Tennessee Titans WORST TEAM IN NFL, Offensive Line MUST SWEAT & Fast Start vs. Cardinals is NEEDED

Tennessee Titans WORST TEAM IN NFL, Offensive Line MUST SWEAT & Fast Start vs. Cardinals is NEEDED

Can the Arizona Cardinals take advantage of a young upand cominging Tennessee Titans team in a got to have it game? Or will Cam Ward finally get his first win as an NFL quarterback? Let’s discuss. [Music] You are locked on NFL Crossover, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. Thursday, Alex Lansancy locked on Cardinals. Tyler Roland locked on Titans. Thank you for making Crossover Thursday your first listen. Free wherever get your podcast, man. YouTube, all of it. For those that don’t know, Tyler and I have had, you know, a long history of co-hosting shows over the last few years. Um Tyler also the host of Lock on NFL every morning Monday through Friday on top of the Titans, on top of Film Breakdown. Tic Tac Titans film breakdown on YouTube. You can find him everywhere. Dude, one of my dearest friends in this business. We don’t get to do the when when did we when have we done this? I don’t even remember. Four years ago. Yeah, that’s right. Four years ago. Yeah. Yeah. The DeAndre Hopkins double touchdown uh bow down Kyler Murray running around. It was like 38-13. Week one of the 2021 season. The Titans went on to get the number one seed. That’s the last time that we got to have one of these crossovers. And it was also the time where I said Cliff Kingsbury ain’t it. Don’t look at the numbers. The problems are still the issues. We talked about that a lot and a so much has changed and so much has stayed the same for both of these teams. What we’re going to do today, we’re going to do keys to victory in the final segment. We’re going to do um you know, most important matchups, player to player, coach to player, whatever it may be in the second. The biggest story lines, Tyler, there’s a lot of storylines for both of these teams. Very different, but also not many positive ones outside of maybe the Cardinals defense. Give me the biggest storylines coming into this game for a young Cam Ward and Tennessee Titans. Is this the worst team in the NFL? I think that’s been the conversation all week as it’s been a month through the season now. The Titans have progressively got worse. They had a close game that they should have won if not for bad coaching against Denver. Week two, they’re beating the Rams at halftime at home and then get beat by 14 points. Then they get beat by 21 points. Then they get beat by 26 points. the Titans are going in the wrong direction. And for a season that was all about like we just want to see the team improve. We recognize the roster’s not great. The coach is still young. The team probably won’t be good. But you want to see improvement. You want to see that this team’s heading in the right direction. And so far through the first month, they have gone the opposite of the right direction. They are going in the wrong direction quickly. And it makes you wonder, is this the worst team in the NFL once again? And the answer is looking like yes right now. And the the center of that issue is should Brian Callahan be fired? And now we’re getting reporting from ESPN that, you know, they don’t want to fire him because it creates a lot of holes other places and this and that. But when three out of four weeks and some fans who are more critical than I am would say four out of four weeks, this guy has made unbelievable gaffs in in-game management and coaching decisions and he gives away play calling and they go from 20 points to zero points. You know what I mean? It’s just like nothing’s going right and right now it doesn’t seem like there are any answers to the problems that they have. At least not in the building right now. So you could say he’s the Will Levis head coaches. Is that what you could say? You know, hey, if you’re Will Levis right now, you’re sitting back on your burner account on Twitter and you’re saying, “Wasn’t my fault? Wasn’t on me. Look at this bozo coach.” Like I think a lot of people are looking at the fact that, hey, if you’re honest, Will Le did some things on his own last year that were stupid. You know, like that’s Will Levis’s fault no matter how you want to slice it. But when you look at the rest of the team, how players are regressing. Everyone looks worse under this coaching staff. It is fair if you’re Will Levis and a Will Levis supporter to say, “Hey, I was better with Mike Vrabel and I’m better than I was last year because we have the worst coach in the NFL.” So, I’m I’m not here to tell you Will Leves is going to be a starter in the NFL and turn out to be the next Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold or whatever, but I think it’s fair to wonder whether Will Leves is as bad as he looked last year with how bad it clearly is from Brian Callahan right now. So, when Cardinals fans hear all of that, and I’m sure you could do without taking a breath Eminem style 28 minutes to keep everybody up in the Arizona Cardinals what’s been going on with the Tennessee Titans over the last couple years. This