Is it fair to ask if Saffold is even an upgrade from Spain at this point? Was so excited when we signed him but had no idea how much of a liability he would be in pass pro. I’m all about firing the OL coach but a lot of the blame for this start should fall on Lewan. Sure would be nice to have our high paid LT not cheating and sitting at home. Everyone on earth (other than Oregon homers) knows that Mariota isn’t our guy long term but those of us that have been Titans fans forever have seen how this movie ends. He wins a few games this year and get relatively close to making the playoffs and then we will give him an extension because it is the path of least resistance.
Not really arguing against you on any of this buy fuck using PFF as a measuring stick. After a game in which Bama beat the breaks off SC and Tua had 400+ yards and 5 TDs and 0 picks they had one of our shitty guards graded higher than him. Their formulas are junk.
I agree there. I think we all agree that the offensive line is beyond shit right now and don't get me started on Corey Davis. The playcalling has been woeful as well. I'm not 100% with Mariota but I am on the neutral dog side of it's not all his fault right now.
That’s a very fair place to be. I’m clearly biased towards being pro Marcus, but also objective enough to see that he has issues that can make you wonder. It’s the ones who blame him for everything that get me going.
Conklin Dodd Adoree Austin johnson Taywan soooooo bad. Dodd and johnson make me really mad, because we drafted them to play positions they never played. Adoree too, such a trash pick at 18.
Conklin was dominant to start his career and has just seemed to have a hard time getting it back going after some years. I still have hope there Kevin Dodd was one colossal failure
i was traveling the last two games (Cornelius Suttree would appreciate that i was in Zion NP for the Indy game) but i am liking the offense halfway through the 1st. lots of PA, lots of passing over the middle (Mariota's strength). is this just better than the last two games?
also, if i were a fan of Atlanta, i would be infuriated by the defense they played on the 3rd and 14 at the start of the drive. they played corners and safeties all at the first down marker... just awful. that was easy for Mariota/Davis.
My brother is a die hard Falcons fan and at the game I'm hoping he we score here and start to run it up for optimal shit talking scenario
damn this might be mariota's best game. i don't remember how good he was vs philly or ne and i get atlanta sucks but this first half is really good. he's throwing the ball away, getting the ball out, getting WRs involved, etc... everything that he apparently was awful at the last two games. also nice to get Davis involved that drive after his terrible drop.
I despise that 4th down call. Get the points. Conklin got completely abused and didnt even give Henry a chance
yeah, going up three scores on what would be an easy chip shot fg seems like the no brainer considering julio jones is always one play away from scoring
I know it's the falcons but writing off the season after the last two weeks appears to have been premature
Nah, we’ll flirt with 10 wins again but probably miss the playoffs when we lose to the Texans twice in three weeks to end the season.
spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the Safeway Open so I didn't get to see any football during the day this past weekend. Seeing Nashville's Brandt Snedeker glued to his phone looking for Titans updates all the way up till his tee time was pretty hilarious Glennon's 10 observations from the Titans win over the Falcons Spoiler ATLANTA — When the Titans last walked off the field before Sunday, there was little cause for optimism. They’d suffered a one-sided loss to division rival Jacksonville, had managed just seven points in a woeful offensive performance and had seen quarterback Marcus Mariota sacked nine times. But as the music blared in the Titans’ locker room after a 24-10 victory over Atlanta, the outlook appeared much brighter. A strong effort offensively and defensively lifted the Titans back to .500, allowed them to regain a share of first place in the AFC South and served as a nice boost to end what is arguably the toughest four-game stretch of the schedule. After playing three of their first four games on the road, the Titans play three of their next four at Nissan Stadium, starting with next Sunday’s home game against Buffalo. “If you’re 1-3, you’re really climbing uphill,” Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota said. “So I think 2-2 is a good spot and we’re looking forward to changing that soon. It’s still young in the season. It is what is. We just have to continue to focus on ourselves.” A bonus: Titans Pro Bowl tackle Taylor Lewan returns to the team this week after serving his four-game suspension for taking a performance-enhancing substance. “When you bring a Pro Bowl-type player, that’s going to be a huge lift,” Mariota said. “We’re looking forward to having him back. Dennis (Kelly) has done an incredible job in his absence. I think he deserves a lot of credit for where we’re at. (But) it will be nice to have Taylor back in the building.” Here are 10 observations from the Titans’ win over Atlanta: 1. No Delanie, no problem With 21 targets and 16 catches coming into the game Sunday against Atlanta, tight end Delanie Walker had clearly been Mariota’s favorite target through the first three contests. But with Walker limited by a knee injury, Mariota went far more frequently to his wide receivers than he had in the first three games. Corey Davis, who had just six catches (on 12 targets) in