Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - TITANS SQUAD SHOW: Jeffery Simmons SHOULD WIN DPOY, Cam Ward's CLUTCH GENE, Titans BUILD CONFIDENCE

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

The Tennessee Titans just secured their first win of the season thanks to some costly mistakes by the Cardinals and standout performances from Jeffery Simmons and Cam Ward. We discuss the possibility of Simmons winning Defensive Player of the Year and the next step for Cam Ward as the Titans head to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders.  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Supply HouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHNFL5 for 5% off your first order.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.SquareTo learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.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)

I'm Julian Menonstone. Yeah, Sunday's game was fluky, but it went the Titans way, and I'll take it. We'll talk about it. And I'm Brad Hopkins. The Titans answered any questions about giving up on the season. This and more on 60 Minutes. And yeah, they won, but as always, I'm here to remind folks to take a deep breath. 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. Welcome to the Titan Squad Show. As you heard off the top right there, I'm Julian Minnesone, joined by Brad Hopkins and Tyler

Roland here early on a Tuesday for you recording this. happy to have you guys with us listening wherever you may be make sure to like comment subscribe all that fun stuff and if you're with us live we'll answer those questions for you during the show especially in our titans talk segment but today's show's got a good one we're going to talk cam ward after leading that game winning drive for the titans over the win uh over the arizona cardinals on sunday what we want to see from him next geoffrey simmons continues to play at a defensive player of the year type level but how likely is it that he could actually win that award but we start with

one of our new favorite segments in a segment that Tyler has been doing for his locked on Titans podcast, tighten up versus tightened down. And fellas, I don't know how many times we are going to be able to play this during a week after a win. They're hard to come by in the NFL, have been even harder for the Titans over the last few years. So we'll start with tighten up and some positivity. I'll start with you, B. Hop. What are you tightened up about after that win? Well, despite being down for most of the game and admittedly not deserving to win it, there's a full you got to pay 60 minutes you know i mean you can't play 30 minutes you can't play 45 minutes so at the end of the day they made less mistakes than the cardinals did and they took

advantage of the ones that arizona did make so despite being down they kept their poise and better yet their focus and so while the cardinals were falling apart basically the titans just kept seeing opportunity you know they took advantage of miscues and ultimately they took the game uh pass rush that finally started showing up you have to take effect we saw caler murray get sacked three times. Jeffrey Simmons is looking like a dude that was just a world beater. And actually, you got to give credit to the coverage, too, because Kyle Merr can get the ball of his hands and there's really no place for Jeffrey to give him a sack, get a sack, right? Or create the pressure. So in

some way, symbiotically, there was a balance that helped between pass rush and the coverage, which made the defense play better. And we'll get into more of that stuff later on. I mean, for me, the easy tighten up is the tighten up that I've been quietly whispering on the show for the last, the Titans offensive line is getting better. They are getting better. And it's not just that they are performing better as a group. The individual players are getting better. I saw Ali Udo at right tackle throw a dude out the club on a run play. Baron Browning just tossed him to the ground like a rag doll. Like everybody

collectively is playing better. Kevin Zitler is healthy. He was absolutely phenomenal in this game. Before I even looked at the tape, just watching the game, I'm like, I mean, I think Kevin Zitler played awesome. Like, he was just great in this game, zero pressure, zero sacks, him and Peter Skronsky. 89.1 pro football focus pass blocking grade. And if you don't care about that, well, then I'm here to tell you after watching the tape twice yesterday that they deserve that high of a grade. Like, they were both absolutely phenomenal. And we don't even have J.C. Latham back in this group yet.

And he could be back this week. You put Latham in there who, in theory, could be their best offensive lineman. Their second best offensive lineman is what I think the honest answer is, Peter Skoronsky is just playing at a phenomenal level. Cushingberry is getting better and better every single week coming back from a devastating injury for a guy his size. Like, you know, he had some rough weeks early in the season, but seeing this offensive line play the way that they have,

and even during Cam Ward struggles, you know, he struggled those first 45 to 50 minutes, if we're honest, it was terrible out there. But he had clean pockets. He had opportunities, the offensive line. And Josh Sweat is a good rusher. Like, the Cardinals have Callais Campbell. It's not a terrible pass rush group. And quite frankly, I'm tired of saying, oh, it's a bad pass.

This Titans' offensive line has been awful for years, and they would be awful against awful pass rush groups. So the fact that, you know, the Cardinals pass rush isn't as daunting as the Eagles or the Rams or whoever, I don't really care about that. This offensive line's starting to play better. And I think if you want to have positivity and you want to have hope and you want to tighten up, that's one of the number one. things that I could possibly bring up.

Is there really starting to come into form? Tyler Whisper? Are you seeing Tyler and Whisper in the same sentence? I don't know if that makes. Behoff, real quick, before I get into my tighten up, what did you think about the offensive line? Because I wanted you to chime in here. Tyler, he was spot on.

They gave Cam ample time in the pocket to throw. Obviously, they made holes in the run game. Not near as many attempts as I would like to see them have, but they still were effective in the ground game. And if you think about it, some of those big plays that we saw Calvin Ridley make, and that's another one of my positives, too, number zero showed up in a big way that wouldn't happen if camden had the time to find them right for those explosive plays downfield even chicken cock will getting involved later in that second

half but they played really really well and as a matter of fact i kept saying that and on sat sunday tyler after the show we gave them their flowers because they deserved it they have been under duress we have been taking shots at them we have put the the blames almost squarely at their feet in some instances but not sunday sunday they contributed to the titans win in a big way. Yeah, as far as my Titan up, the best players played better, and that's what the Titans needed, right? The margin for error is so small in the NFL, and particularly for this team that they needed their guys to show up every week. Jeff Simmons continues to show up like we just mentioned, a sack and a half this past week. That's three for the year. Legerius Sneed, after

dogging him a week earlier, you know, makes the, whether he had an effect on Demarcato dropping the ball over the goal line or not. It's the effort, right? The extra effort to make that play. Cam Ward didn't have a great game from the start, but he showed up when it was money time. Calvin Ridley, like you mentioned, Bop 131 yards, finally waking up. Those dead eye goggles, they must be working or something because I don't know. Yes, there you go, Tyler. Hey, whatever, even if it's a placebo to help your mental, whatever is where that, that's what we need to see from the Titans best players every single week. As far as tightened down, something that you're maybe a little bit weary about after this win. Bihop, what do you think? Well, I mentioned it at the top,

