The OTP | Covering Four Downs from Week 1

do it. First down, Rhett, Brian, your play that turned the game in the titans thirty eight to thirteen loss to Arizona. Okay, so you have Kevin Byard who's just picked off Kyler Murray. Couple plays later, Ryan Tannehill hits A J. Brown for a thirteen yard touchdown and it's an eleven point game at that point. Very next play, when it's the Arizona Cardinals possession, it's twelve fifty five left in the third quarter. Rodney huts in their center

fumbles the ball. Kyler Murray recovers that ball at the Arizona twenty. He passes to Rondel Moore, who gets scoots up the yard up there for twenty nine yards. It's an explosive play. So that ends at the Tennessee forty six. A few plays later, it's Kyler Murray to Christian Kirk and all of a sudden, the game's busted back open. That's the play to me that changed everything. All right, here's mine and it will be obvious to mention Chandler Jones forcing the fumball on Ryan Tannehill. And that, of

course is very early in the ball game. The play snapped with eight thirty six to go in the first quarter, Titans second and eleven at their own nineteen. Ryan Tannehill is sacked by Jones at the ten from minus nine. The ball rolls free. Corey Peters recovers, looks like he goes into the end zone for the touchdown, but upon further review, the league rules that he was down at the half yard line. The Chandler Jones play to me

is not the play that turned the game. The play that turned the game is third down and here's why. On first down and goal at the one inch line, Darrell Daniels the tight end false starts, so the balls move back to near the six yard line. Kyler Murray incomplete to Green, Kyler Murray incomplete to Harris, and so now it's third down and goal at the five. The Titans get excellent pressure on Kyler Murray. Landry is all

over him. He throws the ball in the back of the end zone, and there's the Titan killer himself, DeAndre Hopkins makes the catch somehow clearly gets two feet down. It's a touchdown. If you force a field goal there, it's six's nothing. Even after the FuMB it's sixs nothing. Instead, Murray beats you with a great play to again Hopkins, who I wish would just go away. I don't ever want to see. That makes all of us he just he's a Titans killer. I think you can make a

case for both of these things. I certainly think that's a place I picked. The play. I picked because the Titans were trying to climb back into it. But they had a chance, and they had eleven point separation. Right there after they got a very timely turnover in a very Kevin Byard fashion, they end up making it count with a touchdown, and they close the gap a little bit, and then here we go with the Kyler Murray Show. Okay, because the stadium's rocking. Yes, plenty of time in the

third quarter. If you get a three and out at that point, you can go back to running the ball. I let you go first in that right. Look what I originally wrote down as my play, screamed to Rode more So I had to change on the fly based on what you said. My apologies, but that also lets me know I was correct at some point. It was a huge point. I mean, it just it was. That

was a pivotal play. Well, I do think the second one, in case you picked mine, I had written down the touchdown after the forced fumble, because again I think if you get off the field right there, they're at your half yard line they had originally had a touchdown which was overheld. If it's a field goal right there, it's six to nothing and you're saying, okay, we can reset. Instead it's ten to nothing, and it just feels different. And DeAndre Hopkins does his best Spider Man impression again

and then just tap tap back there. And I mean he was millahars away from being out of bounds in the back of the end zone, but yet he finds the place to put both tap tap down. All right, so first down is complete, Let's go to second down. Your stat that tells the story of the day, and here's mine. I'm gonna go first on this one, so you don't take mine. Twenty two rushing attempts for the Titans.

Twenty two rushing attempts. I think if you picked up the game book that I have in my hands right now, and you looked at the Titans and you saw twenty two rushing attempts, ninety nine out of one hundred times, the Titans lose because they want to run the ball more than twenty two times. Now the one time, maybe you have twenty two carries for two hundred and fifty

yards because Derrick Henry broke two long runs. Maybe that's the case, but on average, a team total of twenty two carries does not get it done for the Tennessee Titans offense. Your stat that tells the story Yours is the yards within the yards. Mine is similar, but more

out in the open. And that is when you look at the game book that you have in your hand that also have here, there's a sheet at the last part of it there that gives the ten longest plays for each team, and it goes to what coach Mack preached all week last week leading to this one, is you can't give up explosive plays for everyone listening. For the ot people listening, that is an offensive play that

you're defense gives up of twenty yards or greater. Well, six of their ten longest plays for the Arizona Cardinals were explosive plays. One was a touchdown and then several others set up other touchdowns. That's something that has to change, all right. So here's another one that was my runner up. Cardinals were seven of thirteen on third down. I mean, let's we know last year the Titans gave up fifty two percent third down conversions. Seven out of thirteen is

