By JASON MARTIN (@JMartZone – November 11, 2018)
Um…what?
It’s not that the Titans won on Sunday for the second time in six days, this time against the vaunted New England Patriots and arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history, because it can happen. It’s HOW they won. This was domination, and every time you looked up, you kept waiting for the Patriots to throw a few haymakers and get back into it, but the punches never came. They haven’t been good on the road this season, and here it bit them where it didn’t in Buffalo, didn’t in Chicago, but did against the Lions and Jaguars.
The Tennessee Titans saved their season on Monday in Dallas, and then laid a beatdown on Brady, on Belichick, and on Boston. This was not a win. This was a shellacking of the highest order. Yes, there was no Gronk, but he has exactly one touchdown this entire season. This dub was still massive. Here are my Big 6 Takeaways from one of the most stunning victories we’ve seen in Nashville in quite some time, a THIRTY-FOUR TO TEN DRUBBING OF THE PATRIOTS.
FEELING IT
You could go with several candidates here, but we’ll discuss some of them in other sections. This is in reference to two guys who went straight up DreamWorks on the Pats and trolled them: Mike Vrabel and Matt LaFleur.
Tom Brady the NFL receiver is basically the equivalent of Nathan Peterman the NFL quarterback. After Julian Edelman completed a pass to the GOAT (QB), the GOAT (QB) tried to run, and his body immediately reminded him he was 41 years old…
…and never an elite athlete.
On the very next series in the fourth quarter, Marcus Mariota caught a pass in stride and gained extra yardage, not managing to trip on the yard lines as Tom Terrific had done moments before. You don’t make a play call like this unless you are truly feeling it, and the Titans coaching staff absolutely was. Vrabel even went full troll in the press conference, saying he wanted to see if “ours looked better than theirs.”
Just as the Philly Special made Tom’s drop in the Super Bowl open field look bad, this one did too. This was a ballsy move for a 4-4 football team and a rookie coach, but it was well-timed and Vrabel knew what we were all too afraid to say out loud.
He had the better team on this day.
MARIOTA VS. SUPER BOWL TEAMS
For the second time this season, Marcus Mariota has entered Nissan Stadium to duel with elite (or borderline elite) quarterbacks whose teams played in Minneapolis this past February. He didn’t have to deal with Nick Foles, as he got all of Carson Wentz, and then of course today he had to match Tom Brady.
Wentz was very good in Week 4, but Brady, largely, but not entirely thanks to the Titans defense, simply wasn’t on Sunday. Against the Eagles and the Patriots, neither of whom has a stellar pass defense this season, here are Mariota’s numbers:
PHI: 30-43, 344 yards, 2 TD, INT; 10 carries, 46 yards, TD (63 QBR to Wentz 54)
NE: 16-24, 228 yards, 2 TD; 2 carries, 21 yards, 1 catch, 21 yards (88 QBR to Brady 29.5)
Although I’ve been tough on him, OBJECTIVELY he’s been quite good in the last three games. He has missed some throws and that’s without dispute, and he’s taken a few sacks that are entirely on him for not getting rid of the football when under duress, but he’s playing well right now, and he’s showing up more than he’s disappearing, especially against good competition. Perhaps that glove was more of a problem than we thought?
PUNCHING UP
This is what the Tennessee Titans do and it’s frustrating if you want to try and play prognosticator, because it makes predictions doubly difficult. Mike Vrabel’s team has proven they can beat the good teams while at the same time losing to the bad to mediocre squads. This is a thing that continues to happen, almost like clockwork.
While it’s been revealed that neither the Jaguars, nor the Eagles, appear to be particularly strong thus far in 2018, those were victories. The Buffalo Bills are terrible, yet the Titans found a way to lose 13-12 in that game and not score a touchdown. The Miami Dolphins are very average: Loss. The Baltimore Ravens haven’t looked good…since they shut out the Titans AT Nissan Stadium.
Tennessee’s best performances, honestly, came against the Texans (likely playoff team), the Eagles (Defending Super Bowl champs), the Patriots (Uh…the Patriots), and the Chargers (Assured Wildcard team barring something completely unforeseen.) I didn’t include Dallas in that list, although the last seven quarters of football have unquestionably been the Titans best in quite some time. That first quarter on Monday was one that deserves a demerit.