is what I struggle with, Tyler. When we talk about the biggest storylines surrounding Arizona, this is the first year in many where there are actual concrete expectations and during the entire off season, actual concrete moves that have been made to make this roster in a position to where they could meet those expectations. And that’s the thing that the Cardinal the Cardinals fans specifically are struggling with is like they’re supposed to be better than this, especially offensively. They chose to run it back with Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. and and and Kyler Murray. The offensive line has been okay. You know, it’s been average, which is fine. You just need an average offensive line now. You just need not Houston and not Cincinnati and you’re ahead of the curve. James Connor down, Trey Benson now on IR. It’s going to be Amari Demarcado and uh and Michael Carter. Two guys who can definitely put together some some work in the back field. The struggle bus is, is Jonathan Ganon doing enough? And when you look around the NFL and you see how many bad teams there are and how many bad offenses there are and how many bad coaching jobs there have been, when you look at Jonathan Gennon and Drew Petting specifically, it’s like it could be so much worse. But is that reason enough to not hold these guys accountable uh with, you know, with seats being warmed because of the production, especially on offense, that they’ve, you know, they’ve yielded through four weeks not scoring more than 20 points in each of the first four games. Hey, I know that you’ve been you’ve been taking taking eyeire with Drew Petting for quite some time and you’re right, I do host Locked on NFL and my Thursday co-host is Michelle Majuk, the data queen. She’s an NFL researcher, one of the best that we have talentwise in this network and she cannot stand Drew Petting all the talent that they have in Arizona. It does for me as I do cover, you know, all the teams for locked on NFL watching them on Thursday night. It’s like they should be better than this with everything. If you go through, you know how they say like you’re greater than the sum of your parts? Yeah. The Cardinals are lesser than the sum of their parts. With Marvin Harrison Jr., who I think is better than what he’s looked through the beginning of his career, and Kyler Murray, who we know has the talent of a top 10 level quarterback and good running backs that are now banged up. But you’re right, the offensive line, I mean, Paris Johnson Jr., I know he wasn’t going the whole year, but he’s looked pretty good so far, at least looking at the numbers, you know what I mean? So, I I feel like they should be better. And in my opinion, in the NFL, you’ll only have a bad offense if you have bad coaching and bad talent because the most creative offensive minds and offensive play callers find a way to find success even when the talent may not be high level. And that seems like at least from an outsers’s perspective that petting may be part of the issue. And will Ganon, this is the problem with CEO type coaches and defensive minded head coaches, will they move off of a guy who maybe they’re loyal to that isn’t getting the job done. It got Mike Vrabel fired. It got Mike Malarkey fired for the Titans that they wouldn’t move off bad play callers and couldn’t get the OC, you know, decision right. So that is the big question, I think, from the outside is will Jonathan Ganon make the changes necessary to get the most juice out of the talent that’s clearly there? Yeah. You know, it’s it’s fascinating because I actually did my first show today, of course, as Trey Benson, the news broke. This was, you know, I posted, you know, it happens. Um, it does. They, you know, the guy, the coach speak kind of morphed into something that’s a little bit annoying where it’s we’re not too concerned about this problem. We’re not too concerned about this problem is what they say. Pencing about Marvin Kyler. Like, I agree with that. You shouldn’t be concerned. It’s going to be fine. I know it’s taking longer and maybe it’s not fine, but for now, we’ve seen enough. Hey, um, how would Marvin Harrison Jr. be the best receiver on the, uh, Tennessee Titans? I would say absolutely. I mean, Alec Manor has has shown flashes. Calvin Ridley is as productive as me, but Marvin Harrison Jr. isn’t with him. And then we’ll pivot to the to most important match ups in the next segment, but it’s like with Marvin specifically, the imagine the expectation not just of your pops, okay, who had equal numbers through 20 games, like almost identical. Y on top of that, the most beloved son of the state of Arizona in sports and Larry Fitzgerald, who went number three overall in 2003, it’s like there’s he’s never going to reach the the expectations that people have for him, especially in this day and age of of clickbait and it’s got to happen right now. It’s like shut the hell up and let the kid grow. He’s 23 years old. Okay, so with the Drew Petting thing, that’s I think that is more of a he him thing than a Kyler thing. The actual offense, I think, could be more