Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Practice Report, Titans Executives Leaving & Offense's Main Flaw

Episode Date: January 13, 2022

The Tennessee Titans have a bye for the first round of the playoffs, so it is time to sit back and recap the action of the past week. Starting Titans practice on Wednesday. Who was in? Who was out? What was the philosophy for a bye week practice.? Next, two Titans executives are being interviewed, will they move on and how big of impact will it make. Also, the Titans made some roster moves this week and brought back a familiar face. Tyler will discuss who it is and why it was a good thing. The Titans made free agents signings during the playoffs? Tyler explains who they are and why it is happening. Finally, a Rowland's Rant on Todd Downing's biggest flaw on offense. 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!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. 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 is a Thursday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And on today's show, we have to talk about Tennessee Titans practice on Wednesday. Who participated? Who didn't participate? What did they do at practice after that? We're going to move into a bunch of Tennessee Titans news from the week. We got two Titans executives that could be hired away from the team.

We got some roster changes as well. And then finally, at the end of our show, I'm going to give you guys a little Roland's rant on Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing and his opening game scripts. All of that and more on a Thursday 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.

Titans fans, it is a Thursday edition of the Locked On Titans Podcast. Like I mentioned at the top of the show, we're going to be talking about Titans practice. We're going to be talking about Titans roster moves, Titans executives that could be hired away from the team. And I'm going to give you a Roland's rant on Todd Downing's opening game scripts. Before we get into today's show, though, do got to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen to the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream.

You're going to find the Locked on Titans podcast everywhere. And here's the thing. It's always free. Make sure that you check the podcast out on video on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe over there. Smash that notification bell so you know when all of my content goes live. Throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching on YouTube right now. Do want to remind you guys, I'm going to be putting out daily, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content, not only during the

regular season, not only during the playoffs, but all year long. There is not another Titans content creator that can say that. So make sure that you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast all year long. With that being said, it is time to move into Tennessee Titans practice from Wednesday. Number one, the most important thing. Who did not participate? Who was not out there for practice?

And I'll go through the list now. Julio Jones, Tyre Tartt, Elijah Moulton, Buster Screen, Chester Rogers, and Ben Jones. Now let me go through this list and kind of put you guys at ease for some of the names. Julio Jones, not a concern guys. They're resting Julio. He barely even practiced most of his end of his career with the Falcons. The Titans don't need him to practice during a bye week for him to be ready for a playoff game. In fact, they should be sitting him during these practices.

Just let him get ready next week when the actual practices for the game start. Let the veteran who we can trust rest. As for Tyier Tartt, that is concerning for me because one of the best things about the Titans is they can stop the run. And while Kyle Pecco has done a good job, Kevin Strong has stepped up in a decent way. We've seen some other names. The Titans need Naquan Jones and need Tyre Tart out there

on the interior defensive line. They're superior players. They're the best nose tackles and interior defensive tackles that the Titans have outside of, of course, Jeffrey Simmons, who's more of a three-tech defensive end and a 3-4 type style. But as for that run-stuffing nose tackle, the Titans need Tartt and they need Naquan Jones. They didn't have them against the Texans.

They will need them next week when they do play their first playoff game. Now, of course, it's Wednesday of a week the Titans don't play. I mean, we are 10 or 11 days away. Well, when you're listening to this, it's Thursday. I know the YouTube crowd gets really out of sorts that the days on YouTube don't necessarily match what I say. But either way, we are about 10 days away, 11 days away from the Titans actually playing in a game. So overall, there shouldn't be any kind of panic or anything like that. But just looking at that, Tartt missed the last game. So obviously he is dealing with an injury that's keeping him out of practice. Hopefully he'll be able to get better.

I am much more concerned about Elijah Molden, who got hurt in that game against the Texans. Looked like it might have been a shoulder injury after he laid a big hit on Brevin Jordan. The Titans need Elijah Molden as that early down run stuffing slot cornerback that allows them to stay in nickel package on defense, but also not compromise the run defense as well. So Molden is incredibly important.

And on the flip side of that, Buster Screen. Buster Screen only got 10 snaps in that game against the Texans. I feel like it's no coincidence that the Texans slot receiver Danny Amendola took the Titans to task. Now, I didn't see Buster Screen get hurt during the game to know exactly what he's dealing with, but with the limited snaps in that game, seeing him early

in the game but not late in the game, and then seeing him mispractice, that is concerning. That's a cluster injury for the Titans' two best slot cornerbacks to both be hurt. Again, want to have a nice kind of background layer of remember, we are 10 or 11 days away from the game, so it's no time to panic, but it is something to watch.

