By Bailey Biddle
The Titans Offense: Great or Below Average?
The Titans offense had a lot of hype surrounding the team in the off-season with the additions of new head coach Mike Vrabel, Dion Lewis, and offensive guru, Matt Lefluer. Matt Lefluer was hired from the Rams, whose offense burst into the scene last year, and developed into one of the best offenses in the NFL. The Titans hired Matt Lefluer, who was a Qb coach for Jared Goff and directly under Sean Mcvay. The Titans in the same off-season fired Mike Mularkey who brought the Titans to the playoffs. The main concern for Mike Mularkey was how bad the Titans offense played with no passing game, a decent run game, and poor play from Marcus Mariota. It just didn’t seem like the “exotic smash mouth” was working. Jon Robinson bet on himself, fired Mularkey, and hired Vrabel who brought in Lefluer. I was very excited for what was to come this season for the Titans. An offense where Mariota could thrive, Corey Davis could develope into that number 5 pick, and Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis could really benefit in that scheme.
Sadly, this has not been the case. Since week 1, it didn’t look so pretty. The only time that the offense thrived was against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Titans offense had Mariota throw for 300 yards, Davis had a game winning Td in overtime, and Tajae Sharpe scored a touchdown. Then for 2 weeks in a row, the Titans have laid an egg against Buffalo and the Ravens. The Titans have not scored a Td in 2 straight weeks and have not scored a Td in 3 out of the 6 regular season games. This is absolutely terrible and there is no excuse for that. Now, let’s break down this offense and see that if it can live up to its potential or the players just don’t fit what Lefluer is trying to run. Let’s first start with the offensive line that recently gave up 11 sacks in a game, and were all drafted or signed in the Mularkey era. Taylor Lewan is the highest paid left tackle in the league and is the Titans emotional leader, and I think he is the only one on this offensive line versatile and athletic enough to run any scheme.
Taylor Lewan has always been one of our best players, but has a lot of injury concerns. As for Josh Kline, Quinton Spain, and Ben Jones, 2 halves of the barefoot gang, just doesn’t seem to be able to fit this zone block scheme and are more physical blockers that rely on strength. Now to our Pro Bowl right tackle Jack Conklin, who was drafted as a Mularkey guy, that is very physical, but is not athletic enough or designed for the Titans offense under Lefluer. This offensive line last year, even in Mike Mularkeys offense ,did not live up to expectations and that is the kind of offense that fit their play types. Maybe, the offensive line just isn’t the right fit, but does the blame fall on them or Jon Robinson for not getting the right type of players for the coaching staff? I want to talk about probably the most disappointing aspect of this offense and that is the pass catchers.
From the tight ends not catching a pass in 2 weeks, Dane Cruikshank leading the receivers in yards for a week, Rishard Matthews leaving, and the crucial dropped passes from the receivers, its been rough. Corey Davis, Taywan Taylor, and Tajae Sharpe have shown us promising signs of having touchdowns, flashy plays, game winning or clinching catches and then having 1 or 0 catches in a game. It doesn’t make sense, are the receivers to blame for not getting open, Mariota for not getting it to them, or Lefluer not calling the right plays? I think we are having growing pains. The Titans had a rookie coming off an injury learning a new offense, Tajae coming off an injury, and Taywan Taylor had to learn a very complicated Matt Lefluer offense. We have to give it time, I am not in panic mode yet. Finally, I now want to focus on Mariota and the running backs.
I have a problem with the running backs of the Tennessee Titans, but even though it has been a bumpy relationship, I do believe in Mariota. I love Derrick Henry, sometimes that makes me blind to what he does. He always has a big play at least every game, but hasn’t done anything this year. Honestly, besides the first game, neither has Dion Lewis. Do we blame that on the line, the running backs, or the play calling? When we ran the ball 40 times against the Texans, we won without Mariota. I believe we need to focus on running the ball to open the play action and make life easier for Mariota and everyone on the offense. To be honest, I don’t know if this offense has underachieved or is average. Time will tell and eventually I hope the Titans offense proves me wrong. They need to focus on turning the tables and making their offense trend in the right direction. In the AFC South, the Titans are still in first place despite how they have played. This is their season and they need to take full advantage of it.
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