By The Numbers: Titans After the Bye

Through their first 12 games, they have scored a lot of points in the second half but have not found anyone to put up points like Derrick Henry.

Much of the talk in regard to the Tennessee Titans has been on the number of injuries they have faced, the number of roster moves they have made and the record-setting number of players they used en route to Sunday’s open date in the schedule.

No doubt, that has been a big part of their story.

That hardly tells the entire tale, though. In the age of analytics, there are more numbers than ever available to those who want to try to figure out what factors into a team’s and player’s successes or struggles. With that in mind – and with help from the official NFL statistics, TruMedia and Pro Football Focus – here are some numbers that illustrate what the Titans accomplished and confronted in their first 12 games.

8 – wins. We start here because there is no number that maters more. The Titans are one of three AFC teams at 8-4, half a game behind the New England Patriots. Tennessee, though, is second in the conference standings based its conference record (5-3), which is half a game better than Baltimore’s (5-4). This is the second straight year the Titans won eight of their first 12 games. In 2020, they finished with three wins in their final four. This time, five games await.

10 – rushing touchdowns by Derrick Henry. Even having missed the last four games, the two-time rushing champion is one of just four NFL players with 10 or more thus far. No one else on the Titans has more than five total touchdowns. Henry is the only player in the NFL with 10 or more in the last three seasons (Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor currently is the only other one to hit that mark in 2020 and 2021) and has surpassed Eddie George for second place on the franchise’s all-time list (Henry has 65, George had 64).

14 – more points scored than the opponents. Tennessee has scored 304 points, which is an average of 25.3 points per game, well off last season’s pace of 30.7. It has allowed 290. The plus-14 differential is the smallest of any of the eight division leaders. Three (New England, Arizona and Tampa Bay) are all better than plus-100. The closest to the Titans is Baltimore at plus-22.

18 – field goals by kicker Randy Bullock. That ties the number Stephen Gostkowski made all last season on 26 attempts. Bullock has attempted 21 field goals so far. His 83.4 percent success rate is better than his career percentage (80.8). While Bullock has brought some much-needed stability to the position, he has missed three PATs, which ties his career-high set in 2015.

130 – second quarter points scored. The Titans lead the NFL in that regard with 15 more than the Los Angeles Rams, and their total includes 23 points scored in the final two minutes of the first half. They have scored 10 or more in the second quarter in seven of the last eight games. It’s already more second quarter points than they had in 2018 (55) and 2019 (77) and nearly as many as all of last season (144). It is a notable number given that Tennessee is 5-1 this season, 22-3 in three-plus seasons under Mike Vrabel when leading at the half.

196 – rushing yards by Ryan Tannehill. He is not the NFL’s most dynamic quarterback when it comes to running the football (he is 11th in rushing yards), but he might be the most effective. He has scored one touchdown for every 7.4 rushes, tied with Sam Darnold for the best rate among quarterbacks while his first down rate of 62. 2 percent and his third down conversion rate of 90 percent are best (minimum 30 rushes).

271 – pass routes run by wide receiver A.J. Brown. That is more than any other Titans player thus far and Brown has been targeted on 78 of them, one for every 3.47. There is no doubt that he has become Tannehill’s preferred target. By comparison, Julio Jones has been targeted once every 4.97 routes, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine has been targeted once every 5.86 and Chester Rogers has been targeted once every 7.58.

4,250 – total yards. That is an average of 354.1 per game, which – courtesy of the 17-game schedule – is on pace to top 6,000 for the second consecutive year. Amazingly, opponents have gained 4,249 yards against Tennessee – a difference of one yard in 12 games. Predictably, the Titans have outgained the opposition six times and have been outgained six times.