Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Lose To Kansas City Chiefs 20-17 in OT, Offense Collapses in 2nd Half

Episode Date: November 7, 2022

The Tennessee Titans lost in familiar fashion on Sunday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Titans defense got off to a hot start and the offense put up points early, but it all fell apart in the second half and the Titans lost in OT 20-17. Tyler goes over the terrible job by Todd Downing and the lack of receiver depth. Also, #TitanUpTitanDown for all the good & bad individual performances!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.BlueNileMake your moment sparkle with Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com and use code lockedon to save fifty dollars on your purchase of five-hundred dollars or more.BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self. 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, the Titans lose on Sunday night football in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs 20-17. But it wasn't all bad, but it also was very familiar. The Titans come out on fire in the first half and then crumble a bit in the second half. We're going to dive into all the big moments from this game.

Then look at the individual performances, both good and bad, and tighten up and tighten down. I'll talk about Malik Willis. Now he had a pretty good night and another terrible, terrible second half performance from Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing. We're going to get into all of that and more 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. Titans fans, an overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. I know there are no such things as moral victories in the NFL,

but I don't really feel terrible about the Titans coming out of this one. There's a lot of good mixed in with the bad for the Titans. We're going to get into all of it on today's show. Before we do, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made easy. You pick two to five players, and if they score more or less than their PrizePix projection, you can win up to 10 times your money on your entry. First-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON.

That's prizepix.com, promo code LOCKEDON. Thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday. Free Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms here on the Locked On Titans podcast. Make sure you subscribe. Hit that notification bell. Throw a thumbs up on the video right now if you're watching.

It goes a long way to support the channel. But at the end of the day, guys, this is every Tennessee Titans game all year. The Titans just played a good team who was able to pull it out in the end. The Titans get up early. The defense is playing great. Forces a turnover. Gets stops in the red zone. The Titans find a way to put some scoring drives together. Malik Willis made some great plays.

Had some great throws. Derrick Henry was running in the first half. I believe Derrick Henry had 92 rushing yards in the first half. Tennessee Titans football, like we've seen all year, in the first half. The defense is all over the place. The Titans offense is able to put some points up. There we go. But then, once again, as we've seen all too often this season, the Titans get into

the second half and the offense literally crumbles. The Titans offense isn't able to move the ball whatsoever. The first four drives of the second half for the Titans, they got zero first downs. So, it's just hard to play defense consistently all game long when the offense is giving you absolutely nothing. But at the end of the day, guys,

despite all of that, the Titans played pretty well in this game. And if I would have asked you when we found out that Malik was starting, if you thought the Titans were going to win, if you guys are telling the truth, a lot of you guys would say no. The Titans didn't have a chance to win. And look at the way they played.

So I know that there are no moral victories and I know that everybody is going to be very, very upset about the loss and there's a lot to discuss that's bad. But overall, it was a pretty good game for the Titans and I thought they had a great performance for having a backup quarterback out there. Again, I know it's same old, same old. Play great in the first half, come out in the second half and lay an egg,

let the team come back. And this time the Titans weren't playing the Commanders or the Texans or the Raiders or the Colts where they weren't good enough to come back. They were playing the Chiefs. But they held the Chiefs to 20 points. And I mean, the defense had to be out there for so many plays. I mean, Patrick Mahomes threw the ball like 68 times. So, I mean, I know that there's bad.

I know that there's bad. And let's go over it. At the end of the day, in my opinion, this loss is on two people. There are two people to blame. Number one, Todd Downing. Things are going good in the first half. In the second half, they go away from Derrick Henry.

Not only that, but they stop calling as many read options with Malik Willis. They're not doing the designed rollouts anymore. No more screen passes. There was one tight end screen pass in the second half. Literally Todd Downing quit doing all of the things that were working in the first half. And I don't know how this happens every single week. Malik was playing pretty well. Yeah, it wasn't outrageous

but they were calling plays and putting him in positions to be successful in the second half the creativity goes away why in the world is it second and eight and you're in shotgun running regular

drop back passes for Malik Willis that's not who Malik is. What are you doing? Why are we doing this? It's second and eight. Either that needs to be a play action bootleg with Malik, or that needs to be a read option with Malik, or just run the ball to Derrick Henry.