you know, if it weren't for the Cardinals, miscues, the Titans would be old in five right now. Just to be honest. But they did take advantage if there's a positive to that. But they have to start faster. That first quarter, man, Marvin Harrison Jr. looked like Marvin Harrison, Sr. And that just wasn't a good deal. And this guy's been struggling for most of the season. And I mean, so, and I mentioned it also, not enough in the run game. Only 19 design runs out of 65 plays. That's just not enough to establish the ground attack, you know? And another thing, I'm not one to pick on kickers. I'm not because I understand. First off, I can't kick a field goal from 10 yards. So there's that. But Joey Sly better figure it out, bro. Because if I have to

gasp at another last minute field goal that could win a game and I'm watching that thing go sailing towards that right up, I'm like, oh my God, you got to be kidding me. After he missed an extra point. Not a 50-yard field goal, not something that was some of some distance that could be a challenge, but an extra point, mind you. Bro, I know you're jacked and all this other stuff, but you come on now. Y'all got to figure it out. I hate to see him looking for another kicker. And at the end of the day, what kicker is at home sitting on his couch right now that's going to be better than Joey? So he better figure it out. I have one name. And I know it's a little controversial, but Justin Tucker, I mean, he's out there. He's posting videos. Oh,

I don't know if the Titans would accept the PR situation, but he is out there. I think he would be better, but you're 100% right, man. Like, less time doing incline curls, more time kicking extra points. Like, I appreciate your Joey Swole. I get that, you know, but like,

come on, man, we can't do that. You're right about that. But for me, I think my overall is kind of what you're saying. They deserve credit for taking advantage. And it is frustrating to see some of the reaction. Although the Cardinals gave this, The Cardinals didn't give the Titans a Calvin Ridley 40-yard bomb down the sideline, and the Cardinals didn't give the Titans a stop, multiple possessions in the fourth quarter.

The Titans' defense held the Cardinals without a single point in the second half. I know that they dropped the ball, but that's only one drive. You know what I mean? Like, the Titans' defense didn't have anything to do with the interception, turned fumble, turned touchdown. Like, the Titans still took advantage of the opportunities. But I guess I just want to caution against some of the excitement. I'm having, you know, listeners of the show.

Oh, do you think the Titans can make a push? You know, there are Titans fans posting, well, they were 2 and 4 in 2019. And I just, I'm excited about a win. We all needed a win. The show needed a win. Shout out Titans content creators everywhere. Like we all desperately needed to win from the organization. The people in the freaking ticket sales, I mean, they had a bad.

We, you know, like we all needed a win collectively. But I just don't think this team, they were still down 21 to 6. They should have been down 286. They should have got throttled in that game. That's the way things were going. So credit to them for turning it around. But I don't think that this is like the light bulb moment or the come to Jesus moment where this team is all of a sudden going to be more competitive.

Like I still, someone asked me this morning, how many wins you think they're going to have now? And I'm like, probably three, you know? I just don't, I don't think that this fundamentally changes my thoughts on how good this team is and Brian Callahan's future. It was good to get a win and it feels good and I'm glad it happened. But I guess I just don't, I don't see this as some light bulb moment where the team's all of a sudden going to turn it around and be different now. There are things that are real from that game that I'm excited about, but there are also things

that are real from that game that I'm not as excited about and I think could be a problem. Like Cody Barton's playing terrible, you know what I mean? like he's been awful. He's playing like he's got glass in his shoes. He just isn't getting downhill. He isn't getting all blocks and watching Cedric Gray play next to him. He was a tighten up. I wish we would have had just a little more tighten up time

because Cedric Gray, Chim D.K., like some of these guys are playing phenomenal football right now, but like a Monty Hooker is playing the worst football I have ever seen him play. And after getting an extension and playing that way, that's rough. And Cody Barton is playing terrible. And I just, Tony Pollard, another fumble. You know, Tony Pollard deserves credit here, but we got to stop with the fumbles.

This team isn't good enough to overcome that. So I guess I want to be excited about the win and feed into that, but I also got to be the wet blanket and be the cloud over the parade here a little bit, too. Like, this team isn't good now. They're not more competitive than they were, and they should have got blasted if the Cardinals weren't just morons, quite frankly. Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the fact that the Titans or that even this show itself, the community, this fan base, needed a win.

because 0 and 5 is a hard show to do. You know, it's a hard show to do because we're repeating the same things before the first four weeks. But one and four, it gives you a different outlook, right? So we saw the Titans take advantage of the Cardinals and the missed cues, right? But can they take advantage of a win? You know, I've been on teams where we've lost three, four straight, and it just seemed like the situation was bleak.

You know, the media was killing us. The fan base was booing us, all the stuff. But then it just took that one. It took that one to start. start something to spark confidence. Because ultimately, if you're on the winning side of that, you feel good about yourself. And you want to do more of that. And you can continue to tap into that, that euphoric feeling of getting a W, which are hard in the league, especially when you're a struggling team. That does sometimes ignite the kind of infernal that it takes to have a better

season. You know, you mentioned the flukiness of the game. I will say, if you keep playing, maybe the football gods reward you a little bit. You know what I mean? Like you don't cheat the game. It doesn't kind of cheat you back. However, with that said, Bhop, you mentioned it and you're tightened down. Let's play four quarters. You know what I say? Play all four quarters.

It's a 60-minute game, not a 45, not a 30. Don't leave it up to that kind of fluky stuff to happen because it's unrealistic that that's going to happen every single week. We have some questions here in the chat already. Old Head Kilo said, do we have a right tackle problem? Yeah, the right tackle is injured. That's a problem. Yeah. Even though Udo's throwing people out of the club,

you know, we've got to see that week in and week out. And we've seen more of him getting thrown out of a club than the reverse. You know, so I think that they obviously need to get healthy, meaning get J.C. Lathen back in the lineup. I thought he started to make some strides, making his transition from last year's left tackle starter to this year's right tackle starter. But think about it, he got lost to injury early in the year, which means it takes some time to build up that cohesion on that right.

side that he's going to need to have with Kevin Zitler to make sure that they're solidified on that side. So they need to get healthy. Is it an issue? It potentially can be, especially if we don't see improvements from one week to the next from his backups or even get J.C. back in the lineup. I think J.C. is going to play this week. It sounded like he was pretty close last week. What I would say is, boy, they could use him because last week against the Colts, Max Crosby spent about 80 to 90 percent of his time. lining up on the defensive left, which is the offensive right if you want to look at it. And, you know, Ali Udo had a good game this week.

