Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Fall Flat Against Browns: Expectation Reset, #TitanUpTitanDown & AFC Recap

Episode Date: December 7, 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 Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by 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 this season. 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. Ladies and gentlemen, Titans fans from all over the world, I'm sorry. This is my fault. I should have known

that the Tennessee Titans would not come out, handle business against another good team, not a great team, although they're an 8-3, but a good team, handle business and ascend as one of the elite teams in the NFL and be viewed as one of the top five elite teams in the NFL. I thought they might be able to do that in dominant fashion this week, and I was incredibly wrong. And whether it be a jinx or bad mojo, whatever you want to call it, I do feel at least partially responsible for the result. And for that, I issue my apologies. But the part that I am not responsible for is

what actually took place on the field so we are going to talk about how the Titans got in a 38 to 7 halftime hole and essentially lost the game in the first 30 minutes there are some big moments in that first half that led to the halftime result so we're just going to talk about what exactly took place from a bigger picture standpoint. And then, of course, we will zoom in and talk about the individual performances in this game. And I don't feel like I need to give you guys a spoiler alert before I say there are a lot more tighten downs than tighten ups this week. But you may be surprised.

I do have at least a handful of tighten-ups that I want to talk about. There were some players that really stepped up and did as best as they could in the circumstances they faced, so I'm going to talk about that, and with that positivity to end tighten-up and tighten down, we are going to roll into the recap of the AFC, and although the Titans had an embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns, they still do sit atop of the AFC South, and although the Titans had an embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns, they still do sit atop of the AFC South and although some other AFC results didn't necessarily go their way either, the Titans again do still sit at the top of the AFC South. So we will at least end this Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast on a positive

note. So excited to talk about what could on Titans podcast on a positive note. So excited to talk about what could come next later on in this week. The Titans do have a big matchup against the Jags next weekend, so make sure that you are locked into the Locked on Titans podcast and subscribe on whatever platform you do stream, as I will be getting you guys ready for the rest of the season, and the sun will rise tomorrow, and the Titans do

still have a great shot at getting a home playoff game and making some noise. So let's focus on the positives after we break down what exactly took place in this embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns. On Sunday against the Browns, the Titans got a little bit of a taste of their own medicine and got to experience what the other side of that feels like as the Browns were able to jump out to a 38-7 lead at halftime, and that lead proved to be insurmountable for the Titans despite a solid second half comeback attempt.

The Titans made a ton of mistakes in this game. They made them early, and they made them often. So let's talk about how the Titans allowed this game to go off the rails. On the very first drive of the game, the Browns came out with a great plan from head coach and play caller Kevin Stefanski. They used heavy packages with multiple tight ends to get the Titans in their base defense who are obviously worried about stopping the run, but then the Browns were able to spread out formations, find matchups against linebackers, and carve the Titans defense all the way down the field.

But ultimately, the Titans defense did hold up in the red zone and force the Browns to a field goal. So a solid start for the Titans. But then things started going off the rails in the middle of the Titans' first offensive drive when they had a third and one. And Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith made the curious decision to run a play that was designed to throw to an offensive lineman. You see that typically in the end zone because the offensive lineman doesn't have to worry about run after catch. Just catch the ball, secure it, fall down,

and it's a touchdown mission accomplished. But in this circumstance, in a third and one situation close to the middle of the field, the offensive lineman in this circumstance, Aaron Brewer, would have had to catch the ball, turn upfield. Those are things he had to worry about, and obviously he dropped the pass, which led to a fourth down that the Titans didn't convert, giving the ball back to the Browns. A first big critical mistake by Titans play caller and offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith.

The Browns were able to capitalize a big Nick Chubb screen and then a pass to Jarvis Landry led to a 10-0 lead. The Titans continued to compound on their mistakes with their very first play of the second offensive drive, which was Derrick Henry's first fumble of the season. The Browns, of course, used a short field and were able to rub salt in the Titans' wound from the previous failure throwing

to an offensive lineman and through to an offensive lineman for their third touchdown of the half. The Titans did respond right after that. A.J. Brown, a big catch, another big A.J. Brown catch, and then a Corey Davis touchdown. The score at this point in time is 17-7, and the Titans are not out of the game despite the very terrible start. But once again, another huge mistake for the Titans. Bit them when it mattered most.