I have no idea why the play calling changed so much in the second half. I don't understand. So Todd Downing is the number one person who's responsible. But number two has to be John Robinson. I'm a John Robinson defender. I think you guys are too tough on J-Rob. He's built a pretty dang good team here. But at the end of the day,

this team saw multiple wide receivers drop perfectly placed passes I mean Malik was dealing at times in this game with pinpoint accuracy Chris Conley drops one NWI drops one Cody Hollister is out there blocking on passing plays and all the while, A.J. Brown is trolling the Titans on Twitter.

Sending gifs, laughing about the Titans wide receivers and how no one's open. And they showed multiple times when Malik took sacks there at the end, people want to blame Malik. No one was open. Chris Conley, Nick Westbrook-Akene, Cody Hollister. Those are the wide receivers on this team and you expect a rookie quarterback to have success when you're just calling drop back passes for him?

So, John Robinson put this team in this position with this wide receiver group. Todd Downing completely rid the offense of any creativity with the play calling in the second half. And despite everything else, despite everything else, that's the biggest blame. And at the end of the day, guys, as we go through this season and we think,

what is holding this team back from actually being better? What is holding the Titans back from actually being a team that we have some confidence in to win some playoff games? What is holding this team back? And it will be and it will continue to be the lack of weapons on offense

and the despicable second half play calling a Todd Downing. Every week, it just feels like whether Malik's at quarterback or Tannehill's at quarterback or Henry plays well or they get some explosive plays or there's turnovers or there's the defense plays well enough to win

and the offense blows it in the second half because Todd Downing doesn't know how to call plays and there's no wide receiving weapons to make a play. Tonight was just a microcosm of the Titans season in general. But with that said, we're going to go into Titan up and Titan down. We're going to look at the individual performances in this game,

both good and bad. Before we get into it though, do want to tell you guys about PrizePix. I talked about PrizePix at the beginning of the show. PrizePix is daily fantasy made simple. Guys, PrizePix gives a projection to each player. Derrick Henry, 100 rushing yards. Patrick Mahomes, 300 passing yards.

Traylon Burks, two touchdowns. Hopefully he goes over on that next week. But all you do is you determine whether the player is going to do more or less than what the projection is. You pick two to five players. And if you're right, you're going to win up to 10 times your money on your entry. Download the PrizePix app right now or go to prizepix.com. Sign up.

Use the promo code LOCKEDON. First-time users are going to receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. Once again, that's promo code LOCKEDON at PricePix.com or on the PricePix app for a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. Titans fans, let's continue today's breakdown of the Titans loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. We are going to dive into tighten up and tighten down, starting with the tighten ups.

Got to talk about Malik Willis. Malik Willis looked a lot better in this game. We're going to get into that. We're going to talk about Malik Willis. Malik Willis looked a lot better in this game. We're going to get into that. And then at the end, I'm going to talk about Todd Downing's play calling at the end of the game in Titan Down. Titan Downing, as we like to call it around these parts right now. Thank you guys for tuning in and making the Locked on Titans podcast

your first listen every day. Free Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on the Locked on Titans podcast. Make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. But diving into Titan Up, number one, Derrick Henry. It's not Derrick Henry's fault that Todd Downing faded him out of the game plan

in the second half. Henry had 17 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns. He had 92 of those yards in the first half. Absolutely dominant. Running the ball down their throat. All of a sudden, at the end of the game, Todd Downing didn't feel like giving the ball

to Derrick Henry. It's kind of crazy. I don't know. I don't know what happened there, guys. Don't have a good answer for you with that. But Derrick Henry played a very good game. Went over 100 yards again. If he would have got the ball more,

I think the Titans would have been in a better situation. Number two, though, I'm going to say Malik Willis with a tight good game. Went over 100 yards again. If he would have got the ball more, I think the Titans would have been in a better situation. Number two, though, I'm going to say Malik Willis with a tight nut. And I understand that it wasn't beautiful. It wasn't perfect. But I'm not judging Malik Willis on a Ryan Tannehill scale. I'm judging Malik Willis on the scale of what he did last week. And it was almost night and day for Malik. The confidence and the poise that he was playing with.

Five for 16 for 80 yards. Doesn't look great. No, it doesn't. But look who he was throwing to, and look at the help that they gave him. It was basically zero. Two drop passes on what would have been big chunk plays for the Titans. I can't get over the Chris Conley drop on the sideline.

