Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Better to LOSE Against Miami Dolphins, Tyreek Hill Concerns & Titans Upset Requirements
Episode Date: December 6, 2023The Tennessee Titans take on the Miami Dolphins in Week 14 on Monday Night Football and the odds are stacked against them. That may actually be a good thing for the Titans who are better off getting t...he highest pick they can in the 2024 NFL Draft. Next, the Titans' secondary has struggled with some average wide receiver groups this year and now they face off against one of the best with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and it is fair to be worried. Finally, the Titans will have to get turnovers and hit trick plays to be able to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the year.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashGet 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply.Skylight FrameSkylight is a touchscreen photo frame you can send photos to straight from your phone! Get $15 off a Skylight Frame at Skylightframe.com/Lockedon.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Is it better for the Titans to lose against the Miami Dolphins?
Well, they might not have any choice in the matter.
We'll talk about that on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.
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.
It is Thursday here on the Locked On Network, and that means it is time for another crossover edition.
Kyle Krabs of Locked On Dolphins with Tyler Rowland of Locked On Titans,
and we are covering this week 14 Monday night football matchup
between the Dolphins and the Titans.
We got AFC Conference Clash.
Teams with different storylines will get you covered from all angles
ahead of this game.
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Tyler, it's good to see you.
I think we lasted this in 2021, and that was not a very happy ending for me.
Right.
Just a few hard feelings from that
game it's not a big deal but it's it's good to see how you doing kyle crab's revenge game
right along with the uh the ryan tannahill storyline that we didn't get this year we
have to have some kind of revenge game element here so that i'm happy to step up to the plate
absolutely great job there we needed that from you.
And I have to say, I don't mean to be too pessimistic from the Titans angle,
but I think you may very well get that revenge.
It seems like a good spot for it.
So let's talk about the stories coming into this matchup in Tennessee.
Probably not the pathway that many expected for Tennessee.
Kind of what's the biggest storyline for Tennessee?
Obviously, that disappointing loss to Indianapolis last week in overtime that was a near miss.
A lot of special teams contributions to that loss.
Is that the focus for you guys?
Is it Jeffrey Simmons?
Like, what's the big beat right now amongst Titans fans?
Well, I think when you look at the entire situation and all the circumstances, there was, and I've admitted to this, I am guilty.
The Titans signed DeAndre Hopkins.
There's preseason hype.
Every fan base is optimistic in the preseason.
And I'm even known as a pessimist.
And I bought into the hype and was excited thinking the Titans could.
I didn't think that they would be able to make a deep playoff run and contend for a
Super Bowl, but I thought that they would be competitive in the division and be there fighting for the division crown. And you look back
and you look at what the roster was coming into the year, I think it's fair to say that that was
unrealistic expectations. You look at the offensive line, some of the pieces on defense. I think the
coaching hasn't gotten the most out of some of the guys that are there too, but at the end of the day,
the roster just isn't good.
So I think the focus has obviously changed at this stage in the season four and eight.
And I think the big storyline for the Titans going forward is,
is losing the best thing now?
Because the Titans have a tremendous need at left tackle and right tackle.
Like it is a despicable situation.
And you could make a statistical argument and a film argument that the Titans have had the worst left tackle spot in the NFL for two years running. Like whoever is
playing there, it doesn't matter. It's a terrible left tackle spot. So when you think about that,
the needs at wide receiver, the needs in the secondary, it may be best for the Titans to
secure as high of a pick as they can possibly get in this draft. And I think you take that thought
and you combine it with,
hey, Will Levis has really shown some flashes.
Now the completion percentage is down,
but the Titans have had 15 drops in the last three weeks,
the 10% drop rate for Will Levis, one of the highest in the NFL.
You look at the quarterback hit percentage.
You look at pressure percentage.
Will Levis is all at the highest, so he's getting hit all the time,
pressured all the time. His wide receivers are dropping passes, and he's still making the Titans
offense look decent in certain games and getting them down the field. I think you see Derrick
Henry getting a lot of touchdowns lately. Well, Will Levis is creating explosive pass plays to
get them down there to do it. So you take the state of the roster and the needs on this roster,
and you combine it with,
hey, Will Levis might be a guy that you can actually build around. And I think the storyline
for the Titans going forward, even if the most optimistic fans don't want to admit it is,
hey, this team is probably better off losing these games and being able to secure guys who
you know very well as locked on NFL scouting host, Olaf Ashanu or Joe Ault. The Titans need to get
their hands on one of those guys.
