Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Will Levis NOT TO BLAME, Finding Answers at Left Tackle & Vrabel Won't Be Fired

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

The Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback is under some fire for the lack of offensive success and that is about as off base as possible when you watch the tape. Next, with the Titans struggles at left tackle, who is up next? Finally, despite the noise from fans, don't expect Mike Vrabel to be fired any time soon.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!DoorDashGet 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply.Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed.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.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Tennessee Titans offense is terrible, but the tape shows rookie quarterback Will Levis is not to blame. I'll explain why on today's 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. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Jace Medical.

Empower yourself when you purchase a Jace case, providing you with a personal supply of five antibiotics that treat 50 infections. Get yours today at jacemedical.com. That's J-A-S-E medical.com. It's a Tic Tac Tuesday here on the Locked on Titans podcast. We are going to dive into the tape. I'm going to tell you why Will Levis is not to blame for the Titans struggles. Talk about how the Titans can find a left tackle.

And also explain why, despite the noise, don't expect Mike Vrabel to be fired anytime soon. Before we get into all that though, 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 long on all apps, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to get like them.

Tomorrow, what's next Wednesday? I'm going to take a look at how many more games the Titans can win this year. What are the answers that we need for the rest of the season? Crossover Thursday, we're going to get behind enemy lines information with my favorite host on the Locked On Network, Tony Wiggins from Locked On Jags. And then Friday, I'll talk about how the Titans can win this game on the road against the Jaguars.

But time to dive into today's tape. And of course, I can already hear the YouTube comments. It's Monday. It's Tic Tac Tuesday here on the podcast. And I like to dive into the tape, dive into what I saw on the film, the X's and O's. And my big takeaway from watching the Titans offense specifically here is Will Levis is not to blame. Now, the reality here is there are those who want a self-fulfilling prophecy.

They want Will Levis to be bad. They don't want Will Levis to succeed. And what they're going to do is they're going to point out a stat line. You look, 19 for 39, 199, zero touchdowns and interception. I get it. I get it. But look deeper. Look at the film.

What does the film show? All right, as Chad Brinker said in a press conference, it comes back to the tape. Starts with the tape, it ends with the tape. All right, and when you look, out of 39 dropbacks and 39 pass attempts, I counted maybe three throws that you could put on Will Levis is not a good throw.

Three out of 39. I mean, the rest of it, he's getting destroyed in the backfield, literally getting hit as he's throwing. I saw somebody act like his interception was a bad throw. He's literally getting smacked, and it throws him up in the air, and the ball goes up. It happens numerous times. I've started a hashtag campaign,

Don't blame Will Levis. Because these are not things that he can necessarily fix, okay? And I see comments, how did Joe Burrow do? Well, where's Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase? Do the Titans have Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase on their team for Will Levis to throw to? No, they don't. Okay, so let's have intellectually honest conversations

here, but what I want to say is this. Will Levis was pressured 21 times. Will Levis was hit 6 times. Will Levis was sacked 4 times. Okay? Constant duress, constant pressure, trying to get the

ball out. Okay? You look. Mike Vrabel says, this is Mike Vrabel, alright? I saw the Titans drop six passes on the day, but Mike Vrabel even said, quote, we dropped five passes, so start there. Then took some shots late in the game which, looking back, yeah, we probably could have dumped it off to Tajay or somebody, but he tried to throw the ball downfield.

We're down two scores. Go listen to Mike Vrabel's press conference. All you guys have told me for weeks that Mike Vrabel hates Will Levis. Mike Vrabel doesn't like Will Levis, didn't want him to be his quarterback, doesn't act nice to him in the huddle, doesn't congratulate after his first win. Mike Vrabel hates Will Levis. Well, then why did Mike Vrabel go in his press conference on Monday and basically deflect blame off of Will Levis to everybody else? Why would that be? Because it's the truth. So we got five drop passes. One of them

was a drop pass by Chika Konkwo in the end zone. You want to see all the film? You want to see all the clips? Go to my Twitter account right now, at Tic Tac Titans. Go right now, at Tic Tac Titans. Don't blame Will Levis. It's all over the place.