Nick Westbrook at Keene, the drop. I mean, despicable stuff. They're not helping Malik at all in the sideline. Nick Westbrook at Keene, the drop. I mean, despicable stuff. They're not helping Malik at all in the second half. The wide receivers aren't helping Malik at all. And I thought Malik had poise. He was trying to make the best of it. He was escaping in the pocket. He ran

eight times for 40 yards. He made some pinpoint. That back shoulder throw to Austin Hooper. I mean, Malik led them down the field. We didn't have all the false starts and everything like that. So, yeah, was Malik Willis absolutely incredible? He needs to start, freak out, blah, blah, blah. No. No, he wasn't.

But he improved mightily from last week. And he looked like a quarterback out there. The biggest problems with the Titans tonight were not Malik Willis. There are no, excuse me, makes me so mad. There are no wide receivers on this team, and Todd Downing is a terrible play caller. How is this a situation that is conducive

to a rookie quarterback being successful? And despite that, Malik Willis found a way to have the Titans in the game and get them to overtime. So it's a tighten up for Malik Willis. Again, not perfect, not pretty, but a tighten up. Also, tighten up to Ben Jones and Nate Davis. I thought they did pretty well, especially when the Titans were running the ball early in the first half on defense Danico Autry major tighten up

for Danico Autry had three tackles two sacks was getting into backfield quite consistently throughout the game David Long had 10 tackles he was everywhere I loved how he was getting in Travis Kelsey's face early in the game frustrating David Long had 10 tackles. He was everywhere. I loved how he was getting in Travis Kelsey's face early in the game, frustrating him. And Kelsey had a pretty good day out there because the Chiefs just threw the ball a million times. But it really wasn't like a dominant performance by any means

when you actually look at the game. Mario Edwards was good in this game, had two tackles and a sack. Demarcus Walker had a sack in this game and in the secondary. Christian Fulton had an excellent game. Tighten up for Christian Fulton. Tighten up for Kevin Byard, who had 12 tackles and did pretty good playing man coverage on Travis Kelsey. A tighten up for Roger McCreary, who got an interception in this game.

Some good awareness. I thought the Titans secondary held up surprisingly well. And I know that Patrick Mahomes threw for 400 some yards. I get it. I do. And I know that Patrick Mahomes ran for six, 63 yards. I know. But if you guys watch the game, the Titans defense played well. The offense just asked them to do far too much. Man, the Titans' run defense was so good. The Chiefs just gave up running the ball, basically. So, Danico Autry, David Long, Mario Edwards, Demarcus Walker, Christian Fulton, Kevin Byard, Roger McCreary

played solid games out there. Tighten up for all those guys. Also, tighten up for Ryan Stonehouse. It wasn't all awesome, but he pinned the Chiefs in a couple of times inside the 20. Should have had another inside the 20, but there were some coverage issues. But overall, I thought the coverage was pretty good as well. So it's a tighten up

for Ryan Stonehouse, tighten up for the Titans coverage units, who I thought were pretty solid throughout most of the day. So there were some good performances in there for the Titans. Also, a big tighten up for Mike Vrabel. We talk about the issues with the play calling on offense.

We talk about the issues at wide receiver. And Mike Vrabel made a very interesting comment about the Titans wide receiver group that came out right before the game that we are going to be talking about tomorrow. Because Mike Vrabel, I don't know how else you could take it. Mike Vrabel took a shot at John Robinson before the game, talking to Ed Werger. And we're going to go over that tomorrow,

as well as Jeffrey Simmons' contract situation. Make sure you guys subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast, free Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content, all year round on all platforms, including the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. But Mike Vrabel continues to get the absolute most out of this team. No matter what happens, Mike Vrabel comes in with a good game plan. He has the defense ready to go.

And you can blame Mike Vrabel and say, why are you continuing to let Todd Downing, you know, ruin this team with the second half play calling? But all I can tell you is, despite that, we got to give the flowers to Mike Vrabel, who continues to put this team in a position to win week in and week out. Yes, Kansas City's good. Yes, they lost.

But this is another example of Mike Vrabel continuously being a really good football coach. But we got to talk about the tight end downs, guys. Because I got more tight end downs than I normally do. And my overall feeling about this game is pretty good. Like I'm not like upset about this game. But there are some tight end downs to go into. The two people that I talked about up front that deserve the most blame.

