Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - TITANS SQUAD SHOW: Cam Ward, Titans DOOMED by CRITCIAL errors vs. Ravens

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

The Titans drop to 0-4 following the 24-18 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. While there were some positive signs, such as Carnell Tate's 145-yard day, there were also several mistakes that doomed the Titans. Not to mention, Lamar Jackson carved up the defense in the first half leading to another L for Tennessee.Tempo For a limited time, Tempo is offering my listeners SIXTY PERCENT OFF your first box! Go to http://TempoMeals.com/LOCKEDON60. Quo Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. Butcher Box If you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give ButcherBox a try. Go to https://ButcherBox.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, new york strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year — with free shipping always. Apple You can earn up to 3% unlimited Daily Cash back on every purchase you make with Apple Card using Apple Pay. Apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank, USA. Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at apple-card-dot-com. https://learn.applecard.apple/unlimited-daily-cash?cid=apy-318-2000008800000-400000000000039&itscg=2030032&itsct=srvs-crd-P3004756-C3004897&mttnagencyid=c1a&mttnsiteid=133087&mttnpid=LockedOn%20%28Audio%29&mttnsubad=srvs-crd-P3004756-C3004897&mttnsubplmnt=&mttncc=US PrizePicks Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! KALSHI Today's episode is brought to you by Kalshi. For a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next.  Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuel Get three hundred fifty dollars in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days.https://FANDUEL.COM 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.

Titans lose a close one in Baltimore. And you know, it's not so much about the plays they made, but the ones they didn't, Kayla. Yeah, and there were some plays that they did make, Julian. And like you said, Carnell Tate with a big day, we'll have some of those takeaways about him and Cam Ward coming 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 Titans Squad Show, Julian Minnesone, Kayla Anderson, here with you. Brad Hopkins will join us shortly from Baltimore as the Titans fall to 0 and 4 on the season, dropping one on the road to the Baltimore Ravens 24 to 18. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fanduel Reward.

sports club every week. Check the fan dual app to see what is waiting for you. And Kayla, as I said on the top, this game is, I think when the Titans look at the tape over the next couple of days, they are going to be kicking themselves about not only the critical errors they made, but the points that were left on the board as well. Missed opportunities all across. Yeah, there were some missed opportunities. And I know that that first half, there was some good things that we saw in terms of the offense. But I also know there are some things where, you know, play calling comes into play, Julian, Brian Dayball, at least from what I've seen and really, you know, my take away from that fourth down and maybe just deciding to just run it up the

middle was not maybe the best decision in the moment. Those are things that, again, need to be criticized. We criticize these players a lot. We criticize Cam Moore. we criticize, you know, the receivers and the defense. But I think at this point, too, Julian, it's fair to say that, you know, Brian Daibald, at least on the offensive side, what I'm talking about right now, there is some criticism that needs to happen there. I think that sometimes he's not necessarily putting his players in the best opportunity to be able to have successful drives and to end drive successfully.

So overall, yeah, you said it. Missed opportunities, of course, the one that everybody is talking about, Julian is is the Carnel Tate fumble and not being able to come up with that big catch that maybe could have led to a touchdown with that drive that had a little bit of momentum at the time. You can pick apart both sides of the ball today. I mean, even in the second half, you did not have Lamar Jackson in the game. You got Tyler Huntley in the game. And, you know, the Derek Henry run the ball was able to do enough. And this defense just can't get it done when it's all said and done even against a backup quarterback.

So it is what it is. I do think there are some improvements that I've seen within this team. And look, it was 24 to 18. It's not like this was a blowout game by any means. But I guess at this point, Julian, we take like the little things that we see good and we grasp at them and just hope that they can overall find some game where they put it all together. Right. Like, again, you look at this game and you think. about the mischances and the missed opportunities and, you know, for example, Cam Ward's second

play at a game, the interception. And look, I don't fault Ward for that. I'm okay with Cam making a play or trying to make a play. That one just bounced off Tony Pollard's hand. Nonetheless, it led to seven points. And then you talk about getting stopped on fourth and goal with the direct snap to Tony Pollard. We were talking about it here in our sports office at News too. Like, We're okay with running the football there. Yeah. But when you show yourself in the Wildcat, you limit yourself in keeping the defense honest. And at least if Cam War lines up under center there, you're keeping that defense to say, okay, a pass is still a possibility.

Rather than him lining up as a receiver on that play and you're like, okay, you could leave him alone. That's not going to happen. Nothing's going to go on over there. And you get stopped on fourth and goal there, which led to another Ravens touchdown. That's a 14-point swing. And that's also a drive, Kayla, if you remember, the Ravens gifted you over 30 yards and penalties, too. Absolutely. Yeah, on that one drive.

Yes. And so you think about the Titans not taking advantage of the Ravens opportunities and mistakes, as much as the Ravens took advantage of the Titans' mistakes that they made and errors that they made throughout the game. You mentioned the Carmel Tate fumble, which, yes, it led to a field goal. So that's three points. So instead of having the ball deep in Ravens' territory, you at least, you give up three, that's at least a six-point swing there. And you're talking about points getting left on the board.