Chester Rogers, Ben Jones, not worried too much about those guys. They'll be perfectly fine and good to go when the game rolls around. Now, I do want to mention this to finish here on a positive note. Christian Fulton did practice on Wednesday. Remember, he went out of the game for a couple of plays late in the game against Houston. Looked like he might have banged up his shoulder as well, but the fact that he was back out at practice,

that is a very good sign. Also, this guy shouldn't be concerned about any injury now that he's healthy, but David Long was also at practice and he was the only guy wearing a helmet. David Long is about that life. And you might be saying, why is wearing a helmet at football practice anything to talk about? Well, because it is the bye week, the Titans didn't have like a regular full practice. It was mostly walkthrough, position drills, conditioning, just to make sure that these guys are staying in game and practice shape.

But there were no pads, no helmets, no shoulder pads, no shells at all. No, you know, leg pads, knee, thigh, girdle, hip. I mean, the NFL players basically don't have to wear any of that stuff if they don't want to. But growing up playing football, for me, you had to have all of the pads. And it was always nice if you got to do a walkthrough where you didn't have to put the entire suit on. So they didn't have to do that.

And that's smart. Don't want these guys playing too physically in a bye week. Don't want them, you know, overextending themselves, carrying the weight from the pads, even if, you know, not super substantial. All of that makes sense. So walkthroughs, individual conditioning, no Julio Jones, no Tyre Tartt, no Elijah Moulton, no Buster Screen, no Chester Rogers, no Ben Jones. Fulton was present and David Long, of course, made his presence felt.

So that is your Wednesday practice report. I'm going to be giving you guys on tomorrow's show a Thursday practice report and then hit some national NFL news. But as for today's show, we're going to move forward and talk about some other Tennessee Titans news from the week. There were some roster changes, a few executives for the Titans who may be on their way out during the GM hiring cycle. I'm going to break that all down for you guys.

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We just talked about the practice report for the Titans from Wednesday. Now I want to get into some miscellaneous Titans news that has come across throughout the week. You could say, before I get into that, do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. But diving in, number one, I kind of want to hit on a quote that we got from Titans defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.

And it gives us a little insight as to what the Titans coaches are doing during this bye week. And it's not necessarily like a news item like the other items that we are going to discuss, but I just think it's important for Titans fans to have a good idea of what the Titans coaching staff is worried about and focused on during this bye week. And Shane Bowen had this to say

when asked about preparing for their second round opponent, which they don't even know yet. He said, quote, we have to take advantage of our time to get familiar with opponents we haven't played. We have an understanding of some of the teams we have faced, have to get familiar with some of the teams we haven't. Very simple quote, but it kind of gives you a window into what they're thinking about

this bye week. Shane Bowen's going to be focused on the Oakland Raiders and going to be focused on the Cincinnati Bengals. The Titans have played the Chiefs. The Titans have played the Bills. The Titans have played the Patriots. The Titans have played the Steelers. So the Titans really need to focus in and hone in on those two teams they haven't played, the Raiders and the Bengals. And just so happens that the odds are that the Titans end up playing one of those two teams. So really good for them to get that advantage.

I do trust the Titans coaching staff to put together a good plan, at least on defense. But we'll talk about Todd Downing in the final segment of the day. Let's continue talking about Titans news. We got some roster news for the Titans. Jeremy McNichols, who was waived over the weekend before the game, is back with the organization on the Titans practice squad. I think that's super important because McNichols is a guy that you can count on.

McNichols is a guy who has a defined role when he is with the team as a pass protector. They went with Jordan Wilkins because he's more adept in special teams like punt coverage, kickoff coverage, and Dontrell Hilliard can now be that third down back, and Dontrell Hilliard's been better than Jeremy McNichols in pass protection in recent weeks, and that was the end of Jeremy McNichols' time on the 53-man roster once he got surpassed in the only role that he ever really excelled in.

