Tennessee Titans vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Full Report Card Grades for Tennessee
It was ugly, it was pretty one-sided and there were lots of injuries. So it wasn't the best game for the Tennessee Titans as they fell to 2-9.
It wasn't all bad. Zach Mettenberger had stretches of quality play, the receivers played well and the defense had spots of good play as well, but there was a lot more bad than good, unfortunately.
It started badly, as the Philadelphia Eagles scored by returning the opening kickoff. It didn't get better, as the Titans offense struggled with three-and-outs, and the defense gave up a touchdown on the opening Philadelphia possession.
The Titans came back for a while, getting to within a possession of the Eagles before Philadelphia pulled away, beating the Titans handily, 43-24.
The Titans also got decimated by injuries in the match, but that's another article.
Here are grades for each unit from the game.
Quarterback
1 of 9
It was clear that Mettenberger was going to take a step back this week against the Eagles. Against Pittsburgh, Mettenberger made huge strides, but he's a rookie—and you can't expect all improvements to be permanent.
There was also the fact that Mettenberger was under a lot more pressure against the Eagles than he's seen before, and it showed. Initially, Mettenberger couldn't get anything going.
He got more comfortable late in the first half, but then he got rattled and started making mistakes, mostly overthrowing all of his receivers.
Mettenberger is a rookie, and rookies are easily rattled, so it's hard to lay too much blame on him. Even so, it wasn't a great performance despite the quality stat line.
Grade: C
Running Backs
2 of 9
Bishop Sankey got a little action early on, as the passing game was ineffective. Of course, head coach Ken Whisenhunt has something against running the ball, so it took some three-and-outs before Tennessee actually gave him some carries.
Run blocking wasn't perfect either, and Sankey had nowhere to go more than once. Then, the Titans fell so far behind it was difficult to run the ball, so again, he ended the game with a small number of carries and a fumble.
Shonn Greene got a few carries, including the short-yardage carries near the end zone. He also had the lone rushing touchdown.
Dexter McCluster had one carry, and he contributed more to the passing game, where he caught a touchdown.
Overall, yet again, nothing special, but not a big sample size. A below-average performance overall.
Grade: C-
Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 9
The Titans receivers had a solid day against the Eagles. Mettenberger got rattled late in the game and overthrew receivers like crazy, so a lot of the drops were on him more than they were on the receivers.
Of course, there were still a couple of drops and some mental errors. Nate Washington dropped what should have been a touchdown and pushed off a receiver to take back another touchdown.
Still, they were better than average.
Delanie Walker returned with a vengeance, racking up 155 receiving yards on a mere five receptions.
Justin Hunter had a good game as well, with 64 yards on four receptions and a touchdown. Washington, despite the mistakes, had a big game, while Kendall Wright spent the game getting overthrown.
Grade: B
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Offensive Line
4 of 9
The offensive line took a step back against the Eagles as well. It didn't commit a ton of penalties, but Taylor Lewan struggled against the edge-rushers of the Eagles, especially when blocking assignments switched.
Andy Levitre made a couple of misses as well, and of course, since Mettenberger was sacked five times, protection was an issue.
Run blocking was also not as good as it could have been. There were more than a few instances where Sankey simply had nowhere to go up the middle.
Also, both Lewan and Brian Schwenke left the game early with injuries.
Grade: C-
Defensive Line
5 of 9
The Titans actually did a better job stopping the run against the Eagles than they did against the Steelers. The stats just get thrown off by LeSean McCoy's 53-yard run, where he got nearly half his yards.
The defense overall didn't get to utilize the pass rush as much as it did against Pittsburgh for that very reason: It was focused on limiting the run.
Still, it wasn't a great game for the defensive line. Jurrell Casey had a good game again, picking up a sack and two tackles for a loss, but without Ropati Pitoitua, the unit was already playing with a handicap.
Al Woods had three tackles, and Sammie Hill and Karl Klug each had a couple. Mike Martin laid a few big hits on Mark Sanchez, and rookie DaQuan Jones got his feet wet with a tackle for loss.
Still, one sack and 164 rushing yards allowed isn't a fantastic game.
Grade: C
Linebackers
6 of 9
Sealing the edge was a problem for the linebackers. McCoy rattled off his big run partially due to that, but that wasn't the only instance.
It didn't help that Kamerion Wimbley had to exit the game early. Missed tackles were a problem for the unit, as even Derrick Morgan missed some tackles he should have made.
Otherwise, Morgan had a good game with 10 total tackles, a sack and three tackles for loss. Unfortunately, Morgan was alone in quality play.
Wesley Woodyard and Avery Williamson racked up quite a few tackles, but Woodyard missed several tackles he should have made, and Williamson was unusually quiet outside of his five solo tackles.
Despite Morgan's standout game, it was still a pretty lackluster performance by the unit as a whole.
Grade: C-
Defensive Backs
7 of 9
Michael Griffin continued his poor play against the Eagles. He's had a much tougher time since Bernard Pollard went on injured reserve.
Griffin likes to come up early and lay big hits on running backs and receivers, but that's often a gamble, since if he misses, there's no further safety valve.
That happened with McCoy. It also happened with several other Eagles players.
Griffin wasn't alone in this mistake, though. Daimion Stafford made the same error a few times.
Cornerback play was poor as well. Coty Sensabaugh missed tackles and fell down on coverage at least once.
The most telling piece of information for the defensive backs is that Sanchez, the butt of quarterback jokes for years, completed 30 throws to nine different receivers for 307 yards. That is unacceptable.
There was some good, though. Stafford had a beautiful interception, Griffin led the team in tackles and returned to the field despite a nasty shoulder injury, and newcomer Brandon Ghee picked up an interception as well. Unfortunately, there was more good than bad.
Grade: D+
Special Teams
8 of 9
The Titans special teams weren't great. Any time you allow a touchdown on the opening kickoff, it's not a good performance.
That said, short of that one miff, the special teams played well.
Leon Washington had a very nice return of 44 yards, and all returners averaged over 20 yards. Ryan Succop was perfect again, and Brett Kern had a very good day punting.
The Titans also kept one return by the Eagles very short, which is what set up the Ghee interception.
It was a mixed bag overall, but I can't help but think that that opening touchdown really kept the Titans from competing with the Eagles earlier.
Grade: C-
Coaching
9 of 9
Whisenhunt just doesn't like to run the ball on first down. I don't like how Whisenhunt defaults to the passing game every time, no matter what, and always takes too long to change things up.
Running the ball on first and second often keeps third downs manageable, and since the Titans are the worst third-down offense in the NFL, the name of the offensive game ought to be keeping those downs manageable.
Whisenhunt is considered a quarterback guru, but he needs to understand that he isn't working with Kurt Warner, or Ben Roethlisberger or Philip Rivers. He's working with Mettenberger, a sixth-round rookie.
Furthermore, the Eagles came into this game with one of the best pass rushes in the NFL. Anyone should have been able to see that the running game would be easier to get going than the passing game.
Sometimes I just don't understand Whisenhunt's decision-making process.
Grade: D+
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