Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - #TicTacTuesday - Titans Playoffs Picture, #TicTacFourPack & Vrabel Zoom Highlights

Episode Date: December 8, 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 Tic Tac Tuesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Pepsi. This football season will be different and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter how you watch this season.

Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through game day and become a member of the League of Football Watchers because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game. It's made for those who watch it. Pepsi made for football watching. Go to madeforfootballwatching.com to check out the latest football watching content from Pepsi. And on today's Tic Tac Tuesday, of course, in the middle of our show, we will have week 13's Tic Tac 4-Pack, where I break down from an X's and O's perspective what took place

in the four most impactful plays from the Titans' loss to the Cleveland Browns. But before we jump into this week's Tic Tac 4-Pack, I want to just rehash for you where the Titans currently stand within the AFC. Who are they battling it out with for positioning? What games remain on their schedule? A big determining factor here in playoff positioning is conference records. determining factor here in playoff positioning is conference records. So we will examine the remaining schedules for these playoff contenders with the Titans as well as the Titans and look at that big determining factor, their AFC conference records. So we will examine what the playoff picture looks like from here to start off our show

before we dive into our Tic Tac 4 pack for this week. Remember, my visual breakdown will be going up on Twitter on Tuesday at Tic Tac Titans. So follow me there for that. But I'm going to break down the four most impactful plays from the Titans loss to the Browns. And then we will cap off today's show. I feel like after a big loss like the Titans experienced over the weekend, we need to hear from the captain of the ship. So I'm going to give you some of the highlights from Mike Vrabel's day after press conference.

He's got some good notes. I thought it gives us some good insight into what he thinks about some of the Titans shortcomings in that game. And I will tell you that I was a little disappointed by Vrabel's answers and his lack of accountability. So we are going to dive into that to close off today's show. So a tic-tac Tuesday here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. Despite a loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday in embarrassing fashion,

the Titans do leave out of Week 13 at 8-4. And although there are a couple more games to play on the schedule for Week 13, the Titans will leave out of this weekend with the AFC South lead, which will make them an automatic top-four seed in the AFC. Now, the Buffalo Bills do take on the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football and if the Bills do lose that game that would put them at eight and four as well with the Titans and because the Titans beat them head-to-head the Titans would win the tiebreaker and be the number three seed. Now if Buffalo is able to win that game and go to

nine and three then just based on their record they would be ahead of the Titans, pushing the Titans down to the number 4 seed. Now, remember, the Titans are tied with the Indianapolis Colts at 8-4, but because the Titans' division record is currently 3-1 and the Colts' division record is currently 2-2, the Titans have that tiebreaker there so we are going to be talking about a bunch of different tiebreaker circumstances based on where the Titans would be seated but if they're able to hold off the Colts win the division title they would be battling with a team like the Buffalo Bills for that third seed it does seem like Pittsburgh and Kansas City have the first two seeds in the AFC wrapped up at this time. Who gets one? Who gets two? We can't know right now, but it seems like those two teams are far superior to the other teams in the AFC.

So let's look at some of the other options that the Titans will be battling it out with. But before we do, let's look at what the Titans have on the schedule upcoming. So of course, the Titans are eight and four currently. They're three and one in the division. That's a key right there. And they're 6-4 in the AFC Conference. That's also a big deal, but not a great record for the Titans there. The Titans play at Jacksonville this weekend, then a game at home against the Detroit Lions. Then they go on the road against the stout Green Bay Packers and finish the season on the road against the division rival Houston Texans.

The Titans are currently 8-4 at this time. I could see them over that final stretch of four games going 2-2, which would make their final record 10-6. I could see the Titans dropping that game to the Green Bay Packers and ultimately dropping that game to the Houston Texans. If the Titans for any reason were to go 1-3 in these games, that could spell disaster because the Buffalo Bills currently have the San Francisco 49ers on the road on Monday Night Football,

but then they're at home against the Steelers, on the road against Denver and New England, and then finish out with a home game against the Dolphins. You could see them going 2-3, 3-2, and that would also put them at 10-6, 11-5. So where the Titans end up will matter, depending on what happens with Buffalo. If they can tie Buffalo, of course they'll win on the tiebreaker.

