Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Schedule Wishlist: CAM WARD v SHEDEUR SANDERS, Close with Colts & LATE BYE WEEK

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Tennessee Titans schedule drops on Wednesday and I want to see camboard against Shader Sanders in Prime-time I'll break it down on today's edition of locked on Titans 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 Rolland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 that wins. On today's show, we're going to do a little Tennessee Titans schedule preview. The schedule drops on Wednesday night at 8 PM Eastern. I'm going to tell you the games that I want to see in prime time. I'm going to tell you the teams that I'd rather play early than late. And we'll talk about how I am begging the football gods for a non-early bye week.

Starting point is 00:01:08 Before we get into all of it though, I do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my every dayers out there.

Starting point is 00:01:27 Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an every dayer, you need to be one again. The schedule is going to drop at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. I'm gonna be going live to break down the big schedule for the Titans, talk about how many games I think they're gonna win. We're gonna have more schedule reaction to end the week on the next episode, and the Titans have a ton of practices, OTAs, mini-camp,

Starting point is 00:01:49 all of that coming up here in the next few weeks. You want to make sure that you're locked in with the Locked on Titans podcast. But with that being said, again, let's first go over who the Tennessee Titans' opponents are going to be. Remember, this is about when the Tennessee Titans are playing these folks. We know every team that the Titans are going to play this season. They have all three division rivals at home. Jaguars, Colts, Texans. But then, at home, they also play the Los Angeles Chargers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the New England Patriots, the Los Angeles Rams, the New Orleans Saints,

Starting point is 00:02:23 and the Seattle Seahawks. On the road, they play the three division rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, the New Orleans Saints, and the Seattle Seahawks. On the road, they play the three division rivals, the Jaguars, the Colts, and the Texans. Then, they play the Arizona Cardinals, the Denver Broncos, the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Las Vegas Raiders. So those are the Titans' opponents. And again, I want to start with what I would love to see in primetime. Now, the reality of the situation is, the Tennessee Titans will probably only get one prime time game if any this year. Now they won in Miami in their last two seasons in prime time.

Starting point is 00:02:53 So I think the Titans deserve one prime time game because they've been pretty exciting and won football games the last two prime time games that they've got. But the odds are that the Titans aren't gonna get more than one. But hey, a kid can dream. So if I get prime time games for the Titans, the number one game that I have to see is Cam Ward against Chedur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns. That is prime time material right there. Now it's Thursday night football prime time material. Okay. I admit it the Titans in Cleveland against the Browns that is a Thursday night football game if I have ever seen one in my life But man, it would be great Thursday night football fodder

Starting point is 00:03:37 Like that is exactly the type of game that gets people to watch Thursday night football You got cam ward the number one overall pick, the presumed top quarterback in the draft class. And then you got Shider Sanders with all of the intrigue around him that we obviously are all aware of. Plus, the Titans and the Browns both aren't super great football teams. So maybe one of them can have a bounce back season. That would be a good storyline.

Starting point is 00:04:04 I would love and I think it makes sense for the NFL as well. Early on in the season, maybe the first six, seven weeks of the season, a Thursday night football matchup between the Titans and the Browns and hopefully, Shudder Sanders is starting. We have to wait till the end of the year. I'm willing to do it, but I want to see Cam Ward against Shudder Sanders in prime time. Other prime time games though, that I would like to see, if the Titans play on Sunday night football,

Starting point is 00:04:31 again, the Browns on my Thursday night football match, Jacksonville if it has to be division. But Sunday night football, it's got to be against the Patriots. At home, New England Patriots, Mike Vrabel's return to the place that fired him with his new franchise quarterback, that is good intrigue. If the Tennessee Titans were going to be on Sunday night football, it would have to be something worthwhile. It would have to be a juicy enough storyline to make the Tennessee Titans interesting to be something worthwhile. It would have to be a juicy enough storyline to make the Tennessee Titans interesting

Starting point is 00:05:06 to the national market. In New England, the Patriots, one of the biggest franchises in the NFL, Mike Vrabel, their prodigal son, the story of him being fired, what's happened with Rancarthons since, the whole entire story and picture of it, that is Sunday Night Football material.

Starting point is 00:05:25 Now this would probably be an early to mid-season game. I don't think they're doing Sunday Night Football Titans Patriots. Well, I don't think they're gonna do it period, but if they were gonna do it, it wouldn't be a late season matchup. So to me, I wanna see it. I want Vraeble to come back.

