Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Re-Watch Wednesday: Defensive Personnel, Offensive Evolution & Josh Reynolds Cut

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

It is Re-Watch Wednesday on the Locked On Titans podcast and today Tyler opens up his film notes to break down how the Tennessee Titans beat the Los Angeles Rams from an X's & O's perspective! First, Tyler breaks down the roster moves made by the Titans on Tuesday including the release of Josh Reynolds. Then, dive into the tape and talk Titans defense! Tyler discusses the varied personnel groupings and the defensive gameplan. Finally, Tyler discusses the offense's struggles while also shedding light on the evolution that is taking place!#TicTacTuesday Film Breakdown Link: https://twitter.com/TicTacTitans/status/1458096470628913159?s=20Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked on Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3332GMOh4y5PX3q9NFybwSupport 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.GetupsideJust download the FREE GetUpside App and use promo code TOUCHDOWN to get up to 50¢/gallon cash back on your first tank. 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 re-watch Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Today, we are going to talk about what the Tennessee Titans did on offense and defense from a schematic standpoint in their big Sunday night football win against the Los Angeles Rams. I'm going to break down the X's and O's on both sides of the ball and let you guys know exactly what I saw after re-watching the coaches tape the all 22 multiple times. A lot of really good nuggets on personnel, a lot of really good nuggets on formations and play types that the Titans were doing out there on the field on Sunday night,

and I'm excited to share it all with you guys. Before we get into that, though, we do have some roster news to discuss. The Titans made a surprising release as part of their roster moves on Tuesday. I'll tell you who that was, and I'll also tell you why the roster moves point to the return of one of the Tennessee Titans' most important pieces. All of that on a re-watch Wednesday 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.

Every day. Titans fans. It is a rewatch Wednesday edition of the locked on Titans podcast. And it is presented by our friends over at McDonald's proudly serving communities since 1965. McDonald's has always been more than just a place to get a tasty, affordable meal. It's an unofficial community center. A big thank you to our friends at McDonald's for always being there.

I'm loving it. So we are going to dive into all of my film notes, everything that I saw on tape from the Titans on offense and defense. We're going to talk those roster moves. But I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. And if this is your first ever listen to the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure that you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. Make sure that you check out the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Press that notification bell so you always get alerted when my new content goes up.

And specifically for a rewatch Wednesday, you have to check me out on social media, at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter. Check out the show Facebook page, at Locked on Titans Pod. We are going to talk about these roster moves, though, and there was a surprising cut for the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday, and it was wide receiver Josh Reynolds. Now, Reynolds, although he didn't get a big deal,

was kind of a buzzy free agent signing. You could say I was high on the Reynolds addition at the time. There was no Julio Jones. So you're thinking another big bodied wide receiver used to blocking coming from that Ram system that is very similar to the Titans. As we will talk about in my film notes today, it made sense why Reynolds could do well, even on a $1.75 million contract, but he got beat out in training camp by Marcus Johnson. He doesn't really provide the special teams value that we see from a Nick Westbrook-Akina, who's been okay as a wide receiver at times this year,

and kind of just moved Reynolds down the depth chart. And since he didn't provide any kind of extraordinary special teams value, it looked like both parties agreed to mutually go different ways. Reynolds wanted a new opportunity to maybe get some snaps on a team this year so far Reynolds has only had 142 offensive snaps that's only 36 percent of the snaps and with all the injuries the Titans have had at wide receiver you would think he definitely would have had more than that only 10 catches and 90 yards on the year so let him go the Titans are okay that. They don't really need to waste a roster spot on him

if he's not going to be in the top three or four wide receivers and he's not going to play on special teams. Well, you're burning a roster spot. So the Titans let him go for that purpose. And then also he gets to go find a new team and maybe make some plays. The guy is better than what he did in Tennessee. Just the opportunity wasn't there for him.

So the Titans let go of Josh Reynolds, but they also let go of depth cornerback Breon Borders, who's been on and off with the team for the last two seasons, had some big plays in the red zone earlier this year as a stand-in with all the injuries the Titans have had at wide receiver. But with the emergence of Greg Maben and him avoiding IR over the weekend with Chris Jackson now getting snaps outside, which is something that we will talk about as well in the film notes, it made sense. Again, another guy who just got pushed down the depth chart.

