Tennessee’s MIA offense offers little hope

NASHVILLE — A defensive mind almost instantly on the defensive Sunday afternoon, first-year Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel staged a rather animated meeting with his defense immediately after the Baltimore Ravens took a 7-0 lead in the opening period.

“He just wanted to remind us how important it was to get off the field on third down,” safety Kevin Byard said. “I think they were 5-for-5 on third down that first drive.”

Alas, Vrabel’s words didn’t help.

Nothing helped.

In one of their bleaker home efforts over the 20-year history of Adelphia Coliseum/LP Field/ Nissan Stadium, the Titans ultimately lost 21-0, the first time they’ve been shut out since the facility opened in 1999. The only thing consistent about the performance from the home team in this one was that it was consistently bad.

“Bad coaching, not good execution,” Vrabel said. “No excuse for it. We were clearly outplayed and outcoached today.”

In every way. The Ravens had 23 first downs to seven for the Titans. Total yardage was 361-106 in Baltimore’s favor. Thirddown efficiency was 12-of17 for the winners and 1-of10 for the losers.

“It’s embarrassing,” Byard said. “We should all be embarrassed. We’re just not executing.”

Nor were these the New England Patriots the Titans were facing, though that titanic test arrives with Tennessee’s next home game on Nov. 11. Instead, this was Baltimore, which not only entered with the same respectable though hardly overwhelming 3-2 record as Tennessee, but was actually supposed to be more inept running the ball, its rushing numbers but 25th among 32 teams while the Titans stood 17th.

Heck, Baltimore was so bad last time out that it lost 12-9 to Cleveland.

But not on Sunday. A steady rain coming down much of the late afternoon, the Ravens ran for 123 yards while holding the Titans to 55. The passing numbers were even worse for the Titans, with Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco 25-of-37 for 238 yards, a touchdown and an interception and Marcus Mariota 10-of-15 for 117 yards.

Yet the stat of the game was Ravens sacks versus Titans completions. Baltimore sacked Mariota 11 times total, which is one off the NFL single-game record, while Mariota had those 10 for Tennessee’s total. When you’re sacked more times than you complete a pass, your odds of winning are all but invisible.

The most worrisome part is this merely continues a very troubling trend of offensive ineptness. Though this was the first time the Titans have been shut out this season, it’s the third time they’ve failed to score a touchdown. That they actually won one of those games — 9-6 at Jacksonville — probably says more about Vrabel’s coaching strengths than weaknesses.

Still, the schedule isn’t getting any easier. Now 3-3 after a 3-1 start, the Titans leave later this week for a game in London against the Los Angeles Chargers that will kick off at 9:30 a.m. EDT next Sunday. An open date follows, then a road game against the Dallas Cowboys before the Patriots visit Nashville. Then come two more road games, at Indianapolis and Houston, before Tennessee plays four of its final five at home.

But how much can the Titans reasonably improve between now and then? Yes, they’re still tied for the AFC South division lead with Houston and Jacksonville, and they currently own tiebreakers with both of those, having beaten the Texans at home and the Jaguars on the road. But they also seem to be getting worse instead of better at a time when Vrabel and his staff should be growing more comfortable with their roster.

“It is what it is,” Mariota said. “No one’s going to feel sorry for us. When you don’t score points and you don’t move the ball and you don’t hold time of possession, it makes it tough on your team.”

Life has a way of putting all this in perspective if you’re paying attention. Having grown weary of every Titans offensive possession ending in a punt, a good deal more than a smattering of boos growing in intensity with each of Brett Kern’s nine punts, the crowd suddenly turned silent at the sight of Ravens left guard Alex Lewis collapsing to the turf in the fourth quarter.

Carted off on a stretcher due to a neck injury and rushed to Vanderbilt Hospital in an ambulance, everyone’s attention soon turned to the player’s actual health rather than the figurative health of the Titans.

Fortunately, word came later that Lewis was comfortably moving all extremities, that he had been released and would fly back with his teammates to Baltimore, where further tests would be conducted.

Perspective had been restored, even if the Titans’ offense had not.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves off and move on,” Mariota said. “It’s a long season.”

And the odds of it ending with a playoff berth are growing longer by the day.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.