Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - VICTORY MONDAY -- Titans Shutout Jaguars 20-0: Big Takeaways, #TitanUpTitanDown & Magic Number!

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

The Tennessee Titans shutout the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-0 on Sunday and Tyler is here to recap it all!! The offense wasn't perfect, but the Titans defense was! Tyler talks the inconsistent offense and the defenses four turnovers! Then, Tyler goes over the good & bad individual performances in #TitanUpTitanDown! Finally, look at the early AFC results as well as the Titans road ahead to close out the show!!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 victory Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And I'm recapping everything that you need to know from the Titans 20-0 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. We're going to do my big takeaways from the game. We're going to talk individual performances and tighten up and tighten down and take a look at the Titans remaining games and what their magic number to clinch a playoff spot will be.

All of that on a Victory Monday 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 a victory Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And boy, does it feel good to say that. Not only are the Tennessee Titans back in our lives, but we get a victory on top of it.

And a victory the Titans should have gotten against what looks like the worst team in the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars. But I'm going to recap and break down everything that took place in that game before we get into it. the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars, but I'm going to recap and break down everything that took place in that game before we get into it. I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day.

And if this is your first ever listen to the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. Also, make sure you check out the podcast on video on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. I am going to be putting out daily Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content not only during the season, not only during the playoffs, but all year long. So make sure you

subscribe on whatever platform. You're going to find the Locked on Titans podcast everywhere and always free. Also, make sure you check me out on social media, at TicTacTitans on Twitter, where I post all my film clips and film breakdowns. Check out the show Facebook page,

at LockedOnTitansPod, and throw in some reviews on your podcast apps if you have the ability. I do appreciate that. But let's dive into this win for the Titans. A shutout victory, 20-0. It was another one of those games that, like Mike Vrabel likes to say, it wasn't pretty, but it was beautiful for the Titans who get things back on track. And the number one thing here is that the Titans handled

business against a lesser opponent. We've seen the Titans in plenty of situations, not only this year against the Texans and the Jets, but also in previous years played down to their competition. And like I said, although it wasn't pretty for the Titans, it was a clean game. No turnovers. They handled business in the red zone. They really dominated the Jags offense overall. So a clean game with minimal mistakes for the Titans. The only real mistakes that you could find out there for the Titans were some play calling issues on offense. But we're going to dig deeper into this game on offense and defense now.

And I'm going to start on the offensive side of the ball for the Titans. So not explosive. There weren't really any explosive plays for the Titans. A few first down conversions that were over 10 yards. They got the big tight end screen to swam in the second half, but no really explosive element to this Titans offense. And well, that makes sense because they're missing their explosive elements in Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown.

Those are the home run hitters for the Titans. Everybody else is there to just make little plays and play their role. Julio Jones is going to be the guy that gets open against one-on-one coverage when teams play that tight man coverage on the Titans that we've seen. That's what the Jags did in this game. They were heavy blitzing on early downs, not worried about the run or about the pass at all. And the Titans were even struggling to do play action because the Jags were blitzing on early down so heavily that they were getting into the backfield before the play action fake was complete. So tough sledding for the Titans from that circumstance,

but without the home run hitters, you know, defenses kind of load up on the Titans. And that's what we've seen as of late. But again, a very conservative approach for the Titans. They didn't really try to hit any shots downfield. A couple times they looked, but they ended up in sacks or incompletions. So not a lot of aggressiveness from the Titans offense.

But again, a clean game. They were two for three in the red zone, taking advantage on two touchdowns on long drives there. They had 105 rushing yards on the day, so they went over 100 yards even though Jacksonville was loading up and blitzing heavily on early downs. The Titans against that man coverage didn't have any turnovers. Now they did have four sacks, but with no turnovers, only two penalties on the day for 15 yards. I mean, just a clean

game for the Titans offense. I thought Ryan Tannehill did a great job of leading them to this conservative but clean game plan on offense. A lot to be desired with the play calling, but I get the conservative approach with what the Titans have to work with and how they're holding up in pass protection. On defense, well, do want to mention here a nice touchdown by Foreman. He was part of that early on, a rushing touchdown.

