I saw a few folks asking how sustainable this incredible level of play in spite of this relentless barrage of injuries would be leading into today’s game against the Houston Texans. By the looks of things, it finally caught up with the Tennessee Titans. But, it wasn’t just one thing – some things we’ve mentioned being in the back of our mind over the course of the last few weeks all reared their ugly heads in this one, and compounded the problems the Titans faced. On top of having your most prolific play-makers hurt, Ryan Tannehill had several dumb interceptions, the Titans pass rush couldn’t keep up its frenetic pace of play (more on that later), the team committed some uncharacteristic mistakes, and they had several costly penalties. This was compounded even further by the context in which these plays happened. Ultimately, the Texans had the right formula to beat this team, and all they did was stand back and let the Titans shoot themselves in the foot, in the knee, and right in the damn heart, too. Let’s get to the takeaways.
Takeaways: Titans Fall to Texans, Doing a Lot of Dumb Shit to Hurt the Team
- It was an absolutely disastrous and flat start for the Titans – the one thing you can’t do against a bad team is give them hope that they can hang around and make the game interesting. That’s exactly how it played out. The Titans felt out of rhythm from the jump, and it felt like it was going to be one of those fluky games in which all of the little things that were previously non-issues became issues early on.
- Props to the Texans for showing up ready to play in this one – they deserved this one, and had a solid game plan to protect their lead once they had it. They played safe, conservative football, and getting Tyrod Taylor back was a huge part of that. He’s not going to make the big dumb mistakes and he protects the ball. Key in this one was his ability to move out of the pocket and get away from that fierce Titans pass rush. All they had to do was run the ball halfway decently, get Taylor out of the pocket and hit those quick 10-yard shots at the sticks, move the chains, and chew up clock. They chewed up HALF the fuckin’ third quarter doing this.
- This was far and away the worst game we’ve ever seen Tannehill play in a Titans uniform. It’s easy to point out all the weapons he’s lost and the lack of play-makers this offense has at the moment, but the Titans were able to move the ball pretty well and Tannehill was still throwing some awful interceptions that are hard to really explain away. He threw four interceptions on the day, and could’ve had two more turnovers if his fumbles weren’t recovered by the Titans. Pass protection was hit or miss, but by and large, his interceptions were on him. Just a bad game – you want to talk about wanting to burn the tape, Tannehill’s going to want to burn this tape.
- As a whole, the offense was as dried up as a raisin. Awful play-calling…I don’t know why you load up the right side of your line and then send Adrian Peterson straight up into the tight defensive front. I don’t know why you’re calling screens to Peterson and throwing him the ball three yards behind the line of scrimmage. I don’t know why you pull D’Onta Foreman out of the game when he’s making plays. I just thought it was another bland Sunday of Titans offense. In the Saints game, I thought they were doing well to identify what they had to do to win that game and executing on it, nothing more and nothing less. But, today – I’m thinking they just fucking sucked and couldn’t get their shit together. In the post-game presser, Mike Vrabel repeatedly talked about the bad start, said they eventually ran out of time, and specifically called the offense “its own worst enemy.“
- There were some costly penalties on the Titans in this one – Tannehill was called for intentional grounding that forced a run-off that ended the first half, giving the team no chance to kick a field goal and potentially change the complexion of the game. The Texans earned two first downs from penalties in this one. Kristian Fulton was called for defensive pass interference. Dylan Cole was called for a facemask. Again, it’s not fair to say the Titans did one thing wrong in this game, but these penalties, combined with everything else that went wrong, made the outcome of this one even worse.
- Chester Rogers allowing the punt to hit him, and the Texans recovering it, was absolutely a massive body blow to the Titans’ chances of pulling this one off. If you can boil this game down to one or two plays, I’d say that’s one of ’em. Again….a lot of dumb shit that hurts the team going on in this one…
- Foreman and Dontrell Hilliard got the run game going, something I was critical of after the Saints game. That’s one of the few bright spots on the game. The team averaged 4.3 yards per carry if you take out Tannehill’s two carries.
- Good for Dez Fitzpatrick – this guy was on the fringe of the roster heading into the season. Some said they shouldn’t have even wasted a practice squad spot on the guy. But, he showed up and caught his first career touchdown today. I’m happy for him. That’s all. Look – I told y’all…I’m reaching for silver linings here.
- Similarly, good for Nick Westbrook-Ikhine – he led the team with seven catches for 107 yards, including a big time 46-yard gain at a critical time in the game. He has consistently been a bright spot on the back end of the Titans receiving corps.
- It looked like the rain did have somewhat of an effect on the game, but if anything, it seemed like that helped the Titans more than the Texans. Taylor had some trouble handling the ball on a couple of different plays. Rex Burkhead slipped in the backfield. I don’t know that you can say the elements hindered the Titans ability to get the offense going. This one’s all on them.
- Despite getting 0 sacks and only one quarterback hit, this Titans defensive line was still able to bat a couple of passes down courtesy of Jeffery Simmons and Denico Autry. The defense was able to keep the Titans in this game by forcing a myriad of 3-and-outs in the 2nd half of the game. Not many complaints on that side of ball – especially considering that Big Jeff was getting triple-teamed frequently.
- Silver lining – this team can’t get much more injured, can it?!? CAN IT?!
- They’ve got to get things right before next Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots. You might not be ready to buy in on the Pats as Super Bowl contenders, but they can do the things the Texans did to beat the Titans today…except a lot better. They’re going to play tough, opportunistic defense. Mac Jones isn’t going to be stupid, and they’re going to run the ball. Thankfully, it’s Vrabel’s M.O. to have his team ready to take on the world as underdogs. By that logic, the Titans should win by 40 next week.
Game Balls
- Dontrell Hilliard – There weren’t a whole lot of bright spots in this game, but I do still have a couple of game balls to pass out. Namely, to Hilliard. I was impressed by his ability to make plays in space, pick up significant yardage, and be a spark on offense. The Titans have a type – that’s for sure – and Hilliard fits it. Tasked with stepping up as the 4th running back, Hilliard did well.
- Elijah Molden – I absolutely love how Molden continues to come on for this defense. He was playing like a heat-seeking missile again today. I wrote last week that I was nervous about the Texans scheming him into 1:1 match-ups against Brandin Cooks. They did a couple of times, and Molden allowed receptions. But, he was incredible in limiting big gains on those plays. He covered the big athletic tight end, Brevin Jordan, on a couple of occasions and played him well – forcing an incompletion on a 3rd & 7 in the first quarter, and then laying the wood and driving him back on a 3rd & 9 in the third quarter. He put a big hit on Taylor in the Texans end zone that was pretty damn close to being a safety for the defense. Molden continues to do a little bit of everything and do it a little bit better each week.
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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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