Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans/Jets crossover

Episode Date: November 29, 2018

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Welcome to a crossover episode of Locked On Jets and Locked On Titans. This is John with Locked On Jets here with Terry, Locked On Titans. We're doing our crossover show this week on Thursday. We're a little behind because the Titans played Monday night, so normally we do crossover Wednesday here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Pushing it back a day, though. Terry, great to be with you today. How are you? Doing well. How are you?

Well, I'm doing better than the Jets are. Jets are entering this game on a 5K losing streak, although I guess the Titans are struggling a little bit as well, aren't they? Yeah, it's been rough lately. So what's happened to the Titans? Because just a couple weeks ago, they blew the Patriots out, and now they follow with a couple rough performances. Oh, man, I wish I had an answer for you.

I just don't. It's just a really inconsistent group. I think it starts up front on the offensive line. You know, two years ago, Titans had supposedly one of the best offensive lines in the league, and they just haven't been able to perform. The entire right side of that offensive line has been struggling. You know, pressure, easy pressure on Marcus Mariota. Marcus Mariota has no receivers outside of Corey Davis.

So it's just a young receiver group, tons of pressure on Mariota. And then to make matters worse, over the last two weeks, the defense hadn't shown up. You know, the defense gave up 10 points to Tom Brady, shut down the Patriots. Then Andrew Luck kills them. Deshaun Watson kills them. So just a really inconsistent group overall. Really frustrating because, you know, you've seen the flashes

and they just can't seem to put it all together and they can't seem to string weeks of good play together. Well, I'll tell you, from the Jets' side, it's not so much inconsistent as much as it's been really bad the last few weeks. And they came out of the bye against the Patriots, and I'll tell you something, people were resigned to the fact that about the best they could hope for was a 14-point loss at home to New England. So that tells you a lot about where the Jets are right now.

Yeah, I watched some of that game. It was pretty close up until second half, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, when the Patriots just started running the ball and they were able to do it at will on this Jets front, it was something ugly from the Jets' side. So Terry, why don't we start by talking about when the Jets have the football and when the Titans are on defense. So what are some of the strengths and weaknesses of this Titans defense? Well, up until a couple weeks ago, I would have said the run defense has been pretty good, but last week they got torched by Houston by not a good

offensive line. Lamar Miller is not scary at all. Lamar Miller ripped off 150 yards against them. I just don't think there's a lot of difference makers. You're seeing Brian Arakpo, Derek Morgan get up there in age.

I don't think they're all that great anymore. It's something the Titans are going to have to address this offseason. You've got Jarrell Casey up there in age. I don't think they're all that great anymore. It's something the Titans are going to have to address this offseason. You've got Jarrell Casey up there. He's one of the best players in the league, but there's just not a whole lot around him. So, you know, I think the secondary has been up and down. They've certainly had their moments of good, but they've had their moments of bad.

Malcolm Butler, who we're not sure about his status on Sunday, has been really bad, giving up the deep ball. Adory Jackson has been a rollercoaster ride. He's been horrible against T.Y. Hilton, but he was pretty good against Josh Gordon in the Patriots. I think he's a good player, just, again, not very consistent right now. So they're a good group across the board, but they struggle to get pressure, bringing four men.

So in order to get pressure, they're going to have to blitz. So you're going to see a lot of man-to-man opportunities for whoever ends up playing quarterback for the Jets. Yeah, and at this point, it's not really clear. There were some reports a few days ago that it sounded like maybe Sam Darnold was a week away. Now he returned to practice on Wednesday, so it's kind of up in the air. I mean, the way the Jets' offense is playing, though, I mean, this is, if your defense is struggling, this might be the offensive group you want to face

because there's not really much working for this Jets team on offense at the moment. The offensive line right now is just a mess. And they placed James Carpenter on injured reserve. His season's over. They made that announcement on Wednesday. So what they did was they moved Spencer Long, who had been playing center, over to guard. Jonathan Harrison replaces Long at center. The results on Sunday's game were not good.

