Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Monster #TicTacTuesday: Power Rankings Round-Up, #TicTacFourPack & Rewatch Analysis

Episode Date: November 10, 2020

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Pepsi. This football season will be different and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter how you watch this season. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day and become a member of the

League of Football Watchers. These passionate fans are the real generational talent that Pepsi fuels because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game. It's made for those who play the game, it's made for those who watch it. Pepsi, made for football watching. Go to madeforfootballwatching.com to check out the latest football watching content from Pepsi. We are halfway through the Tennessee Titans season with eight games played, and the Titans do sit at 6-2 right before a big-time divisional matchup against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night.

So with that in mind, it is time to take the temperature on where some outside sources see the Tennessee Titans and check back in with a Power Rank rankings roundup. So we are going to start off today's show checking on where the football world views the Tennessee Titans amongst their competitors at this moment in time. But then we are going to get into a combination for you guys. Like I mentioned, the Titans are on a short week and we are on a short week here at the Locked on Titans podcast. So I am going to be combining two excellent segments, our Tic Tac 4-Pack on a Tic Tac Tuesday and my Rewatch Wednesday segment, taking a look at my extra analysis, my additional insights from rewatching the coaches tape.

So combining those two segments together for you guys today with a halfway through the season power rankings roundup. So it is a monster. Tic-tac Tuesday here on the Locked On Titans podcast. But tomorrow we will begin our preparation for that game against the Colts with a crossover Wednesday conversation with Evan Sidery from the Locked On Colts podcast.

So don't miss that. And then Thursday, we will have our game preview with keys to victory, the player matchups to watch, fantasy gambling injuries, and more. So don't miss any of the content I have coming up for you this week on the Locked On Titans podcast. Make sure that you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream and follow me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans so you can check out the visual film breakdown I will be putting up on Twitter to go along with today's Tic Tac Four Pack.

So a monster day and a monster week coming up on the Locked on Titans podcast, but we have a Power Rankings Roundup, a Tic-Tac 4-Pack, and a Rewatch Wednesday to talk about today. Let's get it! The Tennessee Titans are through nine weeks of the season and sit at 6-2. They started out at 5-0, then had two down weeks and a two-game losing streak, but were able to right the ship against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. So with all of that taken into account, where do some pundits from around the league

see the Tennessee Titans in terms of stacking up against their competition well we are going to take a look at our first power rankings and it comes from Vinny Iyer from the Sporting News and he has the Tennessee Titans ranked inside his top 10 sitting at number nine and this is what Iyer had to say about the Titans, quote, Remember the Titans as a factor in the AFC race? They got a much-needed defensive-fueled victory over the Bears for Mike Vrabel to also create some breathing room against the Colts in the South, end quote. And the Titans did give themselves a one-game advantage over the Indianapolis Colts, but a big division matchup looming on Thursday could change that.

But right now, Iyer has the Titans at ninth, firmly inside the top ten. The only teams ahead of the Titans are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers, the Buffalo Bills, the Baltimore Ravens, the New Orleans Saints, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and then the Kansas City Chiefs at number one. At this moment in time, I do believe that the Titans have an argument to be ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a terrible performance that they put up in week nine. And also, color me skeptical about the Baltimore Ravens being ranked number four in this list, as I do believe that the Titans, again, have a great game plan against the Baltimore Ravens.

And then, of course, the Titans did beat the Buffalo Bills handily earlier this season, so having the Titans behind the Bills also could be questionable. The second power rankings that we are going to get into comes from Matt Williamson, a friend of the Locked On Podcast Network from Profootballnetwork.com. And like the last power rankings, Williamson has the Tennessee Titans at number nine overall. And this is what Williamson had to say about the Titans in his rankings. Quote, in a game that the Titans controlled from the start, Tennessee's offensive box score doesn't really tell the story as they only produced 228 yards of offense.

