Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Fall Flat on TNF: Big Takeaways, #TitanUpTitandDown & AFC Look Ahead

Episode Date: November 13, 2020

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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 Friday 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. These passionate fans are the real generational talent that Pepsi fuels 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. And that football that we watched on Thursday night was incredibly disappointing from the Tennessee Titans perspective. These special teams let them down in a major way. The offense continues to struggle as it has for the last few games and the defense who did play well early in the game simply could not hold up to the pressure that the Titans special teams and offense put them under in the second half so we are going to break down this incredibly disappointing loss by the Tennessee Titans exactly why and how it happened in our first segment we're going to take a look from a broader view at some of the big points, the big takeaways coming out of the loss.

Then in our second segment, we will dive into some individual performances and tighten up and tighten down. And then we will cap off the show taking a look at some of the other games around the NFL this weekend that the Tennessee Titans will have to pay attention to now more than ever because they are in the thick of the wild card race as the Indianapolis Colts take over the lead in the AFC South. So breaking everything down today, but coming up next week, I have a lot more content planned for you guys on Monday.

It's going to be a fan service Monday. Going to do a mailbag, some other things to have fun with you guys and interact. Make sure that you follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans to be involved in some of that. Tuesday will be our TicTac Tuesday with the TicTac 4-pack, breaking down the four most impactful plays from the loss to the Colts. Wednesday, re-watch Wednesday with my extra analysis from watching the coaches tape. Thursday, we got to get ready for a game against the Baltimore Ravens,

so we will have our crossover Thursday conversation to begin our preparation for that game. And Friday will be another game preview, getting ready for what is the biggest game of the Titans season again coming up, but will be after 10 days of rest. So let's break down how the Tennessee Titans dropped to 6-3 in an incredibly deflating performance on Thursday Night Football. Let's get it. The Tennessee Titans come out and lay a complete egg on Thursday Night Football against the Colts

in what would be considered the biggest game of the season for them so far because of what was on the line and that was the lead in the AFC South. Now the Titans drop to 6-3, the Colts bump up to 6-3 and the Colts officially have the lead in the AFC South now that they have the tiebreaker over the Tennessee Titans and this was an incredibly important game for the Titans to win as this was their home matchup against the Indianapolis Colts and one would suspect that two weeks from now when the Titans face off against the Colts again it'll be a much tougher game to win being that it will be in Indianapolis and the Titans lost this game in a couple of different ways, but mostly they lost it

on special teams and on offense. The Titans on special teams had three critical errors that will set any team back. In the third quarter, they had a shanked punt by the brand new punter, Trevor Daniel. And this comes a week after the Tennessee Titans see a fantastic punting performance from Ryan Allen so curious as to why the Titans organization and the coaching staff decided to change punters when Allen performed so well last week that decision directly impacted this game the Titans were still winning the ball game 17 to13 in the third quarter when Daniel shanked a punt off the side of his foot that went less than 20 yards. The Colts took the ball starting field position inside the Titans

30 and were able to convert an easy touchdown with great field position. Then flip that around. The Titans get the ball back. They get stopped on third down. They go to punt and David Long, who is playing special teams offensive line on the punt, allows a Colts defender to pass right by him, which results in a blocked punt, which the Colts then scoop up and score. So within one minute in the third quarter, the Titans go from being up by four to being down by 10 points. And that completely swung the game. And then the Titans had an opportunity to get the lead back down to seven, down 27 to 17, and Steven Gostkowski misses his eighth field goal of the season. So a comedy of errors for the Titans special teams unit.

Some of them self-inflicted by switching punters to Trevor Daniel over Ryan Allen. Some of that poor performance by someone like David Long who gives up a free runner in punt blocking. And then a miss by Gostkowski, which the Titans at this point have to move on from Gostkowski due to his recent performance, despite some of the big kicks he

made earlier in the year. So the special teams really let the Titans down but it was also the offense's fault as well. The Tennessee Titans offense could not gain consistency throughout the entire game in the passing game. Ryan Tannehill was 15-27 for 147 yards and one touchdown on an easy rollout toss into the flat to Deontay Foreman. Without that, Ryan Tannehill was relatively ineffective, and we are starting to see that even when the Titans are able to run the ball, Derrick Henry did have over 100 yards. The Titans rushed for over 150 yards. The Titans rushed for over 200 yards against the Bengals, but the Titans are not able to find consistency in the passing game. Ryan Tannehill has been inaccurate on throws that he

needs to make. The Titans have also had an issue with drops, including A.J. Brown's big drop in the first half on what would have been a touchdown. So the Titans are making errors as an organization in terms of the players they're choosing to put out there, especially in special teams. They're also having issues with consistency in the passing game, and quite frankly, Ryan Tannehill is regressing as was expected, but we're seeing the downside of that when the Titans are able to run the ball but still not able to generate consistency in the passing game. So the offense and the special teams really let down the Titans in this game

when the defense had multiple third down stops, had some fourth down stops as well, and had held the Colts offense to only 13 points in the first half. So this game was truly lost by the Titans offense and the Titans special teams. The Titans have 10 days now to try to correct things. They face two incredibly difficult matchups ahead with the Baltimore Ravens, and then a rematch against the Indianapolis Colts.

