The Tennessee Titans suffered a humbling defeat on Monday night at the hands of the Buffalo Bills, 41-7.
This was the type of loss that hurt not only because the scoreboard was so lopsided, but also because it was a brutal reality check that made you realize how wide the gap is between this current Titans team and the league’s elite.
This season is on the verge of going off the rails if they quickly don’t figure things out. It’s way too early to write off any Mike Vrabel-led team, but Tennessee needs to get this ship going in the right direction real soon.
After reviewing the updated analytical data from several different websites, there were a few concerning findings.
But before we go into all of that, I just wanted to give a quick reminder that these articles will be using advanced metrics from Pro Football Focus (PFF), Next Gen Stats, and Sports Info Solutions (SIS).
Some of the verbiage can be a bit confusing, so I am also linking a glossary to this article, which contains any elaborate definition you may need to know.
This article in particular is going to be purely dedicated to the offense, with a separate article on the defense being posted shortly after. With all that said, let’s take a closer look at the Week 2 offensive numbers.
Run-blocking is severely failing Derrick Henry
The Titans’ run-blocking woes continued on Monday night. In fact, things got drastically worse. Derrick Henry had arguably the worst outing of his professional career.
The former Heisman-winning running back only tallied 25 rushing yards on 13 carries (1.9 YPC).
A staggering statistic that stands out after reviewing the data is how Henry actually produced more yards after contact than he had total rushing yards.
According to SIS, he finished the evening with 27 yards after contact, two more than the 25 he had in total.
To add more context to the overall issues at hand, the Titans have allowed Henry to be hit at or behind the line of scrimmage on 50 percent of his rush attempts this season (17 of 34 carries).
The Titans’ running back is obviously one of the most powerful runners in the league, but expecting him to constantly run through NFL defenders is wishful thinking, especially when the blocking isn’t even giving Henry a chance to build up to the special blend of speed and power he has.
Love Matt Milano shooting the gap & disrupting this play. But watch Tremaine Edmunds chop down Derrick Henry’s arm, AND swing his hand around to the ball for a punch out attempt. Technical & physical play#Bills #BillsMafia #GoBillspic.twitter.com/YgrNg7krZb
— Anthony Cover 1 (@Pro__Ant) September 20, 2022
Defenders have quickly been filling up gaps, forcing the mammoth running back to stop his feet, which often puts him in a vulnerable position to be taken down.
Hell of a play here by Christian Benford to keep contain and get a nice TFL on Derrick Henry. The Titans are going to force the #Bills corners to make tackles all night long.
Benford up to the challenge so far #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/TqSFs13W1J
— Carl Jones (@Jones11_) September 19, 2022
Henry is never going to be the type of back that’s going to make defenders miss in a phone booth. The Alabama product is at his best when he’s allowed to use his rare combination of size, strength, and speed to go downhill and physically wear down an opposing defense for four quarters.
If Tennessee is going get back to that, the offensive line has to do a better job at creating space for Henry to work with.
Ryan Tannehill regresses after impressive Week 1 showing
There are a lot of factors that went into this regression from one week to the other. For starters, the Titans went against a Bills team that arguably possesses the most talented roster in the league.
Secondly, Tennessee got in their own way a ton, which turned an already difficult opponent into a damn-near impossible one to beat.
Tannehill in particular struggled against a very talented Bills defense that essentially dared the veteran quarterback to beat it after shutting down the Titans’ rushing attack.
Buffalo’s tenacious and cerebral defense made life difficult for the Titans’ passing attack.
In total, Tennessee’s quarterback faced pressure nine times and was sacked twice. The constant pressure helped lead to two costly interceptions, one of which was returned for a Bills touchdown.
Tannehill notably regressed in several areas from a week ago.
Ryan Tannehill vs. Bills:
11/20 passing
117 pass yds
2 INT pic.twitter.com/3OOqvkShA4— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 20, 2022
Per SIS, his completion percentage dropped from over 60 percent to 55, his yardage fell from 266 to 117, while his “catchable passes” percentage from Week 1 (90.0) dropped 12.2 percent to 77.8.
The Titans’ quarterback saw a massive decline in his passer rating as well, going from 106.4 in Week 1 to 32.7 in Week 2.
Also, Tannehill’s “independent quarterback rating” (IQR) fell more than 77 percent from the season opener. His IQR went from a whopping 113.5 against the Giants to a measly 36.4 on Monday night.
The Texas A&M product ultimately finished the evening with an underwhelming EPA of -13.47. For comparison, Bills quarterback Josh Allen finished the same game with a positive EPA of 13.24.
Needless to say, the Titans desperately need a bounce-back game from their starting quarterback if they are going to avoid a gut-wrenching 0-3 start to the season.
Feed Treylon Burks
After a tumultuous offseason that saw the talented rookie receiver get vilified for a mostly ridiculous reason, Treylon Burks has quickly become an obvious bright spot on the team.
Over his two career games, the former Razorback has totaled 102 receiving yards on seven catches. These numbers aren’t eye-popping at first glance, but they become significantly more impressive once you realize the limited amount of snaps he’s played thus far.
According to Next Gen Stats, the rookie wideout hasn’t even eclipsed 50 percent of the offense’s snaps in either of the two games he’s played in. Burks also hasn’t run more than 17 routes in a single game.
In the season opener, the Arkansas product was targeted five times even though he only ran 13 routes.
Look at rookie receiver usage and efficiency through Week 2.
Dotson, Pickens, London and Olave running 80%+ team routes.
Burks leading in yards per route run pic.twitter.com/jnL9wcPoz1
— Kevin Cole (@KevinColePFF) September 20, 2022
Last week, Burks’ target share increased to six, but he only ran four more routes (17) than he did in Week 1.
Despite the talented rookie’s limited sample size, he is currently fifth in the entire league in “yards per route run” (3.40).
Yards/Route Run Leaders among WRs (min. 10 targets)
1⃣ Stefon Diggs – 4.22
2⃣ Tyreek Hill – 4.00
3⃣ Rashod Bateman – 3.55
4⃣ Jaylen Waddle – 3.43
5⃣ Treylon Burks – 3.40h/t @PFF
— Sam Wallace (@SWallace_FF) September 21, 2022
According to PFF, “Yards per Route Run” takes into account the number of snaps a player ran a route, which provides a better indicator of production than yards per reception or even yards per target.
Burks is also PFF’s highest-graded rookie receiver through two weeks (80.9)
Treylon Burks thru 2 games:
-36.7% TPRR (1st among rookie WRs with 10+ Targets)
-3.4 YPRR (1st)
-79.1 PFF Grade (2nd)Week 1 Route Participation: 37.1%
Week 2: 72.7%He's climbed the depth chart in just 2 weeks with crazy per route efficiency
The Burks breakout is coming🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/HP17lsbbEp
— Ron Stewart (@RonStewart_) September 21, 2022
The Titans’ young playmaker is creating the most separation on the team. As a matter of fact, he’s already creating more separation than the league average.
Per Next Gen Stats, the league average receiver separation is approximately 2.91 yards. Burks is currently averaging 3.14 yards of separation when running a route.
We’re quickly approaching a point where the Titans’ season is getting close to being on the ropes. It’s time to stop easing Burks into the lineup when he’s clearly ready for a larger role.
It feels like the Arkansas product is poised for a true breakout game soon, but only time will tell if that comes to fruition or not.
If the Titans want to jump-start this mostly lifeless passing attack, they’ll allow their recent first-round pick to start consistently showcasing the talents that earned him that draft spot in the first place.
Keep your eyes peeled this weekend to see how much Burks’ role increases after these productive first two weeks.
