Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Nick Westbrook-Ihkine Goes OFF, Defensive Reinforcements & #TitanUpTitanDown

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

The Tennessee Titans got a big time performance from receiver Nick Westbrook-Ihkine in a 17-10 win over the Denver Broncos. It was a career day for NWI and came just a week after some interesting comments about his early season production! Also, the Titans defense stepped up big despite missing a ton of key starters! Six sacks of Russell Wilson set the tone. Finally, #TitanUpTitanDown to go over the good performances like NWI, Austin Hooper and Ryan Stonehouse while discussing the poor performances of Todd Downing and the Titans run game led by Derrick Henry.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.BlueNileMake your moment sparkle with Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com and use code lockedon to save fifty dollars on your purchase of five-hundred dollars or more.BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it's Victory Monday as the Tennessee Titans defeat the Denver Broncos 17-10 to move to 6-3 on the season. Despite having a ton of starters out on defense, the Titans were able to get six sacks and limit the Denver Broncos on offense. Nick Westbrook-Akina had a revenge game, and I'll tell you exactly who he got revenge on

and tighten up and tighten down when we go over all the individual performances, both good and bad. So breaking down a Tennessee Titans victory on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are 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 Victory Monday as the Tennessee Titans defeat the Denver Broncos 17-10 to move to 6-3 on the season. I'm going to break down everything you need to know coming out of the victory. Before we get into it, do want to let you know that today's victory Monday is presented by prize picks. Prize picks is daily fantasy made easy pick two to five players. And if they score more or less than their prize picks projection, you can win up to 10 times your money on your entry.

First time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That's prizepix.com. Promo code LOCKEDON. Thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Free Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content all year

round on all platforms. It's your team every day here on the Locked On Titans podcast. So make sure that you're subscribed on whatever platform you do stream. Make sure that you hit the notification bell if you're subscribed on YouTube and throw a thumbs up on the video right now if you're excited about the Titans win over the Broncos. At the end of the day, the big story to me is the Titans defense. The Titans defense missing a ton of starters in this game. No Christian Fulton. No Jeffrey Simmons.

No Bud Dupree. No Imani Hooker. No Zach Cunningham. We get David Long banged up during the game. Elijah Molden banged up during the game. Lonnie Johnson banged up during the game. Joshua Kalou got banged up and luckily was able to come back. Caleb Farley gets injured in this game. I mean, just a

bloodbath for the Titans out there. It's incredible that they were able to have the performance that they had led by the Titans, essentially back up defensive line, six sacks on the day. And other than a blown coverage by Terrence Mitchell and cover to invert, the Titans completely took away what the Broncos wanted to do. And I love the way they do it. They packed the line of scrimmage. They had a bunch of guys up there, six, seven guys on the line of scrimmage. Are they going to blitz everybody? Are they going to drop back? The Titans were confusing the pass protection of the Denver Broncos. And of course you have to mention this to be fair. The Broncos are completely banged up as well. The Broncos are super injured on the offensive line.

So essentially, it was the Titans backups on defense, on the defensive line specifically, against the Broncos backup offensive line. And the Titans won that battle handily throughout the day. Again, a blown coverage by Terrence Mitchell and cover to invert where he stayed with the inside guy instead of sticking with his deep half. But other than that, I mean, the Broncos never even got in the red zone. They were four for 17 on third down. It was a great performance led by, like I said, the D-line, Mario Edwards, DeMarcus Walker,

Mario Edwards, Demarcus Walker, Danico Autry, one of the Titans' actual starters out there, Rashad Weaver, the linebackers got in. And again, the Titans were blitzing with those six people up on the line of scrimmage and tight man coverage, bringing people, dropping people, sending linebackers up the gut. Dylan Cole had a sack. David Long made pressures. Naquan Jones got in

there as well at times. I mean, even further, Jeffrey Simmons backup Kevin Strong got hurt in this game. So, I think it was just a really good performance from the Titans, especially when you consider on the offensive side of the ball. The Titans went 6-16.

The Broncos completely took away the run game for the Titans. Derrick Henry wasn't able to get going at all. Luckily, the Titans went up tempo right before halftime. Were able to get a touchdown and caught by Nick Westbrook Aquino. Went five catches, 119 yards, two touchdowns. I called it a revenge game for NWI. And you might be thinking, well, he's never played for anybody else. How could it be a revenge game?

