Titans 'Very Committed' to Ball Security

NASHVILLE – The turnover issues that have plagued them – particularly in recent weeks – have been nearly as surprising to the Tennessee Titans as they have been damaging.

It is not as if they simply hoped for the best and things have turned out much worse than expected, offensive coordinator Todd Downing said this week.

“We work ball security here more than any other stop in my career,” Downing, who has worked for six different NFL franchises, said. “And we’ve been very committed to making that a point of emphasis. And we simply need to do a better job of executing it.”

Headed into Thursday’s prime-time matchup with the San Francisco 49ers at Nissan Stadium, Tennessee has committed 25 turnovers, tied for second-most in the league. More than half – 13 to be exact – have come in the last three defeats (in a span of four games).

That already is more than twice as many as last season (12) and easily the most under coach Mike Vrabel, who is in fourth year. The previous benchmark during Vrabel’s tenure was 18 in 2018, his first season on the job.

The last time the Titans gave it away at least 25 times in a season was 2017. The last time they topped that number was in 2015, when they lost the handle 33 times and tied for the worst record in the league (2-14), which makes the fact that they currently are 9-5 and in control of their own playoff destiny even more unlikely.

Tennessee is one of four teams – Kansas City, Miami and Jacksonville are the others – in double figures for fumbles lost and interceptions thrown.

“There are always things we can correct but really a lot of these things come down to our ability to take care of the football and finding ways to create turnovers,” Vrabel said. “Taking care of it using fundamentals, … all those fundamentals that we preach and practice. It is everybody’s responsibility to take care of the football for the guy who has it whether that is the quarterback in the pocket, the runner who is running with it or the receiver. Everybody’s job is to try and protect that guy and protect the football.”

That mindset is understandable.

Tennessee is 6-1 this season when it has a positive turnover margin, 2-4 with a negative turnover margin and 0-1 when its giveaways were equal to its takeaways. Even in 2015, the Titans won the turnover battle just three times, including their two victories.

“At the end of the day, we just have to take better care of the ball on offense,” quarterback Ryan Tannehill, whose 14 interceptions are tied for the most in the league, said. “[Our] defense is playing their tails off, and doing a great job of keeping us in the game … when we put ourselves in a bad situation. At the end of the day, we just have to keep moving the ball but take better care of it.”

San Francisco comes into the game minus-2 in turnover ratio for the season.

That’s not because its defense has not done its part, though. That unit has 11 fumble recoveries on the season, tied for third in the league, in addition to six interceptions.

If issues with ball security persist, therefore, the 49ers will be able to exploit them. And that is the last thing the Titans want.

“It certainly is frustrating,” Downing said. “And it certainly is something we need to continue to strive to find ways to fix. It’s what’s holding us back right now.

“It’s pretty clear when we hang on to the football, we can move it and we can go score points. Unfortunately, too many times we’ve been handing it back to the other team and putting our defense in a tough position.”

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