Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill went 16/34 passing for 198 yards and 3 INTs. With Tannehill appearing to regress, the question now is how long of a leash does Tannehill get from Mike Vrabel, before the team looks towards Malik Willis and Will Levis as the next man up.

Titans QB Ryan Tannehill Film Breakdown

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Disclaimer: The following is a transcript of a YouTube video titled “Should the Titans BENCH Ryan Tannehill?” The content is for informational purposes only and was originally presented in video format.

Ryan Tannehill had the worst game of his Tennessee Titans career against the New Orleans Saints. I know the Cincinnati Bengals playoff game is up there for a lot of people, but you got to keep in mind he at least offset his turnovers in that game with some really nice throws. This performance was just irredeemably bad. 

He was 16 for 34, 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, but he could have easily thrown 5 or 6, and his accuracy was terrible. Tennessee's receivers didn't play great, but when they were open, you couldn't count on Tannehill to get it there accurately. 

In the aftermath of a loss, I think we're all guilty of trying to assign blame to one person when the reality is usually a lot more nuanced. But I'm comfortable putting this loss on Tannehill, not that everyone played a perfect game, but the Titans are 1-0 if they had even below average quarterback play in Week 1. 

We're gonna go chronologically looking through all of Tannehill's bad plays. This first one, I really like the play design. Tyjae Spears is gonna delay his release to get Marshon Lattimore to drift inside and bracket DeAndre Hopkins and create space for the hole shot. 

This is a difficult throw, nowhere near his worst play of the day, but he needs to be earlier and put a little bit less air on this. He had a couple interceptions on jump balls to Hopkins, and I will say I don't have a problem with Tannehill giving him those 50/50 balls even if he isn't wide open.

The Tennessee Titans don't have a bunch of elite separators, so to have an explosive passing game, Ryan Tannehill has to be more aggressive than he was last season, and at least try to draw some pass interference calls. But he needs to move up in the pocket here so he can at least step into this throw. 

He has to release off his back foot and Hopkins doesn't even have a chance to play the ball here. Now, there's nobody open and it's third down, so this isn't a terrible decision, but he's got to give himself space to put this in a safer spot.

This next one's a throw and read that Ryan Tannehill's been executing since he got to Tennessee. It's play action, max protect, you've got a corner post and a deep over. Nobody picks up Chigoziem Okonkwo, so you've got an easy 40 yard gain, but he forces it to Chris Moore, who has a step, but the pass is underthrown and it gets tipped up to Marcus May. This is a bad throw, but the decision is inexcusable.

His third interception, I'm actually not sure I blame Tannehill for this. If you watch the video I did on DeAndre Hopkins, I talked about how he doesn't really win over the top that much anymore. 

Most vertical routes, if you haven't stacked the receiver by a certain landmark (usually 7-10 yards), the receiver's going to cut that off to a back shoulder fade. So on this play, Paulson Adebo lands this two hand punch at the line of scrimmage. DeAndre Hopkins can't get any separation down the field, and at the moment Ryan Tannehill releases the ball, they're at the exact same point vertically.

So to me, this is the correct read from Tannehill to throw this back shoulder. But Hopkins extends his route, and Paulson Adebo falls off and gets an easy interception. Ultimately, this comes down to communication between Hopkins and Tannehill. 

But I'm gonna give Tannehill a pass for this one. Another nice play design here. They fake outside zone into a flea. Chig leaks out down the sideline and Tannehill overthrows him. Right here, they've got an Ohio concept with a go route from Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and an out route from Hopkins. 

Again, I was very underwhelmed by Hopkins' ability to separate in this game. The New Orleans Saints have one of the best cornerback rooms in the league, but he really seems to be lacking the ability to get out of his brakes quickly.

Throwing this deep out from the far hash, the ball has to be out of his hand before the receiver breaks because there isn't much space to work with, and the longer you wait, the tighter this angle gets for the corner to break on the ball. 

Good job by Hopkins to break up the pass, but this could have easily been an interception. On this play, they're running a keeper. Really good job by Tim Kelly of putting this flat defender in conflict. Chig has leverage on Pete Werner so the corner stays underneath and Tyjae Spears runs this wheel route off the jet motion and nobody picks him up. 

Again, it's a tough throw rolling out to his left, but there's so much room for error. He could have underthrown this inside, and Tyjae Spears still might have scored a touchdown. And then last play, this is another one that should have been intercepted. 

Lattimore's getting depth, so Tannehill thinks the flat route's gonna be open, but he makes a quick break out of his pedal and gets in the passing window. 

So the big conversation after this game is how long of a leash should Ryan Tannehill have. I do think this was an outlier performance, even if Tannehill's regressed from what he's been over the last few years.

I still expect him to be better than what he showed week one. But this shotgun heavy offense doesn't really play to his strengths. He's never been great at sitting in the pocket, picking apart defenses. He's much more of an under center, play action shot quarterback. And athletically, he doesn't seem to be at 100%. Watching him try to maneuver the pocket, it looks like he's moving in quicksand. 

So it's really gonna come down to wins and losses. If and when the Titans are out of realistic playoff contention, I would definitely put in Willis or Levis, because you gotta have some idea of what you have in those two before you get to the offseason.

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