Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans DESTROY Cincinnati Bengals 27-3: Explosive Offense, Defense Mauls Burrow & ST Brilliance

Episode Date: October 2, 2023

The Tennessee Titans got a huge victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and it was a total team effort. First, Tyler dives into how the offense and defense complemented each other perfectly en route to the 27-3 win in what might be the best performance from the team since 2021. Next, on offense the Titans combined a powerful rushing game with an explosive play action pass game. Finally, the Titans defense locked down the Bengals on all three levels.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!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/NFL today to get 10% off your first month. birddogsGo to birddogs.com/LOCKEDONNFL or enter promo code LOCKEDONNFL for a water bottle with any order. You won’t want to take your birddogs off we promise you. 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.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.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.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. 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

The Tennessee Titans destroyed the Cincinnati Bengals, and it was a complete team win. I'm going to break it down on a victory recap 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. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Today's victory edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster.

Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. An incredible win by the Tennessee Titans defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3. It was a complete team win. I'm going to dive into that.

Plus, tighten up, tighten down. I got a ton of tighten ups on both sides of the ball and only one tighten down. And that's for me. I'll explain why as we dive into a victory recap edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Before we get into it, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast

your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps, always for day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. It's your team every day. Also, throw a thumbs up on the video right now.

Show's always free. All I ask for in return is the press of a button and shout out to my everydayers out there. Got a lot of great content coming this week. Gonna have Tic Tac Tuesday where we dive into the film on tomorrow's show. What's next? Wednesday where we look ahead to the Colts. We're going to have Crossover Thursday, Game Plan Friday.

Again, make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day and always, always for free. But dominance in the run game from the Titans. And you give a lot of credit to Tim Kelly for scheming it up. You give a lot of credit to the Titans offensive line and their tight ends and their wide receivers for run blocking and being more committed to the details this week. And I also liked that. I thought the Titans spread things out a little bit more with their personnel and how they were using their tight end. So I love that. 173 total rushing yards for the Titans from the running backs, 5.2 yards per carry or 173 total yards period.

You got 22 carries, 122 yards and a touchdown from Henry. Five carries, 40 yards from Tajay Spears who looked electric out there. Got the kickoff return for 16 yards as well. Love that duo and that catch that Tajay Spears had just to bring that up while we're here, the way he, boom, boom, threw a juke on a linebacker, got upfield for a big first down on a third and long. That's all we could ever ask for as a pairing with Derrick Henry. Tajay Spears is such a perfect, perfect pairing with Derrick Henry, and we saw it in action against the Bengals, those two.

But that run game dominance, of course, was paired with the explosive plays in the play action pass game. That is what the Tennessee Titans offense has always been about since we've seen this Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill

led version of the Titans. This era of Titans football has always been about running the football and explosive play-action pass game off of it. And that's what we got. The offensive line moved people. The Bengals didn't know what was coming. They were getting a ton of open spots. Tannehill was firing the ball downfield.

Big shout-out to the tight ends.. Big shout out to the tight ends. I put the emphasis on the tight ends last week for their poor play, but Josh Wiley, Chigaconquo, I mean, they were great in this game, not only catching the football in the spots when they needed to, but also blocking in the run game. I can remember one specific play that Derek Henry got some good yards on where Josh Wiley came across the formation and laid a nice block on Trey Hendrickson. Put a shoulder into Trey Hendrickson. Josh Wiley. Man, just a great performance from the Titans offense. The wide receivers made plays. The Titans were 8 for 13 on third down.

They were 2 for 4 in the red zone. Just kept their composure. Limited the penalties, even though I'd like to still see that get cleaned up, but just great stuff. And then on defense, the Titans held the Bengals to 2-9 on third downs. The Bengals didn't convert a third down until late into the fourth quarter or middle of the fourth quarter. 0-1 in the red zone. 0-1 on fourth down.

The Titans get a turnover on downs, which might as well be considered a turnover. They get the fumble as well. Three sacks, including the strip sack. 4.0 yards per carry in the run game. 4.2 yards per pass. I mean, the Titans held Joe Burrow to under 200 yards passing. The Bengals had 211 total yards, period.

I mean, the Titans just completely cooked them. Just completely cut them up. You want to look at something like time of possession. The Tennessee Titans won that as well, 34 minutes to 25 minutes. I mean, this is, this reminds me of the 27 to 3 win that the Titans had over the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of years ago. What, 2021? Where they just jump on you right away. They're hitting explosive pass plays. This is probably the Green Bay performance was good, no doubt. But this is probably the best Tennessee Titans complete team performance we have seen since that 27-3 win over Kansas City in 2021.

