Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - #TicTacTitans - Adam Humphries Revenge Game, Logan Ryan Film Breakdown & Rowland's Rewind

Episode Date: October 24, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it's a kickoff Thursday. The football week has begun. Really excited to jump into a great weekend with all the sports really rocking right now. In today's episode, we are gonna talk about Adam Humphreys and his impact on the game on Sunday

against his former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and why it's gonna be important for him to really get things going against his former team. In our second segment, we are going to jump into the film room for some Tic Tac Titans and take a look at how effective Logan Ryan was on Sunday against Keenan Allen, one of the league's top slot receivers. So excited to jump into that with you guys. In our third segment, as we do every Thursday, we are going to jump into

Roland's Rewind and take a look at a bittersweet memory with the last time the Titans played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So we will get to that all in today's show. Let's get it. Your Tennessee Titans lead story is Adam Humphreys and his first opportunity to go against his former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Adam Humphreys was signed in the offseason as a free agent by John Robinson to play slot receiver for the Titans after four productive seasons in Tampa Bay. In his career there, Adam Humphreys was able to rack up 219 catches, 2,329 yards, and nine total touchdowns. His last season in Tampa Bay last year was clearly and obviously his most productive of his career. He was able to rack up 76 catches, He was able to rack up 76 catches, 816 yards, and 5 touchdowns. He had a very good relationship and very good chemistry with quarterback Jameis Winston,

who the Titans will see on Sunday. So far this season, Adam Humphreys' production has been limited as the offense hasn't really been able to get going whatsoever. He only has 25 catches for 229 yards and zero touchdowns. It'll be very important, though, for Adam Humphreys to get going against the Buccaneers as they have really struggled in pass defense so far this year. Currently, they are dead last in the NFL, allowing 304 passing yards per game. They are ranked first, though, with only 68 rushing yards allowed per game. So it'll be important for the Titans to be able to get the passing game going, not just the deep throws and intermediate throws,

but the short passing game and the screen game that will act as an extension of the run game, which may struggle against a really talented run defense. So far this season, the Buccaneers have really struggled with threats over the middle. In week one, George Kittle of the 49ers was able to go for eight catches for 54 yards. In week two, Greg Olson, the Panthers' tight end, was able to go for six catches, 110 yards, while slot receiver Curtis Samuel was able to go for five catches for 91 yards. It continues in week three, tight end for the Giants, Evan Ingram, six catches, 113 yards and a touchdown. Slot receiver Sterling Shepard, seven catches, 100 yards and a touchdown. In week four,

the Los Angeles Rams, slot receiver Cooper Cupp, nine catches, 121 yards and a touchdown. slot receiver Cooper Cupp, nine catches, 121 yards and a touchdown. Slot receiver for the Saints in week five, Michael Thomas, 11 catches, 182 yards, two touchdowns. Tight end, Jared Cook, four catches, 41 yards, a touchdown. And then in week six, the last game for the Buccaneers against slot receiver Curtis Samuel for the Panthers again, he had four catches, 70 yards, and a touchdown. So clearly throughout the entire season, it's obvious that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers really struggle over the middle and underneath with their slot receivers and their tight ends. So the Titans will also have to be able to take advantage of this. Another aspect of the Buccaneers defense is the amount that they blitz. Currently, the Buccaneers are second in the

NFL just to the Baltimore Ravens with a blitz percentage of 47.2%. So on 47.2% of defensive snaps, defensive coordinator for the Buccaneers, Todd Bowles, is blitzing. What that will cause is the offense to have to get rid of the ball quickly. And when you get rid of the ball quickly, you're going to need people to win one-on-one in their route. You're not going to be able to scramble around for a long time and kind of play backyard football. The defense will get there by then. You're not going to be able to wait for plays to develop and routes to develop deep down field. That's not going to be an option for you either because the Blitz is going to get there by then, especially with the Titans offensive line that has struggled with the Blitzes and stunts and combination games from the defensive line. That's something that the Titans

offense has really struggled with, in my opinion, due to the coaching and the communication that's being coached with the Titans offensive line. So offensive line coach Keith Carter, I think, should get a lot of the blame for their inability to deal with some of these stunts and some of these creative things defensive lines are doing. I wish the guys were coached up a little better on how to handle those, but one way or another, they're going to see a lot of them on Sunday against the Buccaneers. So getting the ball out quickly, having your wide receiver win immediately on his route and be open is Adam Humphreys' specialty. That's why he was given the money that he was given and that's why he's here with the Tennessee Titans. So it'll be important for him, not just because it's his former team,