the first three games, made five catches on six targets against the Falcons. Davis piled up 91 receiving yards (more than his 82 in the first three games combined) and his first touchdown. Davis said he challenged his fellow Titans receivers to make an impact, especially considering the Falcons featured marquee wide receivers in Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. “That was kind of one of the things I told these wideouts,” Davis said. “Everybody knows about their wideout corps. Why not us? Why not (let them) know who we are?” Rookie A.J. Brown had just seven catches through the first three games (on 14 targets), but he caught all three of his targets against the Falcons for 94 yards and the first two touchdowns of his career. Davis’ biggest play came on the Titans’ second series, when he took a midrange pass from Mariota and twisted 55 yards into the end zone. He doubled down on the Titans’ third series, winning a duel in the corner of the end zone to catch an 11-yard touchdown pass from Mariota. Walker wound up with just one catch (the 500th of his career) for four yards, but the Titans still managed 24 points in the first half, more than the team had combined to score in its previous eight quarters. “I think if you look across the board, our team has a lot of versatility and a lot of playmakers,” Mariota said. “It depends week to week who the go-to players will be. Our guys outside did an awesome job today and it was really fun to see them catch the ball and make some plays, and that’s the expectation we have.” 2. Making the connection There has been a perceived lack of chemistry between Mariota and Davis at times over the years, the two players occasionally looking like they were on different pages on incomplete passes. But Mariota and Davis looked completely in synch on Davis’ touchdown pass in the second quarter. Mariota floated a pass toward the left sideline before Davis even turned. The third-year receiver still grabbed the pass in stride, eluded a defender and bolted into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season. “I just gave him an opportunity, thought he could come out of the route,” Mariota said. “He found it, he located it, and he kind of did the rest. When you have players like that across the board, as a quarterback, you just have to distribute.” Interestingly, Davis’ touchdown catch came only moments after he’d suffered a big drop, failing to catch a well-thrown Mariota pass that would have resulted in a first down on a third-and-3 from the Atlanta 27-yard line. “You’ve got to have a short memory in this game,” Davis said. “The old me probably would have let that get to me, but I’m growing. I’ve just got to keep my head in the game. 3. Big-play A.J. When Brown caught his 55-yard touchdown pass against the Falcons, it marked the third time in four games he’d posted a reception of 40-plus yards. To put that in perspective, the whole Titans team had just seven catches of 40-plus yards in the entire 2018 season. “A.J. is a special receiver,” Davis said. “He’s real physical, real fast, real aggressive. When you get the ball in his hands, special things are going to happen and that showed today.” Brown’s first touchdown catch was similar to his opening-week reception against Cleveland, in which he took a short Mariota pass and turned it into a 51-yard gain. The big difference, obviously, is that Brown’s catch against the Falcons wound up as his first NFL touchdown. “I told myself next time to get in the end zone,” Brown said. “My number got called today and I think it was like cover three, and I just wore on my matchup. Jonnu Smith showed up for a block and I just got in the end zone thanks to him.” 4. Getting rid of the ball There was plenty of blame to go around after Mariota had been sacked an NFL-high 17 times in the first three games. Part of that blame fell on Mariota, who acknowledged that — at times — he was holding onto the ball too long in the pocket. Against the Falcons, Mariota made a concerted, and successful, effort to throw the ball away, as opposed to taking sacks. There were about five or six occasions when Mariota avoided a potential sack by throwing the ball away before pressure took him down. There were a couple of nervous moments, as one Mariota throwaway late came close to being a fumble — and close to being a grounding call. Mariota was also called for one intentional grounding. But the bottom line was this: Mariota didn’t suffer a single sack for the first time in his past 18 appearances, dating to the 2018 opener against Miami. He attempted only 16 passes in that game before getting hurt. “We talked about it all week, just knowing when the journey was done and not taking negative plays, and giving us a chance to be in third-and-manageable or second-and-10,” Mariota said. “I think all in all, I learned a lot from the last couple of games, and I’m going to just continue to work on it and continue to improve.” Said Titans coach Mike Vrabel: “I think that’s always an emphasis. We have to be careful not to have groundings or anything like that, but just being able to understand that everybody ties together. There’s a lot of different levels when you play offense, defense or special teams. The line has to do their job. The receivers have to do their job. You look to the guy pulling the trigger, and he has got to make great decisions.” 