And the best thing they can do going forward is lose, if we're honest.
And last year, they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars,
which is something I said needed to happen.
And it set them up to get a blue chip prospect in Peter Skowronski,
who's been their best offensive lineman this year when he's been at full strength.
So I think it's a tough pill to swallow, but it's clear going forward.
The Titans are best to lose so they can use their $100 million in cap space and use the high draft
picks that they'll get by losing and rebuild this roster quickly, which happens in the NFL,
as you know. And the trends of these two teams, I think that's a good embodiment.
When you look at big picture for Tennessee and what the trend is for that team for Miami. This is a team that was eight
and three last year and lost five consecutive games, four and four in December. And for as
much as you want to make it about this year's team and not last year's team and last year doesn't
really impact this year, it's very interesting. The Dolphins on hard knocks and even in Mike
McDaniel's press availabilities building up to this game asked about eight and three last year versus eight and three this year and they taught
they have talked about and it was shown on on hard knocks on Tuesday night they talked about
eight and three and Mike McDaniel said this team is blessed to be put in the same position that we
were in last year to right the wrong of last year. Mike McDaniel said that that losing skid cut that team deep last year
and the scars are still there.
And their process this year has been committed to writing
and justifying what happened late in the season last year.
Well, Miami already went on the road and took care of business
against the commander.
So now they're now nine and three.
They've won more games in December this year than last year.
But this team looked up and Jacksonville lost to Cincinnati, Kansas city lost to green Bay. They're coming into this game is the
number one seed in the AFC. And they have four of their last five games at home where they're 15
and two in their last 17 games. So Miami it's, it's all about trying to maximize this opportunity
because they've been very aggressive from a roster construction standpoint, trading for Bradley Chubb last year at the trade deadline, trading for Jalen Ramsey
this off season, those kinds of maneuvers with a quarterback on a rookie contract and to a tongue
of a law, there's a math problem that this team's going to face this off season. The way things are
breaking, they have a real chance if they can secure as many home playoff games as they can to make a
deep playoff run and and continue the momentum if they're able to build on what the Washington
game provided so you get a Monday night showcase against Tennessee at Hard Rock Stadium and for
the Dolphins this is all about don't get ahead of yourself and make sure your process is centered in this week and here and
now and this opponent, but having that big picture perspective. So how they tightrope that is going
to be pretty interesting because this is a football team that one of the critiques is,
well, they only beat teams that they're supposed to be. And they're about the only team that's
done that universally across the entire season. And that's how they end up at nine and three so you know for Tennessee with the injuries that they've incurred and I
know we'll talk a little bit about the absence of Jeffrey Simmons and what that impact is as far as
uh the the match-ups in the trenches for these two teams in our next block but uh the the spread I
think certainly speaks for itself it's it's floating on FanDuel somewhere around 14 points and two touchdowns. So the expectation set at a certain bar and for Miami, it's about
not putting the forest before the trees, but also having that big picture perspective on where this
team is at. Yeah. It's a redemption thing, right? You know, you, you did it last year, you failed,
you have a real, a lot of people don't have the opportunity to get redemption for some of their
mistakes in an exact situation.
So you're 100% right, and it's funny.
I look at the Dolphins, and the Dolphins,
how they have built the last few years around Tua
may be a thing that the Titans want to look at.
You go out and you trade for a top edge rusher.
You draft a wide receiver high.
You also trade for a number one veteran receiver.
You bring in a veteran left tackle to fix things. I think
the Titans need a big mixture of taking some of these positions early in the draft and actually
being aggressive to add certain spots with veterans that are already established. And you get a good
mixture of that with a quarterback who can get it done with the pieces around him and his rookie deal
and you might be cooking with something. So looking at what the Dolphins are doing is kind
of a picture of what the Titans may try to do in the next few years. So let's kind of turn the page. We'll start
looking at some of the matchups, the X's and O's, kind of the scheme that the personnel that's going
to be available for this contest. That is going to be coming up next here on this Crossover Thursday.
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Terms and conditions do apply. All right, Tyler, if I had to tell you, here's one matchup in this game
that you got to see, you think is really going to be telling,
or maybe from a different perspective,
you're really looking forward to seeing from the Tennessee lens
of how they approach in this game.
And you had to pick the headliner.
What would it be?
I think it's the Titans' terrible secondary
against the wide receiver group of the Miami Dolphins.
