Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tic Tac Titans, Injury Updates & Rowland's Rewind

Episode Date: September 13, 2019

Today on Locked On Titans we cover the latest injury updates, step in the film room for Tic Tac Titans and go back in time for Rowland's Rewind.Follow:@TicTacTitans@LockedOnTitansand subscribe today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Thank you for joining me, Titans fans. It is the beginning of our football week. Really excited to have another installment of Tic Tac Titans for you today. I'm going to break down the Colts offense and defense, show you some ways that the Titans can take advantage. Also, in our first segment, I'm just going to go over some news and notes for the day, some of the hot topics. And then in our final segment, I'm going to do a little bit of Roland's Rewind as we did last weekend. And we will talk about the last time the Titans played the Colts. Really excited to get into all of it with you guys. I want to remind you, I am going to have a show every weekday throughout the season. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify,

wherever you listen to your podcasts if you aren't already. Let's get it. Google Play, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts if you aren't already. Let's get it. Let's get into the news. So on the injury report, no Kevin Pamphil. Not shocked by that at this point. It seems that his injury is a lot more serious than was first reported or first anticipated. Looks like he may be out for the game this week, so that'll be the first two weeks. Reggie Gilbert also out. He has yet to practice for the Titans since he was acquired. Hopefully, he's able to get on the field soon with a knee injury. And then David Flewellen, looks like he injured his hamstring and is going to be out. He's been riddled with injuries the entire season. And the Titans general manager, John Robinson, and coach Mike Rabel must really have a place in their heart for David Flewellen for him to last on the roster this long without really being that talented of a runner, more of just a special team's hand. on or if Derrick Henry were to get hurt and there's only Deion Lewis or God forbid both of them get hurt the Titans basically don't have a running back whatsoever so really curious that

Daylon Dawkins who was signed back onto the practice squad today after being waived late last week really surprising that there isn't a fourth running back on this roster with all of the injuries that Flewellen has been going through. Moving forward, it is going to be Eddie George and Steve McNair's jersey retirement ceremony this Sunday. One of the biggest reasons I personally follow this team and love this team is because of Eddie George. He was my favorite player as a young kid growing up, watching him run. So anytime the Titans take a weekend, and I'm surprised it's taken this long anyways, close to 20 years, 20 years almost, from the Super Bowl appearance. Surprised it took this long, but finally it's happening. Eddie George, Steve McNair will have their jerseys retired.

On that note, tons of alumni will be at the stadium, including Keith Bullock, Frank Wycheck, Derek Mason, Kevin Dyson, Chris Johnson, and Blaine Bishop. There are plenty more who will be there and engaging in activities with the fans and across the campus in Nashville. So really exciting for Titans fans, the city of Nashville, to experiencing that. And that should just add extra motivation for the Titans to take care of this huge division game against the Colts. Having all the Titans greats and classic Titan alumni in the building should just add that extra motivation and that want to to get the job done. So hoping the Titans are able to do that. Really excited to get into Tic Tac Titans in our next segment where I'm going to break

down what the Titans need to take advantage of on the Colts offense and on the Colts defense and give you a something to look for in the game on Sunday and hopefully the Titans will be successful like the Chargers were able to be successful in these areas against the Colts. Can't find a workout that keeps you engaged? Peloton is an immersive cardio experience with real-time features that will always keep you coming back. Get $100 off accessories when you purchase the Peloton bike and get a great cardio workout at home. Go to onepeloton.com and use promo code LOCKED to get started. Okay, so we just covered some news and notes out of the game and some of the hot topics for the day. I want to jump right into Tic Tac Titans and get you guys ready for the game against the Colts. So I was taking a look at the tape.

and get you guys ready for the game against the Colts. So I was taking a look at the tape. I jumped in the film room, and I noticed a couple of things about the Colts, specifically on defense, that the Titans are going to be able to take advantage of. So we're going to cover two plays that I noticed from the Colts-Chargers game that I think gives us a hint into how the Titans can attack the Colts' defense. So the Colts have a really aggressive defense. Their defensive coordinator, Matt Eberflus, is big on bringing pressure to the line of scrimmage. Not always blitzing a ton of guys, but he does like to crowd the line of scrimmage

and move around the defense a lot to try to switch up what the offense thinks is going on. But either way, the defenders are very aggressive. They like to come up towards the line of scrimmage. The defensive line like to shoot gaps and penetrate. That is their scheme. So one way that the Chargers were able to take advantage of them, two plays, like I said. The first play is going to be in the middle of the second quarter.

