end my day. Fearless is knowing yoga isn't your style. That's the power of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Federal Employee Program.

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. I'm Greg Arias and former Titans Pro Bowl left tackle Brad Hopkins. Guys, it's Wednesday and we are locked on Titans and happy to be back.

That's right. We are back for our third podcast in our first week of the Locked on Titans. I think I'm ready to give the people out there a lot more information and a lot more details and analysis. I know that Brad Hopkins is ready to do that as well. Absolutely, guys. Preseason is over. It's live bullets for the next

17 weeks. I really think that this team is up for the challenge given the fact that there's been so much talk about them during the preseason, the resurgent atmosphere. Obviously, Mike Malarkey getting the reins completely and John Robinson coming in doing all the things that he's done in the offseason have definitely made the Tennessee Titans a topical team this year in preseason. We'll see if William hitting the ground running. This is the team of the future, I guess.

As Brad and Terry said, this is day three, and some of the subjects we're going to touch on today, what others are saying, our hump day happening segment, Pro Scope, and then, of course, we'll have our final thoughts. But first, it's time for current news, and in that current news, as it pertains to the Titans, Trey McBride, He was released in a move when Mark Mariani was brought back and signed by the Titans, re-signed yesterday, now is a member of the practice squad, and of course, the name change.

Antoine Blake, he's no longer Antoine, he's Valentino Blake. Guys, your thoughts on those two moves, one by the Titans and one by the player? It was kind of obvious that to make moves for a guy in Mark Mariani once he was released who had better numbers during the regular season than McBride did, obviously a more accomplished receiver also shows a little more diversity, too, in that he's a special team acquisition. We'll see him in kicks and punt returns as well.

So I think them moving Trey McBride in the initial part of this whole deal and then bringing him back on practice squad, it will allow a young receiver the opportunity to develop without necessarily having the expectations of being out there on the football field per se. Obviously he'll know what his role is in trying to help develop the first unit on defense. But for the most part, I think it's just another opportunity for him

to grow for another season on a receiving core that is relatively young. Terry? Yeah, I agree. I think when you look at Trey McBride, they obviously like some of the things that he brought to the table. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made the 53-man roster out of training camp. But when the opportunity came to solidify that kick return role with a veteran, a guy that they knew, and Mark Mariani and what he could do,

I think they jumped at that opportunity. And Trey McBride kind of became the odd man out. Now he goes back onto the practice squad. He'll be in all the meetings. He'll be on the practice field you know listening watching participating those sorts of things and then if something should happen if a receiver should go down because of an injury and he's needed to move up he's right there they don't have to even reach out and make a phone call they just have to call him in and say hey you're you're

up on the roster this week yep moving along it's our old name change oh i'm sorry yeah i forgot exactly the name change well you guys stopped it and i'm okay the name change valentino blake uh is that his middle name terry did you did you write or read that story i honestly didn't read it i just read the headline i read a little bit on Twitter just to see what it was. Apparently, that is his middle name. He decided to go by that. He said something about a fresh start and a fresh team.

Let's hope that Valentino Blake covers better than Antoine Blake did during the preseason. Brad, you played in the league. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was going to say that I think he was going with Nacho Libre at first, but it was taken. So he just went with Valentino. You played in the league.

Are guys in the NFL superstitious like the guys in baseball are? You know what? We're all creatures of habit, Greg. And what I mean by that is if you had success or fortune doing it one way, you usually try and do it that same way. They feel that superstitiously that there's something to that protocol, right? So I think that we're no different than baseball players. If you made a left turn going down First Avenue over to Nissan Stadium

rather than going over the James Robertson Bridge, then that's what you're going to do. You're going to go the same way that you went to the stadium. If you were second on the line getting your ankles taped and you guys had a blowout game where you just performed exceptionally, then guess what? You're going to be second on the tape list for the next week. We are creatures of habit.

Let's move along to our next segment, what others are saying. And, guys, what we're going to do here is each Wednesday we find something that's being written or said about the Titans and bring it to you, the listeners, and give our opinions on kind of how we feel about it. And today's offering comes to us from an online gambling organization, if you will, Oddsmakers, that have looked at this matchup between the Titans and the Minnesota Vikings. And here are a couple of things that really stood out to me about what organization, if you will, odds makers that have looked at this matchup between the Titans and the Minnesota Vikings. And here are a couple of things that really stood out to me about what

they said. Talking about the Tennessee offense, of course the Vikings will be leaning on their defense, which will be one of the best stop units in the NFL. They're great in every regard, including the trenches, where they figure to have an edge in this matchup. I think that's probably an accurate statement. Here's where it gets interesting. The Titans made some changes to their offensive line this offseason, but center Ben Jones isn't very good. While right tackle Jack Conklin is a rookie, that's true.

