October 31, 2023 • 15 mins
Matt and Tom break down the Tennessee Titans who come to ltown on a short week for Thursday Night Football
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got some work to do. This is the Advanced
Scout with Tom Opperman and Mac Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Tennessee Titans beat the Falcons last week to improve to
three and four, while the Steelers fell to four and
three at the hands of Jacksonville. The good new Steelers fans,
the Titans. Titans are winless on the road this season,
but your Steelers are five hundred at Accurst Off the
two and two record. Titans have been outscored by just
eight points in twenty twenty three minus eight point differential
Pittsburgh as a minus thirty four point differential, Matt, this
(00:30):
might be some good news for people like you and
me who work the game and obviously have to work
hours after the games. It's an eight to fifteen game.
Titans games have the fewest snaps per game of any
games in the NFL this year, So maybe we'll get
through this thing in like two and a half hours.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Play fast. You know. The defense is kind of stingy,
so yeah, usually things go pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
You just said a lot of running and the defensive stingy.
Is this the same Titans team that we've seen for
the past four or five years on a lesser version
lesser skilled.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, I actually think there are a lot like the
Jags a week ago defensively, but the Miller lite version,
you know, like, they don't take the ball away. They
force you to throw a lot. They're pretty good up front,
they're physical, but they don't take the ball away, and
they're not as dynamic, and their offenses doesn't have Trevor
Lawrence and all those sources. You know.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, Tennessee's offense is coming off of a season high
twenty eight points last week in Will Levis's debut. Good
news about that, though, as Mike Tomlin is twenty two
and five against rookie quarterbacks in his career, which is
just remarkable. It is the punters could be busy in
this one though. Yeah, right, in terms of turning sets
of downs into a new set of downs. The Steelers
offenses thirtyth out of thirty two teams in Tennessee is
(01:38):
twenty six out of thirty two teams, So make sure
the legs are loucid.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
There you go, exactly. There's some trends here.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Looking at the series history with these two. This rivalry
obviously goes back to nineteen seventy when they were the
Houston Oilers.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Also kind of like Jacksonville former division. That's kind of
a rivalry, kind of not.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You know, the Steelers and the Tennessee team faced off
four times, the Oilers three and one in Houston's favor
when they were Houston back then during the nineteen ninety
seven nineteen niney eight sies nine nine was the first
time Pittsburgh faced this franchise as the Tennessee Titans. These
franchises were division rivals in the old AFC Central from
when the oil from when the Titans entered the league
through the two thousand and one season. The Houston Texans
(02:16):
entered the league in two thousand and two, and then
of course there was the divisional re alignment. Now we
got four teams, four divisions, all happy overall.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It's a little confusing though. They're like the Houston Oilers
become the Tennessee Oilers Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I know you love those Houston Oilers uniforms the Titans
war last. Yeah, they're right, But isn't that a little weird,
like little or not? The Houston there's a team in Houston,
maybe they should be wearing the throwback uniforms.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So Dale Lawley, who I host to drive with. Of course,
he's like, I've seen this team in like four or
five different home stadiums.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Overall, Steelers lead this series forty eight to thirty two.
There have only been four playoff matchups between the organizations,
the Steelers only losing one of those through the nineteen
eighty six season. Pittsburgh and Houston at thirty five times,
with the Steelers winning twenty six thirty five. The Steelers
are also on a four game winning streak against Tennessee,
most recently winning nineteen to thirteen in Pittsburgh back in
twenty twenty one. Start things off with Tennessee's offense. It's
(03:11):
an offense that averaged just five point two yards per place.
There defense gives up five point six yards per play.
It's twenty fourth and total yards thirteenth in rushing yards
about one hundred and fifteen yards on the ground per game.
It's dreadful in passing. They're twenty ninth in the league,
one hundred and eighty yards per game, eighteen points per game,
is twenty third, and eight giveaways on the season. Only
(03:31):
two of them have been fumbles, however, so yeah, it's
a lot of they've trouble passing the football for the
Titans so far.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, and they have a different quarterback. That's what I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I mean, kind of crumble that all up and throw
it away, right.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah. I mean again, I think Kenny Pickett's gonna start
this game. But there was a chance of.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Seeing his confidence. Yeah, it's gonna be him.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I mean, thinking this might be Trubisky versus Levis. There's
not a lot of trends to go off of them.
