Week 11 Tennessee Titans Pro Football Focus Grades

Notable Week 11 Pro Football Focus grades for the Tennessee Titans.

The offense looked off and the defense’s levies broke and it flooded Pittsburgh Steelers points in Week 11. The Tennessee Titans have been sitting on this loss all week and need to crush the Indianapolis Colts to show that loss was only a one-time occurrence. There were a ton of question marks this offseason, but the Titans are still in playoff contention and have some very winnable games in the coming weeks. The Titans need the offense to get back on track to keep their playoff hopes alive. Even with the horrible loss, there were some players that give hope that the Titans can get back to their winning football ways. Below are the Titans’ Week 11 Pro Football Focus top five performers.

Top 5 Performances:

S Kevin Byard, 82.8 overall grade
WR Rishard Matthews, 81.3 overall grade
NT Sylvester Williams, 79.9 Overall Grade
C Ben Jones, 78.8 Overall Grade
G Josh Kline, 78.3 overall grade

Byard in coverage continues to dominate, with an 87.3 coverage grade in Week 11 and still leading the NFL with six interceptions. He continues to be a glimmer of light for the Titans. Byard’s overall season ranking is an 89.6 overall, which makes him the fourth-highest rated safety in the NFL. The Titans will need him to continue to perform at a high level to help boost this 21^st ranked secondary.

Matthews has been Mariota’s go-to receiver this year and he continues to show why. Matthews took a 75-yard pass to the house on the first play of the second half, which gave Titans fans hope that this offense can be dynamic. Other than that, Matthews caught four additional passes for nine yards. This offense has too many playmakers to not continually put up 28 plus points. Mariota will need to rely on Matthews as Davis continues to learn the playbook.

Williams was a pretty big signing for the Titans but is rarely used. He is a run stuffer and it showed, as his run defense grade was a team-high 84.5. Williams is not the long term solution at nose tackle, but the Titans need to continue to use him on early run downs.

Jones and Kline have been consistently good for the Titans up front. Jones, since he signed with the Titans, has been the main piece to the offensive line puzzle. Currently, Jones ranks as the ninth-best center in the NFL with an overall 77.8 grade. Kline, on the other hand, has been a dominant pass blocker with an overall season grade of 84.2, ranking eighth among guards. Where his struggles have been are in the run, recording a 57.9 season long grade and a 58.9 grade in Week 11. As a whole, the Titans offensive line hasn’t lived up to expectations.

Notable Performances:

LT Taylor Lewan, 77.8 Overall Grade

Arguably the Titans’ best offensive lineman, Lewan has continued to play well since his horrible game a few weeks back. Right now, Lewan is currently ranked as the 15^th best tackle in the NFL. In my opinion, he is more like top three but hasn’t played up to par. As I stated before, the offensive line hasn’t met expectations, especially in the run game, which is where Lewan struggled in Week 11. He recorded a 52.1 run blocking grade, which was worst on the team. The Titans need to right the ship in the run game or their playoff hopes might just sink.

QB Marcus Mariota, 77.7 Overall Grade

Fans reading this might be saying, “are you sure that this grade is right?” Yes, this is the correct grade. Looking at the box score, it looked like Marcus had a horrible game, which is rightly so, but the box score doesn’t tell the whole story. The first interception was all on Mariota, as he overthrew Matthews when he was wide open. The second interception was on Corey Davis, as it looked like he cut his route off short and allowed the defender to cross his face. The third interception hit Davis in the hands and it went right to the defender. Then the last interception was on Marcus throwing behind Delanie Walker.

Mariota had some very nice throws throughout the game ,but when throwing 20 yards or less, he was 50% and had three interceptions. Add in a drop by Walker on a wide open pass in the end zone and now the stats don’t look as bad. This year has been a struggle for Marcus and with all the talent around him, something isn’t right. Maybe it is the hamstring or another small injury or the offense itself. The next six games will tell us a whole lot of what is going wrong with this offense.

CB Adoree’ Jackson, 77.4 Overall Grade

Going against probably the best group of wide receivers the Titans will face all year, Jackson had a pretty good game. Going against the best wide receiver in football, Jackson gave up 10 catches on 13 targets for 97 yards and a touchdown to Antonio Brown. These are all season highs for Jackson and, to be honest, giving up less than 100 yards is not a horrible day. Several passes were on short routes that Jackson made the tackle on, so at least it wasn’t on deep passes. Jackson did break up two passes again. Jackson’s pass coverage grade was 79.7, which was second-highest on the team.

CB Logan Ryan, 75.2 Overall Grade

Ryan has been on every sport media outlet as Brown made an insane touchdown catch over him. But other than that touchdown, Ryan had a good game. Ryan only allowed four catches for 42 yards and he had one pass breakup. The Titans need to grab another cornerback in the draft or in free agency and this secondary can and will be pretty good going forward. I know I am getting ahead of myself, but I always have the draft on my mind. Keep an eye out for Josh Jackson out of Iowa.

RB Derrick Henry, 74.8 Overall Grade

Henry didn’t touch the ball much, but when he did, he was able to make something out of nothing. Henry had the wild run by creating and blowing past a few defenders to gain a first down. His run grade was a 76.1 which led the team. Where he continues to struggle is in pass protection, recording a 41.8, which is why I don’t think Henry is the lead back yet. I think it is obvious that when healthy, DeMarco Murray is electric. As you see, injuries or age are making Murray look bad and it might be time to get Henry more reps. Another thing is the Titans need to get a dynamic running back. Again, I know I am jumping the gun on this, but another guy that will be available in the draft is David Montgomery. HOT TAKE: He could be the next Kareem Hunt.

LB Jayon Brown, 56.1 Overall Grade

Brown has had his ups and downs this year, but mostly downs in the run game. Brown again struggled in run defense, recording a 41.8. I will continue to emphasize that he will get better with more reps, similarly to Adoree’ Jackson. Brown’s pass coverage ability is his strength, recording a 76.3, which was third-highest on the team. Brown will continue to have growing pains, but he will only get better.

WR Corey Davis, 42 Overall Grade

Another rookie that will continue to get better is Davis. We have all seen the potential he has. He has made some beautiful catches, which is great, but he needs to continue to get better mentally. Making very small mistakes have cost the Titans opportunities: two in this game and one fumble the week before. I think that these are rookie mistakes and he will learn from them and grow as a player. He will be an exciting player to watch as he grows into his role with the Titans.

LB Wesley Woodyard, 39.6 Overall Grade

Woodyard lighting up Le’Veon Bell on a pass rush runs through my head. I watched that play at least ten times. It was a thing of beauty to me. He did struggle in pass coverage and took a few horrible angles on tackle attempts. His grades for the run and pass were 36.9 and 47, respectively. The Titans player who was a beast the first half of the year is slowly coming back to reality. I hope Woodyard can bounce back and get to a Pro Bowl level, where we all know he can be.

Week 12

The Titans take on a Colts team that has been playing pretty well, even with a horrible roster. This is a team that has whooped on the Titans for way too long. This is the year the Titans need to put the hammer down and really crush the Colts’ hopes of trying to spoil the Titans’ playoff run. Below are the projected Week 12 lineups for the Titans.