A simple fix for the Titans.
The Tennessee Titans quietly had a solid night on both sides of the ball, but the win against the Denver Broncos was much more difficult than it had to be.
There are a lot of reasons that it was such a grind, and it all starts with the atmosphere. If you don’t follow me on Twitter (which…I mean, why not) then you might not know exactly what I am talking about.
Before last night, the Broncos had gone 18-2 in their home openers over the last 20 years and that is wins and losses not covering the spread, not getting close, not almost winning, just outright wins.
This is because the air is famously thinner in Denver which makes it very hard on teams that haven’t been able to get into game shape yet. So, teams are exhausted by the second quarter while the Broncos are just doing what they are used to.
It was even worse this year because there was no preseason which means instead of spreading out 4 quarters of action over 4 games, the Titans had 0 snaps with actual tackling and blocking.
Aside from that, the Titans also had injuries and self-inflicted issues that hurt them like:
-1st round rookie Isaiah Wilson being out of shape and on the COVID list
-Backup RB Darrynton Evans not being in shape to play.
-Rashaan Evans punching Jake Butt and getting ejected before the end of the 1st quarter.
Oh yea, and you might have noticed Stephen Gostkowski leaving 10 points off the board with three missed kicks and a missed PAT. That was pretty bad, which brings me to…
No, this isn’t going to be a kicker
What is the positive of bringing in a new kicker right now? I get it that everyone is frustrated with Stephen Gostkowski (myself included) but that doesn’t change the fact that signing a kicker is basically a crapshoot.
I mean, what kicker are the Tennessee Titans going to find on the open market that has a resume like Gostkowski’s. He is a kicker with a career 87.4% make rate and he has 14 years of experience in crunch time on the biggest stage.
Sure, changing Gostkowski might work, but it would be a decision that relies on random luck and that doesn’t make sense.
People might point to his surgery, but that didn’t seem to bother him on the kickoffs and he wasn’t struggling with distance. I think this is more of a case of him just lacking confidence and the growing pains of a guy who hasn’t kicked in a year, remembering just how those situations go.
You have to let this play out for at least another week and hopefully, the Titans get up on the Jaguars quickly and they can really see how the PATs look and throw in some FGs if possible. Best case scenario (and most realistic scenario) he reverts back to who he has been for most of his career.
Worst case, you start finding another kicker in Week 2 and you don’t worry that you overreacted.
So, if that isn’t the move I would make, then what is?
Who I would swap
The Tennessee Titans have too many offensive linemen on the roster that really serve no purpose. If I was making a move, I would either put Jamil Douglas on I.R. or I would cut Daniel Munyer.
I picked Munyer because the Titans chose to put Aaron Brewer in the game ahead of him last night in a jumbo formation, so it stands to reason that Munyer is probably the lowest-ranked interior lineman they have.
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Instead, where the Tennessee Titans need to focus on adding depth is at wide receiver.
It was painfully obvious last night that Kalif Raymond was being asked to do too much and for all the offseason praise, he couldn’t make big catches in big moments when asked to do something other than take the top off the defense.
He should still be on this team and he offers them something that no one else does, but he isn’t a WR4 that can fill into any position, he is a specialized role player.
They need someone who can do a little bit of everything, and for my money, Demaryius Thomas is the best player left on the market who can do that. I said this about Thomas in August:
"Excluding his rookie season, Thomas has been an above-average receiver at his lowest, averaging at least 12 yards per catch in 7 of 9 seasons, including last year. Even though he has an issue with drops, he generally is more good than bad and if you want a receiver that has the size and the athleticism to threaten defenses in different ways, then Thomas is a good option. The Titans could use another receiver who can scare defenses on screens, and he is one of the few “big” receivers left on the market and if the Titans want to replace Tajae Sharpe’s usage in the redzone and as a 3rd down target, then that is a good thing to have."
There is no downside to signing a veteran receiver now from a cost standpoint, and he would be the ideal player to replace Raymond on offense. Last night Raymond played 18 snaps and Cody Hollister played 4.
Instead, the Titans could get 15 snaps from Thomas and 5-10 snaps from Raymond, but in those 5-10 snaps he could be used as a vertical threat or his presence would at least make the defense respect that there could be a vertical threat on that play.
Meanwhile, Thomas has had drops but those are already a problem for Raymond so when you look at what each player can actually do knowing that drops will be an issue, either way, it is a no-brainer to pick the versatility and size of Thomas over Raymond.