Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans WORST TEAM IN NFL, Offensive Line MUST SWEAT & Fast Start vs. Cardinals is NEEDED

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

The Tennessee Titans head to the desert to take on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5 and at this time it looks like they are the worst team in the NFL. After three straight losses of 14 points or more, it is hard to argue against it and they will need a miracle to get their first win of the season. To have a chance, the Titans offensive line must hold up against Josh Sweat, the Cardinals best pass rusher and a player the Titans should have considered in free agency. Both teams in this matchup have had trouble being consistent, so getting out to a fast start will be a key for both squads. Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.RugietReady to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to https://www.rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. SquareTo learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload 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.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.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)

Can the Arizona Cardinals take advantage of a young, up-and-coming Tennessee Titans team in a got-to-have-it game? Or will Cam Ward finally get his first win as an NFL quarterback? Let's discuss. You are Locked-on NFL crossover. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. For Thursday. Alex Lancy, Locked on Cardinals, Tyler Rowland, Locked on Titans.

Thank you for making crossover Thursday, your first listen. Free wherever you get your podcast, man, YouTube, all of it. For those that don't know, Tyler and I have had, you know, a long history of co-hosting shows over the last few years. Tyler, also the host of Locked on NFL every morning, Monday through Friday, on top of the Titans, on top of film breakdown, Tick-Titons, film breakdown on YouTube. You can find them everywhere. Dude, one of my dearest friends in this business. We don't get to do that. When did we, when have we done this?

I don't even remember the last year ago. Yeah, that's right. Four years ago. Yeah, yeah, the DeAndre Hopkins double touchdown, bow down, Kyler Murray running around. It was like 38 to 13. Week one of the 2021 season, the Titans went on to get the number one seed.

That's the last time that we got to have one of these crossevers. And it was also the time where I said Cliff Kingsbury ain't it. Don't look at the numbers. The problems are still the issues. We talked about that a lot. And so much has changed. So much has stayed the same for both of these teams. What we're going to do today, we're going to do keys to victory in the final statement.

We're going to do, you know, most important matchups, player to player, coach to player, whatever it may be in the second. The biggest storylines, Tyler, there's a lot of storylines for both of these teams, very different, but also not many positive ones outside of maybe the Cardinals defense. Give me the biggest storylines coming into this game for a young Cam Ward and Tennessee Titans. Is this the worst team in the NFL? I think that's been the conversation all week. It's been a month through the season now.

The Titans have progressively got worse. They had a close game that they should have won, if not for bad coaching against Denver. Week two, they're beating the Rams at halftime at home and then get beat by 14 points. Then they get beat by 21 points. Then they get beat by 26 points. The Titans are going in the wrong direction

and for a season that was all about, like, we just want to see the team improve. We recognize the roster's not great. The coach is still young. The team probably won't be good, but you want to see improvement. You want to see that this team's heading in the right direction. And so far through the first month,

they have gone the opposite of the right direction. They are going in the wrong direction quickly. And it makes you wonder, is this the worst team in the NFL once again? And the answer is looking like yes right now, and the center of that issue is, should Brian Callahan be fired? And now we're getting reporting from ESPN that, you know, they don't want to fire him because it creates a lot of holes,

other places, and this and that. but when three out of four weeks and some fans who are more critical than I am would say four out of four weeks this guy has made unbelievable gaffes in in-game management and coaching decisions and he gives away play calling and they go from 20 points to zero points

you know what I mean? It's just like nothing's going right and right now it doesn't seem like there are any answers to the problems that they have at least not in the building right now. So you could say he's the Will Levis of head coaches? Is that what you could say? You know, hey, if you're Will Levis right now, you're sitting back on your burner

