The Silver Lining and Moving Forward

[AvgJoe]

Before I start, let me just say the Titans moved to TN when I was 10. I’m 35 now. In that time, I have waited 25 years watching and hoping this team wins the SB. Just one. I’ve seen the dark days in TN and the good times. So do not get misconstrued what I’m about to say. 
 

Losing to the Ravens yesterday makes me sad, but it is my sincere hope it is a blessing in disguise. Over the last half of the season it was abundantly clear the D was not going to be capable of handling Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers. Historically, it was the worst 3rd down defense in the league, players were consistent out of position, and the scheme was completely illogical (zone at the 2 yard line being a prime example). This was not a defense that could remotely win against top talent. 
 

The offense put up some historic numbers to its credit. But the things posters like @oldschool, @StephenIsLegend, many others and myself pointed out came to fruition yesterday. Arthur Smith simply refuses to continually attack a defenses weaknesses. Instead we are bound and determined to run it until it pops. I would give $1K to sit and have a beer with Wink Martindale. I guarantee you he was shocked we were so stupid to be 100% committed to something that didn’t work. Arthur almost cost us the Ravens game during the season with this same stupidity, it ended our season yesterday.
 

I won’t even comment on Special Teams other than to say Auckerman should be fired. 
 

But here’s the good thing: By not winning against an anemic Ravens offense Vrabel and Robinson cannot put lipstick on the pig that was this team. This team has to get even on the field with KC as they are the bar in the AFC and likely the entire NFL. This team was not on their level, the Packers level, and possibly even the Saints level. This team lost a ton of leadership last offseason and intelligence on the field and it showed. 
 

Robinson had a horrific offseason and it cannot be repeated. Little to no contribution from the Draft class and the free agents. This is a do or die offseason for him and he better make the most of it. The right decisions and we can get back to where we were last year. Another bad offseason and this will be that fringe team that may or may not make the postseason and a run. 
 

And Vrabel. Like @Jonboy mentioned I really hope he adapts. There is a lot to answer for with this team and Why a defensive guy had such an awful D. The punt yesterday on 4th and 2 was a pussy move and it ended the season. I would go so far as to say that if he is not willing to hire a competent DC that he should be fired and I am a fan of the guy. 

Now, how do we fix this? I don’t have all the answers and God only knows what the cap will be. BUT, I would start by cutting Vaccaro, Kelly, and Humphries (prayers up he retires). You likely have to cut Butler which makes me nauseous as we need more like him and not less. We should restructure Tannehill as he is our Franchise QB and there is little to no risk adding a year or 2 to his deal. Same with Henry. Lewan should take a pay cut for all his issues the last two years. 
 

If I’m Robinson, I’d add Trey Hendrickson, Brian Poole, and Lavonte David (ship Evans to Neptune for all I care) to the defense. @tgo pointed out Robinson is better picking offensive players than D in the Draft and I believe he’s right. Fix as much of the D as you can in FA and supplement the O in the Draft. This is just a start and I’ll update more over time. But this team is a few smart Moves and coaching changes from being in the SB.

[tgo]

I agree that Auckerman should be fired. And he should be replaced with Brayden Coombs. 

 

I also agree that FA should be defense focused and then we should supplement the offense with the draft and maybe a cheaper veteran FA (thinking something like Edelman to pair with a couple rookie WRs - as BOB is familiar with him, Robinson helped bring him to NE, and Vrabel and him are friends), but also draft several defensive players. 

 

My immediate focus is on the coordinators, we need 3 of em. 

Edited January 11, 2021 by tgo

[Supdawg]

Agreed, good post. Although Butler played his ass off this year and he deserves to stay on the team again next year. Vaccaro, Evans, Jackson, Byard, Brown all regressed horribly. ST's has always sucked. 

 

I have a feeling NOTHING will be done because Vrabel is an egotistical retard. 

[Jonboy]

2 positives as it relates to the offseason...there are going to be a ton of quality vet WRs available.

 

Also, the draft is supposedly pretty deep with edge rushers this year.

[StephenIsLegend]

I don’t entirely fault J-Rob for the off-season moves. It seemed like he tried to fix the issues we had, but he went for broke and it ended up not working out. He has still built an awesome roster. We shall see how things go this off-season, but last offseason was plagued with Covid (this one could be too), so it’s hard to judge. 
 

I will say I’m 50-50 on Art Smith and how he used the offense. My biggest frustration is knowing we have these elite tools at our disposal (Tannehill, Henry, AJ) and we STILL insist on not attacking the weaknesses of other teams. I’m not sure how much is Art and how much is Vrabel. At this point, I don’t care. It’s not working. 
 

As for Vrabel: I said it in another thread. I have been a big Vrabel guy the years he has been here. But, for one, he needs to stop meddling in the offensive side. If it’s truly him just wanting to pound Henry.. he needs to stop. Second, I HATE how conservative we go when we have a lead. Now, would it be as bad if our offense were in a rhythm? I don’t think so. But, as soon as he goes conservative.. we start seeing 3 and outs and boneheaded cutesy plays. With the talent we have on offense, we shouldn’t be going three and out as often as we have. 

Lastly.. we never go for a kill shot. Early in his coaching career, I felt like we did this more. I could be mistaken. But I want to see a day when we consistently just want to bury teams. 
 