So almost two years. I mean, that's what we saw here. The special teams. Folk hit every kick. The Titans covered well. Ryan Stonehouse had two punts. Both of them pinned the Bengals inside the 20-yard line. I mean, this was as complete of a dominant win as you are going to get from the Tennessee Titans. Absolutely beautiful stuff. Absolutely beautiful stuff. Absolutely

beautiful stuff. And again, the offense, the defense, special teams, coaching, they hit everything. And to do it, to do it against a Cincinnati Bengals team that had owned them since Joe Burrow had been

their quarterback. I can't say anything more than it. Last week was a complete team failure. This week was a complete team win for the Titans. But we looked at it from a big picture team perspective. Now I want to dive into the individuals that had a great game. And I got to tell you guys, like I mentioned, only one Titan down this week.

And it's for me. Everyone else for the Titans gets a Titan up. Let me know your biggest Titan ups, your Titan downs if you have any down below. Before we get into Titan up and Titan down though, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn

Jobs. These days, every new potential hire could feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. You want to be a hundred percent certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free.

All you got to do is create a free job post on LinkedIn jobs. Then add your job in the purple hashtag hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile to spread the word that you're hiring. They have simple tools like screening questions. It makes it really easy to focus on the candidates with just the right skills and experience so you can quickly prioritize who you want to interview and hire. It's why small businesses rate LinkedIn Jobs number one in delivering quality

hires versus leading competitors. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash LockedOnNFL That's LinkedIn.com slash LockedOnNFL to post your job for free. Terms and

conditions apply. Titans fans, let's continue our victory recap edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. The Tennessee Titans win 27-3 and a complete demolishing of the Cincinnati Bengals. Again, a total team win. The offense was exactly what it needed to be. The defense did exactly what it needed to do. And it led to the best Tennessee Titans win probably since.

Again, I mentioned Green Bay, but even further back in 2021, the 27-3 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. This is probably the most dominant performance since then. Green Bay scored some more points and did some more things. I will say the most dominant team performance the Titans have had since that 27-3. Well, they did beat Miami 34-3 later that year. So I guess maybe since then. But either way, since 2021, great stuff. But I want to zoom in, kind of talk about more of the individual performances

in this game and everyone's favorite segment, Tighten Up, Tighten Down. And of course, let me know your tighten ups. Let me know your tighten downs down below. Tag me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Let me know. I'm on TikTok at LockedOnTitans. Instagram at LockedOnTitans.

Facebook at LockedOnTitansPod. Of course, on YouTube, LockedOnTitans YouTube channel. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. It's your team every day here on the LockedOnTitans podcast. But starting on the offensive side of the ball, we talked about Derrick Henry, but you know what? I want to talk about him again. 22 carries. 22. 122

yards. 22. One rushing touchdown. Had the passing touchdown. Caught a pass for 11 yards. Passed Earl Campbell for second most rushing yards in franchise history. The only other person ahead of him, Eddie George. Vintage Derrick Henry performance. Excellent stuff. I got to admit, and let's just do this now.

We give Derrick Henry his tighten up, but as much of a tighten up as Derrick Henry gets, I get a tighten down. Tighten down for me. I had the Titans losing this game big time. I thought this was maybe the beginning of the end of the Titans season against a Bengals team that they had never beaten.

Now, I realize that a lot of you out there thought like me and thought the Titans were not winning this game. We all do our football picks every week, do our football poll, you know, where you pick all the games every week. Now, excuse me,

some of my critics will get in the comments and say if you don't pick every Titans game right, then you don't know what you're talking about. But if you could do that, you would be making a lot of money in Vegas, not on a podcast. So keep that in mind. But I think it's pretty obvious that my reverse jinx powers here kicked in in a major way. I absolutely jinxed the Titans to a major victory. And as a lot of you have told me online already, it is my duty the rest of the season to pick the Titans to lose every time because that will result

in a win. It's a proven fact. So a Titan down for me for not having more faith in this Titans team. But in my opinion, my lack of faith caused the Titans to win. So it is what it is. You guys let me know how you want to adjudicate that down below. But back to the Titan ups on the offensive side of the ball. We also got to talk about Tajay Spears. Again, five carries, 40 yards on the day. The one, he fumbled it. He picked it up. He made a huge play. That sort of playmaking ability is something the Titans haven't had in a long time. Dontrell Hilliard made some plays out of the backfield, but the ability to actually run the football and make plays and take carries from Derrick Henry while also being a threat in the

passing game, while also having a nice kickoff return on the day, Tajay Spears was a great addition to this team. Not only that, but we got to give props to Ryan Tannehill. We got to give credit where credit was due. Tannehill made plays in this game. I thought this was the most mobile that Tannehill looked in the pocket all year long. 18 for 25, 240 passing yards, 9.6 yards per attempt. That right there is Tennessee Titans explosive football.

