Tennessee Titans get early test against the Buffalo Bills
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans know when they will face at least one of their 2022 opponents ahead of Thursday night's NFL schedule release. Tennessee will travel to Orchard Park to face the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 2. Buffalo represents a familiar foe, to be sure. Including this coming season, the Titans […]
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans know when they will face at least one of their 2022 opponents ahead of Thursday night's NFL schedule release. Tennessee will travel to Orchard Park to face the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 2.
Buffalo represents a familiar foe, to be sure.
Including this coming season, the Titans have played (or will play) the Bills in each of the last five years. Tennessee is 2-2 against Buffalo and winners of the last two contests since coach Mike Vrabel began his tenure in 2018. It has become a marque match-up in the AFC with an all-time record of 29-17 in favor of the Houston Oilers/Titans franchise dating back to 1960.
When these two teams meet in 2022, drama is certain to follow.
Titans get an early opportunity to prove themselves
Vrabel's team will be heavily scrutinized this season, particularly on offense.
With star receiver A.J. Brown traded away, quarterback Ryan Tannehill fighting for his job and all the questions in the world about running back Derrick Henry's rebound, the Bills present a tough test. Buffalo's defense was tops in the NFL last year, holding opponents to a paltry 18.3 points per game. The Kansas City Chiefs hung 42 on that unit in the AFC Divisional Round, however, undoing a superhuman effort by Bills quarterback Josh Allen to try and keep them in that game.
Buffalo's offseason moves reflect a direct response to that game.
The Bills swapped out basically their entire defensive front in free agency. Adding defensive tackles Tim Settle, DaQuan Jones and Jordan Phillips with defensive ends Von Miller and Shaq Lawson give that unit some extra teeth. Tannehill, Henry and Brown lit up Buffalo for 34 points in 2021, but it was the Tennessee defense that saved the day. Allen tried to sneak it on fourth-and-inches with less than 30 seconds left on the clock and landed just short in the arms of defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons.
It was a statement win for the Titans, and one that Buffalo will not soon forget.
Bills will look to exploit Tennessee's growing pains
It is more than fair to expect some.
Tennessee's offense will field at least five new starters this season. As Tannehill looks to move past the Titans catastrophic playoff performance and all of the scorn that followed it, he will do so without his most reliable weapon. Brown ranked second among qualified receivers in the last two seasons with 29% of Tennessee's targets per route behind only Davante Adams (33%).
It is the one place pundits, analysts and fans could have no doubts about the Titans offense. Now, that reliability plays in Philadelphia for $25 million a year.
Week 2 will be far too early on in a 17-game sample to judge what the new-look Tennessee unit will be capable of. Buffalo certainly will not make it easy. How quickly Tannehill gels with the most recent roster additions will be on full display for a nationally televised audience.
How the Titans quarterback responds to the early road challenge will either quiet the calls for his job, or amplify them.
Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.
