Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - TITANS SQUAD SHOW: Cam Ward plays BEST GAME of the season, Titans DISMANTLE Chiefs

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

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I'm Julian Minnensohn and call him Chef Cam Ward because he was absolutely cooking the Chiefs. We break down the best game of his rookie season. That's coming up next. And there is no sweeter nectar than the juice of winning. That's what the Titans did today and we'll talk about that too. Tighten 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 a post-game edition of the Titan Squad Show. I'm Julian Minnesone, joined by two-time Pro Bowler Brad Hopkins as the Titans get their third win of the season, 26 to 9, over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Of course, if you are joining us live on the show, make sure to get your questions in, as well as like, comment, subscribe, all that fun stuff. We'll do our best to answer those questions throughout the show. The Titans' defense gives up only nine points to a beaten down Chiefs team, but still a great performance nonetheless. Jeffrey Simmons shines. Cam Ward might be playing his best ball of his rookie season right now.

And of course, the Titans get the win. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit Fandul.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. And Bhop, you know, if you told me at the beginning of the year that the only Titans' home win of the year at this point of the season would be against the Kansas City Chiefs. I probably wouldn't have believed it.

Now, of course, you've got to take the injury of Patrick Mahomes into consideration and all this stuff with the Chiefs and their struggles this year. But the Titans get the win, nonetheless. They were a two-win football team heading into this game. What was your initial reaction to their performance today? Well, it's crazy and ironic at the same time as this sounds, Julie. And this was a game that they were supposed to win. I mean, I know that when you talk about the schedule and as it plays itself out and you see the chiefs coming into town in mid-December, you're thinking, oh, crap, man, they're probably going to be playing for some playoff seating, you know, their dominance of the AFC West will continue, blah, blah, blah, right?

This isn't the chiefs from last year that went to the Super Bowl. It's just not. And with that, as much injuries that they're dealing with, with four consecutive losses that they're dealing with, all the stuff coming along with, all the stuff coming along with. with the dethroning of a champion. This is a team that the Titans were supposed to beat because of how bad they were. So in other words, if the Titans were to lose to a team

that lost their starting quarterback, that lost their starting tackle, that lost five other starters on either side of the football, and were to lose at home, that would be a real indicator of how trashy this actual 2025 season was, right? But what they did, though, against a bad team is play complimentary football,

So where all three phases contributed, all three phases were convincingly ahead, and they never were in a struggle with this team at all. Now, could they do this against a really good team? They showed, you know, glimpses of that last week in the Bay, playing the Niners, a playoff caliber team, won there to one double-digit games to this point. They were competitive to say at least, but they were still scratching and cloying to get back into that game, at least not having to be a blowout. So while they didn't win at all, and it just wasn't the most convincing win last weekend, the Titans really showed up on this Sunday to dominate a team that has had a lot of issues this year. Absolutely. Something that stick out to me, Bhop, for the last five games now, 20 plus points.

It seems like this offense has taken huge step forward, and it starts with your fellas up front, those big guys, the way they've been running the ball the last couple games, three straight 100-yard performances from Tony Pollard. I mean, you know, we asked Mike McCoy over the last couple of weeks, is there something that's clicked for the O-L-line? And he said, well, we're just committing to the run more. But in your eye, in your estimation of watching these games and being a trained eye at that, what's clicked for this group of front?

Because they're playing like leaps and bounds better than they were at the start of the year. Well, thousands of percent, what Mike McCoy said, they're running the ball more. When you run the ball more, you have more success running the ball. ball. Sounds redundant. Think about what I say. If you run the ball more, then, I mean, if you run the ball more, then obviously you get more from the run game because you're doing it more consistently. It's about run fits. It's about cohesion. It's about rhythm. All of those things. Back's getting a good read on where the hole is going to open up. They see what matchups up front are creating the most success, that kind of stuff, right? And it also allows

you to be physical up front. There's nothing real physical about pass blocks. other than the guy, the defender, coming in and trying to beat the crap out of you get to the quarterback, right? We're defending off of all these moves versus inflicting the momentum, getting low and getting our pads engaged, winning the line of scrimmage. That's a huge thing. I think when you talk about the 31, 24, and 26 points that they've been able to put up over the past few weeks, what also have they been able to do? Rush for over 100 yards in three straight games with Tony Pollard. So it's not by any sort of surprise that you see this team having more effect offensively when they're able to run the football. more effectively because not only are they able to control the pace,

but they're also able to control the physicality and the level of engagement when they're effectively running the football up front. You know, earlier this year, for Tony to get a thousand yards seemed like a long shot, right, because they weren't running the ball that well. Now he's at 949, and it seems that 1,000 yard marker is still within reach. And then the thing that stuck out to me today, Taj Spears got in on the action too. He had over 100 total yards, 50 plus on the ground, 50 plus in the receiving game where he's kind of a jitterbug in the screen game. And this is what they, I guess, envisioned for at least that duo at the start of the year was Tony was banged up at the end of last season and say, hey, okay, Taj could kind of help lighten the load for Tony a little bit.

