Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Affected By Rule Changes, Updates on Jeffery Simmons and AJ Brown

Episode Date: May 22, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, today's Friday edition of the Locked On Titans Podcast is brought to you by Built Bar. They have some of the most delicious health and protein bars available on the market. Make sure you check out BuiltBar.com. Use promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off your first order. Once again, $10 off your first order with promo code LOCKEDON at BuiltBar.com. But we have some rule changes to get into, or at least some potential rule changes.

Next week, the NFL owners will be voting on three potential rule changes, and one of those is a rule a loophole at least that the Titans were able to take advantage of with the spotlight shining brightest in the playoffs so I'll explain that to you guys and the other rule changes that are on the table and then we will hear directly from some Titans we will check in with some of the key players on the Titans roster. It's obviously been a strange offseason so far. We would be hearing a lot more from the players if they were actually in the building. So I want to make sure to take this opportunity and get an offseason update from Jeffrey Simmons about his knee, about his training, and then AJ Brown. What is he working on? How is

he looking to get better? So we will spend the next two segments hearing directly from those guys. We are going to push the Friday mailbag to next week. Only got a couple of questions, so I'll let those build up a little bit more for a big Friday mailbag next week. But I also wanted to make sure that you guys got these updates directly from the players responsible for their own growth. So I think there is some good stuff in here. Excited to bring those conversations to you guys.

So we got to talk about the potential rule changes. We got to hear from Jeffrey Simmons and A.J. Brown about their offseason training so far. Excited to get into that with you guys. Make sure that you are locked into the Locked on Titans podcast by subscribing on whatever platform you stream. Next week, I'm going to start doing our deep dives into John Robinson's draft classes from his first four years as the general manager. Time to go back and properly evaluate some of the work that he has done.

So I'm going to be kicking off that series next week. Make sure that you guys are subscribed and follow me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans for more content. I have my video breakdowns from our Tic Tac Titans film breakdowns still up from Isaiah Wilson to Darrington Evans. So make sure you guys check those out, but enough house cleaning. We got that out of the way. It is Friday time to dive into an awesome Friday episode talking rule changes, talking A.J. Brown and Jeffrey Simmons in the offseason. Let's get it. On May the 28th, NFL owners will vote on potential rule changes that could have a major impact on the 2020 regular season. The first of the three is a loophole that was exploited by Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Rabel en route to their victory over the New England Patriots in the playoffs.

But Rabel wasn't the only head coach to take advantage of this loophole. But Rabel wasn't the only head coach to take advantage of this loophole. Earlier in the season, Bel Belichick was the first of the head coaches in the NFL to put a spotlight on this loophole when he was able to waste valuable game time by committing dead ball fouls with a running clock. Flash forward to the Tennessee Titans in the playoffs against the Patriots when Mike Rabel used that loophole against Belbelichick. What he was able to do late in the game when the Titans were looking to punt is commit

dead ball penalties while the clock was running. For example, the clock is running in the fourth quarter and the Titans would intentionally false start on the punt. What that would do is once the penalty is enforced, the game clock would then start running again because it was a dead ball foul committed while the clock was running. Therefore, the Titans took multiple penalties in a row and were able to waste multiple minutes of the game without actually running a play. Clearly, this is a loophole that should be closed. Bill Belichick was the first to

use it. Mike Vrabel gave him a taste of his own medicine in the playoffs, and now it appears that NFL owners will close that loophole to not allow this to take place. Secondly, the owners will look to add an eighth game official to each crew around the league that would work out of the booth and be called the sky judge. What this official's responsibility would be is to assist with replay related matters, whether that be speeding up replays and keeping replays as efficient as possible, or just accuracy, helping the officials on the field who didn't have as good of a view of the replay as the official in the booth helping them with making the correct calls. It seems like the NFL does have the finances to make this change and add another official

to the game crew and it would also make sense from a television product as the accuracy of the officials is of the utmost importance to the TV audience. Finally, the last rule change that NFL owners are considering is an alternative to the onside kick rule. So at this moment in time, onside kicks are as unsuccessful as they have ever been due to recent changes to kickoff rules. Now the kickoff team isn't allowed to get a running start. The distance between the kickoff team and the kickoff return team has been changed as well, and these changes have caused the onside kick to basically become irrelevant. But the onside kick is a major part of the game and allows teams to at least have the opportunity or the hope that a comeback could be

achieved. And the NFL wishes to change this lack of hope in this circumstance due to the kickoff rules and what they will look to do is add a one down situation for the team kicking off the ball so imagine a team just scored a touchdown but they would in theory like to do an onside kick instead what they would do is they would have one down, a fourth and 15 from their own 25-yard line. If they are successful, let's say they get a 15-yard completion to the 40-yard line, they would retain the ball at that spot and go on with a normal drive as you would typically see them.

