Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Will Levis or Mason Rudolph DOESN'T MATTER, Titans Tank Update & O-Line Positivity

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

The Tennessee Titans now have to make a choice at quarterback between Will Levis and Mason Rudolph, but the reality is it doesn't matter who plays QB going forward because this team is not good no matter who plays. With that in mind, we look at the TANK UPDATE and where the Titans are in the draft line as well as the remaining schedule of those teams "ahead" of the Titans. Finally, the Titans offensive line actually played decently well in Sunday's game and that is some sort of positive we can take away.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/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.Hillsdale CollegeAll of Hillsdale’s courses are self-paced so that you can start whenever, and tune in wherever. Plus, you can go deeper with readings, quizzes, discussions - or just enjoy the lectures. Go right now to hillsdale.edu/lockedon to enroll. There’s no cost, and it’s easy to get started.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM 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)

Should the Tennessee Titans start Will Levis or Mason Rudolph the rest of the season? I'm here to tell you, it doesn't matter. And I'll explain why on today's edition of Locked on Titans. 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 GameTime.

Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. On today's episode, I'm going to tell you why the decision at quarterback doesn't even matter in reality. We're also going to do an update on the Tennessee Titans tank and what their draft pick situation looks like. And then I'll end the show with a little bit of positivity and tell you that the Titans offensive line actually was pretty good against the Cincinnati Bengals. Before we get into all of that, though,

I do want to thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast 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. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there.

Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. We're a big family here on Locked on Titans, and we will get through this together. But with that being said, again, a lot of the time, you guys come to my show, I have a definitive opinion. I have, they need to do this. They need to do that.

This is why this is a smart move. This is why this is a dumb move. This is what I would do here. I always have a definitive opinion for you. And while this may not be your classic definitive opinion from me, it is definitive all the same. It doesn't matter who plays quarterback for the Titans going forward. It simply does not matter.

Because this team sucks. All right? Mason Rudolph, and I made this argument early in the season as well, and we saw it when Mason Rudolph played. What did he win? One game? I guess if you want to give him the Miami game, no quarterback should get credit for winning the Miami game.

The Titans ran the football. What, Mason Rudolph threw the ball twice in the second half? It wasn't like Mason Rudolph led the team to a win. They just absolutely beat up a JV team in the trenches in that game. But the way I see it, Mason Rudolph won New England. Will Levis won Houston. Neither quarterback is going to result in any significant change for this team because everything is just too bad around them. The offensive line is still going to be, I say bad, but not good

enough is what I'll say. The wide receivers are not going to be explosive enough. The coaching is not going to be good enough. The pass rush is not going to be good enough. The linebacker play is not going to be good enough. The secondary with a bunch of backups is not going to be good enough. The special teams is going to not be good enough, all right, at the end of the day, although, you know, give credit where it's due. Special teams wasn't even really an issue against the Cincinnati Bengals, surprisingly enough,

but that's really where I stand on this, okay, you want to go with Will Levis, there's more high-end upside still, even though he's been terrible, you know, at plenty of games this season, there's still more upside with the younger player and all of that. You're probably going to have the opportunity to make some more explosive plays. Like Levis is going to be able to generate more explosive plays down the field. That's certainly a possibility. And Will Levis is not great in this area by any means. But he certainly does give you the ability to create after things break down

a little bit more than Mason Rudolph. Now, again, I'm not saying that Will Levis is good. He's terrible at second reaction, off-schedule playmaking. He's awful at it. But he's better than Mason Rudolph, who is lesser of an athlete than Will Levis is. And then on the other side of things, you look at Mason Rudolph. He's going to play on time more he's going to be more accurate he's going to keep the offense on schedule he's going to operate

things better he is just going to drive the car better at the end of the day Levis may make a crazy turn or a crazy pass or something like that but just good standard driving you're going to get that from Mason Rudolph all right but here the reality. Both quarterbacks have shown that they'll create turnovers. In that game against the Bengals, you could look at Mason Rudolph's stat line and say, oh, see, look, Mason Rudolph better. But the Bengals were playing prevent defense. They were dropping into deep zones. They weren't putting pressure on the underneath stuff. And Mason Rudolph was just

taking what was there. That stuff will not be there in a game that is close from the beginning and a game starting out. Teams aren't just going to let the Titans have what Mason Rudolph was given in the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals. And I'll also tell you that the one time that Mason Rudolph tried to actually drive the ball down the field, he was intercepted. Mason Rudolph is going to create a bunch of turnovers as well. It won't be on Will Levis' level, but the explosive plays aren't going to be on Will Levis' level either.

