Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Mid-Season Review: Offense

Episode Date: November 16, 2019

Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host Tyler Rowland Titans fans. It is a football Friday but Clearly not as exciting as a typical football Friday with Titans football waiting for us on Sunday however, there are still some really good college football ahead of us and Titans fans will have to focus on the other teams within the playoff picture So what we're gonna do is though we're to stick to what we talked about earlier in the week. We're going to review the offense so far, a little bit of a midseason review for you guys. In our first segment, we are going to take a look at the offense in general and as a whole and see how healthy it is.

And also kind of take a look at how it's progressing with the quarterback change. So there's some negative and some positive to go over there. with the quarterback change. So there's some negative and some positive to go over there. Obviously, anyone who's watched the offense this season has an idea that it goes up and down. But in our second segment, we will jump into some more individual reviews, talk about each positional group,

quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight end, and then the O-line. We'll get through as much as we can in our second segment. And then in our third segment, we'll get done with any more player reviews that we have. And before I let you go, I want to give you guys a bonus of making sure we do Song of the AFC South and the Playoff Picture Preview so you guys do have an idea of the teams that are playing this week that have an impact on the Titans' playoff chances that you know where your rooting interest should be there.

So I'll make sure to get you guys that information before we get out of here for the weekend. Excited to jump into all of it with you guys. Let's get it. You're a Tennessee Titans lead story. As we mentioned yesterday, the Titans are on a bye this week. So this is a good opportunity to review each side of the football and see how they have performed through the first roughly half of the season. We did dual defense on Thursday, so let's go ahead and take a look at the Titans' offense

and assess how it has played as a whole. Some raw numbers for you guys. The Titans currently sit at 22nd in the NFL in points per game at 20.5. They are 25th in the NFL with 319 yards per game. They are 26th in the NFL in passing yards per game at 206 and they are 15th, which is their best number, in rushing yards per game at 113.2. Looking at some numbers that go a little bit deeper than that, right now the Titans have given up 10 turnovers on offense. That's actually eighth best. They've given up 42 sacks though, which is still last in the NFL, although they've only given

up 13 in the last four, which is something we'll talk about in the second half of this segment. which is something we'll talk about in the second half of this segment. One strange thing is that the Titans are 28th in fumbles, that 16 fumbles on the year. Definitely something that they need to clean up as a team is ball security. Even though they're not losing a bunch of those fumbles miraculously, it's still something that will hurt the team as a habit that they have. They are currently 27th in the NFL in third down conversion rate at 32.5 percent really bad there and they are 30th and fourth down conversion percent at 20 percent only two of 10 attempts on fourth down have the Titans converted this year now a positive note on the statistics is the Titans are first in the NFL in red zone touchdown conversion rates. So basically when the Titans get in the red zone,

what percent of the time are they scoring a touchdown? Right now they're at 72%. That is pretty incredible. No lie that the Titans are able to get the job done in the red zone like that. Now, one thing to kind of segue us into our next point about the offense. Ryan Tannehill took over at quarterback for this Tennessee Titans team in the seventh game of the season. He had four full starts so far. So, it would only be wise of us to analyze the offense as a whole within those four games as

well, since clearly the offense is operating at a different level. So let's take a look at those numbers right now. As I mentioned, the Titans have only given up 13 sacks in the last four games, which is definitely a little bit lesser of a pace than they had been on the previous six, and they're 10 and 10 in the red zone in that time. Absolutely perfect. Can't complain about that whatsoever. Right now, the Titans are averaging 250 yards passing per game since Ryan Tannehill took over. That's 13th best in the league if you took the season-long averages of all the other teams. They're averaging 128.7 rushing yards per game, which would be 10th in the NFL if it was their season total. And they're averaging 26.25 points per game, which would be eighth

in the NFL in points scored for the season. So if you kind of take this four-week stretch and you compare it to other teams for the season, if the Titans were on this pace and played this sort of football for an entire season, well, we would see a top half of the league offense. Now, defenses and teams are going to get tape on this offense and the changes and the adjustments that they've made over the last four games, and there will probably be a swing back in the other direction at some point because I don't see Ryan Tannehill being so much of a better quarterback that it's going to take this Titans offense into a top half of the league offense.

But it is important to note the trends that we're seeing as changing the quarterback is a drastic difference when you're talking about how you're game planning and scheming your offense. They're different enough in skill set, Tannehill and Marcus, to make it obvious that the plan is going to be different when you're playing with those guys.

