Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Week 13 Rooting Interest, Todd Downing, Bud Dupree & More With Will Lomas!

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

The Tennessee Titans are on a bye in Week 13, but that doesn't mean there aren't important football games to watch!! To start off the show Tyler looks at the Week 13 slate and discusses the games Titans fans need to pay attention to along with which teams they should be rooting for! Next, Tyler is joined by Will Lomas to discuss Todd Downing's performance so far, whether the Titans can win a Super Bowl if healthy and Bud Dupree's impact.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3332GMOh4y5PX3q9NFybwSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/LOCKEDON and use promo code LOCKEDON for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a football Friday, but it is not a game preview edition of the Locked on Titans podcast as the Tennessee Titans are on their bye. But that does not mean that there isn't football that we must pay attention to. What we're going to do on this Friday show, we're going to start off looking at the week 13 slate.

The Titans are in the playoff race and they are still, despite two losses in a row, in the race for the number one seed. So I'm going to go over all the important games over the weekend that Titans fans need to pay attention to. And I'll tell you how I think we should all be rooting in those games. But I'll, of course, let you decide on your own. And then finally, for the last two segments of our show, I will have probably my favorite Titans content creator outside of myself,

of course, Will Lomas from the No Nonsense podcast and from Titan Size on the show to tell me why my opinions about Todd Downing and Bud Dupree are dumb. All jokes aside, me and Will have an excellent conversation about the Titans that you won't want to miss. So all of that and more on a Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! You are locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

Titans fans, it is Friday and it is a bye week. I hope all of you guys have an enjoyable weekend. You don't have to worry about the Tennessee Titans getting your emotions all invested. More than anything, I hope you guys all stay healthy. The Titans are banged up enough. We can't have the fan base getting hurt out here too. But with that being said, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked

on Titans podcast your first to listen every day. If this is your first ever listen to the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. Subscribe to the Locked on Titans YouTube channel so you can catch the podcast on video.

Smash that notification bell so you know when all of my content goes live. Follow me on social media on Twitter at TicTacTitans for all my film work. Follow the show on Facebook at Locked on Titans Pod. I am the host of the show. Tyler Rowland been

hosting the show for three seasons now. Been a Titans fan for over 20 years. Like to focus on the X's and O's and me and Will's conversation does a lot of that. But before we get into that conversation with Will Lomas, do got to talk about the AFC slate over the weekend. The Titans aren't playing, but we need to be paying attention to these football games. So let's dive into the games that are most important to the Titans. And I'm going to go from least important to most important.

So least important, we have the Bengals against the Chargers. So the Bengals are 7-4. They have a 5-2 conference record. And remember, if the two teams have the same record, the head-to-head win will give you the tiebreaker. But if the teams haven't played each other, then conference record is the tiebreaker. And the Titans aren't going to play the Bengals this year. Thank God after last year's debacle. Worst football game I've ever been to in person in my entire life. But either way, the Bengals play the Chargers. The Bengals are at home. The Bengals are playing pretty good football.

They're 7-4, so a win would put them at 8-4, tied with the Titans. It would also give them another AFC win, so they'd be 6-2 in conference record. That is a game to watch for sure. The Bengals have already beaten the Ravens, so they would have the tiebreaker over the Ravens. They are going to play them again, though, so that could change the balance there. But you've. They are going to play them again, though, so that could

change the balance there, but you've got to be rooting for the Chargers in this game. The Chargers are three-point underdogs right now. The Cincinnati Bengals have been one of the worst NFL teams of my life, so they may be playing good football right now, but the Bengals are most certainly not the type of team

that will not have, that's a double negative, that will not have a letdown game. So I could absolutely see the Chargers winning that game and if you're a Titans fan you gotta be rooting for the Chargers there. Also, gotta look at Baltimore at Pittsburgh. Now Pittsburgh

has been playing just terrible football and Big Ben Roethlisberger looks like he's probably cooked. But this is a division rivalry that's been going on for decades now. They always play each other tight. And if you're a Titans fan, you're looking at Baltimore. Baltimore is 8-3.