Then some players, the wide receiver group, and where is Bud Dupree? On the sidelines and injured again. So we're going to talk about all that in just a second. Before we get into it, I do want to tell you guys about BetOnline. BetOnline is your number one source for all your betting needs this football season. They have college football. They have NFL.

It's more than that, too. They have NBA. They have MMA. They have boxing. They have golf. They even have eSports. And they have live betting available for you as well. Make sure that you go to BetOnline right now.

You can use your mobile device. You can use your PC. You can use your laptop device, you can use your PC, you can use your laptop, whatever you want. Check out everything they have to offer. Your number one spot for betting this football season. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, we are going to cap off today's show going over my Titan downs.

And there are a lot of Titan downs from this game compared to what I normally would have down, quite frankly. So we're going to dive into the Titan Downs. We talked about my big takeaways to start, hit the Titan Ups and all the good performances individually that we saw. Before we get into the Titan Downs, I want to thank you guys again 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 all the biggest sports stories in every sport in under 25 minutes. It's part of the Locked On Podcast Network. I'll be making an appearance on the Locked On Sports Today show with Peter Bukowski on Monday. So make sure you guys check that out. But going into the Titan Downs, I got to hit on these one more time.

Todd Downing. Where were the read option plays with Malik Willis? Where was Derrick Henry? Where were the read option plays with Malik Willis? Where was Derrick Henry? Where were the screen passes in the second half? What happened? I don't understand. I don't understand why the creativity completely ceases to exist

in the second half for Todd Downing. I don't know what the point is there. Also, John Robinson, a major tight end down for this wide receiver group. I am a John Robinson defender. I think he's one of the better general managers in the NFL. Look at the team that he's assembled for the last five years.

Superstars on this team. It's great. But, the pitiful state of the wide receiver group is what is going to cost this team any chance to make a playoff run. They just simply don't have any weapons. To the point where, like I talked about at the beginning of the show, A.J. Brown is openly trolling the Titans on Twitter.

Laughing about the fact that they have Cody Hollister at wide receiver and can't get anybody open. They are being bullied and trolled by a former player because of how pitiful their wide receiver group is. It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable to go into a season with Derrick Henry and Jeffrey Simmons and Kevin Byard and Ryan Tannehill and have that wide receiver

group. It's unacceptable. And I'm not, you guys are all going to get mad about the trade deadline. I'm mad about the offseason. That this was the plan. Really, everyone knows what I'm actually most mad about is getting rid of Redacted.

The guy who's on Twitter making fun of you. So, John Robinson has just mismanaged the wide receiver position. He thought that the Titans could get away with this. And we can talk about two rookies who are on injured reserve. But at the end of the day, why are you putting so much of the responsibility on rookies? So, a tighten down to Todd Downing, who's tightened downing at this point,

and a tighten down to John Robinson's management of the wide receiver position. On to the game. Tighten down for the wide receivers. They weren't open, guys. I see people trashing Malik in the comments. Are you guys blind? Are you blind? Yeah, Malik wasn't perfect in this game, but he was

far from the problem. No one was open. Chris Collinsworth pulled out the view numerous times on the broadcast to point out that no one was open. Cody Hollister, Nick Westbrook-Akene, Robert Woods off an ACL tear posing as a wide receiver one Chris Conley

who was picked up off the street rookie quarterbacks especially a third round rookie quarterback who needs at minimum a year of development. How is he supposed to succeed with that wide receiver group and that offensive line and then the play calling from Todd Downer? And you guys want to blame Malik? Hey, I'm not saying he played great, but my God. Tough crowd. This wide receiver group gets a tight end down.

Dennis Daly, just what's Malik supposed to do? He's literally getting attacked in the pocket when he was dropping back at the end of the game. No one's open and he's being attacked. Josh Kalou can't play out there on defense for the Titans. He just can't do it. He just struggles so mightily in zone coverage. And he definitely, definitely can't play man.

Tighten down from Josh Klug. Major tighten down to Zach Cunningham. He has been awful for most of the year. He was benched during this game for Dylan Cole. I saw Monty Rice out there as well. Zach Cunningham was benched in this game.

Not good. Also, Bud Dupree, hurt again in the middle of the game, out. You guys get hype every single week that he makes a single play. If he makes a single play, you guys all freak out and tell me, see, Bud Dupree's worth it.