There certainly isn't with Levis. People are really excited about
him because he did some good things and they move
the ball and there's most points they've scored. But he
threw a lot of stuff behind the line of scrimmage
and a lot of stuff long and Hopkins built him out,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And there was one play to speak on what you
were saying of Hopkins bound Mount Hopkins was running a
drag route slant round over the middle and let he's open,
and Levis hits him not in stride and throws the
ball behind him. Since Hopkins is a freak, he's able
to reach behind him catch the ball while his momentum
still goes for it, and he takes the ball. Another
thirty yards into the end zone. So that kind of
illustrates what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Another play I for exactly how it went, but the
balls in the air and Hopkins just kind of pushed
the corner to the ground, went up and grabbed it.
You know. So like Levis is exciting, he's going to
add to the flare of the game, but he's not
exactly a high level quarterback at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Titans offense will utilize eleven personnel at just the twenty
seventh highest rate in the NFL, but only the Falcons
use twelve personnel at a higher percentage of their offensive snaps.
That tracks those two teams are dinosaurs and their methodology
of running the football. They're old school, and every.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
In Atlanta's was the offense. He was the offense scored
in anir in Tennessee again.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, only seven offenses used twenty one personnel at a
higher rate than the Tennessee Titans do though, So that's
something to definitely keep an eye on.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, back to some extra blocking tight ends or what
you're gonna get with big Derrick Henry and kind of dinosaurs.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Like you said, Derrick Henry, I mean, he's the straw
that I still think stres this drink. He's definitely losing
a step though.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I mean the drink's just not as tasty as it
used to be for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Including the postseason. Over the twenty twenty through twenty twenty
two seasons, Henry had fifteen or fewer carries just three
times in forty two games.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, I mean why.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
He's probably because they just wore him out all year
long road him to the playoffs to winning the AFC
a couple of years ago. Thus far in twenty twenty three,
Henry has gotten fifteen or fewer carries four times. Henry
ran for one hundred and one yards on twenty two
carries last week, and Henry is the current active career
rushing leader, although he only entered the league in twenty sixteen.
(05:52):
But that yeah, Hall of Fame track there.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I think so yeah, I mean by running backs have changed,
He's never going to reach Emmett Smith the world or
Peyton all time yard is. But for his contemporaries, yards
per game are blow your doors on.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
No question. Five hundred and twenty six total yards so
far in the year. But tell me about Tyjer Spears,
Matt because I like when he was one hundred ninety
eight yards and you know he's getting on the field
a little bit more and maybe again you see that
split five hundred and twenty four yards for Henry Spears
is one hundred ninety eight. But that's better than it
has been in the past.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I know this is untimely because Hopkins created some big plays,
but they're not a big play offense. They're maybe the
slowest offense in the league besides the Patriots. Thus, insert
Spears a third round pick because he is dynamic. They'll
put him on the field with Henry. Even last week
they had two or three snaps with Willis in the
game with Henry on one side of him, Spears on
(06:42):
the other. Just you know, weird stuff, you know that
kind of thing, good receiver. I'm a Spears fan.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Do you think you can see that with Willis in
this game against.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I don't know. Maybe it's all Levis at this point,
but because it's a short week, it might just be
let's do what we did last week because we'd have
time been stall alling.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Else and again it wouldn't be you know, Willis coming
in throw the football, but they're gonna try to utilize
his legs.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Maybe I think he ran the ball every time he
was in last or at least they ran the ball
right time he was in.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You mentioned DeAndre Hopkins last week, one hundred and twenty
eight yards, three touchdowns, breakout game for his time in
Tennessee for him. Yeah, that was just the second time
this season he eclipped sixty five receiving yards. So hopefully
he's not waking up coming out of his cocoon right
before the Steelers game, because we know the song and
dance of Steelers first number one wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And he's a potential Hall of Famer too. And hey,
even if he doesn't run well, he's as good a
catch point fifty to fifty receivers we've seen in the
last since Larry Fitzgerald. Maybe, I mean, like one of
those guys.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I'm glad you brought up Larry Fitzgerald because he's in
this kind of realm as well. I mean, he's done
so much with so little at quarterback in his career too. Hopkins.
