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Speaker 1: Countdown to kickoff continues the Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans

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Speaker 1: Week fourteen in the National Football League. The Jaguars officially eliminated.

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Speaker 1: The Titans are having some issues as well. Mike Keith,

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Speaker 1: the voice of the Titans, with us and here we go.

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Speaker 1: I hate this trip. The Jaguars hate this trip. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the Jaguars have struggled in Nashville forever. But here we

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Speaker 1: are in December, and it's nice to see you at least, Mike.

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Speaker 1: How's it going.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's nice to see you as well. I think

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Speaker 2: we're all excited about everything going on in terms of

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Speaker 2: the NFL and down the stretch and here we go

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Speaker 2: and all of the matchups, and I think both of

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Speaker 2: these teams would very much like to be a part

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Speaker 2: of that revelry which is December football in the NFL.

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately we're not. I'm sure for you guys, it's a

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Speaker 2: lot of confusion about why this season has gone as

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Speaker 2: it has, because I know there were expectations. Our feeling

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Speaker 2: in a new era was that it would probably be bumpy,

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Speaker 2: and it has been. And so now trying to figure

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Speaker 2: out how you end this season with the arrow pointing

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Speaker 2: up and JP I think that was always the goal

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Speaker 2: for the Titans is to end twenty twenty four with

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Speaker 2: the arrow pointing up. The Titans still have that opportunity,

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Speaker 2: and that's what they're going to need to.

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Speaker 1: Do, all right, to have that arrow pointing out. My

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Speaker 1: quarterback play helps is will Levis the guy for the Titans.

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Speaker 2: I think we're starting to believe he really is. And

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Speaker 2: he had a rough September. Got hurt in a Monday

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Speaker 2: night game against the Dolphins. Tried to play post by

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Speaker 2: the shoulder was still hurting him, and so they shut

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Speaker 2: him down. They said, we're going to get you well,

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Speaker 2: and he got well. He had a chance to watch

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Speaker 2: Mason Rudolph play quarterback, he had a chance to spend

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Speaker 2: time with Simeon in the system and in the meeting rooms.

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Speaker 2: And he's come back and he has played the position

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Speaker 2: of quarterback well. How Brian Callahan describes it, JP is

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Speaker 2: Will Levis is not calling plays and throwing passes anymore.

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Speaker 2: He's playing quarterback. And that's the part of it that

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Speaker 2: they're very happy with. The stats don't say he played

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Speaker 2: great at Washington, but he played a good game. He

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Speaker 2: had six passes drop. He didn't make big mistakes. He

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Speaker 2: kept the team competing even after it fell behind. He

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Speaker 2: actually had managed the game well enough that with three

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Speaker 2: point forty to go in the third quarter, the Titans

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Speaker 2: had climbed back to twenty eight to thirteen. They were

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Speaker 2: in the game. Now, it didn't work out. The defense

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Speaker 2: didn't get a stop there. But that's what quarterback does

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Speaker 2: in the NFL. As you know, I don't have to

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Speaker 2: explain it to you, but from the Titans perspective, that's

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Speaker 2: what they wanted to see out of Will Levis. They

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Speaker 2: wanted to see him play quarterback, and that's what he's

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Speaker 2: doing right now. Now it's not over, he's got five

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Speaker 2: more games, but as this year long evaluation goes on,

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Speaker 2: his arrow is pointing up.

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Speaker 1: Like Keith Voice of the Tennessee Titans, got some weapons

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Speaker 1: around him, Ridley, you know, we know all about him here.

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Speaker 1: Westbrook and Keine is catching touchdowns every week now. And

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Speaker 1: they got a running back and Pollards who's playing well.

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Speaker 1: So when you have those pieces around a conquo obviously

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Speaker 1: the tight end we know all about him, so that

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Speaker 1: helps when those guys are playing well. Let's focus on Westbrook,

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Speaker 1: a Kine, this guy can't stop catching touchdown passes.

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Speaker 2: Why is that now, Well, because they throw it to

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Speaker 2: him near the end zone and he makes the plays.