account on Twitter and you're saying, wasn't my fault, wasn't on me, look at this Bozo coach. Like, I think a lot of people are looking at the fact that, hey, if you're honest, Will Levis did some things on his own last year that were stupid, you know, like that's Will Levis's fault no matter how you want to slice it. But when you look at the rest of the team, how players are regressing, everyone looks worse under this coaching staff. it is fair if you're Will Levis and a Will Levis supporter to say hey, I was better with Mike Vrable

and I'm better than I was last year because we have the worst coach in the NFL so I'm not here to tell you Will Levis is going to be a starter in the NFL and turn out to be the next Baker Mayfield or Sam Donald or whatever but I think it's fair to wonder whether Will Levis is as bad as he looked last year with how

bad it clearly is from Brian Callahan right now When Cardinals fans hear all of that and I'm sure you could do without taking a breath M&M style, 28 minutes to keep everybody up in the area and the Carlos was been going on with the Tennessee Titans of the last couple years. This is what I struggle with Tyler. When we talk about the biggest storylines

surrounding Arizona, this is the first year in many where there are actual concrete expectations and during the entire off season, actual concrete moves that have been made to make this roster in a position to where they could meet those expectations. And that's the thing that the Cardinals fans specifically are struggling with is like they're supposed to be better than this especially offensively they chose to run it back with Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. and Kyla Murray. The offensive line has been okay. You know,

it's been average, which is fine. You just need an average offensive line now. You just need not Houston and not Cincinnati and you're ahead of the curb. James Connor down, Trey Benson now on I are. It's going to be Amari Demarcato and Michael Carter, two guys who can definitely put together some work in the backfield. The struggle bus is, is Jonathan Gannon doing enough? And when you look around the NFL and you see how many bad teams there are, how many bad offenses there are, and how many bad coaching jobs there have been, when you look at Jonathan Gannon and Drew Petting specifically, it's like, it could be so much worse. But is that reason enough to not hold these guys accountable with, you know,

with seats being warmed because of the production, especially on offense that they've, you know, they've yielded through four weeks, not scoring more than 20 points in each of the first four games. Hey, I know that you've been, you've been taking, take an ire with Drew Petsing for quite some time, and you're right, I do host Lockedon NFL, and my Thursday co-host is Michelle Majuk, the Data Queen. She's an NFL researcher, one of the best that we have, talent-wise, in this network, and she cannot stand Drew Petsing, all the talent that they have in Arizona. It does, for me, as I do cover, you know, all the teams for Locked on NFL, watching them on Thursday night, it's like, they should be,

better than this with everything if you go through you know how they say like you're greater than the sum of your parts yeah the cardinals are lesser than the sum of their parts with Marvin harrison junior who i think is better than what he's looked through the beginning of his career and kiler murray who we know has the talent of a top 10 level quarterback and good running backs that are now banged up but you're right the offensive line i mean paris johnson junior i know he wasn't going the whole year but he's looked pretty good so far at least looking at the numbers you know what i mean so i feel like they should be better. And in my opinion, in the NFL, you only have a bad offense if you have bad

coaching and bad talent. Because the most creative offensive minds and offensive play callers find a way to find success even when the talent maybe not be high level. And that seems like at least from an outsider's perspective that petting may be part of the issue. And Will Gannon, this is the problem with CEO type coaches and defensive-minded head coaches. will they move off of a guy who maybe they're loyal to that isn't getting the job done. It got Mike Vrabel fired. It got Mike Malarkey fired for the Titans

that they wouldn't move off bad play callers and couldn't get the OC decision, right? So that is the big question I think from the outside is will Jonathan Gannon make the changes necessary to get the most juice out of the talent that's clearly there? Yeah, you know, it's fascinating because I actually did my first show today. Of course, as Trey Benson, the news broke, and this was, you know, I posted it, you know. It happens.

It does. You know, the guy, the coach speak has kind of morphed into something that's a little bit annoying where it's, we're not too concerned about this problem. We're not too concerned about this problem is what they say, pensing about Marvin, Kyler. Like, I agree with that. You shouldn't be concerned. It's going to be fine.