So the Titans have some soul-searching to do, and we are going to find out what this Tennessee Titans team is made of over the next two weeks. But with that, we are going to move into Tighten Up and Tighten Down and take a look at some of the individual performances, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I know you're expecting a lot of bad. But there are some good performances that were mixed in there.

So we're going to talk about all of those individual performances next. Make sure that you follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Let me know your tighten ups, your tighten downs, where you agree, where you disagree. And make sure that you subscribe to the Locked On Titans podcast as well so you don't miss any of the content that I will be putting out Monday through Friday throughout the entire year. Before we jump into Tighten Up and Tighten Down, I want to tell you guys about Pepsi. This football season will be different, but 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. These passionate fans are the real generational talent that Pepsi fuels 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. Let's jump into the individual performances here and tighten up and tighten down. And I'm going to start with the tighten ups. I think that we can mix in a little bit of positivity here with this incredibly disappointing result to the Indianapolis Colts. But I'm going to dive into a few tighten ups. I think that Malcolm Butler and Breon Borders did an okay job today. They attacked Breon Borders often and early a lot of the time going after him, and I thought he did okay, held up, made some good tackles. Going to have to check the targeting stats and everything to see exactly what the damage was,

but to my eye from watching the game, I thought Breon Borders held up pretty well. Same with Malcolm Butler. I thought Malcolm Butler held up pretty well out there, taking away his side of the field when asked to. So I thought Malcolm Butler did a pretty good job, especially in that first half. Everything that took place in that second half, I mean, I can't really blame the Titans' defense.

They were put in a terrible position by the special teams and by the Titans' offense. I thought the Titans' defense held up their end of the bargain and got let down in the second half by the other two sides of the ball. So I thought Breon Borders, thought Malcolm Butler did a good job. I thought Jadavion Clowney had a pretty good day, had a big tackle for loss, had a couple pressures in the backfield, had three tackles. I thought he was pretty solid. Also, Corey Davis obviously, all my thoughts are with his family at this time. Very difficult week, very difficult time for his family.

But he was the Titans' most productive receiver. Six targets, five catches, 67 yards. Thought he tried to do his best out there when he was open. Also, want to shout out Derrick Henry. Thought he did the very best that he possibly could tonight. Was banged up as well for a lot of the game. Saw him nursing a shoulder. The Colts were all over Derrick Henry trying to penetrate gaps.

Trying to pressure the edges like we've seen. But he really got things going. I know that everybody hates those toss sweeps for Derrick Henry. But the reality is teams are blitzing the Titans up the middle. Up the A-gap. Up the B-gap. And one of the ways you can take advantage of teams doing that is by pitches and perimeter runs.

Because if everybody's blitzing up the middle and you get around them to the outside, there's nobody there to make the play. And when the Titans had success in the run game against the Colts, it was on those perimeter runs, those pitch sweeps, those short tosses. So everyone needs to relax on hating on those. I know they haven't done great throughout the year, but that's a great way to attack teams who are trying to penetrate heavily up the middle so got to give a tighten up for that play design but also a tighten up to Derrick Henry 19 carries 103 yards 5.4 yards per carry on average so I thought he did a pretty good job for for his

ball club he did everything that he could. Moving into the Titan Downs, where we're obviously going to spend a lot more time. I am going to start out on the defense. Jayon Brown has just been terrible this year. He's had a few bright moments in a few games, but in zone coverage, he just looks lost. He's not sucking to an offensive player at all. He's kind of lost in no man's land. He hasn't done a great job in run defense at all. He's kind of lost in no man's land. He hasn't done a great job in run defense at all. He's been horrible in run defense this season. So just been really disappointed by his play. The Colts were attacking Jayon Brown with their running backs and with their tight ends in zone coverage. If it's man, they're going to attack him with a running back.

