Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Put The Pads On - Training Camp Recap: More Defensive Wins, Individual Highlights & Injury Updates

Episode Date: August 4, 2021

On today's Locked On Titans Podcast: Defense wins the day again! D-Line Domination!! More Individual Camp Updates!! Injury Updates to Julio Jones, Josh Reynolds, Ben Jones & Harold Landry Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSupport 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.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson every Monday through Friday. Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news,

so make sure you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On podcast Network, wherever you get your podcast. The pads went on on Tuesday. The physicality ratcheted up and training camp got real for the Tennessee Titans. I am breaking down everything that took place in that padded practice on Tuesday on today's show. We are going to talk about the general theme of the practice, who won offense or defense.

And a little bit of a spoiler for you guys, the Titans got defensive on the day, but the offense did rebound. And within the team overall perspective, we had some good individual performances as well. So I'm going to break all of that down for you guys. And then to cap off the show, as we have been doing throughout training camp, I'm going to break the quote-unquote bad news to you guys.

Had a couple Titan starters leave practice early. Don't think it's anything too serious, but do got to bring that information to you guys. Also, we got another major injury within the AFC South that I'm going to be breaking down for you guys as well. So an entire recap of everything that happened on Titans padded

practice on Tuesday on this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be breaking down everything that you need to know from Tuesday's Titans practice on today's show. But before we get into that, gotta remind you guys, I'm gonna be putting out Monday through Friday

daily Tennessee Titans content here on the Locked on Titans podcast, not only during training camp, not only during the preseason, not only during the regular season, but all year long. Make sure that you never miss an episode by subscribing to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever

platform you do stream. Also, follow me on social media, on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, on Facebook, at Locked on Titans Pod. We are going to dive into some overall points to take away outside of just the individuals who had good days or bad days. Overall, as I mentioned during the intro, it was a defensive day. And we've heard that quite a bit throughout the first five to six days of training camp. The defense has been ahead pretty much every single day.

And to be honest with you guys, that is to be expected because defense, these guys have been playing the same defensive coverages throughout most of their lives. And offense is a little more complicated. The verbiage is a little more complicated to get into. It's a little more complex. Developing chemistry, developing rhythm. All of that is much more important on the offensive side of the ball. So it does make sense, obviously, that the defense would be ahead.

Also, when you consider Tuesday was the first padded practice for the Titans, well, which side of the ball, offense or defense, do you think is more excited and more acclimated to the physicality of football? Probably the defense, the guys who throw their body into the offensive players and try to stop them. The offense is trying to score and get free. The defense is trying to put their body and hit the offensive players. So from that perspective, all of that together, makes sense that the defense would be ahead. But I do got to tell you, the offense did rebound late in practice

and looked pretty sharp in a red zone team period close to the end of the day. So you like to see a rebound there, and I hope to see the offense kind of bounce back and get back into form as we move forward throughout training camp closer to the regular season. And obviously, on the defensive side of the ball, if the defense is winning the day, there have to be some standout performances on that side. And most of it came from the defensive line, which is incredibly important for the Titans

who need to be much more disruptive up front this season. And you think about a guy like Jeffrey Simmons, who was incredibly disruptive against the run and team run periods. Tyre Tartt as well continues to impress in training camp, had a good day but Danico Autry was a big star on Tuesday for whatever you would consider a training camp star he showed great handwork the Titans have been using him as a defensive end also a little bit on the edge outside linebacker gotta love that versatility there he even at one point during practice according to reports knocked over nasty Nate Davis so some physicality being displayed the defensive line being dominant even some backup even at one point during practice, according to reports, knocked over nasty Nate Davis.

So some physicality being displayed, the defensive line being dominant, even some backup guys like Larell Murchison and newly signed Kyle Pecco had quote-unquote sacks that would have been sacks in a real scenario. Even Jayon Brown and Elijah Molden got in on the sack party. So a lot of pressure up front from the defense, on the sack party. So a lot of pressure up front from the defense and there was also some pretty good pass coverage on the day as well. Of course like I said it was a defensive one day so you're going to see the two big aspects of defense pressure up front and then pass defense in the back. Both of those particular areas of the defense had very good days. Now from a more individual level just to showcase the physicality of the pads we saw two big hits on Tuesday as well. The first we actually

got a video of from training camp I would go onto my Twitter at Tic Tac Titans and check out the video if you have not seen it but it basically is Des Fitzpatrick going one-on-one in a tackling drill against Elijah Molden. And boy, did the rookie wide receiver Des Fitzpatrick lower his shoulder and deliver a blow to Elijah Molden. But you got to give Molden credit. He wrapped up, stayed controlled, and ended up bringing down Des Fitzpatrick for the tackle. But love to see the physicality earlier on. Also, linebacker B.J. Bellow put a really good pop on Darrington Evans during a running back screen during team period.

