Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans on the Top 100, Arthur Smith Talks Evans, Tannehill & Play Design

Episode Date: August 3, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable weekend, ready to dive back into another week's worth of Tennessee Titans content. And I will be pumping out Monday through Friday Titans content throughout the rest of the season. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on Apple Podcast,

following on Spotify or whatever platform that you do stream. Also, make sure you follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for content schedules, additional analysis, and my TicTac Titans film breakdowns. As for today's show, we are going to dive into the NFL Top 100 rankings. Every year the NFL puts out the list, so we will see which Titans made the rankings, where they came in on the list, and which Titans player got a major snub. So ready to talk about that list with you guys that came out at the end of last week. with you guys that came out at the end of last week.

And then we heard from the Titans' top offensive coach and the Titans' defensive coach on Friday. So we will dive into the highlights from Titans' offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith's Zoom conference with local Nashville media. So really excited to jump into another week with you guys. Got the NFL's Top 100 list and the highlights from Arthur Smith's Zoom conference. Let's get it! In what has become an annual tradition that takes place every year around training camp, the NFL Network has released their top 100 players going into 2020,

a list voted on by the players themselves. And while every single year there are a few head-scratching decisions and a few head-scratching rankings that make us furrow our brow, it is still a great opportunity to see how NFL players feel their peers stack up in the rankings. So let's take a look at which Tennessee Titans made the list, a couple of former Titans that made the list, and a major Tennessee Titan who was snubbed from the list entirely. So let's dive right in and start at the quarterback position. And Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill is coming off an absolutely historic season

in terms of efficiency, leading the NFL in passer rating and yards per attempt. And because of that, Tannehill came in at 68th overall out of the top 100. The quarterbacks that were ranked ahead of Ryan Tannehill include Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott, Jimmy Garoppolo, Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Pat Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Lamar Jackson. And while you could argue that Tannehill could be above the three names of Cousins, Dak Prescott, and Jimmy Garoppolo, that seems to be right about where Tannehill fits in in the quarterback ranking.

So not a bad ranking for Ryan Tannehill there after a very impressive season in which he led the Titans to the AFC Championship, and that obviously gave him a bump in the rankings. The next Tennessee Titan that made the list was very much further ahead in the rankings, and that is Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry actually came in at number 10 overall, the second highest ranked running back behind Christian McCaffrey, who came in at number six on the list. There were two former Titans that did make the list that were a little bit of a head-scratcher, as I mentioned before.

At number 71 overall, we have Jarrell Casey, who was recently traded to the Denver Broncos. While Casey has been an excellent player for much of his career and did make the Pro Bowl last season, 2019 was a less-than-stellar campaign for Jarrell Casey, where he had less-than-expected production, at least for what we've become accustomed to, for Casey throughout his career. So surprising that he would make the list after such a down year statistically.

And then we have former Titans cornerback Logan Ryan. And Logan Ryan had an incredibly impressive season last year from a statistical output, having over four sacks, four interceptions, and four forced fumbles, while being one of the top tacklers on the team as a defensive back. But Logan Ryan had his downfalls in coverage especially in man-to-man and that was a big reason why the Titans decided to move on this offseason and look for a better cornerback in pass coverage although you do lose a little bit of the intelligence factor in the run game and the ball skills you got from Logan Ryan But number 60 on the list is pretty high for Ryan.

And while he did have a productive season, that seems like a pretty hefty ranking in terms of the cornerbacks. The Titan that was surprisingly missing from the list was safety Kevin Byard, who had made the list in previous years. He came in at 103 overall when the NFL released their final 10 that didn't make the cut. But what's confusing is you saw a safety from the Arizona Cardinals like Buda Baker make the top 100 over someone like Kevin Byard. You also saw a player like DK Metcalf make the list, but not Titans wide receiver AJ

Brown, who had more yards than him and was on a better team last year. You saw Jarrell Casey be ranked ahead of someone like Fletcher Cox from the Eagles. So there were some head-scratching things as we've become accustomed to when seeing this list pop up each summer. But what was the best revelation was Derrick Henry making the top 10 overall. He was number 10. The people in front of him include Stephon Gilmore at 9 DeAndre Hopkins at 8 George Kittle at 7 Christian McCaffrey as mentioned at 6 Michael Thomas at 5 Patrick

Mahomes at 4 in a surprising vote Aaron Donald at 3 Russell Wilson at 2 and Lamar Jackson at number 1 personally I don't really understand how anybody could have Russell Wilson over Pat Mahomes. Quite honestly, even though Lamar Jackson won the MVP, I don't understand how anyone could be above Pat Mahomes at this moment in time. But that's just my personal opinion. Of course, I don't understand some other things on the list, but that's the nature of any list and any ranking. And I think it was still pretty fun to see who the players picked

to be on their top 100 and happy to see someone like Derrick Henry get so much respect and love from the guys around the NFL. But I have to be honest with you guys. Sometimes when I'm doing the show about this point I get so hungry that during one of our little breaks I go ahead and pop on to the DoorDash app get me something delivered and then as soon as I'm done with the show I have something delicious waiting for me at my door to dive into and replenish myself after putting so much effort into the podcast. And you guys need to check out DoorDash too.

