Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Season Saved?? Tannehill Impresses, #TitanUpTitanDown & Song of the AFC South

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a victory Monday. What an insane game. My blood pressure is through the roof. I am convinced that I have lost multiple years on my life due to just the last minute of that football game. So we're going to talk about the game. We're going to go over all of my key takeaways in the first segment. Can't believe the offense is alive. What a fun game to watch. So we'll do that in the first segment. And our second segment, of course, everybody's favorite, tighten up and tighten down. And we'll cover some individual performances from the game. In our third segment, we are going to do Song of the AFC South. I'm going

to break down what happened in the division today and also how things are kind of lining up for the Titans in the conference. And with this victory they were able to secure today in just a wild fashion, it actually spells really good things for their chances to get into the playoffs. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, what a fun football game. Let's get it. Let's get it. Your Tennessee Titans lead story is a huge victory against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday in Nashville. A score of 23-20 with a crazy, wild fourth quarter finish.

The Titans offense finally, finally came alive out there. They were three for three in the red zone. What is going on? They were six for 11 on third down. Everyone was getting involved on offense too. Tannehill was spreading the ball all over the place. He finished 23 of 29, 312 yards, two touchdowns. He did have the one interception where Jonu Smith got beat pretty badly by one of the edge rushers for the Chargers. Ended up hitting Tannehill's elbow, making him flutter the ball in the air. It was a pretty easy interception. Hard to really blame Tannehill for that one, but if he takes a couple of steps up in the pocket, maybe even one step, he can avoid that so you got to feel that pressure people are a little sensitive right now I want to make sure that I'm

evaluating Tannehill fairly so not only that but as I said he was spreading it around Corey Davis six catches 80 yards a touchdown looking like a number five overall pick Jonu Smith three catches 54 yards he had the long 35 yard completion AJ. A.J. Brown, six catches, 64 yards. Adam Humphreys, four catches, 40 yards. These are the type of things that Titans fans are wanting to see. All of the weapons are involved. We realized that either way, whether it was Marcus or Tannehill, we don't have an elite, dynamic top five quarterback who's going to be pushing the ball down the field all the time. We need to get the ball out to the weapons, and the offense was able to do that. And then when it came time to run the ball, they were able to run the ball. Derrick Henry had 90 yards on 22 carries. That's a 4.1

average. The Titans had been averaging less than four yards per carry so far on the season, so that's a sight that we want to see. He had a touchdown when it mattered most. The Titans offense, like I said, they got third downs. They converted on big plays. They were able to take shots down the field. The ball was just zipping out of Tannehill's hands different than we had seen it throughout the year. I know everyone doesn't want to come out here and crush Marcus because he's done things for this organization, but it's undeniable what we're seeing out on the field, at least in this one game. The offense looked solid. They were able to put up 23 points and do justice for a defensive performance that, while it was not perfect, is something that the Titans have to be happy with.

The defense gave up 20 points. In the NFL, if you're only giving up 20 points, which is the season high for the Titans defense anyway, you should be able to get victories if you're an average scoring offense. The Titans defense, like I said, though, wasn't perfect. They did give up 329 passing yards to Phillip Rivers in two touchdowns. They were only able to sack Phillip Rivers once, even though it was Jeffrey Simmons who had a phenomenal game in his first return to action. But the Titans defense was able to completely end the Chargers run game. They had 21 carries for 39 yards between the two running backs, Gordon and Eckler. That's a 1.9 yards per carry average. That is abysmal.

The Titans completely made the Chargers play with one hand, only having a passing attack. There was nothing in the run game. And ultimately, the run game ended up being the Chargers' doom. Now, where they were able to have success was against the linebackers and Kenny Vaccaro in the Titans' secondary. Austin Eckler, who I talked about on Friday's episode and said would be a concern for the Titans out of the backfield catching the ball, had seven catches, 118 yards, and a touchdown. Hunter Henry at tight end had six catches for 97 yards. They were pretty dominant against Vaccaro and Woodyard and Evans. Not having Jayon Brown out there definitely showed itself in how the Titans were able to cover Eckler out of the

backfield. Henry at tight end, they need Jayon Brown back as soon as possible to sure that up. Other than that, the Titans were pretty fantastic across the board. They held talented wide receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams to four catches a piece, about 108 yards total. That's not a bad day compared to the type of performances we saw last year against the Chargers wide receivers from this Titans defense. The Titans defense made a huge play at the end, forcing a fumble on Melvin Gordon at the goal line. They were able to recover. Jarrell Casey came up with the ball in the end zone. It seemed like there was some confusion with the officials.

