Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tape Tuesday: Week 12 #TicTacFourPack & Titans Pro Bowl Options

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

Tape Tuesday: Week 12 #TicTacFourPack & Titans Pro Bowl Options Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this Tic Tac Tuesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Pepsi. This football season will be different and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter how you watch this season. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day and become a member of the League of Football Watchers

because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game, it's made for those who watch it. Pepsi, made for football watching. Go to madeforfootballwatching.com to check out the latest football watching content from Pepsi. It is Tic Tac Tuesday, and that means it is time for this week's Tic Tac Four Pack, breaking down the four most impactful plays from the Week 12 victory over the Colts from an X's and O's perspective. And I have two plays on offense, two plays on defense that really highlight exactly how the Titans were able to take advantage of the Colts on both sides of the ball. So excited to step into the film room and show you guys exactly which four plays I chose this week.

Before we get into this week's Tic Tac Four Pack, I do want to talk to you guys about where the Tennessee Titans currently stand within the Pro Bowl voting. Which Tennessee Titans are in the top 10 within their position group and then which Tennessee Titans actually deserve a spot in the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl voting won't take place for much longer and as that window closes, it feels like a good opportunity for us to take a look at who deserves those spots so we can go out and put in our votes to get the Tennessee Titans to the quote-unquote Pro Bowl for 2021. So excited to jump into today's Tic Tac

Tuesday with this week's Tic Tac 4-Pack. Remember, I will be posting the visual breakdown to go along with today's audio breakdown on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans, so make sure you follow me there. And I have a lot more coming up for you throughout the week on the show, so subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. But it's a Tic Tac Tuesday, time for this week's Tic Tac 4-Pack on the Locked On Titans Podcast. Let's get it! Heading into a Week 12 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, the Tennessee Titans sat

at 7-3, and while they had inconsistent spells on both sides of the ball throughout the season, the Titans had generally played a solid brand of football, which makes it surprising that they only had three players within the top 10 of their position in terms of Pro Bowl votes. And the first Tennessee Titan is no surprise whatsoever and that is running back Derrick Henry what is surprising is that Henry was not number one in terms of votes at the running back position that went to Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook who Henry is battling it out with for the NFL rushing title Henry sat at second in votes, but after a strong performance against the Indianapolis Colts, he now sits at 1,257 rushing yards, most in the NFL, and 12 rushing touchdowns,

second most in the NFL. That may vault him to the number one spot. The second Tennessee Titan is more surprising, but what is more surprising than the name of this Titan is where they finished within the top 10 in terms of voting so far. And that name is cornerback Malcolm Butler. And Butler has been incredible for the Titans at times this season. But what is more surprising than seeing Malcolm Butler's name close to a Pro Bowl berth is where he finished within the top 10 at the cornerback position. Malcolm Butler is currently the second highest voted cornerback in the NFL behind Marlon

Humphreys from the Baltimore Ravens. So while Butler has had a good season, surprising to see him ranked at number two in terms of vote at his position. The third Tennessee Titan that is within the top 10 at their position in Pro Bowl voting is safety Kevin Byard and this is simply because of the name attached and Kevin Byard deserves a lot of credit for the reputation that he has built but he is having one of his worst seasons as a pro in his young career. Can't necessarily say that Kevin Byard deserves the Pro Bowl selection but nice to see

the reputation that he has built paying off in a positive way. Taking a look at some of the Tennessee Titans who may not be in the top 10 in Pro Bowl voting at this time, but most certainly deserve some consideration and some additional votes. And you have to start at the quarterback position with Ryan Tannehill. And although Tannehill isn't top 10 in the league in yards, he is fourth in the AFC in touchdowns thrown with 23. He only has four interceptions on the year. And he's sixth in the NFL total in quarterback rating at 106.7. So outside of Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, and Josh Allen, there's no reason that

Ryan Tannehill shouldn't be right there and most certainly in the top 10 in votes at his position. As for the wide receiver position, you have to look at A.J. Brown who has 40 catches, 638 yards, and eight touchdowns on the year with a few games missed as well. Corey Davis has 42 catches, 619 yards, so comparable there, but only three touchdowns. A.J. Brown has made some incredibly explosive plays for the Titans as well in big moments, so I would give A.J. Brown consideration. You have Keenan Allen, Stephon Diggs, Tyreek Hill, but after that Chase Claypool, Devontae Parker, Tyler Boyd. A.J. Brown deserves consideration right there and certainly should be in the top

