Countdown to Kickoff: 10 Days

The Titans scored 10 times on plays of 50 yards or more -- eight from the offense -- in 2019.

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 10 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 10 figures into the team’s recent history.

No one would say the Tennessee Titans’ were a perfect 10 in 2019.

The fact that they scored 10 touchdowns on plays of 50 yards or more last season, however, was a perfect illustration of their newfound big-play ability.

It started in the Week 1 victory at Cleveland, when running back Derrick Henry scored on a 75-yard pass reception and continued all the way to the end when Henry scored the final points of the regular season with a 53-yard run at Houston (wide receiver A.J. Brown also scored on a 51-yard reception in that victory over the Texans).

As recently as 2016, the Titans went through an entire season with just one scoring play that covered more than half the field. In that case, DeMarco Murray took a handoff and went 75 yards to the end zone against Green Bay.

The last time Tennessee scored 10 touchdowns on plays of 50 yards or more was 2012, but that year fewer than half of them came from the offense. Special teams contributed four and the defense chipped in with two.

Of last season’s 10, eight came from the offense (four apiece from Henry and Brown) and one each from the defense and special teams (Tye Smith took back a blocked field goal 63 yards and Rashaan Evans went 53 yards with a fumble recovery for scores). Brown’s 91-yard reception at Oakland was the longest scoring play of the season.

Six different games had at least one scoring play of 50 yards or more and three of them had two each. Six of the 10 plays came in road games.