Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Derrick Henry Crossroads, Top Ten Pick Potential & Todd Downing Deflects Blame

Episode Date: December 28, 2022

The Tennessee Titans are reportedly not planning to play Derrick Henry, but if they sit out their best player, they are not taking the best step towards winning. The Titans need to decide how they want to attack the next two weeks before Thursday's game and what they do with Henry will tell us a lot. Next, if the Titans do intend to tank the next two weeks, they will most likely end up with a top ten pick. What should the Titans do with it if they end up in the top ten in April? Finally, Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing has led a pitiful offense for two seasons in a row. On Tuesday, he deflected blame for the Titans 4th quarter woes and again put the blame on the players. He is only following the lead of his head coach, but this might be cause for concern if you want a new OC in 2023.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!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.TuroForget boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.comAudibleHead over to Locked On NFL for a sneak peak of Block Forever or catch the full series available anywhere you get your podcast. Available everywhere now!NHTSADrive high, get a DUI. Click HERE to learn more.Ultimate Football GM To download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, we're hearing reports that Derrick Henry may not play on Thursday against the Cowboys. But the Titans have two paths in front of them, and they need to choose before Thursday night. Then we'll talk about one of the destinations of those paths, and how the Titans could secure a top 10 pick, and what they could do with it. Finally, we'll talk about Todd Downing continuing to not take accountability for the failures on offense.

And I'll tell you why, unfortunately, I think there's a good chance that Todd Downing is back as the offensive coordinator in 2023. All of that and more on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are 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. Titans fans, will Derrick Henry play?

Should Derrick Henry play? And I'll tell you why the decision as to whether or not King Henry plays tells us a lot about the path that the Titans want to go down the rest of the season. Before we get into that, I do want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by the Ultimate Football GM app. Ever dream of becoming an NFL GM and managing your football franchise? Then this game is definitely for you to download the game. Just visit ultimate-gm.com or just look it up in your app stores.

Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo code LOCKEDON in all caps. Once again, that's promo code LOCKEDON in all caps on the Ultimate Football GM app. Titans fans, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms. Make sure you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. Throw a thumbs up on the video right now if you're watching on YouTube. It goes a long way to help support the channel,

and I definitely do appreciate it. As you guys know, I will be at the game on Thursday night in Tennessee, checking it out. Excited to take my mom to the game who's never been to an NFL game. A lot of you guys had positive words and reactions to the video I put up on social media. Thank you guys all so much for that. But whether or not I'm going to see even a slightly competitive game from the Titans basically rests on the fact of whether or not Derrick Henry is going to play. Because if the Titans are going to sit out Derrick Henry, who's healthy enough to play, then they're definitely going to sit out some of the defensive veterans who are on the fence of playing.

And look, I know a lot of you guys right now are saying, why would they play? Rest them all. Take the loss. It doesn't matter to the playoffs whatsoever. We just need to beat Jacksonville. So even if you're somebody out there who wants the Titans to continue to push for a playoff spot, you're probably hoping that they sit people in this game. Well, let me tell you why I don't buy that. The Titans have two paths here. Either they want to win or they want to lose. They have two paths. If they want to win,

if they have aspirations of going to the playoffs, beating Jacksonville, and maybe even winning a playoff game, I'm not saying we all buy that, but if that's what they believe in the building right now, the players, the coaches, the organization, then you need to go out there against the Cowboys and try to win. Henry needs to play. The defensive vets that are healthy need to play. Autry, Simmons, they need to play. Defensive vets that are healthy need to play.

Autry, Simmons, they need to play. Because in my opinion, you can't cheat the football gods. You can't cheat the game of football. You can't lose six straight weeks in a row, purposefully lose and lay down and die at home against the Cowboys and expect to go into Jacksonville and flip some switch and be great. Jacksonville has been playing playoff football for two months, like when the Titans in 2019 kicked it on in the middle of the year when Tannehill went in.

The Titans played playoff football for the last two months of the season to fight for their life to get in. And that's why when they got into the playoffs, they were on fire playing their best football, upsetting teams on their way to an AFC championship game. Jacksonville is the 2019 Titans. You're not going to beat that buzzsaw by laying down and dying against the Cowboys. You know what would help you beat Jacksonville? You know what would help you beat Jacksonville? You know what would help you beat Jacksonville? To upset the Dallas Cowboys at home on a short week with your backup quarterback as a 10-point underdog, or nearly 10 points, like nine and a

half, nine. You win football games by being a good football team. If the Titans want to win, and they want to go to the playoffs, and they want to compete in a playoff game, they need to try to win against Dallas for momentum, for the confidence of your locker room, to please the football gods. You don't spit in the football gods' face

by not even being competitive in a football game and then go out and win the next week and flip the switch. The Titans aren't a good enough team to flip the switch. They need to get in the habit of playing good football again. And a big emotional upset with 10 days of rest, you need that against the Cowboys. So if the Titans still actually want to win, they need to try to win and play their players against the Cowboys. If they want to lose, if inside the organization, the truth is they know Tannehill's not coming back. And let me say this.

