August 16, 2024 • 46 mins
Owen and Stoney catch up ahead of tomorrow night's preseason game against the Seahawks, weighing in on this week's joint practices, what we want to see in preseason Week 2, and answering listener questions.
The Unofficial Titans Podcast is powered by Memo's Mexican Kitchen out in Mount Juliet - check 'em out today: https://www.memosmexicankitchen.com/
The Unofficial Titans Podcast is powered by Memo's Mexican Kitchen out in Mount Juliet - check 'em out today: https://www.memosmexicankitchen.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Thank you from sobers HQ and Nashville, Tennessee to wherever
you're cheering on your Tennessee Titans. The Sobers Network presents
the Unofficial Titans Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome back for another episode of the Unofficial Titans Podcast
right here on Sobros Network, powered by Memos Mexican Kitchen
out in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Mine's right ass is tight
as we get you ready for Titans Seahawks. A week
of joint practices in the books. We got a game
to play tomorrow night. It's the second game of the preseason.
(00:51):
The Titans will look to go to and Oh, and
we're going to talk about it, folks. I am your
host for the Unofficial Titans Podcast, the EIC at sobernetwork
dot com, Big Natural Stony Keeley. You can follow me
on Twitter at Stony Keeley. Collectively at Sobros Network, Joined
as usual by Cinderella Man One Take Oh. Coming to
(01:13):
us from the Dad Zone, Outspoken, Owen read Owen. How
you doing on this fine Friday? My friend, Hey.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Everybody, Hey Stony and I want to give a special
shout out to Mark Wahlberg for no reason at all.
How are you doing today? Buddy.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Oh no, no, no, we can't. I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
We can't let that just just float out into the
ether for for no reason, because I was gonna bring
it up anyway. I was going to ask you what
your favorite Mark Lahlberg movie is. I put out a
call for listener questions, and I'm logging into Twitter to
see if we've got any new ones since I first
put out the call. And I log into Twitter and
(01:52):
I just see Brandon, our resident film critic at Sobros Network,
just tweet out a picture of Mark Wahlberg and the
caption just says useless actor. And I told you, I'm like, man,
I just you can't make a string of bad movies
in front of Brandon Vick or else. He's gonna hold
a grudge. I think it stems from Mark Wahlberg getting
(02:12):
the Best Supporting Actor nom for The Departed and not
Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is Brandon's favorite actor. I think he's
held a personal vendetta against Mark Wahlberg for that reason.
But I just thought it was funny. I'm like trying
to catch my Titans questions. I'm like, Brandon just wants
people to know on this fine Friday Morning that Mark
Wahlberg is practically a piece of shit. But I'll say
(02:35):
this to Brandon's point, I do think that Mark Wahlberg.
I think he's made a really, really high volume of
really shitty movies in recent years. I can't remember we
did this exercise before, because hating on Mark Wahlberg is
a popular pastime when we have nothing else to talk about.
(02:55):
But I think it's been since like twenty fourteen since
we've seen a good Mark Waller movie.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
So you're you're wishing him well. I take it you're
a fan.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Oh you know, you did take the good, you take
the bad.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
That's how it goes. That's how it goes sometimes.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So you know, just Mark Wahlberg catching strays on this
random Tennessee Titans podcast for no reason from a film critic.
Whatever we're doing here, it's it's off to a great start.
We had some joint practices this week, Owen. I want
to get your general takeaways from it, like, how do
(03:33):
you feel, what do you like? The vibes for the
joint practices kind of feels like it was split between
the Seahawks and Titans this week. Probably a pretty good
week of practice, but there's some clips floating out there
of these Seahawks wide receivers toasting some of the Titans'
defensive backs, including Jake Bobo who ran a four point
(03:55):
nine at the combine, h pointing and mossing Roger Mccreary'm
not saying it's time to sound the alarm here, but
was there any any point this week you're seeing these
clips and thinking, oh, buddy, these maybe these defensive backs
have more work to do than we think.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
You know, I'm not sure. I feel like, just in general,
from what we got from this Seahawks test in the
off season, there was a lot of good and a
lot of bad. You know, I'll start off with the bad.
I feel like that final run through when like the
ones are going against the ones and Levison's up throwing
(04:39):
the pick on the first play was really bad. Yeah,
just because that's that's the last time. I mean, maybe
up until Week one when you play against Chicago that
you're gonna get ones on ones and you really wanted
to see at least a couple more plays. You wanted
to see something of what you had, and it just
kind of all went up and spoke really quick.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Well, uh, but go ahead, Oh, go ahead. I didn't
want to.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I didn't want to interrupt your train of thought. There
you got the the good to get to.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh yeah, well, I mean Jeffrey Simmons absolutely demolished somebody yesterday.
But yeah, so, I mean, at the end of the day,
it's just training camp. Uh you take it with a
great assault to quote Sean Atkins, but uh, you know,
(05:31):
you could be encouraged or discouraged whichever way you want
to see it.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
So it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I'm going to quote our buddy Easton Freeze of the
Hot Read podcast and Broadway Sports. He tweeted yesterday. Roger
McCreery said the Titans coaching staff implemented the same rule
for joint practices that New England did this week. If
you're a starter and you fight, you play the full
preseason game. And if you're a backup and you fight,
(05:57):
you don't see the field. What do you think about
the the limitations there to try and keep some of
the chippiness in check a little bit, because from the
sounds of things, it did get pretty chippy at times
this week, but cooler heads prevail, no major incidents. I mean,
you tip your cap to the coaching staff for this one.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, I mean it's kind of gotten out of hand lately.
What was it the Giants and Lions? Was that the
big clip that came out where the assistant gets thrown
to the ground like that kind of stuff's unnecessary and
it definitely causes unwanted injury. But you also kind of
like a little bit of chippiness, or at least I do,
(06:43):
especially when it's two new teams. I guess, you know,
I don't want to see any of our starters having
to play all four quarters in the preseason, and I
don't want to see anybody go down that doesn't need
to go down and lose playing time. So I mean,
I guess overall success.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I'm with you, man, and I think that's a good
rule to implement, because you know, these starters don't want
to be playing in these preseason games. The guys that
are veterans that have you know, been in the league
for a while, they don't want to play in these games.
But likewise, the backups are the ones that need the
preseason to put tape out there to land on a
roster somewhere, so they're the ones wanting to play. I
(07:22):
think it's a pretty smart rule, and I think it's
it's pretty smart of Brian Callahan and company to borrow
a page out of the New England playbook there. I
don't know if this is just one of those things
where a lot of camps do this and New England's
the only one that came out and said the rule.
So you know, you kind of have to be a
little careful there when crediting for for an idea. You know,
(07:44):
it's kind of like Red Solo Cup that song. A
lot of country musicians played it in bars, but nobody
took it and recorded it until Toby Keith did. And
so now you know, it's like, well Toby Keith did it.
He gets the credit for it, but that song was
floating around the bar scene for quite some time. Same
(08:05):
deal with fighting and joint practices. I want to give
I want to give our buddy Sam Falin and ata
Ze Sports a shout out. He reported Titans Quandary Diggs
and Jamal Adams are basically living on the Seahawks sideline
talking smack to.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Their former team.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
This feels kind of weird to me, And I don't
mean it's weird to do this because you stick up
for your teammates, and I don't mind the shit talking
or anything like that, but these guys just came from
the Seahawks last year.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
They know a lot of these guys.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I'm trying to get into a headspace where like my
teammates are just suddenly the target of my malice and
my shit talking and my aggression and all that.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I don't know. I don't know that I could do that.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
What do you think about the former Seahawks safeties flipping
that switch and just turning it on their former team?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, man, that's some crazy bad blood you usually don't see.
I mean, they can be mad at a lot of people,
you know. I'm sure you could blame ownership or coaching,
but it's kind of weird to see it taken out
on former teammates. You don't usually see that.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, there are some rumors out there. I don't know
specifically about Quandary Diggs, but there are some rumors out
there that Jamal Adams was not necessarily well liked in
the Seahawks locker room. So maybe there are some some
tensions with his teammates, but I don't know. Some fun
friendly competition out there too, are our buddy J T. Runkey,
(09:37):
also of the Hot Read podcast and Broadway Sports.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Shout out to JT.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
By the way, if y'all aren't following JT at Underscore,
I'm sorry at JT Underscore Runkey r uh n k E.
He's been crushing it this week with reports and camp videos.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
He posted the clip of Jake Bobo Moss and Roger McCreary.
It's got like a quarter of a million views on
Twitter right now. So JT putting in the work, tweeted.
Seahawks Devin Weatherspoon just jumped the route, picked off Will Levis.
Witherspoon runs the ball to Jamal Adams, who had once
again been chirping all day. Two plays later, Chance Campbell
intercepts Sam Howell. So in a nutshell, man, there's you've
(10:17):
got the chippiness, you've got the trash talk, you've got
a little bit of tit for tat between going interception
for interception. It sounds like these two teams were pretty
evenly matched all week. I know some people are kind of,
you know, got the gun in their mouth, staring down
the barrel because the Titans didn't dominate practice this week.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
But it's the NFL. Brother this shit's gonna happen to me.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I read stuff like JT's tweet and the reporting that's
coming out this week, and it sounds to me like
this was probably a pretty healthy week in terms of
growth for the for the Titans. So to put it
to put a bow on it, how are you feeling
now that the joint practices are done?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Competitive? Fiery?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Maybe you did and see the Titans dominate the way
you wanted to see, but it sounds like potential for
growth at the very least comes out of these joint practices.
