Tennessee Titans can TAKE THE SOUTH with Week 3 Win, Play Action Must Return & Defense Must BLITZ

Tennessee Titans can TAKE THE SOUTH with Week 3 Win, Play Action Must Return & Defense Must BLITZ

If the Tennessee Titans can beat the Colts in week three, they’re still in a great position to win the AFC South. And I’ll break it down on today’s edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Roland. Titans fans, today’s edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Mazda. Like the Titans players, Mazda sweats every detail. Because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week’s moving the game forward. It’s Mazda move and be moved. And speaking of pulling off the unexpected, I’m going to break down why the Titans still have a great chance to win the AFC South. And it all starts with a week three matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. I’m also going to tell you what they need to do schematically to turn this season around on defense applying pressure on offense leaning on play action. Before we get into all of it, do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It’s your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Speaking of everyday, shout out to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn’t do it without you guys. If you aren’t an everydayer, you need to be one. Again, the Titans have a chance to turn things around, and you want to make sure you’re as entertained, as informed, and as upto-date as a Tennessee Titans fan could possibly be. Stay locked in here with me at the Locked on Titans podcast. But with that being said, again, the Tennessee Titans still have a great opportunity to win the AFC South. Absolutely. And it starts with this game against the Indianapolis Colts. If the Titans could find a way to beat a division opponent at home and move to one and two, they would still be in a great position to have a chance to make a run. Now, let me say this. I know that a lot of you guys right now are shaking your head, Tyler. Yeah, right. That’s not going to happen. And look, I’m not here to tell you that the percentage chance that the Titans do this is super high, but I am here to tell you that the possibility that the Titans could do it is super high. Now, let me break this down. So, look around the rest of the the division right now. Yes, the Colts are two and 0. No doubt about it. They’re leading the division, but the Houston Texans are 0 and2 just the same as the Tennessee Titans. And their offensive line looks like an absolute disaster. Their offensive coordinator looks like an absolute disaster. I talked before the season, I did not have the Houston Texans making the playoffs this year. I thought they would regress. I thought they would take a step back, no doubt. Now, you look at the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now they’re one and one, but their one loss came against the Cincinnati Bengals who had Jake Browning leading the comeback against them. You have Brian Thomas Jr. out there, alligator arms and everything, looking like he doesn’t want to be on the field. You have Trevor Lawrence waving off his head coach. Literally, his head coach is saying, “Hit him in the chest with the pass.” And Lawrence is going, “Whatever, coach.” Demonstraably waving him off in the middle of a game. So, you look at those two teams, the Texans and the Jags, and I’m not convinced that they’re awesome teams and their playoff. I thought the Jags would win the division at nine and eight. I didn’t think anybody would be awesome, but I thought the Jags had the talent and with better coaching would be in a much better spot. Well, if they’re already fighting with their coach and guys are giving minimal effort and things are going like that, well, I’ll be more than happy to be wrong about the Jacksonville Jaguars. But if the Texans issues are so big that they can’t overcome them, like Monday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where their defensive line was absolutely ridiculous, but it didn’t matter. And honestly, Tampa Bay should have whooped the Houston Texans, but they had a block punt and then a huge kick return that set the Texans up to even be in that game in the first place. So, if the Texans are going to have a down season, which it looks like they’re on the way to doing because the issues that were easily identifiable before the season, are too much to overcome, which why would Demo Ryan’s hire an offensive play caller who’s never been an offensive play caller in the NFL before when they just got rid of Bobby Slick? Whatever. Whatever. That’s their issues. Okay. But, nonetheless, the Texans are 0 and2 just like the Titans. And the problems that they have don’t look like problems that are going to get better anytime soon. Texans fans said, “Oh, now Ed Ingram is back in the lineup.” The offensive Ed Ingram, come on, man. That ain’t the differencemaker. Let’s be honest. And then, like I just said with the Jags, they’re already infighting and mad