Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Mike Vrabel REVENGE GAME v Patriots, Drake Maye Can KILL & Classic Underdog Tactics
Episode Date: October 15, 2025The Tennessee Titans will welcome a familiar face back to town this week as Mike Vrabel looks to get his revenge for being fired two years ago. This comes as the Titans have just fired his replacement... and it will undoubtedly make this game a national talking point either way. What helps Vrabel is Drake Maye is playing at a near-MVP level and his ability to create big plays will be tough for the Titans to handle if they cannot get pressure on the young quarterback. Finally, the Titans are big time underdogs and that means they will need to get all of the classics, turnovers, special teams explosives and some luck, to be able to pull off a massive upset at home. Nick Cattles from Locked on Patriots joins for this Crossover Thursday episode! Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Mint MobileReady to say yes to saying no?Make the switch at https://MintMobile.com/LOCKEDONNFL Upfront payment of $45 required (equivalent to $15/mo). Limited-time new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35GB on Unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at https://BetterHelp.com/lockedon. BILTTurn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to https://joinbilt.com/lockedonnfl.Supply HouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHNFL5 for 5% off your first order. PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.RugietReady to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to https://www.rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.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)
Transcript
Discussion (0)
The Patriots are good, the Titans are bad, but what this game is about is Mike Brable's Revenge.
It's crossover Thursday here on the Locked-on Podcast Network.
You are Locked-on NFL crossover, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.
Your team every day.
Welcome in Titans' Triple.
fans, Patriots fans, it's a locked on Titans, locked on Patriots,
crossover Thursday, getting you ready for this week seven matchup.
Before we dive into the biggest storylines for either team,
which I think there might be a little bit of an intersection in the biggest storyline for these teams.
The biggest matchups, the keys to victory for this game.
Do want to let you know that crossover Thursday is presented by prize picks.
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lineup. I am Tyler Rowland, host of Locked on Titans here with my guy, Nick Cattel's host of
Locked on Patriots. We also happen to do Locked on NFL for the Friday show. So make sure that
you guys check that out as well as you get ready for your football weekend. But it's crossover
Thursday. We got this game to get into Nick. I mean, how in the world is there any other
outcome here than Mike Vrable absolutely slapping the Titans around this weekend?
I mean, that's the story, right? You mentioned it at the top, man.
Brable returning to Tennessee and just can they handle all the emotions? Can Vrable handle his emotions?
The team handle their emotions. Vrable speaking to the media on Wednesday said, you know,
this isn't going to be a win one for the Gipper here. Okay. This is not going to be an emotional thing.
There's interesting. There's important. This might be interesting, but really is it important?
All those lines that I'm sure you've heard before, Tyler, during his time in Tennessee.
But the other part of this game, too, beyond just the Mike Vrable part in those emotions is that this is the third.
straight road game for the Patriots, which is a tremendous challenge, no matter who you're playing
at the NFL level. And of course, they right now sit atop the AFC East for the first time
in 2021. So a lot of emotions, a lot of expectations, a lot of things that deal with on Sunday for
the paths. Yeah. And the Titans are actually just coming off a three game road stretch of their own,
where they went to Houston and then Arizona and then Vegas. So coming home, there's got to be
some sort of relief there. Obviously, you know, we could talk about Mike Vrable and his revenge,
but the Titans have a lot on their plate when it comes to coaching. If Patriots fans weren't paying
attention or didn't hear about it, the Titans fired Brian Callahan this week.
They're going with Mike McCoy, former San Diego Chargers. Yeah, that's how long ago it was,
folks. They were the San Diego Chargers when Mike McCoy was their head coach. But
Mike McCoy taken over as the interim head coach, Bill Callahan, Brian Callahan's dad,
the offensive line coach also went with him. But everything else is really,
the same and outside of the Mike Rable revenge factor like you was saying for the Titans
it's all about can Mike McCoy get more out of this team again coming off the road three straight
games coming back home and quite honestly I don't know how you feel about this Nick but to me it feels
like all of the pressure is now on the Patriots the Titans have admitted that their season is in the
gutter they fired their coach they're not expected to win their five and a half point underdogs at home
I think it might even be six and a half at this point now all of the pressure is on New
England to beat a team that they should be. And listen, Mike Vrable could say it's not a win
one for the Gipper, but we know how sports work. And we know that if they win this game,
and I, you know, would think that they would, that the Patriots players are going to go crazy
and be happy for Mike Vrable. And no matter what Vrable says publicly, he's going to have a little
bit of happiness internally as well. Oh, I agree with you across the board, Tyler. I mean,
you look at this game, the Patriots have all the pressure. There's literally no pressure on Tennessee.