Taylor LeJuan is great, but I don't think the blockers will be able to handle Minnesota's ferocious front. What do you guys think about Ben Jones not being very good? Well, I think Ben Jones is certainly serviceable. I think we'll find out how good Ben Jones is once we see him play on Sunday. But certainly, judging from the preseason, I thought he played pretty well. And the other thing, they said that Taylor LeJuan is great. And with all due respect to Taylor LeJuan, I don't think Taylor LeJuan is great, you know, and with all due respect to Taylor LeJuan,

I don't think Taylor LeJuan is great yet. I'm not ready to put him in the class of Joe Thomas or anybody like that as one of the best tackles in the league. I think even Taylor LeJuan would tell you that he still has things that he has to work on and improve in his game. You know, I think what you get when you see, you know, these Vegas Lions and people from the outside, you know, eyeballing the Titans and things like that. I think you see a team that hasn't won a lot the last couple of years.

So therefore you get no respect until you go out and earn that respect. And the only way to do that is to go out and win games. I agree with that a hundred percent, Terry, especially when you're talking about a defense that, you know, in the back end has given up a lot in preseason. They're talking about our defense because we were so vulnerable defending the pass. And of course, when you're talking about a pretty good defensive unit as a whole, being able to get after the passer, you know, they figured that they're going to be in our backfield, you know, pretty much early and often. And that's at the expense of Jack Conklin

and of course, Taylor LeJuan. Now, I think that these two bookends are up to the challenge. It'll be definitely a good test for them. But I can see where in some instances we did seem to be a little bit more vulnerable. Now, we did great running the football, but that's something that Minnesota is also very good at, obviously, with Adrian Peterson.

So, obviously, Terry, Greg, this would be a completely different game if Teddy Bridgewater were healthy, but they're coming into it with unproven Sam Bradford and Sean Hill. I know Sean's been there for a long time and, and you know, definitely understands what an NFL huddle looks like, but for the most part, it hasn't been his show and Sam Bradford will be working under limited offensive, um, uh, the playbook because he just got there into town. So it's probably good timing that the Titans caught Minnesota early,

but I do see from a national scope of things, looking at the Titans, where we do seem to be vulnerable where maybe Minnesota can take advantage. But I think that this is probably going to be a tale of whichever team makes the least amount of mistakes, because when you've got a second-year guy in Marcus Mariota really trying to reestablish himself and this offense versus an offense that's taking a huge hit, losing their quarterback and trying to scramble and figure it out,

this might be anyone's game early. Oh, I think so. I think there's a reason that when you look at the Vegas line, there's a reason it's around two, two-and-a-half points. Vikings are still favored coming into Nissan Stadium. And any time you're a the Vegas line, there's a reason it's around two, two-and-a-half points. Vikings are still favored coming into Nissan Stadium. And any time you're a home underdog, that's kind of a sign that they don't have a lot of faith in you. But I think when you look overall, the fact that this is a two-point game tells you that Vegas really doesn't know which way this thing is going to go

because when the line starts to get up around four or five points, that's a much bigger deal, and they have a lot more faith in the favored team then. I will say this, fellas. There is one X factor that no one in the national scope is thinking about, and that is the atmosphere, the crowd, that is now starting to kind of permeate here in Middle Tennessee because 1-7 last year in Nissan Stadium

is not going to bring anybody out of their homes to come see the Titans. But what we've been talking about in preseason and obviously what they've shown during the preseason is definitely drawing the attention of the fans, and I think that's going to be kind of a raucous atmosphere to start the season. It might be an X factor, fellas. I certainly agree. Yeah, I agree with that, too.

I think when you look at, you know, the home field almost disadvantage that there has been over the last two seasons, you know, because, you know, and I say that, you know, it sounds, you know, kind of flippant, but it's the truth. You know, whenever a popular team like the Steelers or the Cowboys or, you know, somebody like that, the Packers, or the Cowboys or, you know, somebody like that, the Packers, would come into Nissan Stadium, you know, and the score was 21-3 in the middle of the second quarter,

well, the Titans fans had packed it in, and all you could hear were the fans of the opposite team, the visiting team, chanting. And you saw their colors, you know, more prevalent throughout the game than you did the two-tone blue. And, Brad, you know, more prevalent throughout the state than you did the two-tone blue. And, Brad, you know this, you know, the Vikings, you know, while they're not the Vikings of the purple people in your days, they still have a pretty strong national following.

