Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Rewatch Wednesday: Roster Move Round-Up, Notes From Week 2 & Mike Glennon Starts

Episode Date: December 9, 2020

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It is re-watch Wednesday today on the Locked on Titans podcast. And as I promised you guys earlier in the week, I'm not going to dwell on that beat down against the Browns. I'm going to burn the tape. I'm going to bury the ball. And I not going to dwell on that beatdown against the Browns. I'm going to burn the tape. I'm going to bury the ball, and I'm going to move forward, and that means focusing on the division rival rematch we have coming up this weekend against the Jacksonville Jaguars. So, what I did was I went back, spent a lot of time taking a look at that matchup that took place in week two against Jacksonville, And then I also spent some time looking at their recent games with Mike Glennon at quarterback,

as it is a quarterback change from the first matchup against the Jags earlier in the year. So I'm going to bring you guys all of my notes from re-watching those games today. I'm going to start giving you everything that I saw from that first matchup against the Jags and then cap off our show today giving you everything I saw from the last few games of Mike Glennon and what the Titans should expect on Sunday. Before we get into our rewatch Wednesday notes and I open up my notebook for you guys, the Titans have made a few key roster moves in the past week or so. There's been so much going on around the Titans, including their game against the Browns and previewing things,

that we haven't had a lot of time to dive into some of the roster transactions that have taken place recently. So I'm going to go through all of those that's taken place, not only in the last 24 hours we had a big Tennessee Titan go to IR, but also talk about everything that's taken place over the last five to six days for the Titans as well. So we are rounding up everything that's taken place with the roster over the past week and then diving into my rewatch Wednesday notes on the Titans game against the Jags earlier in the season and their recent matchups with

Mike Lennon at the helm. So excited to dive into everything with you guys. Let's get it. Late last week, we got reports that Titans edge rusher Jadavion Clowney, who had been placed on injured reserve with a knee injury, did in fact have a knee surgery that would have him out for the rest of the season. So there was some hope when Clowney was originally placed on IR that he may return within the three-week period that constitute a short-term injured reserve, but that appears to be off the table and Clowney will be out for the rest of the season.

It's unlikely that Clowney will return to Tennessee next year and his stay with the Titans was relatively uneventful. While he did have some disruptive plays out on the field, he didn't put up the type of season that Titans fans or Clowney were looking for. He ended up only playing in eight games, had 14 tackles on the season, four tackles for loss, and six quarterback hits. So Clowney was not able to live up to the hype on the field or able to stay healthy enough to live up to the hype as well. So some major concerns about Jadavion Clowney did end up playing out for the Titans who find themselves in a very difficult position in terms of what they have on the outside

at edge rusher at this point in the season. Also, Titans rookie running back Darrington Evans was activated from the injured reserve. He had been activated and designated to return, had that 21-day window, but he has since been activated to the active roster. As for another rookie that was also on the injured reserve list, that is cornerback Christian Fulton. Although he hasn't been activated, he is within his 21-day designation period. And according to Titans head coach Mike Rabel, he did mention that Fulton is close to returning

for the Titans. So hopefully they will be able to have him out on the field against the Jags this weekend, as he did have an interception in the previous matchup against the Jags in week two. An update on Adoree Jackson. He continues to not practice since being activated to the Titans 53-man roster. That isn't a great sign, obviously, going forward. And at this time, the Titans should act as if he will not be returning whatsoever this season. That's the safest route to take going forward. Another big piece of news about the

roster over the weekend for the Titans that kind of got washed away by the game itself was Titans rookie offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson continues to have struggles. We saw the training camp struggles with weight and we saw the DUI that took place. We saw the issues with COVID early on, the dust-up with campus police on a college campus. Then last week, we got reports that Isaiah Wilson was in an automobile crash that appeared to be his fault, according to the police report. So although everyone gets in a little accident here and there, it just adds to a long list. And then finally, the cherry on top,