You know, what's funny is Spencer Long threw like a highlight reel pancake block on this one run play where he wiped out Jason McCourty, which, you know, is a center against the defensive, or I guess a guard against the defensive back, which you'd expect. It almost kind of obscured how poor his play was, where he was responsible for three quarterback hits uh you know you just look at this offensive line it's really a struggle for the jets so you know based on what you're telling me about the titans defense

this may just kind of be a battle for futility on sunday in the trenches yeah uh i the titans run run defense that that came out of nowhere i mean they've been pretty good all year. Maybe they can get back to form here. I want to know about Sam Darnall, whether he plays or not. How has he looked in the time that you've seen him play? It's been up and down. Right before his injury, things were kind of trending down where he played a really miserable game in Miami. You'd expect rookies to have good moments, have bad moments.

There were some very good moments. There was a game he played against the Colts a little while back, which was just an excellent game where the Jets did not have much else working. There were a couple other, and the other two wins, I mean the three wins are the games Darnold's played well. The opening night game against Detroit, he throws the interception on his first passing attempt and then bounces back and has a really nice game.

The game before the Colts game against Denver, he also played solid, and there were also some real stinkers in there. But part of the story is just the Jets did not do a good job surrounding him with talent. The receiving core, I think, has underachieved this year. It's been kind of disappointing. Robbie Anderson, third-year wide receiver, had an excellent second year, Robbie Anderson, third-year wide receiver, had an excellent second year, produced a lot on deep routes, just hasn't had the same impact this year. Quincy Inunua got off to a good start, but he's been banked up lately. Jermaine Kearse, a veteran guy Jets were counting on to be solid, has kind of been non-existent in recent weeks. Or at least when you've seen him, it's been for negative reasons because he's not making plays when he has opportunities so the quarterback situation is kind of tough to judge given the surroundings i think there's been some good there's been some bad i think that's what

you'd expect out of a rookie well i gotta tell you you know titans fans are happy to see the jets come to town because they face the chargers the patriots, Texans, and Colts, a bunch of hot offenses. So it's going to be nice getting a little bit of a break on Sunday. I think you're getting a lot of a break. But let me ask you this. Now, if you were the offensive coordinator for the Jets or some team opposing the Titans, how would you look to attack them? Well, I'll tell you, if Malcolm Butler's on the field,

I'm finding speed and I'm lining up against him and I'm going deep. I mean, it's been such a just terrible performance for him this year. It's not a huge deal, and he's just been awful. He seems to always be a step behind. So that's where I would go. You know, even a Dory Jackson, a Doryory seems to be kind of in a slump right now. It's now two weeks in a row he's given up touchdowns. So I think you can pass on this group right now.

I don't think you have to worry about a ton of pressure. So maybe that's good for the Jets with their struggling offensive line. So I think McCown or Darnall is going to have time to throw. It's just going to be whether or not Dean Pease brings the pressure. We've seen him be aggressive. We've seen him be pretty conservative. So I'm not sure what the game plan is going to be. But I think this Titans defense is definitely beatable through the air right

now because the pass rusher is just broken. So their best pass rusher right now is probably Harold Landry, who's a rookie and not seeing all of the snaps right now. Let me ask you this. Name me a guy Jets fans may not know who could have an impact for the Titans on defense. Without a doubt, Jayon Brown. Middle linebacker. Probably the reason why they let Avery Williamson walk

in free agency. He's just a really good athlete. He flies around. He's a guy that covers backs and tight ends. They use him on passing situations. But they've started to kind of incorporate him more so in the base package. Rashawn Evans, their first-round pick, was hurt and missed all of training camp.

So he's gotten more work. And Jayon Brown has really come on. So, you know, I talked about the Titans struggling on the edge. Dean Pease sends a lot of pressure up the middle. So look for Wesley Woodyard, Jayon Brown, and even Rashawn Evans, too, to really make an impact blitzing up the middle. Okay, I'll give you a guy for the Jets, and it's a rookie tight end, Chris Herndon, who if you look at his numbers, they aren't spectacular.

