Three positives for the Tennessee Titans in Week 1

QB1 had a consistently solid outing

When the Titans and their offense have had bad games within the past year, Ryan Tannehill has been blamed for them, and much of the time deservedly so. That was not the case on Sunday.

Not only did Tannehill play a good game, but he was the best player on offense and repeatedly gave the Titans a chance to win. Just on the surface, his stat line was right around where you would want him to be, as he passed for 266 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and had a 106.4 passer rating.

The stats are not lying either, as he had some really good throws, and there was no play he made that you could actually say was a stupid one. In particular, this throw to Kyle Philips in the dying seconds when the Titans needed it the most was right on the money.

It was not even just that one, as Tannehill was making precise throws into tight windows throughout the day.

Another play that really stood out was when the Titans had a third and long in the second quarter, and Tannehill had pressure coming his way. Not only did he avoid taking the sack, but he stayed calm, rolled out while surveying the field, saw an open lane, and took off running for the first down. Those smart decisions that extend plays are what we want and need to see from him moving forward.

Keep in mind that Tannehill did all of this with Kyle Philips and Treylon Burks each essentially playing half the game in favor of guys like Geoff Swaim and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. The guy that caught both touchdowns, Dontrell Hilliard, too was heavily limited and only played eleven snaps.

And despite Downing and the Titans not wanting to pass on first down, Tannehill’s performance on first down was admirable.

It is clear that number 17 did everything he could to elevate the team, he just is not responsible for bad play-calling and awful personnel decisions by Downing and to a lesser extent, Mike Vrabel. If the Titans would have actually maximized Tannehill’s chances of succeeding, who knows what the narrative would have been about him following the game.