Isaiah Wilson was suspended for the game against the Browns by the Titans organization for conduct detrimental to the team. And based on Mike Vrabel's quotes about that earlier this week, he mentioned that they hold Isaiah Wilson to the same standard as everyone else on the team. So that leads you to believe that a meeting was missed. There was some tardiness, some sort of team violation, minuscule team violation. But again, it adds to a long list of things that I have mentioned just before this. And based on all of that, it makes sense that Titans would formally punish Isaiah Wilson, sit him down. It's not like they need him during the games, unfortunately either, but a very difficult rookie season for Isaiah Wilson

that Titans fans and the Titans organization can only hope does improve with time. And then Tyre Tart, the Titans impressive, maybe their best rookie of the year, undrafted free agent, defensive lineman Tyre Tart, who has been impressive in recent weeks with increased opportunities, made a boneheaded decision, stepped on a Cleveland Browns offensive lineman during the second quarter of Sunday's game, and will be suspended for the

game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's a one-game suspension. And then the final two transactions are also the most recent for the Titans. They put practice squad punter Trevor Daniel, who struggled with the Titans earlier in the year, on the COVID reserve list. And then wide receiver Adam Humphreys was placed on injured reserve with concussion symptoms. Of course, Humphreys missed four games earlier in the season due to the concussion suffered during the Cincinnati Bengals game. It appears after that appearance against the Browns, his first appearance back from that concussion, he is still having some struggles with the concussion. So he goes on injured reserve. He won't be eligible to return for at minimum three weeks.

But with these sort of injuries and having concussion symptoms put him out for two different stints, I think it would be unlikely to see Adam Humphreys for the Titans the rest of this season. Which brings us to the obvious next question, which is how do the Tennessee Titans replace Humphreys? Well, the reality is Humphreys has only played in seven games this year, has 23 catches, 228 yards, and two touchdowns. And in the Titans offensive scheme, a slot receiver like Adam Humphreys, his role was minimized already just by the nature of what the Titans want to a slot receiver like Adam Humphreys his role is minimized already just by the nature of what the Titans want to do on offense much more important to have outside

physical receivers to go over the middle on those crossers and take advantage of the play action that's what the Titans want to build their offense around is yards after the catch guys and Adam Humphreys I think that the Titans would almost be better served having a deep field stretcher, somebody with speed who can take the top off the defense rather than have an option or out guy underneath like Adam Humphreys. I think that with a guy like Anthony Ferkser, they can fill that role enough. Cam Batson is also going to get increased opportunities. And I would like to see the Titans with some formation variation and put A.J.

Brown and Corey Davis in the slot a little bit more, see if you can get some good matchups there. That's something that they're definitely going to have to do against the Jags this weekend, so might as well just incorporate that into the mix already. And then, of course, another move that the Titans could make here, veteran wide receiver Kenny Stills, who's known for his speed, is available on the market.

I think Stills would be a really good option for the Titans offense not just as a replacement for Humphreys but it's something that the Titans offense doesn't have anyways that I think that they need to incorporate now Stills was waived by the Texans right before Will Fuller got popped for PEDs too I'm sure that they wish they could go back on that one but he has cleared waivers and, and he is just a free agent. He hasn't been signed. It's been over the course of the weekend. He wouldn't be able to join the Titans for the Jags game, but would be able to join them next week after clearing COVID protocol.

So would like to see the Titans make that move. I've been on board with Kenny Stills since I heard that he was getting cut by the Texans. But that's going to do it for this roster transaction roundup. We are going to move into re-watch Wednesday I'm going to give you guys all of my news and notes well my notes and analysis that I picked up from re-watching the previous matchup against the Jags and also watching the Jags most recent matchups with Mike Glennon at quarterback before we get into that though I want to tell you

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is go back and take a look at that Week 2 matchup against the Jags and see what we can learn from that and bring that to you guys. Before we jump into what I saw there, I want to remind you that tomorrow is Crossover Thursday. We'll have Tony Wiggins from Locked On Jags on the show. He's one of my favorite guys in the whole network to talk to. It's going to be a great conversation. Make sure that you don't miss that.

Subscribe to the Locked On Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. But let's dive into my notebook here. Taking a look at that week two matchup. So the Titans obviously got up early in that game. And then because of the defense, here we are again, because of the defense, the Jags got back in the game late in or in the middle of the second half. It was 30-17. It was 24-10.

