At 2-2, Just About Anything is Possible
NASHVILLE – Three’s a crowd. That is no secret.
So, what is 15? That is the number of NFL teams that have matching 2-2 records four weeks into the 2022 NFL season, and the way Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard figures it, that is a dream come true for league officials.
“This league wants teams kind of right in the middle,” Byard said Wednesday.
The Titans are among that group that accounts for 46.9 percent of the 32 NFL franchises. Of the other 17, seven have three wins and eight have three losses. The Philadelphia Eagles (4-0) are the only team without a loss, and the Houston Texans (0-3-1) are the only ones without a victory.
However, Tennessee is one of the few that got to 2-2 the hard way. After starting at 0-2, victories over Las Vegas and Indianapolis balanced the ledger. Both defeats were against teams that currently sit at 3-1. The losses were against teams that have one victory apiece.
Next up is a road game at Washington, another team that has won just once. Oddly, of the remaining 13 games on the schedule only five are against other 2-2 teams. They are Jacksonville (twice), Denver, Cincinnati and the L.A. Chargers.
“We just want to continue growing at this point in the season,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “… We found a way to win a couple of games here in a row. We want to continue to stack those wins as we move forward. To do that, we must continue to improve each and every week moving forward.”
Here are some other notable aspects of the crowd in which the Titans find themselves at the moment:
• Only two other teams – Atlanta and Cincinnati – have won two straight after a pair of defeats to open the season. All four Falcons games have been decided by four points or fewer.
• Tampa Bay is the only one at 2-2 that was 2-0 two weeks ago.
• That means 11 teams of the 15 franchises at .500 have split their last two contests. Six lost and five won in Week 4.
• Seven of the eight divisions have at least one 2-2 team, the exception being the NFC East.
• In four of the divisions, a 2-2 record is good enough for a first-place tie. Tennessee and Jacksonville share the top spot in the AFC South. Tampa Bay and Atlanta sit atop the NFC South. Every club in the NFC North except Pittsburgh is 2-2, and all four in the NFC West have that same record.
It’s not just the standings that are tight either.
Thus far, 50 games have been within a one-score margin at some point during the fourth quarter, including a record 15 of 16 in Week 4, 23 games have been decided by three points or fewer and 31 have been decided by six points or fewer. All of those figures are league-highs through four games.
Of the three teams that have won two straight to get to 2-2, the Titans are the only ones that have allowed more points (101) than they have scored (75). In fact, their minus-26 differential is the worst among the 2-2 clubs, all courtesy of a 41-7 loss at Buffalo in Week 2.
Their two victories have been by a combined nine points, and this is the first time since 2018, Mike Vrabel’s first season as head coach, they don’t have at least one win by more than a touchdown within the first four games.
“We flipped the narrative from the first two weeks,” wide receiver Robert Woods said. “But really, just to be able to keep the train going, keep winning – it’s all about the next game. … Really, once you get that ball rolling and keep the momentum, have the guys playing fast, playing confident and having fun – I think – that’s when you can see this team really get in rhythm and become unstoppable.”
Tennessee has finished with a winning record each of the last six seasons – tied with Kansas City for the longest such active streak in the league – and has been to the postseason four times over that span.
Three of those six featured a 2-2 record through four games. That includes 2021, when the Titans finished 12-5 and earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed for the postseason, and 2019, when they finished 9-7 but ultimately reached the AFC Championship game.
In other words, they’re stuck in the middle right now. But that doesn’t mean they will stay there.
“So, it’s really nothing to get kind of super-happy about that we’ve won two straight,” Byard said. “It’s so early in this (season). We’re just going to try to keep getting getter. The teams that get better as the year goes on are the team that usually are playing in January and February. So, that’s our mindset – to keep getting better.”