Ryan Tannehill ran in a touchdown as well using his legs. We'll talk more about the individual performances and tighten up and tighten down in our next part of our conversation in this Victory Monday edition. On defense, the Titans' defense was just absolutely dominant. 3.8 yards per play for the Jags offense. They only had eight rushing yards. Eight rushing yards. That is absolutely

ridiculous. The Jags were five for 13 on third downs. They never even got to the red zone. So a great job by the Titans defense. Four interceptions, three sacks. Trevor Lawrence only threw for 221 yards. This is the first shutout for the Titans at home since 2000 and their first shutout since 2018 against the Giants. So just a dominant day for the Titans defense who played up against the Jags team. Let's be honest here, the Jags had nine penalties. They are awful. They are god-awful, but you can't complain. It wasn't pretty, like I said, but you can't complain because the Titans handled business. This game was never really close. The Jags never really felt like they had a chance to not only compete in the game, but score. So the Titans defense completely shut down a bad team. The Titans offense played a clean game

and they got the Titans back on the right track with some positive momentum. Kevin Byard had a quote in this after this win. He said, I'm paraphrasing here, but he said, everybody had fun out there today. Jayon Brown said everybody was balling. And that's kind of the momentum that you need to get back into the Titans need to continue to get that positive momentum going to get back in that mindset that they were in early in the year and the Titans are getting healthy we're going to talk at the end of the show

about how they're getting healthier and some great news on the injury front this weekend so we're going to talk about that but overall a clean conservative game from the Titans offense, a dominant performance from the Titans defense, four turnovers, three sacks on defense really held the Jags down and the Titans didn't play down to their competition. They handled business like a good team should, even if it wasn't the prettiest offensive day for the Titans. So a 20 to0 shutout victory for the Titans,

a great way to come out of the bye week and snap a two-game losing streak. We're going to talk about the individual performances, both good and bad in everybody's favorite segment, Tighten Up, Tighten Down. Before we get into that, I do want to tell you guys about DirecTV Stream. Does this sound familiar?

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So get rid of the clutter and the confusion and get your TV together with direct TV stream. You can learn more direct tv.com. That's direct tv.com compatible That's directtv.com. Compatible device required. Content varies by package. Titans fans, let's continue this Victory Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by going over some of the individual performances, both good and bad and everybody's favorite segment,

tighten up, tighten down, make sure you leave your tight enough for tighten downs in the comments. Tag me on Twitter at tech tech Titans. And let me know if you thought I missed any, or if you agree, disagree, whatever it may be before we get into it.

Do want to thank you guys again for making the locked on Titans podcast. Your first listen every day, subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. But after we talked about my big takeaways on offense and defense, now we can talk more about this game with the individual performances. So Ryan Tannehill, it wasn't absolutely perfect out there. He wasn't flawless, of course. But with all the pressure on him, the Titans gave up four sacks in this game.

There was pressure on Tannehill throughout, even when there weren't sacks. So going 20 for 31, 191 yards, had 29 rushing yards, had that rushing TD. He just made plays when it mattered for the Titans. We're able to get them enough points to win this game comfortably. Ryan Tannehill is still working with a pretty rough set of cards, a pretty rough deck out there, if you will. So I'm impressed by what he was able to do, not turning over the ball, matriculating the ball down the field when he had an opportunity.

He made good plays, so a tighten up for Ryan Tannehill. Deontay Foreman also gets a tighten up. He was the best running back for the Titans on the day. 13 carries, 47 yards, got that first touchdown for the Titans. So a pretty good day there for Deontay Foreman. Also, Julio Jones. It wasn't a banner day. It wasn't a crazy day.

But to have him back out there, had four catches for 33 yards, and he was healthy on the sideline. When the game was closed out and out of reach, he's smiling, joking around with Jeffrey Simmons, Jayon Brown on the sideline. You love seeing that. Julio Jones healthy after this game. That's very important for the Titans. I thought two tight ends had decent days.

