O'Donnell on the game

it's bad luck for us that Locker is out for the toughest part of the schedule. We can't control that and it wouldn't be fair to put it all on fitz but he needs to improve greatly. As a backup you are always one play away and should always be prepared to play. You can either plan to fail or fail to plan.

 

Hey Neil, how's that arm feeling?

 

Our team has proven that they cannot field a routine kick or punt without giving away points in ridiculous fashion. God help them if they try anything more difficult.

 

Didnt we just spend rather a lot of money on Craig Stevens? Does he even see the field?

 

Yes he see's it, unfortunately from the sidelines

 

All true. But I do think it's a bit naive for anyone to assume that Locker would've played great had he been out there yesterday. He could've thrown a couple of picks himself. That was the toughest D we've seen so far this season. It really sucks that Locker got hurt in the middle of what was looking to be a career-type game. But at the end of the day he had only strung together 6 good quarters of football. After looking fairly pedestrian the first 2 games.

If there's one thing we do know about Jake Locker it's that he's been inconsistent. So if we're being honest here, none of us know whether or not Jake had truly "turned the corner" or if he was merely in the middle of a stretch of good football and the wheels were about to come off.

Don't get me wrong, Jake had me beginning to believe. He was playing some great football in weeks 3 and 4. But the sample size is just too small. Would've been nice to see whether or not he could've kept it going at that level. Very frustrating timing for that injury to occur.

 

agree completely with your post. The timing of this injury is incredibly frustrating and I am sure our FO is just as frustrated as we are because we don't know what we have for the long haul. Locker has a contract year next year I believe and for his sake I hope he gets to play a full season to show his full potential.

I am more concerned that when he comes back from this injury he will be hesitant to take a hit and make a mistake. I also worry about him getting back to game speed as well as him being able to continue where he left off

 

This is a concern for me as well. But one thing I really like about Jake is he seems pretty mentally tough. So hopefully this won't be an issue.

Still, it is a slight concern in the back of my mind. I can't help but think what if he really was turning the corner and now after two significant injuries in back-to-back seasons he's going to be worrying about taking a hit/getting hurt. God I hope that's not the case.

 

I agree, he seemed to get through the shoulder injury ok and he knows he will come back from this just fine. He knows he was playing well before the injury and I think that helps his mentality when he comes back to the field. That being said, as a franchise we need to see a lot more of locker to be sold on him going forward.

 

If I'm not mistaken, by May of next year the Titans need to decide whether or not they want to excercise the 5th year option of his rookie contract. I think its around 13M if they do. If not, he'll become a FA, unless they work out a long term agreement.