Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - THE GOSTKOWSKI GAME: Titans move to 3-0, Game Recap, #TitanUpTitanDown & Song of the AFC South

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

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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, this Victory Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by Visa. Help support your local businesses, whether they're your corner stores,

coffee spots, or favorite shops. Local businesses have always been on your team, supporting you and your community. But right now, more than ever, local businesses need our support. So let's be there for them. The next time you go shopping, make the choice to shop at local businesses.

And look for the contactless symbol and tap to pay with a contactless visa to help support your community because where and how you shop matters. Visa, everywhere you want to be, official partner of the NFL. The Tennessee Titans are undefeated through three weeks, defeating the Minnesota Vikings 31-30, and for a third week in a row, it was a nail-biter, and for the third week in a row, the hero was kicker Steven Gostkowski, and we are going to break everything down on the Locked on Titans podcast today in an episode I am dedicating to one of the all-time greats, Steven Gostkowski, who continues to come up big for the Titans after a tumultuous week one start to his Titans career.

But that is just one thing we have to break down. I'm going to give you guys an entire game recap, talk about what the keys to victory were, and then of course, break down individual performances and tighten up and tighten down. Who had a great day out there and who didn't have such a great day? Obviously, there are going to be some names from the Titans defense. We will cap off the show recapping what the other AFC South members did on Sunday and over the football weekend. So a lot to talk about as the Titans move to 3-0. But it's not just this game recap on a victory Monday.

We have Tic Tac Tuesday tomorrow with the Tic Tac 4-pack. The four most impactful plays from Sunday's win. We have Rewatch Wednesday where I'll be bringing you all of my extra insights and additional analysis from watching the All-22 Coaches tape. Thursday, we will have our Crossover Thursday conversation where we will have Chris, host of the Locked on Steelers, on the show to break down the Steelers game upcoming next weekend. And of course, we have our game preview on a football Friday.

So a lot of great content coming your way this week on the Locked on Titans podcast. Make sure that you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or whatever platform you do stream, and also follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for my TicTacTitan film breakdowns that will be coming out throughout the week. But a big show ahead of us today as the Tennessee Titans move to 3-0. Let's get it! In what was a nail-biter, the Titans were able to move to 3-0 on the season and secure a road victory against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

But they started off very sloppy and slow out of the gate in what would be indicative of their performance on offense and defense throughout the game. Ryan Tannehill was off target on a lot of his throws early on outside of a deep completion to Kalief Raymond. And because of that the Titans settled for field goals in the red zone they were able to amass a six to nothing lead but that would not last long as the Vikings did counter and the Titans got caught with our backup defensive line in the game and surrendered a 39 yard touchdown run to Dalvin Cook to put the Vikings up seven

to six the Titans responded by throwing an interception to Viking safety Harrison Smith as Ryan Tannehill continued to be off target early in the first half. The Vikings were able to take advantage of the Titans' man coverage as Jonathan Joseph and Malcolm Butler at cornerback were targeted early and targeted often and ended up allowing seven catches for 170-plus yards and a touchdown to Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson but it wasn't Jefferson that got the Vikings on the board next it was wide receiver Adam Thielen who got loose from Jonathan Joseph's man coverage in the end zone and the

Vikings took a 14 to 6 lead luckily the Titans though not being very sharp on offense in the first half were able to get another field goal on the board, which would be a common theme in the game, and go into halftime down 14-9. The Titans came out on the Vikings' first possession of offense in the second half and got a pick six, but it was taken off the board from a personal foul from Jadavion Clowney on a crackback block after the interception took place,

and the Titans' offense, back to the sloppiness that I mentioned earlier, was unable to capitalize on that turnover that was forced by the defense. But the Titans got lucky when the Vikings responded with a missed field goal. Then the Titans were able to get another field goal on the board the fourth of the day for Steven Gostkowski. That made the score 17-12 midway through the third quarter. The Vikings offense came out and in two quick plays were able to go 73 yards on the back of a Justin Jefferson 71-yard touchdown pass to go up 12 points 24-12. But here is when Titans star

running back Derrick Henry started to take over the game. The Titans got the run game going in the third quarter, and it led to back-to-back Derrick Henry rushing touchdowns to give the Titans the lead 25-24 at the end of the third quarter. But the Vikings responded again, and Kirk Cousins led them down the field for another touchdown and an incredible catch by Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph the Vikings went for two were unsuccessful and led the Titans 30 to 25 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter the Titans offense as it had done throughout the day came down and were able to set up another, the fifth, Gostkowski