Anthony Ferkser had four catches for 34 yards. I thought he finally made some plays on some third downs and sat down in some zone coverages and made the catches that we were expecting from him early in the year. He did have one drop where he tried to turn up the field a little too quickly. I don't know if he's worried about being banged up from early in the year, but he's just way too focused on what to do after the catch rather than focusing on just making the catch and being reliable

like he has been in previous years. Swaim, again, three catches, 45 yards, most of it coming on a big screen pass. I thought it was a pretty good day for Jeff Swaim. He did drop a touchdown in the end zone, but we saw that from Michael Pruitt too. And that's what you're going to get when you have a tight end rotation of Jeff Swaim, Michael Pruitt, and Anthony Fergser. I know we all like those guys because we're Titans fans, but let's be honest about the names I just said there. You're going to get dropped passes from those tight ends in the end zone.

We got one from Swaim. We got one from Pruitt. Pruitt dropped one in the last game as well. So, you know, that's the fire that the Titans decided to play with when they, you know, I'm okay with letting Johnny walk for the money he got, but they didn't really replace him with anybody of note. And when you do that, this is the dangerous game that you will play. But overall, tighten up for Furkan Swaim,

stepping up and making a few important catches. Nick Westbrook-Akina continues to be a solid role player for the Titans, really good four or five wide receiver when he can get back in that role, three catches for 31 yards. The return of Rashawn Evans. I've given Rashawn Evans a lot of criticism this season and previous seasons, and he will not be with the Titans after this year. But in this game, six catches, had a tackle for loss on the opening drive, an interception that was awesome, a good play by Rashawn Evans on the tip pass. Should have

had a forced fumble earlier in the game as well where he ripped it out from the tight end, but the refs made a bad call and blew the play dead too early, which the Titans, whether the play doesn't get blown dead quick enough or the play gets blown dead too quick, the Titans can't seem to benefit off the freaking whistle. But a good day from

Rashawn Evans. Also, a pretty good day from Jayon Brown. He got targeted a little bit on third down, so I was hesitant to put him in the tighten up section, but that one-handed interception dropping back in coverage was just phenomenal. And then you can't keep talking about good defensive

performances without bringing up Jeffrey Simmons. It wasn't a monster day in the box score, but he dominated up front just as I said that he needed to in my player matchups to watch. He had three tackles, a tackle for loss, had a pass blocked at the line of scrimmage, also set up teammates for at least two sacks that come to mind right now where his pressure

is what forced Trevor Lawrence into the waiting arms of a teammate. So Simmons continues to be one of the absolute best defensive players in the NFL this year, really blossoming into exactly who we thought he could be when John Robinson took the chance on him in 2019. Danico Autry as well, I thought he had a great game, had two tackles, a tackle for loss, had a sack on the day, a really good inside move, one one-on-one. And that's what the Titans need right there.

They don't have their fearsome foursome with Bud Dupree. He could come back next week, though, let's hope, but they still have Autry and Simmons and Landry, and those guys need to win one-on-one, and Autry did that for his sack, and Harold Landry did that for his sack as well. Landry had three tackles, a tackle for loss, and a sack. Derek

Roberson had probably his best game of the season, of course, with all the injuries. I thought he was okay last week, but really had a good game here. Four tackles, had a tackle for loss, and a sack as well. Ola Dainey got good pressure on a third down. Didn't go down as a sack, but took Trevor Lawrence down and forced a punt, so a good job there.

On the offensive line, I thought Taylor LeJuan and Ben Jones had a really good day, and then Christian Fulton On the offensive line, I thought Taylor LeJuan and Ben Jones had a really good day. And then Christian Fulton had the interception, had a pretty good day. Buster Screen, I thought, played pretty well. Mike Vrabel gave Buster Screen a lot of praise after the game. Said he played outside, he played inside. A really good day for Screen, who started at cornerback. The Titans are just in a great spot with their cornerback position.

