Tennessee Titans: 3 takeaways from Week 8 win over Buccaneers
Arthur Smith is a problem for this team
The Titans’ offensive coordinator is once again making this list for all of the wrong reasons. He has often seemed to be in over his head with his play-calling. He once again struggled throughout the day — as he has for most of his tenure as offensive coordinator in Tennessee.
Did Arthur Smith go out last night? Between the 1st down runs and zone reads with Tannehill, he's confusing me.
— Allan Bell (@AllanBell247) October 27, 2019
Regardless of who is under center, it is Smith’s job to ensure that he calls plays that utilize the offenses strengths in order to have a chance at being successful. Smith has seldom done that, and today was once again another perfect example of his inability to call plays at this level.
Smith consistently called stagnant runs up the middle for an offensive line that has consistently had shaky guard play throughout the season, had lost their starting left guard earlier in the game, and had a center that was also shaken up and was hampered throughout the game.
It made absolutely no sense to keep hammering away at the inside runs as Ndamukong Suh and company displayed that they were more than capable of holding their own against the interior of the Titans’ O-line. And that’s especially true considering how well Derrick Henry was running the ball when he bounced it to the outside.