Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans both changed head coaches after the 2023 season. The former agreed to mutually part ways with Bill Belichick after a quarter century together, while the latter fired Mike Vrabel in a somewhat surprising move. Since then, the two organizations made more moves: Jerod Mayo, Belichick’s heir handpicked by owner Robert Kraft, was fired after one disastrous season; the Titans, meanwhile, let go of Vrabel’s successor Brian Callahan just this week.
Needless to say that Callahan’s dismissal six days before the Patriots are set to visit Nissan Stadium adds yet another story to Vrabel’s return to his old stomping grounds. While that makes the Titans somewhat unpredictable, here is what we know about them up until this point in the season.
Well, the Titans just fired their coach. You can probably guess that the stats rundown will not look pretty.
Record: 1-5 (4th AFC South)
Scoring differential: -78 (31st)
Turnover differential: -1 (t-15th)
Offense: 13.8 points/game (31st), 232.3 yards/game (32nd), 10 giveaways (t-28th), -0.220 EPA/dropback (31st), -0.156 EPA/run (29th)
Defense: 26.8 points/game (26th), 343.3 yards/game (22nd), 9 takeaways (t-5th), 0.177 EPA/dropback (25th), -0.039 EPA/run (24th)
As can be seen, the Titans have been a bottom-tier team virtually across the board. The only number that stands out in a positive way is the ability to create turnovers: Tennessee is tied for fifth in the league in takeaways, having benefitted from four interceptions and five fumbles. And yet, despite those, the club has been unable to generate any momentum particularly on offense.
And make no mistake, being led by a rookie quarterback is not the only issue for Tennessee’s offense. The offense as a whole has struggled resulting in last-place rankings in both yards (20.8) and points (1.15) per drive on top of those stats above.
And to make matters worse, the defense — despite its opportunism — has not been a whole lot better. Better, yes, but not enough to compensate for an anemic offensive attack.
The Titans wouldn’t have fired Brian Callahan in early October if they hadn’t played some bad football to this point. Their 1-5 record is proof of that, as is the look at those specific games.
Week 1: 20-12 loss at Denver Broncos (0-1)
Week 2: 33-19 loss vs. Los Angeles Rams (0-2)
Week 3: 41-20 loss vs. Indianapolis Colts (0-3)
Week 4: 26-0 loss at Houston Texans (0-4)
Week 5: 22-21 win at Arizona Cardinals (1-4)
Week 6: 20-10 loss at Las Vegas Raiders (1-5)
Callahan being removed from his position after the latest loss to the Raiders might have had little to do with that particular game. In actuality, it seems like the blowout losses against the Colts and Texans already set the stage for a change, with the subsequent upset win in Arizona merely pushing the inevitable back a week.
(Note: Roster up-to-date as of Oct. 15, 5 a.m. ET; *denotes nominal starter)
Quarterback (2):...
