There are few teams in the NFL who are more resilient than the Tennessee Titans, and a strong argument can be made that they are the most resilient squad.
Titans players keep dropping like flies to injury, yet this team keeps on winning.
Tennessee was missing half of its starting defense on Sunday (and lost a few other starters during the game), yet still found a way to put the clamps on the Denver Broncos for a 17-10 win.
With a banged-up starting quarterback, the Titans’ offense wasn’t great by any stretch, but the unit was able to muster up three scoring drives to make the defense’s amazing effort stand up.
And, shockingly enough, it was the passing attack to provide the spark for once on a day when the ground game was stifled.
But that’s just the general overview of the situation from Week 10. Let’s dive a bit deeper and see what the biggest specific takeaways were from Sunday’s win.
It's good to have Ryan Tannehill back
The Titans’ passing attack struggled even more than normal during the two games Tannehill was out, and he reminded us just how much we missed him upon his return in Week 10.
Tannehill wasn’t fully healthy and had to shake off some rust, which led to a slow start, but he got better as the game progressed and made the big plays that he needed to.
Tannehill’s best drive of the game came right before the first half, when he led the Titans’ offense, which had been lost until that point, on a much-needed scoring drive to cut the deficit to three points going into the intermission.
And, on the drive, Tannehill once again displayed his toughness by scrambling to pick up a first down on his bum ankle.
The veteran signal-caller then completed his best pass of the afternoon on a flea-flicker, connecting with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine for a 63-yard scoring play that provided just the spark the offense needed.
Tannehill’s solid performance came on a day when the Titans couldn’t move the ball on the ground. Knowing that, there’s a good chance the Titans lose this game if Malik Willis was starting again.
Tennessee’s offensive ceiling isn’t very high this year, but the only way to reach it is with Tannehill under center.
An improved showing from the WRs
With the Titans needing at least one of their receivers to step up, NWI did just that with a career-high 119 receiving yards and two scores on five receptions.
In all, Titans wide receivers had 10 more catches, 153 more yards, and two more touchdowns than they had the week prior when they posted zeroes in those categories.
Another area of improvement was separation.
After not a single receiver averaged at least a yard of separation in Week 9, NWI led the way in that facet, with his 4.49 average yards of separation finishing well above the league average (2.92).
In all, three of Tennessee’s wideouts were above a yard of average separation in Week 10, including NWI (4.49), Treylon Burks (3.96), and Robert Woods (2.29). Along with NWI, Burks, who had three catches for 24 yards in his return, was above the league average.
Now, we’re certainly not ready to proclaim the Titans’ receivers issues fixed after one game, especially after seeing some drops on Sunday, but this was just the positive performance this offense needed after an abysmal one in Week 9.
Todd Downing still wasn't good
Downing deserves credit for two things from Week 10: the end-of-half scoring drive in the second quarter, and the third-quarter flea-flicker that proved to be the game-winner.
Other than that, it wasn’t good for the offensive coordinator, whose play-calling continues to be, well, offensive.
Examples:
- The Titans going pass-heavy against the best pass defense in the NFL before knowing they couldn’t establish the run.
- Downing calling for a run to Dontrell Hilliard on a third-and-3 instead of throwing or handing it off to Derrick Henry.
- Willis being brought into the game cold on an important play and drive that could’ve put the Broncos away, leading to a fumble to give Denver life and a chance to take the lead.
- Not using Chigoziem Okonkwo more despite his propensity to break big plays. At least he’s utilizing Hooper more frequently, though (more on that shortly).
Thankfully, the defense was able to overcome the Willis fumble in particular, but there was a very real scenario where Downing’s play-calling could’ve cost Tennessee the game. Unacceptable.
There has never been a more clear-cut example of a team needing to move on from its offensive play-caller, but we’re not holding our breath for that to happen.
We need more Chig
While NWI had the big day in Week 10, Hooper and Chig have been the two most consistent pass-catchers over the past two weeks.
The two tight ends finished tied for second in receiving yards on Sunday, one week after finishing first and second and being the only pass-catchers to average a yard of separation or more.
Okonkwo has now ripped off plays of 48 and 41 yards the last two weeks, and the latter helped setup a field goal for the Titans on Sunday.
Good things seem to happen when the rookie touches the football, thus he should be getting more looks.
Downing is doing a better job getting Hooper involved (he also out-snapped Geoff Swaim) and it has been making a difference, but Chig is still criminally underutilized and not getting enough snaps.
Missing half the defense? No problem
The Broncos entered this game with a struggling offense, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the Titans’ defense was incredibly impressive despite missing a ton of key players.
Here’s a look at all the starters the Titans were missing in Week 10, whether they were ruled out or exited the game early — and this is on top on outside linebacker Harold Landry, who was lost for the season earlier this year:
- DL Jeffery Simmons
- OLB Bud Dupree
- CB Kristian Fulton
- S Amani Hooker
- LB Zach Cunningham (IR)
- CB Elijah Molden (left early)
We could even tack on linebacker David Long, who exited multiple times because of injury, but you get the idea.
Not only did the Titans overcome the absences of those players, they thrived en route to just 10 points allowed and zero red-zone trips for the Broncos.
The pass-rush tallied six sacks, 18 QB hits and a whopping 40 pressures, the run defense limited Denver to just 65 yards (2.6 per carry), and the pass defense was excellent outside of a few big plays.
The Titans may not be able to score much, but this defense will, at minimum, keep them in every game they play the rest of the way.
Hopefully the Titans can get at least some of the aforementioned players back for Week 11, but it’ll be tough with such a quick turnaround in a Thursday night matchup against the Green Bay Packers.
