Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Outduel Chiefs in Nashville - Rowland's Recap, #TitanUpTitanDown & Song of the AFC South

Episode Date: November 11, 2019

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a victory Monday. Just when I think I'm out, they pull me right back in. This is what it's all about, Titans fans. What a great game. This is why we love this team. This is why we love this game.

What an exciting Sunday. I can't wait to break down the game with you guys. In our first segment, we are going to cover everything. I'm just going to kind of recap the game and go through all the big plot points that happened. So much happened in that game, I had to go back and watch it a few times before I could even wrap my head around it. So we're just going to go through all the major points in the game and kind of relive it together and talk about things in our first segment.

In our second segment, we are going to do everybody's favorite topic, tighten up, tighten down. A lot of tighten ups to get to, but there are a few tighten downs I want to make sure that we hit on. In our third segment, we are going to do Song of the AFC South and the playoff picture preview, and I'm going to give you guys a recap of all of the Titans' rooting interest when it comes to the playoffs and the division, all the results that came down on Sunday from

the games, and go back and look at Raiders and Chargers from Thursday as well, as I promised we would do. So, man, what an exciting win. Very raw, emotional podcast coming to you guys. Just really happy with the result and the fact that the Titans are back into this season. So, can't wait to jump into all of it with you guys. Let's get it. Your Tennessee Titans lead story is a huge victory in Nashville

over the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-32. The Titans are able to get back to 500, 5-5, and are squarely in the mix for the playoffs. How were they able to do it? So much happened in this game. My mind was racing the whole time. I had to go back and rewatch it a few times just to get my thoughts straight. So I just want to recap the entire game with you guys

and give you a rundown of everything that happened. Let's start out. The Chiefs drive right down the field and score 7-0 on a Travis Kelsey quick flip, shovel pass into the end zone. It looked like, hey, this is the Kansas City Chiefs. It's what they're going to do. Tannehill fumbles on the next drive, and somehow, someway, the referees give the ball back to the Chiefs.

Terrible. But the defense was able to hold the Chiefs to a field goal, which will be a consistent theme throughout the game. The Titans were able to hold the Chiefs to a field goal which will be a consistent theme throughout the game the Titans were able to hold the Chiefs offense to five field goal attempts that is absolutely huge either way the Chiefs convert the field goal it's 10 to nothing next drive the Titans get the ball huge Khalif Raymond catch down the field really excited for what he's able to bring to the team he gives you the field stretching of Tywon Taylor and the kickoff return ability of Darius Jennings in the same guy. So important to have him on this roster.

It turns into an Anthony Ferkser touchdown. All that dude does is catch the ball when it's thrown to him. Made some big plays in this game. 10-7 Chiefs. Next drives. Damian Williams fumbles the ball. David Long, huge fumble force. We're going to talk about him in the next segment.

Scoop and score by Rashawn the Shark Evans. Titans are up 13-10 after Ryan Suckup misses the extra point. We'll talk about that as well in the next segment. Chiefs respond with a Butker field goal. 13-13 going into halftime. The Chiefs come out of halftime and are able to get the ball to Tyreek Hill on a big play and then find him in the red zone and man coverage on Logan Ryan. Logan Ryan just doesn't have the speed to keep up with Tyreek Hill in that scenario and Dean Pease kind of put him in a bad position. It's 19-13 after the Chiefs miss an extra point. Very next drive, Titans get the ball. 68-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry. Back in the ballgame, 20-19. Titans feeling pretty good. Chiefs respond as they were able to all game with another field goal. 22-20, Chiefs are still up. Now this is the moment where you start to think things might go off the rails

for the Titans. Patrick Mahomes makes just an incredible play, a jump throw to Mecole Hardman for a 60-some yard touchdown to put the Chiefs up 29-20. Kind of felt like the game might be, like I said, getting out of hand for the Titans, but Tannehill comes back with a big run, a bigger response, drives the Titans down the field for a Derrick Henry one-yard touchdown, 29-27. Titans are still losing by two, but feel good. Adoree Jackson gets a big pass breakup to hold the Chiefs to another field goal, which extends their lead to 32-27. Now, it's third and two. The Chiefs have the ball with a minute 30 left. The Titans have to get a stop to possibly have a chance to come back in the game. And they are able to do so when Rashawn Evans is able to force Pat Mahomes to slide in the backfield for a sack.