I know it's taken longer. And maybe it's not fine. But for now, we've seen enough. Hey, um, how, would Marvin Harris Jr. be the best receiver on the Tennessee Titans? I would say absolutely. I mean, Alec Iron Manor has shown flashes. Calvin Ridley is as productive as me, but Marvin Harrison, Jr. isn't with him,

and then we'll pivot to the most important matchups in the next segment, but it's like, with Marvin specifically, imagine the expectation, not just of your pops, okay, who had equal numbers through 20 games, like almost identical. Yep. On top of that, the most beloved son of the state of Arizona in sports and Larry Fitzgerald, who went number three overall in 2003, it's like there's, he's never going to reach the expectations that people have for him, especially this day and age of click bait and it's got to happen right now. It's like, shut the hell up and let the kid grow. He's 23 years old. Okay. So with the Drew

Petzing thing, that's, I think that is more of a him thing than a Kyler thing. The actual offense, I think, could be more of a Kyler thing. And we're going to use Drew Petting as the, as the lamb that's going to get slaughtered and he's going to go and then you're going to bring somebody else in. But with all of it, Tyler, it's wins. It doesn't matter how it looks. If they get to 10 wins, We're all coming back. We're all having a backyard party. You know, and if it doesn't, we don't know what the hell is going to happen. So, I mean, that's really, you know,

and we're going to talk about this matchup here next. Like, the Cardinals need to win this game just like Houston did. Or there's going to be even more questions that are going to be, you know, creeping in. We're going to talk to Tyler about the big matchups. And if Jeffrey Simmons can lead a defense, Locked in an NFL Thursday. We roll on next.

This episode of crossover Thursday is brought to you by, our dearest of friends at Fandau. I don't know why I said it like that. NFL's here, man. Week 5, what Tyler and I used to talk, Tyler and I used to talk about is appreciate football. After this week, it will be over a quarter of the way done. So do yourself a favor.

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Today's episode of Crossover Thursdays also brought to you by Mazda. Mazda craps cards for those who do more than simply move, they deliver confidence with every ride, with more IHS top safety picks awards than anybody else as of last month. So, I mean, the proof is in the pudding there from footwork to breathwork. Athletes sweat all the details. And Mazda brings the same intention to how we craft every model with all-wheel drive standard and every crossover SUV.

You can drive with confidence throughout almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. Tyler Roland locked on Titans at Ticktack Titans on Twitter and follow me at Clancy's Corner. Dude, I feel like we've been talking about the same problems with each organization. It doesn't really, like for the Titans, normally it's a quarterback or a head coach, the rebirth, but it's the Derek Henry rebirth for Tennessee, obviously.

And it's like he was their identity for so long. And I know that that's a very generic way. I mean, I don't cover the Titans. but it seems like he used the cheat code. Okay, you only have AJ Brown? Cool. Let's give the ball Derek Henry 450 times.

It'll be fine. You know, like there's actually on the Cardinal Squad show, Jamil Douglas was the right guard for Tennessee. So we've talked a lot about Derek Henry and the Cardinals run game specifically. It's like, okay, it's an anchor until it's not.

And that's the biggest. I'm going to go with the most important matchup here. It's Kyla Murray versus the Tennessee Titan secondary. There's going to be no James Connor. there's going to be no, Trey Benson for at least four games. It could be a much worse situation than putting the ball in Kyla Murray's hand and make him throw the ball 40 times. You know, and I get pushed back from this because he doesn't take chances.

It's a lot of dink and dunk. I don't know if it's Drew Petzing. I don't know if it's Kyla Murray. It's probably a mixture of the two. I want to see it rip. Throw the ball 40 times. If you throw an interception and you try to force a ball in that could be a huge play, I'm not going to eat your lunch for that.