The world expects them to not be good.
They haven't been very good.
As you say, they said goodbye to Brian Callahan on Monday.
And it can't get worse, right?
I mean, Brian Callahan, to me, was one of, if not the worst head coaches in football.
He didn't know simple rules, let alone clock management and timeout usage and all the things that you should know as a head coach.
It was a disaster for him in Tennessee.
So, I mean, Mike Vrable has as many wins in New England as Callahan had with Tennessee.
and it's been six weeks in New England from Mike Grable.
So it really can't be any worse for the Tennessee Titan.
So I agree with you on that accord.
And I also think there's, you know, there's some mounting pressure on Drake May.
Drake May right now, honestly, is playing MVP level football.
I mean, he's one of, if you look at the analytics and the stats and all that and just the eye test,
he's literally been one of the top six or seven quarterbacks in football unequivocally
through the first six weeks.
but as you continue to move forward this season and it's all on him with no run game so far,
you know, you wonder, is there going to be a point where he slips up because it's human
nature and you can't always be as good as he's been unless you're a top two or three guy at
that position. So I also think there's some mounting pressure on Drake May to continue to make
this offense work pretty much all on his own out there. Well, speaking of quarterbacks,
Cam Ward has obviously had a struggle to start.
the season statistically. You know, I understand Patriots fans are looking at Cam Ward stats and
going, man, this guy's terrible. But there's so much more context there. Like they just fired
the head coach because quite frankly, he was trying to make Cam Ward play his system. And Nick,
as you know, the test of a good head coach is molding what you're doing to what's best for your
players. And I would say that that was one of Callahan's outside of the game management stuff,
which is funny because he's like the anti-vrable. Offensive guy, scheme guy, not a C.E.
leader type but didn't know the rules like it was so bad when Vrable Vrable was making rules with
the competition committee he's so locked in to things like he could find any loophole possible so it was
like a total 180 there for what you were looking for from the coach but for Cam Ward the Titans have
to help him more they have to get him on the move they have to do more play action they had a
season low play action percentage rate last week against the Raiders it made no sense at all
they got to do what he does best let him use his mobility he's not Lamar Jackson
Josh Allen by any means, but
he's best when he's outside the pocket,
can read the field, use his spatial
awareness, do those sorts of things
and the Titans simply haven't
done that stuff enough. So
helping Cam Ward, like getting the best out of
Drake May has been one of the, in my
opinion, one of the biggest feathers in Mike
Vrable's cap. I was
uncertain about whether Mike Vrable
could be the best head coach
possible for a young quarterback in need of
development. But along with Josh McDaniels
and the offensive staff, I think Vrable has done
a great job of getting Drake made to the best football that we've seen from him in his
young career. The Titans need to hope that Mike McCoy could start helping Cam Ward get back
on track. And I think a lot of that starts with doing things that Cam Ward is more comfortable
with. Yeah, if people are watching the video, I'm smiling as Tyler's talking, because
I actually think Patriots fans are the fans that will completely understand everything you just
said about Cam Ward because it's almost a carbon copy of what happened with Drake May last
year in his rookie season, right? The offensive line issues, I would say the Patriots
offensive line last year was worse than Tennessee's offensive line is this year, but the
lack of weapons and in trying to get Drake May to move out of the pocket and utilize his
athleticism, which Alex Van Pelt didn't do a ton of last year. And so a lot of the things
that you just said, I think match up with Drake May in 2024. And now you see that step in
development, as you just mentioned. And it's been huge. Josh McDaniels has been huge so far.
trying to fit the offense around him.
Interestingly enough, you mentioned play action.
Not a lot of play action last week.
I actually thought Josh McDaniels walked into the game
against the Saints last weekend on a heater.
I thought he was doing a really good job.
But in the second half against the Saints,
I thought he was too predictable.
The offense lacked some creativity.
