The Tennessee Titans picked up their second win in the Ryan Tannehill era, defeating the quarterback who was taken one pick before Marcus Mariota in 2015.
Although the AFC South is a competitive division, the Tennessee Titans suddenly have a real chance at making it back to the postseason. A few years ago, Marcus Mariota and Derrick Henry helped push Tennessee into the playoffs, but, now, the organization has moved on from the former Oregon Duck as their franchise quarterback.
Instead, they’ve called on another former first-round pick branded as a bust, using Ryan Tannehill as a more willing game manager. Tannehill has looked less scared – scarred may be the correct word, noting how many different coaching staffs Mariota has played with – under center. The former Miami Dolphins stater has done a solid job of moving the ball around, and that’s exactly what he did in Week 8 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tannehill led the Titans to a 27-23 win, bumping the Titans record up to 4-4, meaning they are now just 0.5 games behind the Houston Texans for second place in the AFC South. Whereas Jameis Winston threw two interceptions and over 300 yards, Tannehill was the polar opposite with under 200 passing yards but three touchdowns and zero interceptions in an effective, low-risk day.
The Titans seem to recognize Tannehill’s limitations, perhaps better than Miami ever did. They aren’t asking Tannehill to do much, instead focusing on maximizing the talents of their skill position players. In this win, Tannehill didn’t even average six yards per pass attempt, but he did enough to help Tennessee put up 27 points.
Top wide receivers Corey Davis and AJ Brown had just 20 combined receiving yards, but for this game, the Titans found a winning formula with Derrick Henry and the tight ends. They made big plays on defense to put Tannehill in better positions, and the quarterback delivered a mistake-free game; that’s exactly what was ordered against Winston and the Buccaneers.
Tennessee will face the Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs next in two tough matchups that will tell fans exactly how good this team is with Tannehill under center. But after defeating the Bucs and Los Angeles Chargers, the Titans have to feel good about their chances at competing for a Wild Card spot, especially with so many AFC teams disappointing this season.
A playoff opportunity is there for the taking for the defense-heavy Titans, who will continue to ride Henry and use Tannehill as a game manager. That secondary gives Tennessee’s passing game a huge margin for error; they came up huge for the win against Tampa Bay with Logan Ryan’s late interception.