Go win football games. not have the defense hold players enough to where you can only score 20 points and win a game. And this is the perfect time to do. Yeah, it seems like the Cardinals on offense play not to lose. Like they're just trying not to make the big mistake. And I'm sorry, but that's ultimately scared money don't make none. And the Titans' offense is having a similar problem. But what I would say is I agree, Kyler Murray and how he can take advantage of the Titans defense. But I'm not looking at the air. I'm looking at the ground. Because if you remember in this last matchup,

I know that's totally different coaching staffs, totally different talent and all that. But Kyler Murray was able to abuse the Titans with this mobility. And the Titans even under the new regime, especially last year, they really, really struggled with the mobility of quarterbacks. And they say strange things. When they play mobile, last year,

Arden Key was in the locker room saying, we're not worried about mobility. When they played Drake May, and it's like, you know, why do you think Drake May isn't mobile? And then Drake May runs around for 18, seconds and gets a two-point conversion to tie the game and put it in overtime last year. And it's like, why are the coaches or these players going rogue and saying not to worry?

Like, there is no doubt you've got to worry about Kyler's mobility. And the Titans pass rush is absolutely terrible. They have four sacks on the year. They are getting no pressure on quarterbacks whatsoever. Arden Key's falling off a cliff with his pressure rate. They have a second round rookie in Femiola Dejo who is a converted linebacker and truly has no pass rush moves whatsoever right now. Draymont Jones has played it in a practice squad level when it comes to pass rush.

All they have is Jeffrey Simmons, and when you only have to worry about one guy in the pass rush, you could double team him, you could triple team him, you could just run away from him. You know, Jeffrey Simmons is still a 300-pound guy. He ain't going to catch Kyler Murray. So I'm really worried matchup-wise about Kyler Murray's playmaking because even if petting isn't scheming people open,

even if the Cardinals don't have a lot of speed at wide receiver to burn people, If Kyler Murray extends plays, that's going to make it hard for the Titans to cover that long. And you're right, the secondary is having trouble as it is against guys. If you let Kyler Murray run around and use his legs and turn it into Sandlot, there's no way the Titans defense is going to prevent big plays and prevent sustained drive. So I'm really worried about the Titans issues against mobile quarterbacks and Kyler Murray being one of the best mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. So you're right on that matchup, but I think it's twofold.

It's not just Kyler Murray in the air against a secondary, it's Kyler Murray using his legs and his mobility to outsmart and out with the Titans as well. Yeah, it's, you know, it's such a mixed emotion from week one in 2021. Like, I know that it was, I know it's a long time ago, I know Chandler Jones, I know the team was completely different, but it's like, the Cardinals weren't nearly as good and the Tennessee Times weren't nearly as bad as what we saw.

And I think it's kind of, like the Titans have been able to have a higher floor regardless of quarterback. I know they lost a lot of games, but there's so much uncertainty around the organization with the Cardinals. And moving into Sunday, the defense is now the true calling card after the entire off season, after the draft and the free agency. Get Will Johnson back. Max Mountain is healthy. They dodged a massive bullet there. Obviously, Garrett Williams and I

are potentially able to return. But like, this is, and you and I, this is an old adage from us. Like the blitz all night, remember the Titans mantra, Nicolaus is going to make a scene out of Sunday. And it's not so much as, it's not because it's the Titan. It's because the avatar that is where in development this Titans team is. Nick Ross, the calling card for this team is the defense. They will bring the house. They will do it off and they may be able to rush four and get home. Like, this defense is primed to absolutely explode on a team that they can explode on. And I think

that that that's kind of what's going to happen. And I feel bad for Cam Ward. I know that at least he can extend plays. You know, you feel bad for the kid. I hope he doesn't throw the ball. across his body across the field because it ain't going to work in this second day. You know, it's worked twice. His first, what was it? It was his first ever touchdown to Iow Manor, right? Yeah, yeah. Everyone says it's not going to work, Alex, and then it does. You know what I mean? So eventually you'll get him. Let's force him into that. You know, get him off his timing, get him off his rocker.