They're currently the No. 1 seed in the AFC. And they have a 5-3 conference record, which is the same as the Titans. So if Baltimore loses this game, not only do they lose the number one seed, but their conference record becomes worse than the Titans. So that's important as well. Got to root for the Steelers, even if it feels terrible. And I understand that. Then you have Denver at Kansas City and Denver is a 10 point underdog in this game, but Denver has been playing some pretty good football. And I know that Kansas City has been much improved from their early season doldrums, but I think Denver can win this game. Kansas City is currently 7-4, so a win would tie them with the Titans,

but they have a 2-4 conference record. If the Titans were to finish with the same record as the Kansas City Chiefs, the Titans are going to have that seeding advantage over them because there's pretty much no way, unless the Titans lose all their games, that Kansas City can come back and have a better conference record than the Titans. But still, something to pay attention to.

And then finally, the New England Patriots at the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. That is the most important game by far for the Titans this weekend, and it may feel weird, but the Titans need Buffalo to win. So right now, New England is 8-4 tied with the Titans, but they got

the head-to-head win, and the Patriots are 6-1 in the AFC. That's a great conference record, two games ahead of the Titans in the loss column. So Buffalo is 7-4, but they're 5-4 in the AFC, and the Titans have beaten them. So the Titans want Buffalo to win the AFC.

The Patriots and the Bills play twice in the next, like, three weeks. The Titans need the Bills to win both of those games, period. And I think they can. I know New England's playing great football, but the Titans could have won that game easily because the Patriots did not play that well. Mack Jones was inaccurate as well. I think that there's a really good chance

that Buffalo could win both of those games because I still believe that Buffalo is a good football team despite their recent struggles and their loss to the Titans. In the division, Indy is at Houston. They beat them by like 30 last time. Indy's going to win that game, but that loss to Tampa Bay really hurt their chances of catching the Titans. So I'm not as concerned about that. And then Jacksonville is a 13 point underdog on the road against the Rams. The Rams are going to smoke Jacksonville because Jacksonville is probably the worst team in the NFL. So don't care about that. But just to recap, go Chargers,

go Steelers, go Broncos, and most certainly go Buffalo Bills. Those are the games that you guys need to be paying attention to and why and that's who I think you should be rooting for in the best interest of the Tennessee Titans.

But we are going to get into that conversation with Will Lomas from Titan Size and the No Nonsense Pod. Really excited to do that. Before we do, I do want to tell you guys about Boost Mobile. You listen to podcasts for the power of knowledge. You switch to Boost Mobile for the power of saving money because the boost you get with Boost, you get the power of free 5G cell phones so you can listen to all of the latest episodes. The power of three unlimited data lines for 30 bucks a month per line so your whole family can harness all of that brain power and the power of one of America's largest 5G

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to that website, built.com. Use that promo code LOCK15 for 15% off your order. 15% off your order. All right, Titans fans. We're going to continue this Football Friday even though we don't have a Titans game to break down. I'm excited to have another Titans content creator on the show. And I do have to say probably my favorite other Titans content creator online, me and Will, like to talk a lot on Twitter, and sometimes we don't always agree.

And I don't want to say that I brought you on just simply to disagree with me, but we definitely have to get into the big topics. Before we get into talking with Will, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Will, of course, does great work on Twitter. He has an excellent account, and in my opinion, Will has the best profile names of anybody on Twitter.

I like the Run More Play Action Moron. That was personally probably my favorite one of the entire season, but outside of that, he is one of the co-hosts from the No Nonsense podcast. Him and Luke Worsham do. I've been on there. They're great guys. They do great work on their show. And he's also, according to the Twitter profile, an expert for Titan size. So check out titansize.com for Titans news as well. But, Will, one of the big things that we have disagreed on at times this year is the performance of Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing. So I'm going to give you the floor.