You know, there are lots of, you know, people that are, you know, my age and you guys' age that grew up when the Minnesota Vikings were a force in the national football league and still have an allegiance to them. It'll be interesting to see how many purple-plated people there will be in the stadium on Sunday versus those pulling for the Titans. The Titans need that to be heavily in their favor. You're so right, Greg. How many times have we seen Steelers fans and Bears fans and the likes, Texans fans,

come in here and run Titans fans out of Nissan Stadium, even venues in and around the stadium. I think that they're going to stay for 60 minutes, guys. And I think they're going to just help create an atmosphere that's not tough to win in when you're talking about, you know, road teams coming into Nashville, you know? I certainly agree with that. It's been far too long and far too many from the days, Brad, when you played, when Nissan Stadium was a place that other teams didn't want to come into

because they knew, first off, they were going to have a dogfight on their hands, and second off, they were probably not going to be able to win there because there was certainly a long winning streak at the beginning. Let's move along to our next segment. It's called Hump Day Happenings, and what we're going to do in this segment is look at the Titans because certainly it is game week, and there are some things that the Titans need to work on, guys, and improve upon if they're going to get a win on Sunday against Minnesota.

What, guys, do you feel like are the areas that they must address the rest of this week in practice to try to prepare for Sunday to come away with that win? Well, I'll go first. Okay, I'll go first. first you know what i'll say this in minneapolis right now they're thinking man we've got a quarterback conundrum we need to figure this thing out as fast as possible blah blah blah but you know what they're thinking they're lucky stars right now that they're going into nashville facing a team that has had a lot

of problems keeping guys out of the end zone, particularly in preseason. So right now they're saying, hey, look, man, this is a great opportunity for us to get off the snide, get off to a fast start, because defensively the Titans are just not up to snuff. So in this Humpty edition, I would like to see more of a concerted effort to protect those issues, get those guys flying around the football,

and then obviously, in my opinion, starts up front. They've got to be able to create a pass rush that is respected and that also gives, you know, guys in the back end of the defense time to, you know, to get themselves, you know, situated so that way they're not taken advantage of and get caught out of position. You don't think that Jason McCourty and, of course, you know, Denaris Searcy and Rashad Johnson and Parrish Cox want some completely, you know, ferocious pass rush that makes guys confused and stuff. You're dang right they do.

But it's got to be a balance. They've got to find some pass rush from Derek Morgan. They've got to get Brian Arakbo in the backfield. They've got to do some things stunt-wise schematically to get them off balance. But it starts with those guys up front, in my opinion, alleviating some of the pressures for those in the back end. What about you, Terry? Well, I'm going to go over to the other side of the football,

and I think they've got to continue to establish, you know, what they did in the preseason, controlling the line of scrimmage, running the football, and putting the Marcus Mariota and manageable down in this situations on third down. We don't, you know, last year we saw way too many third and nine, third and 11, you know, plays, you know, that are just, were impossible for almost any quarterback to make, much less a rookie still feeling his way around the league.

So I think the thing that they've got to do, keep Marcus Mariota and manageable down and distance situations, and then make some plays for the kid. Don't, you know, let's, you know, break off a 15 or 20-yard gain from DeMarco Murray or Derrick Henry. Let's see Tajay Sharp or Delaney Walker make a catch down the seam to move the chain. The remainder of the offense, and I think, you know, a lot of people feel like that the

wide receivers are still suspect and the offensive line is still suspect. This is their chance to go out and make a statement and protect the football, keep the chains moving with long drives and show people that this Titans team is different and much more well-rounded than a year ago on the offensive side of the ball. Guys, I'm going to go with Brad a little bit and Terry, those were all great points and certainly I think things that need to happen, but for me in this game, because Minnesota has the quarterback issue, Bradford not knowing the whole playbook, Sean Hill not being a very great quarterback, obviously, or he would not have been a backup most of his career,

I'm going to look defense. And two guys in particular that I'm going to look for, Daquan Jones and Al Woods. Now certainly they're going to have to have some help from their friends and their backups, but I think those two guys need to have a really big game up front handling the Minnesota offensive line and trying to keep a handle on Adrian Peterson. If they can do that and force this game into the hands of the quarterbacks, then I think the Titans certainly have a much greater chance of winning the football than if Adrian Peterson runs for 150 yards, because at that point, you're probably in trouble if he's able to do that against

you and take the pressure off that quarterback. Exactly. Hey, Greg, if I can add to what Terry was saying about their offensive issues, I think that this may be a situation when you look at what the Titans have done during the offseason and preseason, they throw all their cards in the middle of the table and say, we're all in with running the football. We're not going to try to sneak attack you. You know that between the tackles, we've got DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry,

which you're going to see early and often. So it's your job, therefore, to stop us. So I think that they have to also have some sort of, I can't say contingency plan, but I know them running the football, they're going to run into some issues. They're going to run into a stack line of scrimmage. They're going to run into zone dogs, glitches, those kind of things to kind of get them off filter. So they've got to be able to take advantage of the plethora of tight ends

that they have as well as developing the young talent like Tajay Sharp being a serious check down spot for Marcus Mario to lose in the short game. So I really see them staying on the field being the most advantageous thing, especially against a Vikings team that has the same approach, like you just mentioned, Greg, with Adrian Peterson. If he's getting four or five yards to carry

