Three points. It might not seem like much, but it was everything to the . For a team that's been sitting dormant for far too long, , last season's plus-3 point differential marked an incredible turnaround. In 2014, the Titans were outscored by 184 points. In 2015, they were outscored by 124 points. In 2016, they outscored their opposition by three points. Which means over the course of three years, the Titans improved their point differential by 187 points. That's not insignificant. Expect another improvement in 2017, and don't be surprised if the Titans, a team with an eight-season playoff drought, find a way to keep playing football games into January, when the postseason begins. The Titans might be primed for a surprise playoff run for the first time since Kerry Collins quarterbacked a team that was coached
Washington Commanders Jersey by everyone's favorite punching bag, Jeff Fisher. To turn that po sibility into reality, the Titans will likely emulate a team that conquered the regular season a year ago. This year's Cowboys?When went down with yet another back injury last season, all hope in Dallas was lost. The , once again, were going to be doomed by Romo's health a year after they went 1-11 without him. The season ended before it had a chance to begin, so the thinking went.But to the surprise of everyone, the Cowboys ended up posting the NFC's best record, winning 13 games. They skipped the rebuilding phase and went straight to the young and dominant phase. The Titans won't win as many games or turn into the dominating, unbreakable force the Cowboys were last year, but they can follow the Cowboys' blueprint all the way into the playoffs. They can, if things break their way, be the AFC's miniature version of the Cowboys by pounding and taking care of the ball and as a result, helping their subpar defense by limiting the amount of plays they're forced to stop. The similarities were already there last year. Rush Attempts Rush Yards YPC Offensive DVOA Turnovers Yards allowed per play Cowboys 499 2,396 4.8 No. 3 15 5.5 Titans 476 2,187 4.6 No. 9 18 5.5 The biggest difference? The Cowboys won 13 games, outscoring their opposition by 115 points. The Titans won nine games, outscoring their foes by three points. No, the Titans aren't going to morph into the Cowboys overnight.
Washington Commanders T Shirts They aren't identical teams. But the pieces are in place for a surprise playoff run. The Titans have secured a sets or potential a sets at the following positions: Quarterback: (a set with even more potential)Running back: (a set) and (a set with more potential)Tight end: (a set)Receiver: Corey Davis (potential a set), (a set)Defensive line: (one of the most underrated a sets in football)Cornerback: Adoree' Jackson (potential a set) Safety: (a set after a solid 2016 with Jacksonville)Still, the Titans definitely have needs. Their defense is lacking playmakers. They're nowhere close to becoming a contender, a team that can realistically take down the in the AFC. There's no denying that. But ... baby steps. The Titans are just trying to build on their foundation and, if all goes well, earn an extra game or two at the end of the regular season. Franchise pa ser in placeIt starts, like it does for most playoff teams, with their quarterback. To this point in his career, Mariota's done everything he can to live up to the hype that came attached to him out of Oregon -- except, of course, stay healthy. If Mariota can stay healthy in 2017, he'll be the AFC South's second-best quarterback behind (someone with his own injury i sues). In 27 career games, Mariota's completed 61.6 percent of his pa ses, averaged 7.6 yards per attempt, thrown 45 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, and generated a 93.8 pa ser rating. He's posted that favorable statline despite the fact that his best receiver has been a tight end. Mariota,
Charley Taylor Jersey to this point, has been awesome. More advanced statistics demonstrate his succe s. , Mariota was the 13th-best quarterback in 2016. By QBR, he was 12th. By DVOA (another FO metric), he was 11th. In two seasons, Mariota has already shaken the notion that he was a spread quarterback who couldn't run an offense. He's running it just fine. The game-tying TD for Titans had five receivers run routes, Mariota read left side, covered, then saw LB turn his back to strike to Andre. Cian Fahey (@Cianaf) He's also improving. In his rookie season, he threw a touchdown on 5.1 percent of his pa ses and an interception on 2.7 percent of his attempts. His touchdown percentage last year rose to 5.8 and his interception percentage fell to 2.0. None of this is intended to portray Mariota as a perfect quarterback. He still has his flaws, besides his inability to stay on the field. He's probably never going to be a deadly deep-ball pa ser, though he did already improve from Year 1 to Year 2 in that area. The key is that Mariota should continue to get better at every area of the game as his supporting cast continues to improve. And the Titans' supporting case is getting better, a suming Davis, the team's top pick, lives up to the hype. If that happens, Matthews, a pleasant surprise who caught nine touchdowns last year, will go from a WR1 to a WR2 -- a role he's better suited for. Surprise free agent visited Tenne see on Wednesday. If Decker and his 0.55 touchdowns per game sign with the Titans, Mariota will finally have a legitimate supporting cast. Walker, (23 touchdowns in the past four seasons), won't be his
Kamren Curl Jersey lone threat anymore.Titans more than MariotaThe offensive line allowed 28 sacks, tied with Dallas and Chicago for the seventh-fewest. There's no reason to expect a regre sion in that area. The average age of
Jon Bostic Jersey the Titans' offensive line will be 26 when the season starts.Notice anything about the image below? The top graded players from 2016 Pro Football Focus (@PFF) Their two highest-graded players were offensive linemen. Running back DeMarco Murray led the league in rushing behind the Cowboys' line not too long ago. He thinks the two units are comparable. "How close are they?" Murray said, "I mean, I run behind these guys every day. I have a lot of respect for Dallas and those guys -- Zack Martin and Trav Frederick and Tyron Smith and . I'm still great friends with them. I think with the line we have here in Nashville with the Titans that we're one of the top in the league." The Titans are a young offensive team that has the chance to make the leap from solid to great. As a whole, the Titans' offense ranked 11th in yards, 14th in points, and The improving pa sing game isn't the only notable piece of the offense. After all, Mike Mularkey doesn't call it the because of Mariota's arm. Unlike most teams, much of the Titans' succe s comes down to their punishing ground game, led by Murray and supplemented by Derrick Henry. , they ran the using three or more tight ends