It's insane. So you got multiple drop passes, one of them being a drop touchdown, one of them being a big dropped explosive play by NWI. Then you have 21 pressures on 47 dropbacks and 39 throws. Six hits, four sacks. What are we doing here? You know?

Like, you want to throw Joe Burrow. I am the first person to say Joe Burrow did it with a bad offensive line. But he had the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. The Titans have Chris Moore and DeAndre Hopkins at 30. You know, what are we talking about here? So you see all that again. Mike Vrabel went out of his way to praise Will Levis. He said, quote, I think anytime you have a quarterback that has shown that type of toughness and is willing to stand in there and not stare at the rush, I think everyone appreciates and values that.

Think about this. Shout out to Wes on Broadway, at TitanStats on Twitter. The most pass-blocking snaps by skill players in the NFL. This means skill position players, tight ends, wide receivers, running backs, with the most snaps, pass blocking, tight end, Trevon Wesco, Titans, wide receiver, NWI, running back, Tajay Spears. When you only have three players out in the route because you have to keep a tight end and you keep a running back in every time.

There's just nobody open when you're playing three routes against six zone defenders. The Titans offensive line issues have cratered the entire offense. Alright? Now the wide receivers aren't good enough. The tight ends aren't good enough.

But at the end of the day, the issues with this offense are so deeply rooted in the offensive line that it is intellectually dishonest for anybody to blame Will Levis for what's going on after they watch the film. Go in the tape and tell me where you find all the Will Levis mistakes to where it's his fault. Like, I'm sorry, it's just not there.

Okay, it's just not there. So, five, six drop passes, one for a touchdown, 21 pressures allowed. The Titans have the most pass-blocking snaps for a wide receiver, for a tight end, for a running back. What do you want the rookie to do? What do you want him to do? It is not Will Levis' fault.

You should still be optimistic about Will Levis, and right now Will Levis is the most exciting and optimistic thing that Titans fans have. Because when he has time, when he has the ability to get the ball off, and when there is somebody even anywhere remotely close to open, Will Levis is finding that person and putting pretty decent balls on him as well. We're going to move forward now based on that.

But with that being said, we got to talk about left tackle because I watched the tape. I watched Raidens at left tackle, and we're going to go over some of the numbers. Talk about what in the world the Titans could do next at left tackle. Before we dive into that though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Jace Medical. All right guys, let me just lay it out to you here. We spend a lot of time talking together, you and I, and we get tired together, fired up together

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on Monday night for YouTube. We talked about Will Levis. Look, in my opinion, it is not his fault. You watch the tape. We see a lot of good stuff and we see everybody else cratering around him, but one of the big reasons that things are cratering around him is because of the left

tackle position. Something that the Titans have struggled with since the last year of Taylor LeJuan, quite honestly. And I'm going to dive into what I saw there, what the Titans need to do going forward, what Mike Vrabel had to say about the situation. Before I do, thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day.

I'm here. I break down the film. I break down the data. I hit all the talking points. I give you guys my opinions, my predictions. You are not going to get a more all-encompassing Tennessee Titans content machine than you get from me. So make sure that you like the video right now. Thumbs up on the video. Show's always free. All I ask for in return, be an everydayer Monday through Friday.

A lot of great stuff coming up for you guys. But let me just go through this quickly here. Andre Dillard, 270 pass blocking snaps this year, 36 pressures allowed, 10 sacks, a 46.0 pass blocking snaps this year. 36 pressures allowed. 10 sacks. A 46.0 pass blocking grade. Nicholas Petit Ferrer. 65 pass blocking snaps. 11 pressures.

3 sacks. 27.4 pass blocking grade. Dylan Radins. 180 snaps. Some of those have come at other places. That's not just left tackle, but still. 18 pressures. One sack. 42.8 pass blocking grade.