I mean, he did have Deshaun Watson for a little
bit that was the best, just like Larry kind of
had a little bit with Kurt, a little bit with Carson. Yeah,
Like it's amazing to me those type of players that
no matter who's throwing the football, I'm still making a
(07:56):
Hall of Fame career for him.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
There's still twelve hundred yard guys, ten touchdowns matter what. Yeah,
and Hopkins is really impressive.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Now. Last week of a possible sixty eight offensive snaps tight,
Tennessee had five wide receivers. Hopkins played forty three snaps
thirty five for trail On Burks, uh Nick Westbrook and
Keene played thirty four, Chris Moore played twenty eight, and
Kyle Phillips played eighteen. So I mean, are you going
to see a ton of different wide receivers out on
the field or is I.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Just found that odd. I had to drop that down
because you don't see that very.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Often, right, But they don't use like you know, they're
not spreading out for wide all the time. So these
guys are subbing in and out for each other.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, and they ran a lot of deep routes, so
maybe it's run a wind sprint, get out can bring
the next guy in. And the other note there I
think is definitely prevalent is they're easing burkes the first
round picks from last year in because he's been out
quite a bit, maybe he's not ready for a full
workload at least last week.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And then what can you say about on Conquo who
He's yet to clear thirty five yards in a game
this season. But people, I feel like have a lot
of expectations for him. Yeah, and they think he can
be a lot better than he's shown, Like.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
He was like my fantasy sleeper this week year, you know,
big one. Yeah, yeah, very athletic, like he was great
yards per route run last year. Small sample, But I
think what's interesting with him is you got to be
blind if you're the Titans offensive staff and not see
how Ingram affected the game oh second half last year.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
OA.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and they're a similar type of style of tight end.
I would do the exact same stuff with him.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Of the seven Titans receiving touchdowns this year, six of
them belonged to DeAndre Hopkins and Westbrook A. Kine. They
have three between both of them, so I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
They're looking for other guys.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
It's really just a couple of guys that you got
to worry about in the passing game. And then there's
Will Levis first career start last week against Atlanta nineteen
to twenty nine passes two hundred and thirty eight yards.
He threw four touchdowns, three of them were to Hopkins.
He had zero interceptions, and he averaged eight point two
yards per attempt. Levis is one of only two quarterbacks
since nineteen seventy to throw four touchdowns in their first
career start. You're probably thinking, oh, it's Burrow, right, or
(09:51):
it's Homes. Maybe it's Herbert No, it's former Tennessee Titan
quarterback Marcus Mariota. So maybe that can also help us
pump the brakes a little bit on the Levis hype,
and let's see if he can do it again.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
The other name that I saw did it, but it
wasn't a Super Bowl EO was fran Tarkington, So maybe he's.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Well, that elevates him up a little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Would he do that sixty two or something? Right? Yeah? Whopping?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Twenty nine percent of Levice's targets were twenty yards or deeper.
That was the big thing about him coming out of collars.
The arm is golden, it's oh, and they're letting him
use it.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yep, so real quick, like, about twenty five percent of
them were behind the line of scrimmage and what was
it twenty eight were or some twenty nine? Okay, we're
past twenty yards, so I mean getting it out of
his hands to dump it behind the line of scrimmage
or they're chucking it, you know. So he didn't do
a lot of middle of the field quarterbacking, not a
lot of like twelve yard out rounds.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well, Levis was pressured on forty four percent of his
snaps against Atlanta. Only one offense in the league is
getting blitzed and pressured at a higher rate than Tennessee,
So how are they holding up against that?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
As a Their OW line is really bad. I mean
it's I thought it was the worst hurt.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I mean, what's Tannehills hurt? Maybe that has something to
do with it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, and you're also going to blitz a young quarterback
a lot, right, you know that type of thing. But
just in terms of talent and players, I would have
ranked their O line thirty second when the season started.
It's been a little better than that.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Any hope for guys on that line like Scaransky, and
that was someone that Pittsburgh kind of looked at during
the draft.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Class doesn't look like Hubbard's gonna play. He plays look
for them too, but it's press Yes, it's to be kind, Yeah,
all right.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Turning things over to the defensive side of the football,
the Titans defense allows five point four yards per snap,
three hundred and thirty nine yards total per game. That's
twenty second in the league. They allowed two hundred and
thirty two yards through the air that's twentieth, one hundred
and seven yards allowed on the ground that's sixteenth, right
in the middle, and twenty points per game allowed is
thirteenth best in the NFL. There's six takeaways, though Matt
(11:41):
is tied for the fewest, and that's kind of what
you're saying at the beginning of the podcast. They like
the Miller lite version of the Jags. They try to
do things like Jacksonville, but they're not getting the same results.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
No big and physical upfront. Simmons is a star, Autrey's
a good player. Vrabel has those guys playing hard.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Harold Landry still playing well.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, but they get worse the further away from the
line of scrimmage you get, and they're not making the
big plays.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
They just traded Kevin Byer to which was their best
player as you get further away from the line of scrimming.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It makes me wonder if there to replace them either exactly.