Typically, these things go against the Titans, but the officials made the right call. It was a fumble. Gordon fumbled it into the end zone. The Titans recover for a touchback. They were able to secure the victory and just a complete win by the Titans team. A huge win in the middle of the season that has the potential to completely sway things based on how some of the AFC results played out today. Speaking of that, in our third segment, we are going to do Song of the AFC South. I will cover how the Titans division rivals fared on Sunday and what it means

for their push to the playoffs. I'll also talk about how the AFC is shaking out a little bit and some positive news for the Titans as they look now at their schedule and hope they can make some sort of push. Before we get to our third segment, of course, in our second segment, we're going to do tighten up, tighten down. So I'll get into that with you guys. Before we do, I want to remind you that Peloton has a limited time offer. Get $100 off accessories when you purchase the Peloton bike

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Promo code LOCKEDON to try it for free. Blue Chew is the better, cheaper, faster choice, and we thank them for sponsoring our podcast. Tighten up. Tighten down. tighten up tighten down this is going to be one of the more fun tighten up tighten down segments that i've gotten to do and that we have gotten to do together the entire season by far so i'm just going to jump in and i'm going to do the tighten downs real quick and get those out of the way so we can talk about all of the tighten ups cody parkkey, I mean, he's just another backup. Ryan Suckup, can you hear me? Please come back to us, Ryan Suckup. I miss you. The backups on the offensive line, Jameel Douglas, he played okay, but Dennis Kelly gave up both the sacks to Joey Bosa. Some people on my timeline were excited to see Dennis Kelly come into the game and act

like he was an upgrade on Conklin. Not the case, folks. I'm sorry. I know that the offensive line is going to get a big share of the blame whenever this offense messes up, but Jack Conklin is not a downgrade from Dennis Kelly. That's just not the case. Dean Pease, it took him a long time to adjust to Austin Eckler. They were motioning Austin Eckler out of the backfield and pulling Wesley Woodyard out. He got roasted on the touchdown for it a couple of times. The Titans finally adjusted in the second half, but kind of a late adjustment there by Dean. Wish he would have been more prepared for that coming into the game. It's something that I mentioned as a key to the game for the Titans,

so I'm surprised they didn't put more of an effort to handling that, especially knowing that Jayon Brown was probably going to be out. Mike Vrabel, just the constant look on the sideline, like he has no idea what's going on. I don't know. Some of his decision making at this point, it's just exhausting with when he decides to go for fourth, when he doesn't, the play call, when to challenge, when not to challenge. It just seems like every time he makes a decision, it's the wrong one.

So I really don't know what else to say about that. It's just frustrating. Kenny Vaccaro really struggled to guard Hunter Henry. He gave up six catches for 97 yards. Just seemed like he was really struggling anytime. And it was surprising to see, for me at least, because Hunter Henry is coming off of a pretty bad injury this is his second game back with the team so expected a little more from Vaccaro there but everyone has a bad day and it seemed like maybe he just wasn't up to par I do want to point out the A.J. Brown jet sweep late in the game

Derrick Henry's getting four or five six yards a a chunk. It's second and four. You run a jet sweep. It's losing two yards. You lose two yards on the jet sweep. Now it's third and seven, third and six. Tannehill completes a pass to A.J. Brown, but he's a few inches short of the first down because of the two yards that you lost on a terrible play call with the jet sweep. Then Tannehill goes for it. We know how the QB sneak turned out so just little things like that Art you're killing me you're killing me please do better but anyways on to the Titan Ups on to the Titan Ups very exciting very great day Ryan Tannehill as I mentioned earlier 23 for 29 312 two touchdowns one interception that wasn't really his fault whatsoever.

The Titans offense in general, swinging time of possession in the second half, that was just gorgeous. Corey Davis looking like a first-round pick, looking like a fifth overall pick, especially when you have Mike Williams on the other side, who was the seventh overall pick two picks later and was in the conversation for who the best wide receiver would be. Corey Davis, six catches, 80 yards, one touchdown on seven targets, consistently catching the ball on 50-50 balls where it could go either way.

Tannehill was throwing it in there as fast as he could to try to give him a chance, and he was able to do it. Jeffrey Simmons, we are finally here, folks. He's finally arrived, and we see why he was worth the wait. Four tackles, two of those were for loss, had the only sack of the day, another QB hit. He was everywhere. He was right there plugging up the line on the big crucial stop to end the game. Jeffrey Simmons is a beast, ladies and gentlemen, and he has arrived as long as they continue to limit his snaps. I thought he got a lot of snaps for it being his first game back. There were a few plays where you saw him limping just a little bit. I

retweeted one of those on Twitter at TicTacTitans, but overall, how could you not be impressed by the way he played? Harold Landry out there. Again, I like to focus on the edge rushers, on the interior pressure, because that's something I think this defense is missing. Harold Landry had two quarterback hits, was putting pressure in Rivers' face. Rivers is a good quarterback, a Hall of Fame quarterback. He was able to get the ball out a lot and only take one sack. That's how a quarterback can impact sacks. That's how a quarterback can help their offensive line. We saw it in Phillip Rivers tonight. He'd get rid of the ball. He'd overthrow a receiver on purpose.

But one of the reasons he was doing things like that was Jeffrey Simmons, Harold Landry, Cameron Wake was in the backfield a few times. Jarrell Casey, of course, making an impact and coming up with that fumble at the end. Just a lot of tighten ups going on. Really impressed by some of John Robinson's young draft picks in this game. I said this on Twitter as well. I kind of just put some emojis out there. But Rashawn Evans right there at the end of the game hitting Melvin Gordon,

helping cause the fumble. Ten tackles on the day. Huge game with Jayon Brown going out. Wesley Woodyard got hurt during the game. David Long, the rookie inside linebacker from West Virginia, had to play a little bit. But Rashawn Evans, the shark, was there the whole time making plays, stepping up when he needed to the most.