They just haven't been able to run the ball until now. So that's why it seems also that Tony is just fresh at this point of the season. here's an example of how the run game can be a liability and also will be a string big jeff's uh safety was of who kareem hunt right yeah the running back and that happened because the guard and tackle weren't on the same page we saw tray basically yelling on the sideline as they took the got to the sideline saying wake the f up because what they weren't doing was running the right play you had the left side blocking man when they should have been blocking zone together up to the linebacker level then big jeff wouldn't have been able to slip past the guard

basically untouched and tackle kareem hunt in the end zone had they been on the same page in other words big jeff getting the double team all the way up to the linebacker then he doesn't make that safety you see what i'm saying but one critical error up front in the blocking scheme of things it blew the whole play up and it gave big jeff his second week in a row where he's actually scored some points, put some points on the board, right? The touchdown last week, you know, tip-tone along the back of the end zone. And then this week, getting Kareem Hunt down in the end zones. That's six and two is what, eight points that we've seen them put up,

him himself put up this week or in the past couple of weeks. But it wouldn't happen, like I said, that sounds like something that happened to the Titans, doesn't it? Especially in the very beginning of the year. You'd have a misblock up front. Somehow Tony Pollard or Taji Spears would get knocked in the back. back the end and next thing you know it's a safety on us but as a season has progressed they stop making those type of mistakes they play better up front and that's allowed the offense to flourish

and you know what they're doing bee hop is they're they're developing an identity too because when we came into the season and we looked at the depth chart how many young players were going to have to make an impact not just rookies second year players too third year players too some of which are up front on the offensive line like peter scoronsky and j c latham they've been able to slowly build an identity. And what we talked about on that last show earlier in the week was how it's huge, these performances, stacking good performances on game days for the O-line

going into an off-season in which they're probably most likely going to be the same group going into next year, giving them confidence, saying, hey, that we can do this game after game. How huge is that just for, hey, this is what the Tennessee Titans like to play like? There's a lot more technique that comes into pass blocking. You've got to be way more sound dealing with, with leverage, with your getting off the ball,

all of these things are harder than it is to run block. So if you have young players up front and you're catering to the strength of being able to run the football versus the liability of being of the past block, then you're going to have better results. You know what I'm saying? I said all that to say, if I'm able to then start pushing people around

and being physical up front, even as a young player, I can find more success than it would be if I was dealing with third or second and long, type situations where the passing was more predictable and those guys get to pin their ears back right because you've got to do everything right sometimes in a run block you can get away with something if you were late if you were just high or whatever because of just it being an effort type deal but if you lose in any type of pass blocking situation matter of fact i watched a clip from um one of the i think

it was a jaguars defender that did a spin move on the inside on on kevin zitler and just made him with like you wouldn't believe yeah right that happens more more more predominantly in the past blocking situation right versus if I'm teeing off as a run blocker and I'm just trying to get my hands on you and push you backwards I can recover from not initially getting the right fit but it's hard to get that you know recover from when you get beat at the line of scrimmage in a pass block and you mentioned winning like the first and second down that affects third down 9 to 17 on third down today. I mean, that's, that's kind of what you want to see from this group, is it not?

100% because it just allows you to have more time on the field. You're converting third downs, giving yourself another set of downs, and it's also wearing down the defense. Winning time of possession, Julian, is about as crucial as anything else. Because if you're winning time of possession, that means that you're staying on the field and you're having a higher rate of conversion, then would be if you weren't, right? Because if I was three and out, how long do I keep the ball? minutes. In the grand scheme of things, I'm keeping the ball minutes as opposed to keeping the ball

for a longer period of time if I'm able to be effective in converting third down. So the more I'm spending time, and also I'm spending more time on the field running plays. You know what I mean? Getting used to how they play, getting used to feeling out the other side of the line of scrimmage and really putting this thing together to know what is effective and what's not. Yeah, Tony Pollard now is two more touchdowns away from a little bit of a bonus. He would been only one touchdown away. One was taken off the board from the Titans and a questionable call on Jeffrey Simmons. As far as the red zone as well for this team, the way they took an advantage, three or four today, could have been four or four like I mentioned. That was something that

they just haven't been in the red zone a lot throughout the early part of the season because they'd get past the 50 and then their drive would stall out. So it's not just driving the ball down field but capitalizing on the drive as well because some of those drives today were long ones i mean you know the the one at the start of the half the 11 play 89 yard drive was arguably one of their most impressive ones all season and that got them off to a good start in the second half i mean we saw some explosive plays by the titans today i mean one of the ones that stands out to me is cam obviously avoiding the rush running to his right throwing across his body and finding a receiver deep i mean when you're moving around like that to have that kind of arm strength

to get the ball down the field as far as he did under duress like that those are the kind of plays the once again gunner hill makes a terrific catch along the sideline toe tapping right and really keeping the drive alive so we've seen the playmakers make more plays which then gets them used to being in those situations where a big play is needed right we didn't see any explosive plays from the chiefs today that was one of the biggest differences in the game yeah i was just going to say sorry, Bihop, I was just going to say, like, the biggest question I thought going into this into this game was, what were we going to see from Kansas City? Because they had never been in this position before. They, you know, they're out of the playoffs for the first time in over a

decade. You had their backup quarterback and ended up being their third stringer, you know, however, for the Titans, to go in with the attitude that say, hey, they're still the Chiefs, they're still championship players on that other side. And winning does matter, especially for a young team learning how to win, especially at the end of the season when, you know, maybe you're a little bit more injured and more banged up and the days are starting to mount of practices. That's invaluable to a young team, no matter what the draft pick situation is. 100%. But it's also taking advantage of a team that isn't playing as well as they traditionally play.