I spend 30 minutes a day talking to myself. So I'm going to give you the floor to tell me what has frustrated you the most about Todd Downing this year. I mean, the most is such a hard thing to pick. There's so many different good options that I dislike about him. What bothers me the most is that I think Titans fans were sold a bill of goods in that this was going to be continuity. It was going to be more outside zone.

You know, this whole offense was built around the concept of athletic linemen derrick henry who's one of the best zone runners in the league you know it just all he has to do is cut back twice a game and he's going to end up with 120 yards because that's what he does they didn't get particularly fast receivers they got bigger receivers who could block and get yards after catch because the whole plan has always been we're going to run 40% of our passes are going to be play action. So the wide receivers get a head start first. The defense has to really figure out what's going on and think, which is always a bad thing for them. And it just hadn't been the same at all. Everything from formations, they run way more empty that

they ran empty against New England which we talked about this which should have never happened and they did it like and they scored a touchdown I think the touchdown play was out of empty but it just it doesn't make any sense like it Luke put it a really good way when he said that tied down in coaches, every player is exactly the same. I think that is true. I think X's and O's, I think he's probably pretty smart, but he misses the forest for the trees. He misses the fact that this is an offense that the offense wasn't allowing 10 sacks in games last year. I mean, with banged up offensive tackles with worse talent on offense across the board, you know, maybe not now that everybody's injured, but boiling it down to just what bothers

me the most, he just takes away whatever is working by himself. You know, we saw it on, uh, by himself. We saw it on the drive that ended with the interception. They ran the ball every play until they got in the red zone, and then it was two out of four of those plays were passes. And you broke it down really well because you said that the Patriots' defense was selling out to stop the run, which was true. In the red zone, they were. But even on the play with Deont foreman where he kind of where i think it's it's either a play action pass

or he runs right into a wall of defenders like there's a big like hole on the right side of the a gap like on the right a gap like i mean you can run like that's a touchdown like and we've right you should have been a touchdown for sure you You've done a great job breaking down just where Deontay Foreman just doesn't seem to see the field and where he just misses wide open lanes. And you're right because I said it during the game, and you did a great job with your clips, where we talked about getting a hat on a hat, and that's what works so well.

I mean, the Titans had 200-yard rushers. Like, you're on practice squad. I mean, Cody Holl had 200 yard rushers. Like you're on practice squad. I mean, Cody Hollister got the second most snaps out of the wide receivers. Like that can't happen. Like you can't throw the ball, you know, 20 something times when you're running it, when your bad running back is averaging almost six yards of carry. Like hilliard had 10 yards of carry like it should like it constantly though this is a downing problem it's been with play action when play action works he gets away from it when the running game works he gets away from it and i don't know if there's some balance in his head that he thinks he needs to keep where okay we've run it seven plays in a row

we've got to start passing it or else our splits are going to get too bad. But yeah, of course. You can't call offense worried about your play calling splits. You got to call offense worried about what works. Yeah. And that, I mean, that's exactly right. And he does, it's, it's like, he doesn't see what happens on the field. And maybe that's just the first year offensive coordinator. I mean, he's been an offensive coordinator before, but maybe it's just that first year in him where he's like, he's so worried about the next play call that he doesn't stop and say, wait a second, we just ran it for 10 yards on back-to-back plays.

Maybe let's keep riding this out. It reminds me of the Carolina Panthers game where Arthur Smith called runs the entire drive to start the second half after they didn't run the ball well. Not even they didn't run it well, they just didn't run the ball in the first half of that game, and they ran it all the way down the field every single play and scored a touchdown. And, you know, I don't need this offensive staff.

