Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Will Derrick Henry Return Early & Eye-Popping Numbers from Titans Shutout!!

Episode Date: December 14, 2021

The Tennessee Titans got the win over the weekend, but the biggest news might have been about the potential return of Derrick Henry! Some reports suggest Henry could return before the end of the regular season. Tyler dives into these reports and whether or not Henry should come back early if possible. Next, the Titans win resulted in some crazy numbers and tidbits. Tyler goes over all the ones that stood out to him including how long it has been since the Titans had four interceptions!! Finally, Tyler goes over player grades from Week 14 along with other important statistics!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 Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And on today's show, we're going to do a little bit of a temperature check on some of the key injured Tennessee Titans, like Derrick Henry. And we got some pretty good news about Henry's recovery over the weekend. I'll go over that. And we're also going to look at some eye-popping numbers

coming out of the Titans' shutout victory over the Jags. So all of that and more on a Tuesday 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 Tuesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. We have a lot to discuss. Going to go over some positive injury news on some of the Titans key players who have been out.

We are going to talk some eye-popping statistics coming out of the Titans win over Jacksonville on the team level and on the player side of things. Before we get into any of that though, do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first 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. Also, make sure you check out the podcast on video

by going to the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe there and smash that notification bell so you know when all of my content goes live. If you're watching on YouTube right now, make sure to hit that thumbs up button. Do appreciate that. Also, got to check me out on social media at TicTacTitans on Twitter

for all my film breakdowns and film clips. On Tuesday, I do a Tic Tac Tuesday film thread. You're not going to want to miss that, so head to Twitter and follow me. Now, also check out the show Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. But with that being said, we need to get into what I will call a little bit of a Tuesday temperature check for some of the Titans' key injured players like Derrick Henry, Bud Dupree, A.J. Brown, even Julio Jones and more on top of that of course as the Titans have had a ton of injuries.

But again, this is a positive segment and the positivity really kicked off over the weekend where we saw reports coming out and it was mostly on the pregame TV shows for the NFL Sunday on NFL Network, on ESPN. All positive reports about Derrick Henry's recovery, saying that it is going much better than they even anticipated. And one report coming from Ian Rappaport on NFL Network, which actually came out at about 5 in the morning Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, said the Titans, if they have to, could get Derrick Henry back in week 18,

maybe even week 17. Now, the report was kind of couched in a way that said that if the Titans don't need to win to make the playoffs, then we probably wouldn't see Derrick Henry, which would be the absolute smart decision. But the report from Ian Rappaport did say, report Rappaport, try saying that five times fast. But basically it did say that if the Titans were in a win-and-in situation in Week 17 where they had to win to get in the playoffs, Derrick Henry would play in that game.

Now, obviously, there's a lot of time before that game would be played, and hopefully the Titans aren't in that position at all, and they can just hold Derrick Henry out until the playoffs. Hopefully, hold him out until the divisional round of the playoffs if things go really well for the Titans down this final stretch. But either way, good news on Derrick Henry. His recovery is going very, very well to the point where the team feels comfortable putting out these reports

that he could be back before the end of the regular season. The King will reign again. So that's great news. Also, Bud Dupree. Mike Vrabel said in his press conference on Monday that Bud's progressing well and they're going to see if they can get him out to practice

and then ultimately activate him to the roster this weekend. Mike Vrabel holds these injury tidbits at least in his press conferences close to his chest, so he didn't give us anything like whether we should expect Bud Dupree out there. But saying that he's progressing well is at least positive news for the Titans.

Also, A.J. Brown, not really an update on A.J. Brown right now. But in my mind, no update is a good thing. That means that A.J. hasn't had a setback. There were times where you thought maybe this would be an IR stint that would end the season for AJ Brown, but either way, it's a very, very good thing that AJ Brown has had no news around him. Now, if there's still no news around AJ Brown at this time next week, then we have a little bit of reason to worry.

I guess you could say. But for the most part, right now, no news on A.J. Brown is good news. Moving forward, Julio Jones. Julio Jones healthy coming out of this game, and that is exactly what you want to hear. I mentioned on yesterday's show that he was smiling on the sideline after he was out of the game and everything, but here's his quote from the post-game action. He said, quote, just coming out of this game, feeling the way I feel. I feel great.

