Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Malik Willis SHOULD START, Stopping Seahawks Rushing Attack & Caleb Farley Returns

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

The Tennessee Titans take on the Seattle Seahawks and it sounds like Ryan Tannehill will return as the starting quarterback, but it should be Malik Willis as him playing is better for the future of the franchise. Next, the Seahawks two-headed rushing attack should scare the Titans because they do not have answers to stop it. Finally, Caleb Farley was back at practice this week and it sounds like the Titans are doing him a favor before they part ways in the offseason.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.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.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.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Tennessee Titans should be starting Malik Willis against the Seattle Seahawks. I'll explain why 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 Rowland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by PrizePix,

the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL. Use the code locked on NFL, all lowercase, for a first deposit match up to $100. A lot to discuss. It is a game plan preview. I'm going to tell you what I want to see from the Titans on offense and defense, dive into individual matchups and my prediction for this game. Before I get into it, though,

do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. Make sure, again, that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, where it's your team every day.

Let me know your predictions for this game. What do you think the score is going to be? Who do you think is going to win? Look, I got to start with the offensive side of the ball, as I typically do in our game plan preview. And I'm going to tell you how the Titans should win, how the Titans could win. But I want to say this first. All right. The Titans should be playing Malik Willis in this game. Okay. I don't buy, despite what the Titans are trying to sell, despite what Will Levis is trying to sell, I don't buy that the Titans are putting Will Levis out there a week after a high ankle sprain. Mike Vrabel said it was similar to Ryan Tannehill's

from last year. And while Will Levis is 10 years younger and probably heals better and isn't as injured when he gets injured than a 35-year-old quarterback, it still would be malpractice to put your rookie quarterback out there this week after that injury. So I don't think that Will Levis is going to play in this game, which makes the decision Ryan Tannehill and Malik Willis. And we talked about it yesterday on Crossover Thursday. Ryan Tannehill will start in this game. Mike Rabel has said he'll be the starter if Will Levis can't go. He's getting the first team reps.

But it should be Malik Willis. And look, guys. Some people say you owe it to Ryan Tannehill to give him this opportunity to increase his value as he goes into free agency. I don't buy that. The Titans paid him quite a bit of money. You want to look it up?

Look it up. Quite a bit of money since he's been the quarterback here. I think what they owed him, they have paid him, so they don't owe him any more. Also, Ryan Tannehill gives you a better chance to win the game, which is not what's best for your team's future right now. All right? Everybody wants to sell to me,

oh, it's the winning culture and you're building, Will Levis said, you're building momentum. The Titans turned over 40% of their roster from last year. It's going to be even more. So when you guys were telling me in 2022, they need to build positive momentum and build a winning culture in the locker room. Well, by the time the Titans locker room is set for next year,

probably 70% of those players will be gone, who you were worried about the culture with. All right? Why don't we worry about what Joe Olt can do for the culture? Why don't we worry about what Marvin Harrison Jr. or Ola Fashanu or Malik Neighbors can do for the culture? Why don't we worry about that? I think those guys are better for the culture than beating the Seahawks.

How about that for your culture argument? But look, away from the Ryan Tannehill downsides here, of one, he's probably going to give them a better chance to win the game, and one, you're serving Ryan Tannehill's future. On the other side, with Malik, lookik look guys it's my opinion and it's basically been my opinion since Mike Vrabel went with Josh Dobbs in the game against the Cowboys

since that game it's been my opinion Malik Willis is not an NFL quarterback so do I think what I'm about to say is likely to happen absolutely absolutely not but Malik could play well and he could prove that maybe he could get a 7th round conditional 7th round draft pick in the offseason,

which is more valuable to the Titans than him on the roster. Maybe Malik Willis plays well enough that he earns an opportunity to be the backup next year. I don't think that's going to happen, but maybe. But both of those possible outcomes are better outcomes and better chances to take for the Titans than playing Tannehill. And the most likely outcome with Malik is that he loses the game. And you could say, hey, we're trying to get a look at a younger player. People don't want to hear this. Andre Dillard is probably a better

player than Jalen Duncan is right now. But the Titans prioritize the future. They prioritize looking at a player who can help them in the future, something that can help them in the future, rather than somebody they know that isn't part of this team's plans going forward. You know that Ryan Tannehill isn't a part of this team's plans going forward. And Malik Willis being out there can help your future. So, I know that they're going to play Tannehill. It's been announced they're going to play Tannehill,

but I just got to make my opinion heard here. It should be Malik Willis, all right? Now, as for the game plan and how to win against Seattle, all right, number one, you got to run the ball, okay? And you're going to want to do it out of heavy tight end personnel because the Seahawks are a little light on their edges. You look at Boye Mafe. You look at Daryl Taylor.