So starting to see some big hits, the physicality go up, which is to be expected. Now, I told you guys it was a defensive day, and we talked about some of the standouts on the defensive line. Well, now I want to transition to the other part of the defense that played well, and that was the pass defense, the pass coverage, the guys in the secondary. Going to talk about some guys who made plays from that area as well. Before we get into that, though, do want to tell you guys about BetOnline.ag,

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that took place on Tuesday. We just talked about how the Titans put the pads on, saw some big hits out there in different portions of practice. The defense won the day overall with the defensive line. Jeffrey Simmons, Danico Autry, Tyer Tarr, Larell Murchison, Kyle Pecco, all making big plays and showing out. But we also got a really solid day from the Titans pass defense now I would say it's the secondary but it wasn't just the secondary that was involved in the effort of course you have a guy like Jack Rabbit Jenkins out there making plays throughout the day but Elijah Molden who I continuously come back to is a guy I expect to really go above and beyond the expectations

that most fans would have for him this year, and even the Titans organization may have had for him this year. I think Elijah Molden could be the Titans' biggest impact rookie from that class. He had a good day with some pass breakups. Also, we saw, like I mentioned before, Jayon Brown had a sack, but Jayon also got a nice pass breakup. And then the newly signed John Simon had a great play in a goal line setting where he intercepted a pass from Titans backup quarterback Logan Woodside, and he might have

been able to take it to the house. So that's another interception along with multiple pass breakups on the day. The Titans defense has now had 10 interceptions total during training camp. And that has to be somewhat of a concern to the Titans offensive coaching staff. But of course, as I mentioned at the top of the show, should see the offense start to improve as they get more chemistry and get more solidified throughout the rest of camp. We saw, speaking of some pass breakups, a big moment during practice that I think is a really awesome sequence. Basically, Jackrabbit Jenkins had a pass breakup on a Ryan Tannehill pass to A.J. Brown and afterwards had a little bit of swagger, had a little bit of confidence and gave the Dikembe Mutombo no, no, no finger wag to Ryan Tannehill.

I'm sure a lot of you guys know what I'm referencing, but right after that, Tannehill responded with a deep shot down the field to Fred Brown, not A.J. Brown this time, to Fred Brown over Janoris Jenkins for a touchdown. So a little back and forth there. You love to see that. And speaking of Ryan Tannehill laser-beaming a touchdown pass to Fred Brown, I mentioned it was a defensive day, but the Titans offense did rebound late in practice,

especially in the team red zone period, while Ryan Tannehill was specifically very sharp. He threw two touchdown passes. One of them was to running back Darrington Evans, and it was a very difficult and impressive catch where Darrington Evans had to basically rotate his body in the air, get his feet down right at the corner of the end zone. So a very impressive athletic play there from Darrington Evans, but also Ryan Tannehill had another pinpoint accurate beautiful pass for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone to A.J. Brown.

That's right, A.J. Brown just continues to dominate out there. Also, speaking of some offensive highlights, Deshaun Kizer, who is currently fighting for that backup role for the Titans, also had a very good throw across his body down the field to undrafted free agent tight end Miller Forrestal. So you love to hear that as well. More news on Kaiser later that isn't quite as great though. Moving forward, that's the offensive stuff and the defensive stuff, but I do want to point out some special teams topics.

Number one, Racey McMath, who has been a little bit of a training camp darling for Titans fans. We've talked about Racey McMath as a wide receiver throughout most of the beginning portions of Titans training camp. Talked about him going up over top of people, talking about the speed, getting down the field, his route running, just how he has impressed as a wide receiver. But I have continued to talk about the fact that Ray C. McMath's most important contribution

to the 2021 Titans is going to be on special teams. He was one of the best special teams players in college football throughout the last two years. He was drafted to play special teams players in college football throughout the last two years. He was drafted to play special teams. Anything the Titans get out of Ray C. McMath at wide receiver is the cherry on top. Okay, that's a bonus. That's extra credit. The Titans need a bona fide special team stud, and that's why it was so cool to see videos of racy mcmath in one-on-one tackling drills not as the wide receiver as the defensive player i mean that's fantastic showing that physicality in the video we watched he was able to take the ball carrier down i do believe it was mason kinsey

uh so racy mcmath showing that vers. He's out there with the wide receivers, catching balls in individual drills. He's out there scoring touchdowns in red zone 7-on-7 and team periods. And then he's out there in one-on-one tackling drills, wrapping up other wide receivers. I mean, what more could you ask of from the

