Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - TITANS SQAUD SHOW: Cam Ward TAKES STEP BACK, Jeffery Simmons CALLS FOR LEADERSHIP & fighting words

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

After taking one step forward the Tennessee Titans took two steps back in the 25-3 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. We dive into Cam Ward's struggles and how concerned we are about rookie regression. Defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons called for better leadership. Should the players take more responsibility? Also, we share our thoughts on fighting in football games.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Aura FramesFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout.FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL livebets all season long. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Julian Minnensohn. When it comes to the Titans, we took the cheese. We'll sift through what went wrong on Sunday against the Jacks. I'm Brad Hopkins, and as much as things change, things just stay the same. I'm Tyler Rowland, and the Titans had played well the last few weeks, but Sunday was a cold dose of reality for Titans fans. Tighten up. Titan up. It's the Titans squad. Everything Tennessee Titans every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the heart of Music City the way only the locked-on podcast network can squad up the titan squad show starts now and welcome to the titan squad show i'm julian minnison joined by my friends brad hopkins and tyler rolling got a jam-packed show for you today

make sure to get your questions comments if you're live with us on facebook into or youtube i should say into the chat. We'll answer them as best we can throughout the show. We're going to talk about Jeff Simmons calls for leadership, his comments after the game on Sunday and what that means for the Titans moving forward. Of course, we'll talk about rookie QB Cam Ward and his day on Sunday and what we want to see from him moving forward. And of course, we'll play our favorite segment, tighten up and tighten down. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So guys, like I said at the top, the Titans gave us a positive performance against

the Seahawks. We took the cheese, at least I did. We were looking for some Gouda, some brie, maybe even some canned cheese fellas, but we got nothing on Sunday. I want to start with you, Bhop. Tighten up, tighten down. We'll go tighten up if there is any, if we can maybe sift through something that we could look forward to next week. You know what? I wrote down. I don't have one you know but then I had to think about it you know there's there's got to be something right okay I guess in that first drive they were competitive obviously it resulted in the only points that they would score on the day it seemed like they were coming out running the football balancing the offense doing the things that we have talked about on this show for weeks now and it might be

a you know a hard out for them against the jacks who you know are playing extremely well right now what really sucks is that the teams that you think that the tights might beat this year they're playing really good, you know what I mean, whether it's the colds or the jags or, you know, somebody that we're traditionally used to at least making it a game of. It just didn't happen this Saturday or this Sunday. So I'm going to say in that first drive, they were competitive enough to get that one field goal. But after that, man, it was all downhill. Tyler, yeah, you're not wrong about that. I mean, my tighten up, the only one that I can find, Titans are set to get the number one draft pick still. And not only that, but the

Jets won a game. You know, we got some help from a draft pick perspective, move some teams down. The Titans have the Browns on their schedules still. That's a game that they could conceivably win because both teams are bad. Well, the Browns have three wins. So the Titans can't equal them. And then, you know, the Titans have to play the Saints down the road. That's the big worrisome.

One, I think whoever loses that game ultimately gets the number one draft pick. But you see there's like some carryover here in the future, like the Giants play the Raiders and the Jets play a team that we're talking about here. I have it all written down. Give me one second. In the notes, it's lovely behind the scenes. Yeah, the Saints play the Jets and the Titans play the Saints. And there is some hope there that the Titans could go through two years

of being absolutely terrible and at least get the maximum value that you could get for being bad. And that's two back-to-back number one picks, one to get your quarterback. And then one-dub potentially trade down. and use that war chest of picks that you have from a trade down to rebuild this roster around that quarterback. I know we'll talk more about Cam Ward later. I'm not riding this emotional rollercoaster fans want to ride with Cam Ward week to week anymore. Like, we've gotten to a point.

We've seen it up. We'll talk about that. But the only tighten-up that I have right now is Mike Vrable goes to 10 and 2 in the AFC and, you know, all these other things are happening. Treylin Berks is catching one-handed touchdown passes for Marcus Marriota. or Marcus Mariotta, as they all of a sudden started calling him a decade into his career on Monday night, or on Sunday night football.

But regardless, with all the bad around the Titans right now and the ugly reminder that this game was of how bleak things actually are after we did, take the cheese a little bit over the last couple of weeks. I think the only thing that you can look to right now to bring your spirits up is, hey, some things went the Titans way this week when it comes to other bad teams losing or winning, helping the Titans pick, and the Titans have a good, Good possibility going forward to get that number one pick

and maybe get that trade down we're all hoping for. Yeah, real quick, Julian. That's a great point that you brought up, Tyler, about two former Titans making a play. Now, they didn't win the game. All year. It was probably one of the most exciting plays that you see in the weekend. What a catch.

Marcus Marietta. Because it was an unbelievable catch. And, of course, I actually went immediately to Twitter to find out what people were responding, how they responded to that. And I had my own little, see, see, that's what happens. leave Tennessee and they go, you know, then I deleted it. I said, no, I'm not going to do that. I just

put some eyeballs. It was like, wow, that was a great catch, you know. But it is a microcosm of what happens? It just seems like, you know, some of our better players and some of the ones that we kind of passed on can find homes someplace else and start being productive. And all the Titans fans would have asked in the first year of Brian Callahan

being here is do a William Cohen. Do a Mike Vrable. Now, sure, Mike Vrable has head coaching experience. He was here. But right now, he has one of the hottest teams in the national football league and he spent a year out of football. Liam Cohen was an offensive coordinator for Tampa, coaching up to Baker Mayfield,

and now this dude has the Jags at eight wins, feeling good about themselves, and tied for first in the division. This is a division that has the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Annapolis Coles tied for first, and it doesn't seem as bleak in the AFC South as it once did. Now it's the AFC Norse turned to suck, right? So it's like we see a lot of former titans and former coaches

doing some things outside of Nashville, and technically that's the tighten up. Well, Brad, I've got to tell you, sorry, Julian, I just, I've been talking about this. I finished my show with it last night. It was just a little Titans therapy. But Brad, that is like part of why this has been the worst Tennessee Titans season of my life is it's not just that the Titans are bad and the product is bad and the football games aren't as fun to watch. But every single week, whether it's, you know, the Jarvis Brownlee Jr. trade and then he's making a big play to win the game against the Bengals and talking crap about the Titans afterwards, whether it's the Raiders coach.