And I think it just comes down to this, Kayla, like, how many times have we said this team is not good enough to overcome mistakes to win ball games? Like, the margin for error in the NFL, even with good teams, is razor thin. The margin for error for the Titans is even thinner than that. And especially when you're going against a playoff team like the Ravens, You cannot give them extra chances and you can't leave points on the board. No. And that's exactly what they did. And that's the biggest thing that we had a problem with, I think, overall today, if you watch the game.

You said, you know, you were talking about you can't afford to give the Ravens opportunities, right? Because they're going to capitalize them. I also don't think you can afford to get cute. And I think that's another thing that I did not like from Brian Dayball today. You know, there was the hook and ladder play. and I just, I don't, this offense is not. They're not there yet. They're not there to execute that.

This isn't the San Francisco 49ers. Like, this isn't a whole just trying to get down the basics right now. And I just thought that was a little too cutesy. I did not like that at all. And again, that's why I'm putting in this episode, at least of this Titan Squad podcast, I'm putting a little blame on dayball. I just, I didn't like some things I saw from him today. Yeah.

And I want to go back to that fourth and goal play because that seems. to really to me at least offensively in the first half was the big the play that turned the tide because of the 14 point switch because on the other end they went down and mark andrews had the touchdown in the back of the end zone um look like last week cam ward made a it wasn't a smart play right the interception that he that he tried to get to elech iommate as much as he wants to defend his play and say hey i could have thrown the ball higher you know that's that's a quarterback with his confidence in his arm. I would have liked to see the ball in his hand at the very least,

at the goal line there at least once. They ran the ball seven straight times to that point, and it seemed a little bit of stubbornness on Brian Davel's part, like, hey, I'm going to beat you my way, and that's how it's going to be. Instead of getting Cam, not only the opportunity to make a play there, but Robert Salah talked about it in the postgame, like this team needs to learn how to win.

How do you learn how to win if you're not putting, your quarterback in situations like that. It would have been another at least data point of information that says, hey, he failed or he passed this test for Cam Ward. That's a great point, Julian. And I think like that's where we have to really think overall, like, how is this team progressing or maybe why aren't they progressing in those categories? You know, the red zone are one of those places that they just continue to kind of struggle

down there, two for four today. But you're right. in terms of like, it was like, run, run, run. You're not going to put your quarterback in at least one of those positions to try to get you in the end zone. And I get it. Like maybe they're scared of Cam Ward making a dumb play or they're scared of war, you know, intercepting the ball. But I think right now you have to take opportunities sometimes, especially if you're seeing Cam, like for the most part was playing well. like he was being able to take them down the field in some of these drives.

And I get that running the ball is part of that. But I think sometimes you have to be a little bit like willing to give him opportunity. And you're right. He, I should say, Brian Dayball didn't do that. And I do think it's because he's scared. I don't think, I think he doesn't want, you know, him to lose the game. But again, you got to give him opportunity sometime. Yeah, you're not making the playoffs, right?

you're not going to a Super Bowl this year. And so development. You need to diagnose exactly what he can and can't do or what he can learn from and not. Sure. I wanted to talk about Cam's game in general. 20 of 31, 222 yards, had the touchdown to Wondale Robinson at the end of the game, which made things a little bit interesting and then had the interception, of course, at the start of the game.

His first game this season with over 200 yards. What did you make of his performance? Yeah, I mean, look, Julian, I know that I get a lot of flack for being a Cam Ward advocate. And I'll take that. I don't care. I still think that this young man who is their number one overall pick deserves a chance to work through this season and work through this season with, you know, whatever's given to him. And right now there are a lot of things that aren't coming together quite yet, but there are little things we can take from games. And I think in this game, yes, let's take away the fact that he threw for 200 yards for the first time this season. and I know like we shouldn't just be giving out all these flowers, but he did do that.

That is progress right there. And I also think we need to give him credit for, you know, building that repertoire with Carnell Tate, the rookie wide receiver, who also had a huge day. What were his numbers, Julian, like 148 yards or something? Nine catch is 145 yards, which is the most by a Titans rookie since A.J. Brown in 2019. Right. And so give them credit for Connect. I know that Tate had the fumble, but I'll give him credit.

