EXPERT ANALYSIS OILERMAN Blog: Week Two

[OILERMAN]

The loss in Houston was the type of game long time fans of this franchise have seen way too often over the years.

The Titans looked like they had no chance after falling behind, not because of the deficit but because of how totally inept the offense was. Then they come back and take an eight point lead that looked like a lock the way the defense was playing.

Guess again.

The Texans score the TD, convert the two point conversion, and win the game in overtime.

The game was maddening in the sense the defense played great for most of the game, except when it mattered most. The offense was totally inept sandwiched between a really nice 80 and 99 yard scoring drives, both ending in Jake Locker touchdown passes. The running game seemed to be working but most of Chris Johnson's runs still made me think they should have been better. He hesitates way too often even when he's on the second level. I tried to actually scale back on my criticism of CJ but Wycheck echoed the same thoughts on the radio broadcast and plenty of fans voiced the same thoughts in the He played decently, but it just looked like it should have been more. Greene better hurry up and get healthy because Chris Johnson cannot carry the ball this much and Battle is nothing more than a short yardage RB.

The passing game is a joke. The pass protection is the worst it has been in years, Locker does not play with confidence or poise, and the game plans through two games are laughable. The passing game averaged 3.8 yards per pass and Britt and Wright averaged 7.0 and 7.7 yards per catch respectively. Britt and Wright were targeted a combined 20 times and their longest catch was a 14 yard completion to Wright. Chris Johnson had one catch for one yard. These are just pitiful numbers for an NFL passing game with your supposed play makers.

If the coaches are going to be this conservative every game is going to come down to the wire regardless of the quality of the opponents. The drive with 2:00 left in the half was one of the worst two minute drills I've seen. With 2:14 they lost 15 yards, used 15 seconds off the clock, and fumbled the ball on third down. The offense lost yards on five drives including one that ended up in a safety. The field goal was after a drive that lost six yards after the Pollard interception. Six offensive drives were three and outs.

Locker looked bad overall. He missed badly on some throws, held the ball too long at times, and did not look poised in the pocket. I know the pass protection is a problem but he's not blameless. I also believe the coaches hurt him by being so conservative, although at times you understand their fear. As he has done his whole career he looked good enough on the two TD drives to give you hope while looking bad a lot of the game.

The defense played great and it looks like they are vastly improved. The game against the Steelers was not a mirage. The one problem is when you are as aggressive as Williams is you will get burned and they got burned when it counted most. Verner really played a good game and the Titans actually had McCourty playing man coverage and following Johnson all over the field. This is what McCourty was paid top money to do but in this game he did not succeed in the role as he was beaten way too often, including the game winning touchdown.

Reynaud was pretty terrible today, which makes two weeks now. talked about him last week and it really showed today with bad decision making.

Munchak/Webster watch: I did not think Munchak had a good game at all managing this game or the game plan in general. The handling of Locker continues to be a total train wreck. Locker has looked good at times when they let him go down the field but Munchak is terrified to let him do it often enough. They wasted a high draft pick if this was their plan.

As for Webster, This team was built to pound the ball with a big offensive line and blocking tight ends and to throw the ball down the field. They drafted Warmack early in the first and traded up for Hunter. So far Warmack has been pretty bad and Hunter has done nothing. It is early, but two games in these draft picks are not helping this team. Delanie Walker also has been below average overall, even with his TD catch today.

The good news: 1-1 with a close loss on the road to the Texans has to be considered a win after two road games. It's also pretty obvious this defense is vastly improved and the Titans will be in most games and can compete with good teams. I also think a lot of the problems are fixable and with a strong defense you can hang in games while the offense improves.

The bad news: This coaching staff's philosophy is not going to take this team anywhere. This is conservative "play not to lose" football on steroids. It's also a very big question mark concerning whether or not Locker can develop good enough to take this team far.

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[Oilertattoo]

The loss in Houston was the type of game long time fans of this franchise have seen way too often over the years.