So curious to see whether or not the Titans will be able to keep up this sort of offensive production going forward. However, it has been improved and that is very obvious from watching the tape. The Tennessee Titans offense will show us throughout the next six games which offense they really are. That is going to do it for our first segment and our overall review of the offense and some of the numbers that they've been able to put up, not just the whole season, but over the last four weeks when the quarterback change was made so in our second segment we are going to jump into some individual groups and players and check out their statistics and kind of look at how they've played so far this season and what they've contributed to the team

and what they need to do going forward so we're going to do that in our second segment get through as many groups as we can whatever is left over we will do in our third segment combined with the AFC playoff picture and song of the AFC South before we get out of here for the weekend. Attention, past, present, and future MyBookie players. During Thanksgiving week, MyBookie is offering a risk-free bet on the Bears-Lions game. Simply choose a team against the spread for up to $250. If you win, congrats. You've got extra holiday spending money. If you lose, congratulations to you as well. MyBookie will give you all of your money back. It's a no-brainer because you literally cannot lose. It's no risk, all gravy. It doesn't matter whether

you're an experienced player or a first time customer. MyBookie welcomes all to come play. So quit waiting around and sign up today. Do you find yourself wanting to bet sports but have lots of questions? Don't sweat it. MyBookie's patient customer service team can walk you through the process. And the best part is if you join this Thanksgiving week, you'll still have one last shot to take advantage of their incredible sign up offer just log on to mybookie.ag and make your first deposit with promo code locked on and my bookie will match your deposit dollar for dollar to jump start your bank roll and that's on top of the risk-free bet let me repeat that's a guaranteed deposit match and

risk-free bet for Thanksgiving only. So if you're a true football fan and you don't want to let this opportunity pass you by, you simply can't lose. Make sure you do your part to support your team this season. Hop on the gravy train and get in on the action with MyBookie. You play, you win, you get paid. We are going to jump into segment two and take a look at each position group on the offense and go player by player through those position groups to kind of review the statistical output of each player and talk about how they've impacted the

offense and what we need to see going forward. So quickly, let's go through the quarterbacks. Marcus Mariota, 59% completion percentage, 7.4 yards per attempt, two interceptions on the season, seven touchdowns, 1,179 yards and 25 sacks taken in the roughly five and three-fourths games that he played throughout the year before he obviously gave over the reins to Ryan Tannehill. Don't want to bury Marcus here. We've talked enough about his performance, just not good enough for an NFL offense. Whether or not he's able to get back to his 2016 form, we won't know until we see him with a different team. I just don't see any future with Marcus with this team. And obviously, he's not playing as well as Tannehill and wasn't.

So it makes sense that he went to the bench. Moving forward, Ryan Tannehill. Just to reiterate what we did in the first segment, the Titans' offense has been pretty healthy since he stepped in. 250 passing yards per game, 128 rushing yards, 26 points per game, 10 for 10 in the red zone. We see here that he has a 71% completion percentage. That's 8.5 yards per attempt.

He's thrown four interceptions, which is double what Marcus has in less games. He has eight touchdowns, 1,161 yards, and he has only taken 17 sacks. Remember, four of those were at the end of the Denver game in the small time that he was out there. He's taken 13 sacks in the four games that he has started. Tannehill, as I mentioned, has more interceptions and he's fumbled the ball quite a bit as well in the pocket. One thing everybody always knew that Ryan Tannehill's weakness was his pocket presence and his ability to get rid of the ball quickly. Tannehill had the tendency to hold on to the ball and to not, you know, navigate the pocket very well, which

are some things that really hurt Marcus at the beginning of the season but he's done a better job of that than Marcus has but it's still not top tier so that's caused some forced fumbles we saw that in the Chiefs game with a forced you know a sack fumble there so we've seen that a little bit from Tannehill because he doesn't hold the ball well and he doesn't always feel the pocket well so he does have his own deficiencies there is a reason that Miami moved on from him and there's a reason that he's not considered you know a top quarterback in this league but so far he has career highs at this moment in time in yards per game and completion percentage so it's possible we see a little bit of a career renaissance from Ryan Tannehill. What he does in the next six games will go a long way to

telling us what his future in Nashville will be, but so far so good for Ryan Tannehill leading the Titans to a 3-1 record since he has been the starter. Moving forward to the running back position, let's start with the king, Derrick Henry. Clearly, he has been the Titans' best player so far this year. I mean, he's right there with Logan and Kevin, but I would say that Derrick Henry has been the most important player on the Titans so far this year. When he has a good game, they're able to feed him and get Derrick Henry going.

