Moving on, the Week 2 GDT: Titans at Jaguars

[titans0021]

Well, I'm already ready to put the Raiders game behind us. It wasn't great, but it also wasn't a disaster. I don't mean any disrespect to the Jags fans, as I'm thoroughly impressed by their total dismantling of the Texans, but things should get a little easier this week.

First thing, I really believe that we're going to have to come out and spread the defense out. Get Taylor involved. Get Davis some targets early. Open things up for Mariota. The Jags have a pair of quality corners and their pass rush obliterated a terrible Texans offensive line, but we need to send a message. Coming out with a fullback and two tight ends and slamming our heads against 8 and 9 man fronts in the first half isn't going to work. The offensive line is good, but not as good as the national media hypes it up to be.

Defensively, if we don't tackle better, Fournette will kill us. Thankfully (and particularly with Robinson out), the Jags don't possess the type of after the catch monsters that the Raiders gashed us with today.

I don't know what to expect. I want to believe we'll beat Jacksonville. I honestly think we're the better team, but I just don't know. Falling to 0-2 with the Seahawks coming to town would put us in a real bad position.

[footlunder]

1 hour ago, titans0021 said:

Well, I'm already ready to put the Raiders game behind us. It wasn't great, but it also wasn't a disaster. I don't mean any disrespect to the Jags fans, as I'm thoroughly impressed by their total dismantling of the Texans, but things should get a little easier this week.

First thing, I really believe that we're going to have to come out and spread the defense out. Get Taylor involved. Get Davis some targets early. Open things up for Mariota. The Jags have a pair of quality corners and their pass rush obliterated a terrible Texans offensive line, but we need to send a message. Coming out with a fullback and two tight ends and slamming our heads against 8 and 9 man fronts in the first half isn't going to work. The offensive line is good, but not as good as the national media hypes it up to be.

Defensively, if we don't tackle better, Fournette will kill us. Thankfully (and particularly with Robinson out), the Jags don't possess the type of after the catch monsters that the Raiders gashed us with today.

I don't know what to expect. I want to believe we'll beat Jacksonville. I honestly think we're the better team, but I just don't know. Falling to 0-2 with the Seahawks coming to town would put us in a real bad position.

have to limit the long developing plays.  mariota has to get the ball out quick or else jags D is going to eat him up.  

[titans0021]

1 minute ago, footlunder said:

have to limit the long developing plays.  mariota has to get the ball out quick or else jags D is going to eat him up.  

I think you've got to work the PA pass more. Especially on the early downs. I was real surprised by the lack of fakes on first and second down today, especially with Oakland frequently crowding the box. Also need to work in more read-option. Murray's biggest runs came out of it and the two times Marcus kept it ended in an easy touchdown and a 20-yard gain.

The major problem with the long-developing plays is that most times, they come with two, maybe three receivers actually running routes. So even if they're blocked well (which they better be when you're keeping seven or eight in to block), Mariota only has a couple reads and often times nobody is getting separation.

I'm hopeful that today is the worst the offense will look this year. Davis should only be getting closer to 100%, and as he develops some chemistry with Marcus, he looks like he has the ability to be the kind of guy that can high point a ball and make contested catches, something that hasn't been seen around here for a long time. I was stunned by the lack of Taywan Taylor in the gameplan, just seemed silly to me.

And for the love of God, don't run another WR screen to Eric Decker. I have no idea why that was ever drawn up when you have Taylor, Davis and even Delanie on the roster. He just doesn't have the burst to make that play work.

[Titans fan 617]

It's not a must win in regards to the season but it's a must win in the sense of its time to start winning our division games. The Titans need to come out and show everyone why they were picked to go 12-4 11-5. It's time to act like big boys and go out there and beat the teams we should beat. Nothing against the Jags they played great yesterday on the road in a building that was electric to start that game but if the Titans are who we think they are they need to win this game. Losing to Oakland is 1 thing they are a great team with lots of talent but the Titans should not be losing to Bortles and an Allen Robinsonless team.

If the Jags defense is for real and can create lots of pressure then the Titans need to come out and spread the offense like they did yesterday and see a lot of 5 wide quick pass plays to slow down that pass rush.