saying that the Titans are the worst football team that he's gone against in the last 25 years, whether it's Mike Vrable leading the AFC and Drake May looking like a MVP and people being like me included, like I don't think Mike Vrable is a good fit for a young team. Well, they've played 500 more snaps of rookies than the Titans have this year. So apparently he is good for a young quarterback and a young team with a bunch of rookies to rebuild. Not only is he good for that, he can make contenders right away. Trailing Berks is catching touchdown passes. I know it was last year, but A.J. Brown won a Super Bowl.

Eric Henry almost went for 2,000 yards again with the Ravens. This year, the Titans are getting beat down by their division rivals. Beat down, 25 to 3, 41 to 20, 26 to nothing. Like, they are just getting absolutely rolled by team. So it's not just that the Titans are bad and the product is bad. It's outside of the Titans game, there seems to be some kick in the teeth the Titans fans to remind them of how bad it is.

Every single game, every primetime game, every week. something like that. And it's just like, I know that I'm just crying at this point right now. I don't have any big point to make, but like I just feel so bad for Titans fans and like where this is at. It is in a bad, bad place, man. So that's why my Titan up was just draft position. Because right now, all you can hope is that Mike Borganzi hit some more picks and this thing turns around because it is truly as bad as it's ever been. And it's not even just the Titans games. It's all of their old players and coaches having success every week all over the NFL that's another reminder of just how bad things have got. It certainly makes that head coaching

higher that much more important when you figure out how far they are away. If I had to sift through a tighten up, it would probably be something more specific on that first drive that they ran the ball probably a lot better than they ever have this year. Tony went for 10 for 60. You get three points and all of a sudden you're like, okay, they're incorporating the run game and how much easier that's going to make things for Cam. But then it goes into my tighten down, which is, this team constantly beats itself. You know, you talk about the 10 penalties, of course. And then the Jags score that first touchdown.

Titans get the ball back. It's a 7 to 3 game. And I know Chimdike has been awesome this year, but you fumble the football. And it kind of kills the momentum. They get in a 14 to 3 hole, which is something Bhop, you mentioned last week,

that they can not get in these large deficits because they're not good enough to climb their way back week in and week out. Peter Skoronski said it in his press conference earlier this week. that it's already hard to beat the Seahawks, the Texans, the Jags. You can't do that when you're also having to beat the Titans every single week. What are your guys as Titan Downs this week? Well, I mean, part of it is they only ran the ball 14 times, Julian.

You know, part of that may be play calling, but I'm sure most of it was because they were behind, which seems to be the case all season. If they could run the ball and catch up, they could. You know, but if they basically could have kept a lead, too, if they could run the football effectively. So running the ball was a problem. You know, the Titans had also 10 penalties, three fumbles, two of which they lost. It weren't for Peters Karanski. They had lost all three of them. Arden Key, come on, bro. You single-handedly gave the jacks three points and a little bit of momentum going in a half. You know, not only did you do

the boneheaded personal foul with the forearm to the head. Then you're getting a scrum on their side of the football field. And that, you know, obviously gets negated. But yet and still, it's just as a microcosm of how sloppy and how undisciplined the Titans were all Sunday. So there's a lot of blame to go around as to why this team didn't win. I'm sure we'll get further into it as the show progresses. But for the most part, those

mistakes that continue to shoot yourself in a foot put you in negative drives, put you in negative situations to where it's almost hard to convert. You know, those are things that can be affected. You know, I mean, just by simple discipline, simple focus. You know, but like we talked about, they got away from the run game. They had to abandon it. Why?

Because the Ajax kept putting points on the which made the run game seemingly just irrelevant at that point. And like I said, if they could have taken control of the line of scrimmage by running the football by at least having a balanced offense, they would have, but they did. Yeah, I have two specific tighten downs. You're right. Brad, finally, they proved me wrong.

They said, it's not a skill issue. We can run the football on a good Jags defense, beating them up early on. They did go away from it. I do think some of that is the score. so I'm not like as angry about that as possible. But at the end of the day, going away from the run game is a branch on the tree of my tighten down,

which is the coaching staff on the offensive side of the ball. I just, it's so frustrating the lack of aggressiveness. Listen, I'm not asking for Mike McCoy to turn into Sean McVay and start doing all this scheme stuff. You see that play from Ben Johnson with the Bears on Thanksgiving where he's got literally four guys running different directions out wide and there's this huge hole in the middle because he's done this wild play design.

I'm not asking Mike McCoy and Beau Hart agree to be more than what they can be. But the decisions they can make to be aggressive with a bad football team and understand that you're a bad football team and that you're going to have to do some things out of the ordinary to beat teams. I mean, we're going to talk about it, Julian,

so I'm not going to steal the thunder of the comments about the coaching staff and everything that was said because I talked about that yesterday. That's the biggest problem. Like, we want to talk about the biggest problem with the organization. We go to those comments. That's the ultimate tighten down that shows the real rot at the core of things.