It just spells good things for the Tennessee Titans football team. So let's take a look at some of his numbers here. 832 rushing yards. That's currently fifth in the NFL. Fantastic for how unhealthy the offense has been through most of the season. Just incredible that he's able to do that against the stacked boxes that the Titans offense are seeing with 8, 9, 10 people in the box. Just incredible. That's 4.4 yards per carry.

Really good average there. Eight touchdowns. per carry. Really, really good average there. Eight touchdowns. He's also been a threat in the passing game for the Titans, at least in the screen game that Tennessee tends to rely on. That's 13 catches on 18 targets, 167 receiving yards, and two receiving touchdowns. However, he does lead this team with drops, with three drops. That's what we talk about when we talk about Derrick Henry's limitations. I had a conversation on Twitter, you can follow me at TicTacTitans the other day, about Derrick Henry and how he can be used in an offense. Derrick Henry cannot be an every down back. He's not good enough in pass protection. He's not good enough at catching the, he can catch

the ball on these screens and get going down the field. But think, just think about the route that Christian McCaffrey got a touchdown on against the Titans. How he ran out into the flat, caught the ball on it, you know, basically going towards the pylon and was able to outrun the defender and run a good route and get into the end zone for an easy catch and an easy score. Derrick Henry doesn't run routes well. Derrick Henry can't run the angle routes. Everybody plays Madden. These are easy. The running back goes like they're going out and then cuts back into the middle of the field. That's called an angle route in the NFL. Derrick Henry can't run those routes. Derrick Henry can't run a seam, a wheel, all these things. He just doesn't run routes like that. He can't catch the

ball downfield well enough. So in that situation, you're always going to need a running back like Deion Lewis. And now you're devoting however much money you're going to devote to Henry, and then you have to have a really solid pass catching back like Deion Lewis or like a Kenyon Drake or Tariq Cohen, somebody like in that mold. You're always going to have to have a better than average pass catching back to compensate for Henry's lack of ability in the passing game other than the screen game. Obviously, he can do the screen game, get a quick short pass, catch it, secure it, go upfield and get full speed. Obviously, he can do that. So, any retort to me of, well, Derrick Henry catches the ball over screens, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking

about having the ability to run a route tree from a running back standpoint. And Derrick Henry simply can't. He can't do that. He doesn't have the hands or the route running or the agility required to do that role. So while he has been the best player on the team so far and the most important player to the team's success so far, he still has limitations in his game that make it hard to fully devote the team to him.

So I hope people understand why I'm coming from there. Speaking of Deion Lewis, 21 carries, 77 yards, 3.7 yards per carry average, zero touchdowns, one fumble, two drops, 20 catches on 25 targets for 96 receiving yards, zero touchdowns. Mike Vrabel said he's a leader. I hope he is a good leader because right now he's not really giving anything to the team. I'm not 100% sold that it's clearly just his fault. I think that the entire offense and the coaching staff are to blame for how they're utilizing

Deion Lewis, but he's not really doing much out there when he gets the ball in his hands to warrant getting more. Now, one thing I will say, I told you, Derrick Henry's not good in pass protection. Deion Lewis is. If you go look at that last drive last week against the Chiefs, Deion Lewis had some fantastic pass protection in passing situations against some Chiefs defensive linemen. So, look at that Tannehill scramble to get the drive going. Deion Lewis is right there holding off a Chiefs defensive lineman to let Ryan Tannehill get going on that scramble. It was a huge play for the Titans on that drive. So just keep that in

mind. I know Deion Lewis gets a lot of flack and he hasn't been very productive for the Titans and hasn't lived up to his contract. I don't expect him to be with the team after this season, but in pass protection, he does typically do a pretty good job. So we will give him his credit there. Let's move on to the tight end position. we will start with the best tight end on the Tennessee Titans Jonu Smith I know a little bit of a hot take there but I really don't think it should be unfortunately Delaney hasn't bounced back from his injury as well as we were hoping he is an older player with a lot of mileage on him an injury like that a bone, it's very difficult to get back into physical shape, and it's very difficult to stay in physical shape when you're dealing with something like that.