So McNichols is back. Just gives me, you know, a comfortable feeling, knowing that if anything were to happen to Dontrell Hillier, that the Titans have somebody who can come in there and block in passing situations to make sure that Tannehill doesn't get smoked. Now, this was a big news because the Titans did have a COVID edition this week, and it was Jordan Wilkins. I mean, Wilkins was terrible in that game.

He got a 15-yard penalty, didn't see any snaps on offense at all. He was a detriment to the Titans. So I can't say that I'm too upset that he's not with the team. Now, the reason that he's not with the team is not what you want. He probably has COVID. He's at minimum of close contact. I hope he's feeling better. I hope he gets to full health and he can get back onto the squad

and help the Titans make a push towards the Super Bowl. But those are the two big roster moves that we've seen. The Titans also got the ball rolling on their training camp roster. So once the season does end for the Titans, hopefully that's not until the middle of February, but once it does end, you're going to see the Titans signing a bunch of guys to futures contracts. What does that mean?

Well, I'll give you a simple, very simple translation. It means you're invited to training camp. That's literally it. A futures contract just means you get a training camp invite. That's it. So it's not punitive. Don't worry about the salary cap. None of that is

important. It's just getting guys on your 90-man roster for training camp. And the two guys that the Titans signed this week to futures contracts were one, outside linebacker Kobe Jones. He was an undrafted free agent in 2021. He was on Miami's practice squad for a while. He spent training camp with the Atlanta Falcons. He's a rush linebacker, 6'4", 260 pounds. The other guy, defensive back Chris Williamson, 6'2", 205 pounds. He was a seventh-round rookie drafted to the New York Giants in 2020. Spent time this year on Atlanta's practice squad, and I think there's no shock here that both of these guys spent time with the Falcons

because Mike Vrabel has worked directly with DNPs. He knows what DNPs is looking for on defense. He knows the kind of player that the Atlanta Falcons organization and DNPs on defense is going to be looking for. So that makes all the sense in the world that both of these guys have either been drafted by the Falcons or spent time with the Falcons, and that makes them more appealing to the Tennessee Titans because there's some familiarity there into what the Falcons may be looking for.

The next piece of news and the last piece of news I want to hit on. So obviously, head coaching, general managers getting fired left and right. We're going through that cycle. Well, there are two Tennessee Titans executives under John Robinson who got a lot of buzz last year. So they're definitely going to get a lot of buzz in some interviews this year. And as a matter of fact, both these guys are going to be interviewing with the New York Giants.

And I don't think that'll be their last interviews, especially the first guy that we got to talk about, Ryan Cowden. So Ryan Cowden is directly under John Robinson as the vice president of player personnel. So all these moves that are happening, all the stuff that we give credit to John Robinson for, you gotta give credit to Ryan Cowden. I mean the Titans have had 91 guys on their roster this year. That is a team effort between the scouting department

and the executives that we're discussing right now and John Robinson to pick the right players who can come in, be professional, play their role, get the job done. So when you have sustained success, the Titans have the second best record in the NFL over the last six seasons. They're the number one seed in the AFC with 91 guys a record on their roster. That's some phenomenal roster building. Yeah, John Robinson has his misses. The Titans scouting staff have their misses.

But that is such sustained success. I mean, obviously under John Robinson, those guys deserve the recognition and probably deserve promotion to sit in the big chair. And I don't blame them. I'm a competitive person. I want to do better, get better, be better, go higher all the time. So I can't blame anybody for wanting to do that. If you're someone who maybe might be frustrated why they would leave the Titans, guys, they want the big chair.

Ryan Cowden deserves to be a general manager in the NFL, period. And he's going to get a spot, whether it's this hiring cycle or next, or it's going to happen. So thank you, Ryan Cowden, for everything you've done. Good luck in all of your processes as you look towards getting a general manager job. I wanted to make sure you guys know who else is with John Robinson making these moves and that these guys may be on their way out, which could be a debt to the Titans scouting staff.

Another name is Monty Austin for it. And he is right underneath Ryan Cowden as the director of player personnel. So same exact reasons I just explained for Ryan Cowden. Go for Monty Austin for it. When you have sustained success, excuse me, and you find these undrafted free

agents, you find guys off the couch like Buster Screen and Deontay Foreman and you find a way to make them productive players, that's definitely going to get you attention. So it makes sense that these two guys could be on their way out. Hopefully the Titans don't lose both of them in the same offseason. If Cowden moves on, you can promote Monty Austin for it.

