Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Updating the playoff picture

Episode Date: December 13, 2017

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I am Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? Doing good, man. What's going on? Not too much. So we figure tonight we will spend a little bit of time breaking down the playoff scenarios. It feels weird to talk about this team in the playoffs after the performance that we saw on Sunday, and honestly for the last month or so, or maybe a year, however you want to look at that. The Titans are still actually in a really good spot to be able to make the playoffs. We were talking before we came on here,

last year the Titans finished 9-7. Obviously, the game on Christmas Eve in Jacksonville where Mariota got hurt was a really big game. The Titans would have won that game. They would have been in the driver's seat to win big game. The Titans would have won that game. They would have been in the driver's seat to win the division. And, you know, the funny thing is, even after they lost that game,

the Titans still would have had a chance to win the division in Week 17 if the Bengals would have beaten the Texans on that night. I guess it was Saturday night because I remember getting ready for Christmas and watching that game. I think Bullock missed a kick at the end of the game for the Bengals to lose. So the Titans still had playoff hopes at that point. And then they played the Texans in Week 17, won a meaningless game with Matt Cassel at quarterback.

But we were talking before we came on here about how much better we felt about that team uh you know in weeks 15 and then heading into week 16 obviously once mariotta went down you knew that even if they were able to get in the playoffs uh with matt castle they wouldn't have been able to to do much but it's just funny that team had a worse record um at this point than this team does this year but you felt a lot better about that team. And, you know, really the only reason is because of how well Marcus Marietta was playing last year versus how poorly he's playing this year. Yeah, and that team was still running the football.

That team was winning big games. Broncos were still good. They came to town, and the Titans beat them. Titans went to Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs. So they were winning some big football games down the stretch. The Arrow was trending up for that team last year. Polar opposite this year. They've won games down the stretch, but they've been against bad teams.

I think everybody realistically saw a game like Sunday coming it was just a matter of time the Titans just couldn't keep scraping by the air has been let out of the sails a little bit but you've got a chance to make things right against the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday I'm not saying that a win over the 49ers would make you feel any better about this team,

but it might just lock up a playoff spot. Yeah, and we'll get into that. I mean, I think it probably does. One thing on last year's team, you know, remember the game here against the Packers. I mean, you know, that was a big that was that was a big win for this team i mean a game where they came out and they put a bunch of points on the board uh you know got ahead early and were able you know keep pace with the with the packers when

they made that late surge um yes i mean like you said there were some big wins in there too this year it's like they've they've had some you know squeaking it out wins against really bad teams whereas last year they were they were winning against teams that were legitimate contenders all year long. It's just funny how much things have changed and how different this team is right now versus what we thought they would be. You just remember the end of the year last year, or at least the last few weeks before Mariota got hurt, that was what everybody saw and why the titans were such a you know trendy pick this offseason to be a contender in the afc and you know obviously things haven't played out like they like they should or let me like we

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Alright, so Titans playoff scenarios. Right now the Titans are, they sit at 8-5, three games left. The good news is it looks like, and Terry, you can talk a little bit about this because you were looking through the playoff simulator right before we came on, but it looks like if the Titans get to nine wins, they're pretty much assured a playoff spot. nine wins, they're pretty much assured a playoff spot.

Yeah, you've got Kansas City and the Chargers sitting there with seven wins. Baltimore has seven wins. So just kind of playing around with some different scenarios, it's really kind of hard to find a scenario where the Titans don't make it at nine wins. So it looks like the Chargers would be on the short end of that stick if they if they got to nine and seven so uh you know we talk about how how big these last two games were for the titans you know really this game against san francisco it could lock tennessee in you know there's still a scenario where the titans could miss but it's not all that likely. So, for as bad as this team is playing, for as bad as you feel about this team,

the playoffs are still very, very real. So, you know, we'll kind of see how it plays out. San Francisco's playing a lot better. This offense seems like it's turned a corner with Jimmy Garoppolo. This is not your typical, what are they, 3-olo. This is not your typical 3-10 team. I read a stat that Jimmy Garoppolo is 4-0 as a starter. Now, obviously, some of that is because the Patriots are so good. But still, I think Garoppolo is a big upgrade over anything they had.