How are you feeling about this team as it heads
into a game tomorrow night, Owen?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, I'm kind of with you on the point that
it's just, you know, you're going against another top NFL.
I don't know about top, but you're going against another
full NFL team.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
The Seahawks are going to be pretty good.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah. I don't think you look to a certain dominance
in training camp. You know, they don't. They don't hand
out trophies for that shit.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
So anybody that's panicking about it either which way or
overly celebrating anything kind of kind of seems a little silly.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Let's keep it even keel. Let's keep things even keel
at this point in the summer. So before we preview
tomorrow night's game, I want to give a shout out
to our sponsor for this show, Memos Mexican Kitchen out
in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in my opinion, the best Mexican
food in the area. My head out there tonight. Shit,
I don't know what's going on. I'm kind of craving
some of that Case Siberia again. But they're just a
(12:08):
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It is a short drive worth the trip out there
for a fine quality Mexican cuisine. You guys have been
going out there. I heard from Katie at Memos not
too long ago, and she told me that people have
come in saying they heard about them on Sobros. Network
or they watched the Hot Read podcast live from Memos
(12:28):
a few weeks ago. So keep at it, guys. I'm
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Speaker 4 (12:36):
Every time I go in there.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
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drinking gin at the Mexican Restaurant. They have fantastic seasonal
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celebrate life and wave at the haters for a little
bit on a Friday night.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
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Speaker 2 (12:59):
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Follow him on Instagram at Memo's Mexican Kitchen as well.
Give him a shot sometime the next time you're out
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Speaker 4 (13:17):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
All right, let's talk about this game tomorrow night against
the Seahawks. Owen, Now that the game against the forty
nine ers is behind us, I kind of I want
to start with the offensive line and get your impressions
because I thought JC Latham was was pretty solid within
the context of it being his very first NFL action.
(13:39):
I don't think, you know, he's going to go out
there and win an All Pro vote playing the way
that he did on Saturday, but I think it was
more hopeful than any left tackle we've seen in the
last couple of years for this team. He had his
ups and downs, specifically in pass pro. I felt like
he was driven back a couple of times, but he
countered nicely and had some good reps showing strength as
(14:02):
outside hand I swear like combo blocking with Peter Skeronsky,
like going in on a guy's side. I think he
probably caused some internal bleeding with those hands, like we
got to check on homeboy's kidneys before he can keep playing.
But by and large, I thought it was a net
positive for J. C. Latham. Peter Skeronsky to me, was
the best offensive lineman out there on Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I mean, his anchor.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
He looked like he just decided I'm not going to
take another step back and instead I'm going to push
you back, and that's pretty good shit to see from him.
Lloyd Cushionberry I thought was a net positive as well,
pretty solid stuff. It looked like there were a couple
of times he had given up a rush. But I
think on one instance, I kind of I feel like
Dylan Raiden's passed off his assignment without really communicating it.
(14:49):
It looked like cushion. Barry wasn't ready for the guy,
so I'm willing to give him a pass on that.
Dylan Raiden's I thought was a little shaky at times.
It looked like he was maybe uh I see, I
struggled with this on football and other f words. I
don't want to flat out say he missed an assignment
because I don't have the playbook, but it just looked
like he was maybe in a position that he wasn't
supposed to be in, and that was a little concerning
(15:12):
for me. But I still think that he was pretty
good on Saturday Night. And then Nicholas petite Frere man,
I've been kind of down on him all summer, but
I thought he was really good with his hands. I
thought he was wrangling guys out there. The athleticism to
mirror to move with guys. Was really impressed. He was
one of my risers of the game as well. All
(15:33):
in all, I think this offensive line looked a lot
more promising than it did in twenty twenty three. Will
Levis had time to complete passes, to go through his reads,
his progressions, and it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Man.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I was pretty stroked, excuse me, pretty stoked. Watching that
offensive line on Saturday night, But what do you want
to see? It doesn't sound like the starters are going
to play a lot this week, But give me your
thoughts on how you felt the offensive line did on
Saturday night and what you're looking to see from them
(16:07):
on Saturday. On last Saturday to this Saturday, what you're
looking to see from them?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, I think two of the big takeaways from last
Saturday's game was that there was no prestat penalties and
no snacks, no sacks giving up. So you know, take
the performance for what it was, but those are two
things that you can definitely be encouraged on. Sure, Like
you said, there's not going to be a lot of
(16:36):
play for them, I think against Seattle. So I don't
know really what the standard is other than maintaining that
as well, just no big mistakes and stay healthy.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, I think for me the issue is consistency, Like, Okay,
let's see you at least establish a baseline and go
out there and do what you did last week and
maybe sprinkle in a few more plays. Again, I don't know.
I don't know that the starters are going to play
at all. I know people are kind of running with
tight Tolbert's quote this week about the starters not playing,
(17:13):
but I you know, to my knowledge, I haven't seen
Brian Callahan confirm that just yet, though I know Malik
Willis is starting. So you know what, Yeah, I don't
think the offensive line is going to play too much.
Maybe Latham gets some run, maybe NPF gets some run,
Latham being a rookie and NPF being, you know, just
(17:34):
getting back into football action. I think if that's the case,
you just want to see a little more consistency out
of the unit. But I think this weekend kind of
sounds like it's going to be more about filling out depth.
And there was there were a couple of guys. I
don't know how deeply you watched the offensive line, but
I thought Cole Spencer playing right guard, had a really
(17:54):
good game. Undrafted free agent rookie out of Texas Tech.
He was well vetted by Bill Callahan. Seemed like one
of his boys that they went out and got. I
thought he played with great leverage, got a little lower
in his stance than I saw on tape at Texas Tech.
Athletic profile is off the charts. It was for me
a question of you know, hitting, hitting guys, driving him
(18:18):
back sort of thing, and I think he did that
in the first preseason game. I thought his hat placement
was great. He played with good leverage, climbing to the
second level, hitting guys like there was a lot to
be impressed with by Cole Spencer, And you have to
think that between injuries, contract situations, it's it's nice to
(18:38):
have a developmental prospect in the pipeline if there comes
a day when you need somebody to to go in
there and play. And I think getting Cole Spencer reps
is going to serve this offensive line well, whether it's
this season or beyond. Was there anybody else along the
offensive line that you would want to mention that we
we could talk about real quick that caught your eye
(19:00):
on Saturday that you kind of want to see step
up against the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I don't know. I think I'm with you that I
want to see j C. Latham out there at least
for a little bit. There were talks that you know,
this kind of this past week had been a little
bit of a struggle for him. Yeah, with Seattle. So
that's definitely a position that you're super worried about. I mean,
that's your first round pick, and I think that's somebody
that could benefit for some more reps.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, some more reps against a really good defensive front man.
I don't know if people realize, like Leonard Williams is
no joke. I can't remember Biram Murphy, the guy they
drafted from Texas to and Andre Sweat's teammate. He's a
really good defensive lineman. They've got some pass rushers, boy
A Maffay like this. This would be probably good learning
reps for JC Latham if he could get out there
(19:50):
and at least for a couple of plays the wide
receiver position. I think there was one big surprise from
the game against the forty nine ers, and that was
Jakuan Jackson being relegated to like the third team, the
Malik Willis unit. Him being a draft pick, the way
that they've talked about him this offseason, I thought they
were pretty high on him. I thought that he would
(20:13):
get some run with the Mason Rudolph unit. That wasn't
the case, and running with the Malik Willis unit, I
thought it was interesting. I counted at least three times
that I saw Jaquan Jackson get open and Malik Willis just.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Couldn't find him.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
So are you concerned at all about the development of
Jaquan Jackson And do you think we can get a
better look at him if they kind of elevate him
and give him some run with Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, I mean, we've got a loaded wide receiver room
for the first time in forever, so it's kind of
understandable to you know, maybe not seem as much as
you'd like, but also this is kind of the game
that you do move stuff around that there should be
moving parts, you know. You imagine that New Orleans is
(21:01):
going to be the trial run through of the ones
for at least the first half. So yeah, hopefully this
does bring some opportunity to show that what he can do.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
It sounds an awful lot like Brian Callahan intends on
keeping six wide receivers on this team, so you figure
like Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, Tyler Boyd, and Treylon Burke's
are all virtual locks to make this roster. I'm pretty
certain Nick Westbrook Akine is going to land on this
(21:32):
final roster, and it looks like he had a good
week as well. There's some clips out there of him
breaking people's ankles. I'm like, damn, I didn't know he had.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
That in him.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
But if it comes down to those five and one
spot left over and you are looking at Jakwan Jackson,
Kieras Jackson, who had an active game against the forty
nine ers, Mason Kinzie, and Kyle Phillips. Of those four guys,
who do you think would be the sixth man to
stick on the roster?
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Man, I don't know that that's a very loaded question.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
They all showed signs of life against the forty nine ers,
and that's the interesting thing. I think it's a I
think it's a battle.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, I don't know. I absolutely would agree that it's
a battle, and it's still up in the air. I
guess seat it will be a good time, a good
proving ground.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I think I'm still leaning Jakwan Jackson because he's the
draft pick and because they are so high on him.