Starting point is 00:05:41 I want that revenge storyline and I want the Titans to put them in the dirt, okay? That's what I want Vraeble to come back. I want that revenge storyline, and I want the Titans to put them in the dirt. Okay? That's what I want. So I would love Titans Patriots Sunday Night Football. Now I will say this. I do think that Titans Patriots is actually pretty good if the Titans get one prime time game,

Starting point is 00:05:59 a Thursday night football game, Titans Patriots doing the Mike Vraebles return thing. I think that's more likely than it being on Sunday night football. But again, if the Titans got a Sunday night football game Titans Patriots doing the Mike Rables return thing. I think that's more likely than it being on Sunday night football. But again, if the Titans got a Sunday night football game, which I don't think they will, but if they did, I think it would be that one. But ultimately, the Patriots game is the one that if I had to guess, if I had to give you a prediction, I think that's the game the Titans will get to play in prime time, if any.

Starting point is 00:06:22 But we talked Thursday, we've talked Sunday, Monday night football. There's something about the Titans and Rams. There's something about it. Remember four years ago, when this matchup happened in Los Angeles, it was a Sunday night football game, the Titans best regular season since 2008 or 2009. And they go into Los Angeles and I remember, I admit this is one of my most off-takes when Tyler was wrong. I was like, hey, you're going against the Rams. They ended up winning the Super Bowl that year though, by the way. You're going against the Rams. You're on the road in Los Angeles, everybody was banged up, it was crazy, there was a ton of injuries, I remember I said clearly, sit everyone. And then the Titans go in there and dog walk the Rams and Kevin Byard has an incredible pick six, that's one of the best plays in Tennessee Titans history, Jeffrey

Starting point is 00:07:20 Simmons dominates the line of scrimmage all game long with three sacks. It was an incredible game. So there's just something about it. When the Titans and the Rams play magic happens. It's just something about that matchup. So if there's going to be a Monday night football matchup for the Titans, I want it to be the Titans against the Rams in Tennessee. Now, if it needs to be something different, I would wanna play Houston on Monday Night Football.

Starting point is 00:07:48 The Titans, Houston, rivalry, all of that. I think it would be really cool to play Houston on Monday Night Football. But Titans against Browns on Thursday Night Football, Titans against Pats on Sunday Night Football, Titans against Rams on Monday Night Football. I would love to see those matchups. But again, the reality is the Titans aren't getting three Primetime games, of course,

Starting point is 00:08:08 but I don't know. Those would be great matchups. Let me know what you guys would like to see in Primetime. Tag me on Twitter, at TicTac Titans. If you're watching on YouTube, let me know down in the comments. But now we need to talk about games that I'd like to see played early in the year, played late in the year, and who do I want to start with in week one?

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Starting point is 00:10:06 We went over the Tennessee Titans opponents. Now I want to dive into who I want to open with, who I want to close with, games I want to see early in the schedule, games I want to see late in the schedule. And at the end of the show, I'll give another little Roland Dran about the bye week, which I get mad about every single year.

Starting point is 00:10:23 Now, before we dive into the rest of my schedule wishlist, do wanna thank you again for making Locked on Titans your first listen. Remember, I'm gonna be going live at eight o'clock when the schedule drops to go over how many wins I think the Titans get. I'm gonna do a ton of schedule content the next day, OTAs, all that stuff coming up,

Starting point is 00:10:40 and my Gunner Helm film video on the Tic Tac Titans YouTube will drop on Wednesday as well with the schedule. So with that being said, who do I wanna open with? What game do I want to play first week one for the Tennessee Titans? Who am I wanting to match up with? Well, there's a rumor going around right now that the NFL wants to start the season with division games.

Starting point is 00:11:06 They want to start seasons with division games and end seasons with division games because it's the rivalries, the games are so important because of division standings and all that. So that's a rumor that I've heard if that rumor is true. If the NFL doesn't tend to do all division matchups in week one, I want the Jacksonville Jaguars. Give me the Jags, man. That's who I want to take on. Look, a couple of different reasons.

