Midday Musings — July 24th
Will Boling
ESPN week is underway.
Everyday this week on the air, Paul will tell a behind the scenes story from his time at ESPN.
Off the air, we kept the ESPN-realted conversation to a minimum. We wanted authentic reaction and intrigue when we all heard the stories on the air with the listeners.
We aren’t going to advertise the times. Just know that the grand finale story on Friday will be huge. You’ll want to listen to the entire show. Trust me.
If you missed Monday’s show, we talked a lot of Titans. We had a good discussion about Mike Mularkey in the first two hours of the program.
Mularkey has given the Titans an identity. That’s what we discussed in the second hour.
When he was hired last offseason, there was significant backlash from the fan base. And rightfully so. It was an underwhelming hire at the time.
Last season the expectations were extremely low for Mularkey’s first full season as head coach. The exotic smashmouth offense did not disappoint.
Which means the expectations are at a different level this year. So how can the Titans manage those higher standards? Is Mularkey a “division winning” coach?
USA Today seems to think so. They predicted on Monday that the Titans would win the AFC South with a 12-4 record. In this prediction, the Texans and Colts follow at 8-8.
Mularkey is 11-14 as the Titans’ head coach. If things go south this season, Mularkey takes the blame. Jon Robinson, whose approval rating is sky high among Titans fans, wouldn’t take any of that blame.
Robinson has given this team its identity. In game, Mularkey is average. But he knows smashmouth football. And that’s the culture Robinson has created.
Marcus Mariota has an array of new weapons this season. But according to the analytics, Derrick Henry is ready to take the next step and become a bigger contributor on the Titans’ offense.
The Defense Adjusted Value metric loves Henry, ranking him as the fourth most valuable running back in the NFL per play. The statistic is defined as “value, per play, over an average running back in the same game situations.” The better the defense, the more value the metric gives to a good performance. Demarco Murray ranked 24th in that category.
Analytics also like the Titans’ offensive line. A lot. Here’s how offensive lines are ranked:
“Teams are ranked according to Adjusted Line Yards. Based on regression analysis, the Adjusted Line Yards formula takes all running back carries and assigns responsibility to the offensive line based on the following percentages:
Losses: 120% value
0-4 Yards: 100% value
5-10 Yards: 50% value
11+ Yards: 0% value”
The Titans offensive line is the fourth-best run blocking group in the NFL according to those parameters.
Robinson created that culture, making Mularkey’s job easier. In 2015, the Titans’ ranked 20th in the NFL in run blocking. That included the worst success rate on third/fourth down and short.
If the Titans take another step forward and improve up front, it’ll spark additional growth for Henry.
Also, we had country star Joe Nichols on at the end of the show. And to be honest, we had no idea what to ask him about at first.
Literally five minutes before he was coming on the air, David Reed was giving suggestions on what to talk with him about. We knew about his upcoming album that drops on Friday, but Reed did a little bit of research when Joe first called in.
We knew he was a baseball fan. Awesome, there’s something.
And then we were off and running. The interview went really smoothly.
I was blown away. The guys literally went from minimal knowledge off the air to conducting an entertaining interview a few minutes later.
Quote of the Day: “Glorious.” — Hutton simply describing Paul’s ESPN story that’s coming up on Friday. I haven’t heard it yet. So I’m pumped to come to work on Friday.
Stat of the Day: With his Open Championship on Sunday, Jordan Spieth joined Jack Nicklaus as the only golfer to win three of the four majors before turning 24.