But looking at the Titans' other biggest threat, the Indianapolis Colts, they're 8-4, and they have a pretty soft schedule ahead at the Raiders against the Texans at Pittsburgh in what could be a useless game for the Steelers at this rate. And then they finish the season at home against Jacksonville. So it's likely the Indianapolis will go 3-1 in that set of four games. That would make them 11-5. Now, one thing that does help the Titans is the Colts are 4-4 in the AFC. So, the Titans would have an advantage if they tie in division record, which I forecast here.

Then it would go to conference record, which the Titans do have a good chance of beating them in that. But with three easy AFC games ahead, the Colts could very well end up at 7-4. So, the Titans are going to be battling it out for number three, number four seed, and also for the AFC South. But as for some wildcard contenders, we have four teams here that will really push the Titans. The Browns are 9-3. They just beat the Titans, so they'll have the head-to-head tiebreaker. They have a home game against the Ravens, and then they go on the road to New York against the Giants and the Jets and finish week 17 against the Steelers, who again could be playing for nothing that late in the year. It's

likely that the Browns will go 3-1 to finish the season, and if the Titans are a wildcard team, they won't have any route to beating them in seeding. And then the Raiders, who sit at 7-5, the Titans can feel a little bit better about their chances to beat out the Raiders. They do have a game against the Colts, then do have a game against the Colts. Then they have a game against the Chargers, a game against Miami, and finish on the road at Denver. That's no easy stretch. The Raiders could very well go 1-3 in that stretch, possibly 2-2 at best,

which would leave them at 9-7. And then finally, the Miami Dolphins are at 8-4. They're a big threat to the Titans. They play home versus Kansas City, home versus New England. That's a tough two-game stretch on the road at the Raiders, on the road at Buffalo. That's a very difficult stretch for the Dolphins. I could see them finishing the season at 9-7. Right now, the Dolphins and the Raiders have a conference record of 5-3. Both of those are technically better than the Titans' record

at 6-4 in the conference, so they'll be battling it out with those teams for playoff seeding going forward. It'll be a very important thing for the Titans to try to bring home the AFC South crown to avoid all of these different tiebreaker scenarios. The last team to talk about is the Baltimore Ravens. They're 6-5. They have a game on Tuesday night against the Dallas Cowboys at home.

They should win that game. On the road against Cleveland, which will be a tough game for both teams. Home versus Jacksonville, an easy one. Home versus the Giants, which could go either way. And then they finish the year at Cincinnati on the road. I see the Ravens finishing out strong here, going 4-1, which would have them finishing at 10-6. So the way that I see it is Buffalo finishes 11-5, Indy finishes 11-5, Cleveland finishes

12-4, the Raiders finish 8-8, Miami finishes 9-7, and Baltimore finishes 10-6, which would put the Tennessee Titans at the number 6 seed in the AFC and would have them with a round one matchup against either the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Kansas City Chiefs. So a tough road ahead. The Titans have to find a way to win their next two games at Jacksonville and versus the Lions to eventually, at worst, missing out on the playoffs or possibly just getting a very low seed

and missing out on their goal of hosting a home playoff game. And if the Titans do in fact want to have that home playoff game, then they're going to have to clean up a ton of what we saw on Sunday against the Browns. I'm going to break down the four most impactful plays from the loss in this week's Tic Tac four pack. We're going to dive into that next. Make sure that you follow me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans so you don't miss that visual

breakdown. And we got a lot coming up throughout the rest of the week. Remember, tomorrow's Rewatch Wednesday is going to be focused on what we can do going forward instead of rehashing everything we've talked about with the Browns game. So make sure that you don't miss that and subscribe to the Locked On Titans podcast

on whatever platform you do stream. But before we get into this week's Tic Tac 4-Pack, I want to tell you guys about Pepsi. Thanks to a lack of natural athleticism or commitment or overbearing sports parents, fewer than 1% of 1% of 1% of people will ever play professional football. But instead of entering the NFL, they've joined another league, the League of Football Watchers. This football season will be different and Pepsi is here to get you ready for game day no matter how you watch. Pepsi is the refreshment you need to power through any game day because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game, it's made for those who watch it. Pepsi,

