Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Release Adrian Peterson, Marcus Johnson to IR & Re-Watch Wednesday!!

Episode Date: November 24, 2021

The Tennessee Titans made a TON of roster moves on Tuesday including the release of Adrian Peterson! Tyler dives in to all of the moves made and what they mean for the Titans going forward including Marcus Johnson's season ending! Golden Tate, a long time NFL veteran, was signed to the Titans' practice squad as well! After discussing these roster moves and more, Tyler then dives into his weekly film study segment. This Re-Watch Wednesday covers the Titans loss to the Houston Texans!Follow 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.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/LOCKEDON and use promo code LOCKEDON for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match. 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 Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And boy, do we have a lot to discuss. The Tennessee Titans made 13 roster moves on Tuesday, including the release of Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson. I'm going to go through all 13 moves with you guys, tell you what they are and what

they mean going forward for this team. But I didn't forget, it's still Rewatch Wednesday, which means we are going to end today's show stepping into the film room, going over my notes on the offense and defensive side of the ball. And I'm going to tell you exactly what the Titans did from an X's and O's standpoint to lose to the Houston Texans on Sunday. So a lot to discuss on this 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. So much to discuss with you guys on today's show. 13 roster moves, including a lot of moves at the running back position. We're going to start with that running back position. Before we get into that, though, do want 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 that you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. You can find the Locked on Titans podcast everywhere you find podcasts. It's always

going to be free. Also, make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Smash that notification bell so you know when all of my content goes live. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for all of my film breakdowns and check out the show Facebook page

at Locked on Titans Pod. But with all of my film breakdowns. And check out the show Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. But with all of that being said, time to dive into these roster moves. And like I said, there are 13, but I am going to start at the running back position because that's obviously a big spot of concern for Tennessee Titans fans. So number one, the number one thing to discuss, Adrian Peterson has been released by the Tennessee Titans. Now, as for Peterson, he had some bright moments, had his best game with the Titans in that last matchup against the Texans, but in pretty much every game that he's participated in, three games on the year, he was not the Titans' best running back out on the field. Deontay Foreman

was better than him in the first two games, and then Dontrell Hilliard was better than him in the last two games. Overall, he will end his Titans career with 27 catches, 82 yards, and one touchdown. He's 36 years old, guys. He just didn't have the juice that the Titans need, and I saw a couple of occasions, especially on Sunday against the Texans, where he missed the hole that was open for him. And even in the first couple of games of my film breakdowns, I talked about how Peterson was missing some holes and I was optimistic that it would get better and that he would get more comfortable in the system and get more acclimated with his football shape being at his advanced age of 36

for football terms. But unfortunately, the Titans organization decided that they couldn't wait any longer for him to get into form, especially with guys like Deontay Foreman and Dontrell Hilliard playing well. So Adrian Peterson, gone from the Tennessee Titans. To coincide with that, Dontrell Hilliard, who had a great day for the Titans over 80 combined yards, was signed to the active roster. So they're really going to lean on Hilliard going forward. And Mike Vrabel said in his press conference on Tuesday that Hilliard's really been focused on that third down roll, that pass catching roll.

And he does kickoff return for the Titans right now. And he's much better than Marcus Johnson. But the Titans won't have Marcus Johnson available the rest of the season either. A little spoiler for you guys. We will get to that in just a moment. So you got Adrian Peterson waived. You got Dontrell Hilliard added to the active roster from the practice squad. Corey Blossom game at fullback was designated to return from IR. So he has a three-week window of practice before he either has to go back on IR or he gets activated to the active roster. So that's some news for you there. The Titans also signed Rodney Smith, the running back to the practice squad. So those are the

running back moves, but there's one thing about the running back position that I want to talk to you guys about before we move on to the other roster moves that the Titans made. And it's a roster move that was made by another NFL team. The Houston Texans, who the Titans just played, released former Pro Bowl running back, Phillip Lindsey. He's going into waivers. He'll be in waivers until 4 p.m I do believe. The Titans gotta pick him up. Now the Titans in terms of the waiver order, they're gonna be at the

end of the waiver order. So how the NFL works, it basically resets every week based on the standings. It is not like your fantasy football league where you use your waiver claim and then go to the back of the line. The NFL waiver order resets every week based on standings. So the Titans are going to be in the bottom five teams pretty much every single time for the rest of the year, unless things go really bad. But they're definitely in the bottom group of teams available on the waiver wire right now. But I would suspect that Phillip Lindsey makes it through waivers

