Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Who is to Blame for Loss to Colts? 3 Big Takeaways, Titan Up/Titan Down & Rowland's Rants

Episode Date: September 15, 2019

Who is to Blame for Loss to Colts? 3 Big Takeaways, Titan Up/Titan Down & Rowland's Rants Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a very tough loss, and I come to you with many emotions. After that really big win against Cleveland, looking at the schedule, as a fan, you have to look at that and hope that the Titans have the ability to go 3-0 there and can start the season with two division wins. that the Titans have the ability to go 3-0 there and can start the season with two division wins. Unfortunately, the Colts still are the boogeyman for the Titans and ruin Eddie George and Steve McNair's jersey retirement. The reasons for that I'm going to get into in our first segment,

give you guys just some of my key takeaways. I think there's a lot of blame to go around, so we'll just talk about where I think some of the biggest mistakes were made. Then in our second segment, we're going to do a little tighten up, tighten down, talk about some specific things. I think they really killed the Titans that they're going to need to really need to fix going forward if this team plans to make that leap from good to great. Hate even saying that now. Last segment, I'm going to do a quick Rollins rant for you guys. Just something that clearly is going to be the topic going forward the rest of the week. And I'll just give you my thoughts now and we'll move forward to tomorrow's Tic-Tac Titans. But really excited to get into today's show. Go over everything we can. There's a lot

to learn from. The season's not quite over yet, guys. We will make it, so let's get it. I think that this loss can be boiled down to three key factors. We'll start with number one, poor coaching. As much credit as we're going to give Arthur Smith for coaching the game plan that he had in week one we're going to have to evaluate him fairly he's going to have ups and downs and I think today was definitely down in a speed bump in his development nothing that he can't come back from but I'll go more in detail this week about the game plan but didn't see Marcus get on the move a lot he was taking a lot of pressure in the pocket no rollouts no bootlegs very minimal didn't see those used a lot pretty unfortunate I really really am growing to despise the short quick wide receiver screens where they have our tackles running out to the flat area to try to make blocks.

Our tackles never make it. Our linemen never make it. They aren't athletic enough to get out there in time. I've yet to see one of those plays, or at least a good number of those plays, have success. It seems like we're taking losses, and they're just useless plays by the end of the day. The Jets sweep to Adam Humphreys. I know we're trying to get Humphreys involved, but that killed that drive after the fumble recovery

that I thought the Titans defense put the offense in a great position to close out that game. So really disappointed in the way that the offense was called. A lot of the sacks that Marcus took or the pressure that he took was because minimal people were being put out into their routes. I know that the offensive line is hurting. I know that we have two backups in. But if we're only running two or three wide receivers out on passing routes on a passing play,

it's going to be hard for us to get somebody open. Now, some of those, and we'll get into that a little bit here in a second, are on Marcus too. But Mike Vrabel in the first half did not throw a challenge flag on either of the questionable calls, on the pass interference, and on the questionable spot. Of course, those could go either way. I get it. But we're risking first half timeouts, and we didn't challenge anything. Didn't throw the challenge flag in the second half. So it's not like we would have wasted a challenge that we didn't use later on. I just thought that was having too much trust in your defense

and not just trying to make something happen there. I felt like one of those would be worthy of a challenge flag. And then we ran clock. The Titans ran clock in the fourth quarter with three and a half. It was like 340 left in the fourth quarter, and we ran 30 to 40 seconds off the clock pretending like we were going to go for it on fourth down just to punt you cannot in that situation give away those 30 to 40 seconds imagine what what that would have done and what kind of difference that would have made in the final offensive drive

having that time so little miscues like that really, really hurt us. Speaking of a mental miscue, Marcus in his press conference took ownership of the spike. You cannot spike the ball there in third and two. And that goes back to Arthur Smith as well. It's not just all on Marcus in that situation. He takes enough of the blame for making that move, but you got to have two plays called in the huddle. Hey, if we don't get out of bounds, we're going up to the line of scrimmage. We're running this play next immediately to take advantage of that time. Now, we'll never know if two plays were called in the huddle. Maybe someone will ask that question.

But if we had two plays called and Marcus went up there and spiked it anyway, that is completely on Marcus. If there weren't two plays called, well, then that's on Marcus and that's on the coaches, mostly on the coaches there because Marcus is obviously going to spike the ball if they don't have a play ready. So unless we get that exact question answered, we won't know. But really disappointing. The second key takeaway is how mediocre Marcus was.