Doesn't really give you a ton of special teams value. And from there, the Titans just decided they didn't have room on the roster anymore. And why that actually means something maybe good for the Titans is because if the Titans are clearing room in the defensive back room, that means the return of a defensive back, which could be Christian Fulton, who had been the Tennessee Titans best cornerback until he suffered the hamstring injury. So this could mean that Fulton is going to be officially activated from the IR on Saturday and then maybe play on Sunday, but we'll get practice reports and see if he's even out there

giving any kind of information or if there's any semblance of his return on the horizon. But the Titans also cut bait with practice squad defensive back Nate Brooks. So there's another defensive back just to get your optimism up for Christian Fulton's return a little bit more. So that's good stuff. Now before we move forward into my film notes, there's a little bit of a topical thing that I want to touch on here.

Odell Beckham did clear waivers on Tuesday. So he was not picked up by any team. He is officially a free agent, according to Josina Anderson. She says that Odell Beckham is going to take his time, really make sure that there's a good fit for him before he picks a team. But either way, Odell Beckham is a free agent. If the Titans were to be interested, they could work out a deal with him. Now, I personally, for my money, am going to say that the Titans

do not go out and sign Odell Beckham. I think, although he is a talent and can get open still, I don't think that Odell Beckham's career is over. He's not a good player anymore. I think everything's circumstantial. I think he could help a team, but I just don't think the Titans are necessarily the right fit with the type of offense, very similar to the Browns offense. And with the opportunities he has to be seeking in the Tennessee area, I don't know if that'll jive. I could see him going to like a Los Angeles. So with all of that in mind,

I don't really think that Odell Beckham ends up on the Tennessee Titans. But either way, he's out there. Wanted to make sure that you guys knew that. So we're going to move forward. It is time to get into my rewatch Wednesday notes. We are going to start on. It is time to get into my rewatch Wednesday notes. We are going to start on the defensive side of the ball where the Titans did some amazing stuff with their personnel and with their formations to combat the Los Angeles Rams explosive offense. So I'm going

to tell you guys about that. But before we do that, do want to tell you about a great app that's free called Get Upside. And any Titans fan who uses gas has to know about it. It's Get Upside. It's free called Get Upside, and any Titans fan who uses gas has to know about it. It's Get Upside. It's free, and my listeners are making up to $0.25 for every gallon of gas every time they fill up. You download the free Get Upside app in the App Store or on Google Play right now. You use the promo code TOUCHDOWN, and you'll get a bonus $0.25 off per gallon on your first fill-up.

That's up to $0.50 a gallon cash back on that first fill-up. Just an incredible deal. Never pay full price at the pump ever again. You can get cash back using GetUpside. Download the app for free. Use that promo code TOUCHDOWN, and you get up to $0.50 a gallon cash back on that first tank. And some people who drive a lot are making up to $200, $300 a month.

And the best part is there's no catch. You can cash out at any time to your bank account, your PayPal, or even to an e-gift card like for Amazon. So make sure that you download the GetUpside app. Use that promo code touchdown and you'll get up to 50 cents a gallon cash back on your first tank. That's promo code touchdown on the free GetUpside app.

Titans fans, we are going to continue a rewatch Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. But we're going to dive into that dominant Tennessee Titans defensive performance. I'm going to give you some of the notes that I picked up from re-watching the coaches tape, re-watching the all 22 and on defense. What really stood out to me was how the Titans deployed their zones. So they played more zone coverage than they normally would.

As we've talked about throughout the season, the Titans love playing tight man coverage with a zone defender over the middle, uh, underneath, and then another zone defender deep, that cover one man robber. And that's how Kevin Byard has really taken advantage of some turnover opportunities. But the Titans played a pretty good amount of zone because with a quarterback who's as talented as Matthew Stafford, you have to mix up your coverage as a ton. Against Carson Wentz, the Titans really played just a ton of man coverage over and over and over again and said, you're not going to be able to beat us on that. But you can't do that against Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes and Matthew Stafford. So the Titans had very similar game plans for all three offenses. And I think it's built on the fact that the Titans weren't