It doesn't matter who the Titans try at left tackle out of these three. And look, I'll take the L on this one. I wanted to see Dylan Radins. I wanted to see Nicholas Petit Ferrer. Now I don't feel like I'm wrong for wanting to see that. We need answers this year. This season is all about getting answers now. It's not about getting wins because they're not going to be able to do that. It's about getting answers. Who is going to be with the team going forward? Who can serve certain positions going

forward? Who can do certain things going forward? Who can do certain things going forward? And we needed to know can Dylan Reyns play left tackle? Can NPF play left tackle? We needed to know because you know, we do know 270 pass blocking snaps, 36 pressures, 10 sacks allowed. We know Andre

Dillard cannot play left tackle. We know that. And a lot of people are saying, oh, you wanted Dylan Reyns to play left tackle. We know that. And a lot of people are saying, oh, you wanted Dylan Radins to play left tackle. Don't you feel dumb now? I mean, no. I don't. We needed to see if Dylan Radins could play left tackle.

We needed to find those answers. What if they just played Andre Dillard or MPF or whatever the rest of the season at left tackle, and we never found out if Dylan Radins could play left tackle or not? And then we have unanswered questions. I don't care if the answer is good. I don't care if the answer is bad. We need the answer. We need to know.

And, you know, it's funny. I want to take a quick pit stop here. Actually, let's not do that. I'll do that in just a moment. But we know that Dylan Radins Dylan Radins played so much better at right guard in this game than he did at left tackle.

Not even close. Not even close. When he's in the middle, he can have help. There's not too much space, all that. Playing out on an island for these offensive tackles has been the issue. MB says, what about a left tackle by committee rotation? That's hilarious. Mike Rabel would. But with Dillard, with Nicholas Petit-Ferrer, now Dylan Radins,

the truth is the Titans do not have a left tackle out of any of those three that is going to do anything this year. There is no salt. All right? Now, Mike Vrabel said, with Dillard in concussion protocol, probably not going to play this week.

Mike Vrabel said, hey, might have to give Jalen Duncan a shot. Jalen Duncan would be an option. And look, here's what I'm going to play this week. Mike Rabel said, hey, might have to give Jalen Duncan a shot. Jalen Duncan would be an option. And look, here's what I'm going to say. Do it. Try Jalen Duncan. Play Jalen Duncan. Play John Ajuku.

Why not? Why not? I mean, Dillard, no way. NPF on IR. Raidens, I would rather play Jalen Duncan at left tackle and leave Raidens at right guard. Because then you at least have a better right guard and a terrible left tackle. If you put Raidens at left tackle again and play Andrew Rupsich, a college offensive tackle right guard, and a terrible left tackle. If you put Raidens at left tackle again

and play Andrew Rupsich, a college offensive tackle at guard, where was Corey Levin? Why did we do that? Why did we pull up Rupsich off the practice squad? Why? Why? What? Anyways, to me, it's pretty obvious.

Let Raidens play right guard. Try Jalen Duncan at left tackle what do you got to lose Will Levis got destroyed the last two games is Duncan going to be significantly worse maybe so but again at some point it's all about fact finding at some point it's all about getting answers let me know down below who you want to see at left tackle if Andre Dillard is out with a concussion and of course MPF is on IR who do you want to see at left tackle if Andre Dillard is out with a concussion and, of course, MPF is on IR? Who do you want to see play left tackle this week? For me, I was reluctant, but at this point, screw it.

Let Jalen Duncan play. And, again, I want to get into this because there are people out there who are starting to say the Titans have to get a left tackle in free agency. The Titans can't draft an offensive tackle early in the draft again. Titans need to use the money and go find a free agent left tackle. Okay. Have you looked at the free agent left tackle list?

