Forum allgemein » This week’s edition of Keeping Up

With Marcus Mariota is a little late Youth Austin Johnson Jersey , but that’s okay considering the Titans have a bye this week.The Titans lost another close game—this time to the Chargers—to ultimately relinquish first place in the AFC South to the Houston Texans while falling to 3-4. After riding a three-game winning streak, Tennessee is on a three-game losing streak that leaves fans with more questions than answers going into the bye.Marcus Mariota completed 75% of his passes (24/32) against the Chargers for 237 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and a 92.8 passer rating. While he’s been taking heat from across the NFL circle—even from Titans fans—I don’t think he’s generally been the problem for this offense in 2018. Sure he’s had his bad moments, but in a conservative passing game with no consistent threat at receiver, it’s been a rough grind for the fourth-year starter.Let’s take a look at a few “highlight” moments from Sunday’s game:A red zone interception. This season is officially over.gamepass.nfl.comMariota’s streak of zero red zone interceptions came to an end in London (the streak in America is still alive), as Melvin Ingram tipped this pass into Denzel Perryman’s arms for the pick. Mariota releases this pass just as he gets his head up from the jet sweep fake, so my guess here is that he’s expecting Ingram to rush instead of hesitate and play the pass. He got lucky earlier in the game when Ingram dropped a line drive pass into his chest, but couldn’t get away with it twice.Either way, this pass is picked off on a rare red zone interception from Mariota. Outside of that, however, Mariota was pretty accurate throughout the game and suffered with two massive drops on the same drive.Probably should’ve signed a receiver in free agency.gamepass.nfl.comThe first massive drop came from Taywan Taylor, who has become a complete liability as a pass catcher anywhere but underneath on a screen. Mariota does a great job reacting to the edge pressure in time, climbing up, resetting himself and firing a great throw to Taylor only to watch it go through his hands for an incomplete pass. The Titans receivers, much like the Colts with Andrew Luck, owe Mariota for a lot of drops that have occurred this season. Another example comes from Corey Davis a few plays after Taylor’s drop.Good God why would you attack this ball with one hand what’s the pointgamepass.nfl.comCorey Davis is easily one of the most frustrating #1 wide receivers in the league. Creating separation is no problem from here, as shown here where he runs a nice route. It’s his lack oftiming and failure to be on the same page with Mariota that have made him so bad in his sophomore season. What Davis does here on 3rd and 7 is inexcusable. For reasons only known to Davis Navy Josh Kline Jersey , he tries catching this ball with one hand despite it not being close to being warranted. The Titans are down 20-13 with 8:30 left in regulation as this occurs, and managed to get zero points on this drive as Ryan Succop’s ensuing field goal attempt went wide right.I’m getting flashbacks of Dorial Green-Beckham. Don’t give me flashbacks of Dorial Green-Beckham.gamepass.nfl.comAgain the route by Davis is great, but his timing is horrendous. Davis had a rough rookie year, but I expected him to flash a lot more this season due to his talent. It only happened once against the Eagles and has never popped up again.It’s easy to blame Mariota for the struggles on Tennessee’s offense with his low placement in both raw stats and analytics. I happen to be a heavy investor in analytics, as they are a phenomenal tool to use to figure out the best and worst at the statistic for players at said position.With that said, the problem with the use of analytics isn’t the tool itself, but how people use it. Like I said, analytics are a phenomenal tool, but the criticism of Mariota for low yards per attempt and more touchdowns than interceptions, to me, comes without much context. Not a lot is mentioned of how Mariota is playing and instead the criticism becomes how he’s playing statistically. To me, these analytics need to be combined with context in order to get it, though I respect people’s opinions on the matter regardless. From my perspective, what was supposed to be a friendlier offense from new coordinator Matt LaFleur has turned into a conservative, weak attack without much of a plan. The guard play has been pretty poor this season, and the lack of consistent threats at wide receiver (hopefully Tajae Sharpe changes that) makes it extremely easy for defenses to attack Tennessee without fear.But Mariota has been accurate this season in a bad situation over the Titans’ last three games. Outside of the Ravens game where he was sacked 11 times, he’s been a poised pocket passer and has been consistently sharp with his throws. If someone happens to feel otherwise, that’s fine. I’m just offering my perspective on the matter.Going into the bye, the Titans face far more problems than solutions on offense Youth Corey Davis Jersey , but Marcus Mariota is not one of their problems. Just to be clear, Matt LaFleur has called plays in NFL games as an offensive coordinator.Sean McVay let him call plays for six quarters last year with the Los Angeles Rams — all in the preseason."I called the fourth preseason game actually in Green Bay and I called the second half of the Oakland game last year ...," LaFleur said Monday. "Every opportunity you get to go out and do that, situations arise. You've got to think quickly on your feet. The more experience you get, I think the more calm you'll remain in those situations and be able to give the guys a better call."LaFleur, 38, has had to be a quick study, taking advantage of each opportunity to learn to call plays since Mike Vrabel hired him as offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans. LaFleur has immersed himself into it through the offseason program, through live periods and during the first 10 days of training camp.His first big test comes Thursday night when the Titans visit the Green Bay Packers for the preseason opener for both teams. Vrabel knows what he wants to see from LaFleur."Efficiency, making sure that we got clean operation getting the guys in and out of the huddle," Vrabel said. "Whatever personnel group we're going with, let's go with it. Let's make a call and make sure we give these guys a chance to line up and make a play."LaFleur has worked with some dynamic play-callers in the NFL, including Gary Kubiak in Houston, Mike Shanahan in Washington, Kyle Shanahan while coaching quarterbacks with the Atlanta Falcons and McVay in 2017 as coordinator when the Los Angeles Rams led the NFL in points scored.Now it's LaFleur, who also interviewed for the head coaching job that went to Vrabel , in position to call the offensive plays that he's been installing with quarterback Marcus Mariota."We as coaches, we try to prepare for every situation so you're ready for that moment," LaFleur said. "But inevitably every week when you watch games something occurs like Youth Kevin Byard Jersey , 'Wow. I may not have thought about that before.' It's just trying to do the best you can to prepare for every moment. But inevitably you're going to have to think on your feet at some point and time in the game."Calling plays, which McVay handles with the Rams, was the big draw for LaFleur to Tennessee. He also has Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick in 2015, and running back Derrick Henry as a pair of Heisman Trophy winners to work with along with an offensive line returning each starter.Even with all that talent, the Titans have plenty of room for improvement on offense. Tennessee ranked 23rd in total yards per game, 23rd in yards passing and 19th in points per game. The Rams, with a second-year quarterback in Jared Goff and NFL Offensive Player of the Year Todd Gurley , ranked no lower than 10 in any of those categories with the biggest leap in scoring. The Rams went from last in the NFL in points per game in 2016 to a league-best 29.8 points in 2017.The key will be how quickly the Titans, particularly Mariota, learn the new scheme designed to take advantage of the quarterback's mobility. LaFleur believes the Titans have made a lot of progress since the offseason when the defense got the best of the offense to now with practice more of a tug of war between both units."We've got a great group of guys, and it is fun to watch these guys grow," LaFleur said. "And I think we are improving on a daily basis."NOTES: WR Corey Davis did not practice after leaving Saturday's practice early, but Vrabel said Davis will be fine. LB Brian Orakpo (shoulder), LB Rashaan Evans, CB Demontre Hurst, OL Kevin Pamphile, DL Bennie Logan and LB Sharif Finch also did not practice.Follow Teresa M. Walker at teresamwalker