He eventually came back and kind of made up for that with some other big catches. So I look at those two as starting to, you know, find that groove. And hopefully that can continue in the trust to continue to build. Because I know they're working together. I know they spend a lot of time together off the field as well. And then, yeah, I mean, you still look at Cam Ward. You look at those mistakes sometimes that he makes. but again, if you're looking at that interception,

I don't think that's fully on him. I do think Tony Pollard could have made that play. I think Cam's trying to make plays. I don't think that was a Will Levis look-alike. It's master that everyone's out here today. Go back and really look at that Will Levis play. That was not what this was. So I think overall, Julian,

I saw some really good things from Cam today. I think we just need to find the consistency with Cam and the offense in general. Yeah, look, on that interception, like, I don't think you can take the playmaking backyard football style that makes, that's kind of Cam's superpower without taking some risk in some of the plays that he's going to make, too. And look, I love the accountability he took after the game saying,

like, hey, I just need to make that easier for him. It wasn't necessarily his fault, but as the quarterback, you know, sometimes even when it's not your fault, you have to take accountability, none of the way. the less. The disappointing part for me about the Titans offense in general was the second half offense. There were three punts by the Ravens in which the Titans' offense came up empty on that next spot. It was obvious that the Ravens are not the same without Lamar Jackson, right? Like they don't operate the same way. And with that said, it's almost, it almost felt like that even in that second half with Tyler Huntley in there,

that the Ravens still never lost control because the Titans offense was just so stagnant in a lot of ways. And when you think of the missed chances, yeah, we can go to the stuff in the first half of the turnovers, but you can also go with the empty drives there in the second half where, you know, three straight punts after your defense forces three straight puns, that's not going to get it done. Like the Ravens had a total of four punts in the second half and a miss field goal as well. The Titans only scored 11 points off of that. They didn't take advantage of the Ravens mistakes. I did like the ward, the tape connection. He's flashed in other games, but this is the first time where it really seemed like,

oh, that's a number one guy that the Titans have, like a real safety valve there. Again, the 145 yards. But when it comes to finishing drives or sustaining and ultimately finishing drives, the Titans didn't do enough of that in the second half with Lamar Jackson on the bench. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's a concern, right? You would think that you could take advantage of some of those things. And that's where the consistency comes into play, like I mentioned, Julian. I just like this team cannot in any capacity, whether it's on offense or defense,

they just can't find a way to complete a game. I mean, it's always like maybe one half that you see some positives from. A full 60 you're talking about. Yeah, a full 60, you just, you have not seen that at all. And sometimes special teams come into play for why, you know, there are mishaps and stuff. but for the most part, it just, you said it right. It was a regression of the offense in that second half. And I'm not quite sure, like, what are you pinpointed on, Julian?

You just pinpointed on, I mean, obviously execution, just not being able to execute. But I just, I don't even know whose fault overall it is at this point. Yeah, well, they tried, I feel like, to run the ball a lot there in the second half. And that obviously wasn't working all day long. And it was a little confounding considering you're playing from behind. and Cam was having his best day passing so far, and the Carmel Tate connection seemed really good downfield. And it just was a little confusing that you kind of didn't do that enough

in the second half when you're playing catch up. And you also have an offense on the other side that you know isn't really putting a lot of pressure on your defense and doing damage. And so, yeah, you know, that's going to be certainly something to ask Brian Davel this week when we get to the coordinators in our weekly press conferences. But yeah, like, you know, you wonder where the points were that were on the board. And you could easily look and see where they were, like in the missed opportunities and the empty drives and the turnovers. Like there are so many points that could have been that ultimately could have changed the outcome of this ballgame.

And Julian, like, I'm looking at this. I mean, this is a bad third down team. Like, it's just a bad third down team offensively. They were two of ten. That's bad. That's 20%. It's not good. And you're never, you're never going to be able to be a successful offense, a consistent offense, if you're that bad on third down.

And it's just, and I know it starts the first and second down. But, you know, they just, they cannot put themselves in good positions in third down. It just can't. Seems like a broken record with the Titans when it comes to death. We're going to talk about the defense on the other side of the break, the encouraging things we saw. and then also our overall takeaways between the first and second half because I do think there are big differences there for this defense today. That's next year in the Tech Squad show. David Harrison here at the Lotton Commanders podcast.

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Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fanduel. Visit Fanduel.com to get started. All right, Kayla, I wanted to talk about the defensive side of the ball with you. You know, you're looking at Derek Henry's stats, 23 carries, 73 yards. I know he had the one touchdown, but that's a pretty good day when it comes to the run defense. The past defense, not so much as Lamar Jackson pretty much carved him up for 222 yards in the first half. What were your thoughts on the defense overall today? Yeah, I mean, you look at the second half, obviously they gave up just, I mean, 11 points.

because Tyler Huntley was in and they decided to just, you know, give it to Derek Henry. It was, it was raining out. The weather had kind of changed at that point. The rain had picked up a little. I'm not going to give them too much credit in that second half because I just think in the first half, you know, giving up the points that they did, like you said, in the passing game. It just seemed that they were getting, I have it in my notes here, Julian, especially in that second quarter. It just seemed that they were giving up, like, big plays. Yeah, back-to-back possession for the Ravens.

They were given up some big pass plays. Zay Flowers obviously went off 118 yards on eight receptions. He's good. Already in that first half where he got his with Lamar, obviously, navigating the offense. So, again, you know, you kind of put yourself in a bit of a hole early on, just because they just really couldn't stop any of those big past plays. Cody Barton having some issues in that game as well. Yeah.