And I don't know, man, I can't. I feel like
we're being gas lit into another summer of Mason Kinzie
and like we've seen this story before with him. But
I don't know, man, I mean, maybe this is finally
(22:43):
the year that he puts it all together. And he
lands on this roster, But I think it's going to
be interesting to see. And I think Bryce Oliver is
another name to watch in that group as well, the
undrafted kid out of Youngstown State. He's had a pretty
solid training camp so far according to the report, and
had a nice game against the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I tend to think he's going to be a practice
squad guy though. So before we get into our listener
questions this week, I do want to ask your thoughts
on Malik Willis being named the starter for the Seahawks
game and the team team not really. I don't think
they're gonna play Mason Rudolph at all. I think this
is gonna be Malik Willis's game to go out there
(23:25):
and run.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
What do you make of that decision?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, I don't know. I really don't think that there's
QB two competition and this might just be more. I
think this might just need more about him getting reps
because there's there's always that potential for you know, a
QB three to go in especially lately, you know, teams
have been keeping three quarterbacks on the roster when you know,
(23:52):
we just saw JJ McCarthy go down for the year. Yeah,
So I think it's more so just having a guy
on there that isn't just clueless and lost in the shuffle,
having three guys that you know are comfortable with your
playbook in three options.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
I'm I'm with you on that.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I think Malik has had He's shown improvement this summer,
and I think this is a chance for him to
go out there and say I'm deserving of a spot
on this fifty three man roster. And I don't think
he's going to unseat Mason Rudolph. But to your point,
you know, if you start looking through the way Will
Levis plays the game, I mean just last week, like
(24:35):
he took a shot in the kidneys for no reason
in a preseason game. You think about that playing style,
it's conducive to injuries, like he's he can get himself hurt.
And if that's the case, then you're relying on Mason
Rudolph and you got nobody behind him.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
So I'm I'm starting.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
To come around on this idea that this team might
just keep three quarterbacks. And that's where you start getting
into the roster math of Okay, do you want a
seventh wide receiver? Do you want a fourth tight end,
a tenth offensive lineman, or do you want a third quarterback.
So Malik maybe like the fifty third spot on the
(25:13):
fifty three man roster, but I think he's going to
make a compelling case, or he has the chance to
make a compelling case against the Seahawks tomorrow night. I'll
be fascinated to see how he does. Let's get to
our listener questions. Thank you guys for writing the show
for us this morning, because I had nothing. The last
couple of days have just been a complete blur. I'm
not even up to date on all my Titans news,
(25:34):
just yet to be fully transparent.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
So we're just winging it today. That's what we do.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
But I put out a call on Twitter for questions
that you guys have for me and Owen, and let's
get to him. Let's start with Daniel, who asks, what
are your current expectations for the Titans offense and defense
as units? I would say I think this team is
(26:02):
going to run the ball a little bit more as
the offensive linemen develop in pass pro, and as the
quarterback and wide receivers build chemistry. It's going to take
some time for things to come together. But I think
people are sleeping on how well equipped the Titans are
(26:22):
to run some twelve personnel stuff with two tight ends
out there Wiley and Chigg, with two running backs like
ty J Spears and Tony Pollard in the backfield, and
a gap scheme that is conducive to big runs. We
saw a couple of big runs from the first team
against the forty nine ers. I think that is going
to be the bread and butter of the Titans offense
(26:44):
early on in the season. It might frustrate fans to
see smash mouth football again, so to speak, but I
think that's going to be the ingredient to success early
if this team's going to have it as the passing
game develops. But I think by season's end, we'll see
a unit gel together and it become the offense that
(27:07):
we're envisioning right now. Those are my expectations for offense defense.
I think it's going to be an aggressive unit. I
think this is going to be the area where the
Titans are probably most likely to see success early. I
think it's not going to surprise me if the first
quarter of this season this is a run the ball,
play defense kind of team. As it develops and as
(27:30):
it grows. They've got good man corners, they've got aggressive linebackers,
and they should have some pieces up front that can disrupt,
create interior pressure, blitz the quarterback, have him second guessing,
not knowing where the pressure's coming from, and guys in
the back end that can cover man. So I think
that's kind of the makeup of this defense. I expect
(27:53):
a tentative is not the word conservative, is not necessarily
the word either, but I think there will be I
think they'll be more effective running and playing defense than
people are giving them credit for, and quite frankly, than
they probably want to see from the jump. But I'll
flip this question to you Owen your expectations for the
(28:14):
offense and defense as units.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah, it's kind of hard to, like, you know, fill
out some expectations when there's just major overhaul on both
sides of the ball. So I guess the one thing
that you want to see is, just like you said,
kind of them finding that consistency and finding their comfortability
and finding what works for them. So I think just
(28:39):
realistic progression throughout the season is kind of my expectation
for them.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Drew Cephas asks how much will the Titans run four
wide receiver or five wide receiver sets and four wide
receiver sets? Is the fourth receiver also a slot receiver?
Or are there two x's two z's or is the
fourth receiver its own position? As a Titans fan, I
have seen so little four and five wide I don't
(29:05):
even know how to conceptualize it. Yeah, yeah, drewsiphus, I
don't I don't blame you. Yeah, it's it's tricky. I
think from a from a from an alignment standpoint, I
think it's going to vary. I think this is going
to be a pretty multiple offense. I think you're gonna see,
you know, some some two by two, some trips, some
(29:25):
a little bit of everything. And from a personnel standpoint,
I don't know how likely we are to see four
wide receivers literally out there. And what I mean by
that is like Hopkins, Ridley Boyd, and Burke's are all
gonna be on the field at the same time. I
think there's probably a good chance that you're gonna see
a lot of Ridley, Hopkins, Boyd and then either Tony
(29:49):
Pollard or Taija Spears or Chicka Konkwo out there, five
wide receiver sets is where I think you're more likely
to see Treylon Burke's come into play, maybe the the
ak Nick Westbrook Akine sighting, maybe even some nifty stuff
with Jakwan Jackson if he makes the roster. But I
think I just think the running backs and the tight
(30:11):
ends are going to be more involved in the passing
game than people are thinking right now. I wouldn't get
I don't think personally. My advice to Titans fans would be,
don't get hung up on the idea that Hopkins, Ridley, Burks,
and Boyd are going to be your four wide receivers
that are out there all the time. Ohen, you got
any thoughts on this question about the four and five
(30:33):
wide receiver sets.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
No, I mean, I think you said it very well
when you said that they're very intentional with having Pollard
and Spears, you know, as two guys that you definitely
want involved in the passing game. So I don't know
if it's much just going to be the the air
raid of you know, a four wide receiver set as
much as uh, you know, having your running backs in
(30:58):
tight end involved in the past game. But you know,
as a Titan fan, like what said in the question,
you know, it'll just be nice to see a passing
based offense for the first time in a while.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah, I mean, from like personnel and alignment standpoint, I
thought Tim Kelly actually did some pretty creative things with
this team last year.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
I know it didn't always connect and people are not.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Don't praise Tim Kelly quite often anymore, but I actually
thought from a formation standpoint, he did some pretty creative
interesting stuff there, just kind of hamstrung by the offensive
line and constantly needing to put two tight ends and
just tack them on next to the tackles to help block.
You hope you don't have to see too much of
(31:45):
that this year and that we will kind of see
things spread out a little more. But well said Owen.
Let's move on to Kenneth's question. He has one for me,
Am I crazy or is third down for this team
going to be a real problem again? No pass rush
except blitzing and poor coverage linebackers. I don't have the
(32:07):
stats in front of me, but I felt like they
did fairly well on third down against the forty nine
ers after the second team came in. The weakness is
still I mean to Kenneth's point, I feel like the
weakness is still over the middle against the linebackers in coverage,
and we saw the forty nine ers pick up some
major chunk plays doing that on Saturday Night.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
I still think that you have a couple of linebackers
slotted into starting roles that are not known for their
coverage skills, and behind them you have a bunch of
guys that are having to grow into roles as linebackers,
and I personally don't think that's a great recipe for
(32:54):
developing good coverage linebackers. So I can see where Kenneth
is coming from in the concern for that. I do
think third down could be an issue if teams wisen
up to this and realize this is an area of
the defense that they can exploit. I do think it could.
(33:16):
It could bring trouble for third down. But at the
same time, this aggressive style, I think the pass rush
is going to come from positions outside of the defensive
line and the edge rushers, And I know Kenneth acknowledges
that no pass rush except blitzing, But the thing is,
(33:37):
I think blitzing on third down can be effective with
the right pieces in place, and I am confident in
the pieces that the Titans have two blitz It's just
a matter of how many times can you get away
with it? You know, like if opposing offensive coordinators pick
up on those tendencies, maybe they start designing things to
(33:59):
counter for it. And if they know we can just
drop a receiver five yards down the field right behind
Jack Gibbons, We're gonna take that all day. That's where
you get into trouble. But I think in theory, I
like the idea of these Titans blitzers getting home and
creating that pass rush. His question for you, Owen, what
(34:19):
is the one must have thing you want in the
new stadium? For me, it's shorter concession lines. What do
you what do you what do you think the Titans
need to improve upon for their their new stadium opening
up here in a few years.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Man, I'm hoping concession prices are better. I mean, it's
insane to, you know, go out to a public sporting
event being like, Man, I'm gonna have to spend like
forty fifty bucks on beer all the time. You know,
It's prices are always outrageous. I think it's admirable for
places like Mercedes Benz Stadium. They keep them so relatively
(34:54):
cheap when they're already making a big old profit off
of tickets and everything else. Yeah, yeah, I want to
see affordable concession.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
There you go. We've got a few. We've got a
few from our buddy Jamal. Here, let's get through these.