He's a fourth-round pick. I think rookie fourth-round tight ends, you're probably not going to post monster numbers, but he's really started to flash over the last few weeks. Had a relatively big statistical game on Sunday against New England. It seems like he's consistently gotten better during the season. He got off to kind of a slow start, had a rough week two game against Miami where he made a number of errors, but he's consistently gotten better through the year, flashing some athleticism, flashing some ability to get down the field. So I think that's probably the guy, you know, not a very well-known name.

And look, it's tough to find guys on this Jets offense who are playing well. But if you're looking for a guy who maybe you haven't heard of, who you may hear about in this game for a positive reason for the Jets, I might go with Herndon. Yeah, I think the Titans are pretty well equipped to handle the tight end. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I think they're among the league's best in defending the tight end. Kenny Vaccaro, Kevin Byer, Jayon Brown, as I talked about, they're pretty well equipped to cover these tight ends now.

I'm from an outsider. I'm more worried about Quincy Inouye and Robbie Anderson getting down the field and getting beat deep. Yeah, so who knows? Maybe Jets fans will be treated. Maybe this will be the game where Anderson and Inouye get good. Inouye got off to a good start this year, and then he's been banged up. Anderson just, aside from a game here or there,

it just hasn't really happened for him. Yeah, and Robbie Anderson was a guy that immediately caught my attention just looking at the projected starting line. There's a guy that can get down the field. So, again, talked about Malcolm Butler struggling. I don't know if he's going to play. He's got what they're calling a stinger. We should get an update tomorrow, but that's definitely a matchup to watch.

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We've got a special deal for our listeners to save 20% off your entire order. Just go to ActionHeat.com to check out everything Action Heat has to offer. That's ActionHeat.com or use promo code LOCKEDON at checkout to save 20%. Stay toasty warm while you enjoy all the outdoor activities this winter with Action Heat. John locked on Jets. Terry locked on Titans. Doing a crossover show as the Jets prepare to take on the Tennessee Titans this weekend in Nashville. So, Terry, let's take a look at the side of the ball where the Titans are on offense, Jets are on defense. And I'm interested to hear Titans fans take on Matt LaFleur, a guy who I think, from what

I hear, has kind of gotten mixed reviews for his work. He's interesting, man. All the talks for training camp was, this guy's going to be so good, he's going to come in, stay for a year, and go get a head coaching job. Because he interviewed, he actually interviewed for get a head coaching job. Because he interviewed. He actually interviewed for the Titans head coaching job. Ends up coming back as the offensive coordinator. He's a rookie offensive coordinator.

I know he had the title with the Rams, but he didn't call plays. Of course, Sean McVay is calling plays out there. So, yeah, it's been up and down, mostly down, honestly. You can't put it all on him. Again, like I said, this offensive line has struggled. They've got Corey Davis and then just a whole heap of trash underneath him, honestly. So it's just everyone's young, everyone's inexperienced.

Mariota is not being protected there's virtually no run game so it's really hard uh to place too much blame on him but then you get to games like monday night when you're down 17 points and you're still trying to establish the run in the fourth quarter uh that that's what i have a problem with. That's what's got to get better going forward. There's no explanation for that. And I'm interested in your take on Mariota. I think I kind of alluded to a similar situation the Jets were in with Darnold, where I feel like it's kind of tough to evaluate Darnold just because there's so little around him. Is that kind of how Titans fans feel about Mariota? I'm higher on Mariota than most

Titans fans probably. I think Marcus is great. I think he's been dealt a really tough hand changing offensive coordinators, changing head coaches. Started with Wisenhunt, went to Malarkey, is now with Vrabel. New offenses every step of the

way. Just not a lot of weapons to work with here. You know, to start the year, Tennessee lost to Buffalo because of a Nick Williams drop in the end zone. You know, Titans should have won that game. Marcus Mariotta should have won that game. He did everything to win that game and didn't get rewarded for it. So there's a lot working against Mariotta.