Starting point is 00:11:32 Number one, Jacksonville has seen a lot of change. Okay, a lot has changed. They got a new coach, new general manager, new offensive system, new defensive system, new stuff. So, admittedly, for an advantage standpoint, I would like to play Jacksonville early on in the season before they kind of figure themselves out. And playing them week one with Cam Ward and beating Jacksonville, I think Jacksonville is gonna have a bounce

Starting point is 00:12:02 back season this year. I know I'm gonna make a lot of people mad when we get into these sort of conversations, but I do think Jacksonville is going to have a bounce back season this year. I know I'm going to make a lot of people mad when we get into these sort of conversations, but I do think Jacksonville bounces back this year. So going into Jacksonville or having a home game to start, whatever it happens to be, playing Jacksonville early and kind of ruining all the momentum of their offseason, and, you know, everybody's so hot. Just like Titans fans, Jacksonville fans are hype right now. New beginnings, new times. We're gonna get this back on track. They're gonna bounce back in a big way.

Starting point is 00:12:32 That's what they're feeling. To go in week one with Cam Ward and be like, you thought, but the Titans got Cam Ward now? Oh man, and we still have Trevor Lawrence. That's what I want Jacksonville fans to feel. Not just the loss. I want them to lose a little bit of hope. So that's why, if it's division games week one, I want Jacksonville. But, if it's not a division game week one, I would like to play New Orleans.

Starting point is 00:13:02 So the Titans get to play the Saints at home. It's one of their home opponents. And if you remember a couple of years ago with Ryan Tannehill, Tannehill played terrible in the game. Terrible in that game. I think it was the first game of 2023. The Titans played at New Orleans. Okay? So this time I would like to see the Titans at home against New Orleans in week one and again at the end of the day I would like the Titans the Titans at home against New Orleans in week one and again at the end of the day I would like the Titans to have an easy matchup if possible out of the gate Cam Ward is a rookie Brian Callahan did not have a good year last year

Starting point is 00:13:34 There are a lot of changes on the Titans as well. I Would like the Titans to get off on a proper start. They had it lined up last year, man on a proper start. They had it lined up last year. Man, man, just think about how different the season is if the Titans just beat the Bears. If Levis just doesn't absolutely implode against the Bears. Great. Crazy, man. Crazy. But my point is, last year the Titans opened their season against an NFC opponent. If they do that this year, I want it to be New Orleans not only because they're at home, but because I love the matchup. It's the same thing with the Saints. They're probably going to be starting Tyler Shuck, Spencer Rattler, Jake Hayner, Aaron Rodgers. Anyways, I've been pushing that on Locked on NFL. Why would you roll with Tyler Shuck? I just don't like Tyler Shook as a prospect at all.

Starting point is 00:14:28 But anyway, that means I would love to play him in week one. So if the Titans got brand new coach, brand new defensive coordinator, rookie quarterback on the road week one, a lesser rookie quarterback, I'll say, that would be a great matchup for the Titans to start. That would be great. So New Orleans is like number one on my list. But in a similar vein, I would go with Seattle. The Seattle Seahawks, the Titans do play the NFC West this year. And the Seattle Seahawks are a team that I think will be better in week six than they are in week one.

Starting point is 00:15:02 Again, change of an offensive coordinator, new Sam Darnold offense, Cooper Cup in there. I think their defense has a ton of talent, but they have a lot of young players as well. So I would like, I think Seattle is gonna be a much better team halfway through the season and at the end of the season than they are at the beginning of the season.

Starting point is 00:15:20 So I would like to knock out an unfamiliar opponent who you don't know all that well. I would like to knock that out early who I would like to close with. Now, again, we do know that the NFL will close with a division opponent. Give me Indianapolis. I think Indianapolis is the worst team in the division this year. I don't care who plays quarterback for them. It's a bad quarterback. So the Titans can end the season at home against Indianapolis and Daniel Jones or Anthony Richardson, that would be awesome. I just think that's the best outcome. I think Jacksonville is going to be a pretty good team.

Starting point is 00:15:50 I think Houston, of course, is going to stay a pretty good team. So give me the easier matchup at the end of the season. I just want to win. I want to get in. But as for the teams, like kind of like what we're talking about, teams that I'd like to see the Titans get to play early in the season. The Patriots, a lot of change, a lot of new pieces, rookie left tackle. Titans get to be at home. So you get to have a game early at home that has some emotional stakes to it that may make it bigger than what it actually is. In theory, I would like to play that game early in the season. The New Orleans Saints, I already explained why I'd like to see them. The Seattle Se new Orleans saints. I already explained why I'd like to see them.