at their coach and showing microaggressions and not even being passive aggressive, just being aggressive towards their coach. Liam Cohen is a young guy. I think he’s a skilled play caller and a good offensive mind. But if his players don’t respect him and they’re kind of revoling already, well, I’m not that worried that Jacksonville is so talented that they can’t be beat. And then you get to the Colts, who the Titans play this week. So, if the Titans, just walk with me, if the Titans can beat the Indianapolis Colts, the most that the Titans could be behind in the division is one game. One game. the most. If the Titans beat the Colts at home, they’re one and two. The Colts are two- one. That’s one game. Even if the Jags win, they’re two and one. If the Titans win, they’re one and two. That’s one game. Even if the Texans win, they’re one-2. The Titans are one and two. That’s tied. So, if the Titans can win this game against the Colts, there is no scenario where they leave the weekend behind more than just one game. And then you get to week four and the Titans play the Texans. And again, I’m not saying it’s likely. I’m not saying the Titans are favored. I’m not saying that I expect them to beat the Texans in week four. But at the end of the day, if the Titans can win this game against the Colts and then win a game against the Texans, they’re two and two and they’re perfectly right back in it and we all feel so much better about where the team is at after that. And let’s talk about the Colts. We’re going to talk a ton about the Colts on tomorrow’s crossover show with my guy Jake Arthur from Locked on Colts. I’m going to have my preview show for you on Friday telling you how the Titans can win the game. I don’t believe that the Colts are a juggernaut. The Colts haven’t punted. They’ve put up all these points. Daniel Jones, blah blah. I don’t believe in the Colts. I’m sorry. They’re, in my opinion, they’re the Saints from last year. They looked great in two games, but the Broncos literally beat themselves. Imagine how we would feel right now if the Broncos didn’t have a stupid penalty, which Shawn Payeyton took the blame for. said he’s the one who called that play to try to block like a 50 yard field goal that the Colts kicker missed anyway. If the Broncos didn’t have a stupid leverage penalty on the final kick, the Colts are one and one right now. And we’re not talking about Daniel Jones like the second coming of Sam Darnold. I don’t buy the Colts. They don’t have a good pass rush. I don’t think that Daniel Jones has all of a sudden become an incredible player. I don’t buy that. The Colts should be one and one. They are not as good as people are raising them up to be right now. Period. I don’t buy it. Sorry. I think the Titans can absolutely beat the Indianapolis Colts this week. And there are certain parts of that matchup that make me feel even more confident. The Titans just went against two top five pass rush groups. The Colts are a bottom five pass rush group. The Colts pass rush, if you want to look at like pass rush grade on Pro Football Focus or whatever, the Colts pass rush has been worse than the Titans pass rush. The Colts most pressure player is five. The leading pressure guy on the Colts right now is five to Forest Buckner. Jeffrey Simmons had seven pressures against the Broncos good offensive line in week one. I don’t believe in the Colts. I don’t think the Colts are running away with this division. I don’t think that Daniel, forgive me, I don’t think that Daniel Jones is resurrecting his career. I think the Colts played maybe the worst team in the entire NFL in the Miami Dolphins and then I think they got lucky as heck to survive against the Broncos on a crap penalty. The Titans can absolutely beat the Colts this week and if they do, they are literally right in the race once again for the division again. Is it likely? No, but it’s right there. It’s not that impossible in any given Sunday. All right. Now, if the Titans are going to accomplish this, then they’re going to have to make two big time schematic changes. One on offense, one on defense. I’m going to tell you what they are. Do want to let you guys know that today’s episode is brought to you by Mazda’s moving the game forward. For those who believe it’s not just about playing the game, it’s about redefining it. There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, they move culture, they keep the game moving forward. And this week’s moment that move the game forward is Cam Ward’s insane first touchdown pass of his career to Ellio Manor. What an incredible performance. It was the talk of the NFL on Sunday. That was by far the best touchdown pass of the weekend in the NFL and a a record- setting one if you look at the nextG stats as well. But when you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there’s more to every highlight, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. It’s Mazda. 