Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Will Levis v C.J. Stroud Showdown, Stopping Texans Passing Attack & Two Teams, Different Paths

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

The Tennessee Titans take on the Houston Texans again this week and we may finally see the battle between Will Levis and C.J. Stroud we thought we would get in Week 15 as both quarterbacks looked improved health-wise. Next, can the Titans get the run game going this time after an embarrassing performance two weeks ago and the Texans' passing attack should have it's way with the Titans' secondary. Finally, the Texans have a coaching advantage in this game and it makes you wonder about the future of Mike Vrabel as the head coach.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.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

Will we finally get Will Levis against CJ Stroud? It looks like it. I'm going to break it down 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. Week 17, crossover Thursday. I swear we just did this Right am I crazy

I think so Houston Texans Tennessee Titans Week 17 today's cross over Thursday Is brought to you by PrizePix the easiest and most exciting Way to play daily fantasy sports Go to prizepix.com Locked on NFL

Use the code locked on NFL All lowercase for our first deposit match Up to $100 I am Tyler Rowland host of LockedOnNFL. Use the code LOCKEDONNFL, all lowercase, for our first deposit match up to $100. I am Tyler Rowland, host of LockedOnTitans here with John Hickman, host of LockedOnTexans. We did just do this a couple weeks ago, a 19-16 overtime thriller between the Titans and really the Texas JV team. It was a very good football game, but only because the Texans were missing so many starters. They kind of played down to the Titans level. Will those starters

be back in this game? And the Titans might be getting a starter back in this game as well. We're going to go into the storylines, the matchups, some predictions, all of that on today's show. Thank you for making Locked on Titans, Locked on Texans your first listen each and every day. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day here on the Locked On Podcast Network. But, John, with that being said, Texans side of things. Let's go. CJ Stroud back at practice.

He's back. Maybe Nico Collins. What's the latest on Bill Anderson and maybe George Fant, some of these other guys who missed the last game against the Titans. Yeah, so as of right now, man, it's always good to have an insider friend. And that insider friend just so happened to be the co-host of the Lockdown Texas. Cody is at the practice right now. So we got C.J. Stroud.

He's back. Blake Cashman, he's back. Okay. No Will Anderson as of right now. John Bernard, who was injured during the Cleveland Brown game, he's still out. And that is what's going on as of right now. However, the news is Will Anderson is out of that boot.

So there's a possibility that he plays Sunday. And I think that Houston would love to get him back out on the field, especially a game before the final game of the year, which I think is going to be the game against the Coast that determines whether or not Houston makes the playoffs or possibly wins the division because of how bad the Jags are. I know we got our own little personal beef in terms of franchises, but it's always good to see the Jags do bad, right? So that's what's going on. Also, with that being said, we know Nico Collins came back last week,

caught a touchdown from David Smills late in the game against the Cleveland Browns. But I think overall, when we look into who's playing quarterback, I think Houston really kind of held off on bringing C.J. Stroud back. Number one defense, tough defense against the Cleveland Browns. The understanding that mathematically they still have a shot to make it with these last two games, especially ending off against the Colts. I think they saved them a little bit. And I think coming into this game against the Tennessee Titans,

who regardless of how we feel about this banged up team, thank you for Tia Tartt, by the way. We appreciate that. Right, right. Revenge game. I think it's going to be a tough game, and they need their quarterback. They need the presumed rookie of the year, C.J. Stroud, a back-end quarterback to put points on the board.

Yeah, no, I think you're right. I think they're going to get a better fight from the Titans this time. I got to tell you, John, I really don't know what in the world the Titans were doing in that game. They ran the ball. I believe it was 19 out of 25 first down plays for basically negative yardage. I mean, they just kept driving Derrick Henry into the middle of the Texans defense with no success whatsoever. They refused to go play action on first down. It just, it made no sense whatsoever.

The Titans plan in that game. And, and the Texans put immense pressure on the Titans, constantly getting through the line of scrimmage, constantly blitzing and coming downhill in that game and got will Levis injured. And that leads me to the Titans. Big storyline.