10. I don't see Jonu Smith at this time with his 30 catches, 338 yards, and seven touchdowns as a Pro Bowl option, but if he has a strong end to the season, he could make a solid push. And then on the offensive line, Nate Davis has performed strong as of late. Ben Jones has had a very solid season and is grading out per pro football focus as the fourth best center in the AFC. Roger Saffel, the fifth best guard in the AFC per pro football focus. So they are options as well. And then finally, on the defensive side of the ball, outside of Malcolm Butler, the only Titan that deserves a Pro Bowl consideration, and quite frankly, it's a Titan who deserves a Pro Bowl spot, is interior defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons. Currently graded out as the fifth best interior

D lineman in the NFL at an 88.7 overall grade. He has three sacks, 18 quarterback hurries, and four batted down balls on the season and has been the Titans best player outside of Derrick Henry. And if you want to vote for your favorite Tennessee Titans to get a Pro Bowl spot, you can do so by going tofl.com slash Pro Bowl. But it is time to step into the film room for this week's Tic Tac Four Pack. Breaking down the four most impactful plays from a win over the Colts in week 12 from an X's and O's perspective. Make sure that you follow me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans as well so you can check out the visual breakdown that goes along with today's audio Tic Tac 4-pack.

If you're listening to the show, you cannot miss out on the visual breakdown that I'll be posting up that I have been posting up every single week this season. Also, subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream so you don't miss any of the breakdowns I will be doing, not only today, but throughout every week through the rest of the season and throughout the playoffs. So make sure that you're locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. But before we get into that, I want to tell you guys about Pepsi.

Thanks to a lack of natural athleticism or commitment or overbearing sports parents, fewer than 1% of 1% of 1% of people will ever play professional football. But instead of entering the NFL, they've joined another league the League of Football Watchers this football season will be different and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter how you watch for me I like sitting down watching a Titans game with three TVs in the living room one on red zone with a 12 pack of Pepsi by my side Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through any game day because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game. It's made for those who watch it. Pepsi, made for football watching. Go to madeforfootballwatching.com to check out the latest it is time for this week's tic-tac four pack breaking down the four most impactful plays

from week 12 from an x's and o's perspective so step into the film room with me on this Tic Tac Tuesday and let's break everything down. Before we do, I want to remind you that tomorrow is Rewatch Wednesday. I'll be diving into outside of these four plays. I'll be diving into all of my additional schematic analysis, all of my extra tidbits that I picked up from rewatching the coach coaches tape multiple times. Remember, Monday's show, I record that on Sunday night, just going off the TV copy. Today, I dive into the four most impactful plays. But tomorrow's episode is really where I can give you my broad notes and just go over everything I have written down from my re-watches.

So make sure that you don't miss out on re-watch Wednesday tomorrow on the Locked on Titans podcast and subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans as well to check out the visual breakdown that we are about to dive into from an audio perspective. So play number one is the Titans defense and I picked this because it highlights a couple of critical things that they got back to and got back to play in Tennessee Titans defense in this game.

So there's about four minutes and a half left in the second quarter. The Titans are currently up by seven. It's third and six right at about middle of the field. The Colts are in an 11 personnel. They have three wide receivers one tight end one running back they're in shotgun now let's think about this from the defense's perspective act like you're playing middle linebacker and you're looking across the line of scrimmage at the Colts offense so on your left hand side you have Desmond King and you have Breon Borders against two Colts wide receivers.

On your right-hand side, you have Malcolm Butler. Behind you, you have Amani Hooker and then Kevin Byard, who is on Desmond King and Breon Borders' side. You have two deep safeties showing a cover to shell. What's interesting, though, is in the front seven, or shall we call it the front six in this circumstance. The Titans are in a 2-3-6 personnel. So they have two linemen, Derek Roberson and Jeffrey Simmons.