Have you smelled Will's perfumed? Did you get a did
you get a bottle of that parfume day mayonnaise?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah? So finally I tried the first two days with
no luck. It instantly sold out in a minute and
been set in the alarm for nine am Central Standard
time every day since, and finally got one yesterday. So
I'll be waiting.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Are you still crying at night now that Derrick Henry
is a Baltimore Raven?
Speaker 3 (35:37):
I mean, how many tears can you cry? Eventually you
have to just pick yourself up and move on. It sucks,
and it's really gonna suck to see him like week
one out there in the in the full pads in
Jersey and uh, but eventually, you do you know, life
goes on.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
We have zero regular season wins since firing Vrabel. Time
to admit it was a mistake.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Is that a question.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
That's a question.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah, we've also had zero losses. Probably the best choice
we've ever made for a franchise.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I haven't heard a good nickname for our running back duo.
Does that mean they'll stink?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah? You know, success only comes from good nicknames like
a you know, how do you feel about that big natural?
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Well, you know, I think we should cut him personally. No,
I've got a Hey, I've got a nickname for him.
Let's let's call him fire and ice because ty J.
Spears is ice cold with the jump cut out in
the open field, and Tony Pollard's family cooks barbecue over.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Over and open fire in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Okay, fire and ice, bab Daniel asks, how are we
feeling now?
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Oh? Well, this is relevant.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
How are we feeling now about Jakwan Jackson? I know
everyone could hear a pin drop when that was the
name over Malik Washington?
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Has anything changed? Has the vision become more clear things? Daniel?
I I feel like.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
I'm always gonna look at this, this pick and compare
it to Malik Washington. And I don't know how much
digging you guys have done on Miami Dolphins training camp,
but apparently Malik Washington has made some pretty incredible catches
out there and is looking pretty good. And he's in
a situation where he can thrive behind Tyreek Hill and
(37:39):
Jalen Waddle. He is depth in that receiving corps. I
liked him a lot. I said, people keep asking me
who this year's pookin' akua is, and I try to
tell him. You know, I'm not confident that there is
a pooquin Nakuah. But the closest I got was with
Malik Washington. And I know some teams were kind of
afraid of the injury history, but man is he is
(38:03):
a tough, hard runner, dynamic wide receiver that you can
move all around the formation. I would have been doing
cartwheels had they drafted him. And listen, to be fair
to Jakwan Jackson, I liked him too. I thought he
was I thought he was a good wide receiver, just
not the guy I would have gone with in that spot.
And now, after generating a bit of buzz early on
(38:26):
in many camps, it sounds like the buzz is kind
of cooled off a little bit. And then he's running
with the threes the third team. He can't pass Kiras Jackson.
He can't pass Mason Kimsey in the pecking order, and
to me, that feels like a little bit of a
red flag. So I was never really high on the
drafting to begin with. I'm still not high on it
(38:49):
in that sense. I don't think things have changed, but
I do think the vision has become a little more
clear because it's it's obvious now that they kind of
want to use him in that gadgety kind of role
and they want to use him as the punt returner
on special teams as well. Oh and anything that you
want to say about Jakwan Jackson that we haven't already
covered on this episode.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
No, I mean, I think we put a lot of
it out there. I don't know, there's still time, but
the clock's ticking, so if he if he's got something,
he needs to throw it out there.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Daniel adds another one and another, if I may, we
haven't heard too much about Cedric Gray and I thought
he was tracking to be back this week for practice
in the game. Any indications he's a go for Saturday
and should we be worried? Thanks, I am going to
have to look that up because I haven't seen anything
on Cedric Gray. But I was pretty out of commission
(39:46):
last week or last week yesterday, so I don't know.
I don't know how serious the I don't know how
serious the injury was. It was it was a shoulder issue,
and sounds like it was not season threatening or anything
like that. But damn, I don't know, Daniel, I can't
(40:09):
I'm efforting and I can't find anything. Let me just
talk about Cedric Gray for a minute. Surprised to see
him so far on the depth chart, Surprised to see
him struggling the way that he is. From people that
have been out in camp, they've said that he kind
of looks lost it very much looks like a guy,
you know, like a deer learning to run for the
first time or something like that. I still think he's
(40:33):
uber talented. I'm excited to watch him develop. He's a
feisty guy. He's scrappy. I think he's kind of tailor made.
If you're looking at the mold of what Denard Wilson
wants in a linebacker. I think he's similar to James Williams,
probably a little twitchier, probably a little a little bit stockier.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
I think he's gonna be okay.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
I think the rude awakening on Cedric Gray is that
we probably just need to be a little more patient
than we were, because I know, like Zach and I
were both on this bandwagon early, like just throw him
in there, trial by fire, get it over with, let
him work through the lumps. But it sounds like he's
not even in a position to really get to that,
(41:16):
So we just need to be a little bit patient.
I still think this is going to be a solid
player for the Titans on down the road, super talented.
Owen your concern level with Cedric Gray right now?
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Yeah, I feel like the only news we've heard about
Cedric Gray this past week is no news, and I
don't think that's great for somebody that everyone saw as
an immediate impact. Like you said, I guess you know,
he just relocated to having patients.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Yeah, So the last update I see is from Toron Davenport,
who said no sign of Cedric Gray as the Titans
start the team stretch. So it doesn't sound like I
don't think he was out there practicing. Yeah, and Sam
Falan corroborated that he's reporting.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
The same thing.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
I'm guessing based on that bit of information, we're probably
not going to see him tomorrow night.
Speaker 4 (42:10):
That would be my guess.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Let's wrap up our listener questions and again, thank you
guys for writing our show for us. This is from
Zach who asked, Oh, this is a fitting way to
end the show. Will the world explode when two wide
receivers and both running backs all have one thousand yards each?
Speaker 4 (42:29):
How about that? Owen?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Is the world going to end when the Titans offense
has four one thousand yard producers?
Speaker 3 (42:39):
Uh? Yeah, but the good news is it won't happen
this season, so we've got plenty of time left on.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Art Enjoy, Enjoy what you got, hey, Listen, I went
out on a limb. I've already put it out there.
I don't know if I've officially declared it. I think
the way I framed it is I won't be surprised
if but I really won't be surprised if the Titans
have two thousand yard rushers. I won't be surprised if
(43:04):
Tony Pollard and ty J. Spears both have a thousand
yards on the season. I think the tricky part, honestly,
will be getting DeAndre Hopkins back to one thousand yards
as well, because I think Calvin Ridley is going to
be a focal point of this offense. I think he's
gonna get there, and I think it's it's gonna be
borderline with DeAndre Hopkins and this this offense, it's gonna spread.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
The ball around. So let's let's put it that way.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Let's frame the question like that, who do you think
is the most likely and you can rank them if
you want to, if you've got multiple most likely to
get a thousand yards on offense this season?
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Oh man, just on offense in general, not out of
wide receivers.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah, let's let's let's go for wide receivers, running backs.
Let's throw the tight ends in there too.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
Man. Uh, I'm gonna say Pollard Red Uh, let's go
h Spears.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
There we go.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
I don't know, Hopkins. Uh. I kind of feel like
that's the end of my list.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Yeah, so we're we're kind of on the same page
with that. We're good there. All right, that's gonna do it.
Thank you, guys, Nick Westbrook. Akine is gonna be the
the guy that gets ten touchdowns in this offense but
has like two hundred yards on the season or something
like that.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Thank you, guys. For writing in and helping us out here.
As life has been a little busy the past couple
of days. Didn't have a concrete show agenda written out
like I usually do, but we did it and I'm
ready for some football. Owen you got any plans for
the game tomorrow night?
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Oh man, Just gonna sit back and enjoy it. Football
is back, baby.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
As one does, as one does.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Well, Thank you guys for tuning in for another unofficial
Titans podcast reminder. Go check out Memos Mexican Kitchen in
Mount Juliet, Tennessee, just a mile north of I forty
off the Mount Juliet exit. Well worth the trip out there.
Let him know Stony and the Sobros Network Cinya. You
can check out all of our work at Sobrosnetwork dot com.
Merches up at sobroshop dot com. You can catch all
(45:21):
of my Titans film work and my coverage of the
NFL Draft on Stacking the Inbox. Just put a film
review of a Moni Hooker up there today because the
haters have been gaslighting me into thinking that Moni Hooker
is not good, so I had to review the tape
for myself, and you can check out my conclusion what
I arrived to after watching a little bit of a
(45:42):
Moni hooker tape this week on Stacking the inbox dot com.