because the reality here is the running back position is a dime a dozen. A lot of these teams aren't going to burn their waiver claim or use a waiver when they're going to have to pick up the rest of Philip Lindsay's salary for the rest of the year, which is going to be incredibly low. He didn't get a big deal to go to Houston, but still

teams would rather pick up a guy and put him on their practice squad than use their waiver claim, pick up the rest of his salary for the rest of the season and add him to their active roster immediately. Most teams don't want to do that, but the Titans should. And even if he does clear waivers and the Titans don't have to use a waiver on him, they should be first in line to sign Phillip Lindsey, offering him the most carries possible. Phillip Lindsey can be the starting running back for the Titans with Deontay Foreman as a big-bodied change-of-pace guy,

and then Dontrell Hilliard as the third-down running back. The Titans have to go out and get Phillip Lindsey. He's a former Pro Bowler, 584 carries, 2,680 career yards, 18 career touchdowns. He's been super underutilized by the Texans. But I don't trust anything that the Texans organization is doing from a personnel standpoint. So if I'm the Titans, I go out there and get Phillip Lindsey.

I mean, right now, they only have Phillip Lindsey and Deontay Foreman. So they're going to need another running back. It's not going to be Rodney Smith. They're not going to give carries to Kari Blossom game. They're going to need to bring on another running back to this roster. So for my money, John Robinson, go out there and get Phillip Lindsey. And I'll be back with you guys later in the week to kind of break down whether or not that actually happens.

But that's kind of all of the information you need to know about the running back position. We're going to go through the other 10 roster moves that the Titans made in our next segment before we cap off our show doing a rewatch Wednesday segment where I break down what happened on the tape for the Titans offense and defense. Before we get into all of that, though, I do want to tell you guys about betonline.ag. Thanksgiving is here, and we all know what that though. Do want to tell you guys about BetOnline.ag. Thanksgiving is here and we all know what that means. Football and nothing

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on all your favorite sports. BetOnline, they are stuffed with deals this Thanksgiving. Titans fans, we are going to continue this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, breaking down all of the Tennessee Titans roster moves from Tuesday. Before we get into the next set of 10, I 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 so you never miss any of the daily Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content that I am putting out there.

No other Titans content creator can say they put out daily Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans podcast. So make sure you subscribe to the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world, according to Apple Podcast Sharks and Charitable. But whatever, we'll get past that. Moving forward, more roster moves. We said Adrian Peterson was waived.

Dontrell Hilliard added to the active roster. Rodney Smith added to the practice squad. But what about the other ones? The biggest one of them all is the injured reserve notes. Starting wide receiver Marcus Johnson, who came up limping with an obvious hamstring injury, will be placed on injured reserve. That's his second stint on injured reserve in the regular season. He started the year on injured reserve. That's his second stint on injured reserve in the regular season.

He started the year on injured reserve. That means that Marcus Johnson is out for the year. That's the problem with Marcus Johnson. He's always been a talented guy, but his entire career, he's been injured consistently over and over again. He's a guy you can't count on from a durability standpoint. He's always hurt. You cannot count on Marcus Johnson. He only showed up for a couple of weeks for the Titans, and then he's hurt again. He's a guy you can't count on from a durability standpoint. He's always hurt. You cannot count on Marcus Johnson. He only showed up for a couple of weeks

for the Titans and then he's hurt again. So it kind of brings me back to in the preseason and training camp, Marcus Johnson stealing the show, Chester Rogers, Nick West, Brooke Akina, Cam Batson, Mason Kinsey, all these guys. How do the Titans even have room for all this talent?

I mean, I bought in a little bit to that, but I definitely wasn't pushing that narrative as hard as some Titans content creators online. The Marcus Johnson narrative and this depth, that wide receiver. Marcus Johnson has always hurt. He's basically given the Titans nothing outside of one big week. Now, he was needed in that week, no lie.

It was important to beat the Saints. They needed him. But that's one week. Chester Rogers is not good at football. He's not. He's a practice squad guy. Counting on him to be your starting slot receiver, not good. And now that he's probably the best wide

receiver on the team that's healthy, not good. Not good at he's probably the best wide receiver on the team that's healthy, not good. Not good at all. Nick Westbrook-Akina is fine as a fifth or sixth wide receiver, but he's nothing more than that. You know who the Titans could use right now? Josh Reynolds.