Fonzei Flowers. So it's just still not, God, man, it's hard. It's still not the defense that I thought I might see. And look, there's some individual, you know, accolades to go out for sure. I think Jermaine Johnson had a couple of really good plays

today on defense. But overall, man, I just, I'm still a little disappointed in what this defense is. Yeah. Like, look, I think. I think, first of all, give credit to the Ravens' Offensive Coordinator, Declan Doyle. I think he called a really good game. And you talk about those mismatches that led to some of those explosive plays.

Zay Flowers got matched up against Cody Barton, I think, a couple times. He did. No offense to Cody Barton. He's great in the locker room. He's just not athletic. Yeah, the guy doesn't have the speed to match up with Zay Flowers. Not a lot of people do, but especially Cody, right? Even though he did tell me this past week that he was the most athletic guy in his family.

Oh, did he? Okay. I'll give him that. I don't know. Landor Barton is pretty like it. So there are mismatches there. But, you know, I'm not going to sugarcoat this, Kayla. If Lamar Jackson plays in the second half, this game isn't close.

Right? With that said, the game was still there for the taking. He did get hurt because you got to the quarterback. Yeah. And it was there for the taking. You just dug yourself too deep a hole. And when the offense isn't playing complimentary football in the second half to give you the points that you need on the stops that you did get, that's tough.

And look, I think you're trying to explain to yourself what this defense is right now. And I think it's the same as the entire Titans team. We're still waiting for them to play a full 60 minutes of football. Like, I thought the run defense was good. Again, Derek Henry, 3.2 yards per carry. I'd say that's holding him at bay. Like, if you watched his post-game interview, it was pretty short. And he seemed pretty disappointed.

Like he wanted to go for 100, right? And sometimes you got to pick your poison. And I think the game plan today was they weren't going to let Derek Henry beat them. And they were going to try to let the Ravens pass offense, you know, hey, try to beat us there. And Lamar Jackson did. And 2222 passing yards in the first half. So. Yeah, no.

And that's the big notice of mine. You know, just those big plays in the first. attack in particular. They kind of just kind of showed the difference of where these teams are at. You know, because, yeah, you can you can stop the run, Julian. But then when the Ravens can scheme up things in the past game, it's just like it's a lose-lose situation. It's just, it's just not a good enough team to be able to stop that. Yeah. Yeah. And look, I think that's going to be the big thing with this Titans team is, look, you're playing an 0 and 4 Texans team next week.

It's a rivalry game. We know, Kail, because we've been in that locker room together where you're talking to Jeff Simmons, Amani Hooker, guys who have been on this team for a minute, how much that matchup means to those guys, and particularly how much that matchup means to ownership, too. And you win, you're not last place anymore. The Texans are going to come in here.

We obviously know the history, not only the franchise when it comes to their ties to Houston, but the interesting uniform choices from this offseason for both teams, whether it be the Titans' everyday uniforms and the Texans rivalry uniforms, that look eerily similar to the Titans uniforms. And so there's going to be a little extra juice to this one. And you're going to still have to play a full 16 minutes because I'll say in watching the Texans this year,

their O and 4 doesn't look like you're Owen 4 right now. Like they're putting up points on the board. Like they were a defensive stop away from beating the Cowboys today, and they put up some points in games earlier this season, too. So that's going to be one that you circle on the calendar if you're some of these Titans who have been around for a little bit. Also, Julian, because you haven't had a division win in a minute. And so you're looking at this if you're Jeffrey Simmons

and some of the leaders on this team and some of the guys on this team that have been here for a minute and not have that division win or had that division win even over the Houston Texans. And so I think that will be huge for them to keep in the back of their mind this week as they prepare for this Houston, Texas team. Like you said, it's not going to be easy by any means. Because Houston's 0-4, they're literally, they were a Super Bowl possible contending team. So they're feeling embarrassed. And the one team they don't want to go to lose to is the Tennessee Titans who are also in 0-14 and not a good team.

So this is going to be a really fascinating game. Yeah. And you consider C.J. Stroud, there are a lot of questions about whether he's the face of that franchise moving forward. He doesn't. And that is, you know, if you are 0 and 4 going on to 0 and 5, I would say there's a lot of answered questions when it comes to your overall record, even if it's not all on him, even if they are scoring points and that defense is kind of faltering at times. too. And so I think a lot of the pressure is going to be on the Texans in that game next week because they're the ones that had the expectations. They're the ones with the quarterback that needs to answer a lot of questions about his place in this league and his place in that franchise. And so,

yeah, if you're the Titans, you know, not that, not that it's no pressure for you, but you can, I think, go into it playing a little bit loose and free knowing like, hey, like, we weren't going to be a playoff team regardless. Let's just let it all out there and try to correct some of these mistakes going into that one for sure. On the other side of the break, Brad Hopkins, he's going to check in from Baltimore with a report for us straight from the Ravens Press Box. That's next year on the Titan Squad Show. Don't go anywhere. October and November get chaotic fast between Halloween, football, Thanksgiving prep, and everything else, filling up the calendar, cooking dinner can easily become the first thing to go. Tempo has been a go-to for those busy days.