5. Questionable decision It’s one thing to be aggressive, quite another to be reckless. Vrabel was the latter early in the fourth quarter Sunday. With the Titans facing fourth-and-1 on the Atlanta 10, the obvious decision was to kick a 28-yard field goal, one that would have given the Titans a three-score lead at 27-10. Instead, Vrabel kept his offense on the field, choosing to run Derrick Henry, who was thrown for a 2-yard loss. Given new life, the Falcons drove 63 yards to the Tennessee 25-yard line, before a big fourth-and-4 stop — a sack by Jayon Brown — put an end to the drive and bailed out their coach. Vrabel said afterward he felt the Titans could “end the game right there” (by scoring a touchdown). But wouldn’t the field goal have done the same? “I think that it was just trying to be aggressive,” Vrabel said. “Again, we were kind of playing with house money there with the way the ball had been bouncing around. We felt our defense was playing great and we felt we really could end it there and get going offensively. But we didn’t make it. We didn’t end up converting.” 6. King rolls on Henry had 27 carries against the Falcons, his most rushing attempts since he had 33 against the New York Giants in the 14th game of the 2018 season. Henry responded with 100 yards for the fifth time in his career. As often is the case, Henry appeared to wear down the Falcons’ defense as the game progressed. The 2015 Heisman Trophy winner carried just nine times for 29 times in the first half, but ran 18 times for 71 yards in the second half. Breaking down Henry’s day even further, 12 of his carries came in the fourth quarter, including one stretch of seven consecutive rushing attempts that helped the Titans run down the clock. “I thought that was huge there in the fourth quarter, because it gave our defense an opportunity to rest,” Vrabel said. “There was a lot of momentum being built there.” Henry has now run for at least 80 yards in seven of his past eight games. 7. Pressuring the passer The Titans were shut out on the sack front in their loss to Jacksonville in Week 3, but that changed in a big way Sunday. The Titans took down Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan five times, and hit him 12 times overall. Harold Landry had a pair of sacks to lead the Titans, while Brown had three quarterback hits, along with Landry, Rashaan Evans and Cameron Wake. Titans safety Kenny Vaccaro praised the team’s pass rush, noting that the strong play of the team’s defensive backs helped out the front seven. “Any time we can get a pass rush and get the quarterback off the spot, it makes it a lot easier,” Vaccaro said. “The pass rush was getting there, but there is a reason why it was able to get there. I have got to give credit to Malcolm Butler and Adoree’ Jackson. That was probably the best game I have ever seen Malcolm play. Go watch the tape.” 8. Critical stops The Titans came up with some big drive-stuffing stops against the Falcons, holding Atlanta to 1 for 4 on fourth-down conversions and 5 for 14 on third-down conversions. In addition, the Falcons were just 1 for 3 in the red zone. Brown’s sack of Ryan (mentioned previously) created one turnover on downs for the Titans, turning away the Falcons on the Tennessee 25-yard line early in the fourth quarter. But there had been two other critical fourth-down stops earlier in the contest. In the second quarter, the Falcons faced a fourth-and-1 at the Titans’ 39-yard line. Atlanta sent Devonta Freeman into the line, but Vaccaro got great penetration, aiding Jurrell Casey in throwing Freeman for a 1-yard loss. In the third quarter, with the Falcons facing fourth-and-1 at the Titans’ 30-yard line, Landry broke through and sacked Ryan for a 9-yard loss. “Those are like turnovers, especially when (opponents are) behind,” Vrabel said. “They’re going to be going for it and they were going to be aggressive. It seemed like the whole second half was in a tempo. Again, with a veteran quarterback and really good skill players, that’s a tough place to be in this league and I thought our guys responded very well.” 9. Updating the edge Titans linebacker Sharif Finch had started the team’s first three games, playing 41 snaps against Cleveland, 42 snaps against Indianapolis and 31 snaps against Jacksonville. Overall, he played about 59 percent of the Titans’ defensive snaps in the first three games. So it was surprising to see Finch announced as a healthy scratch Sunday, benched in favor of Reggie Gilbert. “A lot of factors,” Vrabel said of the switch. “The coaching decision is probably the easiest one to rate.” Gilbert wound up making three tackles, one of them a quarterback hit. It also appeared that veteran Cameron Wake, who played just 14 snaps in the loss to Jacksonville, saw more action against the Falcons. Wake posted a couple of quarterback hits and also batted down a pass. He left the game with a strained hamstring in the second half, however, and did not return. Vrabel did not have an update on Wake’s injury. 10. Rookie debuts Titans lineman Nate Davis, the team’s third-round draft pick, hadn’t played in the first three games — the result of missing most of training camp because of an injury. But the UNC Charlotte alum made his debut in Atlanta, entering on the third series to replace starter Jamil Douglas. He and Douglas rotated at the right spot for the remainder of the game, with both helping Mariota stay upright. “I would say (the rotation) is a little tough to go through, obviously not getting a feel for the game, coming in and out,” Davis said. “But it’s just something that you have to be a pro at, just weather the storm.” Davis was uncertain whether the rotation would continue next game or whether he might start. “I have no clue — we’ll watch the tape and see what I need to correct,” Davis said. “I’m hard on myself in the first place. I’m already thinking about the plays I’m going to need to fix. But hopefully, everything works out.”
