Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Lose to Pittsburgh Steelers 19-13: Big Takeaways, #TitanUpTitanDown & AFC Recap

Episode Date: December 20, 2021

The Tennessee Titans seemingly gave the game away on Sunday and lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers 19-13. Tyler goes over the performances of the offense, defense and special teams while outlining the major themes in the game. Then, discuss the individual performances in this game in #TitanUpTitanDown. Finally, Tyler looks at the AFC to go over the dire situation the Titans are putting themselves in.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3332GMOh4y5PX3q9NFybwSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/LOCKEDON and use promo code LOCKEDON for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match. 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, it is a Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Not a victory Monday, unfortunately, because the Tennessee Titans offense completely collapsed in the second half against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Titans lose 19-13, and I'm breaking down everything you need to know on today's show.

First, my big picture takeaways on offense, defense, and special teams. Then we're going to get into the individual performances, both good and bad in everybody's favorite segment, tighten up and tighten down. And then I'm going to take a look at some other results in the AFC in week 15, see where the Tennessee Titans sit within the conference and where they sit within the division, which is something the Titans have to pay attention to now. All of that and more on a Monday 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, it is a Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Breaking down everything you need to know from the Titans loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers. 19-13 in Pittsburgh. We're going to start with my big picture takeaways on offense, defense, and special teams.

Before I get into those, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen to the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. Check out the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Subscribe there. Smash that notification bell so you know when all of my content goes live. Also, make sure you check me out on social media,

on Twitter at TicTacTitans for all my film clips and film breakdowns. And check out the show Facebook page at Locked on Titans Pod. But with all that being said, it's time to dive into this game. And we have nowhere to start other than the offense in the second half. The Tennessee Titans commit four turnovers, three of those being on consecutive drives in the second half that lead to nine straight Pittsburgh Steeler points to put them ahead late in the game.

The first half fumble for the Titans led to a field goal as well. So four turnovers during the game for the Titans. Lead directly to 12 points for the Steelers. Who win by six. The only other points that the Steelers scored. Were on a penalty assisted drive. Where they got 40 penalty yards. That led to a touchdown.

And all three of the penalty calls on that drive were very, very questionable. But, of course, not blaming the officials in this one as the Titans have no one to blame but themselves. And when you start to take a look at the numbers in this game between the two teams, it's just apparent that the Titans were the better team and they completely gave it away by shooting themselves in the foot. Once again, it's Houston, it's New England, all over again for the Titans. I mean, how many times are you going to win a game when you have four turnovers? It doesn't matter if you run 33 more plays than the other team.

run 33 more plays than the other team. It doesn't matter if you outgain the Steelers 318 yards to 168. It doesn't matter if you rush the ball for 200 yards to the Steelers 35. It doesn't matter when you turn over the ball four times and you have Racey McMath, Anthony Ferkser with a fumble, Ryan Tannehill and Ben Jones with a mishandled snap, Ryan Tannehill

throwing the ball and getting tipped by a Steelers defensive lineman turning into an interception. It's just absolutely unreal

that the Tennessee Titans offense continues to squander games against teams that the Titans should beat and that the Titans defense puts

them in a position to win. So the Titans offense completely blows it. They're one and four in the red zone. They could have taken advantage more there, but overall they outgain the Steelers by a ton of yards. They run the ball down the Steelers throat. They have way more time of possession in the game. The time of possession was 39 minutes for the Titans to 20 for the Steelers. They double them in time of possession. So the Titans offense had good moments, but you cannot continue to turn over the ball. It's unreal at this moment in time, how the Titans continue to do that. And for the Steelers to turn those turnovers into 12 points, it's just, it's just unacceptable. And here's a big number for you.

The Steelers got a combined 58 yards on those four field goal drives. They had to go half a field, half a football field to get 12 points. It's just despicable what the Titans offense has done to their defense and done to this team this year. And everyone's to blame. Tannehill was not playing poorly in the first half.

He had a really good first half. But then he just makes these mistakes when he has no one around him and he's not lifting anybody up. Todd Downing, I don't think it was a poorly called game at all. I'm not going to blame Todd Downing. But the pass blocking, absolutely horrific again. The Steelers continue. Well, any other team. It doesn't matter who it is.

The opposing team continues to sack Ryan Tannehill over and over again, continue to get pressure on him all game long. I mean, you start to look at the sack totals and the Steelers had four sacks in this game. So four sacks, four turnovers. You just can't do it. You look at the defensive side of the ball for the Titans, and I mean, I don't know what more anybody could expect here. Like I said, the Titans gave the Steelers 12 points, just handed it to them. The refs gave the Steelers 40 penalty yards on their only touchdown drive.