Has anybody who said that, have you actually gone to spot track? Have you gone to over the cap? Have you looked at the offensive linemen that are going to be available in free agency? You know why good offensive linemen, you know why offensive tackles who get signed in free agency do so poorly? Because teams are not giving up good offensive linemen. Offensive line is the hardest position to find real talent at in the NFL right now. There is a dearth of, or dearth, that's not,

there is a void of offensive line talent in the NFL. Teams do not let good offensive linemen go to free agency. So what? You want to get 33-year-old Tyron Smith, who's dealt with a ton of injuries recently? You want to get a 39-year-old Dwayne Brown? You want to get a 31-year-old Dwayne Brown? You want to get a 31-year-old Trent Brown? I mean, is that, who's the other option? Jonah Williams? Ask Bengals fans about Jonah Williams. They're going to say the same stuff about Jonah Williams that we say about Dennis Daly and Andre

Dillard. Although I think Jonah Williams at right tackle could be an option in free agency, I really do. But after that, what are we talking about? Donovan Smith? George Fant? Hey, Isaiah Wilson's on the list still. I mean, go look. It's all the same options that the Titans had last free agency. And a couple of old guys who don't make any sense for where the Titans are at.

So it's hilarious to me that you have people who act like they cover the Titans and know what they're talking about saying the Titans need to go out in free agency and get a left tackle. I mean, it's absurd. And everybody who is saying that right now are the same people who said,

well, it can't get any worse than Dennis Daly. Yes, it can. Yes, it can. You any worse than Dennis Daly. Yes, it can. Yes, it can. You know how you fix this problem? You draft highly touted offensive linemen. Not taking chances on risky prospects in the 20s. You take top 10 picks on offensive linemen. Rashawn Slater, Penne Sewell.

Like, think about this. Even Andrew Thomas, without the injuries, playing very well. A guy like Christian Derasol, who the Titans are good at. You take a first round offensive tackle, you don't find great left tackles in free agency. There is a reason, there is a reason that teams don't find great left tackles in free agency. There is a reason, there is a reason, that teams don't let good offensive linemen go to free agency.

You might be able to get some other spots in free agency, but the Titans need to draft a left tackle. That is the only answer. Because the answer isn't on the roster, and it's not in free agency either. But we'll talk more about that as the season goes forward. I'm going to tell you guys right now, that it doesn't matter how mad you are. Titans aren't firing Mike Vrabel. And I'm going to explain exactly how the conversation would go between Mike Vrabel and Amy Adams-Trump on Monday morning.

Before I do though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, America's number one sportsbook. Look, guys, right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins. And look, guys, I hate to say this, but you go on FanDuel right now, place a $5 Moneyline bet

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Titans fans, let's cap off today's Tic Tac Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I want to take a moment and remind you guys, I'm going to have all my film stuff up, my film articles for Sports Illustrated. I'm going to have that up on the website tomorrow during the day on Tuesday. I should say to you guys, some of you guys are listening on Tuesday morning. Of course, shout out my podcast folks. But on Tuesday throughout the day, the, into the evening, I'm going to

have a ton of film articles tomorrow on Will Levis, the offensive line, stuff like that. Also, go to my Twitter right now at TicTacTitans. Check out any of the film clips that I posted. It's not Will Levis' fault. The offensive line's killing me. Chica Conquo's dropping

the ball over the place. It's absolutely a travesty, quite honestly. But you can see it live in live and cover. I can't put the clips on the YouTube channel for copyright purposes. Some people ask sometimes. I wish I could. It's just against the rules. Nothing I can do.

But it's very easily found elsewhere, all the work that I do for Sports Illustrated on Twitter, all that. But with that being said, Mike Vrabel's not getting fired anytime soon, guys. And as much as we complain about the things that we don't like, and let's be honest, there are things to complain about. The Titans are 3-13 in their last 16 games.

They've lost 8 straight games on the road. This team has had troubles hiring the correct coordinators. This team has let good players go. This team has let good players go. This team has let good players go. And they've had more success at other teams. Adoree Jackson has been a lot better for the New York Giants. Josh Reynolds,

Khalif Raymond, Jadavion Clowney's one of the best edge rushers in the NFL this year. David Long's looking pretty good down in Miami, staying healthy, making plays against the run. All of that, I mean, they let Conklin go.