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first order with DoorDash. Go to the DoorDash app now and use promo code LOCKEDON. It's time for another installment in Sounds of the Titans. Let's hear from Titans Offensive Coordinator, Emerging Superstar Coach, Arthur Smith. He talks about a couple of different players, talks about his approach to play calling and play design. A lot of good nuggets of information here from Titans offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith. Audio, of course, is courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. Appreciate them putting these Zoom conferences up on the website

and on the Tennessee Titans YouTube page. So first, we have offensive coordinator of the Titans, Arthur Smith, giving his thoughts on rookie third-round running back Darrington Evans. Yeah, it's going to be how much he can handle. I think it's unfair because everybody's growth curve is different, and we know we liked, obviously before the draft and what he did at App State, and then what he's done here, he's handled what we've given him, and until he gets on the field, we can see what he can handle, and then we can expand from there.

So, you know, we're certainly optimistic about it, but it's hard to put a label or a time frame and sit here and tell you guys, oh, he's going to do this X, Y, and Z. That's just not fair. I mean, it's not fair to everybody out there competing. We just got to see what they can do. And speaking of Evans, I wanted you guys to hear that it's obvious that Arthur Smith is trying to keep expectations down, but you can tell from the way that Ryan Tannehill talks about Darrington Evans, which we will hear later this

week, and the way that Arthur Smith talks about him, that they want to get Darrington Evans majorly involved in this offense. Now, one problem is you put Evans on the field. Are you telling the defense you're passing? You put Henry on the field. Are you just letting them know and tipping that you're going to run? Arthur Smith talks about how to defeat tipping his hand based on which running back is on the field. Yeah, you got to do a great job with your self-scout to know those tendencies.

You don't want to become obvious. And I know sometimes that sounds hypocritical, but when Derek certainly got his fair share of carries but that's where we feel like we the other actions we we have in the run game certainly pay off you know whether they're in our play play pass or keeper game um but you got to do a great job self-scouting and mix it up because you don't want to become obvious it's it's as you know it's competitive and guys are studying that you don't want to give away hey this is know, it's competitive and guys are studying that. You don't want to give away, hey, this is going to be a run. It's going to be a pass. You're constantly self

scouting and aware of that and creating roles and yes, definitely aware of that. You just want to be as balanced as you can and we have gotten the ball to them. They're different players and so there's certain things that obviously Derek does really well and we'll expand it to him and they're you know they're different players and so there's certain things that obviously Derek does really well and yeah we'll expand it to it and hopefully we we get

more production you know out of the out of the receiving in the backfield like to spread it around that way but it's got to be aware they gotta they gotta match so you don't become obvious but they're different players and let me just elaborate when Arthur Smith talks about self-scouting. What he's saying is taking a look at how the Titans call plays and the patterns that Arthur Smith, whether consciously or subconsciously, is developing on offense. So if it's second and long and Darrington Evans comes on the field, the Titans pass 75% of the time. Knowing those sort of things about your play calling tendencies and about your offense can allow you to counter that. And in a situation where you normally do this, you can do the opposite. And if the defense is studying, which they usually are,

you should be able to catch them off guard. So those are the things that the Titans will have to do on offense this year with those two running backs. But Arthur Smith continued to talk about some of the players that he has been looking at over the offseason and wants to see more of. And one of those guys is backup quarterback Logan Woodside, who talked with Titans media as well. But Woodside is going to be one of those players that the Titans are going to have to rely on if things don't go great. And he's one the most polarizing figures and to the Titans fan base at least and if you trust him or don't trust him but this is what Arthur Smith had to say about Logan Woodside well Logan's another guy he did a great job last year in the role that he was given unfortunately he went on the IR but he did

a great job you know I mentioned earlier he was kind of a quasi QC for us behind the scenes and very happy with what Logan's done in the offseason. And, you know, this is a great opportunity for him in camp. He's got good command of the offense. And, you know, until we get on the field and get a couple, we can give you a better evaluation of him. But so far, we've been extremely happy with what he's done and everything we've thrown out of him he's handled.