PRIVATE PERSONAL IS THE KEY
Dion Lewis had one of the quotes of the year following this game, as he said the matchup was absolutely personal, considering the Patriots let him go and didn’t want to pay him. “That’s what happens when you go cheap. You get your a__ kicked.” Definitely a walk off shot, even though Lewis was by no means the biggest factor, or even in the top three, why the Titans defeated Bill Belichick on Sunday afternoon.
But, Lewis didn’t hold back, also saying if you get physical with New England, he knew and told his teammates “they’ll fold.” He was extremely happy, or more accurately satisfied by the win over his old team. That’s great. Now, let’s go back to staying quiet if we’re the Tennessee Titans.
Recall what happened after the Eagles win in Week 4 as some members, most notably Taylor Lewan, remarked about a lack of respect from the national media. The Titans then proceeded to get beaten by the Bills, then the Ravens, then the Chargers. So, take it personally if you feel disrespected, but keep the mouths shut. Lewan said “daddy learned his lesson” last time.
Go play football. Play like you have these past two games, both within the span of six days, and take that 2-0 division record and find a way to unseat Houston or force a Wildcard spot. If you talk and then go and lose to the Colts, we’re right back where we started. This was a great win. The Dallas comeback after the atrocious start was a truly positive sign. This needs to be an all-business week, one without much jawing and one with a whole lot of studying, working, and preparing.
BRADY WAS MISSING HIS SOFA
Tom Brady has gone through much of his career in the ultimate comfort zone at the quarterback position. When he’s lost, and it’s easy to speak about it in totality because it requires very little stat crunching (as it’s so rare), it’s a physical defense that puts pressure on him, wins in the trenches, and makes him get rid of it before he wants to.
That’s what Dean Pees brought on Sunday.
The Titans were ferocious up front and the linebackers were flying around, and Brady looked downfield and often found no one open. Adoree Jackson did a phenomenal job on Josh Gordon, blanketing him all day long, Kevin Byard was excellent, Kenny Vaccaro made some strong tackles, and Logan Ryan was solid downfield as well. Up front, the Titans bullied the Patriots OL and shut the running game down entirely.
The New England Patriots ran for 40 yards on 19 carries, with Sony Michel rushing 11 times for 31 yards. Wesley Woodyard played another terrific game, including a sack of Brady, and if you watched closely, you saw a frustrated 12 having to throw at the ankles of non-targets just to avoid more sacks and penalties. He was miserable in the Music City, battered around and struggling just to survive the afternoon in one piece.
The mere fact that sentence can be written without a scintilla of hyperbole says all it needs to about this defense on Sunday. They were just outstanding. Malcolm Butler wasn’t even challenged, which still baffles me, but Brady just had nothing at all to offer on this day.
COREY FRIGGIN DAVIS
His two best games of the season have come against the Eagles and their porous secondary and the Patriots, where he was matched up in one-on-one man coverage most of the afternoon with Stephon Gilmore, one of the best in the league. Davis looked like the number five pick in the draft against the Pats, just as he did against the Eagles.
This is back-to-back games where he’s been a large part of the offense, and chemistry continues to grow between Corey and his quarterback. Seven grabs out of 10 targets, with one Mariota overthrow mixed in, for 125 yards and a TD on Sunday. He was almost uncoverable at times, making acrobatic moves and showing unreal body control as he continually made plays for his football team.
He’s got to prove this isn’t a “Wax On, Wax Off” situation and do this every week, but there are some signs that he’s rounding into form. He’s poised to have a dangerously strong second half of the season as he plays against suspect secondaries and division opponents. This is when the Titans need him most. He can be a monster when he’s on, so the question left to answer is how often he can be on moving forward
Sunday…he looked like a WR1 on nearly any team in the NFL. In a smaller version of the same story, Jonnu Smith is also beginning to pop off the screen, with touchdowns in back to back games. The trust factor between the offense, Mariota, and the second year TE is one to keep an eye on as well. It’s all positive right now.
THE LAST WORD
5-4 with wins in Dallas and at home over the New England Patriots. Yeah, that’ll do. The back half of the schedule isn’t as daunting, but features four divisional games that may still determine whether this is a playoff team or not. Right now, the Texans-Titans game in Houston looks massive to determine who wins the AFC South. The Titans have played three good to very good games in a row and have won two of them, narrowly missing on the third in London.
Mike Vrabel, Matt LaFleur, and Dean Pees all showed their stuff against Belichick and Brady, and there’s nothing else to say about this win but “wow.” Major props to the Titans as they (said in a soft whisper) might be legit?