not good enough. You've got to get off the field. Especially with a quarterback like Kyler Murray. You can't give him extra chances. This week against Russell Wilson, you can't give him extra chances. The Titans have to continue to improve on third down. It just has to happen, all right. So those are the stats that tell the story. Third down your area that the Titans must get fixed. And I'm telling you right now you have to pick one coming off this game. There may be multiple points. You

have to pick one. What's yours? When you used to Amy Wells answering two or three ways, so I get six way. Sure, Sure, I'm gonna go with the offensive line. The continuity there is a little bit of a thing. And I say that with you know, Taylor to one comes back from an acl uh. You just got your starting center and Ben Jones you're starting right guard and Nate Davis back off the COVID nineteen reserve list. The first full day you can practice on Wednesday leading into

a game week. I think that was a factor there. Um David Questenberry at right tackle, and I'm not, you know, poking anything at him in this It's just there's a lot of things there that are unsettled that you know how it is with an offensive line. They're one of the tightest knit groups in a in a unit, in a locker room, and I just felt like they were discombobulated yesterday. That's something that has to improve as a

unit going forward. I agree. And I said this to someone from the Cardinals who's been a friend of mine for over twenty years. Before the game, he said, what are you worried about today, I said, I'm worried about the offensive line, and the reason is Taita Lewe hasn't practiced a lot. Roger Saffold is thirty three years old. He's the one who's practiced the most, but he's thirty three years old and he hasn't worked a lot. With Lawan,

he took some days off as well. Ben Jones misstime with injury and COVID and he's over thirty years old. Nate Davis misstime with injury and COVID, and Quescent Berry hasn't played much right tackle right That group has not been together for all of the talk during the course of the two weeks leading up about the big four not having worked together Jones and Brown and Tannehill and Henry. I worried more about the offensive line just from a

continuity standpoint. And you'll remember it was two years ago that it took Lewan and Saffled until after the first half of the season until they got in sync, and then down the stretch they were great. I think that's a position where you have to gel and I think them having a game under their belt, them having a tape to look at in that way, them having the week to get prepared together again. I think that's going to help them a lot, and it'll need to against

this defense, This Seattle defense. I mean, they bring people from everywhere. They're doing all kinds of crazy stuff. What are you gonna do with Jamal Adams who led their team in quarterback sacks slash set a record for a defensive back with nine and a half. Right, Yeah, I mean this is a guy who is he comes out of Note got the money because he can do it. He can do it, he can make the big plays I think. I think the offensive line is a good point.

I think they're very capable. Yeah, they do it. It's just one of those weird things. And I go back to those guys. They have meals together, they hang out together, they work out together, but they need these extra things to all come together. And when they do, that's that's when the Derek Henry large rushing performance has happened. You get more than twenty two carries in a ball game. There are all these great byproducts or dividends out of this.

If everything is going right with them as unit in the first place. I think mine for the Titans is the area that they have to get fixed, stays with third down defense, and I think it will get better. I think Elijah Molden, having had a game under his belt, I think will help him greatly. I like the way he competed. I thought he got after it. I think he played forty one snaps. I thought he got after it. He didn't look scared, he challenged. You're gonna see some

good wide receivers again this week. Lockett is something else. DK Medcalf is the beast of beasts. Now, I'll tell you in watching the tape of Seattle this morning, I'm really impressed with this. Will Disley. Yeah, the tight end. Tight end is a real nice player, got a few different options and weapons that they use. The rook Eskridge from Western Michigan is a player who's got a little, you know, a little shaken, a little wiggle in his game.

Chris Carson can run it. Chris Carson can run it, and they can throw it out of the backfield and they're not scared to do that. So again, I will go back to third down defense as the area where the Titans have to continue to make improvement. All right, fourth down? One thing that you noticed and that you want to share on the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Turned to the folks who've been in the

game since nineteen forty seven. Farm Bureau Health Plans offers the great healthcare coverage you need with a price tag you can afford. My observation was the passionate plea by Derreck Henry, who recently elected captain on offense, trying to light a fire on the sidelines and being very passionate into the point of being angry in the heat of the moment because you know things were not going their way. In fact, I went back and pulled the quotes from

his post games stuff yesday. Yeah, just telling that, you know, we gotta play better. Looking lack of daisical, just walking around not playing how we play, not playing up to the standard we all talk about that we try to do each and every day what Coach Rabel talks about, and just reminds us that we've got to pick it up, got to play better. Those guys we're hitting on all cylinders speaking about Arizona on the other side of the field.

