Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Treylon Burks Carted Off With Injury, Malik Willis Impresses & Defense Creates Chaos

Starting point is 00:00:00 It was a disastrous day in Minnesota for the Tennessee Titans that saw wide receiver Traylon Burks get carted off the field with a lower body injury. I'm going to tell you guys everything you need to know from joint practices on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Lock locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Here we go again with the injuries.

Starting point is 00:01:01 At Wednesday's joint practice against the Minnesota Vikings, Tennessee Titans second-year wide receiver Traylon Burks was carted off with a lower body injury. I'm going to break down all the latest, give you guys all of the news surrounding the injury, what's going on. We're also going to talk about Malik Willis' good day that stood out on a terrible, terrible day

Starting point is 00:01:25 for the Tennessee Titans offense. On the other side of the ball on defense, the Titans brought down two interceptions and had a pretty good day. So we're going to go over all of the latest. Before we get into it, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed.

Starting point is 00:01:48 Stay subscribed to the Locked On Titans podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network where it's your team every day. Throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching right now. Help support the channel. Show's always free. All I ask for is the press of a button in return. Also, shout out to my

Starting point is 00:02:04 everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. But yeah, it's unfortunate. It was probably the biggest news story in the NFL on Wednesday. At the time of this recording, we don't have an update on Burks, but here's what we know.

Starting point is 00:02:20 During a team period, Traylon Burks went deep. Absolutely cooked the defensive back that was on him. Made a touchdown catch in the end zone. And as he was kind of landing and catching his balance, he injured his left leg. Now, I say this all the time on the show. I'm not a doctor. I'm not going to pretend to be a doctor.

Starting point is 00:02:42 I have zero medical background whatsoever. All I can tell you all is this. I'm not going to pretend to be a doctor. I have zero medical background whatsoever. All I can tell you all is this. He was holding like the back of his left leg. He was limping afterwards. Reports indicate that after trying to kind of move around, he dropped down. They brought a cart out for him. Burks tried to wave off the cart,

Starting point is 00:03:04 but ultimately did get on the card and got carded off he had DeAndre Hopkins Derrick Henry even general manager Rand Carthon came over to kind of talk to him console him he's obviously upset is what Ryan Tannehill said after practice

Starting point is 00:03:19 which understandably so but that's all that we know from the video and I posted well I didn't post the video directly myself, but I reposted the video of a Vikings fan at practice who took the video of the injury happening in real time. So you can go check that out on my Twitter, at TicTacTitans if you want. Now, again, I'm not a doctor, all right?

Starting point is 00:03:41 So all I'm going to tell you guys right now is what these doctors on Twitter are saying, whether it be the SIS sports, the injuries from pro football doc, Dr. David Chow, who's come on the show before. His team put out that they thought it was more of a sprain or a strain, something like that, more than an ACL tear. But obviously, they didn't rule out anything. Nobody can know for certain.

Starting point is 00:04:07 I saw some other doctors say that it could be a hamstring injury, a knee sprain, maybe a hyperextension, all different kinds of things. I mean, hamstring, ACL, torn meniscus, because it's on the back of the knee is something that I saw somebody say. Again, I'm not a doctor, guys. I'm not going to pretend to be. No one knows at this moment in time, except probably the Titans medical staff,

Starting point is 00:04:31 what is going on and what the injury actually is. But the only reason I bring these things up is because some people who have far more medical knowledge than I have looked at the injury, looked at the video, and said that it may not be something like an ACL tear. It could be. We're not saying that it can't be, but it could be something more along the line of a meniscus injury or a knee sprain or a strain or a hamstring or a calf strain or something

Starting point is 00:04:59 that people have been throwing around out there. Those are all possibilities. So again, without being a doctor and having medical knowledge to confirm anything or even go off any solid opinion, all I can do is tell you what I've seen people say and with that, we will hold on to hope

Starting point is 00:05:16 in our hearts, right? Because here's the reality. It's a disaster if they don't have Traylon Burks. That's the issue. Now, we were all excited when they added DeAndre Hopkins, and I've been saying it. This offense has to have two really good wide receivers. It's the only way that it can function.

