Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Malik Willis Not Good Enough on Film, Nicholas Petit-Frere Breakdown & Vrabel Talks QBs

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

The Tennessee Titans had to put in Malik Willis at quarterback after the injury to Ryan Tannehill and despite the things around him not being perfect, Willis was not good enough on the film. Tyler breaks down his performance and the issues. Next, Nicholas Petit-Frere got a shot at left tackle and it did not go well. NPF was solid in run blocking, but his issues in pass protection are hard to overcome. Finally, Mike Vrabel committed to Ryan Tannehill on Monday in a comment that should disappoint Titans fans.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!DoorDashGet 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON 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. Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.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

It wasn't all his fault, but Malik Willis wasn't good enough against the Baltimore Ravens. I'll tell you what the film says 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. Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Roland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked

on Titans podcast is brought to you by the GameTime app. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. We got a lot to talk about on today's show. I'm going to dive into Malik Willis and what the tape says about his performance against the Baltimore Ravens. It wasn't all his fault, but it wasn't good enough. Also, how did Nicholas Petit Ferrer do at left tackle? I'm going to dive into what I saw on tape there. And also, Mike Vrabel talked about the quarterback position on Monday and I didn't necessarily like what he had to say. So we're going to get into all that

before we do. 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, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there. I got a lot of great content coming up for you guys through the bye week.

We're going to be talking about who the Titans should be looking to trade, what the Titans record could be throughout the rest of the season. I'm going to do a mailbag later this week. So get your questions to me at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter as well, but a lot coming up. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed, throw a thumbs up on the button or on the video right now as well. Show's always free. All I ask for in return is the press of a button. But with that being said, what did the tape show with Malik Willis? As I said at the top of the show,

it wasn't all his fault, but it wasn't good enough. So let's talk about why it wasn't all his fault because the reality is he took four sacks and a lot of the time, it was the offensive line just getting beat. And we're going to talk about Nicholas Petit-Ferrer later. It wasn't him alone, but a lot of the time, there wasn't much that Malik Willis could do because of the pressure that was on him. The routes didn't have time to

develop. He didn't have time to really go through anything, so while it's easy to say, oh, Malik's holding on to the ball, holding on to the ball, and he did do some of that, a lot of the sacks that Malik took were not necessarily because he was just holding onto the ball so long. I only think one of the four sacks that Malik Willis took was a case where he just held the ball too long. And even then, it was a throw that he could have thrown to Tajay Spears in the red zone.

And could he have got it off? The pressure was on him. Jadavion Clowney was on him. I think he could have got it off to Tajay Spears for a touchdown, but nonetheless, it was a bang-bang play. It wasn't like an obvious one. So I'm not going to get up here and tell you that it was Malik holding on to the ball too long.

A lot of the time, the pressure was on him so quick, and then we have to acknowledge the other reality. We cannot sit here and say, oh, the offensive line was so bad for Ryan Tannehill. The wide receivers are not getting open for Ryan Tannehill. And then when Malik Willis comes and say, oh, he's holding the ball too long. But there's a play to DeAndre Hopkins where Hopkins goes deep. And I saw some people saying he's got to get that ball to Hopkins. I didn't think it was open. And I think if he would have thrown it, the safety over the top would have intercepted it. So that's one of the occasions where I heard people blaming Malik for holding the ball too

long. And then the other one that I'm given, I'm admitting is even a bang, bang play that maybe you could say, no, the pressure was on him too quick. He couldn't get rid of it. So I don't think that like holding onto the ball too long with some fatal flaw that Malik Willis made, honestly, the things that I thought. So I want to make it clear that the wide receivers did not get open. There wasn't a lot of separation for Malik to throw. The offensive line, it wasn't all on Malik holding the ball for all the pressure that Malik was under. The offensive line did not play well.

We'll talk more about that when we dive into what the film said about NPF. But with all that being said, again, Malik wasn't good enough because the opportunities that Malik had to make some plays, it wasn't great. There were two throws where he got the ball out quick. Okay, he got the ball out quick. One to Chikokonkwo to the right. One to Kyle Phillips to the left. Good job.

Made the right decision. Threw the ball quickly. Great. But they were bad throws. So it's like you play this game with Malik where is he going to make the right decision? A lot of times he doesn't make the right decision. He makes the right decision. Is he going to make a good throw?

And he threw it behind Chigakonkwo. He wasn't able to make yards after the catch. He threw it behind Kyle Phillips. Phillips had to turn his shoulder around and slide down to catch it. So it's like when he does get rid of the ball quickly, when he does make the right decision, the throw isn't good. It's just too hard to get good timing, good throw, good decision from Malik consistently.