If they are unsuccessful and the other team, the defense, is the kickoff return team in this circumstance, is able to prevent them from getting that first down on fourth and 15, well then the opposing team, the defense, would just take over possession like they recovered the onside kick just to keep the analogy going. Now there are different stipulations to how this rule would work because obviously there are some flaws in the system here but some of the additional rules and circumstances that go that would go along with the general premises a team could only do this two times max. Also one thing to consider is a regular onside kick is still allowed and unlimited. There was some speculation that there

would be additional rules like the team doing this onside kick alternative must be trailing, but at this time, based on the proposed rule, that is not included. We will see on May 28th, which of these three rules, whether all of them, some or none, are added to the 2020 rulebook. It's funny, on the podcast we had a few months ago where I talked about rule changes that I would like to see, the onside kick rule, that's exactly what I said, that I would like to see a one down situation, you know, take whatever the probability of getting an onside kick with the old rules is and compare that to the probability of a fourth and 15 fourth and 17 fourth and 20 whatever it be and I'm really glad that they're taking a look at this rule I think it would add a lot of drama to late game situations and obviously the onside kick is basically dead unless you're doing it as

a surprise in a normal kickoff situation so to me it makes all the sense in the world to add this rule I don't see why they didn't already have a booth official it seems like that's an easy change to make that would really help out the guys on the field and I think loopholes like what the Titans and the Patriots were doing last year while they're fun to see take place it was nice seeing the Patriots get a taste of their own medicine stuff like that needs to be taken out of the game it's not quite right so we will see what happens on the 28th and of course I will make sure to break it all down for you guys so you know what is coming next before we jump into hearing from some of the Titans biggest stars and how their off seasons have been going I do want to remind you guys about Bilt Bar. Bilt Bar has some

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Go to BuiltBar.com, use promo code LOCKEDON, you'll get $10 off your first order. Once again, promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off at BuiltBar.com. Let's kick off our Sounds of the Titans by getting an update from defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons. So a very interesting update in my opinion based on the knee injury that he played through last year coming off the ACL, dealing with a knee brace, all those different things. So he talks a lot about that. Wanted to make sure to give you guys that update, give you the highlights of his conference call with media from the Titans.

So of course, this audio is courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. First, Jeffrey talks about his knee, gives us a health update, and also makes a comment on his knee brace. Well, starting with the brace, I haven't even wore the brace not one time. I don't even know where it's at. I just put it up somewhere. Like I said, I forgot where it's at. But right now, like I said, I'm where it's at. But, you know, right now I'm just, like I said, I'm just working extremely hard, you know, to get my knee

and continue to have my knee feeling good, you know. But like I said, it's offseason. I am not working out with my brace. I haven't did a drill with my brace yet this offseason. And like I said, it's coming up season. I continue. I said it right before we left for this offseason. I said my goal is to not play with a knee brace on this year.

And, you know, I've been working out with it without it. And, like I said, that's the plan to keep, you know, practicing and playing without it. So, I mean, honestly, I'm just continuing to work hard to get my knee in the best possible shape that I can for the upcoming season. And, like I said, I've been feeling pretty good. My knee's been feeling good. Like I said, I'm working on it, still on the plan, you know,

to get my knee stronger and better for this upcoming season. Like I said, I'm feeling great right now. So hopefully, you know, and I pray that everything stays smooth. And like I said, every day I'm trying to just get my knee strong and feeling good for the season. I think it's obvious from simmons comments right there that he's not comfortable playing with a knee brace since he's so adamant on playing without it and hopefully the knee stands up and he's able to to play without it and be comfortable and be the best version of himself next he talks