If Tannehill ain't coming back and they know that, we think Tannehill's not coming back. But in the building, they know more than we do. If they know for a fact that Tannehill is not coming back. But in the building, they know more than we do. If they know for a fact that Tannehill is not coming back this year, then they need to go down the other path and they need to lose. And not only do they need to sit out Derrick Henry, they should sit out Autry. They should sit out Simmons.

They should sit out Byer. Any core piece that you want to have back on the team next year, sit them out. Sit them out. Young players, in your first couple of years, you're playing.

No doubt about it. Get out there. But the Titans need to decide. Do they want to win? Then they need to try to win and get in the mindset of trying to win. If they want to lose, then lose. My thing is what I would do, you ask me, if I know that Tannehill can come back in week 18, then I try to win. If I know that Tannehill can't come back in week 18, then I try to lose. It's that simple. Because the Titans have, again, two paths. A playoff victory and

maybe a playoff win, maybe? If they get it right and get the momentum going with a win against Dallas and get Tannehill back. If not, then they need to secure a top 10 pick, top 12 at minimum, which is on the table for the Titans. So let's transition that way. That's the two paths. Tannehill's health to me determines what path you go down. But if Tannehill's not coming back and the Titans decide that they're going to lose

this game against the Cowboys, then they need to lose against Jacksonville too. Finish the season at 7-10 and get a top 12 or top 10 pick because that would open up a lot of options and good options for how to fix this roster next season. So we're going to talk about what they can do going down that path. And at the end of the show, we'll talk about Todd Downing's lack of accountability, how he continues to blame the players, and why at this point I'm a little worried whether

he will be fired or not. Before we get into that though, I do want to tell you guys a little more about today's sponsor and that is the Ultimate Football GM app. I'm really excited about our new partner here. The Ultimate Football GM mobile game is absolutely fantastic. Basically, you are the general manager of a professional football team. You manage every aspect of the franchise.

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but you could create a league with all of your friends and battle it out 1v1v1v1, however many friends you want to put in. It's actually pretty cool because right now, as you guys know, I'm from Ohio. So I started the Dayton Dragons football team, and I'm battling it out with other hosts from Locked On NFL shows. There's some trash talk, stuff like that. It's a great time.

You and your friends would absolutely love it. And Locked On Titans listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo code LOCKEDON, that's in all caps in the game store. That's LOCKEDON in all caps. So make sure that you check it out today. If you want to download the game, you should download the game. Download it by visiting ultimate-gm.com or look it up in your app store.

That's the easiest way, ultimate-gm.com. The Ultimate Football GM. Start your dynasty today. Titans fans, we are going to continue today's episode of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about the two paths that the Titans need to decide between. Do they want to win or do they want to lose? And if they want to lose, there is a good chance that they could get a top 10 pick in the draft. Before we get into that, though, I do want to thank you guys again

for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. It's going to be a crazy offseason. I'm putting out Monday through Friday content for free all offseason long. So make sure you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast. We'll cap off today's show talking about a statement Todd Downing made earlier this week that I thought was absurd and why I'm a little bit worried that he'll be back in 2023. But as for the path of the top 10 pick, so I say top 10, I could see it being top 12 also,

which would still be very solid. But here's the reality. Right now, the Titans are tied for 12th worst in win percentage. There's eight other teams that are tied with the Titans with the record that they have, like Tampa Bay, Seattle, Jacksonville, for example. Now, there are two more weeks in the season. So that means that some of the teams below the Titans are going to win some games, which gives the Titans an opportunity

to go up those rankings. And I say up, I mean like down, I guess high in the draft, down in picks, whatever you want to call it. But the Titans can get a better, higher draft pick as teams that are tied with them or maybe one game worse than them win another game or two. If the Titans were to lose their last two games ago, seven and ten, if the Titans were to lose their last two games to go 7-10, the odds are, based on how many teams are in front of them who still have two games to play themselves, the odds are that the Titans will go up to a top 12 or a top 10 pick.

