Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - POSTCAST - Tennessee Titans Turnover Fest Leads to Collapse v Pittsburgh Steelers

Episode Date: December 19, 2021

The Tennessee Titans found a way to blow it again against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tyler gives his INSTANT REACTION to the collapse. Discussing the four turnovers, the officiating, the play of Tannehill and defense's terrific effort.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3332GMOh4y5PX3q9NFybw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans postcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, we just watched an absolute collapse as the Tennessee Titans lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-13. I'm going to give you my instant reaction, my raw emotions, my immediate takeaways from the loss right now on a Locked on Titans postcast. Let's roll.

right now on a Locked On Titans postcast. Let's roll. It's truly unbelievable, guys. I'm at a loss for words. The Tennessee Titans dropped to 9-5 on another turnover-filled game. It's just... It's unreasonable that they can't seem to not turn over the ball constantly. I mean, yeah, they played against Jacksonville and didn not turn over the ball constantly.

I mean, yeah, they played against Jacksonville and didn't turn over the ball, but Jacksonville's barely an NFL team. They got the new coach bump on Sunday and still got whooped by the Texans. So, I'm just out of words because schematically, there's nothing really to break down

about the turnovers. They're just stupid mistakes. They're just stupid mistakes. They're just stupid. I mean, you have Anthony Ferkser, whose disaster season just continues. Just continues. I mean, the guy just can't get right. Once the Titans gave him a little bit of money, he completely fell off. Now, I'm not saying he's the type of guy who's going to stop working

because he got money, but something clicked for him in the worst way possible. He fumbles. Luckily, the Tennessee Titans defense is able to hold to a field goal. I mean, other than that, other than the fumble giving the Steelers a field goal, the Steelers don't even score in the first half. So there, right away, even though the Titans played a good first half and went up 13-3, right away it was like, oh, okay, if the Titans turn over the ball,

that's the only way the Steelers are going to be able to score. Well, that continued. In the second half, you're winning the game 13-10, and you go fumble, interception, fumble. And the Steelers go field goal, field goal, field goal, field goal, field goal, field goal, field goal, three field goals in a row. And that's it. That's the scoring. So 12 points of the Steelers' 19, the Titans handed them.

And here's a stat for you. On those field goal drives for the Steelers, they gained 58 yards. 58 yards to get 12 points because of the turnovers. I just don't know where else to go. And quite frankly, you can't blame this on the Titans defense at all. The Titans defense played great in this game. And the only non-turnover points that the Steelers got was a touchdown drive where they got 40 penalty yards

on three terrible penalty calls. Got a terrible defensive pass interference that negated a holding call on the Steelers on Buster Screen when he just played great defense, stayed in phase, hand-fighting, yes, but nothing over the top. Both the wide receiver and Buster Screen were doing it. And then he turns around, makes a play on the ball, jumps out and almost intercepts it.

You're going to call pass interference on that? And then the call on Jeffrey Simmons? He gets pushed down into Ben Roethlisberger's legs by a Pittsburgh Steeler lineman, and it's a roughing the passer? It takes away a turnover. And then the DPI on Christian Fulton when Chase Claypool has him grabbed by the jersey

and then grabs his arm sleeve and pushes him away too? You're going to give him that as well? You guys know I am not one to get on here and blame the officials. I actually get hate from people all the time because I refuse to blame the officials. But that was just awful. And then they almost called that fumble on Deontay Foreman

right before Rayce McMath fumbled anyway. But they almost called that fumble on Foreman. And we want to be honest here. I saw plenty of holding from the Steelers offensive line. There was a big play on one of the turnovers or one of the big plays for the Steelers Elijah Molden got into the backfield on a blitz and they just grabbed him by the jersey and tugged him away

I mean I got nothing else to say other than this was a poorly officiated game now of course that doesn't take away from the Titans shooting themselves in the foot. Yeah, the referees helped the Steelers get that first touchdown on the board, but it's 13-10 at that time. It's 13-10. You don't have to have two more fumbles and an interception. The refs didn't make the Titans do that. So, just want to say that. I'm not

blaming the officials for losing the game. I'm just saying it didn't help. And when all of that stuff is going against you, what you can't do is help the Steelers out. The Titans defense just destroyed the Steelers all day long. That's just the truth of the matter. The one touchdown drive, 40 yards and penalty yards, which we just talked about. The other 12 points that they got were all after the turnovers for 58 total yards. I mean, the Titans offense. Now, I'm going to go back and look and make sure that this

absolutely times up. But, I'm pretty sure that after Julio Jones went out of the game, the Titans didn't score again. More caveats, because there's more blame to be placed. I don't think this was a bad Todd Downing game, and everybody's mad at Todd Downing, but I'm not. I thought Todd Downing called a good game. It's not his fault that Anthony Furser dropped the ball on the ground

and Rayce McMath dropped the ball on the ground and Ryan Tannehill threw the ball directly into the hands of a Pittsburgh Steelers defensive player. And the snap got botched. None of that is Todd Downing's fault. And the Titans were right down there in the red zone with a chance to win the game at the end. I don't think that I thought Todd Downing called a good game in this game, especially in the first half. You can blame whoever you want in the second half, but to me, you look at the second half

drives, got a punt to start, a punt, but then after that, fumble, interception, fumble, turnover on downs at the end of the game. So yeah, two punts, but the three turnovers, what are you going to do? And the Titans were driving with Anthony Ferkser, and then he fumbles too. I mean, the Titans absolutely had no business losing this game,

and they shot themselves in the foot. It's just like the Texans game with five turnovers, just like the Patriots game with four turnovers. I mean, it's just insane. It's just like the Texans game with five turnovers. Just like the Patriots game with four turnovers. I mean, it's just insane. It's just insane. And, you know, finally, the last thing that I'm going to say here is the Titans can't win without an NFL offense.

And when you don't have Julio, you don't have AJ, you don't have Derrick Henry, they don't have an NFL offense. They don't. It's just the truth. So, we can blame Ryan Tannehill all we want, but he was getting pummeled all game. And we saw turnover mistakes that aren't entirely on him. The three fumbles don't have anything to do with Tannehill. Well, that's not fair, obviously. The botch snap.

But at this point in time, I can't tell you exactly what happened there. But I'll give him that credit. So two of the two. And that's what kind of leads me to my next point. I'm not blaming all this on Tannehill at all. And it's also fair to say,

who could lift this group up without Julio, without Derrick Henry, without A.J. Brown? I don't think that's an easy job. There's not very many quarterbacks that could lift that group up. But I do know that Tannehill is not doing that. He's not. He's not. We can defend him all day,

and I do when it's called for. But he's not lifting the group up at all. He's just not. There's no way around it. He's not making anybody else better around him. He's just running what Todd Downing is calling and not really exploding on any of it. Not really expanding is the word I'm looking for on any of it. Now he's not getting any help. Again, you gotta mention the pass protection. There were plays that should have been touchdowns that Tannehill can't get the pass off because he's getting sacked.

But the point is, Tannehill's not helping. Todd Downing isn't doing great. He's not doing terrible. The pass protection is terrible and the weapons are absolutely terrible. You add that with the turnovers and the Titans aren't an NFL offense. And because of that, they give up a 16-0 second half, lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-13. I obviously have a lot more to say about this game and I'm going to continue the analysis in my full 30-minute recap that will be

on the Locked on Titans YouTube, on the Locked on Titans podcast channels later on this evening on Sunday night. But this is the postcast. Thank you for subscribing. Make sure you do on whatever platform you do stream. That's going to do it for me. I'll be back with you guys later tonight.