And the defense just couldn't hold up and stop the Jags at all later in that game. So taking a look at things from the Titans' offensive perspective, how were they able to get that lead? Well, the Titans used a ton of bunch formations, putting wide receivers and tight ends close to each other at the line of scrimmage. They tried to do a lot of quick hitting plays, whether that be a quick play action slant over the middle, a drift route, you could call it, whether that be trying screens in this game or just trying a quick slant, you know, like I said, a screenplay possibly.

The Titans tried to do some quick hitting things, even, you know, just a quick one-step throw by Ryan Tannehill because the Jags brought the house all day. They were heavy blitzing Ryan Tannehill. That was their plan, obviously, all along. They wanted to bring pressure. They weren't threatened by the Titans outside receiving options. And one of the big reasons for that is this game did not feature A.J. Brown. He was hurt.

He did not play in this game. So that maybe helped the Jags play that sort of style of defense because they weren't worried about the Titans' run-after-catch threats. One, Jonu Smith isn't typically used in those third-down situations. Side note, one of the reasons that I'm not too high on giving him a big contract, he's a role player, guys. I'm sorry, he's an explosive role player in his role, but he's a role player. Anyways, won't get too far off track. So you got Ferkser out there who maybe can make you miss for a second, but you got Miles

Jack, Joe Sjobert. Those are pretty good coverage linebackers for the Browns. While they're not terrible, Jack can be fantastic. So then you got to worry about Corey Davis, and Corey Davis is a solid wide receiver. I don't want to make everybody mad. He's having a really good year. I love seeing what he's doing, but he's not the best route runner in the league. He's going to snap you off all the time, and he's not as much of a run-after-catch threat as Jonu or AJ. So, with that in mind, Jacksonville just wasn't really threatened by the outside options, and they just brought the house all day. Now, part of bringing the house all the time leads to an overly aggressive mindset. So, that's what I would say about the Jacks' defense, and that's why they were trying to

use Bunch. They were trying to do a bunch of quick hitters. The Jacks were bringing the house. They were being aggressive and coming downhill all day in the run game, blitzing in zone coverage, and the Titans have to find a way to take advantage of that. Now, they did quite a bit in this game. Of course, you're going to see play action bootlegs, which the Minnesota Vikings took advantage of as well. I'll get to that in our next segment when I give you my rewatch notes on that game and the most recent games with Mike Glennon, but the Titans obviously have to do what they typically do with the play-action game, but one little thing I would like to see off that is I would like to see the Titans attack in the passing game and play action on first down a lot in this game get the Jags on their heels early take away that aggressive nature that

they're going to want to start the game with that's what I want to see them do because when you're having people come downhill aggressively against you in this Titans offense when things are sort of slow developing Derrick Henry's wide zone runs a little slow developing. Those play action bootlegs to the opposite side, those are a little slow developing. So the Titans can get caught if they don't move fast enough or they don't slow down the Jags defense a little bit. So I would like to see the Titans take advantage of that aggressiveness early on. I know the Titans aren't a good screen team, but if they could find a way

to work in some screens, work in some more swing passes for Derrick Henry, I think that would be effective. Also, the swing route that he scored the touchdown on. Also, if the Titans could use A.J. Brown on a jet sweep, get him an opportunity because the Jags are weak on the outsides and they're decent in the middle. The strength of their defense is in the middle are weak on the outsides and they're decent in the middle. The strength of their defense is in the middle, not on the outsides. So the Titans have to find a way to use that aggressiveness against the Jags and get good opportunities for their weapons outside to go against the Jags perimeter players. They're secondary. Guys who aren't good tacklers, guys who are injury replacements the titans need to attack

there so you can slow down the jags a little bit their front seven make them think with some quick hitting plays uh using some some quick hitting play action some screens take advantage of those things i think that would really help the titans early on and then also find ways to get opportunities outside with jet sweeps. Maybe try a wide receiver screen not to Adam Humphreys on the outside. I would like to see that as well. So if the Titans could mix in some of those things, I think it would go a long way to giving them even more of an advantage than they had in that first matchup where they did score 33 points. So the Titans offense did play pretty well in that game. So a little bit of a repeat and then some slight adjustments.

