Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Sept 9- It's Friday and we've got a special guest today, find out who and hear our predictions on Sunday's season opener.

Episode Date: September 9, 2016

Locked On Titans- Sept 9- It's Friday and we've got a special guest today, find out who when you listen and you will also hear our predictions on the outcome of Sunday's season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, it's Jamie, Progressive number one, number two employee. Leave a message at the... Hey Jamie, it's me, Jamie. This is your daily pep talk. I know it's been rough going ever since people found out about your acapella group, Mad Harmony, but you will bounce back. I mean, you're the guy always helping people find coverage options with the Name Your Price tool. It should be you giving me the pep talk.

Now get out there, hit that high note, and take Mad Harmony all the way to nationals this year! Sorry, it's pitchy. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. You are locked on Titans. Your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. And welcome to your newest source for all things Titans. With your host, Terry McCormick of Titan Insider, I'm Greg Arias,

and former Titans All-Pro Left Tackle Brad Hopkins. Guys, it's Friday. We're locked on Titans, and we're glad to be with you for the final show of our first week of doing this, and it's certainly been fun five days days to this point right you are and i think uh you know i want first of all to say thanks to everybody that's tuned in and listen to this podcast and tell all your friends about it and pass it along on social media absolutely great terry i tell you what it's kind of cool to have nashville be the spotlight of the nfl not only because it's the beginning of the season but quarterback conundrums and other teams are actually bringing the focus here to Nashville.

Of course, the Vikings coming into town, fellas, trying to figure out who their quarterback is on Sunday afternoon. I don't know. Who do you think, Terry, might be the first guy to get the star? Will it be Sean Hill, the incumbent, or will it be Sam Bradford, the new signee from Philadelphia? Boy, they're certainly not wanting to let the cat out of the bag up there in Minnesota. But I think if I'm giving up a first-round pick and a fourth-round pick for Sam Bradford, I'm riding with Sam Bradford as long as he doesn't come into it just completely blind in terms of the playbook. Greg, eight days for him to actually get himself acclimated with

the Viking system. Now, we know this is the NFL, okay? There's not a huge variance, but yet still there's things to be learned, the nuances of that offense. Is it basically a help for them or a hurt for them to have a Sam Bradford in starting the first game of the season? Well, I think from a talent standpoint, more talented than Sean Hill, obviously, but not knowing the system kind of evens things up. Can you nurse Bradford through this playbook? Can guys in the starting lineup next to him, linemen, tight ends, receivers, kind of coach him along and say, hey, do this on this particular play so that they can expand the playbook? That's going to be a question.

Can they do that? Or are they just going to have, obviously, the base running plays and maybe three or four pass plays they can use? Who knows? But we're going to try to find out because a running plays and maybe three or four pass plays they can use. Who knows? But we're going to try to find out because a little bit later on in the show today we're going to have Sam Ekstrom from Locked On Vikings as our special guest to talk about the Minnesota side of things. Brad, let's talk a little bit about a move that the Titans made on their roster yesterday.

A little bit of a surprise. They claimed Josh Allen, who at one point, or Josh Klein, my bad, Josh Klein, off waivers from the New England Patriots, although the Philadelphia Eagles were rumored to be a landing spot for him in a trade. That didn't happen. The Patriots dumped him and he lands here in Tennessee because of John Robinson's knowledge of him. So what's it like if you're an offensive lineman coming in and having to learn on the fly?

My guess is Mr. Klein will be inactive this week while he learns. You're right about that 100% because it's about cohesion. It's about repetition when you're talking about offensive line because they've got to be like synchronized swimmers, if you will, knowing what each one of the other guys is doing. And I think that when you look at basically the potential for them adding some veteran linemanship. Is that a word, linemanship?

It is now. Hey, if I called him Josh Allen, you could have linemanship. Exactly, Terry. But the thing is this. They've got youngsters that book in. It's obviously LaJuan and Conklin. They've got a veteran in Ben Jones up front, but Chance and maybe Patachi, whoever else is going to be at right guard,

they're relatively young. Spain. Spain, right, exactly. So you've got to have a guy that at least understands the lay of the land, so to speak. Patriot way is obviously something that has led to a lot of success, and if something that he's learned up there in his tenure in New England can translate to success here, then why not?