This has built up for months. I’d like to think I’m pretty level-headed when it comes to the team. I stay calm when the freak outs and meltdowns happen. However, it’s aggravating to see this shit happening, continuing to try and justify it, and see nothing changing. 

[freakingeek]

Nobody could have forseen what happened with Clowney and Beasley. That was a perfect storm and it screwed our season up from the gitgo. Then to have the void at DC exacerbated everything. The injuries to Evans and Fulton were much bigger than anyone talked about and the whole Panda failure should have been avoided. That I DO lay on JRobs shoulders. The injuries to the Oline and loss of Lewan hurt. We were competitive but it just wasn't our year, which is frustrating considering what kind of season Henry had.

Edited January 11, 2021 by freakingeek

[scine09]

Just now, freakingeek said:

Nobody could have seen what happened with Clowney and Beasley. That was a perfect storm and it screwed our season up from the gitgo. Then to have the void at DC exacerbated everything. The injuries to Evans and Fulton were much bigger than anyone talked about and the whole Panda failure should have been avoided. That I DO lay on JRobs shoulders. The injuries to the Oline and loss of Lewan hurt. We were competitive but it just wasn't our year, which is frustrating considering what kind of season Henry had.

And yet they went 11-5.

 

It says a lot about the staff whether people want to admit it or not.

[freakingeek]

2 minutes ago, scine09 said:

And yet they went 11-5.

 

It says a lot about the staff whether people want to admit it or not.

The year was NOT a failure. Disappointing yes. If we would have won the SB with that defense it would have been an absolute miracle.

[scine09]

1 minute ago, freakingeek said:

The year was NOT a failure. Disappointing yes. If we would have won the SB with that defense it would have been an absolute miracle.

It always sucks to lose a playoff game but looking back it was a good season. 

[BudsOilers]

Yeah they went 11-5 but it was not full of a bunch of strong wins overall now that everything is done.  The Buffalo win was by far the most impressive one.  The Ravens and Indy wins are impressive on paper but also note the defensive injuries both had in those games that played to our strength.

 

The other 8 wins:

 

2 nailbiter/shootout wins against the 4 win Texans

2 wins (1 last minute FG) against the 1 win Jaguars

1 last minute win against the 5 win Broncos

1 close win against the 7 win Vikings (who were winless at the time)

17 point win against the Bears, who were reeling at the time they played)

21 points win against the 5 win Lions

 

The Titans ended up 4-4 against 2020 playoff teams but one win was a Bears team in the midst of a six game losing streak and the Ravens/Colts games missing stud DT's.....  The losses were all pretty ugly

 

 

 

[NashvilleNinja]

16 minutes ago, scine09 said:

And yet they went 11-5.

 

It says a lot about the staff whether people want to admit it or not.

 

Their failures say as much about them as their success does. Maybe it says more.

 

Also, the 11-5 record might say there's a shit ton of talent on the roster in spite of some of the staff.

[TitansPDO]

8 minutes ago, BudsOilers said:

Yeah they went 11-5 but it was not full of a bunch of strong wins overall now that everything is done.  The Buffalo win was by far the most impressive one.  The Ravens and Indy wins are impressive on paper but also note the defensive injuries both had in those games that played to our strength.

 

The other 8 wins:

 

2 nailbiter/shootout wins against the 4 win Texans

2 wins (1 last minute FG) against the 1 win Jaguars

1 last minute win against the 5 win Broncos

1 close win against the 7 win Vikings (who were winless at the time)

17 point win against the Bears, who were reeling at the time they played)

21 points win against the 5 win Lions

 

The Titans ended up 4-4 against 2020 playoff teams but one win was a Bears team in the midst of a six game losing streak and the Ravens/Colts games missing stud DT's.....  The losses were all pretty ugly

 

 

 

I think you meant to type 7 point win against the Bears (Titans won 24-17)

 

To add to your point,  in both Texans wins, the Titans blew double digit leads. Titans also did the same thing in the early season win against the Jags. All three games required the offense to engage in last second heroics to win. 

 

[charleytolar]

35 minutes ago, StephenIsLegend said:

Lastly.. we never go for a kill shot. Early in his coaching career, I felt like we did this more. I could be mistaken. But I want to see a day when we consistently just want to bury teams. 

In the defeat of Baltimore in January 2020, Tannehill threw a 46 yard bomb to Khalif Raymond right after we had gone up 7-0.

[Jonboy]

Here are the WRs slated to be FAs and where they rank in PFFs Free Agent Rankings List (of course, some may re-sign with their current teams).

 

#2 Chris Godwin

#3 Allen Robinson

#4 Kenny Golladay

#12 Will Fuller

#24 Juju Smith-Schuster

#25 Corey Davis

 

Then a bit of a drop off to guys like TY Hilton, Curtis Samuel, Marvin Jones Jr, & Nelson Agholor.

 

Considering the expected salary cap and the quality of that group, I don't expect Davis to break the bank.

 

If they do move on from both Davis and Humphries, I wonder if they'd be interested in Juju. He's known for doing the little things, being a good blocker, and primarily playing out of the slot. Then they could draft a speedier replacement for Davis on the outside.

 

I could see Juju being one of those guys who expects to get way more than what he'll be offered and end up signing a 1yr deal.

 

[scine09]

I'm shocked Corey Davis is ranked that low.