Vegas reflected that. 49ers are a two-point favorite. So you've got a 3-10 49ers team that is favored over an 8-5 Titans team that's fighting for a playoff spot. So, again, it's a really weird spot. This whole season has been weird. But, you know, if Titans can go get it done, you're going to feel pretty good about their chances of making it into the postseason. Yeah, and so just to break that down a little bit,

Buffalo and Baltimore right now are 7-6. So, obviously, you know, if the Titans only win one more game, they would end 9-7. If Buffalo and Baltimore both won won out then they would both be ten and six uh but buffalo still has played miami twice and has new england in the middle of those two games so you got to figure they're at least going to lose one of those um i think they probably lose two out of three baltimore could win the rest of their games that's not out of the realm possibilities um because they've got a pretty soft schedule uh going forward now i saw something

today you know for as soft of a schedule as the titans have had this year um they've got a pretty soft schedule going forward. And I saw something today, you know, for as soft of a schedule as the Titans have had this year, they've got like the fifth toughest remaining schedule, just because, you know, they had the Rams and Jaguars in the last two weeks of the season. So, you know, they weren't able to take as much advantage as we thought they might be able to of that soft schedule. And so now they've got to play well. And like you said i mean it's a three-win team but it's not a little technical issue there but anyway all that to say that you know the team has had this week to be together um and it kind of a training camp

atmosphere and so i mean i think there's some good in that and i think there's some you know just just some of that stuff that can be built on coming off of a rough game and hopefully they can kind of rally around each other and you know work on that kind of stuff and again some of the negativity that they would be hearing and that kind of stuff from around these parts they're they're going to be able to tune out this week so i mean i think that is a good thing um you know again we we talked last night about how they say that the offensive problems are easily fixable. Mike Malarkey's been saying that for 15 weeks now. If it

was that easy, we would assume that they would have done it by now. But anyway, I don't know. It'll be interesting to watch. It's going to be interesting to see how they come out in this game. And, you know, hopefully they can, again, just rally and play well enough to get something done. So, I don't know. It's going to be – I'm really, really curious to see how the team responds. We've seen some flat performances this year in games where we thought they would come out fired up. But it's hard for me to see a scenario where they don't at least come out playing with team responses. We've seen some flat performances this year in games where we thought they would come out fired up, but it's hard for me to see a scenario where they

don't at least come out playing with some fire. Now, I don't know what that's going to mean. I don't know if that's going to translate to success on offense and then like that, we're going to have to see some changes in some play calling and that kind of stuff if we're going to see success on offense, but I do think we'll see an inspired football team on Sunday.

Yeah, I don't know.. Yeah, I don't know. I just don't know. It's like I told you, I wouldn't bet on this game. Someone gave me free money to do it with. I just don't know what you're going to see out of this team. And that's kind of been my feeling here down the stretch this last month. It's bad football teams. It's just you're getting a hole against Indy.

You're getting a hole seemingly every week. And then you go lose to Arizona like you did. So I don't have high hopes for this San Francisco game. You certainly hope that they can get past a 3-10 team to kind of seemingly lock up a playoff spot. But I'm not going to put it past them to lose. I mean, this offense is fundamentally broken. They're not doing what they're built to do.

Their quarterback is playing like one of the worst in the league right now. So, you know, outside of the defense, there's not too much to be excited about. And I hate that I feel this way. You know, 8- five this this whole city should be fired up and rallying around this team but they're not and i i totally get it i don't blame them at all oh yeah sure i mean i don't disagree with any of what you just said um because yeah i mean my fear right now is eight and eight i mean i, I think that, you know, if you – I think that's the most likely outcome at this point, and I hate to say that. But just with the way this team is playing, it's hard to see it going any other way.

