Well, that was not optimal.
How are you guys feeling about the Titans allowing the Indianapolis Colts to ruin the home opener? Me, I’m not feeling all that great. If I had written this article last night, it would have been incoherent and borderline insane. I’m glad I let the dust settle, because, as the name of this series suggests, this is a reaction. Not an overreaction.
I guess we can definitely say that the Titans are not reading my articles because they completely ignored my Keys to the Game. The offense was not consistent. (More on that later.) The defense did not stop the run at the most important time of the game – giving up a 55 yard run late in the game to Jordan “Who is that?” Wilkins. And, the special teams unit didn’t do anything to win the game. In fact, Cairo Santos missed a 46 yard kick that would have been the difference. From now on, the Titans need to read my articles and things would work out much better for them. Just saying.
Are there any hopeful signs?
Sure, but when you win the turnover battle 2-0, hold the opposing QB to 146 yards passing, and you are at home, you win that game 95% of the time. The Titans did all those things and still found a way to lose. So, I’m not going to hand out any participation trophies after that debacle.
There were plenty of guys who played well and did what they had to do to win the game. But as a team, the Titans didn’t do enough to walk away with a victory. That is on the whole team, no matter how well some of the guys played.
When did they forget how to coach?
There were too many boneheaded coaching decisions in this game, that I don’t know where to start. I don’t think I have the patience to deal with them either. Not challenging a few calls was bad. Wasting valuable time on a fake 4th down attempt that everyone in the stadium knew was a fake was horrible. Running the ball with Adam Humphries was inexcusable. Not feeding Derrick Henry the ball 10+ times in the 4th quarter was negligent. The offensive game plan was bad. The in-game decisions were bad. Everything was bad. I hate all of it.
Mariota was bad. Period.
Mariota did not singlehandedly lose this game. But, he contributed to the loss. I’m not sure where I would place him in the “You Lost the Game” Blame Chart, but he probably lands pretty high. He was indecisive. He held the ball too long and took really bad sacks. Mariota is not silencing his critics, though his numbers are not terrible through 2 games. I am still confident (I’M NOT ON DRUGS!) that he is the guy, but games like this make it a little harder to believe. The team needs Mariota to go on a multi-game run of good football to shut up some of the loudest haters.
Where do we go from here?
Jacksonville. The team needs to learn from this game. The coaches (Arthur Smith in particular) need to learn from this game. The team needs to go down to Jacksonville and throttle the clown show that is the Jaguars. That might not answer all the questions about this team (hint: It won’t. Nothing will answer some of the haters.) but it will take the murmuring down to a low rumble for another week. I am confident the Titans can and will take care of business on Thursday night.
- The Playoffs Start Now - January 1, 2021
- Podcast: Episode 4 - October 17, 2020
- Podcast Episode Three - October 13, 2020
