Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans WASTE Defensive Effort, Lose 4th Straight 17-14 to Chargers & #TitanUpTitanDown

Episode Date: December 19, 2022

The Tennessee Titans had a golden opportunity to win on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. They squandered as they typically do on offense with a pitiful performance. Led by the dynamic duo of Dennis Daley & Todd Downing. On Defense, the Titans forced turnovers, forced punts and held a dynamic Chargers offense to only 17 points. It was not enough. Finally, #TitanUpTitanDown for all the good and bad individual performances.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.TuroForget boring rental cars and find your drive at Turo.comAudibleHead over to Locked On NFL for a sneak peak of Block Forever or catch the full series available anywhere you get your podcast. Available everywhere now!NHTSADrive sober or get pulled over. Click HERE to learn more.  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, I mean, the Tennessee Titans offense goes out there and wastes, honestly, a pretty surprising performance from the Titans defense. Lose to the Chargers 17-14, the first four-game losing streak of the Mike Vrabel era. What do we see out there from the Titans that decided this game? And, of course, we're going to do Titan Up, Titan Down to talk about all the individual performances, both good and bad.

All of that and more on a game recap 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. Titans fans, they continue to find ways to just absolutely destroy us every single week, week in and week out. The Titans defense actually plays pretty well, and the Titans offense, as it has all year

long, completely lets them down. We are going to get into all of that before we do. I want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. Thank you guys

for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, free Tennessee Titans content all year round. Make sure you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast now.

Hit the notification bell if you're watching on YouTube. Throw a thumbs up on the video. We're all sad here. It would make me feel a lot better and it goes a long way to help support the channel. Yeah, I see it AZ Mick. I'm just disgusted right now. I don't know what else to say. The Titans

defense. Can we talk about the Titans defense? Yes. They gave up the drive at the end for the field goal, but this Titans JV defense, we got Jack Gibbons, Kevin Strong, Greg Maben, John Reed. Who is John Reed? He started at slot corner today. Joshua Kalou, Terrell Basham, Monty Rice, Andrew Adams, Terrence Mitchell. Who are these players? Of course, we know who they are. But how is this the Titans defense?

We are talking about a JV defense for the Titans. There's no other way around it. All respect to NFL players, but guys, this is absurd. Absurd. Not only that, but the injuries that happened during the game. I mean, it was absolutely ridiculous. Not only that, but you look. This Titans defense, like I said, with all the injuries

and all the players that I just named being out on the field. They get two interceptions on Justin Herbert. They get three sacks on Justin Herbert. I mean, that's an impressive performance. All of you guys were in my comments all week saying that the Chargers were going to score 30. That they were going to destroy the Titans this week. That didn't happen.

That didn't happen. The Titans defense deserves a lot of credit here. Because I did not think that this banged up defense had any chance whatsoever of doing this to the Chargers. I predicted the Chargers, even though I thought the Titans would win this game, and by God, they should have. And by God, they should have. But even when I thought the Titans would win. I still thought the Chargers would score more than 17. And last second field goal, it took them until the very end of the game to get those 17 points, to get that extra three. So you look at what the Titans defense was able to do here.

Held the Chargers to four of 13 on third down. 5.3 yards per play. I mean, they only had 74 rushing yards. Titans forced two turnovers. I mean, this Titans defense really gave their best effort. But this offense, Todd Downing and Dennis Daly, and credit to the Titans.

Well, you know what? No credit to the Titans. Well, you know what? No credit to the Titans. You know who played good out there? Dylan Radins. Dylan Radins at left tackle played pretty dang good. So I'm not going to give any credit to the Titans for finally putting Radins out there. They didn't start Radins.

They let Daly go out there and be terrible the first drive of the game. They finally put Radins at left tackle, a position that he has been begging to play, that he played for five years in college. They got him to be a second round pick. They finally let this man play left tackle. And Dylan Radins plays pretty damn good. The Titans run left. His direction on Derrick Henry's good runs on the first drive. He gives up no pressures on the first drive. They finally put Radins in and he plays well. And then he gets hurt. So, yeah, they tried to take Dennis Daly out.

So they had nothing left afterwards. But the fact that they have played Dennis Daly all year long when Radins was capable of that sort of play is malpractice. It's disgusting. So I'm not giving them any credit for putting in Radins and then, of that sort of play is malpractice. It's disgusting. So I'm not giving them any credit for putting in Radins and then, oh, it's not their fault Dennis Daly had to go back in. Why haven't you been playing Dylan Radins all year if he was capable of this?

It's absurd. It's absurd. And not only that, but Todd Downing. Back-to-back third and twos. Instead of running Derrick Henry, he lines up in shotgun and tries to throw the ball. Not only that, but Derrick Henry runs for 12 yards into Chargers territory in the second half.