Will, will Levis play this game? I know that the Texans fans are all looking for Will CJ Stroud comes back. It looks like he will. And Will Levis, John, I've been saying since Will Levis got hurt in that game against the Texans, sit him the rest of the year. Not only do you need to lose to get the best draft pick that you possibly can, but he dealt with an ankle injury for weeks.

He re-aggravated it in a very serious way. High ankle injury against the Texans. Putting him out there, he's not going to be at 100%. And the Texans were the team that got him hurt and sacked him seven times. And you're going to put Will Levis, less healthy than he was two weeks ago, back out there on the road against the Texans behind this offensive line, going against that same defensive front that has now improved with Tierra Tart.

I mean, the Titans look like Will Levis was in practice, just like C.J. Stroud. He practiced. He was moving around. He looked a lot better than he looked last week with his whole leg wrapped like a mummy. But at the end of the day, this is the same team that hurt Will Levis. So you're going to put him out there even more injured than he was two weeks ago

against the same team, the same front, and the same offensive line in front of him. I just think it's a disaster waiting to happen. And the Titans, he needs to get the reps, rookie reps, blah, blah, blah. I'm worried about Will Levis' reps in 2024. I want to make sure that Will Levis can play next year when the Titans have used $85 million in cap space and eight draft picks to improve this offensive line. Putting him out there now, less healthy,

with the potential to get re-injured against the team that injured him in the first place, I don't know, it just seems insane. But besides that fact, it does look like we are going to get Will Levis and CJ Stroud. And we might watch these two quarterbacks play against each other two times a year for the next, yeah, 10 years, 8 years, whatever you want to call it. So at minimum, I am excited to see what happens with that. But at the end of the day, the Texans just have a much more talented group around their quarterback. I think the Texans have a coaching advantage as well on both sides of the ball. They're better. D'Amico Ryan's a better defensive coach than

anyone the Titans have. Bobby Slowick's about to go be a head coach. He's definitely a better offensive coach. I mean, go ahead. Let's slow down on that. And I say that because I don't think Bobby Sloik is nowhere near ready to be a head coach. It might take a year, yeah. I think it may take, you know, this has been Johnson's third year with Detroit. I believe so, yes. And look how, you know, so it took Ben a while.

And honestly, Ben probably could have been a head coach last year. But I don't think Bobby Sloak is nowhere near as good as Ben Johnson. I think a lot of people have been on the outside looking in, looking at the success of this team, how they've turned around, and given a lot of credit to Bobby Sloak. And I got some inside information a little bit. I'll just say this. It isn't Bobby Sloak as much as it is.

That's how good C.J. Stroud is. And when I look, you know, from a fan standpoint of the game, and I also look from an insider, you know, eye and look, whatever the case you want to call it, I don't think Bobby Slug has called a great game for all four quarters since the Pittsburgh Steelers game. If you look at Houston, they've been in how many one-score games coming down to the last drive? You look at how the offense was stale, stinky, and stalled against the Carolina Panthers, who at the time, winless. The Atlanta Falcons, they weren't a good team defensively at that time.

And Houston struggled to put points on the board. And I look at a lot of that, and I credit that to Bobby Sloan. So I think a lot of people on the outside looking in, they're looking at the turnaround, of course, the Davis Mills era and how bad that looked. And you guys are dealing with the stress of Tim Kelly and praying for you. You guys are dealing with the stress of Tim Kelly and praying for you. But Bobby Sloic, I think, is as good as his quarterback out on the field. And that quarterback just so happened to be rookie sensation C.J. Stroud.

And again, I don't think he's helped a lot from the sideline. Against the Tennessee Titans, I know there was Case Keenum out there, but I didn't think he helped a lot from a schematic standpoint from the sidelines in that game. Well, I just have to say I'm going through Texans, 37 points, Pitt 30 points, 39 points, 30 points. I mean, I get what you're saying because you're watching your team, but if you were on this side, you would be praying for a Bobby Slowik. I mean, just absolutely praying for him.

So after watching Tim Kelly's game plan and how he called plays against the Texans last time and watching the film and watching what the Texans did, it's hard for me to not look at it and say, wow, the Titans got their ears boxed off, not only with the players, but by the coaches as well. And I think there's a good chance the Titans have the worst coaching staff in the entire division now. And that played out the last time they played the Texans.