So I'm hoping that that is the outcome. But both of these guys are going to be gone eventually, and that's what happens when you're successful. Your players leave on free agent deals like Corey Davis and Jonu Smith and Jack Conklin. Some of your coaches get stolen to go be head coaches like Arthur Smith. And some of your executives in the scouting department move on to be general managers themselves. I know it's a hit to the organization, but that's what you want to see from a successful

organization. So I want to make sure you want to see from a successful organization. So I want to make sure you guys were abreast to that information. Now I'm going to give you guys a little bit of a Rollins rant on one stat that really pops out to me from Todd Downing, the Titans offensive coordinator this season. Before we get into that, I do want to tell you Titans fans about an incredible app that everyone who buys gas has to know about. It's

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that the Titans have a bye. Let's go. Hey, hey. Love that. Love that. Also want to thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, make sure you check out the Locked On Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q, handicapping

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Also, I do want to mention, I try to keep the podcast 30 minutes or less, so sometimes there are certain things that just kind of skip through, but Ryan Tannehill, one AFC Offensive Player of the Week in Week 18, four touchdowns, 287 passing yards, a really good day from Ryan Tannehill. But with that being said, it's time to get into a little bit of a Rollins rant on Todd Downing, the Titans offensive coordinator. So first things first, Todd Downing is underrated by the fan base.

Everybody's so mad at Todd Downing all the time and I get it. It's not been perfect. I think Todd Downing is average at best. He is average at his best, which we can live with. Okay. The Titans got the number one seed with him being an offensive coordinator. I'm not going to sit up here and say that he's some insane detriment, but one thing that really sticks out to me and has stuck out all year is his inability to get the Titans points on their first drive. So if you don't know, I know a lot of you guys know, I don't mean to be redundant, but I want to make sure I fill in the gaps for anybody who maybe, you know, isn't don't know, I know a lot of you guys know, I don't mean to be redundant, but I want to make sure I fill in the gaps for anybody

who maybe, you know, isn't, you know, following along as closely all the time. Everybody's busy and level of knowledge for football is different. But an opening game script. Very common thing in the NFL, in college, I mean, high school. I mean, my dad was a peewee football coach for 15 years. He had his offensive coordinators have an opening script based on what the other team likes to do.

So your opening script is about 10 to 15 plays that you want to run right off the bat. You've watched the team on tape that you're playing. You know their tendencies. You know what they like to do when they start games. So you have an opening plan that is designed perfectly to attack what the other team does. Do you guys remember the San Francisco game? How San Francisco marched right down the field on their first two drives and put themselves in scoring position, scored 10 points on those opening drives. That's because Kyle

Shanahan is one of the most creative and intelligent offensive minds in the NFL. And if he is able to, you know, scout the other defense, he's going to devise a plan that's going to work. Now, the chess match that happens after that, the Titans adjust to what Shanahan's doing. And then those are two different parts. So your opening game script is the plan that you have based on your film study. And then once the game actually starts and the defense starts to adjust to what you're doing,

you as an offensive play caller have to adjust as well, and then the chess match begins. But that opening game script is a good indicator that the offensive coordinator is uber prepared and has a full understanding of what the other defense that they're going against wants to do. Well, that is Todd Downing's biggest struggle. The Titans have really, really struggled on the opening drive.

And I want to give a lot of credit to at FWordsPod on Twitter. Don't know the guy's name, but he's got his own podcast, covers the Titans. We've had some good interaction on Twitter. Good information coming from the man. Give credit where it's due. He put together a really nice thread doing some research on the Titans' success with their opening game scripts on their opening drive.

So 2021 for the Titans. The Titans have only scored a touchdown twice all year on their first drive. They've only got a field goal once. 14 times did the Titans not get a field goal or a touchdown on their opening drive. That's terrible, guys. To compare that to Arthur Smith in 2020, the Titans got a touchdown or a field goal on eight of their drives. So eight to three is what we're talking about here.

The Titans got seven touchdowns in 2020 on their opening drive and one field goal. So five more touchdowns on opening drives, six more drives, or way more than that, seven, eight, three, five more drives where they're scoring actual points to open games. So that's not good. Obviously the numbers speak for themselves.

If Arthur Smith was able to score points on eight of the opening drives of the season and Todd Downing was only able to do it three times, that's not great. And you guys know that just from me telling you. Now, to give some, I guess, context here to the NFL. So, drive outcome percentage here.