They've got enough talent when they're healthy. I don't need them to be, you know, innovators or do anything brilliant. I just need them to watch what they did, what Arthur Smith did last year and say, this is what these guys do well. Let's not take that away ourselves. And it's so frustrating because Bill Belichick is famous for he'll take away what you want to do the most. And he, he never got away from trying to stop the pass. I mean, on the red zone, he brought guys up. But his whole goal was I'm going to make life as hard as possible for Ryan Tannehill because I don't think they'll keep running the ball

with these running backs. And I know that was his intention because if his intention was they're not going to run it on us anyway, he would have adjusted at halftime and they didn't. One thing I'll say, and I just want to agree with you because, you know, I'm not some Todd Downing Homer, even though I'm happier with his performance than most people seem to be. But one thing that really sticks out to me is Todd Downing has talked about in his press conferences, you know, that he doesn't want to jerk the wheel.

press conferences, you know, that he doesn't want to jerk the wheel. Also, it has talked about, you know, I guess using the personnel as best as possible. But when you look at the play action numbers in 2019, 30% of Ryan Tannehill's dropbacks were play action. In 2020, 36% of his dropbacks were play action. Now in 2021, 27% of his dropbacks have been play action. And that's with, like you said, you know, with all the injuries, a pretty tough supporting cast around him.

So, you know, he's going to talk about continuity and keeping everything the same. Well, then why are the Titans going away from the play action pass game so much throughout the year? And he's going to say in his press conferences, oh, you get down, you whatever,

but that's false. We know that that's false. The Titans came back against Seattle, running the ball and running play action like that. You don't have to go away from the plan when you get down. So things that he says like that do concern me. And then seeing the play action numbers concern me as well. Well,

and it's not, so he doesn't run play action. Well, that like not, not that the play designs are bad or anything. Where are the bootlegs? Yeah. We haven't seen a P.A. bootleg in years. No, Tannehill's legs have been a non-factor ever since,

I don't know if it was the Jets game. It was one of those early games where he had, like, a 15- or 20-yard run where he just, you know, booted and kept it. I think he had 56 yards in a game this year at one point. He had 56 rushing yards in a game earlier this year, pretty much on bootlegs. Yeah, and like that works. Always done that.

Like that was offense go is you're making 11 people on defense account for 11 people on offense. You're not giving them the main advantage of having a quarterback that doesn't run. So, okay. Like let's say he takes out the boot for, because Chandler Jones hit Tannehill in week one and he's been scared ever since not Tannehill down. Maybe that's it. I, that's a stupid way to run offense, but if that's what he's thinking, okay, but I have the numbers in front of me here. So guess how many times – they were running the ball so well and they ran six play-action passes.

They were five of six, and it was 9.5 yards per attempt. And I'm sure one of them is that flea flicker. I don't think that got any special designation. But it's not like that one went for 60 yards. It should have went for a touchdown. Desk just Patrick was wide open on the back side. I mean, I get if Tannehill doesn't want to throw to him, but you've got to read the field too, you know?

Yeah, and that's 100% true. It's like you can throw that to Des, and there was a couple of times where Des was open, and Tannehill just does not trust Des. If he doesn't say – and I don't hate Des Fitzpatrick. A lot of people do. I think he'll be fine. I don't know about his work ethic or anything like that.

I'm not there. But I think he's athletically average. I don't think he's different from Tajay Sharp. Yeah, I'm not a huge Fitzpatrick guy. No. I'm probably one of his biggest haters. Yeah, most people aren't. I'm not standing – that's not a –

Well, I was on that early. I put out videos, hating that pick immediately. As soon as it happened, I hated that pick. So everybody is now, but everybody was mad at me during the draft. When I said, this guy is not very good. And this was a wasted pick and multiple wasted picks with the trade up, but enough at my own back. Yeah. I mean, look, it's weird to say that after a play where he should have had a touchdown, but you're right. That trust level just isn't there, and I think part of that's because unless he goes up and tells Fitzpatrick what's going to happen before the play and they both know they're on the same page, he's not going to look that way, is why westbrook akina and hollister got so many targets but they threw it 15 times without play action for two and

a half yards and attempt they're running the ball they've got i've said it a million times when you run the ball that well there's no reason you should stop running it and if you do it better be to run a play action pass. Like, why would you go? This is my problem with the empty formations and everything. Why would you go to that? If everybody needs to pay attention to your running backs because they're gashing them for, you know, 10 yards of carry. It's, it's another thing. I just don't understand what he's doing and it makes everybody look bad. I mean, you're asking these receivers who are learning new positions, who are barely NFL-quality receivers, you're asking them to do way too much.

