Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - POSTCAST - Tennessee Titans Blow Big Lead, Lose to New York Giants 21-20

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

The Tennessee Titans lost their first game of the season to the New York Giants 21-20. The Titans had a double digit lead at halftime, but came out completely flat in the second half. Allowing explosive plays on defense and having a lack of them on offense. This was a bad loss to start the year.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitansSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!BriteCoThe guys at BriteCo Jewelry Insurance made buying insurance for your engagement ring, your watch, or whatever so easy you can get covered in 2 minutes on your cell phone. You won't find a better deal on coverage that's so affordable. Go to https://brite.co/lockedonPrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONTuroDitch boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.comAthletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NFLNETWORK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, that was a tough one. The Titans blow a double-digit lead to lose to the New York Giants in week one. One half of defense, barely any feasible offense. Let's just talk about what happened on Sunday. I'm breaking it all down for you in a Locked on Titans postcast. Let's get it.

You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day. Titans fans, it is our first Locked on Titans postcast of the year. And I got to say, it doesn't feel great to have our first postcast of the year be after a loss. But that's exactly what happened out there for the Titans as they lose 21-20 to the Giants. Thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream.

I am putting out daily Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content for free on all platforms all year round, including the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe there. Hit the notification bell and throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching right now. Follow me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. Check out the show Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. This is my 10-minute instant reaction recap to the game. Later on tonight, I will be posting my full 30-minute breakdown episode with everything I saw on offense and defense, tighten up and tighten down,

and talk about some of the things that happened around the rest of the NFL. But for right now, man, let's just dive right in. It just feels like we just watched the Titans from last year. Like this game that we just watched, it feels like the Titans games from the middle of the season last year when they didn't have most of their offensive weapons. That's what the game felt like. The defense comes out.

The defense plays pretty good early on. I mean, what a hot start for the Titans. The defense comes out, gets some early sacks. Bud Dupree has a sack. Weaver has a sack. Simmons has a sack out there. The Kyle Phillips punt return. Awesome.

The Titans get down there. They get a touchdown. Dontrell Hilliard, which I know we're not really in the mood to give out of boys, but I did try to tell you guys all week long that Dontrell Hilliard would be huge in this game. But the Titans start out hot. Hilliard gets the touchdown. Titans again get a couple field goals on the board, but that is the start of what becomes the major problem for the Titans. The Titans should have had way more points than 13 in the first half.

No bones about it. This offense continued. Yes, we're going to get to the second half, but the Titans defense played lights out in the first half and the Titans get 13 points out of it. It's just not the Titans offense that we need it to be for the Titans to do the things that we want them to do. Far too many times, first down runs, far too many times, run, run, then a pass, then the punt.

I mean, you know, we're going to talk about everything. We're going to hit on everything, but I'm just so annoyed that once again, the Titans defense has a dominant first half and the offense doesn't do enough to pick up the slack. Then once we get into the second half and the Titans are up 13 to nothing. And once we get into the second half, the defense just starts to collapse. The run defense was despicable. I forget who I was talking to, but somebody in the comments earlier this week was like, oh, you're worried about the run

defense at all against Saquon Barkley. I wasn't that worried. The Titans have historically had a pretty good run defense the last few years. Hasn't been absolutely incredible, but I'm just shocked that Saquon Barkley went out there and put up over 160 yards and just dominated.

Just dominated, really. And we're going to have tighten up and tighten down when I do my full 30-minute reaction later on tonight. I'll be putting that up later on tonight. But, man, I can't believe the way the defense let down. The linebackers were awful. Christian Fulton was awful in this game. The edges were awful.

I mean, I am just absolutely shocked. Now, what I'm not shocked by is the Titans' lack of offense. I mean, what is Todd Downing doing? It's third and an inch, and you go wildcat. It's third and one, and you go wildcat? It's third and one and you go with a tight end sweep? I said on Twitter, and I'm going to say this a lot this week,

the edges were awful, Max. The edges were awful in run defense. Yeah, they got pressure early, but they were awful in run defense. That's why the Giants were running counter runs to the perimeter and getting pulls so that they could seal in the edges because the edges were crashing down way too hard.