I want to give him credit. He looks like a good backup tackle for the team that I would feel pretty confident in to step in in a moment if they needed him. But Max Crosby is a different level of animal. He's one of the top three, top four at Max, defensive ends in the NFL. So I think getting J.C. Latham back, and I think they still need to help Latham out a little bit if it's his first game back and he's going against

J.C. or he's going against Max Crosby a ton. But I wouldn't say that they have a right tackle problem right now. I think Udo's a pretty good backup. They just need their starting right tackle who should be one of their best players back in the lineup. And we'll see if they still have a problem then. Real quick, Julian.

You know how many sacks the Raiders had last week? Zero. And for a guy like Max Crosby, like you mentioned, Tyler, that prides himself on getting the quarterback down, he's going to probably test every single one of those cats up front to see which one of them is the most vulnerable. And I'm betting that he lines up on that left inside.

You know what I mean? Left in, like you said, Tyler, on the defense, just because he's going to test it. Now, what's going to happen with that is what? It's going to change schematically what the Titans are able to do on offense because they're going to have to account for that dude being out there. So that means there's going to be an extra blocker. That means there's one less due downfield in the past game. So if that means that the running backs have to pay close attention to chipping on the way

out to the flat. That's just one more thing. It's going to affect the timing of plays that could ultimately be big situations. Now, could they take advantage of that? I would take advantage of the pass rush by RPOing. By having that, those design runs from number one that slow down that pass rush. Because if you don't know that he's going to go screaming by you because you're running the field with your ears pin back, then that makes the defense take, just that half a second to see exactly what this play is. So play action, RPO, that kind of thing is going to help in protection because they're going to need it this week. Absolutely.

All right. Keep your questions and comments coming. We'll answer them throughout the show. We thank you guys for that so much. On the other side of the break, we're going to talk about Cam Ward and the next steps for him coming off his first career NFL victory. Keep it here. All right, this episode is brought to you by prize picks. Every day we make decisions, but on prize picks, being right can actually get you paid.

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you play your first $5 lineup. That's code locked on NFL. for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Price picks, it's good to be right. All right, fellas. So Cam Ward gets his first NFL win, at least a regular season win. He goes 21 to 39, 265 yards had the interception, which somehow still led to a Titans touchdown.

He led the comeback in the fourth quarter, multiple scoring drives, including the game-winning drive. What impressed you the most about his performance on Sunday? Tyler, we'll start with you. Resiliency. I mean, at the end of the day, that's what matters. And we know I've been watching football for a long time. Obviously, Brad, you've been playing football and watching football for even longer. Like, even the best quarterbacks of all time, the best quarterbacks in the league, things aren't going to always go well. I mean, we saw Patrick Mahomes throw a 99-yard pick six on Monday night football, and he's the best quarterback in the league, right? We saw Josh Allen make mistakes and lose to the Patriots at home, like the best

quarterbacks, the best players ever. Tom Brady had bad games. Peyton Manning historically had an awful rookie season. Now, not everybody turns into, you know, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady after they make mistakes. That's just, I saw that all last year with Will Levis. Well, Peyton Manning had 26 interceptions. Well, Will Levis ain't going to turn into Peyton Manning. So I appreciate that optimism, but that ain't going to happen.

But at the end of the day, it's about how you bounce back from bad situations. and I made the analogy, it's like Rocky, you know, it ain't about how many times you can hit, it's how many times you can get hit and keep moving forward. And that's more than football, that's life, which is why football is the best game in the world because it teaches you so many life lessons. And I think Cam, who had his worst, worst by far game

through the first 50 minutes of that game or 48 minutes of that game, it was just awful. I mean, it really was. I even hilarious, I have the ultimate reverse jinx power. really do. It's a superpower of mine. I literally tweeted out, I mean, I can't hold my tongue anymore. Cam's been a disgrace today. And literally as I'm sending that tweet,

he starts to go on fire. And it's just one of those things that makes me excited about Cam Ward going forward. He's a gunslinger, man. He's not pinpoint accurate. He's going to throw interceptions. He's going to have fumbles. He's going to have negative plays because of the style of play that he is and the player that he is.

But he's always going to be cool, calm, and collected and poised. And he's never going to be rattled. And I think, you know, again, not to hate on Will Levis, but he was somebody who was very rattled by what happened. Things go off the track very easy for a guy like Will Levis. He gets at his own head and he can't get out and he can't get over his past mistakes. Cam doesn't even care. He's like, oh, yeah, you know, I was bad earlier or whatever.

Time to go play now. And I think that resiliency and that poise and never feeling like, you know, I'm on to the next play, short memory. Cam really does have a short memory. He doesn't care. I think that's super important because not everything's going to go great in football. It's not always going to be perfect. And for him to be able to bounce back from these situations and play his best in the biggest moments

and be clutch when it matters, I think that was incredibly impressive for a rookie. You know, I'm glad you brought up Will Levis. Maybe Will Levis's entry into the league created the Will Levis that we saw that had rabbit ears. Whenever you're a first round pick potentially and you go day two and everybody, in the country watches you and your girlfriend sitting there just embarrassed in that moment it makes you feel a certain way remember how thankful he was the titans took a chance and picked him up and how he was going to go out there and make good on the pick and all this other stuff at the end of the day those rabbit ears heard everything that was being said about him and it created

more pressure on him than then obviously a rookie could use at that point cam doesn't have that you know cam doesn't have rabbit ears cam ultimately because of his trek to the landfill he don't care what you think. When Steph Curry misses a shot, what does he say? Load him up, bro. Keep fire. Make the next one. Exactly. And he understands the ebbs and flows that happened in this game. So even though we saw him play inconsistent in the first quarter, the first half, he kept chunking it. You know what I'm saying? Kept ultimately finding that range, finding his big play potential and also the support staff, you know, talking about Chegan, Conquo, Gunnar Helm, those kind of guys hitting them on the mark and allowing them. to make plays as well. And the only way you do that is by having confidence in yourself and basically being able to blot out the white noise that sometimes distracts you and

messes with your focus. So I like the fact that not only does he take losing like a vet, he takes winning and losing like a vet, meaning you can get so much out of the loss, so much more out of the loss basically than you can from a win. So he's learning in that regard, but he's also saying, hey, look, sure, we won one. But we got to do it again. We got to get back out there and we got to repeat this so that way we can you know feel good about ourselves so i just like his poise his focus his uh seeming maturity uh and the fact that guess what he wasn't sloppy with the football no fumbles the only one interception really wasn't his fault because it was tipped at the line of scrimmage so he didn't give the ball to the defense which is a good thing now he doesn't

need to be more accurate of course you know you hit some wide open dudes maybe it was a little late in timing throwing behind him but ultimately i think he's making those strides going into just his fifth game in the NFL to become this team's leader. You know, you know the big thing that stuck out to me, particularly in that fourth quarter fellas, is the way he simplified the game. You know, he wasn't kind of pressing it just for the sake of making a play. He was okay with, I guess, the boring stuff, like finding Chig for intermediate passing game, like finding Gunner.