made for football watching. Go to madeforfootballwatching.com to check out the latest football watching content from Pepsi. It is time for this week's Tick Tack Four Pack, breaking down the four most impactful plays from Week 13 against the Browns. And we are going to dive into what took place in that game and what I thought were the four, I guess, most impactful plays in determining that first half outcome or the ultimate outcome

of the game. There is one play from that second half that really put the nail in the Titans' coffin. So remember, I know I've told you guys a lot. I'm going to continue telling you a lot. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. I will be posting the visual breakdown that goes along with this audio breakdown we're about to dive into. And if you listen to this show, I don't see how you could go without following me on Twitter and checking out all of the Tic Tac Titans film breakdowns that I will be posting up there. I've done one, a Tic Tac 4-pack every week this year. So if you missed any of them, be sure to go back and check those out.

But let's dive into this week 13 Tic Tac 4-pack. Remember though, before we do, big crossover Thursday with Tony Wiggins from Locked On Jags coming up. You won't want to miss that. Subscribe to the Locked On Titans podcast. But play number one of this week 13 Tic Tac Four Pack.

It's the first play where things really started going off the rails for the Titans and it was caused by coaching. So, this is the critical third and one on the Titans' very first drive of the game. They're in a heavy personnel package with an extra offensive lineman on the field. And because the Titans typically would use Ty Sambrello as that extra offensive lineman, and then the Titans would typically use David Questenberry as that extra offensive lineman

because those guys are forced into duty then Cimbrillo gets injured himself now the Titans are using their interior offensive lineman Aaron Brewer an undrafted free agent as a guy who's going to be that extra offensive lineman in those heavy packages so one that's something that Aaron Brewer is not used to doing. So that's step number one and why this is a big mistake. It's third and one, guys. Why in the world? And with this play, it's obvious the Titans wanted to go for it on fourth down.

Why in the world didn't Arthur Smith just run Derrick Henry twice? We talk all week long, the whole NFL talks all the time about how this guy's unstoppable. And you're telling me two cracks, Derrick Henry can't We talk all week long, the whole NFL talks all the time about how this guy's unstoppable, and you're telling me two cracks, Derrick Henry can't get you one yard? Why get cute? Well, Arthur Smith loves getting cute, and I think sometimes when you have these genius play callers and these

offensive minds, they just can't help themselves but do a little bit too much. So the Titans come out in that heavy personnel. They have two tight ends, five offensive linemen, that extra offensive lineman in Aaron Brewer as the third tight end, but a heavy offensive line there. The Titans come out, and they do what makes sense.

They use that heavy personnel package to make the Browns think that they're running the ball, and then they go play-action fake. Whatever. That's typical Titans football, but where the big problem comes in is you have three tight ends who are active. Ferkser, Pruitt, and Swaim. Why not have all three of them out there and have a tight end run in this route? Instead, the Titans get too cute. They have Aaron Brewer basically block originally, and then he slides out of the formation. He's lined up on the right-hand side, so he slides out of the formation and then goes out to the left-hand side out into the flat. This should be an easy one-yard completion. And quite frankly, Brewer is open.

I mean, B.J. Goodson, the Browns linebacker who has Brewer in-man coverage, follows him late, and Brewer, if he just catches the ball and falls to the ground, he's good to go. But this is why you don't throw to offensive linemen when you're not in the end zone. In the end zone, an offensive lineman just has to secure the catch. He can fall to the ground. He can take a hit. He doesn't have to worry about going anywhere or doing anything. Just secure the catch, big man. Well, when you do this in the middle of the field, now you're asking Aaron Brewer, who probably hasn't caught a pass since he was in high school, who's never caught a pass in the NFL,

who has never been used in a play-action situation like that before. You're asking him in a critical moment in the game to make a big play for you in the middle of the field to catch the ball and run after the catch. You can argue that, hey, he could have just caught the ball and fell down. Well, that's clearly not what he was trying to do, so he wasn't coached up to catch the ball and fall down. And that's why when you create confusion, do I need yards? Do I need to catch and run? Am I across? When you do all that to an offensive lineman who hasn't done this since probably high school, well, you're setting yourself up for failure. 100% that play is on Arthur Smith and on Mike Vrabel for letting him call it. Despicable play calling right there. Completely killed the Titans first drive. I'm so angry about

