In a game where the wind was howling and the rain fell, the Titans dropped the ball on offense once again.
You see, these type of games are red flags right from the jump. It’s a divisional game, on the road, and on a short week. This was a recipe for the Titans to lay another egg after a disappointing loss to the Colts just 5 days ago.
They did just that.
Marcus Mariota was tasked with coming out on a national stage and bringing a bounce-back performance after his pitiful 4th quarter against the Colts. Instead of that, however, we got a full game of Mariota’s 4th quarter against the Colts.
Indecisiveness in the pocket, easy throws being missed, and sacks being taken that have no business being taken.
It makes for an awful game for the average fan to watch, and for someone who gets the awesome opportunity to write about it, pretty much the same experience as the average fan.
The offensive line put welcome mats out for every single member of the Jags who had their minds set on rushing the passer. Combining that with Mariota’s tendency to freeze in the pocket you have one big two-tone blue offensive mess.
Arthur Smith should be getting a good bit of the blame here as well. Smith said he wanted to keep the offense the same for Mariota, as continuity hasn’t been kind to Mariota throughout his time in Tennessee.
What he didn’t know is that he would rely on 2 TE sets way too much and would run the ball at times that’d make you scream “what in the hell is going on”. He’s had 2 straight weeks of playcalling and is putting this offense in instances you wouldn’t even wish on your worst enemy.
Well, maybe not your worst enemy, but you get the point.
So where does this team, this offense, even the defense, go from here? Both sides of the ball have made crucial mistakes that have led to this 1-2 start.
I haven’t even got started on how the defense let Gardner Minshew chew them alive in the 1st quarter. That stretch put the Titans in a 14-0 hole and let the Jags’ defensive line tee off on a bad Titans offensive line.
This team has issues, issues that are large enough to derail a season. It’s up to this Mike Vrabel and his staff to fix these mistakes and to fix them quickly.
If they don’t, this season could be a very long one.
Cover photo via Brynn Anderson / AP
Flip the page for video from the Jags loss.