And on the very first play of the Browns' next drive, Breon Borders bites on a double fake, and the Browns throw a 75-yard touchdown to go up 24-7. The Titans are completely off the rails now. Their next two offensive drives combine for zero yards in six plays, two three and outs, one for one yard, one for negative one yard, and inside of those two three and outs, the Browns score two touchdowns, 38-7 at halftime, the Titans like I mentioned despite the comeback attempt weren't able to climb that mountain and lose 41-35 in a game that the score indicates is much closer than it actually was this was pure domination from the Cleveland Browns and then they let off the gas

late in this game and the biggest takeaway here for the Titans isn't schematic. It isn't about the X's and O's. It's the fact that when the Titans have a chance to vault themselves up a tier in the NFL conversation and prove that they are not just one of the good teams in the NFL, but one of the great teams in the NFL, they completely drop the ball. They are now considered back in that middle of the pack range when they had a chance to ascend into that top tier and it's just a continued pattern that we've seen from the Titans for not only this era of Titans football but for a long time when they have the opportunity at their doorstep they let it slip away. The Browns are a good team at 8-3, but they aren't a fantastic team at 8-3, so the Titans

had a good chance with a home game with all of the momentum after a big division win against the Colts to keep things rolling, go into a game against the Jags, and really prove that they're one of the best teams in the NFL, and unfortunately, they let that opportunity pass. They are still leading the AFC South and still look like a strong candidate for the playoffs, but a major disappointment for the Titans organization losing to the Browns on Sunday. Those are my big picture takeaways though from this embarrassing loss. We do need to look at things from an individual perspective and we are going to do that in our next segment in Tighten Up and Tighten Down. And if you feel like I miss any Tighten Ups or Tighten Downs or you want to add anything

to what I got, make sure you follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans and let me know how you feel. But before we get into Tighten Up and Tighten Down, I want to tell you guys about DoorDash. Tonight's one of those nights not feeling great after that Titans win and I definitely don't feel like cooking so it's time to open up the DoorDash app take a look at all the options I have locally and decide on what I want to get delivered so as soon as I finish recording this podcast I can eat my troubles away thanks for that Tennessee Titans but whatever I feel like eating, whether it's Chinese pizza, heck,

maybe dessert. I want some fro-yo. There's something for everyone on DoorDash, and it helps me support the local restaurants in my community and the delivery drivers in my community. So open the DoorDash app right now, choose what you want to eat, and your food will be brought to you and left safely right outside your door with DoorDash's new contactless delivery drop off setting. So right now our listeners can get $5 off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKEDON.

That's $5 off and zero delivery fees on your first order when you download the DoorDash app in the app store and enter code LOCKEDON. That's $5 off and zero delivery fees on your first order when you download the DoorDash app in the app store and enter code LOCKEDON. Don't forget that's code LOCKEDON for $5 off your first order with DoorDash. It is time for my individual grades in Tighten Up and Tighten Down. But before we jump into that, I want to remind you guys that Rewatch Wednesday will be a little different this week. I don't feel like we are going to get anything productive done by re-watching and schematically analyzing this loss against the Browns. This is a burn the tape kind of game where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. So instead, because we are playing a division rival against the Jags, what I want to do is focus on re-watching the previous games for the Jags to get an idea of who they are as a team now since it's been so long since we played and also re-watch the last

time we played them and see if there's anything that I can pick up from that matchup. So we're going to do things a little bit different to keep the positivity rolling throughout the rest of the season and get as ready as we can be for a game against the Jags. So make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast and don't miss any of that, including a crossover Thursday conversation later this week with Tony Wiggins from Locked on Jags, which is always, always a fantastic listen. But let's get into these individual performances. And I want to start with Titan Downs.