And, you know, this is something the Cardinals defense really needs to just iron home and then have the offense, hopefully be opportunistic after hopeful turnovers that are forced takeaways. And I just hope this is super lopsided because the Cardinals need it. Yeah. Even the wins for the Cardinals have not left you with a great taste in your mouth. They've barely survived against bad teams and held them off at the very end when they should have been able to close things out. I watch a lot of your content, obviously, where I'm prepping for Locked on NFL. And that's been, you know, the common complaint is the Cardinals just can't close things out here. But you're right, that is where I was going with my next matchup.

And it's not necessarily the Blitz because I am very concerned about the Blitz. Teams are just bringing a ton of pressure on Cam Ward because Brian Callahan isn't able to give him the answers. He doesn't have the answers to the pressure that's coming in. When I'm watching tape on the Indianapolis Colts and Daniel Jones has every answer to every question preloaded

by Shane Steichen and he knows exactly where to go with the ball and it's an open receiver or a guy that can catch the ball and run and then Cam Ward has no answers whatsoever. Here's a problem that I've been talking about all week. The Titans do this thing where they're worried about their offensive line So they leave seven guys in.

They leave the tight end and the back end to block. Well, now you only got three guys against seven guys in the defensive secondary and nobody's open and you don't even have a checkdown once the pressure gets there. Zooming in within the pass rush versus the Titans pass protection, Josh Sweat, a guy who

a lot of Titans fans wanted the Titans to go and sign, he has been the best pass rusher for the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals pass rush hasn't had a lot of production either like in the raw, totality of it, but sweat has. And the Titans' offensive tackles have been a problem for a long time. Dan Moore, who they signed in free agency, has played a little bit better in recent weeks, but they've been without second-year player J.C. Latham, who was a first-round pick, top-10 pick, and Latham could potentially come back this week. If Latham and Moore are both

finally out there together, we haven't seen it since week one, then the Titans, I think, have a better chance than normal to give Cam Ward some time. But, again, the Blitz, if the Titans have to leave a bunch of guys in and he doesn't have checkdowns, now it's just an... They're asking Cam Ward to play quarterback on max difficulty, is what I keep saying. Like, it's as difficult for him as anybody. There's no answers with the leaving guys in. So if the Titans can get their tackles back and have at least a chance against Josh

sweat in this pass rush, then they give Cam Ward a chance to be the player that we all know he is. But if the Cardinals come out and blitz, blitz, blitz, and the Titans don't have the answers for it, and sweat can beat Dan Moore one-on-one. Like, again, Cam Ward's not going to have no chance. He's going to start to try to force things again and make plays that aren't there. And then you get the cross-body throws. You get the stuff with a very talented Cardinal secondary

that can take advantage more than maybe some other teams they've played this year. Yeah, and that's really well said. You know, the only thing, the only thing the Titans have going for them above all else is. This is the NFL, anything happens, crazy things happens. It doesn't matter. There's no rhyme or reason. to the NFL. Look at what, look at the banana sandwich Looney Tunes we've experienced this year. Like there's no rhyme or reason to the NFL. It will level out. The Browns

beating the Packers. Giants beating the Chargers like craziness. The Browns beating the Packers made my brain melt. Like that's a minute with a minute and 59 seconds left and you lose. It's like that is the perfect case, especially with the Packers coming off that huge win with their defense looked amazing. And then that, I don't care that it's in Cleveland. So, I mean, that we're going to do our, we'll do our keys to victory here next. It's just like, this seems to be such a set up for such a lopsided Cardinals win that you can't trust it because it's the Cardinals. Oh, we'll discuss it. Crossover Thursday, Tyler Rowan locked on Titans Alex Clancy, locked on Cardinals right back.

