Jonboy

@AussieTitanFan08 What are your thoughts on Malik Willis and where's he currently projected to go?

For those who are curious in the outkick discussion of this, it starts at 57:45 here:

Chiefs made the playoffs the same year they traded up for Mahomes (and got bounced by the Titans in the epic comeback, 😄). It’s not like the team is back to square 1 if they trade up for a QB. These aren’t the Ruston Webster days. The overall roster makeup is in much better shape.

Here’s what I think you’re missing here and what Vrabel would never admit: it wasn’t just about kicking the FG as time expired…it was also about not giving the Bengals a chance if we failed as evidenced by how much time they let go. That’s what people mean by playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Running the clock down and kicking as time expires isn’t an issue and no one is arguing that. Get in FG range…then run the clock out. And yeah…sure it may have still worked if Tannehill didn’t turn it over but he was literally asking a struggling QB to complete roughly 3 passes in a row with no room for error. I’ll never agree with the approach.

I’m curious…would your opinion be different if the Titans were down 1 instead of tied?

I expect this won’t be the last of these takes we see this off-season…

Wrong thread? That was on a different drive, no?

Sure, it's always a game of risk/reward. With the flow of how that game was going though, I trust the defense way more to get a stop after a punt than I do the offense to make it into FG range from their own 35 with roughly 3 plays. Think about that. They would have had about 20 seconds from their own 40 or so with 2 timeouts. They would have needed to be perfect for probably 3 straight plays. I disagree here too. The priority should be to score. Period.

They could have still accomplished scoring with no time left though. Think about how many plays it would take the Titans to get into FG range. This wasn't anything close to the Bills/Chiefs with both teams racing down the field. They were at their own 35 and would have had ample opportunity to bleed the clock as they worked their way down the field. It would have taken 4-5 more plays most likely and then you can always run the ball once you're in FG range to get the Bengals to use those final 2 timeouts. And let's say they scored early...who cares?! The defense was playing well enough that you should be completely confident in being able to kick-off and make them go the length of the field on limited time and no timeouts.

I didn't really track with that either. But then again...I don't track at all with what Vrabel was thinking either. I mean, I know we're talking about completely different levels of QB and offensive play, but look how fast the Bills/Chiefs kept trading blows. Neither of them hesitated to do everything they could to try and score as quickly as possible. Vrabel should have been even more so considering how our defense was playing. I had to stop listening, but I wasn't really tracking with that explanation either. I agree it seems to show a fear of the Bengals, which is odd considering how they only had one long drive the entire game and our defense had near constant pressure on Burrow. Maybe they're thinking Vrabel was so terrified of another pick he wanted to leave as little time as possible in the event it happened?

One YouTube highlight video in...Pickett looks pretty impressive to me! 😂

I'm with you. It's a bad look. I don't follow other teams closely enough, but this seems way out of the norm for a QB not to speak after the season (I could be totally wrong here). It also could definitely be a Vrabel thing, but PK is right that Tannehill talked only in "we" in the presser. Honestly, he just looked completely shellshocked like he couldn't even believe he was standing there. Everything was the bland, generic answers of "we have to be better," "we didn't make enough plays," etc.

Just heard PK and the Outkick guys discussing this. I don't think we're talking about Vrabel's clock management enough here. Even after listening to him and Tannehill trying to explain the thought process, none of this makes sense to me. Help me to understand this... - Titans take over at their own 16 with 2:43 to go - First play is a run w/ Henry for 3 yards. Ok, fine. Run the clock down to the 2:00 and you still have 2 timeouts. - Next play is a 16 yard strike to Julio. Alright, now here we go. Cincy takes their 1st timeout at 1:46 to try and preserve time. - Titans then run Henry for no gain and proceed to let the clock run all the way down to 1:08 before they snap it (mind you...they aren't even across their own 35 yet. - Next snap is a pass to Hilliard for 5 yards and here is where I have no idea what Vrabel was thinking. Rather than getting in the hurry-up or even taking a quick timeout to talk about the play, they let the clock go ALL THE WAY down to about 26 seconds before they snap it. We all know what happens from there. Vrabel said their thought process was to bleed the clock down, convert the 1st down, and then have 2 plays to get into FG range. I'm sorry....what? With how the offense had looked all day, you really trust them to get into FG range on just 2 plays? Get into FG range first and then run all the clock you want. The fact that they were letting the clock go below 30 seconds with no hurry at all is just so bizarre to me. It's not like the offense had been rolling up and down the field. Every point was a struggle and one TD only happened because of the INT in Bengals territory. PK and the guys seem to think it was Vrabel showing a total lack of confidence in Tannehill and that he was terrified of another pick.