about different things that that he's doing to improve in the offseason, what he's seeing on tape. Well, I mean, it's a lot to play into, especially coming off of knee injury, you know, just the extension that you, you know, I was lacking, you know, just little things like that, you know, I'm still working on that, strengthening my quad and stuff like that. I mean, all that plays a part into, especially the ACL. And like I said, it's, you know, I just look at the field, the film, stay watch the film, you know, especially doing the meets right now, you know, just stuff I see, you know, bending my hips, you know, butt back, shooting my hands, you know, being as close to it,

you know, using my strength to advantage, actually. So, I mean, just small things that I can see that, you know, that can help me be a better player this coming up season for the team so you gotta love to hear that simmons is the type of guy that's spending a lot of time uh evaluating himself on tape self-scouting is often as important as scouting the opponent so it's good to hear that he's had his head in the film room and making sure that he's critiquing himself and trying to get better. Next, he talks about, you know, and obviously these things go hand in hand, talks about moving into the three technique role that Jarrell Casey had last year.

And his answer, I think, is a very, very good answer for the question that was asked. I mean, the way we coach T and the way we ran our defense this past year, you know, I played three techniques. I played four. I played five. I played everything. I'm going to say I played everything. But like I said, no, it's football.

Playing defense alone, you got to be able to play multiple positions. And I think that's the great thing that we did this past year, you know, that we wasn't just stuck on playing this and that, you know, we was able to, you know, especially because, you know, you never know what a team may do during the game. So, I mean, of course I'm familiar with every position on the field. And like I said, you know, I'm not, you know, I wouldn't say I'm not comfortable playing in a position on a defensive line,

you know, but like I said, I'm ready. I play three technique. I play whatever Jarrell play. I'm not comparing us to each other or anything, but like I said, just playing defensive line, you got to be able to play everything across the line and scrimmage. So I'm ready. Hopefully we get ready when it's time for report for camp.

All that practice, it'll show me where I'm at. I really love that answer there from Simmons, and that's exactly what I want to hear. He wants to be versatile, play all across the defensive line, four-eye, three-tech, five. He could probably even go to a zero-shade or a one-eye. You know, all those different positions along the defensive line, it all depends on how they want to align against the offense's front week to week.

So if Jeffrey Simmons could only play three-technique or only play nose-tackle shade, as I would call it, then he wouldn't be as as valuable to the Titans the Titans need to like the New England Patriots got famous doing I hate to make the comparisons with the Titans and the Patriots that always happen anyway but Mike Vrabel has talked about front multiplicity I mean that's that's what the Titans are looking for guys that can show multiple fronts do multiple things they can come out in a four-man front. They can come out in a 50 front.

I mean, the Titans want to be able to do whatever they need to be able to do schematically from week to week to defeat their opponent and not be locked in or pigeonholed into one individual scheme with guys that can only play certain roles within that scheme. They want to have guys that can play any type of role necessary. And obviously, Jeffrey Simmons is focused on that and understands that that is the goal as well next he talks about how coach Terrell Williams has been able to help him out especially in the film room and it's it's nice to hear nothing but good things about the Titans defensive line coach Terrell Williams I mean just a lot of things you know it, it's a lot of study into this game,

especially on this level. You know, you got a lot of smart guys. And I feel like, you know, with me wanting to get better, you know, especially going into the season and when I started playing, I have to, you know, I wanted to watch more film. And, you know, I think Coach T did a great job. You know, whenever I needed him, he always broke it down to me. You know, when I wanted to watch extra film, you know, I know, I think Cochise did a great job of, you know, whenever I needed him, he always broke it down to me, you know, when I wanted to watch extra film, you know, he was like, come on in and stuff like that, you know, it's just a small thing

that can make you a good player, you know, I think Cochise did a great job at breaking it down and just explaining it to me and I said, coming in as a rookie, you know, not knowing much, you know, especially how smart the guy was up front. Him showing me this is what they do good, this is how you can beat this guy. I think Coach T did a great job doing that. The relationship between a player and a coach is so important for the player's development. It's nice to hear that that relationship between Williams and Simmons is strong. Finally, we are going to hear Jeffrey Simmons talk about just how he is getting better with

this unusual offseason. I mean, you know, as I say, I mean, you watch film, you know what you do, you know, we know what you're good at, you know what's not you. And, you know, of course, film do that. I mean, of course, we got our iPad, you know, you can watch games, watch other games. That's an advantage right there. But at the same time, you know, you can work. I work drills.