Not all of this is Mike Vrabel's fault, but I'm just saying, there are players who played for the Titans who look a lot better playing for other teams. At some point, that has to be blamed on development from the coaching staff. Okay? The lack of creativity in the game plans, the conservative nature of the team and the philosophy of the team, Mike Vrabel wanting to win every game 12-3,

all that stuff adds up. All right? Mike Vrabel is not above criticism. He's not that good of a coach that he is above criticism. Okay? But let me just say this. If I'm Mike Vrabel, and I go into Amy Adam Strunk's office on Monday to talk about that game,

here's what I'm going to say. Well, Amy, we talked about this last year. This roster stinks. We whiffed on three straight draft classes, barely a single player in three straight draft classes. Any good at all. Traded away my best player,

the best wide receiver in the NFL maybe, traded him away for nothing. And for what? For Berks? For Berks, that guy doesn't even know the plays, Amy. The guy doesn't even know the plays. Can't stay on the field. Look at this offensive line.

What am I supposed to do? What was I supposed to do? Where am I finding an upgrade for left tackle? A better wide receiver? A better cornerback? Better edge rush? Where am I finding all that in one offseason with $30 million in cap space and barely any draft picks, Amy? Where am I finding all that in one offseason with $30 million in cap space and barely any draft picks, Amy? Where am I finding that? You know like I know, Amy, J-Rob screwed us. J-Rob screwed me.

And that's why I came to you last year and I said, you got to fire John Robinson because he's screwing us. Duh. How are you going to fire me for the problems that I explained to you last year? We have $100 million in cap space this offseason. We have eight draft picks. We have a quarterback we can build around. Amy, this is not my fault.

Vince Lombardi couldn't take this team to the playoffs. Miss Adams, there is nothing I can do. We're gonna coach better. We're gonna play better. But John Robinson screwed us, Amy. And that's why you fired him last year. And that's why you're not gonna fire me now.

If I'm terrible next year after $100 million in cap, a top 10 draft pick, 8 draft pick draft class, if I'm terrible then year after $100 million in cap, a top 10 draft pick, 8 draft pick, draft class, if I'm terrible then, then you can fire me. But until then, we're dealing with the same problems right now that I asked you to fire John for last year. We need a first-round offensive tackle. We need a first-round cornerback.

We need a first-round wide receiver. We need a first-round wide receiver. And we don't got him, because John blew it. So, now I need to get back and work on my game plan for the Jaguars, because we got a game to lose 31-7

out there. It's not my fault. Woo! I'm back. I'm back. What did Mike have to say, guys? out there. It's not my fault. I'm back. I'm back. What did Mike have to say, guys? Was it any good? Was it entertaining? I never really let go of the wheel like that on the podcast, so I hope it was at least a fun time. But all jokes aside, guys, we can get mad about Mike Vrabel all we want, but let's be real here. The roster is terrible and all the problems

that the roster has are on John Robinson, and we saw last year they fired J-Rob. That is proof the ownership group thinks this is on the roster, not Mike Vrabel, and some of you guys out there agree with that take. This is not Mike Vrabel's fault. And look, I have said it before. I said it on September 28th. I gave a very similar rant. I gave a very, very similar rant. We can be upset. We can point things out. But the ownership

group fired John Robinson because they believe that Mike Vrabel is not the problem and the roster is the problem. And we are not going to get an answer on whether that is true or false until after next season. Halfway through next year, at the end of next year, then it is realistic to call for Vrabel's head.

But I'm just warning you guys now, he's not on the hot seat in the organization, and I don't think that Mike Vrabel is going to be fired any time soon. So, with that being said, that is going to do it for today's show. Again, at TicTacTitans on Twitter. AllTitans.com for my work for Sports Illustrated. Diving into the film tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.