Maybe finding a way to play the more talented wide receiver is beneficial long term. Who would have thunk? You know? But anyways, now the Titans are going to have Des Fitzpatrick out there. They're going to have Cody Hollister,

probably Mason Kinsey. Marcus Johnson's not coming back. And some of the moves that the Titans also made on the day make me think A.J. Brown's probably going to miss a while. We already know Julio's out for a few more weeks. Camp Batson

tore his ACL. I mean, shoot. Just insanity. So, Marcus Johnson, season-ending IR with a hamstring. Chris Jackson, who Chris Jackson has played really bad football the last few weeks, but he's been dealing with a foot injury. He's placed on injured reserve as well,

so he'll miss the next three weeks at minimum. Hopefully, the Titans can get Greg Maben back this week. That would be a boon, and hopefully Jack Rabbit Jenkins can be back this week. Neither of those guys were placed on IR, even though they missed the game. So hopefully both those guys are back, because the Titans are going to need help somewhere. At this point, they're going to have Breon Borders on the practice squad playing at cornerback. Well,

speaking of those two positions, wide receiver and cornerback, the Titans made some additions. The Titans added cornerback Buster Screen to the active roster and they signed wide receiver Golden Tate to the practice squad. So

Golden Tate is a guy that I have been pining for since April, it feels like, because I trust him more than Cam Batson. Trust him more than Mason Kinsey. Trust him more than Dez Fitzpatrick. Trust him more than Cody Hollister. Trust him more than Chester Rogers. I don't care that he's in his 30s and been sitting on the couch all year.

Give me Golden Tate, a veteran who can return punts, who can play in the slot, who knows what's going on out there. Give me Golden Tate. So finally, finally, Golden Tate added to this Tennessee Titans team. I'm not expecting him to go out there and be a world beater, but I think he's going to be better than some of the options that the Titans have at wide receiver now. So, Golden Tate added to the practice squad.

I would expect him to get elevated into play in the game on Sunday. Buster Screen added to the active roster at cornerback. That's cornerback, that's wide receiver, but there were some other moves as well. Active roster at cornerback. That's cornerback. That's wide receiver. But there were some other moves as well.

Wide receiver Austin Mack. A big bodied guy. Big physical guy who fits the profile of the Nick Westbrook Aquino. The Cody Hollister. He was added to the practice squad along with Golden Tate. So two wide receivers added. That just shows you how banged up the Titans are. They're probably not expecting A.J. Brown to be able to play for a few weeks,

and that's why we see two wide receivers added. Rodney Smith, I mentioned earlier, and defensive lineman Kevin Strong was also added to the practice squad. That's not a good sign for Tyre Tartt. Not a great sign for Naquan Jones. Both of those guys got banged up in the game. Naquan came back and made some plays, so he should be good to go.

But not a great sign for Tyre Tartt. Looked like he might add a sprain MCL, a knee issue. Curious to see what happens with him going forward. Hopefully he doesn't need to be placed on IR, even if he misses the next game against the Patriots. Then the Titans have their bye week. It would give them a few weeks to rest up. So those are the additions to the practice squad. One final addition to the

active roster, outside linebacker John Simon finally added back to the active roster. The Titans are in a terrible position at outside linebacker right now with Bud Dupree on IR. Ola Adani got banged up in that game against the Texans. Outside of that, they had Nick DeZubnar and Dylan Cole playing some outside linebacker stuff during the day. Derek Roberson played a few snaps, but man, just waiting for that guy to be decent. It just hasn't happened yet. So the Titans are in a really bad spot with Joe Jones

going on the COVID list as well. I mean, my God. My God. So those are all the roster moves that the Titans made. They also released my cousin, just kidding, wide receiver Chris Rowland from the practice squad. They released defensive lineman Niall Scott from the practice squad. So those guys are gone now, but did you ever really know that they were there?

Let's be honest here. The last thing that I want to say here, kind of just follow up on all these medical problems. The Titans are going to set a record for players on their roster this week with the players that they've added to the active roster right now and the injuries that they just got from the Texans game. The Titans have set the record for most injuries in a season and we're only through week 11 with seven weeks of the season left. Now, I've said this before, not a doctor, no medical background, no medical knowledge. I have no idea. I also am not in the building.

I don't know what the medical staff is doing with the players. I don't know if they're training players right. I don't know any of that. Even if I watched what the medical staff is doing with the players. I don't know if they're training players right. I don't know any of that. Even if I watched what the medical staff was doing, I wouldn't know if it was wrong or right anyways. So I am not putting an indictment on the Titans medical staff. But some weird stuff happened on Tuesday. Number one, Jeffrey Simmons talked about the fact that he rehabs during the week and gets ready to play. He was

in an outside training source in Tennessee that a lot of other Titans go to as well. So that was weird. And then Teron Davenport responded to a tweet about that and said that a lot of the guys who go to that external training facility are the guys who have stayed healthy. Teron was willing to say on Twitter and make a remark that the guys who are going to the outside health facility are staying healthy and the guys who are doing their rehab and recovery in the facility are not staying healthy.