I mean, the Titans' conversation online has been mostly comedy about,
hey, how many yards will Tyreek Hill put up against this defense?
The Titans' pass defense has been awful for multiple years running.
Even when the defense is at its best, the pass defense still seems to struggle.
So you look at a guy like Christian Fulton,
who has been a target all year long for opposing offenses.
He's been benched periodically in and out throughout the season in a contract
year.
Doesn't seem to be in the favor of the coaching staff.
Mike Rabel seems to call him out in different little ways that coaches do all
the time.
Most recently this week,
Mike Rabel said,
yep,
the hamstring got him again.
And Mike Rabel's called him a repeat offender for the hamstring. He's really hammered Christian Fulton for the
hamstring soft tissue injuries. It's pretty clear that he blames Fulton and his preparation for
those injuries. And that's the way he talks about it. So Fulton may be out and he's been bad when
he's been in. You look at the other side, Sean Murphy bunting has had good moments at cornerback, but to me, he's a cover two cornerback.
He can play that flat.
Maybe you play a little cover four
and keep him close to the sideline,
but he's not a guy who can play in man coverage.
He's not a guy who I want covering deep third,
going backwards and vertical routes
against wide receivers outside.
And then the safety position,
since the Titans traded Kevin Byard,
you have a Monty Hooker who's a good starter in the NFL at safety, but the Titans traded Kevin Byard. You have Imani Hooker, who's a good starter in the
NFL at safety, but the Titans have been rotating. Kayvon Wallace and Elijah Molden and Terrell
Edmonds at the other safety spot, and there's just nobody there who's really a real starter
in the NFL. The Titans are a heavy cover four team. They run a ton of quarters, and Kyle,
they run that match quarters where if there's an in-breaking route, the safety will come down
and the corner will stay with the vertical.
I cannot tell you how many times the Titans have gotten beat on the deep post
because the safety is triggered by, you know, the inside,
the two guy running a dig and he comes up on it
and then the outside guy runs the post and there's nobody deep
and the corner's playing outside leverage and he gets up on it, and then the outside guy runs the post, and there's nobody deep, and the corner's playing outside leverage,
and he gets beat inside.
It happened last week with Alec Pierce on a deep touchdown
at the beginning of the game.
So the Titans are just very vulnerable to the speed
of the wide receiver group of the Miami Dolphins,
and their cornerback group has gotten shredded down the field
by slower groups like Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce,
who are good players, but they aren't the speed threats of Jalen Waddell and Tyreek Hill.
We can all see that pretty clearly.
So the wide receivers against the Dolphins are just such a mismatch
for the Titans secondary that I think it negates the Titans pass rush,
which is going to be sullied without Jeffrey Simmons anyway.
And there's just no answer that the Titans will have on defense with what
they do for what Miami presents, which in fairness, there aren't a lot of teams out there that have
had answers for what Miami presents on offense, but with the Titans' reliance on cover four and
their lack of reliance on cover two man, which I think could maybe help you here, I just think
schematically it's a disadvantage and it's a talent disadvantage.
So that matchup right there,
the receivers against the secondary
kind of decides whether the Titans will fake,
keep it competitive or not in this game
and whether it's entertaining or not,
I guess I should say.
So I have a few thoughts off that.
And the first one being,
I think one thing that Miami has done a really good job of
is they've had selective times
when they want to take shots.
And they do play Jalen Waddell and Tyreek Hill on the speed of those two guys off of each other,
whether it's same side releases or it's them on two different sides of the field trying to attract the safeties
and kind of get that bite on the middle of the field drive to cut that in-breaking route.
This is where I think Jeffrey Simmons is absence really will be felt
because Miami, they can space the field and attack quarters and zone coverages with less
eligibles than a lot of other teams because of the speed. So you see Miami, they'll, they'll
release three guys out on the route, sometimes two guys out in the routes, and they're still
able to find space just because of how much respect
you're commanding explosively.
So when Miami does that, they'll do their play action ball fakes,
but they're able to do more max protection or seven-man protection
and try to manufacture as many double teams as you can up front.
And then teams, when they try and say, okay, well, we want to circumvent that,
so we're going to bring extra bodies.
And when you blitz, that's where I think one of the areas that to a tongue of aloha just with his initial like spatial awareness and feel he beats the blitz
really fast and if you're going to fire extra bodies you saw it on the second touchdown uh to
tarik hill on sunday against the commanders where they brought extra bodies
and they tried to attack and they actually played cover three zone behind it. But to a faded his
drop away from where he knew they didn't have the numbers and protection, and then threw the ball
down the field. And it was just that speed was overwhelming for those corners. So I think you
bring some great points there. And just my observation of, man, I'm, I'm not mad if I'm
rooting for the dolphins to win, did not see Jeffrey Simmons be able to suit up.