They got Greg Maben back. Christian Fulton's playing great. Jackrabbit Jenkins should be back next week or the week after that for sure. Chris Jackson can come off IR in the coming week. So you add that to Elijah Molden. The Titans are just in a good spot with their quarterback group and a lot of depth. Breon Borders on practice squad who hasn't been awesome this year

but had his moments, like against Seattle. So, you know, the Titans are in a good spot when it comes to depth in the secondary right now, and hopefully that can continue. Kevin Byard and Imani Hooker had a good day as well. Don't want to leave them off of the Titan up list. A great day for pretty much everybody on the defense. There were some Titan downs, though. I'll go through them quickly because, you know,

you don't want to focus on the negatives when the Titans did a good job here. Randy Bullock missed a kick. Only one. He was four for five on the day. Two of those being extra points. Not terrible. He came back, made two kicks later in the game to get things back on track, but hopefully he isn't turning back into a pumpkin for the Titans in the moments when they need him most. A bad day of tighten down for Brett Kern. Only averaged 38.4 yards on his five punts. Only two of his five punts went inside the 20, and I thought on at least two or three of those punts.

Now, I'm not giving him crap for the punt right before halftime. He intentionally kicked that up as high as he could into the air to waste time, so he wasn't trying to drive it down the field. But a couple of the other punts just didn't quite go as far as I'm used to seeing Brett Kern kick. So hopefully he's feeling okay. I'm done watching Chester Rogers return kicks. I'm just sick of it. Quite frankly, a bobble in a punt, kind of faking a fair catch, whatever he was doing there, put Hilliard out there. If you're not going to use Hilliard that much as a running back with McNichols back, because I can't take much more of Chester Rogers man he doesn't really give you a lot as

a wide receiver either one catch on the day I'd rather see Golden Tate out there so I'm about sick of Chester Rogers tighten down I thought Aaron Brewer struggled especially in pass protection same thing with Questonberry they really struggled in pass protection in this game Michael Pruitt didn't have a great day, dropped the touchdown pass. I thought it was a tough catch on the sideline, so maybe I'm being too harsh, but he's a body catcher. He should have kept his feet inside and put his hands out to catch it. He tried to spin and turn and bring it into his chest.

It's the same thing that got him in New England. He's a body catcher, but again, that's the fire that you play with when these are your three tight ends. And then Tom Downing, zero creativity. I'm not giving him a bunch of crap because he wasn't doing a lot of play action. The Jacks were just sending the house on early downs, and even when they went play action, there was a guy in Ryan Tannehill's face. But zero creativity on offense for most of the day.

The one-minute drill that he ran at the end of the first half, he ran that. They're throwing short five-yard passes. The Titans have one timeout. Either throw the ball down the field and try to score points or run the ball out and make the Jags take timeouts. They only made the Jags take one of their three timeouts because they're throwing short passes.

That is just not the way you run a one-minute drill. If you don't want the Jags to get the ball back, that's fine. Run the ball. Make them use their timeouts. Punt it down the field. If you want to try to get points, then try to score some points. Throw in five-yard passes. Dumping it off to the running back ain't going to do it. And you don't trust

your pass protection, so what are you doing, Todd? So this was one of those games. I usually defend Todd Downing, but this was definitely one of those games where I was like, what the heck are we doing out there? They just play so conservatively. It's tough to watch at times. But we are going to finish this episode on a super positive note after Titan Up and Titan Down here.

We are going to talk about what happened in the early slate of games in the AFC, what the Titans' remaining schedule is, and what the Titans' magic number is for clinching a playoff spot. Coming up before we get into that, though, do want to tell you guys about the best-tasting protein bars in the galaxy from our friends over at Built Bar. With Built Bars, you get the best of both worlds. They're delicious, and they're healthy, too.