You're not putting them in a good position tactically because everybody knows, okay, it's empty. Let's back up three yards and see what they do. They're not pressing that, and they're not expecting run. And the pass protection, it was a good game for the offensive line. The sack on Questenberry's side was not on Questenberry. I don't like Questenberry. No, that's play design.

That was a quick hitter to Chester Rogers in the flat on a pick play on a rub route. And Tana Hill couldn't get him because the Titans were expecting man, and they got zone, and the flat defender was taking it away. So that's not on Quest I agree yeah so it's like I don't want to put any of this on the past prediction for this past week but across the course of the season they allow the quickest time to sack of any offensive line in the league like it when guys get back there they get back there it's not that Tannehill pats the ball and kind of dances around. If he doesn't throw it, usually Nate Davis has turned the wrong way or Saffold's getting blown by or something.

They've been bad in pass protection. The guards have been really bad in pass pro. And that's not even talking about, about the Bobby Hart of it all. So it's like, you know, like it's been a nightmare and Tannehill, like,

you know, I'm not going to say like, he's such a brave soldier, like pat him on the back. But we have to accept that even though we say the same things week after week as a reason why Tannehill doesn't look as good, it doesn't make it any less valid. The offensive line is still not doing great in pass protection.

The play calling is still inconsistent, and they're not running it to benefit the quarterback, which is a massive mistake. And he still doesn't have any receivers that he can trust. So I think we get so tired of blaming Todd Downing and injuries that eventually you collapse in on yourself and the only guy with a name is Ryan Tannehill, and you just pick him out. And he's the quarterback. But it's so much easier if Downing would just cater some of the offense

to what the personnel on the field says they should do. Yeah, I mean, if he just simply went back to the play-action splits that we've seen from the Titans the past couple of years. But we're going to talk a little bit more about the Titans. That was the big topic I wanted to hit with you as Todd Downing's performance. Wanted to make sure that my listeners got a dissenting opinion, you know, here in my echo chamber all the time.

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So go to betonline.ag today. They are the fastest and easiest way to bet all of your favorite sports. Bet online where the game starts. All right, Will, let's continue our conversation here. I hope you're not spent after that Todd Downing examination. Brought some great points up, and I really think it's a conversation that will continue. Want to see what Todd Downing has to show for himself later in the year when hopefully the Titans get some guys back.

But that kind of leads me to my next question. So my thought is if the Titans do get healthy, now if they don't get healthy, then obviously this is out of the window. But let's say the Titans get Julio Jones back. Let's say they get A.J. Brown back, Bud Dupree, who's a big name as well. If the Titans were to get those three guys back in the lineup and they're able to stay healthy for the duration of the season remaining after they come off IR do you still think well maybe you never

did but do you think the Titans still can win a Super Bowl or do you think that this injury issue is just taking them off track and they won't be able to get back on yeah I mean I still think they can win the Super Bowl like if those if those guys are healthy, you know, with how well the defense is played, like there's been no sustained offense since Henry was out, since Henry broke his foot. Even when they had Julio Jones and A.J. Brown, it was the Rams game where A.J. dropped like three passes again. And, like, I think all those guys –

I think A.J. needs to understand that it isn't all on him. I think he gets two in his head about it's time to make a play. I think that once those guys are healthy and back, let's say they all perform at 90% of what they should. The defense has been them to wins, you know, in two of the last four games. Which is crazy to say.