But while we're on the outside talking about, you know, the game itself, to me it's you've got to go forward on those fourth downs. And for him to say, hey, we would have gone on fourth and three instead of fourth and two. I like analytics being a part of football, but we have to go with the emotions of human beings. We have to read our team situation. And when you're the one in ten Titans, don't care if analytics says, hey, you punt on fourth and three, you go for it on fourth

and two, we're going forward anyway. And for Cam Ward to see that and notice that and every logical other person, like it just, again, if you have a tinfoil hat on and you're wondering if Mike McCoy is trying to lose these games with some of the ways that he's been playing it for weeks and weeks and weeks, I can't sit here and tell you with 100% certainty that he's not. Like, I don't know. I don't know. Like, it's just absurd, the lack of aggression that he has. and my second tighten down outside of the coaching and just not giving this team a real chance to win and being self-aware to know where the team's at

and to operate that way. My second tighten down is that none of the young players played well. Chim fumbled. Ellic had drops. Cam had a bad game. Kevin Winston got roasted. Marcus Harris didn't play that well. Like J.C. Latham had some struggles

even though his performance wasn't as bad as the two plays that everybody noticed. Talk about the life of an offensive lineman. You have 59 plays, two of them are bad, and everyone says you're a bum. You know what I mean? But he's been disappointing. That's fair. We can talk about that more.

But none of the young players had like a redeeming game where you're like excited about the way that they played. That made it even worse for everybody. We can't even have like a, oh, they lost, but Kent Ward played well. So the coaching is just so absurd in the lack of aggression. And then none of the young players played well. So those are the worst tighten downs because there's just nothing to be happy. about. I wanted to touch on Cam Ward's comments at the very least, because we could talk about with Jeff Simmons and maybe even Arden Key said or didn't say after the game on Sunday, but Cam Ward

saying that he said multiple times this year, hey, I want the ball in my hand on fourth down. On one hand, you know, what have you got to lose? Like he said, you're one in 11 now. You've got to do interesting things or be that much better in certain situations or do something different to be in these games. The other hand, Tyler, playing devil's advocate a little bit here, is that they haven't been consistent enough that would lend yourself to believe to go for it on a fourth down, maybe every single time. So what do you think about that whole dichotomy there with Cam's comments and what the coaching staff is doing a little bit? I mean, I don't, I don't care how bad they are on fourth down. Look, I defended going for it on the opening, or kicking a field goal

on the opening drive. I'm not just like, we're going forward every time like that crazy like peewee football guy who's like we don't punt, we on sides every time, we're going on fourth down every time no matter where we're at. Like I'm not asking for like 12 year old maddened craziness, you know what I mean? I was okay with taking points on the opening drive and just making sure that you have some confidence. We got some points on the board. Here you go defense. You're not coming from zero. Like I was okay with that. But like you get to a point where you're down multiple scores, you're in the second half of these games. And you know, if you're across the 50 yard line and not giving it to them on the, you know, on the

doorstep of the end zone, you got to be more aggressive because the team is not good and the argument is we can say like, hey, they haven't been very good on fourth down and they haven't been good on third downs. Why would they get them? Okay, well, the other option is death too. It's death too. You're choosing between death and death. At least you go out on your shield. At least you go out with a sword in your hand instead of tied to the post. You know what I mean? Like give your fate in your hands. Let your quarterback experience those failures or those successes.

That's going to be more important for this team. So it's not even about what's more likely to win the game or whether they've been successful enough to deserve the opportunity. It's about the fact that if you keep playing it conservatively like you have been, you know that you're going to lose anyway. You're 1 in 11. The path that you think is smarter just leads to losing anyway with less experience for your players and less confidence for your players

and more anger and frustration from your players. I know that coaches have to protect players from themselves because players would manage games more differently than coaches would, and that's probably not a good thing for the team. But there is a happy medium here and an understanding we have to have about where the team is at to make these decisions. And it is clear that Mike McCoy is not making the right decisions

for where this team is at. And again, I have to wonder that when he was given the job, If in some way that was part of the directive You have to wonder that at some point But yeah, it's it's not like we're asking for crazy Aggressive insane football here It's just logical that they would go for it On a fourth and three past the 50

When there are a 1 and 11 team down You know, like what are we doing? So I just feel like anybody acting like I'm asking for too much Or the fans are asking for too much to be aggressive It's just being nonsensical just for the point of pushing back well i will say fourth down to me wasn't the issue it was third down well yeah starts they were converted more third downs then it wouldn't be a need for fourth down when we think about it they only got into the red zone one time and they had 12 third down attempts and they only

converted two they have four forkedown attempts and only converted one so there seems to be to me a disconnect from what's going on on the sideline and what's going on in the field what's working should be the question that someone that's plate calling would ask. You know, what do you guys feel is working against this defense, right? And guess what? Leaders can communicate that. They can say, hey, look, we've got these guys on the ropes when we run wide. We run tall suites.

We got these guys on the roads when we have three-step drops. We got these guys on the roads when we're working for under center. They can communicate some of these things that they feel they have an advantage working against the guys that are on the football field. Those guys on the sideline are not seeing what's actually working or what's not working or they're not able to communicate to the players, the type of plays that they feel are the best place to run in those types, certain situations.

Now, if they had an Aaron Rogers type, I'm using Aaron loosely because he got the crap beat out of him this weekend, buddy knows and everything. He looked crazy, right? But at the end of the day, he looked old. At the end of the day, what? He will communicate what's actually going on in the football field and what he feels that they need to do.

We don't have that kind of guy. We don't have that kind of personality, whether it's in the coaching staff or on the field itself. So it just kind of leads people scratch. scratching your heading, wondering what to do next. You know, when you had that situation where, you know, the rains to the wagon are just flopping in the wind and no one's actually controlling this thing, it's going anywhere. You know what I mean? They need someone to grab the reins, rain them horses back in, and exactly guide them and lead them in a direction that it makes sense for everybody, you know, because there's just no buy-in.