One of those adjustments I do want to see is more shotgun runs from Derrick Henry. On the other side of the ball, speaking of shotgun runs, that's one thing the Titans defense needs to worry about. The Jags like to run the ball out of shotgun. Now early on, especially in this game, they like to go three wide with three wide receivers and run in shotgun. They were having some success against the Titans defense doing that. So that's one thing the Titans need to be ready for, be able to play heavy personnel

and maybe have a safety as a middle linebacker in your base package. Use Kenny Vaccaro instead of Will Compton or instead of David Long and then bring Amani Hooker on the field as a safety and a base package. Think about that possibility I would do in this game. Also, be ready. The Jags like to take deep shots. Their wide receivers are not like the Titans. They're not great run after the catch guys with the exception of LaVishka Chennault. They're vertical threats. Tyler Eifert, DJ Chark, Keelan Cole, Chris Conley, even LaVishka Chennault to a point. They want to go down the field,

and Mike Glennon has the arm to take those shots, and the Jags like to take shots early to loosen up defenses, so the Titans' defense needs to be ready. The Titans' defensive backs aren't great at going backwards, so I think they need to be a little conservative early on and make sure that they don't get caught and give up an easy one like they did against the Browns last week. The Titans played a ton of cover two in this game. The Titans, anytime they play cover two, things seem to go bad. I'd like to see more cover three out of the Titans in this game,

see more man coverage out of the Titans in this game. Just make sure that the corners aren't getting absolutely roasted on the outside. So the Titans need to work, not completely go to cover three away from cover two, but I'd like to see more cover three than cover two, which they currently play more cover two than cover three the way I see things. And then finally, the Jags are heavy on crossers, and that's why they can take advantage of the Titans in man coverage because the Titans cornerbacks aren't going to be great at going across the field, so the Titans just need to be ready with their middle-of-the-field defenders. Something that, and I'll use this as a

way to segue into the next segment where we talk about the Vikings game and the Browns game for the Jags. One thing that the Vikings did a lot that I like that the Titans do a little bit in the red zone. They ran man, but they used three zone defenders. So imagine there's man coverage on the tight end and the three wide receivers. They don't man cover the running back, and they let the two linebackers and then the deep safety all play zone coverage. And if the running back comes out of the backfield on a pass route, then the linebackers just match up with whichever side the running back goes to but I think that would be effective

for the Titans taking away those those deep crossers as well so that's something that the Vikings did quite a bit let's move into talking about some of those recent games the Jags have played that I re-watched since they've had Mike Glennon at quarterback because things are a little bit different especially for their offense. Let's cap off today's show by going through my rewatch notes from checking out the most recent games where the Jags had Mike Glennon at quarterback. I watched a little bit of that Browns game. Definitely watched a lot of the Minnesota Vikings game. So the Jags offense, let's start there because that's where you're

going to see the biggest difference, obviously, with a quarterback change. The Jags offense, when they had Garner Minshew, did a lot more three wide receiver. That's something I just mentioned in the previous segment. They like to spread things out a lot more three wide receiver. That's something I just mentioned in the previous segment. They like to spread things out a lot. Now they still like to spread things out five wide for Mike Glennon. But one thing that I notice is they play a lot more with two tight ends and three tight ends. They go to a lot more heavy personnel.

And I think one of the reasons for that is Gardner Minshew is good as a little bit of a backyard football type guy. You want to get the ball out quick. You want to take advantage of the short throws. He doesn't have a huge arm down the field. Well, Mike Glennon isn't necessarily that kind of player. You want to get the ball out quick with Mike Glennon, but he also has a big arm. So when you go with those heavy tight end packages, those heavy tight end personnels, it gives you more ability to go with max protection and to run deep routes. You can keep more guys into block, which allows you to have deep routes and vertical routes develop downfield. You don't have that kind of time when you're in three wide receiver all the time and

you're spreading things out to throw the ball. So the Jags are just, you know, tailoring their offense more to Mike Glennon. They're running more out of two tight end, three tight end personnel. They're doing more of that than going with shotgun and going with three wide receivers, four wide receivers, things like that. So that's a bit of a difference there. The Titans base personnel will have to be ready. And that's when losing a player like Tyre Tartt for this game will definitely hurt the Titans because their rotation at defensive linemen will be thin and we know that the Titans backup defensive line has really struggled throughout the year until