You know what I mean? Get guys from quality programs, maybe help have some of that that's been successful for them rub off for the guys here. Right. I don't disagree with that. You bring in guys who know about winning. Their knowledge of winning rubs off on you. For years and years, I criticized them because they would bring in all these free agents from the Bills and the Jets, and I'm like, what are you doing?

They don't know anything more about winning than you do. So you're saying pick them from the winning teams, right, Terry? Absolutely. If you're going to go outside, get them from the winning teams, right, Terry? Absolutely. If you're going to go outside, get guys from the Steelers and the Patriots and the Broncos and the Seahawks. Other big news from this week for the Titans, other than the addition of Josh Klein, the naming of the captains for the Titans. Six players were named as captains yesterday.

Two on offense, two defense, two special teams. No surprises for the most part. Marcus Mariota, Delaney Walker on offense, Jarrell Casey, Brian Arakpo on defense, and Wesley Woodyard, and Damian Stafford, the special teams captains. I think it's a big deal, even though Mariota is just a second-year guy, it's always a big deal for the quarterback to be one of the team captains because no matter who it is, no matter if it's Tom Brady or Joe Blow,

if he's your starting quarterback, he needs to be one of your team captains, Brad. It does ring false, Terry, when you have someone other than the quarterback be the leader. And it just happens to be so apropos that this guy that's developing nicely in his sophomore season, Marcus Mariota 2.0, will be a definite improvement from the year before. And I think that the teammates are acknowledging that. They're acknowledging his strengths, obviously diversifying the offense, but more so they're identifying his, I guess you could say,

even-keeled approach to things. He doesn't deal egotistically with being the quarterback. He doesn't deal with being a relative youngster on this team as some sort of issue for him. I think that he's, I don't want to say he's perfect for the position, but he's someone that does, he's a communal guy. He's a very approachable guy in the locker room. He cares about what he does. That first guy in, last guy out mentality, that's exactly something that's synonymous with what Marcus Mariota is doing. But also when you look at some of the other guys, like Delaney Walker.

Delaney Walker, since he's came in here, guys, Greg Terry, has been extremely impressionable in this offense, and I think that that trust is one of the things that offensively allowed him to be labeled a captain. Real quick, Jerome Casey, obviously one of the more identifiable figures that we'll see on the Titans defense. Him along with Brian Arakbo, sure, he was a Redskin at some point in time, but now him being a Titan has solidified himself as being a leader defensively.

Wesley Woodyard's been just a nice complement to whatever they've been doing. So they've got the right formula for guys that can actually lead this team, and I think that confidently they'll move forward with these guys in tow. The final thing in current news today before we bring in our special guest, the injury report, it's pretty short, pretty sweet. Not so simple, necessarily. Kendall Wright, of course, ruled out for the Titans, will not play on Sunday versus the Vikings when Minnesota arrives here at Nissan Stadium.

And with that, we move on to our special guest. He is Sam Ekstrom. He is co-host of Locked On Vikings on the Locked On Podcast Network. And Sam, thanks so much for taking time to be with us today. Yeah, thanks for having me on. It's good to be with you. Well, let's start, Sam, with basically the quarterback situation that we were talking about in the beginning of our program.

Have there been any indications, maybe from what you've seen in practice, the preparation of Sam Bradford? Will this be his first start, or will they go with a guy that's already been on the roster in Sean Hill? What are your thoughts, Sam? We just got out of Mike Zimmer's press conference a few minutes ago, and he said he has made a decision, but of course he did not reveal what that decision is going to be. Now, based on what I've heard from the coaches this week and what I've seen, I feel like there's a 70% likelihood it's going to be Sam Bradford.

It sounds like whether it's tight end coach Pat Shermer or offensive coordinator Norm Turner, they've been working night and day to get Bradford up to speed with this offense. And they've also been working hard to scout the Tennessee Titans with him as well. He's going through all of the ordinary things you would go through if you were going to be the starting quarterback. So Sam Bradford, they gave up a first round pick to get him. I don't think they're

going to sit him on the bench if they can help it. They definitely have the best chance to win with Sam Bradford. And I have a strong feeling that he's going to be the starter. Well, now, Sam, how much offense can they realistically expect Sam Bradford to grasp in just eight days' time to be ready to go? Obviously, the base running plays and those types of things, but pass plays can be very complex, and certainly timing with receivers in and out of breaks as well. And it doesn't help either that Norv Turnerer runs a fairly complex offensive scheme the air correal is based on a lot of seven step drops and a lot of complex uh routes run by the wide receivers