really worried about their run games in any way, any of those teams. They weren't really worried about that run threat. So the Titans were able to play more zone and mix up their zone coverages. They played a ton of cover two. They played a lot of cover three as well. And they also tossed in there a little bit of cover two invert, which we know can get them into trouble. But I think they're starting to run it much better

and really understand where they're supposed to be in that communication and just feel for where your teammates are going to be. But as for this specific matchup outside of the coverages that they ran, I thought that the Titans did a really good job of manipulating their man matchups when they did go man. So they're switching up a ton of zone coverages. They're showing two high safeties and rolling it into cover three with a single high. Of course, they're doing stuff like that. They're showing two high safeties and rolling it into cover three with a single high. Of course, they're doing stuff like that. They're showing two high safeties and playing cover two, traditional regular cover two.

And then from there, they're doing the cover two invert where Kevin Byard is showing in that traditional cover two deep half. But then he creeps up into the intermediate hook curl area. And then Jackrabbit Jenkins from the cornerback spot is dropping back and taking that deep half. So the Titans are doing a lot of that. I thought they did a good job of mixing those coverages up throughout the game, but when they did go man, one thing that I liked about their matchups was

we have seen the Titans use man coverage in hybrid ways. So they do that cover one man robber we talk about, but they also have done some things like against the Colts last week. The Titans actually did a zone on one side of the field, but then they used David Long and one of the safeties in man coverage on the tight end and the running back because what the Colts were doing, they were putting three wide receivers on one side of the field

and then having the tight end and the running back and shotgun on the right side next to the formation, of course. And the Titans were like, okay, we're going to zone up your wide receivers and then we're going to man with a linebacker and a safety on the tight end and the running back because that's who you really want to get to. The Colts love throwing to their backs and their tight ends. Well, with the Titans, they wanted to make sure that they got good matchups because who do the Rams want to throw to?

Cooper Cup. That's who their guy is on big money downs. So how do you find a way to get your best player to be able to watch over their best player in big moments? Well, what the Titans did was they switched up their normal man assignments. Usually David Long has the running back and then a safety or usually a safety, not a cornerback, it'd be Dan Crookshank or Kevin Byard, Monty Hooker sometimes has man coverage responsibility on the tight end. Well,

the Titans flipped that and they had a couple of plays in there on big money downs. I'm not saying they did this every time, but on some big money downs, they would flip it and they would have David Long take the tight end. Usually Tyler Higbee, who I can tell from the tape, the Titans didn't really see as a huge matchup problem out running routes. The Rams use him schematically in some fun ways, but he's not just going to beat somebody one-on-one over, over like David Long. So David Long could take man coverage on the tight end, Tyler Higbee, and then they can put Kevin Bayard in man coverage on the running back. You have Jayon Brown playing that over-the-middle zone defender. You have Amani Hooker deep.

Well, what happens is Kevin Bayard has the assignment on the running back, and the running back is going to run flat routes. He's going to check and check for pressure and then get out here. And a lot of the time, the running back will just stay in the block. So what happens when Kevin Byard sees his man stay in the block or the running back is chipping and then going out into the flat or just doing a swing route that really isn't something that the Titans have to fear? Yeah, check it down to the running back.

We rally and tackle. Well, Kevin Byard can come down from that safety position into the 10-yard area from the line of scrimmage, and he can look for Cooper Cup. And the Titans took away Cooper Cup multiple times because Kevin Byard would be in a zone where he's responsible for a flat or he's responsible for just the outside and a cover three in the middle area or, like what I'm talking about, it's man coverage, and he's on the running back.

And then, because he has time because of his assignment, he can float a little bit, give a little extra attention to Cooper Cup, and take him away. So the Titans did that multiple times. Get your best player with some freedom to check out their best player. Now that's kind of schematically what the Titans did in pass coverage throughout the day. Overall, in run defense, it was about five-man fronts

because the Rams run a similar offense to the Titans in principle where they want to do those zone runs, and then the running back has the ability to cut back or the quarterback can bootleg off of that. It all puts a lot of pressure on the outside of the backside of the formation. Well, how teams counter that is they put five guys on the line of scrimmage and they apply a lot of backside pressure. That's how Chandler Jones destroyed Ryan Tannehill in the first game.