So just trying to pick these guys up and trying to be the best leader I can and get things going. I noticed that, and just I know that doesn't mean a hill of beans after a thirty eight to thirteen loss, but those are the things that you notice. Even coach Rabel said it to us in postgame on Titan's radio, You're going to see who was active and aggressive and who maybe was a little lack of daysical. Well, the fact of the matter is it's week one, and week

one is often a tease in the NFL. It oftentimes doesn't tell the story because teams have had the entire offseason to get ready for this game. Now they have a week to get ready for the next game. So you start to get into a flow. And the thing that you have to take from this is you've got to find a way to dig out and just remember you can't let this happen again. Now. The Cardinals were

sort of in a better position. They've had less injuries in camp, they've been steadier, They were very confident coming in that they could win. Their people were very surprised they won like this, But you know, their best players have been in camp and available and played, and guess what, they went out and played to the level that they

expected to play. The Titans have been a little different boat, but they didn't play well and they know this week they've got to show a very different type of effort. It's going to be a long week for everybody who wears two toned blue. I'm not telling the ot people anything they don't know. You know, it's a kick in

the mouth for you. It's incredible disappointing. Everybody is incredibly disappointed in what happened, because you know, you've got the high hopes and you're excited, and there's a big crowd and we're here and it's a beautiful day, and then it is an absolute stinker's just no two ways about it. But you have to put it in the perspective that it's one of seventeen and you've got to get it back somewhere down the line, and you've got to you've

got to look like you. And that's what the Titans have to figure out during the course of this week, when all they're gonna hear all week long is negative. Particularly going to Seattle. Nobody is going to pick them, nobody, everybody is gonna diss them. So fine, you know, it's it's gonna be all about the sixty nine players on that roster, counting the practice squad, the coaches and everybody at St. Thomas Sports Park. And I don't think Mike Vrabel necessarily minds that. I think he'll be he and

John Robinson will be just fine with that. It's all about us and we've got to take care of us. The organization tends to embrace that role when things like this happen anyway, So yeah, I agree with what you're saying. You know, it's this is where the twenty four hour rule, where you celebrate a win or get rid of a loss and purge it out of the system, whether you can really do that, and coach Frabel's really good at at getting those things going organizationally, that's where this comes

into play. You diagnose the film today, you get the bad taste out of your mouth, you get back on the practice field, and you get to work. So my thing that I noticed, and I wanted to mention, I was coming with a positive two because you kind of came with a positive, I'm coming with a positive as well. And that positive was on third and ten at the Arizona eleven in the second quarter, Ryan Tannehill's passed to Nick Westbrook Aquina to get down to the one inch line.

First of all, you convert third and ten. Yeah, you got first and goal, that basically the half yard line because of his effort. And that is a tough catch. You're gonna get hit. That's making a play when you absolutely had to have it. That's giving your team a chance. I think the Westbrook Akenas of the world are going to continue to take bigger roles because I think there's

something about that guy Ritt. I think that when I watch that guy in Tampa going against the Bucks, when I watch him compete against anybody, I think he's gonna be a guy that continues to develop as a football player and takes on a bigger role with this team. And I'm not just talking about this year. I do think it'll happen some this year. I think he can play.

And a guy who can make that catch in an NFL game, to me is somebody who can help you win down the line and take you to a place where it was probably gonna be three and get you to a place where it ended six. And you know this too, it may not be three because your kicking situation is right, is really really well. When I got home last night, my wife's first question was about the kicker. What is that? I said, Well, you have to understand

something for Michael Badgeley. He's never worked with Morgan Cox, He's never worked with Brett Kerr. They haven't worked with him. Man, that is a hard thing. That is a hard thing to walk into that situation. You're not used to the steps or the snap count. He flew in from the West Coast from he's a former charger who and I mean this was Jim White noticed it in practice on

Friday when Sam Ficken got hurt. I mean, this happened at twelve o'clock on Friday, and by one o'clock they're having to figure out, how are we going to get a kicker in here? Our kicker who's been really good. We feel great about our kicker finally, and and now Sam Ficken is on IR with groin injury and you're

having to bring in Michael Badgeley. And in fairness to Michael Badgeley, that is a difficult situation to be in, which means the Westbrook Akeena play is a big deal because even a thirty yard field goal at that moment isn't a given. And how destructive is it for your confidence? If you don't get points on that drive. The play Westbrook Akeena made, the play Bayard made, the two plays that Tannehill and Brown made, those are the types of plays that the Titans have to have more of to win.

Those were the plays that gave them a chance at certain moments even to climb back in. But you know, the fact the matter is, if you stop and think about the plays that Kyler Murray made, that DeAndre Hopkins made, that Chandler Jones obviously made, that Christian Kirk made with the two catches that he made for touchdowns, Arizona made it happen. Man, They won the one on one battle.