He didn't lose the game. I said this on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. He didn't make any plays that completely lost us the game except for that spike. He didn't make any turnovers and he put his body on the line a couple of times. Now the flip side of that is he didn't make a single play. Some of these games I'm watching quarterbacks go out and make a play. He doesn't make a play. He had that 15-yard scramble on the last drive to give us a chance to possibly throw a pass and get in the field goal range, but that's it. He was just completely mediocre. 19 for 28, 154 yards and a touchdown.

It's just not enough. It's not enough taking unnecessary hits in situations that don't call for that kind of risk. I'm not saying he shouldn't put his body on the line and go out there and make plays, but some of the situations when he decides to do that are confusing to me. So I could see on both sides if you want to defend him, if you want to criticize him, there's enough on both sides where I get it. But ultimately, all I know is the Titans need more than 19 for 28, 154 yards and a touchdown, regardless of the blocking or anything else. Just have to have more from the second overall pick in the draft. So hoping that when Taylor LeJuan gets back, that will help possibly, but right now I don't see how one

left tackle is going to fix that. The last thing I want to mention is the defense was generally good. Two turnovers, multiple sacks, stopped the Colts on a lot of drives, forced punts, gave up 19 total points. I know they made mental mistakes. Adoree's penalty on the first or second drive, it was 48 yards on a pass interference, led to a Colts touchdown. We missed so many sacks on Jacoby Brissett. Made him look like Big Ben and Mike Vick combined.

That is unbelievable. So there's mistakes there. Giving up a few of those big runs in the second half, I thought that they were put in a position to fail. The defense was, schematically, on some of those runs. However, it's still the players out on the field who need to make the plays and they weren't able to do it so the mental errors on defense Marcus being incredibly mediocre and poor coaching really doomed the Titans and those were my key takeaways in our second segment we're going to do a little bit of tighten up and tighten down I'm going to go over some more specific

things that I looked into that I really think have to be fixed for the Titans to be able to be successful going forward. Again, in our third segment, I'm going to do a little bit of quick Roland's rants for you guys. It'll be a quick one, but just something I'm going to have to speak on at the beginning of the week. Before we do get into all of that, though, I want to ask you guys, have you ever had trouble finding a workout that keeps you engaged? Well, Peloton is an immersive cardio experience with real-time features that will always keep you coming back.

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up to $100 discount. Once again, enter promo code KICKOFF and you can get up to $100 discount on your first purchase. Tighten up, tighten down. Okay guys, so like last week, we had a lot more tighten ups than we had tighten downs. This week, things are going to be a little more even. I'm going to start with the tighten ups, start with the positive immediately.

I thought that although the Titans gave up quite a bit of rushing yards to the Colts, I know that there were a lot of rushing yards. 5 for 82 for Wilkins, 20 for 51 for Mack, though. Wilkins got some chunk runs, I think, off some well-schemed and well-designed and well-called offensive plays. Like we talked about in the preview to this game, the Colts are well-coached, and Frankdesigned and well-called offensive plays. Like we talked about in the preview to this game, the Colts are well-coached, and Frank Reich is a good offensive mind. So I thought that some of the runs that the Colts were able to break off, some of the big chunk ones, were actually just well-designed, well-schemed, and not necessarily as much on the players. Of

course, the players take blame anytime they're out on the field, but something that I talked about in our first segment, I think some of those runs can be blamed on where the coaches put the players in terms of the formation and the numbers that the Colts seem to have on those plays. So ultimately though, look at Marlon Mack, 20 carries for 51 yards, 2.5. I mentioned one of the key objectives of the Titans defense would be to shut down Marlon Mack, and generally they did. I think the defense played well enough to win this game. I don't know if everyone will agree, 21 points is what they should have had, even if Vinatieri makes both of those extra points, which by the way, post-game, he was mentioning that he might retire tomorrow, and I can't necessarily say that. He's

probably the best kicker of all time, but he's been rough to start the season. Anyways, I think the Titans' defense played well enough to win. At home, against Jacoby Brissett's Colts, the Titans have to score more than 17 points. Our second Titan up is going to be Rashawn Evans and Harold Landry. John Robinson drafted these guys specifically to make an impact on defense. And on that drive where the Titans really gave their offense a chance to seal the game,

Rashawn Evans shoots in and makes a tackle for loss. Harold Landry puts pressure on Jacoby Brissett enough to make him fumble the ball and then recovers it. Titans offense is on the 45 and they're unable to capitalize. I thought that Rashawn Evans and Harold Landry did exactly what John Robinson drafted them to do. John Robinson knew that this team needed more high-end talent. And I think he was able to deliver with Landry and Evans.

