Woods' One Catch One of Several Passing Oddities
NASHVILLE – A workhorse wide receiver during his 10-year NFL career, Robert Woods entered last Sunday’s season opener having made at least two catches in the last 34 games he played.
So it was no surprise when quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw to Woods on the Titans’ first passing play of the season. The two connected for a 13-yard gain.
Who would have guessed that it would be Woods’ only reception of the Titans’ 21-20 loss to the New York Giants? He played 46 of the Titans’ 65 offensive snaps, but was only targeted once more during the contest.
It was an unlikely stat line for the 30 year-old, easily the most experienced Titans receiver and a player who’d totaled at least 86 catches in each of his last three full seasons.
“That’s how it goes sometimes,” Woods said Thursday. “You never know where the ball is going or what play is going to be called. Just be ready when it does come. (When the) ball came my way, I was able to capture it and make a play.”
Said Tannehill: “Robert’s going to make plays. … Every game is going to be a little different. Sometimes Robert is going to get more targets than the other guy. Sometimes it’s going to be (Treylon Burks). Sometimes it’s going to be (Austin Hooper). Sometimes it’s going to be (Kyle Philips).
“It’s going to vary week to week, but we have a lot of confidence in our guys and know we’re able to spread the ball around and find whoever is open.”
On the two passes thrown Woods’ way, he had an average separation of just 0.89 yards (per Next Gen Stats). The league average was 2.91 yards of separation in Week 1.
But overall, Woods said he felt good about his ability to get open.
“Yeah, I watched the film – I feel like I had separation, was able to run my routes, get open,” Woods said. “(But) there’s only one ball. Guys are getting open all over the place, wherever (the ball) goes.”
Woods was playing his first game since last November, when he tore an ACL practicing for the Los Angeles Rams and underwent season-ending surgery. Oftentimes, players aren’t back to full strength in the first season after ACL surgery. But Woods said he felt no lingering effects from the injury.
“I felt good, felt normal and natural, being able to run routes and get separation,” Woods said. “Being able to play a whole game again, block, I really felt normal.”
Woods' receiving totals against the Giants weren’t the only ones that were eye-opening.
One example: The somewhat unlikely foursome of Philips (six catches, 66 yards), running back Dalton Hilliard (three catches, 61 yards, two touchdowns), Burks (three catches, 55 yards) and blocking tight end Geoff Swaim (three catches, 19 yards) combined for 15 of the Titans’ 20 completions – and 191 of the team’s 266 receiving yards.
On the other hand, three players who might have been expected to be significant contributors in the passing attack – Woods, Hooper (one catch, six yards) and receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (one catch, 13 yards) – combined for just three catches (on only five targets) and 32 yards.
Two surprising sets of stats?
“I feel like it just depends on the game – how it goes in the flow of the game,” said Westbrook-Ikhine, who caught 38 passes for 476 yards and four touchdowns last season. “I’m not really paying that much attention to (the numbers). Obviously, as receivers, we like to have the ball in our hands. So I’ll take as many as they give to me, but I’m not going to complain if I don’t get many.”
A Pro Bowler in 2018 and 2019, Hooper signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Titans during the offseason, hoping to give the team a dimension it lacked at tight end last season. The 6-4, 255-pound Hooper had formed an obvious bond with Tannehill during training camp.
But the pass-catching element of Hooper’s game wasn’t evident in the opener.
“That’s football, that’s however the game flows,” Hooper said. “You’ve just got to prepared and be ready for whenever your opportunity comes up.
“People ask if this is indicative of anything. We’re one game into the season, so I’ve just got to prepare. Again, my job is to help this offense, whether it’s pass protection, run blocking, pass catching, whatever it may be. I’ve just got to prepare to be ready and be in the right spots.”
Tannehill, too, says not to read much into a single game’s worth of stats.
“Austin is going to be a playmaker for us throughout the year,” Tannehill said. “It kind of worked out there weren’t a whole lot of opportunities for him, but we know he’s going to have to make a bunch of plays for us moving forward throughout the year.
“I have a ton of confidence in Austin, and we’ve shown that throughout training camp. So when those opportunities arise, we’ll be able to hit him.”
