Tennessee Titans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: Full Report Card Grades for Tennessee
Well, with another loss, the Tennessee Titans assured themselves their worst season record since the franchise moved to Tennessee. Even with a win next week, the Titans would finish 3-13, worse than their 2005 mark of 4-12.
They're also projected to pick second overall in the 2015 NFL draft after only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, based on strength of schedule.
On Thursday night, the Titans lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars 21-13. Here are grades for each unit.
Quarterback
1 of 9
Charlie Whitehurst started strong. On the first Titans possession, he completed six of six passes and led the Titans downfield for a touchdown.
After that, though, he didn't do much. Even though he ended the game with a respectable stat line (24-of-35, 287 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT), he wasn't great.
Of course, he was also under pressure pretty often. He was sacked four times in the contest and rarely had a lot of time before the pocket collapsed.
Overall, he wasn't very good, but a lot of that wasn't his fault.
Grade: C-
Running Backs
2 of 9
Bishop Sankey saw most of the workload again but didn't look great. On his 14 carries, he only managed 44 yards, though he did add another nine yards with his one reception.
Only Leon Washington averaged fewer yards per carry, and he was a big part of the passing game, catching the Titans' only touchdown.
Washington ended up with seven receptions for 62 yards, beating out all receivers other than Kendall Wright. He was a surprisingly big part of the offense.
Shonn Greene had seven carries for 28 yards as well.
Grade: C-
Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 9
Delanie Walker and Kendall Wright had far and away the best performances among receivers. Wright was the leader of the group with four receptions for 73 yards.
Wright's only missed catch was on a ball thrown behind him, which probably would have been a first down if he had caught it. It was not a bad performance for a player who'd missed quite a bit of time with a hand fracture.
Walker wasn't far behind, with 54 yards on the same number of receptions.
Derek Hagan rounded out the group, with three catches for 47 yards.
Grade: B
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Offensive Line
4 of 9
I don't expect much from the Titans offensive line and haven't for some time. The unit has started seven different tackles over the season due to injuries and is also dealing with a backup center.
The only remaining starters are Andy Levitre and Chance Warmack, and even Warmack has missed some playing time with injury.
Incidentally, of the original starters, Levitre and Warmack are probably the worst players.
Still, the offensive line wasn't as bad as it has been. It gave up four sacks against the Jaguars, but the amount of pressure that Whitehurst saw was way less than the unit had allowed in most of the previous four or five games.
Run blocking was better than usual too. It was still poor overall, but again, you can't expect much with so many injuries.
Grade: D+
Defensive Line
5 of 9
A lot less pressure came from the defensive line this time around. Usually, Jurrell Casey and company are responsible for the lion's share of the quarterback pressures and sacks but not on Thursday.
Most of that is probably because Ray Horton was dialing up a lot of blitz packages for linebackers and defensive backs, so there was a lot more pressure in general. Also, the pressure Casey tends to exert happens because he tears through blockers and eventually gets to the quarterback.
When pressure comes from extra blitzers, defensive linemen just have less time to beat their blocks, so that's natural.
Sammie Hill did have a sack and a deflected pass, though. Karl Klug had a tackle for loss and a couple of pressures, but that was it as far as highlights for the group.
It was a quiet game for the defensive line, though not for a lack of quality play.
Grade: B-
Linebackers
6 of 9
Derrick Morgan was a monster against the Jaguars. He was a constant presence in the Jacksonville backfield, sacking Blake Bortles twice, nabbing a tackle for loss among six total tackles and even deflecting a pass.
It was one of his best games this season.
Wesley Woodyard had a quality outing as well, with five tackles (one for loss) and a sack.
Avery Williamson had a bad penalty but was otherwise solid in coverage. He had four tackles of his own.
Kamerion Wimbley returned after a long absence but only contributed one tackle.
Overall, the group was effective, but a lot of that was on the great game by Morgan.
Grade: B
Defensive Backs
7 of 9
Overall, the defensive backs had solid performances. There were a lot of times where Bortles had to duck and run or throw the ball away because he had no open targets.
Marqueston Huff also added to the pressure on Bortles with a sack. George Wilson helped run support with a tackle for loss, and Jason McCourty had a great pass breakup.
Of course, there was also a fair bit of bad play.
On Jordan Todman's 62-yard run, both Michael Griffin and George Wilson missed tackling him. When you're a safety, you can't miss tackles, or a 62-yard touchdown run happens.
Coty Sensabaugh also picked up a penalty that kept a Jaguars drive alive, but it looked like a bad call to me, so I don't hold him accountable for that. He had some trouble tackling again but was solid overall.
There were some mistakes, but the secondary accounted for more good than bad.
Grade: B-
Special Teams
8 of 9
Special teams, as usual, were a mixed bag. Leon Washington only had one kick return, and it was a measly 12-yarder.
Punt returns were better but nothing special.
Ryan Succop was perfect, hitting both field goals—one from 50 yards, making it his second longest of the season (behind only last week's 51-yarder).
Brett Kern actually had a lackluster performance. He averaged 40.6 yards per punt, which is low for him, and only landed one within 20 yards. Another ended up as a touchback.
On the bright side, there were no huge mistakes like fumbles, horrible coverage or anything like that—just nothing very good.
Grade: C-
Coaching
9 of 9
This one is tough to grade. Did the Titans lose to a very bad team? Yes. Was it the fault of the coach? In some ways.
On the one hand, all losses come back to the coach, and Ken Whisenhunt made a couple of questionable decisions, like choosing Leon Washington as the running back on a 3rd-and-2 over more powerful runners like Jackie Battle, Shonn Greene and even Bishop Sankey.
Other than that, though, there's not much I can directly attribute to Whisenhunt. After all, the Titans are decimated by injuries, and the season is already lost.
And I liked seeing Ray Horton get aggressive with the blitzes. Still, in the end, the buck stops with the head coach. Just because there were no tremendous screw-ups doesn't mean there weren't mistakes.
After all, the plays Whisenhunt called didn't work, for one reason or another. There's no way of knowing if a different play-caller would have had better results, and if so, how much.
Still, a loss is a loss, and a loss to a bad team is a bad loss, no matter the circumstances.
Grade: C-
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