The Titans looked like they had no chance after falling behind, not because of the deficit but because of how totally inept the offense was. Then they come back and take an 8 point lead that looked like a lock the way the defense was playing. Guess again, the Texans score the TD, convert the 2 point conversion and win the game in OT.

The game was maddening in the sense the defense played great for most of the game, except when it mattered most. The offense was totally inept sandwiched between a really nice 80yard TD drive and a 99 yard TD drive, both ending in Jake Locker TD passes. The running game seemed to be working but most of Chris Johnson's runs still made me think they should have been better. He hesitates way too often even when he's on the 2nd level. I tried to actually scale back on my criticism of CJ but Wycheck echoed the same thoughts on the radio broadcast and plenty of fans voiced the same thoughts in the He played OK it just looked like it should have been more. Greene better hurry up and get healthy because Chris Johnson cannot carry the ball this much and Battle is nothing more than a short yardage RB.

The passing game is a joke. The pass protection is the worst it's been in years, Locker does not play with confidence or poise and the game plans through two games are laughable. The passing game averaged 3.8yds per pass and Britt and Wright averaged 7.0 and 7.7yds per catch. Britt and Wright were targeted a combined 20 times and their longest catch was 14 yards, Britt's was 9yds. Chris Johnson had 1 catch for 1 yard. These are just pitiful numbers for an NFL passing game with your supposed play makers.

If the coaches are going to be this conservative every game is going to come down to the wire regardless of the quality of the opponents. The drive with 2:00 left in the half was one of the worst 2:00 drills I've seen. With 2:14 they lost 15 yards, used 15 seconds off the clock and fumbled the ball on 3rd down. The offense lost yards on 5 drives including one that ended up in a safety. The FG was after a drive that lost 6 yards, it was after the Pollard INT. 6 offensive drives were 3 and outs.

Locker looked bad overall. He missed badly on some throws, held the ball too long at times and did not look poised in the pocket. I know the pass protection is a problem but he's not blameless. I also believe the coaches hurt him by being so conservative, although at times you understand their fear. As he's done his whole career he looked good enough on the two TD drives to give you hope while looking bad a lot of the game.

The defense played great, it looks like they are vastly improved. The game against the Steelers was not a mirage. The one problem is when you are as aggressive as Williams is you will get burned and they got burned when it counted most. Verner really played a good game and the Titans actually had McCourty playing man coverage and following Johnson all over the field. This is what McCourty was paid top money to do but in this game he did not succeed in the role as he was beaten way too often and for the game winning TD.

Reynaud was pretty terrible today and for two weeks now. talked about him last week and it really showed today with bad decision making.

Munchak/Webster watch: I did not think Munchak had a good game at all managing this game or the game plan in general. The handling of Locker continues to be a total train wreck. Locker has looked good at times when they let him go down the field but Munchak is terrified to let him do it often enough. They wasted a high draft pick if this was their plan.

As for Webster, This team was built to pound the ball with a big OL and blocking TEs and throw the ball down the field. They drafted Warmack early in the first and traded up for Hunter. So far Warmack has been pretty bad and Hunter has done nothing. It's early but two games in these draft picks are not helping this team. Delanie Walker also has been below average overall, even with his TD catch today.

The good news: 1-1 with a close loss on the road to the Texans has to be considered a win after two road games. It's also pretty obvious this defense is vastly improved and the Titans will be in most games and can compete with good teams. I also think a lot of the problems are fixable and with a strong defense you can hang in games while the offense improves.

The bad news: This coaching staff's philosophy is not going to take this team anywhere. This is conservative "play not to lose" football on steroids. It's also a very big question mark concerning whether or not Locker can develop good enough to take this team far.

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My name is Mike and I approve this post.

[tgo]

You all act like you expected something different. They said the whole offseason they were going to run the ball. They drafted a run blocking guard no. 10 overall and have 3 run blocking TE's. Surprise! 

 

 

I have no problem with the run first approach. However, the play calling was bad at times, especially putting Chris Johnson in the backfield on that safety play backed up into the end zone. Also, I thought Munchak managed the timeouts pretty well in this game. All I care about with Locker is that he manages the game and doesn't turn the ball over. 

