Titans' loss to Texans should not be blamed on coaching
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans suffered a brutal overtime loss to the division rival Houston Texans on Sunday in what very well could have been the worst game of Derrick Henry's NFL career. Henry finished the day with just nine rushing yards on 16 carries. That's the lowest total of his career since he took […]
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans suffered a brutal overtime loss to the division rival Houston Texans on Sunday in what very well could have been the worst game of Derrick Henry's NFL career.
Henry finished the day with just nine rushing yards on 16 carries. That's the lowest total of his career since he took over as the full-time starter in Tennessee. In total, Henry touched the football 20 times on Sunday and netted just 10 yards.
With the Titans officially being eliminated from playoff contention, there's plenty of blame to go around. Most Titans fans seem to be directing it at the coaching staff.
The Titans' coaching staff loves to talk about getting into "third down and manageable" and staying on schedule. But 15 of Tennessee's 24 first down calls were runs that produced a total of…negative 2 yards. Naturally, everyone watching the game began to ask the same question: Why keep going to something that isn't working and is putting you behind the chains?
"Well, we have to be able to establish a run, whether that's with Derrick (Henry), whether that's Tyjae (Spears), whether that's Jonathan Ward," said Titans head coach Mike Vrabel when asked about the frequency of running plays after the game. "We've won a lot of football games with that formula. And we've seen where it's been some inefficient runs, and then we break one and turn things around, and that didn't happen today."
"I think that when we don't play well or we don't block or protect, I think that forces negative plays and non-efficient plays," Vrabel continued. "So whether we call a run or a pass, we're still going to have to block and execute."
Now, I know some of this isn't what Titans fans want to hear. Nobody cares if you won football games back in 2020 using your outdated offensive approach. People care about the 5-16 record in your last 21 games. But for the most part, Vrabel is absolutely right.
Establishing the run is essential to operating a dynamic and unpredictable offense. The run sets up the pass. The pass sets up the run. We've heard it all before. Just look at both of the big passing plays to Treylon Burks on Sunday. Two play-action passes that netted 57 yards of offense for Tennessee. You can't run play-action if the threat of a run isn't believable.
Ultimately, Tennessee's biggest issue isn't playcalling. It's not Derrick Henry. It's not even Mike Vrabel's philosophy. It has always been the offensive line and their inability to block for Henry or protect Will Levis.
The 2023 Titans have allowed 50 sacks this season, which is already more than they gave up in 17 games last year.
According to a stat shared by ESPN's Turron Davenport, "Derrick Henry was first contacted at or behind the line of scrimmage on 9 of his 16 rushes. He averaged -0.6 yards per rush before contact" on Sunday. The future Hall of Fame running back never stood a chance against a Texans defense that had 12 tackles for loss in the game.
Sunday's loss was not a coaching failure. It was a failure up front that started with a complete lack of communication on the offensive line.
"I think maybe we had some trouble with assignments and guys not being precise there," said rookie offensive lineman Peter Skoronski after the game. "I can think of a few plays myself. It's hard to know without watching, but executing on the same page."
"I don't think anything was too outside the box," Skoronski said of the Texans defense. "Even if it was, you just have to communicate and handle that. At times, we really didn't do that."
Expecting Mike Vrabel and Tim Kelly to completely abandon the run isn't a realistic expectation. That's especially true when the pass protection is no better than the run blocking and your quarterback gets sacked seven times.
The Titans coaching staff is working with what they have. But as Vrabel said after the game, when you can't block anyone, it makes for a long day at the office.
Will Levis updates his own injury after Titans loss to Texans
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