Well, he was taking heat from the media, including myself, throughout the week for the comments he made after the Chiefs game. Basically acting like the Titans wide receivers were making plays early in the year. I don't know what that was all about. But either way, NWI responded. NWI came out, made a huge catch before halftime, keeping the toes in. Another big play to score the touchdown on the flea flicker. I mean, career high in yards.

Just a wonderful performance from NWI. Austin Hooper also played pretty good, but it was nice. It was nice to see the Titans passing offense kind of have some semblance of success out there. They did enough. They did just enough. And while there were some weird play calls, again, Titans couldn't get anything going in the run game. At the end of the day, the Titans offense did enough to win.

Now, it does leave me asking, what is this team? They're 6-3. They're going to win the South, no doubt. They're going to have a home playoff game as a division winner. But, like, with these ugly wins against bad teams, I mean, the Titans play the Packers on Thursday night football turnaround, but the Packers aren't that great this year.

But playing on the road in Lambeau with how banged up they are, you know, nobody could fault the Titans for losing that game. Then they play Cincy. Then they play Philly. Man, tough stretch. So this was an incredibly important win for the Titans to get this win out of this stretch here that they're going on, starting with the Chiefs and ending with the Eagles.

Important. It wasn't pretty. It never is, it seems like. But the Titans moved to 6-3, and that's what really matters. We're going to move forward. It's time for Tighten Up and Tighten Down, where we go over all of the good and bad performances from the game. Before we get into it, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is sponsored by Total Wine & More.

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Find and love what you find only at Total Wine and more curbside pickup and delivery is available in most areas. Visit TotalWine.com to learn more. Spirits not sold in Virginia or North Carolina. Drink responsibly and be 21. Titans fans, let's continue this Victory Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. 17-10 over the Denver Broncos. An incredibly gutty performance by the Titans.

Basically, backup defense. The passing game had some signs of life for the Titans on Sunday, so that was all good. But let's kind of zoom in a little bit, talk about the individual performances in Tighten Up, Tighten Down. Let me know your main Tighten Ups and your main Tighten Downs down in the comments or on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Before we get into Tight Up and Titan Down, do want to thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. For your second listen, check out Locked On Sports today.

From the games that matter the most to the biggest stories in sports, go beyond the scoreboard and behind the scenes with local experts and insights. Only Locked On can provide Locked On Sports today, available on this app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Diving into the good performances. And, I mean, we got to start with NWI. The revenge game. Letting everybody in the media know, I do make plays.

Thank you. My name is Nicholas Westbrook Akine, and I make plays. I don't know if his name is actually Nicholas or just a flat Nick. I really don't know. So my apologies to the Westbrook Akine family if I got that wrong. But hydration break. Everybody, take a drink of water. It's important.

I say this because I care about you. Moving forward. Five catches, 119 yards, two touchdowns. The only two touchdowns on the day. I got nothing but claps and pats on the back for NWI. That was a good performance. Now, it'd be nice to have some consistency, but you got to give credit where it's due.

Big bounce-back performance from the Titans' wide receiver group, especially NWI. Austin Hooper really starting to find a nice little role for the Titans' offense. Five catches, 41 yards, a couple of big third-down conversions, big catches that got him first downs. He continues to play that role. Now, he simply isn't the blocker that the Titans need him to be to be what we hoped that he would be before the year, but still coming up clutch for the Titans as a pass catcher

week in and week out. He seems to find a way to get open and they get the ball to him. So that's great. And who's getting him the ball? Ryan Tannehill. With Derrick Henry being a non-factor in the game, Tannehill really had to step up, and it was obvious he's not 100%. 19 for 36, 255 yards, two touchdowns, had that run for a first down on the bum ankle. I mean, this was a really good performance from Ryan Tannehill. Now, he was off a little bit early. I would be the first to tell you. Everybody was screaming at Jeff Swaim. That was not a good pass to Jeff Swaim on that first drive of the game. Like, who is, I mean, what a catcher. I mean, is Jeff Swaim Odell Beckham?

I mean, come on. That was not a good pass. It was off target. There were a couple throws early on as well from Tannehill that were off target. A couple very risky throws over the middle as well. But once he settled in with that two-minute drive before half, he really put everything together and did exactly what the Titans needed from him. Really, really good performance from Ryan Tannehill considering the circumstances. Major Titan up there.

