Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Playoff Push Primer - Song of the AFC South, Schedule Scouting Report & Titans Pro Bowl Options

Episode Date: November 18, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, finally we are done with the bye week and we are on to a week where the Tennessee Titans will play football. As much as I'm glad that the team was able to get some rest and mentally recharge in the middle of the season, hopefully get some guys back to healthy, a Sunday without Titans football still just isn't the same. So I'll be happy to have them back in our lives next weekend.

To get you ready for the playoff push and the last six games of the season, I want to do a little, you know, playoff push primer for you guys. So in our first segment, we are going to do Song of the AFC South and a playoff picture preview to give you guys an idea of the results that took place on Sunday, a big Sunday in the NFL, and let you know how they affected the Titans and where they currently stand and where they'll need to go. In our second segment, we're going to jump a little deeper into the teams that remain on the Titans' schedule.

We're going to talk about the Jags, the Colts, the Raiders, the Texans, and the Saints. Just do a little brief overview of those teams and see what the Titans are up against going forward to try to make it into the playoffs. And then in the last segment of the show, we are going to talk about some Pro Bowl candidates from the Titans who I think does deserve a nod and who's available. So you guys can think about placing your Pro Bowl votes

for your Tennessee Titans and who honestly deserves to be on that team and in that game. So we're going to get you guys ready for that last playoff push here. Everything you need to know to get you ready for the rest of the season on today's show. Can't wait to get into all of it with you guys. Let's get it. Your Tennessee Titans lead story. So with the Titans coming out of their bye week with six games remaining on their schedule, it's important to take a look at where they stand right now based on the results from Sunday in the NFL.

So first let's go over some of the results that matter to the Titans. The song of the AFC South results here, their division rivals. The Colts were able to take down the Jags by a score of 33-13, were able to really run down their throats and control the game. The Colts did lose Marlon Mack in this game, and it looks like he's going to have some significant time missed with a significant injury, but nonetheless, still, it looks like the Colts are a much superior team to the Jaguars, as kind of we all thought anyways. But in this situation that is pushing the Jags down, they're now at 4-6, a step below the Titans, as they should be, with a game against the Titans coming up.

So that'll be a big one. The Colts jump to 6-4, and with the Ravens demolishing the Texans by a score of 41-7 that drops the Texans down to 6-4, the Colts now have the division lead again. You would love to have seen the Colts lose that game and jumble things up even more, but right now with the Colts at 6-4 and the Texans dropping down to 6-4, with games against those teams remaining, the Titans have to feel like they're in a good spot at 5-5 with a chance to compete for the division. At first, you know, it seemed like the wild card was, you know, really their only option,

but the Titans are right in the thick of the race for the division with a lot of games remaining against their division rivals. So, jumping into some other playoff contenders here, the Browns were able to take down the Steelers. That helps the Titans. The Steelers are down to 5-5. The Browns are at 4-6 and just lost Miles Garrett for the rest of the season. Gotta hope that both of those teams eventually falter with the limitations that they currently

have. The Bills, who continue to be a good team, win as they're expected to against the Dolphins, 37-20. They're kind of taking a stranglehold on the first wildcard spot at this moment in time, jumping their record to 7-3. Right now, the Bills are just a well-coached team. They're making plays. They have a really good defense.

And at this time, even though they had a setback last week in a pretty bad game, it looks like they're going to be able to get themselves into one of these wildcard spots. So that's going to leave one wildcard spot remaining. Jump to the Raiders, who were able to beat the Bengals in a game closer than people expected, 17-10. The Raiders six and four and the Chiefs are six and four so right now that division the AFC West is also up for grabs now the Titans have a game against the Raiders remaining so you got to hope that the Chiefs are able to beat the Chargers on Monday night football which

is the last game that'll have some sort of impact on the Titans. You've got to hope that the Chiefs are able to win on Monday Night Football against the Chargers, who they're a better football team than, and bounce back there. And that'll help the Titans because that'll give the Chiefs a leg up over the Raiders, who, if you're a Titans fan, you've got to hope that the Raiders falter here since, again, the Titans have a game against the Raiders upcoming, which will give them a better opportunity of controlling their destiny if they can knock them out. So it's going to be a tight race if the Titans aren't able to win the division,

is how it's going to look to be. If the Titans are able to beat their division opponents, the Jags next week, the Colts after that, Week 15, Week 17 against the Texans, if the Titans are able to win all four of their division games, they will most likely win their division and get into the playoffs. If they don't do that, if they try to maybe lose one of their division games and then beat either the Raiders or the Saints, they're going to have a really tough time getting that sixth wildcard spot with the Bills looking like

