There were plenty of questions surrounding this Tennessee Titans team heading into tonight’s contest against the 4-1 Buffalo Bills. But, where it mattered most, in that Titans locker room, they had all the answers. In a gutsy performance, the Titans showed some real fight and some real heart, as they were able to rise to the occasion and take the Bills down a peg. We’ll get to my takeaways below, but I have no idea where else to dump this embed of the Julio Jones catch, so I’m just going to do it here because you have to see it.
Julio Jones with an absolutely bonkers catch (called incomplete, later ruled a catch). #Titans pic.twitter.com/MStaXP5fQK
— The Unofficial Titans Podcast (@TitansPod) October 19, 2021
Takeaways:
- What an emotional win for a team that just seems to find ways to show up in big games like this under Mike Vrabel. Whatever it is, that man has found the secret sauce. Kevin Byard talked in the postgame press conference about how this defense is littered with fighters, guys who just keep fighting and hanging around. That’s emblematic of this entire team.
- Derrick Henry is a ridiculous human being. I’ve had him in my NFL MVP Watch column for the last several weeks, and it does feel a bit like we’re banging our head against the wall trying to get him in the conversation for what is usually a quarterback award, but hot DAMN, how do you keep him out of that conversation the way he’s playing right now? He is now a ridiculous 260 yards ahead of 2nd place in the rushing race, and he has twice as many touchdowns as the 2nd place guy as well (10). Most importantly, look at what he does for this Titans offense.
- Man, this team is just downright snakebit when it comes to the injury bug. Just when it looks like they’re going to get a full crop of healthy talent on the field at the same time for the first time this season, Kristian Fulton goes on IR. Then, Caleb Farley is injured, Taylor Lewan endures an ugly injury that had the cart out on the field, and to top it off, Cameron Batson went down with a leg injury. And, all of that was in the first half! In the second half, Chris Jackson, who was filling in for Farley, was injured, came back into the game, and then was injured again. Jones left the game with a hamstring injury. This team just can’t seem to catch a break. Shout out to Breon Borders though – the Bills went after him aggressively once he was in the game, and while he gave up some big, bad plays, he held his water when it mattered most and damn near got a game-clinching interception to boot.
- This defensive front played relentless and malicious football – Harold Landry is a hammer. Denico Autry, Amani Bledsoe, and Bud Dupree all batted down passes. Jeffery Simmons was a difference maker all night. Teair Tart popped up. They got to Josh Allen quite a bit and did a good job of forcing him into some errant throws and tackling him when he wanted to extend the play.
- On those plays when the Titans pass rush couldn’t get to Allen, he went after the depth in the secondary by targeting Stefon Diggs, who was able to find open space. Jackrabbit Jenkins didn’t have the best of nights, particularly looking off on Cole Beasley‘s wide open touchdown, that appeared to be the result of a miscommunication. That’s an issue that’s plagued this Titans defense, but all in all, I think the Titans have done well to start getting better about these sorts of things.
- David Long played well, and seemed to make it a personal mission to tackle better after the tackling of the linebackers was called into question this week. He led the team for the second consecutive weeks, this time tallying 14 total tackles.
- Ryan Tannehill threw a bad interception early on in the game that looked like he was simply fixed on Jones, and with pressure coming right up the middle, he panic-threw it and hoped for the best. But, to his credit, he rebounded nicely. It certainly helps when an offensive line that we’ve been critical of this season allows 0 sacks. Funny how that works out, right? Tannehill’s not playing all that well when he’s fighting for his life on every play, but when he gets time, he’s making plays…weird. Also, getting AJ Brown and Jones back and active certainly helped. Specifically, you could see the boost Brown’s return gave this offense on several occasions.
- The real differences in this game felt like the Henry 76-yarder, Byard’s interception, and was was essentially the goal line stand to end the game.
- I do want to mention Elijah Molden somewhere in this column – I know he got off to a shaky start, and he made a couple of mistakes in this game, but he’s getting a lot better than he looked in his debut. I still think he can be a valuable piece for this defense and was encouraged to see him making plays around the line of scrimmage and not completely shitting the bed. He’s a future building block – shit on me all y’all want….I stand by that.
- A little bit of luck didn’t hurt either. The Bills had two touchdowns taken off the board because of penalties – Dawson Knox scored on a play that was called back, and in the 4th quarter, Isaiah McKenzie had a 101-yard kickoff return touchdown called back.
- All in all, this feels like one of the best Titans wins in quite some time. An emotional and electric showing in prime time for all of the nation to see. You can’t beat it. Well…okay, obviously you can if you’re getting a win like this in February, but just let me have my moment. I need a cigarette after that game.
Game balls
- Derrick Henry – Again…he just seems to find a way to break through and stockpile yardage. It’s absurd, and I hope football fans…not just Titans fans…but football fans in general, appreciate this man’s greatness. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years of football fandom. It’s incredible. Tonight, he got 20 carries and turned it into 143 yards and three scores.
- Jeffery Simmons – Big Jeff is just an elite level athlete playing D-line and he’s incredibly difficult to manage for opposing offenses. He was all over the field tonight, not just on the game-winning 4th down stop.
- Kevin Byard – The Kevin Byard comeback tour continues, as the Mayor of Murfreesboro deflected a pass and tallied his third interception of the season. He now has picks in back-to-back games, and is playing at a level more emblematic of the guy we called the best safety in the league. It’s safe to say 2020 is long behind us.
- Harold Landry – This man is a fucking hammer.
Finally, let me leave you guys with Coach Mac’s call of the game-winning stop on 4th down. Tell me this man isn’t a national treasure:
As called on Titans radio: pic.twitter.com/ZSkBVeDOOk
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 19, 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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