And someone at Delaney Walker's age, that fitness routine and constantly being in shape and staying in shape year-round is so important, and clearly it has set him back. He's only been a part of seven games for the Titans. He's left a few games early due to injuries as well. In some games, you just see him get hit and you can tell that it hurt him and he's not getting up as well. So, Jonu Smith is the best tight end on this team. He's caught 22 of his 29 targets for 287 yards. He has one touchdown and one drop on the season. One thing I do want to point out about Jonu as well is how well he stepped into Delaney's role, how he's overtaken Delaney's role. I expect him to be the primary tight end going forward, even if Delaney

is healthy. And Jonu has really improved his blocking in his time with the Titans. That wasn't something that he was going to be known for coming out of college. He was almost like a Delaney Walker, a very athletic and good ball carrying tight end who works on their blocking. And, you know, obviously Delaney got a lot better throughout his career learning in San Francisco and then coming here. But John, who has really improved his blocking this season, and, I mean, he needs to continue to improve. He's still not perfect.

But what an incredible sign for the Titans as, you know, for the long term to not have to put a bunch of resources into a new tight end if Delaney Walker, unfortunately, isn't with the team past this season just due to age and performance and cost. So moving to Delaney, he's caught 21 of his 31 targets for 215 yards, two touchdowns, and has had two drops on the season. Really hope he's able to get healthy after the bye and at least be a solid role player for the Titans in the passing game. Anthony Ferkser, the guy who just catches the ball, Harvard. Love Ferk out there.

You got to love Ferk. He's just out there working as hard as he can, constantly being relied on to catch the ball when it's thrown to him. He has caught eight of his 12 targets for 131 yards and a touchdown. Zero drops. Duh, it's Anthony Ferkser. But, but, do want to point out he has limitations in the blocking game. That's why he's mostly used in pass situations as a possession tight end.

It's a nice role for him, though. I think it's a role that serves a purpose. He has a little bit more reliable hands than Janu. And, you know, although he's not a blocker who can be out there all the time, he can work as a secondary tight end who is, you know, helpful in the passing game, who we can rely on in the passing game. So really like what Furk's done as a role player for this team. Have to mention Nicole Pruitt, who's mostly played as a fullback. Zero yards, zero catches, zero targets, or two targets, my mistake, but he's had zero

everything else. Hasn't really made a statistical impact on the game, but he is a very good blocker. else. Hasn't really made a statistical impact on the game, but he is a very good blocker. Now, the Titans did just sign Kari Blassingame from the Minnesota Vikings, who is a traditional fullback. So I'm curious to see if Kari was brought in just as special team's help, or if he's going to supplant Nicole Pruitt as the team's fullback. So we will see what that will end up being when the Titans play another game. We're going to jump into the wide receivers here. Taking a look. First, Corey Davis. He's only played nine games, but he's second on the team in catches with 28.

He's been targeted 45 times. He has 374 passing yards, receiving yards on the season. That's 41 a game, two touchdowns, and one drop. Corey has been a little banged up at times during the season. That's 41 a game, two touchdowns, and one drop. Corey has been a little banged up at times during the season. I think it's something that the coaches aren't really talking about as much. You obviously don't want to put your player out there in harm's way, but Corey's been banged up for a few weeks with the hip. Finally got him, and he had to miss the Chiefs game, but hope to get him back after the bye as well. Although A.J. Brown has been good this year, I still think Corey

Davis is the team's most reliable and most talented wide receiver, and they'll need him to be that if they expect to make a push for the playoffs. A.J. Brown, the most exciting receiver on the Titans, though everybody's got to love A.J., the way he went after Taylor after that terrible personal foul, the way he answers questions in the locker room, his mentality out on the field, and the way he puts his body on the line for the team. And there was a recent article that came out about AJ, and it just kind of talked about when Marcus got benched. He said he got that pass interference against Denver because he was so emotional.