that play call. I could slap Arthur Smith. If I saw him in person, I wouldn't because I'm a nice guy and I don't like physical violence. But man, I'm still, if there's anything about that game that sticks in my crawl, it's that play call on the first drive of the game. Just idiotic from Arthur Smith from a million different reasons. So I spent a lot of time on that play because it makes me so upset. But the second play is the Derrick Henry fumble. All I can tell you about that, it's pretty obvious what happened. The Titans had a numbers advantage to the right-hand side. They had a bunch formation to the left-hand side, which took a lot of the Browns' attention. They had an easy run to the right-hand side, but Sheldon Richardson, the Browns defensive lineman, was lined up on the outside

shoulder of right guard Nate Davis. Nate Davis has to take a reach step with his right foot and find a way to hook Sheldon Richardson. Well, he doesn't do that at all. Richardson blows up the field and gets incredible penetration, hits Derrick Henry in the backfield, which causes the fumble. Now, the reason that this is a fumble is not just on Nate Davis. It's on Derrick Henry in the backfield, which causes the fumble. Now, the reason that this is a fumble is not just on Nate Davis. It's on Derrick Henry as well. As a running back, you're taught that if you're going to be expecting contact in the backfield, you keep two hands on the football. Well, Derrick Henry tries to make a sidestep to get out of the way of Richardson,

and when he does that, instead of holding the ball with both hands, he transfers the ball into his right hand in a one-arm hold, and Richardson just makes a great play and swipes at it and hits it. So, Derrick Henry sees the guy penetrating into the backfield. He has to do a better job of holding onto the ball with two hands through that initial cut, and if you can't get through that initial cut, well, then you get tackled in the backfield. It's better than losing the ball on a fumble. So now, the Titans have a terrible first drive where they shoot themselves in the foot.

Derrick Henry fumbles for the first time on the year. On the second drive. And now the Browns are up 17-0. The Titans respond with a touchdown of their own. 17-7 they're right in the game. But then this is really a backbreaker for the Titans in the first half. The Titans score that touchdown. They kick off to the Browns.

Touchback. The Browns have the ball at the 25-yard line, and they give the Titans a little bit of their own medicine. The Browns do a great job coming out in heavy formation with three tight ends, one wide receiver. They go to a play-action fake, give the Titans a little bit of their own medicine, and you can see on my visual breakdown,

all four of the Titans' second-level defenders on this play dart straight up the field, influenced by the play-action fake. And the deep defender in this circumstance, which is Imani Hooker, the Titans are in man coverage. Imani Hooker is the deep zone defender, the deep safety. He cannot allow anybody to go past him.

He can't get anybody driving past him. Well, Imani Hooker comes up the field about 10 yards on the play-action fake. So there's all your middle field defenders and your back defender washed up, Well, Imani Hooker comes up the field about 10 yards on the play-action fake. So there's all your middle field defenders and your back defender washed up, ruined by the play-action fake. And then Breon Borders is playing one-on-one man coverage against Donovan Peoples-Jones on the outside, the only wide receiver on the field.

And Breon Borders, it's an out-and-up by the wide receiver, so he fakes like he's going out to the sideline about 10 yards deep and then cuts up the field down the field. And Breon Borders bites so hard that he's almost out of bounds by the time that Donovan Peoples-Jones cuts back up the field. Just despicable man coverage, incredibly overaggressive defense. And in my opinion, seeing the Titans be so aggressive against the run, that was coached this week.

That was coached. And in fairness, I was preaching all last week that the Titans need not be concerned about Baker Mayfield. And it seems like Mike Vrabel had that in mind as well, and they got torched. The last play that I'm going to talk about is just that Humphreys drop for the interception. Not a lot to schematically break down, but the Titans are down by 20 with about 30 seconds left in the third quarter. They get a touchdown before the end of the third quarter. Now they're down by 13 heading into the fourth with all the momentum.

