The Tennessee Titans know their opponents and they know when they will play, but how nervous should they be?
Despite five games being in the books, there were really only about six quarters where the playoff games looked like they could go either way. People have been quick to slam the NFL for the seven-team playoff format, but that isn’t really the issue.
The biggest blowout of the weekend wasn’t the 2-seed Kansas City Chiefs vs the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was the 3-seed Buffalo Bills vs the 6-seed New England Patriots. Some teams just didn’t seem to have any plan for the opponents they were facing and it led to several blowouts or boring matchups.
Teams like the Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, and Las Vegas Raiders just didn’t have resumes that impress you. One team with an incredible resume is the AFC’s 1-seed, the Tennessee Titans.
How impressive are the Tennessee Titans?
The Titans had a tough road to the playoffs and had to play 11 teams that finished the season with a winning record.
It might shock nearly everyone outside of the state of Tennessee to see that despite playing a brutal schedule, they still finished with a better win percentage against those teams than anyone else in the playoffs.
Here’s the outright records of this year’s crop of playoff teams vs teams that finished with a winning record:
— Joe Osborne (@JTFOz) January 10, 2022
Titans 8-3
Packers 5-2
Bucs 6-3
Chiefs 7-4
Cardinals 5-3
Raiders 6-4
Bengals 4-3
Cowboys 5-4
Bills 5-5
49ers 4-5
Rams 3-5
Patriots 3-7
Steelers 2-6
Eagles 1-7
Even more impressive is that if the L.A. Rams win on Monday night, the Tennessee Titans will have a 4-0 record against the rest of the teams in the playoffs.
That isn’t an opinion, that is an absolute fact. What is even better for the Titans fans is, that doesn’t even take into account how much better this team should be in the postseason.
A.J. Brown and Julio Jones have had a full week of rest after their best game of the season. Meanwhile, Derrick Henry has been in a recuperation tank like Goku waiting to treat playoff defenses like his own personal Ginyu Force.
The Cincinnati Bengals came into the postseason with a strong rush defense on paper, but they allowed the tandem of Josh Jacobs and Derek Carr to average over 7 yards per carry on Saturday. Just imagine what a healthy and motivated Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill might do.