Monday, January 20, 2020

Quick Thoughts: The Titans & the AFC Championship Game

I'm kind of mourning the Titans' postseason today.  Sally and I spent the entire weekend at a singing and dancing competition with our girls.  I found myself sitting alongside all the other Dance Dads all weekend long, impatiently awaiting the start of yesterday's game.  I won't say that fatherly intensity had reached a fever pitch by the time we got to kickoff, but I will note that the hotel bar was crammed to bursting with dads looking for something to think about besides costume changes and jazz hands.



That stuff is great and all, but most of us have no idea what we're watching out there.


The Titans got off to a good start, but as RB Derrick Henry said himself after the game, Tennessee "came up a little short against a good team."

I thought the Titans had a good plan, especially on defense.  They limited the Chiefs' big plays, forcing the kinds of long drives that are very hard to consistently complete.  Alas, QB Patrick Mahomes and his teammates completed nearly all of them anyway, creating a situation that inverted the Titans' game plan on offense.  The Chiefs dominated time-of-possession.

What can you do?


Mahomes had an answer for everything.  Under pressure on 3rd-and-long with multiple defenders in pursuit, and he still put many, many balls directly on target down the field.  No one else has been able to do that this postseason, and it absolutely killed Tennessee.

The Titans were fine on offense until the third quarter, but two long Chiefs' drives and a couple of Tennessee three-and-outs pretty much sealed it.  Honestly, I wasn't expected Henry to run particularly well in this game -- he's been Tennessee's whole offense for three weeks in a row, so obviously, Kansas City was going to have to sell out to stop him, plus he's had 30+ carries a few too many weeks back-to-back to remain at peak efficiency -- but though QB Ryan Tannehill was okay, he wasn't anywhere near out-dueling Mahomes.  That was especially true in the second half, once Kansas City's pass rush started going.

But hey, that's the advantage of winning time-of-possession.


It was a good season and an especially good postseason, and I think Titans fans have a lot to be excited about.  However, it's worth mentioning that Tannehill and Henry are both be free agents.  Personally, I like Tannehill as the team's quarterback.  He took them from 2-4 afterthoughts to the AFC Championship game.  There's clearly not a better option available on the market for a team that's just entering its championship window, and that includes a potentially free agent Tom Brady, whose performance is liable to fall off a cliff next year, especially if he's on a new team.  You therefore want to offer Tannehill a good-looking deal and hope to keep him playing well for at least the next three years.  Really, the guy has been everything you could have possibly hoped he would be when you signed him.

Derrick Henry is in a similar situation but moreso.  He's 26 years old, so he's probably got three or so good years left in him at his position, but Tennessee put a lot of wear on his body this year, and that's not ideal.  It's worth noting, too, that he was the whole running game for a run-heavy team.  The Titans obviously need to resign him, but they also need to draft another back -- badly.  When Henry was out, Tennessee's running game was garbage.  That's a bad problem to have.  The New York Giants were less reliant on Saquon Barkley than the Titans were reliant on Derrick Henry.


For what it's worth, the Titans could also use a pass rusher.  At this point, that's arguably the team's most glaring need.

And with that, football season is effectively over.  It makes me sad.  Granted, we're just hitting ski season's peak, and college lacrosse is right around the corner, but nothing gets me going like football.  It's a truly great game.
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