They've looked great. And I'm excited was able to deliver with Landry and Evans. They've looked great. And I'm excited to see them throughout the rest of the season. It's one of those things that really got me up out of my seat. When Evans or Landry make a play like that, I just really get energized. And it's really good to see those young guys making the plays that they were drafted to make. So that was one positive. I'm going to give them together a joint tighten up. My last tighten up is obvious. Derrick Henry. I mean, he's been great. He's been great.

5.4 yards per rush. 15 carries, 81 yards, a touchdown. He had two catches for 12 yards. I mean, he's done everything that could possibly ask of him. He's ran fantastic. taken advantage of holes. The Titans' running offense has not been terrible. It seems like it's boom or bust. A lot of those bad plays are coming on first down when it's expected,

and that's unfortunate. But Derrick Henry overall, his performance has been fantastic to start the season. And it's obvious that this Titans team, if they're going to have success, are going to have to continue to do it on the back of his running. He faded in the second half. I think that was due to a little bit of game flow, just the way things were going. The Titans weren't having success on first down. They were having to go into passing plays and passing formation, second and third down, which obviously we're going to see more Deion Lewis than Derrick Henry in that scenario.

But hopefully he continues this because it's enough for the Titans when they play lesser teams in the Colts who are going to be a good team. They should be able to batter him and wear him down and just really impressed with everything that Derrick Henry's done so far. Definitely starting the season out better than last season. And for the Titans offense, that's going to be super critical because it doesn't seem like this passing offense has come very far. First Titan down is going to have to be John Robinson's two big free agent signings, Adam Humphreys and Roger Saffold. Saffold got abused by Danico Autry multiple times in the first half. He gave up two sacks, a couple of pressures,

I do believe. Just a really rough outing for him, including some of the things we saw in the preseason. Saffold has just not played to the level that he played at in Los Angeles. Now, a lot of people are going to state the obvious there. The Rams offense is clearly at a different level than the Titans, and he's put in a better situation. He's playing next to Dennis Kelly, which is probably stressing him more than is necessary or will happen when Taylor LeJuan returns.

So, understandable there, but just disappointing to see him struggle so much up front. The interior linemen of the Titans were pretty much a complete Titan down today. Adam Humphreys has been essentially a ghost for the Titans. He had two catches today for negative one yards. Now he's not being put in a position to succeed either, but it's just incredible the amount of success he was able to have somewhere like Tampa Bay with someone like Jameis Winston. And comes here and literally is just a non-factor. One catch last week, two this week, four yards. Neither of those signings have produced the way that they need to.

Now you can blame the offense overall because clearly they are not the cause. They're more of just an effect, but would really like to see them utilized or see them put in better positions and just see them play better in general. Another tighten down is another Titans free agent signing, but from last year, Deion Lewis is useless on this team. I don't see what he brings to this football team. I don't see where his value is. He had a huge drop on what

would have been a touchdown in Cleveland. Luckily, that didn't bite the Titans, but today I just don't see him having an impact. One catch for five yards, three carries, nine yards. Just doesn't really give the team any kind of spark or anything extra. I would look for the Titans in this offseason to possibly draft a running back. Maybe a little earlier than people expect. It can make an impact with all the talent coming directly out of the draft at that position. I think we can find someone much cheaper and much more effective and energetic than Deion Lewis. So some of those free agent signings that we've seen, not necessarily panning out.

Some have. But right now, a lot of those are looking iffy. Hope to see better from all three of those guys going forward. Another tightened down is just going to be Arthur Smith. It's an understandable tightened down, though. He's going to have ups and downs as a first-time offensive coordinator. I just thought that jet sweep, if he didn't have two plays called for Marcus on that final drive before the spike, didn't bootleg Marcus at all, didn't move him out of the pocket, move his launch point, anything like that. Didn't see enough of that throughout the game. Didn't see a lot of screens.

Now, I bet that the Colts were ready for the screen, so we were going to have to minimize those this game compared to last game anyway, but just I didn't see a lot of the things that I felt like would make Marcus more comfortable and help get some of the pressure off him. A lot of plays that were called, as I mentioned early on when I was talking about the poor coaching in the first segment, a lot of plays that were called had multiple tight ends and running backs in to block, which left only a few men out running routes. It's going to be hard to get open when you have seven or eight guys,

seven, six guys dropping into pass coverage, running a cover two zone like the Colts are prone to do and there's only two or three guys out on passing routes so it's going to be difficult to complete anything or find anybody with any separation when you have that going on multiple times throughout the game now is that because we have to give Marcus so much time so he can actually make a good throw or is it because the offensive line is so bad that Arthur Smith doesn't feel comfortable just leaving five in it's probably everything combined but all I know is we're not going to be able to have success in the passing game throughout the season if we aren't able to