He felt like he let Marcus down. He even cried on the field. He didn't want to admit it, but he did. He was crying because he was so emotional from the decision. While I'm a fan of the move away from Marcus, you just got to respect that a guy who rides for his teammates no matter what and truly does feel accountability and responsibility for what happens to his teammates. I mean, that's exactly the kind of guy that this franchise is looking for. He's had 27 catches on 45 targets, 446 yards. That's 44 yards per game, which leads the team. He's had three touchdowns, which leads the team as well, and two drops. So

one of those drops turned into an interception, something that he's going to have to work on. He's a physical guy, so he's going to have to make sure that doesn't become a problem for him. Moving forward to Adam Humphreys, 33 catches, which leads the team on 42 targets, 341 yards, 34 a game, one touchdown, one drop. Would love to have seen more out of Adam Humphreys, but with the way the offense was at the beginning of the year, I'm going to give him a little bit of a pass. At the end of the day, he made one of the best catches

we're going to have all year for the Titans to beat the Chiefs in that game. So I'm not going to hate on Adam Humphreys, but I would just like to see a little bit more. Hopefully next year they'll start a little bit faster with the offense and he will have a little bit more of a productive year. Tajay Sharp, 13 catches on 21 targets, 194 yards, two touchdowns, zero drops. He's really just a red zone target role player as A.J. Brown isn't

the best route runner. So in the red zone, those precise routes are so important in being exactly where you're supposed to be for the quarterback is so important in the red zone because there's limited space that Tajay Sharp usually is going to get those reps because he's just more precise of a route runner and a veteran who can be counted on to be in the right spot when AJ could possibly make some mistakes in that realm. So that's why you see Tajay Sharp deployed the way that he is. Going to mention Khalif Raymond here. He's on the team right now. Three catches, four targets, 71 yards, zero touchdowns, zero drops. Really most of that is that big 52-yard catch against the Chiefs. He adds a speed element to this wide receiver group,

someone who can stretch the field, stretch the defense vertically, something that the Titans were hoping to get with Tywon Taylor. Unfortunately, they didn't. They needed somebody to do that. Darius Jennings doesn't bring that explosion like you would want and doesn't have very good hands, quite frankly, so to get someone who can return kicks and still gives you that explosion and that vertical threat in the passing game is important for the Titans. So that's why Khalif Raymond is on the team. However, I will say going into the draft next year, going into undrafted free agency next year in the college crop, I would really expect the Titans to go and look for another player in this mold who maybe gives you a little bit more than Khalif Raymond does.

While he's serviceable, it's still somewhere I think the Titans could upgrade so we're going to jump into the offensive line I don't really like using stats like sacks allowed and things like that to, I guess, evaluate offensive linemen. In my opinion, there's really no way to evaluate offensive line play unless you are watching tape to see how they handle things. There's so many different factors and so many different variables to playing offensive line. Since I would say that the offensive line more than any other group or unit in football has to work together the most they have to be in sync the most I think that's pretty obvious

so there are no individual stats that I think really give you a good picture of how offensive linemen are playing so I'm just going to tell you what I've seen so far this year from watching the games over and over and watching the tape especially the coaches, the all 22 from the end zone angle and, and getting a look at the offensive line and what they're doing down to down Taylor LeJuan, other than the penalties and the first, you know, few games when he finally got back into the lineup,

Taylor LeJuan has been very solid and pass protection in the run game. I wouldn't say he's been a top five tackle in the league or the top tackle in the league, like he's getting paid, but he is not playing nearly as bad as the hate he's getting for the things he's doing when he's not blocking. The penalties, holding, false start, things like that are really what's hurting how Taylor's being viewed, but he's played pretty decently. Roger Saffold is really starting to get it going in the run game. He was just devastatingly bad in pass protection at the beginning of the year.

Obviously not having Taylor LeJuan next to him, having Jameel Douglas play on the other side. Just a lot of uncertainty on the offensive line, a lot of shuffling throughout the year. But since things kind of have settled for the offensive line, Roger Saffold has played pretty well, especially in the run game. Like I said, definitely want to see him improve a little bit in pass protection. He's been bull rushed by a few guys and just gone right around a few times, so you want to see him do

better there, but in the run game, he has been very solid, and there's a reason that the Titans run so much to the left side because him and Taylor are pretty devastating in the run game. Ben Jones has been one of the best centers in the league. He obviously missed a little bit of time with the concussion, but he's the anchor there. He's the one who moves the offensive line around, gets them in the right calls, and slides them to the right side. Ben Jones has been pretty excellent, and throughout most of the beginning of the season,

he was ranked as one of the best centers and offensive linemen in the NFL per pro football focus. So he's definitely doing a very good job and he was worth the contract extension at the beginning of the season. Nate Davis really struggles in pass protection. Just really struggles. Not very quick on his feet right now. Doesn't seem like he knows what to expect. He gets blown up at least once or twice a game and it's just very obvious that he gave up the expect. He gets blown up at least once or twice a game, and it's just very obvious that he gave up the play. He got bull rushed pretty bad by Chris Jones, who's one of the best interior rushers and power rushers in the NFL. So we'll give Nate Davis, the third round

rookie, a little break there, but it's something that happens to him often enough that I'm not just going to say it was a good player. He gets bull rushed pretty regularly. So it must be something about his stance and his balance and his stance, you know, his set when he's in his three-point stance. That was something that was really concerning about him coming out of college. And Titans coaches even admitted they have to completely rework how he does his stance. It was like a frog shape. I don't like the balance that he had. He's kind of back on his heels with his butt really low.