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let's get serious down to business yeah but i mean it's cautious optimism i mean the cardos have lost so many players um and that's not a new thing um this is the game they should a hundred percent win this is not false provado this is the cardals have done incremental things to make their roster better so rationally speaking they should win by two touchdowns plus like that's the rational thought process towards this but it's the NFL rookie quarterbacks are unpredictable especially ones who need to do things on their own because the is seemingly non-existent, and the Cardinals haven't scored a lot of points. So give me your, give me a key to victory. We'll go back and forth.

Okay, to me, the key to victory for the Titans is to run the football. They have to find a way to run the football. I know the Cardinals are a good defense, but I think there is some susceptibility there. I thought the Seahawks had a ton of success on the ground against the Cardinals. So I think that the Titans have to find a way to run the football, and I'm going to keep saying this because the passing game is so bad for the Titans right now.

It's so out of sorts and out of whack that the only way the Titans can have some success on offense is to bludgeon them with the run game and then play action off of that. Those are the only things that are working. The standard drop-back pass, the quick passing game,

the screen game, all of it, terrible. The Cardinals, again, have been pretty good against the run. only 107 yards in week 1, 49 in week 2 really shut down the Panthers run game there. 73 against a really good San Francisco run offense and then 155 last week. So it's like who are the real Arizona Cardinals in run defense?

I think if the Titans don't go 100, 100, 10, 120 rushing yards, they're going to have no chance because it's not only just them having success on offense. The problem with the Titans defense is like going into the quarter three, going into quarter four against the Texans, it was six to nothing. The Titans had, the Titans defense had totally eradicated the Texans' offense. But the Titans' time of possession was 21 minutes and change to 38 minutes and change for the Texans. The Titans defense continues to fall apart in the fourth quarter because they are tired.

They're gassed. They've been on the field too long. The Titans' offense can't sustain drives. So to me it's not just about the offense It's the domino effect of running the ball You run the ball, you sustain drives You impose your physicality on their defense You play action off of it You keep your defense off the field and rested

So that they can be at their best If the Titans don't run the football in this one And they get held to 4973 Like we saw in the middle games for the Cardinals Then they are in trouble But if the Titans can get 150 You know 120 on the ground Taj Spears will be back in this game

and he's a little more explosive than Tony Pollard as a just jitterbug type guy. The Titans have to find a way to get there. And I'm optimistic that they'll be able to do that because the one thing that I can say the Titans have done pretty well on offense this year is run the football. Like, they've had some good runs.

They've been able to run the football a little bit. Last week, they ran the ball for a 10-yard game. They ran the ball for a 15-yard game, back-to-back plays, and then they ran a flea-flicker and got sacked and it's second and 16, and it drives over and you miss a field goal and everything's in the gutter once again,

as I like to say, report and live from the gutter. But, yeah, if they don't run the football, they're absolutely screwed. So to me, of all the keys to victory, that's the number one for the Titans. Yeah, and you're having conversations that I was having two years ago. It's like the best defense the Cardinals could have is their run game.

That's not the line I said. That's the best defense it allows. But to your point with the defense being gassed, this Arizona Cardinals team has forced this defense to be on the field far more than they should be. Now, when they were up 273 against Carolina with like 10 minutes left in the third, the defense was on the field a lot

because the Cardinals were running the clock out. And it's just a terrible way to do things. Injuries happened after that. So it's not really, and then with San Francisco, same thing. You put a lot of weight on this defense. And they're human beings. Spoiler alert, these people are humans and they get tired.

I don't care how how fast or 40 time it is and how much they work out at how much, you know, cardio they do. They get tired. You know, they're wearing pads. It's hot on the field. So with the Cardinals, the key to victory is the offense being awake when the game starts. Quick start.

Yeah, like actually. And it's not even like, hey, score double digits in the first time. It's, hey, be awake. Just know that the football game is starting. And I don't, like, Kyler Murray had an interesting thing to say. It was an indirect. I took it as an indirect jab to Drew Petzing after the game against Seattle Thursday. he was like, the offense felt like it was loading for three quarters.