within their route tree that takes a lot of time to learn his playbook i think they're going to have to dumb it down and norv turner admitted as much yesterday he said that it's not going to be the full array of plays for Bradford. He's going to have to learn a pared-down menu. I think they're going to do a lot of short drops. I think they're going to obviously lean on Adrian Peterson and Jerick McKinnon pretty heavily, but no, I mean, Bradford's not going to be able to learn 100% of this offense, and that's the one advantage Sean Hill does have. So do you go with the guy who knows everything but doesn't have the physical abilities, or do you go with Bradford who has the arm, has all the tools, but may not have the IQ?

Vikings have been burned in the past by quarterbacks who supposedly had talent but came in and just didn't know the offense. A lot of people think of Josh Freeman back in 2013 who tried to make a spot start, and it went horribly. Freeman back in 2013 who tried to make a spot start, and it went horribly. So the Vikings fans are having nightmarish flashbacks of that game back in 2013. You mentioned the running backs. Of course, we know about Adrian McPherson.

Jarek McKinnon, he missed practice on Thursday. Did he practice today, and will he be a go on Sunday? Yeah, he did practice today. He had his helmet on and pads during practice, and the media was only able to see the special teams drills. We get kicked out after a little bit, but he was going full speed. I think technically he's going to be listed as questionable, but if there's a new injury report system this year where probable is no longer an option,

I think Coach Zimmer just said that he would have been probable if that had been a choice. So McKinnon will in all likelihood be good to go on Sunday. Sam, aside from Adrian Peterson obviously being the first choice, who else will the Vikings try to rely on if Sam Bradford is the starter to try and help pick up the slack in terms of attacking the Tennessee Titans defense? It's got to be Stephon Diggs, their number one wide receiver, the second-year kid out of Maryland.

Diggs is incredible at slants and crossing routes, running east to west. He's about as good a route runner as it gets. So I think Diggs is the perfect tool to get the ball to within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. He's got great yards after catch ability, which I think they're going to try to maximize in this game. It's just get the ball out of Bradford's hands quickly and prevent that Dick LeBeau blitz and make sure that they can get some first downs with the length of their receivers. So look for Stephon Diggs to have a really big game. Hey, Sam, 30,000-foot lens of the Tennessee Titans,

obviously from the perspective of the Vikings coming in to Nashville this week. What are your optics? What are they saying right now about the Titans? Is this a run-first team, in your opinion? Is it led by Marcus Mariota? How do you think the Vikings are viewing and getting prepared for this weekend? You know, I think people are approaching this game with a healthy respect of Tennessee. People are not dwelling on that 3-13 record,

because I think a lot of people here see in Tennessee what Minnesota used to be about three years ago. You know, the Vikings were a team with a lot of young talent back in 2013, but they just didn't have the defensive discipline. But they've improved each of the last two years under Mike Zimmer, and now they're ready to make a deep playoff run, they think. I think a lot of people think Tennessee is on the verge of beginning to make that jump. People are expecting a smash-mouth game.

They're expecting Murray and Henry to really carry the load for Tennessee. And, you know, it's not too different than the game plan the Vikings are going to be implementing with a run-first attack. So I think that there's a lot of respect for Tennessee, and I've heard several people actually predict Tennessee to win the game. So there's no one overlooking the Titans here. We're speaking with Sam Ekstrom, co-host of Locked On Vikings on the Locked On Podcast Network. And I believe, Terry, you've got one more question for Sam.

I do. One guy, he's actually a native of the state of Tennessee, and he's one of the Vikings' star players on the defensive side of the ball, Harrison Smith. Talk a little bit about what he brings to that Minnesota defense. Smith was a guy drafted first round 2012, who started immediately and has improved almost every year Terry I mean the guy is unbelievable he and the funny thing is is that he's never

really had a consistent partner at safety next to him the Vikings go through it seems like a safety a year they had Jamarcus Sanford, Mr. L. Raymond, Andrew Sandejo, Robert Blanton the list goes on and on. And yet, Smith has been able to be the consistent force on the back end of that defense. He's got I think three interception returns or touchdowns over the last four seasons.

He's a hard hitter too. He's great in coverage. He's excellent against the run. Mike Zimmer likes to move him around, bring him up to the line of scrimmage and have him threaten on a safety blip. He's fun to watch. He's really fun to watch.