He is outspoken, Owen Reed, I am big natural Stony
Keeley and until next time, you stay classy, Titans fans
Thank you from sobers HQ and Nashville, Tennessee to wherever
you're cheering on your Tennessee Titans. The Sobers Network presents
the Unofficial Titans Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome back for another episode of the Unofficial Titans Podcast
right here on Sobros Network, powered by Memos Mexican Kitchen
out in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Mine's right ass is tight
as we get you ready for Titans Seahawks. A week
of joint practices in the books. We got a game
to play tomorrow night. It's the second game of the preseason.
(00:51):
The Titans will look to go to and Oh, and
we're going to talk about it, folks. I am your
host for the Unofficial Titans Podcast, the EIC at sobernetwork
dot com, Big Natural Stony Keeley. You can follow me
on Twitter at Stony Keeley. Collectively at Sobros Network, Joined
as usual by Cinderella Man One Take Oh. Coming to
(01:13):
us from the Dad Zone, Outspoken, Owen read Owen. How
you doing on this fine Friday? My friend, Hey.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Everybody, Hey Stony and I want to give a special
shout out to Mark Wahlberg for no reason at all.
How are you doing today? Buddy.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Oh no, no, no, we can't. I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
We can't let that just just float out into the
ether for for no reason, because I was gonna bring
it up anyway. I was going to ask you what
your favorite Mark Lahlberg movie is. I put out a
call for listener questions, and I'm logging into Twitter to
see if we've got any new ones since I first
put out the call. And I log into Twitter and
(01:52):
I just see Brandon, our resident film critic at Sobros Network,
just tweet out a picture of Mark Wahlberg and the
caption just says useless actor. And I told you, I'm like, man,
I just you can't make a string of bad movies
in front of Brandon Vick or else. He's gonna hold
a grudge. I think it stems from Mark Wahlberg getting
(02:12):
the Best Supporting Actor nom for The Departed and not
Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is Brandon's favorite actor. I think he's
held a personal vendetta against Mark Wahlberg for that reason.
But I just thought it was funny. I'm like trying
to catch my Titans questions. I'm like, Brandon just wants
people to know on this fine Friday Morning that Mark
Wahlberg is practically a piece of shit. But I'll say
(02:35):
this to Brandon's point, I do think that Mark Wahlberg.
I think he's made a really, really high volume of
really shitty movies in recent years. I can't remember we
did this exercise before, because hating on Mark Wahlberg is
a popular pastime when we have nothing else to talk about.
(02:55):
But I think it's been since like twenty fourteen since
we've seen a good Mark Waller movie.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
So you're you're wishing him well. I take it you're
a fan.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Oh you know, you did take the good, you take
the bad.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
That's how it goes. That's how it goes sometimes.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So you know, just Mark Wahlberg catching strays on this
random Tennessee Titans podcast for no reason from a film critic.
Whatever we're doing here, it's it's off to a great start.
We had some joint practices this week, Owen. I want
to get your general takeaways from it, like, how do
(03:33):
you feel, what do you like? The vibes for the
joint practices kind of feels like it was split between
the Seahawks and Titans this week. Probably a pretty good
week of practice, but there's some clips floating out there
of these Seahawks wide receivers toasting some of the Titans'
defensive backs, including Jake Bobo who ran a four point
(03:55):
nine at the combine, h pointing and mossing Roger Mccreary'm
not saying it's time to sound the alarm here, but
was there any any point this week you're seeing these
clips and thinking, oh, buddy, these maybe these defensive backs
have more work to do than we think.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
You know, I'm not sure. I feel like, just in general,
from what we got from this Seahawks test in the
off season, there was a lot of good and a
lot of bad. You know, I'll start off with the bad.
I feel like that final run through when like the
ones are going against the ones and Levison's up throwing
(04:39):
the pick on the first play was really bad. Yeah,
just because that's that's the last time. I mean, maybe
up until Week one when you play against Chicago that
you're gonna get ones on ones and you really wanted
to see at least a couple more plays. You wanted
to see something of what you had, and it just
kind of all went up and spoke really quick.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Well, uh, but go ahead, Oh, go ahead. I didn't
want to.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I didn't want to interrupt your train of thought. There
you got the the good to get to.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh yeah, well, I mean Jeffrey Simmons absolutely demolished somebody yesterday.
But yeah, so, I mean, at the end of the day,
it's just training camp. Uh you take it with a
great assault to quote Sean Atkins, but uh, you know,
(05:31):
you could be encouraged or discouraged whichever way you want
to see it.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
So it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I'm going to quote our buddy Easton Freeze of the
Hot Read podcast and Broadway Sports. He tweeted yesterday. Roger
McCreery said the Titans coaching staff implemented the same rule
for joint practices that New England did this week. If
you're a starter and you fight, you play the full
preseason game. And if you're a backup and you fight,
(05:57):
you don't see the field. What do you think about
the the limitations there to try and keep some of
the chippiness in check a little bit, because from the
sounds of things, it did get pretty chippy at times
this week, but cooler heads prevail, no major incidents. I mean,
you tip your cap to the coaching staff for this one.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, I mean it's kind of gotten out of hand lately.
What was it the Giants and Lions? Was that the
big clip that came out where the assistant gets thrown
to the ground like that kind of stuff's unnecessary and
it definitely causes unwanted injury. But you also kind of
like a little bit of chippiness, or at least I do,
(06:43):
especially when it's two new teams. I guess, you know,
I don't want to see any of our starters having
to play all four quarters in the preseason, and I
don't want to see anybody go down that doesn't need
to go down and lose playing time. So I mean,
I guess overall success.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I'm with you, man, and I think that's a good
rule to implement, because you know, these starters don't want
to be playing in these preseason games. The guys that
are veterans that have you know, been in the league
for a while, they don't want to play in these games.
But likewise, the backups are the ones that need the
preseason to put tape out there to land on a
roster somewhere, so they're the ones wanting to play. I
(07:22):
think it's a pretty smart rule, and I think it's
it's pretty smart of Brian Callahan and company to borrow
a page out of the New England playbook there. I
don't know if this is just one of those things
where a lot of camps do this and New England's
the only one that came out and said the rule.
So you know, you kind of have to be a
little careful there when crediting for for an idea. You know,
(07:44):
it's kind of like Red Solo Cup that song. A
lot of country musicians played it in bars, but nobody
took it and recorded it until Toby Keith did. And
so now you know, it's like, well Toby Keith did it.
He gets the credit for it, but that song was
floating around the bar scene for quite some time. Same
(08:05):
deal with fighting and joint practices. I want to give
I want to give our buddy Sam Falin and ata
Ze Sports a shout out. He reported Titans Quandary Diggs
and Jamal Adams are basically living on the Seahawks sideline
talking smack to.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Their former team.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
This feels kind of weird to me, And I don't
mean it's weird to do this because you stick up
for your teammates, and I don't mind the shit talking
or anything like that, but these guys just came from
the Seahawks last year.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
They know a lot of these guys.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I'm trying to get into a headspace where like my
teammates are just suddenly the target of my malice and
my shit talking and my aggression and all that.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I don't know. I don't know that I could do that.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
What do you think about the former Seahawks safeties flipping
that switch and just turning it on their former team?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, man, that's some crazy bad blood you usually don't see.
I mean, they can be mad at a lot of people,
you know. I'm sure you could blame ownership or coaching,
but it's kind of weird to see it taken out
on former teammates. You don't usually see that.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Well, there are some rumors out there. I don't know
specifically about Quandary Diggs, but there are some rumors out
there that Jamal Adams was not necessarily well liked in
the Seahawks locker room. So maybe there are some some
tensions with his teammates, but I don't know. Some fun
friendly competition out there too, are our buddy J T. Runkey,
(09:37):
also of the Hot Read podcast and Broadway Sports.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Shout out to JT.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
By the way, if y'all aren't following JT at Underscore,
I'm sorry at JT Underscore Runkey r uh n k E.
He's been crushing it this week with reports and camp videos.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
He posted the clip of Jake Bobo Moss and Roger McCreary.
It's got like a quarter of a million views on
Twitter right now. So JT putting in the work, tweeted.
Seahawks Devin Weatherspoon just jumped the route, picked off Will Levis.
Witherspoon runs the ball to Jamal Adams, who had once
again been chirping all day. Two plays later, Chance Campbell
intercepts Sam Howell. So in a nutshell, man, there's you've
(10:17):
got the chippiness, you've got the trash talk, you've got
a little bit of tit for tat between going interception
for interception. It sounds like these two teams were pretty
evenly matched all week. I know some people are kind of,
you know, got the gun in their mouth, staring down
the barrel because the Titans didn't dominate practice this week.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
But it's the NFL. Brother this shit's gonna happen to me.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I read stuff like JT's tweet and the reporting that's
coming out this week, and it sounds to me like
this was probably a pretty healthy week in terms of
growth for the for the Titans. So to put it
to put a bow on it, how are you feeling
now that the joint practices are done?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Competitive? Fiery?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Maybe you did and see the Titans dominate the way
you wanted to see, but it sounds like potential for
growth at the very least comes out of these joint practices.
How are you feeling about this team as it heads
into a game tomorrow night, Owen?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, I'm kind of with you on the point that
it's just, you know, you're going against another top NFL.