Might they have some communication issues too, because he quarterback
the whole defense too, you know, So I think the
secondary can be had and it's going to have to
be more of a Pickett game than a Nausea game,
you know. I mean, and I think they're capable of
exploiting that.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Second offenses are attacking the Tennessee Titans out of twelve
personnel twenty three percent of the time, which is the
seventh highest rate of tell twelve personnel. So maybe you
see he was using a little toy maybe, but they
just they don't want to.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
They've gotten away from Washington quite a bit, you know,
since the it's nice at this game.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yes, but it also seems clear that Washington is primarily
a blocker.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
He's a blocker. He's a little bit bigger, more athletic
version of Gentry apparently. But they did use an extra
alignment a lot last year.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Again his tackle eligible.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, I'd like see more of that.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Tennessee is twenty seventh and completion percentage allowed as well
as yards per attempt per allowed as a team Pittsburgh's
offense is twenty eighth in completion percentage. Only three defenses
are being targeted deeper downfield to Tennessee, who faces an
average depth of target of eight point seven. Let it rip,
I mean throw the ball down the field. They're terrible
against the pass. They're not Jacksonville against the runny either,
(13:17):
So you can't dip your tone the waters of running
the football.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
But let you should have a.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Young quarterback throw the ball thirty forty yards down the
field on this team, yep.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I mean they shouldn't have an answer for pickens, ye know,
the shorter stuff, the intermediate stuff to Deonte. They shouldn't
have an answer for that. This should be a spot
where your passing game has its best game of the season.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Now, would pressuring the quarterback be what this defense does best?
They had six sacks last week only one defense blitz
is at a lower rate than Tennessee and the average
three sacks two. Yeah, the exper game is good. It's
tenth from the league. So I mean they get after
the quarterback still they're good.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, it's a four man rush. Simmons is a total superstar.
The other guys around them are good, so they don't
blitz because they don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
To do You think that could be skewed a little
bit though. You just mentioned how many teams. How teams
love to attack the Titans downfield. That means the quarterbacks
standing back in the pocket a little bit extra. Yes,
maybe that's leading to more sacks, but teams are okay
and taking a couple more sacks because they're getting big
plays when they don't get home to.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
The quarter Yeah. I think that's what I said.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Let's look at some key matchups before we get out
of here. Interesting one here, you think you'd go Titans
running back Derrick Henry versus prioritize the Spears. Okay, okay,
there you worried he's gonna be a Baltimore Raven. I
think Spears is also a good one to highlight because
you've for five six, seven years, it's just been twenty two,
(14:35):
twenty two, twenty two in the back. Now there's someone
different that you have to actually account for.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And frankly, I also thought writing up Henry bet cliche. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
But the Steelers linebackers, I'm very impressed with them. I
think we mentioned him on the podcast last week. Holcome Man.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, local he's a good linebacker.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
He's a good linebacker in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
The three of them is a good trio too.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
And finally, the Steelers interior offensive line versus the superstar
the defensive side of the ball, Jeffrey Simmons. Are you
a little surprise Simmons didn't get any more play on
the trade market with the Titans.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Because he's too good. They just gave him ninety four million.
I mean, they just gave me.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
He can't explain that to your fan base that we
traded jefferyon.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I mean, he would be He's what you build around.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
He can't. It would be like Steelers trying to trade
Camin He's.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
One of the top ten defensive players in the league.
He's got a little boring to write up, but I
just wanted to make sure all Steeler fans realize how
good he really is.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Oh yeah, no question. He can be a for sure problem.
Oh in this game Kristen Chris Jones for Kansas City. Yeah,
a good camp for Steelers.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I mean this version of Aaron Donald in recent games,
I mean, he's like at that level.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
The Steelers and the Titans eight to fifteen kickoff on Thursday,
just a couple of days away, Steelers try to get
back in the win. Calm and Matt, maybe they can
beat an AFC South team this year. I mean we're
saying that's some big advantage, and the schedule came out
now they're own to two against that, so yeah, hopefully
they could pick up a win against the Titans and
the South Formatt Williamson, I'm Tom Opperman. Thanks has always
for giving us a listen, and we'll be back again
(15:56):
next week with another Advanced Scout
We got some work to do. This is the Advanced
Scout with Tom Opperman and Mac Williamson.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Tennessee Titans beat the Falcons last week to improve to
three and four, while the Steelers fell to four and
three at the hands of Jacksonville. The good new Steelers fans,
the Titans. Titans are winless on the road this season,
but your Steelers are five hundred at Accurst Off the
two and two record. Titans have been outscored by just
eight points in twenty twenty three minus eight point differential
Pittsburgh as a minus thirty four point differential, Matt, this
(00:30):
might be some good news for people like you and
me who work the game and obviously have to work
hours after the games. It's an eight to fifteen game.