That's not a terrible spot to be, especially considering you were down by 31 points at halftime. But Adam Humphreys is a microcosm of the Titans' day. He was open. Now it wasn't completely wide open, but he was open. It hit him right in the chest. He dropped it. Then he tried to catch it again and bobbles it up into the air for an interception, which effectively ends the game for the Titans. This is, like I said, a microcosm of the Titans day as a team. The Titans had great

opportunities to one, win the game and two, to come back in the game. And they squandered all of them by just the players themselves not executing. So the Titans were in a hole because the coaches had a bad game plan. They got worked over by Kevin Stefanski and the defense was not ready to play whatsoever. But ultimately, at the end of the day, the Titans players completely let them down as well. So coaching and execution are to blame. And that leads me into our next segment when we hear

some of the highlights from Mike Vrabel's press conference from Monday and I talk about accountability at the beginning of our show and from the comments Mike Vrabel made I just I don't see a lot of accountability from the coaching staff and you combine that with his comments from earlier in the year when he said that the defensive coordinator not being there or that position not being filled is not the reason that the defense is struggling. It's obvious that Mike Rabel isn't willing to accept that he failed the Titans organization by not hiring a defensive coordinator. So we'll get more evidence of that next. From the geniuses that brought you the best tasting protein bar of all time, Built Bar comes the best possible workout gel on the market, Built Go.

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comes in three delicious flavors, peanut butter, honey, chocolate, coconut, chocolate, mint. So make sure that you visit builtgo.com today and use promo code locked and you'll get 20% off your next order. Once again, use promo code locked for 20% off at builtgo.com. Let's go. it is time to cap off today's show with some highlights from mike vrabel's zoom conference on monday his day after press conference i thought he gave some important answers on the state of the defense some of the things that we've seen that are problems on the offensive side of the ball. But ultimately, what I want to focus on is a quote that Mike Vrabel gave that I think indicates that he isn't taking enough accountability and enough responsibility for the position he has put this team in.

So I'm going to kind of break down my thoughts on some of the flaws that Mike Vrabel has as a coach and how they're manifesting themselves in this season. So before we do that, I want you to hear the quote that I'm referencing. And of course, all of this audio comes courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. So appreciate the audio from them. Let's dive into this. And the question that Mike Vrabel was asked here is point blank. Were you out coached

by Kevin Stefanski and the answer to that question is 100% yes you don't get demolished in the first half 38 to 7 like that without it being on the field and in the booth so this is what Mike Vrabel had to say when asked was he out coached by Kevin Stefanski in that game on Sunday? You know, they went to empty. We let the receiver inside and in cover for, you know, the pass to the quarterbacks in man coverage. If, you know, they want to run that and gain six yards, that's what they did. We hit the receiver in the helmet, which forced a penalty. I'm trying to

think about the two-man route in cover two. That was a catch and run for 36 yards. We gave up six plays, a double move in man coverage. A lot of teams play man coverage. It lot of teams play man coverage. It's a matched league. So I don't think we're the only team that plays man coverage. I think it's a combination of a lot of things. And certainly they did a much better job than we did yesterday, Jared.

I felt like the guys competed in the second half. They stopped the number one rushing attack to 3.3 yards of carry. I had a 29-yarder that, you know, Harold admittedly ran up the field on and wouldn't have been near that. Harold runs up the field and Malcolm doesn't leverage it. So they gained 29 yards. But I thought, you know, for some of the stuff that we wanted to do, we did a good enough job.

And like I said, just not enough to get Baker to go to his second or third read. Okay, so let's dive in there. He said, you know, a lot of people play man coverage. It's a match league. You've got to play man coverage. Harold went too far up the field. Malcolm didn't force it down. We let the receiver get inside and empty on cover four.

Okay. Okay. What about the historically bad third down defense? What about the alignment issues that the players have talked about? What about the miscommunications? What about the quote from Kevin Byard after the game where misalignment and miscommunication are big issues for the defense? Okay.

It's not just the player's fault. And my big issue with Mike Vrabel all along throughout his entire tenure, he's a good coach, guys. He's a good coach. I'd take Mike Vrabel over a lot of coaches, probably a top five coach in the NFL, at least top 10. But one of his blind spots is he thinks too much like a player. He stuck it out with certain players and certain kickers for far too long, last season and this season. He gives players way too much rope to work through their issues because he was a player. And he thinks, oh, you know, they'll get back to it.