Rexrode: Titans’ defensive masterpiece, offensive competence in Atlanta leave you wanting more Spoiler ATLANTA — Kenny Vaccaro knows the Atlanta Falcons as well as anyone in the Tennessee Titans’ locker room, five seasons as a starting safety with the New Orleans Saints put him on the receiving end of some prolific outputs from Matt Ryan and Co. — those 83 points allowed in two games in Atlanta’s Super Bowl season of 2016 come to mind. So it meant something when Vaccaro said this after a 24-10 win Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a win that got the Titans back even at 2-2 and saw Ryan’s 18-game streak of games with a touchdown pass — the second-longest such streak in the NFL — come to an end: “Most impressive performance I’ve been around defensively.” Impressive, it was. Timely, too. The Titans needed a quality performance to follow up the dismal one they turned in 10 days earlier in Jacksonville, which followed up an agonizing home loss to Indianapolis four days before that, which came a week after a season-opening blitz at Cleveland that threatened to give too much hope and confidence to Titans fans who haven’t paid attention to the erratic nature of their team. They got it. And after a wild day in the AFC South, with the Colts and Texans floundering as big home favorites and the Jaguars pulling off some Minshew Magic in Denver, it’s a four-way tie in this division. Hope all around, flaws all around, first one to 10 wins it. Maybe nine. And that brings up a more meaningful comment from Vaccaro, who was the key wrecker on one of three fourth-down attempts the Titans denied the Falcons. “We’ve just got to keep it going,” he said. “I thought last year we were the same way, you know? Win a big game, beat the Patriots or whatever and then drop one. We’ve got to show up every week and not be a 9-7, 8-8 team. The good teams show up every week. So to me, this win, I can’t take much from it.” Him and us both. No one should be surprised that the Titans responded to adversity. Three straight 9-7 seasons for this core group have been marked by such responses when it looked like things were turning grim. And by foul-ups when prosperity was so close the Titans could touch it. It’s fitting that Buffalo is coming to Nashville next and that left tackle Taylor Lewan is returning from his four-game PED suspension for that game, because it was Lewan who called it “ridiculous” that the Titans don’t get “enough credit” nationally after they got to 3-1 with an overtime thriller over the Eagles last season — a rant followed up by a 13-12 loss in Buffalo. That’s what this team is until this team proves otherwise with an extended stretch of consistency. Same with Marcus Mariota. But in both cases, it’s OK to say this, too: They were damn good Sunday in killing the enthusiasm of an announced crowd of 72,108, which ended up booing a home team (1-3) that needed this one just as badly as the Titans did. Mariota, the same guy who made too many mistakes late against the Colts, the same guy who was burying sliders to open receivers in a 20-7 loss at Jacksonville, was 18 for 27 for 227 yards and three touchdowns. Two of them, one of two to eyebrow-raising rookie A.J. Brown and one to Corey Davis, were thrown as well as a football can be thrown. The Mariota who was playing his way out of favor in Nashville — who couldn’t have been too many arm punts away from a Ryan Tannehill relief appearance — is the Mariota this city just can’t quit. Can’t trust him, can’t quit him, can’t stop arguing about him. Mariota is on pace for career numbers of 3,732 yards and 28 touchdowns, and he still hasn’t been picked off this season. That would seem to suggest serious progress toward convincing the Titans to sign him to a long-term deal. But he’s had two good games and two bad ones. He’s 2-2. The fans who are all in on him and the fans who are all out on him continue to be equally wrong. There’s no knowing how this will turn out yet. There’s hope that his protection is on the upswing, after his first unsacked appearance since the 2018 opener and with Lewan returning to left tackle. There’s positive momentum for first-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith again, though he next needs to show he can put together a winning plan without extra time to prepare. There’s evidence that Titans GM Jon Robinson finally has enough weapons around Mariota. Brown (three catches, 94 yards) is an emerging freak, as seen again