For the Tennessee Titans, we’ve labeled them as a strong AFC contender for most of the season, and it’s been mostly due to the overwhelming might their offense possesses.
If you’ve paid the slightest bit of attention to the team so far this season, you’d know what you’re probably going to get from this Titans offense each time it steps onto the field. A heavy dosage of Derrick Henry in the run game, whether it comes from inside or outside zone, toss plays to maximize Henry’s athletic capabilities on the edge, or a variety of power run concepts that take advantage of his bulldozer like size.
On the flip side, you’re going to see plenty of play action, and plenty of shorter routes to give these Titans wide receivers every opportunity to make a man miss, and potentially take it to the house.
This run heavy, yet explosive approach on offense had turned this unit into one of the more scarier ones in all of football. There’s so many matchup problems this offense can cause for a defense, that if you’re not careful, you can quickly fall behind on the scoreboard.
But for as much positivity this unit brings, it also brings with it its fair share of concerns, specifically when the unit gets off to a slow start.
If you’re an offense that’s built to run the football first, you can’t fall behind. Unfortunately for the Titans, that’s exactly what happened in last night’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
What Went Wrong
Tennessee quickly fell behind by 19 to start the game, ultimately clawing back to cut the lead to 5, before falling apart in the 2nd half to lose by 26. It was a pitiful game from start to finish for the Titans, who barely showed any sort of life except for their two touchdown drives in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
The offense couldn’t get going, as it couldn’t convert on a number of key 3rd downs, and couldn’t hold up in pass protection. Ryan Tannehill was under pressure all night long, running for his life to give himself any shot at extending the important drives that arose during the game.
Derrick Henry couldn’t get chugging immediately either, as the early deficit seemingly cut his opportunities to make plays on offense.
The failures on offense translated over to the defense, which once again showed why the offense has to hold their hand like a parent does to their child.
They simply can’t get the job done, there’s no way around it.
They can’t stop the pass, they’re inconsistent at stopping the run, and instead of having the usual troubles on 3rd down, they just imploded on 1st and 2nd down.
Aaaaaaaaand the defense is back……in a bad way.
— TreJean Watkins (@TreWatkins099) December 28, 2020
All in all, it was a poor performance from both sides of the ball, but one from an offense that looked like it was starting to find its groove heading into the playoffs.
With one game to go, it’s clear this offense still has an underlying issue, one that can completely doom this team as the postseason draws near.
Slow Offensive Starts Will Lead to This Team’s Demise
It was a prime example of what happens to this Titans team whenever the offense starts out slow, and puts pressure on the defense to do their actual jobs. When you start slow and fall behind as a run first team, you’re forced to somewhat abandon the main philosophy within your offense, and roll with a pass heavy attack instead to quickly make up the difference you’ve lost.
But the consequences don’t stop there.
You’re then forced to beg and pray your defense — which has consistently found itself failing time and time again — gets a stop and therefore giving you another chance to go down the field and score some points.
That can’t happen with this Titans team moving forward, not when your defense can’t stop air, and when your offense simply can’t function as well when the run game has to be subtracted from the equation.
If the slow offensive starts continue to be a problem, then they’ll be hit with more than just a beginning of the game situation filled with adversity.
They’ll be hit with an early exit from the playoffs as well.
I think it’s gotten to the point where the Titans’ opening scripts on offense could be the most important parts of the game for them moving forward. https://t.co/9u6q63ZvZc
— TreJean Watkins (@TreWatkins099) December 28, 2020
If that event indeed does occur, then this team will go into the upcoming off-season having wasted a year of a high powered offense that’s full of guys with contract questions this coming off-season, and an offensive coordinator that’s already receiving a lot of head coaching consideration.
It won’t totally be their faults though, since sustaining opening drive success is about as difficult as any other thing in the league.
But this offense is all this team’s got right about now, it has and will continue to be the only good thing this team has got going on for their selves.
The formula is simple on paper, and the consequences are laid out, now it’s up to Arthur Smith’s offense to simply execute it and potentially watch their worries drift away.