Defensively we should be ok this week. Robinson being out should help. Hurns and Lee are ok but they arnt Cooper Crabtree and Allan Robinson the Titans should be able to cover these guys better.

We lost to a good team yesterday but it's time to win the division and that starts Sunday we need to a) win a division game and b) win them on the road as well. 

Im taking the Titans this week I think Mariota plays with a little chip on his shoulder  

[Justin615$]

I am so ready to get past this game. Hopefully the Jags don't do what they did last year to us. I hope we just come out and dominate.

Corey Davis looks legit.

I think Adoree Jackson is going to end up being really good.

Oline needs to play better.

Defense needs to tackle better.

[ttitansfan4life]

Offense needs to get their **** together if they want to win because you can't rely on that worthless defense to do anything even against Bortles.  Problem is the offense faces what will likely be a top 5 defense this year, not some terrible defense like Oakland's. Our interior OL needs to step up or Campbell and co. will eat them and Marcus alive.  Decker played more than any other receiver yesterday. That should never happen. Going to be a tough matchup believe it or not.

[RuskieTitan]

Titans get spanked, 23-16, scoring a touchdown in the final 5 minutes and failing the 2 point conversion. Jags don't look impressive in beating us but in the end they still do, and Mularkey is confused why his game plan for the Jaguars that he designed in 2015 isn't working. Perhaps he needs more Supernaw.

[RuskieTitan]

11 hours ago, titans0021 said:

Coming out with a fullback and two tight ends and slamming our heads against 8 and 9 man fronts in the first half isn't going to work. The offensive line is good, but not as good as the national media hypes it up to be.

Sorry man but that's what the exotic smashmouth is all about. Line it up and run the ball, who cares what the other team's personnel is or what their defense looks like.

[RuskieTitan]

Like I'm just so frustrated because I feel like all my worries when we named Mularkey as permanent HC are coming true. We're wasting Mariota's early years, we don't scheme or gameplan for specific opponents, all the stuff you guys are saying that makes 100% sense in terms of how we should approach this game won't happen because we're stuck doing the same thing over and over.

 

At least we have a capable GM, but it's a dang shame we don't have a brilliant mind like Belicheck, Carroll, or Reid that can figure out how to best make use of the players provided. I feel like our roster has so much more talent than recent years, but it's being squandered by a coach that simply isn't on a level to utilize it to the fullest extent.

[RuskieTitan]

For the record, I don't think Mularkey is an awful coach, but to me, he's a guy on the tier with John Fox, Ron Rivera, those types of coaches. Guys who are good for building up a squad, developing a few guys, but are simply stuck in their ways of going about doing this, and get out-coached and out-schemed by better coaches. Jack Del Rio for me was one of them, prior to his tenure in Oakland. But it's clear to see this past Sunday as well as watching the Raiders last year, Del Rio recognized what he has on offense with Carr, and is letting them unleashed to their full potential. I have yet to see anything of that sort from Mularkey. Our offense has talent, but they are being squandered. It's like taking a Ferrari and using it for nothing more than a daily commute to work and back, with an occasional grocery store run. Sure, you might get a few glimpses of open road and put the pedal down, but overall, you are limited by all the traffic and restrictions of the road, instead of going to a race track to unleash it.

[ragevsuall17]

54 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

Titans get spanked, 23-16, scoring a touchdown in the final 5 minutes and failing the 2 point conversion.

Why would we go for 2 there?  Just trying to make sense of this nonsense... (going for 2 there does nothing to improve our chances to win with another TD... and instead hampers it, giving us only a tie with an additional TD and XPT.)

 

53 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

12 hours ago, titans0021 said:

Coming out with a fullback and two tight ends and slamming our heads against 8 and 9 man fronts in the first half isn't going to work. The offensive line is good, but not as good as the national media hypes it up to be.

Sorry man but that's what the exotic smashmouth is all about. Line it up and run the ball, who cares what the other team's personnel is or what their defense looks like.

Fowler was in on 3 snaps all game... and we went 2 TEs on less than 1/3 of snaps... even when we went 2 TEs, Walker and/or Jonnu line up out wide occassionally, so its not like we had 20 plays with multiple in-line TEs).  I understand the frustration... and I understand that frustration can cause us to exaggerate or perceive things that aren't there.  