Starting point is 00:16:25 The Seattle Seahawks. I already explained why I'd like to see them. And for the same reason that I explained with the saints and the Seahawks, the Raiders, the Raiders don't have a young quarterback, but they have a new quarterback in Gino Smith. They have a new coach and Pete Carroll with a new offensive coordinator. And they're doing things totally different now. Like the Raiders are a team that could go on a little end of the season run and get to 7 and 10 or something like that.

Starting point is 00:16:48 That's what I see out of the Raiders. So before they get their bearings about them and figure out who they are and guys get more comfortable in their system, their new stuff, I would like to play them early. You know what I mean? That just seems fair, in my opinion. Now, ask for teams that I would like to play late. Seems fair, in my opinion. Now, ask for teams that I would like to play late. Okay? Now, you never know how things are gonna go and how good these teams are ultimately gonna be. But I would rather play the Chiefs later. I would rather play the Chiefs later in the season. That would be more ideal for me. Let Cam Ward be at his absolute best. Let him be comfortable. Let him know the offense. Let him have a rhythm and a chemistry with the rest of his teammates. Like, let Brian Callahan adapt exactly what he wants to do with Cam Ward to what they're going to use going forward. I want to see that process all the way through and then see them measure themselves against the Kansas City Chiefs and see how bad that it truly is. I can tell you one thing. What I don't

Starting point is 00:17:47 want to happen is I don't want the Titans to play the Chiefs in the beginning of the season, get absolutely slaughtered and annihilated and like lose confidence. You know, like, Whoa, we're so far away from the best teams in the NFL. Like I don't I want to see the Titans their best version of themselves this year, even though they're not going to be as good as the Chiefs. I want to see the best version best version of themselves this year, even though they're not going to be as good as the Chiefs. I want to see the best version of the Titans in 2025 against the Kansas City Chiefs. And I don't think that's going to happen early in the year.

Starting point is 00:18:12 And I feel similarly about some of the other good teams the Titans play, like the 49ers, like the Rams. The Rams are a good one. The 49ers and the Cardinals are two teams that I'd like to play later in the season because I think there's a chance that the Cardinals in the 49ers season is like over by the time the the Cardinals and 49ers are both teams that could go to the playoffs. Yes, you're 100% right, but in that NFC West with those four teams, there are going to be a couple of teams that just aren't as good as we thought they were. Look at San Francisco last year, go 6-11. You know, like, there are always teams

Starting point is 00:18:49 that are lesser than you thought. And I think a team like San Francisco is in a weird spot, and a team like the Cardinals, maybe they don't take that leap, and maybe it, like, ruins their psyche as a team. Like, the 49ers are like, we're a Super Bowl contending team. Man, we're gonna have a losing record in back-to-back years.

Starting point is 00:19:05 The Cardinals are like, man, we're taking the leap this year. We were a good scrappy team last year. We're taking a step up. If they're 4-8 and the Titans get to play them in week 13 or 14, that could just change the tenor of the game than if you play these teams at the beginning of the season when Hope Springs eternal. So those are the teams I'd like to see late, early, open and close. Now I gotta talk about the bye week.

Starting point is 00:19:54 Titans fans. Let's cap off today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast. We've talked about the prime time games that I'd like to see talk about who I'd like to play in the first week in the last week early and late in the season. Now I want to talk about this bye week because the bye week has been making me angry for years and years now with the Tennessee Titans, uh, had a good bye week a couple of years ago. And since then it's been downhill before I get into it. Do you want to thank you again for making locked on Titans your first listen for your second listen, check out locked on NFL scouting. Look, if you want to know about all the other teams in the NFL and who their listen for your second listen. Check out Locked On NFL Scouting. Look, if you want to know about all the other teams in the NFL

Starting point is 00:20:29 and who their rookies are and how their rookies fit into their team, there's no better place than Locked On NFL Scouting with Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino. But with that being said, the bye week. Again, the Titans last two seasons, the bye week was week five and week six. Like last year it was week five. The year before that, I'm pretty sure is week six. I'm tired of it.