I think that when you look at the narrative and how things would have looked, Had this team fallen to a team that has had so many struggles. It just adds an exclamation point as to how crappy this season has been, how up and down, how inconsistent. But then we've seen those throws from Cam that give you an idea that, man, the future is bright. This team can actually play, man. You know what I mean? In some instances, they just need to have more of that.

The difference is, can they have this kind of output against a team that they're not supposed to be? Right. And I don't know what the line was. I don't know if actually still favored after having dealt with all the crap. But what I do know is that when you're able to perform consistently, it doesn't matter who's on the other side of the football. Finish teams that you're supposed to finish and you beat or at least competitive in those teams that you might not be the favorite.

You see what I'm saying? Absolutely. And just for context, the Titans, they were, I think, 12.5 point underdogs before Patrick Mahomes went down. It went all the way down to three-point underdogs. So they were still technically not favored, but being at home, it was kind of a pick-em game anyway. You mentioned Cam Ward. We're going to talk about him on the other side of the break.

Was this his best game of his rookie career? We'll break down his performance. And some of the plays that Bhop has already talked about here in the Titan Squad Show. Keep it here. All right, NFL Sundays move fast. One big play, and suddenly everything. everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with Fanduil so exciting. You're not just watching the game. You're reacting to it in real time. With Fanduel, you can place bets as the action

unfolds, every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up or the momentum flips after a turnover. Right now, the early line, according to Fandle's sportsbook, Titans, three point underdogs against the Saints. So bigger payout if you pick the Titans to win and maybe get their first win streak in three years next Sunday. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduil.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fan duel, the game moves fast, and so can you.

All right, Bhop, Cam Ward. I would say it's his best game of his rookie career, 21 of 28 to 28 in the air, two touchdowns. So that's three straight games with at least two touchdowns now. Was this his best game, like a lot of the reaction, has been out there already on social? media in your eyes 1,000 percent two touchdowns no picks like you mentioned he had a couple of sacks but it wasn't anything crazy egregious and what I also like today was the nine yards

that he put up on the ground most of that to scramble for first you've got to be able to show that kind of dual threat capability because it makes the pass for us keep be honest right if they know that at some point in time if you get past the quarterback level he's going to take off you rush a different way and for him to be able to showcase that you know inadvertently it wasn't like he planned to let the pass rush go by him and all of a sudden the green pastures opened up and he decided to take advantage of it he found himself in greener pastures looking at the sticks while he's running to the sideline converting the first down and keeping the drive moving and that's what you wanted to be able to do alone from the 228 or whatever the yardage was that he threw through the through the air and made plays despite the pass rush right and there were a couple of instances where it broke down and he had to scramble and make something happen and every single time he made something happen which is what we come accustomed to seeing from a young guy right we just need to see that more consistent the thing is after that big play that he made downfield then he was trying to throw to the screen route and he threw it short you know what i mean the guy was trying to make an acrobatic

catch because he was out of position so that was a microcosm make this big play downfield right do all these acrobatics to get loose and get and let the thing fly and then the simplest thing of a timing route where you're trying to get the ball out of your hands and into the of the ball carrier as fast as you can and you don't quite put enough on it next to you know it's an and completion. So that's where we need to see him be more complete, you know, be more consistent, a guy that can actually make those kind of big plays that we saw, but then also back it up with a simple play, like getting it to the back and the flat and let him do his thing. A few weeks ago, I remember I asked a question to you and Tyler in our

midweek show about what's the most important stat to Cam? It was like completions, touchdowns, yardage, wins. And the resounding answer, from the three of us was completion percentage, right? And today, 75%, and that's what you talked about. It leads to everything else. It leads to the yardage, leads to the touchdowns, and it leads to the wins. Absolutely correct. Because if you think about it, if its completion percentage is higher,

that means our guys are catching the football, and more than likely, Julian, they're getting yards after the catch at some point. So if you're moving the sticks by getting completions, you're now contributing to the time of possession things. Guys are making completions and allowing you to stay on the field longer than you would be if they were making incompletions because remember the clock stops on incompletion, right? Yeah.

So I think that when you know the completions that are actually making a difference and you're having you're stacking those, that's what puts points on the boards and gives your offense more chance to win ball games and make those plays be more effective, right? Defenses are supposed to stay on the field of the smallest amount of time. In a perfect world, if you ran three downs and forced them to punt because they couldn't convert in three downs, that's the best scenario for a defense. But for an offense, it's different. You want to have them convert as many third downs as need be to get that ball into the end zone

and eating up as much clock on the way is just another advantage. I thought the most important drive of the day was the one that I mentioned earlier in the show, the one right out of the gate at halftime. You talk about fast starts Bhop. They didn't really get things going until the Jeffrey Simmons safety, right? You talk about spark plays. But at the start of the second half, that 11 played drive, two of those throws were his most impressive throws, I thought, all season long, the over the top one to Elek, and then the one you talked about

where he's flushed out of the pocket, throws across his body, and just right into the bread basket there for Chim D.K. to make a play. And then it leads to the touchdown. You talk about fast starts of the second half is that's the MO right there. That's a perfect example. Yeah. We saw how it worked against him last weekend. Against the Chiefs, the Chiefs came out, long drive, Titans' offense was on the sideline for what seemed like forever. combing it in some points. We get a three-it-out. They get the ball back again.