A.J. Brown stood out once again and is one of the league's premier young receivers. Tennessee also lost the time of possession battle, but they won the turnover differential two to nothing and scored on defense. The Titans have only lost two games this year and prepare to host Indianapolis next week in a game that will go a long way to determining the AFC South division winner. And Williamson is on point there with that last sentence. The Tennessee Titans game against the Colts on Thursday

will go a long way in determining who will win the division crown. But the teams that are ahead of the Titans are similar to what we heard from the previous power rankings. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Buffalo Bills, the Green Bay Packers, the Seattle Seahawks, the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New Orleans Saints, and then the Kansas City Chiefs at number one. Again, I am skeptical of the Baltimore Ravens, although I don't think that that's something that I'm willing to get in a fierce debate about, but having the Buffalo Bills, who the Titans beat earlier in the year, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of the Titans seems questionable at best, so that's something to monitor going forward, and if the Titans are

able to move to seven and three and take care of business against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday, I would imagine they will vault up in these power rankings very quickly. And then finally, the last power rankings that I wanted to consult is my own. And currently I have the Tennessee Titans sitting at seventh in my personal power rankings with the Kansas City Chiefs at 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers at 2, the New Orleans Saints at 3, the Green Bay Packers at 4, the Seattle Seahawks at 5, the Baltimore Ravens at 6, and then the Tennessee Titans at 7. I do have Tampa Bay and Buffalo, Indianapolis, Miami, and Arizona next after the Titans at 7.

Now the Titans do have a Week 11 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens ahead, and if they are able to beat them twice within a calendar year, that would obviously vault the Titans ahead of the Baltimore Ravens and possibly further. And remember, we are going to begin preparing for that critical matchup against the Indianapolis Colts on tomorrow's show with a crossover conversation with Evan Sidery from the Locked On Colts podcast.

So make sure that you are locked in to the Locked On Titans podcast and subscribe so you do not miss the beginning of our preparation with that conversation. But now we are going to combine two of the best segments on the Locked On Titans podcast each week. Our Tic Tac 4-pack will be next. So we'll step into the film room, talk some X's and O's, and then we'll continue that forward and have our typical Rewatch Wednesday conversation at the end of our show, where I give you my additional insights and my extra analysis

from rewatching the coach's tape. So excited to jump into all of that on today's show. Before we do, I want to tell you guys a little bit more about Pepsi. This football season will be different, and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day, no matter how you watch this season. For me, it's three TVs on the couch with a 12-pack of Pepsi. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day

and become a member of the League of Football Watchers. These passionate fans are the real generational talent that Pepsi fuels. Because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game, it's made for those who watch it. Pepsi, made for football watching. Go to madeforfootballwatching.com to check out the latest football watching content from Pepsi. Protecting my family is my number one priority, but I want to do it safely. The people at Taser believe that safer self-defense is better self-defense. Taser's line of non-lethal self-protection devices are small and lightweight enough to

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And for this week 9 Tic Tac 4-Pack, I wanted to do things a little bit differently. Typically, I would break down the four most impactful plays from the previous game. But I felt like the biggest story coming out of this game wasn't any individual play. It was the performance of four relative newcomers for the Titans on defense. So rather than focus on four impactful plays, I want to focus on four impactful players. And all of these players got a brand new amount of opportunities that we had yet to see for them this season whether that be they were on the practice squad they were inactive on game days

or in the case of one player they were added to the roster via trade during the week all of these players got a much increased amount of snaps for the Titans defense. And I felt like it changed the momentum possibly for the season for the Titans. So we are going to dive into those four players. Of course, we have cornerback Desmond King, cornerback Breon Borders, defensive lineman Tyer Tartan, edge rusher Derek Roberson. So let's dive right in and we will start with the biggest highlight of them all. And that is Desmond King, who the Titans acquired for a sixth round draft pick in what looks like

a steal of a trade. So taking a look at Desmond King, he made a few big plays for the Titans defense. Of course in the first quarter he had a big third down stop where he was able to break up a pass. He initially looked like he was in man coverage for the Titans on the outside against the line of scrimmage, but at the snap, the wide receivers come out of their bunch, and one wide receiver breaks to the outside, and rather than staying with the man that he was in front of at the snap he breaks outside and plays his zone coverage in the flat and is able to be there disrupt the pass and that's a third down stop for the Titans in the first quarter and why this is important from my vantage point here is because Chris Jackson isn't