I didn't have any setbacks. I didn't feel it throughout the game or anything like that. So I'm very excited. Moving forward for myself. I feel great. I'm ready to go. End quote. That is exactly what you want to hear from Julio Jones

coming out of this game and coming off IR with the hamstring that's been bothering him all year long. So just excellent stuff there from Julio Jones. Also, Mike Vrabel did say this isn't an injury but a returning player. Linebacker Zach Cunningham will be practicing on Wednesday, so he'll finally make his first appearance with the Titans at practice. So that's exciting stuff as well. The Titans are, you know, getting things together, getting the roster back together, playing well. You love to see it. Also want to mention Dane Cruikshank did come back,

didn't play a lot, less than 10 snaps in the game. Didn't really need him in this game in the Titans dime packages or as a tight end man matchup. It's not really a huge concern against Jacksonville, but good to have Dane back and not see any re-aggravation of injury. Chris Jackson, the cornerback, could come back off IR at the same time as AJ. No news there.

But you want to look at some guys who weren't on IR but didn't play. Tyre Tart, Jack Rabbit Jenkins, David Long. Got to feel like those guys are going to be ready to go very soon as especially David Long wasn't placed on IR. And I may be reading too much into it, but David Long did an interview sit down on the Titans YouTube channel that they released over the weekend. That makes me think that they're not doing media appearances

and interviews with players who aren't expected to play. So seeing that from David Long, maybe I'm reading too much into it again, but could be a sign that David Long will be back this week against the Steelers. But that's kind of a temperature check for you guys on all the Titans' key injured players. We're going to move forward in today's show, kind of go into the data-driven section as we talk about some just really awesome eye-popping stats about not only Mike Vrabel, but Harold Landry, about the defense coming out of that shutdown,

shutout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. And then we'll finish the show looking at some pro football focus grades, the pressure report for the offensive line, the coverage report for the defensive backs. Before we get into that, though, 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 with Boost, you get the power of a free 5G phone

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We are going to take a look at some eye-popping numbers and stats coming out of the Titans' shutout win over Jacksonville 20-0. We just talked about updates on all the Titans' key injured players. Before we get into these numbers, though, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Make sure that you subscribe on whatever platform you're listening. day, make sure that you subscribe on whatever platform you're listening. Remember, you can find the Locked on Titans podcast anywhere that you get podcasts and always free. All right, taking a look at some of these numbers.

Number one, for me, this is a big one, and it's just about Mike Vrabel. Mike Vrabel is such a dang good football coach. He's not perfect. He's got blind spots. We talk about Mike Vrabel. Mike Vrabel is such a dang good football coach. He's not perfect. He's got blind spots. We talk about him on the show. No one's perfect. He's not Bill Belichick with six titles to his name and, you know, just unflappable.

But I still think that Mike Vrabel is one of the top eight coaches in the NFL. It's actually something that Tony Wiggins from Locked on Jacks, he agreed with me on that point and said that Mike Vrabel was in the top eight coaches in the NFL. It's actually something that Tony Wiggins from Locked On Jacks, he agreed with me on that point and said that Mike Vrabel was in the top 25% of head coaches in the league. And I agree with it 100%. And this number kind of shows you why I think that. Since Mike Vrabel was hired as the head coach in 2018, remember, John Robinson fired Mike Malarkey after Malarkey just

won the Titans' first playoff game in a decade. That took some cojones to sell that to Amy Adams Strunk. But since Mike Vrabel was hired as head coach in 2018, the Titans are now 7-0

in games following a long rest, whether that be a bye week or you play on Thursday night football and then you got 9-10 days before the next game, things like that. So the Titans are 7-0 when they get longer than normal preparation time. The Titans are 4-0 after their bye and 3-0 following a Thursday night game. So there you go. 4-0 one way, 3-0 the other game.

7-0 for Mike Rabel whenever he gets a little bit, even a little bit of extra preparation time. That's a great sign for a head coach. Also, just talking Titans here. The Titans got four interceptions against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. That is the most by the Titans in a game since December

2012. Almost ten full years since the Titans had that kind of day. So I know that the Jags are a really bad team, but we're still talking about stuff that the Titans haven't done in a long time, which makes the performance even that

much more impressive. Also, the Titans as a team only allowed eight rushing yards. That's still the craziest stat of the entire game. Eight rushing yards on Sunday. That is the

third fewest rushing yards ever allowed in franchise history. I know it's crazy to say, third, how could you be less than eight? But in November of 1997, the Titans only allowed four rushing yards to Buffalo. And then in December of 1975, they allowed five yards to San Francisco. So since the Titans have been in Nashville as the Tennessee Titans, this is the lowest amount of rushing yards that they've ever allowed.