Now they put up more points. So that fast start in the second half, man, it's a real difference maker. Now, we talked last week about this team being a touchdown behind heading into the second half. If you have some Buss for Candy and Nuts, was the joke that I made during our last show. But if we score and tie that ball game up going into halftime,

now you have a different scenario. Even if they do score coming out of the box in the second half, you're still only down by a touchdown. But what that turned into was two touchdowns. And then some more the points before they had to, like Tyler, talked about in garbage time put up some more points. But I just love their consistency. I love the fact that they won the four quarter as far as points because even then the Niners were only able to score six. But in this game, there was complete dominance from beginning to end. We saw team making plays on special teams. We saw a team making plays on the defense side of football, contributing to points. And we saw Cam Ward throw a couple of touchdowns and really show his command of the offense and how dominant they were over. Yes, a depleted chief's team, but a chief's team none the less that knows how to win. Sure, yeah. And to be fair, the Titans only had two wins coming in.

It's not like everybody, somebody like the Titans can necessarily overlook whether they're beaten and bruised or not. And it's no coincidence, BHop, when you talk about it starting up front, that the day where the O line has another good day, they run the ball just as well as they had the last couple weeks. Cam has a good performance and how much it opens up things for Cam in the past game, how it opens a thing for Cam in play action and rolling out of the pocket. but run game certainly helps. You know, we talked to Matt Jones, one of the assistant offensive line coaches now,

who's been kind of double-tasking. It was Scott Fuchs, who's helping the offensive line since Bill Callahan's left. Something they're doing, and he said that they're simplifying things for the O line up front. You know, a lot of the times Bill didn't like to run the same, kind of run two times in a row or multiple times in a row. What they were doing, he said,

is they're maybe giving a different look, adding an emotion, of something to disguise it and then still doing the same run, kind of the kiss, keep it simple, stupid kind of thing for the offensive line. Is that something that could help an O line, especially a young O line where there's a couple of young players there learning how to play together? I think what you want to do is when they say simplifying the line of scrimmage,

it's just basically giving the linemen less to think about. Sure. You know what I mean? It's like if I'm going to the line of scrimmage after I break the huddle, And I'm thinking, okay, if he's in a three-eye shade, I know I've got to go straight up to the backer or at least maybe even keep the guy backside. But if he's in a four-eye or if he's in an outside shade, now I know I've got to engage him in the way. You know what I'm saying? If you just knew that you didn't have to think about as much going up, then you're going to react better.

You're going to have a better game plan within your own mind of how you need to engage this. There's only one or two ways of doing something versus all these other options. In some instances, they'd be going to the line scrimmage with a run play called. and all of a sudden you check into a past play because of what you think you're getting up front. You know what I mean? If you just say, hey, look, this is how they're lining up

or even if they do line up against that, this is how we're going to block it and just keep that play consistently. That gives them less to think about. So I think simplifying the gameplay, sure, it does give you more opportunities to get comfortable because you're just essentially, matter of fact, there was that screen play

that I talked about where Cam didn't get enough on it. Yeah. You know, they went back to that same very play, the next play. You know, and I didn't get them into the end zone, but it did yield in some positive yards. But that's what we're talking about. Instead of just abandoning that play and moving on to the next thing that you think might work, they said, you know what? We don't have a bunch of stuff in the playbook because we don't need to

this week. We've been very effective what we're doing, and we can go back to that play. We have the right look. The past wasn't there. Pass was there the next time and yielded some positive yards. So they weren't quick to abandon stuff that they didn't think was going to work, which then helped to them feeling more comfortable with what they were actually running. It's just like in the business world, right? You don't want to give an employee more to do than they're ready for, you know? And it felt like that earlier in the year that the offensive line was kind of moving a million miles a minute.

When it comes to Cam, obviously a great day, but there's still two games left, right? You got the Saints and you got the Jags. What do you want to see now next week for Cam, another step forward? You know who had a good game this week? Tyler Shuck. Tyler Shup. Yes, indeed. Indeed.

You have two teams that have been struggling all season, right? And now they're playing better football. This is probably going to be the truest indicator of what either of these teams have learned in the 2025, 2025 season about themselves. Think about that. You got Campbell that seems to be hitting a stride. They're playing a lot better, a lot more efficient on offense, able to put up some points, something that they struggle with throughout the season. So at the New Orleans Saints. And the Saints came away with a W this weekend.

So they're feeling better about themselves. So you've got two teams that have traditionally lost most of the season, but ironically find themselves in the win column heading into playing each other. The last game of the season is going to be an emotional game because we already know how the Titans like to respond to playing them. Let's see if they can play disciplined as well as carrying the type of emotion that separates you from your competition. Not to the point where you're a liability because you're losing your senses

and you're losing your focus and you're just out there fighting each other. But we know what that game comes down to. It comes down to grit. It comes down to heart. And when you play a divisional opponent, they're the ones that you know the most because you've already played them once before. So getting a shot at them again after they literally embarrass us here in Nashville, right, with a field goal was our only offensive output.