So we're going to see a matchup between these two quarterbacks. We're going to see a matchup between these two coaching staffs. And the first game was the first game they ever went against each other. But now we're going to see how they adjust to each other and see which coaching staff puts together a better game plan now after they know what to expect. So that'll make it even more interesting to examine kind of that back and forth going forward after this second matchup.

But with that being said, we do got to dive into some matchups individually, some position players, some groups going against each other in this game. And obviously with playing two weeks ago, there's some things we got to see if they improve, if they get worse, what they do here. So we're going to dive into all those in just a moment. Before we do, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix.

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for a first deposit match up to $100. PrizePix. It's Daily Fantasy Sports. Made easy. Week 17 crossover Thursday continues. Locked on Titans, locked on Texans. Thank you for making us your first listen each and every day. It's your team every day here on the Locked On Podcast Network. Before we roll into our matchups, do want to let you know that Locked On has launched the first ever

national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. It's called Locked On Sports Today. It's covering all of the top sports stories of the day 24-7. You get local experts from Locked On like me and John. You also get coverage from our national shows covering every league. Go to Locked On Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel. With that

being said, John, we talked about the run game, shutting down Derrick Henry, all of that last time we talked, and boy, did the Texans ever do that, holding Derrick Henry to 16 carries for only nine yards.

That's.6 yards per carry, John. It was glorious to watch. One of the worst performances statistically since 1950 from Derrick Henry. And I personally think it was the moment that a lot of Titans fans realized, oh, he has gotten older. Even if the offensive line was bad, you could still tell a total difference from the way Derrick Henry ran this week that just happened against the Seahawks and how he was running against the Texans.

So I guess knowing that they completely shut Henry down last time, is that where you're looking again? Or is there another place where you're looking for the Texans to kind of show up on a matchup basis? or is there another place where you're looking for the Texans to kind of show up on a matchup basis? Fun fact, since 1950 was the last time those numbers were that bad, right? Yeah, yeah. Since 1950, that was the last time.

51? That was the last time Derrick Henry didn't rush for 200 yards against the Houston Texans. So it took 70 years, but they got it done. No, it always starts with controlling the line of scrimmage, I think, right? You know, shut it down. Derrick Henry was a byproduct of Houston dominating the front defensively. Yes.

You know, by no means, by no disrespect, because I think y'all actually got it right with the tackle. I cannot pronounce his name because it's not coming to my mind. I like him. I liked him coming down. I think he's going to go through some rookie learning curves. I think that taking care of Derrick, the offensive line for the Titans got their butt kicked. That's the best way to put it. If you look at shutting down Derrick Henry, what else were you able to do? Because in the past Houston was not able to necessarily win up front.

We know how bad this run defense has been since the loss of D.J. Reeder. But what I saw the last time Houston took on the Tennessee Titans were a team that knew the playoffs were on the line, knew that they had an advantage, and just finally took advantage of what was playing in their favor. And you saw John Gnard have a master class performance. You saw Sheldon Rankins and Malik Collins and Des McKean from a slot position. They'll get a sack in and just kind of beat him up.

So it definitely centers around making sure Derrick Henry doesn't get involved. Because if he doesn't get involved, then what else is going on? I think not allowing a quarterback to have, you know, that much time in the pocket is what's going on. An offensive line that's not able to control the line of scrimmage, that's what's going on. And if that's happening, you're not getting too many opportunities downfield because the quarterback doesn't have that time. And so, absolutely, I don't think that he rebounds. Does he have a better performance? I can see that.

But the only way is up from 0.6 yards per carry, not 9 yards on the day. But I don't see him reaching the 100 yards. I do not. On the flip side for the Tennessee Titans, whether it's Tannehill, whether it's Will Levis. And, by the way, was I the only one that caught Tannehill's smile on the sideline when he had to go in when Will Levis went down? It was a little smirk there.