of a Kyler thing. And we’re gonna use Drew Petting as the as the uh the lamb that’s gonna get slaughtered and it’s he’s gonna go and then you’re gonna bring somebody else in. But with all of it, Tyler, it’s wins. It doesn’t matter how it looks. If they get to 10 wins, we’re all coming back. We’re all having a backyard party, you know, and if it doesn’t, we don’t know what the hell is going to happen. So, I mean, that’s really and you know, and we’re going to talk about this matchup here next. like the Cardinals need to win this game just like Houston did or there’s going to be even more questions that are going to be, you know, creeping in. We’re going to talk to Tyler about the big matchups and if Jeffrey Simmons can lead a defense. Um, locked in NFL Thursday. We roll on next. This episode of Crossover Thursday is brought to you by our dearest of friends at FanDuel. I don’t know why I said it like that. NFL’s here, man. Week five. What Kyler and I used to talk Tyler and I used to talk about is appreciate football. After this week, it’ll be over a quarter of the way done. So, you’re do yourself a favor. If you’re a new customer and you want to join in FanDuel, you can bet just five bucks. Get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. New customer, sign up, pick a bet, put down five bucks. If it hits, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Cardinals, as of recording this show, are eight and a half point favorites. I think that’s with a team that’s only scored 20 points. I don’t know how I feel about that balloon line, even if they’re at home. Um, but if you do, go to FanDuel, new customer, sign up, put five bucks down if you win, you get $300 in bonus bets. So, what are you waiting for? Visit FanDuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Today’s episode of Crossover Thursday is also brought to you by Mazda. Mazda preps cars for those who do more than simply move. They deliver confidence with every ride. with more IHS top safety picks awards than anybody else as of last month. So, I mean, the proof is in the pudding there. From footwork to breath work, athletes sweat all the details, and Mazda brings the same attention to how we craft every model. With all-wheel drive standard and every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence throughout almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every mo uh every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved. Tyler Roland locked on Titans at tic tac titans on Twitter and follow me at Clancy’s corner. Um, dude, I feel like we’ve been talking about the same problems with each organization. And it doesn’t really like for for the Titans normally it’s a quarterback or a head coach the the rebirth but it’s the Derrick Henry rebirth for Tennessee obviously and it’s like he was their identity for so long and I know that that’s a very generic way. I mean I don’t cover the Titans but it seems like true though he was the the cheat code. Okay, you only have AJ Brown. Cool. Let’s give the ball to Derrick Henry 450 times. It’ll be fine. you know, like uh there’s actually um on the Cardinal squad show, uh J Douglas was the right guard for Tennessee. So, we’ve talked a lot about Derrick Henry and the Cardinals run game specifically. It’s like, okay, it’s an anchor until it’s not. And that’s the biggest I’m going to go with the most important match up here. It’s Kyler Murray versus the Tennessee Titans secondary. There’s going to be no James Connor. There’s going to be no uh Trey Benson for at least four games. It could be a much worse situation than putting the ball in Kyler Murray’s hand and make him throw the ball 40 times, you know, and I get push back from this because he doesn’t take chances. It’s a lot of dink and dunk. I don’t know if it’s if it’s uh Drew Petting. I don’t know if it’s Kyler Murray. It’s probably a mixture of the two. I want to see it rip. Throw the ball 40 times. If you if you throw an interception and you try to force a ball in that could be a huge play, I’m not going to eat your lunch for that. go win football games and not have the defense hold players enough to where you can only score 20 points and win a game. And this is the perfect time to do. Yeah, it seems like uh the Cardinals on offense play not to lose. Like they’re just trying not to make the big mistake. And I’m sorry, but that’s ultimately scared money don’t make none. And the Titans offense is having a similar problem. But what I would say is I agree Kyler Murray and how he can take advantage of the Titans defense, but I’m not looking at the air. I’m looking at the ground. Because if you remember in this last matchup, I know it’s totally different coaching staffs, totally different talent and all that, but Kyler Murray was able to abuse the Titans with his mobility. And the Titans, even under the new regime, especially last year, they really, really struggled with the mobility of quarterbacks. And they say strange things when they play mobile. Last year, Ardan Key was in the locker room saying, “We’re not worried about mobility.” When they played Drake May and it’s