nine

Wow. Very unexpected...and not at all consistent with Goodell’s approach in recent years. It’ll be interesting to see whether Goodell gets a lot of public backlash to this decision.

It's safe to assume Humphries is better and more dependable out of the slot than anything we saw from Sharpe and Taylor last year. From what I've seen of him on film, Hump excels at finding gaps in coverage and creating separation....and he can be relied on to catch the ball when it hits him in the hands. These were all issues for last year's receiving corps. But the receiver can only do so much; now it's up to Marcus to hold up his end of the bargain.

It was half and half. There were ten games where the Titans held a lead after three quarters and closed it out....and ten games where the Titans were losing or tied in the fourth quarter.

Here's an interesting factoid: the Titans are 18-2 when Henry rushes for 50+ yards. You don't have to run it 30 times a game; you just have to be productive.

The Titans have the dubious distinction of being the only team to own the best record in their division over a three-year period without actually winning the division.

Dan Orlovsky had an interesting comment yesterday when asked if the Titans should extend Mariota: ”No....because they still don’t know what they have with him. He’s been there for four years...but he’s been through so many different coaching staffs and offensive systems, he’s had absolutely no consistency around him, so he’s been inconsistent himself. Anyone who’s already made up their mind about how good or bad Mariota is doesn’t know what they’re talking about...because nobody knows. You can’t extend him until you know what you’re getting.”

Hopefully he’s able to go. Jonnu struggled as much as anyone with the transition to the new offense last year...but he really stepped it up after the bye and was coming on strong before the injury, both as a receiver and as a blocker. If healthy, he and Delanie should make a great TE tandem and give opposing defenses serious headaches.

Jayon’s a pretty great player.

Keep in mind, there were three games last year where they ran the ball far more than they threw it. In weeks 2 & 3 they ran it 34-35 times while attempting only 21 passes. The Giants game was even crazier with a 2:1 run/pass ratio in a monsoon. I doubt we’ll see anything like that this year. Henry will obviously get a ton of touches...but even when he’s not, just forcing defenses to account for him should help open up the passing game. Whereas LB’s typically line up 4-7 yards off the LOS in most situations, they’ll often cheat a yard or two closer in anticipation of a run...which creates a bigger cushion behind them and puts them a step late dropping into coverage. The same goes for safeties. If they’re thinking run and start coming downfield at the snap, they could easily find themselves out of position and struggling to recover as a receiver runs past them. In week 17, the Colts D was hyper-tuned in on Henry and did as good a job of containing him as one could ask. (Although he still had 100+ yards from scrimmage and averaged 5+ yds/carry). But their aggressive play left receivers running open all night long; Gabbert simply couldn’t hit them. Had the Titans gotten even average QB play in that game, things might have turned out very differently. If Henry can pick up where he left off last year, Vrabel and Arthur would be fools not to run the offense through him. It’ll make the QB’s job a whole lot easier.

Kern is one hell of a good punter. I don’t know how they typically grade punters but 77 seems awfully low.

Most people (and coaches) would agree with this. I see pros and cons both ways. Teams who draft a QB in round one typically don't have an established starting-caliber QB on the roster; starting the rookie is a no-brainer. But in terms of producing quality QBs, the sit-and-learn approach is perfectly viable and (IMO) has a higher rate of success. Ultimately, teams should play the guy who gives them the best chance of winning. If the rookie is the best option from day one....so be it. If he needs a year or two to get acclimated to the NFL game...that's okay, too.

Based on how this year plays out, I would imagine either Marcus or Tannehill is the starter in 2020. I can’t see them signing either QB to an extension unless it’s a Bortles-esque deal that gives the team an out after a year or two. Given the amount of top QB talent in the 2020 draft, I firmly believe QB has to be the team’s #1 priority next year regardless of how the 2019 season plays out or the QB situation. The chances of a rookie outplaying Marcus or Tannehill are quite slim indeed; I say draft the best QB available, let him sit for a year and revisit it in 2021.

I suppose it's all about expectations. The #21 ranking is quite reasonable if you expect... the Mariota who had a 67 passer rating in weeks 1-7....not the Mariota who had a 103 passer rating for weeks 8-15. the Derrick Heny who averaged 3.0 yards/carry in weeks 1-4...not the DH who averaged 5.7 ypc over the next twelve games. Little/no improvement from year 2 to year 3 for Corey Davis, Jonnu Smith, Taywan Taylor, and/or Tajae Sharpe. Little/no improvement in O-line play despite the addition of Roger Saffold, Jack Conklin getting healthy, and cutting Josh Kline.

Someone who doesn't follow the team and doesn't know the roster would probably find these videos helpful and informative. For anyone who keeps up with the team, these videos simply rehash subjects we've been discussing for months.

NFL GMs and HCs are literally the world's foremost experts on NFL football. They're extremely knowledgeable with countless years of football experience under their belts, and earn seven-figure salaries to build teams and win games.....yet we constantly see poor scouting and personnel assessments, ill-advised gameplans, and terrible in-game decisions. Media analysts and sports writers obviously aren't the foremost authority on NFL football; they're simply paid to offer their opinions, right or wrong. The funny part is that the decisions and opinions of NFL GMs and HCs aren't necessarily any better than the media talking heads....they just get paid a lot more.