If it's zone, they're going to attack him with a tight end. I just thought Jayon Brown's just really, really struggled in this game. He's been struggling the entire season, quite frankly, in my opinion. So really disappointed in his effort. And the most disappointing thing has been Kevin Byard. He led the team with six tackles, but the reason is he's being targeted over and over and over again by other teams when the Titans are in zone coverage. I don't understand what's going on, but both Jayon Brown and Kevin Bayard are playing their worst ball since they were rookies. Jayon in 2017, Bayard in 2016, just really disappointed in what they put on tape, what they put out on the field, and the Titans aren't going to be able to survive as a defense for entire games if Kevin Byard and Jayon Brown are mismatches the opposite direction usually those are guys hey the Titans have Kevin

Byard they have Jayon Brown that's going to give the Titans a good opportunity against tight ends but it just hasn't been there this year and they've been taken advantage of and that's been the most disappointing thing to me getting into into the special teams though, number one, Trevor Daniel. The punt block was not his fault, but the shank punt was completely his fault. And after Ryan Allen had such a good performance last week, it's only right to add a Titan down to Mike Vrabel and John Robinson on changing punters. Three punters in three weeks, that's absolutely terrible management by the organization. And it got them killed. It was really the big moment that kind of unraveled this game for the Titans.

Is that first shanked punt that gave the Colts field position inside the Titans 30. And directly led to a touchdown. So just terrible management there. Switching punters. But then also you have to take into account that the second issue the punt block wasn't really on the punter there that was on David Long who just did a terrible job did not take his man assignment in the blocking that is responsible up front of the punt and allowed a free Colts rusher which resulted in the block and then the return for a touchdown so a terrible job

by David Long do have to mention that a couple weeks ago when David Long and Derek Roberson were both inactive on game day Mike Vrabel got asked about that and he said that you have to be versatile enough to add value on special teams to be on the game day roster well David Long clearly we see why Vrabel had those concerns just a terrible job blocking on that punt, and both of those plays, just disastrous plays on punt, happened within a minute and then resulted in two Colts touchdowns, taking the Titans from up by four to down by ten. It totally changed the game. So a Titan down for Trevor Daniel, the punter, a Titan down for David Long. A tighten down for the organization and their management of special teams this year, which the Titans special teams has been a detriment to them three out of the last four weeks.

And that simply cannot be the case for this Tennessee Titans ball club. Getting into the offensive side of the ball, I actually think the offensive line did a pretty decent job in this game. It was Ryan Tannehill, just inaccurate in this game, 15 for 27 under 150 yards. And while it's not all his fault, he was under pressure. The Titans were in some third and long situations. The Colts played great defense too. That's another factor here. The Colts played great defense. The Titansts played great defense. The Titans had a few drops as well. But Ryan Tannehill has also had his fair share of inaccurate throws over the last four games.

It's just a reality. He has not been sharp. That regression has hit. And the thing is, Ryan Tannehill has never been and will never be a guy who can just drop back in shotgun and make accurate throws, throw after throw, drive after drive. That's why the Titans do that play-action bootleg stuff, is so that they can get Ryan Tannehill defined reads over the middle that he can just laser in the ball. He's not a guy who's going to just kill you with pinpoint accuracy and ball placement.

It's just not his strong set or or his skill set and when you get the Titans in third and long situations or third and six, third and seven and they just have to find a hole in the zone and get an accurate pass. You know sometimes a guy is in a hole in a zone and depending on where you throw the ball high, low, left shoulder, right shoulder, left hip, right hip depending on where you throw the ball is going to make all the difference and whether it's a complete pass or not. That's something that Tom Brady is so good at. Drew Brees, some of the best of all time. That's what they do so well is they're accurate not just in getting the ball to the guy that's open but getting it to him in a position where he can actually make the catch and Tannehill doesn't always do that. Some of his throws are just a

little inaccurate. It makes it tougher on his guys to make contested catches. So it's been a problem for the Titans offense. Not the running game so much, but the passing game. So Ryan Tannehill and then A.J. Brown, more drops. Another one. These things are exposing the Titans lapses in their skill sets. The Titans don't have a pure hands catcher like a basketball team doesn't have a pure shooter. They have guys who can make threes, but you just don't have that dude who, yeah, he's knocking down threes over and over and over. A pure shooter. You know what I mean.