like, you know, why do you think Drake May isn’t mobile? And then Drake May runs around for 18 seconds and gets a two-point conversion to tie the game and put it in overtime last year. And it’s like, why are the coaches or these players going rogue and saying not to worry? Like there is no doubt you got to worry about Kyler’s mobility and the Titans pass rush is absolutely terrible. They have four sacks on the year. They are getting no pressure on quarterbacks whatsoever. Ardan Keys fallen off a cliff with his pressure rate. They have a second round rookie in Femi Dejio who is a converted linebacker and truly has no pass rush moves whatsoever right now. Draymond Jones has played at a practice squad level when it comes to pass rush. All they have is Jeffrey Simmons. And when you only have to worry about one guy in the pass rush, you could double team him. You could triple team him. You could just run away from him. You know, Jeffrey Simmons is still a 300lb guy. He ain’t going to catch Kyler Murray. So, I’m really worried matchupwise about Kyler Murray’s playmaking cuz even if Ping isn’t scheming people open, even if the Cardinals don’t have a lot of speed at wide receiver to to burn people, if Kyler Murray extends plays, that’s going to make it hard for the Titans to cover that long. And you’re right, the secondary is having trouble as it is against guys. If you let Kyler Murray run around and use his legs and turn it into sandlot, there’s no way the Titans defense is going to prevent big plays and prevent sustained drives. So, I’m really worried about the Titans issues against mobile quarterbacks and Kyler Murray being one of the best mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. So, you’re right on that matchup, but I think it’s it’s twofold. It’s not just Kyler Murray in the air against a secondary. It’s Kyler Murray using his legs and his mobility to outsmart and outwit the Titans as well. Yeah, it’s, you know, it’s uh oh, such a mixed emotion from week one in 2021. Like, I know that it was I know it’s a long time ago. I know Chandler Jones, I know the team was completely different, but it’s like the the Cardinals weren’t nearly as good and the Tennessee weren’t nearly as bad as what we saw. And I think it’s kind of the same like the Titans have been able to have a higher floor regardless of quarterback. I know they’ve lost a lot of games, but there’s so much uncertainty around the organization with the Cardinals. Moving into Sunday, the defense is now the true calling card after the entire offseason after, you know, the draft and the free injury. Get Will Johnson back. Max Mountain is healthy. They dodged a massive bullet there. Obviously, Garrett Williams and I are potentially able to return, but like this is uh and you and I, this is an old adage from us, like the blitz all night. Remember the Titans um mantra? Nick Rollis is going to make a scene out of Sunday. And it’s not so much as it’s not because it’s the Titans. It’s because the avatar that is where in development this Titans team is. Nick Ross the calling card for this team is the defense. They will bring the house. They will do it often. They may be able to rush four and get home. Like this defense is primed to absolutely explode on a team that they can explode on. And I think that that’s kind of what’s going to happen. And I feel bad for Cam Ward. I know that at least he can extend plays. You know, you feel bad for the kid. I hope he doesn’t throw the ball across his body across the field because it ain’t going to work in this secondary. You know, it’s worked twice. His first, what was it? It was his first ever touchdown to I man, right? Yeah. Everyone says it’s not going to work, Alex. And then it does. You know what I mean? So, eventually it’ll get into that. Let’s force him into that, you know, get up get him off his timing, get him off his rocker. And, you know, this is something the Cardinal defense really needs to just iron home and then have the offense hopefully be opportunistic after um hopeful turnovers that are forced takeaways. And um I just hope this is super lopsided because the Cardinals need it. They need even the wins for the Cardinals have not left you with a great taste in your mouth. They’ve barely survived against bad teams and held them off at the very end when they should have been able to close things out. I watch a lot of your content obviously while I’m prepping for locked on NFL and that’s been, you know, the common complaint is the Cardinals just can’t close things out here. But you’re right, that is where I was going with my next matchup and it’s not necessarily the blitz because I I am very concerned about the blitz. Teams are just bringing a ton of pressure on Cam Ward because Brian Callahan isn’t able to give him the answers. He doesn’t have the answers to the pressure that’s coming. And when I’m watching tape on the Indianapolis Colts and Daniel Jones has every answer to every question preloaded by Shane Stiken and he knows exactly where to go with the ball and it’s an open receiver or a guy that can catch the ball and run and then Cam Ward has