Titans games have the fewest snaps per game of any
games in the NFL this year, So maybe we'll get
through this thing in like two and a half hours.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Play fast. You know. The defense is kind of stingy,
so yeah, usually things go pretty quickly.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
You just said a lot of running and the defensive stingy.
Is this the same Titans team that we've seen for
the past four or five years on a lesser version
lesser skilled.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, I actually think there are a lot like the
Jags a week ago defensively, but the Miller lite version,
you know, like, they don't take the ball away. They
force you to throw a lot. They're pretty good up front,
they're physical, but they don't take the ball away, and
they're not as dynamic, and their offenses doesn't have Trevor
Lawrence and all those sources. You know.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, Tennessee's offense is coming off of a season high
twenty eight points last week in Will Levis's debut. Good
news about that, though, as Mike Tomlin is twenty two
and five against rookie quarterbacks in his career, which is
just remarkable. It is the punters could be busy in
this one though. Yeah, right, in terms of turning sets
of downs into a new set of downs. The Steelers
offenses thirtyth out of thirty two teams in Tennessee is
(01:38):
twenty six out of thirty two teams, So make sure
the legs are loucid.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
There you go, exactly. There's some trends here.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Looking at the series history with these two. This rivalry
obviously goes back to nineteen seventy when they were the
Houston Oilers.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Also kind of like Jacksonville former division. That's kind of
a rivalry, kind of not.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You know, the Steelers and the Tennessee team faced off
four times, the Oilers three and one in Houston's favor
when they were Houston back then during the nineteen ninety
seven nineteen niney eight sies nine nine was the first
time Pittsburgh faced this franchise as the Tennessee Titans. These
franchises were division rivals in the old AFC Central from
when the oil from when the Titans entered the league
through the two thousand and one season. The Houston Texans
(02:16):
entered the league in two thousand and two, and then
of course there was the divisional re alignment. Now we
got four teams, four divisions, all happy overall.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It's a little confusing though. They're like the Houston Oilers
become the Tennessee Oilers Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I know you love those Houston Oilers uniforms the Titans
war last. Yeah, they're right, But isn't that a little weird,
like little or not? The Houston there's a team in Houston,
maybe they should be wearing the throwback uniforms.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So Dale Lawley, who I host to drive with. Of course,
he's like, I've seen this team in like four or
five different home stadiums.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Overall, Steelers lead this series forty eight to thirty two.
There have only been four playoff matchups between the organizations,
the Steelers only losing one of those through the nineteen
eighty six season. Pittsburgh and Houston at thirty five times,
with the Steelers winning twenty six thirty five. The Steelers
are also on a four game winning streak against Tennessee,
most recently winning nineteen to thirteen in Pittsburgh back in
twenty twenty one. Start things off with Tennessee's offense. It's
(03:11):
an offense that averaged just five point two yards per place.
There defense gives up five point six yards per play.
It's twenty fourth and total yards thirteenth in rushing yards
about one hundred and fifteen yards on the ground per game.
It's dreadful in passing. They're twenty ninth in the league,
one hundred and eighty yards per game, eighteen points per game,
is twenty third, and eight giveaways on the season. Only
(03:31):
two of them have been fumbles, however, so yeah, it's
a lot of they've trouble passing the football for the
Titans so far.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, and they have a different quarterback. That's what I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I mean, kind of crumble that all up and throw
it away, right.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yeah. I mean again, I think Kenny Pickett's gonna start
this game. But there was a chance of.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Seeing his confidence. Yeah, it's gonna be him.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I mean, thinking this might be Trubisky versus Levis. There's
not a lot of trends to go off of them.