Harold Landry, Jeffrey Simmons, all making plays. It was an exhibit of what John Robinson is building right now, and he's caught some heat recently for the coaches that he's put into place, and I understand that. But we have to remember what we had and what John Robinson has turned this team into what a roster what a team beautiful pieces all over the field I think that the Titans are in a great spot going forward so a tighten up for you John Robinson J-Rob to go continuing to put players on the field that the Titans need in positions that they needed the most and we saw it today so great game I'm still excited you can probably hear it in my

voice my heart is still racing in our third segment I'm going to give you even more positive news Titans fans what are you going to do with all the positivity in your ears right now I felt that energy on Friday I wanted to make sure I gave it to you guys, and it turned out for us here. So in our third segment, we're going to talk about how the conference is setting up right now, how the division is lining up right now, and what I think would be best for the Titans going forward to help get them into the playoffs.

So we'll do that in our third segment. Song of the AFC South so quickly I just want to go over everything that happened today in the AFC South but I'm also going to cover how things are kind of lining up for the Titans in terms of playoffs at this point they have secured this victory against the Chargers, and that affords us the opportunity to talk about what might happen and the playoff push and how things kind of line up. So let's go over the AFC South first. The Texans and the Colts played each other. The Texans traveled to Indianapolis, and Indianapolis was able to win.

Bill Simmons has the Ewing theory. As soon as Patrick Ewing left the Knicks, it allowed them to have their best season. I don't see that happening with Andrew Luck exactly, but it is funny to see how well the Colts are playing. With Luck being gone, everyone thought that that would affect their season and doesn't quite seem to be. The Colts are leading the division now, 4-2 after their 30-23 victory over the Texans. They have a division record of 2-0, a conference record of 3-2, and at this moment in time, with the Texans sliding back to 4-3 with that loss, and the Jaguars beating the Bengals 27-17

because the Bengals are terrible, and going to 3-4 four the Titans are still last in the division but I do believe it would be wise for Titans fans to root for the Colts to win the division the Titans only play the Colts one more time the Colts just beat the Texans so the Titans should hope that the Colts are going to be able to beat the Texans again and then the Titans play the Texans twice in week 15 and then in week 17 and if they're able to beat them twice it looks like the Titans play the Texans twice in week 15 and then in week 17. And if they're able to beat them twice, it looks like the Titans would be the ones that could end up in second place in the division if they're able to keep this momentum going. And the reason that is important is because of the way the conference lines up. So New England is 6-0 right now with a game on Monday against the Jets.

You got to think that New England is going to be able to win that game. Buffalo is at 5-1 after a big victory today against Miami. Two teams out of that division most likely are going to make the playoffs. We're going to just assume that the Patriots do end up getting the number one seed, or at least being the winner in the AFC East. And Buffalo looks to be a very solid team. They beat us. We know all about it. They look to be well coached.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that they get the first wild card spot. A lot can happen in between, but hypothetically speaking. Baltimore is now 5-2 after a win over the Seahawks, but the Browns and the Steelers are 2-4, just like the Titans could or were before the win against the Chargers. So I don't see more than one team coming out of the AFC North. The Ravens will probably secure that division. In the AFC West, Kansas City is 5-2.

The Raiders are 3-3. So the Raiders could make a little bit of a push. But if you're a Titans fan, are you necessarily concerned about the Raiders being so good that they're going to eliminate your opportunity to make the playoffs? I'm not. I don't think the Raiders are that good of a football team that we can guarantee that. So right now, the way I see it, the Titans have the Buccaneers at home next week. They have the Panthers after that.

Possibly a Pat Mahomes-Less Chiefs team at home after that. I think that there is definitely an opportunity here for the Titans to reel off a couple of victories and put themselves in a possible situation to make the playoffs. The season is not over yet. That's what I was saying on Friday and on Monday. I'm telling you guys the same thing. So really exciting to see what we're going to get from this Titans offense and this Titans team going forward. Having the offense come out and perform like that just renews faith in the defense. And the Titans are a little banged up right now.

They get healthy. They get the momentum going from this week. They have a very winnable game next week against a quarterback that has a lot of turnovers and a team that's just not that good. They're very similar to the Titans in a lot of realms. They're not a very consistent team. So it gives the Titans an opportunity here to stack a couple victories in a row with a favorable schedule

and a lot of home games coming up. I'm really excited to see what this team is going to do. On Tuesday, we are going to break down some film. I'm going to get my hands on just the TV tape, but I think there's enough on there to give you guys a little bit in the second segment. We will probably do some Titans talk and give you guys some of the press conference reaction from the team, but we will get into all of that tomorrow. What a fun game. I hope you guys enjoyed it. It's beautiful to have a regular NFL

offense out there and the type of hope and feeling that it makes you have. I had such a blast. Like I said, blood pressure, heart beating, still through the roof, but I loved every minute of it. Once again, I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.