The Tennessee Titans had their worst loss of the season on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Philly and Buffalo were bad losses, but those are really good football teams.
While you give credit to the Jags, it is hard to argue against the fact that the Titans truly beat themselves with four turnovers. As many folks around the team said this week, it’s going to be hard to win in the NFL when the team turns it over like that.
So, what happened out there?
As always, there is a lot of blame to go around, but some of the turnovers are pattern problems that haven’t been properly addressed. These issues continue to haunt the Titans week after week.
As we do each week, let’s dive into the film and see what happened…
Turnover No. 1
The Titans are leading 7-0 in the middle of the first quarter. They started the game off with a fantastic scoring drive and got a stop on defense. Now is the time to go up 14-0 and take control against a team you are better than.
This is where the Titans’ biggest issue on offense comes in: the play of left tackle Dennis Daley.
Now, Daley is an NFL player, but he just isn’t an NFL starter. He has given up 11 sacks and 40 pressures, both of which are obviously the worst on the team.
The Titans know this and, as you will see, they try to help Daley with a chip block from the tight end, Chig Okonkwo. Chig executes the block well and even holds it longer than a typical chip block — but that still isn’t enough.
Daley is super slow in his drop and doesn’t get back in time to meet Travon Walker at the proper depth, making it easy pickins’ for the rookie. If Tannehill had a bit more time, Chig was open on the angle route.
This TOTALLY changed the game and set the Jags up for a tying score. At this point, with a guy like Dillon Radunz rotting on the bench, there is no excuse that can explain why he hasn’t gotten a shot. He is far from perfect, but you at least owe it to the team to TRY something else.
Daley is killing drives and handing the other team points. And, by the way, Radunz has a 75.1 pass-blocking grade this year, the highest of anyone with more than 40 pass-blocking snaps, and has given up zero sacks.
Radunz agrees, but never mind on that…
Turnover No. 2
Full disclosure: unless you are in the locker room and know the exact rules of the play call, you can’t know for certain what happened here. However, there are some clues that fill us in.
My opinion here is Nick Westbrook-Ihkine and Tannehill read the coverage differently.
I am guessing if it is Cover 2, which the Jags show early, NWI is to sit down between the backer and the corner, and there should be a hole there if the edge rushes. If Cover 3, NWI runs a seam route to attack the hole in that coverage.
Safety Andrew Wingard rotates down late and Tannehill never sees it. NWI does, though, so he goes to the seam route. Since Tannehill did not see the late rotation, he throws a sit down.
This miscommunication could be on Tannehill or NWI, but for me, we see this far too often to not blame the COACHES.
How many times this season have we seen a wide receiver blocking downfield or a lineman blocking what seems to be the wrong play?
At some point, if the players make mental mistakes week in and week out, it’s on the coaches for not teaching it properly. Again, like Daley, this is a pattern, so it’s hard for me to call it a one-off issue from Week 14.
Turnover No. 3
This is the turnover that really sank the Titans. Funny thing is, I don’t have some over-arching complaint about this one; just a bad play by Derrick Henry.
Starts out great with a well-designed play-action pass that Tannehill checks down to Henry, and it turns into a good gain right before halftime, seemingly setting the Titans up to go ahead 21-13 before the break.
Instead, Henry starts to pinball but doesn’t secure the rock. A very fortuitous play for Henry to fumble, as it’s not an issue he has often, and the Jags were able to corral the ball so close to the sidelines.
Turnover No. 4
It is the start of the fourth quarter and the Titans are down 33-14. Tall task, but not insurmountable.
After what felt like an eternity of the Jags scoring, the Titans’ defense finally forces a turnover on downs. The Titans have the ball for one play and do this…
Maybe I am being too critical, but running a direct snap to Henry when down by 19 in the fourth quarter isn’t it.
So many mistakes here.
First, the snap is too low from Ben Jones. Henry is a big man who can’t get that low to grab it, so the snap needs to be higher. Second, NWI can’t get this block on No. 91, so this play is COOKED even if Henry catches it. Chig isn’t kicking out No. 91 on this, either.
Then, Henry needs to get DOWN on the ground and dive on the ball. He slowly goes to one knee with maybe some hope of getting up, but it just leaves him vulnerable to being hit again. This truly ended the game.
Conclusion
I am betting the Titans don’t come out and turn the ball over four times again against the Chargers. If they do, they will certainly lose.
The problem is, you leave yourself susceptible to this every week as long as Dennis Daley and Todd Downing stay in their roles.