7th round rookie? He's absolutely done a fantastic job at carving out a role for himself on this team. Also, got to talk about Caleb Farley. We talked a bunch about Caleb Farley yesterday. It wasn't a padded practice, but he made his debut for the Titans on Monday. What about Tuesday when the pads came on? Well, Caleb Farley wasn't quite ready for that. He was still limited limited participated in individual drills but it is obvious as I mentioned yesterday he is just a totally different type of

animal want to get some credit to John Glennon from Broadway who had this observation in comparison basically saying that Caleb Farley is to the cornerback group as Derek Henry is to the running back group. Now, I think that's a tad bit of an exaggeration. Obviously, Derek Henry is a once-in-a-lifetime specimen. But I think that it's not completely off-base either because Caleb Farley at 6'2", at his size, his speed, I mean, he does look like a different kind of guy. He's got a wide receiver body in the cornerback group, and it makes sense because he started his career as a wide receiver

before transitioning to the defensive side of the ball. So all that does line up. But just wanted to follow up my reports here, Caleb Farley, not fully into the padded practice for the Titans, but it makes sense that they will bring him along slowly. Now, another big update that I have for you guys is on the kicking game. Yesterday, I gave the update that the Titans kickers had an off day on Monday, so they didn't do any documented kicking in team periods. But that changed on Tuesday, and it had to as the Titans with the pads on do need to start practicing all of their special teams when things are serious, especially from the kicker standpoint.

Having a live rush out there and guys actually being able to block the kick and putting pressure on you, that changes the dynamic. But I am happy to report a great day for the Tennessee Titans kickers, for both of them. Tucker McCann went six for six. The new guy, Sam Ficken, went six for six. That's guy, Sam Ficken, went six for six. That's right, Sam Ficken was kicking. And the distances here, they went 27 yards, 33 yards, 40 yards, 43 yards, 47 yards, and 50 yards.

And like I said, all the guys made all their kicks. Now, I do want to mention this. Reports do indicate that Tucker McCann's last kick from 50 was pretty low, and it barely got over the crossbar. So, right now, I would have to say Ficken had a better day because we didn't get that report on him. All of his kicks were more comfortably made, but you know, six for six from both guys. You really can't complain about that, but that's the last thing that I want to mention here as we recap all the good stuff that took place in camp. Now we do got a cap off the show talking about some of the less good things that happened during camp.

Some injuries, some guys who weren't out on the field, and some guys who left the field early. But before we get into that, do want to tell you guys about the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy. And they come from our friends over at Built.com. Built bars really are the best tasting protein bars ever. Right now on their website, they have nine delicious flavors. Some of my favorites are the salted caramel and the peanut butter brownie. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. Absolutely delicious.

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Once again, that's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off the best tasting protein bars ever at Bilt.com. We are going to cap off this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, continuing to go over everything that you need to know from the Titans practice on Tuesday. But unfortunately, within all of that, there is some quote-unquote negative news that we have to discuss, especially on the injury front. Now, before we get into that, do just want to remind you guys to check out the Locked On Bets podcast. Betting on the Titans doesn't have to be a guessing game if you listen to the new Locked On Bets Podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. Get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of

the day. Follow the Locked On Bets Podcast brought to you by betonline.ag wherever you get your podcast. But let's dive into some of this unfortunate news. First off, who was not at practice on Tuesday for the Titans? And unfortunately, the two biggest names that I have to relay to you are two guys who we have to be concerned about at this moment in time. Julio Jones, which everyone acts like, oh, he's fine, it's just precautionary. But based on what we heard from Monday, that he fell in the end zone, landed awkward, walked off the field, didn't come back. Only fair to have some level of concern, especially considering the injury history he's dealt with the last few years.

And then Josh Reynolds has now missed four straight training camp practices. That has to be concerning. That's a pattern there. Have to wonder what's up with Reynolds. The Titans will need all three of their big physical wide receivers to execute some of the schematic things that I've been talking about leading up to the season

will be very important for Josh Reynolds to find a way to get healthy. Also, Dane Cruikshank, not out on the field. Derek Roberson, not out on the field. Newly signed center Spencer Pulley, not out on the field. And back end of the depth chart tackle Paul Adams, also not out on the field. Now, I got to be honest, with Paul Adams, there's some conflicting information. If you look at the NFL's transaction wire, it shows that the Titans put Paul Adams on injured

reserve last week, but it's not being reported. It's not being mentioned. And when all of the reporters on site are talking about Paul Adams not being out there, well, duh, he's not going to be out there if the Titans put him on IR. So a little bit of confusion there trying to iron that out for you guys as best as possible. But the reality is a guy like Paul Adams probably not going to make the team, probably wasn't going to be around for much longer after training camp anyway. So how much mental power are we going to focus on that? How much are we going to dive into that? I think there are more important things to get into.