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Speaker 2: Nick is really a great story. You know, he's from

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Speaker 2: Lake Mary, he goes to Indiana, he comes to the

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Speaker 2: Titans as an undrafted and this guy does whatever he

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Speaker 2: has to do to stay on the roster. And this

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Speaker 2: year they start off with DeAndre Hopkins and with Traylon

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Speaker 2: Burks as the two guys who are gonna go with

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Speaker 2: Calvin Ridley. They can't really figure out a rotation and

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Speaker 2: Will Levis is not playing well, so all those things

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Speaker 2: combined are probablematic they trade Hopkins. Unfortunately Burkes gets hurt

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Speaker 2: and then they gotta play Nick. And now Nick has

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Speaker 2: shown for Brian Callahan what he showed everybody for five years,

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Speaker 2: and that is when he plays, he's just a good

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Speaker 2: football player. He's not the fastest guy. He's got decent size,

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Speaker 2: but he's not really big. But he is a winning

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Speaker 2: football player and he has been throughout his time here.

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Speaker 2: Mike Rabel believed in him, John Robinson believed in him.

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Speaker 2: Now Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan believe in him. If

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Speaker 2: the Titans are going to go back up. I think

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Speaker 2: guys like Nick Westbrook a Keene have to be part

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Speaker 2: of the mission. You've got to find those mesh guys

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Speaker 2: who hold it together. He's never going to be a

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Speaker 2: twenty million dollar a year guy, but he's a good player,

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Speaker 2: and you need some good players who just know how

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Speaker 2: to play football. Plus he's really smart. He got his

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Speaker 2: degree at Indiana at the Kellogg School of Business, which

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Speaker 2: is not an easy thing to do. Nixt one of

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Speaker 2: those people JP. I don't think he would be making

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Speaker 2: as much money outside of football as he is playing

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Speaker 2: in football, but he'd be making a really good living

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Speaker 2: at age twenty seven because he's really smart and really talented,

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Speaker 2: and all those things factor into his success.

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Speaker 1: Mike Keith of his voice of the Tennessee Titans. You know,

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Speaker 1: you just look at the record at three and nine,

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Speaker 1: and then I'm looking at the defensive rankings of the NFL,

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Speaker 1: and the Titans are second and total defense first against

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Speaker 1: the pass, I mean, really good, and all these metrics

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Speaker 1: top ten and third down that I mean, the defense

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Speaker 1: has really stepped up and played well.

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Speaker 2: Why is that? It's a good defense? They have good people.

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Speaker 2: Now they have some problems due to injury. They've lost

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Speaker 2: three of their regular starters.

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Speaker 3: In the secondary for the year. Some young guys have

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Speaker 3: played pretty well. They've had some issues at linebacker traded

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Speaker 3: Ernest Jones. Jack Gibbins got hurt. That was tough. The

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Speaker 3: defensive line is very good. Jeffrey Simmons is a really

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Speaker 3: good player. To Andre Sweat, the rookie from Texas has

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Speaker 3: been dominant. The outside line linebackers Arden Key and Harold

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Speaker 3: Landry have been excellent. So they're really good players on defense.

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Speaker 3: I do think it's a bit misleading because with some

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Speaker 3: of the offensive woes that the Titans have had, teams

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Speaker 3: have not gotten real froggy on offense, particularly in second halfs.

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Speaker 2: They've chosen to just run the ball. So you can't say,

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Speaker 2: you know, this is the two thousand Titans defense or

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Speaker 2: the two thousand Ravens or the eighty five Bears. But

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Speaker 2: has did a Wilson done a good job with this unit? Yes,

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Speaker 2: And in situations like at Houston two weeks ago, when

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Speaker 2: they needed to shut them down at the end, they did.

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Speaker 2: They shut down a good Houston offense at the end

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Speaker 2: of the ball game, held Houston to forty yards rushing

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Speaker 2: Joe Mixon was a non factor in the game. So

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Speaker 2: it's a good defense. If it's a competitive game, the

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Speaker 2: defense can show what it's all about. And I think

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Speaker 2: that was always going to be a strength of this team.

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Speaker 2: As the defense has improved, I think the defense has

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Speaker 2: been able to be in situations where they could show

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Speaker 2: out a little bit. But in many games teams have

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Speaker 2: been far enough ahead where they've just been able to

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Speaker 2: play nineteen seventy four football in the second half, trying

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Speaker 2: to kill the clock because they knew Tennessee couldn't score

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Speaker 2: enough to beat him.

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Speaker 1: Well, hopefully you're not screaming sack at the top of

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Speaker 1: your lungs too many times this week. It's always a

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Speaker 1: pleasure to I heard of that. If it's not that

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Speaker 1: it's ninety nine yards, we don't need that either, So

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Speaker 1: have a great week. We'll talk to you on Sunday. JP.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on