There's no buy-in from the guys that are calling the place. There's no buy-in from the guys that are actually running the place. So that's what makes it seem so desolate right now. A lot more questions than answers for the Titans for sure. On the other side of the break, we're going to dive a little bit into Cam Ward's performance this past weekend. What went wrong and what we want to see as he heads to Cleveland to face off against the Browns. We'll talk about it here on the Titans Squad Show next. All right, NFL Sundays move fast, but one big play and suddenly everything feels different.

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24 of 38, 141 yards, no interceptions, but no touchdowns either. It's the fourth game this season that the Titans fail to score an offensive touchdown. What did you make of Cam's performance, which kind of fits into the whole mixed bag of a rookie season? Well, past tense were down. I mean, 38 times he threw the ball, but for only 141 yards, that's kind of abysible. Both quarterbacks were sacked three times. You know, Trevor actually lost more yards through the sacks than Cam Ward did. So there's that.

They both had to deal with some sort of pressure. but he did hold the ball some and he did take at least one of those sacks where you just like with like a deer in the headlights like am i going backwards we're going sideways where should i be going with this thing the indecision obvious is what allowed the pass rush to get to him but so sure he was pressured but if you saw the field more cleanly then he can find someone open and deliver the ball before pressure starts now if you can't then there's something in play design or protection you know if you can't throw the ball downfield then run screens or run the ball you know cam needs to be under center so in that way they can't

can run that play action. I think the run game isn't effective in the gun. Most of the time when Cam's in the gun, the lineman are at a two-point stance, which is the hardest stance to run from because you can't get good leverage. Now, Cam under center, what that does is it allows alignment to get into a three-point stance and get better run fits. So dropping back the pass is also, it's different than taking a couple of hops backwards because you're already in the gun, right? It affects the pass rush because they have the guess where he's setting up versus him already be standing at the back of the pocket. You know, so there's some things that they could do by design to kind of clean it up and

make Cam Camp's job easier. But at the end of the day, you know, whether it's receivers getting separation and catching balls, whether it's Cam finding the open receiver and delivering an accurate enough ball or the line giving him ample time to be able to go through his progression and find those guys, all of that has to connect. And just at some point in time, it's just it has to, right? But it's inconsistent right now and now we'll see those flashes of, now there's that guy that we were excited about taking the first pick of the draft last year.

And then the other times we're linking, what the hell? You know what I mean? So there's a little bit of both for all scenarios. Tyler. Well, I think the reality is that after watching the tape yesterday, he got played different this week than the last two weeks. Seattle played more man coverage. Houston played more man coverage.

They wanted to bring pressure. They wanted to play man coverage because up to that point, Cam Ward had been as bad against any coverage in cover one. So when other teams were in man, he was struggling up to that point. And that's why I was so excited about the growth from Cam Ward

and seeing him struggle this week kind of emphasizes it a little bit more for me that Cam Ward struggled against man coverage beginning of the season. He got heavy man coverage teams or heavy man coverage looks from the Texans and the Seahawks and he beat those.

He did pretty good. He had the answers. He knew where to go. He got the ball out. He was on time. He did things. We were excited. It looked good.

and then Jacksonville went heavy zone and they played match zones and they would play two people and man on one side of the field on the field side and then they'd go heavy zone on the boundary side and the Titans keep running dagger over and over with a vertical route from the slot

and then a deep end breaker from the outside guy or they keep running these the little... Remember last week he hit the shot to ChimDK right at the goal line and then he hit at the Restrepo again that was a cover four where you slide an end-breaking guy, the number three, you slide him inside the hook zone guy in cover four, and there's nobody there because both the safeties are back deep because it's

cover four, so you could slide that guy right in between and hit it over and come. Had seen the concept, he's repped the concept, he was comfortable with it, hit it multiple times. Where the titans started going to those zone beating concepts that they run every single, every single week, those simple concepts that they never layer off of and never go. Remember how the Titans used to run glance all the time with A.J. Brown play action to Derek Henry. He'd run that kind of deeper slant, shorter post route right over the middle. They'd hit it right to him, he'd catch it, and he'd run through the heart of the defense. Well, what the Titans started doing is eventually they'd run that play over and over.

They started to bend it on its head. He'd fake inside and then cut outside. You'd have an easy throw on the boundary against cover three. That's the stuff that you start to do eventually, and the Titans just never got past elementary level with the offense. They still run the same easy concepts. they don't build on top of other things because they haven't found enough success to be like, we do this well,

defenses are waiting for it. Now, we'll throw them on their head and do the opposite. And Zig when they think we're going to zag. Cam Ward just saw totally different looks this week. He got a ton of match zone coverage in the back end and he didn't have the answers and the Titans didn't know how to attack it.

Like Brad's talking about the guys on the sideline didn't have the answers. I'm sure if you sat him in a room for a week and let him look over the tape, but they clearly weren't ready for what they got. they had no answers for the coverages that they were seeing and quite frankly, they're just not talented enough offensive minds to adjust quick enough to give the Titans a chance

to beat the coverage to win the game. And let me remind you, two weeks ago Jacksonville had held Justin Herbert to six points and he had like 100 passing yards or less, you know, like it was a tough performance. So Jacksonville's defense is smart, it's good, and after getting manned coverage for two straight weeks and having the answers to it because he's seen it enough,

