Schedule Preview – Titans
July 22, 2022
By Noonefromtampa
This week we preview the week 5 Commander’s opponent the Tennessee Titans the second of four AFC South teams Washington will face in 2022. The Titans started out as one of the original AFL teams as the Houston Oilers. Former Redskins coach Jack Pardee was also coach of the Oilers preceding Jeff Fisher.
Game Details
Opponent: Tennessee Titans
When: Week 5 – Sunday, October 9 at 1:00 P.M.
Where: home, Fed-Ex Field
TV Network: CBS
2021 Titans
Record: 12-5 – divisional round, lost to Bengals
Offense: 17th [passing 24th, rushing 5th]
Defense: 12th [passing 25th, rushing 2nd]
Points Scored: 15th
Points Allowed: 6th
Head-to-Head: 7-6 regular season from 1971 to 2018
Titans Coaching
Mike Vrabel, who played in the NFL for 14 years, is in his fourth season as the Titans head coach, having come over from the Houston Texans in 2018. He has a lifetime 1-0 record against Washington, with the only meeting in the 2018 season. That game featured Washington starting quarterback Josh Johnson who ended the game with a 56-yard pick 6 interception to Malcolm Butler. Vrabel is 41-24-0 in his four years with the Titans and 2-3 in the playoffs.
Todd Downing is a 20 year NFL coaching veteran who has also been with the Vikings, Rams, Lions, Bills and Raiders. He was the tight ends coach and was promoted to the offensive coordinator position in 2021 when Arthur Smith left to take over as the Falcons head coach. The Titans offense took a step back in 2021 and the Titans brought in Tim Kelly as the passing game coordinator to help improve that area.
Shane Bowen is a 6 year NFL coaching veteran who came over to the Titans with Vrabel in 2018. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2021 after Dean Pees retired.
Titans Schemes
The Titans run a variant of Mike Shanahan’s West Coast offense. They rely on the running game to set up the pass, featuring Derrick Henry rushing the ball. Last year, when Henry was out it really affected the offensive production and Ryan Tannehill was not able to carry the offense on his shoulders alone.
The Titans nominally run 3-4 defense but with many different looks and fronts. In 2021, they used a 5-2-4 look, a 4-3-4 look and 4-2-5 look at various times depending on down and distance. They prefer to run two-gap schemes freeing up their linebackers and strong safety to make tackles on running plays. In passing situations, they generate pass rush from the defensive line and blitz just over 20% of the time.
Roster Changes
Key Losses: WR A.J. Brown (trade-PHI), G Rodger Saffold (BUF), G David Quessenberry (BUF), LB Rashaan Evans (ATL), LB Jayon Brown (LV), TE Anthony Frisker (ATL), WR Julio Jones (UFA), CB Janoris Jenkins (UFA), TE MyCole Pruitt (UFA)
Key Additions: TE Austin Hooper (CLE), T Jamarco Jones (SEA), S A.J. Moore (HOU), RB Trenton Cannon (SF)
Draft Picks: WR Treylon Burks (1-18), CB Roger McCreary (2-35), T Nicholas Petit-Frere (3-69), QB Malik Willis (3-86), RB Hassan Haskins (4-131), TE Chigoziem Okonkwo (4-143), WR Kyle Philips (5-163), DB Theo Jackson (6-204), LB Chance Campbell (6-219)
Key Players Returning: QB Ryan Tannehill, RB Derrick Henry, T Taylor Lewin, C Ben Jones, T Dillion Radunz, DE Jeffery Simmons, OLB Harold Landry III, OLB Bud Dupree, CB Caleb Farley, S Amano Hooker, S Kevin Byard, K Randy Bullock
Conclusions
This was a very good team last season and had hopes of playing in the AFC championship game at a minimum but got bounced by the Super Bowl-bound Bengals in their opening playoff game. For a team that was 12-5 last year, there has been some significant roster upheaval during the offseason. A.J. Brown was traded to the Eagles instead of being re-signed. Treylon Burks was drafted to replace him. The problem is that many wide receivers need at least a year to adjust to the pro game. More concerning for the Titans is that Burks has missed a great deal of OTAs and minicamp with various health issues. So, it will be interesting to see what production they get from him this season. They did draft Malik Willis to develop to replace Tannehill if Willis pans out. The defense returns most of their key personnel from last year so I would expect it to be pretty good again this season.
Noone’s Prediction
This game is very hard to predict at this time of the year. If the offense turns out to be one-dimensional when Washington plays them, that could be in Washington’s favor, plus it is a home game for the Commanders. The other side of the coin is that if this is a high performing Titans team again this year it could be a difficult game for Washington to win.
I’m going to pick this game as the one where the special teams unit of the Commanders does something special and Joey Slye kicks the game winning field goal in overtime for a 30-27 win over the Titans.