And I think you're going to see him all over the field on Sunday. And he's expected to have Andrew Sandejo as his safety partner this year. That's the first time he'll have a repeat. Someone back for a second year playing next to him. That should only make him feel more comfortable. Sam, thanks so much for the time. I know you've got a busy schedule there with the Vikings trying to do what we're doing, cover press conferences and get ready for things on Sunday.

We certainly appreciate you taking time to do this for us today. We would wish you luck, Sam, but we're just kidding. Well, thank you for having me on. I wish good luck to your team. I appreciate you having me on. That's Sam Ekstrom, Locked On Vikings. You can find him on the Locked On Pods Network along with every other

NFL team, and of course Locked On the NFL on the Locked On Pods Network. Be sure to check out Sam and his co-host Sage Rosenfels, Locked On Vikings, and of course, Locked On Pods Network. Be sure to check out Sam and his co-host Sage Rosenfeld, Locked On Vikings, and, of course, Locked On the NFL. Fantasy football fans, this is it. It's finally opening week of the NFL regular season,

and that means FanDuel is back. What does that mean? Fantasy football for everyday fans. New contests starting every week. There's no busted season, so you don't have to worry about that. Just pick a contest, choose your team, and watch your score real time. Hey, new this year, we've got some upgraded experiences. For you that have been in FanDuel before, you get even more contest variety.

Try beginner contests for new players only. Settle a score with a friend in a head-to-head contest. You know, like a trash talk. Try a 50-50 contest where the top half win cash. Play in larger tournaments for even more excitement. You can even win big in their Sunday Million League. Set up $2 million this week.

Play for a dollar. Choices for every budget. Hey, and this week's Sunday Million Contest is paying out $2 million. $200,000 for first place. You know what? I've got a guy in there that I'm actually highly touted about this year. Tajay Sharp is going to be huge in fantasy. Don't anybody else pick him,

okay? That's my guy. Pick your own. Have all the fantasy fun that you need right now. FanDuel. Be sports rich. Try FanDuel now and get up to $50 in free entries. New users who deposit will get five free entries to NFL's 50-50 beginner contest. That's valued up to $50, guys.

You'll get one free entry a week for five weeks. Value of free entries varies based on the deposited amount, of course. So go to Fanduel.com, click the Join Now button, and use my promo code LOTITANS. That's LOTITANS. That's Fanduel.com, promo code LOTITANS. Void where prohibited. And moving along, our next segment here on Football Friday is

we're closing in on the season opener for the Tennessee Titans here on Sunday at Nissan Stadium. We're going to do a little bit of analysis on the game and just after speaking with Sam Ekstrom who told us about the quarterback situation. 70% Terry, the figure that he placed on Samadford being the starting quarterback your thoughts on what we can see in this situation he doesn't believe it look at no i think so i i think the smart money says sam bradford because you've gone out and you've acquired this guy this is the guy you're going to ride eventually so you might as well go ahead and

get him acclimated to what you're doing even if he's not the most crisp guy here in the first week or two because he doesn't know the entire playbook. But you might as well go ahead because you know what you have in Sean Hill, and obviously it wasn't good enough or you wouldn't have went out and acquired Sam Bradford. How exciting is Teddy Bridgewater, Terry? Teddy Bridgewater has been so exciting for the Vikings that we forgot about their bell cow back at Adrian Peterson. Obviously with Teddy Bridgewater, Terry? Teddy Bridgewater has been so exciting for the Vikings that we forgot about their bell cow back at Adrian Peterson. Obviously, with Teddy Bridgewater not being a part of that offense, they've got to go back to their bread and butter. They've got to go back to their consistency,

which was giving the ball to 28 and letting him run all over the place. Now that Sam Bradford is now part of the fold, limited offense, you would assume it would be vanilla or pedestrian because obviously he's had limited time to work with, they're going to get back to running the football, which means more focus on Jarrell Casey, more focus on the boys up front, you know, to basically close up those gaps, play

that two-gap responsibility, and basically get the ball back for Marcus Mariota. So I really see them not putting it in the quarterback's hands, Terry Gregg, but going back to the ground game because we also know they've got a vaunted defense that has the ability to turn the ball over as well. If they can get the ball back from Tennessee and give it to Adrian Peterson to where he's controlling the clock and staying out of third and long, it could be a long day affair for the Tennessee Titans. I want to ask you

this, and this would be a Vikings offensive line type question, but in generic terms, so to speak. You're an offensive lineman. You prefer to run block against a 3-4 or a 4-3, or does it make a difference? That's a great question. I like the 3-4 because typically that means that the tackles in a 3-4 are sitting right over you. In a 4-3, they're able to be plussed outside maybe a position over.