Had the touchdown, did have the interception. Of course, Tannehill's going to have one in there. He can't just play perfect. Second and nine, he didn't need to throw that ball, but, I mean, with the Titans' lead and where it was in the game, it was ultimately a punt on second down, which, you know, I'm sure Mike Vrabel will take. He got sacked three times, so it wasn't like he was totally clean.

98.8 quarterback rating. Really good day from Ryan Tannehill, who just, he was just a caretaker of the offense, hit the open plays, was aggressive down the field when it was open. I mean, you can't complain about what Ryan Tannehill did today. I'm not going to go over the top, and this wasn't as good of a performance as we saw from him in week two,

but it didn't need to be. It didn't need to be. Okay, so really good job by Ryan Tannehill today. Just pilot in the offense. All right, give him the credit where it's due. Tighten up. Then we get to the wide receivers. Tighten up.

DeAndre Hopkins, four catches, 63 yards, just continues. Continues to make solid catches, make physical catches when the Titans need him in big spots. Shout out to DeAndre Hopkins. NWI. Five catches, 51 yards, one touchdown. I mean, he blocked well in this game. NWI just continues to be the perfect Tennessee Titans role player.

It's frustrating at times that the Titans don't prioritize other things, but, I mean, this is a great start, an absolutely great start to the season for Nick Westbrook-Akene. Can't say anything more or less than that. Chris Moore, one catch, 44 yards. All Chris Moore does is make big plays. Once a game, he's going to make a big catch down the field. I mean, that was huge for the Titans before halftime.

Huge catch by Chris Moore, 44 yards down the sideline. Huge. And Mike Vrabel's comment about Traylon Burks, he was like, I mean, do we need Burks? We got Chris Moore. He's making plays. NWI's catching the football. He's like, I thought Traylon dropped a few passes last week. So there's Mike Vrabel saying, hey, we don't need you, buddy. We're ready to go. Chigaconqua, three catches, 29 yards.

Josh Wiley, two catches, 26 yards, a touchdown. Welcome to the team, Josh Wiley. After that terrible start in the preseason and just nothing for the Titans in the first few weeks, what a performance by the rookie tight end. A great, when he caught that pass on the play action, the seam route, not the touchdown catch, but the seam route that set it up,

finally looked like Austin Hooper and a guy who could stretch the seam and be a long tight end and make those catches. That was great. And I talked about Josh Wiley in the first segment blocking. He was blocking out there today. Chigga Conkla as well. The tight ends did such, such an improved job

after I called him out in my film study last week for them to step up and bounce back. And I saw a lot of Wiley out there. I'm going to have to look at the snap counts to verify, but I didn't see a ton of Trevon Wesco out there. I know he got his snaps because the Titans were running the ball in the second half, but early in that game, the Titans had Josh Wiley out there because they need somebody who could be a threat in the passing game to open up the offense a little bit. I thought the Titans did a great job using the tight ends this week.

Love that. And then we come to the offensive line. Gave up three sacks. I thought Dylan Radins had some struggles at times, but the offensive line didn't absolutely destroy this team. And again, part of that is because they're getting their money in play action where you can have six guys in, seven guys in.

You can make sure that you have enough guys back to take that initial rush from the defense. So a big shout out to the offensive line. Stepped up in a big way. And now they're probably likely to get Peter Skowronski back. That's good stuff. That's good stuff. That's good stuff. Big shout out to the Titans offensive line.

We worry about pass protection, but they were moving people. And with how the Bengals had done against the Titans run game before, for the Titans to move people like that, really great stuff from the O-line. I want to give a big shout out to Mason Kinsey as well. Had two punt returns or three punt returns for 37 yards. Had the 21 yard return as well. I mean, that's all the Titans can ask for from a punt returner. Good for Mason

Kinsey, man. Good for Mason Kinsey who gets a lot of crap and it's not his fault. Really good stuff. Appreciated what he gave to the Titans as a team today. Again, it was a complete team effort. And you look at special teams again. Folk, 2-for-2 on his field goals. Had a 53-yarder! 3-for-3 on his extra points. Stonehouse, 2 punts. Both of them. Inside 20 yards. Pin the Bengals deep. Tighten up. Tighten up all the way from the offense through the special teams. Absolutely. But I want to talk about the

tighten ups on defense. If I missed anybody, let me know down below in the comments. We're going to talk about the tighten ups on the defensive side of the ball in just a moment. Before we get into that though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Snap into the action this NFL season with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook right now. New customers get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed

when you place a $5 bet. That's $200 in bonus bets. Win or lose. You can bet on everything from the spreads to the over-under to player props and more. All that stuff is going to be available to you on America's FanDuel Sportsbook. And it's really easy to use. So again, make sure that you check out America's number one sportsbook over at FanDuel.com slash LockedOn. Kick off the NFL season right.