they're taking the fifth seed. So, you know, the Steelers at five and five, the Titans at five and five, the Raiders at six and four, the Texans, the Chiefs, the Colts at 6-4, and then New England, Baltimore at top. Clearly the two best teams in the AFC, 9-1 and 8-2 respectively. The Bills sitting there as the third best record in the AFC at 7-3. Like I said, that's why I feel so confident in saying that they're most likely going to wrap up that fifth seed. So the Titans will have to win their division games to help themselves now after they know what the task is ahead of them. It's going to be a really tight race, and we're going to have to monitor the results of these other teams

every single week to make sure we know what the rooting interest should be for all Titans fans. So that's going to do it for our Song of the AFC South and Playoff Picture Preview segment. Here we're going to jump into breaking down the remaining opponents on the Titans schedule a little bit further, looking at their remaining games and kind of just a general overview of what their team is looking like at this moment in time. So Titans fans have a good idea of kind of a quick scouting report on all the teams remaining on the schedule. In our third segment, of course, we are going to

talk about the Titans Pro Bowl candidates, who deserves the nod and who Titans fans should be voting for and why they deserve to be on that team and which candidates I would be saying do deserve to be on the Pro Bowl team for the Titans. But we will get into all of that next. Fellas, let's talk about the bedroom. Ever wish you could increase your performance or maybe just need a little confidence boost in bed? Well, listen up. BlueChew.com. That's blue, just like the color. Blue Chew brings you the first chewable with the same FDA-approved active ingredient as Viagra and Cialis, so you know they work. You can take them anytime, day or night, even on a full stomach,

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trouble scoring when they do move the ball. Right now, they are averaging 18.9 points per game on offense. That's 26th in the NFL, but they are averaging 370 yards per game. That's 12th in the NFL with 119 on the ground for 13th and 250 in the air for 12th best. That's pretty solid in terms of yardage and being able to move the ball. They're just unable to score once they get down in the red zone, having some struggles there. So the Titans will have to be able to capitalize on that and make sure that they keep that trend going and keep the Jaguars out of the end zone. On defense, they're giving up 22 points per game, that's 16th in the NFL, and 353 yards per game, that is 17th in the NFL. Exactly middle of the road for a Jacksonville defense that's typically been up in the higher ranks on defense in the NFL.

They've dropped back up for losing some talent and just some natural regression there. They're kind of a middle-of-the-road defense right now, especially against the run. They're struggling mightily, giving up 134.6 yards per game on the ground. Now the pass defense, as it was for the last few years for Jacksonville, is doing pretty well, only giving up 219 yards per game. That's eighth best in the NFL. The Titans obviously will need to attack on the ground. That 134 yards per game combined with their performance

against the Colts and run defense, clear what the Titans should do here. Hopefully they'll be able to come out and get a victory against the Jaguars at home. As for the six and four Colts, who the Titans will face in Indianapolis after the home game against the Jaguars, the Colts offense is scoring 22 points per game, that's 17th best in the NFL, 343 total yards on offense per game, that's 22nd best in the NFL. fourth best in the NFL, averaging 141 yards per game, but only 29th in passing the ball at 202 yards per game. On defense, the Colts are giving up 20 points per game. That's 14th best in the NFL,

325 total yards per game. That's eighth best in the NFL, led by a great running defense, averaging only 96.8 rushing yards allowed. That's ninth best in the NFL, coupled with a passing defense that's 11th best in the NFL, giving up only 228 yards per game. Clearly, for the Titans to win this game against the Colts, it'll have to be a low-scoring game, as the last affair was. They'll have to bottle up that explosive run game of the Colts and find a way to run the ball on this stout defense. But first and foremost, to cut the head off of

the snake, they'll have to stop the run game of the Colts to have a chance in that game. Going to the Raiders. They currently sit at 6-4. They are tied for the AFC West division lead, at least for right now, until the Chiefs do play the Chargers on Monday Night Football. But jumping in, they do have a pretty middle-of-the-road offense. They're averaging 23 points per game. That's 15th best in the NFL. 370 yards per game. That's 13th best in the NFL.

They have a really good rushing attack led by rookie Josh Jacobs with 129 yards per game. That is 8th best in terms of running the ball in the NFL. 240 yards passing per game. That is 8th best in terms of running the ball in the NFL. 240 yards passing per game, that's 14th best. Clearly they have a decent offense there led by that running game. Looking at the Raiders on defense, they are giving up 26.7 points per game. That's 26th best in, well, it's probably better to say 26th worst in the NFL at that point. Same with the yards per game, 381, 26th worst in the NFL, giving up tons of passing yards per game. 283 passing yards per game, that's 29th worst in the NFL, but the rushing defense is pretty solid.

