Tennessee Titans: 10 Titanic Problems Emerge in Tough Loss Vs Broncos
The Tennessee Titans were just a few minutes away from defeating the Denver Broncos yesterday and remaining tied atop the AFC South.
Instead, the Titans missed a golden opportunity to be a game up on the Colts and the Jaguars.
The Titans have yet to play a divisional game and won't play one until October 18 against the Jaguars. This means that it's still very much in the Titans' hands as to where they go from here.
However, the Titans left with many more problems than just a conference loss to a team that they probably should have beaten easily.
10. Defenses Have Seemed to Figure Out Chris Johnson
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It may still be very early on in the season, but after four games Chris Johnson has been reduced to an ordinary-looking running back.
He's struggled greatly at running between the tackles and has only a handful of big runs to show for his efforts.
At first glance Johnson's numbers look pretty respectable so far. He's got 354 yards rushing and four touchdowns.
Those numbers are a little inflated thanks to his 76-yard run against the Raiders in Week 1. If it wasn't for that, Johnson would be held to under 100 yards for three out of four games this season.
What makes Johnson so dangerous is the threat that his one long run could come every single time he touches the ball, but the Broncos made stopping Johnson look like child's play.
If an average defense like the Broncos can shut down Johnson, then that does not bode well for the Titans when and if they play stronger defenses down the road.
Johnson is the centerpiece of this offense, and if defenses figure out a way to stop him then it could mean rocky roads ahead for the Titans.
9. Vince Young Still Inconsistent
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Vince Young was one of the lone bright spots on offense yesterday against the Broncos. Many of his throws were accurate, and he avoided throwing those costly interceptions that we've become so accustomed to with him.
However, Young still missed a couple critical throws which shows that he's still very unreliable at times. The big one that stands out from yesterday was when he missed Jared Cook badly on a fade route that could have led to a long touchdown pass.
All Young had to do was loft the ball over the defender's hands and Cook had an easy catch—all of the momentum would have shifted to the Titans at that point.
Those kinds of throws are hardly ever missed by the good quarterbacks in the NFL, but Young has shown that even though he is improving greatly, he's still very unreliable.
8. Lack of Team Discipline
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It might not be a shocker to most people that the Titans are among the league leaders in penalties. When it comes to the 15-yarders the Titans get the most in the NFL as of yesterday.
This shows a huge lack of team discipline. Guys are constantly losing their cool, and most of this is coming from the defensive side of the ball.
Getting flagged for offsides almost became a regular occurrence yesterday against the Broncos, and then of course you can't forget about the costly pass interference call that put the Broncos on the one-yard line towards the end of the game.
This team just has no discipline, and most of that can be put on the shoulders of the coaching staff. Jeff Fisher has to get this team under control and stop all of the stupid penalties.
In yesterday's game the Titans cost themselves 111 yards in penalties.
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7. Offensive Playcalling Stuck in a Rut
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This offense has almost become stagnant this season. Occasionally they show glimpses of being a good offense, but more often than not they run the ball twice for minimal gains and then throw an incomplete pass.
Things have to be shaken up a bit because whatever the original plan was, it just isn't producing enough positive results.
As much as it pains me to say this, it seems to me that Jeff Fisher has lost a step or two in being an effective play caller in the NFL.
When you watch some of the great offenses in the NFL it's often very difficult to guess what they're going to call. With Fisher's offense it's hard not to guess correctly.
He's become way too predictable for the average fan like myself, and that means that opposing coaches are definitely figuring him out.
The Titans had a chance to put the game away against the Broncos if only they could have put together a sustainable drive. Instead, the Titans put together just one first down, ran the ball twice, and then settled for play action.
We all know what happened after that.
6. Lack of Depth in the Secondary
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With last week's injury to Jason McCourty the Titans have suddenly become very thin in the secondary. They're having to depend on the talented, but inexperienced Alterraun Verner to lock up the side of the field opposite Cortland Finnegan.
Verner did an exceptional job yesterday, but you still have to expect him to make some rookie mistakes as the season progresses.
Even Finnegan was made to look ordinary yesterday as he guarded Brandon Lloyd most of the day. Lloyd gained over 100 receiving yards and at some points made things look easy.
Lloyd wasn't the only Broncos receiver to gain over 100 receiving yards yesterday—Eddie Royal got in on the action as well.
The Titans need to figure this out fast because one of the reasons the Titans started 0-6 last season was due to their weak secondary.
The Titans are one injury away in the secondary from becoming a last place team in the AFC South.
5. Too Many Turnovers
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The Titans now have ten turnovers on the season which ties them for the most in the AFC. That is probably one of the main reasons they are 2-2 right now instead of 4-0.
Whenever you lose a game you can usually point to a few turnovers to explain why you lost that game.
Even the stars of the team are committing turnovers. Chris Johnson lost his second fumble of the season against the Broncos.
As great as Marc Mariani has been in the return game this season, Fisher has to find someone else to start returning kicks because obviously Mariani has trouble with ball security.
That's two fumbles on kick returns so far this season that have cost the Titans greatly. The Titans were only down three with plenty of time remaining when Mariani fumbled against the Broncos.
4. Kenny Britt Not As Dependable As Last Season
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Where in the heck has Kenny Britt been all season? It might be possible that Britt is suffering the notorious sophomore slump.
Don't let the two touchdown catches fool you: Britt has only 90 yards receiving this season along with a couple of critical drops.
One of those drops came yesterday when Vince Young was trying to push the offense down the field one last time to score the game-winning touchdown.
The ball dropped right through Britt's hands. If he had made the catch then the Titans would've had one last play from around the 20-yard line.
Much like Justin Gage, Britt is critical to the success of the Titans passing game.
3. Inconsistency on Special Teams
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Aside from Mariani's kickoff return for a touchdown against the Broncos, the Titans special teams has looked very mediocre this season.
On the ensuing kickoff after Mariani's touchdown, the special teams unit allowed the Broncos to steal back the momentum by letting them return deep into Titans territory.
Those kinds of things cannot happen if you want to be successful in the NFL.
I'm sure you haven't forgotten the special teams nightmare against the Steelers in Week 2, either.
Rob Bironas is one of the few bright spots on special teams, but punter Brett Kern has to get better. A lot of us probably got spoiled with Craig Hentrich doing the punting for so long. Kern has to improve the hang time on his punts to give the special teams unit a chance to get down the field.
2. Derrick Morgan Out for the Season
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Injuries are part of the game, but losing your top draft pick for the season is never something you get used to.
Derrick Morgan suffered a torn ACL against the Broncos. Luckily for the Titans they're still very deep at the defensive line.
It's still a tough injury to take because Morgan was beginning to be a great force on the field, and torn ACLs are never an easy injury to come back from.
Morgan had five tackles and one-and-a-half sacks this season before going down.
Hopefully the Titans will get their top draft pick back stronger than ever for next season.
1. AFC South Tougher Than First Thought
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At first that loss the Colts took to the Jaguars in Week 4 looked really good, but not so fast. All that really shows is that, as a whole, the AFC South is better than some may have predicted.
Not many people had the Jaguars going very far this season, but they can't be too bad if they knocked off the Colts and the Broncos.
The Texans have already proved that they're a legit contender, and we all know the Colts are still going to be there in the end as long as Peyton Manning is running things.
It's going to be very tough for the Titans to make a run for the playoffs in a division that has so much parity.
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