field goal on the day to put them down 30-28, and here is when the Titans defense, although it struggled throughout the day, was able to make plays when it mattered most. The Titans defense forced a punt, got the ball back to the Titans offense, went down, Steven Gostkowski, who was the MVP of the day, kicked his sixth field goal to put the Titans up 31-30. And then in the final possession of the day for the Minnesota Vikings, the Titans pass rush led by Jeffrey Simmons, Jadavion Clowney, and Harold Landry were able to pressure Kirk Cousins consistently and force an interception to seal the game for the Titans. And what was their third takeaway of the day on defense, that is one of the keys to the victory for the Titans.

They were able to force three turnovers and get two sacks on Kirk Cousins. And some of those came in some of the biggest moments of the game. What also needs to be mentioned is the Titans' second half adjustments. They were getting cooked and man coverage in the first half in the second half they went primarily more to zone coverages it was able to confuse Kirk Cousins and stymie the Vikings offense just enough for the Titans to pull off a victory and of course what needs to be mentioned again was the brilliance of Titans kicker Steven Gostkowski who went six for six on the day and made both of his extra

points as well. The Titans needed every single point that Gostkowski offered, and having confidence in Gostkowski after his up-and-down performance in Week 1 is paying off for the Titans and head coach Mike Vrabel big time as he has kicked the game winner three weeks in a row for the Titans. And speaking of Gostkowski's performance, it's time for Tighten Up and Tighten Down where I look at the good and the bad individual performances from the game against the Vikings. And what a nail biter it was. My nerves are shot.

My voice is barely there as I'm sure you guys can tell, but I wouldn't have it any other way. What an exciting victory for the Titans. We are going to get into the individual performances and tighten up and tighten down here in just a moment, but first I want to tell you guys about CBDMD. It doesn't matter if you're a professional athlete, a stay-at-home parent, you spent four hours screaming at your television screen so you're losing your voice. Everyone needs support to make it through the day and luckily our friends at CBDMD have an amazing duo that can

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CBD oil products from CBDMD. Tighten up, tighten down. Let's take a look at some of the individual performances from the Titans victory over the Vikings on Sunday. And we are going to start with the positives, guys. Let's start with our Titan up. And probably the number one Titan up of the entire season so far has to be kicker Steven Gostkowski. Week one, he was up and down, missed a few kicks, missed an extra point.

But when it mattered most, he made the field goal to give the Titans a victory. Flash forward to the game against the Jags when the Titans needed it most. A field goal for the victory. Gostkowski once again proving why he's been one of the best kickers in NFL history. And today, he carried the Titans on his back, making six field goals along a 55, including the game-winning field goal to put the Titans up by one. He hit both of his extra points, that's eight kicks on the day, and he nailed every single one of them.

Absolutely a phenomenal performance. Maybe one of the best kicking performances you are going to see in the NFL all season long. I'd venture to say it will be the best kicking performance in the NFL all season long. The Titans got a veteran when all they had was young options at the kicker position and it is paying dividends in a big way. And also, I gave a major Rollins rant after week one explaining that the Titans cannot continue to have a revolving door at the kicker position. They have to commit. I made an analogy to dating. You can't continue to not be satisfied with every person that you date and always look

for the better option. Better this. At some point you have to settle down young man. Settle down, young woman. Find the right partner and just stick with them through good and bad. The Titans needed to do that at the kicker position, and they've done that with Gostkowski, and look how it's paid off for them. So an absolutely excellent game from Gostkowski. He saved the Titans today.

They're 3-0 because of his performance. A major tighten up for Gostkowski. The biggest tighten up of the season in this episode is dedicated to him. The legend, Steven Gostkowski. The next tighten up for me is rookie cornerback Christian Fulton. We are going to talk in the tighten down segment about some other cornerbacks on the team. But Fulton wasn't targeted very often. Only a few times at max. He was fantastic in coverage. They didn't look his way. They went after the veteran cornerbacks. The reason you didn't hear Fulton's name called a lot is because they weren't throwing at him.

