NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Titans-Niners TNF Recap

Episode Date: December 24, 2021

Marc Sessler and Justin Graver recap the down-to-the-wire matchup between the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Four-man rush. Garapolo over the middle. Intercepted. It's picked off. And there was movement.

It might be a free play is what it is. Had to hell since. He's going to throw it deep, AJ Brown. He's got it. Big play, down to the three. Tanaill, fires. Come on. Brown again.

He's on fire. Cropolo, Servang, Anzo. Cawed for the touchdown. Ayuk's got it. Coming down to final seconds. It'll be a 44-yard attempt from Randy Bullitt. And he's got it.

Well, what do you know? The Tennessee Titans, looking like a team lost and out of ideas, come racing back on Thursday night football thanks to a defining star performance from A.J. Brown in the 20 to 17 win over the San Francisco 49ers. You know, it keeps their AFC South title hopes alive when it looked like the cults were edging in. And that right now is for another day.

This is Mark Sessler. I'm here with The Grave-Digger, Titans fan, Justin Graver. And you know what? I was concerned that the night we have you guesting on this show, that the Titans looked putrid for it was just an incredibly ugly first half. And if you're tracking Twitter on these island games, and Todd Downing was essentially going to be sent out of town in a box at some point. But look at the whole team gathered around.

This is sort of the Titans and who they've been. And there's so many injuries, but they got A.J. Brown back tonight. And I just thought that he heated up and looked more comfortable as the game went on. 16 targets, a ton of catches and yardage. Gravedigger, you're a happy grave digger. I think typically that profession doesn't always attract happy people. But you've seen tonight, I see a smile on your face here on our stream yard. How you feeling? What are you thinking?

I feel great, a little pumped up. I was celebrating around, running around, screaming a little bit. But, I mean, what can you say about A.J. Brown? I think I mentioned this on maybe it was last Sunday night's show that I thought A.J. Brown or maybe it was a different show. I don't know. I said it on a show recently. You're on so many shows at this point that I understand it's hard to keep track. It's hard to keep track. But that A.J. Brown might be more important to the Titans offense than Derek Henry even. And I think that played out tonight because the Titans had so much trouble manufacturing explosive plays over the last few weeks. not to mention turning the ball over.

And they didn't turn the ball over tonight, which is a huge way to help you win a football game. Niners turn it over twice. And A.J. Brown, the explosive plays. He had a 20-something-yard catch in the first half on a big third down. He had that huge bomb down the field on the free play on a third and 20 plus. And I felt like the Titans, because they had A.J. Brown on the field, were constantly able to overcome those third and longs.

They were faced with so many third and longs. And I think at one point, They said they were like six of nine on third and long, and then they converted on that play to make it seven to ten. And it was just an MVP performance, I think, in this game from A.J. Brown. And that's why the Titans came out on top. You're so right about the third and long attempts. At one point, you know, when the touchdown happened to A.J. Brown,

they had at that point six conversions in third and ten or longer, which is the most in a game by any team this season. So, you know, as much as they struggled, When they came to life, I mean, it really brought Ryan Tannahill oxygen, I thought, after just a tough month where, you know, he's thrown to ghosts and the turnovers killed them. And when we saw against, I know it was the Jaguars, but when they had a turnover free game, they were dominant. And tonight, when they don't make those mistakes, when they weren't saddled with those errors, they were able to climb out of the slow start and fight their way back. I also thought that the Niners, I mean, it's the kind of game where you look back if you're a Niners fan, you think, Look at number one, we also have stars on our team, but we cannot go make the mistakes that we had tonight.

And so especially from the quarterback position, it was the killer interception to Jack Rabbit by Graff or Jimmy G. Why am I struggling to say his last name? I've known him for like seven years here. I mean, that was a killer turnover. He had the missed deep shot to Kyle Hughes check, which would have been another score. He had a terrible interception to open the third quarter. I mean, we were texting during the and it was just like points left on the board and it led to you tweeting at halftime and it wasn't, I didn't think it was just a sunny fan type of tweet.

It was, you could see this, you could see this like not a game where the Niners did not close the door. You said the Titans will win this game, watch and bang, you were dead on. I mean, I think that the Niners come out of this and I know that, you know, we're not going to Trey Lance probably at this point.

I know people are talking about even the Alex Smith to Kaepernick transition on a playoff type season years ago. That's possible. I mean, anything's possible. But Jimmy G., just when you get this version of them, it's hard to overcome. It's like it kind of left George Kittle out of the mix. I mean, Debo Samuel had another, to watch him and A.J. Brown go, you know, punch for punch.