For Teron to say that, someone who's in the building, that's quite the indictment on the Tennessee Titans medical staff, saying that guys who go to the external health facility, the non-team facility, are staying healthy and the guys who do their rehab and recovery with the Titans are not staying healthy. I mean, read between the lines on that. In my opinion, that's the most trusted beat reporter for the Titans, lines on that. In my opinion, that's the most trusted beat reporter for the Titans. Telling you that. And then, to add

another layer, Mike Vrabel in his press conference on Tuesday, somebody mentioned that some of the Titans recover at external facilities. Mike Vrabel said well, if those guys are recovering so well, they need to tell us who is responsible for that

and we need to hire them. So Mike Vrabel was saying in a public press conference that the Tennessee Titans who are staying healthy, who are rehabbing and recovering outside of the building, need to tell the Titans coaches who they are recovering with so that the Titans can hire those people. Like I said, no medical background, no way to place an exact medical opinion on the training staff,

but, woo, if you put one plus one plus one together, from my perspective, sounds like there's some trouble in the water and maybe there are some unhappy Tennessee Titans with the medical staff in the building. They're going for their recovery outside the building, and those guys are staying healthier than the guys who recover with the Titans team medical staff. Mike Vrabel's saying, oh, we'll hire them.

Also, I don't have the 100% facts on this. I admit that straight up front. But in a conversation with, and I don't want to throw this person under the bus if they happen to be wrong, but a conversation with another Titans content creator that I had today, he mentioned that the current medical staff was in place before John Robinson and Mike Vrabel

were brought on, respectively. So if that's the case, and then we're getting some of these breadcrumbs we're hearing with dissatisfaction about the injuries, could potentially see some changes to the Titans medical staff in the future but gonna move forward to our rewatch Wednesday segment really gonna keep it concise really gonna give you guys my big major notes

not dive into the weeds all that much it's a loss blah blah blah plus all these roster moves holiday week all that but we are still gonna dive into the film room, take a look at what happened from an X's and O's standpoint for the Titans. Before we get into that, do got to remind you guys about our sponsor,

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Titans fans, we are going to cap off this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by stepping into the film room for a re-watch Wednesday segment as I bring you my quick, concise film notes on the offense and the defensive side of the ball for the Titans following a loss against the Texans in Week 11. Before we get into that, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, make sure that you head to betonline.ag

and when you do, listen to the Locked on Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. They've been on fire this NFL season with their picks. So make sure you check out the Locked On Bets podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, presented by betonline.ag, wherever you get your podcasts. So stepping into the film room quickly.

Like I said, it's going to be a quick, concise rewatch Wednesday edition. So we'll start on offense. I was disappointed that we didn't get more play action bootleg. I was disappointed in the play action level in general. I believe the play action percentage in this game was like 11%, which is the second lowest play action percentage of the season for the Titans. It's no coincidence that their three losses on the year are their three lowest play action percentage games.

Now you can argue that, oh, the game script, the Titans were down by so much, they couldn't do that. No. Bull crap. The Titans were down by a ton, 24-9 against Seattle, and they used the run game and play action to get back in that game. Now they don't have Derrick Henry, so I get that the calculus is a little different. But you can't go away from your identity, sit Ryan Tannehill in shotgun with JV practice squad wide receivers in the second half and expect him to just lead you down the field

like he's Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady. That's not Ryan Tannehill. He's not Mahomes. He's not Rodgers. He's not Brady. He's not going to do that. You can't go away from your game plan, and the Titans were in that game the whole time.

They were in striking distance the whole time. They could have come back on the Texans if not for the turnover. So I didn't love the game plan and having Ryan Tannehill throw the ball 52 times, that's a recipe for disaster in itself. But not just play action, the play action bootleg.

Where is the bootleg going in this offense? Getting Tannehill out on the edge, letting him use his legs. The Titans should be running that at least five to ten times a game. They ran it once in this game that I saw on tape, maybe twice at minimum if it's just slipping my mind, but we need more bootleg play action. You want to supplement the run game? Let Ryan Tannehill help you do that by getting him out on bootlegs. Come on, Todd. by getting him out on bootlegs.