He had a big sack, tackle for loss, just played an overall excellent game for a rookie, and the Titans didn't have a lot of bright spots at the cornerback position, so having Fulton play so well was definitely a sight for sore eyes when you look at the secondary. Next, he probably should have went number two. Ladies and gentlemen, Jeffrey Simmons has arrived. I've been saying it on every Crossover Thursday episode when people ask for a hidden star people don't know about. I've been saying it since the offseason. Jeffrey Simmons is an absolute freak of nature, quite frankly. There's no other way to put it. He dominated the line of scrimmage. It was fantastic watching him take over the game, quite frankly, and at the end of the game, he got such good push in the pocket, although he didn't get the sack late in the game.

Him being in Kirk Cousins' face non-stop totally changed that fourth quarter. So, Jeffrey Simmons, four tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, absolutely dominant, disruptive, one of the best interior defensive linemen in the NFL, period. He's on the Titans, and this is why Jeffrey Simmons was considered a top five talent in the draft last year. He's become that player, dominating week to week. He's become that player, dominating week to week. It's a joy to watch. If you guys have NFL Game Pass, please go re-watch Jeffrey Simmons' performance. Just absolutely fantastic.

Jonu Smith continues to be the Titans' most reliable weapon. And as I mentioned in Friday's game preview, the Vikings do like to run a lot of cover two with their safeties. And the hole in cover two is going to be in the middle. And Jonu Smith was able to take advantage and take a lot of contact on a lot of his catches. Six catches, 61 yards, didn't get in the end zone today, but Jonu Smith took advantage of that cover two, found that hole in the middle of the zone, and took a lot of contact. He was absolutely fantastic. Kalief Raymond, I want to say this about Kalief Raymond real fast. He had three catches, 118 yards, and a lot of people are trying to like dance on people's graves on Twitter for, you know,

giving criticism to Kalief Raymond. In my opinion, the Titans finally put Kalief Raymond back in a position to succeed and do what he does best. Kalief Raymond has straight line speed. He doesn't have a lot of wiggle. He doesn't have a lot of juke moves, things like that. Good change of direction. He's a straight line speed guy. He's good at running double moves that translate into that straight line speed. Once he gets through the move, he's also a good kick returner. He is not an every down wide receiver who's going to run a full route tree all the time. He's not a guy you want to give handoffs to on jet sweeps because he doesn't have good COD change of direction. hand-offs to on jet sweeps because he doesn't have good COD, change of direction.

The Titans put him in a position to succeed today. Going down the field, vertical route, straight line speed, tracking deep balls over his shoulder with the basket catch. That's what Kalief Raymond does well. Finally, the Titans let him do what he does well and quit asking him to do what he doesn't do well. So it's not like Kalief Raymond all of a sudden is an awesome wide receiver and those early season struggles just vanished. He's just not good at what he was being asked to do what he doesn't do well. So it's not like Kalief Raymond all of a sudden is an awesome wide receiver and those early season struggles just vanished. He's just not good at what he was being asked to do early.

Titans finally put him in a position to succeed by asking him to do what he does well, and it paid dividends for the offense. Once again, three catches, 118 yards, big-time plays and catches from Kalief Raymond. The interior offensive line, the trio of Davis, Saffold, and Jones was awesome. Especially in the second half. They started pile driving. And molly whopping the interior defensive line of the Vikings. So when the Titans started to take over in the run game in the second half.

It was because of that interior trio. The tackles were really good too. But I want to shout out Tyson Brillo. He did give up a sack force fumble. Got beat on a run play one time by Yannick Ngakwe, but we're talking about the Titans' fourth tackle, third tackle, but we know that Wilson should be in there. So realistically, the Titans' fourth offensive tackle, I thought he played excellent when he filled in for Taylor LeJuan when LeJuan got hurt.

So big shout out to Tyson Brillo. It wasn't perfect, but when you're looking at the expectations for a fourth offensive tackle, you have to give him his kudos. He played pretty well. Same with Dennis Kelly. The offensive line did play pretty well. Once again, they got things going in the run game later in the second or in the second half later in the game,

but I got to give a shout out to the O-line. They were pretty good. And then, of course, Derrick Henry 119 yards, two touchdowns, looked like himself he's not been bad this year he hasn't been great but he was definitely catching his win there in the second half against the Vikings it was nice to see Derrick Henry let's get into some Titan downs I'll go quickly Arthur Smith what is you doing baby I mean Arthur Smith is still a great offensive coordinator but on a third and five he spread the Titans out in five wide with Derrick Henry and ran uh basically a

pit play a rub play for Derrick Henry where the two inside slot receivers are supposed to go vertical to let Derrick Henry run an end cut behind them to to create space why are we running that play to Derrick Henry? I know that we need to get Henry more involved in the pass game, but that just doesn't fit his skill set at all. What are you doing, Arthur Smith? A critical third down, throwing an in route to Derrick Henry when he split out as a wide receiver. Just not logical.