Cam didn't have the answers to the match zone that Jacksonville ran throughout most of the game. Isn't though, you know, to that point, Tyler, getting played differently if you're Cam Ward. Isn't this why you play him? You know, isn't this why you play the rookie QB? Yes, this is the point all along. He could see different things because over the last few weeks,

he was starting to stack really, really good days. And it was kind of like, you know, like an employee getting the hang of a job, a new employee getting the hang of a job. And then you go to Sunday, you know, he didn't use his feet as much. He didn't seem as decisive as he was, especially against the Seahawks. And you're wondering, you know, the way the Jags are playing him, yes, he's struggling and fans are upset, but this is the point in playing him because he's now seeing totally different things for the first time,

which is what you want your rookie quarterback to see struggling or not. Can I just say to my point? Sorry, Brad. To my point, it's harder to run against zone because the defense is all looking at the quarterback eyes on the, when you're in man, there are more holes to run for a quarterback and Jacksonville made a concerted effort on the defensive line. It's clear to keep Cam hemmed in the pocket and not give him easy opportunities to break free. Like that was a clear point of emphasis. So I think there

are some schematic things at work that made it harder for Cam to run and ultimately led to him struggling more. Yeah, I just think that obviously the best experience is game time experience. You know, Cam will be better for having these struggles because you learn more in the struggle than you do for success. You know what I mean? In life, yeah. He's constantly trying to figure it out. So I like next year's version of Cam Ward being a lot better because he's seen a lot

of the fray that he needs to improve on, right? He'll break out the 2025 season and be like, man, I could have done this better, I could have done that better, could have this better. He has some things to work on, you know? So admittedly, we are talking about a rookie in his first year, but for me, it's better to have him on the field and on the sideline because he gets that real-time action that then allows him to develop and grow into the quarterback that we all want to see him be. Last question before we go to our break, what do you want to see from Cam going into this week?

Because he's got Miles Garrett on the other side, who's 19 sacks and is on his way to be the NFL single season sack record leader or holder, I should say. What do you want to see? Because he's going to be seeing one of the best defensive, if not the best defensive player in the league. I mean, if not, the most talented defensive player in the history of the NFL. I mean, it's at least a discussion. I think we have to at least have the conversation when his career is over that,

he's up there with, you know, Aaron Donald, T.J. Watt, Lawrence Taylor, and Reggie White, you know, some of the greatest players of all time on defense. What he's doing is just absolutely ridiculous. And I think that it's going to be a struggle. I honestly think the Browns are going to put it on the Titans a little bit. I think it's going to be tough for Cam Ward out there. Now, the Browns have had some injuries up front on defense like Malik Collins got hurt and is out for the season this year that can make it a little more feasible.

But they're going to have to put, you know, three people on Miles Garrett to do something in this game. And like we've been talking about, whether teams decide to stay, even heavier zone teams or teams that prefer zone will play man against the Titans sometimes. But now Jacksonville played a bunch of zone. Maybe that will change things. but I'll be curious to see what the Browns do and how Cam Ward reacts to that. They are a heavy man team. I mean, they played 34% man coverage going into this week.

You know, like they're going to play man against you pretty often. So Cam did well against man. If the Browns do that and don't copy the Jags, then I hope that he does just as well as he did against Seattle and Houston because he did well against those teams when they played man against him. But regardless of what he does, Julian, I just can't do this up and down. Cam has two good games.

He's the franchise quarterback. You know, Cam has a bad game. He's a bust. I'm just not riding this emotional roller coaster like the fans are all season long. In my opinion, we needed to see Cam Ward check boxes this year. We knew this wasn't going to be the best version of Cam Ward. We knew he wasn't going to be elite right away.

We knew that it was a tough situation that he was in, depending on how things went with the coaching staff. Like, we knew all this stuff. So to me, Cam Ward has already checked the boxes that I wanted to see him check to be excited about going into year two with him and seeing what he can be the rest of his rookie contract. Like, I'm already excited for next year. So I'm just like, there's really not much other than outrageous things, you know, that could make me be disappointed with Cam Ward going forward. Like, it's only going to get tougher. So, you know, he's got to play the 49ers and the Chiefs.

You know, like they got to play the Jags defense again. and they play the Browns. Defense is great for the Browns. Like, that's an awesome defense. They beat the Packers and stuff, you know? Like, the Browns are a great defense. So my expectations are just super low, but he's already checked the boxes that I wanted to see checked.

You know what I'm calling? I'm calling this is going to be Cam's best game that we see all year. That would be great against Shador Sanders, just for the vibes in the conversation. If the Browns beat the Titans, it's going to be a lot of Shador. Here's why, Taylor. Hush for a second. Here's why. Nate Burleson asked Miles Garrett about his bag of tricks.

And what Miles said was very prophetic. He said, I wait for the basically development of the game to where the past rushing downs start really coming more plentifully. And then that's when I start pulling out my bag of tricks. The Titans know they can't protect against Miles Garrett. So what they're not going to do is try and keep these passing downs, these passing situations more prevalent. they've got to run the football. And by sheer trying to protect the pocket, they're going to have more guys at the line of scrimmage to do just that, which means they're going to run the football.

They have to. They can't sit back there and step back and drop back and think that they're going to be able to pass against this defense with that passports, with that dude on the other side. He's going to take chances on either side and he's going to take his opportunities the best he can to run up against Dan Moore and J.C. Latham and see just how many sacks.

see if you can get the sack record for a game, right? Well, the Titans know that going into this ballgame. So the one thing that they need to do is what? Stay out of those passing downs that put their quarterback in subsequent danger. They have to do that. So which means to me, they're going to spend more time running the football, trying to grind down this defense, trying to win the line of scrimmage consistently,

which is something they haven't even done or committed to doing all year. This is the week that they take less pressure off of Cam Ward trying to throw the ball vertically and do the things that can keep this team converting third down, staying out of unmanageable down in distances that are almost impossible to convert, this will be the most consistent game that Cam Cam has all year. You heard it there from Bhop, a bold prediction for Cam Ward's week this week, going against Shador Sanders, which should be juicy given the competitive rivalry those two have had and been linked together since they entered the league. Okay, on the other side of the break, we're going to talk about some of the comments Jeffrey

Simmons had after the game on Sunday and his call for leadership and who really should be leading this Titans team. That's next on the Titans squad show. All right. The holidays are officially here, which means gift hunting season is on. And if you want something meaningful and personal, you got to get the aura frames. Oh, hold on one second. Lost my spot for the Aura Frames add there. One moment here. We'll get you, ORAFra. There you go.