as familiar with route concepts in the NFL He doesn't have the high level intelligence and instincts of a Desmond King. So in these situations, teams were completing these third and short opportunities because Chris Jackson wasn't feeling the route combination, anticipating what it was going to be and being where he needed to be earlier than the wide receiver. So that was something Desmond King, it looked like a simple play, but just a little bit of increased intelligence at that slot cornerback position was able to pay dividends for the Titans also similar concept here in the second quarter there was a third down and Desmond King in man coverage lined up against one of the Bears quicker wide receivers they run a whip route which means they're on the outside. They come inside like

they're running a slant, but then they dart back outside. Desmond King was able to read the route, break up the pass, and make a third down stop for the Tennessee Titans. So that's two third down stops that the Titans were having historic issues in converting in previous games. So paying dividends early on. And then in the third quarter Desmond King actually saved Rashawn Evans they were running cover to Rashawn Evans had the middle of the field underneath in the cover to and he abandoned his zone for some reason to chase Nick Foles out of the pocket which left a wide open middle for Corderell Patterson luckily Desmond King came off of his zone and picked up Rashawn Evans and was able to get Corderell Patterson. Luckily Desmond King came off of his zone and picked up

Rashawn Evans and was able to get Corderell Patterson down one yard short from the first down which eventually led to the Titans getting off the field and preventing a first down. So a big save there for Desmond King and then of course finally the last play that I want to talk about is the fumble return for a touchdown. That play was made by Jeffrey Simmons, but Desmond King was coming off the opposite edge of where the play was going, and players like Desmond King with their high IQ, their intelligence, just all of their experience playing football, and he's a guy who punt returns, who kick returns. He's been great with the ball in his hands since he was a little kid he played running back in high school as well along with

defensive back so he just has the ability to sniff out the ball has those instincts and when he gets the ball in his hands plays happen and the Titans have missed out on recovering a few fumbles this season so those were big plays that Desmond King was able to make. Moving forward to the next person I want to talk about is Breon Borders. Borders played all of the snaps for the Titans, 77 out of 77, and he played very well during the day. It gave the Titans an opportunity to play a lot more man coverage, having someone with more athletic ability than Jonathan Joseph on the outside. But I thought Borders did a great job of passing off man assignments, especially in a secondary that he's not familiar with playing with.

I thought that him, I thought that Desmond King did a great job, along with the safeties, Kevin Byard, Kenny Vaccaro, of divvying up their man assignments. Teams will come out in a bunch formation with three wide receivers stacked on top of each other. And you don't just say, hey, I got this guy, I got this guy, I got this guy. And that's who you take. A lot of the times, what teams will do is they'll say, hey, I'll take the guy whoever breaks inside first, that's my man.

Whoever breaks outside first, that's my man. Whoever stays in the middle of them, that'll be my man. So that communication that that feel for what each other are doing is very hard to get down and the Titans were able to accomplish that at a decent level on Sunday in the first game that these guys got to play together with each other so a great job passing off man assignments by borders he was also very physical and coming up to make stops he hit Jimmy Graham twice on short catches to hold him to three yards or less. Physical plays, fighting through blocks and making tackles. So really impressed by

his physicality tackling, especially on the outside in the flat areas. He was challenged on a few different vertical routes up the field and he stayed tight to his man. One of those came out of the slot as well and was a shot to the end zone, and Breon Borders was right there, so I thought he did a good job staying attached to his guy on vertical routes as well. And his versatility and his youth and athleticism just gave the Titans a chance to play more man coverage, which means when they fake their man coverage and they disguise their coverages and go with zone, it's much more effective

because teams are actually worried about the man coverage so that's how I felt about the two players in the secondary that got brand new opportunities for the Tennessee Titans we are going to move to the defensive line talk about Derek Roberson and talk about Tyre Tartt next Before we do that though, I want to tell you guys about Built Go. From the geniuses over at Built Bar who brought you the best tasting protein bar ever comes Built Go. Whether it's a mental or physical wall, you can break through it every day with Go. Built Go comes in an easy 1.5 ounce package that you can put in your briefcase, your golf bag, or your book bag, or even your pocket if you need. Built Go is the best workout gel on the market. It's like a five-hour energy, but without the crash feeling. It's like you drank a monster, but with a third of the