Obviously, I hope we see him back and healthy as soon as possible
because he is one of the best interior defensive linemen in football.
But that matchup would really help their bid to win this football game
because you do think about Danico Autry,
who I think is tied for a career high in sacks this season,
and Harold Landry's an explosive player on the edge,
maybe not as explosive as when he first came into the league.
He's getting better, though.
Coming back from the ACL, he definitely struggled early in the year.
But for the last three weeks or so,
I'm pretty sure he's led the Titans in pressures in each game.
So he's definitely improving.
The Titans drop him into coverage too often, in my opinion,
and drop him into flats.
They try to do those sim pressures.
But his versatility makes him as valuable as he is and why they paid him. But he is getting better.
I will say that. I think obviously next year we'll see a full return, which is common with the ACL.
But I agree with you. That's one place. And correct me if I'm wrong. There are some injuries
on the Dolphins offensive line right now, right? Yeah. So we're not sure with Toronto Armstead.
It feels like every week we're not sure with Toronto Armstead, but I will also say that Kendall Lamb has been the
swing tackle this year. And when he's played, he's played well, like he he's played really well
in lieu of Toronto Armstead in just about every game, other than the second Patriots game and
the bills game, I believe were the two in which you didn't feel like he necessarily put a great foot forward.
But and then Robert Hunt re-aggravated a hamstring injury on Sunday against the commanders,
kind of overextended his stride when the commanders ran a twist stunt.
And he really overextended to reduce a hit onto a tongue of a low and that stride opened
up and he twinged that hamstring.
So they've been very conservative with injuries, soft tissue.
That was one of the things that contributed to the team and the five game
losing streak at the end of the year.
Last year is they had some guys that played through stuff and then it
snowballed and then they were never a hundred percent again.
Right.
They've been very deliberate.
So I would not be surprised if you don't see Robert Hunt,
uh, Toronto Armstead,
he kind of got leg whipped at the end of the first half. So it was just kind surprised if you don't see Robert Hunt. Teron Armstead, he kind
of got leg whipped at the end of the first half. So it was just kind of a tweak on his ankle.
Mike McDaniel did say after the game that he was available to come back into the game for the
Dolphins. So if the score wasn't 31 to 7, you may have seen Teron Armstead come back.
And that would have been the game breaker for the Titans.
Everything else is stacked against them.
But when the Titans' defensive line is able to dominate a game,
it just lets the Titans stay competitive.
It drags the game into the mud, lets them stay in there.
And without Jeffrey Simmons, the Titans aren't going to be able to capitalize
on that potential in.
You know what I mean?
It's a potential weakness spot they could tap on until it breaks. And without Simmons, it just makes it impossible for the Titans to really,
truly take advantage. So it's just another thing that makes the odds stack so heavily against the
Titans to go into Miami. They haven't won all year on the road. They're without Simmons, their best
player, which could take advantage of the weakness that Miami has because of injuries. The one weakness they might be able to get. It just makes it tough for the Titans when
we look at these two matchups that we just discussed. Yeah. And just a quick thought that
I had as far as matchups when Tennessee does have the football, I'll be really fascinated to see
where DeAndre Hopkins takes the majority of his snaps. Obviously, as good of a route runner as
you're going to find in football, He's been productive this year for Tennessee.
The Dolphins don't travel corners.
It's Jalen Ramsey's on one side, Zabian Howard's on the other side,
and they have Cater Kohu, their second-year player, in the nickel.
But do they press?
That's my question because press coverage is really hurt hot.
If you look at his off coverage versus press coverage, like production,
it's totally different.
So a lot of teams, like the Titans have played zone-heavy teams the last few weeks, like the Panthers and the Colts and
the Jags, the heaviest zone teams in the league almost. And they still play some press and play
some man against the Titans because they're so weak with it. So do you think Fangio will go from
kind of the zone, you know, defense that he likes to run and maybe play some press man a little more to hit on the Titans. So I think one thing that they can do and with some of Vic's split field
coverage is that they call they do have Zeus is a coverage call in which they're playing zone,
but they are effectively funneling and pressing and getting two players leveraged over top of
an individual receiver. They depending on whether it's man or zone, it could be Zeus. They call it roll luggage as
different calls that is dedicated to, we're going to get a guy in this guy's face and then we're
going to play a safety over the top, whether that be zone and you're funneling it, or we're going
to play man and then you're going to trail and have the extra help. So they can dictate those
calls if they feel good about their matchups elsewhere across the board. And it's one of the
areas where when you didn't have Jalen Ramsey, and then there was a stretch where Xavier Howard
missed some time with an issue as well in the middle of the season. And you have Eli Apple
out there and Cater Coe, who instead of being the Nichols on the outside, everything was very
vanilla as a result.
