With the Tennessee Titans losing an ugly one to the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, it’s time to see where they stand in the NFL power rankings of analysts going into Week 2.
We start with USA TODAY’s Nate Davis, who actually has the Titans staying put at No. 20. Here’s what he had to say about Tennessee:
Buy Titans Tickets20. Titans (20): Cagey trade for K Nick Folk, who nearly booted Tennessee to victory with five field goals – and maybe he would have if RB Derrick Henry (17 touches, 119 yards) had played more than 48% of the offensive snaps?
While offensive coordinator Tim Kelly couldn’t do anything about the awful play from his quarterback, he did have control over Derrick Henry’s usage, or lack thereof.
The star running back being buried in the second half after having 97 total yards in the first two quarters and being out-snapped by Tyjae Spears was completely inexcusable.
Now, the rest of the round-up:
Jarrett Bailey, Touchdown Wire: 31 (-6)
Bailey: “Ryan Tannehill and Derek Carr set the game back 30 years with whatever it was we were forced to watch Sunday. The Titans have no offense outside of Derrick Henry, and even that doesn’t do the trick the way it used to. Audible yawn.”
Barry Werner, The List Wire: 23
Werner: “Mike Vrabel has a quarterback problem. The offense has Derrick Henry and DeAndre Hopkins. It also has Ryan Tannehill running it … into the ground. The Titans finished last year losing a slew of games and picked up where they left off in 2022.”
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: 23 (-1)
Prisco: “Ryan Tannehill had a rough go of of it against the Saints with three picks. That has to be concerning in the new offense going forward.”
Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk: 27 (-10)
Florio: “Now we know why they draft a quarterback every year.”
NFL Nation, ESPN: 27 (-1)
David Helman, FOX Sports: 28
Helman: “The Titans were too low in my preseason rankings, so I’m giving them a small bump after a valiant effort in New Orleans. As we all expected, Mike Vrabel’s defense came ready to play. That was never going to be the issue. Three interception in a one-point loss just might start the clock on Ryan Tannehill’s possible replacement by one of his young backups, as Ben Arthur wrote yesterday.”
Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: 30 (-2)
Iyer: “What was that? With every bad pass by Ryan Tannehill in New Orleans, they got closer to ushering in the Will Levis era. The defense came up to be a physically strong force against the run as usual, but the passing game and pass coverage are unsurmountable issues.”
Eric Edholm, NFL.com: 22 (no change)
Edholm: “I have an enormous amount of respect for the way Mike Vrabel coaches, especially when it comes to in-game decision-making. So, when Vrabel opted to kick a field goal down four points on fourth-and-6 from the New Orleans 11-yard line with 2:20 remaining, it stunned me. Next Gen Stats favored going for it over kicking the field goal by 5.9 percentage points. The Saints drained the rest of the clock on the ensuing possession and earned a 16-15 victory. Vrabel also declined a holding penalty on a third-down play in the third quarter, giving the Saints a 52-yard field goal try (which they made) to tie the game instead of pushing them back 10 yards for another third-down play. Didn’t love that, either. Even after listening to him explain the decisions on Monday, I felt like these were head-scratchers from an otherwise very good game-managing coach.”
Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports: 22 (no change)
Schwab: “Mike Vrabel had about as bad of a day that a good coach can have, but Ryan Tannehill also played a big role in the loss. He had a 28.8 passer rating. He should not have been throwing it 34 times — that’s on Vrabel and the staff too — but he needed to be a lot better on those throws. Let’s not forget that Tannehill is 35, his numbers were way down the past two seasons, he was involved in offseason trade speculation and the Titans have selected quarterbacks with valuable picks in each of the last two drafts.”