They ran the football on first down five straight times,
the final five first downs of that game.
They were run plays and hardly any of them worked.
They lost yardage on most of them.
So I'm interested to see
how Josh McDaniels kind of pivots from last week's second half to this Tennessee
defense, which obviously I'm sure a guy will talk about an awful lot throughout this
episode is Jeffrey Simmons. How do you account for him? How do you account for some of
these other players on that defensive line? You know, it's going to be an interesting thing
after what happened last week. 100%. And speaking of the Pat's offensive line,
Jeffrey Simmons, maybe the other way around as well. Let's talk about some of the
matchups that may determine this game in week seven.
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All right, Nick, let's continue today's crossover Thursday edition of Locked on Titans, Locked on Patriots.
Again, thank you for making Locked on Titans and Locked on Patriots.
You're at first listen each and every day.
but now we want to move from the storylines with the coaches and all that and the quarterbacks
to the big matchups that will probably determine this game.
And I think a good place to start and correct me if I'm wrong, Nick,
is the Patriots offensive line against Jeffrey Simmons in particular.
The Titans don't have a lot outside of Jeffrey Simmons,
but they're getting to Vondre sweat back this week.
He returned to practice after being on injured reserve.
He should be in line to play.
Jeffrey Simmons may very well be the best defensive player in the NFL
through the first six weeks of the season.
It would not be a stretch to say that.
And he's at minimum in the conversation.
Where are you at with the Patriots offensive line that seems very much improved?
And do you see any weak spots that could allow Simmons to expose that matchup?
It's improved.
It's improved, no doubt.
But I agree with you that the top matchup is Simmons against the interior offensive line.
Because Jeffrey Simmons, to me, he can ruin drives, which can ruin games.
And I watched the Raiders game from last weekend.
And it was a field goal drive, the first.
drive of the game. But my freaking goodness, Jeffrey Simmons had a run stop. He had a tackle for
loss. He collapsed the interior offensive line. Like the entire interior offensive line of the
Raiders was collapsed by one dude Jeffrey Simmons, which opened up a Femiola Dejo tackle for
loss. And then Simmons had a sack on that same drive. Four impact plays. The dude is a monster.
And if anybody knows it, understands it. It is Mike Vrable and this defensive coaching staff
that a lot of the guys, of course, came from Tennessee.
So they understand how big of an issue it is.
And look, one of the things that the Patriots offensive line has to hold up to is against size.
You mentioned Sweat, who is obviously a rather large human being.
And when you've got him and Simmons out there, Garrett Bradbury's had a very good season considering the expectations.
He was awful in past protection last year.
He has stepped up big time this season.
But he does tend to struggle at times with size because he's not a big guy.
He's undersized.
So Jared Wilson as well, the rookie left guard.
He struggled at times with some power in some size.
And Michael Wenu, who the right guard is, Tyler, he has, for the most part, played well.
But there has been two or three big plays every game where he's been beaten badly.
And sometimes it's on the goal line.
I mean, he picks the worst times to flop.
So there are some questions, I think, the interior offensive line.
of the Patriots with this specific matchup.
Yeah, and I think that's fair.
And listen, it's not just in pass protection, too.
I kind of look at this.
Right now, the Patriots have 549 rushing yards on the season.
That's in the bottom six or seven.
I do believe bottom six, bottom eight, they're 25th in the league right now.
So it's not like they're blowing people off the ball in the run game either,
which if the Titans can get them into third and long situations,
that can help a pass rush that really hasn't been that good.
outside of Jeffrey Simmons.
And sweat has had good moments in pass rush,
but he still is yet to get a sack in his NFL career
after only playing in the first game against Denver
and then last season didn't really get quarterbacks on the ground
when he got that pressure.
So given the Titans' defense, third and long situations
could allow them to run more blitzes, run more stunts,
and maybe they can get some pressure on Drake May
because my big matchup to watch is the Patriots-wide receivers
against the Titans secondary.
The Titan secondary has been generally solid throughout the season.
There haven't been a ton of explosive plays throughout the year.
But Drake May is so good throwing deep passes.
Like that sequence that he had against the Saints
where it was the Phantom Offensive Pass Interference Call.
What are we doing there?
That was one of the –
that was not offensive pass interference at all.