The Steelers only got a first down on four of their 11 drives. The other seven, they didn't even get a first down. four of their 11 drives. The other seven, they didn't even get a first down. They had 35 rushing yards. The Steelers were two for 11 on third down, one for three in the red zone, only 168 total yards.

I mean, what else could you ask for from the Titans defense? And even the special teams contributed. Brett Kern struggled, but Bullock made all three of his kicks. Chester Rogers, a 55-yard punt return, gave the Titans a great chance to score. So it's just unbelievable how the Titans continue to melt down on offense and turn over the ball over and over and over again. And quite frankly, I'm out of words for it. I'm just out of words. The Titans now drop to nine and five and

It's gonna be tough to not only hold on To to the division, but it could get tough for the Titans to hold on to a playoff spot Julio Jones was injured in this game and got knocked out for the game He's not gonna play on Thursday And if the Titans don't have Julio once Julio went out the offense went out the window too Because of the threat that he has on the defense. Just his presence, just an NFL player out there at wide receiver gives the Titans the ability to have some functioning offense and not completely trip over their own feet. So just a despicable loss for the Titans. The Steelers score

16 points in the second half. The Titans score zero. It's just an embarrassment. And the Titans are just letting these games that they should have. They should have beat the Texans. They should have beat the Steelers. And now they just let that slip through their hands. They got a terrible, terrible opportunity on Thursday night in a short week with all the injuries. A.J. Brown probably won't come back because it's still not enough time

to have a full week of practice. I mean, I'm not certain what the Titans... If I'm the Titans, I mean, you just got to be careful here and you got to make sure that you get A.J. Brown back for the last two games of the year. Maybe you even got to bring Derrick Henry back early if he's healthy, as some of the reports indicate, because the season is slipping quickly through the Titans' hands,

just like the ball seems to do every single week. But before we get into. Tighten up. And tighten down. Do want to tell you guys. About Boost Mobile. You listen to podcasts. For the power of knowledge.

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for all phones and networks. See BoostMobile.com for details. Titans fans, we are going to continue this Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I just talked about my big picture takeaways on offense, defense, and special teams. Now I want to dive into the individual performances in Tighten Up and Tighten Down. Tighten Up, obviously, is the good performances in Tighten Down. Well, self-explanatory at that moment in time.

Before we get into that, I do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. I am going to be putting out daily, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content, not only during the season, but all year long.

You don't want to miss any of it. Make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you stream podcasts. Subscribe to the Locked on Titans YouTube channel as well. But tighten up. Going to go through them quickly. Deonta Foreman. Just can't hate on anything this guy is bringing.

He's obviously banged up. Had ankle issues throughout the game. Has an arm issue lingering from last week. And he ran hard as heck. I mean, on that fourth down on the last drive, the fourth and one, not the one that ended the game, but the one before that, he got stopped two yards before the fourth down conversion. He just powered through three Pittsburgh Steelers and got the first down. So nothing but respect and nothing but adulation for Deonta Foreman,

who's really done the best that he can, despite having some vision issues. He's not the best running back in the league. The Titans did pick him up off the street. You got to keep that in mind for what he was brought in here and asked to do. You can't really be mad about anything that he offered. He had 22 carries for 108 yards. His best Derrick Henry impression possible. Had two catches for

27 yards, and like I said, some of those runs were big time. Also, I thought Nate Davis and Ben Jones did a good job in this game, especially in the run game, of course. I've never seen an offensive line be so good at running the ball and so terrible at pass protecting, but I thought in this game that Ben Jones and Nate Davis did a pretty good job. Of course, Ben Jones gets the knock for the fumble. It's him and Tana Hill's fault on that, but overall for most of the game, Ben Jones did a good job,

and I thought Nate Davis was right there with him. Chester Rogers had the 55-yard punt return that really helped the Titans, had four catches for 30 yards, had a big third down completion for the Titans in the second half that should have turned into points, if not for the turnover. So a good job overall for Chester Rogers. I thought Nick Westbrook-Akina as well, four catches, 32 yards. I know at the very end of the game he didn't get that final yard, but you're throwing it before the sticks and asking Nick Westbrook-Akina,

who's a borderline NFL player, to make a big play for you. I mean, at some point you're asking too much of these guys. You've got to throw the ball past the sticks or throw to a more open guy. Nick Westbrook-Akina, I'm not going to say that he had a bad game because he couldn't get that extra yard. It's not really on him at that point to do even more than the fighting that he already did. He had to go through two Pittsburgh Steelers.