And then, on the Titans' last two drives, Derrick Henry's running the ball down the Vikings' throat. First down, a wide receiver reverse pass to Adam Humphreys to throw the ball down the field. Follow that up on second down, an eight-yard out route to undrafted free agent wide receiver Nick Westbrook when you have Corey Davis and Jonu Smith on the field. Of course, neither of those plays were successful,

and the Titans ended up not converting and not getting a first down. The very next drive in the fourth quarter for the Titans Derrick Henry's running the ball down the Vikings throat he's got plenty of time to continue to run the ball runs an out route that's almost intercepted to Corey Davis and then runs a quick screen to Adam Humphreys on second down those are the back-to-back plays so just four play calls in the fourth quarter that were mind-numbing from Arthur Smith, especially when you consider how Derrick Henry had gotten it going in the ground game, and the Titans still had time to run the ball on the drive. So what are you doing, Arthur Smith? Not his best game. Ryan Tannehill, also not his best game. He was off the mark early in the game that led the Titans to settling for field goals. He rebounded and threw for over 300 yards passing,

but had no touchdowns on the day, threw an interception as well, and just wasn't his best performance. Not terrible, but not his best performance. Rashawn Evans, not a good game for Rashawn Evans. He was continually being overaggressive, missing the hole, getting cutbacks on him, being washed away on the second level by a Vikings interior offensive line that's really not that talented. So not a great day for Rashawn Evans.

Not a great day for Daquan Jones as well. The backup defensive line of Laurel Murchison and Isaiah Mack were terrible. A lot of the big plays that the Vikings run game had were when the Titans had the backup interior defensive line in there. Daquan Evans, the backup D-line, not a great day. 226 rushing yards for the Vikings on the day. Dalvin Cook's career high of over 180 rushing yards, just not a banner day for the run defense.

Kevin Byard as well hasn't been as great this season as we expect him to be. I'm not burying him now. I expect him to get much better, but Byard didn't have a great day in run defense. The 40-yard rushing touchdown for Dalvin Cook. Byard took a terrible angle trying to get to Dalvin Cook, missed the tackle, so not a great day for Kevin Byard. I just have to be honest. I love the guy to death. Probably my favorite player on the team, but not a great day for Kevin Byard. Even worse day for Jonathan Joseph and Malcolm Butler.

They were targeted consistently over and over and over again. Justin Jefferson, seven catches, 175 yards and a touchdown. Every single one of those catches came on either Joseph or Butler. Right now, the Titans probably have the two, the slowest combination of starting cornerbacks in the NFL, right? Jonathan Joseph, 36. Malcolm Butler already one of the slowest starting corners in the NFL, even though he's just in his early 30s. It's hard out there for the Titans to play man coverage at this time. And that's what Vrabel likes to do, bring pressure

and play man. And it's just hard for the Titans to do that over and over and over when they have the slowest cornerback starting tandem in the NFL, so very disappointing day for the Titans cornerback group outside of Christian Fulton. Jadavion Clowney also, he did get some pressure in there on Kirk Cousins, but just not a great day in run defense. Harold Landry played better, but the Titans were getting washed away they weren't holding contain like I mentioned in the run game and Dalvin Cook was able to get outside so not a great day in run defense from Jadavion Clowney even if he made some good plays and pass pressure later in the game and then finally the Titans third down offense putrid 23%

conversion rate on third down just not not going to get it done. The Titans really got to do better on third down on offense going forward. It's something that they had been doing well at the beginning of the season. The Titans were one of the better teams in the NFL in third down conversion rate, but not today, or not yesterday when you guys are hearing this, obviously recording on Sunday, but not yesterday. So that's something the Titans are going to have to get cleaned up with two really, really tough defenses staring them in the face in Pittsburgh and Buffalo. So that is going to do it for Titan Up and Titan Down.