And Dick's catching the ball.
But then he goes right back to Mack Hollins
and it's just two back-to-back beautiful throws right in the breadbasket.
I am a bit worried that Drake May,
which I talked about the Patriots, maybe not running the ball.
So absolutely fantastic.
But they have certainly been throwing the ball very well.
Number six in the NFL right now on total passing yards.
I think the Titans can get attacked down the field against Drake May.
And I'm worried about Amani Hooker, Xavier Woods at safety,
quandre Diggs.
Woods and Diggs and Hooker, none of them are very fast, in my opinion.
They're all slower.
Hooker's slowing down.
Woods is near 30.
He's slowing down.
Diggs is near the end of his career.
slowing down. So if they can get some speed down the field, I think it could be a big problem,
especially like a Pop Douglas, who hasn't been maybe as good as, you know, Stefan Diggs and
Kishon Booty, who has been awesome this year, it seems. Douglas has that speed that I think
they could get him down the field and make some big plays for Drake May. You know, it's an interesting
passing attack because it's like every single week, it's somebody different. You had Stefan Diggs,
who had the back-to-back big games against Carolina. And then, of course, his revenge game in Buffalo,
which was just he was terrific.
But it's really every week somebody else.
Week one, it was Kishon Booty.
You can throw Hunter Henry in there.
He's had a big week or two.
Last weekend was Pop Douglas and Booty.
Pop Douglas should have had a bigger game,
as you mentioned, if it wasn't for the Phantom OPI call on Stefan Diggs.
So they've really been able to pick apart defenses with different weapons at different times,
which is, you know, an old school.
Oh, Tom Brady, who's his favorite receiver, the open receiver, that old saying, right?
It has that kind of feel to this offense.
And I don't think it's a coincidence that Josh McDaniels worked with Tom Brady for so long.
And Josh McDaniels is, again, the offensive coordinator.
You mentioned the run game, though.
I'll tell you the Pat's run game has been an abomination.
It's been a joke.
It's been embarrassing.
And it's really across all levels.
I mean, the offensive line is to blame.
The running backs are to blame.
The tight ends are to blame.
The wide receivers are to blame.
Josh McDaniels sometimes, like I said last week and again,
against the Saints, his predictability on first down, I think was part of the problem as well.
They got to figure that out because, you know, at the top, I was talking about Drake May and really
him, you know, carrying this offense, it's been all on him and you can't expect that to continue
to be the case for the rest of the season. It's just asking too much. So the Patriots, I say it
every week, Tyler, they can't be one dimensional this weekend and hopefully they figure it out.
The other thing I would say, you know, when you look at matchups,
Harold Landry versus J.C. Latham is an interest to me.
And, you know, you look at it.
Harold Landry did not practice on Wednesday.
It might be them managing him because he's a vet.
Frable's done a lot of that this year, managing the older players.
But Harold Landry did have a pretty ugly looking play against the Saints where I thought he was done for the season.
They showed the replay.
Adam Archilletta sounded like he wanted to throw up in the booth.
I don't know if Harold Landry is Gumby, but he went back out there and played the rest of the game.
I have no idea how he did it.
So I don't know if this is, you know, stemming from that play against the Saints and
there's really an issue and maybe he gutted it out last weekend and maybe he's having
some problems this week.
We'll have to wait and see because I think that matchup, you know, Latham's second game back
from IR.
I'm not going to read too too much into last week because, again, it's his first game back
and it's Max Crosby, who's one of the best players in football.
But Harold Landry, I know Tennessee fans might be like Harold Landry.
We watched him last year.
he looks like a different guy his first step is there the quickness is there he's comfortable
with this system he's comfortable with rabel and if harold landry's not out there you know
they've got some problems on the edge so hopefully he's out there for the patriots sake yeah they would
need him and the crazy thing about harold landry to me is he's using different pass rush moves than
he ever used in tennessee like he basically only had the speed rush the dip and the bend now
he's using cross-chops and two-handed swipes and stuff.
He's just totally going to another level.
Five sacks on the year leads the Patriots and pressures with 25, according to pro football
focus.
He's definitely been an impact player and that'll be something to watch there.
I do think that it's funny to go back to the Patriots run game and the Titans run defense.
The Titans run defense is bottom 10 in the NFL.