We saw Aaron Donald on a bootleg get some pressure on Ryan Tannehill in this game. The Rams defense knows how to play against something like the Rams offense. So they knew, hey, we're going to bring back pressure on the backside and cut off that cut back on the run and force the running back to the play side. We're going to cut off that bootleg and not give your quarterback easy little dump off routes like we see the Titans use and they get used against them because this system is all over the NFL and for good reason.

So that's how the Titans defended the run. They made sure they had five men on the line of scrimmage to take away that backside. They also used six-man alignments when the Rams went really heavy with like three tight ends, and it's actually a 6-1. So the Patriots in the Super Bowl against the Rams to take away this offensive scheme,

what the Patriots did was they put four defensive linemen down, and then they put two edge rushers down and then they put six two edge rushers on the outside to put six guys on the line of scrimmage and then they'd have one linebacker at the second level and it's the 6-1 well on the goal line in a red zone situation when Matthew Stafford threw the fade to Van Jefferson against Chris Jackson and Chris Jackson was able to knock it away a great game for C-Jacks can't believe that I become his biggest fan but I'm here to champion Chris Jackson. But what happened was, and this was something that Ted Wynn pointed out on Twitter,

he does a really good job, writes for The Athletic, but he pointed out Matthew Stafford, you could hear him on the broadcast, say 6-1, 6-1, he called out the Titans' defensive formation, and what he did was he canceled a run play and checked to the fade. Well, that's a win for the Titans, and the reason that he did was he canceled a run play and checked to the fade. Well, that's a win for the Titans. And the reason that he did that is because the Rams like to run a play. The Titans run a lot called duo and it's two double teams up front. We talk all the time about how the Titans offensive scheme is based on double teams

by the offensive linemen and then get into the second level. That's how the entire thing operates. Well, if you stack the line of scrimmage with six guys like that, double teams aren't going to be there. You're just going to have to block one-on-one, and that eliminates the advantage that you create with the run play. That's why the Patriots did it to the Rams in the Super Bowl and shut them down for three points, and that's what we saw the Rams or the Titans defense do to the Rams

in certain situations in this game. The Rams didn't really go heavy tight end very often. They kept their 11 personnel out there, three wide receivers. And the Titans basically were just able to play a nickel all game. And that's five defensive backs on the field. And this is where it really gets interesting, is the personnel deployment for the Titans defense. So the Titans ran a 3-3-5 for the majority of this game.

They had Danico Autry, Jeffrey Simmons, and Tyyear Tartt on the defensive line. They had Harold Landry, Jayon Brown, and David Long as the three linebackers. And we know that Harold Landry's been used at the second level for the Titans a lot this year because the Titans have been running more four-man fronts, like a 4-3 alignment, than they've been running anything else.

So seeing the 3-3-5 personnel grouping be used, Jayon Brown spent some time on the edge just to make sure that they had that five-man front to provide the backside pressure against that Rams offensive scheme and it allowed them to move guys around and being the traditional 4-4-2 with Landry as an edge rusher, Autry on the outside and Tartan Simmons in the middle if they need that alignment, but just gives you so much versatility with the type of guys that the Titans have that can do so many things. So really like the personnel right there from the front six, I guess I should say,

and how they aligned and how they moved that around with the personnel that they had. But also in the back end, the way that the Titans are doing their personnel. So they're using Elijah Molden as a run-down nickel. He's playing in the slot on first and second downs in running situations because he's better against the run than Chris Jackson is. He's a better blitzer than Chris Jackson is as well. That allows Elijah Molden to do what he does best, come downhill, make tackles in the run game, be instinctive, blitz, all that stuff. Get them around the

line of scrimmage. But then on passing downs, they're taking Elijah Molden out and they're putting in Chris Jackson into the slot. But, this is where it gets interesting. On those first and second downs while Molden is in the slot, they're using Chris Jackson

on the outside now, which is why Breon Borders probably let go. They feel comfortable with Maben and Jackson on the outside now, which is why Breon Borders probably let go. They feel comfortable with Maben and Jackson on the outside because they're better. But even Chris Jones spent some time outside. Chris Jones elevated from the practice squad. Chris Jones played outside corner when Chris Jackson came into the slot on passing downs.