I don't know about top, but you're going against another
full NFL team.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
The Seahawks are going to be pretty good.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yeah. I don't think you look to a certain dominance
in training camp. You know, they don't. They don't hand
out trophies for that shit.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
So anybody that's panicking about it either which way or
overly celebrating anything kind of kind of seems a little silly.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Let's keep it even keel. Let's keep things even keel
at this point in the summer. So before we preview
tomorrow night's game, I want to give a shout out
to our sponsor for this show, Memos Mexican Kitchen out
in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in my opinion, the best Mexican
food in the area. My head out there tonight. Shit,
I don't know what's going on. I'm kind of craving
some of that Case Siberia again. But they're just a
(12:08):
mile north of I forty off the Mount Juliet exit.
It is a short drive worth the trip out there
for a fine quality Mexican cuisine. You guys have been
going out there. I heard from Katie at Memos not
too long ago, and she told me that people have
come in saying they heard about them on Sobros. Network
or they watched the Hot Read podcast live from Memos
(12:28):
a few weeks ago. So keep at it, guys. I'm
happy that you're giving them a shot, and I hope
that you enjoy the experience as much as I do.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Every time I go in there.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Get you a margarita if you're like me, completely insane
drinking gin at the Mexican Restaurant. They have fantastic seasonal
Gin and Tonics. Check out the drink menu there, get
you a fine dinner and it's a great place to
celebrate life and wave at the haters for a little
bit on a Friday night.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
If you're partaking in that Gin Friday as well.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
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Follow him on Instagram at Memo's Mexican Kitchen as well.
Give him a shot sometime the next time you're out
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the Sobros Network, Sinca, and uh just have you have
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Speaker 4 (13:17):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
All right, let's talk about this game tomorrow night against
the Seahawks. Owen, Now that the game against the forty
nine ers is behind us, I kind of I want
to start with the offensive line and get your impressions
because I thought JC Latham was was pretty solid within
the context of it being his very first NFL action.
(13:39):
I don't think, you know, he's going to go out
there and win an All Pro vote playing the way
that he did on Saturday, but I think it was
more hopeful than any left tackle we've seen in the
last couple of years for this team. He had his
ups and downs, specifically in pass pro. I felt like
he was driven back a couple of times, but he
countered nicely and had some good reps showing strength as
(14:02):
outside hand I swear like combo blocking with Peter Skeronsky,
like going in on a guy's side. I think he
probably caused some internal bleeding with those hands, like we
got to check on homeboy's kidneys before he can keep playing.
But by and large, I thought it was a net
positive for J. C. Latham. Peter Skeronsky to me, was
the best offensive lineman out there on Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
I mean, his anchor.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
He looked like he just decided I'm not going to
take another step back and instead I'm going to push
you back, and that's pretty good shit to see from him.
Lloyd Cushionberry I thought was a net positive as well,
pretty solid stuff. It looked like there were a couple
of times he had given up a rush. But I
think on one instance, I kind of I feel like
Dylan Raiden's passed off his assignment without really communicating it.
(14:49):
It looked like cushion. Barry wasn't ready for the guy,
so I'm willing to give him a pass on that.
Dylan Raiden's I thought was a little shaky at times.
It looked like he was maybe uh I see, I
struggled with this on football and other f words. I
don't want to flat out say he missed an assignment
because I don't have the playbook, but it just looked
like he was maybe in a position that he wasn't
supposed to be in, and that was a little concerning
(15:12):
for me. But I still think that he was pretty
good on Saturday Night. And then Nicholas petite Frere man,
I've been kind of down on him all summer, but
I thought he was really good with his hands. I
thought he was wrangling guys out there. The athleticism to
mirror to move with guys. Was really impressed. He was
one of my risers of the game as well. All
(15:33):
in all, I think this offensive line looked a lot
more promising than it did in twenty twenty three. Will
Levis had time to complete passes, to go through his reads,
his progressions, and it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Man.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
I was pretty stroked, excuse me, pretty stoked. Watching that
offensive line on Saturday night, But what do you want
to see? It doesn't sound like the starters are going
to play a lot this week, But give me your
thoughts on how you felt the offensive line did on
Saturday night and what you're looking to see from them
(16:07):
on Saturday. On last Saturday to this Saturday, what you're
looking to see from them?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Yeah, I think two of the big takeaways from last
Saturday's game was that there was no prestat penalties and
no snacks, no sacks giving up. So you know, take
the performance for what it was, but those are two
things that you can definitely be encouraged on. Sure, Like
you said, there's not going to be a lot of
(16:36):
play for them, I think against Seattle. So I don't
know really what the standard is other than maintaining that
as well, just no big mistakes and stay healthy.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, I think for me the issue is consistency, Like, Okay,
let's see you at least establish a baseline and go
out there and do what you did last week and
maybe sprinkle in a few more plays. Again, I don't know.
I don't know that the starters are going to play
at all. I know people are kind of running with
tight Tolbert's quote this week about the starters not playing,
(17:13):
but I you know, to my knowledge, I haven't seen
Brian Callahan confirm that just yet, though I know Malik
Willis is starting. So you know what, Yeah, I don't
think the offensive line is going to play too much.
Maybe Latham gets some run, maybe NPF gets some run,
Latham being a rookie and NPF being, you know, just
(17:34):
getting back into football action. I think if that's the case,
you just want to see a little more consistency out
of the unit. But I think this weekend kind of
sounds like it's going to be more about filling out depth.
And there was there were a couple of guys. I
don't know how deeply you watched the offensive line, but
I thought Cole Spencer playing right guard, had a really
(17:54):
good game. Undrafted free agent rookie out of Texas Tech.
He was well vetted by Bill Callahan. Seemed like one
of his boys that they went out and got. I
thought he played with great leverage, got a little lower
in his stance than I saw on tape at Texas Tech.
Athletic profile is off the charts. It was for me
a question of you know, hitting, hitting guys, driving him
(18:18):
back sort of thing, and I think he did that
in the first preseason game. I thought his hat placement
was great. He played with good leverage, climbing to the
second level, hitting guys like there was a lot to
be impressed with by Cole Spencer, And you have to
think that between injuries, contract situations, it's it's nice to
(18:38):
have a developmental prospect in the pipeline if there comes
a day when you need somebody to to go in
there and play. And I think getting Cole Spencer reps
is going to serve this offensive line well, whether it's
this season or beyond. Was there anybody else along the
offensive line that you would want to mention that we
we could talk about real quick that caught your eye
(19:00):
on Saturday that you kind of want to see step
up against the Seahawks.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
I don't know. I think I'm with you that I
want to see j C. Latham out there at least
for a little bit. There were talks that you know,
this kind of this past week had been a little
bit of a struggle for him. Yeah, with Seattle. So
that's definitely a position that you're super worried about. I mean,
that's your first round pick, and I think that's somebody
that could benefit for some more reps.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, some more reps against a really good defensive front man.
I don't know if people realize, like Leonard Williams is
no joke. I can't remember Biram Murphy, the guy they
drafted from Texas to and Andre Sweat's teammate. He's a
really good defensive lineman. They've got some pass rushers, boy
A Maffay like this. This would be probably good learning
reps for JC Latham if he could get out there
(19:50):
and at least for a couple of plays the wide
receiver position. I think there was one big surprise from
the game against the forty nine ers, and that was
Jakuan Jackson being relegated to like the third team, the
Malik Willis unit. Him being a draft pick, the way
that they've talked about him this offseason, I thought they
were pretty high on him. I thought that he would
(20:13):
get some run with the Mason Rudolph unit. That wasn't
the case, and running with the Malik Willis unit, I
thought it was interesting. I counted at least three times
that I saw Jaquan Jackson get open and Malik Willis just.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Couldn't find him.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
So are you concerned at all about the development of
Jaquan Jackson And do you think we can get a
better look at him if they kind of elevate him
and give him some run with Mason Rudolph.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, I mean, we've got a loaded wide receiver room
for the first time in forever, so it's kind of
understandable to you know, maybe not seem as much as
you'd like, but also this is kind of the game
that you do move stuff around that there should be
moving parts, you know. You imagine that New Orleans is
(21:01):
going to be the trial run through of the ones
for at least the first half. So yeah, hopefully this
does bring some opportunity to show that what he can do.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
It sounds an awful lot like Brian Callahan intends on
keeping six wide receivers on this team, so you figure
like Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, Tyler Boyd, and Treylon Burke's
are all virtual locks to make this roster. I'm pretty
certain Nick Westbrook Akine is going to land on this
(21:32):
final roster, and it looks like he had a good
week as well. There's some clips out there of him
breaking people's ankles. I'm like, damn, I didn't know he had.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
That in him.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
But if it comes down to those five and one
spot left over and you are looking at Jakwan Jackson,
Kieras Jackson, who had an active game against the forty
nine ers, Mason Kinzie, and Kyle Phillips. Of those four guys,
who do you think would be the sixth man to
stick on the roster?
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Man, I don't know that that's a very loaded question.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
They all showed signs of life against the forty nine ers,
and that's the interesting thing. I think it's a I
think it's a battle.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah, I don't know. I absolutely would agree that it's
a battle, and it's still up in the air. I
guess seat it will be a good time, a good
proving ground.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I think I'm still leaning Jakwan Jackson because he's the
draft pick and because they are so high on him.