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So download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code L O C K E D O N for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Titans fans, let’s continue today’s edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Talked about why the Titans are still in a great position to win the AFC South. I mean, if they get two back-to-back wins against division opponents, they’re in a great spot with how bad this division is. But now I want to talk about how they can actually do that schematically out on the field and two big time areas of improvement that the Tennessee Titans must change going forward. And we’re going to start on the offensive side of the ball. But before I dive in, do want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans your first listen. Make sure that you go check out the Tic Tac Titans film channel on YouTube. I just dropped an Alec Manor video showing why I’ve been so impressed with him through two weeks. Whether it’s contested catches, whether it’s route running ability, whether it’s the chemistry he has with Cam Ward right out of the gate, Alec Manor looks like an absolute steal in the fourth round for the Tennessee Titans. But the Titans are going to be able to get more opportunities to Alec Manor if they lean more into play action. One of the biggest complaints that I have had about Brian Callahan during his what is it now 19 games that he’s been the head coach is he just doesn’t play to the team’s strengths enough last year with Will Levvice. Look, and I get it. Will Levvice was bad. He hurt the team. It’s not all on Callahan that Will Levis wasn’t good. All right, that’s certainly the case. But Will Leves looked a lot better under Mike Vrabel and Tim Kelly because they used playaction more. And when you have a bad offensive line and you don’t have a great wide receiver group, the number one thing that you can do is play action. Because when you play action, you throw off the defensive line. They think it might be a run. They play run rather than pinning their ears back and getting into the pass rush. When you play action, you have the ability to keep a tight end or a running back in to help block without sacrificing the separation that your wide receivers and your weapons can create. So, it pluses your ability to block in multiple ways. And on the back end, the effect and the gravity that play action has on the linebackers and on the secondary can create more open space and more opportunities for a wide receiver group that may not be elite. You need to help some of your wide receivers a little more. Get them more openings. And then you add in how much it helps a rookie quarterback. More openings. clearly defined routes. Getting Cam Ward out on the move on bootlegs, which gets him away from the pass rush, allows him to use his spatial awareness and his creativity out of the pocket. There is nothing that you can tell me about play action for this football team that makes it not make sense. And that’s why I’m so disappointed in the play calling from Brian Callahan. In week one, 23% play action. Cam goes four of six for 19 yards. In week two, it drops 19.5% play action and Cam goes 5 for seven with 53 yards and a 93.2 passer rating. Cam Ward’s Pro Football focus grade on playaction passes was 72.4. Without play action, it dropped to 65. And right now, the Titans are 22nd in the NFL in play action rate. How does that make sense, folks? How does that make sense? The answer is it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t. And you look at some of the highest rates. Matthew Stafford has had play action on 40% of his dropbacks through the first two weeks. Daniel Jones has had 36% play action or it was 33%. I have bad handwriting so excuse me. 33% play action rate for Daniel Jones. And I know what you guys are going to say. Well, Tyler, the Titans weren’t running the ball very good. If you don’t run the ball, you can’t play action. False. False. I talked about this when Mike Rael was still the coach and the Titans had weeks where they were under 20% play action. They were at 22% play action. The Titans need to be at 30% play action. And there are plenty of pieces of data and evidence out there over the last few years that show that your yards per attempt, your EPA per play, your efficiency ratings, do not drop in play action if the run game isn’t going. Play action always works. It’s always good. Not always works, like a 100% success rate. But there is no correlation between being poor in the run game and play action not working. It just doesn’t exist. Play action has the same effect whether you’re running the ball well or not, it is effective. And then you add in the fact, even if you want to take that route, even if you want to argue with me, Tyler, the Titans can’t run play action as much if they’re not running the football well because the defense won’t fall for it. I don’t think that’s true, but okay. Okay, fine. Well, if that’s the case, then why did the Tennessee Titans use play action less in week two when