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It literally makes you look better. Built Go also has beta alanine, B3, honey, that kick of caffeine, B6, B12. So visit builtgo.com and use promo code LOCKED and you'll get 20% off your next order. Once again, use promo code LOCKED for 20% off at built go calm. Let's go Let's continue this tech tack for packing this special edition of the Tic Tac 4-Pack. Taking a look at four players who got a brand new opportunity for the Titans in the game against the Bears and took advantage. We already talked about Breon Borders who played 77 out of 77 snaps for the Titans 100 100% on defense, and was fantastic on the day. We talked about Desmond King in the secondary, who played 54 snaps for the Titans, 70% of their defensive snaps in the very first game that he got to play with the team.

But now it is time to move to the defensive line and take a look at two contributors up front for the Titans and number one we are going to talk about Derek Roberson and of course Roberson has been around with the Titans and got some opportunities before but he has been dealing with some injuries throughout the season was inactive a few weeks even though he was healthy so a healthy scratch but he got his greatest opportunity of the season so far this year, and he took advantage. He played in 50 snaps for the Titans. That was 65% of their defensive snaps, and I thought that he did a great job not only

in the pass rush, which is what he is known for, but he was much better in setting the edge in run defense. It's no secret that Roberson has struggled in terms of his development on first and second down specifically in run defense it's something that the coaches have even openly talked about including outside linebacker coach Shane Bowen so to see him do a better job there of course you're playing against a beat up Chicago Bears offensive line so that's the obvious caveat to all of this defensive line talk. But Derek Roberson was still out there performing.

I thought he did a better job setting the edge against the run. Something that he desperately needs to improve at. To be a three down outside linebacker. And be a consistent contributor for the Titans. Even when everyone is healthy. Individual plays that I want to point out here, a third and eight in the first quarter, Roberson's able to get pressure and force and incompletion.

That's a big play for a Titans defense that has been struggling to get off the field on third down. So every single third down opportunity that is affected by either of these two defensive linemen or either of the cornerbacks that I talked about in the previous segment deserves shouting out because the Titans were historically bad on third down so if a pressure by Derek Roberson leads to an incompletion if two coverage examples by Desmond King lead to incompletions on third down then those are major plays for the Tennessee Titans defense also Derek

Roberson on another third down later in the game in the third quarter had a tipped pass that led to a Chicago Bears punt. So that's two third downs that Derek Roberson individually affected and saved the Titans on when they had been bad throughout the entire season. So an immediate impact for Derek Roberson in his increased opportunities in the pass rush game which is obviously what he's known for I thought he did a fantastic job with his hand swipes so think about it when you're a pass rusher you're firing off the line of scrimmage the offensive

tackle he's going to want to get his hands into your chest and the reason for that is if you're an offensive lineman and you can get your hands right around a pass rusher's armpits and then you can hold his jersey you can hold and since your hands are holding in the guy's armpits inside of his chest not the outside of his shoulder pads a lot of the time that's not going to get called and quite frankly that's not holding it's not if you're inside the guy's chest if you're right in his armpits you're not outside of his shoulder pads that's not going to get called that's what offensive linemen are taught to do that's good hand work by an offensive lineman strong hands snatch a guy bring them in don't let them use that athletic ability against you that's what playing offensive tackle is all

about so how does how does a defensive lineman counter how does a good edge rusher counter that with his hands. That hand fighting, that hand play. We talked about Kamalei Correa getting into some martial arts over the offseason because he wanted to get better with his hands with boxing. Well, he's out of the picture, but the thought process there is still smart. You've got to be great with your hands as a defensive lineman. The Bosa brothers, that's something that they were fantastic at

and have been even since their days at Ohio State. They were known for their hand usage. Derek Roberson did a great job on Sunday when those offensive tackles tried to get their hands into his chest. He swiped them down, swiped them away, dipped that inside shoulder, use your bend, use your athleticism, and get pressure on the quarterback. So I thought Derek Roberson did a great job there. And on the two plays, one on Harold Landry's sack and then one of Harold Landry's pressures Derek Roberson if it was a split second later Roberson would have been getting the sack Roberson would have been getting the pressure he did a really good job and the Titans need that especially if Clowney is going to be dealing with injury and now that Vic Beasley is gone as well. Wyatt Ray wasn't fantastic in the game, so going to need to see Derek Roberson continue to expand his role on this team.

