5 Winners and 5 Losers from the Tennessee Titans’ so-close 20-24 loss to Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2
The Titans responded with real life in Week 2, which is the nice part. The less nice part is the frustrating way in which they lost to fall to 0-2.
The Tennessee Titans lost a tight one to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, falling 20-24 in a game that came down to the wire. For a team that hasn’t played many competitive games in recent memory, this one had a different feel.
The Titans had a chance to seal it late, and when they couldn’t, the Eagles capitalized with a touchdown instead of a field goal to take the four-point victory. There were plenty of takeaways from a game that was far closer than most expected, so let’s break down the winners and losers.
Winner: adjustments
This was a team that, by coach Robert Saleh’s own admission, went into halftime against the Jets in Week 1 expecting to come out looking better and instead fell apart.
This week was a very similar first-half story.
Tennessee went into the break down 14-10, but the score was not reflective of how thoroughly the Eagles were controlling the game. The Titans possessed the ball for just over eight minutes of the first 30. They had fewer than 100 yards of offense and were buoyed only by two explosive plays and an interception return.
The second half was a different story. The Titans came out and took it to Philadelphia, and I do think they outplayed the Eagles after halftime. The problem was that it was too little, too late, and the handful of key execution moments went Philly’s way. The Eagles looked like the more veteran, more experienced team in those spots. That’s something Tennessee will have to improve upon with time.
Loser: Time of possession
For the second straight week, Tennessee was largely crushed in the T.O.P. battle. The Eagles held the ball for 36.5 of the 60 minutes while Tennessee had it for just 23.5, and the disparity was much worse before the second-half rally. The defense struggled to get off the field, and the offense couldn’t maintain drives or find any rhythm because of how few opportunities it had.
This team needs more complementary football, which it did finally flash late in this game. They cannot allow opponents to grind the clock down, keeping their offense on the sideline and out of rhythm. This was a loser in Week 1, and it was a loser again on Sunday.
Winner: Tony Pollard
Tony Pollard looked good in this game! He finished with 14 carries for 64 yards, leading the Titans in both attempts and yards. He and Tyjae Spears formed a nice one-two punch, but Pollard out-snapped Spears 2-to-1 and had a couple of bursts where he was running hard and getting to the second and third level. Some of those runs provided a big boost to the offense, especially in the second half when the Titans started to build momentum.
Loser: Zone defense
The Titans’ zone defense was abominable on Sunday. The secondary was simply untenable, and it was a major reason the defense struggled as badly as it did. Philadelphia was able to play toss and catch for the majority of the game with significant ease.
A big part of that likely traces back to the fact that starting outside cornerback Cor’Dale Flott went down on Friday with soreness and could not play (somewhat surprisingly), forcing backup Micah Robinson into extended action on the outside. Robinson in particular seemed to be getting taken advantage of, and it appeared the Titans were scared to play much man coverage as a result.
They leaned heavily on zone, and it got absolutely carved up.
Saleh spoke to this disconnect in his postgame press conference, pointing out that this team still needs to trust the fundamentals of the scheme and understand that a lot of what they’re seeing is the same thing over and over. If they lean on those fundamentals, the scheme will put them in the right place at the right time in his mind.
Right now, they are absolutely not getting to the right place on time. It’s really bad.
Winner: Elic Ayomanor
Ayomanor led the team in receiving on Sunday with two catches on three targets for 69 yards, both explosive plays, averaging 34.5 yards per catch. One of his targets that did not result in a catch should have been a touchdown. He remains the only Titan with a receiving touchdown on the season after his score in Week 1. His day also included a nasty hurdle on what Titans fans thought might have been the game-winning drive.
He’s just flat-put a much-improved receiver, and it is fair to wonder at this point if he isn’t one of the better offensive weapons on this team. He deserves more playing time and deserves to be written into the mid-to-long-term future of this roster. I’ve been incredibly bullish on him, and I’ll be honest; my priors keep getting confirmed!
Loser: Stops on defensive money downs
The Titans talked last week about wanting to force opponents into third-and-long situations so the defensive line could tee off and rush the passer. They got some of those looks on Sunday, and on one of them, Jeffrey Simmons got to Jalen Hurts in time to affect his throw, taking enough juice off the ball for a Michael Robinson interception that gave the Titans a late fourth-quarter lead. But too many other instances, especially early in the game (a third-and-12, a third-and-8, a pair of fourth downs), saw the Eagles drop back and find DeVonta Smith and Dontavian Wicks with relative ease. The pass rush was not getting home in time, and the secondary, again tied to the zone issues, was not good enough.
Winner: Amani Hooker and Marcus Harris ball-hawking
Two interceptions for the Titans on Sunday gave them a 2-0 edge in the turnover battle, which is a big reason they were in the game at all. On the first Eagles drive, Philadelphia marched down the field into the red zone before Hurts threw a total meatball sub into the right corner of the end zone.
Amani Hooker read his eyes, jumped the pass, and returned the interception 92 yards to set up the Titans’ opening touchdown. Late in the game, Simmons affected Hurts’ throw and Marcus Harris hauled in an over-the-shoulder interception with wide-receiver-caliber ball skills. Both deserve praise for the shining moments in an otherwise rough day for the Tennessee secondary.
Loser: The expensive wide receiver tandem
A huge part of the Titans’ offseason investment went into 4th overall pick Carnell Tate and veteran Wan’Dale Robinson. The two of them were largely invisible on Sunday.
Tate was targeted five times and finished with three catches for 27 yards, a fine but underwhelming day that made him just the fourth receiver on the team in total yardage. Robinson, who was the PPR darling throughout camp catching everything in sight, had just one target and one catch for nine yards. The Eagles did an excellent job taking both of them away.
Do I think that’s what Robinson is going to be long-term for this team? I see no way that happens in the Brian Daboll offense based on what we saw all throughout camp. But if the Titans are this invested in those two being the foundation of their receiving game, they need a lot more from that tandem. And that indictment extends to Cam Ward as much as it does to the receivers themselves.
Winner: Nick Singleton
Rookie running back Nick Singleton got in there suddenly on the best drive of the Titans’ day. It ended up being the Singleton and Calvin Ridley drive, with both getting involved multiple times on a 69-yard touchdown march that equalized the score at 17-17 in the second half.
Singleton’s box score (four carries for 10 yards, 2.5 yards per carry) does not tell the full story. Watching him, he had more pop than the numbers suggest. He brought juice in a moment the other backs weren’t providing and felt like a genuine change of pace that got the ball rolling on that drive. Credit to the coaching staff for getting him on the field. It’s something to watch going forward…
Loser: Unpolished moments in a winnable game
The last loser is the broadest one. The difference in this fairly contested game was that the Titans were the less experienced, younger team that didn’t know how to win as much as the opponent did. Saleh said in his postgame press conference that he felt like the Titans outplayed the Eagles, and what frustrated him was that they outplayed them except for the key money-down moments where they got out-executed. That’s the mark of teams still on the youthful end of the curve, the ones that haven’t yet gotten over the hump.
There are no moral victories in football. But this felt like a far better place to be than being incompetent, thoroughly outplayed, and completely dysfunctional. The Titans had a couple of key execution breakdowns and a couple of drive-killing penalties. That’s the kind of stuff young, inexperienced teams have to clean up if they want to take the final step into consistent competitiveness.