And since Jalen Ramsey's return,
you've started to see a little bit more of these exotics in coverage.
So I would not be surprised if you do get some of that and don't assume that it's just man coverage.
They could cloud that corner up over the top if it's outside.
Or conversely, they could say, hey, we're going to get the nickel over top of you.
And then we know the inside backer and the safety,
we're going to funnel you no matter how you choose to release.
Yep, yep.
That makes sense.
I mean, I got to tell you, and I hate to be this way,
but what I'm most excited about for this game is to see what the Dolphins do
on defense just because I love watching what Fangio does.
So I'm excited to see that as well.
Well, we have Keys to Victory upcoming next year
on this Crossover Thursday episode.
Make sure you stick with us
as we bring this crossover preview to a close.
All right.
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So keys to victory in this matchup is Monday night.
You got to, for whatever reason, we want to run two Monday night football games in tandem.
So I don't get it either.
Just selling money to ESPN.
A buddy asked me about this the other day.
Like, why do they do this?
And to me, it's just, hey, ESPN,
if you pay a little more on the TV deal, we'll give you an extra Monday night game late in the season.
Like, that's the only theory that I have.
You know, follow the money.
Oh, hopefully, hopefully we have an entertaining game on our hands.
I certainly would love to have a game that we want to watch and it's a healthy game.
But Tyler keys to victory for Tennessee.
What do you think is one thing that they're going to have to do, whether they've done
it all season or not specifically against this Dolphins team that you think will be
really telling
as far as what the final score looks like?
Well, Kyle, I was going to say pray,
but I used that as my key to victory
against the Jaguars a couple weeks ago.
So I can't go back to that same well,
can't sit at the same pupil again.
So I will say the obvious answer football-wise,
and it's turnovers.
I mean, turnovers are the great equalizer.
If you get a bad football team against a good football team,
if the good football team doesn't come out prepared,
maybe they're looking ahead.
This is an easy win for the Dolphins in their mind.
Just classic philosophical stuff with the game and sports.
So if the Dolphins come out, maybe they're not on it.
Maybe the coaches didn't work as hard this week
because they think the opponent's easier. The Titans come out, they play a physical brand of
football, hit them in the mouth, get a couple of turnovers, cause a couple of fumbles because
Tyreek Hill sometimes just goes too fast and can drop the ball. He does things like that from time
to time. If the Titans get lucky and force a couple turnovers, give the offense a couple of
possessions inside the Dolphins' 40-yard line, the strike zone, as I like to call it, where Will Levis can maybe
throw some deep balls to the end zone.
I think turnovers on defense to give the defense a break and some wins against this offense,
but also give the offense easier opportunities, that'll be the number one key to victory in
this one.
But on the other side,
the Titans need to hit some trick plays. The Titans offense isn't good enough for down-to-down
efficiency. That's just not what they're going to do. The Titans need to hit some big plays. They
need to hit a trick play a couple of times. They need Will Levis to just throw some bombs and it
work out a couple of times. Hit some of these play action passes for 40 yards. The Titans need
to trick the Dolphins and hope that they trick them right.
That's what it comes down to, whether it be the double-reverse flea flicker
that they tried to run last week, whether it be these exotic plays
with Tajay Spears in motion and Derrick Henry taking the snap
and all these different things the Titans have tried to do
to win against teams that are better than them.
I go up backfield deception. That's what the the Titans whole offense is, is built on backfield deception.
That's what they want to do. And the only way that they're going to be able to compete with Miami
is to hit a couple of is really open up the playbook, try as many trick plays as you can
and hope that your defense gets turnovers to give you opportunities to score when you hit on those
plays. Yeah. So I agree with you with turnovers a hundred you opportunities to score when you hit on those plays. Yeah.
So I agree with you with turnovers a hundred percent.
It's been a big storyline for Miami all season long.
This past game was just their second game all year where they didn't have a turnover.