They're not good run defending edge rushers. They're good at edge rushing, but they're not good at stopping the run. So I'm going heavy tight end with Josh Wiley back practicing. Kevin Rader, hopefully Wes goes back. Chigga Conquo, of course you're going to have Chris Moore sliding down in with NWI going on IR. You're going to have Chris Moore sliding down to be in that blocking wide receiver. So I'm going heavy base personnel,

just trying to run the ball on the Seahawks, who have given up 127 yards per game, eighth most in the NFL. Their last four games, they've given up 169, 136, 173, and 178. And yesterday, Corbin Smith of Locked on Seahawks made a good point. That was against the 49ers twice, the Cowboys and the Rams. Those are good offenses, good teams. But Seattle also gave up 127 rushing yards to the Arizona Cardinals. They also gave up nearly 300 rushing yards to the Baltimore Ravens. So it's not like it's just, oh, the last four weeks they played good teams.

No, all season long, they've had a bad run defense. Okay, so I'm lining up, and the Titans don't have wide receivers anyway. Burks and Hopkins, NWIs on IR. You got Chris Moore. Kyle Phillips isn't going to be able to block much. It's not like the Titans can spread out and go shotgun to use Kyle Phillips in a proper way. So it's going to be Chris Moore, Traylon Burks, DeAndre Hopkins.

Those are the Colton Dow. Those are only the real wide receivers that the Titans are going to want to use in this game. So I just don't think the Titans are going to spread it out much. They're going to go heavy tight end. They're going to try to run the ball off the edges against these poor run defending edge rushers for the Seattle Seahawks. That has to be the plan here.

And then the Seahawks coverage-wise are very similar to the Texans. They run cover three. They run some cover four. There are some differences with cover two and cover six and stuff like that that we could get into, but you're going to see a lot of cover four. You're going to see a lot of cover three. Middle of the field. Is, isolation on the sidelines, scissors concepts like we saw

when Will Levis threw the interception. It was a scissors concept where DeAndre Hopkins ran a deep out or a short corner, and then Burks ran a vertical route. It could be a post. It could be just a go route, whatever you want to call it. For scissors, obviously, it's post and corner, but you know what I'm saying.

That's a good way to attack cover four. We saw that with NWI's catch near the end of the game against Miami that I broke down on film where the Titans ran a scissors concept to attack cover four. So the Titans know what to do to attack it. Tannehill is far more timid than Will Levis is at his age. That's why the Titans got just a little bit better on offense with Will Levis because he's just not as timid as Tannehill.

So will Tannehill stand in there and take it? I don't know. The defensive line of the Seahawks has a lot of talent. Leonard Williams is in there. I just think it's a tough matchup for the Titans here, but if the Titans are able to run the ball against the team you should be able to run the ball against, then they're going to be able to set up the play-action pass.

They're going to be in more third-and-short opportunities. They're going to be more in second-and-manageable opportunities because this defense and run defense isn't as good as the Houston Texans. So they at least have a chance from that standpoint. But with that being said, do need to move forward. Talk about the defensive side of the ball. And again, it's all about the run game. And I dropped a crazy stat on crossover Thursday.

And I want to bring that back here to talk about this Seattle run offense. Before we get into that, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by our friends over at DoorDash. So as I told you guys yesterday, just had my lunch, it was delivered by DoorDash. DoorDash is always delivered, and I mean that figuratively and literally as well. You can get meals, you can get groceries. You can get retail items. It doesn't matter.

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for 50% off up to a $10 value when you place your first order and download the DoorDash app. Spend $15 or more. It's subject to change. Terms apply. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about what I want to see on offense. Number one, I want to see Malik Willis. But more than that, I want to see the Titans go heavy, attack the edges and the perimeter of this run defense from the Seattle Seahawks that, quite frankly, isn't that good.

But now I want to transition into the defensive side of the ball. Talk about what I want to see from the Titans there. Before we get into it, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. And I work on holidays. When I tell you that I'm all year round, I ain't kidding, folks. I'm going to be here live on Christmas Eve, breaking down the Titans game. I'm going to have

a podcast for you on Christmas Day as well. So don't think that I'm leaving you hanging this holiday season. Throw a thumbs up on the video, and if you guys could, throw a five-star review in on Apple iTunes. I don't ask for a lot, so it would be a big help to the show. All right, moving into defense. Talked about it with Corbin yesterday, and it's so important that I'm bringing it back up. Every single loss,

