COLUMN: We Need to Reset Our Expectations for the Titans Following Their Monday Night Win
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ Facing a fourth-and-1 with just 22 seconds left and a three-point deficit, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott kept his offense on the field against the Tennessee Titans' defense. Titans safety Kevin Byard didn't like what he saw and called a timeout. "I felt like guys were scrambling a little bit," he […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ Facing a fourth-and-1 with just 22 seconds left and a three-point deficit, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott kept his offense on the field against the Tennessee Titans' defense.
Titans safety Kevin Byard didn't like what he saw and called a timeout.
"I felt like guys were scrambling a little bit," he said. "We were trying to get the call from the sidelines. In a big situation like, that we had three timeouts, I took it upon myself to call it."
Tennessee's defense regrouped and retook the field. As soon as QB Josh Allen moved from the shotgun to under center, they knew what was coming. DL Jeffery Simmons pounced.
"We know when their quarterback goes under the center like that, we anticipate a sneak," Simmons said. "That was the play I thought they were going to run, and they did.
"The quarterback was right there, he tried to get low, and I put my big arms around him so he couldn't move."
Such was the end of a Monday Night Football thriller that saw the Titans take down the NFL's No. 1 ranked offense and defense at Nissan Stadium, 34-31, amidst a host of injuries to key players.
It was a win that should reset our expectations for what this team is capable of.
A COMPLETE WIN
Following painfully bad losses to the Cardinals and Jets, and a pair of unconvincing wins over Indianapolis and Jacksonville, it became easy to look at the 2021 Titans and wonder, "are they, really, any good?"
They answered that question with a resounding "yes" on Monday night against a team that embarrassed Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on the road eight days prior.
"We feel like we can beat anybody in the league," head coach Mike Vrabel said after the game. "Whether you do or not, that's the mentality we take."
The Titans didn't just defeat an NFL powerhouse on Monday⏤they produced their most complete performance of the season.
Defensively, Tennessee gave Allen and company fits.
Allen took three sacks, two from OLB Harold Landry and one from Simmons, and threw an interception to Byard. The Titans suffocated Buffalo in the red zone, keeping them out of the end zone on three of their five trips inside the 20.
The defense was playing so strongly that, when Buffalo kept its offense and bypassed a game-tying field goal try on the final series of the game, the Titans' offense was thankful.
"We were happy they were going for it," center Ben Jones said. "We have all the faith in the world in our defense."
Offensively, the Titans finally found some balance.
RB Derrick Henry was his usual dominant self, finding the end zone three times and running for 143 yards, highlighted by a 76-yard scamper in the second quarter.
"We continue to jump on Derrick's back. He's willing and able to carry us," Vrabel said.
But the Titans' passing game also came alive against Buffalo for the first time in 2021, led by WR A.J. Brown.
Brown was a menace for Buffalo's defense over the middle of the field, consistently getting wide open, especially against play action.
He finished the game with nine catches for 91 yards, a season-high total for him.
"He was huge tonight, had some really big plays coming off the play-action," QB Ryan Tannehill said. "Getting open by a lot, being able to catch and run."
RESURRECTED EXPECTATIONS
Even after such an impressive showing, it's important to remember that the Titans are still very capable of disappointment. Under Vrabel, they've tended to follow up their best performances with duds.
But the Titans' win over Buffalo proved that their frustrating but mostly effective "struggle against bad teams, rise to the occasion against the best of the best" formula remains active.
That formula, though simultaneously maddening and confounding, is certainly capable of leading to a Super Bowl or, at the very least, winning a division and making a playoff run.
Those were, after all, the expectations for the Titans heading into the 2021 season.
And, though they may have seemed like a somewhat distant memory on Monday morning, they were resurrected by the end of the night.
Cover image: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today