You have a chance now to do also what? Play the wrecker. Now, it sucks because what could potentially happen is this team could end up playing well enough to win the next three games. And now you don't have the first pick of the draft anymore. what does that actually mean you're not scoping for one player the best player in the draft this year so it doesn't matter if you've got the one of the five somebody wants that five because they're trying to feel a need and you can get next year's first from them along with moving down into the teens or even the 20s and get a good first round pick for this year right somebody you know that that you can kind of develop as a first round pick but one still that is not as sought after is say a first top 10 pick you know i mean this is just difference But you can totally take advantage of a team that has lost most of the season and then one that you're familiar with and played the spoiler in the end of the year.

What will be better for the Titans to go on through this functional season than to basically put a hiccup in the Jaguars plans by giving them a big fat L down there in Jacksonville? That'd be great, wouldn't it? Indeed, it would. And a win next week against the Saints would give the Titans their first win streak since 2022 and their first back-to-back home wins at Nissan Stadium since December, of 2021. So it's been a long time. So that would be a good way to end the home slate as well. Also, to your point, Bhop, the chiefs didn't get to be the chiefs by picking first every single

year. So they picked better players from the spots that they had. And so Titans have the GM who are a GM who is the assistant GM over there. So that's totally makes sense though. Because I mean, obviously we talked about this before how the draft is really won in those middle rounds, third, fourth, maybe even fifth. You get some quality players in there that end up being guys that you would give an extension to, give them that second contract because they're playing so well, they're basically starters. That's where you make it. But also just having the ability to pick a draft pick in the first couple of rounds that makes a difference, but yet also still have equity in the future, which is what the tights are positioned to do, then you take

advantage of that, right? You play as well as you can, win the last three games, kind of show that you're competitive by nature. I don't know, make it harder to replace Mike McCoy, right? Make it harder. You say, hey, man, this dude finally got them playing, man. He won four games, down the stress, you know, blah, blah, blah, all the stuff. Then whoever comes in, they have either have to have some cachet about them or at least the ability to say, hey, look, you know my track record, bro. You know my steed. I get down when I get down.

And once I get in here, things going to happen. You know, like if I'm thinking about a Gruden type, Gruden's going to come in here with this excitement, like, you know, what's up, fellas? What's up, man? We're about to do this, you know what I mean? And get them all thinking in the same direction. And the thing is, think about all that's actually inherited with this team. You're inheriting a second year quarterback, okay, that's got better every week in 2025, okay?

You can invest more up front, get some big bodies. You've got $120 million in cap space, which will allow you to go get some veterans. Plus, you can then, you know, fill with middle round and early next round, next year's draft picks that can ultimately solidify the ushering in of a brand new stadium. And need I remind you, in 1997, we played our first season as Tennessee Oilers in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. In the second season in 1998, we played our games in Vanderbilt Stadium.

That damn thing was cursed. And in the third season, as Tennessee Titans, the truly naming of the Tennessee Titans, and the inaugural season of the Adelphia Coliseum, we went to the show. So here comes the brand new version of Nissan Stadium, rolled out for the world, and this team is positioning itself perfectly

with a new head coach, going into his third year quarterback that they took in the first pick and all the other cool stuff that they sprinkled around this cat. It could be an amazing time in 2027. Yeah, certainly seems a more attractive job when you put it that way indeed. On the other side of the break, we're going to talk about the defensive side of the ball. Don't want to leave those guys out, including Jeffrey Simmons, who continues to play the best ball of his career, what kind of game record he continues to be, and their performance today only giving up nine points. That's next. the Titan Squad show.

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certainly a step forward, but I wanted to talk about Jeffrey Simmons, Bhop. You mentioned the safety that he had. The game was kind of going like this in a straight line until that safety. And we've talked about spark plays, particularly on special teams with the Titans, with Chim D.K, sparking a lot of things for the rest of the guys. That safety was certainly a spark play. When you see Jeffrey Simmons fist pumping and running out of the end zone, you know he made a great play.

And those are the kind of plays that spark the energy that's necessary. to be competitive in a game like this one. It was back and forth, like you mentioned, Julian, for a long period of time until the Titans were able to put it on points on the defensive side of the football, get the ball back, and then to keep the ball for a minute. You know what I'm saying? So I think in the end, they took advantage of the turnovers that the defense were able to get. They've dealt with good field position for most parts of the game,

so you know the special teams was engaged and doing things. Chim had a couple of good returns that really added to the whole mix. They were doing some really, really good things. But it's those type of plays that do kind of set the tone, if you will, for what a team's able to do. Even the offense itself gets, you know, a shot of juice when you see Big Jeff give them the ballback in the fashion that they did, creating a punt from the offense after you just put two points on with the safety. You know what I mean? So they came out in a certain way, wanted to take advantage of that. I think it may have took them a couple of drives to do that.