Maybe a little bit. I'm sure he must have played football. But for the Titans, I want to ask you about not necessarily the quarterback situation, but can that offense just rebound? Because they only scored nine points. The defense had the lone touchdown of the game. Right. We had two of those big plays from DeAndre Hopkins,

Carl Beckner, Carl Beckner. One was a breakup from Jalen Petrie. One was a drop. Yeah. So can that offense altogether rebound? Because I thought defensively they played tough. Yeah. They're going to play hard on defense, and it's tougher now

because, I mean, that Texans game, John, in my opinion, kind of broke the Titans' season. It got Will Levis hurt. After that game, they put a bunch of players on IR, Jeffrey Simmons, Imani Hooker, Nick Westbrook-Akene, Jack Gibbons. Like, they cut baitok-Akene, Jack Gibbons. They cut bait with Tierra Tart, who immediately went over to the Houston Texans. The Titans team feels totally different now than it did before that game. And that game officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Levis looked bad in that game. Skowronski looked bad in that game. Like, everything that you hope for as a Titans fan looked bad in that game. Like period, no matter what you hope for. So to come back from that would be tough and to all of a sudden play well. So I can't, I can't, I can't expect the offense to rebound because at the end of the day, John, what, what really blew my mind about that game when you watch the tape is what do teams do against the Titans?

They crowd the box. They put eight in the box. They play single high safety with cover three. When it's passing downs, they play tight. You know, they press. The Texans said, eh, we're going to leave two safeties back deep. We might

roll coverage a little bit, but we're showing two high safety looks. We're not playing five man fronts and crowding the line of scrimmage. We're going to play four man fronts, and you can't double team our guys anyway. You can't do it. Sheldon Rankins, Malik Collins, try to double team them. You can't. We'll leave the

line of scrimmage empty. We'll throw our DBs back so that you can't throw those deep balls, Will Levis, and those play action passes. We got eight people back there. You're not doing it. So everything that the Titans want their opponent to do so that they can bully them and take advantage, the Texans did the opposite and still bullied them

and wasn't able to take advantage. So for me, I just don't think that the offense has the ability to come back because the Texans gave them every advantage that they could have dreamed of, and the Titans not only couldn't take advantage, they got smoked, you know, seven sacks, Derek Henry stat line. So I don't think the offense can rebound against this Texans defense. Again, it's not just the players. There's a coaching mismatch that's happening here,

a coaching disadvantage. D'Amico Ryans is a better football coach than Tim Kelly is, period. So he's getting smoked from a coaching schematic standpoint, and he doesn't have a talent advantage either. So the Titans just have nowhere to go. What I'm worried about matchup-wise for the Titans, it was a close game last game, even with all that offensive struggle.

The Titans were still there to win the game. But this game, if CJ Stroud is back and Nico Collins is back, I mean, Noah Brown had eight catches for 85 yards and a touchdown last time. What's Nico Collins going to do? I mean, he's got top five efficiency against man and zone. It doesn't matter what you do against him. So if Stroud is back, who is going to cover the wide receivers? Sean Murphy

Bunting is okay, but he's been banged up. Roger McCreary is good in the slot, but he's one man. The Titans don't have a Monty Hooker. Kayvon Wallace was out last game. They're two starting safeties. And Trey Avery has been literally abused every game. He tries hard. He does his best, but he just gets abused. And DK Metcalf, Trey Avery literally gave up the game last

week. A big penalty on the last drive. Gave up both the final touchdowns. And John, we're not talking about I'm running a route and getting open against you. We're talking about, hey, it's me, you, one-on-one in the playground, and they're just throwing the ball up, and I'm jumping over top of you and grabbing it. Like, that's both the touchdowns that happened last week against Trey Avery.

So, who was stopping the passing attack of the Texans? You couldn't stop Case Keenum. Now they get Stroud and Nico Collins back. I just – Donald Schultz had a good day against Tennessee. He had to play a game. Actually, I think that was what won the game. Yep.

