Titans Struggle On the Road Again, Fall to Buccaneers 20-6
TAMPA, Fla. — The Tennessee Titans have nothing to show for their six trips away from Nashville this season. Zilch, zip, nada.
They traveled to Tampa this weekend, and it was more of the same. The offense struggled to move the ball most of the day, and the defense struggled to contain Tampa Bay's dangerous wide receivers. It added up to uninspiring and dispirited 20-6 loss to a Buccaneers team that was riding a four-game losing streak.
The Titans are 3-6 now, with all six losses coming away from Nashville. It was not a good day at all, not for anyone. Tennessee struggled in all three phases and are now the only team in the AFC South with a losing record.
It was the third road game this season where they've failed to score a touchdown. They rushed for only 42 yards — Derrick Henry had just 24 yards on 11 carries — and had just two good drives all day, both of which ended in red zone failure.
Bad, bad, bad.
"Nobody was good enough, starting with the head coach and that's how it goes,'' Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. "We had a good week, but this is the only day that matters.
"This is the day that we have to be great, and we weren't good enough.''
Tennessee started out great, flying right down the field on their opening drive. Quarterback Will Levis completed 4-of-5 passes on the drive and the fourth — a 10-yard pass to fellow rookie John Whyle — gave them a first-and-goal situation at the 9-yard line.
But the Titans, a bad red zone team all year when it comes to scoring touchdowns, didn't do anything here, either. Henry lost 2 yards on first down. Levis threw an incomplete pass on second down, and he was sacked on third down. Levis was sacked four times on the day. Nick Folk connected from 38 yards.
"Yeah. I liked the fact that we hit a play-action pass for however many yards on the first play and the reverse to Tyjae, we could have scored on the second play of the game. I thought there were some other things that we had,'' Vrabel said about their early execution. "There is no perfect call. I think if we get a good call and better execution, we'll be better in all three phases.''
The Bucs did nothing on offense until late in the second quarter, when running back Rachaad White caught a screen pass in the left flat and then eluded several Titans defenders for a 43-yard score.
Tampa Bay got a field goal and a 22-yard touchdown from Baker Mayfield to Mike Evans, who broke a tackle on the way to the end zone. It was 17-3 by the end of the third quarter.
Tennessee had a second nice drive late in the third quarter, but once again they were forced to settle for a Nick Folk field goal from 27 yards out. They wouldn't threaten again.
Levis, who was making his third career start, was 19-for-39 passing for 199 yards. He had one interception.
Once again, the Titans' did a poor job in giving him time to throw, too. He had no help from the running game, and was pressured far too often in the pocket
"It's tough as an offense as a whole," Levis said. "We've just got to do a better job at looking introspectively at what we can do better. For me, if we have these games where we're feeling the flow and they're on us a little bit quicker, maybe just getting through my reads a little faster. Getting the ball out sooner. It is hard to change the thought process mid-game, but there's definitely things I could have done better."
The offensive line knows they need to be better. Fellow rookie Peter Skoronski praised Levis for gettin up every time he was knocked down, and getting right into the next play. Right tackle Chris Hubbard agreed.
"It doesn't matter what play is called, we've got to run the play and do what we need to do. We have to keep fighting,'' he said. "I know I didn't do enough today, pretty much. I've got to play better with my teammates, with the O-line and for the O-line. We just have to come back and get better. We've got to get better.''
They also gave up 278 yards passing to Mayfield. He was 18-for-29 with two scores. He hit Mike Evans six times for 143 yards. It was a tough day for the Titans' secondary, which was playing without starting cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting. Roger McCreary had to play outside, and he was overmatched much of the day by Evans and Chris Godwin.
"We had no choice. Some of these things we have zero choice,'' Vrabel said. "We're running out of bodies to put anywhere at DB or somewhere.''
The Titans are on the road again next week, takind on AFC South leader Jacksonville. The Jaguars are 6-3, three games ahead of the last-place Titans. The game is Sunday at Noon CT
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