How does Todd Downing respond? A shotgun throw on first and 10. If you want to throw the ball after a long run, great. Play action. That's the perfect time. Why would you line up and shotgun on a first down after a big Derrick long run? Great. Play action. That's the perfect time. Why would you line up in shotgun on a first down after a big Derrick Henry run?

Where's the play action? Malik came in. When Malik was in, did we see any design runs for Malik Willis? No, they were all scrambles. Did we see any rollouts or any design plays to get Malik Willis on the move? No, we saw none of it.

No creativity whatsoever. There's a two-minute drill going on, and you not only don't have Derrick Henry on the field, but you run a screen to Hassan Haskins. Yeah, the Titans got the scoring drive at the end to tie it up. Great. But they were three for 11 on third downs. 5.2 yards per play.

Four sacks, losing 28 yards. Six penalties, losing 62 yards. A lot of those on the offensive side of the ball. An illegal chop block, a holding. I mean, this offense is despicable. If it wasn't obvious from their ratings and the statistics, Todd Downing has never in his life, never in his life, ran a successful offense.

But we're going to hear Mike Vrabel get up there on Monday and tell us that it was execution. Once again, it's not Todd Downing being terrible. It's the player's execution. I got to tell you, Mike, it's both. This is just, this is every Titans game all year long. The defense plays better than we think with all the injuries and the offense completely fails them.

Because Todd Downing and Dennis Daly and Aaron Brewer aren't NFL level at their position. Dennis Daly, Aaron Brewer, and Todd Downing are not NFL quality people at the positions they are being asked to play. We could say Aaron Brewer and Dennis Daly are roster problems and not Mike Vrabel's fault. But if Todd Downing is the offensive coordinator going into next season, guys, I just don't know.

I don't know what I'm going to get up here and be able to tell you. I have tried to be as optimistic as I could possibly be. And I just, it's crazy that Todd Downing and Dennis Daly continue to fail this team week in and week out. But we got to talk about some positives because there were some positives in this game. We're going to do tighten up, tighten down in just a moment. Of course, starting with those tighten ups.

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Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions do apply. Titans fans, we're going to continue this game recap edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. the Titans lose to the Chargers 17-14 with a last-second field goal, their fourth straight loss in a row. As I just discussed, the Titans' JV defense, with an insane amount of injuries, found a way to hold the Chargers to 17 points. They had two interceptions.

They had three sacks on the day, and it still wasn't enough for the Titans offense that completely let them down once again, despite that late touchdown that was able to tie it up. Make no mistakes about it. The Titans offense failed the Titans defense once again. Once again. It's just too crazy that we've seen it so often. But that was what we talked about to start.

Now, I want to move into the individual performances in this game. Do tighten up and tighten down. Put your tighten ups and your tighten downs down in the comments right now. Hashtag tighten up. Hashtag tighten down.

Let me know how you guys feel about it. Before we get into that though, do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. I'm putting out free Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content on all platforms all year round here on the Locked on Titans podcast. So make sure you subscribe.

Get subscribed. Stay subscribed. And we're going to have a good time as we get ready for the offseason, even if this team continues to let us down. But looking at the tight nuts, number one for me, Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry came to play. 21 carries, 104 yards, rushing touchdown, 5 yards per carry. Not only that, but he was the leading receiver for the Titans on the day.

Four catches, 59 yards. He had a 37-yard long screen pass he caught. 14.8 yards per catch on his four targets. I mean, Derrick Henry was magnificent in this game. And I guess at one point in time during the game, he came off the sideline after a failed drive and was basically just freaking out on people. He was screaming, mad, and he should be.

The fact that Mike Vrabel goes to the podium every single week and talks about execution like Todd Downing has nothing to do with the failures of this offense is absolutely absurd. And if you're Derrick Henry, it has to just absolutely drive you nuts to have Todd Downing call in your plays, have the blocking that you have, have the wide receivers out there giving you just nothing, really. I mean, where were the Titans' wide receivers? Three catches, 19 yards for Conley.

Two catches, 12 yards for Woods. I mean, Rayce McMahon, one for one. Nick Westbrook-Akina, two targets, no catches. If you're Derrick Henry, how are you not mad? So a major tighten up to King Henry, who literally did everything that he possibly could to get this team going. Also want to give a tighten up to Dylan Radins. Lord Radins.