The Titans don't have a wide receiver or a tight end that's a pure catcher. They have Adam Humphreys. That's one. Anthony Ferkser, I guess. But look who I'm talking about there. That's none of the Titans' main threats. Their main threats are Corey Davis, Johnnie Smith, A.J. Brown. Those guys are physical guys who get the ball in their hands

and then can make plays with the ball in their hands after the catch. But they're not great route runners as wide receivers. They don't have pure hands as wide receivers. And those deficiencies are starting to be exposed against teams that have good defenses. So the Titans have to find a way to rebound here, but a tight end down for Tannehill, for A.J. Brown, that big drop for A.J., he had a second drop in the game after a big drop last week. I mean, he's just got to stop dropping the ball when it matters most, quite frankly. When he's

open, he's got to catch the ball, and that drop really hurt the momentum of the game. If the Titans catch that, they go up 14 to 3, and we can't pretend that the game wouldn't be a little bit different if that play would have gone the Titans way. So that's going to do it for the individual performances and tighten up and tighten down. We are going to come back, cap off the show quickly with a little bit of a preview of the games that the Titans need to pay attention to coming up this weekend. The Titans pulled a same old Titans move and falling flat on a primetime matchup in a big game. It's just got to give you that feeling of nostalgia. Well, that's a little bit too positive of a word, but I can't help but have some of those same old feelings.

And quite frankly, the Titans need obsession with being 9-7. It's just gone way too far. Okay, just kidding. I'm expecting better than 9-7, but they're going to have to turn it around really, really quickly. And even if they don't win the division, when it just comes to the wild card, the Titans are going to have to turn it around very, very quickly. So let's dive into some of the AFC matchups that the Titans will have to keep their

eye on this weekend. And we'll start in the division, although, you know, neither of the other teams in the division are going to be coming up to challenge the Titans. The one and seven Jags are the two and six Texans still going to keep up with what they're doing. And one of those games actually has another team that the Titans really need to be concerned about. So we'll start off looking at the Jacksonville Jaguars, one and seven. They'll be at the six and two Green Bay Packers. Doesn't really affect the Titans much, but obviously expecting the Jags to lose that game. Next though, we have the two and six Houston Texans at the Cleveland Browns who are five and three who are suddenly a team that the Titans really

have to be concerned about in the wildcard race and in the playoff picture. So it would be nice if a Houston Texans team could find a way to do the Titans a favor here and take down the Browns and knock them to 5-4. It would go a long way to helping the Titans in that playoff picture. to five and four. It would go a long way to helping the Titans in that playoff picture. Next, another five and three team that we have to take a look at, the Miami Dolphins, who will be hosting the two and six Los Angeles Chargers. The Dolphins are five and three as well, right in the thick of it in the playoff race. So clearly a team that the Titans are going to have to pay attention to. They're going to be fighting for positioning, fighting for a spot with the Dolphins most likely. So a game for us to watch. Then the Denver Broncos at the team

to watch, the 5-3 Las Vegas Raiders. So another 5-3 AFC team that the Titans will be battling out for position with. So got to watch what the Raiders do in that game. Taking a look at those three games right there. The Texans have a great shot to defeat the Browns. I think that game will be closer than some expect. The Chargers have shot themselves in the foot so many times. They're a better team than two and six. That gives them a good opportunity to win against the Miami Dolphins. And then the Broncos, I think they can beat the Raiders. I don't think that the Raiders are anything special. All those teams, the Dolphins, the Browns, the Raiders, and the Titans, are all teams that, you know, they can win any game, they can lose any game, though.

So I can absolutely see the Broncos finding a way to beat the Raiders on Sunday. And then the final game that we got to pay attention to is the 6-2 Baltimore Ravens at the New England Patriots. The Ravens should win that game and move them to 7-2. But going against a Patriots team with a great coach in Bill Belichick and some of the struggles that the Ravens have been having recently on offense, maybe there's the chance that the Patriots are able to you know secure a victory there at home against the Ravens that would go a long way to helping out the Tennessee Titans but those are the games that the Titans need to pay attention to going forward the Steelers are probably out of their range being undefeated the Kansas City Chiefs are on a bye this week so that's really

what the AFC looks like going into this weekend. And hopefully you guys can maybe just enjoy the football on Sunday without having to worry about the Tennessee Titans winning or losing. That's what I'm going to try to do at least. But I'm going to be back with you guys on Monday to talk about what took place in the AFC over the weekend, see where the playoff picture stands at this moment in time for the Tennessee Titans. And then we will also do a Monday mailbag. So send your questions to me on Twitter at TicTacTitans or in the form of a five-star review on the Apple podcast reviews. Either way, I'll be

getting to those. But a very disappointing loss. It's been a tough podcast to record after that loss, but we are getting through it together. And like the Titans, 10 days to really turn things around. And I'm going to give you guys my best effort over the next few days of the Locked on Titans podcast. So enjoy your weekend. I'll be back with you guys on Monday. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland,

and this was Locked on Titans.