on his 55-yard catch and run to open the scoring. Henry is a certified freak and was a closer in this one, finishing with 100 yards on 27 carries. Davis, the No. 5 pick in 2017 as has been mentioned once or twice, exceeded three games’ worth of 2019 production in one desperately needed performance. He also had a third-down drop, but his five catches for 91 yards included a 16-yard catch on a third-and-15 in the first quarter, the key in a drive the ended with an 11-yard corner loft to Brown. “A huge play in this game,” Vrabel said. Later, on a third-and-5 from the Atlanta 23, Mariota beat the oncoming rush by throwing to a spot on the left sideline. Davis reached that spot, grabbed that perfect pass, tight-roped that sideline and made it 24-7 Titans with 2:23 left in the second quarter. “A lot of trust and timing goes into that,” Davis said. Tennessee was done scoring, but Henry’s 71 second-half yards helped the lead stand. “I think that’s the blueprint,” Mariota said of the balance and big plays. “And if we’re able to do that week in and week out, we’ll be pretty good. … I think we’ve got the guys in this locker room, no matter what the situation is, no matter what the defense is giving us, we’ve got guys to make plays.” So do it against Buffalo. If we’re ranking trustworthy aspects of the Titans, the bottom of the list will be filled with offensive units, players and coaches. The list will begin with Brett Kern. More than 1,000 words into this thing and we’re just now getting to the best player on the team? Such is life for punters. Kern deserves better after having more to do with this win than many will recognize because, let’s face it, punting is the “eating your vegetables” and “buckling your seat belt” and “wearing matching socks” of football. Important but boring. But any coach would be excited about an opponent starting at its own 16-yard line on average, as the Falcons did Sunday. Kern punted five times and put them all inside the 20. That included two at the 10, one at the 5 and one at the 2. The guy is an oblong-leather-object-placing artist. And just as the Titans can count on him, they can count on Vrabel being aggressive. The players seem to like this. But when Vrabel went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Falcons’ 10 early in the fourth quarter — a shotgun draw to Henry that was doomed from the start — he was not just being aggressive. He was being bad at math. A 17-point lead there means the Falcons have to score three times. The stop meant they still had life. That is, until the defense “bailed out” Vrabel, as it was put in a question to Kevin Byard. “Honestly, when I was sitting on the sideline I knew he was gonna go for it,” Byard said. “I mean, that’s just Vrabel, that’s what he does, that’s his mantra, and we were gonna support him. And at the end of the day, we said when we ran on the field, ‘Hey, we’ve got to make sure they don’t get any points.’ We (had) to make sure, like you said, we’ve got to bail him out a little bit.’” They did, because this is a defense you can trust, and that’s saying something in today’s NFL. Opponents are averaging 15.5 points per game against the Titans, and that’s really the only statistic that matters. This isn’t an overwhelming bunch, but it’s sound. The pass rush remains iffy, but the Titans sacked Ryan five times Sunday. Just as Davis had a breakthrough offensively, defenders Malcolm Butler, Jurrell Casey and Harold Landry asserted themselves. Vaccaro called it the best game he’s seen from Butler, who did the majority of the work in limiting the great Julio Jones to four catches for 52 yards. “Just a dog,” Vaccaro said of Butler. “Just in Julio’s face. I mean, we weren’t doubling him the whole game now. We were leaving him open a little bit in the middle of the field. But you’ve got to cover him and Malcolm did a great, great job. Just didn’t back down from anything. We played a lot of man and he did a hell of a job.” He did, and they did. Even the offense. Yet as Vaccaro said, one good day doesn’t earn a sweeping judgment, and that’s how the Titans have to look at things. Yet as Vaccaro also said, when asked for details on the plan employed to befuddle his long-time nemeses, well … “Well, maybe it’s time to respect us a little bit,” he said. “Like, our defense a little bit. I don’t think we get credit. For as hard as we work and the time we put in, I don’t think anybody gives us much credit.” Just in time for Buffalo.