Tyre Tartt emerged. So that's something that I'm a little bit worried about from the Titans defensive perspective there but another thing that I want to talk about, I mentioned it before, Minshew tried to take some deep shots, but that's even more popular with Glennon at quarterback. The Jags like to go downfield. They like to do it often. They like to do it early, and it loosens up a defense. It loosens up everything over the middle of the field for the Jags because Mike Glennon doesn't like to throw to the outsides and intermediate and short. Those aren't throws that he likes to make. He likes to drive the ball

downfield outside or throw it over the middle where he feels more comfortable and that's pretty natural for most quarterbacks. So that's why that Minnesota Vikings zone coverage that I've been talking about where they have four people playing man coverage, and then they use the linebackers as two zone defenders who can match up whichever direction the running back goes. That way, if the running back stays back in pass protection, now you have an extra zone defender over the middle of the field where Glennon likes to throw most. So that's why I think having that deep zone safety, those two linebackers playing a matchup zone, that would be really helpful for the Titans because Glennon likes to

go either deep down the sideline or intermediate over the middle of the field. So if the Titans can find a way to take away those areas, they should be looking pretty good. I mean, it's still going to be a dogfight. I think this is going to be a close game, but the Jags offense definitely goes more heavy personnel now and likes to take more deep shots now than when they had Garner Minshew. And quite frankly, I think they're a better offense because of it. And they've been pretty competitive in the last two weeks. So that's what I think the difference is the Titans will see on offense for the Jags. Taking a look at the Jags defense, not a lot has changed except for the talent on the outsides has dropped drastically. You have seen safety Ronnie Harrison get traded. They've had also some problems on the edge with Josh Allen, Caleb on chase, and Josh Allen isn't

going to be available in this game. So the Titans can take advantage, as I mentioned earlier, on the perimeter, not just in the passing game, but also in the run game. Challenge the edge defenders for the Jags. Challenge their cornerbacks and safeties to make tackles. They're pretty solid in the middle. You have a guy like Miles Jack. You have a guy like Joe Schober. That's pretty solid in the middle as, you know, over the middle second level defenders. So I don't think that the Titans should try to attack there. And the Vikings didn't either. This is one thing that the Titans incorporated into their offense earlier in the year that I thought they should have done sooner.

And it's those fake crossers where you then bow back out and bend back out to the sideline. The Vikings attacked the sideline. They saw that weakness on the perimeter. They were throwing a ton of comebacks to the sideline off those bootlegs, throwing a ton of short outs, quick outs, throwing into the outside flat on those bootlegs. They just wanted to make the Jags' outside players work, their edge rushers, their outside linebackers,

and their cornerbacks. So that's where the Titans should be looking to attack as well. The Titans did use fake crossers with Corey Davis very effectively just a few weeks ago. I'd like against the Colts, as a matter of fact, they had a lot of effectiveness there, and I would like to see them use a lot of those. Now, to be able to use a fake crosser, you have to be effective with your crossers first, so that would be an adjustment that I'd like to see the Titans make either late in the second quarter or completely in the second half. You don't want to do that too early because then you lose the ability to hit on it multiple times later in the game.

Another thing to think about, and that's where a crosser could be effective for the Titans is the Jags prefer to play a lot of cover three and a lot of man, not so much cover two. And one of the reasons for that is they like having that extra safety down in the box and a single high safety look with eight men in the box. They played against the Browns, Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt. They played against the Vikings, Dalvin Cook. They're going against the Titans with Derrick Henry. I would expect to see the same thing. A lot of eight men in the box with that extra safety, which means they'll be in a single high look.

That's going to give you a lot of cover three and a lot of man. So that's what the Titans should be expecting to see from the Jags. But that's going to do it for this rewatch Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I have emptied my notebook and all of my rewatch notes for you guys. And we have kind of recapped all of the Titans roster moves that have taken place over the last week or so. So I hope you guys feel good about being all caught up to date on everything

we need to know, heading into a crossover Thursday conversation with Tony Wiggins from the Locked on Jags podcast. So excited to bring that to you guys tomorrow. Make sure that you're subscribed on whatever platform you do stream so you do not miss that or a Football Friday game preview coming to you in just two days. So excited for what's coming on the rest of the week of the Locked on Titans podcast. Subscribe on whatever platform you do stream.

of the Locked on Titans podcast. Subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.