They're giving up 133 yards per game.
The Patriots run game is bottom 10 in the NFL.
We talk so much about strength on strength stuff,
that's weakness on weakness and whoever can take advantage of the other team's weakness
I think will be in a great spot to win but speaking of winning we do need to talk about the keys
to victory in this game and it's no secret that the titans are underdogs so I think that
the titans need to go with a classic underdog playbook that we've seen since the beginning
of time with football to win this one do want to let you guys know that today's episode
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All right, speaking of the impossible,
I think the Tennessee Titans are in a tough spot
with getting a win,
and that's why when we go to the keys to victory here
and what has to happen for each team to win the game,
for me, I look at the Titans,
and they've got to go with the classic underdog playbook, Nick.
They have to win time of possession,
run the football, and keep the ball out of Drake May's hands
because he's going to create explosive plays.
They need to win the turnover battle,
and that's something that, you know, you look at the Patriots
in the games where they've lost this year,
it's mostly been because they had major turnover issues.
So it's not completely unrealistic for the Titans to think,
hey, you know, we could potentially win here.
Like, their two losses on the year, it was, they tied the turnover battle.
Their other loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers,
five turnovers and still only lost by seven points,
probably a better team than the Steelers, if we're honest.
But if the Titans don't win the turnover battle,
which feels like they haven't since Denver week one
and Cam Ward every time he gets hitty fumbles
and tip passes at the line of scrimmage
are going to be big this week.
You know the Patriots are going to be all over that.
Mike Vrable is going to see how many tip passes
Cam Ward has had.
The Titans need to win the time of possession battle.
They need to win the turnover battle
and I think they need something crazy to happen.
They need like a kickoff return for a touchdown
or a punt block or a field goal block.
They need something crazy like that to happen
to beat a team that is better than them on paper
and better than them overall.
So they're going to need the classic underdog playbook
to be able to win this one.
Yeah, if I'm Mike Vrable,
if I'm Zach Corr,
who has replaced Terrell Williams due to prostate cancer
as the defensive coordinator and the play caller on Sundays,
my number one priority defensively
is to put this game completely on Cam War.
Put it all on the rookie quarterback.
You know, keep shutting down the run,
the Patriots have been one of the best run defenses in football,
and they've really done it against some good offenses as far as running the ball, right?
We see what Carolina is doing running the ball last weekend.
Rico Dotto loses his mind and goes off.
The Patriots shut down James Cook and Buffalo on Sunday night.
So their run defense has been very good to the point where I don't want to take it for granted,
but I almost feel like you walk in every week and you feel pretty good that a team's not going to be able to run over you.
So if you can shut down the run or at least limit the run significantly,
enforce this game into the hands of Cam Ward.
You get the rookie quarterback with the interim head coach.
It'll be interesting to see if Tennessee changes anything.
You mentioned some of the offensive things that you think they should be doing.
We'll see if they do it.
Your turnover point is a good one.
And look, Drake May, the best thing about Drake May's 2025 so far is that he's
practically cut his turnover-worthy play rate in half from last season to this season.
And the last few games, he has not put the ball in harm.
way. You go back to the loss against Pittsburgh. You mentioned it five
turnovers, two by Drake. So one of them was, you know, in the red zone, in the end zone
with a, with a pick. And then he had to fumble carelessly holding the football. So I agree.
They got to take care of the ball. The other thing for the Patriots, I think, is that they've
got to finish drives. And, you know, Tennessee's defense hasn't been great, but they are,
they are 12th in the NFL in red zone defense. So they've done a pretty good job of limiting
teams finding pay dirt when they hit the red area, the Patriots middle of the pack
offensively in the red zone. They're 17th in the league. So, you know, you look at last
week's game, Tyler, against the Raiders. Patriots get the ball inside the five after a
Drake May scramble. And it's a bleep show that the first play is a run for about a yard.
The second play is a run falls apart because the offensive line, they lose three yards,
then Drake May and explicably gets a delay of game, which pushes it out to the nine-yard line.
and they run a safe screen to Stefan Diggs
that gets three yards and they kick a field goal.
So if the Patriots can finish drives
and put some points on the board,
that's even more pressure on Cam Ward.
Yeah, 100%.