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casino games, BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to bet all your favorite sports. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, we are going to cap off this Victory Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, going over some of the early slate results in the AFC, looking at what the Titans need to pay attention to going forward,

looking at their schedule going forward, just kind of a recap of the day and the feeling for the Titans. Before we get into that, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, make sure you check out the Locked On Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q

and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. They're giving you all of their best picks, their locks of the week, all kinds of stuff there. So check out the Locked On Bets podcast presented by BetOnline.ag wherever you get your podcast. But the Titans win 20-0. They move to

9-4 on the year. And good news, the Baltimore Ravens lost to the Cleveland Browns 24-22. So that means that Baltimore drops to 9-5 on the year. Let me double check. Things are happening so quickly right now as games are still being played at the moment. Let me double check. Things are happening so quickly right now

as games are still being played at the moment. So looking at the standings, yeah, Baltimore did have eight wins on the year, so they dropped to 8-5. That means the Titans have the advantage over them. The Titans are now tied with New England at 9-4. The Chiefs also move to 9-4 on the year as they dismantle the Las Vegas Raiders 48-9.

And all of you guys who were talking crap about the Chiefs early in the year, and I was saying all along, they're going to be back. They're going to be in this. They're a team to be reckoned with. The Chiefs defense is playing insane right now. They have their firepower on offense. Going to be a crazy finish to the year. I don't think that the Chiefs are going to lose a game the rest of the year.

So the Titans would have to match them in that if they want the number one seed. But also speaking of that, the game, the Patriots against the Colts next week. It really depends how you want this to go. So if you think the Titans can win out the rest of their games, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Miami, Houston, then you want the Colts to win. Because if the Titans win out, the Colts can't win the division anyway,

so who cares what they do. But if the Patriots drop to 9-5, then that means that the Titans would take over the number one seed in the AFC again at 9-4. So that's important. Well, assuming that the Titans win next week against Pittsburgh that'll be key.

Let's say the Titans win because that's part of this. The Titans win out. The Titans would be 10-4 at that time and the Patriots would drop to 9-5 and it would be better for the Colts to win for the Titans to get the number one seed but it's better for the Patriots to win if you don't think the Titans are going to win out if

you're saying now they'll probably lose to Pittsburgh San Francisco or Miami they'll lose one of those games we just need to clinch the division then you want the Patriots to win but I think the Titans are still in this they could still get the number one seed I think they can win the rest of their games they really can't so for me I want the Colts still in this. They can still get the number one seed. I think they can win the rest of their games. They really can. So for me, I want the Colts to win that game and to beat the Patriots and to knock them to 9-5. That would help the Titans.

I think the Titans can handle business against Pittsburgh. It's going to be a tough game, though. We thought maybe T.J. Watt wouldn't be able to play, but it looks like he's tracking to be able to play. So that's going to be a tough game on the road at Pittsburgh with their season on the line, coming off a loss, having extra 10 days of extra rest, 10 days. That's going to be a tough game.

So depending on whether you think the Titans can go undefeated the rest of the way, you want the Colts to win. If you don't think they're going to do that, you want the Patriots to win. So that's kind of what you're looking at going forward. For the Titans, like we talked about, at Pittsburgh, home on Thursday night football for San Francisco, 10 days of rest, then a home game against Miami,

finishing the season at Houston in Week 18 against Davis Mills because he is now their starter. And remember, Tyrod Taylor ran into touchdowns against the Titans if Davis Mills was the quarterback for the Texans that day. I don't think that that happened. So Houston also lost to Seattle 33-13. They are just absolutely terrible. But anyways, the Titans are in a great spot here.

They have positive momentum going forward now. It wasn't beautiful on offense. I understand that. But either way, the Titans are in a great spot. They got back on track. They got winning momentum. They're rested after the bye. Next week, could get Bud Dupree back.

Going up against Pittsburgh, revenge game. I think that'll be important for the Titans. That's going to be a really tough game to win in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is not a great team, but they're certainly not a bad team. And everybody's saying Big Ben should retire, and he's done. He should retire, but we saw in that second half against Minnesota, he's got the ability to make some plays and get the ball down the field. So that's going to be a tough game for the Titans.

But after that, against San Francisco, could get A.J. Brown back, could get Chris Jackson back as well. So the wheels are turning for the Titans who need to keep this positive momentum going. What they can't do is they can't lose their next two games against Pittsburgh and San Francisco. Those are going to be tough games.

They need to win one of those to be able to accomplish their ultimate goals. But that's going to do it for me today. I'm going to be back with you guys tomorrow for a Tuesday edition of the show. Make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.