Sometimes they're standing up. But obviously in a 3-4, you've got your down lineman that's over the tackle, and then there's a linebacker outside of him. To me, it's easier for us to identify first off who we're going to. You know what I mean? Especially when you're talking about potentially five guys on the line of scrimmage

between tackles, two tackles and no's, and obviously the two backers on each side. So it's easier for us to get our hands on them, because that's what we want to do, Terry Gregg. We want to get our hands on these guys, and that way we're able to control them. Space is not our friend, especially for those that don't have quick feet.

Now, fortunately for us, we've got some tackles that have some pretty cool feet. They're like ballerinas of sorts. But for the most part, that 3-4 defense is something that, in my opinion, is more manageable, especially for our offensive line. Okay, now let me pose this to you the other way. You say the 3-4 is more manageable.

That's what the Titans play. But having faced Dick LeBeau's defense and what he does, what makes his 3-4 defense different than all the rest? It's called fire zones. It's called you don't know where the blitz is coming from. You might have five guys standing up there in the offensive line, and all of a sudden some safety drops down out of the sky, and he drops back off when you've already accounted for him in the blocking scheme.

It's confusion, especially when you're talking about youngsters. Youth don't understand a lot of what defensive coordinators are trying to do against them, which is confuse them. So the 3-4 defense led by Dick LeBeau, some would say almost one of the founding fathers of that defense, they've found tricky ways to basically make sure that that offensive line up front, whether it's tight ends also, are uncomfortable and not really being able to identify who exactly their responsibilities are.

We're down to our final two minutes, so our predictions for the week. Who wants to go first? I'll go first. Okay, so we talked about the Vikings trying to get back to the ground game, right? Well, what are the Titans going to try and do, Terry? Establish the same ground attack. This, in my opinion, is going to come down to who makes the least amount of turnovers. The Titans have been really good in turnovers this preseason,

really pretty much keeping a hold of the football. And when there's newness to be found, I think that that's more opportunity for teams to give the ball back. We don't have newness. They do. I like the Titans in this game. I'm not going to say a score, but I'll say by three if I can talk on the spread, Terry. Okay.

All right. I agree with you. I think it's going to be a close game. I think it's going to be probably a low-scoring game. A lot of running. This one might be over in two hours and 15 minutes if they don't get all the timeouts in. But I think even though the Vikings have been dealt a severe blow by losing

their starting quarterback, they still have 28 in the backfield. Peterson is still the man until proven otherwise. And while I think the Titans will do a decent job on him, I still think that this Titans team is still learning how to win. And the Vikings, having gone

11-5 last year, I think they know how to win. So I'm going to go Minnesota in a close one. I'll say 20-16. I did forget about that, Terry, the fact that they are defending NFC North Championship. Can I change my thing, Greg? Yeah, you can if you want. I'm joking.

I'm joking. Go ahead. I'm going to agree with Terry. I'm going to go 14-10 Minnesota. I think it's going to be a low-scoring game. If Sam Bradford does not come in and give this thing away, making mistakes, throwing interceptions, I think Minnesota does enough with Adrian Peterson. I think their defense is good enough to slow up Marcus and this

Titans offense and hold them to just 10 points. It's going to be a close one. It's going to be a run the football kind of ball game, but I think Minnesota 14-10 is the score I'm going to go with. I wouldn't even be surprised, fellas, if I saw Marcus Mariota scramble for a six or even a first down or two. Obviously, they're going to be a little more diverse in that offense, but not putting him in subsequent danger outside the pocket and allowing him to get hit. But Marcus has been extremely smart in taking what the defense gives him, sliding before the danger comes to him, or getting out of bounds. So I see a little more use of Marcus Mariota in the running capacities this week.

We're out of time. I want to thank our special guest, Sam Ekstrom from Locked On Vikings, for being with us today. One week in the books, guys. It's been fun. Absolutely. Enjoyed it. Looking forward to next week.

All right. We'll see you next week, guys. See you next week. Enjoy the games. Go Titans.