I'm as frustrated as anyone that we fell flat on our faces yesterday.  I thought our defensive woes would come from not being able to cover... and it was the opposite today... we held our own and didn't give up anything deep outside the Roberts TD... but we just couldn't tackle anyone.  I'm hoping and I'm pretty sure this won't be a recurring issue going forward however. The O-line play is concerning... and while I suspected we'd be rusty on offense due to 2 of our top 3 WRs being out most of the preseason, it reared its ugly head almost exclusively in the red zone.  

 

I stated pre game that there was no room for excuses anymore... that we need to be past moral victories.  I also said that while a win would mean a lot, a loss would not be devastating to our season chances.  And while I don't wanna highlight the moral victory theme here... we do have some positive we can take forward into the remaining 15 games:

• Even with our sluggishness on offense and our inability to tackle, we kept up with the vaunted Raiders offense
• They out-gained us by 9 yards... 359-350
• We didn't turn the ball over
• We converted 50% of our 3rd downs
• We gave up 1 sack (some of that is due to Mariota smartly getting the ball away before pressure got to him)
• We didn't lose the "penalty battle"
• STs numbers were nearly identical (return yardage, punt yardage)

The 2 numbers we have to flip:

• Field position battle... we started outside our own 25 only once.  They started outside their own 25 four times (not including the last series)...  and all 4 resulting in points.  
• TOP - they held the ball more than us by 3+ minutes.  (That's probably directly linked to the last few drives where they started banging it to run down the clock).

As long as we clean up the tackling on D... and we bounce back our offensive red zone efficiency, we'll win a lot more than not if we keep the above going (and change that field position numbers a bit).

[RuskieTitan]

10 minutes ago, ragevsuall17 said:

Why would we go for 2 there?  Just trying to make sense of this nonsense... (going for 2 there does nothing to improve our chances to win with another TD... and instead hampers it, giving us only a tie with an additional TD and XPT.)

25-16 if it makes you feel better. That way we are down 15 and have to score twice plus one 2-point conversion. They get to 25 by kicking 6 field goals on us. Given that Oakland kicked 4, I don't think it's too far-fetched to swap one of those TDs for a FG and throw in another FG for good measure. Better?

[tntitans4life17]

1 hour ago, RuskieTitan said:

Like I'm just so frustrated because I feel like all my worries when we named Mularkey as permanent HC are coming true. We're wasting Mariota's early years, we don't scheme or gameplan for specific opponents, all the stuff you guys are saying that makes 100% sense in terms of how we should approach this game won't happen because we're stuck doing the same thing over and over.

 

At least we have a capable GM, but it's a dang shame we don't have a brilliant mind like Belicheck, Carroll, or Reid that can figure out how to best make use of the players provided. I feel like our roster has so much more talent than recent years, but it's being squandered by a coach that simply isn't on a level to utilize it to the fullest extent.

This is where I am at. This is the most talented team we have had in years and yesterday's games gave me little hope that we will utilize it. I know its early and things could change, but I just don't have high hopes for that.

 

My biggest question at this point, and I am not starting a fire Mularkey bandwagon over one game but with Robinson basically being forced to hire Mularkey as HC when he got here, how long does he have to stick with Mularkey if the team underperforms? If we stay relatively healthy this year and finish 7-9, 8-8 range what type of season will the front office view the season as given the roster talent we have? Will they make Robinson keep a guy at HC now that he has revamped the roster or will they let Robinson have more control at this point over the HC position and what will he do with that control?

[ragevsuall17]

2 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

25-16 if it makes you feel better. That way we are down 15 and have to score twice plus one 2-point conversion. They get to 25 by kicking 6 field goals on us. Given that Oakland kicked 4, I don't think it's too far-fetched to swap one of those TDs for a FG and throw in another FG for good measure. Better?

I'm just thinking if you're going to be bitching, might as well make sense of it.  Just simple football math.  

But if you're saying 6 FGs and a TD next week... I better pick up that Jags K in fantasy!!!

[RuskieTitan]

1 minute ago, ragevsuall17 said:

I'm just thinking if you're going to be bitching, might as well make sense of it.  Just simple football math.  

But if you're saying 6 FGs and a TD next week... I better pick up that Jags K in fantasy!!!

Sorry. I put as much thought into that score prediction as Mularkey does into weekly gameplans.