Titans’ superlatives: Reasons for optimism (Derrick Henry, AJ Brown, defense) but consistency issues linger Spoiler One quarter of the way through the 2019 season, the Titans are squarely in the middle of the AFC South title chase. They didn’t arrive at 2-2 the way most of us expected. Did we really think the Titans would beat quarterbacks Matt Ryan and Baker Mayfield on the road, but lose to quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett (at home) and Gardner Minshew? Probably not. Nevertheless, the Titans have offered fans reason for optimism through four games, whether it’s the play of a stingy defense or the potential of the offense’s young playmakers. Four games in is a good time to take a big-picture snapshot of what the Titans have delivered to date. So here’s a look at the best and worst of the season’s first quarter, as well as a glimpse of what may lie ahead: First-quarter MVP: Kevin Byard I don’t think there’s really a clear-cut choice after four games, but it certainly ought to go to a member of the defense, which is allowing just 15.5 points per contest. Other candidates besides Kevin Byard include Logan Ryan, Malcolm Butler, Kenny Vaccaro, Jayon Brown and Rashaan Evans. We all know that Byard, a Pro Bowler, runs the show for the Titans on defense. He’s also a motivating leader who brings all kinds of positive energy on a regular basis. Statistically, Byard’s picked off one pass and returned it 28 yards, has broken up three passes and totaled 24 tackles — fourth-highest on the team. The man who patrols the middle of the field, Byard is also one of the reasons opposing quarterbacks have a rating of just 87.4 against the Titans, the 12th-lowest figure in the league. Biggest disappointment: Taylor Lewan suspension The Titans went a reasonable 2-2 without Taylor Lewan, who served a four-game suspension for taking a performance-enhancing substance. But what might have been had Lewan been in the lineup against AFC South foes Indianapolis and Jacksonville, who handed the Titans back-to-back divisional losses? Might Marcus Mariota, given more time in the pocket, have completed a few more passes against the Colts — enough to make a difference on a potential game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter? Very possibly. Might Mariota have spent less time on his backside against the Jaguars, who sacked him nine times? Almost certainly he would have, which would have made for a tighter game. I understand that players sometimes wind up with tainted supplements. But especially when you’re the team’s franchise cornerstone left tackle — and one of the league’s highest-paid linemen — you owe it to the organization to do a better job making sure your supplements are clean. Lewan failed to have his supplements tested by either the Titans or the NFL, leading to a failed test. In a season where one win can mean the difference between playoffs or no playoffs, it’s possible that Lewan’s four-game absence will have a big impact on the Titans’ postseason chances. Most frequently asked question: Is Marcus Mariota a franchise quarterback? We’ve been tossing this around for years, ever since Mariota’s touchdown-to-interception ratio took a tumble following his superb sophomore season, when he threw for 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions. The question became more front-and-center this year, since this is the fifth and final season of Mariota’s initial contract with the team. The Titans can sign him to a long-term contract, can franchise tag him, can let him walk or — at least in theory — trade him at some point. Mariota has seemingly advanced his own cause this season, as he’s thrown seven touchdowns without a pick (including a pair of three-touchdown performances) and posted a quarterback rating of 106.2. But Mariota also has struggled at times this season, and he must take some of the blame for the 17 sacks the Titans allowed in their first three contests. So do we have a definitive answer yet as to whether Mariota is the man of the future in Nashville? I think that question will keep dragging on like summer temperatures in Music City. Best newcomer: Wide receiver A.J. Brown It was easy to feel a sense of deja vu when A.J. Brown, the team’s second-round pick out of Ole Miss last April, injured his hamstring on the first day of training camp. After all, injuries had sidelined first-round pick Corey Davis during his rookie season, making his job more difficult as a rookie because of all the time he spent sidelined leading up to the season. But despite missing a fair share of training camp himself, the early results have been impressive for Brown. I used this stat the other day following his two-touchdown performance against Atlanta, but it’s worth repeating: Brown already has three catches of 40 yards or more this season, which is almost half of what the entire Titans team totaled (seven) in 2018. Averaging a whopping 22.3 yards per catch on 10 receptions in four games, Brown may well turn out to be the big-play wide receiver the Titans have long been searching for. “He’s caught a lot of passes in the SEC,” Mike Vrabel said. “I think that maybe some of his work down the field has improved. He’s got really good body control for a big guy, being able to not mistime his jump, or miss the ball in the