Once upon a time, Brian Daboll was part of the NFL's inner circle of elite offensive play callers. He was the man who developed Josh Allen and the architect of one of the league's most dangerous units. His stint with the New York Giants tarnished his reputation a bit, but he still warranted some excitement when the Tennessee Titans hired him as their offensive coordinator.
It took eight games, but Daboll is finally delivering on that excitement. The Titans had their best offensive performance of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals, catalyzed by an important shift from Daboll.
The OC refined his use of under-center and play-action looks in Week 8, and it worked wonders. He may have finally found the identity he had been looking for.
Brian Daboll is finally finding what makes his Titans offense work
Daboll doesn't use under-center formations often. While most of the NFL leans into those looks, the Titans' OC prefers to base his offense out of shotgun formations. His under-center rate didn't increase significantly, but what he called from those formations changed in a major way.
Through the first seven weeks of the season, the Titans ran the ball 70% of the time they lined up under center, per Sumer Sports. Typically, those runs were up the middle. It was so predictable that defenses were able to shut those plays down consistently. As a result, Tennessee ranked 31st in EPA per play out of under-center formations.
In Week 8, the Titans ranked first in that same category. They were more efficient than any team in the league from under center. The most obvious difference was how variable they were out of those looks. They threw the ball on half of their under-center plays, with each pass including play-action.
Those plays gave Cam Ward easy-button answers, as Cincinnati's defense favored the run based on Tennessee's tendencies.
When Daboll's offense is predictable, it's easy for defenses to stop. Opposing defensive coordinators know the Titans' tendencies, and they're more than willing to take advantage when those tendencies lean heavily in one direction.
Daboll's willingness to lean into under-center and play-action looks in Week 8 broke the expectations that the Bengals had and helped create Tennessee's most productive game of the season.
The Titans can't afford for Daboll's change to be a one-week blip. Going forward, they should lean into under-center formations and play-action passes more often. It doesn't need to be a wholesale change — completely switching up the offense at the season's midpoint could do more harm than good — but a bit more variability could go a long way.
With an identity based on being able to attack defenses from multiple formations, the Titans can maintain a schematic advantage over their opponents. After all, that's why they pursued Daboll to begin with.
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