And that led to the highlight plays like to Calvin Ridley downfield. It seemed like just something kind of clicked in that fourth quarter for him where he wasn't trying to do too much. What did you make of just the overall, his mental switch after the game he kind of had to go to a fourth quarter and say, you know what, piece by piece, we are going to claw our way back into this game. I'm so happy that happened, to be honest with you. Like, think about the very first play of the game. The very first play of the game for the Titans offense. Play action bootleg. Chigga Conquo's in the flat. Why aren't we throwing it to him? Correct. Why aren't we getting him the ball? And what he's doing is he's

waiting for Elic Io Manor on the cross or from the other side because he wants the bigger play. Cam needs to see, oh, I can be successful by just dumping it off and taking the profit. And it may not be super exciting. I may not be throwing vertically, but like, we got to have these in the NFL to keep things going. And then you flash forward to the final drive.

What's the first three plays? There are three yard passes. Dump off to Tony Pollard. And shout out to Tony Pollard, who broke a tackle. and got out of bounds on the very... But he dumps it off to Tony Pollard for two yards, and then Pollard makes a guy miss, gets to the sideline for a four-yard game.

Very next play. Dump off the Tony Pollard again. Basically, he goes, one, two, it's not there. I'm over. Tony Pollard. Tony Pollard gets three more yards. Now it's third and four. And my God, could this team use more third and fours?

Like, there's so many third and eights, so many third and ten, so many third and 12s. And you just can't live in that realm when you're at the talent level, in. You just can't do it. And then it's third and four. Hits Gunner Helm on a quick

five yard. Now we got a first down and so many different coaches I've heard whether it be Mike Vrable, whether it be Todd Downing, Tim Kelly, Brian Callahan last year, Brian Callahan this year, that first first down. If we could just get that first down to get the momentum going,

to get the drive moving, to give guys a little confidence, to just feel the flow, the chemistry, then we're going. So, dump off to the running back twice, even though it's under two minutes. And we got to drive down the field and they need yards and the time is ticking. He still said, this is the right play. This is the right play.

So to go from the very first play of the game where he abandoned an easy profit to Chicka Conquo to the final drive where the urgency is even higher and he said, you know what? I'm going to take it. I'm just going to take what's there and do it. I think having success and that turning into a win and then him hitting Calvin Redley down the field or the one that he hit the Chick-A-Conqua for about 15 yards, where he hits him at 7 or 8, and Oconquo just turns it up for a couple more.

I think proof of concept, like, hey, man, I know it's hard for you to tell yourself that you've got to take these crappy, boring throws, but that is going to lead to wins and success, and it's going to set up the big throws down the field that you actually want. I think him seeing that, and it working, and it turning into a win, absolutely huge for his maturation,

because now it's not just, hey, we're telling us, you believe us it's hey you saw it happen just take what's there and if he can take that fourth quarter mentality and apply it to the beginning of the game going forward and he'll continue to have success and sustain drives it'll be great for him going forward you know that's part of blotting out the white noise because at the end of the day no one wants to hear chuck down charlie check down charlie well i'll take chuck check down cammy because like you said it creates third and manageable down and distances let me tell you from a mentality standpoint what that means for an offense that's standing on the field.

Third and four is so much more easy to manage than third and 14 or third and 10. Automatically in my mind, I'm thinking, first off, there's so many things that we can do in third and four. And I know that we have a better chance of converting to a first down. That's what I'm thinking versus third and ten. I've got to hold up and pass rush. I've got to try not to get this guy sacked. I got to get myself some separation and get myself open. I got to deliver an accurate ball or guess what?

We're off the field. there's so much more pressure that comes along with double-digit yardage to get in a third-down situation versus you being in third and less than five, you automatically feel confident that we can keep this thing going because there's so many different things that we can do. Another thing I saw over the weekend, I was watching Titans All Access, and Big Jeff and the guys had their fishing poles out, of course. Remember that whole fishing outing? And it was one thing that Jeffrey said that really resonated with me. He said, we got a dog at quarterback. And for him to say that, that's the kind of thing that breathes confidence. in your young player.

So they believe in him in that locker room. They believe in him in that front office, which allows him to believe in himself and block out all the other stuff that could be a distraction. And, you know, also trusting the receivers to make plays, too, I think is a big thing, especially when they have been dealing with drops over the last couple of weeks.

Just get them the ball. It's kind of like when you're going back to a basketball analogy, Bhop, when you mentioned Steph Curry earlier, if a shooter is in a shooting slump, They just need to see one go in. So if a receiver is having drops, they just need to haul one in. And even if it's a five-yard gain, it's okay to be second and five or third and four for this team. Like you mentioned, Tyler.

As far as Cam Ward for the next steps, handling a win now, what do you want to see from him for the next step going to this Raiders game on Sunday? I mean, exactly what I just said. I want to see him continue to take what the defense gives. I mean, this team is not in a position where they have a Justin Jefferson or a Jamar Chase where it's third and long and they're going to win, you know, like Calvin Ridley got going, but he's not that, you know, he's not a tier one elite wide receiver in the NFL. He's, you know, tier three or something like that. And the rookies, Elykeyeoman are struggling because he is just not a separator. So everything that he can do is back shoulder fade, win on the thing like he's learning as well, a guy who came from the Canadian football system. Like he's just not a super refined player. and that's something that's well-known coming out of that system. So I just want to see Cam continue to play the way that he played at the end of the game because you're right, Julie. And not only does it get everybody involved,

but it just breeds confidence throughout the entire offense of the offensive line. Hey, we don't have to block for five seconds because Cam's not going to get rid of the ball. Like, okay, I only have to strain for two or three seconds. I'm really going to strain and make sure I give him that two to three seconds. Oh, I'm a running back on a checkdown. I'm a tight end on a sit-down route. I'm going to give that extra effort because I might get the football. He might dump it off to me, and then I'm going to make a man miss,

and then I'm going to fight for extra yards. I just think getting everyone more involved, letting everyone understand that you are important to this play. I think that's just crucial for the mental aspect of the offense as a whole going forward, and Cam Ward is in control of that with his decisions. That's the burden of being the quarterback. Yeah, and there's no such thing as a perfect game. It just doesn't exist.