Ryan Stonehouse, man. He's a stone house. Eight punts. 54 yards on average. Three inside the 20. Had a 74-yard punt. I mean, this

guy has a chance to be one of the best punters ever with the talent that he has. I mean, I know it's a punter, so it's kind of weird to talk about that stuff because it's a punter, but this guy has a chance to be all-time awesome as a punter. Tighten up, Ryan Stonehouse. CJ Board, the wide receiver the Titans brought in this week. I mean, what a good day for Bord. He was the punt returner for the Titans, four punt returns, 51 total yards. That's 12.8

yards per return at a 17-yard long punt return. Solid. Just a really solid job. He played special teams coverage units as well. I think he had a tackle on special teams coverage. I mean, coverage units as well. I think he had a tackle on special teams coverage. I mean, nice, really nice special teams performance. And shout out Randy Bullock. Bulletproof Bullock got hurt in pregame warmups and he didn't kick. Oh, shout out to Stoney again. Stonehouse was the kickoff guy and he had a bunch of touchbacks doing a lot. Randy Bullock didn't do kickoffs. They just asked him to kick the field goals. He made one field goal late, and he made two extra points.

Three out of three on the day. Being banged up. Gutty performance from Bulletproof Bullock. Shout out to Randy. On defense, man, I thought Dylan Cole played pretty well. He's the Titans' number one linebacker now. With Zach Cunningham on IR. With David Long hurt. I thought Dylan Cole played pretty well. He's the Titans' number one linebacker now.

With Zach Cunningham on IR. With David Long hurt. Cole is the number one linebacker. Monte Rice got the start over Dylan Cole. But I think Dylan Cole is playing better football right now. So, shout out Dylan Cole. Had the sack. Had some good tackles.

Big hit on special teams. Oh, Dylan Cole laid the boom. That was awesome. Outside the D-line again. Mario Edwards. Danico Autry. Demarcus Walker. Rashad Weaver.

Those four guys right there, great. But even Larell Murchison. Kevin Strong. Sam Okwe and Nonu. All of them deserve credit. What a great day. Bottled up the run game. The Broncos had less than three yards per carry. And

other than the blown coverage, which wasn't the defensive line's fault, the defensive line just eliminated the Broncos offense. I mean, it was awesome. Also, David Long, before he got hurt, eight tackles. He was all over the place. Thought he did a good job. The guys in the secondary, again, before he got hurt, eight tackles. He was all over the place. Thought he did a good job. The guys in the secondary, again, besides the blown coverage,

a pretty decent day from the secondary. I mean, Roger McCreary had five tackles, and that one crazy catch by Cortland Sutton. I mean, what do you want him to do? That was a crazy catch. So I thought McCreary did a pretty good job. Bayard with five tackles or three tackles did a pretty good job. Andrew Adams, again, the only guys who struggled at all were at cornerback.

And even then, one blown play away from only giving up three points. It wasn't like anybody really struggled mightily out there. And then you got to give credit to Terrence Mitchell. Yeah, he had the blown coverage. Yes, he had a ball caught on him earlier in the game. But eight tackles, three PBUs, the game-sealing interception. I mean, Terrence Mitchell's played some pretty good football lately. He's played some pretty good football.

So shout out to Terrence Mitchell. Those are my Titan ups. Let me know if I missed any. If you guys have any Titan ups, let me know down below in the comments. But we're going to move forward here. We're going to talk about the Titan downs. And there are some Titan downs to discuss for sure. Before we get into it though,

do want to tell you guys a little bit more about our title sponsor, PrizePix. PrizePix makes daily fantasy simple. So here's what it is, guys. PrizePix has a projection for a bunch of different players. So, Derrick Henry, 90 rushing yards. Ryan Tannehill, 200 passing yards. Robert Woods, two catches.

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You deposit $50, you get a free $50. So don't forget, use that promo code LOCKEDON at prizepix.com or on the PrizePix app for a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. Titans fans, let's cap off this Victory Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast with a little Titan down. We did my big takeaways on offense and defense. We talked about those Titan ups, the good performances in the game. We'll get into some of the less than good performances. Before we do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your

first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, daily Tennessee Titans content for free on all platforms all year long. Make sure you get subscribed and stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. But starting Titan down. And you got to start where we seem to start every week. Titan downing. Todd downing, man.

