Following a disappointing loss to the New York Giants in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season, the Tennessee Titans are surprisingly high in the NFL power rankings published by major outlets.

Sports Illustrated's Connor Orr and NFL.com's Dan Hanzus recently published rankings of every NFL team following the first weekend of games. Orr and Hanzus both ranked the Titans at 17th, and neither one had Tennessee dropping in the rankings more than two spots from their preseason slot.

Orr's takeaway from the game was not the Titans' lack of run defense, failure to convert in the red zone, or even the coaching failures at clock management. Instead, Ryan Tannehill's performance was listed as a reason for Tennessee not dropping very far.

"The Titans, by rule, have to lose an unexpectedly close game to a previously woebegone New York-area team per year. Thankfully, they’ve gotten that out of the way. Ryan Tannehill played an efficient football game with a 56% pass success rate. They’ll be just fine."

– Connor Orr, Sports Illustrated

Ryan Tannehill was more than just efficient in the Titans win.

Pro Football Focus (PFF) had Tannehill as the third-highest graded starting quarterback from around the league in Week 1.

PFF's highest-graded QBs in Week 1 so far

1. Josh Allen – 91.5
2. Kirk Cousins – 85.1
3. Ryan Tannehill – 81.1
4. Justin Herbert – 79.8
5. Jameis Winston – 79.6
6. Lamar Jackson – 76.8
6. Jalen Hurts – 76.8
8. Patrick Mahomes – 71.5
9. Tom Brady – 70.0
10. Davis Mills – 68.1

— Jarad Evans (@Jarad_Evans) September 12, 2022

According to PFF, "the basic grading system at PFF is a plus/minus scale, in which players are rewarded for positive plays above expectation and penalized for negative plays in increments of 0.5. Executing a simple screen pass will earn the quarterback a zero grade, as it is entirely expected."

In other words, Tannehill made things happen for the Titans offense that went beyond what the defense gave him or what the play call created. In a frustrating and sometimes stagnant offense, Tannehill's efficiency downfield was a big positive.

What a clutch dime from Ryan Tannehill ?

?: #NYGvsTEN on FOX
?: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/z4k2UMB2UG pic.twitter.com/JWP6ZoRDkv

— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2022

The Titans' loss is still bad.

In what's expected to be a tight division race and a highly competitive AFC, losing games to inferior opponents is unacceptable, especially when you have every opportunity to put it away.

Hopefully the strong performance from Tannehill on Sunday is a sign of positive things to come, and Orr's prediction of "they'll be just fine" rings true.

Image via Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY NETWORK