The Chiefs go up to line up for a field goal, and there's some sort of miscommunication. The holder gets the ball too soon, throws it out of the back of the formation for an intentional grounding. The Titans not only get the ball on the missed opportunity with the field goal, but they get the penalty to give them even better field position. A minute 21 left. Ryan Tannehill gets a 20-yard run down the field. Next, throws a big pass to Anthony Ferkser with a nice catch, and then the very next play, Adam Humphreys is able to shake his man-in-man coverage for a 23-yard post-drought for a touchdown. Ryan Tannehill with a very physical run into the end zone for the two-point conversion to put the Titans up 35-32. And then the special teams closes it out.

Josh Kalou blocks the Chiefs field goal attempt to send it to overtime. And the Titans are victorious and go to 5-5 on the season. What a win. Some things that really stood out to me, at least on offense, was their ability to run off the left side. I know that Taylor LeJuan has taken a beating in the media and for good reason, rightfully so. He's made some crucial mistakes this year and we will talk about that in our next segment. But running off the left side and the Titans offensive line in general get being able to get things going that was really important so while we'll crush the offensive line Roger Saffold and Nate Davis, Jameel Douglas,

Taylor LeJuan a lot of those guys catch a lot of grief from Titans fans in general they were really able to step it up when it mattered most and move this Chiefs defensive line. And on defense, one other thing schematically that I thought was really, really important is the Titans followed the blueprint that other teams have laid down to go against the Colts. And they played man coverage the whole time. And you're going to take your bumps and your bruises when you play man coverage against a team like the Kansas City Chiefs with Travis Kelsey and Tyree Kill and Sammy Watkins and Pat Mahomes.

You're going to take your lumps. You're going to take your lumps. You're going to take your losses from play to play. You're not going to dominate this kind of offense. You just have to keep plugging away and keep punching and keep trying to get things going and do your best out there. And I felt like the Titans stuck with the game plan. They kept running man, even when they were taking their lumps and taking their losses down to down. And ultimately, it paid off for him. And the guys stepped up. And people like Adoree Jackson, Josh Kalou made some big plays when it mattered most. LaShawn Sims played pretty great.

Logan Ryan had some big pass breakups. So you're going to put your guys on an island. And the Titans defenders came up with enough plays to win that ballgame. So just really impressed with the offensive line, being able to run off the left side, really impressed with the man coverage skills of this Tennessee Titans defense and their wherewithal and resolve to stay with the game plan

even when they were taking a few of those negative plays that man coverage against a team like this is liable to give you. So just really impressed with those two schematic game points. We're gonna get into tighten up and tighten down next so we can go over some of the individual performances that we need to talk you. So just really impressed with those two schematic game points. We're going to get into Tighten Up and Tighten Down next so we can go over some of the individual performances that we need to talk about. And in our third segment, of course, we're going to do Song of the AFC South and our playoff picture preview to let you guys know what happened on the weekend while we were watching

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tighten up tighten down so titans fans let's go ahead and get into our tighten downs real quick we will get the negatives out of the way and they are pretty obvious negatives if if you were watching the game it's some things that clearly stand out. Number one, and I'll get to the least consequential one here first before we jump into the real issue. Ryan Suckup. I think it's time to put an F on his name. I won't say it out loud for you guys. We're gonna keep it pg but you get what i'm you're picking up what i'm putting down suck up just doesn't have it he's kicked one touch back out of the six or seven kickoffs that he's had and i know that we're not always trying to get a touch

back but typically that's that's gonna be the, and he just doesn't seem like he has the leg strength to get it there. He missed an extra point that really could have cost the Titans in this game. When you're playing a team like the Kansas City Chiefs, you can't leave any points on the field. With his performance last week, I don't see how the Titans aren't calling Cody Parkey back. I understand that we extended suck up, but this team has hurt itself enough through blind loyalty.