98 yards per game given up, that's 10th best in the NFL. So this is going to be a game where the Titans have a little bit of trouble on offense that clearly is able to move the ball pretty often, but their deficiency on defense is getting thrown on. Will the Titans come out with a good plan to do that? Last time they went against the Buccaneers who had a similar defensive setup, great run defense, bad pass defense. They tried to run the ball into the teeth of the defense and weren't able to have a lot of success. So will the Titans come out with the right game plan and throw the ball on the Raiders early and often? We will see. Let's go ahead and move on to the Saints. We know what to expect from New Orleans. Clearly they are going to have a

dynamic offense with a stout defense. They are one of the better teams in the NFL sitting at 8-2 after rebounding from a strange loss to the Falcons. Sometimes in the NFL you just don't have your best on a particular Sunday, but the Saints are still a force to be reckoned with here. The Titans will see them in week 16 in between their dates with the Texans. On offense, they're averaging 23.8 points per game. That's 14th best in the league, 364 total yards per game on offense, 15th best, 256 of those total yards are coming in the passing game. That's 9th best per game. And on the ground, they're averaging 107 yards per game.

That's 17th best. Clearly, some of these numbers are held back by the injury to Drew Brees. You've got to think that the Saints would have a little bit better yardage per game in some areas and running the ball and just their total yardage and their points per game but having Teddy Bridgewater in from you know almost half the season the Saints tried to play in a more conservative way and lean on their defense and lean on their playmakers and they were very successful doing that obviously by the record but I'm just saying that's gonna kind of lower their statistical output from from the type of offense the Titans will most likely be seeing with Drew Brees fully back into the swing of things. Now on defense, that's one

big area of improvement the Saints have made over the past few years. Their defense is really, really stout and does a great job, and we see that here giving up 19 points per game. That's 11th best in the NFL, only 318 yards per game. That's sixth best in the NFL, spearheaded by a rushing defense, giving up only 85 yards per game on the ground. That's third best in the NFL, and a passing defense that's giving up only 233 yards per game in the NFL. That's 12th best. So, really, really difficult task for the Titans at that time. Not going to lie, a part of me hopes that the Saints are clearing ahead away in their playoff seed seating and possibly will rest some of their starters, some of their key players. If not, the Titans are playing at home and they do play very well at home,

so they'll have to come out and play one of their best games of the seasons if they want to compete in that game against the Saints at home in Nissan Stadium. We will talk about our final opponent, the Texans. The Titans will have a game against them in week 15 and week 17 to end the season. The Texans took a major loss to the Baltimore Ravens 41-7 on Sunday and looked pretty terrible while doing it. They dropped to 6-4 and the Texans go back and forth between looking super dominant like one of the better teams in the NFL and then just looking very mediocre. The Titans will, like I said, have a matchup against them week 15, week 17, and they will have to take on a pretty good offense, as we know,

led by Deshaun Watson, averaging 24.5 points per game. That's 12th best in the league, 380 yards on offense per game, 7th best. 239 of those are coming in the passing game, 15th best in the league, 380 yards on offense per game, 7th best, 239 of those are coming in the passing game, 15th best in the league, and 140 of those are coming on the ground, 5th best in the league. A lot of people would think of the Texans as a passing throwing team, but 140 yards on the ground with Deshaun Watson's running ability, Duke Johnson, Carlos Hyde in there, that they're able to get the ball going on the ground, and that's something that the Titans will obviously have to stop, make them play one-handed and just throw the football so the Titans defenders can key on that. On defense, that's a place where the Texans are really lacking. As I mentioned with some of these teams that we've seen so far, it's

a common theme that they're struggling in pass defense. So we'll talk about the Texans defense. in pass defense. So we'll talk about the Texans defense. They're giving up 23 points per game. That's 18th in the NFL, 374 total yards per game on defense. That's 25th. A lot of that, as I've mentioned, is coming in the passing game, 272 yards per game allowed in the passing game. That's 28th in the NFL for the Texans and 102 yards per game on the ground. That's 14th in the NFL for the Texans defense. So they're a lot better against the run than they are against the pass. Another example of the Titans will have to come out throwing the ball early and often to get this defense out of sorts so that they can open up the running game and make them

think about the pass first, which will hinder their run defense. The Titans are going to have to do things a little backwards from what they want to do in terms of establish the run, and it'll lead to play action like Mike Vrabel has said. A lot of these games are going to have to come out throwing early to open up holes in the run game because a lot of these teams are bad against the pass and pretty decent against the run. So that's something that the Titans will have to keep in mind as they're developing these game plans. So just wanted to give you guys a quick overview of who remains on the Titans schedule, what the Titans are up against trying to get into the playoffs.