The Titans finally, finally give their second round pick offensive tackle a chance to play Offensive tackle at the side that he prefers at the position that he prefers You finally let the dude play the position that got him to the NFL and wouldn't you know it? He was better than Dennis Daly. Why did it take two and a half months? Why did it take two and a half months? Why? why did it take two and a half months why tighten up Dylan Radins again on that touchdown drive in the first half

Radins no pressures allowed in his pass protection the Titans ran to the left on both of Derrick Henry's two big good runs at the end including the touchdown run they ran left towards Radins oh I'm having a conniption two big good runs at the end, including the touchdown run. They ran left towards Radins. Oh! I'm having a conniption. How did Dylan Radins not get to play left tackle sooner? And of course,

we get something good. Titans fans, we get something good. And immediately it's taken away from us. Dylan Radins gets hurt and Dennis Daly comes back in. Dennis Daly gives up at least three sacks on the day. The Titans had a chance at a field goal. Two major sacks from the left-hand side. Knocked them out of field goal range. So, tighten up for Dennis Daly. Oh my god. Oh my god. That would have been a mistake. Thank god I caught myself there. Tighten up for Oh my God. Oh my God. That would have been a mistake. Thank God I caught myself there.

Tighten up for Dylan Radins. Another tighten up for Roger McCreary. What an excellent game from Roger McCreary. I was so worried about him matching up with the outside options for the Chargers. He had a pass breakup on Mike Williams. He had the tip for the interception. That interception is going to go to Josh Kalou, but that was an interception for Roger McCreary.

That is one of the most amazing defensive plays that you'll ever see for an interception. That was awesome. Roger McCreary catches the ball out of bounds, throws it back inbounds to Josh Kalou for an interception before halftime. That was magnificent. A great day for Roger McCreary,

and the Chargers decided, hey, we're not going to go after him anymore. We're going to look elsewhere. Just a great, great game from Roger McCreary. Really nice to see. Demarcus Walker. Five tackles. Two sacks. Two tackles for loss.

Two quarterback hits. Great game from Demarcus Walker. Just excellent. I thought Jeffrey Simmons had a great game as well. He had the sack, had a tackle for loss, had six tackles on the day. A quarterback hit. Really good game. Really good game.

Then, Kevin Byard. Kevin Byard had a really solid game, had a pass breakup in man coverage. Had an interception against Mike Williams. Reading the quarterback. He had five tackles on the day. I thought Kevin Byard was excellent.

Especially with what he had around him. I mean, all the credit in the world to Kevin Byard. Doing what he did. Also, Rashad Weaver. I thought Weaver had a pretty nice day. He had a lot of pressures out there. Had two tackles. Had a quarterback hit.

Pretty good day from Rashad Weaver. And I thought Monty Rice had a pretty okay game. It wasn't perfect. There were some tackling issues. But I thought Monty Rice overall was pretty solid. Had a quarterback hit. Knocked away a pass.

Had sick tackles. I thought it was a pretty solid day for Monty Rice. And then finally, I want to give a shout out to Ryan Stonehouse who had some gnarly punts in this game. Seven punts, four of them

pinned inside the 20, a 68 yard punt, a 61 yard punt. Ryan Stonehouse was awesome in this game. Also, want to give a tighten up to the tight ends once again. Che Agaconquo, four catches, 54 yards. Had the 28-yard catch late in the game. Austin Hooper, two catches, but they were both big for 33 yards.

Got to give a shout out there, tighten up. So I do, I'm on the fence about this. He doesn't deserve a tighten down, but I don't think Ryan Tannehill deserves a Titan up either. Yes, a gutty performance coming back after the ankle, but he missed some throws. He made some weird throws. Some of those sacks, bad offensive line play, no doubt, but you got to get rid of the ball on some of those to your check down as well. So sacks are not just always on the offensive line. So I'm not willing to give Tannehill a

tighten up either. So that's tighten ups. We're going to get into the tighten downs before we do. Do want to tell you guys that we are sponsored by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made simple. All you got to do is pick two to five players, look at their projection, and say whether the player is going to do more or less than what the projection is. If you get your five guys right, you can win up to 10 times your money on your entry. And right now, first-time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 when you use promo code LOCKEDON. So once again, download the PrizePix app. Go to prizepix.com, sign up, use the promo code LOCKEDON

to get an instant deposit match up to $100. Titans fans, we are going to cap off this game recap edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the offense letting down the defense, the Titans JV defense giving their best performance possible, and the offense just completely squandering it. Todd Downing and Dennis Daly, once again, just being the bane of my existence. We did tighten up, talking about Derrick Henry and Chigga Conquo,

Dylan Radins, Kevin Byard, some of the guys on the defensive line as well. Now let's get into the tightened downs, though, because there were some poor performances out there. Before we do, thanks again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, check out Locked Before we do, thanks again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, check out Locked on Sports Today from the biggest games to instant analysis on the biggest stories

around all of the sports world. You're going to get all of the biggest sports news in 20 minutes or less. Check out the Locked on Sports Today podcast available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Tighten down. Got to start again with Todd Downing. I mean, the third and two passes in the second half, two in a row on third and two,

where you don't run Derrick Henry when he's running all over the Chargers defense. You have a big Derrick Henry run, you instantly go to a shotgun pass. You're running shotgun at the end with Haskins in, and not Derrick Henry. I mean, like, no play action fake, just run the ball,

a swing pass to Derrick Henry. I mean, there were so many opportunities in this game for a better play call, for a better idea that were obvious too, that were just obvious, that everybody was all collectively saying, yo, this is the obvious move. What are you doing?