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But he sent us a live report with a, I guess his take on the game. So Bhop on the road is what we'll call it and we'll react to what he has to say about the game. Hey, guys. This is Brad Hoffman's reporting from M&T Bank Stadium here, home of the Ravens for the Titan Squad show. The Titans Falls with the Ravens 24 to 18. and what could have been a bar and burner, but unfortunately the onside kick just didn't bounce their direction giving the Titans yet another chance.

Let's talk about the ballgame real quick. The Titans did enough today to win the ball game. The Titans did enough today to lose the ballgame. For the third street weeks, we've seen turnovers kind of be a factor in this ball game. There was a 14-point swing. Obviously, there was also an influence on the game where the Titans were knocking on the door,

two-yard line, and basically fell short and gave the ball back to the Ravens, who then marched down the field for a 98-yard touchdown. We saw in the very first drive, Cam Ward trying to make something happen with the football, escaping the pocket, shovel pass to Tony Pollard, which I thought was expecting to be a blocker in that situation. Goes right off of his hands and into the hands of a defender, giving them the ball back on that first possession. Colonel Tate made a big play, an explosive down the sideline, it was punched down on the sideline, giving the ball back to the Ravens, and they were able to kick a field goal off of that.

So all in all, this is a team that is still trying to find ways to win, trying to learn how to win in Cruciful. situations and unfortunately just hasn't bounced their way with any sort of consistency. So now facing 0 and 4, they face another team that's 0 and 4 and within the division. The Houston, Texas, come calling this week. It'll be an opportunity for both of these teams to get their first win. So somebody's going to come out of there with their first win of the season. Maybe it'll be the Titans this week. And if they continue to at least take advantage of some of the things that they did well

and fix the things that they didn't do well. So like we said, there's enough mistakes in this ballgame that gave. the Ravens an opportunity, especially when they were dealing with so many injuries. Lamar Jackson didn't come out in the second half. Snoop Huntley was their quarterback in replacing him, and he did show some effectiveness with his legs, but ultimately they weren't able to put together much offense. Derek Henry, ironically, I'm sure he finished with just over 80 yards, I think it was, on over 20 carries, but it wasn't a Derek Henry type of day,

especially when you look at the situation as it possibly could have been, him playing against his own team, his old team, rather. So I thought they did a good job of keeping him under wraps in the first half. Lamar Jackson was good. He was Lamar Jackson-esque, but he was a difference maker in this ball team offensively for the Ravens. And when he was on the sideline, basically, you can definitely tell a difference in how they operated. But the Titans just didn't take advantage of them not being at full strain in the opportunities that defense was giving them. I think four straight failed drives by the Ravens gave the Titans plenty of opportunity,

but they just weren't able to get into the end zone. Did a great job at the very beginning of this game, creating momentum, moving the sticks, winning time of possession, okay, a minute and 20 seconds more than the Ravens did in the first half. But unfortunately, none of that effort showed the fruit that we need to be able to win a ballgame, which is putting points on the board. So, like I said, the Titans fall short this week by six

with an opportunity maybe late to get into the ballgame, but too little too late, brings the Titans to 014 in the season. First of all, Brad is, I know he's getting better at a, being a mobile journalist, because not only did he set up his own camera, but he had the field in the background as well, Kayla. Kayla, Mike, Mike. Sorry, I, I muted my head there, so you didn't have to hear Red, you know, getting on everyone's

background. No, he did a great job at producing his own shot there. Okay, okay, Brad, I see you. Yeah, real MMJ for Brad over there. But he was talking about the empty possessions in the second half, and I have up the drive outcomes here in front of me of the second half of the Ravens. Punt, punt, punt, punt, miss field goal, right? And out of all of that, like I said earlier in the show,

the Titans were only able to get 11 points off of that. The field goal that they had right out of the half from Joey Sly, and then the touchdown, which ultimately had a two-point conversion as well, near the end of the game that made it interesting, that ultimately led to the on-site kick attempt, which the Ravens recover. Malachi starts jumping up to get that one. Yeah.

The cornerback, I believe, to jump up there and grab that. Yeah. So, again, we can point towards the first half. There were missed opportunities there with the turnovers, and turnover on downs too, not just the interception and the fumble. And then we look to the second half, and the empty drives not taking advantage of, of Lamar Jackson being on the bench.

And you ask where you lose the game, those two things are pretty critical in losing the game. Plenty of missed opportunities today for the Titans. And I know Robert Sala and the guys are going to be kicking themselves when they watch this on the flight back and overnight to tomorrow. This is the stuff, though, you've got to learn from, man. There's a lot of young players on this team. There's a lot of newness to this team.

These are games again where I know they're going to. and looking at the film. But how are you then learning from those mistakes, right? How are you making sure that you don't do those things again? And another thing, you talk about misopportunities. I mean, 13 penalties for 131 yards for the rate. I mean, that is usually a category with those types of numbers. That team that has that is not winning the game.