I mean, you can throw that out there as hyperbole. and just, you know, as language, you know, coach speak or whatever else, because the intent obviously is to play a perfect game, but there's never a game where someone doesn't make a mistake, you know, and maybe a costly one at that. So let's just throw that out the window as far as trying to play perfect and not make any kind of mistakes. Cam is never going to go 100% in his attempts to reception ratio.

It's just not going to happen. Someone's going to drop a ball. He's going to overthrow somebody. Something's going to happen. So it's just never going to be that way. but he can manage the game himself okay and like you said there's going to be a heated pass for us this weekend because those guys feel a certain way about them not getting on the on the sack column last weekend and max crosbie like you said is one of those guys that can heat things up so that

means that cam's got to be smart he's got to understand first off the raiders even know that we're going to try and take care of max crosbie so you better be looking at other stuff as far as blitzes as far as other players, they're going to take advantage of their one-on-one matchups to try and get in the back field as well. So that means Cam still got to have that 180-degree span of the field to see exactly what's smart to do with the football. If that's checked down to the flight, you better get it out. If that tight-in makes himself available on that seam route immediately, get it out of your hands. You see what I'm saying? Go through your progression quick enough to where you can see all your options before it becomes a problem. And they can do that.

You know, sometimes it is just about timing. If you hang with one receiver too long, When this guy over here was open, and then that guy ultimately never comes open, you're either going to get a sack or something happens. Or you can just get gone and use your feet and start letting that passports go by you like we saw last night with Patrick Mahomes. How many times did we see Patrick Mahomes let the passports go around him? Trevor Lawrence, hell, Trevor Lawrence scored on a fumbled snap. Well, it wasn't even a fumble snap. The guard steps on his foot and the boy gets up and goes and wins the damn game.

Are you kidding me? That's just having a vision. That's understanding. He said immediately they was going to go throw it out. of bounds to stop the clock, right? But guess what? There was nobody standing around him. So we need to have that kind of observation about what the defense is doing, take full advantage of that, and then Campbell will be better for it in the end. Braddon, I'll tell you, I think that if I'm the Raiders, I'm going to use Max Crosby because I know the Titans are

going to be so attentive to him as a decoy. If Max Crosby is on the defensive left, the Titans are probably going to slide that protection to the right so the guard and the tackle can kind of double team Max Crosby. Well, I'm running a delayed blitz off the right-hand side attack the left side. If I know you're sliding that way, I'm going to bring a slot corner from the opposite side. So you slide three guys over and leave a two on two on the other side, and then I'm going to bring a third. So if Cam doesn't get the ball out of his hands quickly and use his legs to take advantage of less people out in the back, or in the defensive backfield, I think it's going to be difficult, but there's going to be opportunities to do exactly what

you're saying based on what I think the Raiders are going to try to do here to attack the Titans' offensive line. We had a comment. Somebody said about the Trevor Lawrence touchdown. Mike Bell said it'd be baby giraffe touchdown calling that one. Yeah, okay. You know what though? Sure, you call him baby giraffe. He was stumbling around at first before he got to his feet, right? Well, he turned into a ball carrier. And how many times do we see him effectively take advantage of the passwash last

night and get big yardage with this feet? The dude's fast. He's big. And he made some mistakes last night, you know? So let the puck expire inside of 20 seconds. Bro, what are you doing, man? you've got to delay a game. When you're in the red zone, you better knock it off.

And that happens all too often for him. But he found a way to win and beat the dreaded Chiefs. I think his biggest mistake might have been picking his nose live on Canada. That's probably the worst mistake of a moment. They're wrong for that. No.

Now, first off, picking your nose in public, you got to be careful about that, especially when you're a quarterback in National Football League. But they were wrong for hanging on him as long as they did. I was yelling last night, no, no! Because I'm going to tell you what, fellas, and you're all thinking it, if he ate that. Oh, God.

I'll tell you what, that video producer in the back was probably camera three. Hold on camera three. Just hold it. Hey, Julie, let me ask you, because you're in TV, of course. Is that suable? Can you sue a network for defaming you like that? Because I always thought that if a guy was doing something like that, they're supposed to take the camera off of him immediately.

I mean, that's probably the moral thing to do is to take it off of him. It's the same as somebody flipping the bird, you know, it's kind of, you don't want to see that, even though viewers want to see that, you know. I mean, he was just going to town in there and they didn't get the camera off of him. That was foul. Well, if it bleeds, it leads, Brad. If it bleeds, it leads. Well, we talked about the Titans scheming up for Max Crosby there a little bit,

but hey, the Raiders are going to have to game plan for Jeffrey Simmons. We're going to talk about his level of play and how much of a dog he's been this year next on the Titan squad show. All right, Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. You can make everyday drives feel like anything but from smooth handling to intuitive controls. With all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. All right, fellas, Jeffrey Simmons, I mean, what else can you say about this guy?

I mean, he is playing at the game record type of level that we would want to see from him. The level that the Titans needed, frankly, this year, he had another sack and a half this past week against the Cardinals. Brian Callahan said in the post game that, hey, he is playing at defensive player type of year level. Is that likely? What are the chances that he could actually be a strong candidate win that award? Long season, you know, there's a lot more football left to play. But what Brian said was true. He's playing at a defensive player of the year level, okay?

You want a guy to dominate. And correct me if I'm wrong, Tyler. He's kind of doing it on his own. You know, Tavondry's sweating in there. We're not seeing Sebastian Joseph Dagan. We're not seeing Arden Key in the backfield a lot of time. We're not seeing a bunch of somebody else that taking advantage of the double teams that he's requiring every single play. So the guy is doing it by himself. Him shedding those pounds allows him to keep

that motor moving to where he just doesn't give up once he hits the ground. They're going to knock him down, you know, but what does he do? He gets back up. He still keeps fighting even at the end to get guys down the ground. And he had one and a half sacks last weekend. The guy should have had like three sacks. You know what I mean? If you think about it, you know, and I'm not blaming him or saying that, you know, you could have done better. I mean, sure, he could have done better. I'm sure he'd say the same thing. But ultimately, when you look at his ability to be destructive and getting the back to him, my man was all over it. So is Brian Wright and saying that he's playing at the defensive player of the year level? Yes. Is it hard for an interior defense alignment to

make those kind of strides? Yes, it is. Unless your game's name is, you know, Tyler helped me here. Name some awesome interior defense alignment. It takes over ball games. Aaron Donald. I mean, he's he's probably the best of my lifetime, you know. what I mean. It's just so, but I'm with you, like, not only is Jeffrey Simmons playing at a level that he's absolutely an all pro right now. He's been the, by far the best interior defensive lineman in the league, but he is like spreading the wealth, you know what I mean?

