Tennessee Titans Predictions
The 2023 NFL schedule has been released, but how does that change your view of the Tennessee Titans season?
On one hand, the Tennessee Titans are going to enter the 2023 season with one of the easiest schedules on paper, which is obviously good for them. On the other hand, you could argue that they needed to make some serious upgrades at wide receiver but instead of doing that they somehow got worse at the position.
Since the Titans play a "home" game in London this year they are going to play nine games on the road again which is going to put even more stress on a team that has several new moving pieces.
On cue, here is their season opener which will obviously start on the road.
Week 1: AT New Orleans Saints
In the past, Mike Vrabel has done a great job at winning games when he has had time to plan. However, he is also riding a seven-game losing streak so maybe we shouldn't look backward right now.
With Derek Carr and a plethora of weapons in the passing game, it is going to be hard for the Tennessee Titans to win this one on the road. Having said that, the Titans have a year's worth of bulletin board material about how terrible they are going to be and this is the healthiest that they will be all season. I'm going to predict a win here.
Prediction: Win (1-0)
Week 2: vs L.A. Chargers
Last year the Tennessee Titans took a banged-up team to Los Angeles and gave the Chargers everything they wanted. Had it not been for a dozen starters missing time, the Titans would have won that game easily.
That was last year though and this is this year. This is going to be a game that feels closer than it should because the Chargers take risks they shouldn't, and while I am tempted to give the Titans a win here in a game that puts their defense on the map, I just can't image Tennessee outscoring a team as talented as the Chargers now that they have one of the best OCs in the NFL.
Prediction: Loss (1-1)
Week 3: AT Cleveland Browns
The Browns are a team that I just can't get behind. I think they have built a talented roster, but I say that every year and Kevin Stefanski finds a way to take all of that talent and produce a mediocre result.
However, this is why timing is so important and why the schedule release matters. In Stefanski's three years as the OC he is 7-3 in games in September and 19-21 in his games after September. The Tennessee Titans are catching the Browns at the wrong time and that is bad news for this team.
Prediction: Loss (1-2)
Week 4: VS Cincinnati Bengals
This one was going to be tough no matter how the schedule fell, and when it comes to the Cincinnati Bengals I think Tennessee Titans fans just need to anticipate a loss and move along.
Prediction: Loss (1-3)
Week 5: AT Indianapolis Colts
Finally, a chance for the Tennessee Titans to rebound. The Indianapolis Colts are just starting their rebuild and they have a head coach and a quarterback that people are desperate to believe in. While winning the game matters, those fans know that they are going to spend most of the season surviving on flashes that they see from their offense.
Both Shane Steichen and Antonio Richardson are going to be asked to do things that they have never dreamed about and for a team like the Tennessee Titans that is based around the idea of giving the other team the ball for as little time as possible, the pressure to make a big play can really make rookies do crazy things.
For as low as I am on this team, I'm not low enough to have them losing to the Colts.
Prediction: Win (2-3)
Week 6: VS Baltimore Ravens (in London)
This feels like a game that will start off slow and end even slower as two teams in love with running the ball are going to go head-to-head after flying across the ocean.
I think this will be a surprising spike in production for the Tennessee Titans offense, but the Ravens have more weapons than the Titans and I think that this is going to be a game where Lamar Jackson is able to take matters into his own hands against a defense that isn't going to have their normal practice schedule to get ready for a unique offense.
Prediction: Loss (2-4)
Week 7: Bye
Week 8: VS Atlanta Falcons
These are two teams that know each other very well, and it is going to be a very fun game to watch. What would make it even more interesting is if Ryan Tannehill was on the Falcons roster, which is more possible than you might think.
Either way, I expect the Falcons offense to score 28 points per game this season with Arthur Smith calling plays for that talented offensive line, Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts. Last year the Titans didn't score more than 24 points in a single game, which makes me lean hard toward the Falcons.
Prediction: Loss (2-5)
Week 9: AT Pittsburgh Steelers (Thursday Night Football)
I think the Steelers are much worse than people realize.
Mike Tomlin is always going to put a good product on the field, but this is a game where defensive lines are going to rule the day and I am going to give the edge to the criminally underrated Tennessee Titans front.
