One year after Mike Vrabel was hired to be the Tennessee Titans head coach, he was forced with trying to find an offensive coordinator that could help him put points on the board.
After a year where Matt Leflur didn’t really do anything to make the offense look better than the sum of its parts, Arthur Smith was selected to replace him.
Once Smith and Ryan Tannehill joined forces, the Tennessee Titans’ offense thrived as point-scoring juggernauts that seemed to be unstoppable at times. Unfortunately, nothing gold can stay and Arthur Smith was hired to be the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 2021.
An in-house promotion worked last time, so promoting Todd Downing wasn’t a surprise, but it wasn’t met with much fanfare either.
Once the Raiders OC in 2017, the team fell from grace to a 6-10 record after a strong 2016 season. Many felt that it seemed that despite a stale stint in Oakland at the time was just bad circumstances. After the 2021 season, it was clearly evident that Downing’s bad habits followed him to Nashville.
While the Tennessee Titans had a swarm of injuries to the WRs and of course Derrick Henry, that wasn’t the only problem with the offense.
Specifically, Todd Downing’s game scripts were some of the worst in the league and Ryan Tannehill regressed for the first time since being traded to the Tennessee Titans because Downing strayed from the deception-based offense that had worked so well for two years.
Can the Tennessee Titans trust Todd Downing in 2022?
Tennessee Titans fans are not looking for a Norv Turner, Sean McVay, or even a Bill Walsh level of creativity. All that fans ask is that Todd Downing use more misdirection in his play calling.
Gone are Julio Jones and A.J. Brown, but with the additions of veteran Robert Woods plus rookies Treylon Burks and Kyle Philips; this team has shown they are going to change the dynamic of just throwing the long ball.
In fact, the tight end position has been completely overhauled by adding Pro Bowler Austin Hooper and rookie Chig Okonkwo to give Tannehill the intermediate options he lacked so badly at times last year.
The main point is, that Downing knows he is under the microscope this year. While Tim Kelly was brought in to help assist the offense in anyway he could, he is also capable of taking over if Downing cannot elevate the offense again this season.
Todd Downing isn’t being given an impossible task, all he has to do is make an offense that works with talented players like Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill, Robert Woods, Austin Hooper, Treylon Burks, Kyle Philips, and Chig Okonkwo. There are many teams doing more with less right now, so the blame for a bad offense should fall directly on his shoulders.