He had that huge catch that set up the touchdown to tie it late in the game. So it's like these are two teams that in a way, it's just like there's not a lot of margin for error. But Jimmy G has floored them a couple games in the last month that leave them. I know there's still the sixth seed, but leave them wanting and wondering what they're seeing. feeling is when you're going to get that kind of quarterback play. I think they will only go as far as he can take them and as far as Shanahan can scheme around his deficiencies. I thought the Niners opening drive was brilliantly drawn up. They had a couple of those bootleg plays that got players in space in the flat.

It felt like, I'm not sure if this is exactly true, but it felt like every passing play on that first drive was off play action, which had the Titans defense all discombobulated and out of balance. And then the Titans defense stepped up and, after that scripted drive and the one right after it where the Niners went all the way down the field and through an interception in the end zone, from there it felt like the Titans defense got it together and kind of understood how to stop,

at least slow down the 49ers playmakers, especially. I mean, Debo Samuel had his amazing game, but Kittle and Iyuk and Jeff Wilson too were pretty much taken out of the game. And I think that the Titans defense did a really nice job adjusting and stopping those guys. Well, their defense has just come up big in certain games here. And it's like, I really think the journey that they've been on, and for you, for you as a Titan supporter, I mean, it looked like things, it looked like a team just heading in the wrong direction. Too anemic. But now they've got the dolphins and the Texans. And by the nature of sweeping the cults, I mean, they've got Wiggle Room. They're going to win this division barring a disaster. I mean, I'm not convinced they're a better team than the cults right now on any level. But when you get these guys back, you start to remember, and I don't like,

saying remember the Titans. That's extremely, I didn't even attempt to do that. That's, but you recall what this team was when they were, I think, the best team in the AFC early in the season. And the Niners, their final two games against the Texans and the Rams, they're going to make the playoffs, barring. I mean, the Rams game will be, but even if they lose that, they've got the tiebreaker over teams like the Vikings and others that are sort of hanging around. So it's not a crisis. It's just that I think that you find out, yeah, the Niners drafted this quarterback for a reason. Trey Lance and his, you know, other rookies are just playing. They've not done that with him.

And a flip side, I thought for Ryan Tannahill, I mean, he, you know, he's such a great athlete that that that great run that he had down the stretch in late in the game mattered. And he, and you just remember that, you know, it was last year when you had A.J. Brown that he would take these shots where he would get thundered titanically to the ground, but complete that 45-yard pass down the field. And with A.J. Brown back. And then when you get Derek Henry, it's like, you know what, they did the job. I really think that Mike Rable has created a culture where they survived. They survived these things. And it came real close. This was another example of Razor's Edge. We've talked about it with the Titans for a bunch. But you've got to be feeling good as a Titan

supporter and analyst just to see how they escape tonight. Yeah. And when it was 10-0 at halftime, I thought that was such a huge bummer, like a deflating sequence for the Titans when it went from Deonté Foreman breaking one for a long touchdown. And then two flags on the play. One on him for face masking, which he didn't even touch anyone's face mask. And a second penalty on the Titans for a hold that was a really, not to be biased as a fan, but felt like his Jeff Swam's hands were inside the shoulder pads pretty tight. And Greg Olson even said so on the broadcast.

And yet the flag came out. And the Titans to not even come away with points from that drive was such a bummer. But I felt encouraged by the fact that they showed the ability to at least make a play like that, even if it didn't count. And that's when I felt that the Titans were going to come out in the second half and get the ball to start the half and possibly go win the game. That's why I tweeted that. And we were texting a little bit during the game.

And I said it feels like games like this always flip. When it's like a 10-0 halftime game, the same thing happened earlier this week with the Browns and the Raiders. Weren't the Browns up 10-0 or 14-0 at halftime? And then like right in them, like not very- Back into it. Yeah, I mean, they climb back in. So I think you're so right.

And these TNF games, we understand that they are. There's a zany DNA throughout the bloodstream in these games. But yet, like, the Niners should have been up 24-0 at one point. It's like, and had they done that, I think it changes sort of everything that the Titans could hope to do. But to have, you know, to have the advantage or the disadvantage just to be 10 points, it's like, then you have your best player becoming comfortable. It's like, I think they noted, you know, correctly that he didn't get to practice. And we don't, like, we don't really track that sometimes.

but it's like, what was his warm-up over the week to get back into game mentality? And it's like you just saw him becoming more comfortable in his own skin as the game crept along. And then really it seemed like the door was wide open for Tennessee. So a massive victory. I have a question for you, though. How did you become a Titans fan? I don't know if we've covered a lot of things about you. This more a mundane aspect of your existence at the moment, how did that happen?