And he's had his struggles. He's been banged up this year. That's the main knock on him. Can he stay healthy? He had a week one injury where he pinched a nerve in his elbow and lost feeling in two of his fingers for about a month. And it took a while for him to find himself again. But he seems to be back.

It's just a matter of whether or not that offensive line is going to hold up as to what Titans offense they're going to see. You know, Terry, it's interesting because in our last segment, you talked about some of the Titans' struggles on defense, and I feel like the Jets have a lot in common with them. You talked about Malcolm Butler's struggles. Well, last year during the offseason, it seemed like the top two free agent corners available were Butler and Tremaine Johnson.

The Titans got Butler, the Jets got Johnson, and it's been ugly this year for Tremaine Johnson. He's been banged up a lot, but when he's played, he just has not been very effective. And you look at this Jets cornerback group, Morris Claiborne's had a decent year. He's been kind of up and down, I think more up than down. So he's been kind of successful. But Johnson's been down, and Buster Screen is just, he's not that good in the slot. So this is a Jets offense where you can throw the ball on these guys,

and there's not a lot of pass rush. I mean, there's not really anybody off the edge. You talk about the interior, Leonard Williams is having a very disappointing year, so there's not much pass rush. There's not many guys who can cover out there. So maybe this is the type of game the Titans need to get healthy on offense in their passing game.

It seems like the Jets have needed a pass rusher for a decade. Am I wrong on that? You're wrong because it's been over a decade. The Jets have needed a pass rusher only from that standpoint. Really, since they traded John Abraham in the spring of 2006, they have not had a quality edge rusher since then. That's amazing. Yeah, going back to the corners, Corey Davis is the guy to worry about.

People were down on him after his rookie year. He missed all training camps. So he's back this year. He's had his downs, but there's been a training camps. So he's back this year. He's had his downs, but there's been a lot of ups. He's getting 10 targets a game. He's the guy in this passing offense. I failed to mention it. Delaney Walker is on IR out for the season.

Lost him week one. So he's been forced into being the guy in this Titans offense. I think he's becoming better for it. You saw him win down the field with a nasty double move last week. A guy that really excels in the middle of the field. Not really a burner, but a guy that can beat man-on-man coverage. That seems like a pretty nice matchup coming back to Titans way.

You mentioned that the Titans don't have much of a run game. What are the issues there? It goes back to the offensive line, but it's, it's also on the runners, you know, Dion Lewis, the, you know, you know how it is when someone leaves the Patriots, they're just not very good anymore. Dion has flashed, but he's, he's put up a lot of negative plays here lately for the Titans.

The things he can do in the pass game is certainly valuable, but he's just not getting back to the line of scrimmage, doing too much dancing, trying to hit the home run instead of taking the two yards he's being given. Derrick Henry will get those two yards that you give him,

but he's not going to get anything else. So Henry's a really interesting player. 6'3", 250, you think he's going to be Brandon Jacobs back here and run you over. He's not. He's kind of a home run hitter. You kind of want to get him in space, get him up to speed, and then nobody's going to want to get in front of that. But just as far as the carry-to-carry work between the tackles, get him in space, get him up to speed, and then nobody's going to want to get in front of that.

But just as far as the carry-to-carry work between the tackles, Henry hasn't been very good. So the Titans have a huge need at running back. I think they addressed that this offseason, and it's just not being helped out at all by the struggles of this offensive line. On this show of misery, I can't help but point out again just how the Patriots ran all over the Jets. Again, maybe this is just a battle of futility. Who's the least bad?

Maybe that's what this game comes down to. I mean, the Titans have run the ball a little bit this year. Again, it's a consistency thing. I don't know. I came into this thinking the Jets had a pretty good run defense, at least up front. Am I wrong on that? You know, they have the players to have a really good run defense

because, I mean, the defensive linemen on paper are good. You have Steve McClendon, solid nose tackle. You have Leonard Williams, who's always been, you know, for all of his faults, you know, people wonder whether he's an effective enough pass rusher to justify the pick the Jets used to take him back in 2015, but he's always been a really good run

defender. They got Henry Anderson from the Colts, again, another guy with a good reputation, and the free agent acquisition of Avery Williamson, who I think, as you guys know, he's got some issues in coverage, but he's a very good run defender. If a ball carrier's going near him, that guy's going down.

