The Tennessee Titans were a lifeless unit on Sunday en route to dropping their second contest over the first three weeks of the season.
The Browns produced an old-fashioned beatdown on the Titans, winning by a score of 27-3. To be perfectly honest, that score doesn’t even do the Browns justice for how dominant they were on both sides of the ball.
Buy Titans TicketsCleveland smothered Tennessee’s offense with a hellacious pass-rush and run defense while their offense routinely walked down the field with little resistance by the Titans’ defense.
You could make a strong argument that this was one of the worst performances in recent memory.
Tennessee actually punted the ball more times (seven) than it moved the chains for first downs (six). For perspective, the Browns totaled 23 first downs to the Titans’ six.
In can’t be overstated how horrible of a game this was on practically every level, with the Titans getting both outplayed and out-coached.
The beatdown was so bad that my overreactions listed below honestly feel like they should be listed in the truths section instead. Although, to be fair, it’s way too early in the year to slam the panic button, but we’re certainly getting close.
Let’s not waste anymore time and dive right into my truths and overreactions after a dismal Week 3 loss.
Overreaction: This is the worst performance in Titans history
Obviously, when the franchise has lost games by the score of 59-0 or 55-7, it’s hard to say this is the worst performance in team history, but it’s definitely up there.
To help put this disastrous performance into better perspective, by the end of the game, the Titans nearly topped their offensive output (94 yards) with penalty yardage (80).
This was a dismal day for everyone on the offensive side of the ball, maybe with the exception of DeAndre Hopkins.
Derrick Henry and Tyjae Spears combined for 26 rushing yards on 15 carries, Ryan Tannehill threw for just 104 passing yards, and the offensive line was horrendous (more on that later).
As for the defense, the run defense dominated like it always does, but Tennessee couldn’t bring Deshaun Watson down when he was in reach on several occasions, and the secondary couldn’t get out of its own way.
Even when the Browns produced self-inflicted wounds of their own, the Titans seemingly always produced a back-breaking penalty to bail them out.
This was honestly such a disappointing day after what was an exhilarating victory the week prior. It’s highly unlikely we’ll see anything as bad as this going forward, but it could be a long season if things don’t get turned around in a hurry.
Truth: It’s time to strongly consider Peter Skoronski at LT
The Tennessee Titans decided to sign Andre Dillard to a $29 million deal even though he’s hardly played ever since being drafted by the Eagles in 2019.
Injuries and the emergence of Jordan Mailata undoubtedly played a part in that, but this move was always baffling to me for several reasons.
For no reason at all, I’m posting this old snippet from a write-up I did back in June, as well as my original scouting report.
We’re getting to a point where the #Titans at least have to consider moving the former unanimous All-American back to his old position (once healthy) https://t.co/VPoQSBC5Tm pic.twitter.com/qquQ9reIrL
— Shaun Calderon (@ShaunMichaels31) September 24, 2023
For starters, the Eagles have one of the best offensive line coaches in Jeff Stoutland. The fact that he couldn’t get the most out of Dillard should’ve been a red flag.
To make matters worse, after dealing with the Dennis Daley disaster, you’d think the team would’ve rather went with a safer option instead of banking on an unknown.
Yet, here we are, three weeks into the year and Dillard has allowed the most sacks in the NFL.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Washington State product came into the day tied for first, but after Myles Garrett ate him alive, it’s a safe bet that he’s ending the day as the sole leader, even if we don’t have official numbers just yet.
The Titans allow a sack on 12.1% of their dropbacks this season, 4th-highest of any team.
The Browns' average time to pressure of 2.1 seconds is the fastest of any team in the NFL. Plus, Cleveland has allowed just 1 offensive touchdown in 2 games. pic.twitter.com/vjS9PnTd2V
— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) September 20, 2023
If the Titans are going to save their season, we’re at the point where the team has to strongly consider moving Peter Skoronski back to the position where he was a unanimous All-American during his college days.
The main counterpoint to that possibility all offseason was his arm length, but that argument became extremely flawed when Tennessee decided to start a right tackle who has even shorter arms than Skoronski.
The #Titans got an absolute dawg in Peter Skoronski
People love to show the one rep from 2021 where Skoronski was exposed by LVN yet conveniently leave out the countless other reps over the last 2 years where he more than held his own.
Wherever he plays, Titans got a pillar pic.twitter.com/B9b9BUr1Xj
— Shaun Calderon (@ShaunMichaels31) April 28, 2023
Maybe that becomes a disaster as well, but Tennessee has to find out. At the very least, you’ll have clarity that your first-round pick is strictly a guard going forward and can leave him there for the next decade without any hesitations.
Regardless of position, the Titans’ rookie lineman is one of the most technically-sound blockers to come out in a long time. That helps to compensate for the lack of length he has.
Skoronski is a master at using his explosiveness to time the snap count and get to the junction point first, which then forces defenders to physically go through him if they want to beat him.
This is one of the many reasons why Peter Skoronski deserves a chance at LT when he’s healthy.
This always mattered more than Dillard’s three-centimeter advantage in arm length.
Skor is rarely chasing guys, and if you’re gonna beat him, you have to physically beat him.#Titans https://t.co/mSxeCgfukp— Shaun Calderon (@ShaunMichaels31) September 24, 2023
And when your tackle possesses a technically-sound skill set, impeccable hand usage, stout contact balance and powerful strength, it’s not going to be an easy win. regardless of how long the opponent is.
Obviously, Skor needs to get healthy from his appendectomy before anything else, but in my opinion, we’re really getting close to the end of the Dillard experiment, unless there’s some type of dramatic improvement.
Overreaction: Titans have no hope
While things seem doom and gloom at the moment, they really aren’t as bad as they seem as far as the team’s playoff hopes go. The left tackle position is undeniably a problem, but some credit has to be given to the types of pass-rushers the Titans have faced, as well.
Nonetheless, Tennessee has to fix this problem if it wants any chance at resurrecting a season that is starting to feel like it’s on the brink of disaster.
The best thing that the Titans currently have going for them is the division they play in, which should be within reach as long as the team doesn’t completely fall apart.
Tennessee, Jacksonville, and Houston all have matching 1-2 records while Indianapolis sits atop the division at 2-1. Adding to that, the Titans’ schedule gets easier after these first six games.
However, should the Titans’ wheels fall off over these next few weeks, they have to start strongly considering the reality that it might be best for them to offload some of their veteran assets to acquire draft picks and cap space for what should be a complete revamp in 2024.
The Titans definitely aren’t there just yet, but things have to turn around in a hurry in order to avoid another lost season in Tennessee.
Truth: The secondary is going to prevent the defense from reaching its full potential
Two of the biggest weaknesses Tennessee has at the moment is its inability to defend the quick passing game and its complete ineptitude when it comes to preventing the big play.
Whether its getting burned in coverage or committing a ridiculous penalty, the Titans’ secondary is consistently struggling when challenged deep.
The short passing game is also becoming a serious problem. Tennessee’s pass-rush wasn’t at its best today by any means, but there have been too many times where the opposing quarterback is getting the ball out before the pass-rush has the chance to get home.
The amount of big plays against the defense is especially starting to add up. The perfect example that shows just how poor the unit has been occurred when Watson had one of the most baffling plays that resulted in a massive loss.
The Browns then faced a second-and-26, and instead of it being a three-and-out, the Titans bailed them out by getting a pass interference call, which was on Kristian Fulton.
This secondary has the talent to be a good unit, but right now it’s getting in its own way far too often. And if that doesn’t get cleaned up, Tennessee’s defense as a whole will be average, at best.
More Week 3 coverage
