Offense is stagnant as Titans can’t find end zone
TAMPA, Fla. — Mike Evans sat on the bench Sunday afternoon, staring at his hands in disbelief.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ all-time receiving leader, the only player in NFL history to begin a career with nine consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, dropped a pass in the end zone with no defenders around him. He had no one to blame but himself.
“I dropped it being a little cocky, thinking about what fan I was going to give the ball to. You can’t do that,” Evans said after redeeming himself with a 22-yard touchdown catch to help the Buccaneers snap a four-game skid with a 20-6 victory over the reeling Tennessee Titans.
Evans bulldozed his way across the goal line, carrying cornerback Kristian Fulton on his back, to put the Bucs up 17-3 midway through the third quarter.
The 10th-year pro’s second-down drop on the previous possession led to Tampa Bay (4-5) settling for a field goal for a 10-3 lead after Evans’ 43-yard catch set up the offense inside the Tennessee 10-yard line.
“I was angry at myself and frustrated,” the 6-foot-5, 231-pound receiver said. “I made it a point to get that touchdown back.”
Baker Mayfield threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns for the Bucs, who had dropped four in a row after winning three of four to start the season.
Rachaad White turned a first-quarter screen pass into a 43-yard touchdown, and Evans finished with six receptions for 143 yards.
“It’s a lot of weight off your shoulders,” Evans said of ending Tampa Bay’s longest skid since 2019. “Four in a row is tough, especially with our talent and what we believe we can do. We definitely believe we can be a contender and a playoff team.”
A week after yielding five touchdown passes and an NFL rookie record 470 yards through the air to C.J. Stroud in a loss to the Houston Texans, the Tampa Bay defense fared much better against another first-year quarterback, Will Levis, who was sacked four times and intercepted once while failing to get his team into the end zone.
Tennessee (3-6) lost for the fourth time in five games after a 2-2 start. The Titans have dropped nine straight games outside of Nashville dating to last season, a skid that includes a loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 15 in London, where Tennessee was designated the home team at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“We’ve just got to do a better job,” said Levis, who was trying to join Jacky Lee (1960) and Brent Pease (1987) as the only rookie quarterbacks in franchise history to win two of his first three starts.
Levis the Titans to a field goal on their first possession but finished 19-of-39 passing for 199 yards in his first start since coach Mike Vrabel announced the secondround draft pick was replacing veteran Ryan Tannehill as the team’s No. 1 quarterback moving forward.
Levis threw four touchdown passes in his debut on Oct. 29 to lead the Titans to a 28-23 win against the Atlanta Falcons, and Tennessee lost 20-16 to the Pittsburgh Steelers four days later with the rookie behind center as Tannehill continued to recover from an ankle injury. Tannehill, in the final year of his contract with the Titans, returned to practice this week but did so knowing Levis would be at the helm of the offense.
An injury-weakened line struggled to protect Levis against the Bucs, and the rookie got little help from a running game that produced 42 yards on 16 carries. Nick Folk kicked field goals of 38 and 35 yards for the Titans, whose most recent road win came last Nov. 17 against the Green Bay Packers.
“We know what we need to do to put us in the right direction. That starts in the building, doing the small things,” said Titans running back Derrick Henry said, a two-time NFL rushing champion who was held to 24 yards on 11 carries Sunday.
“You can only talk so much, you’ve got to go out there and do it,” Henry said. “We are at the point where talking should be over, we’ve got to produce.
That’s how you win in this league.”
Levis, the 33rd overall pick of this year’s NFL draft, has thrown for 699 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in his three games.
“We didn’t run it very well,” Vrabel said. “The first drive, there was some good stuff going on there, just didn’t finish that drive off. And whether it’s pressure or (various breakdowns) trying to get the football off, it was a struggle.”
With left tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere already out after being placed on injured reserve, the Titans played without two starting offensive linemen; right guard Daniel Brunskill (ankle) was ruled out earlier in the week. Andre Dillard started in place of Petit-Frere but left in the second quarter with a concussion.
Tennessee cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting (thumb) was also inactive, and linebacker Chance Campbell, who was signed to the active roster from the practice squad, was injured during pregame warmups.
The Titans will finish a three-game road swing next Sunday with a division game against the Jacksonville Jaguars (6-3), the reigning AFC South champions who sit atop the standings ahead of the Texans (5-4), Indianapolis Colts (5-5) and Tennessee.
With the New Orleans Saint leading the underwhelming NFC South at 5-5, the Bucs are very much in a division title race that includes the third-place Atlanta Falcons (4-6). The Carolina Panthers are far behind at 1-8.