They have three linebackers, Will Compton, Rashawn Evans, and Harold Landry. And all of those players, all five of those players, are on the line of scrimmage. That's a 50 front covering up all five offensive linemen. And then Kenny Vaccaro is at middle linebacker. And this got me so excited because I've been talking about for weeks how minimizing the struggles that the linebackers have been having in past coverage and now minimizing Jayon Brown's loss would include playing more Amani Hooker and playing Kenny Vaccaro at linebacker and that's especially helpful in this matchup against the Colts running backs who do so well

in the passing game so Kenny Vaccaro is playing middle linebacker he's got the five linebacker lineman combination in front of him on the right Jeffrey Simmons is over the center on the right Derek Roberson Will Compton on the left Rash Evans, and then Harold Landry. Here's what the Titans do. I said they were in a too high safety look with Hooker and Byard. They roll the safeties down. So what happens is Malcolm Butler starts to kind of sneak in closer to the interior of the formation. Imani Hooker starts to slide down closer to where Malcolm Butler is on the right-hand side of the defense. Kevin Byard starts to move over from the left-hand side into the center of the field directly behind Kenny Vaccaro. So now the Titans have rolled into a single high safety look. They're trying to confuse

Phillip Rivers. Too high to single high. Well, right before the ball is snapped, Desmond King, who remember he was on the slot receiver on the left hand side, he rolls backwards back into Kevin Byard's original spot. Kevin Byard continues to roll over to Imani Hooker's original spot. Imani Hooker takes Malcolm Butler's original spot and then Malcolm Butler comes on a blitz. Kenny Vaccaro, stand-up middle linebacker, he comes on a blitz with Jeffrey Simmons and Derek Roberson. Now remember, all four of those players are on the right-hand side of the defense, so that is an overload pressure. You're hoping that you can squeeze a defender through before the Colts realize what's happening and shift the right side of their offensive line to the left side to help

out with the overwhelming pressure on that side. Well, the other side of the offensive line to the left side to help out with the overwhelming pressure on that side. Well, the other side of the line is Rashawn Evans and Harold Landry, and they drop back into coverage. So now the Titans are rushing four with seven back in coverage in a standard cover two, but they've inverted the cover two by having Desmond King drop from the slot as one of the deep defenders they've rolled the coverage from too high to single high back to too high and they brought an overload pressure to the right but they're still dropping seven in cover two and rushing four not putting themselves in a vulnerable position by only rushing five but because of the

way that they set the pressure up to overload on the right to roll the coverage multiple times pre-snap to confuse it gets Philip Rivers off kilter the pressure gets there as Kenny Vaccaro and Malcolm Butler slide through the gaps on the right hand side he throws an inaccurate pass to Michael Pittman as he crosses over the middle on third and six in completion punt forced by the Titans defense. Play number two is Derrick Henry's third touchdown of the first half, and this came directly after this stop. Derrick Henry kicked off the drive with a long 30-yard run to get the Titans near midfield, and then as they got close to the end zone, an 11-yard touchdown to cap things off. But what I want to talk about here is the offensive line. That was the star of this game, in my opinion. So let's talk about the play itself. The Titans are in

21 personnel. That means they have a fullback, one tight end, and then two wide receivers. So Derrick Henry is in the I formation here. They have Jeff Swaim on the left-hand side. So the Titans are going to run this to the weak side, which is the right side of the offensive line, Nate Davis and Dennis Kelly, the stronger side of the offensive line with David Questenberry playing left tackle at this moment in time. So the Titans have Swaim on the left-hand side, and that forces the Colts to put the majority of their front seven towards that side. So the Titans have Swaim on the left-hand side, and that forces the Colts to put the majority of their front seven towards that side. So the Titans have a numbers advantage on the back side with the stronger part of their offensive line, especially in the run game. So the Titans are going to run regular outside zone to the weak side.

Let's talk about what happens here. First, the number one key is Nate Davis gets a combo block on nose tackle Grover Stewart with center Ben Jones. So Nate Davis and Ben Jones both hit the nose tackle. What's happening here is Nate Davis is trying to help Ben Jones cross the face of the nose tackle so he can get play side in front of him and cut him off from Derrick Henry. So Nate Davis does a great job of putting pressure on the outside shoulder of the nose tackle, pushing him in and letting Ben Jones hook him. At the play side right tackle, the defensive end tries to dart inside on Dennis Kelly and

Dennis Kelly does a good job of washing him back inside towards the middle of the formation. So that clears basically a big hole for Derrick Henry, and now we have Henry running behind Kari Blossom game as linebacker number 44 for the Colts comes in to fill that hole, and Blossom game here delivers a blow. Now Blossom game doesn't knock 44 back, but he takes that blow, and 44 is completely out of the play.