I work out every day. You know, I work hands, work pass rush moves, stuff like that. I mean, you know, you just can't be handicapped. I mean, like I said, I'm still working out and doing the things I need to do to sharpen my game up. So, I mean, not just you. I don't feel like we've got to be actually, you know, going against another man, offensive lineman.

You know, you can have a defensive lineman. I got to have this past weekend, you know, I worked out with a defensive lineman guy, and we just worked pad rush moves and, you know, worked a lot of hands and stuff. So, stuff like that that I'm doing, you know, just to, you know, like I said, sharpen my tools up. The last thing I want to talk about before we move on to hearing from A.J.

Brown is just how much more comfortable Simmons sounds and seems when talking to the media. Obviously not every guy that comes into the NFL feels super comfortable giving a bunch of interviews, but just the way Jeffrey Simmons talks now, how fluid he is with his answers to questions, you can just tell he's really settling in and allowing himself to be himself in these situations. Anytime you're a rookie, it's something new to you. He's coming off the injury, a lot of questions about his background and the incident that he had when he was in high school and all that.

So maybe it was just his comfortability there. But for some reason, maybe it's just me. I really, really enjoy watching guys get more comfortable and kind of grow into who they are and feel confident with their answers, something that I saw happen with Kevin Byard. We're seeing it happen with Derrick Henry as well, and the leadership role that he's taken within the team kind of mirrors his comfortability talking, I guess, to everyone and expressing himself. So I just really love to see that. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe you guys

don't agree. I don't know, but I can tell that Simmons is getting more comfortable in his own skin, more comfortable with where he's at in his situation. And I'm really excited to see him grow into a leader like we saw with Derrick Henry as well. So that is going to wrap up the Jeffrey Simmons portion of this Sounds of the Titans. We are going to come back and hear from Titans star wide receiver, say it again, Titans star wide receiver, A.J. Brown. Let's cap off this Friday episode hearing from Titans wide receiver, A.J. Brown.

Of course, audio courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com but they asked AJ Brown with the recent news about Ryan Tannehill and Jonu Smith getting working together down in South Florida they asked AJ is he able to work out with any of his teammates? Most definitely wish I could that was the plan is to come out there on the weekends but you know due to the coronavirus kind of slowed everything down. But I'm at home in Nashville. I have a trainer right here. I work out at the facility. I work with my trainer. So I throw with Logan, too. So, no, I'm not missing too much.

You know, I'm definitely putting in the work. You know, as soon as we can get back together, I know we'll get back where we left off. Notice he said that he's been putting work in with Logan. And that, of course is logan woodside titans backup quarterback and aj brown in his history with the titans has shown quite an attachment to his quarterbacks and that attachment comes very very quickly it seems but aj has shown his support for logan woodside on Twitter here in the past few days as well. So it appears that there is a bond there.

And hopefully that can help Logan Woodside progress and maybe be the backup quarterback that the Titans actually need. But next they asked AJ what he is trying to improve on and how he can make those improvements. Everything, to be honest. You know, it's not just the things I do well. I want to improve on those too. You know, one of the things that I'm struggling with, you know, I'm trying to be a complete, well-rounded football player, you know, so everything.

That goes back into, like, the details of every little thing I do. You know, the details are going to get me open. Regardless of I may not be going against anybody, but as soon as I am, details are going to show up and that's that's what's going to pay off for me so it is in fact all in the details so nice to hear that he's focusing in on all the little nuances that go along with playing wide receiver but what specific techniques is he working on uh most definitely you know uh very studies the game he studies all of us you know you know what we do well and what we don't really do well so uh um just an opportunity for for him just to evaluate my game i'm like i said i'm gonna

take anybody's advice know uh what he know and i and i know i need to work on uh things that to get better so uh that goes into the details. Even if I'm not even going against anybody, those little details and with my steps at the top of a route are going to get me open on this upcoming season. So he's right on, and there's a lot of more things I need to work on too. With A.J. going into his second year and being the productive player that he was,