air. I like the way he catches it, uses his hands, and it was good to see him not run out of gas yesterday.” Best follow-up performance: Running back Derrick Henry One of the most significant questions entering this season was whether Derrick Henry would return to the form of late 2018, when he steamrolled the league for 585 yards, a 6.7-yard average per carry and seven touchdowns in the final four games. The fear was that Henry would fall back to his inconsistent play of previous seasons. But Henry has answered the bell through the first quarter of the season, rushing for more than 80 yards in three of four contests, including last Sunday’s 100-yard performance in the win over the Falcons. Henry has the second-most rushing first downs in the league (20) through four contests, is tied for the seventh-most rushing touchdowns (three) and is ninth in average yards per game (77.5). Those ground-and-pound numbers should only get better when Pro Bowl tackle Taylor Lewan returns to the lineup this week. Most exciting moment: Derrick Henry to the house Don’t leave the stage yet, Mr. Henry. We have another award for you. It would be hard to beat Henry’s 75-yard touchdown reception against Cleveland, in which he took a screen pass near the left sideline, jumped behind a wall of blockers and roared toward the Browns’ end zone. The 6-3, 247-pound Henry eventually reached a speed of 20.93 miles per hour, which is the second-fastest speed for any running back after a reception this season. It was the longest touchdown reception of Henry’s career, and it couldn’t have come at a better time during the Cleveland contest. The Browns had just trimmed the Titans’ lead to 15-13, but Henry squashed any Cleveland momentum one play later, starting a 28-0 Tennessee run that made the final score, 43-13. Best senior-citizen achievements: Cameron Wake, Delanie Walker We’re going to split this award right down the middle, since both players are equally deserving of it. The 37-year-old Cameron Wake recorded his 100th career sack in the season opener, joining Arizona’s Terrell Suggs as the only active players to have recorded 100 sacks. It just so happened that the sack of Baker Mayfield earned the Titans a safety to boot. He has 2.5 sacks this season, all of which came against Cleveland in the opener. Meanwhile, 35-year-old tight end Delanie Walker leads the team in receptions (17) through four games, is tied for the team lead with two touchdowns, and is third in receiving yards (162). Walker caught his 500th career pass in the win Sunday. Those are some pretty impressive numbers for a man who missed virtually all of last season with a severe leg and ankle injury. “When you catch 500 passes in this league, you’re either really good, really old, or both,” Vrabel told Walker after the Falcons game, flipping Walker a game ball during the team’s locker-room celebration. Best under-the-radar performance: Brett Kern We tend to overlook punters in general because, well, they’re punters. But what a field-position weapon Brett Kern has been for the Titans. The win over the Falcons last Sunday provided a perfect example, as Kern punted five times for a 44.6-net yard average, pinning the Falcons inside the 20-yard line each time. Kern booted one of his punts out of bounds at the Atlanta 2-yard line, part of the reason the Falcons’ average starting point for drives was their own 16-yard line. Kern leads the NFL in punts inside the 20-yard line (14) and in punts out of bounds (seven). One of his most effective punts this season came in the opener against Cleveland, when he launched a 70-yarder that forced the Browns to begin a drive from their own 3. On Cleveland’s first play from scrimmage, Wake sacked Mayfield for a safety. Most emotional moment: McNair, George jerseys retired In a much-anticipated halftime ceremony during the Titans-Colts game on Sept. 15, the Titans retired the jersey numbers of two franchise greats — Eddie George (No. 27) and the late Steve McNair (No. 9), who was killed in 2009. George, a punishing running back, and McNair, a tough-as-nails leader, embodied the highly successful early Titans teams of the late 90s and the early 2000s. Giant flags of the two jerseys — 50 feet by 75 feet — were unfurled at halftime next to one another on the field. George fought back tears during his speech, which was preceded by the old “Ed-die, Ed-die” chants. McNair’s brother, Fred, spoke on behalf of Steve McNair, while the Titans presented a plaque to McNair’s widow, Mechelle. The two players were so often associated with one another — and so successful in driving the team — it was only fitting their jerseys were retired together. An honorable mention here was reserve tackle David Quessenberry, who overcame a three-year battle with cancer during his NFL career, catching a touchdown pass against Indianapolis. Most unusual moment: Fire on the field! As impressive as the Titans’ jersey retirement ceremony was, it shared headlines that Sunday with a pyrotechnic device that caught fire near the team’s 5-yard line prior to the game. Significant flames shot out of the machine and billowing black smoke reached the stands before a team employee doused the fire with an extinguisher. The incident led the NFL to issue a league-wide prohibition on all on-field flame effects