There certainly isn't with Levis. People are really excited about
him because he did some good things and they move
the ball and there's most points they've scored. But he
threw a lot of stuff behind the line of scrimmage
and a lot of stuff long and Hopkins built him out,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And there was one play to speak on what you
were saying of Hopkins bound Mount Hopkins was running a
drag route slant round over the middle and let he's open,
and Levis hits him not in stride and throws the
ball behind him. Since Hopkins is a freak, he's able
to reach behind him catch the ball while his momentum
still goes for it, and he takes the ball. Another
thirty yards into the end zone. So that kind of
illustrates what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Another play I for exactly how it went, but the
balls in the air and Hopkins just kind of pushed
the corner to the ground, went up and grabbed it.
You know. So like Levis is exciting, he's going to
add to the flare of the game, but he's not
exactly a high level quarterback at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Titans offense will utilize eleven personnel at just the twenty
seventh highest rate in the NFL, but only the Falcons
use twelve personnel at a higher percentage of their offensive snaps.
That tracks those two teams are dinosaurs and their methodology
of running the football. They're old school, and every.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
In Atlanta's was the offense. He was the offense scored
in anir in Tennessee again.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, only seven offenses used twenty one personnel at a
higher rate than the Tennessee Titans do though, So that's
something to definitely keep an eye on.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, back to some extra blocking tight ends or what
you're gonna get with big Derrick Henry and kind of dinosaurs.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Like you said, Derrick Henry, I mean, he's the straw
that I still think stres this drink. He's definitely losing
a step though.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I mean the drink's just not as tasty as it
used to be for sure.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Including the postseason. Over the twenty twenty through twenty twenty
two seasons, Henry had fifteen or fewer carries just three
times in forty two games.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, I mean why.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
He's probably because they just wore him out all year
long road him to the playoffs to winning the AFC
a couple of years ago. Thus far in twenty twenty three,
Henry has gotten fifteen or fewer carries four times. Henry
ran for one hundred and one yards on twenty two
carries last week, and Henry is the current active career
rushing leader, although he only entered the league in twenty sixteen.
(05:52):
But that yeah, Hall of Fame track there.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I think so yeah, I mean by running backs have changed,
He's never going to reach Emmett Smith the world or
Peyton all time yard is. But for his contemporaries, yards
per game are blow your doors on.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
No question. Five hundred and twenty six total yards so
far in the year. But tell me about Tyjer Spears,
Matt because I like when he was one hundred ninety
eight yards and you know he's getting on the field
a little bit more and maybe again you see that
split five hundred and twenty four yards for Henry Spears
is one hundred ninety eight. But that's better than it
has been in the past.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I know this is untimely because Hopkins created some big plays,
but they're not a big play offense. They're maybe the
slowest offense in the league besides the Patriots. Thus, insert
Spears a third round pick because he is dynamic. They'll
put him on the field with Henry. Even last week
they had two or three snaps with Willis in the
game with Henry on one side of him, Spears on
(06:42):
the other. Just you know, weird stuff, you know that
kind of thing, good receiver. I'm a Spears fan.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Do you think you can see that with Willis in
this game against.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
I don't know. Maybe it's all Levis at this point,
but because it's a short week, it might just be
let's do what we did last week because we'd have
time been stall alling.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Else and again it wouldn't be you know, Willis coming
in throw the football, but they're gonna try to utilize
his legs.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Maybe I think he ran the ball every time he
was in last or at least they ran the ball
right time he was in.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You mentioned DeAndre Hopkins last week, one hundred and twenty
eight yards, three touchdowns, breakout game for his time in
Tennessee for him. Yeah, that was just the second time
this season he eclipped sixty five receiving yards. So hopefully
he's not waking up coming out of his cocoon right
before the Steelers game, because we know the song and
dance of Steelers first number one wide receiver.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And he's a potential Hall of Famer too. And hey,
even if he doesn't run well, he's as good a
catch point fifty to fifty receivers we've seen in the
last since Larry Fitzgerald. Maybe, I mean, like one of
those guys.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I'm glad you brought up Larry Fitzgerald because he's in
this kind of realm as well. I mean, he's done
so much with so little at quarterback in his career too. Hopkins.