Todd Downing again, man, just despicable. And a tightened down for Mike Vrabel too who is absolutely going to get up there and tell us, oh, the execution was the problem. He's not even going to mention Todd Downing. Not even going to mention him. And another tighten down for Mike Vrabel. Playing Dennis Daly all year long while Dylan Radin sits on the bench. Absurd. Absurd.

I just can't believe it. I can't believe it. Tighten down for Dennis Daly who continues to just be appalling, quite honestly. Pressure every time. Sack after sack. He had some good run-blocking snaps, no doubt. But when you're that bad in pass protection, it's just... Jeez. Tighten down for Aaron Brewer as well. Aaron Brewer's not an NFL player. James Lofton, the broadcaster, was even saying it.

He said it. At 6'1", 270 pounds, Aaron Brewer's not an NFL starter at guard. He's simply not. Maybe you can play him at center, but he can't be a starter at guard. And he just continues to get washed every week. Outside of that, Ben Jones didn't have a very good game either. Not a good game from Ben Jones. Racy McMath. Some of you guys get in my comments and act like Racy McMath

is going to be some stud. He pushed off. That was a poor attempt at a contested catch. Turns into an interception. Racy McMath. Come on, guys. Come on. Come on. On defense, Dylan Cole just can't play in space.

The poor guy tries his best he can, just can't play in space. Greg Maben gave his best out there. He was just not good enough to be on the field. Gave up the big catch at the end. Look, Bud Dupree had a pressure at the end of the game, Look, Bud Dupree had a pressure at the end of the game. But Bud Dupree's stat line, 0-0-0-0-0-1 QB hit,

0-0-0-0-0-0-0, $20 million on the cap. Tighten down for Bud Dupree, once again. It's frustrating, guys. I don't know what to tell you. They're 7-7 now, and I'm in this weird place where part of me says, why not just lose the rest of the games

and get the best draft pick that you possibly can? And you're somebody who thinks that after this, because even when the Titans get healthy, even when they get healthy, do we have any faith in Dennis Daly or Todd Downing? No, we don't. And it's funny, I predicted 9-8 at the beginning of the year, and I was told that I was crazy, I was a clown,

I need to off myself, I need to delete my Twitter, I need to quit my job, I need to give it all up. Well, I think at this point we can only hope that the Titans finish 9-8. I think at this point we can only hope that the Titans finish 9-8. So, and I see Robert say this, at least we're not the Colts, yikes.

Guess who's going to get a top five pick this year? The Colts. The Colts are going to get a top five pick. What are the Titans going to get? 21, 22? Are the Titans any closer to winning a Super Bowl? I don't feel like it. So, I mean, I think if you're a Colts fan,

you could get in the comments right now and argue that the Colts are in a better position. They have just as good of a roster as the Titans do, but they're going to get a higher pick. So I wouldn't say anything about the Colts right now. I wouldn't. So, yeah, I agree, Dan. I think the Titans, about 15 to 18, they might have a chance to get one of the good offensive tackles in the draft. I agree, Dan. I think the Titans, about 15 to 18,

they might have a chance to get one of the good offensive tackles in the draft. If not, get Logan Woodside back. I hope you're kidding, Martin. Otherwise, call for some assistance. But, yeah, it's just hard to know how to feel. The Titans get so close to doing good things. And just the same issue. Dennis Daly, Todd Downing. Dennis Daly, Todd Downing. Once again,

just every time in a big spot, they pop up and they kill the Titans. So, it's a weird spot. The Titans need to, if the Titans lose to the Texans next week, if the Titans lose to the Texans,

I am going to officially say tank. Tank it. Tank it. Get the best pick you can. If you're not good enough to beat the Texans, then tank it. Then tank it. But either way,

just a frustrating game even when you go into the game a lot of you guys thought that the Titans were going to get killed and had no chance to win this game even if you went into the game thinking that this still frustrates you they find a way even if you're defeated going into the game

they find a way to pull you in and then make sure that you feel frustrated at the end. It's insane that they continue to do it. They continue to do it. It's wild. Big week, man. Big week. Titans got to beat the Texans.

If they lose, yeah. That would really be, that would be the one. That would be the one. So, I'm kind of at a loss for words, that, that would really be, that would be the one that would be the one. So I'm kind of at a loss for words guys, but either way, I'll be back with you guys tomorrow to continue to break it all down. That's going to do it for me today.

As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.