And remember, one of my keys to victory for the Titans on Friday was to stop the run. And they did that tenfold. So really impressive stuff. Another stat here that goes to Mike Vrabel. The Titans were penalized a season low. Two times. For 15 yards on Sunday.

A penalty was not enforced. On the Titans. Until the fourth quarter. That's pretty crazy. They recorded their lowest penalty total in a game since being flagged twice in 2018 against the Washington football team. So nearly three seasons,

and this is the lowest amount of penalties the Titans have ever had. Also, and this is a John Robinson stat, not really anything else. Since John Robinson took over for the Titans, they have had six winning seasons in a row. The Titans just won their ninth game of the year. That means, at worst, they would go 9-8.

That's a winning season. Six years in a row with a winning record. John Robinson is the only general manager in franchise history, which includes the Oilers, the only general manager to ever have that happen on his watch. I mean, just think about these numbers when we're talking about

John Robinson and Mike Frable. I mean, people, I still see people on Twitter with their name like FireJRob. Are you out of your freaking minds? JRobDego, okay? He's the best general manager this team, this franchise, has ever had. Period.

Period. Period. I'm not willing to debate it. I mean, Floyd Reese, he gets all the credit in the world, rest in peace. Gets a ton of credit for what he built in the early 2000s. Absolutely does, but the sustained success, and

also, J-Rob pulled the Titans out of the abyss. 3-13, 2-14. Garbage. Literally the worst roster in the NFL. And nearly overnight, the Titans are the most sustained winner in the NFL over the last six years.

That's incredible stuff. It really is. The last few stats that I have here for you are just player stats or more of a defensive stat here, but the Titans defense limited Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence to a season-low 35.5 passer rating. Lawrence was 24 of 40 for 221 yards and four interceptions.

His passer rating was the lowest by a Tennessee Titans opponent since December 2017. That fateful game against the Jaguars. Blake Bortles had a 33.7 passer rating in that game. And if you do recall, was the block, the stiff arm. That was a really fun game against the Jags to end the season in 2017 and get the Titans into the playoffs. So that was an awesome game.

Never will forget Mariota really stepping up in that one. So good for him. And then finally, a little stat for you about Harold Landry. Harold Landry has 11 sacks on the year. The Titans had 19 as a team last year. Harold Landry, man, what a baller. He's the first Titan to have 11 sacks in a season since Jason Babin had 12 and a half in 2010.

We're talking 11 years. Harold Landry better make the Pro Bowl. That's all I got to say about that. But that's going gonna do it for this eye-popping numbers portion of our show. We're gonna continue the data though. I'm gonna talk PFF grades, gonna talk

pressure, gonna talk coverage, gonna talk snaps, all that stuff in our final segment. Before we get into it though, I gotta tell you guys about Stance. So, founded in 2009, Stance Apparel represents a radical reinvention of socks, underwear, and active apparel. With a sharp focus on comfort, quality, and creativity,

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and get 15% off your first purchase. Use promo code locked on at checkout to apply the 15% off. Enjoy the color and comfort of a life less ordinary with stance. Titans fans. We are going to cap off this Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by discussing some, I don't want to call them analytics, it's player grades, but you know, basically we're going to look at some pro football focus grades for the game, going to look at the pressures allowed by the offensive line, the coverage provided by the defensive

backfield and linebackers. Maybe look at some snap counts if we have time as well. So just going to go over some of the cool numbers coming out of the game. And for me, what really stands out is the offensive grades here because we know that it wasn't a great offensive day. But a couple of the Titans offensive linemen really stood out. And as always, led by their run-blocking grade. You look at the top five offensive grades for the Titans. Ben Jones at an 80.6, but the run-blocking grade was an 83.4,

pass-blocking 59. So just a really good day in run-blocking for Ben Jones. Same with Nate Davis. He had a 79.7 overall grade, but an 80.6 in run blocking, 62 in pass blocking. So that trend continues here. Questenberry, the third highest

graded offensive Tennessee Titan with a 79.6 overall grade, 91.1 in run blocking. Quest has been awesome in run blocking, but again, the Jekyll and Hyde of the Titans offensive line, he had a 91.1 in run blocking, but then Quest and Berry had a 55.6

in pass blocking. So just overall, up and down from the Titans offensive line, good in run blocking, absolutely abysmal in pass blocking. That's been the case all year long. Ryan Tannehill was the fourth highest graded Titan on offense with a 79. Anthony Ferkser a 77 as the fourth highest graded Titan on offense with a 79. Anthony Ferkser

a 77 as the fifth highest graded Titan on offense. So that's the top five. Do want to point out here, Roger Saffold with the third lowest grade on offense with a 49.5. 33.8 pass protection grade.