And I don't want to like, I don't want to go back to Todd Downing, but throwing the ball 50 times in the pouring rain was never going to be a successful recipe versus the Texans. So, you know, for all the dislike I have for Downing, the ball was moving well. Like, it wasn't like they were all bad play calls. Like, I mean, they were moving the ball well down the field. It was just the turnovers that killed them. And I think if you have A.J. Brown and Julio Jones to throw to

and Derrick Henry running the ball, like, if you've got those guys, you're not throwing 50-50 balls to Des Fitzpatrick. The plays that have caused turnovers throughout the year have been Nick Westbrook-Akina fumbling early in the season against the Colts. Then it's passes that go directly off Julio Jones' hands. Chester Rogers' hands. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's all those.

And I said that at the time. And then Tannehill makes bad decisions when he has to press down the field. And he throws a pick to Jalen Ramsey trying to do too much. That was a bad, bad throw off his back foot. Throw into the sideline, which has never been his strength anyways, against Jalen Ramsey. None of that made sense. Yeah, and, you know, we talked about it because that's the episode we had you on the show for.

We talked about, look, move him around. If he follows AJ outside the slot and it's just those two, don't throw it that way. And what did he do? He threw it that way. But that's kind of who Tannehill is. It's not that he'll make the dumb play. It's that he trusts his guys to make a play. And he saw AJ Brown and his whatever reads, you he was said okay i'm gonna throw it to aj and he did and

it didn't work but it's the same thing that happened against uh the texans uh when he threw the first interception is like he was looking aj's way the whole way it was the one guy he knew he threw it that way and he got picked so yep i say all that to say the turnovers i think are a combination of inexperience that tannahill needs to be the guy that prevents down the field i think if those guys are back the turnover stop and i think right you know we can talk about bud dupree if you want to but it's like i think once that front four is healthy and ready to go again, they'll attack a lot more. And I think that, I think the defense you saw versus the Rams and the offense you saw in bits and pieces throughout the first half of the season, I think that's Super Bowl caliber. Yeah, no, I'm with you there. And I actually,

this wasn't on my docket of things I wanted to talk about, but since you literally stabbed a knife in my back on Twitter this week with your tweet about Bud Dupree, I wanted to do this. So I had a tweet out there earlier in the year basically saying that Bud Dupree and Jadavion Clowney are very comparable. Now, I think what happened here was is everybody is just so pissed at Clowney for last year that they misremember his play. Yes, he had some snaps where he was loafing. Bud Dupree doesn't really loaf. Yes, you know, Clowney would jump all over the place. I think that was by

design. We'll never really know. But the Titans are a much better defense with Bud Dupree, and I'm with you there. The front four is lacking a little bit because having those four guys, Landry, Dupree, Simmons, Autry, that just changes the paradigm as compared to having Ola Adani or Derek Roberson out there, or even Naquan Jones with Autry on the edge. I think Autry's not a good edge rusher.

He can play D'Ando against the run, but not in the pass. He doesn't have the athleticism to do that. But I just want to say Clowney was better than people remember. The numbers point to it. Any dissenting opinion that I've heard has been, well, I just remember seeing him suck. I just felt like he was bad. It's all a feeling, which comes back to my point that it's mostly anger.

But I guess just talk about what you've seen from Bud Dupree and what you think he can add to the team when he comes back. Well, let me start off by saying when I started my Bud Dupree rant, it was never intended towards you. No, it was. It was. Don't lie. Don't lie.

That's the thing is I got tagged in that, and I was like, what is this? I was like, I didn't realize that you were so strong against it. And everybody was like, well, tag. And I'm like, I'm not going to – why would I tag? And I thought originally you had said the same thing earlier in the day. So I was like, oh, people think I'm stealing his take. So I went back to look. Because I vaguely remember us talking about Jadavian Clowney earlier in the year.

I think – Clowney just wasn't as bad. I was just saying that the Titans defense is better with Bud Dupree like they were better with Jadavia and Clowney, but both those guys are big money guys who have been hurt most of the season. And Clowney was actually – if you go by the numbers and the pressures and all that, Clowney was actually a little bit better. But besides that point, I'm with you.