Even if the Titans are starting Will Levis at this point in the season I would still take the Titans to win a surprising one on the road against another AFC team that still needs some time to rebuild their roster.
Prediction: Win (3-5)
Week 10: AT Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Bucs are in a tough spot this year, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Mike Evans or one of those other veteran stars on the move before this game happens. They put all their eggs in the Tom Brady basket and they are paying the price now with all of the holes in their roster. To their credit, they won a ring so no matter what that is a price you pay 10 times out of 10.
I think this will be the high point of the Titans season with back-to-back wins on the road.
Prediction: Win (4-5)
Week 11: AT Jacksonville Jaguars
The NFL is a war of attrition and Tennessee Titans fans saw that last year when dozens of injuries allowed the Jacksonville Jaguars to sweep their team and win the AFC South. I don't think that the Titans are going to be as injured this year as they were last year...but I also said that last year.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. With that in mind, I am going to expect a banged-up Tennessee Titans team to travel to Florida for a game that matters more to the Jaguars than it does to the Titans.
Prediction: Loss (4-6)
Week 12: VS Carolina Panthers
I think the Panthers have all the makings of a very intriguing team, but not in 2023.
Bryce Young should be nearing the rookie wall at this point in the season and even though it won't be a long trip, traveling to Tennessee against this defense is going to be more difficult than anyone is anticipating right now.
The Tennessee Titans should be able to play their game and wear down a defense that has some real question marks at every level. If the ground game is working, that means more play-action attempts from the offense which is good news for everyone in Nashville.
Prediction: Win (5-6)
Week 13: VS Indianapolis Colts
Again, the Colts are going to be in free fall again this year and it is just hard to win games with a rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach, especially when that rookie quarterback was the third quarterback taken.
This feels like a classic frustrating game at home against the Colts, but one where the Titans win it in the end when they are the team that makes the fewest mistakes.
Prediction: Win (6-6)
Week 14: AT Miami Dolphins (Monday Night Football)
The Dolphins are the opposite of the Titans in a lot of ways. The biggest thing that stands out is that they said they wanted to be fast and they went out and got Tyreek Hill, DeVonta Smith, and Devon Achane.
When the Titans said they wanted to get fast, they cut Robert Woods and...ignored the receiver position for an entire offseason.
Add in the fact that the Dolphins added Jalen Ramsey to a playoff roster, and this is going to be one of the more embarrassing moments of the year for the Titans.
Prediction: Loss (6-7)
Week 15: VS Houston Texans
It is hard to win games with a rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach (have I said that before), and even if the Titans decide to play Will Levis at this point in the season they will still have the benefit of having a coach who has been there before.
The Titans wanted C.J. Stroud badly, but the Texans got him and Mike Vrabel is going to take all of that frustration out on Stroud in Week 15.
Prediction: Win (7-7)
Week 16: VS Seattle Seahawks
Even though the Tennessee Titans dodge a bullet by avoiding a cross-country road trip in late December, it won't be enough to even the odds against one of the best teams in the NFC.
The Seattle Seahawks are reaping the rewards of the Russell Wilson trade and they are going to have one of the best collections of wide receivers and one of the best collections of defensive backs in the NFL next year.
Prediction: Loss (7-8)
Week 17: AT Houston Texans
Mike Vrabel's transformation into Jeff Fisher is nearly complete and sweeping the bottom feeders of the division while getting swept by the top of the division is the final step in that process.
The Texans beat the Titans last year because Malik Willis wasn't good enough to win a game against the worst team in the NFL, even though Derrick Henry was on the field. As long as Henry and Ryan Tannehill make it to this point in the season, they are talented enough to keep hope alive for one more week.
Prediction: Win (8-8)
Week 18: VS Jacksonville Jaguars
This time the Tennessee Titans will be at home and they will already know they are out of the playoffs at this point, so the game shouldn't look the same as it did the first time that they met. However, with a thin group of weapons heading into the season, I think that teams will have a good idea of what the Titans' offense can do by this point in the season.
Injuries and an opponent familiar with what they want to do will make life difficult for them, and unfortunately, I don't think they can avoid a sweep from Jacksonville as they head into the offseason with a lot of questions surrounding the future of the team.
Prediction: Loss (8-9), purgatory