I mean, he did have Deshaun Watson for a little
bit that was the best, just like Larry kind of
had a little bit with Kurt, a little bit with Carson. Yeah,
Like it's amazing to me those type of players that
no matter who's throwing the football, I'm still making a
(07:56):
Hall of Fame career for him.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
There's still twelve hundred yard guys, ten touchdowns matter what. Yeah,
and Hopkins is really impressive.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Now. Last week of a possible sixty eight offensive snaps tight,
Tennessee had five wide receivers. Hopkins played forty three snaps
thirty five for trail On Burks, uh Nick Westbrook and
Keene played thirty four, Chris Moore played twenty eight, and
Kyle Phillips played eighteen. So I mean, are you going
to see a ton of different wide receivers out on
the field or is I.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Just found that odd. I had to drop that down
because you don't see that very.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Often, right, But they don't use like you know, they're
not spreading out for wide all the time. So these
guys are subbing in and out for each other.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, and they ran a lot of deep routes, so
maybe it's run a wind sprint, get out can bring
the next guy in. And the other note there I
think is definitely prevalent is they're easing burkes the first
round picks from last year in because he's been out
quite a bit, maybe he's not ready for a full
workload at least last week.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And then what can you say about on Conquo who
He's yet to clear thirty five yards in a game
this season. But people, I feel like have a lot
of expectations for him. Yeah, and they think he can
be a lot better than he's shown, Like.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
He was like my fantasy sleeper this week year, you know,
big one. Yeah, yeah, very athletic, like he was great
yards per route run last year. Small sample, But I
think what's interesting with him is you got to be
blind if you're the Titans offensive staff and not see
how Ingram affected the game oh second half last year.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
OA.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Yeah, and they're a similar type of style of tight end.
I would do the exact same stuff with him.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Of the seven Titans receiving touchdowns this year, six of
them belonged to DeAndre Hopkins and Westbrook A. Kine. They
have three between both of them, so I mean.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
They're looking for other guys.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
It's really just a couple of guys that you got
to worry about in the passing game. And then there's
Will Levis first career start last week against Atlanta nineteen
to twenty nine passes two hundred and thirty eight yards.
He threw four touchdowns, three of them were to Hopkins.
He had zero interceptions, and he averaged eight point two
yards per attempt. Levis is one of only two quarterbacks
since nineteen seventy to throw four touchdowns in their first
career start. You're probably thinking, oh, it's Burrow, right, or
(09:51):
it's Homes. Maybe it's Herbert No, it's former Tennessee Titan
quarterback Marcus Mariota. So maybe that can also help us
pump the brakes a little bit on the Levis hype,
and let's see if he can do it again.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
The other name that I saw did it, but it
wasn't a Super Bowl EO was fran Tarkington, So maybe he's.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Well, that elevates him up a little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Would he do that sixty two or something? Right? Yeah? Whopping?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Twenty nine percent of Levice's targets were twenty yards or deeper.
That was the big thing about him coming out of collars.
The arm is golden, it's oh, and they're letting him
use it.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yep, so real quick, like, about twenty five percent of
them were behind the line of scrimmage and what was
it twenty eight were or some twenty nine? Okay, we're
past twenty yards, so I mean getting it out of
his hands to dump it behind the line of scrimmage
or they're chucking it, you know. So he didn't do
a lot of middle of the field quarterbacking, not a
lot of like twelve yard out rounds.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Well, Levis was pressured on forty four percent of his
snaps against Atlanta. Only one offense in the league is
getting blitzed and pressured at a higher rate than Tennessee,
So how are they holding up against that?
Speaker 1 (10:48):
As a Their OW line is really bad. I mean
it's I thought it was the worst hurt.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I mean, what's Tannehills hurt? Maybe that has something to
do with it.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, and you're also going to blitz a young quarterback
a lot, right, you know that type of thing. But
just in terms of talent and players, I would have
ranked their O line thirty second when the season started.
It's been a little better than that.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Any hope for guys on that line like Scaransky, and
that was someone that Pittsburgh kind of looked at during
the draft.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Class doesn't look like Hubbard's gonna play. He plays look
for them too, but it's press Yes, it's to be kind, Yeah,
all right.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Turning things over to the defensive side of the football,
the Titans defense allows five point four yards per snap,
three hundred and thirty nine yards total per game. That's
twenty second in the league. They allowed two hundred and
thirty two yards through the air that's twentieth, one hundred
and seven yards allowed on the ground that's sixteenth, right
in the middle, and twenty points per game allowed is
thirteenth best in the NFL. There's six takeaways, though Matt
(11:41):
is tied for the fewest, and that's kind of what
you're saying at the beginning of the podcast. They like
the Miller lite version of the Jags. They try to
do things like Jacksonville, but they're not getting the same results.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
No big and physical upfront. Simmons is a star, Autrey's
a good player. Vrabel has those guys playing hard.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Harold Landry still playing well.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, but they get worse the further away from the
line of scrimmage you get, and they're not making the
big plays.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
They just traded Kevin Byer to which was their best
player as you get further away from the line of scrimming.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
It makes me wonder if there to replace them either exactly.
