My Two Cents: For Derrick Henry and Tim Kelly, Fixing Titans' Offensive Struggles a Must
NASHVILLE — In the 25 years or so that the Tennessee Titans have called Nashville home, it's quite possible that they have never played an uglier game than they did last Sunday in Cleveland.
The Titans lost to the Browns 27-3 and only had 94 yards of total offense. The was the lowest yardage total in Titans history. They were so inept that even on their one scoring drive, they lost yardage on three straight plays before kicking a field goal.
It was really ugly.
Star running back Derrick Henry only had 20 yards on 11 carries, and didn't get north of zero total yards until the second half. Tennessee mustered just six first downs all day, and just one while running the football. Henry, considered one of the best backs in the league, has just 163 yards rushing in three games, and is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry. Fifteen other NFL backs have gained more yards so far through three weeks.
Those numbers are the worst of his career, and it's not even close. Every season has been 4.2 or higher. The Tennessee Titans, a team that prides itself on running the football, simply CAN'T run the football.
So what's wrong? Is it the struggling offensive line? Henry losing a step? The play-calling from first-year offensive coordinator Tim Kelly? Play design? Too deep into the playbook, or not deep enough?
The scary part? What if it's all of the above?
Henry and Kelly met with the media on Thursday, and I was curious about all of that. I asked Henry about play creativity and the use of the full playbook, and he had a short and quick response to my line of questioning.
"You've got to ask Tim that,'' Henry said. "We try to make success out of what's called, and do our job. I'm not sure what you're trying to get at.''
So I followed Henry's advice and asked Kelly a few minutes later. Is this a creativity issue? An execution issue? All of it?
"It's probably a combination of everything, you know,'' Kelly said. "We need to lean in more to what we're more efficient at, limiting some of the moving parts, whatever it may be.
"Whether it's being more creative or less creative, it's kind of finding that sweet spot and the guys feeling confident in what we're trying to do.''
Henry said the mood ''is positive'' and confidence remains high. He was quick to remind everyone that we're only three games into the season and the Titans are 1-2. They play the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Nissan Stadium, and Henry said he expects the Titans to play well and win.
For Kelly, who took over at offensive coordinator because Todd Downing couldn't get the job done last year, it's all about finding a way to make this all work.
And now.
"We've got to continue to again figure out what's best for us schematically with the different run schemes,'' Kelly said. "We have to trust those guys up front because we've just got to get Derrick started and then we've all seen the highlights of him making huge plays. We'll continue have trust in Derrick, and make sure we're executing more efficiently.''
Kelly admitted that watching the film from last Sunday's game was very hard, but he also knows the NFL. He's on to the Bengals, and last Sunday's game at Cleveland already ''seems like a long time ago.''
"It was tough to watch because no one is proud of what it looked like or what the end result was,'' Kelly said. "It does provide us an opportunity to be able to go and say that when we're not as detailed as we need to be, when we don't do the things we want to and execute the keys the way we want to, you're going to put out a performance like that.
"We have to make sure who we're working with and what we check to based on what we're seeing. We have to win one-on-one matchups, and understand when that's going to happen, what techniques we use to get that done.''
Henry is locked in, too, and moving on. He's been doing this long enough to know that one Sunday often has nothing to do with the next one.
"Last weekend was rough, but I'm always going to be focused and locked in on doing my job,'' Henry said. "But last week adds some fuel, definitely. We all want to step up and do what we can to get everybody going.
"(The mood) is positive, and I'm looking forward to Sunday. We're looking forward to coming together as a whole and working on the details and the concept of the play to be ready by Sunday.''
The focus in the Titans' facility since Sunday has been all about that old football cliche about everyone just doing their job. It may sound overly simplistic, but it's true.
They just need to do their jobs.
And do it better.
"The coaches have been preaching all week to understand what you're doing and understanding the details of the play,'' Henry said. "It takes all 11 to make a play work, takes all 11 to have everyone focus, to create space, us finish runs, guys digging out safeties and (defense backs) when they blitz or in nickel.
"We need everybody to do their job and finish off plays, finish off drives.''
The Titans have suffered three straight losses to Bengals, including one in the playoffs at the end of the 2021 season. Henry rushed for 112 yards in the first defeat, but had just 62 yards on 20 carries in the 19-16 playoff loss, and only 38 yards on 17 carries in the 20-16 loss last year on Nov. 27, the first of seven straight losses.
"They've just been the better team the last three times we've played them,'' Henry said. "We didn't execute well enough. We don't owe them one, because we treat this as the next game. They're a great team coming off a win — (the Bengals beat the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night) — and we're looking for one.
"We're just three games in. We've lost two, won one. We're just staying focused on what we're doing, and taking it week by week, just trying to get a win on Sunday. I never let adversity waver my confidence.''
The Titans have failed to score a touchdown in both road losses at New Orleans and Cleveland. They've struggled along the offensive line, and haven't been able get much going early in drives.
"It seems like every week there's a guy out there making a lot of money rushing the passer,'' Kelly said of defensive ends like Cameron Jordan (New Orleans), Joey Bosa (LA Chargers) and Myles Garrett (Cleveland). There is a fine line in making sure we're giving enough help and making sure guys can be successful. That's kind of a fluid thing, and we went into that with a game plan of helping people when we needed to.
"If we're living in that world where it's second-and-12, third-and-long, it's going to be hard. We have to stay out of those situations. I can help them out with better play calls, and they need to a better job with execution. There's a lot of things that go into it. With that group (of Titans offensive linemen), it's always the sum of the five. When you look at how we performed against LA, first and second down we did a lot of good things. We just need to do all of that more consistently.''
Kelly knows there are a lot of eyeballs on him. He was supposed to make this offense better after the failures from a year ago under Downing. That hasn't happened.
Not yet, anyway.
He knows how to look in the mirror, and he also knows how to evaluate his own performance. I asked him about it, and he was honest.
"I'm always evaluating it,'' Kelly said. "I don't sleep a whole lot, especially after a game like that because you're always, 'what can I do better, what would I do differently?'' Kelly said. "I think you're always in the mode of being able to evaluate what you're asking your players to do.
"We've just got to find a way to get them into a rhythm quicker.''
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