I wish I had a more interesting answer. but when I was really young, I grew up in Dallas, when I was really, really young, I was a Cowboys fan because the Titans were still the Houston Oilers. And when the Titans moved to Nashville and became the Titans for some reason as like an eight-year-old kid, I loved Eddie George. And when I was nine, the Titans went to the Super Bowl and they lost to the Rams by one yard. And I just felt so much heartbreak for them losing that Super Bowl. And I loved Eddie George. And I loved watching Steve McNair that I just decided I'm going to ride with this team because why not? I don't know, and here we are 15 years later.

I think that's a very pure origin story. I enjoy that. I also thought you were getting a little spicy tonight. I enjoyed this. PFT, you know, at some point during the game, when the Titans were dealing with some issues, put out, are the Titans frauds, question mark, discuss? And then you just, you know, you quote tweeted them

and just said when they were coming back and starting to feel like total raging fire, yes, discuss. I like what you're doing tonight. you're feeling yourself a little bit. You deserve it. It's a huge win for them. I mean, had they lost, I think that you'd have to be questioning a lot of things about the earth right now.

Yeah, really. I do want to say about the Niners that I think their defense, I mean, the Titans have been pretty great on the ground the last few games, even without Derek Henry. But the Niners' defensive front was really stout tonight. The Titans couldn't really get much running game going. McNichols was their best rusher, seven carries for 31 yards. Tannahill was second on the team.

And this is a team that's using three running backs now a lot. Hilliard, five for 20, Foreman, though, only nine carries for, nine carries for only 17 yards. And that Niners front is so ferocious. Granted, the Titans had a lot of backups in on the offensive line. But their kryptonite is the cornerbacks. And that's how Tennessee was finally able to get back in this game. It felt like the first half, it was a lot of stuffed runs up the middle that led to all those third and longs we talked about. But in the second half, they were throwing the ball more on early downs, finding AJ Brown.

And I think the Niners are going to have to figure out how to overcome these weaknesses in the secondary if they want to do anything in the playoffs this year. You are right about their defense. Their fifth in DVOA since week 10, ninth against the pass, and it's not looked like it sometimes, but second against the run behind only the Rams. So that has been a strength for them. You know, Ambrie Thomas, I think, has just had a rough rookie season and a rough December. I thought he made some plays tonight. You know, you can still see with confidence. And if that, if that, if he can round into shape over the next.

couple weeks and it will be necessary. That'll help a lot because they have been victimized. I mean, he specifically through the air. And I mean, I think tonight's just like, uh-oh, by the way, when you're going to get A.J. Brown turning into what he was, you know, from the half time, from half on, like no one in the league stopping that. And we've seen examples of it in the past. It's the kind of thing where if you're going to get, if you get three or four games like that from him in a row in January, we have no idea where this team will end up. I mean, it just, it is an example that it's a star, it's a star-led league. And they just had been playing without those guys. And it hasn't been there. It hasn't, to your point about him being

as valuable, if not arguably more than Derek Henry inside that offense. I mean, we all get who Derek Henry is, but they have been able to run the ball yardage wise. It's just that I think that when you're dealing with Derek Henry, it's like it's a little different than Florman and the rest of the cast of characters. But they have just been missing so much through the air. So this was a godsend this evening and they got just enough. It's a huge win. I don't know if we need to beat this dead horse anymore at this point. We've said it all, but is there anything else you'd like to add

about what you witnessed this evening? I have confidence that the Titans could potentially win their next two games and make a playoff run with Derek Henry back. As a Titans fan, it feels pretty nice to see this team finally kind of snap out of the offensive funk they'd been in for quite a while. So those are my final thoughts.

Well, I'm glad for you. It keeps your spirits high during this Christmas season. I think it's probably going to be the opposite how I'm feeling after the Browns are like walloped by Aaron Rogers and the Packers in like six degree, Green Bay skies, you know, at 11 a.m. Western time on Christmas Day. You know, that's the present I'll be opening, I suspect. But your present is shinier, and I'm happy for you fairly well. And Greg should not have locked against the Titans, poor guy. I told him, I tried to warn him, but he didn't listen. Well, he's sort of out of the race. I think he's going to, he's going to do. something evil with the locks. Well, he's lost the power to take that part of the show away from us. So, right. Too bad for him. All right. Thanks, everyone. We've got a lot coming up. We've got our Friday network show tomorrow, which airs at 4 a.m. on the West Coast on Saturday.

So I know all sorts of young people will be up at that time. And we've got our Sunday flagship show as well. Grave-digger will be back in the studio along with Tamposi and the rest of the crowd that night. Good evening. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Lev Florio, and together we hope.

host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.