but because of the way that their defense, the Buccaneers' defense plays, it'll be important for Adam Humphreys to get things going. In our second segment, we are going to do Tick-Tack Titans and jump into the film room for some X's and O's. I am going to break down Logan Ryan and his contributions to the game on Sunday. He was able to shut down or really make it difficult on one of the best slot receivers in the NFL in Keenan Allen. And he was just all over the field making plays for the Titans in the run game and in pass defense. So I want to highlight that. We're going to step into the film room and do that

in our second segment. As always in our third segment, we're going to do Rollins Rewind, so we will get to that eventually. Before we do get to Tic Tac Titans, I want to remind you guys that MyBookie is the premier place to bet on all your favorite pro and college football action every weekend. So if you're going to bet this season, do the smart thing and bet with the best at MyBookie. Visit MyBookie.ag. Use promo code LOCKEDON to activate the offer. Tick,Tack Titans. Okay, Titans fans.

So as always, I'm going to be putting the visuals to line up with these on my Twitter account at Tick-Tack Titans. So go there, follow my account, and check out the visuals that go with this breakdown. But what I want to do for you is I want to give you an idea of everything that Logan Ryan is doing for this defense. I feel that he is one of the most underrated players on the defense, not because people doubt his talent, but because people don't really understand how valuable he is as a cornerback, as a safety, as a linebacker for this defense. This Titans defense

is able to stay in their nickel personnel most of the time, which is just four down linemen, two linebackers, five defensive backs. That's the Titans' best lineup out on the field at all times. We're going to have Harold Landry, Cameron Wake, now Jarrell Casey, and Jeffrey Simmons in the middle with Rashawn Evans, Jayon Brown, and Rashawn Evans at linebacker, and then Adorey, Malcolm, Logan, Kenny, and Kevin in the secondary. That's the Titans' best personnel grouping on defense. It matches up the best with what other offenses want to do.

And the only reason that they're able to do that is because of how good Kenny Vaccaro and especially Logan Ryan are at basically playing linebacker. So Logan Ryan does that in two of our examples, but in one of our examples, he also is effective in a zone. And then another of our examples, he's effective against Keenan Allen in man coverage with the game on the line in the fourth quarter. So I'm really excited to get into all of this with you guys.

Logan Ryan has been possibly the best player on the defense all season, and you'll see why with some of these plays. So we're going to jump into it. This is the very first play of the game. The Chargers are in a shotgun formation. They have the tight end on the line of scrimmage next to the tackle to the left, and they have trips wide receivers to the right with Keenan Allen in the outside slot.

The Titans are showing man here. They have Malcolm Butler inside most slot, lined up about two yards across from the Chargers wide receiver. They have Logan Ryan looking like he's in man coverage directly across from Keenan Allen. And then they have Adory Jackson on the outside directly across from Mike Williams. So it looks like they are going to be in man coverage here as they don't have a cornerback on the other side with the tight end. So the Titans are showing man here on the very first play of the game. What they do though is they have right before the snap,

Adory Jackson kind of creeps backwards and Logan Ryan takes a few steps forwards. And what they're going to do here is they're going to have Adory actually run far back and make this a cover to zone. With Logan Ryan playing the underneath to the sideline. Well, the Chargers call a pretty good play for man. If the Titans were in man, this would have worked. So what they want to do here is the outside receiver, Mike Williams, runs an in. And they're hoping that Logan Ryan goes inside with the in

while they're doing that Keenan Allen from the slot runs kind of a go route a streak but bends it towards the sideline to try to get away from the safety well Phillip Rivers throws the ball and Logan Ryan recognizes it instead of going down underneath on the in route that we talked about from Mike Williams he darts backwards as he sees Keenan Allen going outside up the field towards the sideline And he's able to dive and knock the ball away would have been a huge play for the Chargers Really set up the momentum for the game for them on the first play So it's really important that Logan Ryan was able to read and zone coverage what the route Combination was and have a really big pass defense

and keep it from getting into Keenan Allen's hands and kind of prevent him from getting hot on the play. So we're going to move to our second play, which coincidentally is the second play of the game. We're going to have the Titans lined up in basically a 4-3 here with Harold Landry. They have Wesley Woodyard, Cameron Wake out there, Jarrell Casey, Daquan Jones and Rashawn