every single loss, all seven losses that the Seahawks have this year, they have rushed for less than 100 yards. Every single loss. Heck, they didn't even break 90 in those games. The statistics show it. If you can hold Seattle to under 100 yards rushing,

you will win the game. It's that simple. The way that their offense is built, they need the run game to be going. Geno Smith is not just going to dice you up all game long, especially if Drew Locke plays. Now, I think Geno Smith plays in this game. There was weirdness going on before Monday Night Football with Geno Smith. Was he dressed? Was he not? Was he out there? It was all weird. Got conflicting reports all night long until the game kicked off. But if he was that close

to playing, then the odds are that he probably does play against the Titans on Sunday. That would make sense. And if Geno Smith isn't 100%, and just in general, the Seahawks are going to need to run the football. So they need to do

it more than normal which makes it even more important that the Titans stop it. Again, every single loss this year, the Seahawks have failed to hit 100 rushing yards.

Now, This year, the Seahawks have failed to hit 100 rushing yards. Okay? Now, I'm worried about that. I'm worried about the Titans being able to stop the run, no matter how important it is. I mean, look at the depth that the Titans are missing on the interior defensive line. T.R. Tartt is out. They lost Kyle Pecco.

Obviously, Jeffrey Simmons probably not going to play in this game as well. I mean, you guys got guys like Quinton Bohannon and Keiondre Coburn and Jaleel Johnson, and the Titans are just going to get gashed up the middle. I mean, Devin Singletary ran for over 120 yards last week. What do you think Kenny Walker and Zach Charbonnet are going to do? You know what I mean? I just, and the Titans edges, Harold Landry has gotten better, but Arden Key and Danico Autry have been bad in run defense all year long. Key is too light. He gets washed down the line of scrimmage

like nothing. All right. And the Seahawks have good tight ends. I talked about the Titans' tight ends against the edges of the Seahawks, but flip that matchup. Look at it the other way. It's going to be the Seahawks' tight ends, what is it, Kobe Parkinson and Noah Fant. They have another really good tight end in there as well. Sorry, I don't have every roster in the NFL memorized

all the way down to their third tight end. But again, I just don't think that the Titans' edges Oh, Will Disley, of course. My apologies, Will Disley. You're a dog too. I get it. But the Seahawks have really good tight ends. And with how much Arden Key and Danico Autry have struggled this year on the edges in run defense,

and then you add in the depth concerns that I just talked about on the interior defensive line, and then you add in that Aziz Alshire has missed a bunch of tackles this year and Jack Gibbons has struggled at times, like, where do we see the Titans stopping the run? Like, who is going to step up and make that happen? You know? And the Titans try to play nickel with five defensive backs all the time

so that they can stop the run in nickel and stay good against the pass since they struggle there so much. And they're simply not going to be able to do it when the Seahawks line up in these two and three tight end sets. If they try to play nickel defense against the Seahawks base packages, they're going to get blown off the ball, which means the Titans are going to have to play in base defense, which with their depth concerns, I think is a disaster.

So every Friday, I sit here and I go over schematically how I think the Titans can win the game. And I know what they need to do, but I'm telling you I don't know how they're going to do it. I have no solutions to provide to you, whether it be personnel, whether it be scheme. I got nothing. Kenny Walker is about to go nuts.

Like the Seahawks may run for 200 yards in this game. They just may because their offensive line is healthy. Charles Cross back. Abraham Lucas back, the tackles. Anthony Bradford has played well. Evan Brown, Damian Lewis, like, their offensive line is moving people. Corbin just told us yesterday, he covers the team. Corbin watches film.

They are moving people. And the Titans are a team that has been getting moved. So, I'm sorry I just don't, I don't see a path forward. And then, I'm not even talking about the pass defense. Because who is guarding DK Metcalf? Who? DK Metcalf would wreck the Titans fully healthy. They may not, the only thing that could stop DK Metcalf is if they run the ball so well they just don't throw it. Like, so I just don't have answers for the Titans defense and what they can do against the Seattle

offense. I don't. I simply don't. So with that being said, we got to move forward. All right. We're going to talk individual matchups. I'm going to give you guys my prediction for this game, but I really want to talk about Caleb Farley coming back to practice. To me, that is much more interesting to talk about, I guess, than my prediction for this

one. We're going to get into all of it in just a second. Before we do, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is the most fun way to play daily fantasy sports. It's the easiest way to play daily fantasy sports. So here's how PrizePix works. So PrizePix has a projection for every player. Kenny Walker, 100 rushing yards.

