One major reason the 2022 Titans failed
The Tennessee Titans failed to live up to expectations in 2022 for a number of reasons. You could easily point to the team's injury issues, difficult schedule, or even the poor offseason decisions by the front office that preceded the underwhelming season as reasons for the team's failure. But one aspect of Tennessee struggles that […]
The Tennessee Titans failed to live up to expectations in 2022 for a number of reasons. You could easily point to the team's injury issues, difficult schedule, or even the poor offseason decisions by the front office that preceded the underwhelming season as reasons for the team's failure.
But one aspect of Tennessee struggles that is overlooked is being one of the more penalized teams in the NFL, something that has been so uncharacteristic of the Titans during the Mike Vrabel era.
In 2022, Tennessee had 111 penalties called against them. That was tied for the 5th most in the NFL, according to NBC Sports.
The Titans were also the second worst team in penalty yards lost, surrendering 957 yards to their opponents last season, behind only the Denver Broncos (971).
2022 marked the first time since Mike Vrabel took over as Titans head coach that Tennessee had finished in the bottom 10 of teams in penalties against. In Vrabel's very first season, 2018, the Titans were actually the least penalized team in the league.
Perhaps it was just the result of lacking talent and experience on this roster, but it was unquestionably a back-breaking flaw of the 2022 team. When you play a run-first, control the ball style of football, giving an opponent free yards of offense or trying to move the ball from behind the sticks is an uphill battle.
We saw how often penalties killed Titans drives in 2022, and they ultimately killed their season. Cleaning that up will be a necessity if the Titans hope to take a step forward and bounce back this fall.
Image via George Walker IV / Tennessean.com-USA TODAY NETWORK