Deion Lewis getting any snaps at all. Adory Jackson returning punts. Putting Cairo Santos back out for a fourth field goal. Trusting the offense to pick up crucial fourth downs. Just a lot of times, this Titans team has faltered because of blind loyalty to people who clearly don't deserve that loyalty anymore. And I've talked about numerous times early on in the season. I talked about how kicking is so fickle. It's all about confidence. It's all about momentum. It's all about health and your mind state. It's like

baseball. It's like being a hitter in baseball. You go through these extended slumps, and when you feel like you're not really part of the football team, which can be the case with a kicker for obvious reasons, when things like that are happening, and you're missing kicks, and you feel detached and disconnected, it's just really hard to get back on track. Suckup didn't have a great career in history of consistency. He wasn't like a super high-level kicker. He had that great stretch for the Titans a couple years ago where he made all his kicks inside 50. But once he missed a kick in Indianapolis, it just feels like he's never been the same since he lost that streak. So, Suckup, a massive Titan down, and like I said,

I think the Titans have to consider giving Cody Parkey a call at some point in time, who, looking at his career statistically, is just as good of a kicker and has had better seasons than Suckup has had. The last Titan down, Taylor LeJuan is just killing this team a lot of the time three penalties today that were brutal right now Taylor LeJuan leads this team with eight penalties he only played in six of the games so far so to lead the team in penalties having missed the first four games of the year just kind of shows you how undisciplined he's been. The personal foul that he got out there, A.J. Brown got in his face and called him out on the field.

And I like seeing stuff like that. I retweeted that video on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans if you want to follow me there and check it out. Taylor's act is just wearing thin on Titans fans and everyone in the locker room, I would imagine at some point is just sick of him doing these mindless things out on the field and hurting the team so bad with his penalties. In his defense, he called himself out in the locker room, but at some point in time, actions have to match the words. And Taylor LeJuan, for what he's being paid, has to do better to avoid those penalties. Even though, I do want to say, after he committed that last penalty, Taylor blocked his butt

off out there. Taylor did not have a bad game when he was actually blocking the other team. Taylor LeJuan played very well in this football game, but if he can eliminate the mental mistakes that have plagued him his entire career, he would be even that much better of a player and more respected as a leader in the locker room. I think doing these things to your team week to week hurts your ability to be considered a leader, and it may have something to do with some of the things we've seen in his career with him. Maybe having that role kind of taken from him or not necessarily given to him right away, even though his personality would make you think he's a leader for this team. He just

doesn't show it with his composure on the field all the time. But like I said, he did block well in this game if you take away the penalties, which were so obvious. So that does it for our Titan downs. We're going to jump into the fun. Let's jump into the positives here with Titan up. First off, the young linebackers. David Long, eight tackles on the day. A huge forced fumble that turned into a defensive

touchdown for the Titans and totally changed the momentum. Really impressed with seeing David Long out there as a late round draft pick. I mean, John Robinson hit on Jayon Brown in the fifth round, so would it be a complete shock for him to hit on David Long late in the draft no probably not but filling in for Jayon Brown who he's kind of built in the mold of I thought he had some excellent snaps out there Wesley Woodyard is a good smart linebacker but with his deficiencies in athleticism at his age it's important to have an athletic linebacker out there who can cover and run around like Jayon Brown that's why you have a David Long and you draft a David Long so you can kind of mold him in that ilk and have somebody who can replace Jayon if he goes down. Jayon's not a huge guy, so he may be banged up throughout his career. It's important to have someone who

can be a very similar player and fill that role. Really impressed with David Long today, which leads me to Rashawn Evans, the shark. So good, so talented, so physical, so athletic. That scoop and score looked like a running back out there. Absolutely fantastic. He had seven tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, a fumble recovery. That touchdown, what more could you want from Rashawn Evans this year? He's been fantastic and completely lived up to his value as a first-round draft pick. Same exact draft class Harold Landry these guys are studs folks I hope that everyone is noticing that Harold Landry is

a stud should be up to six and a half sacks on the year I hate half sacks should be seven six and a half on the year he had that sack had, had a tackle for loss, had another QB hit. Harold Landry was constantly putting pressure on Mahomes on some of the biggest pass breakups that the Titans defensive backs got during the game. Harold Landry was the reason that Pat Mahomes had to get rid of the ball as early as he did, and he didn't have time to extend plays and make plays down the field. Harold Landry was consistent all day long long just like he has been all season long fantastic getting to the offense Derek freaking Henry king me two touchdowns 188 yards I also want to give a shout out to the offensive line like I said they were much maligned they constantly