So again, just more examples of a great struggle for the Titans. I mean, Aaron Brewer had a 66.3 overall grade, 83.2 in run blocking, and a 0, a flat out 0 in pass blocking. So that's just not what you want to see, but it continues the trend. The Titans are good in run blocking, terrible in pass blocking.

It makes it really difficult to have the type of offense that we've become accustomed to seeing the Titans have. On the defensive side of the ball, you're looking at the top five grades for the Titans defense. Rashawn Evans, no surprise here. Evans was a monster on Sunday. One of his better games in his Titans career had six tackles, a tackle for loss, had an interception. He had a 90.7 defensive grade and getting a 90 out of 100

on pro football focus is crazy. I didn't do this research, but I probably could get it done for you guys. As it comes to games, a 90.7 is probably one of the highest graded linebacker games in the NFL this season. So that's a great performance from Rashawn Evans coming back from injury. Buster Screen, who got some really good positive comments from Mike Vrabel,

had an 81.9 overall defensive grade. That's number two on the defense. Derek Roberson, who we gave a Titan up to, had a really good game, 79.5 overall grade. He played one of his best games of his career. I don't count guys who have less than 10 snaps, like Matthias Farley and Chris Jones are next,

both of them under 10 snaps. Then Jeffrey Simmons, a 77.1. He is the fourth highest graded Titan on defense. And then right underneath him, Amani Hooker with a 75.9. Worth mentioning Kevin Byard right there underneath Amani at 75.7 as the sixth highest graded defensive Titan. Now let's kind of dive into the reports that I really personally enjoy. And that's why I tweet them out every single week. We are going to start with the Tennessee Titans coverage report. Or not coverage report.

We're going to do pressure report. Forgive me, a little mess up there behind the curtain. I'm not cutting it out. We're rolling with it. You guys understand. But anyways, the pressure report for the Titans offensive line. Questenberry, three pressures, two sacks. Quite frankly, he might be the worst pass blocking starting offensive tackle in the NFL.

I gave him a lot of credit early in the year, but he's really struggled. He gave up two sacks on the day, three pressures. That's a bad outing. Nate Davis, two pressures, but zero sacks. Ben Jones. Only one pressure, zero sacks. Taylor LeJuan. Two pressures, zero sacks.

Roger Saffold. One pressure, zero sacks. And then Aaron Brewer, who came in for Saffold for half the game. Two pressures and one sack. They gave one of the sacks out of the four to Ryan Tannehill. I didn't see a fourth sack charted. So, something to monitor and I'll know more after I review the coaches tape of the game. Next, the coverage report, which is I tried to do that first.

Glad I caught myself there. But, in coverage, Buster Screen targeted 7 times I'm struggling hold on one second guys okay good to go Buster Screen targeted 7 times 4 catches for 64 yards

the interception and a pass breakup I have the hiccups we're just rolling through we're fighting through it. You know, all these Titans have been playing through injury all year. I'm playing through it. Christian Fulton. Five targets, three catches, only 26 yards allowed.

One interception and a pass breakup. Greg Maben got some run out there. Had two targets, gave up two catches for only 26 yards, though. Elijah Molden got targeted four times, only gave up three catches, and only 15 yards. Kevin Byard targeted five times, only three catches, 15 yards, and a pass breakup. The great pass breakup he made down the field. Excellent play. Amani Hooker only targeted two times, Gave up seven yards, one pass breakup.

Rashawn Evans targeted one time. Caught one time. Gave up three yards on the play, so not that bad, and then had the interception. Jayon Brown targeted three times. Complete all three times, but only 23 yards, and Jayon Brown had his own interception on a crazy one-handed play. So a really good job there by the Titans secondary, by the Titans linebackers. It wasn't perfect, but it was still an excellent game.

But with that being said, this episode of the Locked on Titans podcast wasn't perfect, but I still thought that it was excellent. Snap counts. Just want to mention that Buster Screen played the most snaps of any Titan on defense and he got more rave reviews from Mike Rabel on Monday's

press conference. So looks like Screen may have found himself a home for the rest of the season. But that's going to do it for me today folks. As always, I am your host Tyler Rowland and this was Locked on Titans.