Just not a good stance. From peewee football on would tell you not a very good stance and clearly it affects his balance right off the snap and that's why people are maybe being able to bull rush him and get him off balance so easily. So something that he'll probably have to work on in the offseason. He's a rookie out there trying to do his best. Gotta appreciate what Nate Davis has been able to do as a rookie so far, even if we need to see some vast improvements in his balance and his pass protection and his ability to take on a bull rush. Jack Conklin has been solid this year. I wouldn't say that he's back to his all-pro level like we were hoping at the beginning of the year,

but, man, Jack Conklin has been pretty solid, and I don't think, especially in the run game, he's able to set that edge. We were running right a little bit more at the beginning of the season before Taylor LeJuan got back just because Dennis Kelly obviously is not the tackle that Jack Conklin is, and Conklin was holding his own, setting that edge, kicking out his end to create the lane for Derrick Henry. So really impressed by both the tackles this year.

I know things haven't been perfect, but it really has been more of the interior that's given up the sacks and less of the tackles. I'm going to also talk about Jameel Douglas and Dennis Kelly here. Jameel Douglas took a lot of heat at the beginning of the season, and no, he's not a starting level player, but a pretty solid backup. You can see now why maybe he was taken over. Corey Levin, he does have the ability to play center and guard, and he does have good moments out there. He's just not a starting caliber offensive lineman, and to expect him to be ever, which I don't think he was expected to be, but to expect him to be ever just was never really

going to pan out. So, Jameel Douglas as a backup guard in a rotational piece has done a pretty good job, in my opinion, in the role that he's supposed to be in same thing with Dennis Kelly as a third tackle in heavy formations as a backup guard as a backup tackle someone who got us through the Taylor LeJuan stages I mean the Titans were two and two coming out of Taylor LeJuan's first four games got to give Dennis Kelly some credit there for being a serviceable serviceable backup and he's one of the best third tackles in the NFL. So what a trade for John Robinson to ship out DGB, Doriel Green Beckham, and get back Dennis Kelly. What a move a few years ago that we can look back now and see just a really shrewd, great play by John Robinson. So that's going to cover it for the offensive review. Real quick, because we've gone really long on this show, I realize a couple of shows this week have been really long for you guys.

It's the bye week. Just want to give you content to chew on. Obviously want to make sure I get through all the players and give you guys a good review. So real quick, I am going to give you the Titans playoff preview picture and do a little song of the AFC South so we know what our rooting interests need to be this weekend. The Jaguars are at the Colts. The Jags currently sit at four and five. The Colts are currently sit at five and four. Simple. The Titans want the Jaguars are at the Colts. The Jags currently sit at four and five. The Colts are currently sit at five and four. Simple. The Titans want the Jaguars to win this game. Get everybody to five and five. The Titans play the Jags next and then the Colts, they have the opportunity to beat both those teams and, you know, obviously make amends for their initial loss.

So I want everybody bunched up together. Don't let the Colts get too far ahead. We don't want that as Titans fans. We want everybody bunched up together, who the Titans play, to give the Titans a good chance to beat those teams, which will help them get into the playoffs. So on that one, Titans fans, we should be rooting for the Jags, although they are underdogs on the road against the Colts, who are probably getting Jacoby Brissett back. And while I'm not huge on Brissett or a big Brissett believer by any means,

he's better than Brian Hoyer. So the Houston Texans sit at 6-3, leading the division, the Titans' biggest threat, obviously, and who they'll have to take down if they want to make a good push as they play the Texans twice remaining. They are at Baltimore, who's 7-2. The Ravens have to find a way to win this game for the Titans. I mean, I hate cheering for the Ravens as much as the next Titans fan,

but we really need the Ravens here to beat the Texans. Get them to 6-4. The Titans would be 5-5. The Texans at 6-4 if things go our way in the other game. The Colts are 5-5. The Jags are 5-5. The Titans are 5-5. The Texans are at 6-4. And the division is wide open with four more division games for the Titans. One against every opponent and two against the Texans. I mean, at least the Titans' destiny could possibly be in their own hands. Now, looking at the playoff picture. The playoff. I can't even say it now.