Well, you know, we haven't really, other than walkthroughs that you're allowed, we just haven't been out there and practicing. And so, you know, we haven't been in practice since, he hadn't practiced since, you know, early last season before he went on the IR. So I haven't, you know, been out there with him in that regard to give you an evaluation of where, you know, where he is coverage-wise.

Certainly we like Logan's arm strength and believe in what he's done. Pleased with what he did last year in the preseason. Thought he did a nice job. Logan's got a good arm. He's accurate. He's decisive. So I hate to keep punting this thing, so to speak, but until we get on the field and we'll see where he made the progress when it comes in terms of reading defenses quicker he's certainly got more command

of the huddles and more confidence as he's been calling the plays one thing that's concerning to me about that answer is the first half of that answer all that arthur smith talks about is he was a good quality control coach for us he stays ready he stays prepared knows the playbook all of it is mental stuff and quite frankly I think him saying that he was a good quality control coach QC for us I think that is almost a Freudian slip that somebody like Logan Woodside may have a mind that the coaches like but not the actual talent to go out and get the job done because what you didn't hear was the reporter that asked this question had to follow up and say well you just mentioned a bunch of mental stuff what do you like about him physically on the field can he throw does he have arm strength can he read defenses go through

progressions and that's when Arthur Smith elaborated a little more and said you know we like his arm strength he can make the throws but we haven't seen him on the field to me if they don't know anything more about Logan Woodside's game than what Arthur Smith was just saying and saying they need to see more, then again, I keep saying it. You just can't be comfortable with Logan Woodside as the backup quarterback for this team heading into a Super Bowl or bust season, a successor bust season for the Titans. But I've harped on that enough. Let's get back into Arthur Smith's thoughts on different players around the team. Next, he talks about Ryan Tannehill and the relationship that they've developed and how that can help them develop an offensive game plan.

You know, there's a lot of time that he and I spend, and I do think offensively, it's the most important relationship you can have because the players that want out there executing and the quarterback and, you know, we put in certain plays that you, you know, you put in your system or whatever you're trying to accomplish. And they're the ones that are going to bring it to life. And he and I need to be on the same page. And, and that's just the way I believe. I mean, it's certainly, we go back and forth through ideas and the way we may tweak something.

And Ryan's got a great football mind and that relationship you're right it's the hopefully we can build on that and and be um have some continuity from last year uh but it's it's definitely important that relationship between the play caller and the quarterback because he's he's got to see it what your intent is on the play and then obviously he's the one that brings it to life and then for me understanding that he knows and we've talked about it and he may have an idea and he he wants to just as we go back and forth those are great conversations and we ultimately know Sunday exactly what the intent is when every play is called and we're on the same page really love that answer and and love kind of the symbiotic nature of Arthur Smith and Ryan Tannehill they seem to be gushing over

each other's football minds. And I love hearing that because the continuity will matter a lot as we've talked about throughout the all season. And we will hear how Arthur Smith is trying to capitalize on that continuity and also hear him talk about his approach to the playbook, adding plays, and play design next. Let's dive back into the highlights from Arthur Smith's Zoom conference and hear him talk about how continuity can help out this team this season. Well, in a lot of ways, it certainly helps.

There's familiarity. There's recall. These guys have done it. You've been through a whole season with them and through the game plan. So when you're making tweaks or you're trying to try something new, you've got something, hey, this is – remember when we did this, you know, this week we were playing Baltimore. You know, this is something we want to try, and there there's a lot of recall and you're showing them doing it.

You're trying to evolve. That certainly helps. And we understand, I mean, just cause you got everybody back. I mean, it's going to be a, it's a, it's a hard climb. Everybody's a very competitive league, as you guys know, and we, we got to start over and, and, and we know there's a lot of hard work ahead of us and to improve. And it completely makes sense. Like he mentioned, you can go back and say that play that we ran second down and six in the playoffs against Baltimore.

And if you know what he's talking about, you were on the team, and then he wants to make a slight adjustment to that play. You already have the base. You can change the icing on the cake if you have the base of the cake correctly and ready to go. Somebody who's starting from scratch has to bake the cake from the ground up it's going to take more time to be able to make those key adjustments that you want to make to certain plays so definitely makes sense what Arthur Smith is

talking about next Arthur Smith starts to talk about basically the the differences between last year when he was fresh a first-time offensive coordinator, as compared to this year where things are a little weird, but he still has some experience to draw from. It's just going through it. It's not the first time. Last time we were on the Zoom virtually, you talked about the unknown, fear of the unknown. It's like any job.

