Yesterday was an outright shit show. The Tennessee Titans went down to Miami to lose to the Dolphins, 27-20. There, they lost a piece of their souls. Okay, that was a bit dramatic. But, for real – it was about as disastrous of a start to the season as you could imagine. Sure, the team was spitting and sputtering on the field, but lightning around the stadium caused two separate weather delays that lasted two hours each. It took over seven hours just to finish the damn game.
The officiating was bad – Malcolm Butler’s phantom roughness call looks like immaculate officiating compared to the egregious holding call on Delanie Walker. During which, Walker was face masked, and oh yeah – HE WASN’T EVEN HOLDING. Andre Branch cleaned Taylor Lewan’s clock on a dirty hit, but three taunting penalties were all that were assessed.
But, it all pales in comparison to losing Marcus Mariota, Lewan, and Walker to injury. Walker suffered a gruesome ankle injury, and reports have surfaced saying he’s done for the year. Lewan left after the branch hit, entering concussion protocol. William Hayes hit Mariota, and the collision caused Mariota to lose feeling in his right hand. No update there just yet, but those are three incredibly tough losses to incur in a single game. Much less, your season opener. All of these issues compounded what was already a tough game to watch.
But, we didn’t even get to finish watching the game. Fox pulled the plug on the broadcast with a couple minutes remaining in the game. I guess they had had enough, much like the Titans fan base. After the game, the mood was a little….tense….to say the least.
Mike Vrabel put on a dud in his head coaching debut, and it’s a game I imagine this organization would like to soon forget. But, we can comfortably leave it at that. I don’t think it’s fair to panic, as Titans fans, after one bad game.
Is there a reasonable time frame to when we can panic, though? Sure.
Look, we were a tad worried about this offense going into the season. Some bad practices paired with a few poor preseason performances had eyebrows raising. But, for the most part, people shrugged it off and said they were hiding stuff. “They won’t open up the playbook until it counts!” Well, breaking news – there was definitely reason for concern.
It’s still going to take time for everyone to learn this offense. If you followed this team at all last season, just watching yesterday’s game should have been eye opening in regards to just how different this offense is from the last one. Mariota could play the entire season and still not have a firm grasp of it.
Plus, if you read my playoff predictions, you already know that I actually think Miami is going to be a good team this year. So, let’s not act like the Titans lost to Tennessee Tech.
I give it until October 21st. If the Titans are 1-6 through seven games at that point (and it’s realistic to think that they could be based on the schedule), then I’ll think it’s time to panic.
But, I don’t think the question then becomes, “did we hire the right coach?” I think the question becomes, “do we have the right quarterback?”
As much as I like Mariota, people are starting to look at him more critically. He had a bad game, and he can ill afford to keep playing a central role in the Titans losing games. Bless his heart…but, it’s the truth. He was a key cog in that loss yesterday, and the more games like that he has, the harder it will be to defend him.
But, for now – let’s all remain calm. “This is fine.” If the Titans can take down the Houston Texans on Sunday, it’s a whole ‘nother season, right?
For my full Q&A recap, smash that play button, fam:
The #Titans lose in Miami, 27-20, come vent with @StoneyKeeley, Titans fans. https://t.co/fBloVL3svy
— SoBros Network (@SoBrosNetwork) September 10, 2018
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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