{"id":34608,"date":"2022-11-12T19:07:22","date_gmt":"2022-11-13T00:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=34608"},"modified":"2022-11-12T19:07:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T00:07:22","slug":"the-b-gap-mike-vrabels-titans-keep-winning-but-best-is-yet-to-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2022\/11\/12\/the-b-gap-mike-vrabels-titans-keep-winning-but-best-is-yet-to-come\/","title":{"rendered":"The B-Gap: Mike Vrabel’s Titans keep winning, but best is yet to come"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a clich\u00e9 in the NFL that is almost as old as the sport itself. A true <\/span>football thing: <\/span><\/i>There are no moral victories in football.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, in reality, there are.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tennessee Titans\u2019 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in Week 9 was brimming with bright spots\u200a, despite their head coach\u2019s insistence in reiterating that clich\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no moral victories,\u201d Mike Vrabel said in his postgame press conference on Sunday night. \u201cWe\u2019ve came over here to win. That\u2019s all we were thinking about doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vrabel is right: the Titans didn\u2019t win. But given how many of the cards were stacked against them \u200a\u2014 \u200athe injured starting quarterback, the injured first-round rookie wide receiver, the banged up offensive line, and the third-round rookie quarterback making his second career start \u200a\u2014 \u200athe 20\u201317 overtime loss against a bona fide Super Bowl contender certainly <\/span>felt <\/span><\/i>like a win.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vrabel will never admit it, but there were plenty of moral victories on Sunday night. And he seemed committed to acknowledging them\u200a\u2014 indirectly, of course\u200a\u2014 throughout his press conference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury, was mentioned, Vrabel defiantly redirected the attention back to the players on the field. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many guys that busted their a– out there tonight,\u201d he said. The players that Vrabel is referencing <\/span>lost <\/span><\/i>the game, but he was still \u201cmore than happy\u201d to passionately defend their performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked about the play of Tannehill\u2019s replacement\u200a\u2014\u200arookie Malik Willis\u200a\u2014who finished the game with five completed passes, 80 passing yards and a 49.0 passer rating, Vrabel\u2019s immediate response wasn\u2019t to concede that his play wasn\u2019t good enough. Instead, he praised it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I tell you what, he threw some really nice deep balls,\u201d he said of the 87th overall pick out of Liberty, who led the Titans\u2019 offense to just 57 total passing yards in almost five quarters. Willis, by all metrics, had a horrific game, but Vrabel didn\u2019t appear concerned enough with his struggles to even acknowledge them.<\/span><\/p>\n

And why would he be?<\/span><\/p>\n

His rookie quarterback, widely accepted as a long-term project who wouldn\u2019t be ready to start in his rookie year, had no business hanging with Patrick Mahomes. <\/span><\/p>\n

The same can be said for the Titans themselves, who have been clear in their commitment to retooling a roster that was good, but never quite good enough to seriously contend for a Super Bowl.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: George Walker IV \/ The Tennessean via Associated Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Titans crashed out of last season\u2019s playoffs, losing in the AFC Championship Game, Wild Card Game, then Divisional Round in three straight years, respectively. Vrabel and General Manager Jon Robinson knew the time for change had come.<\/span><\/p>\n

So change came; star wide receiver AJ Brown was traded to the Eagles and Julio Jones was cut, replaced with rookie first-round pick Treylon Burks and veteran Robert Woods. Tannehill remained, but the Titans\u2019 selection of Willis in the third-round\u2014a player whose potential far exceeded that of most non-first-round quarterbacks\u200a\u2014\u200aloudly flipped the hourglass on his career in Tennessee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes this 2022 season so unusual for Vrabel. The goalposts are different\u200a; the aim is not a Super Bowl, or Super Bowl contention or even a playoff appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n