So that's just beautiful stuff right there. One little nugget that I want to throw in here. The Titans' key to victory for me on defense was to limit the explosive plays in the passing game, which means that you've got to take away 20-plus-yard pass plays. The Rams were the fourth-best offense in the NFL going into the game with those 20-yard passing plays. The Titans had to eliminate those and make it hard on them,

like is the plan with the other good teams that they've played this year. Well, one thing that teams are exposing is when the Titans play that man coverage, they have that key that if your man blocks, then you can come into the rush and you can blitz. Well, David Long is super aggressive and ready to go and trigger right when he sees his key. So David Long was manned up on the tight end in this game, like I talked about at the beginning. And because of that, if the tight end would block, he would shoot and blitz and dart in. Well, the one big explosive passing play that the Rams were able to get, the tight end screen. Tight end turned around right as David Long passed him like, oh, that's the guy who's supposed to guard me. There he goes. And he turns around, Matthew Stafford hits him, 26-yard chunk play.

So Titans, be careful. Rush with ferocity, but also rush with discipline. Mostly looking at you, David. I love the intensity, but just be careful. Just a little nugget that I picked up that I know that other offenses and coaches are going to see as well. But that is going to do it for the defensive side of the ball. Spent a lot of time on the defense because their performance was just absolutely amazing.

So wanted to make sure that we got as much of that as we possibly could because on the offensive side of the ball, it's not nearly as fun, I guess I would say, even if it doesn't lack interest. So we'll get into the offense here in just a moment. Before we do, I want to tell you guys about the best tasting protein bar ever from our friends over at Built Bar. If you haven't tried Built Bar, then you are missing out. They say it's a protein bar, but it doesn't taste like one,

and you have to try one of their amazing flavors to believe it yourself. I mean, most protein bars are chalky. They're waxy. They're just plain hard to choke down. Bilt Bar is soft. It's covered in 100% real chocolate. When you bite into it, you know that it's not your normal protein bar.

They're low carb, low calorie. They're low fat, low sugar, high in protein. I mean, it's everything you want in a healthy meal substitute or just a guilt-free snack. They got a ton of delicious flavors like raspberry, mint, brownie, salted caramel, which is one of my favorites, double chocolate. Make sure that you go to Bilt Bar's website.

Often this month, they're going to be putting out new limited time flavors every three to four days. Go to BiltBar.com. Use the promo code LOCKED15 and you'll get 15% off your order. Once again, that's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BiltBar.com. Titans fans, let's cap off a re-watch Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I've been diving into my film notes, talked about the defensive side of the ball, and boy, was there a lot to talk about there. I hope you guys enjoyed that.

We are going to finish with the offensive side of the ball and just a couple friendly reminders for you guys. Thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast. It's hosted by Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson.

They give you their national perspective on all the latest NFL news. You get all your Titans news here with me, but after that, make sure you get all your NFL news with the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network wherever you get your podcast.

Also, I'm talking about all this film stuff. I'm breaking it down. Can't put NFL film clips on YouTube. It's a copyright violation. I understand the frustration here, but I do break down literally almost every play of the game, especially

on the defense this week, on my Twitter account on Tuesdays at TicTacTitans on Twitter. I'm going to put a link to the thread that I do. It's one tweet, and then I basically comment on the tweet under it with every additional play. So I'm going to comment the link to the TicTacTuesday thread on the description of the YouTube video.

I'll put it in the description for the podcast as well. You guys have to check out the actual film, the clips. I also do a film breakdown article every week for the USA Today, the Titans Wire. So make sure you check that out and get a little taste of it. You can't hear all the great breakdown notes that I have for you guys and not check out the actual tape of it as well. So sorry to make it a two-stop adventure, but I definitely do think it is worth your time. So we are going to get into the offensive side of the ball now. Number one, just to start, something that we talked about on the offensive side of the ball with Derrick Henry being out, the Titans are going to have to manufacture some easy yardage on early downs where they would get four or five or six yards from Derrick Henry. They may only get two or three yards out of Adrian Peterson,