they ran the ball better. The Titans in week two had 4.2 yards per carry. They ran for 109 yards as a team. The Titans were getting chunk runs. And if you want to say, “Oh, well, the Titans got down late, so they couldn’t play action.” Did you watch the game? Because even when the Titans were down by 14 points, even when the Titans were down by what was it 11 points, 2716? Even when the Titans were down in the game, they still were running the ball a lot. They were still running the ball a lot. So, if you’re willing to run the ball when you’re down like that, why aren’t you willing to play action? And my concern is it’s just not in the DNA of Brian Callahan and his philosophy on offense in Cincinnati. I’ve told you guys this before. I’m born and raised in Ohio. I’m literally in the jungle basically, not Cincinnati, but north of Cincinnati. I am surrounded by Cincinnati Bengals fans. And I’m surrounded by football fanatics just like me. We all grew up together playing football, loving football, talking about football in the group chat every day. And I hear a ton about the Bengals because half the group chat are Bengals fans and they piss and moan and complain about the lack of play action from the Bengals all the time. So you have to wonder if Brian Callahan is just not able to adequately adapt his offensive philosophy to what’s best for his team. Because again, when you play action, you can help the offensive line. You can get Cam Ward away from the pass rush. You can manufacture separation for your wide receivers. You can manufacture explosive plays in the pass game with easy opportunities like we saw in the two early rollouts for Cam Ward in the game on Sunday. And you get Cam Ward on the move using his spatial awareness and field vision, which are his best qualities. there literally is no downside. So, the fact that Brian Callahan is near the bottom of the NFL and play action rate through two weeks, it’s concerning. And if they don’t correct that schematic mistake, they’re not going to be able to maximize this season. So, run more play action and you will have more of an opportunity to have success on offense. But what about the defense? Well, I’m going to tell you what the defense needs to do. and Dinard Wilson, the Titans defensive coordinator, admitted it on Tuesday as well. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Look, the NFL season is here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Again, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel. Doesn’t matter what I want to do, whether it’s player props, money lines, spreads, overunders, putting all that stuff together to build a same game parlay, or even if I miss kickoff and want to jump in on some live betting action, I can make it happen at FanDuel. It makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your favorite team or just, you know, keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s the best way to add a little more energy to your Sunday. So, are you ready? Download the FanDuel app now by visiting fandal.com to get started. Once again, that’s fandal.com to place your first $5 bet. [Music] Titans fans, let’s continue and cap off today’s edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about why the Titans are absolutely still in the running to win the AFC South if they get a win this weekend against the Colts. We talked about how they can change that and make that happen on offense by using more play action. Now, I want to talk about a big schematic change that I want to see on defense and why I totally disagree with some folks thoughts on how the Titans handle defense on Sunday against the Rams. Before I get into it, do want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day. As a reminder, make sure that you head over to the Tic Tac Titans film channel on YouTube. Check out my film breakdowns on Cam Ward, on Ellio Manor. I’m going to put up some cutups on Peter Scaransky and Famol Deio as well this week so you guys can check in on them. But with that being said, do want to talk about a schematic change that we need to see on defense and it’s the blitz rate. And Dennard Wilson on Tuesday talked about the struggles they’ve had. Dinard Wilson said, “You know, the Broncos move the pocket a lot and Bo Knicks is very mobile. We didn’t want to blitz too much and let him out of the pocket.” Then he talked about Matthew Stafford and he said, “Well, Stafford’s really good about getting the ball out quick. So if we blitz, you know, it may be tougher to get to Matt Stafford.” But he finished that thought by saying, “Maybe I need to bring more pressures. I maybe do need to bring more pressures.” So, he talked about why he didn’t blitz that much in the first two games, but finished it off by saying, “Uh, maybe I do need to send more pressures.” Which is, in my opinion, an admission that if I could go back, I would have sent some more pressures. Now look, if you look at Matthew Stafford’s statistics against the blitz against the Titans, if if