After waiting months to see their team in action, Tennessee Titans fans were met with an awful showing in Week 1, particularly from their quarterback.
Ryan Tannehill looked lost in the 16-15 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints, tossing three interceptions and looking anything but competent.
Buy Titans TicketsOn the bright side, Tennessee’s defense came to play, but things certainly weren’t perfect there, either, as the secondary didn’t hold up its end of the bargain as compared to a sensational effort from the defensive front.
Even with that wart, the Titans’ defense surrendered just 16 points and did more than enough to help the team win.
Tannehill and the secondary are just two sources of burning questions we have going into a difficult matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2.
Can Ryan Tannehill bounce back?
Tannehill desperately needs to bounce back after what was one of the worst performances of his career in Week 1.
Tannehill’s showing wasn’t just about the interceptions, though. He missed other throws, didn’t progress to open receivers and showed bad pocket presence to make his offensive line look worse than it was.
Tennessee is going up against a Chargers offense that can put points on the board, so while 15 points was nearly enough to beat the Saints last week, that won’t be anywhere near enough to beat Los Angeles.
Whatever it is that plagues Tannehill, he’s got to figure it out quickly or else the Titans are going to start the season 0-2.
Will Treylon Burks and Chig Okonkwo be more involved?
Burks and Chig were two of the players who found themselves wide open but missed on separate plays in the season-opening loss, otherwise their days would’ve been much different.
However, that doesn’t erase the fact that Burks and Chig had just five targets combined, while Nick Westbrook-Ikhine had seven alone. Another issue was Tannehill forcing the ball to DeAndre Hopkins far too often.
The good news is, Burks and Chig led their respective positions in snaps, so at least they were on the field. Now we just have to see those increased snaps translate to more opportunities and production.
Will Derrick Henry be used more?
Here’s a question I never thought I’d be asking.
Not only did Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly abandon Henry in the second half of Week 1 despite an impressive first two quarters (97 total yards), The King was also out-snapped by rookie Tyjae Spears.
I get the attraction to Spears, but Henry should have been on the field more in such a close game — and that’s especially true when the passing attack was struggling the way it was.
Even if the ground game isn’t working with Henry, Kelly must find other ways to get the ball in the hands of his best playmaker, and he needs to be on the field on more early downs.
I think all that gets corrected in Week 2.
Will the offensive line keep trending up?
After a rough start, especially for left tackle Andre Dillard, the Titans’ offensive line settled down and actually had a pretty good game.
Believe it or not, Tennessee’s group upfront posted the fifth-best pass-block win rate (67%) and third-best run-block win rate (75%) in the NFL in Week 1, per Next Gen Stats and ESPN.
That said, there’s still some things to clean up, with Dillard being the biggest concern of the group after he was straight bullied en route to six pressures given up.
We’ll have a better idea of where the offensive line stands after a Week 2 matchup against a Chargers defense that sports Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack coming off the edge.
Can the secondary limit the big plays?
The Titans’ defensive front was ferocious in Week 1, putting tons of pressure on Saints quarterback Derek Carr and forcing New Orleans to have to earn every yard.
However, when the pressure wasn’t there, Carr was able to make big plays down the field.
It’s simply impossible to expect any front to get pressure on every play, and that’s where the secondary has to fill in the gap. Tennessee’s secondary did not do that in the loss to the Saints.
New Orleans generated five 20-plus-yard plays in the passing game in Week 1, bailing out an offense that struggled mightily to move the ball otherwise.
Now, Tennessee’s secondary has a matchup against a much more potent Chargers offense that can rip off big plays in the blink of an eye. Things simply have to get better on the back end or it could be a long day.
Will Mike Vrabel make better decisions?
We had gripes with two decisions Vrabel made in Week 1.
First, not taking the holding penalty in the third quarter to push the Saints out of field-goal range and trusting the defense to make another third-down stop.
Then, not going for it on fourth-and-6 with a little over two minutes left in the game and the Titans down by four, instead opting for the field goal.
Now, this decision normally would have been a no-brainer, but Tannehill’s struggles made it a bit more difficult. Even still, Vrabel should have rolled the dice.
It’s especially hard to square trusting the defense in the latter situation and not in the former situation. Like his quarterback, Vrabel has to be better in Week 2.