Doesn't affect Derrick Henry at all, so Blossom Game does his job. Now, we need to examine what's going on at the second level and backside. Backside, David Questenberry has cut off a defensive tackle, the backside defensive tackle. Also, Jeff Swaim has cut off the backside defensive end. Now, we have Nate Davis up on the second level. Remember, he helped out Ben Jones, but he was helping out Ben Jones as his first responsibility. Then, he gets up to the second level and pushes a linebacker out of the way towards the sideline to give Derrick Henry more of an avenue. On the backside of it, you have Roger Saffold, who gets up to the second level and walls off Darius Leonard, the Colts' best linebacker.

Then, Derrick Henry does the rest of the work. He gets around number 37, Kari Willis, and then gets to the goal line and beats rookie Justin Blackman at the goal line. That's two Colts that he made miss on his own after a well-blocked play. All phases of the offense firing on all cylinders for a Derrick Henry touchdown. The Titans go up 28-14. We are going to go into the second portion of this Tic Tac four-pack, the second two-pack. You could say after this, before we do, I want to tell you guys about Built Go. Whether it's a mental or physical wall, break through it with Go every day. Built Go is a great workout gel that comes in an easy to take one and a half ounce package that you can put in your briefcase, your golf bag, your pocket, or your book bag.

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So visit BuiltGo.com and use promo code LOCKED and you'll get 20% off your next order. Once again, that's promo code LOCKED for 20% off at BuiltGo.com. Let's go. Let's continue this Tick Tack Tuesday by diving into the second half of our Week 12 Tick Tack 4-Pack. Remember, Play 1 was the Titans' defense getting a critical third down stop in the first half using an inverted cover 2 that was disguised pre-snap, combining that with an overloaded pressure on the right-hand side with two defensive backs blitzing.

The Titans were able to get off the field. That's a microcosm of what they were doing all day on defense. And then play number two was the touchdown that came directly after that stop from play number one. It was Derrick Henry's third touchdown of the day. A perfectly executed outside zone with a phenomenal performance from both the Titans guards Nate Davis and Roger Saffold. Let's get into play number three. And we find the Titans in the two-minute drill with less than a minute left in the first half. They had had a less than stellar offensive drive so far trying to put the fifth touchdown of the first half on the board.

They sit here at fourth and four and are bailed out by an incredible catch by Corey Davis. But let's talk about how the Titans got there. The Titans come out in 12 personnel, one running back, two tight ends. But they have versatile tight ends in Jonu Smith and Anthony Ferkser out on the field with Corey Davis and A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown is on the left-hand side, isolated. On the right-hand side, the Titans have motion Jonu Smith in as the inside slot receiver. They have Corey Davis as the outside slot receiver on the line of scrimmage, and then Anthony Ferkser as the most outside receiving option. But Jonu Smith, Corey Davis, and Anthony Ferkser are in a bunch because the Colts are in

man defense. The Colts have played a ton of man defense against the Titans this season, and that continued in this game. So the Colts have three defenders covering the three Titans in the right side bunch. They have one defender covering A.J. Brown at the top of the screen on the left-hand side. They're going to have five guys rushing on this play, five guys covering the five options, the two tight ends, the two wide receivers, and Jeremy McNichols is the running back in the backfield and pass protection. And then they're going to have their one extra defender as a deep safety. But here's where A.J. Brown affects the entire defense. So instead of being lined up in the middle of the field as the deep safety,

giving your help equally to both sides, the safety shades over past the hash mark to A.J. Brown's side. It's obvious the Colts wanted to give him some extra attention after that long touchdown earlier in the game. Well, this gives Corey Davis a window downfield. There's nobody going to be there, and he's one-on-one with T.J. Carey. So here's what happens. Corey Davis darts out of the line of scrimmage and heads outside.