Let's just get these out of the way and then we can wrap up the segment on a little bit of a positive note the first Titan down for me and I'm going to start on offense so it's not like they're number one in the power rankings of Titan downs but there is an argument well I lied I don't play for the offense. I got to start where blame needs to be placed. The biggest Titan down is for me, man. I was very bold all last week about the Titans' chances in this game. And quite frankly, seeing what the Titans' offense did in the second half and the way the game went, like the Steelers game,

I feel like just a little bit better of a second half performance than the Titans do win that game. So maybe I was wrong to say that the Titans would blow them out. That's really where I made a mistake. I could have just said that I thought they would win. I could have been bashful like I am. There are weeks, guys, where I really think the Titans are going to crush the team we're playing. But I don't talk like that. I don't say those things. One, it makes you look like a homer and I hate that. And two, it's just bad mojo, but I just felt it this week and I learned my lesson. I learned my lesson. A lot of you have been on me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. Let me know it's my fault. I'm the

Titan down and I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it. So I will take the blame and I will, I will take your, uh, your hatred. Uh, I, I deserve it in this instance and learn my lesson. But let's move into the players on the field. Like I said originally, I'm going to start on the offensive side of the ball. Not like this person deserves the most blame. That's probably me, but definitely some blame needs to be played. And that's Derrick Henry. You can't fumble right there.

First play of the game after the Titans come down, get a field goal, then the defense holds to a field goal, you have a bad stop on fourth down, the Browns get a touchdown, it's just a big moment in the game, and Derrick Henry let the team down. 15 carries, 60 yards, 4 yards a carry, not a terrible day after that, but after that fumble, I mean, Derrick Henry was basically a non-factor the rest of the game. The game just got away, and we can't just pound the ball down their throat, so a tighten down for Derrick Henry. Not his first of the season, but definitely his worst game of the year. It's his first fumble of the year, so I don't want to

kill the guy. It's not like he turns the ball over a lot or anything, but just a poorly timed fumble, and you have to give him a tighten down even if it's not, you know, he's not even in the top 10 of people who deserve the most blame here. Number two, A.J. Brown. Okay, he had four catches for 87 yards. I get that, but man, he had two fumbles in this game. One of them didn't matter because it was at the end of the first half, but still, his ball security along along with the drop passes, had another drop. I mean, it's just cause for concern. Just a pattern that clearly follows him.

He makes big plays. Like Derrick Henry, I'm not killing these guys. I mean, I'm not. That's not my goal here. But, they didn't have good games. And they didn't help out the team in certain situations. And for A.J., he did help out the team and all, but that's something that could hurt them going forward.

It's clearly a pattern that he's got to clean up. The last one on offense is Adam Humphreys. You come back, you get one catch on the day, but that drop pass just, I mean, the Titans had an uphill climb to come back in the game anyways, but that drop pass just ruined any chance that they possibly had. So let's move into the defense and just everyone just the the entire defense I mean they didn't stop the run in any sense of the

imagination the Browns absolutely carved up the Titans secondary it was entirely embarrassing they made the Cleveland Browns wide receiver crew look like the greatest show on turf. Higgins, six catches, 95 yards, a touchdown. Donovan Peoples-Jones, two catches, 92 yards, and a touchdown. Should have had another touchdown on that drop slant. Jarvis Landry, eight catches, 62 yards, and a touchdown. I mean, they made Baker Mayfield, who had 334 yards, 25 of 33, four touchdowns. They just made these guys look like absolute studs out there.