Like, he's turning water into wine for all the other guys. I go back to the game against Houston. He got pressure on C.J. Stroud at one point in time, and he put his hands up in the air so that Stroud couldn't dump it off to his running back. and then Arden Key and Draymont Jones get a sack and Arden Key's getting up doing his feed-me thing and it's like, well, Jeffrey Simmons just gave you that sack and then remember Kyler Murray

runs around backwards on the intentional grounding at the end of the game and just throws it. Jeffrey Simmons is in the backfield. Kyler makes him fall because Kyler is a little mini-mouse. You know what I mean? Like he's just moving around like this. Like Jeffrey Simmons is like, ah, get in my belly, you know what I mean?

And like he falls down, but then Big Jeff gets back up, pushes him towards Draymont Jones again and forces the incompletion. And that's only in the past game. We only talk about the pass rush because those are the numbers, the sacks. That's the numbers that we like to see.

But in the run game, I cannot tell you how many times Jeffrey Simmons has ate a double team and Cedric Gray has flew right past who's supposed to climb up to him because they're dealing with Jeffrey Simmons. And it goes back to a clip from training camp where Big Jeff is yelling at Zytler and Skoronsky, you go, double team, double team, you can't get up.

You can't get up. And he's saying you can't get up to the linebacker. if you're so worried about double-teaming me. And Jeffrey Simmons over and over and over again is eating these double teams, not seating ground whatsoever, and then Cedric Gray is flying right past the offensive lineman to make a tackle, and it's like,

he'll never get the credit for forcing and intentional grounding. He'll never get statistical credit for Cedric Gray getting a tackle for loss. But those are all plays that Jeffrey Simmons is making possible, and I want to just throw this out here for the purposes of the stats. My guy Will Lomas, who writes for Titan size, put out a great tweet on Monday. No defensive tackle in the NFL has more sacks than Jeffrey Simmons right now, three and a half.

No defensive tackle has more tackles for loss than Jeffrey Simmons right now, six. No defensive tackle has more solo tackles this year than Jeffrey Simmons. No defensive tackle has more pressures this week going into the primetime games, the Sunday night football and Monday night football. Jeffrey Simmons had eight pressures this week in this game. That was the second most in the NFL behind Aiden Hutchinson and all of the top seven guys and pressures this week were edge rush players.

And Jeffrey Simmons is doing this. This ain't Chris Jones with the chiefs helping him out. This ain't Aaron Donald with Von Miller on the edge taking attention. He hasn't even had to Vondres sweat out there to take double teams for most of this year. He's working with shy Tuttle and Lynch out there. Like Jeffrey Simmons is doing this with literally minimal help

but giving maximum production. He has been by far the best defensive player in the NFL through five weeks. And I don't think that he will win the award because you're right, Brad. It's hard for Interior Defensive linemen to win it. And I don't think the Titans are going to be very good and guys on bad teams don't win awards.

It just does not happen that way. But my God, man, he has absolutely lived up to the contract and more. He has gone to another level. But we do need to see him sustain it. The thing about Simmons is he has had great starts to the season before and he's waned as the season goes on

and I worry that because he doesn't have much help and because he's putting out so much effort he played 96% of the snaps I mean he's just playing every single snap and doing this and it's going to be hard to sustain that so can he do it do it? I think he certainly can but we do need to see it happen. Yeah you know what?

George Karloftus emerged as one of the better pass rushers because of Chris Jones. we need to see somebody else emerge because of Jeffrey Simmons being on the field and because of the numbers that you just put out there, Taylor, Tyler from Titan size or whatever was. I'm sorry. The math is a stubborn thing, man. You can't dispute these numbers. I mean, these are facts.

But if we can't take advantage of a guy that's as disruptive as he is on his own, like a one-man gang, that's going to be a problem. I remember when the first defense that, you know, I was. adopted basically when i where i went to the still oilers was um chris jones on one end william fuller on another end sometimes uh i can't remember the guy's name from the bears wilbur marshall he would come in but what that dude is that made a guy that glen montgomery who was an interior defense alignment gets so many sacks he took advantage completely of the star power that was on either side of him and he started making a name for himself so we need some guys to step up man we need some dudes that can take full advantage of their one-on-ones that's what most coaches say win the one-on-one battle and we have a better chance to win so he needs to do just that they need to do just that don't burn geoffrey out because he's the only option now i know when tibondri gets healthy and he gets back in the lineup man that's going to make a huge bit of difference because that's another hard-to-block dude by yourself and i think that he completely can do that but we got to get him on the field to see if that can happen i know that i don't know that they have the talent sorry julia and i

I guess to be, I guess I'm being the wet blanket, but I don't know if they have a guy who can be that. I mean, Jehad Ward right now is the best pass rushing edge that they have and they picked him up off the scrap heap before the season. I just don't think the talent is there throughout the season to ultimately help Jeff in the way that we're talking about. I just don't think that that person is on the roster. Maybe Femi has an explosion,

but we knew it was going to be a while for him to develop pass rush moves and be that guy. I just don't know. if Simmons is ever going to get that help that he deserves, quite honestly. The reason I pose the question is because he has to do more with less. Like, I know it's a different position, but take a guy like Nick Benito, who they saw week one. He's got so many good defensive players around him. You know what I mean?

Jeff has to not only put up the numbers he's putting up, but elevate everybody else as well, like Arden Key, like Jihad Ward. I mean, heck, Jeff even was the one who helped force a couple turnovers that week one against Denver. As far as how the Raiders plan to handle him, what do you guys think or expecting? If you're Jeff Simmons, what are you expecting to see this week? 100% what you just said. I'm expecting, just like we've seen through the first five weeks, them account for Jeffrey Simmons in the lineup. And guess who knows that, Denard Wilson? So DeNard needs to be able to come up with some exotics, man. Say, hey, look, I know that if I put Jeffrey out here,

They're going to put two dudes over here, and I'm going to do this, you know, this corner blitz from this side, or I'm going to fire zone somebody, make it appear that we're going to be, you know, maybe rushing from that side and then drop off a dude. You've just got, you know, use his presence against them. Use what you know the Raiders are going to try and do, because what the Raiders just said, yeah, you know what? We're just going to let whoever's blocking Jeffrey Simmons block Jeffrey Simmons, and we're not going to account for him. They're not going to do that because it was. probably take two series of their quarterback, Gino Smith, getting the crap knocked out of them before they realize, hey, we, that didn't work.

