Alright, folks. I’m just getting around to watching the game tape for Sunday’s contest between the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants from Nissan Stadium. If I had to boil it down, I’d say there were a couple of major plays that really effected the game – the Sterling Shepard touchdown, and the decision to go for two and the win from Brian Daboll. As is often the case in the NFL, it was down to the wire with the Giants making a couple more plays than the Titans to seal the deal. But, bigger picture, it felt like the Titans staff just struggled to adjust once the Giants made their adjustments. The personnel choices on offense were questionable – there were too many predictable runs and there were too many plays without a legitimate threat down the field. But, mainly – it just felt like the Titans were stubbornly banging their head against the wall until it broke through. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any positives to take away from the game. For me, it was mainly about the impressive showing this rookie class put on tape in the first game of their NFL careers.
Let’s start with Roger McCreary. The Titans lined this dude up everywhere…all over the formation. I was deeply impressed by his debut performance. Daniel Jones didn’t even look at McCreary. I saw some advanced stats website that said McCreary allowed one reception, but if he did, I didn’t catch it. It’s also possible that they put one of Wan’Dale Robinson‘s catch on McCreary. He appeared to convert a first down on a catch where it looked like McCreary might’ve gotten a little aggressive in pursuit and abandoned his zone. Robinson was coming out of the slot on the play and broke inward as McCreary bit on another Giants receiver breaking out. Perhaps that’s how they dinged him? I don’t know. I found McCreary to be savvy and committed to his zone responsibilities but quick to the ball when he needed to be. I noticed him matched up with Kenny Golladay quite a bit. On Sunday, I thought it was impressive to see him running down the seam side by side with Golladay. After watching the tape though, I’m not convinced that Golladay even wants to play football right now. He was sloppy in run-blocking and McCreary was able to identify that and dart around him at times.
The Titans sent McCreary as a blitzer a couple of times, and he was particularly effective on a Bud Dupree sack in which he drew a holding penalty from the tight end. The Titans declined the penalty because of course you would if the play resulted in a sack, but it showed that McCreary can be a handful to deal with as a pass rusher, too. Whether or not the Giants didn’t look to McCreary because the Titans were flustering and rushing Jones so much at the line of scrimmage, or because they were having so much success running the ball, or because McCreary really was just locking his guy down, I don’t know. But, I think it says a lot about this guy’s potential that he was so heavily utilized in Week 1. I can’t wait to see how he fares against a Buffalo Bills offense that should bring with it a massive up tic in competition.
Now, let’s talk offense. Kyle Philips stole the show on Sunday with his precision route-running, his shifty shake-and-bake demeanor in the open field, some clutch catches, and electrifying returns. He also stood firm and took a hell of a shot to secure a first down. He had a muffed punt (that wasn’t as costly as people seem to think because the resulting drive ended with Amani Hooker intercepting Jones), and a couple of drops that were not ideal, but by and large, I was impressed by how precise his cuts were. But, I felt like there was a lot to be hopeful about with Treylon Burks as well. It made it all the more frustrating to re-watch this game and not understand why Burks wasn’t on the field more.
He was wide open against one on one coverage a few times. The Giants didn’t seem to respect him in motion, and left him wide open there a couple times too. Burks just has a knack for separation and that was on display Sunday, just like it was at Arkansas. He was finding open space and YAC’ing it up afterwards. I loved the route designs on that big reception he had in the first quarter. He and Philips broke in and across the field while Robert Woods took a defender deep to open them up one on one underneath. The layers to that were *chef’s kiss* and it led to a big catch for Burks.
He fell down on a long ball that many fans thought should’ve been defensive pass interference. It looked like he had his guy by two steps, but he might’ve had to adjust to come back to the ball a bit. Maybe that deceleration fucked him up a bit and he had to fall down. To me, that looked like a rare miss by Ryan Tannehill (who played his whole entire ass off on Sunday, by the way). Then, on the final drive of the game, Burks was getting open on every play! Three straight plays started the drive, and I kept watching them, pointing, and screaming at no one, “he’s open!” For some reason, they took him out of the game. Regardless, his stat line might not have been gaudy, but you can definitely see the potential in Burks if the Titans would just use him more.
Run blocking, all in all, wasn’t very explosive and impactful – the offensive line didn’t really open up many big holes. There were a ton of obvious runs from the Titans, but the run blocking wasn’t dominant enough to really warrant that philosophy. The Giants seemed to just sell out to stop it and the Titans didn’t adjust to it….but, I digress. The pass blocking, however, was spectacular and I was particularly blown away by how good Nicholas Petit-Frere was. He had a really good game. I noticed NPF routinely standing up his defender. His guy didn’t get shit! He had a nice wide stance, and he never seemed to lose his cool or let his guy get control of him. He was even one on one with Leonard Williams and he stood his ground without giving up a pressure. Now, we’re seeing the proof – he deserved to get that starting right tackle nod.
Finally, let’s talk about Ryan Stonehouse – that dude’s leg is a cannon. I’m pretty sure Stonehouse could kick a hole in the side of a tank. Even though the Titans lost, this rookie class showed a ton of promise, and if the Titans continue to (somewhat surprisingly) lean on them, they’ll only get better.
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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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