And so those, you know, this is just another thing with this Titans team. that they've just got to find ways to take advantage. Because this is the NFL. There's going to be injuries. There's going to be sometimes when a team, I mean, we saw it with the New England Patriots today, getting the win over the Buffalo Bills. There's going to be time for things happen.

It's not saying that this team, the rest of the year, can't have a game or two like that, where they surprise a team, but they can't not take advantage of opportunities. Yeah, you mentioned that. That's a pretty staggering number. The 13 penalties for 131.

And I think, again, it wasn't any more exemplified than the drive where the Titans were stuffed at the goal line and turned it over when the Ravens gave you 30 plus yards of penalties on that drive alone. So you didn't take advantage of that. Time of possession was a little bit better in this one. It wasn't as drastic. You lost the game. You lost the time of possession battle by about seven minutes. But you also mentioned earlier, Kayla, third down. to attend on the third down efficiency, but also, you know, being in third and long doesn't

necessarily help. And how many times have we talked about this Titans team, particularly with Camp Ward, that, you know, you don't win first and second down. You get down in third and long, and that's an easy day for the defense. Yeah, you can you can't do it. And they, and you can kind of, you know, when you know, if you're a defense and you see the Titans in any team at that, but especially a Titans team that's struggling. Obviously, you know, Cam Ward hasn't been his best or not even near that. And you know when they're in that position, like they're going to bring it on third down, right? And plenty of times we've seen that in the situation with defenses against the Titans in those situations.

To start the game, I believe for a minute, we were seeing some of those conversions on first and second. and there were a little bit shorter third down opportunities there, but then it quickly changed. You quickly, they bounced right back out into those third and longs. And with any team, it's not giving you opportunities when you're in third long, you know, and especially your team that already struggles on third down. Yeah, a lot to clean up this week for the Titans for sure, because this game, it was there for the taking, given the circumstances that happened,

especially with the Jackson injury. And so nonetheless, Titans O and 4 and they'll look to bounce back and try to get their first win to the season next week against the Texans. We will answer your questions and comments on the other side of the break here in the Titan Squad Show. So keep them coming if you're with us live on YouTube. That's next here on the Titan Squadron. Don't go ahead. If you thought about trying therapy with our long-term partner, Better Help, insurance options may now be available nationwide with an average co-pay for eligible members of just $23 per session,

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We have one question from our viewer. McChrysper asks, can we talk about what the heck is going on with special teams? The penalties have been backbreaking. And look, special teams was probably on our tighten down each of the last two weeks, especially. I know it was for you,

Kayla, because you talk about Chim D.K. fumbling to football. That was a good sign today. He had nice return. And look, it was nice to see him at least just have clean returns. Yeah. I think that is a step in the right direction, especially it felt like he had the yips the last couple of weeks.

And the punting was better, like Tommy Townsend did flip the field a lot better today. But the penalties, that stuff that, you know, I know that's driving bones fossil crazy. Yeah. I mean, this is the kind of stuff where he can't necessarily control that part, right? And we know bones background. We know what he did in terms of helping this special teams unit last year, which we hadn't seen in a while, it'd be that good. And there's definitely been regression this season. And I did like, and I'm glad we brought it up because I was hard on Jim D.K. last week and in terms of maybe having a little bit of those yips,

but it seems like he did what he could for the most part and took care of the ball today, had some good returns. But then those penalties at some points, you know, hurts that. And I think these are just little things again. this is a team that's younger. There's a lot of new pieces on this team. And it's just they've got to start showing some semblance of that they're soaking some of this up in terms of learning. Learning from mistakes. They've got to start soaking this up because we're four games into the season.

I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but we'll blink our eyes and we'll be halfway through the season. If we're still having these conversations about penalties and certain. mistakes and not being able to be consistent. And that's when you start to worry overall just in terms about coaching. Yeah. You know, and I understand the frustration, especially some of the ones I've seen from fans I've seen on social media and in our chat and our shows and all of that stuff is you look at like the Raiders, right, who were undefeated heading into today.

And they played the team that looks like the top team in the NFL right now, the Chiefs pretty darn close. You look at the Browns who we might have to say, hey, are the Browns actually really good this season? They might be. Like these teams that have had 40, even the Jets look a little bit more competent this year, right? And so I totally get where the fan base is losing its patience,

so to speak, when it wants, it doesn't want baby steps anymore. It wants results because you're seeing these other bad teams from last season, these quote-unquote bad teams, start to have results, not just like on the, field context-wise but in the wind columns too yeah and look you look at the Jets like this is um

i forget his name the defensive coordinator just it just fell out of my the former lines to oh aaron glen yeah it's the second the full season though let's give him that look i know gino smith wasn't great last year but they had literally an invisible offensive line for the raiders last year so You can't put it all on him. And then, you know, you look at the Raiders. They also have a veteran quarterback there right now. I mean, these aren't all guys that are operating at the highest levels, but they are veteran quarterbacks and they have a lot of experience.