It's like we got to do it faster. So expect more fireworks early, expect more shots to be taken. And the best part, if there's one good thing about somebody getting injured, which there isn't any, but if James Connor and Trey Benson, it's going to force the issue. It's going to force the offense to go. It's going to force the issue. And that's something that could be a blessing in disguise me. You never want to lose James Connor.

Obviously, I don't want to lose Trey Benson either, but it's like, Kyloor is well equipped to handle it. He just needs to be given the range just like, okay, go. Do whatever you want. Figure it out. And I think this is a perfect time to have a couple test paint strokes before you go to Indy and then welcome Green Bay in week six is in seven. So, yeah, it's the offense to go and then really, really have the defense just hammer home.

Two, three takeaways. Show the prowess of the defense and make this a no-douder. Have Kyler Murray sitting the pine in the fourth court. That's the goal. Victory formation, Kyla Murray, sitting down 20% starting the fourth quarter. That makes a ton of sense. And I think with that,

the Cardinals should go up tempo early. The Titans defense played a ton last week, back-to-back road games. You want to wear them out so that you know that the Titans play bad in fourth quarters. If you can get a fast start and you could play with tempo and make Kyler Murray feel comfortable and get some dump-offs to running backs

and the Titans like to change personnel, they like to rotate their personnel, they rotate safeties, they rotate linemen, they rotate lineback, they're rotating all the time. You prevent them from doing that. You wear them out early so that they're more tired at the end. After the Titans' offense inevitably can't stay on the field and sustain drives. I think that's key and likewise for the Titans.

I think starting fast is a key for both teams because the Cardinals are pissed off about how slow their offense has started. So that erases those negative feelings if you get on the board early. And then for the Titans, dude, you know how they're. this goes. They're 0 and 4. They're not happy. And if you get out and the Cardinals are up 10 to nothing early, all those negative feelings, it becomes a compound problem. It's not just we're down 10 to nothing. We can bounce back. It feels like you're down 100 to nothing from the previous weeks that you've lost. So if the Cardinals get out early and let them know like, you guys suck.

We're going to beat you. You know what I mean? Not only will that physically wear down the Titans early, but it'll wear down their spirit. And I think this is a team that lacks leadership from the head coach and in the locker room as well, the number one leader, in my opinion, is Cam Ward. That's a rookie. How much can he really look a guy in the eye and say, hey, we've gotten out of this before? Because they haven't gotten out of this before. So I think more than the stamina of the Titans, you could crush their spirit early and they can't rebound from that. So a fast start, whether it's the Titans or the Cardinals, whoever gets that fast start, I think there, if the Titans get a fast start, I think there's a good chance

they can pull an upset here. But if they don't get a fast start and the Cardinals start fast, it's going to be over by halftime. If the Cardinals don't win this game and don't win it convincingly, it's going to be like a loss. Yes. That's really what it comes like. And this is, again, this isn't provado.

This is two organizations that are in completely different parts of their journey. And this is where the Cardinals were in 2023 in some respects. And it's something that the Arizona Cardinals must take advantage of. It could rewrite the ship. and they absolutely need, I hate when people say a get right game, even though I use that in a short earlier this week, this is a got to have it game. It's a got to have a game where the difference is you're supposed to win. The got to have it is more like you got to have it for morale, you got to have it for the

win-loss column, you got to have it to stay up with the NFC West, and you got to have it because you go to Indy, which is no longer a cupcake, and you got to come home and play Green Bay who is one of the best defenses in the NFL, and then you get into your buy. So it'll be fascinating to see. We don't do predictions. Tyler will do his. I know he does his on Fridays. A loss.

I'm predicting a loss. Yeah. And I'm going to say the Cardinals will score at least one more point to the Titans. And we'll do that. That's what we're going to do. Follow him at Tick Tech Titans on Twitter. Follow me at Clanx's Corner. Check us out YouTube.

Freedom where we get your podcast. We will talk to you on our respective podcasts tomorrow.