no answers whatsoever. Here’s a problem that I’ve been talking about all week. The Titans do this thing where they’re worried about their offensive line. So, they leave seven guys in. They leave the tight end and the back end to block. Well, now you only got three guys against seven guys in the in the defensive secondary and nobody’s open and you don’t even have a check down once the pressure gets there. Zooming in within the pass rush versus the Titans pass protection. Josh Schwe, a guy who a lot of Titans fans wanted the Titans to go and sign. He has been the best pass rusher for the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals pass rush hasn’t had a lot of production either, like in the raw totality of it, but Sweat has. And the Titans offensive tackles have been a problem for a long time. Dan Moore, who they signed in free agency, has played a little bit better in recent weeks, but they’ve been without second-year player JC Laam, who was a first round pick, top 10 pick, and Laam could potentially come back this week. If Laam and Moore are both finally out there together, we haven’t seen it since week one, then the Titans, I think, have a better chance than normal to give Cam Ward some time. But against the Blitz, if the Titans have to leave a bunch of guys in and he doesn’t have checkdowns now, it’s just an they’re asking Cam Ward to play quarterback on max difficulty is what I keep saying. Like it’s as difficult for him as anybody. There’s no answers with the leaving guys in. So it if the Titans can get their tackles back and have at least a chance against Josh Schwe in this pass rush, then they give Cam Ward a chance to be the player that we all know he is. But if the Cardinals come out and blitz, blitz, blitz, and the Titans don’t have the answers for it and Sweat can beat Dan Moore one-on-one, like again, Cam Ward’s going to have no chance. He’s going to start to try to force things again and make plays that aren’t there. And then you get the cross body throws. You get the stuff with a very talented Cardinal secondary that can take advantage more than maybe some other teams they’ve played this year. Yeah, and that’s really well said. You know, the only thing the only thing the Titans have going for them above all else is this is the NFL. Anything happens, crazy things happens. It doesn’t matter. There’s no rhyme or reason to the NFL. Look at what Look at the banana sandwich Looney Tunes we’ve experienced this year. Like, there’s no rhyme or reason to the NFL. No, it will level up. Browns beating the Packers. Giants beating the Chargers. Like, craziness. The Browns beating the Packers made my brain melt. like that they were up 10 nothing with a minute and 59 seconds left and you lose. It’s like that is the perfect case especially with the Packers coming off that huge win with their defense looked amazing and then that I don’t care that it’s in Cleveland. So I mean that we’re going to do our we’ll do our keys to victory here next. It’s just like this seems to be such a setup for such a lopsided Cardinals win that you can’t trust it because it’s the Cardinals. We’ll discuss it crossover Thursday. Tyler Roll locked on Titans. Clancy locked on cardinal from rap. Today’s episode of Crossover Thursday is brought to you by our friends over at uh the Game Time app. Dude, I use the Game Time app all the time. Like I know I have some copy to read. I use the Game Time app all the time. So with NFL season being back, like going to a game, there’s nothing like it. Okay, there’s nothing like it. And for me, the absolute gamecher for the game time app is the view from your seat. Um the thing that you can do where it’s like, hey, I’ve got a row and a section that I’ve never sat at before. I want to try a different viewpoint. You can click on, oh, okay, that price looks good. Click on it and there’s a panoramic view from your seat so you can see where you’ll be sitting and what the vantage point will be before you buy. It’s absolutely insane. That’s why I use Game Time. It takes the guesswork out of buying tickets. So, download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked NFL for 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code L O C K E D O N for 20 bucks off. Swipe tap ticket. Go download game time today. All right, Tyler. Um, let’s get serious down to business. Yeah, but I mean it’s cautious optimism. I mean, the Cardinal have lost so many players. Um, and that’s not a new thing. Um, this is a game they should 100% win. This is not false bravado. This is the Cardinal have done incremental things to make their roster better. So, rationally speaking, they should win by two touchdowns plus. Like, that’s the rational thought process towards this, but it’s the NFL. Rookie quarterbacks are unpredictable, especially ones who need to do things on their own because the coaching is seemingly non-existent. And the Cardinals haven’t scored a lot of points. So, give me your give me a key to victory. We’ll go back and forth. Okay. To me, the key to victory for the Titans is to run the football. They have to find a way to run the football. Um, I