The Chargers are up 7-6. They motion the tight end outside, which leaves their talented wide receiver Keenan allen in the slot in the middle now I'm looking for adam humphries to be able to do these sort of things against the colts So keenan allen is playing in the slot The colts play a couple rookies on defense that the titans specifically can take advantage of like the colts were able to Kari willis number 37 is a rookie safety for the Colts.

Essentially, he's over top of Keenan Allen. Now, the Colts take advantage of teams by getting pressure on them, forcing them into mistakes. Well, Phillip Rivers is a Hall of Fame quarterback, so he sees what's going on. We're going to need Marcus to be able to analyze the Colts' defense pre-snap as well. So they go into a play-action fake. What this does is it causes the Colts' aggressive defenders,

this time No. 37, Kari Willis, jumps up into the hole where he thinks the run might go. Well, who slides right behind him? Keenan Allen. So Phillip Rivers completes the play-action fake that gets the Colts' safety out of position and is able to hit Keenan Allen for about a 20-yard gain over the middle. Phillip Rivers completes the play-action fake that gets the Colts' safety out of position and is able to hit Keenan Allen for about a 20-yard gain over the middle.

The Titans are going to need chunk plays. They were able to hit some of those to A.J. Brown, but they're going to need to do it more and do it against the Colts' limited linebackers. Now, the Colts have great linebackers in run defense. Darius Leonard, who was a rookie last year, is one of the best linebackers in the NFL in run defense. He does struggle a tad bit in pass coverage. You're going to see that in our next play too, a rookie linebacker for the Colts. We're going to the fourth quarter now. 12 minutes left. It's 24-16. The Chargers have the ball. The Colts rookie linebacker, Bobby Okereke. Check me on the pronunciation if you must, but I think I'm pretty close.

Okereke is playing linebacker at this time, and again, the Colts go to play action. So they have tight end Hunter Henry this time, looking for Delaney Walker. Keenan Allen and Delaney Walker were able to take advantage of the Colts over the middle. We're going to need Delaney Walker and Adam Humphreys to do the same thing. So on this one, Hunter Henry is lined up at tight end. Wide receiver motions past him, motions back into the formation. Phillip Rivers hikes the ball. Play action fake to the running back again.

It gets the linebackers and the safety to creep just a split second forward, just one half step forward. The rookie is confused by the play action fake. Next thing you know, Hunter Henry is right behind him now. Okereke makes a good recovery here. He's able to recover back to Hunter Henry's hip, and it is a good throw by Phillip Rivers. But that split second, that inch, as Al Pacino

would tell us, football is a game of inches, and that simple inch of the rookie biting on the play-action fake was enough to give Hunter Henry the space to make the catch. Delaney Walker is going to have to do the same thing. The Titans are going to have to take advantage of the Colts' aggressiveness by using play action and crossing routes over the middle to get over top of the linebackers. Marcus is going to have to make some good throws and tight coverage over the middle, but that is where the Colts' defense is most susceptible. So now we're going to go ahead and take a look at the Colts' offense and show you something they have a lot of success doing that the Titans are going to have to be ready for. The Colts are a different

team with Jacoby Brissett than they are with Andrew Luck. I don't know if that needs to be mentioned, but it's obvious by their game plan last week as well. So on the field, they're showing us that they're going to play different. They're going to rely heavily on the run game. The Colts are very talented on the left side of the offensive line. Quentin Nelson was an all-pro as a rookie and has enough highlights for a guard to outnumber many of the great guards in NFL history at this point. The dude's a walking highlight film for an offensive lineman. He's very talented, and there's no denying it. Anthony Costanzo at tackle.

