The Kansas City Chiefs made the trip to Nissan Stadium as 4.5-point favorites over the host Tennessee Titans. Anyone expecting a letdown after the Titans upset the Buffalo Bills on Monday night was left shocked and disappointed….much like the Chiefs themselves. The Titans gashed the porous Chiefs defense at will, and put on one of if not the best defensive performance we’ve seen from this team since its upset of the #1 seed Baltimore Ravens in the 2019 AFC playoffs. The Titans kept the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs offense out of the end zone for the FIRST TIME since Mahomes took over as the Chiefs starter. Just amazing stuff. It was a complete game in all three phases – so let’s get to it. My main takeaways from today’s 27-3 win over the struggling Chiefs.
Takeaways: Titans def. Chiefs, 27-3
- This game could not have gone any better for the Titans. Todd Downing and Shane Bowen called their asses off, and it felt like the Titans executed perfectly (Ryan Tannehill interception aside). I dare say that was the best game that either coordinator has called since taking over their respective jobs. It just seemed like from the top down, the Titans had a perfect game plan and knew exactly how to attack the Chiefs in all three phases of the game.
- Great job by the defense – like I said, I don’t know that this defense has played that well since they ended the Patriots dynasty and then smacked the historically good Ravens in the mouth. That defensive front was menacing. They were generating constant pressure on Mahomes, and they really locked down Tyreek Hill. No better indicator than the scoreboard, and the scoreboard showed that the Chiefs couldn’t get a single fucking thing going. And, this is WITH all of the injuries the Titans were dealing with. Just amazing stuff.
- The utilization of Derrick Henry in the Kingcat and in the screen game is an incredibly smart and productive wrinkle in this offense. With AJ Brown and Julio Jones getting healthy, this offense has so many ways to beat you, and they utilize so much motion and misdirection prior to the snap and immediately after it, that it makes this offense incredibly difficult to defend.
- Tough day for the ‘Tannehill sucks’ crowd, and by ‘tough day,’ I mean ‘you guys can eat shit.’ He was absolutely on fire, throwing lasers, running in touchdowns, and playing in firm command of the offense. When all of these guys are on their game, and Downing is calling games with balls the size of grapefruits, this offense is absolutely unstoppable.
- Injuries continue to rear their ugly heads for this offensive line. Rodger Saffold went down a couple of times. Nate Davis came out of the game at one point. Kendall Lamm was hurt, and they had to turn to Bobby Hart to play left tackle. I don’t know what’s in the water in that position room, but they keep finding ways to overcome the injuries. You’d hope that these guys can get healthy and it doesn’t become more of a problem than it already is, but the hourglass eventually runs out.
- Bud Dupree had a tremendous strip sack, and looks like he’s finally starting to get back to full strength.
- The Chiefs came out in the second half trying to move fast and get the ball in space, but the Titans held their water and didn’t budge. The Chiefs also had some costly penalties that hurt ’em. It has to be completely deflating to change things up and still get your ass kicked. It was a rare day when…just…absolutely nothing…during the entirety of the game…went the Chiefs way.
- Another nice day for the Titans role-players. Josh Reynolds quietly made some nice catches and looked like a more steady presence at the position. Marcus Johnson continues to get healthy, and had a nice reverse thrown his way. And, we saw a little spark from Darrynton Evans that we haven’t seen before. It’s always a mark of a good football team that its depth guys can be counted on to make plays.
- Damn, it was good to have Brett Kern back – he was an outright weapon, pinning the ball at the two untouched by anyone. What kind of sorcery was that?
Game Balls
- AJ Brown – Finally got all that doo-doo out and really ignited the passing game. Tannehill’s going to take that every time. The Chiefs loaded up to stop Henry, and that left Brown 1:1 way too much. Not to mention, the Chiefs had absolutely no answer for those in-breaking routes over the middle of the field. Brown finished the game with eight catches for 133 yards and a touchdown.
- Ryan Tannehill – I touched on Tannehill’s day a little earlier. I’ll add his stat line here – 21/27 for 270 yards, a touchdown, a pick, a 105.3 passer rating, with a rushing touchdown to boot.
- Derrick Henry – How valuable is Henry to this offense? Even when the Chiefs sell out to stop him, and they hold him to “just” 86 yards, he’s still out there THROWING touchdown passes, and catching screens and converting first downs. #MVKing
- Kevin Byard – I said in my ‘keys to victory’ piece that we’d need big games from the safety position and at least one turnover for the Titans to control this game, and Byard delivered. His comeback tour continues, as he’s now strung together a few really good games. Sidenote: this dude has an A+ knockout swing on him, as evidence by him knocking the ball clean out of Mahomes’ hand and forcing that fumble.
- Denico Autry – What an acquisition. Shout out to Big Jeff, Harold Landry, and Bud Dupree for solid games, but Autry was constantly wreaking havoc on that Chiefs offense. He was a force that, at times, the Chiefs just quite frankly, had no answer for. Two sacks and four quarterback hits on the day. STUD!
- David Long – I mean, yeah – he was a heat-seeking missile all game long once again, he had eight tackles, one TFL, and he tipped the ball that would eventually be a Rashaan Evans interception. But, I’m giving him a game ball solely for his A+ troll job on Travis Kelce.
David Long trolling Travis Kelce lmao #Titans pic.twitter.com/SxYyzeKSEj
— The Unofficial Titans Podcast (@TitansPod) October 24, 2021
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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