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So Jeffrey Simmons had some interesting comments, as did a number of other players on Sunday. Arden Key said to the extent that, you know, there was some extra stuff kind of going on with the team and nothing that was on the field related, but he couldn't really speak on it. When, you know, the media followed up to Jeffrey Simmons about it, he said, well, whoever comes in and as the coach needs to lead this team, that the culture needs to do, change around here. Of course, we talked a little bit about Cam Ward and his disagreement with the coaching staff to want to go for it on fourth down more, more so than the conservative nature of what the coaches are calling and play calling wise. So what are your thoughts on the overall

collective messaging from the locker room right now that the leadership is in question and needs to change? Well, first off, what Jeffrey was saying has existed for decades. We hate the eggs. And they hate us. But what that doesn't mean is that you lose focus and discipline. People who fight for a living don't make the fight emotional because that's wasting energy. The Titans played very emotional, which affected their decision making and their focus. You just can't get into these scrums. You can't get into the silliness that distract you from the main goal, which is winning the ballgame. The best way to get an opponent is not by punching me in the face, it's by beating me. And a lot of times beating them comes with punching you in the face,

but you've got to be able to do both simultaneously. You just can't get into these wild situations where you just look like nothing else matters. But that moment where you're getting into it with a dude. Now, admittedly, you know, I've played emotionally before and got into situations that, you know what, hey, I lost my senses for a minute. And it didn't, luckily, it didn't cost a ballgame, but it did cost in that situation, you know, being the best player I could for the team at that point. You know, so while I understand exactly what Jeffrey is talking about, I mean, I watch MMA every day because when I go to the gym, it's what inspires me, you know, to kind of, you know, get that extra lift in or keep running those that extra mile or something like that.

I just like watching dudes that are fit doing their thing. And one thing I don't see them doing is in that octagon. I don't see them being emotional. Think about that. You know, these guys are actually physically in physical combat, beating the crap out of one another, but they're not doing it emotionally, which I've always. I thought was amazing. And that's the way football players have to play at their best because there's so much thinking that goes on when you're on the football field.

You know, by play design, by technique, all these things have to play right in unison for you to have success. And for us to lose that focus because you don't like that other guy across from you, you know, that's what young players do. You know, the older you get, the better you recognize that and the more manageable those situations are to where you just don't lose focus because you're pissed off of the guy across from me, you had plenty of opportunity to get back at this guy or or that situation, plenty because there's more than 60 or 70 plays to get running the game. I'm sure in one of

those plays, you can find some sort of balance, right? He got you on one of them. Well, you got 69 more of them to get back at him. At the end of the day, you can't play emotional, which takes you out of the ball game. Well, this is stuff that bad teams do, right? Jacksonville. Jacksonville is getting in these rough and tumbles and, you know, Jeffrey Simmons is talking about things that were said to him let's not pretend like Jeffrey Simmons ain't saying some things out there you know back it's not like

you know it's just one-sided trash talk this guy's being mean to me blah blah you know like when you don't care about winning the division when you don't care about making the playoffs I mean there are some guys in there who may not care about winning the games anymore

the team's bad whatever we've lost 11 what's another one when you don't care about that stuff you care more about the pride. Hey, this guy said this to me. You won't talk to me like that. Who cares if I get a 15-yard penalty? We're losing 25 to 3.

We're losing 15 to 3 at halftime. We've lost 10 straight games. You know, this stuff happens more often on bad teams with nothing to play for. Because all that does matter to you is your personal pride and your individual pride and how you're respected and all that. Like, you're more likely to not care about hurting the team

if the team is already terrible. You know, that's just the reality of the situation. I found it hilarious, you know, some of the things that were said. I'm not going to repeat all of them, but the two big things that we heard, the punner said to Julius Chester, Jeffrey Simmons said, this guy said this to me. I'm sorry, I don't know if I just come from a different world, but me and my friends have been saying stuff like that to each other since we were 12 years old competing, playing basketball, playing tackle football and stuff.

Yeah, you're this, you're that. Like, I don't know. That's just the environment that. I'm used to so I'm not like oh god he said that to you you should get a penalty in the middle of the game like I don't I don't know that's just how I feel about that that was kind of strange that they acted the Titans acted like you know these crazy things were said to them or whatever when you hear that stuff quite often in my opinion but regardless when you have Arden key in the locker room yeah something was going on oh what do you mean Arden between you and the Jaguars no no

Something else was going on. I can't talk about it or I'll get in trouble. I can't talk about it or I'll get fined. He said one of those two. When you have players talking about stuff like that and then Jeffrey Simmons, when asked about that comment from Arden Key, is super frustrated and ends up saying whoever the next head coach is, he's got to be a leader.

I'm sorry, but it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to think someone missed a meeting. Someone didn't do something and walk through. Something happened where somebody was not held accountable before this game and a team walk through, a practice, a meeting, something happened behind the scenes in with the locker room where some player was allowed to do something or did something that showed a lack of professionalism, a lack of seriousness,

and Mike McCoy didn't handle it. And Jeffrey Simmons is at his wits end. After seeing Mike Vrable, who wouldn't allow a player to step out of line an inch, Mike McCoy is like, you know, my mom does this all the time. She says, oh, I love being a grandma. Because when your mom or your dad, you have to discipline the child. You can't give them candy for breakfast. You can say, oh, when you're at Grandma's house, you get to eat pancakes all you want.