What was the other team that you mentioned that we're looking at this year and being like, okay, they might have taken a thing. The Browns. The Browns have to. I mean, look, Deshawn Watson, I don't want to say anything good about that guy. However, this is also a veteran quarterback that when is healthy, he's able to kind of build on his performances so far this season, and we've seen that result in wins.

So it's a difficult thing to kind of like wrap your head around when you're a Titans fan. I know how discouraging it probably is. But again, there has been so much freaking change in this organization in the past three years. There's just got to be some sort of like time commitment to what's happening now to allow them to grow. And there's going to be some ickiness hands down.

But you just got to hope that that turns into results. Yeah. An 0-14 start certainly sends the fan base looking at what could be next and what changes could be made so much so that we're already getting some draft questions in our comment section right now. Eric Duggan 3689 asked, okay, draft talk, Jeremiah Smith, Colin Simmons, trade back, or other. I obviously it would depend on where the Titans are picking next year. And also I think it would depend on what Cam Ward looks like. I think if they go 3 and 14 again, let's say,

but Cam looks like he's taking steps in the right direction. You don't necessarily need to take the quarterback. Right. Now that's easier said than done. Owners want to win and they want to win fast. And Amy Adams Strunk is no exception. but the Titans also have some other needs. And first of all, I mean, if Jeremiah Smith's on the board, that's another thing, too.

Like that dude's an alien. Yeah, pass a guy up. You can't pass somebody like that up and you say, I'll just deal with the rest later. And then you get him and Carnell Tate on the same team like they did at Ohio State, which is pretty good. So, you know, look, I understand wanting to talk draft. I totally get it. You want to look how your team could potentially improve. but like I would say pump the brakes on the quarterback because quite frankly I also don't think

this quarterback class is as good as maybe anticipated the way the college football season is going right now you know like arch hasn't shown me enough to where I'm like hey that that guy is a sure fire number one quarterback and and quite frankly the rest of these touted quarterbacks in college haven't been awesome Dante Moore yeah we'll just see if if he's healthy enough, right? Yeah, like, yeah. I'm with you, Julian. Hey, one thing I do want to ask real quick,

Adam Schuster reported today, didn't report, but put some names out there in terms of possible trade candidates. Yeah. Put Tony Pollard up there on that board. Interesting. And I really do want to know your opinion on this because I wonder if I get it, like if you're not a team that's in the mix,

like why not do it? and there's teams that can utilize a guy like him. But at the same time, then you're really putting Cam Ward and company in a really difficult spot. Yeah, I would say that if there were anybody to get traded, it's probably more likely Calvin Ridley. Me too. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. He just seems like the guy that you would trade away to a contending team that just needs a little bit of extra receiver depth, a little bit of extra receiver depth, a little bit of extra receiver help. Saw the chief's receiver tonight break his ankle, Thornton. So you never know with that. Fortin can't keep anyone healthy. Yeah, that's right. And look, that is a good point, Kayla, that if you do trade away Tony, he may not be the running back of your future.

Yeah. Right. But you do put Cam in a very precarious situation where who does he have to rely on, Dajey Spears and Nick Singleton. And I think Nick Singleton has a bright future, but there are some clear flaws in his game being a young player. And so you want to properly evaluate, Cam. And I still think you can properly do that without Calvin Ridley.

I don't know if you could properly do that without Tony Pollard at this time. I'm with you on that. And it's not like you're going to get a lot in return for Calvin. Let's just be honest. He has not been able to be what he needed to be since coming to Titans, besides that first, you know, a thousand-yard season he had. Other than that, he's just kind of been nowhere to be found. But maybe he can find his way onto another team, like you said,

and be more successful and the Titans can get something out of it. But I think it'd be really hard for me to see them trade away Tony Pollard because I just think that that would put your offense in a really, really bad situation. Yeah, and we know how much David likes to value the run. We saw it today seven straight times. Right. You know, like you take away your best running weapon. And I think what got lost in today because the running game for both teams wasn't great is that Tony is only is one of only two backs with four straight thousand yards seasons.

The other one is on the other side today in Derek Henry, who's, you know, one of the gold standard running backs in this league. And so we always talk about how underrated Tony Pollard is. It's just the fact that he's on the Titans. He doesn't get talked about in the same breadth as some of the other bigger running back. one last question before we go and it comes from eric again what are the chances this team is oh-in-17 can't see them winning more than one or two games but zero isn't out of the question who we i mean it's it's always it's always a question right now right there's just this is a team that it doesn't look good it just doesn't and i'm not saying that there aren't winnable games on

the schedule and again this is the NFL you do not know what's going to happen week to week You just don't. Yeah. And so there are, there are opportunities out there for this team. And we do, we do see, like, with new teams that are learning a new offense, learning a new defense, which this team is doing again, that sometimes it takes half the season to kind of get in a group. I really think the Titans did last year when they were competitive in the back end.