Come on, Todd. I'm not a Todd Downing hater. He's been fine. But God, that kills me. More bootlegs. We need more bootlegs, Todd. I don't understand why he's gotten away from that. Especially when you consider that the Houston Texans, so a lot of teams this year against the Titans offense,

have been bringing heavy backside pressure. So think, the Titans are running the ball to the left. The last defensive lineman on the right will crash down on Ryan Tannehill to make sure he can't bootleg and to make sure that the running back doesn't have an easy cutback lane. The Texans weren't even worried about that

for most of the game. They didn't even care. They were stacking the backside to make sure the Titans couldn't run inside runs to the outside. They didn't even care about the bootleg for a lot of the game. Oh, Todd. Todd. You're killing me. Also, in short yardage situations, a few fourth downs,

a critical third and one as well at midfield with Deontay Foreman. The Titans offensive line got no knockback. Mike Vrabel talks about this in his press conferences a lot when he's referencing goal line stands for the defensive line. Goal line and short yardage is all about knockback. Can the defensive line knock back the offensive line to reset the line of scrimmage? Can the offensive line knock back the defensive line

and reset the line of scrimmage? Well, the Titans offensive line did okay throughout the day in run blocking, but in short yardage run Well, the Titans offensive line did okay throughout the day in run blocking, but in short yardage run blocking, they were garbage. And specifically, David Questenberry and Aaron Brewer did not get any knockback at all, all day long in those scenarios. You can see the clips on my Twitter account

at Tic Tac Titans. Just bad. Questenberry is an athletic guy, but he doesn't have a strong anchor. He doesn't have a lot of power in his hands either. So he's not a guy who's going to, you know, bull over other dudes. That's the problem going from a 6'8 Dennis Kelly

down to a 6'5 David Questenberry. Kelly had much more raw power just as a man than Questenberry does. So Questenberry has the requisite athleticism to succeed in this system, but he doesn't have the power. And in those short yardage situations, it really showed up. Now, Adrian Peterson, who was cut, missed a couple of holes

and had some chances too, but as with everything in football, it's never on one person, and the Titans' offensive line, especially on the right side, didn't get enough knockback on short yardage situations. In the second half, the Titans were shotgun heavy. They thought that they had to. I don't agree with that, but they had to throw the ball over and over,

and here's the reality. The Texans just played man coverage. Said, you got scrubs out here. You're not going to beat us in man coverage. And for the most part, the Titans couldn't. Now, in the fourth quarter, as we got into the mid-fourth quarter with the Titans down two scores, the Texans went to more zone

because they were like, all right, dump it off to the running back, dump it off to the tight end. We're going to hold you short, make you have long drives that take a lot of time, which goes against what you guys need to come back. So that made sense. I get that. Now, everyone's talking about the interceptions. My initial reaction was two were on Dez, two were on Ryan,

but I disagree. Three of those interceptions are on Ryanz, two were on Ryan, but I disagree. Three of those interceptions are on Ryan Tannehill, blatantly, in my opinion. Bad throws, bad decisions, bad eyes, all of it. Now, one of them was on Des Fitzpatrick, who didn't run the right route. He stopped on a curl instead of coming in on an in route. Tannehill threw the in route. Des Fitzpatrick was four yards away, stopping on a curl. I'm going to trust that Ryan Tannehill made the right decision on that one, especially since he scolded Des Fitzpatrick on the sideline afterwards. So three interceptions on Ryan, one on Des.

Also, the Titans are in a ton of split flow with Torrey Carter, where Torrey Carter is a fullback on one side, and he goes to the opposite side of where the run is going to take away backside pressure and pick up the backside defensive linemen. But like I said, the Texans didn't really commit to backside pressure throughout the game, so it felt like a little bit of waste to have constant split-flow action when you're going to try to stop something that the Texans aren't really doing. So that was interesting to me.

Moving to the defense, the Texans were working the quick outside passing game. The Titans play a lot of man coverage, a lot of cover three and a lot of cover four on early downs. They don't run cover two unless they're in third down situations or second and long situations normally. So the Texans were taking advantage. When you play cover three, that means nobody's responsible for the flat. And the most outside guys, the cornerbacks, they have deep responsibility. So, of course, those cornerbacks on the outside are going to be a little bit deeper because they are the deep responsibility on that third of the field. They can't worry about the flat that much or they're going to get beat deep.