Like what happened on Tuesday we did see some injuries during practice this is going to be the case guys the injury rate in football is 100 every single player will get banged up at some point in time you just hope that it's nothing serious that knocks them out of regular season time and that was the case or appeared to be the case with Ben Jones's injury so on Tuesday Ben Jones was in a team period they were running a running play he was blocking and he kind of got rolled up on looked like it was a knee injury had difficulty getting up off the ground but eventually did get off the ground limped around for a little bit, limped back to the sideline. Now, he did not take another snap the rest of the day,

which could be a sign of concern. But just about five minutes after the injury, quote-unquote, injury took place, Ben Jones was running down to the end zone to celebrate a touchdown for the offense. He also spoke with media after practice, and it seemed like everything was going to be all right. He says you get nicks and bruises in football. You get beat up, but you just keep trucking on.

So it looks like Ben Jones is going to be okay, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him maybe get a veteran off day tomorrow or today when you guys are listening to this. Also on the defensive side of the ball, we saw Titans edge rusher Harold Landry leave practice early. Now, we have no indication at this time that it's an injury. There was nothing obvious that took place out on the field, but Harold Landry going to be incredibly important to the Titans defense this year. They're already having terrible pass rush issues, so they're going to need Harold Landry out there

to help solve that problem this year and then the last injury that I want to report for you guys from Titans camp is my boy backup quarterback Deshaun Kaiser. Kaiser had a few great throws during practice but it looks like he did hit his hand on a helmet his throwing hand on a helmet at the end of practice and that could be very concerning, obviously, when you have a quarterback, any issues to the throwing arm, to the throwing hand, but hopefully he's all right, is able to just tape it up and get back out there.

Now, those are all the Titans injuries that we have to talk about. There was another really big injury within the Titans division that popped up on Tuesday, and it's kind of crazy, but it came again from the Indianapolis Colts. And we saw Carson Wentz have surgery. He's out 5 to 12 weeks with a foot injury. The same exact situation has now happened to Colts all-world offensive lineman, Quentin Nelson. Quentin Nelson is already a Hall of Famer.

He's been one of the best offensive linemen that we have ever seen and basically with his presence on the Colts offensive line you can pretty much count that the Colts are going to be a very solid team they're going to be a reliable team well that's not the case and Quentin Nelson also had surgery on his foot and is going to be out in a crazy turn of events five to 12 weeks as well. It looks like it's almost the same exact injury as Carson Wentz. Totally wild. Now, I have mentioned how it would be nice to be able to beat the Colts at full strength.

Just don't want to hear the excuses from Colts fans. But it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. It just doesn't look like that's going to be the case. It just doesn't look like that's going to be the case here. And you have to wonder what's going on over there. Injuries can be circumstantial. They can be luck-driven. So you don't want to make too much of it. But pretty crazy turn of events for the Colts.

Don't want to, you know, me personally, I'm not going to crush them or make fun or make jokes about injuries. Injuries happen to everybody. And as soon as you blink an eye, it can be the Titans. So I hope those guys get healthy for their own benefit, but interesting to see the run of bad luck that the Colts seem to be having bad luck. You get it? Get it? Get it?

No? Maybe? The curse of Andrew Luck, baby. The curse of Andrew Luck. Anyways, we'll move forward. The last thing that I want to mention here, it's totally random, but it's NFL news. On Tuesday, the New York Giants had a training camp

brawl. Literally an all-out brawl between the offense and the defense to the point where head coach Joe Judge completely stopped practice, sent all the coaches off the field, and just ran the Giants players up and down the field. Had them doing up-downs.

Had them doing push-ups. Screaming profanities at them. Yelling at them. And here's what I want to say. You want to see intensity. The Titans have had a few scuffles here and there, at least verbally, out on the field the last few days. You want to see intensity. You want to see that these guys care.

But from the Titans' perspective, you never want to see an all- want to see that these guys care. But from the Titans perspective, you never want to see an all-out fight like that. Like, that's just not what you want. There's potential chemistry issues that can happen within the locker room when you have serious all-out physical altercations like that. Also, within that altercation, there was a dog pile on top of Daniel Jones. Now, you may not think Daniel Jones is a very good quarterback, but that's the Giants starting quarterback in a former top 10 pick. They don't want that guy getting hurt in a dog pile during a kerfuffle between the offense and the defense. That is not what you want to see.

So remember, we want to see intensity. We want to see that the guys care. But you never, never want to see training camp guys care but you never never want to see training camp fights period period and as Mike Rabel has said if you get in the habit of getting in fights when you can't control your emotions

what are you going to do on Sunday remember guys this was forever ago but do you remember Rashawn Evans got ejected from the Denver game last year for throwing a punch in the first quarter? Literally one of the first plays. It's just silliness. The Titans can't have that happen,

and they can't let that be an expectation or a standard as well. So hopefully the Titans don't have those sort of problems. Joe Judge was brought in to be a disciplinary guy from New England for the Giants. Well, how much does that work if you're not able to prevent these things and you're just going to yell at the guys afterwards? I don't know. Very interesting. Following training camp, not only for the Titans,

but for all the teams around the NFL, incredibly interesting from my perspective. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.