Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Will Levis MUST Step Up in Preseason Finale, Defensive Stops & Last Roster Chance

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

The Tennessee Titans take on the New Orleans Saints in their final preseason game of the year on Sunday and it is the last chance for Will Levis to find a rhythm before the regular season begins. He must take advantage of the opportunity. The Titans first-team defense looked lackluster in their only appearance this preseason, so they too must get on the right track. Also, for some players, this will be their last chance to make an impression and win a roster spot.Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitansTicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=ascFollow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosFor your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

It's time for the Tennessee Titans final preseason game of the year and Will Levis needs to step up. I'll explain why on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. 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 Rowland. Titans fans, the final preseason game of the year is set for Sunday

against the New Orleans Saints. And Will Levis needs to step up, but he's not alone. The Titans defense needs to get some momentum going as well. Also, this will be the last chance to make the team for some key players. So we'll discuss all of that on today's preseason preview bonus edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Again, make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day.

Monday through Friday. Tennessee Titans content. All year round. Always for free. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. There's a reason. This is the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world. Shout out to my everydayers out there.

Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't in every day or well, you need to be one. The season's right around the corner. Next week is cut down week. Tuesday, the cuts will happen. I'm going to be breaking down all of that, and then we're into game planning week for the Chicago Bears.

So again, make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed, throw a thumbs up on the video, throw a tighten up down in the chat. Now let's talk about this preseason game because again, the big thing for me is that Will Levis needs to step up. This is a moment, okay? Now, I already know what some folks are going to say. It's preseason, doesn't matter, doesn't count.

All right, well, let's just have this conversation now. In the Titans' first preseason game, Levis looked pretty good, but it wasn't amazing. They had that very first drive where they were aided by a penalty and a long kickoff by Kiaris Jackson, and it wasn't the prettiest drive for the offense. They got the job done, but there was a penalty help. It just wasn't a clean operation.

The second drive was much better. There was a lot more to like on the second drive. But then, you get into joint practices. And the Titans offense struggles in joint practices. Doesn't look good. There's a little off kilter, a little off timing. Alright? Then you get into

this week of practice. The Titans have a good practice on Wednesday on offense, but it was a slow start before they started kind of catching a rhythm. And then you come out on Thursday, and the Titans offense looks terrible. Look, you could say it's just practice.

You could say it's just training camp. You could say it's just preseason. But at some point in time, this offense needs to get some positive momentum. This offense needs to get some chemistry, get some cohesion, gain some rhythm. That's what we need to see from this offense and from Will Levis specifically. I talked about on yesterday's show how at this point with the offense, it would be entirely fair if you expected them to have a slow start to the season.

Number one, that's something I've been talking about already with brand new offense, brand new faces, youth on the offensive line. Will Levis is still only a second-year quarterback and only played half of his rookie season. Like, there were a lot of reasons to expect a slow start on offense anyways. You add in the last two weeks of practice, and, I mean, it is concerning maybe a little over the top, but it does feel a little concerning. Not that things are going to go terribly,

Will Levis isn't good. Like, I don't mean like at the long-term future of the team, but for the short-term, I am worried about this offense getting off on the right foot. It may be a little bit of a slow burn before they start to actually get that chemistry and get that timing down and get that cohesion because it's not there right now consistently. Alright, and we are two weeks away from the Titans' first game of the year. This is the last

live football action that Will Levison, the offense, is going to face before that game against the Bears. Now is the time. So don't give me the, it's just preseason, it's just training, it's good. No. Like, that's what we said early in training camp.

Early. The first preseason game. Hey, it's early on in the process. They still got plenty of weeks to get ready for the race. Well, that's over now. It's time. It's time. They need to start playing good football if they want to get off to a good start this season. So, Will Levis needs to step it up and play better than he's played in joint practices and then he

played this week in practice. He needs to play better than he's played in joint practices and then he played this week in practice. He needs to play better. And he needs to have good chemistry with his offense and particularly his pass catchers. I want to see good timing with Calvin Ridley. I want to see Josh Wiley living up to some of that training camp hype if he plays the concussion thing. Josh Wiley might not play. But then, where's Chigakonkwo been?

Haven't heard a lot about him in the preseason. He's been making catches, but there hasn't really been everybody saying like, hey, Chigakonkwo caught my eye like last year. So let's see some Chigakonkwo catches. Let's get Tyler Boyd in the mix here and see how that chain moving ability shows up. Like, it's time.