Let them play through it, blah, blah, blah. He's got to think more like a coach and worry more about what's best for the team from a coaching perspective, not thinking about everything through a player's lens. Vrabel looks at things through a player's lens. You can hear in his responses, oh, guys just have to play better. That's a player's answer. I just have to play better. No, the coaches have to put their players in a better position. Did you see the over-aggressive play from the Titans during play action? That was coached this week.

They're going empty because you are putting out personnel groupings that they can take advantage of. On the first offensive drive for the Browns, they just over and over put heavy personnel out on the field, which the Titans countered with heavy personnel. But then the Browns spread out the formation, found the matchup they wanted, got Jarvis Landry on linebackers, got Jarvis Landry over the middle on safeties. Kevin Stefanski whooped Mike Rabel, and maybe he's too much of a player to realize how important coaching is. Players will tell you that players

make plays. That's it. The players make the plays out on the field. And you've talked to people. I know that all of you listening have talked to people before that think coaching doesn't matter. You get good enough players, they'll win. And Vrabel himself says, hey, it's not the X's and O's, it's the Jimmy's and the Joe's. And that is true to a point, guys. That's true to a point.

Guys have to make plays. But when you're getting so egregiously outcoached by the guy on the other side, And that is true to a point, guys. That's true to a point. Guys have to make plays. But when you're getting so egregiously outcoached by the guy on the other side, look at the Rams vs. Patriots Super Bowl from a couple years ago. It's not like the Patriots were just so far and away the better roster. Belichick completely outsmarted Sean McVay. It was a coaching win. And Kevin Stefanski took Mike Vrabel apart.

And Mike Vrabel, again, needs to realize that he needs a defensive coordinator. He needs more of a coach's mindset. He thinks about the game from a player's perspective. And when you do that, you don't do enough as a coach schematically to win week to week and to always be the better game plan. And Mike Vrabel said, if he can have a decent game plan and his players can play better than the other players, he'll be able to win the game. And while that can be true, sometimes I just hate the mindset that it's more about the players than the coaches. Even if that's true, I don't want my coach thinking like that.

I want my coach doing everything physically possible to look for a coaching advantage. I think Vrabel thinks about the game too much from a player's perspective. It gives him too much confidence in some of his players. It doesn't give him enough respect for the impact that coaching can have. So that's how I feel about that quote. Wanted to spend a lot of time talking about that because I feel like that lack of accountability from Mike Vrabel is why the Titans don't have a defensive coordinator and it's why the Titans

are historically bad on third downs on defense and quite frankly, why this defense is wasting a Super Bowl caliber offense and Arthur Smith is going to leave in the offseason. He's going to go be a head coach. And despite his warts, he's going to get a head coaching job. And will Mike Vrabel do enough to hire a coach or get coaching in the building to keep that going? Or will he think that it was more of the players who got the job done and not give enough credit to the schematic advantage coaches can create and not do enough to fill in the hole in the

coaching staff. He didn't do it last year. Will he do it this year? I don't know. It's something to watch going forward. But if the Titans don't do something on defense with the coaching and Vrabel doesn't look himself in the mirror and blame himself soon, then things aren't going to get better. And maybe, guys, that's why things aren't getting better.

Because Mike Vrabel doesn't take it on himself and blame his coaching staff on defense. Clearly a major drop off in coaching on the defensive side of the ball. Mike Vrabel needs to admit it. But let's talk about that defense. Is the defense hopeless? We give Paul Kaharski a lot of crap, but this is a good question. He went straight at Mike Vrabel and said, you can't rush. And when you don't rush, you can't cover. You can't cover. So when you can't cover, you can't rush. Is this defense hopeless, so when you can't cover, you can't rush. Is this defense hopeless? This is what Mike Vrabel had to say.