know I know the Cardinals are a good defense, but I think there is some susceptibility there. I thought the Seahawks had a ton of success on the ground against the Cardinals. So, I think that the Titans have to find a way to run the football. And I’m gonna keep saying this because the passing game is so bad for the Titans right now. it’s so out of sorts and out of whack that the only way the Titans can have success on offense is to bludgeon them with the run game and then play action off of that. Those are the only things that are working. The standard drop back pass, the quick passing game, the screen game, all of it terrible. The Cardinals again have been pretty good against the run. Only 107 yards in week one, 49 in week two. really shut down the Panthers run game there. 73 against a really good San Francisco run offense and then 155 last week. So, it’s like who are the real Arizona Cardinals in run defense? I think if the Titans don’t go 100, 110, 120 rushing yards, they’re going to have no chance because it’s not only just them having success on offense running. The problem with the Titans defense is like going into quarter three going into quarter four against the Texans, it was six to nothing. The Titans had the Titans defense had totally eradicated the Texans offense, but the Titans time of possession was 21 minutes and change to 38 minutes and change for the Texans. The Titans defense continues to fall apart in the fourth quarter because they are tired, they’re gassed, they’ve been on the field too long. The Titans offense can’t sustain drives. So, to me, it’s not just about the offense, it’s the domino effect of running the ball. You run the ball. You sustain drives. You impose your physicality on their defense. You play action off of it. You keep your defense off the field and rested so that they can be at their best. If the Titans don’t run the football in this one and they get held to 4973 like we saw in the middle games for the Cardinals, then they are in trouble. But if the Titans can get 150, you know, 120 on the ground, Taj Spears will be back in this game and he’s a little more explosive than Tony Pard is just jitterbug type guy. The Titans have to find a way to get there and I’m optimistic that they’ll be able to do that because the one thing that I can say the Titans have done pretty well on offense this year is run the football. Like they they’ve had some good runs. They’ve been able to to run the football a little bit last week. They ran the ball for a 10 yard gain. They ran the ball for a 15 yard game, back-to-back plays, and then they ran a flea flicker and got sacked and it’s second and 16 and it drives over and you miss a field goal and everything’s, you know, in the in the gutter once again, as I like to say, reporting live from the gutter. Uh, but yeah, if they don’t run the football, they’re absolutely screwed. So, to me, of all the keys to victory, that’s the number one for the Titans. Yeah. And you’re having conversations that I was having two years ago. It’s like the best defense the Cardinals could have is their run game. That’s that’s the line I said. That’s the be the best defense it allows. But like to your point with the defense being gassed, this Arizona Cardinals team has forced this defense to be on the field far more than they should be. Now when they were up 273 against Carolina with like 10 minutes left in the third, the defense was on the field a lot because the Cardinals were running the clock out and it it’s just a terrible way to do things. Injuries happened after that. Um so it’s not really And then with San Francisco, same thing. you put a lot of weight on this defense and they’re human beings. Spoiler alert, these people are humans and they get tired. I don’t care how uh how how fast their 40 time is and how much they work out and how much, you know, cardio they do, they get tired. You know, they’re wearing pads. It’s hot on the field. Um so with the Cardinals, the key to victory is the offense being awake when the game starts. Quick start. Yeah. Like actually, and it’s not even like, hey, score double digits in the first half. It’s, hey, be awake. just know that the football game has started and I don’t like Kyler and Kyler Murray had an interesting thing to say. It was an indirect I took it as an indirect jab to Drew Petting after the game against Seattle Thursday night. He was like the offense felt like it was loading for three quarters. It’s like we got to do it faster. So, expect more fireworks early. Expect more shots to be taken. And the best part, if there’s one good thing about somebody getting injured, which there isn’t any, but if if James Connor or Trey Benson, it’s going to force the issue. It’s gonna force the offense to go. It’s gonna force the issue. And that’s something that could be a blessing in disguise. I mean, like, you never want to lose James Connor. Obviously, you don’t want to lose Trey Benson ever either. But it’s like Kyler Murray is well equipped to handle it. He just needs to be given the reigns just like, “Okay, go do whatever you want. Figure it out.” And I think