At Least The Titans’ Offensive Regression Isn’t A Spitting Image Of Todd Downing’s Lone Season As Raiders O.C… Lol, JK! It Is!
2021 Titans under Downing: Titans offense that dropped from second to 17th overall in yards, from fourth to 15th in points per game. The Titans scored an average of one touchdown less per game in 2021, falling from 30.7 points per game in 2020 to 24.6 per game in 2021.
2016 Raiders under Todd downing: Raiders’ offense dropped like a stone from 2016, falling from sixth to 17th overall offensively, from seventh to 23rd in points, and from sixth to 25th in rushing yards. Quarterback Derek Carr threw for just 22 touchdowns with 13 interceptions that year, posting an 86.4 quarterback rating that remains the second worst of his career.
Reddit: u/-NotAnAdmin
Woof.
Look, I’m not calling for the guy’s job. In fact, I hate it when football fans so blatantly and opening cry for the firing of a coach. Mainly because I wouldn’t want millions of people calling for my firing at my job. That would suck. And would probably happen a lot. So I’m not really calling for the guy’s job. I’m just asking for a reshuffling of the deck. The Peter Principle is clearly in play here. I’m sure he’s a decent coach, but when it comes to running an offense, he ain’t it. We’ve seen similar instances before. Jim Schwartz? Not a head coach. But can he come in and help revamp a defense? We saw first hand this year that he still can.
Like if my dad handed me the keys to his convertible, and I took it out, scratched it up, maybe dented one of the bumpers, and couldn’t finish drives, I don’t think he would kick me out of the family. But he sure as hell would take my keys away, which is what I hope the Titans do this offseason. Realize the severity of this decline. And look, there’s more nuance to this severe decline than just the O.C. Derrick Henry was out for most of the season and this was the most injured team in NFL history. Even Arthur Smith would’ve seen a decline with those variables had he stayed in Nashville. But the play calling was lethargic, predictable, and uncreative. So they’ve got to make a change, right?
Right?
RIGHT?!
You’d think. Until you see quotes like these:
But before you smack yourself in the face with a frying pan. Take solace in the fact that we also got quotes like this, that should feel reassuring:
Look, are the Titans stubborn? Definitely. Is Vrabel stubborn? Of course. Every NFL team is in certain instances. But as long as Vrabel and Robinson are leading this team, I have faith. Is it a blind faith? Maybe. But it’s a blind faith that has been earned. This is a franchise that prior to Jon Robinson’s arrival had not made the playoffs in the nine years prior. And since taking over, they’ve made the playoffs every year but one, and they’ve improved each of their last three seasons. Despite anyone’s lust for criticism, that’s progress. If you’re expecting a Super Bowl right away after the depths of hell this franchise is in, then I don’t know what to tell you. You’re living in a microwaved Twitter society where change in real life (especially in the NFL) just doesn’t happen that fast. However, we are seeing fixes being made. Last year, this team had a historically bad defense with only 19 sacks on the entire season. This year, they produced 9 sacks in a damn playoff game. So they righted that wrong. Now we just have to have faith (with a little hope and prayer) that they right the wrong that was this offense this year.
And in my glorified opinion (that I probably think way too highly of), it starts with Todd.
Freakin’ Todd.
Also, please change the name of the stadium to Nissan Coliseum this offseason. Thank you.
P.S. I found this to be pretty funny