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Again, that's prizepix.com slash locked on NFL. Use the code locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to $100. It's PrizePix. Daily fantasy sports made easy. Titans fans, we are going to cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

We talked about the offense and Malik Willis. We talked about the defensive issues as well. Now I want to get into some of the individual conversations. And I say conversations because I want to talk about individual matchups in this game. I want to give my score and game prediction. But I also want to talk about Caleb Farley coming back to practice this week. So, before I get into all that, thank you for making the Locked

on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year long, always for free. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Going to be live on Sunday after the game. Again, I'll have a podcast for you on Christmas as well,

so don't y'all worry about that. Again, all I ask for in return is a five-star review on iTunes, on Apple Podcasts, and a thumbs up on the video on YouTube. Thanks, everybody. So as for individual matchups, like I talked about earlier, the Titans offensive tackles and tight ends against the Edges, other Seattle Seahawks, that's going to be big. The Titans linebackers on defense to stop the run in the A-gaps.

They're going to have to have a big day. Sean Murphy bunting against DK Metcalf. Maybe that's a matchup we need to watch. Maybe they'll just throw him on the other side and let him go against Trey Avery who knows will Traylon Burks step up with NWI on IR Burks had a good game last week

should have been an even bigger game can he continue that momentum again Nicholas Murkakine put on IR done for the season so someone's gonna have to step up and fill a lot of snaps that NWI has been getting for a long time for some reason. My prediction for this game, I'm going 21-13 Seahawks.

I think the Titans have a little bit less explosive offense with Will Levis out and Ryan Tannehill in, and that just a little bit lack of explosiveness makes a little bit less points than I would have said with Will Levis. I would have said 16, one more field goal. Honestly, the Seahawks are just going to be able to run the ball. I think that's what it comes down to. They're going to have the ball a ton.

They're going to be able to run it. The Titans aren't going to have a lot of answers. They don't have answers, whether it be schematically, whether it be personnel-wise for Kenny Walker and this offensive line moving people. So to me, 21-13 Seahawks is what my prediction is. Again, put your predictions down below. But I want to talk about Caleb Farley. Caleb Farley came back to practice on

Wednesday. First time that he's practiced this year. He's been on the physically unable to perform list all season. That has a lot to do with the back surgery that he had after last year. That has a lot to do with the back surgery that he had after last year. Also has a lot to do with the tragic events that he's dealt with throughout the season, his house exploding, his dad dying. I mean, insane stuff. So you go through all of the injury issues, trying to get your career on track. You deal with all those off the field issues.

I mean, tough times. And that's why I've shown sympathy to Caleb Farley. I don't really like to talk about, you talk about him as a football player at this time because of all that. But he's back out on the field. And he looked rusty. Dropping a bunch of balls that were thrown to him and just looks a little off kilter. But that's to be expected. But I think the most concerning thing here is what Caleb Farley said in the

locker room on Thursday. He said that it's not his back that he's having trouble with. It's his left foot. He's having trouble with the nerves and how they affect his left foot. Now you're talking about nerve damage from a back injury that's going all the way down to your left foot. He said he's having trouble running because of the left foot, feeling it, blah, blah, blah.

He said that he just wanted to start practicing to force his body to adjust. I got to tell you guys, I said that the Titans shouldn't cut Caleb Farley last offseason, before this year, because it didn't make sense financially. It would have cost the Titans money to do that. They wouldn't have saved anything to do that. But this year,

his dead cap goes way down. They have more cap space. It's more manageable. You just can't hold a roster spot for this guy. I got to be honest with you. I think that the Titans might know that this is his last three weeks of the NFL season ever. I don't think that his body is going to allow him to be in the NFL,

whether it's with the Titans or not. I think that the Titans probably part ways with him this offseason. And I think giving him the opportunity, they activated his 21-day practice window, which is like injured reserve where you have 21 days to decide whether you want to activate him while they can practice. Well, the season is over in 21 days, in less than 21 days. So it's not like the Titans actually have to bring Caleb Farley back. I think that they're

just letting him go out there, get on the practice field, run around, be with his teammates. It's kind of a courtesy to him because they know that they're not keeping him around next year. And if he feels like that will help him, you know, get a head start on his recovery or whatever he wants to do after this, then good for the Titans, giving him that opportunity to do it. Obviously, it doesn't affect the Titans in any way, because again, he doesn't have to be activated to the roster, but just good to see Caleb out there getting a break from the world for a few hours.

But again, I don't think he's going to be on the team much longer. So with that being said, again, I'm going to be back with you guys on Sunday, on Christmas Eve, after the Titans finish their game with the Seattle Seahawks. 21-13 is my prediction. Hopefully the Titans don't pull it out with Ryan Tannehill. With that being said, that's going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this

was Locked on Titans.