So he's probably about five yards from the hash mark, in between the hash mark and the boundary. So he's about five yards from the hash mark. So definitely closer to the middle of the field than the outside. He starts out with an outside trajectory. So he's going towards the numbers away from the hash marks towards the sideline. And right when TJ Carey opens his hips and has his butt basically parallel with the sideline, Corey Davis darts back inside to the middle of the field. And because that safety was shaded over to AJ Brown's side, Corey Davis is wide open over the middle. Now, Ryan Tannehill

short arms this throw. And the broadcaster, Charles Davis, on the call on CBS, basically tried to say that he did it on purpose to get it away from the safety, but I disagree. If Ryan Tannehill throws this ball far and it just makes a good throw, this is a walk-in touchdown for Corey Davis, who is just screaming for the ball with his hand in the air down the field. Ryan Tannehill short-arms it, but Corey Davis makes one of the best catches of the year, recovers, comes back to the ball, dives, catches it, isn't touched, gets back up, gets to the one-yard line, gets tackled,

and then Ryan Tannehill on the very next play runs a read option, keeps it, gets into the end zone. The Titans are up 35-14 at halftime. This game is basically over. And if you don't think the game is over, then let's get into play number four. So at this point in time, it's still 35-14. The Titans defense has stepped up throughout the game and they haven't allowed the Colts to get any points on the board at this time. So this really ends any chance the Colts had at coming back in this game because they simply run out of time. It's about six minutes left in the third quarter. The Titans again show an exotic personnel package. It's the 2-3-6 again. We have Derek Roberson as the left defensive end.

We have Harold Landry as the right defensive end. We have Jeffrey Simmons at left defensive tackle. We have Rashawn Evans standing up at right defensive tackle. And then we have Kenny Vaccaro and David Long both playing right on the center shoulder pad. So the Titans have six people up on the line of scrimmage for this play which is different than the first play in our tic-tac-four pack when they only had five on the line of scrimmage and Kenny Vaccaro at a stand-up linebacker

off the ball so here we got a six-man front this is going to put a ton of pressure on the Colts offensive line they don't know which way to slide the protection, who's going to be blitzing, who's going to be there to help. So let's continue to do this thinking we are middle linebacker looking at the Colts offense. So on the right-hand side, we have Desmond King in the slot. We also have Malcolm Butler on the right-hand side. On the left-hand side, we have Breon Borders by himself.

So the Colts have three people to the right-hand side. On the left-hand side, we have Breon Borders by himself. So the Colts have three people to the right-hand side, and that is covered up by Malcolm Butler, Desmond King, and then Imani Hooker. On the left-hand side, we have Malcolm Butler on the wide receiver that's there, and then Kevin Byard at the deep safety. The Titans are in a two-deep safety look, so there's like no one over the middle of the field from the line of scrimmage to 10 yards deep here. But the Titans are trying to give that exotic look up front with six people on the line of scrimmage and confuse Phillip Rivers, which they had done all day long. So it ends up taking place when the ball is actually snapped or right before the ball is snapped

as Desmond King starts to inch up closer and closer to the line of scrimmage from his slot position and the Colts actually motion their tight end from an outside slot into the formation to help block that triggers Desmond King to come on the blitz when it's all said and done the Titans end up bringing five players on the blitz they drop back Rashawn Evans and Kenny Vaccaro they play a cover three with Kevin Byard deep and then Malcolm Butler and Breon Borders on either side of the field covering their third. They have three underneath defenders covering the middle of the field. Jeffrey Simmons gets pressure on Phillip Rivers. It forces an early throw which he goes to the right hand side

of the field to Zach Paschal but Breon Borders is right there covering it up, and because Phillip Rivers is rushed by Jeffrey Simmons, he throws a little bit of an inaccurate pass. It's a little deep for Paschal, turns into an interception for Breon Borders, who had a heck of a day and has had a great last few games with the Titans. That, if you weren't convinced by the Corey Davis long play into the Ryan Tannehill touchdown, that interception right there really does end the day. The Titans go down. They get a field goal.

They go up 38-14, and this ball game is over. The Titans lead the AFC South. So that's going to do it for this week's Tic Tac 4-Pack. Guys, I know I beat you over the head with it throughout the episode, but I put a lot of work into the visual breakdowns that I post on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans, so you have

to follow me there and check those out if you listen to this show. But that's going to do it for me today. Remember, tomorrow is Rewatch Wednesday, Thursday, crossover Thursday conversation with Jeff from Locked on Browns. Friday, a game preview. Stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast and subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. That's going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.