And I don't know, man, I can't. I feel like
we're being gas lit into another summer of Mason Kinzie
and like we've seen this story before with him. But
I don't know, man, I mean, maybe this is finally
(22:43):
the year that he puts it all together. And he
lands on this roster, But I think it's going to
be interesting to see. And I think Bryce Oliver is
another name to watch in that group as well, the
undrafted kid out of Youngstown State. He's had a pretty
solid training camp so far according to the report, and
had a nice game against the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4 (23:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I tend to think he's going to be a practice
squad guy though. So before we get into our listener
questions this week, I do want to ask your thoughts
on Malik Willis being named the starter for the Seahawks
game and the team team not really. I don't think
they're gonna play Mason Rudolph at all. I think this
is gonna be Malik Willis's game to go out there
(23:25):
and run.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
What do you make of that decision?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, I don't know. I really don't think that there's
QB two competition and this might just be more. I
think this might just need more about him getting reps
because there's there's always that potential for you know, a
QB three to go in especially lately, you know, teams
have been keeping three quarterbacks on the roster when you know,
(23:52):
we just saw JJ McCarthy go down for the year. Yeah,
So I think it's more so just having a guy
on there that isn't just clueless and lost in the shuffle,
having three guys that you know are comfortable with your
playbook in three options.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
I'm I'm with you on that.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I think Malik has had He's shown improvement this summer,
and I think this is a chance for him to
go out there and say I'm deserving of a spot
on this fifty three man roster. And I don't think
he's going to unseat Mason Rudolph. But to your point,
you know, if you start looking through the way Will
Levis plays the game, I mean just last week, like
(24:35):
he took a shot in the kidneys for no reason
in a preseason game. You think about that playing style,
it's conducive to injuries, like he's he can get himself hurt.
And if that's the case, then you're relying on Mason
Rudolph and you got nobody behind him.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
So I'm I'm starting.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
To come around on this idea that this team might
just keep three quarterbacks. And that's where you start getting
into the roster math of Okay, do you want a
seventh wide receiver? Do you want a fourth tight end,
a tenth offensive lineman, or do you want a third quarterback.
So Malik maybe like the fifty third spot on the
(25:13):
fifty three man roster, but I think he's going to
make a compelling case, or he has the chance to
make a compelling case against the Seahawks tomorrow night. I'll
be fascinated to see how he does. Let's get to
our listener questions. Thank you guys for writing the show
for us this morning, because I had nothing. The last
couple of days have just been a complete blur. I'm
not even up to date on all my Titans news,
(25:34):
just yet to be fully transparent.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
So we're just winging it today. That's what we do.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
But I put out a call on Twitter for questions
that you guys have for me and Owen, and let's
get to him. Let's start with Daniel, who asks, what
are your current expectations for the Titans offense and defense
as units? I would say I think this team is
(26:02):
going to run the ball a little bit more as
the offensive linemen develop in pass pro, and as the
quarterback and wide receivers build chemistry. It's going to take
some time for things to come together. But I think
people are sleeping on how well equipped the Titans are
(26:22):
to run some twelve personnel stuff with two tight ends
out there Wiley and Chigg, with two running backs like
ty J Spears and Tony Pollard in the backfield, and
a gap scheme that is conducive to big runs. We
saw a couple of big runs from the first team
against the forty nine ers. I think that is going
to be the bread and butter of the Titans offense
(26:44):
early on in the season. It might frustrate fans to
see smash mouth football again, so to speak, but I
think that's going to be the ingredient to success early
if this team's going to have it as the passing
game develops. But I think by season's end, we'll see
a unit gel together and it become the offense that
(27:07):
we're envisioning right now. Those are my expectations for offense defense.
I think it's going to be an aggressive unit. I
think this is going to be the area where the
Titans are probably most likely to see success early. I
think it's not going to surprise me if the first
quarter of this season this is a run the ball,
play defense kind of team. As it develops and as
(27:30):
it grows. They've got good man corners, they've got aggressive linebackers,
and they should have some pieces up front that can disrupt,
create interior pressure, blitz the quarterback, have him second guessing,
not knowing where the pressure's coming from, and guys in
the back end that can cover man. So I think
that's kind of the makeup of this defense. I expect
(27:53):
a tentative is not the word conservative, is not necessarily
the word either, but I think there will be I
think they'll be more effective running and playing defense than
people are giving them credit for, and quite frankly, than
they probably want to see from the jump. But I'll
flip this question to you Owen your expectations for the
(28:14):
offense and defense as units.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah, it's kind of hard to, like, you know, fill
out some expectations when there's just major overhaul on both
sides of the ball. So I guess the one thing
that you want to see is, just like you said,
kind of them finding that consistency and finding their comfortability
and finding what works for them. So I think just
(28:39):
realistic progression throughout the season is kind of my expectation
for them.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Drew Cephas asks how much will the Titans run four
wide receiver or five wide receiver sets and four wide
receiver sets? Is the fourth receiver also a slot receiver?
Or are there two x's two z's or is the
fourth receiver its own position? As a Titans fan, I
have seen so little four and five wide I don't
(29:05):
even know how to conceptualize it. Yeah, yeah, drewsiphus, I
don't I don't blame you. Yeah, it's it's tricky. I
think from a from a from an alignment standpoint, I
think it's going to vary. I think this is going
to be a pretty multiple offense. I think you're gonna see,
you know, some some two by two, some trips, some
(29:25):
a little bit of everything. And from a personnel standpoint,
I don't know how likely we are to see four
wide receivers literally out there. And what I mean by
that is like Hopkins, Ridley Boyd, and Burke's are all
gonna be on the field at the same time. I
think there's probably a good chance that you're gonna see
a lot of Ridley, Hopkins, Boyd and then either Tony
(29:49):
Pollard or Taija Spears or Chicka Konkwo out there, five
wide receiver sets is where I think you're more likely
to see Treylon Burke's come into play, maybe the the
ak Nick Westbrook Akine sighting, maybe even some nifty stuff
with Jakwan Jackson if he makes the roster. But I
think I just think the running backs and the tight
(30:11):
ends are going to be more involved in the passing
game than people are thinking right now. I wouldn't get
I don't think personally. My advice to Titans fans would be,
don't get hung up on the idea that Hopkins, Ridley, Burks,
and Boyd are going to be your four wide receivers
that are out there all the time. Ohen, you got
any thoughts on this question about the four and five
(30:33):
wide receiver sets.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
No, I mean, I think you said it very well
when you said that they're very intentional with having Pollard
and Spears, you know, as two guys that you definitely
want involved in the passing game. So I don't know
if it's much just going to be the the air
raid of you know, a four wide receiver set as
much as uh, you know, having your running backs in
(30:58):
tight end involved in the past game. But you know,
as a Titan fan, like what said in the question,
you know, it'll just be nice to see a passing
based offense for the first time in a while.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Yeah, I mean, from like personnel and alignment standpoint, I
thought Tim Kelly actually did some pretty creative things with
this team last year.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
I know it didn't always connect and people are not.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Don't praise Tim Kelly quite often anymore, but I actually
thought from a formation standpoint, he did some pretty creative
interesting stuff there, just kind of hamstrung by the offensive
line and constantly needing to put two tight ends and
just tack them on next to the tackles to help block.
You hope you don't have to see too much of
(31:45):
that this year and that we will kind of see
things spread out a little more. But well said Owen.
Let's move on to Kenneth's question. He has one for me,
Am I crazy or is third down for this team
going to be a real problem again? No pass rush
except blitzing and poor coverage linebackers. I don't have the
(32:07):
stats in front of me, but I felt like they
did fairly well on third down against the forty nine
ers after the second team came in. The weakness is
still I mean to Kenneth's point, I feel like the
weakness is still over the middle against the linebackers in coverage,
and we saw the forty nine ers pick up some
major chunk plays doing that on Saturday Night.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
I still think that you have a couple of linebackers
slotted into starting roles that are not known for their
coverage skills, and behind them you have a bunch of
guys that are having to grow into roles as linebackers,
and I personally don't think that's a great recipe for
(32:54):
developing good coverage linebackers. So I can see where Kenneth
is coming from in the concern for that. I do
think third down could be an issue if teams wisen
up to this and realize this is an area of
the defense that they can exploit. I do think it could.
(33:16):
It could bring trouble for third down. But at the
same time, this aggressive style, I think the pass rush
is going to come from positions outside of the defensive
line and the edge rushers, And I know Kenneth acknowledges
that no pass rush except blitzing, But the thing is,
(33:37):
I think blitzing on third down can be effective with
the right pieces in place, and I am confident in
the pieces that the Titans have two blitz It's just
a matter of how many times can you get away
with it? You know, like if opposing offensive coordinators pick
up on those tendencies, maybe they start designing things to
(33:59):
counter for it. And if they know we can just
drop a receiver five yards down the field right behind
Jack Gibbons, We're gonna take that all day. That's where
you get into trouble. But I think in theory, I
like the idea of these Titans blitzers getting home and
creating that pass rush. His question for you, Owen, what
(34:19):
is the one must have thing you want in the
new stadium? For me, it's shorter concession lines. What do
you what do you what do you think the Titans
need to improve upon for their their new stadium opening
up here in a few years.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Man, I'm hoping concession prices are better. I mean, it's
insane to, you know, go out to a public sporting
event being like, Man, I'm gonna have to spend like
forty fifty bucks on beer all the time. You know,
It's prices are always outrageous. I think it's admirable for
places like Mercedes Benz Stadium. They keep them so relatively
(34:54):
cheap when they're already making a big old profit off
of tickets and everything else. Yeah, yeah, I want to
see affordable concession.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
There you go. We've got a few. We've got a
few from our buddy Jamal. Here, let's get through these.