Deontay Foreman, or Jeremy McNichols. So you need to find a way to replace those four, five, six-yard plays on first down, and you may not necessarily be able to do it all the time with the run game. So you may have to supplement that with the pass game. And what's the best way to get some cheap, easy, decent yardage in the past game without really dropping back deep or doing a play action fake quick hitters talk about a slant talk about

a quick out talk about a smoke route maybe some screens well the titans absolutely went to those things we saw them go to the screen game with up and down results if we're honest i know all you guys can think of the jeremy mcnichols screen early in the game where he motioned into the bunch and AJ missed a block. People will debate whether it was just such a bad play that he couldn't get the block. I think he could have got the block a little better than, than absolutely nothing, but either way spilt milk at this point in time, but the Titans were trying to incorporate screen game. They were trying to incorporate smoke routes, quick slants, quick outs, things like that to try to, you know, keep the offense moving, even though they are having some troubles in the run game, not only

with the running backs, but with the blocking as well. And we're going to talk a little bit about that here in just a second, but I just wanted to point out to you guys how they use that. One thing that really stood out to me was a smoke route to Julio Jones on the Titans' last touchdown drive of the game. So what Arthur, I almost called him Arthur Smith. I was looking at some Falcon stuff earlier. My apologies. Todd Downing, who deserves a lot of credit.

So what he's doing is, and this was something I was excited when he was an OC in Oakland in 2017. He really focused on creating matchups with his best players. And I thought he could really do that with the Titans wide receivers. And I saw a little glimpse of that on that Julio Jones smoke route in the fourth quarter of the Titans win over the Rams. So Todd Downing put a bunch, a trips bunch to the left-hand side. And a lot of teams, we talk about this every week,

teams play man coverage against the Titans. They crowd the line of scrimmage to confuse the blocking assignments. They play tight man coverage and just dare the Titans to beat them one-on-one. When you only have A.J. Brown, it makes it difficult to do that because you can shade a zone defender, a robber, or a deep half, or a deep middle. You can shade them towards A.J. Brown to take him away. But when you have Julio and A.J. Brown, it's harder to do that.

So the Rams went with a tight man coverage, and the Titans went trips bunch to the left-hand side. And then on the right-hand side, as far away from the ball as you could get, Julio Jones was by himself. And since the Rams are in that tight man coverage with just a zone defender over the middle, they can't be close enough to Julio Jones to where all he's got to do is make a man miss, and he's got a big gain. So what the Titans did was Tannehill took the snap out of shotgun and immediately fired

the smoke route to Julio Jones. The smoke route is literally snap, just turn around. One step. Turn around to the quarterback. Julio caught it. One-on-one with the cornerback. Jukes him. Goes down the sideline to the right. Picks up nine and a half yards. The Titans quarterback sneak. They

get the first down. They're in the red zone, ready to score that final touchdown and put the cherry on top. So that's a big play, and that's an easy way for the Titans to not ask Tannehill to read coverage. Have a one read throw. You don't got to maneuver in the pocket while the offensive line has been miserable in pass protection. You don't got to wait for somebody to get super open on this tight press man coverage. It's a quick, easy one read throw. Get the ball to your playmaker in a one-on-one situation and take advantage. And that's what the Titans offense is ultimately built around at the end of the day. So I love seeing those type of plays. A big first down pickup to Nick Westbrook Aquino on the slant out of the slot.

Really loved that as well. They were trying to get the ball out of Tannehill's hands as quick as possible, not only because the Titans offensive line has been struggling in pass protection this year, already surpassing last year's sacks allowed total, but also because the Rams have a great defensive

front. Even without Von Miller, they have Leonard Floyd and they have Aaron Donald, and they were definitely getting pressure throughout the day and got their fair share of sacks on Ryan Tannehill. So all of that considered, I like the matchup hunting from Todd Downing. I like the formations in the passing game and how he was using those to create those matchups.

Also do want to mention here, and well, we'll get to that at the very end in my conclusion on the offense, but as for the run game, so that's kind of a passing game setup for you there and diagnosis. As for the run game, the Titans were really okay. The offensive line blocked better than the yards that were picked up, especially against a defensive front that, like I talked about with the Titans, knows this type of offense really well, was applying that backside pressure, stacking the line of scrimmage so the Titans had trouble with their double teams.