I don't know about hopeless. I mean, I know that you used that word. I would not. We're going to keep working, and we're going to keep finding ways to get stops and point out the good stuff that when we, when we do do it as a unit and we do, you know, work together and communicate, you know, that, that hopefully next time that, you know, Desmond beats the back, which, which is a great move and something that we can show our guys on how to set,

set the back up and win at the next time that that ball comes out and he gets, he gets that ball out and we're able to pick it up and run it in. And there's other times where, you know, we didn't play well enough and we didn't coach well enough, and that's allowed the quarterback to stay on his first read. You know, but there were other times where he didn't and he came off and scrambled or missed the guy. But too many times, I think, yesterday,

the message is going to be that he was just able to go to his first read and not find ways to affect him, whether it be through disguise, coverage, or rush, or match in the hand. Hey, guys. If the quarterback's first read is open every single time, you think maybe the coaches aren't scouting enough? How can you not one time call a coverage that takes away a first option, just schematically win the down?

Just schematically win the down. Is that out of the realm of possibility? Or is Mike Rabel just... See, that's what I mean. Just more lack of... If Desmond King is able to pop that ball out, well, how about you create pressure more than once a game so that when Desmond King misses a sack,

it's not a backbreaker for your team. It's not the only pressure you got all day. How about that, Mike? So just a lack of accountability from the Titans defensive coaching staff and head coach, and that's probably why we're seeing these consistent problems season long from the defense. The last thing that I want to play you guys, the last highlight, is about the offensive side of the ball. And while I am not really that concerned about the offense now,

Tannehill is playing fantastic football. He's out of his funk. The Titans still have had some slow starts on offense. Buck Greesing pointed out before the question, the Titans have had four games this year where they didn't score a point in the first quarter. So what did Mike Vrabel have to say about those slow starts? I don't think that there's like a, you know,

I mean the theme is always, you know, I mean, the theme is always, you know, going to be the same that, that you're, you're behind, you're forcing yourself, you're behind the change, you're forcing yourself to, to complete or pick up third and long and maybe have to, you know, protect a little bit longer. And then there's been a lot of games where, you know, we, we get into drives, we get that first first down, and we're able to stay complimentary and set our play passes up or run the football or get into some of those, you know, drive starters that we like, those scripted plays that we feel like, you know, give us a chance.

You know, and I don't know. I don't know exactly what the answer is for those drives that have stalled early on um because i know that there's a lot of drives that have been really good and have sustained um you know 10 or 12 plays for a touchdown i'm actually kind of with mike rabel on this one i mean you're not going to score every single drive. You're going to have some drives that just aren't good enough. But I will say, again, the Titans rely too heavily on their players. On their players. You're telling me that Arthur Smith is one of the best offensive coordinators in the NFL, which he is, but that it's just one of those things we're

going to accept that the Titans can't score a point in four quarters or in the first quarter, four games out of the season when they've only played 12. So a third of the games this year, the Titans can't score a point in the first quarter. I mean, you can't answer that question with, well, we've had a lot of good drives too. You know, it's not a coaching problem. We just got to execute that. I just, the's not a coaching problem. We just got to execute. The lack of accountability may be something that is one of Rabel's blind spots, and I've been harping on his players' mentality as a coach since last season. It's shown up a little bit less this year than it did last year,

but it is something we're going to have to keep our eye on going forward. So that is going to do it for me today, folks. This Tic Tac Tuesday, like I said, make sure you follow me on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, and check out that visual breakdown that goes along with this audio breakdown we did today in our second segment.

Also want to tell you guys, the NBA somehow is right around the corner, and they are going to be kicking off the NBA season preview on the Locked On NBA show. So make sure that you check that out. Me personally, as a lot of you guys know, big NBA fan, been an NBA fan since I was like four years old. Big Kobe Bryant guy, RIP to the Mamba, big Lakers fan,

excited for them to repeat this year as champions. If you're a big NBA fan like I am, a lot of you guys are probably big Grizzlies fans. Ja Morant looking to take that leap in his second year. They got a lot more shooting on the team to surround their young pieces. Excited to see JJJ back. Really excited about Brandon Clark and his athleticism as a wing and a pseudo big. So the Grizzlies got a lot going on this year as well. So whether you're a fan of a different team, a Grizzlies fan, doesn't matter.

Check out the NBA season preview on Locked On NBA this week. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked On Titans. Thank you.