NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A new podcast episode awaits you and you can find it on Apple, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

Whichever platform you prefer, please subscribe, rate and review.

Subjects I delve into:

• If it's Malik Willis, how little he showed to build on.
• Derrick Henry and the injury report.
• Kristian Fulton's aspirations.
• Nickel options with Elijah Molden possibly back, Amani Hooker likely out.
• An interesting defensive streak.
• A potential special teams issue that Craig Aukerman, of course, thinks is fine.
• Stats you need to know

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans are 5-2 and feeling good about their position atop the AFC South.

But they haven’t beaten a team with a winning record.

Derrick Henry/ photo by Angie Flatt

They will get their chance to stop that trend this weekend versus the Kansas City Chiefs.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans, so far, have broken out of their nasty little habit of not just playing down to the level of poor competition, but losing to it.

Through seven games, they’ve taken care of the teams they should beat, stacking up consecutive wins against the Raiders, at the Colts, at the Commanders, against the Colts and at Houston.

The biggest victory in that stretch has been by 9-points, but that's been about the Titans' shortcomings, not their failures against lesser opponents.

© Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

The opening-day loss felt like it might fall into the category of losing to a bad team, but the Giants have turned out to be a quality team, and the Bills are the AFC’s best.

But in the Mike Vrabel era -- when the Titans have dropped games to bad teams like the 2021 Jets and Texans and the 2020 Bengals – the Titans also rise to the occasion against premier teams, particularly Buffalo and Kansas City.

That certainly wasn’t the case in Week Two on Monday night in Buffalo, when Tennessee was blown out, 41-7.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- We were overdue to invite everyone to join us for an episode of PK TV, so we went beyond the regular gang to discuss the Titans as they prepare for a tough trip to Kansas City Sunday night.

Jeffery Simmons made some interesting comments to The Athletic about what the Titans told him about his contract during the offseason which prompted a lot of angst on my Twitter timeline.

We covered that as well as how the Titans haven't played down to bad competition this year as they have done occasionally in previous years under Mike Vrabel.

They had success against the Bills, however, and got hammered in Buffalo in prime time. They've had success against the Chiefs as well. Could the trip to Kansas City be like the one to Western New York?

You can rewatch on Facebook or Twitter or head below for YouTube. [Unlocked]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans are 5-2 and heading to a huge Sunday night game in Kansas City, but fans are understandably feeling angst after Jeffery Simmons opened up about his contract situation in a piece at The Athletic.

He described his offseason contract conversation with the Titans like this:

Courtesy Tennessee Titans

“It was, ‘We want you to be here, but we don’t know exactly when we’ll be able to pay you,’” Simmons said. “The Titans were like, ‘We don’t know if we’re going to be able to offer you what you think you are worth. We want to pay you, but we don’t know where it’s going to come from.’ That’s basically what it was, not an offer.”

BY MIKE HERNDON, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans' 17-10 win over the Texans in Houston was a near-perfect encapsulation of what Mike Vrabel’s team needs to be at this very moment.

They ran the ball 45 times for 314 yards while attempting just 10 passes and suffocated the Texans' offense with a dominant defense. Short of a bad special teams gaffe by Robert Woods and a garbage-time touchdown drive by the Texans, this may as well have been a Vrabel fever dream.

Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Of course, the extreme reliance on the running game was partially dictated by Malik Willis being inserted into the starting lineup for an injured Ryan Tannehill, but this was always going to be a Derrick Henry game facing a Texans defense that ranked last in the NFL at stopping the run coming into this matchup.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The right tackle is a rookie and the left guard is a first-year starter.

The left tackle joined the team by trade on Aug. 29 and took over on the second offensive snap of Week 2.

Set aside the critique of the quality of Nicholas Petit-Frere, Aaron Brewer and Dennis Daley, respectively, for a moment, and consider the scope of the change.

Ben Jones/ Photo by Angie Flatt

Offensive lines more than any other positions need time to work together and jell, and the Titans have shown signs of that happening in the last two weeks during their AFC South wins over the Colts and Texans.

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Despite the ugliness of the Titans’ 17-10 win in Houston on both sides, the game played out exactly the way the Titans coaching staff would have wanted.

The Texans looked to have no clue what was going on even though the game plan was easy to diagnose as soon as Ryan Tannehill was designated out for the game on Saturday.

© Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

This game was about the haves and have-nots.

The Titans have Derrick Henry and the Texans do not.