But nonetheless, it was one of those plays that definitely got the team awoke and ready to, to engage the chiefs in however form they wanted to moving forward. Yeah, Jeffrey Simmons today ends with three total tackles, two for loss. And then he also had the deflections at the line of scrimmage. He had two of those as well. And also, it shouldn't be ignored the tough week that Jeff had coming back from the game in San Francisco to find that his home was broken into. He was very raw, honest, and emotional with us in the media this week.

brought to tears, just thinking about his family and things like that. So on top of being distracted, distracted in a lot of the outside noise, a performance that he needed and a win that he needed because he's, I think the best leadership of his career has gone on this season. When you consider how tough it's been the coaching change and all the young players around him. You know, it's funny is that these are things that Jeffers Simmons has to deal with all week when he goes home, right? but yet we'll call them outside things. I'm not taking shots of what you said.

I'm just saying that you're what you're saying is a reality, right? Sure. But also it's reality is that your schedule is publicly known. People know when you're not at home. And unfortunately, if they view you as some sort of celebrity and know where you live, they're in lines a day, in lines of dangers. As a matter of fact, who is the chiefs or the, yeah, the, the, the Washington Redskins player. I say Redskins because it was a Redskinned, defensive back,

that was shot in his home in Miami because they thought that he was out of town at an away game when essentially he was hurt and was home that night and got shot in the leg and he bled out. Sean Taylor, you're talking about. So it's something that obviously fans don't think about that is very prevalent in the mind of even players

as notable as Jeffrey Simmons. What did he say during that whole situation? I'm glad my mom wasn't home during that burglary. That's the first. thing he thought about was his family. And it's hard to think about protecting your family when everybody in the planet knows that you're away in San Francisco because they know your work schedule. They know your travel schedule.

So while these might be outside of the realm of football, they're still very much internal when it comes to what players have to deal with on a regular basis. Indeed. And of course, wishing Jeffrey Simmons and his family nothing but the best and safe. I hope they're all safe moving forward. He obviously had a great game, continues to play the best ball. of his career. You know, somebody Bhopped that I thought had a pretty good game in a kind of a,

I wouldn't say a surprise spot with the amount of reps that he got, but Cedric Gray out with a concussion this week, James Williams stepping in, leading the team and tackles. I mean, how huge was that in having to kind of next man up, be ready to go? Well, that's the epitome of football. Yeah, you've got a lot of moving parts when it comes to starters on the football field, but then you're also. asked as a backup to jump in there when need be.

Chris Alacant, what's his name, Aladocan? Chris Aladocan, the number 19, the quarterback that came in. He didn't have any reps this week. You know, why they're going with Gardner, Minchu? Who's filling in for who? Baker, or Patrick Mahomes. So at the end of the day, that's the unfortunate situation of being a backup. You never know when your name's going to be called.

But for James to step into that role and leave the team in total tackles and solo tackles as well plus having a sack and a tackle for a loss it just shows you just how denar wilson got his guys ready to play how james william even even in that moment where he wasn't expected to play as much as he played stepped into a vital role and actually actually even showed you schematically how that position itself the one that cedric and james played is pivotal for that defense's success because even if though you've got one guy go down that's leading the team in sacks it or leave the team in tackles it's not a surprise but that his replacement also led the game in tackles by how the defense is designed, you know,

for that middle linebacker spot, that linebacker spot to be, you know, one of the pivotal parts. Yeah. And, you know, Williams actually, for being in the spot, he was in losing the starting job to Cedric. Last couple of weeks, he's made an impact, not just today, but against the Browns, he had the punt block. By the way, Titans also got another one today with Truman Jones as well. So that's big special teams plays in two of the last three weeks for the, the defense. I wanted to talk about something that you mentioned there with DeNard getting his team ready to play. I mean, given the fact of how many guys that they've lost, whether it be to injury or trading them away, the secondary is totally banged up. You're kind of working with

a skeleton crew. Just what he's been able to do over this course of this season, getting the most out of what he's had. What do you think about the job he's done? Well, if you think about it, he hasn't made things so difficult to where finding players to fit in what they're doing is such a major transition that's important making sure that the guys are prepared and knowing what they're doing is the next thing repetition film work all those things then going out to the football field the practice field and in practicing what you're working on in the classroom those are super important things the games are never one on Sundays never they're always one with the habits that you create throughout the week.

And if Donard Wilson is doing anything this year, is preparing his guys from one week into the next for the challenge that faces them. So he did a good job this week and making sure they were all ready from top to bottom. Therefore, when a guy like Cedric Greg goes out, James Williams can come in and feel in admirable. Yes, indeed. And of course, they're evaluating GM Mike Borgonzi and President of Football Operations, Chad Brinker.

They are evaluating both sides of the ball. all defense included for these last couple games to see, okay, who are these staple pieces moving forward for the Tennessee Titans? Make sure to get your guys' questions in the chat. We have a couple of comments that I wanted to respond to on the other side of the break here on the Titans Squad Show in our Titans talk segment. Bhop and I will do our best to answer your comments and questions. So keep it in.

But also. All right, here we're going to have some comments and questions. Keep them coming in the chat. If you're live with us on Facebook, Joe Harris 5339 at the top of the show said, much needed win, happy to get that stench of losing out of the locker room, shouldn't hurt the draft capital much. We talked a little bit about wins being necessary for such a young team,

but also the locker room as a whole, you don't want the disease of losing to linger going into the offseason Bhop, because that could be tough. I felt like that's kind of what the mood was last season. Yeah, but you might as well as to go ahead. and add in Ben Anderson's, you know, kind of retort, it was just a practice squad QB, guys, let's just all relax.