You try to get better, the longer you're in it, and I'm fortunate to be in it and yeah there's there's definitely you've been through it so you know your focus you know you may have thought about hey what if this comes up like at least and that's the kind of ways to go I mean things are going to come up again I mean there's talk to a guy I've been doing it 40 years and you know the first time I've seen that happen. But there's definitely more of a comfort level, knowing what the job entails, having experience at first hand. And although Arthur Smith will be heading into his second season with a little bit of experience,

what is he missing out on as a play caller by not having the preseason? Well, I mean, I'm very thankful this isn't my first year doing it. Certainly those games helped me last year. I mean, from a play calling standpoint, you know, it just kind of gets you in the rhythm and you can try to control and recreate it. And I'm sure most teams will as the camp goes on, but you're not against an opponent.

And so it is a little bit different. But just getting, you know, back used to in the camp goes on, but you're not against an opponent. And so it is a little bit different. But just getting, you know, back used to in the swing of things, that certainly we'll do a good job of that this camp to make sure we're ready to go. And then, you know, there's certain guys you would love to see, but that's not the reality. And so everybody's dealing with the same issue. So we'll have to recreate that during camp, best we can. And finally, the last two questions

here i think are absolutely fantastic answers by arthur smith talking about the playbook and talking about play design first he talks about the playbook and how he adds to it depending on what the team is good at absolutely you go back and you look at, and you said, we want to adapt. You want to, we know who we are, but that doesn't mean you gotta, it's gotta be the exact same thing. And you're just going to hit print on the game plans again. That's not going to, you can't do that. We know we are at a core and there's, there's great ideas.

I look for ideas everywhere and there's no idea that's too small. You know, you just, you look around, whether you're evaluating, evaluating college tape, you look around the league and see what other people's are doing. You know, you just, you look around, whether you're evaluating college tape, you look around the league and see what other people are doing. There's some great, there's some great schemes and some great plays. And then you've got to tell yourself, hey, does this, is this really us? This is a good idea. Let's try this.

And I'm excited to get to training camp to try some of those plays and stuff you studied in the off season. And I know to me sometimes too, you look at it and you, and you have to be realistic like about what you can do. I kind of compare sometimes if you, if you've got a great three point shooting team, you should shoot more threes. But if you got guys that can't shoot three point, you gotta, you're gonna have to adjust. And that's where you gotta find that balance. The comparison is perfect. And any good coach will tell you in any sport, you don't force the players to play the way you want to play. You play the way that makes the

most sense for the players that you have. So I like hearing Arthur Smith's mindset on that. The next answer is fantastic. Arthur Smith talks about play design and whether he I thought the question was great first does he design plays based on just the play that he wants to run the scheme or does he design play specifically for certain players to play certain spots no I think it it happens in the offseason you know it's more broad and you're like hey this is a pretty good scheme let's see who can do it but certainly when you get into the season there are certain plays you're like hey I want to make sure I get for this guy and it gets a little more specific as you get closer this is me talking I have no idea how the other 31 guys go do it but just me as we get through it

and we as a staff go through it uh certain scheme stuff is certainly for players. For me personally, it was awesome to get a peek inside Arthur Smith's mind when he talked about playbook additions, play design there, and I think it makes a lot of sense. You have a standard playbook. Think about the running game, outside zone as a running play. You're not designing that play specifically for any one person, although it works perfectly for Derrick Henry and for what Darrington Evans did in college. But there are certain plays throughout the season where you want to attack somebody's defensive scheme in a certain way, and you know that if you get A.J. Brown lined up in this position, you get this certain look that the defense has been showing in a particular situation every year, then you can get A.J. Brown a really good opportunity.

So it only makes sense for Arthur Smith to approach each week with the opportunity to add in plays. And honestly, if you ever played football at even the high school level, let alone the college level, then you know about certain plays and certain packages that get added on during the week leading up to the game because those plays and that particular scheme should work perfectly against what you're going up against and what you've seen this team do on film. Think about when certain teams will have a running back in the backfield and shotgun and then they'll motion

the running back out of the backfield because they know that when they do that the defense will react to that in a certain way and now it's almost like you know what your opponent's going to do. You can call a certain play or have a certain play set up to really take advantage of the matchups or the scheme that you're going to see. So just part of the chess game that goes on in the NFL, why it's football, is the greatest game on earth. And that's my opinion, but my opinion's right. So that's how we will end today's show.

Tomorrow, I'm sure that we will have more news to talk about, but we also will take time to hear from Titans, quite honestly, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, as he spoke with Titans media over the weekend as well. So I will be bringing that to you guys tomorrow so you can hear from both the Titans' top offensive coach and the top Titans' defensive coach as well. So I will be bringing that to you guys tomorrow so you can hear from both the Titans top offensive coach and the top Titans defensive coach as well. And always impressed by Shane Bowen. So make sure that you tune in to the Locked on Titans podcast tomorrow for that. But that is going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland,

and this was Locked on Titans.