You can't do that when you're the parent. You can't let that be. Mike McCoy is coaching the team like the grandfather of the team, not the father of the team. And I think there are things that are happening behind the scenes that are frustrating players who know what's supposed to look like, like Jeffrey Simmons. and when you hear him saying the next head coach has to be a leader technically Mike McCoy could still get the job

I mean we all know he's not going to get the full-time job but he expressed interest in it when he took the opportunity and I'm sure he would still tell you he has Mike McCoy's not going to go in the press conference and say I'm not going to be the next head coach of this team I know it he's not going to say that so for Jeffrey Simmons to go out there and say this guy who's coaching our team right now

is not the next head coach of this team he's not leading this team and the next coach better be a leader. That is as damning as you're going to hear from an NFL player in a locker room, in my opinion, like whether people read it that way or not, he is saying, we are not being led right now, we desperately need a leader as the head coach, which means that the current guy who's coaching the team is not leading at all. And for Arden Key to say like, oh, some stuff happened, I can't talk about it though. That means there was a locker room issue that happened. So, and with Cam Ward's comments about, yeah, we need to realize what kind of team we are right now

go for it on fourth downs like it's just a clear revolt of Mike McCoy and his leadership right you know what's funny is I'm glad you brought all that up Tyler because you gave us a good looking your family dynamic when you said that your sister before the show started you said your sister was like your third parent right she held kind of right he was like my first parent really right but you still had two parents that were there yes yeah yeah yeah but at the end of the day they played the parent role because they were in the house with you you had a sister that also took on that role but normally you wouldn't expect your siblings to be the parent.

And when you look at the dynamic of a team, the head coach is the father. Okay? And the teammates that you have on either side of you are your brothers. They're not your dad. So you wouldn't expect your brother to be your dad if you have a dad in the house. But unless you feel that you need to take on that role of being a father as a brother, then that's something else that probably that Jeffrey didn't sign up for.

You know what I mean? He's like, it's hard enough to be in. you know what I'm saying right so at the end of the day there is that missing family dynamic to where you fear repercussion you know what I probably would have wild out or acted so crazily as a teenager yes if I didn't have a dad in the house because there would have been no structure that have been nobody telling me you know or or or actually disciplining me when I did do bad but I did have that family dynamic in my house so it kept me out of a lot of issues I wasn't going to go doing things I knew were going to get me into trouble because I had to go home and face my dad. You know what I mean? So at the end of the day, if you don't fear that other side line that that you have to go back to it, you do something silly, there's no discipline. There's no team dynamic. There's no family dynamic, which is what it takes to win ball games. Part of respect and part of leadership, there is a, there is a slice of fear.

You know, that can't be the whole thing. You can't be totally, you know, that can't be the whole part of leadership, but there is a slice of fear. And I think that's a great example. I didn't want to go out and get in trouble when I was a kid because my dad will whoop me if I did, you know, like he would, you know, if I got bad grades or I got in trouble at school and stuff like that, I remember getting spankans. You know what I mean? And that there is a small sliver of fear and respect. At some point, it does change.

In other words, I never feared Jeff Fisher. I feared disappointing him. Yes. When I was a sophomore in high school, I was six inches taller than my dad. There's nothing he could have done to me physically. But I did fear of disappointing him or having him, you know, point out the things that I was doing bad or doing wrong. So I just didn't do them, right? You're right.

There is some, when you're a kid, the threat is what? Don't let me get this belt out. Exactly. Yeah. Right. Well, I wouldn't expect a pro football coach to yank a dude up by his collar or even high school, for that matter, getting physical with some players. But at the end of the day, you have to fear his disappointment and fear that his correction. is something you just don't want to have happen.

I don't need my coach getting in my face and yelling at me about the things I know I can correct. So I do agree with you partially, just that at some point in time, we evolve into more than just being scared of the guy. You respect them like you would someone that's in a leadership role, that you just don't want to be the reason why things don't work. And I think you learn that early from the spankans is what it is. And then as you evolve, you're like, you know what? I just don't want to dissing.

But hey, guys can be late to meetings. and get suspended. You know, we saw Abdul Carter for the Giants be suspended for the first quarter or for drives for being late to meetings, like C.D. Lamb and George Pickens and stuff like that. So there are like other fear of consequences of like punishment, you know, that these guys could be not experiencing as well. Like guys are late to meetings or not showing up for walkthrough or not taking their rehab seriously. And you can be suspended and punished and stuff for that. And if guys don't fear those repercussions in the locker room also, maybe they're, you know, goofing off in other ways too. Yeah, it's starting to feel bad for Jeff Simmons, man,

because every time we go over to talk to him after one of these losses, he just gives like a huge sigh, and it's kind of like a here we go again type of thing. How many times am I supposed to say the same thing? 20 different times, especially for him, who is, according to Mike Borganzi, part of the solution to the problem with the Tennessee Titans moving forward. We'll see.

All right, keep those comments in the live chat coming. If you're here with us on YouTube, we'll answer them to the best of our ability in our final. segment of the show, which is Titans Talk. See it now on the other side of it. All right, fellas, I have to start with this one because it's, it's top of mind from Garrett Michael 1894. He said, damn, B. Hop, you had six inches on your dad.

Where did you get that NFL build from? So explain yourself, Bhoff. Come on. My dad's 5'10, man. Actually, he's 5'9 now, he's 76. Is any guy 510? Is that, 510? Now, where I got my height was my grandmother.

My grandmother is six foot. Well, she was anyway. So which makes my mom 5-11, you know, so my height came from my mom's side of the family, not my dad's side of the family. So I mean, but my dad was one of those guys that spoke softly but carried a big stick, you know? Wow.

So he didn't have to be six, five, like me and my brother, you know, to actually instill the discipline. We just knew this dude here, it came down to it, man. You know, like Tyler said, he could, he could swing that belt like the best of them when we're kids, you know. So that's where I get my head. Great question.