So it truly is a trade-off, and the reality is that no matter what you are trading off, you are most likely going to lose. You're going to lose. So I said it online at Tic Tac Titans. You can follow me on Twitter if you feel so inclined. I'm on Facebook. I'm on TikTok. I'm on Instagram, Locked on Titans.

You can find it anywhere. But my general feeling is of apathy. I just don't have, if you want Will Levis to play the rest of the year, fine. If you want Mason Rudolph to play the rest of the year, fine. I just don't have the energy at this time in the season and where the Titans are at as a franchise coming off of the discussion that we had on yesterday's show that my everydayers will remember.

I just do not have the energy to fight with you about what is the better choice. When both the choices suck. Do you want trash? Do you want garbage? You know, like, okay, I guess I'll take trash. You know what I mean? Like, does it matter? It doesn't matter because no matter who plays the rest of the season,

no matter who starts the last four games or last three games, thank God, no matter who starts, the Titans situation fundamentally will not change. It won't. Now, I will tell you this. I think, based on what Brian Callahan said on Monday at his press conference, I think Mason Rudolph will be the start of the rest of the year. He talked about how they have benched people at other positions because they weren't playing well enough. Right tackle, linebacker, punt returner. well enough. Right tackle, linebacker, punt returner. They have benched other people. So you can't just not bench Will Levis when he's crushing the team with four turnovers.

You can't avoid doing that or you look like an idiot in the locker room because it's like, oh, I'll bench the right tackle if you suck. I'll bench a linebacker if you suck. I'll bench the punt returner, but not Will Levis. We can't bench him if he sucks. You can't do that iner, but not Will Levis. We can't bench him if he sucks. You can't do that in a locker room. That's like you can't do that at a job site of any kind where human beings are involved. There's a human element here. So I think that he will bench Will Levis.

He will go with Mason Rudolph, but I'm here to tell you that I really don't think it matters because I don't think the Titans are good enough at all of the other places for the quarterback to make any real difference. But we're going to talk about what the Titans should do at quarterback going forward in the future on tomorrow's episode. Make sure that you don't miss that. But for right now, let's update the Tennessee Titans tank.

Before we do, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. GameTime is the best place to buy tickets, period. Why? They have the best features in the industry, and they have a new feature called GameTime Picks that makes getting tickets for live events even easier. GameTime Picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. And look, it's not just football games, folks, because I know going to a Titans game right now, not that appetizing.

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It's game time. Also want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Get ready to tackle the final three weeks of the NFL season and then, of course, into the playoffs with FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The FanDuel Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place.

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All right? And we'll talk about what games are coming next. But make sure that you check out Fandle, America's number one sportsbook. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I told you why I really don't care who plays quarterback for the Titans going forward the rest of the season. Let me know who you think it should be down below, but at the end of the day, again, I'm not going to fight with you about it.

Whatever you want. Sure. Let's, let's do it. You know, three weeks left. Why not? But what really matters to the Titans is not who plays at quarterback but what draft pick they get and it sucks that we're back here once again um and we're probably going to be back here next year as well that's the reality a lot of seasons I'm talking about draft picks and uh

where the Titans will pick uh are in our future but for this one specifically this year right now the Titans are in actually a pretty decent spot when it comes to the draft pick. Now, before I tell you why, I do want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free.

Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed at your team every day. But there are currently five teams ahead of the Tennessee Titans in the draft standings, we'll call them. All right, five teams. So number one is the New York Giants. They have the number one pick currently.

I am recording before Monday night football between the Raiders and the Atlanta Falcons. So that game will be played on Monday night. You're probably hearing this on Monday night or into Tuesday morning. You'll know the results, but I am not betting on a Raiders win in that game with Spencer Rattler or Desmond Ritter. I get those two confused all the time. Rattlers, the Saints, Ritter, now with the Raiders. But Desmond Ritter looking for a revenge game against the Falcons in that game.

But we'll talk about the schedules, but I'm just saying the Raiders could win, I guess, and that would change this order, but I'm not counting on it. So the Raiders are currently number two. The New England Patriots are number three. The Jacksonville Jaguars are number four. The Carolina Panthers are number five, which is dumb. And then the Titans are number four. The Carolina Panthers are number five, which is dumb. And then the Titans are number six. All right. So starting to look at the games that these teams will play at the end of the season.