It's just too hard. So there were, in my opinion, one late throw where I think he could have got rid of it. There were two bad throws on plays that should have given his player more of an opportunity. Also, the one play that sticks out to me the most, I think it's the second or third play that Malik had, it was play action.

He had a clean pocket. This isn't he's under pressure. Also, Nick Westbrook-Akene is coming open over the middle of the field, but more specifically, DeAndre Hopkins is open on the corner route on the right side of the field. Malik, with a clean pocket where he could continue to navigate, continue to hunt downfield, continue to look for open guys who are there, he drops his eyes, runs forward, runs into pressure,

ruins the clean pocket, runs outside, runs into pressure, ruins the clean pocket, runs outside, gets five yards, but he could have had a chunk play on a passing play when the Titans are down and need to drive. But he abandons a clean pocket, drops his eyes, runs into pressure, then gets out of it, and if you're watching it on the TV copy, you're like, oh, Malik just escaped the pocket and gained five yards. But if you look at it on the tape, he's missing opportunities to throw because he's leaving clean pockets when they're even there. And you don't have a lot of clean pockets with this offensive line, Malik.

You cannot afford to waste them by leaving them early. You've got to stand in there and look for guys. And especially on that play, there were people open and he missed him. So again, was it all his fault? No, the offensive line did not play well. The wide receivers were not very open. He did a good job to escape some. He made a couple of throws on time.

He made a couple of quick decisions. But a lot of the throws he made were bad throws. And you look four for five, you know, 60-some yards, 70 yards. 46 of those were on the Tajay Spears screen, where Spears did pretty much all the work himself. So, again, what it comes down to for me, and I know that this isn't the hot take and flying off the handle and on some extreme, it wasn't all Malik's fault, and there are bad parts of this offense

that aren't going to get better with a different quarterback. Like, the offensive line isn't going to all of a sudden be better. The wide receivers aren't going to all of a sudden get open more with a changed quarterback. But at the same time, the stuff that Malik Willis did have the opportunity to do well, he didn't do as well as you would hope that he would have. So I know that's kind of going down the middle, but that's the truth. The truth is in the middle. So maybe Malik gets another opportunity against the Falcons.

Mike Vrabel talked about the quarterback position on Monday in his press conference. We're going to talk about that towards the end of the show. Before we get into that, though, we are going to talk about Nicholas Petit Ferrer at left tackle. What did it look like on tape? I'm very concerned. The Titans do not have a left tackle,

no matter which way you want to slice it or who you want it to be. But before I get into that, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy. Okay, so I have worked with BetterHelp in the past, and I found it very helpful for me, especially it was a stressful time. I was moving, making changes to the show, a lot of work on my plate with multiple different jobs. And I just didn't feel like the best version of myself that I could be. And that's why I was happy that I had BetterHelp in my corner.

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for 50% off up to $10 value on your first order when you download DoorDash and spend $15 or more subject to change. Terms apply. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. It's a Tic Tac Tuesday. We're diving into the film. We talked about Malik Willis on tape.

It wasn't all his fault, but he wasn't good enough. It's a Tic Tac Tuesday. We're diving into the film. We talked about Malik Willis on tape. It wasn't all his fault, but he wasn't good enough. So to be curious to see what the Titans do going forward, Mike Vrabel talked about that on Monday at his press conference. I'm going to talk about that to cap off today's show. But right now, I want to dive into the left tackle position because we got to see Nicholas Petit-Ferrer step in for Andre Dillard like we've been wanting to see throughout the season, like we've been hoping to see, I guess, while MPF was suspended. And then, of course, once MPF suspension was ended early, hoping to see that as soon as

we possibly could. And we got what we asked for. Before I get into what I saw from MPF on tape, though, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content all year round. Always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. It's your team every day.