Yeah, I guess just once again, although the defense fell off, the Giants scored 21 points in this game. The Titans can't score more than 21 points. You know, we could talk about the defense. I'm not even going to hit on Randy Bullock. Randy Bullock made two kicks. We're asking Randy Bullock to go out there and save him with a 47-yarder after Mike Grable completely botched the time management.

The Titans should have had another play to go out there and get a couple more yards to make it an easier field goal for Randy Bullock, and they didn't. So you can put it all on the kicker if you want, but the Titans' offense has to score more than 20 freaking points. Once again, we can talk about the defense

giving up big plays. That sucks. We can talk about Randy Bullock missing nearly a 50-yard field goal at the end. But what really ruined this team on Sunday was the offense. 3-for-11 on third downs? I don't know what else to say. Again, like I was saying earlier, what I will continue to stress

is that you don't overreact to week one. Yeah, the Titans lost, but we saw last year. The Titans got crushed, and everybody freaked out, and guess what? The Titans were fine. They got the number one seed. Now, I guess you could say the Titans weren't a real contender, even though they got the number one seed, because we saw how they performed in the playoffs, which I guess you could take that for what it is.

But I am not overreacting to week one when I say Todd Downing is not good enough. Todd Downing is awful. The offensive line was actually okay. Not super happy about the wide receiver core, like I figured. Robert Woods getting all the attention. Nick Westbrook, Akina. No, the best wide receivers for the Titans are Traylon Burks and Kyle Phillips already. But what really ruins it for the Titans is just the terrible play calling. The terrible plan going in.

Todd Downing is just not an NFL offensive coordinator. He may be a good tight ends coach. He may be whatever Mike Vrabel wants him to be. But he's not NFL offensive coordinator. He may be a good tight ends coach. He may be whatever Mike Vrabel wants him to be. But he's not an offensive coordinator. He's not. Now, we all have to acknowledge this as well. That the Titans are liable to go out there and beat the Buffalo Bills

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I don't really know what else to say from here. It just felt like 2021 when the Titans didn't have their top receiving option out there. That's what it felt like to me. The offense can only get about 20 points. They maybe get some easy opportunities in score, and then they burn out. And then they burn out quick.

They start slow, not in this game. They were able to start fast, but they still burned out by the end. We can blame the defense, and there's a ton of blame to go around, but at the end of the day, the Titans offense can not only score 20 points

when the defense played the way that it played in the first half. I don't know what else to say to you guys. Put the blame wherever you want it. But for me, it's Todd Downing, the pathetic play calling. As long as Todd Downing's calling this offense, the Titans are just not going to be a very good offense. There's just no way around it.

That's all it was. But at the end of the day, this is week one. The Titans offense can get better. The Titans defense had some great moments out there. Now, a lot of people are saying, it was the Giants, it was the Giants, it was the Giants. Okay, maybe you're right about that. But we don't know how good the Giants are going to be.

So, there's that. All we know is the Titans were up 13 to nothing. The defense was playing lights out. And then in the second half, the defense decided to join the offense being far less than mediocre. And then the Titans lose 21-20. Nobody to blame but the offense, in my opinion,

and the run defense. That's where I'm really going to stick. I'm not talking kicker. I'm not talking penalties. None of that nonsense. The Titans just didn't play run defense today, and the offense didn't play near well enough at all, and we're used to that.

This Titans offense, guys, I've been saying it all along, and people didn't want to listen. The offense is what's going to let this team down if the team is not as good as we want. But it's only week one. I don't think it's time to freak out, but what we do know is Todd Downing is not an good as we want. But it's only week one. I don't think it's time to freak out. But what we do know is Todd Downing is not an NFL offensive coordinator.

But that's going to do it for this postcast. I'm going to be back on later tonight with my full 30-minute recap. We're going to go over all my big takeaways. We're going to do tighten up and tighten down and look at the rest of the NFL as well. Make sure you subscribe. Free and available on all platforms.

The Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. I'll be back with you guys later tonight for my full recap. Tighten up.