If you want to make the argument that these guys are getting tight in big spots and/or pressing to come up with a clutch play, there appears to be some truth to that line of thinking. I say all that to acknowledge, that yes, the drops are an issue. You could easily argue that the Titans are 5-2 with wins over the Bills and Chargers if Nick Williams and Corey Davis are able to catch open passes in the 4th quarters of those games.But would that substantially change the way you felt about this offense?It wouldn’t for me. Maybe the focus of the conversation would be around how well the defense is playing, but there would still be major concern over the offense. For example, let’s say we have a magic wand and can use it to change the three biggest missed opportunities due to drops into complete passes. I’ll use the Williams drop against Buffalo, the Davis drop against LA, and the Jennings drop against Philadelphia. We would add 10 points — giving the Titans a field goal from the Chargers drive — and about 100 yards to the team totals for the season while lowering the drop rate to below league average. Those changes would move the Titans offense from 30th in points scored to a tie for 28th and would bump them from 29th in total yards of offense to 28th. Basically, this is still a bottom five offense even if they have a below average drop rate.Look around the league at other teams. The Chiefs with all their offensive weapons have 13 drops on the season per PFF — one more than Tennessee according to their charting — and yet they’ve scored 154 more points than the Titans have in 2018. That’s a delta of 22 points per game.Cleveland — with a rookie quarterback, an average at best offensive line, and one legitimate pass catcher in Jarvis Landry — is averaging almost 7 points and over 75 yards more per game than Tennessee despite having a whopping 21 drops according to PFF. The actual issue, in my opinion, is the lack of explosive plays in the Titans offense. Sharp Football Stats defines explosive plays as runs of 10+ yards and passes of 15+ yards. Through 7 weeks, the Titans have 11 explosive rushes and 9 explosive passes. Those totals rank 29th and 30th, respectively, in the NFL. The Titans rank 31st — above only the lowly Cardinals — when it comes to combined explosive plays with 20. Even the Bills have a higher total. For some context the two LA teams have 51 combined explosive plays each through 7 weeks. But what about the drops limiting the explosive plays? That’s a factor of course, but even giving the benefit of the doubt on a few of the plays listed above, the Titans would add — at most — 5 explosive plays if they had caught all of those passes. That would move them up to 24th in the NFL. That’s still not good enough.Explosive plays are crucial to scoring in the modern NFL. Studies have found that drives that include an explosive play result in points over 75% of the time. An explosive play basically doubles your odds of scoring on any given drive. Right now, the Titans are largely relying on stringing together an endless stream of 3rd downs before eventually converting in the red zone for a touchdown. They are yet to score a touchdown on offense from outside the red zone. That’s a really tough formula for success. The Titans are converting 3rd downs at a rate of 38.1% which is 21st in the league. In the red zone Customized Tennessee Titans Jerseys , Tennessee has scored a touchdown on 43.8% of their opportunities, 29th in the NFL. With an average starting line of scrimmage of the 26-yard line, that means that without the help of explosive plays, the Titans are left trying to pick up about five 1st downs on the way to the end zone during their average drive.So how do the Titans become a more explosive offense? That’s the question that Jon Robinson, Mike Vrabel, and Matt LaFleur need to be asking themselves this week. Maybe a trade for a guy like DeSean Jackson who could add that element through his elite speed and ball-tracking ability would make sense. However, if they don’t decide to make a roster move, it’s going to fall on LaFleur to find a way to scheme some receivers open.It’s also going to fall on Marcus Mariota to be aggressive attacking down field and the receivers to get open and catch the ball when they do get an opportunity to make a big play. Even when the offense has been good in 2018, it has largely taken them falling behind early to wake them up. Tennessee is dead last in the NFL in 1st half points, averaging just 5 per game. They nearly double that number in the second half — though that is still good for just 27th in the league. They need to come out of the gates aggressive if they want to get things on track in the second half of the year.Report: Titans sign safety Kenny Vaccaro The Titans are reportedly signing former Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro to a one year deal as they look to replace the hole created by Johnathan Cyprien’s season ending ACL tear. The Titans had brought in Vaccaro, Steven Terrell, Lardarius Webb, and Mike Mitchell for workouts on Friday and Vaccaro ended up being the choice. The team had planned to bring in Eric Reid as well, but inclement weather caused his flight to be delayed until Saturday. Reports indicate that other teams began to show interest in Vaccaro which essentially forced the Titans to go ahead and make the move rather than waiting on Reid to arrive.Vaccaro is a versatile player who the Saints deployed in a variety of roles over the past five seasons, including deep middle, in the box, or over a slot receiver. At his best, Vaccaro can play at a near Pro Bowl level, but various injuries and a PED suspension slowed his progress in New Orleans at times. After waiting out a soft safety market this offseason, the Titans are likely getting a highly motivated player who will want to avoid repeating this process next offseason.At 27, he’s still in the prime of his career and should be a solid starter as part of an excellent secondary in Tennessee. Playing as a part of the #MMCNB crew could help Vaccaro reach new levels as aMore to come on Vaccaro here on Music City Miracles in the next few days.
