Tennessee Titans
Are Tennessee Titans Finally Ready to Meet Lofty Expectations in 2017?
It should be easy to embrace the Tennessee Titans as the next exciting team set to deliver an injection of youth into the NFL every week. But for most of 2017, they've made it so damn hard.
They teased then sputtered for the first five weeks. An impressive showing against the Seattle Seahawks ended in a 33-27 win, which should have been a statement victory. Then the roars from that week were followed by whimpers after a 57-14 beat-down loss to the Houston Texans, and a 16-10 thud at home against the rudderless Miami Dolphins.
Through it all, however, there was still a sense that when everything came together offensively—if quarterback Marcus Mariota was somewhat healthy, if Eric Decker and an impressive group of receivers showed up and if a powerful rushing offense kept doing its bulldozing—the 2017 Titans we expected could finally arrive.
We may have witnessed that during the second half of a 36-22 win over the Indianapolis Colts, a primetime triumph highlighted by 21 fourth-quarter points.
It was a win that encapsulated the Titans' season so far with one significant exception: The resilience of Mariota.
He led an offense that kept knocking on the door of the end zone before finally busting it down with this 53-yard bucket drop to wide receiver Taywan Taylor:
That was the second of three four-quarter Titans touchdowns. It came after Tennessee had scored 15 points over the first three periods and squandered two trips into the red zone. That included one where they settled for a field goal after having four snaps at or inside the Colts' 5-yard line.
There was frustration when drives stalled out, and the Titans had to kick five field goals. But there was also promise and hope masked by that disappointment. Bubbling below the surface was an offense waiting to pounce on a 30th-ranked Colts secondary that had given up 8.3 yards per pass attempt prior to Week 6.
Treading water for much of the game and producing any points at all was an accomplishment for a hobbled quarterback. Mariota missed Week 5 due to a hamstring injury, and with his usual speed zapped, he was forced into an uncomfortable situation.
He had to become a pocket passer, something that's still a little foreign to him. Being confined to the pocket is an appropriately spooky thought for Mariota as Halloween season approaches. And that showed, especially with his first-half interception thrown almost right at Colts outside linebacker John Simon, who was standing about four yards away.
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