No, no, no, we're not going to do that. The reason why we're not going to do that is because this is a team that was expected to lose even by three points to a team that was down to Gardner-Menschu as their backup. But yet what they did was they went out there unlike a team that had been shooting itself in the football season

and took control of the game like they should have. So despite the situation of having to deal with Chris being the third option at quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, sucks for them. But at the end of the day, the Titans were supposed to go out and do the things that they did. And had they not, it wouldn't be just like, oh, it was a third string quarterback. They're going to say they use that same argument in the reverse.

Guys, you lost to a practice squad player versus it's just a practice squad player. It can't be both. You see what I'm saying? Sure. So being the Titans did what they're supposed to do because if they gone out there and lost that game to just a practice squad player, would that have been an indictment on the great play of a practice squad player or how terrible the Titans have been all year to lose to a practice squad player. Yeah, I mean, the Titans came in with two wins.

Like I said earlier, it's not like they can really overlook anybody. And on the offensive side of the ball, I mean, the Chiefs, or I guess the defensive side of the ball for the Chiefs, I know they were without Trent McDuffie, but they still had Chris Jones over there. The Titans still had to put up some points. You can't win a game zero, zero. So, and there were, you know, I get it third string QB,

but you got had Kelsey over there. You had Xavier Worthy. You had Isaiah Pacheco as well. So I think for the Titans, you take it because wins are hard to come by in the NFL. And as we've seen in the NFL, you know as well as anybody. It's unpredictable. I mean, this year, especially as wide open as it is. The reality is, as unbelievable as it would be for a team to go undefeated in the entire season,

like the 72 Dolphins, it's almost unbelievable for a team to not win one. game you know i mean very rare do you see other than with detroit a team that goes oh and 16 it just don't happen they catch somebody slipping because that shows you the level of competition that each NFL team is dealing with every team has all americans that were captains of their football team every team has first round draft picks every team has somebody on it that's making a whole bunch of money that's supposed to be a difference maker every single one of them right they're sitting uh uh Indiana versus Tulane yeah you see what I'm saying even though you see in Tulane get into the playoffs how they're going to look against

goddamn Indiana are you kidding me Fernando Mendoza is a beast you know I mean and I think you know if they ever came down to that well first off you got to give Tulane a lot of credit they were ever to get into a situation where we're playing the number one CDME out Hoosiers right but they're not the same talent wise it's just the way it is but in the league It's more comparable. So you go catch somebody slipping. You know what I mean? So that's why they say every, you know, any given Sunday.

Any given Sunday means anybody can win. Just depends who shows up. I wanted to, before we go, I know it's a team win. And they played probably their best complimentary football of the season today. If you pick one offensive guy and one defensive guy, maybe you could even do a position group if you wanted to, to who you were most impressed with today, who you got on each side of the ball. we've given the offensive line a lot of grief and some of it was deserved you know what I mean especially in the beginning of the season but you also had guys that were just learning each other learning how to be consistent learning how to subliminally put yourself in a position to block and be effective today wasn't an issue protection hasn't been an issue as of the past few weeks either now I don't think it's by coincidence that when you have a hundred yard rusher like Tony Powell has been the last three games that you

also are better at dealing with pressure because you're running the ball more effective and the downs that you're dealing with aren't necessarily passing downs that can result in sacks. So I've got to give the big bodies credit where credit is due. They've had great run fits. They've been on the same page. Tony Polly and Tosier Spears are taking advantage of their consistency up front. And I think that's one thing that needs to be highlighted as of the recent success. They're able to control the line scrimmage has lent to them feeling better about who they are

offensively, to say the least. offense i'll just go with cam and i think for the first time this season maybe other than the two minute drill in arizona where he brought them back for the first time this season it really felt like he elevated the rest of the team you know what i mean that's that's kind of what you want out of your quarterback you can make as a quarterback you can make receivers better than they are in a way i guess for lack of better term titans better than they are you can't do that necessarily the other way around so i think cam not only the 75% completion percentage, you know, almost 230 yards, the two touchdowns in three straight

games. It felt like he didn't bring the team down. And I know he got a lot of slack after the Browns win for his attitude in the post game press conference, because he didn't necessarily play his best. But I think today was one of those days where it's the most complete performance that we've seen from Cam so far. But it doesn't, of course, happen without the big boys up front. and then the two jitterbugs behind him either. Yeah, but he was the one that said it. They played complimentary football in all three phases. He's acknowledging that they played better than they have been on average,

and that's what led to the win. He showed himself to be more complete as a quarterback today, made accurate throws, ran the football some when need be, kept drives moving, didn't make a whole bunch of mistakes, if any. You know what I'm saying? Because when you don't have turnovers, you're not contributing to that situation. One, he's not holding on to football. He only took two sacks today, which meant he didn't give that defense enough time to get to him or they stayed out of situations that could result in sacks.

So, you know, I think he played a complete game today, which is kind of one of the things that he kind of led to in saying that they play complimentary football in all three phases. I don't think I have the numbers in front of me right now, but I believe that's only three sacks allowed in the last three games, if I'm not mistaken. So I'll take that. Those sack numbers are down as well. And so that's good. And he's taking care of the football. Remember how fumbles were an issue. Sometimes he tried to force a throw in there.

