Titans: Looking at season stats through Week 2
Here we are looking at season stats thus far, week two edition.
Marcus Mariota has completed 67 percent of his passes. That’s 10th best in the NFL. His four touchdown passes are only two behind the NFL leader, Ben Roethlisberger. His 37 pass attempts per game are about average.
Mariota has been sacked five times. That’s the sixth most. The Titans offensive line is playing far better this season, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
DeMarco Murray only has 25 carries through two games. This is far less than expected. He is 10th in the NFL with 131 yards rushing and a gaudy 5.2 average. Murray is actually 13th in receptions with 12.
Derrick Henry is only averaging 7 carries per game and 3.1 yards per carry. Those are not good numbers at all.
This is not “smashmouth football.” Titans coach Mike Mularkey clearly intended to run more this season. The team has fallen behind and turned the ball over which created a sense of urgency. The urgency seems to have forced the Titans to abandon “smashmouth football.”
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Tajae Sharpe has 11 receptions for 109 yards. That’s alright for most rookies, but he is being relied upon and will need to produce more yards. He doesn’t have a touchdown yet and needs to “hit paydirt” soon. His longest catch is 17 yards. Mariota doesn’t have any completions over 40 yards. A nice long catch each week will make these stats look far better. He is an impressive rookie. He just has to add the deep ball to his game.
No other Tennessee wide receiver or tight end has 10 catches. That’s unacceptable.
Delanie Walker was rarely used in week one and a big part of the offense in week two. He has nine catches with a nice 81 percent catch rate. He should continue to do well and be the second receiving option for the Titans. Walker is only three catches behind NFL leader, Jason Witten.
Brian Orakpo is tied for sixth in the NFL with two sacks. Kevin Dodd has one sack, in one start. Karl Klug also has a sack. Jurrell Casey needs to step up and get his first sack of 2016.
Perrish Cox has the only Titans interception this season. Cox’s interception came at the best time possible, but they could surely use some more.
Defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau has had a fantastic career of leading defenses that pressure the quarterback and force interceptions. Despite the lack of sack or interception stats, the Titans defense has performed very well by only allowing a single touchdown thus far.
Quarterbacks have had a quarterback-rating of just 74.9 against the Titans. This is the sixth best in the NFL and an excellent number for a defense.
In NFL statistics, the Titans team has yielded 40 points and are the tenth best defense. The errors by Mariota and Murray gifted some of those points. It is a team stat attributed to the defense. If Mariota throws a “pick-6,” Lebeau’s defense will “pay” in the stat column. Keeping this in mind, the Titans scoring defense has been outstanding despite the appearance.
In total yards stats, the Titans defense is 14th overall, 13th against the pass, and 14th against the run. This needs to improve to reach their goal of being a top ten defense, but it’s not far off.
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