Tennessee Titans secret weapon vs the Jacksonville Jaguars

Titans new offensive look

It is easy to look at the box score and be a little bit disappointed with the Tennessee Titans only scoring 16 points.

Sure, it makes it a little bit easier when you do the math on what the score would have been if Stephen Gostkowski didn’t leave 10 points off the board (but I don’t think that will happen again).

What is even more encouraging to see is that the offense did march up and down the field pretty well for the most part even without very many explosive plays. That suggests a methodical and diverse offense that can work despite a defense playing sound football.

Derrick Henry is amazing and it is hard to complain about a running back who had over 100 yards in a win, but even he was limited in this game and he averaged less than 4 yards per carry.

So how did the Titans win that game?

Well, when you go back and watch there was a secret weapon that most people are overlooking: tempo.

The Titans were actually the team that run the 3rd-highest percentage of hurry up plays in Week 1:

You would assume that playing a game at midnight in a place where you can’t really breathe tends to lead you to do anything else but hurry up and purposely limit your rest. However, that is exactly what happened and it is hard to argue with the result.

Why does that matter?

This is important because all logic suggests that if the Titans did that in Week 1 (again at midnight and with no oxygen) then it is going to be a big part of the gameplan going forward.

Ryan Tannehill has mastered this offense quickly and when he goes hurry up he is given the freedom to call his own plays. Those are usually the times where he sees something from the defense that he likes and where he can expose them.

Very few defenses are as well-coached as the Denver Broncos, and Derrick Henry’s two least efficient games as a starter have come from these matchups. Just imagine how much more dangerous this offense can be in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Nashville where the Titans have historically thrived.