COLUMN: Chemistry, Confidence and Ryan Tannehill Have Transformed the Tennessee Titans Offense
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Over the last month, the Tennessee Titans offense has been one of the league's best at scoring points. It's a drastic change from the start of the season. When the Titans were sitting at 2-4 after Week Six, the offense was so woefully unwatchable that a member of the Titans media corps […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Over the last month, the Tennessee Titans offense has been one of the league's best at scoring points. It's a drastic change from the start of the season.
When the Titans were sitting at 2-4 after Week Six, the offense was so woefully unwatchable that a member of the Titans media corps recently dubbed it "the retina destroyer."
The change since that low point has been so drastic that it's nearly been dumbfounding. It is, though, at least partially explainable.
NOT JUST ONE GUY FOR THE TITANS
The easy way of explaining the Titans offense's improved success would be to give Ryan Tannehill, who stepped in as starting QB after that 2-4 start to the season, all of the credit. However, that would simply be inaccurate.
Tannehill has certainly played at a near-elite level—he currently leads the entire NFL in yards per pass attempt and passer rating—but it would be unlogical to claim that his operation has led to every single other offensive starter doing their jobs at a higher level.
Because, when a unit makes a 180 turn like the one the Titans offense has, it can't just be because of one guy playing better.
In the Titans’[tps_title][/tps_title] case, every single player has been exponentially better at doing their job over the last seven weeks of the season than they were during the first six.
The offensive line, once completely inept when it came to pass protection and run blocking, has held up really well.
"I don’t think they get enough credit," star RB Derrick Henry said. "They’ve been finishing, dominating the line of scrimmage and it’s been good for us, good for me."
The receivers, once unable to create any big plays, are stepping up and becoming reliable targets for Tannehill.
"We’re doing a better job of staying on the field, converting third downs and we’re doing a better job in the red zone," receiver Tajaé Sharpe said.
Plenty of other players and positional groups have drastically improved, as well.
BETTER UNDERSTANDING
Why is it, then, that everyone has taken their level of play up an infinite number of notches from dismal to extremely effective?
One potential explanation is that, over time, the unit has become more comfortable and its members are understanding the Titans' scheme better.
"I think it’s coming from understanding how it works for this team, in particular," guard Rodger Saffold said.
"A lot of the things that we were doing before, we weren’t quite sure how to do it fundamentally. We were having things slip through the cracks. Whereas, this time, we’re doing a better job at that."
"It’s like any relationship—the more you’re around someone, the more familiar you are with them," offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. "The communication is better."
TITANS "FEEDING OFF OF EACH OTHER"
Another possible explanation is that, as the Titans have stacked some wins together—the team is 6-1 in its last seven games—players have begun to develop confidence.
"You understand how we want to do things and the details of how we do things, and that gets better as the season goes on," Tannehill said.
"Then from that, the confidence grows because you see how those details pay off and the execution level rise, so now the confidence level increases and you can kind of build on that from week to week."
"As we’ve flipped things and started stacking these wins together, we’re feeding off of each other," Henry said.
Both of those explanations certainly make sense, and they probably are the chief factors behind the Titans' monumental increase in offensive efficiency.
WHERE TANNEHILL COMES IN
But, every team in the NFL should be getting more comfortable as the season progresses. Every player's understanding of the scheme they play in should increase with each game.
Yet, the Titans are the only team in the league who have translated that growth into immense and drastically-improved success.
That's where Tannehill comes into the picture. The understanding, comfort and chemistry of the ten guys around him have made the Titans better. His level of play has skyrocketed it all.
"I think that now, where he’s at starting for us, it’s been everything that we’d hoped for having him come in—to be ready to go, to assume that role," head coach Mike Vrabel said.
"He's leading the offense and commanding what he wants," receiver A.J. Brown said. "He expects us to be in places, and he's delivering the ball. He's giving us chances to make plays."
The best part about the new-and-improved Titans offense is that, when the regression inevitably comes, it won't be a regression to league average. The unit is playing at such a high level, now, that just about any amount of regression would keep it around the top of the league.
For the first time in probably a decade, the Titans are playing a sustainable form of winning football that's inching them closer and closer to a playoff berth.
Based on how the season began, that's pretty shocking.
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Cover image: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today