and pyrotechnics devices at league and club events, pending further review. Strangest decision: Let’s go for it Vrabel has a well-earned reputation as an aggressive coach, but he overstepped his boundaries during in the win over the Falcons. With the Titans leading Atlanta 24-10 early in the fourth quarter, Tennessee faced fourth-and-1 on the Falcons’ 10-yard line. It seemed a no-brainer to kick the field goal, which would have given the Titans a three-score lead. Instead, Vrabel chose to go for the first down, only to see Henry thrown for a two-yard loss. Fortunately for Vrabel, the Titans’ defense twice bailed him out with fourth-quarter stops, eliminating a potential Atlanta rally. A day after his decision, Vrabel acknowledged he should have kicked the field goal. “I think that if given the opportunity, I think probably the proper decision — not knowing if you’re going to get it — is to go up three scores,” Vrabel said. “That’s how it goes, you make a decision that’s decisive. Again, I always think we’re going to get it when we go for it. If I get the chance to do it again like everybody else, just be better and go up three scores.” Best celebration: AJ Brown Walker had the lead in this category through the season’s first three weeks after he celebrated his first NFL touchdown in over a year with great enthusiasm. He pulled out an imaginary shovel in Cleveland and started “digging” hard in the end zone, later explaining that he had found paydirt. But I think the youngster Brown might have edged Walker out after scoring a second touchdown against the Falcons. Brown went down to one knee in the Atlanta end zone, mimicked opening up a vault and pulling out money, then “made it rain” by throwing wads of pretend money into the air over his head. Pretty creative stuff for a 22-year-old playing in his fourth NFL game. Most intriguing future developments: Returning personnel We saw rookie guard Nate Davis make his NFL debut against the Falcons, after missing much of training camp due to injury. Davis was OK while rotating with Jamil Douglas, but the third-round pick should only get better as his experience increases. Next up is Lewan, the Pro Bowl left tackle who will presumably return to the starting lineup this Sunday versus Buffalo. He brings not only great talent at the position, but a vocal presence and an aggressive attitude to the team. Let’s also not forget that monstrous rookie defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons — the Titans’ first-round draft pick in April — is getting healthier by the day. The 6-4, 305-pound Simmons has to sit out at least two more games while on the reserve/non-football injury list. But he can start practicing at that point, and the Titans will then have a three-week window to activate him if they so choose. It remains to be seen just how quickly Simmons can return to health following ACL surgery in February, but he’s been a regular in individual workouts for the past few weeks. If he gets all the way back to speed at some point, he could join Jurrell Casey and DaQuan Jones in forming a very nasty front three for the Titans. Biggest cause for optimism going forward: QB-WR connection We’ve mentioned Lewan’s return, but I also like the chemistry we saw between Mariota and his top two wide receivers — Brown and Davis — on Sunday. Prior to the win over the Falcons, Mariota had been looking primarily for Walker and slot receiver Adam Humphries. Both Walker and Humphries are important and reliable pieces of the puzzle, but Brown and Davis are more likely to create the big, explosive plays that boost the offense. Mariota seemed to have a real connection with Davis against the Falcons, especially on the timing route that led to Davis’ touchdown catch. He is also developing a chemistry with Brown, and Brown is seeing more and more playing time as the season continues. If the Titans can count on a big game from either Davis or Brown per week, combined with the team’s running attack, the offense might start to scare some people. Biggest cause for concern: Inconsistent offense The Titans began the year with a bang, as the offense put up 34 points (the defense was responsible for nine n the 43-13 win) against Cleveland, more points than the team had scored in any game last season. But we were then treated to two weeks of the dark side of the Titans’ offense. In Week 2 against Indianapolis, the Titans managed just 242 total yards, converted 1-of-10 third downs and totaled just 17 points. In Week 3 against Jacksonville, the Titans were shut out for three quarters, averaged just 3.5 yards per carry and surrendered nine sacks. Things took a turn in the right direction against Atlanta, when the Titans scored 24 points in the first two quarters, more points than they’d scored in the previous two games combined. But what should we make of the fact they didn’t score a point in the second half against the Falcons? More importantly, which Titans offense will we see Sunday against a nasty Buffalo defense — the offense that’s looked smooth for six quarters or the one that’s sputtered for two-and-a-half games? I think we can be pretty certain by now that this Titans defense is going to keep the team in most games. But it still remains to be seen how often we’ll see the offense play complementary football.