We are going to get into some of the AFC South recap and take a look at what the Titans division rivals did in this weekend of football. Before we do, I want to tell you guys a little bit more about Bilt Bar. You guys sold out Bilt Bar's inventory last time we ran a deal with them, so I will have no doubt that you will be in line ready to get some more Bilt Bar at BiltBar.com. They have the 12 original flavors that were absolutely fantastic. They added in six new amazing flavors, caramel brownie, cookies and cream, cherry barcia, lemon almond cheesecake, carrot cake, apple almond crisp. They are even deliciouser than ever before. It's not just the taste though.

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locked on and you'll get ten dollars off your next order once again promo code locked on for ten dollars off at built bar.com Song of the AFC South recap. Let's close out today's Victory Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by taking a look at what the Titans division rivals did over the weekend. And we will start with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Over the weekend. And we will start with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Of course they played on Thursday night. And lost to the Miami Dolphins 31-13.

They were completely dismantled. Garner Minshew came back down to earth. The Minshew mania. The Minshew magic ran out you could say. But the Jags were absolutely terrible. And after that hot start against the Colts, they now sit at 1-2, and reality is maybe starting to set in for the Jags that they are not going to be a surprise team this year, and they just may be as bad as everyone thought

they would be before the season kicked off. Then we have the Houston Texans who go to 0-3 after a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-21. The Texans didn't score a single point in the second half after going to halftime leading the game 21-17. They only had 29 rushing yards on the day. They gave up five sacks on Deshaun Watson. Just a despicable second-half performance from the Houston Texans,

who, as I mentioned, now sit at 0-3. It's going to get late early for the Texans if they don't turn things around. With the public sentiment about the Deshaun Watson or not Deshaun Watson but the DeAndre Hopkins trade at the beginning of the year and how the Texans have been viewed as an organization since then I mean if they continue to lose and have a really bad season heads may roll at the end of the year for the Texans and the Titans have a week six matchup against the Texans ahead.

And hopefully they continue this losing streak and the Titans are able to take advantage of them as well. But remember, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the team that just beat the Texans and the Titans have the Steelers next weekend on Sunday. And what will be one of the most high profile matchups in the NFL, two 3-0 teams going at it in Tennessee. So that will be a very interesting game to get into later in the week.

And then finally, the damn Colts. The Indianapolis Colts maybe aren't as bad as we thought they were after week one, but they have played three terrible football teams. The Colts absolutely bullied the New York Jets, who are one of the worst football teams I've ever seen in the NFL in my entire life. They beat the Jets 36-7. Not really a lot to talk about in this game as the New York Jets, they aren't a professional football team right now, quite frankly.

They're just not. They're not a good team. Like I said, one of the worst teams I've ever seen. There's a chance they may go 0-16. Darnold is playing terrible. He doesn't really have much around him. The defense is absolutely gutted. The Jets are horrible.

So I'm not going to give the Colts a bunch of credit for beating the worst team in the NFL. But when you play a bad team, when you're a good team, you should dominate, and the Colts dominated, so clearly the Colts are not going to be a bad team. Damn it. It's unfortunate. It is unfortunate. But anyways, what is fortunate is that the Titans currently lead the AFC South 3-0 on the year.

The Colts are 2-1. The Jags are 1-2. The Texans are 0-3. The Titans lead the AFC South after three weeks of football this season. So that is all very exciting. I'm spent, guys. My emotions are shot. My nerves are fried.

My voice is hanging on by a vocal thread get it okay yep that's enough for me today but I hope you guys do subscribe to the Locked On Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream make sure you follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans as well the TicTac4Pack will

be dropped on Tuesday as part of our TicTac Tuesday tomorrow rewatch Wednesday where I give you my additional analysis from Breaking Down, the coach's film. Crossover Thursday conversation coming up with Chris from the Locked on Steelers podcast. And then, of course, a game preview Friday with my keys to the game, players to watch, schematic deep dive, keeping it plus 100 for your gambling, my beautiful dark twisted fantasy preview for all your fantasy information.

And, of course, the most updated injury report that we have at the time. So a big week ahead. It was a big last week. I'm having a great time breaking everything down with you guys on the Locked on Titans podcast. Make sure that you come back tomorrow for Tic Tac Tuesday. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.