So the Raiders and the Giants have two wins. They're ahead of the Titans, but they have a harder strength of schedule. So the way that this works is, if your record is the same for draft picks, for the draft order, this is different for the playoffs. Okay?

So don't get the two confused. They are not the same. In the playoffs, it's head-to-head, and then it's division, and then it's conference. Okay? With draft,

it is your strength of schedule. And then after that, it's like a coin flip. Okay? So, it is your strength of schedule. And then after that, it's like a coin flip. Okay? So, the Giants are at Atlanta next week, and then they play Indianapolis at home in New York,

and then they're on the road and play Philly at the end of the year. There is not a chance that the Giants and Tim Boyle or if Tommy DeVito comes back or whatever. There's not a chance that the Giants are winning any of those games. The only thing I'll entertain is that Philly sits all of their players in the last week. But I'm sorry. The JV Philadelphia Eagles are going to beat the varsity New York Giants. I'm not like, it doesn't really give me a lot of hope. But if you want to look for hope that the Giants will lose a game, it's at Philadelphia.

There's your hope. Otherwise, they ain't winning a single game the rest of the year, and that's exactly what they want. So I think the Giants do end up with the number one overall pick. I think they take Cam Wart personally. But that's a conversation for a different day. Moving right along to the Raiders. Now, again, I said they play on Monday night football

against the Falcons. I'm recording before that game. I think the Falcons win that game. So it's not going to change anything. But then, the most important game of the NFL schedule the rest of the way for the Titans is the Raiders against Jacksonville. Whoever wins that game,

they play at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Raiders do next week. Whoever wins that game will fall behind the Tennessee Titans because they'll have the same amount of wins. Well, Jacksonville would have one more win than the Titans at four, and then the Raiders would tie the Titans, but the Raiders have a tougher strength of schedule.

So the Titans would actually jump the Raiders in that sense, which if you're somebody who wants a quarterback this year, you want the Raiders to win that game. Okay? I personally am not super high on taking a quarterback this year. I would rather Jacksonville win that game because Jacksonville is probably going to be looking at Travis Hunter, probably not Abdul Carter, but a wide receiver, something like I want to jump Jacksonville

because they're more of a threat to the players that I want at edge, wide receiver, offensive line, whatever it happens to be. Jacksonville's not taking a quarterback, okay? They're not. So, and they're probably not taking an edge rusher either, honestly, but you never know. You never know. So, the Raiders against Jacksonville is crucial.

Then they're on the road at the New Orleans Saints, and then they play the Chargers in the last week of the season. I don't think the Raiders are winning any of those games either. Maybe at New Orleans, but they're not beating the Chargers. The Chargers are going to be fighting for playoff seating the rest of the way. There's no way. So the Raiders and Jacksonville next week, huge game for the Titans, and no matter what happens in that game,

I guess they could tie, but I doubt it. Something good should help the Titans. Then you go to New England. They're at Buffalo, home for the Chargers, and then home for Buffalo. Maybe Buffalo sits all their players, but again, the JV Buffalo Bills would beat the varsity New England Patriots.

So I have no hope that New England's going to win a game the rest of the year anyway, and the Titans aren't going to catch them. Then you have Jacksonville again, and of course, like I said, they play at the Raiders next week. I hope Jacksonville loses that game. Go Raiders in that, or go Jacksonville is what I mean to say. And then the Titans. That is a huge game, obviously, for the Titans.

If they beat Jacksonville, they're probably going to be stuck not picking in the top five if they lose to Jacksonville then they'll be in a good spot but I'll be honest with you with Mason Rudolph they have a better chance of winning that game and then they play

Jacksonville does at Indianapolis the last week of the year and I don't think that they're winning that game so really we need Jacksonville to beat the Raiders, Jacksonville to beat the Titans. That would be what is most helpful for the Titans going forward to jump up at least a couple of spots.

And then finally, you have the Carolina Panthers. And folks, I know that the Panthers are playing better football, but they're home for Arizona. They're at Tampa Bay. They're at Atlanta. Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Arizona, they're all fighting for the playoffs right now. They're going to give their best effort possible.

There's no way. There's no way. So, I mean, crazy things happen in the NFL, but the way things look right now, the Titans really have to hope that Jacksonville wins their next two games against the Raiders and against the Titans. That would at least bump the Titans up into the top five. And then they have a better chance of getting somebody

who can actually help them in the draft. But the Titans aren't in a great spot realistically with at Indianapolis at Jacksonville home for Houston. You look at the other schedules and it's just, you know, Titans are going to be stuck in this weird spot again, just like they were last year, unless things really, really break their way. But let's finish with some positivity.