So a good game overall for Nick Westbrook-Akina for the role that he's being asked to play, which in my opinion is over his head. And then after that, the entire Tennessee Titans defense. That's how I feel. The entire Tennessee Titans defense. That's how I feel. The entire Tennessee Titans defense. On the defensive line, Jeffrey Simmons made huge plays throughout the game.

Big plays, moved people around. Naquan Jones had four tackles, had a sack, had two tackles for loss. Harold Landry, two tackles, didn't have a sack, but was compression the edge. Bud Dupree had a sack, had a tackle for loss, had two tackles. The Titans defensive line controlled the line of scrimmage all day long.

Again, the Steelers did literally nothing on offense. I mean, for the most part, yeah, that's the case. 168 total yards, 35 rushing. I mean, the Steelers didn't do anything on offense. Kyle Pecco on the defensive line, Kevin Strong on the defensive line. I thought they all played a very good game up front. The linebacker, Zach Cunningham, led the Titans in tackles. He forced a fumble, if not for a terrible roughing the passer call

on Jeffrey Simmons, would have been the Titans' ball. Zach Cunningham, six tackles, good job. Kevin Byer played well in this game. Rashawn Evans played well in this game. Christian Fulton played well in this game. Had a terrible defensive pass interference call on him in the end zone that was horrible. I thought Buster Screen played really good in this game

matching up against Deontay Johnson for most of the day. Really good job from Buster Screen. Imani Hooker was there making plays. I mean, literally the entire defense. Elijah Molden, I thought he had a tackle for loss. Had some really good pressures on blitzes. Faked a blitz early in the first half that blew up a wide receiver screen. I mean, the Titans really had the Steelers completely figured out

on the offensive side of the ball, and just the turnovers gave the Steelers 12 points on 58 yards. It's endlessly frustrating, but literally a tighten up for every single person on the defensive side of the ball. On special teams, Randy Bullock, three for three. He's had some struggles in recent weeks, but three for three today.

I thought he did a good job getting into the tighten downs. I got to give a tighten down to Ryan Tannehill. It's not all his fault. He's got practice squad skill position players out there. He's got one of the worst pass blocking offensive lines in the NFL. I get it. But he's not doing anything for himself either. He's not stepping up in the pocket when he has avenues to do so. He's not always accurate with his passes. He's taking some crazy chances. He should have been intercepted by Devin Bush in the red zone earlier in the game

when the Titans got a field goal in the first half. So Ryan Tannehill isn't playing good football either. He got strip sacked once, had the one fumble himself. The interception, he literally just threw it right into a Pittsburgh Steeler defender who jumped up and tipped it. Like, you got to see that guy and know that he's waiting for that. Tannehill's not playing awful. He had the touchdown run on the QB sneak too. He's not playing awful.

But he's not playing good either. And that's run on the QB sneak too. He's not playing awful. But he's not playing good either. And that's part of the problem as well. Another tighten down for Racey McMath. One catch, negative one yard, and fumbled. He's just not ready to be a wide receiver. The guy can play special teams, he's

just not ready to be a wide receiver. Anthony Ferkser, the season from hell for Ferkser continues. Just an absolute disaster. Two catches, 19 yards. One of them he fumbled. He has given the Titans literally nothing all year long when they've needed a receiving threat at the tight end position so bad. That has to be just wide receiver, tight end, offensive line.

Just need a complete overhaul for the Tennessee Titans in the offseason. It is crazy to say that. Brett Kern, what is going on with Brett Kern? I mean, his average was in the 40s, so it wasn't awful, but three punts, none of them went inside the 20-yard line. The Titans punted right past the 50-yard line one time, and Brett Kern couldn't put that inside the 20 Deontay Johnson caught it past the 20 yard line

and then had an 11 yard return just not good for Brett Kern and for the money that he's making I don't know if that partnership can last without a pay cut going forward but that's it for Tighten Up and Tighten Down I'm going to talk about what took place in the AFC where the conference is right now, and where the division, more importantly, is right now.

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Titans fans, we are going to cap off this Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by taking a look at the AFC, where the Titans sit now within the conference, what's going on in the division, as that also got a little spookier for the Titans after the weekend of football. So diving right in, the Titans lose and they drop to nine and five. Now they're still in the third seed right now behind Kansas City and New England, despite New England's loss to the Colts. So New England did lose to the Colts, but the Colts didn't look great in that game. It was 27-17 I believe, but

Jonathan Taylor got a late touchdown to make it look worse than it was. Carson Wentz had a terrible game through an interception. The Patriots didn't look all that great either. Mac Jones doesn't really scare you. So both of those teams are kind of like the Titans where they have good defenses. The passing game really scares you.