What is the number one need for the Tennessee Titans this offseason? Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to say it together. On the count of three, everybody say what position group the Titans need the most in the offseason one two three offensive line Some of you may have said offensive tackle some of you may even got more specific and said left tackle You're all right, baby. You are all right, and let me tell you if the Titans want a bona fide stud left tackle, securing a top 10, top 12 pick is the way to do it.

Because there are quarterbacks in this draft who are going to go kind of high. Bryce Young probably going number one to Houston. Gross. CJ Stroud, Will Levis, Anthony Richardson. Now, you may not think that some of those guys are top 10 picks, sure. But I didn't think Josh Rosen was a top 10 pick. I didn't think Baker Mayfield was a number one overall pick.

I didn't think Mac Jones was a first rounder. I didn't think Kenny Pickett was a first rounder. And guess where they went? Because quarterbacks go higher. So that's four quarterbacks right there that have the potential to go in the top 10. There are great defensive players like Jalen Carter from Georgia, like Will Anderson from Alabama. Of course, you have wide receivers that teams are always valuing.

So, to me, with these three guys available, and maybe you like some of the people further down, but these are the top three guys in my opinion. Broderick Jones from Georgia, Parrish Johnson from Ohio State, and Peter Skowronski from Northwestern. I would put all of those guys in at left tackle day one. Broderick Jones, Parrish Johnson,

my preferable options. Skowronski, Paris Johnson, my preferable options. Skowronski, I would still be happy with though because guess what guys? Is Peter Skowronski going to suck at football? No. He's not. So there is some debate out there. I got into a debate myself online about whether Skowronski

is a guard or a tackle. He's got 32 inch arms. That is not very long. There are not a lot of good offensive tackles in the NFL that have that size arms. And he's not very tall either at 6'4". So there are some that say he is going to be a guard. Well, guess what?

What if he's an amazing left guard? Cool, the Titans will take it, baby. Then all you got to do is get a tackle in free agency like Isaiah Wynn or Andre Dillard. Speaking of that, Jack Conklin, who I had hopes of maybe bringing back to Tennessee, move NPF to left,

put Conklin in it right. Elton Jenkins for the Packers, who I wanted, who could be an all-pro at left tackle or left guard. Both of them resigned or resigned, signed contract extensions with their teams this last week. So they're off the board. So you're looking at Isaiah Wynn, Andre Dillard.

If you really want to spend money, you could go after maybe Orlando Brown, Zeus Brown, if he's not tagged again by the Chiefs. The left tackle options, the tackle options in free agency have gotten slimmer now. So, to me, it increases the likelihood that you need to get a left tackle of the future in the draft. So, if the Titans want to lose,

then commit to losing. Lose against the Cowboys. Lose against the Jaguars. Secure a top 10 pick. Get Broderick Jones. Get Parrish Johnson. Get Peter Skowronski. If you fall in love with one of the quarterbacks, like CJ Stroud or Will Levis or something like that, then you're only at pick 10 or 11. It's not as expensive to trade up as it would be from 25 or 22 or 21. You see what I mean? You're in striking position to get the guy that you want if you like Will Anderson or Jalen Carter or you see somebody you're just infatuated with.

You don't have to pay the price to get from the mid-20s down to the top five. You don't got to pay that price. So the Titans need to make a decision. They need to make a decision on what they want to do because if they take a half measure, they're doing themselves a disservice no matter what. So now, regardless of what the Titans may do, they may go seven to ten anyways and get the pick. But that's not the worst thing that could ever happen because we've seen the Titans have a record number of injuries and we know that the roster isn't as good as the 12-5 number one seed

that they were last year but we also know that the roster isn't as bad as a top 10 draft pick at least in my opinion it's not. The Titans are literally just a little bit of health away from clearly winning their division and probably going 10-7 or 11-6. So they're basically a division winning team or at least a division competing team

that's going to end up with a top 10 pick. So look, win the games, go to the playoffs, don't let Jacksonville have their moment in the sun. I'm down for that too. But if it goes the other way, I'm in for it. But all I know is Titans need to pick what they want. And they need to decide by Thursday night. Because

both these paths are possible, but they're only possible if you take the right step first to do it. And if you want to win, then take a step towards winning and try to win. If you want to lose, then take a step towards losing and lose. It's that simple. So, we got to talk about