I mean, come on, wake up. This guy is a waste of money. He's been a waste of money, and I said it was going to be a waste of money the moment he was signed. Yeah, the Titans are better when he's on the field. You know why? Because he's an average NFL starter. Yeah, when the Titans have practice squad people like

Wyatt Ray out there, Bud Dupree sure makes the defense look better. Yeah. Because when they don't have Bud Dupree, they have Wyatt Ray. Or Joe Schobert. So, duh. When the Titans had Cameron Wake

across from Harold Landry, they were a great pass rush too. So Bud Dupree is not special. Bud Dupree is not awesome. He's just an NFL starter. And having four NFL starters makes the pass rush good. I mean, it's not hard to understand. It's really not hard. I'm not saying he's not good.

People always tag me like, oh'm not saying he's not good. People always tag me like, oh, Bud Dupree's good. Yeah, he's good. He's an NFL starter. But he's not worth $20 million. Come on, man. Everybody, wake up. And as soon as he's off the team, as soon as he's off the team, everybody's

going to say exactly what I've been saying since he was signed. That it was a bad deal and it was a waste of money. So, I'll just wait until he's off the team and all the homers can let their emotions go and then tell the truth about what's going on. So,

see, this is what I don't understand. Are you listening, Dave? Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? The D-line. Yes, the D-line is better when they have an NFL starter in instead of Wyatt Ray. I mean, come on, man.

I swear sometimes you don't listen. You guys just don't. I literally explain it so thoroughly. And then someone still says something like that. I'm like, what are we even doing here? Anyways, Rashad Weaver, on a lot of those Patrick Mahomes runs, it was Weaver with no rush discipline, got washed way too far up the field. The Titans are running a stunt that is trying to push Mahomes to Weaver

and Weaver's going so far up the field that Mahomes can just escape out to his right and then scramble for yards. So, tighten down for Rashad Weaver's rush discipline. Some final tighten downs for me. The referees. Look, guys, if you want someone to come on here and blame the refs, I'm not going to be the guy that you want to go to.

I'm not a big person who likes to come on and blame the refs. But my God, that was despicable stuff. Especially that two-point conversion. I mean, come on. Josh Kalou was guarding Travis. Travis Kelsey literally put his hands in Travis Kalou's face.

Travis Kelsey put it in Josh Kalou's face and pushed his helmet off his head. The refs were awful. The Titans should have won the game anyways. It's not the refs were awful. The Titans should have won the game anyways. It's not the refs' fault that the Titans lost. But they didn't do a very good job either. And the last Titan down that I have here, folks, is for the broadcast.

I don't know if you guys experienced what I experienced tonight, but literally the entire screen was jumbled and static except for right when the play was about to happen. Literally all night, cutting in and out. All night long, the TV was cutting in and out. And I talked to some of you guys on Twitter. You said you were having the same problem. Literally, terrible, terrible broadcast from NBC.

It was terrible. I mean, I heard people on Xfinity, people on Spectrum, people on YouTube TV, people on Comcast. I had everybody. My mom was watching it on an antenna

just because it's basic, you know, local cable or local TV. And she said she was having problems. It's crazy. Crazy to me. So, but anyways. Guys, this is a good team. Just not a great team.

And we know why. And it's confirmed every week. Every single week. The defense is good enough to win a championship. The offense actually has the ability to be a good offense. But Todd Downing and this lackluster wide receiver group is probably just going to keep it from ever really having a chance.

And all I know for certain is, if Todd Downing is on this coaching staff when we go into 2023, I mean, we have to riot. We have to protest. We have to collectively organize as a group of Tennessee Titans fans. We have to meet outside the facility

and literally have a protest against Todd Downing because watching him destroy this offense in the second half it's tough each week. It's tough to waste defensive efforts. And as the Titans play better teams they're not going to be able to get away with what they got away with against the Commanders and the Texans and the Colts and the Raiders. They're not going to get away with that. Tomorrow, Jeffrey Simmons' contract situation and his comments over the weekend. Mike Vrabel's

interesting comments about the wide receiver group. Oh, wow. I was surprised by that. And then we always have some interesting numbers to go over. Rewatch Wednesday will be on Wednesday and I'll be breaking down what I see on film. Thursday, crossover Thursday with the guys from Locked On Broncos and Friday will be a game plan

Friday where I break down what I want to see from the Titans on the field on Sunday. So, make sure that you guys stay subscribed or get subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.