Evans and they're also going to have Logan Ryan essentially playing linebacker and what they want to do here is they they want to run a play to Melvin Gordon to the right side and Phillip Rivers hands it off pretty quickly what you see Logan Ryan do here is kind of what I was talking about at the beginning of the segment with his ability to play linebacker and keeping the Titans best personnel grouping on the field. Logan Ryan darts in from his linebacker position, is far too quick for any of the Chargers offensive linemen, fullback, or tight end to see, and he takes down Melvin Gordon two yards deep in the backfield for a tackle for loss. Just an excellent play from Logan Ryan, and that kind of physicality and versatility is what makes him one of the most dynamic players on this defense. Play three is a similar situation with Logan Ryan playing linebacker, essentially,

in a 4-3 linebacker situation. They do have Roberson out playing as the outside linebacker or the defensive end in this look with Harold Landry as opposed to Cameron Wake, who I said in play two was playing in the defensive end. It's actually Roberson out there. But what they're able to do here with this play is the Chargers are trying to line up just a typical inside zone. They're going to bring Hunter Henry, who is playing tight end for them, kind of down back into the middle to hopefully pick up someone in the center and give Melvin Gordon a rushing lane to the outside. The Titans really out scheme them on this play.

The Chargers are an 11 personnel, so they have three wide receivers out on the field. And while the Titans have the personnel to match that, like I I said Logan Ryan is basically a linebacker so the Titans are in a base defense formation with four down linemen and three linebackers for this run play and the Chargers don't have the numbers quite frankly so as Hunter Henry peels back from his tight end position on the right into the middle to try to pick someone up Rashawn Evans and Logan Ryan are both there waiting. He hits Rashawn Evans. Logan Ryan puts a swim move on him, gets into the backfield, and drops Melvin Gordon for another two-yard loss. Just absolutely excellent in the run game by Logan Ryan. Not many cornerbacks or safeties at that that you're finding playing this kind of defense and showing this kind of versatility and physicality

on a week-to-week basis. It's really special is what it is from this defense. We're seeing with people like Kevin Byard and Rashawn Evans. It's just special, the versatility, the talent, the physicality. It's something that we all need to appreciate every single week. And with that in mind, I'm going to go to our last play and what could be the most impressive. It's very difficult to cover people one-on-one in the NFL. We're going up against some of the best athletes and some of the best in the absolute

world at doing these things, at running these routes. Someone like Keenan Allen, who doesn't have incredible explosive athleticism, he's just an absolute technician. He's a stud when it comes to route running. He knows how to leverage people's bodies and their momentum. As Mike Vrabel said in his press conference this week, he's really good with changing speeds and bursting out of routes and setting people up and not always going 100%, not always throwing his fastball. And those type of things are things that us as fans or analysts or just people watching the game who aren't down on the field, it's hard to really pick up on a lot of those nuances that are being taught and that are being picked up by guys.

So it's really cool to see Logan Ryan be able to kind of fend off someone like Keenan Allen in this situation. So I want to set the stage for you guys. It's late in the fourth quarter when it matters most. There's about a minute left in the fourth quarter. The Chargers are on about the 16-yard line, and they're going to go ahead and try to take their shot with their best wide receiver and put a touchdown on the board

and win this ballgame once and for all. They have Keenan Allen in the outside slot to the right. They are in five wide. They do have Austin Eckler and Hunter Henry on the field. That's another thing that offenses are trying to do is give you personnel packages, three wide receivers, a tight end end and a running back, make it look like they're going to be in a certain formation. And then they can come out in five wide because of the versatility of Hunter Henry at tight end and Austin Eckler at running back who destroyed the Titans for a second

straight matchup out of the backfield. So here they're in a five wide formation with those two versatile guys out on the field. Like I said, they have Keenan Allen in the outside slot to the right, and the Titans are just in man coverage, press man coverage lined up one-on-one. What we see from Logan Ryan here is what we've seen all year, just excellent technique and a big play when it counts the most. Keenan Allen runs about five yards, gives him kind of a fake hesitation step, and then darts out to the corner of the end zone as quick as he can. And Phillip Rivers throws a decent pass on this one.

It's towards the outside. It's towards the sideline where only Keenan Allen should be able to get it. But we just see an excellent play from Logan Ryan, who's able to stay with him, in phase stay connected at his hip he basically runs the route with Keenan Allen and as soon as the ball arrives to the back shoulder he's able to get his right arm into the catching pocket and disrupt the ball and disrupt the play and prevent a touchdown and give the Titans defense another chance and we saw how that turned out all they needed was a few chances and they were able to make a big play force a fumble and win the game

they were only able to do that because of the opportunity that Logan Ryan provided them throughout the game consistently, shutting down their best, most important weapon in Keenan Allen. So bravo, Logan Ryan. He's been doing this all season long. You catch glimpses of it, but once you watch the tape, step in the film room and check out the X's and O's, it becomes very apparent that he is one of the most skilled corners and one of the most versatile players in the entire league so had a

great time breaking down breaking that down for you guys I am going to post the visuals like I said on my Twitter account on Thursday probably mid-afternoon so you guys can see the plays that I'm talking about and and marry that up with some of my audio breakdowns here. Should get you excited for those. Hope that you go check those out on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. In our third segment, we are going to do Roland's review. I'm going to talk about the last time we played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was about four seasons ago. And as I said in the intro, it is a little bit bittersweet. So we'll talk about why that is next. Before we do, I do want to remind you guys that Peloton is offering a limited time offer. Get $100 off accessories when you purchase