Starting point is 00:20:53 All right, I'm tired of it. If I have to go to the NFL headquarters and knock on somebody's door, I will do it. But the Tennessee Titans deserve a later bye. Let's play a little game, one of my favorite games. Let's play a game of hype, happy, hate. Hype, happy, hate, okay? My hate tier for the buy week,

Starting point is 00:21:16 if it is in week five, which I think is the first week that they have buy weeks in the NFL, it might be four, but I think it's five. Week five, week six, week seven. If it's any of those five, six, seven, I hate it. I hate it. Okay. Absolutely hate it. If it's eight, nine, or ten, I'm happy. I'm happy. Am I elated? Am I hype? No, but I'm happy. And then anything after week 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, any of those, I am hype. Now, why do I want to buy at the end of the season? This is my philosophy. You get a huge break with the off season and then you can run off a string of games. Get your bearings about you. Figure out who you are as a team. Establish where you are. All right? And then what I like is a break later in the year. Because guys have played 10, 11 weeks in a row. They're tired. Their bodies are beat.

Starting point is 00:22:30 Now you get a bye week, and then you're ready for the home stretch. So if you have the bye week early in the season like the Titans have the last two years, week five, week six, then you have to play literally, you know, 12, 13 weeks in a row. And think if you were to go to the playoffs, think if you had a bi-week in week four or week five, and then you had to play to the conference championship. I mean, we're talking about 15 straight weeks of playing football. I don't like that. I don't like that for a strong finish. I don't like that for a playoff football. I don't like that. I don't like that for a strong finish. I don't like that for a playoff run.

Starting point is 00:23:08 I don't like that at all. And look, I know we could talk about the 2025 Titans and playoff run, what are you talking about? But I'm just saying my general philosophy on the bye week is I always want to buy as late as possible because then I get a break and then I'm ready for the home stretch. Rejuvenated for the home stretch.

Starting point is 00:23:38 So I've been angry with the buy week for years now. The NFL owes the Titans a later buy. Again, hate, five, six, seven, happy, eight, nine, ten 10, hype 11, 12, 13, 14. They better get a better buy this week. I'm gonna be so mad. Anyways, moving right along. That's kind of my schedule wishlist and the things that I wanna see and the teams that I wanna see where. Ultimately, the titans just need to be improved.

Starting point is 00:24:05 Like that's, we're going to talk about the schedule tomorrow. We're going to talk about the schedule the next day. I'm excited to see when and where they play, what the flow is to the season, where the bye week is all this stuff that we've talked about. But like we saw last year, the teams that you think are going to be good and the teams that you think are going to be good and the teams that you think are going to be bad and the teams that are just average, it's never quite what you think it is going into the season. So there could be games where I'm saying, oh, I'd like that as a, you know, an easy, the Seahawks, let's play the Seahawks early. And then the Seahawks go 11 and six and it's like, oh, well, looking back, that wasn't a great suggestion, you know? So we never really know.

Starting point is 00:24:46 The most important thing is that the Titans get better. Cause if the Titans get better, no matter how the schedule breaks out, they're going to win more games. That's really what matters, right? So we can talk schedule all we want at the end of the day. Titans need to win. Now I will tell you this, the Titans the end of the day. Titans need to win. Now I will tell you this.

Starting point is 00:25:06 The Titans are middle of the road when it comes to miles traveled. I saw a graphic and I apologize. I don't remember who it was. Adam Schefter actually retweeted it from ESPN. Adam Schefter tweeted it out, but it was the miles traveled. Every team will have this season. And the Titans were like 16th with 18,000 miles or something like that. They were middle of the pack.

Starting point is 00:25:31 So it's not like the Titan schedule is going to, you know, require a too much travel miles traveled or anything like that. So the schedule itself with the opponents right now doesn't look like it doesn't look easy, but it doesn't look too awfully difficult either. So I think the Titans are in a pretty good place and again, they just need to play better. But I'm going to be back live Wednesday, 8 p.m. Eastern when the schedule drops to go game by game through the schedule. Talk about which games I think the Titans will win, which games I think the Titans might lose, general analysis, and we have so much to talk about here over the next two days. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. But that's going to do it for me today folks. As always,

Starting point is 00:26:13 I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thanks for watching guys!

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Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Schedule Wishlist: CAM WARD v SHEDEUR SANDERS, Close with Colts & LATE BYE WEEK

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