Well, the Texans are like, okay, back up a little bit and we'll throw these quick, outbreaking routes to the sideline over and over. So they were having some success there. Not a ton, but some. Also, the Texans were using two tight end sets and then spreading things out. We talked about the Titans offense doing this last week. The Texans wanted to create matchups.

They wanted to get the ball out quick to mitigate the pass rush and let Tyrod Taylor see exactly what's going on. So they had some success with that as well, keeping the Titans in their base defense with four down defensive linemen, three linebackers, and one of those linebackers was Harold Landry, who's not good in pass coverage.

Monte Rice, not good in pass coverage. So now you have the Titans' base defense out on the field with two linebackers at the second level that aren't good in pass coverage against a five-wide spread-out formation for the Texans. And the Texans were able to kind of get some matchup chunks right there and keep drives moving when they needed to. Also, got to give some credit to Elijah Molden. Elijah Molden was used as the sixth defensive back in the Titans dime passing down personnel package. And he played man coverage on tight ends. Elijah Moulton is not necessarily as big of a guy as you want to cover tight ends. That's why Crookshank is such a good matchup nightmare because he's 6'1", 210, but also pretty athletic. So that makes him a really good matchup

for big physical tight ends. Elijah Moulton doesn't have that stature or physicality, but he did a great job, man coverage on tight ends, and as he gets better at that, you know, he's still a rookie. That's going to be very valuable for the Titans. Like I was mentioning, the Titans played a ton of 4-3 in this game. A lot of that has to do with Bud Dupree being out and the injuries and the lack of depth that they have with outside linebackers, so they basically have to play as a 4-3, where they have four down defensive linemen, Danico Autry, Larell Murchison at the end, Jeffrey Simmons, Tyre Tart, Naquan Jones in the middle, a lot of that. The problem with that is, when you play a four down front, this is why the Titans have

varied their run game to go up against four-man fronts. The Texans ran a bunch of traps. They ran a bunch of pools trying to get their linemen up on second level guys. There's not as many people to block at the line of scrimmage so you can get more offensive linemen up to the second level. The Texans didn't really have a lot of great success with that because the Titans defensive line is good against the run. Monte Rice and Jalen Brown did a good job collapsing down on run plays as well, but that is what the Titans were doing. And this is the last thing that I want to talk about.

The biggest problem the Titans defense had all day was containing the quarterback. Early in the season, the Titans got themselves in a ton of bad situations by letting playmaking quarterbacks break contain of the pass rush and get out on the perimeter to make plays. Trevor Simeon's not going to do that. Matthew Stafford is not going to do that. Carson Wentz isn't going to do a ton of that

outside of structure even though he has the ability. So the Titans didn't have to worry about that as much in previous weeks. But you're going up against Tyrod Taylor. It's like the Titans prepared for Davis Mills and not Tyrod Taylor because they gave like the Titans prepared for Davis Mills and not Tyrod Taylor because they gave up contain on both the touchdown runs. They gave up contain on a critical third down conversion.

They gave up contain on a critical third down as well that was open. Tyrod Taylor threw an inaccurate pass to the inside of his tight end instead of the outside, and Elijah Molden knocked it away. But either way, on multiple occasions, at least four occasions, the Titans' defensive ends crashed in way too hard and gave up outside contain to Tyrod Taylor to just get out of the pocket and go make a play. And two of those turned into the Texans' only two touchdowns on the day.

Autry did it one time. Landry did it one time. Simmons did it one time. Leroy Murchison did it one time and Jeffrey Simmons screamed at him on the field after he did it. The Titans defensive end and think these are guys who aren't normally playing outside. They're not normally playing defensive end. It's because the Titans don't have Bud Dupree. Ola Dainey got banged up. Now Joe Jones is on COVID. I mean, the Titans don't have the necessary outside linebackers to play the way they want to play. So they're having to use interior defensive linemen

as outside pass rushers. And they don't have the athleticism to hold the edge against the mobile quarterback. And they don't have the experience to know what to do consistently and execute consistently with their rush lane discipline.

So there you go. That's how it happened. That's going to do it for me today though. That's Rewatch Wednesday. That's all of the roster moves that the Titans made and even a roster move that I hope they make. But that's going to do it for our Wednesday episode. even a roster move that I hope they make. But that's going to do it for our Wednesday episode. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland.

And, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We got to back it up. I am going to have a show for you guys on Thursday. Just wanted to let you know that your Thanksgiving commute will include a Locked on Titans podcast, putting out five podcasts a week, even on holiday weeks. I am the hardest working man in show business. 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. you