The, hey, they got time to get it right excuse is gone. They do not have time to get it right. And again, this is their last game action before their first real game that counts. So there needs to be a level of play here that is acceptable, you know? Like, the Bears have a good defense.

The Titans aren't just going to come out there and destroy them in week one. Like, we need to see some signs. We need to see some signs on Sunday. Looking at the offensive line, that's a big thing too. We talk about the pass catchers. Want to see the offensive line play well. And they're probably going to be going up

against New Orleans' second-string defense. So there's just no excuse. If they're probably going to be going up against New Orleans' second string defense. So there's just no excuse. If this team is going to be a good team right out of the gate and not have a slow start like I'm worried about, then the offensive line and Will Levis both need to perform well in the game on Sunday. Show us that you are ready to play against a first string defense and that a second string defense from the New Orleans Saints is nowhere near good enough to be out on the field with you.

That should be our expectation preseason or not now. All right? We're probably going to get three, maybe four series. Hopefully it's only three because that means that was three good ones. But we're probably going to get a quarter and a half of the starters on offense. And that is enough time. And they're in a circumstance where they should look good. Okay?

They should look good. Not just okay, they should look good. Offensive line, Will Levis, pass catchers, all of it. I want to see it. And I think if we don't see it, then it continues to feed into that, hey, it might be a slow start here. It continues to feed into that, hey, it might be a slow start here. So, I know it's only preseason,

but you should have some expectations for what they should look like with how close we are to the regular season. Same thing on defense. Same thing on defense. Last time we saw most of the Titans' first-team defense, it did not look like what we're hearing in training camp. So, need to see the defense do something as well. We'll talk about that now. It did not look like what we're hearing in training camp. So need to see the defense do something as well. We'll talk about that now.

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With BetterHelp, visit betterhelp.com slash locked on to get 10% off your first month today. That's betterhelp, H-E-' final preseason game of the year. Playing against the New Orleans Saints. We talked about the offensive side of the ball and what I want to see from the starters. Now I want to talk about the defensive side of the ball and what we should be looking for there. We'll talk about some players who have one last final shot to make the roster at the end of the show as well.

Before I get into it, though, I do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Now for your second listen, check out the Locked on Fantasy Football podcast. You're going to get daily insights, the best fantasy draft strategies, so you can win your fantasy league this year. Check out Locked on Fantasy Football wherever you get your podcasts, on YouTube and on Amazon Fire TV. But looking at the defensive side of the ball.

So like we did with the offense, let's get into the time machine. Okay? So throughout the beginning of training camp, the Titans offense struggled, and the Titans defense was winning the battle consistently, particularly up front. All right? And all of us had our conversations of,

hey, is the offense bad? Should we be worried? And most people us had our conversations of, hey, is the offense bad? Should we be worried? And most people who wanted to remain optimistic, myself included, said, no, no, no, no. The offense is always behind the defense, which is true. And maybe the defense is better than we expect.

And then we continue to hear, leading up to the first preseason game, how good the defense looks. And then the first preseason game, how good the defense looks. And then the first preseason game comes against the San Francisco 49ers, and there are people missing, of course. No Cheeto, no Snead, no Jeff, no Landry. Okay, true, true. But, no Diggs at the time also.

No Adams out there. But San Francisco's second string offense, all their backups, no Purdy, no CMC, no Debo, no Iuke, no Kittle, no Trent Williams, they steamrolled down the field on the Titans, gashing them in the run, hitting passes over the middle of the field. So I know the Titans were missing, let's say roughly half their starters on defense,

but they still had half of their starters on defense. And Chito and Snead didn't play a lot in the training camps anyway. So, I'm just saying, we heard a lot of hype about this defense, and people continue to say to me, like on Wednesday's show, when I talked about the, or yesterday's show, when I talked about the offense having a bad day, people continue to say, hey, man, maybe the defense is just really, really good.

Okay, well, if the defense is really, really good, well, then half of the starters on defense should be able to stop the 49ers' full backups, right? So I'm not saying that it removed the possibility the defense is good, but it definitely made me be like, wait a minute. Is this defense as good as the reports are trying to make it sound?