Keep going. Well, so I think the big issue with Clowney, like you said, I'm with you. Keep going. unlocked him when he was with the Texans and you know it's going to be like he that's just not who Clowney is like Clowney Clowney is like a six sack guy who is going to be a good run defender especially if you put him in a defense where you've got really athletic linebackers who can cover behind him and make up for him but but Vrabel refused to put in David Long last year for some reason and like it took so many injuries for us to ever see him anyway because he loves Rashawn Evans. And Evans is not that guy. No, you're not that guy.

Yeah, you are not that guy, Rashawn. But, you know, so I guess my big point isn't that Dupree is some phenomenal athlete. I think he is a force multiplier in an interesting way because i think he does like the the things he doesn't get credit for like everybody goes back and points to the the pass rush versus the colts where he goes inside and he blows it up and he gets he basically forces a pick six because landry drops yeah it's like Landry drops off and like covers the tight end screen. Like there's immediate pressure. Like he has to throw the ball.

He does a dumb thing and it basically wins the Titan. The game Titans game by the end of the game, but yeah, well, yeah, yeah. It's, but more than anything to me,

it, there is this, this defensive coaching staff seems to be more – and it's harder to – it is harder to say whether it's David Long or it's Dupree because of the injury timing. But they seem so scared to attack without him. I mean, you don't see the same loops and stunts. You don't see the same – like they put all defensive end like you're saying,

and that's something that they that that's a Vrabel thing I I don't think that's a Bowen thing yes that's something that Vrabel did two years ago when Jarrell Casey was here where he insists on having three defensive linemen and an edge on the field he did it with Jack Crawford yeah he did the same thing yeah and that's Kobe's making appearance he's a big Jack Crawford fan, which I understand. I like Jack Crawford. But so, yeah, like I don't think that that's the way Bowen wants to play. But I think as soon as Dupree goes out,

I think there's either some of that residue left over on that defense or there's some fear that the guys won't know what stunt they're running or what. But I don't know. It's just not the same defense. I think he's just the guys won't know what stunt they're running or what. But I don't know. It's just not the same defense. I think he's just scared they won't get home. I think that's really what it is. He's just worried that they won't get home if they do stuff like that.

And when you run those stunts, you leave yourself susceptible. But I agree with you overall that they should continue doing what they're doing. Will, I've already taken more of your time than I asked for, so I appreciate that. Just let the people know where they can find your work, and I will let you get on with your night. Yeah, you can find most of what I write over at Titan Sized. You can listen to us at the No Nonsense Podcast. That's me, Luke Worsham, and Matthias Wadner, and then Tyler whenever he graces us with his presence, and we have other guests and all that. But yeah, you can follow me at JLomas72. You'll probably yell at me, guests and all that. But yeah, you can follow me at J Loma 72.

You'll probably yell at me. And if you listen to this podcast, you'll probably disagree with me because Tyler is smarter on most of the stuff than I am, but I hope you enjoy it. Oh, that's, that's, that's nonsense. We're all just out here trying to figure stuff out. All I really know is a recap of the conversation. Todd Downing sucks.

I'm an idiot. Bud Dupree's awesome. I'm an idiot. Will hates me. And it was a good episode. All jokes aside, obviously, Will, I really appreciate all of your takes, all your analysis. And like I said, to start our conversation, you're probably my favorite

Titans content creator to interact with on a daily basis, mostly because you don't just try to be a jerk to me, which seems to be the move for anybody else who creates Titans content. So thank you very much for that. But I will get you out of here on this, and I'll get myself out of here on this. That's going to do it for me and Will. That's going to do it for this week of Locked on Titans podcast.

I'll be back with you guys on Sunday night on the YouTube channel, Monday morning with the podcast to break down everything that took place in the NFL and go over all the results that Titans fans need to pay attention to. With that being said, go Bills. That's going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thank you.