Might they have some communication issues too, because he quarterback
the whole defense too, you know, So I think the
secondary can be had and it's going to have to
be more of a Pickett game than a Nausea game,
you know. I mean, and I think they're capable of
exploiting that.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Second offenses are attacking the Tennessee Titans out of twelve
personnel twenty three percent of the time, which is the
seventh highest rate of tell twelve personnel. So maybe you
see he was using a little toy maybe, but they
just they don't want to.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
They've gotten away from Washington quite a bit, you know,
since the it's nice at this game.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yes, but it also seems clear that Washington is primarily
a blocker.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
He's a blocker. He's a little bit bigger, more athletic
version of Gentry apparently. But they did use an extra
alignment a lot last year.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Again his tackle eligible.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, I'd like see more of that.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Tennessee is twenty seventh and completion percentage allowed as well
as yards per attempt per allowed as a team Pittsburgh's
offense is twenty eighth in completion percentage. Only three defenses
are being targeted deeper downfield to Tennessee, who faces an
average depth of target of eight point seven. Let it rip,
I mean throw the ball down the field. They're terrible
against the pass. They're not Jacksonville against the runny either,
(13:17):
So you can't dip your tone the waters of running
the football.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
But let you should have a.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Young quarterback throw the ball thirty forty yards down the
field on this team, yep.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I mean they shouldn't have an answer for pickens, ye know,
the shorter stuff, the intermediate stuff to Deonte. They shouldn't
have an answer for that. This should be a spot
where your passing game has its best game of the season.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Now, would pressuring the quarterback be what this defense does best?
They had six sacks last week only one defense blitz
is at a lower rate than Tennessee and the average
three sacks two. Yeah, the exper game is good. It's
tenth from the league. So I mean they get after
the quarterback still they're good.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Yeah, it's a four man rush. Simmons is a total superstar.
The other guys around them are good, so they don't
blitz because they don't have.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
To do You think that could be skewed a little
bit though. You just mentioned how many teams. How teams
love to attack the Titans downfield. That means the quarterbacks
standing back in the pocket a little bit extra. Yes,
maybe that's leading to more sacks, but teams are okay
and taking a couple more sacks because they're getting big
plays when they don't get home to.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
The quarter Yeah. I think that's what I said.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Let's look at some key matchups before we get out
of here. Interesting one here, you think you'd go Titans
running back Derrick Henry versus prioritize the Spears. Okay, okay,
there you worried he's gonna be a Baltimore Raven. I
think Spears is also a good one to highlight because
you've for five six, seven years, it's just been twenty two,
(14:35):
twenty two, twenty two in the back. Now there's someone
different that you have to actually account for.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And frankly, I also thought writing up Henry bet cliche. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
But the Steelers linebackers, I'm very impressed with them. I
think we mentioned him on the podcast last week. Holcome Man.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, local he's a good linebacker.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
He's a good linebacker in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
The three of them is a good trio too.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
And finally, the Steelers interior offensive line versus the superstar
the defensive side of the ball, Jeffrey Simmons. Are you
a little surprise Simmons didn't get any more play on
the trade market with the Titans.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Because he's too good. They just gave him ninety four million.
I mean, they just gave me.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
He can't explain that to your fan base that we
traded jefferyon.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I mean, he would be He's what you build around.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
He can't. It would be like Steelers trying to trade
Camin He's.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
One of the top ten defensive players in the league.
He's got a little boring to write up, but I
just wanted to make sure all Steeler fans realize how
good he really is.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Oh yeah, no question. He can be a for sure problem.
Oh in this game Kristen Chris Jones for Kansas City. Yeah,
a good camp for Steelers.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I mean this version of Aaron Donald in recent games,
I mean, he's like at that level.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
The Steelers and the Titans eight to fifteen kickoff on Thursday,
just a couple of days away, Steelers try to get
back in the win. Calm and Matt, maybe they can
beat an AFC South team this year. I mean we're
saying that's some big advantage, and the schedule came out
now they're own to two against that, so yeah, hopefully
they could pick up a win against the Titans and
the South Formatt Williamson, I'm Tom Opperman. Thanks has always
for giving us a listen, and we'll be back again
(15:56):
next week with another Advanced Scout
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