In the least surprising news of the week, after the first five games of the 2022 NFL season the Tennessee Titans find themselves as one of the least explosive offenses in football.
The Titans’ offense currently ranks tied for 23rd in the NFL in the amount of successful chunk plays through five weeks. Tennessee has only accounted for a total of 27 “big plays” thus far — 15 through the air, and 12 on the ground.
A “big play” is defined as a completion totaling a minimum of 20 yards, while a “big play” on the ground is a carry that eclipses at least 10 yards.
Unfortunately, there has been plenty of reasons for the lack of explosive plays thus far.
Most big plays through Week 5: pic.twitter.com/5eHcwylxkz
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) October 11, 2022
For starters, the offensive line is way too inconsistent, especially in pass protection. This could lead to some hesitation from the coaching staff to call some of their potentially explosive plays.
Another reason for the lack of explosiveness is the pass-catchers’ inability to consistently separate. Occasional play design and lack of creativity are part of the problem, but these receivers also have to do a better job of simply winning their individual matchups.
There have been far too many times where Ryan Tannehill has to throw into tight windows due to nobody being truly open.
Derrick Henry also contributed to this with his slow start to the season, and in particular those first two weeks where he didn’t seem to have that special explosiveness we’re all used to seeing out of The King.
Thankfully, Henry has started to look like himself as of late, in large part because the run-blocking has steadily improved as well.
Nonetheless, Tennessee’s offense has to find a way to connect on some of these haymakers with more consistency if they’re ever going to reach their ceiling.
Tennessee is off this week on its much-needed bye, so they’ll have some time to recover, reflect, and reassess certain aspects of their program. Whether or not that time away makes a real difference remains to be seen.