I think when you talk about Cam Ward
to go along with the underdog playbook,
the Titans got to find a way to hit some big plays.
Right now, the Patriots are the worst defense
in the NFL in yards per attempt.
So when the Patriots past defense does give up things,
they're giving up big plays down the field.
And the yards after catch are as a big
thing as well. So the Titans have to find a way to hit some shots down the field. And
likewise, on the other side of it, the Titans yards per attempt is terrible. Like the passing
game has been awful. Uh, even on defense, they haven't been good with that. So I am worried
about the deep passing. And I think to add to some of the stuff that I said earlier,
you're going to need, if you're the Titans, you're going to need to hit some deep passes and get
some major chunk plays because you're not going to be able to grind it out against this
defense like you said with the run defense. That's just simple.
not going to happen. So the Titans are going to have to find a way to get some deep passing
going, something that they've really struggled with throughout the year. Who in the secondary
right now? I know Christian Gonzalez has come back here. Who in the secondary has been
struggling and who do you think they can rely on to play well? Well, I think some of the early
issues, you know, the first game, some of those stats are just crippled by the first game
against the Raiders when the Patriots gave up nine, nine plays of 20 plus yards in that game
against the Raiders and Gino Smith.
They've had their trouble last week, first played the game.
They blitz Carlton Davis, and Carlton Davis, pretty much with the speed of the tin man,
can't get to the quarterback, and that leaves Kyle Dugger one-on-one against Chris
Alave, which nobody wants, probably including Kyle Dugger, and Spencer Rattler hits
Alave for 50-plus yards.
So Jalen Hawkins did not practice on Wednesday.
He's been a starting safety.
He was out last week.
If you want big plays, I think you'd try.
try to get matchups against Kyle Dugger, who has struggled mightily, especially the past
couple of years in coverage and giving up big plays over the top.
So the other safety is Craig Woodson.
He had some issues early because he's a rookie, but he's improving.
And I think he actually played pretty well last weekend.
Gonzalez is a game changer.
It's interesting the Patriots don't really let Gonzalez travel with the best receiver.
So they've pretty much stuck to sides.
Last week, they played a lot of zone against Rattler.
I don't know what they're going to do this weekend against Cam Ward.
I will say, you know, there's kind of two thoughts here.
You can either try to play a man against the questionable weapons of Tennessee.
I'm not really wowed by any of their receivers.
So maybe you play a man and say, no, we can lock them down and we can devote extra people to the run game and spying on Cam Ward to make sure his legs don't go bananas against us.
Or you can play zone and test the patience of the rookie quarterback and hope your pass rush gets home.
So I don't really know what they're going to do,
but they are better since Christian Gonzalez has been back.
I'll take a guess here, and I say they play more man coverage.
The Titans don't have anybody that can beat you in man.
It's been a problem for the Titans going before Cam Ward.
They haven't had good answers against man coverage.
I would bet they play a little bit more man than they normally do this week.
But looking forward to the game, Nick.
We don't need exact score predictions.
But I have a hard time seeing the Titans pull off this win,
even with the, you know, the five.
coach performance bump that you see sometimes.
I think the Patriots are just too good.
And I have a hard time believing that Mike Vrable would allow his team to lose this game.
I think the Titans fall here to one and six.
And I think the Patriots move to five and two.
The Patriots should win.
Will they?
I actually wait to give my prediction on my Friday episode, Tyler.
So I'm going to hold it out there.
They should win.
Everything tells you they should win.
But do I think they'll win?
I guess Patriots fans,
Lockdown Patriots, listeners, viewers will have to wait until Friday.
to find out what I think about that.
Hey, Locked on Titans fans, tune in, too.
You can still get more behind the scenes information there.
That's right.
I'll make another guess, and I guess that you think the Patriots are going to win.
But we will see how everything shakes out.
We're going to be making more guesses on games all over the national football league
on Locked on NFL, the Friday episodes.
So make sure that you guys check that out when me and Nick talk about our best bets of the weekend.
But that's going to do it for today's crossover Thursday episode,
went over the key storylines, the matchups to watch, the keys to victory,
as well. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Locked on Titans, locked on Patriots.
That's going to do it for us today. And again, make sure that you tune in Friday for our full game
preview episodes. Everybody take care out there.