So I just don't think the Titans could stop the passing attack of a fully healthy Houston Texans. And when you add in the concerns that I presented on offense with the talent and the coaching, I just don't see a path forward where the Titans can win consistently in the game in any certain area to give themselves an advantage. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself in terms of predictions and how I see this

playing out. That's what we're going to talk about in just a second. So we'll get into our predictions and kind of how things play out in this game here in just a moment. Before we do, though, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. Oh, yeah. do though do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by linkedin jobs oh yeah i mean here's their and the titans may need to get on linkedin jobs here because they're trying to get the best possible quality candidates and if you're hiring for your small business you want

to have as many top tier candidates as possible to interview as well that's why you have to check out linkedin jobs linked LinkedIn Jobs has the tools to help you find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. LinkedIn isn't just another job board. LinkedIn has a vast network of more than a billion, with a B, billion professionals, which makes it the best place to hire. Hiring is easy when you have that many quality candidates. So easy, in fact, that 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours. LinkedIn knows that small businesses are wearing so many hats, they might not have the time or the resources to hire.

Thankfully, with LinkedIn, the process is intuitive, it's quick, and it's easy. 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 apply. All right, John. Capping off this week 17 crossover Thursday.

We talked about the storylines. We talked about the matchups. John, I'm just going to lay it out here plainly. You don't have to give me necessarily a score prediction. I know you and Cody like to do that on Fridays, but what do you think this game is going to look like, okay? What do you think is going to happen here? I think a 10-point game.

I think it's going to take a little minute to knock the rust off for CJ. You know, the last time we saw him. It'll be close early. I think it'll be close early. The last time CJ played football... It'll be close early. I think it'll be close early. The last time CJ played football was bad, regardless of the concussion that he went down with.

That offense against the Jets stunk really bad. I think it's going to take a moment, but I do think what's going to help him get into the rhythm is what you said. Who's going to be out there to necessarily put up a fight defensively? No Jeffrey Simmons.

The DBs for Tennessee aren't the greatest, right? And I think that once he gets into a groove, and again, I'm going to go back to Bobby Sloan. Please game plan your players and help them from the sidelines. I don't want to see a game where the Texans are just winning solely based on the talent of CJ Stroud because he has that, but he's coming off a concussion missing two weeks. Definitely want to see him. Don't want to ask too much early on.

Right. Yeah. So I'm looking for that, but I do think once the second half hits, I think there may be another gear for CJ. I think that not only is CJ hyped, but I know Nico is ready to play with his quarterback again. He's a wide receiver that has went through too many quarterbacks, mediocre quarterbacks, and cherishes playing with a top-tier quarterback. So I'm looking at Nico having a breakout game. I'm looking at CJ to get into some rhythm late.

And I'm looking at Dalton Schultz to get involved. Overall, I think this is a 10-point game. Don't want to put a number on it. I do think Tennessee plays it tight, close, early. But after that, it may be a 14-point game. I think this offense is going to catch a rhythm, catch fire, and run away with it. Yeah, if I'm the Texans, what I'm doing is I'm spreading out early

and letting C.J. Stroud just throw quick little passes to get that rhythm. You know, the Titans aren't a team that wants to play man coverage right now. They want to play zone because they don't trust their defensive backs. And when you play zone like that, it's easy to find little holes in the zone. And if you have an elite accuracy quarterback like C.J. Stroud is, I'm not calling him an elite quarterback. I'm saying elite accuracy. Like I would tell you, Will Levis has elite arm strength.

Like I think Will Levis' arm strength, throwing the ball, velocity, all that, he's probably top seven in the NFL already. Release quickness, like just flicking the wrist and getting the ball out, elite trait right there. That doesn't mean you think the player is elite overall, but Stroud has elite accuracy. And I think that if you just let him early in the game, just let him early in the game a couple times, motion out the running back, spread things out, and just let him hit some quick ones. And the Texans can use tight ends. You get the Titans in more of a base defense, and then you spread them out and hit them. Just early on to let Stroud kind of catch that rhythm

because once you get that rhythm going against the Titans secondary, there is no slowing it down. And like you said, with him coming back, definitely want to let him build that rhythm. But for me, my worry is the Texans ran for, or Devin Singletary ran for 121 yards last time. The Texans ran for 148 yards total. Like, if you're going to run the ball over 120 yards,

around 140 yards, and then you add in C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins, like, again, I just don't see where the Titans are able to find success consistently. So I think that the game is close early on. Like, I think it might go to halftime like 13-10, something like that. But I agree. I do think this isime like 13-10, something like that. But I agree. I do think this is about a 10-point game. I have the Texans winning this game.