The three Ps. I've said it too many times. Can't get through it. The playoff picture preview. Oakland currently sits at 5-4. They're home for the Bengals. Not much hope there. Oakland's probably going to go to six and four, but at least the Titans do have the opportunity to play the Raiders in Oakland in three weeks. The Steelers took a loss last night to the Browns. Real quick, last night to the Browns. Real quick, just wow. Miles Garrett, wow. Up by two scores. I just don't understand how a player who's winning the game snaps like that. It's just unacceptable. I'm not

going to be moral high horse guy and get on here and preach to you about this, that, and the third, but he's suspended indefinitely. I would imagine it'll just be the rest of the season. There were other suspensions handed down. Ultimately, the main takeaway is it's just disgraceful for the NFL. It's bad PR for the NFL with player safety being at the forefront of the conversation here. Just in general, regardless of player safety, just having players act like that out on the field. So hopefully we see nothing like that again in Titans history, which the most comparable thing is probably the Albert Hainsworth stomp. So really crazy ending to that game. But the reality is the Steelers lost and the Titans needed the Steelers to lose. And now the Browns sit at four and six,

but lost their best player in Miles Garrett for the rest of the season. So it almost eliminates, not eliminates the Steelers, but it almost eliminates the Browns as they won't have their best player. And it knocks the Steelers down the same record with the Titans. I just have no faith in Mason Rudolph or Bucky Hodges or whoever they have at quarterback. So as I've said all along, I just want the Steelers to fall out of this conversation. I don't view them as a playoff caliber team. So maybe that's just me being biased for the Titans. I don't think so.

I don't think the Steelers are that great of a team despite how good their defense does appear to be. So good result for Titans fans last night coming out of that Thursday night football game. The last team that we need to talk about here, the last teams we need to talk about here are the Kansas City Chiefs who sit at six and four who are leading the AFC West at this moment in time. I still expect them to win that division over the Raiders, but it's possible they will be in the wild card hunt with the Titans if the Raiders are able to get things breaking right for them still. The Chiefs do play Monday night football against the Chargers, so we won't have our result

to talk about on Monday's show to see where they go, but I will update you guys on Tuesday. I say that the Titans want the Kansas City Chiefs to win that ballgame. You want them to be far and away with the AFC West. Ultimately, I think they're the best team in that division anyway, so I just want them to go ahead and take care of business, and hopefully they'll beat the Raiders for the Titans later in the year as well. The last team is the Buffalo Bills. They did take a loss to the Browns last week.

As I've been mentioning all along, I really don't think the Bills are as good of a football team as their record indicates, but they do play in Miami against the Dolphins this week. You have to expect that the Bills will be able to pull out that victory. If Miami wins, it'd just be incredible. They did help us out last week with the Colts. They are playing better football than at the beginning of the year. But I do expect Buffalo to win that game. So it's going to be tight for the Titans. It's going to be tight for the Titans.

Anyways, I really think that there's the opportunity for at least the division to shake right for the Titans here. The Raiders against the Bengals and the Bills against the Dolphins really don't help our chances at all. But you never know. Any given Sunday in the NFL, any team can beat any team. And last week with all the upsets was the definition of that. So absolutely ready for the football weekend, despite the fact the Titans aren't playing. I know this was a really long show, but I wanted to make sure I reviewed the offense for you and send you guys out into the weekend knowing who you need to root for and and who would help the Titans with a victory so really enjoyed the shows this week

it was a bye week our last three days we had to give you guys some different stuff than we normally do so I hope you enjoyed it as always I don't ask for much if you guys wouldn't remind wouldn't mind reviewing the show on iTunes you know five stars would be great comments and suggestions would be great I've also been reached out to to you know a couple people be great comments and suggestions would be great I've also been reached out to to you know a couple people have been asking about possibly doing a mailbag if you guys would like me to do a mailbag and take your questions on twitter at tic tac titans and then answer those on the show please let me know I'm not certain I would have enough questions to to make a whole segment out of it but if we do I'd be more than happy to add that into our rotation.

It'd be especially helpful in the offseason. So if you wouldn't mind, shoot a review, subscribe to the podcast. If you aren't already on whatever platform you listen to, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.