In 2021, the Titans have gotten a touchdown on 11.8% of their opening drives. 5.9% of the time, they get a field goal, which means 70% of the time they're punting on their first drive.

For comparison to the NFL, and this is pretty bad. I'm trying to keep it all together. The NFL's average touchdown rate on the opening drive is 24.7. So basically 25% a fourth of the time. So that means that the NFL average is basically 13 to 14 points higher than what Todd Downing's doing.

Punts. The NFL average for punting on your first drive in 2021. 48%. The Titans punt on 70% of their opening drives. That's a 32 or 22% difference from just the league average. Not even the best teams. So,

the point is, Todd Downing is far worse than Arthur Smith was last year as I documented in the first part of the conversation Todd Downing is far worse than the NFL average and that's why the Titans get out to so many slow starts and a team that wants to run the ball

and stop the run and control clock and do all that during the playoffs well it's going to be impossible to do that to run the ball and stop the run and control clock and do all that during the playoffs, well, it's going to be impossible to do that if you don't get out to that early lead. The Titans can't come from behind. Nonsense people say that the Titans can't come back. The Titans do that all the time. They come back from behind.

They've done it throughout the year. Not worried there. But the Titans' ideal plan is to get up early and salt the game away with the run and be that ball control old school offense and defense well you can't do that if you're literally unable to score at the beginning of the game now you may be asking well the Titans offense has turned out to be pretty good

the Titans offense isn't bad this year especially when you look at red zone third down situational stuff So what's going on? Why is this a thing? Well, in my opinion, when I explained what an opening game script was, that tells you what Todd Downing's not good at. So it's obvious to me that through film study, Todd Downing does not have a good handle on what the opposing defense likes to do. He doesn't understand their tendencies. He doesn't understand what their early plan of attack is going to be. Either he doesn't have a good handle on the film study to have a good plan himself, or teams are just tricking him out

of the gate, like Miami coming out in the 6-1 and Todd still trying to run duo straight up the middle nonstop before it took three drives for him to go to outside zone and figure it out. Todd Downing is good at making adjustments in-game, but he is terrible at scouting and game planning for a team throughout the week because he always comes out with a poor plan. Now, you can give all the caveats. The Titans have been hurt most of the year.

Derrick Henry's out half the year. A.J. Brown's out half the year. Julio Jones has barely been around. So it may be tough to score points and call offense when you're dealing with practice squad guys and all backups. But that excuse can only get you so far, Toddy. You know? The Titans had their complement of weapons over the last few weeks,

and they've still struggled to score early out of the game. They got down 10-0 against San Francisco. They didn't score on their first couple of drives against the Texans before they got things together. So it seems like to me, Todd Downing cannot put a good plan together himself before the game. And once they get into the game, he's able to make good adjustments. But I want to give credit to my boy, Will Lomas.

He made the good observation that, you know, should we really be giving Todd Downing that much credit? Because it seems like the coaching staff as a whole makes adjustments. And is Mike Vrabel more involved in the offensive adjustments than we would think with him being a defensive player? That's a possibility as well. So at this point, I'm not in the building. I can't tell you whether Todd Downing is studying hard enough,

whether he's putting together a good enough plan, all of that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm not in the building, so I can't know for certain. But at some point over a 17-game schedule, the numbers speak for themselves. He's far below NFL averages. He's far below what Arthur Smith was able to do last year. So you can make all the excuses in the world about the talent,

about this and that and the third, but the numbers don't lie. Todd Downing sucks with his opening game script. He doesn't put together a good enough early plan against opposing defenses. And I worry that, especially think about a team like the Bengals. If the Titans let the Bengals go down and get up 17-0 with their receiving weapons, Titans may be in some trouble there. Titans obviously can come back, but you don't want to be down. So Todd better figure some stuff out quickly to allow the Titans to jump on teams early

like they did in 2019 when they made that run to the AFC Championship game. So that's my rant on Todd Downing's opening game scripts. That's going to do it for this Thursday show. I'm going to do some general NFL conversation on Friday. Since we don't have a game to preview, I'm going to do my NFL awards. Also going to talk my picks for Super Wild Card Weekend that the Titans don't have to play in, turn up. And then we'll probably cover some Tennessee Titans practice news to start the show. 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.