They've got a good running game. The thing is, because they have better players on the outside right now than the Titans and better pass-blocking offensive lines, their offenses can actually function a little bit better than the Titans. Hopefully that changes with Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown, but not sure how that helps the pass-blocking. But either way, the Patriots lose to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday night. They drop to 9-5, but unfortunately the Titans drop to 9-5 as well,

and they don't have the tiebreaker, and they're not going to have a better conference record than the Patriots who have a 7-2 conference record, and the Titans have a 6-4 conference record. So the Titans, basically the Titans have to win out the rest of their games, and the Patriots and the Chiefs, who won on Thursday night, have to win or lose one game going forward. So the Patriots do play Buffalo.

The Chiefs do play the Broncos and the Bengals. So maybe the Chiefs lose a game. Maybe the Patriots lose another game, and the Patriots play the Dolphins as well. Maybe they lose one of those games. The Titans do go undefeated the rest of the way and they still get the number one seed, but boy that's tough sledding.

That's tough sledding and I don't expect it because I don't expect the Titans to beat the 49ers on a short turnaround with no Julio Jones, probably no A.J. Brown, no Derrick Henry, I'm sorry. There's just no way the Titans are going to beat the 49ers in this game. So I expect the Titans to drop to 9-6

and when that happens, you're not going to get the number one seed with six losses in the AFC. It's just not going to happen. So the Titans win the rest of their games. The Patriots and Chiefs both lose one of their remaining games. Then the Titans can still get the number one seed. But I think it's time to turn our attention to the division.

The Colts are now 8-6. The Titans are 9-5. The Titans, like I said, I think they're going to lose to San Francisco. And from there, they got tough games. I mean, the Dolphins lost to the Jets somehow, some way.

The Dolphins lost to the Jets. Or no, the Dolphins came back and won. My apologies. Wow, I started recording the podcast. The game wasn't over. So the Dolphins won, the Jets. Or no, the Dolphins came back and won. My apologies. Wow. I started recording the podcast. The game wasn't over. So the Dolphins won. So that's even worse. The Dolphins are a much better team than expected.

And the Titans have already lost to Houston. So, and Houston won 30-16 over Jacksonville. I mean, it's going to be tough sledding for the Titans. It really is. And you take a look at who the Colts have left. So let's just take a look at the Colts' schedule here. They have a game against the Cardinals coming up here. Yeah, at the Arizona Cardinals,

but the Cardinals just lost to the Lions, and they don't have DeAndre Hopkins. The Colts are going to win that game. Then they play the Raiders. The Colts are going to win that game. And then they play Jackson Hopkins. The Colts are going to win that game. Then they play the Raiders. The Colts are going to win that game. And then they play Jacksonville. The Colts are going to win that game. So the Colts are winning out the rest of the year. And that means

that since the Colts are 8-6 and the Titans are 9-5, if the Colts win out the rest of the year and they go 11-6, the Titans lose to San Francisco and they're 11-6. The Titans lose to San Francisco and they're 9-6. Well now, the Titans are in a tough spot.

I don't mean to be overly negative or pessimistic here, but collapsing there in the second half and losing Julio Jones, I mean, there is a real chance now that the Titans not only don't get the number one seed, not only don't win their division, but if the Titans were to lose the rest of their games and go 9-8,

they might just miss the playoffs. And at 10-7 even, 10-7, it might be kind of difficult. They might have a low seed. They're definitely going on the road. I mean, this season is slipping away fast. The pass protection, the turnovers, the injuries, the Titans are wilting under that pressure, and they better respond on Thursday night against San Francisco.

I'm going to be picking them to lose that game. We're not going to have much time to go over film from this one. You need to flush this one down and just completely turn your focus to San Francisco because the Titans need to win one of these games at the end of the year.

And they have put themselves in a very, very scary position. But I'm going to be back with you guys tomorrow. Try to turn off our focus forward a little bit. Talk about where the Titans are going to be.

Hopefully we get some injury updates. If Julio Jones goes on the IR again, his season's over, and that would, in my opinion, that would just doom any Super Bowl chances that the Titans can even muster up right now. So a really depressing, really disheartening loss as the Titans collapse in the second half

to the Pittsburgh Steelers. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.