get battered by Titans fans and media members for their performance. It's very obvious when the offensive line doesn't perform well. We got to give them their props. They were moving the Chiefs defensive line all over the field in that second half and really set the tone and let the Chiefs know, hey, you're not going to be able to get away with scoring a bunch of points because we're still going to come back and run the ball down your throat, even if we're down because you can't stop it. And they couldn't all game. was the impetus for the titans getting the victory it's something that we talked about all week long that the chiefs defense against the run hasn't done well in their losses they give up a bunch of rushing yards and the titans weren't able to control time of

possession which is something we thought they would need to be able to do they didn't do that at all they lost by 15 minutes 37 to 22 in the time of possession battle, but when you're able to get those chunk runs with Derrick Henry down the field, you don't really need possession, I guess, if you're moving the ball. So really excellent from the offensive line, really excellent from Derrick Henry. He's clearly the foundation of what this team needs to be, and he may ask for a high price tag and we'll get into all that later but Derrick Henry is just proving his worth to this Titans team and organization. I do want to shout out Joshua Kalou. What a play. He gave up a big catch to Robinson for the Chiefs to put them in field goal range. Felt like he was playing a little bit too deep. He was backed by

the first down marker when it was 15 plus yards for a first down and gave up a really big catch that gave the Chiefs a way better opportunity to make a field goal and then he responded immediately by blocking that kick and saving the game for the Titans a lot of people were saying maybe he was off sides after the game no garbage go look at the screenshots I tweeted them out I retweeted them it was just a perfect jump by Kalou made a huge play in this game and that's why all three facets of the game matter in football I also want to give a shout out to the coaching staff uh Art 35 point well I guess if you take away the seven that the defense put up there 28 points for the offense against this Chiefs team well called game from Arthur Smith we didn't see any of those ridiculous screen passes didn't see a lot of Deion Lewis they came

out and ran the ball they had a good game plan so maybe he just got lucky this time or maybe it's some improvement but good game plan from Arthur Smith want to praise Dean Pease kept going with man coverage like I said the Titans took some lumps playing man coverage on defense but he stuck with the game plan and it proved fruitful for the Titans. And then Mike Vrabel had numerous circumstances in that game where he made the right end game decision, especially with time management, letting time tick off, especially there in the third quarter. I thought it was a good job to try to get the defense to jump off. They never do, but it was just a good opportunity to do it and let the time tick off and go to the third quarter break. So a couple of different things. Tony

Romo pointed it out on the broadcast as well that Mike Vrabel had some really good time management decisions throughout the game. So I want to give credit where credit is due. This was an excellently coached game. This was an excellently played game. And how much more exciting could you want football to be? What a great game to watch as a Titans fan. That's going to do it for Titan Up and Titan Down. In our third segment, as we always do, we are going to do Song of the AFC South and do a little bit of playoff picture preview

so you guys know where the Titans stand within the playoff race at this moment in time. Before we jump into that, I just want to remind you guys you can treat yourself to the meal you deserve and have your favorite restaurants come to you with DoorDash. Right now, our listeners can get $5 off their first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter promo code LOCKEDON. the titans are back at 500 sitting at a record of five wins and five losses with that in mind let's do a little song the afc south and playoff picture preview so let's kind of recap where the Titans are within the conference and what took place on Sunday and Thursday night

to kind of give us an idea of where the Titans are at. So let's just go through the games real quick before we kind of look at the final overall picture. The Raiders were able to defeat the Chargers on Thursday Night Football. Remember, I told you guys I was recording Friday's show during the game, so I wasn't able to give you an update on the score. It was 26-24 Raiders. The Raiders move to 5-4. They are a threat to the Titans as a playoff contender, but the good news is the Titans do play the Raiders in three weeks, and will have the opportunity to kind

of control their own destiny when it comes to going against the Raiders and get that head-to-head win so that'll be a really big game for the playoff race but the Raiders are a much better team than people expected so they move to five and four on the season and like I said the Titans will have their chance against the Raiders in the coming weeks. The Dolphins. Miami Dolphins. Miami Dolphins. What a huge win. They are ruining their tank and ruining their opportunity to get Joe Burrow or Tua. But they're helping out the Titans.

