Brian Callahan responds to 'unbelievable' Titans trend that is no longer unbelievable after beatdown from Lions
The Tennessee Titans lost badly in Detroit, which is surprising to nobody. But the way in which they got killed, the inexplicable sloppiness of their play, wasn't just surprising; it was historic. "This is how you get beat by a really good football team at their place" Head Coach Brian Callahan said postgame. "Turn the […]
The Tennessee Titans lost badly in Detroit, which is surprising to nobody. But the way in which they got killed, the inexplicable sloppiness of their play, wasn't just surprising; it was historic.
"This is how you get beat by a really good football team at their place" Head Coach Brian Callahan said postgame. "Turn the ball over four times and don't take it away once. Give up an unbelievable amount of return yardage in the return game, both in kickoff and punt. Put our defense in short fields, and they scored five touchdowns on all five possessions that they were down in there."
That last part is what is historic: The Titans became the first team in NFL history to allow 5 touchdowns drives of 30 or fewer yards in a single game.
The Lions had more points (52) than they had total offensive plays (47) in Week 8. They scored 52 points with Jared Goff passing for just 85 yards. Don't fact-check me on this, but I'm pretty sure that hasn't happened since the genesis of the forward pass.
Here's the Lions historic day visualized:
This was an all-time outlier day for the Lions offense. How in the world did they manage so many short fields? For them it was simple, the Titans did all the work. Tennessee was sloppy beyond belief on Special Teams and with turnovers, and the Lions simply capitalized.
The Titans allowed 303 yards in total returns (punts, kicks, and interceptions) to the Lions on Sunday.
Not only is that more than their total offensive production on the day—225yds—but it’s more than the offense of the Colts (303), Panthers (284), Bengals (280), Vikings (276), Patriots (247), Seahawks (233), and Raiders (228).
You can check out all 303 yards of returns in one place here:
It was a comical, unfathomable disaster of sloppiness for the Titans. And it led to a historic day of scoring for their very, very, very good opponent. Super Bowl contenders are going to make you pay when you're this careless and execute so poorly.
Another statistic of note is their DVOA. The Lions had the second-best special teams value over average by Aaron Schatz's model since 1979, ironically behind an AFC South divisional matchup from 2007:
Penalties complete this unholy trinity of sloppiness for the Titans, as they had another long day of shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly with the refs.
They came into Week 8 tied for 9th most penalties in the league with 50, and committed 8 more against the Lions for 60 yards. Most came in the 1st half, when they were still in the ball game. And most of their penalties of late have come from the same repeat offenders and position groups.
Bottom line, Brian Callahan has a very sloppy football team on his hands. He has a lot of buttoning-up to do (in a hurry) to get this ship turned in the right direction before the end of his first year.