Todd Downing. This man, he's so frustrating and it's even more frustrating to think that there is a chance that he will still be the offensive coordinator in 2023. But I am worried about it. Before we get into that, though, do want to tell you that today's show is brought to you by Audible. Audible is releasing a slate of new football podcasts that I'm sure you're going to love,

and you'll be able to find an episode of The League available as a bonus episode on the Locked On NFL podcast feed. It's narrated by Super Bowl champion and legendary smack talker Richard Sherman, and Available as a bonus episode on the Locked On NFL podcast feed. It's narrated by Super Bowl champion and legendary smack talker Richard Sherman and sports broadcaster and rising star Taylor Rooks. The League is an eight-part docuseries about the most bizarre, inspirational, and unlikely stories connected to America's favorite sport, pro football. Head over to the Locked On NFL podcast feed for a bonus episode of The League

or catch the full series wherever you get your podcasts. Available now. Audible. Get in the game. Titans fans, Todd Downing's up to it again. Once again, no accountability. And I'm a little worried

that that lack of accountability doesn't just happen in his mind, but happens in Mike Rabel's mind as well. Before we get into that, though, do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, check out Locked on Sports today. It's got all the biggest sports stories from around all the major sports in under 20 minutes. It's a great way to get caught up on all the previous day's news and action.

It's the Locked On Sports Today podcast. It's free and available on all platforms, including Odyssey and YouTube and every other one that's out there, quite frankly. But moving forward here, Todd Downing on Tuesday talked about the lack of fourth quarter scoring.

So what do you think Todd Downing had to say the reason was for the fourth quarter scoring? And may I remind you that the Titans have scored 37 points in the

fourth quarter this year. Dead last. Do you know who the closest team is? The Bears with 64. It's not quite double. It's not quite double. 10 off of being doubled. But almost double.

I mean, how can you have that kind of gap? 37 fourth quarter points. The Bears second worst was 64. You know who's right ahead of the Bears? Houston and Indy who have 68 fourth quarter points.

This offense is historically inept. Not only that, not only that, but the offensive general is terrible. Overall, the whole game, not just the fourth quarter. So when you ask Todd Downing, why is the team so bad in the fourth quarter? You know what his answer is?

Turnovers. It's just too many turnovers. We turn over the ball so bad in the fourth quarter? You know what his answer is? Turnovers. It's just too many turnovers. We turn over the ball too much in the fourth quarter. So Todd, it's not your lack of play calling. It's not your lack of a proper game plan. It's not you. It's not your fault at all, Todd. It's just the turnovers. It's just solely the players making mistakes. It's not that you have rudimentary pass concepts that result in interceptions. It's not that the only move that you have

is to run it to Derrick Henry and wear him down to where he fumbles at the end of games. Yeah, some of that is just on the players for making mistakes. No doubt about it. With turnovers, it's not all on the coaches. But it's the same thing that I've been saying

throughout the back half of this season. Execution is on the coaches. But it's the same thing that I've been saying throughout the back half of this season. Execution is on the players. You're right. The players have to execute. But if players are unable to execute this late in the season, if players are still blocking when it's a pass play, if players are still misreading coverages

on an option route by the wide receiver like we saw with NWI and Malik against the Chargers, if players are still not reading defenses the same and wide receivers and quarterbacks aren't on the same page, if you have the ball being snapped while the left tackle and the tight end just stand there and don't know that the ball is snapped. If you have constant

miscommunications on snap counts and operational things that lead to penalties like illegal formation, illegal shift, false start, all those things. If you continue to have those problems not only at the beginning of the year, but throughout the season, then the execution problem is now a coaching

problem. The coaches coach the players how to execute. If every student in your class fails a test, the person who failed is the teacher. I'll say that again. If every student in your class fails a test, it is the teacher who failed. So if the Titans offense is 30th overall, 12th in rushing, 30th in passing,

if they're 24th in third down conversion rate, 27th in points scored a game, 25th in expected points, 20th in DVOA ranking. Historically terrible in the fourth quarter. The teacher has failed. The teacher has failed. And that's why it gets me into my final point.

I am terrified that Todd Downing will be back as the offensive coordinator in 2023. Shout out to my boys, Will Lomas. And, you know, we were talking about this. Will Lomas, Zach Lyons from F-Words. We were all talking about it on Twitter. Talking about Todd Downing has to be fired, right? Like he has to be. And Zach and Will were talking about how Amy has to see this. She was the one who was okay with firing Malarkey if it meant leaving Robiski. There has to be some awareness in the organization

of Todd Downing's miscomings. But here's my issue. Here's what I'm worried about most. And look, don't get me wrong. I want Todd Downing gone. He should have been gone before this season and Tim Kelly in store. But Mike Vrabel hired the guy in the first place. And John Robinson got fired. Mike Vrabel has made comments all year. Who the F would we throw to? I got to play who I got.