Here on the Locked on Titans podcast. But Nicholas Petit Ferrer gave up two sacks. Gave up four pressures. Had a 17.4 pass blocking grade per pro football focus. The worst graded pass blocker on the team on the day. The worst graded overall Tennessee Titan on offense,

and I believe overall for the entire team as well. NPF really, really struggled in pass protection. He got beat inside routinely. He got beat on an inside spin move by No. 50. He got beat inside on a couple of stunts as well. And Mike Vrabel really preaches with the pass protection, inside-out, don't get beat to the inside. Because the offensive tackles, if you get beat to the outside,

there's still the opportunity that Ryan Tannehill can step up in the pocket or the quarterback can step up in the pocket. There's still the opportunity that you can recover and then push the pass rusher past the quarterback to the outside. But if you get beat to the inside, the quarterback has nowhere to go except to try to flush back out to the outside. When you have Ryan Tannehill as the quarterback, that probably shouldn't be your plan for Tannehill to escape to the outside of the pocket all the outside. And when you have Ryan Tannehill as the quarterback, that probably shouldn't be your plan for Tannehill to escape

to the outside of the pocket all the time. So the plan is to not get beat to the inside, and MPF continued to get beat inside. Not only does he get beat inside, but he doesn't have a great anchor, which means he doesn't do a good job of stopping the bull rush. For a guy who's, let's be honest, he's a big human. On the scale things, I mean, he is a foot taller than me, more than 100, I mean, 150 pounds more than me.

He is a huge human. But when we're talking about NFL players, he's not as strong as you would hope from a left tackle. So guys can drive him back into Ryan Tannehill, and he has a hard time holding up to stop him from driving him back. That's anchor. Having a little bit in your back pocket, as coaches like to say. All right?

That's something that Aaron Brewer struggles with because he's undersized. That's why some people thought that MPF would be better suited to play on the inside in the NFL because he didn't necessarily have the ability to hold up against some of those long, powerful defensive linemen on the edge. Alright? So, he got beat inside, which is just technique issue, mental error. He doesn't have the anchor to hold off against some guys driving him back sometimes, which is just a reality of who he is as a player and as a young man right now.

And then, the bigger issue for me is punch, his hands. You're an offensive lineman. You want to shell shot guys with your hands. That's what you want, strong, powerful, pause on these guys. So when you boom, boom, strong arm, you get your hands on the defensive end as he's rushing towards you. That has an impact on him. MPF doesn't have a lot of power in his punch so he gets his hands on guys and guys are easily knocking them off or his hands are sliding off or he's not really he's just not really jarring

guys when he gets his hands on and that's a bit of an issue you know what I mean I just want to say this as well I have continuously said since Nicholas Petit-Ferrer was drafted by the Titans that he is a right-side player. I am from Ohio. I am an Ohio State Buckeyes fan. I watch the Buckeyes. I'm not a huge college football guy, but I watch Buckeye games. Nicholas Petit-Ferrer was on the left side, did not play very well in college,

moved to the right side and played much better. He is a right-side player. And there are some people who tell you, oh, left side, right side, that doesn't matter. It's a totally different technique. You have different feet in different positions. You slide different directions. It matters.

It matters. Dylan Radins, left side player. Nicholas Petit-Ferrer, right side player. That is where they are more comfortable. So, I just don't see NPF working at left tackle. He's just as bad in that game. Andre Dillard had one sack allowed and four pressures allowed. And Andre Dillard and Nicholas Petit Ferrer were the lowest graded Titans on

offense out of everybody. They're there. Neither of them are, are any better. Now you could, we'll talk later in the week when we start kind of pontificating on these things more. You could talk about moving Skowronski to left tackle, but I just don't think, and I continue to say that's not the right move.

If this season is about the future now, Peter Skowronski is your left guard in the future, not your left tackle. So if we are focused on the future, then there's no reason to move Skowronski to left tackle. And then who's replacing him at left guard? Dillard or MPF, you still have them in the lineup. You'll still have problems. Now they're learning a totally new position, doing totally different things in the middle of the season. That is not the way.

Let Skowronski become an all-pro guard. Let him get back to comfortable, especially after the appendectomy. But I do want to mention before we move forward from the MPF conversation, in run blocking, he was very good. And I put out a video on my Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, just some early clips from me watching the film of Derrick Henry's touchdown run. And MPF is a bulldozer when he's out on the perimeter and run blocking. He is good in run blocking. At 68.3 run blocking, great when he's in there.

Really good getting out on sweeps. Once MPF came in, the Titans ran like three toss sweeps to the left in a row. He's good at down blocks where he doesn't need a strong punch. He doesn't need a strong anchor because anchor, he has a leverage advantage on the defensive lineman.

Kick outs in one-on-one where he just has to kick out a defensive end and seal him off from a run that's going on the inside. He can do those things. So it's basically the same problem with Dillard, a guy who's pretty good in run blocking, but not good in pass blocking. But NPF is better in run blocking. And with my position on Skowronski in left guard,

I say you just keep rolling NPF out there at left tackle, and that's the best you can do right now. And obviously left tackle is the primary need that you have on offense, on the offensive line, which is what we really expected, at least what I expected going into the season anyway, because I didn't view Andre Dillard as a long-term answer. So I don't think it's a big surprise. Ola Fashanu, Joe Ault, call our names.