The Rams knew what to do to create problems. They ran that 6-1 themselves, a bunch, with four guys on the line of scrimmage, two edges, and then one second-level linebacker. So the Rams knew how to defend the offense. The Titans are doing multiple things in the run game. I bring it up every week. Rams knew how to defend the offense. The Titans are doing multiple things in the run game. I bring it up every week. I'm going to keep doing it. It's not just outside zone, inside zone. They're running duo. They're running pool plays where they're pulling Jeff

Swaim and a guard from the backside to come up through a hole. They're running misdirections. They're running simple traps where you just have the guard coming through to pick off the defensive linemen coming through. So the Titans are really varying their run game away from, you know, just the pure zone stuff that they had been running in the last few years. And you like to see that. And that actually meshes with Adrian Peterson's run style from his career more. So it's good that the Titans are doing that. They're trying to make sure that they can't be beaten when a team just locks in on how

to stop the zone stuff. They want to have counters. They want to have other things that they can go to this when a team just locks in on how to stop the zone stuff. They want to have counters. They want to have other things that they can go to this year to prevent that. And I was hoping that Todd Downing would evolve the offense and we're really, really seeing it. So it made it tough for the Titans because all that being said, the Rams still know how to play this type of offense really well from having this type of offense.

So they went with five man fronts. They ran that six one. It was tough to cut back. But I will say this, with Deontay Foreman and with Adrian Peterson, you could tell that both of them were a little rusty in terms of running the football in an NFL game. There were a few holes, a few areas where they really could have got more yards than what they got with a little bit of patience or a little bit of vision.

But both of them are pretty rusty. I mean, Adrian Peterson hasn't run the ball in an NFL game in 10 months. He had like three practices and then jumped in the backfield for the Titans. He's going to improve and probably rapidly in the next couple of weeks, and especially as the opponent difficulty decreases in the next few weeks for the Titans, it should make it easier for them to kind of get their win and kind of get accustomed to things. So I have hope there, but not all bad in the run game for the Titans. Now, my overall conclusion here that I want to just mention is it's hard to judge the offense when they shot themselves in the foot so much throughout the game. We had the Tannehill interception, trying to throw it off your back foot when he easily could have slid in the pocket. That's one of the first plays I broke

down on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. He easily could have slid. Just a little pocket movement, my guy. You had a ton of room. Just a ton of room. So throwing off your back foot, throwing at Jalen Ramsey, making a throw that you're not very good at to the sideline. None of that makes sense, and I don't know why Tannehill did that. He could have stepped up in the pocket with a ton of room,

literally a ton of room, and threw the curl to Julio over the middle. So a bad decision from Tannehill, but you have the Tannehill thing. You have the two drops by A.J. Brown. You have penalties on Bobby Hart. You have penalties on Anthony Firxer to create third and long situations. You have the bad pass blocking from Roger Saffold and Bobby Hart and David Questenberry. Questenberry and Bobby Hart both struggled immensely in this game, and Roger Saffold, he's going up against Aaron Donald, though. I'm not going to crush him for that.

Aaron Donald and DeForest Buckner in back-to-back weeks when you're banged up. Tough. Tough for Roger Saffold. He held up as best as he could. But overall, the Titans offense just shot themselves in the foot all night long. And that's really why they couldn't have any semblance of a decent game despite the fact the defense was just absolutely crushing things. So that's kind of my summary about the offense and defense, what I saw schematically.

In my humble opinion, I think that was like a ridiculous breakdown. I blacked out. I blacked out. So I hope you guys enjoyed it. Check out the clips on Twitter, at TicTacTitans. I've said it a hundred times, but I mean, how can you not do that after everything we just discussed?

So we talked about the roster moves, offense, defense, schematics, all of that. Going to be back with you guys tomorrow for a crossover Thursday, me and Ross Jackson, the boss Ross from locked on saints. Cannot wait for that. Very excited to have that conversation. He's one of the best in the business. So I hope you guys are back for that. Friday is going to be a game preview.

And then Sunday, I'm going to be right back with you guys to break down everything that took place in the Titans home game against the New Orleans Saints. So great stuff ahead on the Locked on Titans podcast. Subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans.