Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans v Arizona Cardinals Crossover Thursday w/ Alex Clancy & Bo Brack

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

Tyler is joined by Alex Clancy and Bo Brack from Locked On Cardinals to discuss everything you need to know heading into Sunday's game. First, the guys discuss the offseason that was for both teams and where they currently stand. Then, Tyler jumps in the hot seat answers questions from Bo and Alex. Finally, the tables turn and Tyler throws some questions at Bo and Alex. Tannehill, Henry, Julio, Kyler, Hopkins, Watt & Chandler Jones all discussed as well as both team's issues on defense!!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.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.ManscapedFellas, don’t gamble on shaving your balls with the wrong tools! Choose MANSCAPED™, Your Balls Will Thank You™! Get 20% off + free shipping with the code LOCKEDON at manscaped.com.RunYourPoolCheck ‘em out TODAY and get $10 off at RunYourPool.com and use promo code LockedOn at checkout. 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, Crossover Thursdays are back. The first sign that the NFL season has returned. Here in just a moment, I am going to be bringing on the host of the Locked on Cardinals podcast, Bo Brock and Alex Clancy. Very excited to dive into this football game. Also, very excited to tell you guys my voice is back.

So very excited about that as well. But I'm going to go ahead and bring us into the conversation that I had with the two hosts of the Locked on Cardinals podcast. conversation that I had with the two hosts of the Locked on Cardinals podcast. Luckily for you guys and for me as well as it is something I enjoy going forward on Thursdays on the podcast, just a little bit of an audio treat. We are going to be doing the traditional, the original Locked on Titans intro. So I'm very excited to dive into all of this with you guys. It is a crossover Thursday here on the Locked on Titans podcast.

And I am happy to say, let's get it. Cardinals fans, Titans fans, we are here, we are back. The first week of the 2021 NFL season and our first Locked On Crossover Thursday of the year. You have me, Tyler Rowland, host of Locked on Titans. You have Bo Brock and Alex Clancy, host of Locked on Cardinals. And we are getting ready to get you ready for this matchup this weekend between the NFC and the AFC. So a nice little inter-division crossover already. We are going to talk a lot about this game.

We are going to start off taking a look at what these teams have gone through throughout the offseason, and then in our second and third segments, we will dive more into what to expect in this matchup. First and foremost, do want to let you guys know to check out the Locked On's Ultimate Season Preview 2021. You can go back, check all of those fantastic episodes out. Go division by division, team by team with the Locked On experts and the experts from our friends over at Odyssey, Jason LaCamfora and Ross Tucker. But with all that being said, it is time to dive in. And first and foremost, how are you fellas doing?

Rolling, man. We're ready to get this ship rolling i'm ready to watch some damn football i'm sick of talking about games that don't count and prognosticating i'm ready to watch stuff and actually eat it up and you know have some analysis on some new stuff i gotta be honest i'm i'm disappointed we didn't get the malcolm butler revenge game yeah absolutely i absolutely. I mean, I think he would have had his hands full no matter what, either way. But yeah, you know, you hope he's doing well, but definitely that was one of the more surprising things of the offseason. And speaking of that, why don't you guys, you know, tell the Titans fans here or refresh any Cardinals

fans. What did the Cardinals offseason look like? I mean here's the thing it's it was glitzy it was glamorous with J.J. Watt A.J. Green training for Rodney Hudson you know the on paper the Cardinals look like one of the more fun teams that are going to be watched by local and national media fans etc alike a lot of fantasy football fans can be focusing on the Arizona Cardinals and their output this year. We just don't know if it's going to work. In Steve Kime, we have to trust for one more year, at least depending on what the win-loss record is at the end of the season.

But Bo, like grade-wise, I think he and I both gave it a B minus where the cornerback room and the running back room wasn't really addressed the way it should have been. Bo, is that, that's a fair assessment, right? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you're looking for playmaking opposite DeAndre Hopkins, and I think they kind of fell short. They brought in AJ Green, who's a little long in the tooth, and they brought in James Connor, who is, you can't really anticipate him playing a full season or being reliable to kind of be that

in between the tackles back. So the Arizona Cardinals, they had a checklist and they certainly checked off a bunch of those boxes, but there's some key, key voids in that cornerback room. It was thin before we joke about Malcolm Butler. Now it's, now it's by far the weakest link on this Arizona Cardinals roster. And I'm sure Tyler, you probably have the same concerns about that Tennessee Titans team. Yeah, I mean, obviously, all of the concerns come on the defensive side of the ball for the Titans.

The offense, I think even though they lost Johnnie Smith and Corey Davis, they're in a very similar spot overall in terms of the offensive talent that they have. On the defensive side of the ball for the Titans is where all the questions lie. They added Bud Dupree as an edge rusher, big price free agent. They added Danico Autry, who didn't get all the fanfare that Bud Dupree did, but I think could ultimately end up being a bigger impact signing. They go with the youth movement in the secondary.

Add two rookies in Elijah Molden and Caleb Farley in the draft. Bring in Jackrabbit Jenkins. And remember, it is now officially Jackrabbit. He does not like it if you call him Janoris. So they add there, they're elevating Amani Hooker. The safety out of Iowa has been in the league for a few years now to play opposite of Kevin Byard. So they went with the youth movement in the secondary,

kind of took all their resources and all their money and put it towards the pass rush in hopes of helping a historically bad pass rush. If you look at just playoff teams in NFL history, the Titans only had 19 sacks last year. So that's all the moves that they made in terms of the big moves that they made in terms of players. But for the Titans, something a little bit different than what the Cardinals have. The Titans got two new coordinators on offense.

They elevated Todd Downing from being the tight end coach to the offensive coordinator. He does have some OC experience in his past. He was the 2017 offensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders. Yes, it was Oakland at the time. And then they elevated Shane Bowen, the outside linebackers coach, to defensive coordinator. He was kind of a shadow DC for the puppet master that is Mike Rabel

and the control freak that is Mike Rabel last year. So seeing those two dudes officially get elevated into those roles, I think how they perform will factor in to the season as much as the new players and the new talent that the Titans have. So that kind of wraps up what the Titans were doing. But I think either way, looking at both these teams as an overall point, I think both these teams have a lot of explosive offensive identity. And like you said, some questions on defense.

And that may not make for the best football teams in the league, but it should make for an exciting game in week one. Yeah, I mean, and there's one thing that I and Bo and Arizona Cardinals fans are envious of, and it's the division you guys play in. I mean, listen, the AFC South, the AFC South is, has turned from one of the most intense divisions with Andrew Luck at the helm when Tennessee was winning seven or eight games with Marcus Mariota every year. It was defense. It was running the ball. And then Jacksonville was always kind of like the stepchild left out. Now it's wide the hell open. And the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West seem to be looking up. But what would you, would you give your hairline for the Cardinals to play

in the AFC South for one year, for one year, your hairline for you and me to switch hairlines for 365 days. I mean, look, they're still competing with two teams that are contending. I mean, between the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans, there's no, there's no easy path to the postseason. Sure. You've got a couple bunnies and I know Jacksonville, there's excitement. There's also already new frustration so yeah you I don't know I don't think I'd give up playing in the best division in the league right now it's exciting so I don't know Tyler it's it seems like it's a two-team race there in the AFC South are we right by saying that I mean writing off the Jacksonville Jaguars I don't think anybody's

gonna say hey hey whoa whoa whoa you can't ride off the Jags. Yeah, to be honest with you, I am actually in the camp of thinking that Jacksonville will be better than a lot of people expect. I'm seeing about six to seven wins. I know that may be a little bit of a stretch, but I think they could be a decent team. But no, I don't think that they're going to be contending for the division title this year.

I think that's going to need a little bit more time than that. But that is, I would say, the biggest difference between these two teams is the NFC West is probably the best division in football and the AFC South may be the worst division in football. And more than the actual talent and success of these teams, that might be a driving factor into the ultimate outcome for either of these squads. But we are going to continue talking about this game.

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That's promo code LOCKEDON at manscaped.com. Be nice to have your audio. Here we go. Listen, bro. Alex Lancy, Bobrock, Locked On Cardinals. Bueller, Locked On Cardinals. Tyler Rowland, Locked On Titans. This is the first edition.

Now you can hear me of the 2021 Locked On NFL crossoverrossover Series. You hear us every Thursday. Cardinals fans, whoever we're playing, we're jumping up against. Same with Tyler Rowland for Titans fans. A little quick announcement. I'm very happy that I will not have to do at least one podcast without Bo Brock every week as Tyler Rowland

and I will be the official host of the Locked On NFL Thursday podcast. It's going to be awesome. Tyler and I both have a lot to say. Tyler's smart. Bo isn't. It's going to be incredible.

It's going to be incredible to watch. Make sure you check it out wherever you get your podcast Thursday. Tyler Rowland and myself, Alex Clancy, will be hosting that. So Tyler, firing squad time for you in the Tennessee Titans here. Can I just say, I'm here for you. I'm here for you, Tyler. Anytime you need to reach out and you need some sort of like therapy, there's a group of us that have to work with Alex and it's, it, it helps. If you need someone to fall asleep to, you can listen to Bo and his takes.

So we kind of, you know, we do a little bit of everything. Listen, Tyler and I are already doing karate in in the basement okay we're already doing it okay so don't even worry about it did we just become best friends absolutely yeah Tyler Rowland you have your strengths you have your um top heavy roster offensively we know something about that here in Phoenix with a top heaviness from one to 53 on game day, pretty much in perpetuity in Arizona. But Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown, they're proven commodities. When A.J. Brown's healthy, he's probably a top five receiver in the league. I want to talk about the newest acquisition with Julio Jones. Is he going to

thrive in that wide receiver two role? Are things set up for him to do that? Or are they both dueling wide receiver ones when? Are things set up for him to do that? Or are they both dueling wide receiver ones when it comes to target share? Well, I don't think so. And I don't see it that way. And I know that Julio Jones is absolutely one of the best football players in the history of the planet.

One of the best wide receivers to ever live. But I think that at this stage of his career, although I still think he can be incredibly effective, I think it's obvious that A.J. Brown needs to be the number one target for the Titans. He needs to get a significant amount more of the target share, but I think that only benefits Julio Jones because the reality is the Titans let Corey Davis walk to the New York Jets because they felt like they could replace him and they were able to do so with Julio Jones. And the opportunities that were opened up for Corey Davis were a result of the attention that A.J. Brown gets. So when you think about that, you have to keep that formula going. You can't change that formula and all of a sudden try to divert the majority of your targets to Julio Jones. I think that would be a mistake, not only for the health of the offense, but also for Julio Jones' health

overall. I don't think you want to force everything to him nonstop. I don't think that would be the right move. You want to keep him healthy and you don't need to give him a target share like he's in his prime. Last year, Corey Davis went for 65 catches, 984 yards. When you pop in Julio Jones, even Julio Jones in his 30s, I think there's a great chance that Julio Jones goes for around 1,000, 1,100 yards, probably about 70 catches or so, while not being the number one target monster on the Titans. I think that would be the ideal setup for the Titans,

even though Julio is who we know that Julio is. Yeah. I mean, you've got your proven commodities out as Alex kind of outlined King Henry, you know what you're going to get. I mean, the guy 2000 yard rusher, I just saw that he's the first guy to ever rush for 2000 yards at every level, high school, college pros, unreal, just his high school statistics. If you just want to like, if you just want to gasp, look at his high school stats. They're unreal. But new coordinator coming in. What's the expectations for the quarterback?

A guy that everybody kind of wrote off, especially was it Grimes' wife that hated him down there in Miami? Brian Tannehill. What are the expectations now that he can't fly under the radar any longer in this Titans offense? We know about the play-action pass. What are they expecting from the quarterback? I think they're expecting similar results.

And I think one of the reasons for that is a lot of people look at Ryan Tannehill from a talent standpoint, and they're like, oh, you know, Ryan Tannehill's maybe not talented enough to put up these numbers. Well, I think one big factor that people aren't realizing is the system is so perfectly suited to what he does well. Ryan Tannehill isn't a pinpoint accurate passer like a Tom Brady is.

He's a guy who needs his wide receivers to have a little bit of separation to feel comfortable firing it in there. And when you think about the play-action pass game and all of the space that it creates over the middle of the field, that's why Ryan Tannehill's been so successful. He doesn't have to fit it into these perfect little windows. He's not throwing timing and option routes nonstop. He knows, hey, I'm going to execute this play-action fake.

Everyone's going to bite because Derrick Henry is a freak. And then Ryan Tannehill is going to execute this play-action fake. Everyone's going to bite because Derrick Henry is a freak. And then Ryan Tannehill is going to have an opening over the middle of the field, or like I was talking about with Corey Davis last year. The attention that Ryan Tannehill gets, or the attention that A.J. Brown gets, opens up one-on-one opportunities for a guy like Julio Jones to go up

against the team's No. 2 cornerback. And what's that going to do? It's going to give Julio opportunities to get open and to not make Ryan Tannehill make these pinpoint accurate passes. Also, Ryan Tannehill has incredible mobility. People should know that by now. Wide receiver in college. It gets mentioned every single game.

You would think anyone who watches football knows that by now, but it continues to get brought up. And look at me. You live long enough to see yourself become the villain, and now I'm bringing it up. But that athleticism goes perfectly with the boot action scheme that the Titans run. He gets out on the perimeter, takes advantage of his legs, and it's not even always to run the ball. Just getting out there, forcing defenders to pull up, again, creates openings and separations so he doesn't have to be so pinpoint accurate. He can use his arm strength and his athleticism,

which in my opinion are two of his best traits, and it also eliminates what I think his worst trait is as a quarterback, and that's pocket presence. So when you have the ability to use play action and some heavy blocking schemes in pass pro, get him out on the perimeter away from the pass rush, it kind of eliminates the big issue that he's had throughout most of his career so I expect very similar numbers from Ryan Tannehill the Titans are team regression everybody thinks they're going to regress every single year and I

just don't see it Ryan Tannehill should give you very similar numbers to what he's been giving you the last two years because not much has changed for him Alexlex lancy bobrock locked on cardinals tyler roland locked on titans i mean before we move here ryan tannehill's got a 24 mile head start in a 26 mile race with derrick henry in the play action uh the play action fake outs for opposing defenses the reason why the dude is now playing well is because he has derrick henry to fake the handoff to that keeps the defense honest hold on let's be real here okay Ryan Daniel comes over from Miami okay Adam Gase fine crazy eyes Gase okay fine a lot of it was Adam Gase you come over Mike Vrabel looks like a genius because

Derek Henry is one of the best receivers running backs we've seen in the last decade or 15 years Derek Henry wasn't until Tannehill took over. Derrick Henry was not doing this at all in the first few years of his career. It wasn't until Ryan Tannehill took over that Derrick Henry became Derrick Henry. So I just don't think that the statistics don't back that up. They just don't. Derrick Henry was not who he was until Ryan Tannehill took over. So I'm not going to sit here and say that Ryan Tannehill deserves all the credit,

but I think that the relationship is much more symbiotic than people want to give Ryan Tannehill credit for. And I do want to say this one thing about Derrick Henry. People talk about regression. Bo, you mentioned his absolutely insane numbers. I think that there is a possibility here that Derrick Henry isn't just going to regress all of a sudden because of the workload. Maybe Derrick Henry is just one of the best

five, eight, ten running backs to ever live. And everything about what he's done so far, other than his first two years in the NFL when he was behind DeMarco Murray, would lead us to believe that. So all that team regression stuff, those are my answers. Derrick Henry is a unicorn.

He's a Hall of Famer. Ryan Tannehill is perfectly suited for the system, and that will allow the Titans to not have a major regression on offense. And Alex, you're a hater. Yeah, well, you're just getting a taste of what I have to deal with on a daily basis here, Tyler. Welcome to the club. Before we get out of here, we have to get into this defense

before we face the firing squad. Just tell me, how are the Titans expecting to defend this season? Because last year they struggled. I mean, they were top five offense mostly in every category. Defensively, they struggled. And they're really rolling the dice, I feel like, defensively. Yeah, well, I think the reality here is that the Titans couldn't improve dramatically on defense

just with the personnel that they had. But I think the biggest thing, and it's something I alluded to in the first segment, the elevation of Shane Bowen from outside linebackers coach to defensive coordinator, he was kind of a shadow defensive coordinator last year. And a lot of the Titans' key players on defense talked about communication issues being a big part of the problem with the defense last year. Guys, the

coverage didn't match what they were doing in the pass rush. People weren't known exactly where they were supposed to be, and now that Mike Vrabel and Shane Bowen aren't sending mixed messages throughout the week, and it's just Shane Bowen's defense. I think that should help those communication issues, and that should help the Titans be a little bit better. But also, also, like I mentioned, they totally changed where the money is in the defense. They took it out of the secondary, and they put it into the pass rush. I'm a firm believer that pass rush is more important and more effective than top-tier coverage. I would rather have a great pass rush unit than a great coverage unit. That's just my personal belief in how to build a football team,

and I think the Titans agree with me on that note. So with all of the new resources and the allocation of the resources to the pass rush, and then Shane Bowen hopefully improving the communication on the back end, I think that's what the Titans are hoping for on defense. And the Titans don't have to be a top-10 defense. It's like the Cardinals. If you have a top 10, top five offense, and then a league average defense,

you're going to be a much better team than the Titans were last year with the 25th best defense in the league. So I think the elevation of Shane Bowen to DC, the money going towards the pass rush instead of the secondary, I think those are the two biggest factors in the Titans' optimism for having a better, not great defense, but a better defense this season. Tyler Rowland, Bo Brock, Alex Clancy, it's your Locked On Cardinals-Titans crossover for this opening week showdown, which if you guys have been paying attention

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I'm sorry, as I move on to Rock Auto, like, I'm mesmerized. Like, you've outdone yourself today. You really have. Let's talk about RockAuto.com. I don't know anything about cars. Bo doesn't know anything about cars. Tyler, 1 to 10, what's your car knowledge? Negative 2. Tyler, one to 10. What's your car knowledge? Negative two.

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it makes you think of the song, right? You know? All the parts of 411. Rockado. I love it. I love it. But with all of the attention being given to Rockado, it's time to turn our attention back to this game. And you guys are now getting in the hot seat.

The first question I have is for Bo, and you kind of alluded to this, but Bo, how does it feel to have the second best hair on the broadcast? Ooh, I don't know if I agree with that. I mean, that's like saying,

I don't agree with that. And I don't even want to agree with that. I know it's tough. Yeah, it's tough for our podcast listeners. They have no idea what we're talking about, but I mean, this's tough. Yeah, it's tough. For our podcast listeners, they have no idea what we're talking about. But, I mean, mine's just... This is great audio content.

My main is majestic, and Tyler's is... It passes. Let's just say that. So, I don't know how to answer that. I mean, it's like... Well, I'm willing to battle it out at the top. It's trying to compare Mike Rabel versus Cliff Kingsbury. Oh, oh, well, I mean, if it was a fight, I would take Mike Rabel.

But, you know, that's a different story for a different time. But let's talk about this game. I have questions. And obviously, all my questions have to start with Kyler Murray. And Kyler Murray obviously dealt with some health issues last year that limited his ability to run late in the season. But the Cardinals overall are a great running team because of the threat that he possesses.

But also, they were one of the best running teams in the league last year, seventh best. Do you think that the Cardinals' rushing offense is going to continue that success, or do you think that they're going to lean more towards the passing game now with the addition of a guy like A.J. Green? I mean, if you asked me after week nine of last year, I would have said it's going to improve, it's going to continue, it's going to be the focal point of this offense.

If you asked me at the end of the year, like you're asking me now, looking towards 2021, that's the question. And the subsidiary question of that is, should the running game be the focal point? Should Kyler Murray be in front of the line of scrimmage? Or should he try to keep his pocket presence there and watch the plays matriculating, go through his progressions

and keep himself out of harm's way potentially, even though the biggest weapon on the offense is still his legs. So I think that the rush attack should at least remain status quo. You have Kenyon Drake removed from the roster. James Conner added. We'll see what Chase Edmonds can do as the roster. James Conner added. We'll see what Chase Edmonds can do as the RB1, RB1A. We'll see exactly what happens. But if the Cardinals can

win games without Kyler Murray being the leading rusher or being close to the leading rusher, some real noise can be made. Not only the NFC West, but over the course of the season for the Cardinals. But if it's the opposite of that, there could be trouble in River City. Bo, what are your thoughts? No, I agree with Alex, and I wish that the team – and the team kind of did adopt early in Cliff Kingsbury's tenure of run the damn ball that the Titans go with. And it's a misconception because we hear all about the air raid offense.

We know that we, Kyler Murray possesses a big arm and we know that Deandre Hopkins is there on the outside as one of the most lethal wide receivers in the game. But when they can run the football, I mean, this is a team and we, I hang my hat on the stat that the team under Cliff Kingsbury is 10 and two when rushing for over 150 yards. That's just, it gets the job done. You know that when there's that good run pass balance, the Arizona Cardinals are very good football team when they went and they, but they have this, they, they get away from the run way too often, way too early. And that's when

they kind of get one dimensional and they're sank. So, you know, I don't know if I necessarily agree with Kyler Murray's, his legs are the most important offensive weapon they have. DeAndre Hopkins is pretty good. But they need to take it up a notch. They've gone from a putrid 14 points per game in 2018 to 23 points per game to 26 points per game. But they need to be consistent on a game-by-game basis and approach that 30 points per game mark this year because it has to be their calling card.

It's DeAndre Hopkins, it's Kyler Murray, it's Cliff Kingsbury. Those are all offensive-minded guys. They have to figure it out offensively. Otherwise, Alex, what's your saying? If it's not their calling card? I mean, you just butchered that like you butchered everything else. I'm trying to set you up, for God's sake. Take it.

If the offense isn't the strength of this team, what the hell is Cliff Kingsbury doing here? Yeah, that's a valid point. And staying on the offensive side of the ball, Tyler Rowland locked on Titans, Bo Brock, Alex Clancy locked on Cardinals. My question for you guys is, what is your biggest concern on the offensive side of the ball for the Cardinals as they go up against the Tennessee Titans defense? That's not good, but if the offensive side of the ball doesn't carry their weight, what do you think happens?

Yeah, I mean, there are a bunch of them. And we saw a microcosm of that in a small sample size of Kyler Murray going out there in a couple drives this preseason and the offense kind of looking exactly like it did at the end of last season. And it was ineffective. And it comes a lot with, you know, this quick play calling and they're going to go three quick plays and be three and out. And next thing you know, that defense is right back out on the field. And it's just, they shoot themselves in the foot. They get away from the run. They, they don't really seem to take easy play to move the chains. They want to be a big play team.

And it hasn't been working the last, let's say, 10 games for this team. So I think that as far as that goes, my main concern as far as the offense is the play calling. You'd like to see it improve. You'd like to see Cliff Kingsbury show that he belongs at the NFL level as a play caller. And you know, as far as the offensive line,

I think the offensive line is fine, especially against this pass rush. I think the wide receivers are going to eat against this defensive secondary. And then that run game, you know, how does Chase Edmonds look as an RB one? Is he going to be able to get outside and,

and, and really be effective and be as impactful as, as Cliff Kingsbury is kind of wanting him to be in this get outside and really be effective and be as impactful as Cliff Kingsbury has kind of wanted him to be in this position for so long. So it's really going to come down to play calling. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's the head coach. I mean, he's here to play, to call plays well, and he doesn't do it very often. So if he continues to not do it very often, they're going to have issues. When he does do it well, it's magic. And the fact that he's unable to string it together as much

as he does what i say and both heard this ad nauseum that cliff kingsbury can put together a great preview or a great trailer to a movie but the movie sucks and and that's kind of what we've that's kind of what we've been watching because it's true like especially for entourage fans out there i always quote medellin it's the medellin trailer it's the medellin trailer but the movie's terrible and that's kind of we've seen it since it since his you know time here as a coach and what you hope it changes because there is greatness in there regardless of how much flack he gets but he's clipping Kyler Murray's wings and this offense's wings up to this point and if he can open things up and do whatever he needs to do to kind of shift it the Cardinals

will have one of the better offenses in the league he just has to call better plays yeah yeah that makes sense well obviously we have to transition to the defensive side of the ball and like with the Titans that's where the concerns really start to fester obviously two great pass rushers J.J. Watt and Chandler Jones but outside of that a lot of questions in the back half of the defense. Isaiah Simmons at linebacker struggled last year. They dropped a similar player in Zayven Collins. Hopefully they're able to use those guys correctly. But in the secondary, former Tennessee Titan Malcolm Butler,

who we talked about at the beginning of the show, an abrupt retirement right before the season started. Now I want to say Byron Murphy, really, really good cornerback. Buda Baker, really, really good safety. But outside of that, Robert Alford hasn't played football in a long time. Two rookies, Tay Gowan, Marco Wilson. I'm going to say this terribly, but Luck Barku. I don't even know if that's right.

You guys can correct me if so. But what's your overall take on what this Cardinals defense can be I hope the pass rush is good you hope the pass rush is good because you know the Buda Baker pound for pound is the best safety in the league he's the most probably the most unknown safety I had I tell about this all the time I've had buddies text me after he got his extension like who, who the hell is Buda Baker? So he's obviously shown at this point that he's an all-pro safety. He's a little bit, quote-unquote,

undersized for what a secondary guy should look like, but he hits like a linebacker. You mentioned Isaiah Simmons and Zayvon Collins. The one thing Bo and I and others were looking for this offseason during the preseason was, do they look like they belong on a football field? And Isaiah Simmons did not look lost. Zayvon Collins looked like the antithesis of lost. He looked like he had the defense dialed in

because he's going to be the Mike linebacker. Colin plays for this defense at the ripe old age of 22, however old he is. So when it comes to the strength of this team, it's got to be the pass rush because Buda Baker spying over the top for an inferior cornerback room can only do so much. Chandler Jones, J.J. Watt need to eat, need to get double teamed, need to open up gaps for linebackers and corners to blitz. I mean, that's where the Cardinals calling card last year was the blitz

that Vance Joseph was able to kind of bring out of thin air when Chandler Jones went out to make it the focal point of the defense, and it worked. I believe they can expound upon it this year Luke Barku that's uh that's how you pronounce his name Luke Barku I was one for two I got the last name not the first name I don't expect you to know that name uh you know it's weird that this this team is is really the the scouts the coaching staff, the decision makers, they seem pretty content with this defensive secondary. Well, a lot of us think that that's a naive approach

with Byron Murphy being the most proven commodity on the outside, and he's more of an inside corner. At least that's where he's had success. So just like you said, what the Titans want to do, what Alex said, that pass rush, it has to be elite. It really does. And those guys just have to have pedestrian performances for this thing to work out in the secondary. But the guys up front, that front seven has to be special for this to all work out.

You know, Vance Joseph runs that cover zero all the time. And going up against this offense, that can be just catastrophic. So we'll see what happens. But this defense, it's very top-heavy in that front seven. It just, in order for this to work, they have to be special. Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense and similar things with the Titans as well. But that is a comprehensive preview from both sides of the spectrum of this season

opening game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Tennessee Titans. Had a great time talking with you guys. Alex, I look forward to talking with you every single week on the Locked On NFL show on Thursdays. Bo, it's great to talk with you as always. I'm sure I'll

be talking to you throughout the season as well for different items, but that's going to do it for us today. Bo Brock, Alex Clancy, Locked On Cardinals. I'm Tyler Rowland from the Locked On Titans podcast. We will talk to you guys later this week. you