Excellent tackle. Wouldn't say he's one of the top three or five at his position in the NFL, but he is very solid, so he's probably in the next five and definitely a top 10 left tackle. Ryan Kelly at center is an excellent center as well. He's really athletic and he's able to get to defensive linemen who are maybe shaded to a strong side. He's able to reach them as they would say in the NFL. So that's essentially imagine the center with the ball down, the run is going to the left, and the defensive tackle is on his left shoulder. So he's going to have to be super athletic and quick to get in front of him so that that defensive tackle can't disrupt the play.

Well, Ryan Kelly's excellent at that, and we see it in multiple examples why the Colts are on offense. Marlon Mack was able to pile up 174 yards on the ground. About 90 of that came in two plays going off the left side. So I'm going to break it down for you here in our third play. What the Colts did on multiple occasions in both plays, they show this same motion. They'll bring Jack Doyle from the weak side of the formation, the right side, over to the left side. They bring him in motion once Jack Doyle sets. They will run an outside run to the left side. They bring him in motion once Jack Doyle sets. They will run an outside run to the left side. So Marlon Mack on our first play, it's the third quarter first play of the second half.

The Chargers are up 17-6. So the Colts here, even though they're down by 11 points, are still committed to their game plan and committed to the run. They give a nice halfback sweep to the outside. Quentin Nelson, who, as I've mentioned before, one of the best guards in the NFL, pulls to the left side, makes a nice block up the field. Ryan Kelly continues to push his man to the sideline. Marlon Mack is able to cut up behind both of them for about a 25-yard gain.

This is going to get the Colts off to a fast start. These type of plays set up play action for Jacoby Brissett and allows him to make easy throws and easy reads. So have to shut down the left side run. We're going to go to the fourth play. Left side run once again. This time, Jack Doyle is in motion. And dissimilar to the last play we talked about where Quentin Nelson

was pulling out to the outside on a halfback sweep, now it's a simple outside zone concept. Same athleticism needed by Ryan Kelly. The defender is on his outside shoulder, the shoulder that is the side of the run. He makes a super athletic move to get in front of him and cut him off. Quentin Nelson is able to get up to the second level with his athleticism and get his hat on a linebacker, while Anthony Costanzo just pushes his man out of the frame to the left.

Marlon Mack is able to get up the sideline for 63 yards and a touchdown. Mind you, this is in the middle of the third quarter with the Colts down 24-9. The Colts are still running the ball to the left side and getting nice chunks, including, like I said, this 63-yard touchdown. Really incredible stuff. That's an outside zone and a power play to the outside. Two different concepts in the run game, both successful.

The Titans will have to be ready for the run to the left side. The Colts' right side of their offensive line is nowhere near as talented as the left, kind of similar to how the Titans are when Taylor LeJuan is in the lineup. So it'll be important for the Titans' defense to be ready for that, to have extra help on that side. The Titans have great cornerbacks, great linebackers, and great safeties who are versatile in run coverage and in pass coverage. They'll need them to make sure tackles and take on blocks and be able to shut down that run to the left side. If the Titans can force the Colts to run right

and shut down the run game in general, they'll have a lot of success taking care of Jacoby Brissett in the passing game. So that'll be key. Once again, just want to recap for you. On defense, the Colts are susceptible to play action and crossing routes over the middle. Look for Delaney Walker and Adam Humphreys to take advantage. On offense, the Colts like to run outside runs to the left

where their talented offensive linemen reside. And they like to bring motion with Jack Doyle to the strong side to help with that push. So watch out for those things, Titans fans. Really excited to see the X's and O's chess battle that goes on on Sunday. Can't wait to see that. And we'll cover how those things played out on Monday and Tuesday next week. Specifically Tuesday, we'll jump into our Tic Tac Tuesday segment and kind of follow up on this and how the game went. Hopefully it's good news. So that covers our news and notes. That covers our Tic Tac Titans segment.

In our third segment, we're going to do a little bit of Rollins Rewind. I'm just going to take a look at the last time the Titans played the Colts. As you guys know, it was not a good result for us, but I think there's a lot of positives to be taken from that game. So we'll check that out next. Rollins Rewind. All right, so we covered the news in the notes. We jumped in the film room for a little X's and O's talk in Tic Tac Titans.

