talked so much trash to my Patriots friends today some tidbits from Bill Barnwell's playoff preview: Spoiler How they got here: Looking for a spark, the Titans turned their offense over to offseason acquisition Ryan Tannehill in Week 7. They've gone 7-3 since. Tannehill has posted the league's second-best passer rating and fifth-best QBR, and the former Dolphins starter has averaged 9.6 yards per attempt, more than a full yard ahead of anybody else in the league over that time frame. Two and a half months of playing like the 2018 Chiefs was enough to get the Titans into January after an uneven start. How they're better than you think: The top-level talent in the secondary is impressive. Safety Kevin Byard and cornerback Logan Ryan are two of the best players at their positions in football, and Ryan was one of the most obvious Pro Bowl snubs for me. The slot corner ranked third in the NFL with 18 passes defensed, and while we only have forced fumble data going back through the 1980s, he became the eighth player since to intercept four passes, rack up four sacks and generate four forced fumbles in the same season. Given how dependent the Patriots are on throwing to Julian Edelman, Ryan is one of the last corners they probably wanted to see in the wild-card round. How they're worse than you think: It's difficult to imagine this offense staying as good as it has been over the past three months. I wouldn't write off the Titans as a flash in the pan, but there's no way they're going to be as effective moving forward in the red zone. Since Tannehill entered the lineup, they have converted 86.7% of their red zone trips into touchdowns. To put that in context, the second-placed Buccaneers are at 71.9%, and they're closer to the 49ers in 16th than they are to Tennessee at the top. I get that Derrick Henry is a load to bring down in short yardage, but the Titans were 18th in the same category before Tannehill took over, and there's no track record of any team sustaining that for a meaningful amount of time. The last time a playoff offense was anywhere near that hot in the red zone over the final 11 weeks of the season was the 2012 Patriots. They scored touchdowns at an 80.5% clip from Week 7 on, only to score five touchdowns in 10 red zone possessions during the playoffs. The Titans have created lots of big plays with Tannehill throwing to A.J. Brown, but they can't count on virtually every red zone trip resulting in six points from here on out. Where they need to get hot in January: The Titans need to hit opposing quarterbacks. While Tennessee was right around the league average in sack rate, the defense knocked down opposing passers after the pass just 4.5% of the time, the lowest mark in football. You don't want to hit quarterbacks way after the snap and create personal foul penalties, of course, but research has shown that teams that generate large knockdown totals typically translate those knockdowns to sacks in the future. It's tough to see where those knockdowns will come from. Harold Landry leads the team with 14 knockdowns, but the second-most knockdowns came from Cameron Wake, who played only 195 snaps before going on injured reserve. Jurrell Casey is still on the defensive line, but the guy who might have the most upside to suddenly break out during the playoffs is first-round pick Jeffery Simmons, who has been playing in a part-time role since returning from a torn ACL. Most quietly important player: Kicker Greg Joseph, who hasn't been tested with a single field goal try since taking over as Tennessee's fourth kicker of the season. I can't think of a team that entered the postseason using a kicker who didn't have a field goal attempt on record during the regular season, but Titans fans will probably take their chances with the 2018 Browns starter. The combination of Cody Parkey, Cairo Santos and Ryan Succop went just 8-of-18 on field goals this season, costing the Titans 15 points of field position. Past Super Bowl comp: 1980 Raiders. Jim Plunkett was technically in his second season with the Raiders, but the former first overall pick had disappointed with the Patriots and 49ers before finding his way to Oakland. And just as the Titans are really built around their power running game with Henry, those Raiders ran the ball 541 times in 1980, with fullback Mark van Eeghen leading the way.
The thing about Henry is I think he can do this for another decade. The guy is really built different. His durability is the stuff of legends. He did the same shit at Bama he'd get like 35-40 carries and not seem tired or gassed. And I think his size makes him built to last longer than your typical RB
Haven't seen any analysis yet but you have to think the Pats strategy was to take AJ out of the game, right?
this was much more enjoyable than the win in Baltimore in January 2004 (and over Pitt in January 2003 even though that was a Division Round game), which was our last playoff win till @ KC a couple years ago so probably that AFC Championship win that Pittsburg game in January 2003: George had 15 carries for 33 yards with 2 lost fumbles. Woof he was brutal late in his career
The off-season (after our super bowl victory) is going to be really interesting. Henry being a FA and the decision on Tannehill.
Agreed. I’m still a little surprised that he didn’t punt it there at the end but it was the right decision in hindsight. Hell of a way for him start his playoff career as a coach.
sure. Frustrations peaked after that Broncos game where we fell to 2-4 by getting shutout 16-0 and Henry was limited to just 28 yards on 15 carries. But everything has changed with Tannehill starting. Still some stupid decisions, but Vrabel definitely gets lots of credit for fostering an environment in which his aggression carries over to the team on both sides of the ball. Seems like Lewan has stopped killing the team with penalties too really the only lingering frustrations I have are Mariota being given so much leash and our kicking game being mishandled. But we've made up for all that and then some after last night would love to go back in time and play that Panthers game again. They improved to 5-3 after that win in the first week of November but didn't win another game the rest of the year. Weird
would you rather have Tannehill or Brady? from an article at The Athletic on Brady's future: Does he really want to start over on a rebuilding team with a low ceiling in 2020 and an outside shot at a title march as a 44-year-old in 2021? While moving his family? Or consider another side of that scenario. Ryan Tannehill didn’t do anything Saturday night to cement his status as the Titans’ quarterback of the future, or as someone whom Mike Vrabel can hitch himself to for several years. So Tennessee could turn its attention toward Brady, sell him on a conquerable AFC South division, a steadily improving defense, an elite offensive line and plenty of talent at the skill positions. Brady could take a two-year, $60 million contract, align with one of his best friends in Vrabel and try to win a Super Bowl that way.
Why the fuck would anyone give this version of Brady anywhere near $30 mil a year? That's fucking stupid.
Trying to stay up all night being weirder than normal to celebrate this awesome opportunity D really needs to ball out I hate the Ravens more than any team besides maybe the Colts. So much trauma
you can go back and find tons of stupid things I've said in here. I was wrong. I am consistently happy to be though very happy to be