And I look at this. This is a brand new season again because everything's new again. It's going to take some time for everything to start clicking. So I do not think that they're going to go, oh, and 17. I really don't. I think there's a few wins in there still. Maybe they just reach that, you know, a three win mark,

which I don't want to say that because I want to see them at least surpass the three win mark this year. Let's see here really quick. Look, Houston, again, I think anything can happen in a game like that in a division game where Houston, I think, does have a lot of pressure, like you said, on it, Julian, where I don't think the Titans have as much.

it's at home for the Titans. Let's see, Cleveland, not as well. Washington's still. Yeah, but Washington's still on there. You know, Indianapolis, I still think they can get one of those games against Indy. And I think they can get a game against Pittsburgh. I think, you know, Pittsburgh is, you know, defensively, they still have some pluses with them.

But offensively, that is a very disgusting team. Yeah, and who knows how healthy Aaron Rogers is? Or he's just totally checked out by them. And last game at Nissan Stadium, the old Nissan Stadium, right? So you never know what extra mojo could be there. Look, like a lot of teams are asking, or a lot of fans, I guess, are asking here in our chat, like, where do we even win one or two games? Right. And look, there's not a 0% chance.

You go 0 for 17. But the NFL is so crazy. Like, we talked about the Texans earlier in the show. I don't think any of us expected the Texans to be 0 and 4. a lot of us expected them to be potentially like dark horse super bowl contenders and like surefire picked to win the airs south and their season is kind of on the brink like the titans can knock them out next week yeah which is wild to think about it but julian let me and maybe to the fans that are saying you know or worried about not winning a game i really do think they're going to win a game but win a few games a season i look at the Miami Dolphins now and I say if there's a team you should be worried about if you're a fan I absolutely think the way to go 0 and 17 like that I can feel confident in saying I can't feel confident in saying the Titans are who do you think is the worst team in the league right now the

Titans are the Dolphins you think it's Miami yeah they have no pieces left offensively yeah A chance done right so he's done Malik willis like bless him seriously I I want to root for his success but like he is he is in the worst position way worse than cam ward is in he's not i just he doesn't have enough around him and i don't think he's a good enough quarterback yet to be able to succeed in the passing game like he's an athlete but you just you have to still have pieces around you um i'm as a sports fan i'm always against that the NFL and all these sports leagues are fixed I'm against all of that but it really feels like jeremiah smith going home to south florida over the dolphins. That seems like a collision course waiting to happen. As much as Titans fans are

clamoring in the chat for, you know, the best receiver prospect we've seen in years. Yeah. So we'll see how that one goes. But yeah, I'd probably, look, like we were debating that here in our podcast here at the station, like, who's worse? Titans are dolphins. And I totally would agree with the dolphins. But if somebody said the Titans, I would totally agree with them, too. Like, there's arguments to be made on both sides. And certainly things need to get turned around for the Titans nonetheless. Any final thoughts before we go, heading into leaving week four,

heading into week five? Yeah, I just wanted to say, you know, I was really vocal on Twitter today. And look, I've been covering the NFL for a really long time. And I am somebody who observes the game and I am not afraid to share my opinions.

And I share an opinion today on Carnell Tate. There was a shot taken after, a little bit after he had fumbled the ball. But at that, It was on the bench. He was on the bench with Calvin Ridley. They were talking about the fumble. Clearly there was hand motions talking about the fumble.

You know, it was a really like chummy up. Like Calvin had his hand around and they were joking around. It just in the state of what the Titans are right now, it just wasn't a good look. And I'm an observer and I will share my opinions. And all I said was, hey, look, Carnal Tate laughing on the side. on with Calvin Ridley after the fumble. I said, at least for me, I'd be more angry, right? I'd be, I'd be mad.

I'd be mad at myself. And to Carnell Tate's credit, and I retweeted this and made this known, he described, after the game, he was asked about it. And he did describe that that's kind of the way he handles shaking off a play. So I am not Cardinal Tate. I would handle it different, but I respect that. And at least he answered that. it's just for me right now the Titans are under a microscope and that just wasn't the best look.

Yeah, I'd agree with you. I'd probably be that way too. I'd probably sulk in it for a little bit. I mean, you've had bad broadcasts. I've had bad broadcasts. I don't talk for like three hours. Yeah, that's a silent drive home. Yes, it is. But there's some people who laugh through the pain and embarrassment, whatever you want to call it. that's what his explanation was after the game. You don't have to agree with it. It may not be your way of handling your transgressions, things like that. But I agree with you.

In the moment, it wasn't a good look when it cutting to him on the sideline with Calvin, like being boys and stuff like that. So again, Titans looking to clean things up going into the next week against the Houston Texans. They'll look for their first win. Texans also looking for their first win as well, so something's got to give. But for now, that'll do it for us here on the Titan Squad Show. Thanks for liking, commenting, subscribing, listening, watching wherever you may be, whether it be live here on YouTube twice a week or Apple, Spotify,

wherever you get your podcast. But for now, I'm Julian Minnesone. That's Kayla Anderson. And shout out to Brad Hopkins traveling back from Baltimore for us. That'll do it. We'll see you next time.