Or the reports are making it sound, I guess I'll say. Really? But hey, no Jeff, no Landry. Obviously Jeff is the best player on the defense, most important. Snead, obviously expected to be a very important player. Jeff is the best player on the defense, most important. Snead, obviously, expected to be a very important player. I get it. I get it. Those are important players. Now, the reality is we come to Sunday,

we're not going to see Jeffrey Simmons. We're not going to see Harold Landry. We're not going to see Snead. We're not going to see Cheeto. We probably aren't going to see Jamal Adams as well. I think we might see Quandre Diggs out there. Be interesting to watch. So they're going to be missing some starters again.

I don't care. The regular season is two weeks away. I talked to my guy from Locked on Saints, Ross Jackson, who is one of the best in the absolute business at covering their team. Ross is great and a great boss. Ross said he did not expect the Saints to play many of their starters. They still could. They hadn't announced it when we spoke, but he was like, I don't think you're going to see many starters for the Saints.

Okay. Well, that means that half of the Titans' starting defense is going to be out there against a full squad of backups for the Saints. Play well. Don't get caught. I mean, I don't need them to play incredible turnovers and sacks and the Saints' backups don't even gain a yard. I don't need extraordinary.

But if you can't at least play well and stop the Saints backups from putting up a touchdown like hot knife through butter, like against San Francisco, if they can't at least play well, then again, I'm going to have my confidence lowered a little bit in the defense. It's something that I'm keeping my eye on. I don't care if they're missing four guys. Against what they're about to play in New Orleans, they should have better success than what they had against San Francisco. At minimum, just to get some good momentum going,

just to feel good about themselves and to feel positive. You know what I mean? That, I think, is important here. It's like what we talked about with offense. Chemistry. Cohesion. Rhythm. They need to build all that.

Kenneth Murray needs to be making plays sideline to sideline. Gibbons has got a couple close interceptions. Maybe get a hand on a ball somewhere. Can we see Jalen Harrell make a play with the first team defense? You're not going to have Arden Key in this one because of the hamstring.

Can Tavondre Sweat make a play? I didn't think Tavondre Sweat played very well in that first preseason game. It wasn't terrible, but, you know, and everybody would say, oh, he got double teamed. He got double teamed 5 out of 12 times. All right. It wasn't like he but, you know, and everyone would say, oh, he got double teamed. He got double teamed 5 out of 12 times.

All right. It wasn't like he got double teamed every snap. And when we're talking about double teams, we're really just talking about pass rush. And I'm counting double teams like zone block concepts in the run, which, duh, he's getting double teamed. Most runs, duo, inside zone, outside zone, they require double teams at the line.

Most run plays have a double team on them. So the double teams that we're talking about, he's going to create double teams and leave Simmons. We're talking about pass rush when we talk about that. So can Devondre Sweat make a play like we've heard about in training camp? That would be great. I feel like we haven't heard about Tavondre making like big plays or anything like that in a couple weeks.

So, can he get back on the board? Can he make a play? Like, that's the type of stuff I want to see. And I think we should expect to see that. If it's going to be, it's not like, I just hate this idea of people telling me like, it's just preseason, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like all of a sudden the Titans are going to flip a switch in two weeks

and play totally different now that it's not like they're out there playing football. So let's see them play well. I don't think that's too much to ask. But with that being said, we need to talk about some of these guys. It's their last chance to make the roster. I'm going to talk about some of the battles and some of the players to watch in the back part of that game. Before I do,

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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, let's cap off today's preview edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, getting you guys ready for the Titans preseason matchup against the New Orleans Saints, their last preseason game of the year. We talked about the offense, talked about the defense.

Now I want to talk about some guys who, this is their last chance to get themselves a roster spot. So we're want to talk about some guys who this is their last chance to get themselves a roster spot. So we're going to talk about that before we do. Thanks again 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 here on the Locked on Titans podcast. And as a reminder, I will be going live immediately after the game finishes on Sunday to recap all of the action. And we'll talk about some of these things that we're discussing right now. But getting into some of these last chance situations is what I'll call them. There are some roster battles here.

There are just some players to keep an eye on. I'll go with the roster battles first. Number one, the fifth cornerback spot. Trey Avery is the favorite in my opinion. I know that Trey Avery has struggled. I get that. But we don't know what's going on behind closed doors. I have mentioned maybe Trey Avery really understands the playbook. Maybe Trey Avery is incredibly reliable with doing his job within the scheme and within the play. Although he gets beat in one-on-one situations and we're all like, what the heck? This guy is not good at football.