But, you know, I don't know. I feel like if they've got any fight left in them, this is going to be the game where they come out and show it, and hopefully they'll be able to do that. All right, so coming up we'll kind of wrap up this episode with just a little bit of 49ers talk. We'll dig into that a little bit more tomorrow night, but we'll talk a little bit about that tonight

and then kind of wrap up this episode. All right, so, I mean, obviously, you know, just kind of a high overview of the 49ers. They play fast, you know, one of the fastest paces in the league so they're going to get a lot of playoff um we talked about jimmy grappolo and the difference that he's made um they're they're a little bit lacking in the weapons department um you know marquis goodwin is is their best receiver and you know he's he's had over or he had 99 yards i think in grappolo's first start and had just a just a hair over 100 in this second one, he's had over – or he had 99 yards, I think, in Garoppolo's first start and had just a hair over 100 in his second one.

So he's got a little bit over 200 yards in Garoppolo's two starts. So, obviously, there's some rapport there. You know, they've got Carlos Hyde. So, I mean, you know, some serviceable guys on offense, but not guys that strike fear into your heart. I mean, you know, after facing Deandre Hopkins two weeks ago, Larry Fitzgerald last week, I mean,

those are guys that obviously you, you know, more about are better receivers than, you know, then in the 49ers have, but at the same time, Goodwin presents a different type of challenge because he's got the, you know,

the world-class speed. And so, you know, where they've used Logan Ryan and shadow coverage as much as they could, you know, obviously when he got hurt, um, in the Texas game, but he was got hurt in the Texans game.

But he was on DeAndre Hopkins before that. He shadowed Larry Fitzgerald pretty much on Sunday. So this is a game where you're going to need to see Adoree Jackson show up. I mean, I think that he's the one that matches up better with Markey's good one. And so, I mean, it could be a good chance for him to shine. Yeah, and it's interesting breaking down teams that you don't typically play, and this is certainly one of them. I kind of view Goodwin as kind of

a poor man's T.Y. Hilton. So you've seen the Titans have some success defending Hilton this year. So yeah, I totally agree with you. It's a spot where you're going to have to rely on Adore Jackson and his movement skills and his long speed and agility and all that.

The 49ers are a team that kind of struggle up front, particularly on the inside. So maybe it's a spot where Jarrell Casey can kind of wreck some things on the inside. I'd expect this pass rush to keep showing up. Dick LeBeau's dialing them up. And he's sending Wesley Woodyard on all kinds of blitzes. And it's really worked the past few weeks.

So that's a good sign that we probably haven't talked about enough. Eric Walden was good last week. He was such a great signing, a no-brainer signing. So we'll see if they can get Derek Morgan back. You know, this is an offense that the Titans should be able to stop. Again, it's going to be, it's going to come down to the Titans offense. You know, can they run the ball consistently? Can Marcus Mariota just take care of the football?

You know, you hate to say that. You hate to say if he can just kind of manage the game, the Titans could win this one. It's just a weird, weird uh to talk about a three and ten team being favored over a team that's trying to clinch a playoff spot and it's so crazy that we're in a spot where we're talking about marcus mariotta managing the football game yeah but you know that's where we are so yeah it's it'll be interesting so yeah i mean i don't know well like i said we'll break down some more matchups, especially as it pertains to the 49ers' defense

versus the Titans' offense tomorrow. But, yeah, I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head there with pressure. I mean, I think if they can get pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo, you know, he's a guy that likes to sit in the pocket and throw. So if you can move him off of his spot, I think you can have some success. And like you said, they've been doing that to quarterbacks lately. And yeah, again, hopefully if Derek Morgan can get back,

that'll obviously help with that. So yeah, like I said, we'll break this down a little bit more tomorrow. I think Terry's going to jump on with the Locked On 49ers people. So we'll get you a link to that as soon as it happens as well. Again, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes,

Locked on Titans, or Stitcher, or wherever you get podcasts. You can do that, and you'll get the news. I think Jimmy got kicked off there. But, yeah, like he was saying, subscribe to us on Stitcher, iTunes, wherever you get your podcasts from. That really helps us out. So kind of wrapping things up, you can get all of our work on musiccitymiracles.com. You can follow Jimmy at jmorrismcm.

And you can also follow me on Twitter at TLambertFB. So that's all we've got for tonight. We'll be back tomorrow with a total dive in.