The goal is progress. Development among the team\u2019s fresh young core (Willis, Burks and co.) amidst simultaneous refinement of the foundational pieces that have been deemed worthy enough to stick around\u200a. That doesn\u2019t appear in the wins or losses column. Vrabel may say that winning is \u201call we\u2019re thinking about doing,” but that, for lack of a better term, is a lie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Andrew Nelles\/The Tennessean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet here the Titans are, again firmly in the lead in the AFC South with no conceivable obstacle on their way to another playoff appearance.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a testament to Vrabel and his staff, and to the direction they are taking the franchise by sacrificing their immediate success for long-term profit. The foundation that Vrabel has built, and the Titans\u2019 unbreakable identity that comes with it, has never looked stronger.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the story of their performance at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night. The defense played about as well as any unit can against Patrick Mahomes\u2014silencing Kansas City\u2019s run game and physically tormenting the Chiefs\u2019 receivers in man coverage, forcing the league\u2019s best quarterback to beat them by himself. Mahomes, of course, <\/span>did <\/span><\/i>beat them by himself, after three quarters of timely plays from the Titans\u2019 defense that included a crucial third-down sack and an interception on the Chiefs’ own 38 yard line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mahomes finished with a flattering 446 passing yards\u200a, every single yard worked tirelessly for, and most purely the result of his unassailable creativity in the scramble drill, a corner the Titans\u2019 defense did excellently well to force him into. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tennessee ran out of gas in the fourth quarter\u200a after endlessly chasing Mahomes around for the first three, best exemplified by their back-breaking fold on a 3rd-and-17 in Chiefs\u2019 territory with six-and-a-half minutes to play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vrabel\u2019s defense did everything they could against the NFL\u2019s most dominant player. It was a loss on the schedule, but a clear moral victory\u200a. Vrabel, to the most trained eye, seemed more than content with the results.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the kind of defensive performance that confirms for the fifth-year head coach the validity of the foundation of his team. With edge rusher Harold Landry, safety Amani Hooker and cornerback Elijah Molden all out with injuries, the Titans defense \u2014\u200a through shear force of personality \u200a\u2014\u200a limped into Arrowhead and put down the most impressive defensive display against the Chiefs all season.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was not a fluke. This defense <\/span>works,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0has continued to work despite crippling injuries, and will continue to work when fully healthy again.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo Credit: Ed Zurga\/Associated Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was an offensive performance on Sunday night, and all season, that spelled out why Vrabel and Robinson knew changes were needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was all frustratingly familiar. Run rampant with Derrick Henry out of the gate, jump ahead going into halftime and fall flat in the second half when the Chiefs inevitably stack the line of scrimmage to stop the run game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Henry ran for 115 yards, but only 31 in the second half. The offense scored just three points after half-time, gifted to them by that defensive interception. When the run game dried up, the Titans\u2019 passing game stalled. In the second half, Willis was sacked as many times as he completed a pass. Not a single Tennessee wide receiver recorded a reception in almost five quarters of play. The offense\u2019s longest passing play of the game\u200a\u2014\u200aa 48-yard screen pass to rookie tight end Chig Okonkwo\u2014\u200awasn\u2019t even thrown beyond the line of scrimmage. The passing attack, gifted an eight-point fourth quarter lead by the running game and the defense, just needed to hold serve.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t, a familiar sight for Vrabel.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that ever-so-important playoff loss against the Bengals, Vrabel\u2019s defense held Cincinnati’s offense to just 16 points entering the last three minutes\u200a\u2014\u200aonly for Tannehill to throw three costly interceptions in a three-point loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

The last of those three interceptions, thrown in their own territory inside the two-minute warning, handed the Bengals perfect field position for their game-winning field goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was precisely the moment that the clock on the Tannehill-led offense started ferociously ticking. Vrabel had seen enough, and in came the change that has come to define this 2022 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

So why, nine weeks into this new offensive era, are the same problems derailing what should be statement wins against AFC contenders?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer is what makes change in the NFL so daunting: that new era isn\u2019t actually here yet. Tannehill, the poster child of the failed old guard, is still the starter; and Willis, the leader of the new guard, was never supposed to be ready this year. The Titans have tasked themselves with ushering out the old era, fostering the new era, <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>maintaining the surrounding cast that neither can live without, all at the same time.That doesn\u2019t happen overnight.<\/span><\/p>\n

And there were moral victories on offense Sunday Night. Like Vrabel noted, Willis threw plenty of impressive deep balls\u200a and was a nightmare to contain in the pocket.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The arm talent was on display, so was his elite ability on the ground \u2014 evidence that the pillars of his potential are translating to the professional game. Five completions or 50 completions, the translation of his rare traits are what the Titans need to see. And they saw it.<\/span><\/p>\n

They will always rely on Henry and the ground game, looking to create advantageous passing opportunities off of it\u200a. It\u2019s part of the foundation for which it will be critical for the Titans to maintain\u200a, \u200aa platform for Willis and the rest of the new era to stand on.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Willis is the key. He has the elite potential that Tannehill never did, and thus the ability to take over games when opposing defenses, refusing to let Henry continue to churn through them on the ground, force him to. Tannehill was always a passenger, adequately capable of doing everything needed to keep Henry\u2019s train moving. When defenses sold out to stop that train \u2014 \u200aparticularly in January \u200a\u2014 \u200aTannehill was stopped with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Willis is different; <\/span>theoretically<\/span><\/i>, he can drive the train himself. It\u2019s all still in theory, of course, and positive development at the position is never a guarantee, but the Titans know he <\/span>can <\/span><\/i>get there and they know Tannehill <\/span>can\u2019t<\/span><\/i>. Their last three playoff losses have shown them that difference is all that matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vrabel was forced to pick between the devil he did know\u200a and the devil he didn\u2019t, and chose the latter. That\u2019s a decision that takes the kind of blunt, risk-accepting personality that success in the NFL requires.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the kind of decision that calls for a solid, reliable support system. In other words\u200a: \u200athe Titans are going to need a good team for this to work. Willis needs help; he needed it when he was drafted, he needs it just as much now. If there was one lesson learned from their overtime loss in Kansas City \u2014 the most important moral victory of all \u200a\u2014\u200a Vrabel\u2019s team can give their young, uber-talented quarterback the help he needs.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan There\u2019s a clich\u00e9 in the NFL that is almost as old as the sport itself. A true football thing: There are no moral victories in football. Well, in reality, there are.\u00a0 The Tennessee Titans\u2019 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in Week 9 was brimming with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21477,"featured_media":34646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1024,1050,1035,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34608"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34648,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34608\/revisions\/34648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}