The Titans Have Won 6 In A Row And Are Now 8-2 After The Defense Pulls One Out Against The Saints
The wins just keep stacking up for the Titans, that's now 6 in a row and they still sit atop the AFC at 8-2. It wasn't a pretty game by any means and both sides had some big names missing from their lineups. Obviously Derrick Henry is still out, the Titans put Julio Jones and his nagging hammy on IR this week and the Saints were without Alvin Kamara and Jameis Winston. This game was kind of like a rock fight, just gutting it out.
The main thing that jumps off the page at you is the Titans managed to win another game without much of an offense. 264 total yards by the Titans. Ryan Tannehill just continues to make plays and avoid making mistakes. He was bailed out of a bad INT by an even worse roughing the passer call but hey, what can ya do. 19/27 for 213 yards and a TD through the air and he added another rushing touchdown. The guy is addicted to rushing touchdowns. No real shock but without Henry there is 0 run game, the offensive line still seems to be off for some reason? Whatever it is the run game can't get going. 29 carries for 66 yards isn't great at all. AJ Brown was quiet today with only 1 catch for 16 yards and a rush for 7 but they got a nice performance out of training camp hero Marcus Johnson who had 5 grabs for 100 yards on the day. The offense did just enough but they aren't explosive or dangerous like we saw earlier without the full stable of horses. That's gotta get fixed soon. You can dick around against the Saints but this one sided offense won't really work without a running game in the playoffs.
The defense continues to buzz and rack up the sacks. 4 more sacks on the day and they've had as many sacks in their last 4 games as they did all of last year, the front 4 is living in the backfield. Jeffrey Simmons had another 2 sacks, Harold Landry had his 10th of the game and they were able to get to Trevor Siemian in the first half. Second half the Saints kind of hung around and made it game. Even with Siemian throwing for 298, the Saints offense wasn't anything special. The Titans bottled up the Saints run game and basically tried to make Siemian beat them. But they kept it close and credit to the Saints because they were a 2-point conversion away from tying the game and likely sending it to OT. It also didn't help that they had 2 missed PATs from their kicker who is probably trying to find an Uber home from Nashville because he lost them the game essentially.
Regardless a win is a win and the Titans now focus on the Texans and try to get to 9-2. Easiest schedule in football remaining for the Titans, just keep that head above water and hope that Derrick Henry and or Julio Jones can come back to sure up this offense.