The secondary was horrible today, highlighted by Breon Borders, who I think everybody realizes now got to pump the brakes on Breon Borders taking over for a Dory Jackson or anything like that. We got to be honest about ourselves. Borders has been serviceable and a great pickup, but he's nothing more than a fourth or fifth cornerback going forward. Also, just have to mention, other than this, the entire defense tightened down, the secondary especially. Breon Borders had a terrible day. Kevin Byard continues to get roasted. Kenny Vaccaro looks slow. Looks

like he's taking a step back. Imani Hooker played okay in this game, but I'm not giving credit to anybody on defense. The offense also put them in a bad situation, so I'll acknowledge that, but the defense didn't come to play in any sense of the imagination. Bad play calls. Arthur Smith, I already talked about that third down. What was doing the Titans are getting things going in the third quarter it's a critical first down and Arthur Smith takes Ryan Tannehill out of the backfield puts him out at wide receiver and runs Cam Batson in the Batmobile what are you doing Art he's still one of the best offensive coordinators in the NFL but he just makes some of the most curious decisions sometimes every single game he seems to have one or two where it's just like,

what are you doing out there? You run Derrick Henry for one yard on third down and on fourth down if you know you're going for it. You don't throw to an offensive lineman when it's not an end zone situation where they can catch and fall down. You don't run wildcat formation down by 20 in the third quarter when your passing offense is getting into a rhythm. I just don't understand sometimes the decisions that he makes.

But the third down defense also has to just, it just hasn't got any better. 10 for 16 on the day for the Browns, 63% conversion rate. The Titans are again getting back to historically bad on third down, and Mike Vrabel has to answer questions at this point. Last time he got questions, he tried to say it wasn't coaching. No, it's the coaching. There's no other way around it. This is historically bad third down defense.

It's not just the players. It is coaching. So bad play calls, bad defense with blown coverages, poor tackling, bad play calls on defense too. The Titans had turnovers, a fumble, two fumbles, a pick. Lost the turnover battle 1-3. Gave up three sacks, although I'm not blaming the offensive line for the situation that the Titans' offense was put in.

And the defense was just absolutely terrible. So a ton of Titan downs, including myself, for a massive all-time jinx as well. Let's move into the tighten ups though. Tighten ups and leave out of this segment with a little positivity. Corey Davis, 11 catches out of 12 targets, 182 yards and a touchdown. You Corey Davis lovers have finally broke me. I will give in. If Adam Humphreys can be cut, which is a lot of dead money,

not a lot, but a decent amount of dead money, but if they cut Adam Humphreys, if they don't re-sign John U. Smith, if they don't bring back Jayon Brown, if they restructure Malcolm Butler's contract, then fine, you guys win. The Titans can bring back Corey Davis at $11 million, $12 million for three years.

Fine, you broke me. Fine, you win. Keep those two together. We don't need the slot threat in Adam Humphreys. Ferkser is just as good at this point. I was wrong about that. That's fine. So there you go. You broke me. Corey Davis can be re-signed if the Titans shuffle around the rest of the roster

and don't re-sign Jonu, don't re-sign Jayon, and some of the other factors. So if that's what you guys want, then that's what you'll get, and I'll sign off on it and say that I was wrong. Ryan Tannehill, 29 for 45, 389, three touchdowns, one interception that wasn't his fault. This was a terrible flow of the game for Ryan Tannehill. He stuck in there and did his absolute best and almost brought the Titans back. This was a great game for Ryan Tannehill despite the circumstances and the result. And then Cam Batson, although he dropped that wildcat, it was a stupid call anyways, putting your guys in a bad position, but he made that big third down catch that was reviewed. He

made that touchdown catch, three catches, 14 yards and a touchdown, had some decent returns as well. Not a banner game, but in a game that was full of tight end downs. Wanted to take the opportunity to give a tight end up to Cam Batson. I think he's a really good number five wide receiver. The Titans just need to improve the number three and the number four spot going forward. That's it for tight end up, tight end down.

We are going to continue the conversation and continue a little bit of the positivity. The Titans still are leading the AFC South, so we are going to talk about everything that took place in the AFC, and although it didn't necessarily go the Tennessee Titans way, things still look pretty good going forward into the future. And if you want your future to look pretty good, then you have to try out the best tasting protein bar ever, Bilt Bar. We had a

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and a free cooler with your purchase while supplies last so once again use promo code locked on for 20 off at built bar.com Let's cap off this Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by taking a look at everything that took place in the AFC over the weekend and on Sunday. And although the Titans currently do sit in first place in the AFC South, quite frankly, everything else that the Titans could have been hoping on went wrong. That's just the reality. So the Titans lose to the Browns.