you look at those, I understand why you would look at that and say the Titans absolutely should not have blitzed Matthew Stafford more. He did have great success against the Blitz in this game. When he was blitzed, he was eight for 11 with 120 yards and two touchdowns or Yes. Correct. Okay. Yes, he was good when he was blitzed, but the problem is, like we’ve talked about, is if you let Matthew Stafford hang in a clean pocket, he is historically going to kill you. We talked about the numbers last week. Matthew Stafford 70% completion percentage, 20 touchdowns, two interceptions when kept clean and not under pressure in 2024. When under pressure, four touchdowns, six interceptions, and a 47% completion percentage. He is a considerably worse quarterback when he is under pressure. Now follow me on quick math here. If the Titans have to put pressure on Matthew Stafford to win the game and the Titans cannot cannot get pressure with four guys, what is their option? So yes, blitzing Matthew Stafford didn’t work very well. You’re right. But not blitzing Matthew Stafford and letting him have a clean pocket is an even quicker death. It’s an even quicker death. If a genie came up to you and said, “You have option one and you have option two, and neither option is good. You’re going to die either way. It’s most likely that you fail. But one path is 0% chance that you’re going to survive and the other path is very small percent chance that you’re going to survive. Are you going to take 0% or are you going to take the small percentage? So, I’m not sitting here saying that blitzing Matthew Stafford more would have helped the Titans win the game. They’re probably going to lose and Stafford’s probably going to cut him up nonetheless. But not blitzing Matthew Stafford and letting him sit in a clean pocket while you rush with a terrible pass rush group. That is certain death. That is 0% survival rate. Yeah, he might cut you up with the blitz, but when was the one time the Titans got a sack on Matthew Stafford? When they blitzed Amani Hooker. So to me, I’m not sitting here telling you that if they blitz Matthew Stafford more, they were going to win. That’s probably not true. But I will take a chance that I can affect Matthew Stafford and turn him into the lesser version of himself verse the certainty that he is going to destroy me with a clean pocket while I rush my front four that cannot get any pressure at all. Like I’m not saying there’s good option and bad option. I’m saying there’s terrible option and a little less terrible option. And it’s very clear and again the Titans defensive coordinator Dard Wilson said I should probably send more pressures. I like I don’t know what else you need to hear. The Titans right now are 14th in blitz rate. So, middle of the road for the NFL. I want to see that number go up. Now, I say all that to say this. I don’t think that the Titans should be blitzing a ton this week against Daniel Jones. And I’m going to explain why as we go into the crossover episode and we go into my game preview. But overall, generally speaking, throughout the rest of the season, the Titans need to be a heavy blitz team because their front four is not going to get pressure. And at minimum, send some simulated pressures. Show five or six at the line of scrimmage and drop out and only bring four. Then you keep seven guys in coverage, but you still are doing something a little exotic. But either way, throughout the rest of the season, maybe not this week, against the Indianapolis Colts, and I’ll get into my reasons why in the next few days, but the Titans need to be a heavier blitz team on the overall throughout the rest of the season. And I think when we get to CJ Strad in week four, crank it up to 11. Maybe dial it down against the Colts. And I’ll explain why this week. But when you get to Gino Smith, when you get to CJ Stout, when you get to Drake May, it’s time to crank up the pressure. But with that being said, that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Roland, and this was Locked on Titans. Heat. Heat. N. [Music]

The Tennessee Titans sit at 0-2 and the sky is falling for a lot of fans, but the reality is the Titans are still right in the hunt for the AFC South and if they can find a way to win against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3 at home, they are still squarely in the race for the division. To do that, the Titans need to adjust how they are operating on both sides of the ball. First, on offense, they must commit to more play action. Cam Ward had major success in that area against the Rams and it will help the offensive line and multiple the force of the run game. On defense, the Titans have no choice but to increase the heat and bring more blitzes. It may put the secondary in a tough spot, but the pass rush is not going to be able to get it done otherwise.

Tennessee Titans can TAKE THE SOUTH with Week 3 Win, Play Action Must Return & Defense Must BLITZ
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