Tennessee Titans NFL Power Rankings: Week 3

Bleacher Report: 21 (Last week 25)

"“…But the Titans aren’t a good team. The offense is stuck in mud, and unless they get things rolling in that regard in a hurry, these smoke-and-mirrors wins are going to dry up. However, if they do, Sobleski thinks this Titans team could make some noise in 2018: “Amazingly, Tennesee won its last two contests with Blaine Gabbert starting at quarterback. But Gabbert suffered a concussion against the Jacksonville Jaguars, allowing Marcus Mariota (who is himself nursing an elbow injury that makes gripping the ball difficult) to reclaim the Titans offense and lead the team to a victory. Mike Vrabel’s squad managed without its franchise quarterback. If Mariota figures out Matt LaFleur’s offense, this could be a team about to take off.”“"

What a bad take. Saying “these smoke-and-mirrors wins are going to dry up” is equivalent to saying “I don’t understand what the offense is doing so it must be a trick.”

No, that isn’t it. In case you don’t know, the Titans had to start a practice squad RT and a 4th string LT who is really a guard in Week 2 for a win. Those two were better run blockers than pass blockers so the team was run heavy.

This week, the Titans still had Kevin Pamphile in but this time he was playing RT. That means that he was going against Calais Campbell all day. So, instead of dropping back and passing every play to pad stats the Titans methodically went on drives in search for points.

They could be patient doing this because the defense had Blake Bortles and that offense flustered all game.

Keep in mind, this is what the same people said last week about the Jaguars:

"Jacksonville’s defense was, well, Jacksonville’s defense. Tom Brady was held to 234 passing yards with two touchdowns and a lost fumble, and Jalen Ramsey relegated star tight end Rob Gronkowski to milk carton status—two catches for 15 yards. This was a statement game in every sense of the word, and the statement it sent was clear… The Jaguars are the best team in the AFC."

So last week they were the best team in the AFC and Tom Brady couldn’t get anything going against them, so your solution would be to try and throw the ball on that defense with some traditional one back sets without any motion or play action?

No, that is just ignorance. A smart coaching staff would understand that keeping drives moving, keeping the clock going and staying on top were all that mattered in the game and that is how the Titans have won the past two weeks.

Also, this “smoke and mirrors” is the same offense that Sean McVay is running in Los Angeles, the only difference is that he has a healthy QB and OL.