Let's go to the guy I'm most excited to talk about here, and he had the least amount of snaps out of all four of these players, only 22 snaps in the game, and that's 29% for the Titans, but very excited about what he was able to offer up. And that is undrafted free agent defensive lineman, Tyre Tartt. So Tartt, and we are going to talk about some of these grades a little bit more in the fourth segment. Told you it was a big edition of the Locked on Titans podcast today when we talk about

our Rewatch Wednesday information. But Tyre Tartt was a top five graded player for the Titans defense per pro football focus. I mean, Tart was pretty good in his limited snaps. And the biggest thing that stood out to me was his penetration on run plays. So on the fourth down that the Titans stopped on the first Bears drive in the first quarter, it was Tyre Tart that blew up the play, got into the backfield he didn't get the tackle on the play or the tackle for loss but he misrouted the

running back and it turned into a fourth down stop for the Titans because of his interior penetration so a fantastic play and the Titans had their backup defensive line in on that fourth down a lot of faith I think Mike Vrabel was just like they're probably going to get it anyways.

Let's continue to get the starting defensive line some rest. Well, Tyre Tart stepped up in a big way, made a play, splash play there, and got the Titans the ball back. Another play specifically is in the fourth quarter. The Bears are on the goal line, and they try to run a shovel pass to Allen Robinson. A shovel pass, of course, the Bears are in shotgun.

Allen Robinson is lined up like a tight end on the right side close to the formation. Nick Foles is going to take a snap and then make that forward pitch to Allen Robinson as he cuts behind the offensive line and tries to sneak into a gap somewhere. Well, Tyre Tartt was on the same as Allen Robinson, and he got so much interior pressure that Allen Robinson ran into the linemen for the Bears that Tyre Tart was blowing up, and he never even got across the line to be in a position to get it, and then it turned into a sack for Daquan Jones on Nick Foles. There are other examples as well of his interior penetration that I'm going to show in my visual Tic Tac four pack breakdown that I will be putting up on Twitter. So make sure you follow me there at Tic Tac Titans. And Tyre Tart had another pressure on Foles in the fourth quarter as well. So just really impressed in his limited opportunities.

Much better than Isaiah Mack, quite frankly, which is all that really matters here is that he's giving you more production than Mack was, who he was able to replace. Hopefully, Tyre Tartt is able to continue to grow, continue to do well in his opportunities, and who knows, might be a vital piece of the Titans' defensive line rotation going forward throughout the season. That is going to do it for this week's Tic Tac 4-Pack. Like I said, the visual breakdown will be on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. Make sure you check that out on Tuesday evening.

But it is time to get into the Rewatch Wednesday portion of this Tic Tac Tuesday. Of course, short week, so I'm combining these two great segments together so we will cap off our show with my additional analysis and my extra insights from re-watching the coaches tape Let's cap off this combo doggy tic-tac Tuesday with our rewatch This combo doggy tic-tac Tuesday with our rewatch Wednesday on a Tuesday. And talk about my additional analysis and extra insights from rewatching the coach's tape multiple times of this game. And let me tell you, I had to cram for this test with the limited amount of time that we have.

The coach's tape came out at about 5.30, 6 o'clock p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It is about midnight Eastern Standard Time at this moment in time. So I got to re-watch the game about three times overall and take a look at everything that the Titans chose to do on offense and defense. And I want to keep it kind of short this week compared to our normal two segment long rewatch Wednesday conversation but we have a lot to talk about even such so getting into it on the offensive side of the ball I spent the last segment talking about four impacts on defense from brand new players getting new opportunities or increased opportunities so I will start with the offense and I have a lot more offensive notes for you in this Rewatch Wednesday segment.