That's funny. All right. So we got another question. It says from when in doubt, I, yeah, I can't even, I'm not even going to do that. But he says, I think we probably got two more years to be competitive, maybe next year. But I'm thinking two more years of good drafting. We talked about, you know, the AFC South and how it's a little bit better this. than maybe then anticipated, but is it only two years away?

Because right now it's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. No, no, it's not two years away. I know that things look bad. I made the case for how bad it was earlier. But NFL stands for not for long. The worst teams become good in an instant. The best teams fall apart in an instant. The Chiefs, the Lions might not make the playoffs this year.

The Patriots were a top five pick last year. They're number one. And look at the bears who have turned it around. Anthers who have turned it around. This happens every year all the time in the NFL from all different ways. Look, here's the truth. And it goes back to Brad's point earlier of what we were, and I've talked about it. Maybe it's because I'm a coach's son. But at the end, and maybe it's because I'm a better coach than a player. You know what I mean? I'm not like Brad. I didn't get the six inches taller than my dad. I'm six inches shorter than my dad was. I got screwed. All right.

But where's that super soldier serum, Brad? I need some. Okay. Coaching, coaching, coaching, coaching matters. This Tennessee Titans team, this roster is not great, but I've talked about it. The fragments of this point have been brought up throughout our conversations here. The Titans, most of the rosters in the NFL are pretty similar in terms of talent. The Titans are on the low end of that, but they're one good acquisition cycle away

and some internal development from their young players away from being, you know, kind of just a below average level talent roster. If they get the right coach, if they hit a home run with the coaching hire and the coach knows what he's doing and can put the players in a position to succeed and take this team from one of the least prepared schematic teams in the NFL to at least average or above average in that realm and a coach that creates opportunities for his players, especially on the offensive side of the ball, a proper coach. Like if you put Sean McVey as the head coach of the Titans, next year they would win six or seven games because that is a different. If the Titans are able to get a good head coach, they can be competitive next year and win five or six games and then build on that. And a year later, they can win eight, nine, ten games and make the playoffs. You know, like that is the way that it works in the NFL. And just because we're all sad and angry and mad right now doesn't mean that it can't happen to us. It has happened to the Titans before. It can happen again. So we just need the right coach and things will be better.

My next question is back from Garrett Michael 1894, and it goes to B. Hop, an offensive line question. He said, personally, I want to see more of J.C. Latham than Cam this game. Latham can shut down the entire narrative around him with this one game, especially considering Miles Garrett's on the other side. What do you think about that? Well, he said he wants to see more out of him, not more Lacey Lathom. I'm sure he's going to see a healthy dose of J.C. Latham because J.C. Latham is the right tackle of this team. And guess what?

He's going to be line up against Miles Garrett, the best pass rusher and probably, like Tyler said, history, you know, for 60 minutes. So does he have the opportunity? Sure, he can go out there and put together the perfect game. But in my opinion, what's going to help him have the perfect game is play calling. And also them staying out of third and 10, third, and Miles Garrett's going to be pulling all kinds of stuff out of his bag. You know what I'm saying? Because if you're dealing with third and five, you're dealing with your convertible down in distances, and you're dealing with play action. you're dealing with running the football, then guess what?

Cam doesn't get sacked, and we're not even talking about, you know, the pressure that gets put on the quarterback. So if they're able to stay in those manageable down in distances, that helps the edge rushers. That takes Miles Garrett out of the game. But if you're all of a sudden screwing up, if you're taking penalties that create third and 15, and Miles is now at a nine technique sitting out there damn near on the slot receiver, rushing Cam Ward, then guess what, it's going to be a bad day? And the Titans know this week has got to be the week that they figure something out as far as, you know, protecting the pocket. Protecting the pocket doesn't necessarily mean five or six dudes blocking up front.

It also means the play calling being selective enough to allow Cam to get the ball out of his hands efficiently and run the ball with some sort of consistency, you know, that allows them to be managed, you know, win the line of scrimmage. So sure, he could go out there and put it this way. I'll put J.C. Latham run blocking Miles Garrett. Now, I'm not going to say he's going to win every time because he's a heck of a run defender as well, but I would much rather have J.C. Latham run blocking Miles Garrett than Biles Garrett Garrett than Biles Garrett pass rushing J.C. Latham, because that's going to be an ugly, ugly affair. Yeah, Miles Garrett is what the Browns do. Go ahead.

Oh, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, Miles Garrett. Well, go ahead. Go ahead. I'm hearing each other. Yeah. Okay, Miles Garrett has played 475 of the snaps on the right side of the defense, which is against the left tackle, and he's only played 100 snaps on the left side, which would go against the right tackle.

So his natural position would be going over Dan Moore, but it will be curious to see because Latham has struggled a bit this year if they move him around and how often they do it. I would tell you, we talk about third and five, third and this, looks like it's going to be third miles this weekend. Oh, wow. Oh, that's awesome. Boom.

Real quick, Julian. Yeah. I just thought of this. How many times did Dan Morgan to see Miles Garrett when he was in Pittsburgh? A lot. So Miles already knows what he can do against Dan.

And looking at the tape, he's going to say a few, see a few things that he can do against, against JC. So let's just stay out of those situations where he gets to rest of the person. Right. Miles Garrett with 19 sacks so far this season,

three and a half sacks away from tying the single season. season sack record. Let's hope he doesn't get it all in this game against the Titans. That would be, that would be nice. All right. Well, the Titans and Browns kick off on Sunday at noon central. We'll see you guys after that game.

But for now, thanks for joining us here on the Titans Squad Show. I'm Julian Minneson. That's Brad Hopkins and Tyler Rowland. We'll see you guys on game day. Enjoy it. Thank you.