I'm going to say 26-16. Houston wins this game. I don't think the Titans get the pressure that they did last time. The Titans had three sacks of their own, and when they kept it close, it was because the Texans were committing penalties or the Titans were getting pressure. Now that you have C.J. Stroud back in the game to give you better quarterback play, it was four sacks in that game. But now that you have C.J. Stroud back in the game to not take those sacks,

get the ball out quicker, I think it once again cuts an advantage that the Titans would have to build on and makes it even tougher for them. So on the road, yeah, I'm thinking about a 10-point game, 26-16, 23-13, somewhere in there. Really quick, does Mike Vrabel return? And I'm asking you this. Okay, now, should Mike Vrabel return? That's the question I want to ask Tyler.

Man, I got to tell you, this is tough because you look around the NFL, and if you're a Texans fan, you might disagree with what I'm saying right now, but you look around the NFL, how many of the coaches that are coaching good teams are defensive head coaches? You know, look around. Miami, no. Kansas City, no. I mean, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, I guess you get there, but Bengals.

I mean, Buffalo, they've been struggling this year. They're not having their best year. You look at the NFC, Kyle Shanahan, Dan Campbell, people don't consider him an offensive guy because he's rough and tumble, but he was a tight end in the NFL. He's been an offensive coach throughout his career. He's an offensive, you know, like this isn't like we're deciding who the Islanders play for in the all white, all black pool. You know, this is pretty clear that Dan Campbell is an offensive coach. So you look at the last six Super Bowls, only one was a defensive head coach,

and it was Bill Belichick with Tom Brady. You know, like – And that was the – it was at the 13-10 when we beat the Rams. Yes, it was the Rams. Yeah, they beat the Rams yes it was it was the Rams yeah they beat the Rams 13 to 3 in the Super Bowl and then before that it was Doug Peterson with the Eagles so you want to go even further like basically it's all offensive head coaches you got a little John Harbaugh Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin sprinkled in is Mike Rabel Mike Tomlin John Harbaugh or Bill Belichick I say no I say he isn't And I would rather have a Ben Johnson than Mike Vrabel personally

because you look at the trend in the NFL, you need an offensive head coach. And the problem is if you don't have an offensive head coach, your offensive coordinator is going to leave to be a head coach if he's any good. And then you've got to cycle through offensive coordinators and continue to – it's just so hard to build continuity when you're a defensive head coach with how much offensive head coaches are valued in the league.

So I think long term, just playing the trends and playing the odds. No, I don't think Mike Vrabel is the head coach that's going to get the Titans to the Super Bowl. I would replace Mike Vrabel because of his inability to create a good offensive environment for a young quarterback. Will Mike Vrabel get fired? Absolutely not, because you know that the brass is telling you, hey, it's a bad season. We're losing games, but we knew the roster was going to suck. That's why you fired the general manager that put the roster together.

We have $85 million in cap space, most in the NFL. We have eight draft picks, probably going to have top 10 draft pick. Give us this offseason to build it, and then if the team sucks again next year, then you get rid of Mike Vrabel. But then you've wasted one of the most important offseasons in the entire franchise's history, building the team based on a coach that you're not going to have anymore and giving out big contracts and making important picks.

So to me, it's tough. Should he be fired? I think so. Will he? No way, no way he gets fired. So Vrabel will be back in my opinion. With that being said, that is going to do it for a week 17 crossover Thursday locked on Titans, locked on Texans. Thank you for making us your first listen. We'll be back with you on Friday for more game plan stuff.

We'll be back with you on Sunday to break down everything that happened. Texans in the playoff race, Titans in the tank race, hoping to secure Joe Alt. Shout out to the Alt cult out there. Love you guys. We're going to be back again tomorrow, so make sure that you're with us then, but that's going to do it for us today.

Stay safe out there. Start your weekend early. It's Thursday, everybody. Take care. Boom.