Tennessee Titans lose ugly to the Miami Dolphins 38-10
By Les Bailey
10. 35. 38. 59. Final
My colleague here at Titan Sized, Paul Colter wrote an article last week called Tennessee Titans: The Good The Bad and The ugly and after Sunday’s 38-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins, I wonder if the article should not have been entitled the Ugly, the Uglier, and the Ugliest.
In their fourth consecutive loss after a promising draft, preseason and a game one win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, things have gotten ugly. Uh…uglier….Uh the ugliest.
There was fight in this young team after the week two loss to the Cleveland Browns when they forged a late-game comeback with a chance to beat the Indianapolis Colts in the home opener, only to fail in a two-point extra point that would have tied the game at the end of regulation.
This Titans team started to turn ugly during the Buffalo Bills encounter last Sunday, and went into “Walking Dead” mode yesterday against the struggling Miami Dolphins.
Many around this franchise are putting the onus of four losses on the Dick LeBeau defense for not being able to stop people, but the inability to move the football and score points in the last two games is squarely on the offense.
The part of the offense that isn’t working, is the “running back by committee”.
Everyone knew at the start of the season that the only way this team would be able to protect a rookie quarterback like Marcus Mariota, would be to run the football, and run it well.
The only game where the Titans have been able to gain over a 100 yards on the ground was against the Cleveland Browns when they run the ball 30 times for a 116 yards.
They only managed 88 yards against the Colts, 97 yards against the Bills, and 63 yards against the Dolphins which one of the NFL’s worse run defense teams.
This kind of effort is not going to keep the wolves away from the door, and will not help keep defenses out of the Marcus Mariota backfield.
Rookie right tackle Jeremiah Poutasi was unable to keep Dolphins defensive lineman, Cameron Wake off of Mariota yesterday and Wake got to the rookie four times with Olivier Vernon adding two more sacks to make it a six pack.
He was replace by veteran Jamon Meredith.
This is the NFL, and defensive coordinators watch a lot of film. By now they know that the Titans have very few, if any, play makers on offense and all they need to do is pin their ears back and charge the quarterback on almost every play.
In large part, because they don’t have any respect for the Titans run game!
After being only used for 10 carries in his first game back after a year off, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson said that he needed more carries to feel out the defense, and get himself in the groove.
Antonio Andrews, Dexter McCluster and Bishop Sankey never have enough snaps in a game to get comfortable before they are out.
Running back by committee will not work in Music City!
New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra who passed earlier this year used to say,”It’s Deja Vu all over again” and the Tennessee Titans are beginning to show signs of repeating the 2014 season all over again.
They came home for a historic four games in five weeks at 1-1 and looked to have a chance at a successful season, and it has turned ugly.
It doesn’t get much better as the Titans close out this home stand next Sunday when the 5-1 Atlanta Falcons come to town.
They will not be looking to right a sinking ship like the Colts and Dolphins, but I’m sure they are looking at this game to get even for the loss they took in New Orleans on Thursday night.
We saw what quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones did to the Titans in the preseason opener during the first possession in the Georgia Dome, and they will play the entire game next Sunday.
We’ve had a chance to see the ugly and uglier, and I think the ugliest is too far away!