That's FanDuel.com slash LockedOn. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. Titans fans, let's cap off this victory recap edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Thank you all for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. We're going to have Tic Tac Tuesday tomorrow where I dive into the film.

We're going to have What's Next Wednesday, looking ahead to the Colts. Crossover Thursdays for some behind enemy lines information. Then a Game Plan Friday again. So much coming this week. I'm going to have little short videos posted all week. I'm going to have links for you guys to go to my film review articles for Sports Illustrated. I mean so much. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. It's your team every day. But, tighten up. Tighten down. Again, my only

tighten down is for me not having faith in the Titans to win this game. We did tighten ups on offense. Now I want to do some Titan ups on defense before I get into it. Of course, throw your Titan ups and Titan downs down in the comment section below. Tag me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Let me know if I missed anything. Aziz! Aziz Alshire had an incredible game.

Nine tackles. Two pass breakups. Two quarterback hits. One tackle for loss. Almost had the strip sack on Joe Burrow. That was close. But of course, the Titans are never going to get that call. Also, actually, I got one more Titan down.

Those refs in the first half. That Phantom pass interference call on Roger McCreary, what was that? Absurd is what it was. Anyways, we're keeping it positive here. But along with the Zs, Jack Gibbons. Gibbons is quiet. Gibbons doesn't make big flashy plays throughout the game that really make you notice him.

But he just leads this team in tackles all the time. Ten tackles for Gibby. The Bengals' tight ends did absolutely nothing in this game because the linebackers were all over time. Ten tackles for Gibby. The Bengals tight ends did absolutely nothing in this game because the linebackers were all over it. All right? The defensive line, though, is where the bread is buttered. Simmons, two quarterback hits, a sack. Arden Key, two quarterback hits, a sack.

T.R. Tartt, two quarterback hits. Travis Gibson had the strip sack on Burrow to give the ball back to the Titans. And shout out to Travis Gibson, Caleb Murphy, and Colton Dow, who got time in this game for Colton Dow and Caleb Murphy, rookies making their first appearance in a Titans game, period. Good for them. In the secondary,

I thought Christian Fulton really hung tough. I mean, Jamar Chase is a tough matchup. Did you see them throw at Sean Murphy bunting even once? I didn't. I didn't. So SMB continues to be completely locked down on his side of the field last couple of weeks. Bayard was all over the place. Shout out KB.

Recovered the fumble that Travis Gibson. Bayard was blitzing. The Titans were bringing five so often in this. And we talked about it in the game plan episode. Tight man, bring pressure, and the Titans did that in the first half. Now, the second half, they went more zone. They backed up a little bit.

That all makes sense. You have a big lead, blah, blah, blah. But to get that lead early in the game, they were just pressure and burrow, time after time with blitzes. I mean, the Titans were, I'm going to cover this more probably tomorrow in the Tic Tac Titans

film review, but the Titans were not a blitz heavy team coming into the week. The Titans were one of the bottom 10 teams in the NFL in blitz rate, and they were bringing heat in this game. So you love to see that. You love to see that in the secondary was getting involved.

They were hanging tough. Amani Hooker, Shaheem Carter came in, filled in for Elijah Molden, Mike Brown. Again, a complete team win for the Titans. Everybody up and down, and they needed this so bad. Last week, Teron Davenport, shout out to Teron from ESPN, was asking all the players about the play better, coach better. Shout out my notes, little Easter egg there, play better, coach better, all this and how frustrating that is, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We saw some frustration, especially from Jeffrey Simmons. It's time to do it. It's time to play better for the vibes, folks. The vibes. The Titans needed this so bad. Needed it so, so bad. So this was huge and now it sets up a big game next week with the Indianapolis Colts. Everyone in the AFC South is 2-2. Everyone's 2-2. So the Titans are right there. Gaining momentum. Get a big division

week. Get a winning record head into your trip into London if you can beat the Ravens, move to 4-2 at the bye, this thing feels totally different than the way that we felt leading into this game crazy what one Sunday can do but with that being said though

that is going to do it for a victory recap edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.