it would make sense that he would take an increased leadership role what are his thoughts on that uh most definitely uh i think i'm a natural born leader um as a rookie i didn't really come in and say too much you know i just had to come in and show everyone that i'm a hard worker myself you know i'm holding myself accountable you know and um now that I have some of my teammates respect I can start holding other people other people accountable too so uh I'm looking forward to this uh this upcoming season um big leadership role for me you know uh bringing in like the younger guys bringing up the younger bringing up the rookies and everything so yeah uh I'm really

excited for that AJ also talked about his Rookie of the Year snub. And quite frankly, the Rookie of the Year should have been A.J. Brown or Josh Jacobs from the Raiders. Somehow, someway, because of the quarterback bias in the NFL and in the media, Kyler Murray happened to win that award. And A.J. Brown kind of talks about his thoughts on that snub. All the Offensive Rookie of the year stuff is really behind me. You know, I didn't win. Congratulations to Kyler, but I didn't win, so I'm moving on with it.

You know, I'm not going to sit here and dwell on him. You know, so definitely made me hungrier, you know, to achieve bigger goals. You know, so that's what I'm going to do. Finally, A.J aj talks about if he's actually catching passes throughout this offseason he talks a lot about his workouts he does a lot of running hills a lot of outside workouts it's something he he talked about during the conference call so asked whether or not he's spending some of his workout time actually catching passes and things like that. So he discusses that and then also talks about how his production really dipped in the playoffs

and what could have been the reason for that and how he gets better. I may not be catching balls from Ryan, but I'm definitely catching balls, catching a lot of footballs. Catching tennis ball machine, off the tennis ball machine every morning. This is constantly making sure I'm catching over a thousand balls a day. We're meeting up two times out of the week, maybe three.

To be honest, it was definitely things that happened in those playoff games that I could have did better. But to be honest, man, that's just a credit to Derek Henry. You know, he was locked in. He was in the zone.

And we kept feeding him the ball. And it was working. So, like I said, that goes back into what he was doing, you know, most definitely. But things I could have did better in a certain situation, you know. So, yeah. Oh, yes. Yeah, most definitely.

Late in the season, body's getting fatigued you know uh just trying to keep my mind into it you know it was it was a lot going on long year for me you know i only were used to playing 12 games and i was deep in the playoff one game from the super bowl so uh definitely a long year just trying to get my get me my body uh mentally and physically prepared for a long upcoming season Just trying to get me, my body, mentally and physically prepared for a long upcoming season. Thinking about it, it's probably a great thing that in AJ's and Jeff's first season in the NFL, they went so deep in the playoffs. So now they really understand what you – this team wants to go to the Super Bowl.

This team wants to win a championship. So all of the players on the team need to understand truly what it takes to get there. And that includes how you prepare your body, how you maintain your body throughout the season. So having this sort of experience so early on should help out those two players tremendously. But very excited to see what they do in their sophomore seasons. Could be John Robinson's best class to date. And speaking of draft classes, next week we are going to start grading John Robinson's draft classes

from his first four drafts as the Tennessee Titans general manager. It's crazy that it's been this long that J-Rob has been at the helm of the Titans football operation, the football ship, but it has been at the helm of the Titans football operation, the football ship, but it has been five drafts now. So typically they say it takes about three or four years to truly evaluate a draft class. So with that in mind, we are going to jump into the 2016 class on Monday's show and do the next four classes after that in the next three shows of the week. So make sure that you're subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast

so you're getting all of those episodes. Really excited to break down all those draft classes now that we have a little bit of time away from them, can properly evaluate them for what they really added to this team. So I'm really excited for that. You guys should be too. Like I said, subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform that you do stream now

that you are done with this episode of the Locked on Titans podcast. You should tell your smart device to play the Locked on NFL podcast, the national show. A lot of good national news still out there and you want to make sure that you're keeping up on, of course, your national show, a lot of good national news still out there, and you want to make sure that you're keeping up on, of course, your Titans information, but also know what's going on around

the entire NFL, so check that out after this, but another week of shows in the books. Of course, we bumped our Friday mailbag to next week to allow some more questions to build up, have a big mailbag segment for you guys. Make sure you're sending your questions to me on Twitter, at TicTacTitans as well. But I hope you guys have a safe and enjoyable weekend. Hopefully here shortly we'll start getting some more news on when these guys can actually get back out onto the field, and I will be right here with you to break all that down.

But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.