So first off, I want to talk about something. I had Jonu Smith as a Titan down yesterday. Even though he had that good final scoring drive for the Titans with the two catches for 32 yards and a touchdown, he was mostly a ghost throughout the game and has been the last three games. And one of the big reasons for that is Taylor LeJuan's absence. So one thing I noticed, especially in this game, the Titans were doing a ton more chipping with their tight ends

than they had done before. And that includes Jonu Smith, obviously. So when I say chipping, what I mean is the Titans are keeping their tight ends in, not sending them out on passing routes, keeping them in to block for about the first two to three seconds, helping out a tackle like Ty Sambrillo, helping out Dennis Kelly, trying to help those guys out before the tight ends then release into their route.

So they're getting a delay to get into their routes, and that's causing the Titans offense problems because when the Titans see man coverage from other teams cover one robber and they have that zone guy over the middle and the zone safety deep and then they're playing man everywhere well if the first two to three seconds of the play you only have three guys or two guys out running a route it makes it a lot easier to cover the first two to three seconds of the play, which is ideally when the ball needs to be released. You can't be holding the ball for much longer than that. So the Titans are getting themselves in a tough spot

like they were at the beginning of the season last year when Taylor Luan was out, where they're trying to help out the tackles, but in turn, their tight ends are not getting out into their routes, which in turn makes their tight ends are not getting out into their routes, which in turn makes their wide receivers easier to cover. And that's why the Titans had some issues getting consistent things going in the passing game. There's just not a lot of options out there because of what they're trying to do to help

out the Titans offensive line. And that won't always be the case. A very talented defensive line with the Bears, with Khalil Mack, with Robert Quinn, with Akeem Hicks. So when you're not going up against such a talented defensive front, you'll be able to chip a little bit less. But that has to do with the offense. That also has to do with some of Jonu Smith's struggles as well. But one of the problems that the Titans had outside of that in the offense is Ryan Tannehill was off target early in this game.

An out route to Corey Davis. He threw the ball inside instead of to the outside. He threw a deep pass to A.J. Brown where he was just a little bit too far. I thought he was off target by a little bit to some of the passes to Anthony Ferkser. Another drop by Corey Davis later in the game. Not the one over the middle, but later in the game. Honestly, I felt like that was Ryan Tannehill's fault. If he throws that to Corey Davis's outside shoulder instead of his inside shoulder, then

Corey Davis gets the ball away from the defender and has the opportunity to bring it in. So that is one struggle that Ryan Tannehill has. That has always been a struggle in his game is his pinpoint accuracy. He has a strong arm. He has good athleticism. He'll throw the ball in there. is his pinpoint accuracy. He has a strong arm. He has good athleticism. He'll throw the ball in there. He'll take chances. He'll fire it in when the read is defined, but he's not one of these guys who is great with ball placement, inside shoulder, outside shoulder, low, high, things like that. He's not always pinpoint accurate like a Drew Brees or a Tom

Brady, somebody who puts the ball right in the perfect position for the wide receiver, depending on the defense's positioning. He's not a guy who does that super well, and we saw some of those warts. When you're playing against tight man coverage, like teams have been playing against the Titans, you do have to be pinpoint accurate as that coverage is extra tight. Sometimes you got to make a throw when your guy is covered and just put it in a place only your receiver can get it. And Tannehill made one of those throws on the A.J. Brown touchdown, the 40-yarder. He did that, but it's about doing that consistently throughout the game. And when you combine the Titans' limited receiving options

because of the chipping to help the offensive line, Tannehill being a little bit inaccurate. Other than A.J. Brown, the Titans not having a lot of guys who do a great job separating and man coverage. It just made it difficult for the Titans passing offense early on. And I didn't think Arthur Smith did a good enough job of using bunches and stacks and rub routes early in the game to get guys open. He did a better job in the second half of that. Continuing though, in the second half, the Titans did do a lot more bunch.