Have you smelled Will's perfumed? Did you get a did
you get a bottle of that parfume day mayonnaise?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah? So finally I tried the first two days with
no luck. It instantly sold out in a minute and
been set in the alarm for nine am Central Standard
time every day since, and finally got one yesterday. So
I'll be waiting.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Are you still crying at night now that Derrick Henry
is a Baltimore Raven?
Speaker 3 (35:37):
I mean, how many tears can you cry? Eventually you
have to just pick yourself up and move on. It sucks,
and it's really gonna suck to see him like week
one out there in the in the full pads in
Jersey and uh, but eventually, you do you know, life
goes on.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
We have zero regular season wins since firing Vrabel. Time
to admit it was a mistake.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Is that a question.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
That's a question.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah, we've also had zero losses. Probably the best choice
we've ever made for a franchise.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I haven't heard a good nickname for our running back duo.
Does that mean they'll stink?
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah? You know, success only comes from good nicknames like
a you know, how do you feel about that big natural?
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Well, you know, I think we should cut him personally. No,
I've got a Hey, I've got a nickname for him.
Let's let's call him fire and ice because ty J.
Spears is ice cold with the jump cut out in
the open field, and Tony Pollard's family cooks barbecue over.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Over and open fire in Memphis.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
Okay, fire and ice, bab Daniel asks, how are we
feeling now?
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Oh? Well, this is relevant.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
How are we feeling now about Jakwan Jackson? I know
everyone could hear a pin drop when that was the
name over Malik Washington?
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Has anything changed? Has the vision become more clear things? Daniel?
I I feel like.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
I'm always gonna look at this, this pick and compare
it to Malik Washington. And I don't know how much
digging you guys have done on Miami Dolphins training camp,
but apparently Malik Washington has made some pretty incredible catches
out there and is looking pretty good. And he's in
a situation where he can thrive behind Tyreek Hill and
(37:39):
Jalen Waddle. He is depth in that receiving corps. I
liked him a lot. I said, people keep asking me
who this year's pookin' akua is, and I try to
tell him. You know, I'm not confident that there is
a pooquin Nakuah. But the closest I got was with
Malik Washington. And I know some teams were kind of
afraid of the injury history, but man is he is
(38:03):
a tough, hard runner, dynamic wide receiver that you can
move all around the formation. I would have been doing
cartwheels had they drafted him. And listen, to be fair
to Jakwan Jackson, I liked him too. I thought he
was I thought he was a good wide receiver, just
not the guy I would have gone with in that spot.
And now, after generating a bit of buzz early on
(38:26):
in many camps, it sounds like the buzz is kind
of cooled off a little bit. And then he's running
with the threes the third team. He can't pass Kiras Jackson.
He can't pass Mason Kimsey in the pecking order, and
to me, that feels like a little bit of a
red flag. So I was never really high on the
drafting to begin with. I'm still not high on it
(38:49):
in that sense. I don't think things have changed, but
I do think the vision has become a little more
clear because it's it's obvious now that they kind of
want to use him in that gadgety kind of role
and they want to use him as the punt returner
on special teams as well. Oh and anything that you
want to say about Jakwan Jackson that we haven't already
covered on this episode.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
No, I mean, I think we put a lot of
it out there. I don't know, there's still time, but
the clock's ticking, so if he if he's got something,
he needs to throw it out there.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
Daniel adds another one and another, if I may, we
haven't heard too much about Cedric Gray and I thought
he was tracking to be back this week for practice
in the game. Any indications he's a go for Saturday
and should we be worried? Thanks, I am going to
have to look that up because I haven't seen anything
on Cedric Gray. But I was pretty out of commission
(39:46):
last week or last week yesterday, so I don't know.
I don't know how serious the I don't know how
serious the injury was. It was it was a shoulder issue,
and sounds like it was not season threatening or anything
like that. But damn, I don't know, Daniel, I can't
(40:09):
I'm efforting and I can't find anything. Let me just
talk about Cedric Gray for a minute. Surprised to see
him so far on the depth chart, Surprised to see
him struggling the way that he is. From people that
have been out in camp, they've said that he kind
of looks lost it very much looks like a guy,
you know, like a deer learning to run for the
first time or something like that. I still think he's
(40:33):
uber talented. I'm excited to watch him develop. He's a
feisty guy. He's scrappy. I think he's kind of tailor made.
If you're looking at the mold of what Denard Wilson
wants in a linebacker. I think he's similar to James Williams,
probably a little twitchier, probably a little a little bit stockier.
Speaker 4 (40:54):
I think he's gonna be okay.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
I think the rude awakening on Cedric Gray is that
we probably just need to be a little more patient
than we were, because I know, like Zach and I
were both on this bandwagon early, like just throw him
in there, trial by fire, get it over with, let
him work through the lumps. But it sounds like he's
not even in a position to really get to that,
(41:16):
So we just need to be a little bit patient.
I still think this is going to be a solid
player for the Titans on down the road, super talented.
Owen your concern level with Cedric Gray right now?
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Yeah, I feel like the only news we've heard about
Cedric Gray this past week is no news, and I
don't think that's great for somebody that everyone saw as
an immediate impact. Like you said, I guess you know,
he just relocated to having patients.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Yeah, So the last update I see is from Toron Davenport,
who said no sign of Cedric Gray as the Titans
start the team stretch. So it doesn't sound like I
don't think he was out there practicing. Yeah, and Sam
Falan corroborated that he's reporting.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
The same thing.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
I'm guessing based on that bit of information, we're probably
not going to see him tomorrow night.
Speaker 4 (42:10):
That would be my guess.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Let's wrap up our listener questions and again, thank you
guys for writing our show for us. This is from
Zach who asked, Oh, this is a fitting way to
end the show. Will the world explode when two wide
receivers and both running backs all have one thousand yards each?
Speaker 4 (42:29):
How about that? Owen?
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Is the world going to end when the Titans offense
has four one thousand yard producers?
Speaker 3 (42:39):
Uh? Yeah, but the good news is it won't happen
this season, so we've got plenty of time left on.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Art Enjoy, Enjoy what you got, hey, Listen, I went
out on a limb. I've already put it out there.
I don't know if I've officially declared it. I think
the way I framed it is I won't be surprised
if but I really won't be surprised if the Titans
have two thousand yard rushers. I won't be surprised if
(43:04):
Tony Pollard and ty J. Spears both have a thousand
yards on the season. I think the tricky part, honestly,
will be getting DeAndre Hopkins back to one thousand yards
as well, because I think Calvin Ridley is going to
be a focal point of this offense. I think he's
gonna get there, and I think it's it's gonna be
borderline with DeAndre Hopkins and this this offense, it's gonna spread.
Speaker 4 (43:25):
The ball around. So let's let's put it that way.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Let's frame the question like that, who do you think
is the most likely and you can rank them if
you want to, if you've got multiple most likely to
get a thousand yards on offense this season?
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Oh man, just on offense in general, not out of
wide receivers.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah, let's let's let's go for wide receivers, running backs.
Let's throw the tight ends in there too.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
Man. Uh, I'm gonna say Pollard Red Uh, let's go
h Spears.
Speaker 4 (44:06):
There we go.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
I don't know, Hopkins. Uh. I kind of feel like
that's the end of my list.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
Yeah, so we're we're kind of on the same page
with that. We're good there. All right, that's gonna do it.
Thank you, guys, Nick Westbrook. Akine is gonna be the
the guy that gets ten touchdowns in this offense but
has like two hundred yards on the season or something
like that.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Thank you, guys. For writing in and helping us out here.
As life has been a little busy the past couple
of days. Didn't have a concrete show agenda written out
like I usually do, but we did it and I'm
ready for some football. Owen you got any plans for
the game tomorrow night?
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Oh man, Just gonna sit back and enjoy it. Football
is back, baby.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
As one does, as one does.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
Well, Thank you guys for tuning in for another unofficial
Titans podcast reminder. Go check out Memos Mexican Kitchen in
Mount Juliet, Tennessee, just a mile north of I forty
off the Mount Juliet exit. Well worth the trip out there.
Let him know Stony and the Sobros Network Cinya. You
can check out all of our work at Sobrosnetwork dot com.
Merches up at sobroshop dot com. You can catch all
(45:21):
of my Titans film work and my coverage of the
NFL Draft on Stacking the Inbox. Just put a film
review of a Moni Hooker up there today because the
haters have been gaslighting me into thinking that Moni Hooker
is not good, so I had to review the tape
for myself, and you can check out my conclusion what
I arrived to after watching a little bit of a
(45:42):
Moni hooker tape this week on Stacking the inbox dot com.
He is outspoken, Owen Reed, I am big natural Stony
Keeley and until next time, you stay classy, Titans fans
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