 

You're right though, Warmack is playing like a rookie in pass protection and clearly couldn't handle Watt. Stewart is not at full speed and that's obvious. Turner had another bad game. I'm pretty sure Schwenke will be the starting center before season's end, one way or another. 

 

Also, the corners played well most of the game. It wasn't until those last two TD drives at the end that they got showed up, which is expected because they were on the field way too damn much. Those two big Hopkins catches were great plays by him, and McCourty had pretty good coverage on both. And like you said, GW's style worked out most of the game, but we got burned because of it at the end. Like I said, I'm just glad we were able to make this a real game and hang with them. I didn't think we'd have a chance to win this game at the end. This is one of the hardest 5 games we'll play this season. 

 

I understand a lot of the criticism, and a lot of it is valid. But the Titans are playing better, particularly on defense, than I expected early in the season. 

 

 

Edit: The team would be much more successful with the run first stuff if they had Greene healthy. Not having him hurts immensely, and probably makes the difference between and W and an L in this particular game. 

Edited September 15, 2013 by tgo

[chef]

Agree on pass protection issues, but hoping:

 

* partly due to being against PIT and HOU, 2 of the better teams at rushing the QB or at least confusing/putting pressure on him

 

* Schwenke come along far enough to start, take his lumps learning as a rook, and develops VERY QUICKLY into a better center here than we have had in a long while

 

* Stewart is still able to further recover from injury and thus improve.  he gets a slight pass on this front.  this flip side is that we had better not expect perfect health from him and Roos for years to come at their age.  clock is ticking.

 

 

 

With that last part in mind, and haven't seen it mentioned much, but compared to most teams around the league, our injury situation is pretty mellow.  Last time I recall being this healthy overall, KFC and Co. went 13-3.  And speaking of which, how is S Hill?

[OILERMAN]

However, the play calling was bad at times, especially putting Chris Johnson in the backfield

 

Edit: The team would be much more successful with the run first stuff if they had Greene healthy. Not having him hurts immensely, and probably makes the difference between and W and an L in this particular game. 

 

 

Amen!!!!

[N/A]

Titans have a promising team, the team has two do one or two things:

 

Get a bluechip every down running back that can carry the offense;

and/or

Get a veteran QB.

[tinman]

Boy how good would this team be with Manning behind center.. Bud's vision was not flawed.. Damn  you peyton.. 

[Alpha]

I can't get over the Rob Turner back to back penalties, followed up with a run on the 1 yard line with CJ. That was the moment I knew we were gonna lose. Everything else after was just fool's gold. 

[tinman]

have we ever had a safety given up in 2 games in a row before.. Wonder if the streak stays alive this week..lol

[tinman]

3rd qtr we had 4 possessions... 10 yards total.. ZERO first downs...4 3 and outs.. no wonder the defense gave up the goods in the end.. 

[Aramis]

Good post. As for going forward, anyone chalking San Diego and Kansas City up as wins are going to be in for a shocker.

[Cyrus]

3rd qtr we had 4 possessions... 10 yards total.. ZERO first downs...4 3 and outs.. no wonder the defense gave up the goods in the end..

Poor runs. Blown blocks. Miscommunications (QB throwing different routes from the WRs). Penalties. Drops.

Pretty much everyone got involved. The field position greatly complicated things as well.

[Jamalisms]

Also, the corners played well most of the game. It wasn't until those last two TD drives at the end that they got showed up, which is expected because they were on the field way too damn much. Those two big Hopkins catches were great plays by him, and McCourty had pretty good coverage on both.

Agreed.

[Jamalisms]

I can't get over the Rob Turner back to back penalties, followed up with a run on the 1 yard line with CJ. That was the moment I knew we were gonna lose. Everything else after was just fool's gold.

No, no. You can't forget the delay of game after the two Turner penalties. Without that we still don't yield a safety.

[Omar]

Lechler was a beast today...never thought I would say that about a punter...he put the Titans in bad field position all day.