If you want to see some of these players who the Titans might draft, you need to check out the college football playoff on TNT. It's that time of year the college football playoff is back, and with the newly expanded 12-team format, it's guaranteed to be bigger and better than ever, bringing you all of the hard-hitting and high-flying excitement that you love. TNT's sports coverage of the college football playoff begins on December 21st, starting with the college football playoff kickoff show presented by AT&T at 11 a.m. Eastern,

leading into the first matchup, the Southern Methodist University Mustangs battling the Penn State Nittany Lions at noon. Then the Clemson Tigers look to upset the Texas Longhorns in a showdown at 4 p.m. Eastern. Don't miss a moment of the action. Watch the college football playoff presented by Allstate live on TNT, True TV, TBS, and Max. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

We talked about why I don't care who plays quarterback the rest of the season. That's my take. That it doesn't matter. Did a little update on the Titans tank, where they go from here. Now I just want to talk about the offensive line, because I think one thing that we did early in the season, and the offensive line has

played better, so it wouldn't be completely fair to act like they were playing this well early in the year. But I think one of the things that we did to excuse some of Will Levis' bad play is blame the offensive line. Well, here's what I would tell you, is that according to PFF, Pro Football Focus, Will Levis was only under pressure 15% of his dropbacks

yesterday. He dropped back 13 times before he got pulled. So that's two. Two out of 13 dropbacks, he was under pressure. Think about that. Think about that. Also, also, all of his interceptions, all three of the interceptions Will Levis threw, he was not under pressure. Think about that. So,

we are not in a position right now to blame the offensive line for what Will Levis did yesterday. And you look at the last two games, Jacksonville's defense and the Bengals' defense, and Levis was not good. He was not good. He was terrible against the Bengals.

I mean, outright, despicably bad. And against Jacksonville, he was, I said last week, he was meh, is what you would call it. But in totality of the last two weeks, he has not been good. And when you look at what the offensive line has done to protect him, I mean, the Titans gave up, I believe it was one sack yesterday. At least on Will Levis, right? One sack. And I'm just like,

so you're telling me that Levis had his worst game of his life, maybe, with excellent pass protection, one sack allowed? I mean, J.C. Latham gave up zero sacks and three pressures. Not a wonderful day, but against Trey Hendrickson,

who's leading the NFL in sacks, that's a pretty good performance. Peter Skowronski continues to be outrageously good in pass protection. Zero pressures, zero sacks, 78.6 pass blocking grade. Led the team again. Skowronski has just been unbelievably good in pass protection the last two months. Daniel Brunskill, zero sacks, two pressures. Dylan Radins gave up the one sack and two pressures,

but Dylan Radins honestly wasn't terrible. I thought he was pretty good in pass protection. He did give up the sack, but you look at all of the plays as totality, he wasn't that bad. NPF struggled, which he's wont to do, but zero sacks, three pressures. Did anybody noticeably say, one thing I did not see on my timeline yesterday or in the comments was, man, did you see NPF play so bad? It wasn't good, but he wasn't like a game record. And I thought that Trey Hendrickson was going to destroy the Titans. They moved Hendrickson around a little bit and it didn't even matter.

The Titans did a good job with Trey Hendrickson. With that being said, with all of that being the case, for Will Levis to go out there and play the way that he played, just absolutely ridiculous. So, I will tell you, tomorrow we're going to talk about future quarterback options, the draft, free agency, status quo. We're going to talk about all of that. But the only thing that makes me a little bit happier is that the offensive line is getting better. And if you get a better right

tackle in there, I think the offensive line, maybe we get Cush and Barry back next year, the offensive line could be serviceable. Instead of how bad it was early in the year and now it's improved throughout the year, you could just start in a place where the offensive line is decent, and then maybe you work up from there again next year. And then now you're giving yourself at least a chance to support a young quarterback going into 2026.

So let's keep that in our back pocket as a little bit of positivity and a little bit of hope is that maybe this team will still suck, but the offensive line won't be the worst offensive line in the NFL like it's been the last few years. That would be a positive we can at least hang our hats on. You know what I mean? But with that being said, again, I'll be back with you guys tomorrow to go over all of the quarterback options in the future.

Thumbs up on the video. Tighten up down in the chat if you're watching on YouTube. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.