this is a perfect time to have a couple uh test paint strokes before you go to Indie and then welcome Green Bay in weeks sixes and se and seven. So, um, yeah, it’s it’s the offense to go and then really really have the defense just hammer home two, three takeaways. Show the prowess of the defense and make this a no doubter. Have Kyler Murray sitting the pine in the fourth quarter. That’s the goal. Victory formation, Kyler Murray sitting down, Kobe Brassette starting the fourth quarter. That makes a ton of sense. And I think with that, the Cardinals should go up tempo early. The Titans defense played a ton last week. back-to-back road games, you want to wear them out so that you know, you know that the Titans play bad in fourth quarters. If you can get a fast start and you could play with tempo and make Kyler Murray feel comfortable and get some dump offs to running backs and the Titans like to change personnel. They like to rotate their personnel. They rotate safeties. They rotate linemen. They rotate linebacker. They’re rotating all the time. You prevent them from doing that. You wear them out early so that they’re more tired at the end after the Titans offense inevitably can’t stay on the field and sustain drives. I think that’s key. And likewise for the Titans, I think starting fast is a key for both teams because the Cardinals are pissed off about how slow their offense has started. So that erases those negative feelings if you get on the board early. And then for the Titans, dude, you know how this goes. They’re 0 and4. They’re not happy. And if you get out and the Cardinals are up 10 to nothing early, all those negative feelings, it becomes a compound problem. It’s not just we’re down 10 to nothing. We can bounce back. It feels like you’re down 100 to nothing from the previous weeks that you’ve lost. So, if the Cardinals get out early and let them know like you guys suck. We’re going to beat you. You know what I mean? Not only will that physically wear down the Titans early, but it’ll wear down their spirit. And I think this is a team that lacks leadership from the head coach and in the locker room as well. The number one leader in my opinion is Cam Ward. That’s a rookie. how much can he really look a guy in the eye and say, “Hey, we’ve gotten out of this before because they haven’t gotten out of this before.” So, I think it it more than the stamina of the Titans, you could crush their spirit early and they can’t rebound from that. So, a fast start, whether it’s the Titans or the Cardinals, whoever gets that fast start, I think there if the Titans get a fast start, I think there’s a good chance they can pull an upset here. But if they don’t get a fast start and the Cardinals start fast, it’s going to be over by halftime. If the Cardinals don’t win this game and don’t win it convincingly, it’s gonna be like a loss. Yes, that’s really what it comes like. And this this is again, this isn’t bravado. This is two organizations that are in completely different parts of their journey. And this is where the Cardinals were in 2023 in some respects. And it’s something that the Arizona Cardinals must take advantage of. It could rewrite rewrite the ship. And they absolutely need I hate when people say um a get right game, even though I used that in a short earlier this week. This is a got to have it game. It’s a got to have it game where it’s the difference is you’re supposed to win. The got to have it is more like you got to have it for morale. You got to have it for the win loss column. You got to have it to stay up with the NFC West. And you got to have it because you go to Indie which is no longer a cupcake. And you got to come home and play Green Bay who has one of the best defenses in the NFL and then you get into your buy. So, um it’ll be fascinating to see. We don’t do predictions. Tyler will do his. I know he does his on Fridays. Um a loss. I’m predicting a loss. Yeah. And I’m gonna say the Cardinals will score at least one more point than the Titans. And we’ll do that. That’s what we’re gonna do. Follow him at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter. Uh follow me at Clancy’s Corner. Check us out YouTube. Free wherever you get your podcast. We will talk to you on our respective podcasts tomorrow.

The Tennessee Titans head to the desert to take on the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5 and at this time it looks like they are the worst team in the NFL. After three straight losses of 14 points or more, it is hard to argue against it and they will need a miracle to get their first win of the season. To have a chance, the Titans offensive line must hold up against Josh Sweat, the Cardinals best pass rusher and a player the Titans should have considered in free agency. Both teams in this matchup have had trouble being consistent, so getting out to a fast start will be a key for both squads.

Tennessee Titans WORST TEAM IN NFL, Offensive Line MUST SWEAT & Fast Start vs. Cardinals is NEEDED
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3332GMOh4y5PX3q9NFybw

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