They did some motion. But here was the problem. What the Bears were doing is they were being very aggressive, penetrating through gaps on defense with their defense, just like the Steelers were doing, just like the Bengals were doing. And one thing that the Bears started to do was, if the Titans used motion, let's say they motioned from the left to the right, the Bears would then bring a defensive back up to the side where they left

and then just blitz off the corner. And that cuts off the cutback lane. And if the Titans do a bootleg with Ryan Tannehill, that means they're going to have a defender in his face immediately. So what the Titans started to do was, instead of doing play-action bootlegs, they just started doing regular play-action where Tannehill would stop instead of bootlegging out to the opposite side, and then they would look to run a slant or an in route behind that blitz. It was a counter that Arthur Smith made in the second half.

It resulted in a few good plays for the Titans. Finally, I want to say that Arthur Smith did end up getting some opportunities for the Titans' best receivers in the slot, taking advantage of Buster Screen. He used Corey Davis in the slot at advantage of Buster Screen he used Corey Davis in the slot at the beginning of the game having him run out breaking routes but again Tannehill's inaccuracy Corey Davis's rounded out route running instead of sharp route running didn't make that as effective as maybe Arthur Smith was hoping he eventually put A.J. Brown in the slot and that's how that A.J. Brown touchdown took place and also A.J. Brown got some good catches over the middle out of the slot position as well once Arthur Smith made that

adjustment and then finally Ryan Tannehill versus Eddie Jackson was a player matchup I said to watch and on that A.J. Brown 40-yard touchdown Tannehill did a great job of looking off Eddie Jackson to start off the play and it gave him just enough room to fit that ball in to A.J. Brown so there's everything that I got for you guys from the offensive side of the ball moving to the defensive side of the ball I talked a lot about the defense in our previous tic-tac four-pack but I do want to say Amani Hooker I mentioned him as a tighten up yesterday but he got his highest snap percentage of the season, 49%. His previous high was 30%.

So I thought Amani Hooker did a really good job yesterday. They were using him a little bit more as a slot defender, also as a linebacker in pass coverage situations. Previously, we've seen Amani Hooker mostly used as a deep safety, whether in cover two looks or single high looks. They used him a little bit in the slot in the second high looks they used him a little bit in the slot in the second half they used him a little bit as a pass coverage linebacker as well and took Rashawn Evans off the field in some obvious passing situations I think those are positive

developments I want to see a little bit more of Monty Hooker I like his snap count from this game I also want to say about the Titans defense that they did a great job of mixing 3-4 looks and 4-3 looks using Jack Crawford as a secondary defensive end with the other edge rusher. So, for example, they would be in a 4-3 look. Daquan Jones, Jeffrey Simmons on the interior. Jack Crawford as a defensive end. Derek Roberson as a defensive end. It allows you to stand Harold Landry up as a linebacker in a 4-3 with Jayon, with Rashawn Evans.

I thought that was a very good look. And also the versatility that Desmond King offers because of his physical play allows him to, like Logan Ryan last year, also be that third linebacker in a 4-3 front. The Titans, if the Bears had two tight ends to one side, they would go with a four-man front with Landry up as a stand-up linebacker. If they then motion or change their formation to have a tight end on either side of the formation, the Titans would go with a five-man front and put Harold Landry back down in his 3-4 outside linebacker position.

So I loved seeing all of that. The comeback at the end where the Bears started getting a lot of points, quite frankly, all of that was the Titans were playing soft zone coverage, and they started going into a heavy rotation on defense, rotating in Tyre Tart, rotating in Larell Murchison, getting Amani Hooker some snaps in the slot. They started rotating in extra guys at linebacker as well, started resting some players more often. So a heavy rotation and soft zone coverage allowed the Bears to get back into the game.

But that is going to do it for this re-watch Tuesday portion of our show. That is going to do it for this Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. A jam-packed combination episode. I hope you guys did enjoy. Remember, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Check out the TicTac four-pack visual breakdown I will be posting on Tuesday evening. I will be back with you guys for Crossover Wednesday as we begin our preparation for the Indianapolis Colts.

And I know that all of you guys really love Evan from Locked on Colts and his analysis of the game. So I know in previous episodes with Evan, you guys have really enjoyed his analysis. So make sure you don't miss what Evan has to say in tomorrow's episode. That's going to do it for me today, though. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. you