Again, you guys, if you want to blame Malik for the fumble, then go ahead. Sure. Don't fumble. Just don't fumble. So Titan down for Malik. Just don't fumble. But Malik hasn't played a single snap all day long, all game long. And on a critical third and short, in close to field goal range, in the fourth quarter of a close game,

you put him in to run a read option and read the defense when he has no feel for the game? I'm not defending Malik more. I am criticizing Todd Downing. What a terrible idea in play call. This is like running the jet sweep to Malik Willis. What are you doing? Yeah, Malik could have got the ball in the jet sweep,

but the play call is so stupid to start with that it's hard for me to blame anybody for what happens afterwards. Todd Downing knocked down the first domino. Also, there was another play earlier in the game, a third and two. And he runs a pass play when Derrick Henry just got like nine yards on the previous play. I know the run game wasn't great, but there are these situations where it's third and two. Run the ball to Derrick Henry. If he gets one yard, run it again.

Like, the Titans pride themselves on being the type of team they can get one yard on the ground if they need it. So why does it seem like when it's just simple, run Derrick Henry a couple times and you'll live with that. You'll live with that. They try to do these weird things. And what happened to the screen game to Derrick Henry? What happened to that?

I saw one screen to Dontrell Hilliard. What happened to that what happened to the swing passes to Derrick Henry I tweeted it during the game and I'm going to say it now I don't understand how Mike Vrabel can look his team in the eyes

and tell them that he's giving them the chance to win a Super Bowl when Todd Downing's the offensive coordinator. I don't know. Jeff Swaim, useless in the game. Again, I think it was more Tannehill on that drop pass

than Swaim, but still he's so unathletic he couldn't make an adjustment to the ball at all. I mean, he just doesn't give them very much. Also, another tighten down for the use of Chigaconquo. Chig had one catch for like 40 yards again, and they only get him the ball one or two times the entire game. Get this man the ball.

He's a playmaker. God, they make it so hard on themselves on offense because Todd Downing just doesn't get it, man. Just doesn't get it. Robert Woods, he was brought in to be a number two, and they're asking him to be a number one, but he hasn't even been a good anything, honestly.

He had two catches for 10 yards, but had another big drop on a third down. I mean, he's not getting open consistently. Hopefully, he gets better as the season goes on because he gets further away from the ACL. Maybe if the Titans keep him around next year, which I doubt, but if they do, maybe, you know, he plays better football,

but just not getting the job done there. Also, the O-line in the run game, no push. Broncos were going with five down defensive linemen and completely covering up the Titans' offensive line so they couldn't double team. They couldn't get up to the second level. Nothing going. And then you got to include Derrick Henry in that.

I mean, I'm not going to say Derrick Henry played poorly, but he's part of the run game. They only had 2.8 yards per carry. Derrick Henry did 19 carries for 53 yards. He went into the medical tent for a minute, but he said afterwards that he just had to use the restroom. So, I mean, when you got to go, you got to go, man. You know, it is what it is.

But luckily, the Titans passing game was able to do enough because Derrick Henry and the run game in the offensive line weren't able to get it done. So a Titan down for the run game as a whole, not necessarily individual players and their performances, but just as a whole. Moving forward here, the Titans are 6-3, but a Thursday night football game against the Packers.

Hopefully guys like Christian Fulton, Bud Dupree, Jeffrey Simmons can come back in this game. The Titans can build on the passing game success. Derrick Henry and the O-line in the run game can play better and we can get a good performance from the Titans overall. Still waiting for an overall good performance

from the Titans this season. Hopefully they do it on Thursday night in Lambeau, but that's a tough game. Again, after that, they got a home game against the Bengals. They go on the road against Philly. Tough stretch. If they could get that win on Thursday night against the Packers, it would

be huge. But tomorrow's show, we're going to continue breaking down this victory. We're going to look at the numbers. We're going to look at the storylines, the injuries, all of that. Wednesday will be rewatch Wednesday. We're breaking down the film. What happened on the coach's tape? I'm going to look at the storylines, the injuries, all of that. Wednesday will be rewatch Wednesday. We're breaking down the film, what happened on the coach's tape. I'm going to go over what the Titans did schematically.

Excuse me. Thursday is a game preview. I mean, rewatch Wednesday may be rewatch Tuesday at this point because we got a Thursday night game. So crossover Thursday is going to end up being crossover Wednesday. And, you know, the game will be here soon. So can't wait for that. And then I'll be going live right after the game on Thursday night on YouTube to break down everything that happened. 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.