That's also big. Okay, so MVP on defense. Who do you got today? Come on, man. It's not even close. And you're asking the question just to the sky blue. That dude in red sleeves, man. You know where he's at on the field every single time because this dude is a playmaker.

I'm telling you, if he were on a winning team, he'd be making Campbell soup commercials. You heard me saying that. It's not like he doesn't. Our power to do it, but when you're on a team that's struggling like the Titan, sometimes your efforts get lost. And that's one thing he talked about. He wants to play with a chance. Matter of fact, Miles Garrett said that, didn't he? He said, you know what, man? I'm making good money here, but at the end of the day, no one's going to remember me for how much money I made. I need to be on a contender. I need to have some hardware, you know, to show for all my efforts. Big Jeff could have that same argument on a team that's been dysfunctional, hadn't really showed a whole bunch of winning against the past couple of seasons.

They had the fire the head coach, yada, yada, but yet this guy's playing some of the best. ball, the indie defenders playing, especially in the interior part of the defensive line. So he'd be definitely getting his flowers if he was someplace else for sure. Yeah, career high in sacks this year, obviously scoring the eight points in the last two games. And I think also you think about the matchup they had against the Browns, all the talk going in was Miles Garrett. Is he going to get the sack record? Is he going to do it in this game against the Titans? And then this week, Chris Jones, he's the standard of defensive tackles in the NFL, but it's Jeffrey Simmons who out duels both of those guys. And you, you know,

And you know darn well that going into this game, he knew what the talk was. And he said, I'm going to outdule those guys in both of those games. So, yeah, Jeffrey Simmons certainly make an impact. I'll throw another bone to James Williams, too, just coming to step in, you know, Cedric Gray going out, Cedric's top five in the NFL in tackles and leading the Titans and tackles. And so you have James Williams coming in. He could have, I guess, not given up, but really thrown in the towel losing that job. at the start of the season.

And I think he's shown a much better attitude in his performance and has reflected that over the last three weeks. You know, real quick, just to make another point that you're making about Big Jeff. Yeah. Every single one of those players that you just mentioned, Miles Garrett,

Chris Jones, Big Jeff, they receive a lot of attention during the game, don't they? So whatever was done against those two great defenders, from the Titan standpoint, they did a pretty good job of making them pretty pedestrian, right? Who's the guy that receives most of the attention on our defense?

Big Jeff. But yet you're still seeing him disruptive. You're still seeing him make plays, despite the game plan being what? Neutralized Big Jeff. Ain't nobody done that. Nobody's neutralized Big Jeff. So it just goes to show you that even if a team has the focus

and the intent to take you out of the ballgame, like the Titans have done with a guy that was chasing the single season and sack record. Say that three times. Right. And also a dude that traditionally is great. I think it was almost a defensive MVP and Chris Jones. So he really wasn't a factor today. So at the end of the day, we did what we were supposed to do against their great players. Nobody's been able to do what they're supposed to do against ours. Real quick, before we go, what did you think about the call on Jeff Simmons that he didn't report properly as an eligible receiver? He had it. He's 200. What is he?

you know, a huge human being had the red arm sleeve and he was, had his hand in the air. I just don't see how the, the officials missed that. Yeah, it should be replayable as well. Because if you can go back on the video and see that he actually reported and the guy was just looking the other direction, like with the Detroit player, remember when they had a touchdown, called off the board because the extra lineman didn't report allegedly. But that costs them points, you know what I'm saying? And it actually costs tightness points.

Yeah. But it should be very reviewable to look back and see whether a guy made an action to say I'm reporting, and you just didn't see me. You know what I mean? As the clock's ticking, he's got a report, get back into the huddle, get the play, get lined up, all this stuff versus, did you get me? Did you get me? You know what I mean? Like, that should be already, I just waved my hand to you. I'm ready.

I'm 98, big 98. You know what I'm in? First off, you see 98 with the red sleeves on the offensive side of the football? What the hell are you thinking anyway? Yeah. He's got to be a legal dude, right? Or at least, come on, sort of semantics at the end of the day. We knew that man that's not that a run an offensive play.

And everybody on the damn side of the football knew that he wasn't an offensive player regularly. So there must be some tomfoolery going on. Yeah, well, let's hope Jeff gets back out there because I know he's clamoring for potentially another touchdown, even though he was blocking on that play in particular. Okay, Bihat, before we go, do you want to tie a bow on this biggest, I guess, just take away and final thoughts on today's Titans victory? wins like this despite them against the team that is struggling they create momentum and that's something that they're going to need when they host the saints next weekend because you have two

teams that are playing a better brand of football than the way they started this season so we'll see the titans almost biggest challenge and it sounds crazy to say that especially against a team that's lost as many games as we have almost they're still feeling better about themselves much like the titans are nowadays and i think that these kind of wins especially at home breaking an 11-game win streak, not having won a home game since last year. Good God. You know what I mean? It just, you know, it kind of thinks that maybe this is the turning point of the season

that gives them hope that what they're putting together will be a better future. Indeed, a better future, what we're hoping for the Tennessee Titans, absolutely. Okay, so the Titans get their third win of the season, 26 to 9 over the Kansas City Chiefs. That is due time, brohuller, Brad Hopkins. I'm Julian Minnesone. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you guys later this week.