We need to go back in taking care of 98 because this dude in the back field is a problem for us. And then you continue to do what it is that you've been working on during the week to make sure that you take advantage of those matchups. That's everybody. And the thing is, it's not just Jeff up front. It's not just the pressure from the front four. It's guys in the back end making sure that Gino doesn't have anywhere to go.

the damn football you see what I'm saying the longer that he holds on to the football the more opportunity they're going to have to get him on the ground up front but that means you've got to be excellent in coverage you know if you're running the cover two make sure that those safeties are high up there and helping those corners that are now oppressed or if you're running cover four where you've got some dudes in the back that are just making sure that the ball doesn't get behind them cover three you've got one single high safety right and you've got dudes that are either in run support or just at the line of scrimmage making sure that bump and run cover is paramount. You've got to be doing all that you can do in the coverage to make sure that

that quarterback holds onto the ball so that way you can get him on the ground. I think like we talked about just a second ago with Max Crosby, the Titans need to, how would I say this, plus the Jeffrey Simmons effect, especially Colton Miller, who's a pretty good left tackle for the Las Vegas Raiders, he's going to be out. So they got Stoneforthside, their backup tackle in at left tackle. I think Jackson Powers Johnson, who's their right guard, is a very good player drafted last year in the second round. But he's not good enough to deal with Jeffrey Simmons one-on-one. So I'm putting Jeffrey Simmons over the right guard in his three technique spot. And I'm going to have the Raiders slide to Jeffrey Simmons because they're

going to need to help on him. And then I'm bringing a corner blitz from Roger McCreery on the back. The Titans played so much big nickel, which if you don't know what big nickel is folks in the comments, that's where you have three safeties on the field instead of that slot corner. They're in nickel with five defensive backs, but it's two outside corners and three safeties. I'm bringing a Monty Hooker on blitzes off the slot. I'm bringing Cedric Gray up the opposite B gap of Jeffrey Simmons. I'm going to make the Raiders slide their offensive line to help Jeffrey Simmons,

and then I'm going to blitz off the other side and make that backup left tackle, win a one-on-one matchup or get out to take a cornerback. Like, that's what I'm doing if I'm the Titans because Gino Smith, not completely devoid of athleticism, But he's 35 years old, and he has not been moving around very good this year. He leads the NFL at interceptions. He's panicking and making bad throws. You've got to blitz and put pressure on Gino Smith

and force those turnovers that he's been giving up to other teams all week. And you've got to utilize Jeffrey Simmons' ability to create those opportunities. We have some questions in the chat. We're going to answer those next on our Titans talk segment. Don't go anywhere here on the Titans Squad Show. We'll keep it. all right fellas so we're getting a couple of questions that we've had throughout the show and make sure you guys if you're listening live right now keep those questions coming we'll

answer them to our best of our abilities here comments concerns whatever you want to talk about of the titans we are here for you this one comes from jeanne packer how do you guys feel about armor davis that's jalen armor davis i'm not really sold on him right now um it's like everyone I see a receiver catch. He's a ball. He's at the ball. He's the one getting toasted. We saw that a couple of times, especially early on against Marvin Harrison, Jr. this past week. What do you what do you guys think of Jalen Armored Davis? A guy who is familiar with DeNar Wilson's system coming over from Baltimore. Well, Jeheme, I'll ask you this question. If you have three options, you can attack Legerius Sneed, you can attack Roger McCreary,

or you can attack Jalen Armar Davis, the guy who the Titans picked up off waivers before this and what option are you going to take? You know, so he's just the least talented corner that they have. He's going to get that matchup, but I honestly didn't think he did too bad. And I honestly think that in DeNard Wilson's scheme with the way that they run cover four, man, they'll run cover four, which is a zone people think of,

but they have man principles on the outside where if number one goes vertical, you run with them and stuff like that. And I think it makes it simple. There's a lot more emphasis on the safeties making decisions, and it's simple on the cornerbacks on the outside. So, for me, it's just about Jalen Armar Davis doing his job. He's going to give up some catches. He's not an elite cornerback.

But I don't think that he was so bad. I think after that first quarter where he got attacked a little bit, he settled in. And he wasn't some major liability where it's like, oh, he got attacked. It's not like Jonathan Joseph in 2020 or something like that or old school Christian Fulton, you know what I mean? So he's a waiver player, but I think DeNard Wilson gets the most out of guys in the secondary. And I think he can hold down that spot just fine.

like Darrell Baker Jr. did last year. Everybody was like, wow, Darrow Baker Jr. The Titans got him off waivers, and he's playing pretty decent. Like, Jalen Armar Davis is a good young corner with good size and physicality, and he may not be the level of player that Snean and Roger McCreary are, but I don't think that he is some sieve in the defense where you could just attack him all game long, and that's going to get the Titans beat. So I think he's fine. Yeah, I'm glad you made the acknowledgement, first off, that he was getting picked on by Kyler Murray. I mean, Marvin Harrison caught a ball

from top of his head almost for the end of her touchdown and then took advantage of him on the go route on the sideline like good god man this dude needs some help you know so ultimately he did settle into the game and it was probably because he was playing better that kiler had to hold on to the ball and was creating all those helping create all those mistakes that we ended up seeing him help you know create that made a mistake whatever but i think ultimately you know he's a role player let's just say that you know what i mean he wasn't somebody that was supposed to come in here with a big paycheck and and change the trajectory of this defense he's a role player and if not everybody's a superstar man you know like to me in today's internet age everything is either

trash or great there is no in between but in the NFL you need Sebastian joseph daze you need jalen armard davises you need you know the kevin zitlers who aren't making the big money but are still very good players for the value of their contract. Like you can't have 22 superstars on offense and defense. That's not how it works. So you need guys like Jalen Armar Davis to bring value on their contract number and give you starting level play. And listen, the Raiders don't have a Marvin Harrison Jr.