That's all I'm asking. That's all I'm asking there. But we're going to move forward here because Mike Vrabel talked about the quarterback situation at his press conference on Monday. I didn't really like what I heard from Mike Vrabel. Took a little wind out of my sails, and I'll explain why. Before I get into that, though, I do want to remind you guys that today's episode

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I talked about what I saw from Malik Willis. Talked about what I saw from Nicholas Petit Ferrer. Now I want to kind of switch gears a little bit because Mike Vrabel talked at his press conference on Monday about a lot of different topics that I thought were very interesting. I'm going to dive into those, including what he had to say about the quarterback position that has me a little disappointed. Before I do, I want to remind you guys, tomorrow, what's next Wednesday?

I'm going to take a look at who the Titans might consider trading, what the Titans should do after the bye. Also, Thursday, Friday, I'm going to have a mailbag, so send your questions to me, at TicTacTitans on Twitter. I prefer you put them in a tweet for me if you don't mind. But thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed to your team every day.

Mike Rabel said, Ryan Tannehill is the starter when healthy. Mike. Mike. Come on, man. What are we doing? What are we doing here? Tannehill is the starter when healthy.

He said that, Mike Vrabel, that Tannehill's injury is similar to last year, the first one, when he missed two games. He said that Malik Willis and Will Levis are going to get reps during practice this week. And if Tannehill can't go against the Falcons, then it'll be one of those two quarterbacks. Of course, he didn't announce who it was going to be.

But it's just frustrating because this team is 2-4, and if Tannehill doesn't play for the next game, two games, I mean, I don't know. It's just a continued inability for Mike Vrabel to realize where this team is truly at. It's going to hold on to that dying dream of the playoffs no matter what. It's just like, when are you going to wake up?

When are you going to smell the roses? When is reality going to set in for Mike Vrabel? Will it never set in? Because that lack of self-awareness has the ability to damage this team. And I believe that Mike Vrabel's lack of self-awareness has damaged this team in some ways. So, just so disappointing to hear that. Tannehill is our, I mean, I guess what do you expect Mike Vrabel to say at this point in time?

But yeah, either way, still disappointing. Also, Mike Vrabel said that, talking about Nicholas Petitfair playing left tackle, he was into it. He wanted to be out there. I don't know if that's a direct shot at Andre Dillard. He didn't want to be out there. Dillard didn't want to play or whatever the case may be, but either way, the Andre Dillard experiment is over. He's not a left tackle. He's not a starter. Might as well play the younger player, Nicholas Petit Ferrer. Dillard's only a $7 million dead

hit, and the Titans are probably going to have $80, $90, $100 million in salary cap after the year. Not really worried about it. Worth the lottery ticket. You saw it. You seen it. Goodbye. Keep him on the roster, obviously. You don't cut him because you keep depth, and maybe you work him in a guard at some point if you need to,

and this and that. But yeah, the Dillard experiment is over. So I want to see Nicholas Petit-Ferrer stay at left tackle. It sounds like Mike Vrabel does as well. The one thing that stood out to me, and it was actually something that Vrabel said on Sunday, not Monday, was that he didn't know if the Tennessee Titans issues were correctable. And I think I mentioned this yesterday in my reaction show,

but that is something that really stands out. Also, Mike Vrabel said on Monday, back to Monday, that the Titans can't have a regular drop-back passing game. In their situation, that's not something that they can do. They need to play action. They need to roll out. They need to get the quarterback on the move. They need to blah, blah, blah,

because they can't have a regular drop-back passing game. Well, if you can't have a regular drop-back passing game as an NFL offense, then it's going to be hard to win every week. But he's saying that because of the situation with the offensive line, and he knows. So, again, back to the previous quote we just talked about. Not everything is correctable. And the fact that Vrabel admitted that probably not a good sign, which is why it's even more disappointing that he says Ryan Tannehill is the

quarterback when healthy. Because you realize that the issues are not correctable, but you're not willing to go the next step and actually look towards the future and worry about the things that you need to figure out that are correctable. I don't know.

Frustrating. But again, tomorrow, we're going to look at some trade options. I'm going to rank all the Tennessee Titans trade options in terms of what I think they could get back. So make sure you tune in for that. 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.