That is a two-fold loss. One, you lost the game, and that in itself is bad. It's an AFC loss to an AFC opponent. Number two, it's even worse because if the Titans for some reason do drop back into the wildcard race, now they're going to lose the tiebreaker head-to-head against the Browns, and the Browns move to 9-3. So the Titans hurt their wildcard positioning if they can't hold on to the division lead. Let's continue going through this ringer.

So the Titans were looking at the Colts game like, hey, you know what, if the Colts lose and drop back to 7-5, well, the Titans still have basically a two-game lead over the Colts because of their division record and they're literally one game ahead, 8-4 to 7-5. Well, the Texans down by six late in the game on the one-yard line or very close to the goal line, botched the snap. The Colts pick it up, Texans lose 26-20, Colts get the win, now they're 8-4 too.

So just a terrible circumstance and a terrible chain of events for the Titans. Directly after that, looking at the wild card race, another team that's been in the thick of it all along is the Las Vegas Raiders. They were on the doorstep of giving the defeated Jets their first win of the season. Derek Carr throws a Hail Mary to Henry Ruggs. The Las Vegas Raiders win 31-28 over the Jets and move to 7-5. So another team that's right there staying close to the Titans to make it not so obvious that they're going to make the playoffs

if they drop a couple tough games going forward. The Texans are going to be no easy out in Week 17. The Lions, while not being a great team, the Titans have proven that they can go in and lose a game like that. The Titans play the Packers as well. So some difficult games here for the Titans. They could absolutely drop back to 9-7. And if the Raiders continue playing

well, who knows what happens. Not to continue rolling things forward, but the Dolphins got an easy matchup against the Bengals without Joe Burrow at quarterback that the Titans couldn't handle earlier in the year, even with Joe Burrow in, and the Dolphins win 19-7 and move to 8-4 as well, keeping the pressure on the Titans. If the Titans lose the division lead at any time in the next few weeks, there's a good chance that they also lose their playoff spot now. It's a very difficult schedule ahead for the Titans, not just because of the teams that they play,

but because of how the AFC is shaking out as well. Now, three games here that we're waiting on the results for that we don't necessarily know what's going on yet. The Ravens play on Tuesday night against the Cowboys. They're six and five. They could go to seven and five as well and should with Lamar Jackson coming back from the COVID list. Then you have the Bills who are playing at San Francisco on Monday night football, but San Francisco is not even getting a real home game because they have to play in Arizona. So the Bills could win that game, go to 9-3, and now the Titans aren't the number three seed even. They're the number four seed, which is what they are right now, but if the Bills lose and are 8-4, then the Titans get the three seed because of

head-to-head victory over the Bills earlier in the year. So the Titans need the Bills to lose. So it's possible the Ravens win, the Bills win, the Patriots are 5-6, but they're currently up 14-0 in the first half on the Chargers, and I fully expect them to win that game. So now the Patriots are going to be 6-6. I mean, things are just thickening up, tightening up for the Titans, and dropping an egg like they did against the Browns. You could look back at their season if things go awry and look at that moment like, wow, the Titans lost two big games to teams from Ohio and it really hurt their season. The Titans could be in a totally different spot if they would have handled business in two games against Ohio teams that they were favored in heavily. So that's something that the Titans are going to have to watch now. They can still control their own destiny if they win out,

and they'll get that home playoff game, but it's a lot longer of a shot now than it was going into this game against the Browns. But the Titans are still leading the AFC South. I keep coming back to that, keep telling myself that, and that's what they have to hold on to and remind themselves that although things seem bad right now, we're still leading the AFC South with a game against the Jaguars ahead.

So Titans better handle business against the lowly Jags. That's all I got to say about that. But that's all I have to say today on this Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Remember, check out the Locked On NFL show, the Mothership. It's always a good listen on Mondays. Get that national NFL news. And if you want to kind of get away from the Titans game, you can check out some of their analysis about the other games in the NFL and maybe just skip through that Tennessee Titans part.

But that's going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.