So they,
they have struggled at times with ball security.
So I know,
I believe Tennessee only has three interceptions on the season coming into
this.
They have not,
they have,
I told you the secondary is really a mess.
They don't play a lot of coverages that give them opportunities to get interceptions, and
just the defense as a whole has not been good enough to really turn things around on offenses
enough for how bad the offense is. And the other thing I would point to for Miami defensively is
they'll be without Jerome Baker, one of their key linebackers, green dot defender.
So how they bridge that gap, Duke Riley stepped in against Washington and played well,
but Washington was able to get a couple chunk runs in the running game,
including a few before that game got out of hand. And it wasn't like they were keying off against light box counts
because mine was expecting them to just pass the football.
So do they go a little bit more with their base personnel,
knowing that Tennessee with Derrick Henry and Tajay Spears and their,
their ability to create plays in the running game,
Washington hit them with some spread formations,
and then they ran either counter or power to the other side where they're
trying to get a numbers advantage and just flip the running strength after the
snap. So the enemy did a nice job with that on a couple of those runs.
And Brian Robinson, before he had the hamstring issue,
was able to run through some soft tackle challenges on the edge
and in the secondary.
So without Jerome Baker, you're going to have a smaller linebacker
in Duke Riley, a different green dot player, presumably,
as long as they're not going to put the green dot on David Long
as another revenge game storyline for this matchup
between the Titans and the Dolphins.
And if you get them on the edge, you're going to have to come ready to tackle.
And Jalen Ramsey's been a breath of fresh air in that capacity.
But Xavier Howard and if Javon Holland's not going to dress and it's going to be Brandon
Jones again, he missed several tackles against Washington.
That's the big thing.
And I'd also look to your pass rush.
Sam Howell, the explosives that pass rush. Sam Howell,
the explosives that Washington got was Sam Howell creating and getting off his spot and then throwing
the ball down the field. So tackling, whether it's your pass rush or whether it is your in the box
slash on the edge support, how do you fit the run in this matchup? I think will be really telling
for the Dolphins as well. And Kyle, I don't want to, I don't want to put you on the spot here,
but just one more question. Curiously, the Titans run game was able to get
going last week against the Colts because they're so committed to 40 fronts. Like they would not put
five guys on the line of scrimmage to save their life. And the Titans were literally just like,
okay, we're going to put as many guys on the line of scrimmage as we can. And we're going to double
team you to get as much movement as we can. And the Titans were putting like their tight ends in the backfield as wingbacks
so that they could go up the interior gaps and get to the linebackers so that
the double teams could stick on a little bit longer.
So I'm just curious.
Do you think that we'll see a lot of 50 fronts from the dolphins?
Do they, or do you think that they'll go with four man fronts?
So I think they will.
50 fronts or five man front.
Sorry.
You know, not everybody is
not to be like oh you don't know what it is but just make sure 50 front i mean five guys on the
line of scrimmage 40 front i mean four guys yeah so they do run their bare fronts uh if you go
usually with 12 personnel so if you come out with two tight ends on the field they're going to put
raekwon davidson and take take the nickel off the field uh so they'll go raekwon davis on the nose
zach sealer chris wilkins as your b gap defenders and then they'll go Raekwon Davis on the nose, Zach Seeler, Krisha Wilkins as your B-gap defenders, and then
they'll have Bradley Chubb and what was
Jalen Phillips, but now Andrew Van Ginkle
or Emmanuel Agba, who's a little bit more of a
heavy-handed type player. Yeah, power
has a little bit more mass. Van Ginkle's a little bit
more of a speedy guy. He's around 250,
so he's a smaller player. So they'll
match personnel in that capacity.
They're not afraid to come out in their base fronts,
but they usually end up deferring to the nickel front.
Now, I wouldn't be surprised if they start with the four-man fronts to start
and say, hey, we want to see if we can stop the run with the four down
and then really have the coverage shells that we want on the back end
and not have to ask one of our linebackers to drop in the coverage.
So wouldn't be surprised if they go that route early,
and then if Tennessee gets some momentum,
if you start to see more number 98 in the middle of which would be Ray
Kwan Davis.
Yep.
That'll be an interesting little thing.
Yeah.
He's going to do it for this crossover Thursday.
Locked on dolphins,
locked on Titans.
Make sure you checked out locked on Titans with Tyler locked on dolphins
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And here is to a healthy and safe game, Tyler.
Thanks for joining.
Absolutely, Kyle.