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the Tennessee Titans played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As I've mentioned all show, it was a very, very bittersweet game to re-watch. It was week one of the 2015 season. If you recall, the first career game for Marcus Mariota. He was pretty great and led the Titans to a 42-14 victory. And I remember that moment. I remember being so excited for what the future holds. And I will quickly say, Marcus delivered a playoff win in some really good moments. So I will not call his tenure here a failure in any way. But I just do remember the excitement coming out of this game against the number one overall pick. And it felt like at that time, the Titans had made the right decision and picked the right guy.

As we know, things didn't work out perfectly. But as I mentioned before, he's done enough to have a pretty solid legacy here in the time that he was the starter. The Titans, as I said, won 42-14. Marcus had 209 passing yards, four touchdowns. Most came early in the game as the Titans were able to get a solid lead. This was pretty funny. The leading rusher for the Titans was Bishop Sankey, who had 74 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown, even had a receiving touchdown. Bishop Sankey actually played locally in my area, so that was pretty cool. It was a pretty cool game to get Marcus's game and then Bishop Sankey going as well. Kendall Wright, what a name, was fantastic.

He was able to catch that first play long touchdown from Marcus Slant that he took to the house with that quick speed and the burst that he did have. He had four catches for 101 yards and one touchdown, but almost like 60 to 70 of those yards, 50 of those yards came on that one play in the first quarter for the yards and one touchdown, but almost like 60 to 70 of those yards, 50 of those yards came on that one play in the first quarter for the Titans' first touchdown. Cornerback Cody Sensavall had an interception. That was pretty exciting. Jameis Winston showed exactly what he was going to be.

He was 16 for 33, so not very accurate. 210 yards. He had two touchdowns he also had two interceptions and one of them was to uh Deontrez Mount uh Titans outside linebacker on a tried to set up a screen and it was just a miserable decision terrible throw had no chance to throw it directly to Mount for the interception so some of the boneheaded turnovers that Jameis Winston is prone to make in his career were right there evident in his very first game. He also had two fumbles. He only lost one, I believe, but just a turnover machine and it's been obvious since the

first game. I do want to say that the Titans struggled against the tight end, which is something they've done this year as well. You look at Hunter Henry's game last week. It was pretty solid. He was able to make pretty good work of Kenny Vaccaro out there. Austin Safarian Jenkins, that is a name. ASJ was able to rack up five catches, 110 yards, and two touchdowns on the Titans, so they'll need to make sure they shut down the even more talented tight end options that they have now in Cameron Bray and OJ Howard. I do want to mention, since we talked about Adam Humphreys' tenure in Tampa Bay at the beginning of the show, it was his first season in Tampa Bay, his rookie season. He did have two catches for 14 yards. So Adam Humphreys was out there.

But the Titans were able to win the game 42-14. It was the start of the Mariota era. So I have to say that it was bittersweet because he did play so well and Titans fans were so excited but looking back on it now and and what we know now it just makes it a little bit sad but great win great moment in Titans history if everyone goes back to that moment they can't say that they weren't really excited so fun to re-watch that game see the Titans win and some of our throwbacks are not as fun to watch. So that one was at least enjoyable,

and shout-out to Marcus for a really fun performance and what we thought was going to be the start of possibly a Super Bowl run. But either way, that is under the bridge now. The Titans will look forward to this week where they need to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and get a win to bring them back to.500. So on Friday's show, we are going to do a game preview, keys to the game. We are going to do my beautiful dark twisted fantasy preview, keeping it plus 100 and song of the AFC South, most likely

to take a look at where the landscape is at this point in time. We have to expand our view from the division to the conference in general. It's obvious the Titans, if they are going to make the playoffs, probably going to be fighting for a wild card spot. So we need to keep our eye on where everyone is and what rooting interest Titans fans will have throughout the weekend. So we will get to all that tomorrow. Really excited for it. Can't wait.

As always, I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.