Maybe the circumstances that the coaches are aware of make them feel differently here. Trey Avery is a more experienced player. He's had starting experience in the NFL. I would not be surprised if the Titans kept Trey Avery, but on the other side of it, you have Gabe Judy Lawley. The undrafted free agent out of Tennessee who's been a standout in camp. He's done really well in training camp, made a name for himself, sticky coverage. He's a bigger corner that can play on the outside, and in my opinion, the Titans don't have a ton of good outside corners. Trey Avery is one, but obviously Caleb Farley's not good. Eric Garrow is probably, and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. are both slot guys.

If Garrow were to make the team, you know, he's primarily, he can't play outside. He's 5'8", you know? Like, Jarvis Brownlee Jr. is best in the nickel. He said it himself that he wants to play in the nickel. You have Roger McCreary, who, more of a guy who needs to play inside at the nickel. Chito and Awuary, who more of a guy who needs to play inside at the nickel. Chito and Awuzie are,

or they're the same guy. Chito and Snead can play on the outside. No doubt about it. But who else after them is good on the outside? Jarvis Brownlee Jr. could probably do that, but it's probably not where he's going to be his best. Like Roger McCreary over the last two years, better in the slot,

can play outside, but he's not going to play his best like Roger McCreary over the last two years. Better in the slot can play outside, but he's not going to play his best there. Who is the backup outside corner? It's going to be Gabe Judy Lawley or Trey Avery. I'm rooting for Gabe Judy Lawley. I would rather at this point we know who Trey Avery is in my opinion. I would rather give the opportunity to a guy that there may be able to get some potential out of. But again, I think Avery would be the favorite

if we had to call it right now, despite what some people think. So that'll be an interesting one to watch. Those dudes are still battling, guaranteed. Offensive tackle. So I feel pretty confident that Jerron Christian is the Titans' primary primary backup tackle like OT3 JC Latham at left, NPF at right, and then Jerron Christian

is the backup swing tackle. But there are some people out there who think I'm wrong about that. There are some people who think that Jalen Duncan is actually the favorite to get that spot. And maybe John Ajuku is a guy who could get that spot. I don't know. I don't know about that. Again, I think Jerron Christian is the primary backup tackle for this team. I think that last week when JC Latham went out with cramps,

it was Christian who went in to first string offensive tackle, not Jalen Duncan. So just using some context clues, and in the first preseason game, it was Duncan who played left tackle first. And then in the second preseason game, it was Christian in the first preseason game who played left tackle first. And then it was Duncan in the second game.

And I think in the second game, they were taking some of the third string guys and putting them up against second string guys to say, can you really handle it? We already know what we're getting from this other guy. Can you handle it? So that's my theory there. And I think Jerron Christian. But if Duncan can beat him out, his last chance to do it is on Sunday. So we'll see how things shake out with how guys are deployed on Sunday.

Also, the fifth safety spot, Matthew Jackson and Mike Brown. I'm a Mike Brown guy. I like Mike Brown. I think he's a solid backup safety. I think he might be a better safety than Elijah Moulton. And he can help on special teams too. Now Matthew Jackson might be a better special teams player and Matthew Jackson is a younger player and maybe the Titans would rather take the younger guy and develop him like we were talking about with

the cornerbacks, Trey Avery and Gabe Judy Lawley. You know what I mean? So maybe we get in a situation like that, but Matthew Jackson versus Mike Brown I I think, is a battle. And those are some battles that I'm going to be watching for. Finally, Malik Willis. Will he get a roster spot? Will he make the 53? It's all up to this.

So excited to watch him play. Maybe one last time for the Titans. And then David Martin Robinson. The tight end has been good in training camp. He's been a surprise as an undrafted free agent. Is he going to be able to certify a roster spot? I think that he's made it. I think he will make the team as the fourth tight end.

But at the beginning of the year, I didn't think the Titans would keep four tight ends. So I think it could still be on the line. I want to see the young tight end step up again. He's been like their second best pass catcher in the preseason behind Jaquan Jackson. So hopefully he keeps it up. I think he's had four or five catches for 60, 70 yards,

somewhere in there. Pretty good showing. So let's see it. Let's see it one more time, DMR. One more time. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. I'll be back with you guys on Sunday after the game. Thumbs up on the video. Tighten up in the chat.

As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans. We'll see you next time.