Mike Vrabel has consistently made comments complaining about the roster. And in Amy's statements about firing John, she mentioned the injuries on the team, the unavailability of players. So it sounds like to me that John Robinson and then Mike Vrabel again last week said if the players only come to work from 8 to 4 and don't work outside the building,

they're probably not going to do much anyway. So, do you hear that? Injuries, John Robinson's fault. Roster, John Robinson's fault. The players not working hard, the players' fault. Everybody's fault except Todd Downing. It's everybody else. The roster, the injuries are Robinson's fault. The roster's

Robinson's fault. Not working hard enough. That's the players fault. Where's the coaches? Where is that aspect? When are we going to actually blame Todd? So, if Vrabel has gone out of his way to blame everything else

and if he's going out of his way to defend Todd Downing at every step if they didn't fire Todd Downing after a DUI getting off the team plane if Mike Vrabel hired Todd Downing in the first place after a terrible job in Oakland, then why should I believe that Mike Vrabel would fire Todd Downing?

He's going to tell Amy Adams Strzok it was the injuries and the players' fault. It was the injuries, the roster, the players. It was everybody else's fault. It's not Todd's fault. We went 12-5 and were the number one seed in the AFC when he had even a little bit of health when he had Tannehill all year.

That's my guy. And if you want to tell me, hey, he hired Tim Kelly to be the guy to replace him with. Well, why didn't he just fire him in the first place and hire Tim Kelly when he had a chance? He could have just made Tim Kelly the OC at the beginning of the year. Clearly, Mike Grabo believes in Todd Downing more than us. Makes me so upset. I'm also, if you follow me on Twitter Twitter you know I've been very under the weather today

trying to get right to go to the game on Thursday so forgive me. A little bit of wheeziness at the beginning of the show and now I'm kind of losing some steam but my point is Mike Vrabel hired this man. Mike Vrabel publicly has blamed everything else except

the coaching. We know that coaches are loyal to a fault and Mike Vrabel is the loyalist of the loyal. Mike Vrabel is a former player who overvalues players and undervalues coaching. Mike Vrabel thinks, hey, if the players just played better, then Todd Downing would be a better coach.

It's not the coaching. We don't need better coaching. We need the players to play better. Like when I was a player. When I played bad, I didn't blame my coach. I needed to play better. And that's how players think. And that's fine. But that's

why coaches are so important. And why the best coaches typically aren't the best players. Because the best players don't understand how important coaches are because the best players think they are by far more important than anything else. We know that from the way players not only in the NFL, but players in different sports think about themselves and talk about themselves.

There are players out there who think they don't even need a coach. They're just good players and they're going to go win. There are fans out there who say, oh, this roster is so good they don't even need a coach. He doesn't get the credit. So Mike Vrabel is consistently undervalued coaching. He didn't have a defensive coordinator in 2020 and that blew up in his face. He does not understand how important coaching is.

He thinks the players are far more important. Therefore, when the coaches are screwing the players and not putting them in a position to win, Vrabel's answer isn't to fix the coaching. It's the players need to play better. That's what I would have said to myself when I was a player. Because he still thinks he is a player and he still coaches like he's a player.

And therefore, he's going to keep his guys. And I just have a hard time believing that Amy Adams Strunk is going to go in there and say, Mike, Mike, Todd Downing's been terrible. Look at the production of the offense. Look at the ranks of the offense. Look at the output. Look at what he's

done when the offense has been far healthier than the defense this year. Look at that. He needs to be gone. And Miss Amy is going to win a football conversation with Mike Vrabel. Who do you think is advising Miss Amy on the roster? Who do you think told Miss Amy all the problems with the roster that led to the firing of John Robinson?

Who do you think's advising her? You think Amy's on her computer looking up DVOA and going through film? Who's advising her on that? Probably Todd Downing's biggest supporter, Mike Ray. So while we all want Todd Downing gone, I'm just telling you, don't get your hopes up. Because I am concerned.

But with that said, that's going to do it for me today. I'll be back with you guys tomorrow for Crossover Thursday. We'll serve as our game preview. I'll be talking with Marcus Mosher from Locked on Cowboys. And Marcus is one of the best of the best covering football. So that'll be a great conversation for you all. But that's going to do it for me today. As always,

I am your host, Tyler Rowland and this was Locked on Titans. you