send more than three guys out into a route it's just not going to happen so hope to see some changes there not everyone will have as good of a defense as the Colts. So hopefully going forward against the Jaguars, who do have a great pass rushing defense, I'm not seeing how the Titans are going to be able to do that going forward with a more talented secondary in Jacksonville. And it's something that we're going to have to see change. The Titans are going to have to have five offensive linemen,

block four guys, and complete passes. It's just something at the end of the day that will have to happen. That's going to cover tighten up and tighten down. Really disappointing game, as we all know, but there were some positive takeaways that I covered. Obviously, some negatives that need to get better, but in our last segment, I'm going to give you guys a quick Roland's rant, something that we're all going to be talking about until the next game, the Marcus Mariota coaster. Fellas, let's talk about the bedroom. Ever wish you could increase your performance or maybe just need a little confidence boost in bed? Well, listen up.

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dot com promo code locked on to try it for free. Blue Chew is the better, cheaper, faster choice. And we thank them for sponsoring our podcast. Rollins Rant. All right, guys, I'm not going to drone on forever about this because everyone has their opinions. And depending on where you fall, I understand. But Marcus is going to have to be better. That's the reality of this situation. The game he played today was not terrible, but it wasn't good. And at some point in time,

during these games, when the Titans offense is dragging, the defense is holding on by a thread, Marcus is going to have to go out there and make a big play. A huge throw down the field, a big run with his legs in a moment that counts. He made that 15-yard scramble on the last drive that was the only real positive play of the drive. But that's not good enough. He's going to have to do it with his arm eventually. And consistently, he's not able to make plays for this team.

I think a good example is something that Daniel Jeremiah and Bookie Brooks of the NFL Network, they talk about this a lot. They play a segment called Trucks and Trailers. Is this player being pulled by the people around him, or is this player driving the people around him? And I think that it's pretty clear that Marcus is a trailer. He's never going to raise the talent around him to be more than they are. He has to have everything go perfect and have a great cast, great blocking, good running game, good weapons for this offense to be successful.

Now, I think that John Robinson has the ability to put that kind of talent around the team, and when Taylor LeJuan gets back, maybe things are better and Marcus is going to have just an extra second of time to be able to make some of these throws. But he missed throws in Cleveland. It just didn't bite the Titans because the Browns shot themselves in the foot, and the defense played phenomenal. Well, in these games, when it's tight, both teams are playing decent.

We're going to need something to put us above. And I felt like watching this game, I wasn't certain that we had the better quarterback on the field. Now, the Colts have a much better offensive line than the Titans. But Brissette had pressure on him. We got pressure. He was able to wiggle free and make some plays. He made some plays by getting out of sacks, getting the ball down the field, making accurate throws in

the red zone. It just seems like Marcus doesn't kill us, but he really doesn't make any plays. And eventually at the quarterback position in the NFL, unless your defense is all-time, which this defense can be great, but they don't seem to be all-time, I'm not certain you can survive with a quarterback giving you the type of performance that Marcus gave us today, 19 for 28, 154 and a touchdown. I'm not blaming him. I went over all the different parts of blame that can be assessed in our first segment, but we're just going to need more. And that's all I really know. He wasn't bad. He wasn't good. We're going to need more.

So I just wanted to get that out of the way. Clearly that'll be the main topic of discussion in the Titans online community this week. But I want to say my piece officially on this, about how I feel about that. I don't know if Ryan Tannehill would have played any worse. So hopefully Marcus rebounds. The Titans have to rebound quickly for this game on Thursday night.

We're going to move this week along a little bit quicker than we typically do. And focus on the Jaguars tomorrow rather than focusing our Tic Tac Titan segment on the bad game that just was. then focusing our Tic Tac Titan segment on the bad game that just was. I may do a couple of little things from the game to highlight some of the things that we did well, just to keep it positive for us, but mostly going to try to focus on what we need to do going forward to stop Jacksonville. That is essentially a must-win at this point for the Titans. We're going to get into more tomorrow. Really excited to get into it with you guys. Let's put this one behind us. Quick turnaround this week. The season is not over yet, Titans fans.

This one hurts, and I know that it's disappointing, but we're one and one. We're right in the thick of it with plenty of season ahead. So really excited to talk to you guys tomorrow. Thanks for joining. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. You can follow me at TicTacTitans on Twitter. Follow the show at LockedOnTitans,

and please subscribe if you aren't already. This was LockTacTitans on Twitter. Follow the show at LockedOnTitans, and please subscribe if you aren't already. This was LockedOnTitans.