Tennessee Titans: Offense Must Learn from Tom Brady's Energy Level and Improve Their Own
The Tennessee Titans participated in their first of a pair of joint practices with the New England Patriots on Wednesday. During the practice, one major difference between the two team's offenses, aside from the quality of quarterback play, presented itself. On the far-field at the Titans' training facility, future Hall of Famer Tom Brady ran […]
The Tennessee Titans participated in their first of a pair of joint practices with the New England Patriots on Wednesday. During the practice, one major difference between the two team's offenses, aside from the quality of quarterback play, presented itself.
On the far-field at the Titans' training facility, future Hall of Famer Tom Brady ran a clean operation. He got the Patriots offense in and out of the huddle quickly, executed plays well, and took ownership of his role. His group ran at a high energy level.
On the near field, where the Titans' offense spent the day, things were much different. A mostly lethargic looking group struggled to do anything of note against a Patriots defense that frequently had their way. QB Marcus Mariota was up-and-down, and his receivers were right there with him in that regard.
What caused this drastic difference? The answer is a lack of energy from the Titans offense, something that has been plaguing them for weeks.
That's not to say that the Titans offense is not loud enough or doesn't have enough swagger. As head coach Mike Vrabel correctly pointed out on Wednesday, energy with a football team is not about making noise or having a bunch of "rah-rah" guys.
"I think there’s a fine line," Vrabel said, "between all those things that would be urgency and then a bunch of cheerleaders chirping. The one thing we don’t ever want in this organization is frontrunners…Again, the cheerleaders, we got cheerleaders. The organization pays cheerleaders."
Rather, energy comes down to attitude. Particularly, a football team that wants to have a good level of energy must have an attitude of urgency. This can express itself in a number of ways.
"I think the way we take the field," Vrabel said, "I think that when we leave the building, I’m trying to evaluate are we running on the field, are we continuing to during drives as the practices get late in the day, were we getting out of the huddle. Is the communication quick on defense?"
Mine and many others' primary criticism of the Titans' offense through 14 Training Camp practices would be a lack of urgency. The problem isn't that they aren't spraying Gatorade on each other after a big play or hooting and hollering all time, it's that they seem to be handling their frequent struggles in a very nonschalant manner.
Obviously, no NFL player in their right mind is going to give a reporter an answer that accurately self-criticizes their entire unit when things are going badly. Despite the fact that we may want that sometimes, no one's going to get a quote along the lines of, "Yeah, it's bad. We need to blow it all up. Bring in the nuclear bombs."
But on the field, when the press is sequestered to the sideline, there is still no urgency. There is still a lackadaisical attitude.
Marcus Mariota, who never ever criticizes anything or anyone aside from himself, admitted that the offense's sense of urgency could stand to improve. "I think at times it’s great," he said, "and at times it can be a little better. Moving forward, Coach Vrabel talks about having a sense of urgency. For us, we have to sustain that throughout practice. In the huddle you can hear guys talking about it. We understand what we need to do and I think we can get better at that."
He continued to explain how he thinks the offense can achieve some improvement in that regard. "I think when it comes down to it, we have to live up to the standard that we’ve all kind of set for ourselves. It’s going to be hot, things aren’t always going to go your way. You just kind of have to take it on the chin and move on. When it’s all said and done, if you have a sense of urgency and you play with effort, more times than not you’ll be in a good spot."
The question that remains, at least for me, is this: do energy and urgency feed off of making plays, or is it the other way around? Because Vrabel, Mariota, and several other Titans players have provided the phrase "we've got to make a play" when asked how to fix the middling offense's urgency issues.
"Energy is brought by making plays on the field," Vrabel said, "knowing what to do, finishing—whether it be a block downfield, an extra effort run, a great catch. The people that make plays are the ones that bring energy, so that’s who we would count on."
Yet, it seems to only make sense that a unit with high levels of energy and urgency would be more prone to making plays than one without. Because the Titans offense, which has looked downright awful in the red zone over the last couple of weeks, has neither increased their urgency nor made plays.
Perhaps the frequent absences of leaders Taylor Lewan—who's been working with the second team since he announced an impending four-game suspension—and Delanie Walker—who's been on a strict maintenance plan—has had something to do with the problem. After all, Mariota certainly isn't the most vocal quarterback in the world.
Regardless of the reason or reasons behind them, the problems need to stop. There was a clear difference in how the Patriots and Titans ran their respective offenses on Wednesday, and there's no reason to think that the same difference won't also be present on Thursday.
As the age-old maxim goes: practice like you play, because you'll play like you practice.
Chalking all of this up to a preseason overreaction would be bit naive. Production, scheming, and personnel groupings change from the preseason to games that actually count. An entire unit's attitude does not, and it shouldn't have to.
Cover image: Ed Wolfstein & Steve Roberts/USA Today
