The Titans are the team nobody wants to see in the playoffs
By John Buhler
Outside of the Baltimore Ravens, no team in the NFL is hotter than the Tennessee Titans. Nobody will want to face them in the AFC playoffs this January.
It keeps happening. The Tennessee Titans have yielded yet another win with Ryan Tannehill as their starting quarterback. Since taking over for Marcus Mariota several weeks ago, the Titans have gone 6-1 with Tannehill as their starter. Tennessee pulverized the Oakland Raiders on the road this week to win easily, 42-21. Nobody wants to play the Titans in the AFC going forward.
With their latest win, Tennessee improves to 8-5 on the season, all tied up with the Houston Texans for the AFC South lead with three games left on the schedule. Though the Titans have the NFC South champion New Orleans Saints to play, they can clinch the division for the first time since 2008 by sweeping the Texans in their other two remaining ball games.
As a division winner, Tennessee should have no problem beating AFC Wild Card teams like the Buffalo Bills or maybe even the Pittsburgh Steelers in Nashville. Even if the Titans don’t end up winning the AFC South, they might be good enough to get in as the No. 6 seed at 9-7. Neither Houston or the Kansas City Chiefs have to like the sound of that.
So what is making Tennessee such a difficult out these days? Outside of the Baltimore Ravens, the Titans might just be the hottest team in football. The most important thing that the Titans have going for them is that they have a very strong identity that the very rarely vary from. Tennessee wins with defense, a strong running game with Derrick Henry and now the magic of Tannehill.
The Titans defense has always been solid under head coach Mike Vrabel. It’s been a big reason Tennessee has gone 9-7 in the last three seasons, including the final years of the Mike Mularkey era in the Music City. That being said, this is the best we’ve seen Henry play since he won the Heisman Trophy as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2015. He might be an All-Pro.
As for Tannehill, he is playing in a manner that the Miami Dolphins wish they could have gotten when they drafted him No. 8 overall out of Texas A&M University in the 2012 NFL Draft. The mobile Tannehill has improved his accuracy as a passer and is playing freer at the quarterback position than he ever has. We are witnessing him at the pinnacle right now, but will it continue?
It’s hard to see Tannehill playing this brilliantly throughout the entire 2020 season, especially if he is back with the Titans on a new contract. However, when he was healthy on the Dolphins and had a decent supporting cast around him, Tannehill could consistently play at a level that had Miami in the mix to contend for the postseason. But he may have taken a quantum leap this fall.
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At the end of the day, Tennessee will remain one of the toughest outs in football, as long as it plays great defense, has a healthy Henry in the backfield and Tannehill’s quarterbacking renaissance is here to stay. If everything goes right for the Titans, they can win the AFC South at 11-5 and play presumably Baltimore in the AFC Championship. It’s not likely, but it is possible.