Starting point is 00:05:34 We talked about the same play. We've seen it. Play action to Derrick Henry. One wide receiver goes on the deep post. The other wide receiver does the intermediate route, and I talked about it last year during the season as well. With the lack of Traylon Burks in the lineup last year, the Titans had zero wide receivers

Starting point is 00:05:50 that you had to worry about, okay? And that made the offense an utter disaster. When they had Traylon Burks, there was some semblance of an offense, even if it was still really hard. Well, now, if you take Burks off the field and all you have is DeAndre Hopkins, that's great, but even more attention can go to DeAndre Hopkins. There isn't that guy who can

Starting point is 00:06:10 take the top off the defense and be a threat vertically to clear things out over the middle for DeAndre Hopkins. One of the big things about Hopkins is he's a guy who can win in one-on-one man coverage consistently. If you had Burks and you had Phillips and you had Hopkins, who all had good ability to beat man coverage, now you've got a real chance of getting first downs when it's third and four and the teams are lining up to bring pressure in your face, blitz and play man coverage like teams always do against the Titans. If you only have Hopkins out there in two wide receiver sets,

Starting point is 00:06:43 there is no need to even care about the vertical threat. Just watch Hopkins. Let Chris Moore, NWI. I mean, Kyle Phillips can't play in those formations because he's too small. So who else is there? Without Burks. And this is part of the issue with the Titans' depth at wide receiver.

Starting point is 00:07:01 Yeah, they had the high-end talent they needed once they added Hopkins, but that didn't fix the depth issues. It slotted everybody down better and make things more appropriate. But there are a lot of teams out there with better wide receivers in their four and five slot than Chris Moore and NWI, even a Reggie Robertson or something like that. You know what I mean? So the Titans lack of depth at the position is going to be exposed if there was one injury, one injury to Burks or Hopkins. It was going to be a major, major flaw once again. And

Starting point is 00:07:31 now with Burks potentially shelved for some time, hopefully he's able to come back. The worst case scenario, he doesn't come back the whole year. That is still on the table. If that's the case, this is outright disaster for the Tennessee Titans. I mean,

Starting point is 00:07:48 Rashard Higgins, Jarvis Landry, Kenny Galladay, the Titans only hope, their only hope would be either to make a trade, which would further sacrifice future assets that the Titans don't have a lot of, or they would have to get

Starting point is 00:08:03 somebody or someone else's cuts when that happens, but teams aren't going to make mass cuts like that until two weeks from now after the preseason is over when you have to cut down the roster. So, and then the Titans are adding somebody a week before the season starts and trying to get them acclimated and

Starting point is 00:08:19 is that player going to be talented enough to really make it? I mean, again, we have to hold on to hope here that it's a calf strain, hamstring. I mean, either way, it didn't look good. And here we go again, Titans fans. Didn't even get to the season without a major injury. After having Harold Landry tear his ACL right before the season last year

Starting point is 00:08:43 and then having a second year of league-leading injuries. It's just, it's exhausting and it's defeating. And I'm sure you guys are feeling like me out there. It's just, it's just frustrating, man. It's just incredibly frustrating that the Titans can't seem to catch a break when it comes to injuries. But with that being said, we are going to move forward, talk about another disaster on the day.

Starting point is 00:09:04 The Titans offense looked like a JV team compared to the Minnesota Vikings defense out there on Wednesday. So we're going to dive into that, but at least Malik Willis looked great. All of that coming up in just a moment before we get into it. I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Nutrafol. You don't have to choose between's episode is brought to you by Nutrafol. You don't have to choose between better hair growth and your health. Nutrafol provides a whole body health approach for men that promotes healthier hair. No drugs, no compromises, just better hair.

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Starting point is 00:11:17 I'm not even going to lie to you guys. I got my phone out right here checking just to make sure if any Traylon Burks updates come through whatsoever while I'm recording the show, I'm going to immediately pivot, talk about what they're saying, what's been reported. But right now, no update at this time. And according to Tennessee Titans communications manager, I don't know the proper term, but he's in charge of media communications and all that, Robbie Boren. But he said that there wouldn't be an update on Wednesday.