They absolutely won. If the Titans are gonna win in Seattle, knowing they're going against a guy Russell Wilson who's gonna make four or five of those plays, we know he is, the Titans have to have more of the Westbrook aquina, A J. Brown, Kevin Byard type, Jeffrey Simmons type plays

and the Westbrook aquina. I'm glad you brought that as an example in this with fourth down question, because quite frankly, this is what every football team strives for and what they need is that fringe guy who makes an unexpected play when his numbers called, and that's exactly what Westbrook Akina did yesterday. I think he's gonna do it. And he's a big physical receiver, physical receiver, he sure is. All right. We want to mention something else before this

edition of the OTP leaves us. And you've probably heard this either on Titans Radio or the team, but this Thursday night at Nissan Stadium, the Tennessee Titans are allowing Waverley Central High School, better known as the Waverley Tigers, to play host Region six three a rival white House, the White House Blue Devils. Seven o'clock kickoff, and it

is gonna be really exciting. Think about those boys are gonna play on an NFL field, yes on a Thursday night, And if you're a Titans fan, I'm playing on one of those teams, that's like double whammy. It's really good. It's fantastic. Titans Radio is going to broadcast the game on our flagship station one oh four to five the Zone. We talked about it as a group and it had been thrown out, would you guys like to do it?

Everybody on our team said, we're in. So it's Rhetts and me and Coach Mack and Amy Wells and Brad Willis and Philip Noel and Lucas Panzeca and our entire team at the studio, everybody is pitching in. I want to thank Cumulus Nashville for letting us broadcast from six to ten, because I think this is really going to be a special night. It's special for us to get

to do it. The biggest reason we're doing it is not just because we love high school football, which we do, and not just because the games at Nissan Stadium, which is cool. But we're trying to call attention to how much help our friends in Humphries County, Waverley, McEwan, Hurricane Mills, how much help they need. They need millions of dollars worth of help. The rains on August the twenty first absolutely decimated that community. They are our friends, they are

our neighbors. Rhet and I have both been there on caravans. We have a radio station there, We have friends there. These are good folks who need our help. And so what we're asking you to do to support Waverley, and what we're trying to call attention to this week is donate money to the United Way of Humphries County via this u r L and that is Tennessee Titans dot com slash donate to Waverley. Tennessee Titans dot com slash

donate to Waverley. That money will go to the United Way of Humphreys County and help the people who need that help the most. So this is one of these instances the Titans have been supporting Waverley football. We got them new equipment, we're letting them use the stadium. But we want to help the whole community and we're hoping that this football game calls attention to how much help this community actually needs. Again, Tennessee Titans dot com slash

donate to Waverley. And it's important for multitude of reasons. You highlighted all of them. But in a community that has decimated is the right word. Because we're talking about the Weather Service in Tennessee. It's set and broke by a long stretch the precipitation in a single twenty four hour day. This happened in a period of five or six hours, seventeen inches of rain in a lot of places, no place for water to go because it's just unimaginable

and the loss of life, the loss of property. But the bright spite out of all of this is the Waverley Tigers. They lost their field, they lost their field house, they lost their gear. They're gonna play at an NFL stadium on Thursday night. They're gonna play in front of people who are gonna come watch them, and they're gonna play an important game against white House. But this team, the Waverley Tigers, despite all this, is three and ozero

and they're having a great season. White House is three and one, yes, and it's a heck of a matchup. White House has a great history, and this is just one of those instances where high school football shines a light on community. And I always, I will always believe, as hokey and as corny as that is, I will always believe that is the best thing about high school football. High school football is the purest form of the sport. Yeah,

it Friday nights. There's a reason that it happens first, It sets up before you watch college on Saturday and before you go to a Titans game on Monday. It's the purest form of this thing. But yeah, we want for one night for Titans Radio to become Tigers Radio as Mike Keith, Dave McInnis and our crew will call this game, the Waverley Tigers against the white House Blue

Devils Thursday night this week at Nissan Stadium. It will be a great, great night and a lot of fun, but for an unbebelievably just devastated community for a great cause in this and we hope that you will join us in trying to help our friends and neighbors in Humphreys County. We're on the air on one oh four five the Zone at six with Tigers countdown. Yes, but again and once the game starts, we'll be calling this right down the middle. We'll be for White House as

much as we'll be for Waverley. We'll be rooting for all the boys to have a great night and to have great memories of this experience. We're neutral in terms of the game, in terms of what we're trying to do. However, we're helping Waverley and Humphrey County every way that we can. Again, Tennessee Titans dot Com slash donate to Waverley. Right, Brian, good four downs today. I like it. I like this format.

This is good and thank you for allowing me to be a part of the Official Titans Podcast next week, hopefully four downs after a win in Seattle, it would be much better. I got faith that this ball club is gonna look a little different at Looming Field on Sunday again. The airtime on Titans Radio next Sunday is two thirty Central. Kickoff is three twenty five. Brett Brian, I'm Mike Key. Thanks for listening to the O t people. Welcome to the Big Show where the everybody knows it's

our house. Making three. Greatness is a bow. We got sighting buter running through a ba