Titans need to tweak offense to ease load on Henry, defense
NASHVILLE, TENN. » The Tennessee Titans must work through some offensive issues to relieve the pressure on two-time NFL rushing champ Derrick Henry and one of the league’s stingiest defenses.
A team that has been one of the NFL’s best under coach Mike Vrabel scoring touchdowns inside the red zone had to settle for field goals on three chances in a 20-16 loss to Cincinnati. Worse, the Titans (7-4) have a much bigger problem.
Entering Monday, only six teams score fewer points than Tennessee’s average of 19 per game, and all six have losing records.
Luckily for Tennessee, two of those teams — Indianapolis and Houston — reside in the AFC South, which the Titans still sit atop.
“We know that we have to be much better in those opportunities, and we have been, there’s evidence for many years of us doing that this year, Last year,” Vrabel said. “The only thing that matters is what we’re going to do against Philly moving forward.”
The Titans have to better counter opponents focused on shutting down Henry. Blocking better for both Henry and Ryan Tannehill would help.
Tennessee may have had only one sack against Cincinnati after taking down Joe Burrow nine times in a playoff game in January. But the Titans have not allowed an opponent to score more than 20 points in eight straight games, the franchise’s longest such streak since 11 games in 1993.
The Titans snapped a franchise record at eight consecutive games without allowing 100 yards rushing to an opponent. The Bengals managed to get to 108 yards.
The Titans’ lone touchdown came off a fumble recovered in the end zone by rookie wide receiver Treylon Burks when Henry was stripped after a 69-yard catch-and-run.
Henry, the first running back in the NFL to reach 1,000 yards this season, was held to his second-lowest total with 38 yards. He had the best receiving game of his career with 79 yards.