Starting point is 00:11:48 I'm recording this on Wednesday night, obviously. So hopefully we get some sort of update on Thursday on what the injury is. But with it being the preseason with no real injury reports required, I mean, we may not find out exactly what's going on with Traylon Burks for a long, long time. That's the way that Mike Grable wants to do it. Mike Grable wants his fans to be in the dark. He wants the media in the dark. He doesn't want anybody to know anything.

Starting point is 00:12:10 So, I mean, I hope we get an update soon, but there's no guarantee that one's coming. So, with that being said, we're going to move forward into more observations from Titans practice, more reports from Titans practice against Minnesota on Wednesday. Before we get into it, thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps,

Starting point is 00:12:36 always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. Tomorrow, I'm going to be breaking down joint practices again. The Titans have another practice with the Vikings tomorrow. Friday, we're going to have a game preview for Saturday's game. And then Saturday, of course, I'll be here live after the show to break down everything that happened during the game. So just wanted to let you guys know what the schedule is ahead. But the offense,

Starting point is 00:12:58 absolutely miserable on the day. So according to some reports here, in the first 11-on-11 drive, Titans offense against Vikings defense, Henry ran three times, got nothing. There was a screen play the Titans tried to run, nothing there. Tannehill just had to throw it down, clock it, spike it. There was a sack on the next 11-on-11 drill. Tannehill had to throw it away. There was an incompletion, a Tajay Spears run that went nowhere,

Starting point is 00:13:29 a sack, and a penalty. The Titans ran a two-minute drill, got close. Caleb Shudak missed a 55-yard field goal. He went three for five in special teams period too, and then missed another field goal in the team period. So not great. Not only was it team period,

Starting point is 00:13:50 the Titans offense and their receivers, and this is with Burks before he got hurt, just got beat, just got whooped in one-on-ones against Minnesota's secondary and their cornerbacks, who we talked about yesterday. Luke from Locked On Vikings mentioned the Vikings cornerbacks as a weakness, and they cooked the Titans wide receivers on Wednesday and one-on-ones, which is designed for the offense to win.

Starting point is 00:14:19 Oh, man. So just a miserable day from the offense. I mean, Tannehill went 8 for 10 and 7 on 7 drills, which is all great, but in 11 on 11s, the Titans got cooked. And it wasn't just that they were doing terrible. I followed some Minnesota Vikings people who were actually at the facility taking videos of full 11 on 11 reps and stuff, stuff the Titans won't allow you to do.

Starting point is 00:14:44 And every Minnesota Vikings reporter, fan, it was just like constant pressure. The Vikings had five sacks, maybe more. Every single pass play, there were Vikings in the backfield to the point where the Titans just kept running. Like, it's a sack. We all know it's a sack, but just keep running the play and throw the ball just so we get some practice

Starting point is 00:15:04 and get some reps. That's how bad it was out there. I mean, I wish I had better news for you today, folks. I really do. But the Burks injury, the first team offense, specifically the offensive line, just awful. Just awful stuff coming out of Minnesota on Wednesday. We got to change gears, though.

Starting point is 00:15:24 There was some positivity out there. There was some positivity out there and it was Malik Willis. Malik Willis continues to impress. He went four for four in his first seven on seven drills. He completed two passes and then completed two deep passes, a deep touchdown to Colton Dowell. He had four straight completions and two-minute drill 11-on-11 before he got sacked and the drive stalled, which could be Malik's fault, but based on all the reports

Starting point is 00:15:53 and what we saw on Saturday against the Bears, I doubt it was Malik's fault. So overall, Malik Willis had a really, really impressive day. Really solid day against the second team from the Minnesota Vikings. Malik's the biggest story around the Titans right now outside of Burke's injury because I don't even think that the Titans expected

Starting point is 00:16:11 that Malik Willis would be this improved. I think that if Mike Vrabel knew that Malik Willis would improve this much, I don't know if Will Levis gets picked there. That'll be an interesting storyline to watch going forward, honestly. Just how much Malik improves, that pick with Will Levis,

Starting point is 00:16:32 all that. It's going to be interesting to watch it all unfold. But Malik was a standout for the Titans offense on Wednesday. But with that being said, we're going to finish today's show with some good news. The Tennessee Titans defense cooked the Minnesota Vikings first team offense. We're going to discuss what happened and the two interceptions that the Titans had in four plays, actually. So we're going to cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, breaking down joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings from Wednesday.