We will obviously dive into these teams more individually and more detailed when the Titans play them that week. But just coming out of the bye week and coming out of Sunday, I wanted to give you guys a general idea of what's ahead of us. So I hope you did enjoy that. In our third third segment we are going to talk about the Titans Pro Bowl hopefuls who I think deserves to make it who I think will make it and who you should consider voting for and why before we jump into that I want to remind you that away creates thoughtful products designed to change how you see the world for $ $20 off a suitcase, visit awaytravel.com slash locked on

and use promo code locked on during checkout. Listening on the go, if you can't visit away right now, you can find this and all other offers from Locked On sponsors at lockedonpodcast.com slash offers. In our third segment, I want to look at some Tennessee Titans who should get consideration for the Pro Bowl. Pro Bowl voting is open right now. Titans fans can go vote as much as they would like at NFL.com slash Pro Bowl. I encourage you to get out there and vote for your favorite Titans and vote for the Titans that definitely do deserve a spot. As we know, as Titans fans, the Titans do not get a lot of national attention.

Therefore, when Titans players have really good seasons that are Pro Bowl worthy, it's still difficult to get them there because of the amount of national attention required to get to a Pro Bowl. It is somewhat of a popularity contest, but if we as Titans fans collectively put in a good effort here, we have a good chance of getting our guys who deserve a spot in that game into it. So the ones that I think should be in contention for the Titans, I have the list narrowed down here.

I think on offense, we should definitely, definitely get Derrick Henry into the Pro Bowl. Derrick Henry should make the Pro Bowl anyway. He's one player who definitely has a lot of national attention on him and has a big name and something that people are recognizing when he makes those long runs to the end zone. So hopefully he can have a good second half of the season here and that'll propel him into the Pro Bowl with 832 yards. He's fifth in the NFL going into the week. Eight touchdowns, 13 catches, 165 receiving yards, and two receiving touchdowns. He has been a beast and carried this offense. He should be a Pro Bowl player. Continuing on offense, Ben Jones. Although he missed a game with a concussion, he has been the linchpin for the

Titans offensive line that has been incredibly improved since Ryan Tannehill took over. I think that he should get consideration and Jack Conklin has also been very solid for the Titans on the right side holding down his edge at all times. I know a lot of people want to go after this offensive line due to the sack numbers early in the season but Jack Conklin has been relatively excellent getting back to form over there on the right side. On defense, I think the Titans have four very strong candidates here. First, Harold Landry. As I said with Derrick Henry, he should actually just be on the Pro Bowl without any extra help or any extra love or anything like that. He should just be a Pro Bowl player. Landry has seven sacks, 47 tackles,

10 tackles for loss, eight quarterback hits, a fumble forced, two fumbles recovered, one interception. What else do you want from the talented edge rusher, the talented outside linebacker Harold Landry? Welcome to the honor roll NFL. He should be in the Pro Bowl in his second season. Same with Rashawn Evans, the Shark. 82 tackles, one and a half sacks, six tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and that touchdown last week. Rashawn Evans, while I think Harold Landry should definitely be a lock, Rashawn Evans should just get some conversation for the way that he's controlled and quarterbacked this defense.

Logan Ryan should be a shoo-in. He should be an all-pro, let alone a pro bowler. 74 tackles, 3 interceptions, 3.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 6 quarterback hits, 15 pass breakups. What more do you want? He's in the backfield getting quarterback hits. He's forcing fumbles. He's getting sacks. He's playing pass defense, getting interceptions, getting pass breakups, being in the run game

and making tackles for this football team. You couldn't ask for anything else from a defensive back. He should be an all pro and a pro bowler. Kevin Byard, of course, 49 tackles, three interceptions, six pass breakups, two tackles for loss. Very, very versatile. He's obviously one of the most known players on the Titans, so he should definitely get some consideration for his play. And then finally if brett kern doesn't make the pro bowl

i'm gonna riot i quit i'm gonna boycott the pro bowl forever if brett kern is not the punter for the afc that's all i have to say about that we all know the weapon should be in the pro bowl okay guys so that's to do it for our show today. I just wanted to get you primed up and ready to go for the rest of the season as we come out of the bye week. Of course in our first segment we did Song of the AFC South and the playoff picture preview to go over all the results that happened on Sunday and how they affect the Titans going forward. In our second segment we took a look at the opponents that the Titans have remaining and kind of got a quick scouting report on them

and what the Titans should be expected to do against those teams and what the game plan should be. And, of course, we just went over all the Titans' possible Pro Bowl options and what players do deserve it and what players most likely should get in anyway. So I appreciate you guys getting ready for me or getting ready with me, at least, to get ready for the rest of the season. I'm excited to have the Titans back again. As much as I enjoyed a weekend to just watch all the football

and not have one game to focus on, I miss the team, I miss the Titans, and I'm ready for the game against the Jaguars. I'm ready to jump into that with you guys all week. As always, please subscribe to the show if you haven't already on whatever platform you are listening. And if you would, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.