They were able to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 16-12. That drops the Colts down to 5-4. So the Colts are clearly not the dominant team and the top team that maybe we thought they were gonna be at the beginning of the year. They are definitely showing some cracks in their armor and without Jacoby Brissett out there, it's obvious that their offense is taking a hit.

So a really big win for the Miami Dolphins, really helping out the Tennessee Titans in that sense. So moving on, the Browns, the low Dolphins, really helping out the Tennessee Titans in that sense. So moving on, the Browns, the lowly Browns, able to help out the Titans as well. They were able to defeat the Buffalo Bills 19-16. That drops the Buffalo Bills to 6-3, and I know the Bills beat the Titans, and I know the Bills look like a pretty good football team, and they're well coached and have a good defense, but is anybody really, I guess would it shock you if the Buffalo Bills went on a losing streak here?

If they started losing a couple of games and maybe weren't quite the team that people thought they were, almost like the Colts started out real hot and then kind of came back down to earth? I just wouldn't be shocked to see the Bills be 6-5 two weeks from now and kind of teetering on whether or not they're an actual playoff team. I don't know if you would be shocked by that, but me, I would not be shocked by that. Finally, the Steelers beat the Rams 17-12.

That's really unfortunate. As a Titans fan, you would hope that you can kind of knock the Steelers out of this race. With Mason Rudolph at quarterback and kind of everything they've been through throughout the season, you would hope that the Steelers weren't going to be hanging around with the kind of talent they have. But they are. And right now they sit just one spot ahead of the Titans at 5-4. So the Steelers, the Raiders, the Colts, the Bills, all ahead of the Titans right now in the wildcard standings. They're all 5-4 with the exception of the Bills who are 6-3.

And the Titans sit at 5-5. So the Titans have a bye. They can get healthy. They can kind of recalculate things. See where the teams are at after their bye. And know exactly what they're going to have to do. The good news is the Titans play the Colts again. The Titans play the Raiders.

The Titans also play the AFC South Division leading Houston Texans twice remaining in this season. So the Texans are 6-3 leading the division right now. But like I said, the Titans have two more games against them. So can't rule anything out. The Jaguars sit at 4-5. They did have a bye this week like the Texans did. So nothing to report there. The Titans do play the Jaguars in their next game. The Titans are a better team than the Jaguars. I believe it in my soul with Minshew Mania out the window. I have a feeling that the Titans are going to play much differently against the Jags and the Colts

this time around than they did the first time. So that kind of wraps things up for the playoff picture and for Song in the AFC South. I'm going to talk about this later in the week since we won't have a normal schedule with it being a bye week. Where would the Titans be right now if Ryan Tannehill started the entire season? I'm just going to leave you with that question. I think at some point in time during this week,

we're going to have a special episode to kind of talk about it. We don't have our crossover Wednesday on Wednesday without having a game. So it might be something I talk about there, kind of the way the offense looks right now and give an update on that. We're going to be updating a lot of things with the team throughout the week. So what a win, though. What an exciting win. Football is fun again. football is fun again one big thing that that really it kind of uh gives me you know a feeling of depression when i think about this titans team one thing that upsets me the most about

being a titans fan is when the titans lose the games aren't even fun to watch there's no offense there's no exciting plays there's nothing well this team has definitely turned that around tannahill is three and one as a starter i, off the top of my head during this raw emotional recap with you guys. But more importantly, the offense is fun. The game is fun. The Titans make plays. The offense scores points. There are big runs, big passes, risky throws here and there.

Some turnovers. Yeah, there are some turnovers. But it's worth it to have a normal NFL offense that is fun to watch. So I'm just having a really good time watching this team right now, even though there are some losses. We could be one of the worst teams in the league like we were before John Robinson showed up, and we think things are bad now. Just imagine what Titans Twitter would be like back in those days and how things were back in those days. So that is true misery.

So I'm just really excited and blessed to have a football team that is out there, that is fun to watch, that competes every week and has a chance to win. And although they play to their competition, which is frustrating, they're still a pretty good football team. So that's going to do it for our show today. Glad you guys were able to enjoy the victory. I hope you enjoyed this episode and I can't wait to do the rest of this week's show with you guys.

What an exciting win to get us into the bye week. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.