So on paper, they have the players to have a very good run defense. It's been kind of up and down this year, though. I was going to ask about Avery because he was a hot topic this offseason for Titans fans. I was fine with moving on from him. I didn't think he was worth that contract that he got from the Jets because two down linebackers that struggle in coverage you can find those anywhere uh so it sounds like the the same issues that were happening in nashville are happening up there in new york yeah well i think if you look at the rest of the jets free agent moves it's been so bad that

williamson kind of stands out as a success story because he's been a guy who, you know, I mentioned Tremaine Johnson. You know, Spencer Long was a guy I mentioned in the last segment who's been kind of a free agent bust as an offensive lineman. So Williamson's at least giving you some solid play where you'd expect him to give you solid play. Now, is he worth the deal the Jets gave him? I don't know, but, I mean, in all honesty, Williamson's the least of the Jets' problems.

And I think he's been pretty good. I mean, I think if you're going to complain about guys the Jets' problems. I think he's been pretty good. I think if you're going to complain about guys that Jets signed in free agencies, you'd probably look elsewhere. This has been a pretty successful signing, I think. I've got to ask you. This will be my last one. I've got to ask you about Jamal Adams. That's a guy that the Titans were considering taking at fifth overall.

A couple years ago, they ended up going with Corey Davis. They were interested in Adams. They ended up going the receiver route instead uh i know he's a he's a really really nice player how do the jets use him and kind of what do you think his duties will be on sunday well you know we're going to break our show of misery because i'm going to tell you adams has been phenomenal this year i had to give you a shot man yeah I mean finally we could finally we have something we could good we could talk about with the Jets you know he's he tends to play close to the line of scrimmage he's been a tremendous against the run this year you know he may take the top receiving option whether it's a tight end whether it's a running back he may take that guy in man coverage he'll blitz a lot I mean they kind of use him all over they use him to do a lot of different things. He has a lot on his

plate. He's been really good. I think what really stands out is he's been a force near the line of scrimmage against the run game. He's been a tremendous asset as that extra defender in the box near the top of the league for safeties in terms of run stops. That's

one guy I don't think anybody can complain about for the Jets. He's having the type of second season jets fans were hoping for and you know it's not typical that you see a safety go as high as sixth overall guys would be a really good player to justify it and i think adams has been justifying it yeah i was i was huge on him coming out at lsu him and molly cooker but i would have been fine with the Titans going down either that route. It's thrilled with Corey Davis, though. I think it's worked out for all sides. We're doing a crossover Thursday show.

Locked on Jets, locked on Titans. John with locked on Jets. Terry locked on Titans. So, Terry, I guess it's prediction time. So who do you have in this game? I think the Titans finally get back in the win column. I think it's kind of an ugly game, like a 24-17 type, nothing special. I don't think the Titans blow the Jets out or anything like that,

but I think they find a way to get the job done somewhere in the fourth quarter. Yeah, that sounds about right to me. I'll go with something like 17-13. I think it's going to be a relatively low-scoring game. I know you've mentioned the Titans' defense is struggling. I think the Jets' offense is struggling worse. So I think points may be at a premium in this game, but I just don't love the way the Jets are playing.

I know the Titans have had a rough couple weeks, but the Jets are playing worse. They've been playing worse for longer. And this game in Nashville, I think it's a Titans victory. Titans still have just a tiny glimmer of playoff hope. They're

notorious for keeping hope alive and then crushing our dreams later on down the road. I think that's what they do here. Terry, thanks for doing this today. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, man. Good stuff. And thank you for listening. I hope you have a great Thursday, and

tune in again on Friday as we get ready for another week in the NFL season, Jets and Titans, this Sunday in Nashville.