Tennessee Titans: Are Injuries and Offensive Line the Problem?
By Les Bailey
Like most Tennessee Titans fans, I know that injuries and a patchwork offensive line are the main reasons the Titans are 1-4 on the season and quickly heading down a road that will probably end in another Music City failure.
More at Titan Sized: Tennessee Titans Power Rankings around the league for week 7
But are injuries and the offensive line the real problem?
There are rankings for everything that surrounds the NFL and the NFL Insiders at ESPN have ranked all 32 teams with respect to injuries, and the Tennessee Titans are close to the bottom of this list as well.
They are tied with the Arizona Cardinals for 21st place on a list that names the Green Bay Packers as the team with the most injuries, the Pittsburgh Steelers ranked second and the Seattle Seahawks are last and ranked 30th.
The one thing you can take away from this theory, is although winning is more difficult when teams are dealing with injury problems, there is no direct correlation to the league standings.
The New England Patriots are ranked fifth on the injury rankings, but are ranked first in the week seven power rankings with the aforementioned Green Bay Packers second.
As far as the offensive line is concerned, quick…..name an offensive lineman who plays for the Patriots!
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has had a patchwork offensive line for most of his career, and I guarantee that Tom Brady has not been on the ground 19 times this year like Marcus Mariota.
David Climer from the Tennessean reported yesterday that with rookie Jeremiah Poutasi struggling against the Miami Dolphins last Sunday and the season ending injury to center Brian Schwenke, things will only get worse for Marcus Mariota.
But Climer points out that the Patriots have started 10 different combinations on the offensive line this year and are not having the same woes in trying to protect their franchise quarterback.
Climer also had this to say about the Whisenhunt pass-protection method:
On top of all this, Whisenhunt’s pass protection scheme should be called into question. Too often, he hangs his quarterbacks out to dry. In his last four seasons as a head coach (2010-12 at Arizona and last year at Tennessee), his teams gave up at least 50 sacks. His last three Cardinals teams ranked worst once and next-to-worst twice in protecting the quarterback.
So do I think injuries and the offensive line are the problem in Nashville?…….No!
Other teams find a way to work through injuries and personnel issues on their teams and find a way to win football games.
The Titans don’t have a running game they can count on, the Titans don’t have enough receivers who will go up and fight for a ball, and the Titans don’t have enough players who will just go out and make a play!
What started out as an exciting spring in Music City with the drafting of Marcus Mariota has turned ugly and with the the 5-1 Atlanta Falcons coming to town this Sunday, I don’t see it getting better any time soon!
Next: Marcus Mariota's playing status should remain unknown