every time he gets handed the ball off, then the Titans offense is going to be pretty much on the sideline. We want to do the same thing. Be able to control the clock, move the change, and keep whichever of those quarterbacks, Adrian Peterson, on the opposite sideline, fellas. Absolutely. Those are all great points and certainly a lot to think about

and certainly more for us to talk about the remainder of the week. Let's move along to our next segment. It's called Pro Scope, where we look around the league at issues in the NFL, and today's topic is quarterback issues, and obviously that brings us back to Minnesota because they're not the only team with quarterback issues, but certainly one of the premier teams because of being a playoff team and the hopes that they have of potentially having a chance to make a Super Bowl run. Yeah, the Vikings are in a situation where they basically had to gamble with Sam Bradford.

They basically had most of the other pieces in place. They had Teddy Bridgewater, who was an emerging young quarterback. I think they felt really good about where they were coming off of last year, heading into this season with Adrian Peterson and with that defense, and with Teddy Bridgewater steadily improving. Now you take Bridgewater out of that equation and they're back to square one at the quarterback position, as we've talked about before, with Sam Bradford coming in brand new,

doesn't really know the system, has had a week to learn it, or Sean Hill, who knows the system but obviously been a career backup for most of his time in the NFL. It's kind of a no-win situation for the Vikings at quarterback position. And, you know, until they get that figured out, I think down the road, you know, they may be happy that they traded for Bradford. But here in the first week or two of the season, I think teams can exploit that situation,

and the Titans are going to have to try and do that. My scope moves to a team that's directly correlated with the Minnesota Vikings, and that would be the Philadelphia Eagles. Obviously, the reason being, I ask the question, if Teddy Bridgewater doesn't get hurt, is Sam Bradford basically a Minnesota Viking today? And then, obviously, once you trade Sam Bradford, pushes Carson Wentz to the starting role,

is he ready at this point to be the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles over Chase Daniel, who, under Doug Peterson's system, coming over from Kansas City, should have been a little more acclimated. But, hey, the future is now, fellas. And I figure that they think that, you know, this Carson Wentz has developed enough during preseason and has enough leadership qualities that he, as a rookie,

should be able to, you know, take care of the task of getting this offense down the football field. Now, he's got a few weapons around him. Jordan Matthews that we're all very familiar with, former Commodore, is going to be a go-to guy. Nelson Aguilar and Josh Huff are going to be some guys that figure into big in that plan. Of course, former Tennessee Titan Doyle Green Beckham is going to be on that

roster as well. But Ryan Matthews, a guy that they feel confident enough to run the football should at least be able to alleviate some of the pressure on a youngster. But still, when you're talking about rookies, guys, taking their first lumps during a regular season, it's going to be some sort of adjusting. And, of course, them having to develop as fast as they can to feel comfortable that he is the guy.

But I think that that Teddy Bridgewater injury was pretty interesting, especially in the city of Brotherly Love, because it did start the wheels turning as far as them clearing out some of their quarterback stock and figuring out exactly what they wanted to do going with their young guy. There certainly is a lot of issues around the league, guys. Unfortunately, we're down to our final two minutes of the show today. It's been fast. Our final thoughts as to what we have talked about this morning.

Well, you know, I want to say on the quarterback situation just a little bit. I'm going to touch on one more very quickly. And we would be remiss if we didn't mention the quarterback situation in Dallas there where Tony Romo is at least half the year. They're starting a young guy, a rookie in Dak Prescott, who's kind of untested but had a good preseason. You know, this is America's team, and Jerry Jones doesn't, you know, stomach things not going well, very well.

So it's going to be interesting to see how things play out in Big D for this season, too. Yeah, for me, it's the fast start team. The teams that obviously are on the radar because of them needing to change things around, you know, just like Cleveland. Want to see how fast Cleveland starts. Of course, want to see how fast San Francisco starts with their conundrums that they have.

You mentioned Dallas. Terry, that's going to be obviously one that we take a look at. But more specifically, people are looking at Jimmy Garoppolo. The New England Patriots are a favorite for a lot of people to get to the AFC Championship game, and that obviously starts the first four weeks without their field general, Tom Brady. So we're going to see what that team looks like.

Just what will Tom Brady be inheriting after four weeks of play? That starts this weekend. So that's obviously something that when you look around the league, you know, the fast start is part of that conversation, guys. Guys, it's going to be fun this NFL season. There's so many storylines, so many topics. We could do two, three, four hours on all of this stuff and not wind up or run out of things to talk about.

But unfortunately, we've run out of time. We hope you've enjoyed it. For my co-host and friend, Brad Hopkins and Terry McCormick, you've been listening to Locked on Titans. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Enjoy your day.