Tennessee Titans: Todd Downing's Primary Responsibility in 2021
New Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing should have one major responsibility in 2021: getting out of the way. Downing will have an abundance of quality weapons at his disposal in his first year calling the shots for the Titans' offense, and he will be successful if he can simply let those players do what […]
New Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing should have one major responsibility in 2021: getting out of the way.
Downing will have an abundance of quality weapons at his disposal in his first year calling the shots for the Titans' offense, and he will be successful if he can simply let those players do what they do well.
Far too often, young NFL play-callers try to get cute and make themselves look like offensive geniuses instead of simply catering to their available talent.
As a result, plenty of talented offenses in the recent history of the NFL have gone to waste. That's because, when play-callers try to promote themselves instead of the team, bad things can happen.
Offensive success in the NFL doesn't require having a genius play-caller, which is a good thing. Not every offensive coordinator has to be "the next" Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan.
Luckily for the Titans, Downing seems to understand that.
“I’m not as interested in putting the ‘Todd Downing’ stamp on this offense as I am coming up with the right recipe for the ingredients we have,” he said.
Downing will certainly have plenty of high-quality ingredients to choose from.
All-Pro RB Derrick Henry, All-Pro WR Julio Jones, Pro Bowl WR A.J. Brown, and Pro Bowl QB Ryan Tannehill will all be at Downing's disposal in 2021.
It shouldn't take much creativity for Downing to get really good production out of that caliber of talent.
Instead of trying to trick defenses or be crafty, Downing needs to get out of the way. He needs to let Henry run the ball, and he needs to let Tannehill throw the ball to his top-tier weapons on the outside.
If he does, the Titans' offense can go from "looking good on paper" to having success in game situations.
Cover image: George Walker IV/The Tennessean via pool