Starting point is 00:17:28 We talked about the Burks injury. No update there. Let's all just hope that it's not that bad. Malik Willis had a good day, even though overall the Titans offense was garbagio on the day, but the Titans defense, I mean, is this not

Starting point is 00:17:43 an accurate representation of just the Tennessee Titans team in general? A major player gets hurt. The offense does awful. The defense does great. How many wins does that get you? I guess we'll see. But the Titans defense stepped up,

Starting point is 00:18:01 gave us some positivity to talk about on the day. Before we get into it, thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first to listen each and every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. But we had an interception by Roger McCreary. Arden Key got some pressure on him, and McCreary was able to get an interception by Roger McCreary. Arden Key got some pressure on him,

Starting point is 00:18:26 and McCreary was able to get the interception on Kirk Cousins. Two plays later, with the Vikings' second-team offense out there, so the Titans get an interception, get the Vikings' offense off the field. The Vikings' second-team offense comes off the field with the Titans' second-team defense. Rashad Weaver gets some pressure. T.K. McClendon gets a tip on the ball on Nick Mullins. And then Rashad Weaver's able to make the interception.

Starting point is 00:18:51 So, good day from the Titans' defense. Kevin Byard called it a great day overall for the Titans' defense. They really kind of limited what the Vikings' offense was going to be able to do. Kevin Byard talked about it. Yeah, some guys got open. They had some plays, but overall they didn't give up any deep plays. They didn't give up any X plays on the day. So a very good showing from the Titans defense.

Starting point is 00:19:13 Again, this is just a microcosm of what the Tennessee Titans are probably going to be this year. The offensive line's probably not going to be very good. They're going to drop like flies with injuries, and they're going to need the defense to save them every single week. I mean, I hate to be pessimistic, but after seeing this team the last few years, how could you expect anything else at this point?

Starting point is 00:19:39 It's just what it's going to be, you know what I mean? I mean, it's hard to see it any other way. Maybe if Burks comes back, the injury's not that bad, the offensive line gels quickly before the season starts, then maybe the Titans offense can get things back on track. But I think even at their best, this offense is going to be league average, which would be a huge improvement, admittedly a huge improvement. And when you go with a great defense, that can win you a lot of games. But that's like the best version of the Titans offense. And what's the odds that they hit their ceiling as an offense this year, especially if Burks misses any time? I mean, the reality of what it looked like is even if it's positive news for Burks, he might be out for a few months, at least four to six weeks. Something like that. Probably missed some regular season time. So, you know, when you

Starting point is 00:20:31 don't have depth and you're also historically injured every year, it just makes it hard. It just makes it hard. So, hopefully, next time that I talk to you guys, there's better news on Traylon Burks. We get an update on Thursday with something positive. I'll lead off with that and get that information to you guys as quickly as I possibly can. But in the meantime, Titans fans, cross your fingers and let's all collectively hope that Traylon Burks is okay.

Starting point is 00:21:01 Because I'm not going to get into predictions and wins and blah, blah, blah, but all I can tell you is my optimism for the Titans season is 100% gone if Traylon Burks is hurt for any long length of time. So, again, hope circle.

Starting point is 00:21:20 Let's just hope. And that's all that we can do. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. Again, I'm going to be back with you guys tomorrow to break down Thursday's joint practice with the Vikings. Hopefully, the Titans stay healthy. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Treylon Burks Carted Off With Injury, Malik Willis Impresses & Defense Creates Chaos

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