And now I just want to cover the last time that we played the Colts because although it wasn't a result that Titans fans were happy about, I do think that there are a lot of positives to be taken from that game. So just to remind you, it was week 17, December 30th of 2018. The Titans and the Colts had a one-off winner-goes-home game to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, due to Mariota's numerous injuries, he was unable to go to a lot of met with a lot of debate in the fan base but the organization decided it was best for his future to not let him play that game well that that gave the Titans no chance to win not saying that it was a bad decision but the reality is is it gave the Titans no chance to win so it's 24 to 17 in the fourth quarter. The Titans have the ball. They're driving near

midfield, and then Blaine Gabbert, Blaine Gabbert's. One of the worst interceptions that I've ever seen thrown in my entire life. Blaine Gabbert rolls out to his right-hand side and essentially throws the ball right out of Colts defender. I've watched the playback to prep for this segment about four times and still I can't exactly figure out what the heck he's doing. I guess that would tell you why Blaine Gabbert is no longer the backup quarterback of this football team and Blaine Gabbert was a backup who actually performed pretty well for the Titans last year. So I try not to bury him or anything like that. But that interception when the Titans are down by seven and actually have a legitimate chance to win the game,

I guess maybe Titans fans, including myself, are silly to think that the Titans had a chance to win that game with Blaine Gabbert because eventually the game was going to be on his shoulders. He was going to have to make a play and we should have all known that he was not going to be able to do that. Blaine Gabbert throws the pick. The Colts really just suffocate the Titans the rest of the way. Blaine Gabbert ended up 18 for 29, 165 yards, and two interceptions with one touchdown. But one thing I did want to hit on that the Titans do need to be wary of,

as I mentioned in Tic-Tac Titans, that run to the left side with Marlon Mack was able to produce about 90 yards and just two carries against the Chargers. Well, he went for 119 yards on 25 carries and a touchdown against the Titans in this game in week 17 of last year. Marlon Mack is the key to beating the Colts now that they don't have Andrew Luck. If you shut down Marlon Mack with Andrew Luck, he was still talented enough to make a play and win the Colts the ballgame. But now, Jacoby Brissett, while being a pretty decent starting quarterback,

as I've said all week, he doesn't have the talent of Andrew Luck to go out and win you a ballgame. The Colts are going to be a decent team this year off the strength of their total roster, not because Brissett can carry them along. So the Titans are in a similar situation realistically as well. So they're going to need to stop Marlon Mack, which was not done, especially the Titans run defense was solid last season, but still the Colts offensive line is so talented they were able to let Marlon Mack get close to 120 yards rushing. There's no way that the Titans are going to be able to win this football game

by allowing Marlon Mack to get over 100 yards rushing. So we need to take from the past and from this rewind, push it forward into this season, must shut down the run at all costs, especially runs going to the left side, which we learned in Tic-Tac Titans. So really appreciate all you guys joining me today. Tic Tac Titans was excellent. I hope you guys learned a lot. I hope you have something to look for schematically going into the game on Sunday.

Went over the news and notes. Not a lot other than injury updates and some of the exciting stuff happened at the stadium on Sunday with the alumni players and the jersey retirement. We did do a little Rollins rewind. Hopefully we can learn from the past and not get swept by the Colts this season because it would just not sit well with me. I'm tired of the Colts.

I'm tired of them and their fans. I'm done. Anyways, moving forward, tomorrow, I'm going to do a general preview of the game, give you my predictions, and go over who I think is the key to the Titan success, which will hit on some of the things that I talked about today. And we will also, as we did last week, take a look at my beautiful dark twisted fantasy

preview and give you some Titans specific fantasy players who you can use in daily fantasy or you can use in your season long leagues. So we'll talk about that. And then we'll wrap up with a Keeping It Plus 100 and talk about the betting line for the Titans, the over and under. If you guys are interested in placing any wagers or anything like that, we'll do our best to use our inside knowledge as Titans fans and hash out what the right plays would be.

Really enjoy going over it with you guys. Thank you for joining me. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.