If you wanted to draw up a game plan for how to respond to a tough loss, the Titans pulled off the complete opposite on Sunday. In a performance that could best be described as sad, the Titans threw away any goodwill they created from their near comeback against Pittsburgh.
Three Down:
Offense: What a game for the offense. Going into the 4th quarter, the offense had seven points. That’s not going to get it done, especially with a defense like the Titans. Tannehill had an awful pick early in the game, attempting to force a throw to A.J. Brown. In the 4th quarter, the offense came to life a bit, but it was too little, too late.
Defense: A little backstory first. The Bengals were without four of their five Week 1 starters on the offensive line. That tidbit alone should have made the front seven’s mouth water. In reality, they had 0 sacks in the game and were continually gashed on third down, and also in the run game.
Joe Burrow and the Bengals were only forced to punt one time during the game. Something has to change with this group. It is beyond unacceptable for a team that going into the year had Super Bowl aspirations to allow every team to score virtually at will.
Special Teams: Gostkowski missed a 53 yard FG, Kern had a punt net 16 yards, the return team gave up a huge return, and Kalif Raymond continues to stink returning kicks and punts. Beau Brinkley also had an awful snap which led to a missed PAT and Brett Kern was injured. Hopefully Brett is okay, as he’s the only part of this special teams unit that I expect to improve from today’s performance.
Three Up:
Corey Davis: Despite an overly poor performance from the offense, Corey Davis came to play. The Titan’s #2 wide receiver had 8 catches for 128 yards and an incredible toe tapping TD in the 4th to extend hope.
The run game: Even though the points were not there, the Titans offense had 7.2 yards per pass and 7.5 yards per rush. The rushing number is especially impressive and if you had shown me that number prior to the game, I would have bet my house that the Titans would have won. D’Onta Foreman and Derrick Henry both looked terrific.
Adam Humphries health: This was a really scary situation when Jessie Bates hit Humphries after a pass over the middle. Humphries was down for a really long time before getting up and walking to the cart. The result could have been far worse than it appeared to be, so hopefully Adam can recover fully.
We may not win 5 more games this season. Looks like another 9-7 season with wins over lions,jags,browns and texans. Losses to ravens, colts twice, packers,bears.
If the defense diesnt improve to at least average levels, you will be right, and we will crown Phillip Rivers and the Colts with the AFCS championship. We will sit at home while the Dolphins, Browns, or others go in our place.