I know Marvin Harrison Jr. Maybe hasn't lived up to his draft pick, but he's a better player than Jacoby Myers or, you know, Jack Bess, or Dante Thornton or Trey Tusson. or like they don't have a Marvin Harrison, Jr. to dominate in that way. So that should give Titans fans a little more optimism for this week. You know, real quick before you move on, they did a side-by-side

comparison. I'm sure if you're watching the game, you saw Marvin Harrison. Same. They look damn near identical. And here's a dude that's wearing a gold jacket nowadays. So, you know, I'm talking about his dad. I'm not going to say he's a Hall of Fame by any stretch, but he definitely has that kind of potential. And he's bigger than his dad, you know?

Yep. Through 20 games, their stats are exactly the same. know what I mean? If only the Titans had another young corner that they didn't trade away, then he happened to play in there. Here we go. Anyways. All right, this one comes from Kevin Rue. People keep saying lock, they want lock it gone and X as in Xavier Shrepo in. But is that really a better option opposed to maybe like a Van Jefferson? You know, guys, the comments keep coming for Xavier Ristrepo every single day. But it just doesn't seem like there's a spot for

him right now. Well, I mean, Tyler Lockett is playing on the outside, too, and Restrepo can't do that. I mean, at some point in time, I think those comments are right. Like, you know, we got to worry about what's best for the team going forward,

and we know that 34-year-old Tyler Lockett is not making an impact. He's not doing a lot. He's not able to separate at this age consistently. And at some point, I would like to see Restrepo out on the field, but I also have to acknowledge what I, I want, and what the team is going to do are not always the same.

Like, they just trust Tyler Lockett as a veteran to know his role, know his responsibility. He can play multiple positions. You can, like, on the Calvin Ridley seam throw, not the one down the right-hand sideline at the end, but the one that he hit down the seam on the first touchdown scoring drive where Tony Pollard capped off the touchdown. The big throw down the middle of the field to Calvin Ridley, Calvin Ridley was in the slot there.

And Tyler Lockett was on the outside in the Z-wide receiver position. Can Xavier Restrepo play in the Z-wide receiver position? Does he know that? Does he know all the different rules? Or does he just know the slot? And that's stuff that we can't know from behind the scenes. But I think certainly if the Titans get into the final month of the season and they have two wins, you know what I mean?

Like, Tyler Lockett isn't going to be on this team next year. Tyler Lockett's going to be 35 years old. He might not be in the NFL. Why wouldn't you give Xavier Restrepo a shot at that point in time just to see like, you know, He's small, he's slow. There's a lot of wide receivers in NFL history who were smaller, slower guys,

but they just get open. They just catch the ball. So I think that there are realities here like Restrepo can't play special teams. He probably can't play on the outside and have multiple position, versatility, and all that is true. But what he can do

may ultimately help this team more in the future and that may be a consideration that they have to at least think about as we get later in the season. But right now, they're not going to give up on any of their current ideas this early. When you look at just the receiving core itself from top to bottom, nobody stands out. So at the end of the day, you can't say that Xavier Restrepo is the best receiver that the Titans have, right?

There are a bunch of guys that are playing, that are better than he is, period. And even they're not distancing themselves. I mean, Calvin really doesn't even have a touchdown yet. They have two touchdowns receiving and two touchdowns rushing. So at the end of the day, the offense isn't clicking like it needs to. And I'm not going to say that Xavier Restrepo is a guy that's also going to turn everything around. You know, so at the end of the day, if I saw somebody getting some separation and he needed help because he's the one dude that's making plays and making things happen and they need some compliments because defenses are going to start getting smart and taking him away, that's not the case. There's nobody that is just to clear out leader in the clubhouse to say, hey, look, I'm the go-to guy.

I'm the person that when it gets down to it, I need the ball in my hands and you need to find a way to get it to me. We don't have the same situation going on in Nashville that we do in Philadelphia where A.J. Brown is like, bruh, if you don't start throwing me that nail in football, you know what I mean?

And now Jalen Hertz is thinking in the back of his mind every time he drops back the past, I've got to find 11. I got to find 11. No, that's not the case here because we don't have that dude. And that's why they lost. It would be nice to have that. Huh?

That's why the Eagles lost. Sequin Barclay carried the ball six times. because they're trying to force the ball to their angry one. 4-0, and you're mad about not getting the ball. The disease of more, man. After you win a Super Bowl, people don't care about that. Oh, if we're winning, I'm happy. No, we won already.

I need more. You know what I mean? Like, it's crazy that they lost that game and they're not running the ball, which is what they do best because they want to appease a wide receiver who's angry about being 4-0. It's just side note on the NFL, but that was just crazy to me.

No, no, no. It's 100% because think about it. When all the attention goes to Saquan Barkling, we're talking about the magical year he had, and the light is shining as bright, those guys don't really, hey, hey, I'm out here too, man. You know, I want some love too. I get it, but that's, that's, you know,

it takes a selfless player to win in spite of themselves. Quickly before we go from each of you guys, the Titans, if they are to win on Sunday, it's because of what? Tyler, we'll start with you. because they blocked Max Crosby. I mean, it's that simple to me. He is the one player on that team that can dominate,

and I'll say this too, they stopped Ashton Genty. He is capable of running on them like Jonathan Taylor did a couple of weeks ago, and if they let the Raiders do that, they're going to let Gino Smith, who's playing bad football off the hook, and if they let Max Crosby wreck the game, I mean, you're screwed. So it's stop Ashton Jenty, stop Max Crosby, and you have a chance to win the football game.

Bhop. Titans have to have well over 100 yards rushing. I was going to say Tony Pollard, but if that's Tony Pollard, Justin Chestnut, Julius Chestnut, and Taj Spears combining for 150 yards, it doesn't matter. Because what that means is that first off, on the road, you've got to be able to run the football. That means they're protecting their quarterback and they're winning at the line

streamage. So if they're running the football effectively, then they're going to win the ball game. I'm going to go with no freebies for the Raiders, an offense that's obviously struggling. Don't give them any extra opportunities to potentially get something going or any field position battle advantage or any of that kind of stuff to give them an extra chance there. All right, Zach Carpenter in the chat, he said, dang, missed the show. He was asking a bunch of questions on Sunday. Zach continue to tap in with us Tuesday mornings and after game days on Sunday. We'd love to have you there as one of the, I guess he's becoming an every day or to the show, too.

So thank you guys for that. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe, all that fun stuff. You could also check out Tyler's Locked-on Titans podcast every single day. But for now, I'm Julian Minnensohn. That's Tyler Rowland and, of course, the legend Brad Hopkins. We will see you guys on Game Day. Thank you.