It wasn't just the Eagles' A.J. Brown who spanked the Tennessee Titans on Sunday | Estes
PHILADELPHIA — Four observations from the Tennessee Titans’ 35-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field:
Way too much A.J. Brown. Too much Philadelphia.
It wasn’t just A.J. Brown who spanked the Titans on Sunday. It was pretty much everyone involved in the Eagles’ passing offense.
Rather than testing a good Tennessee run defense, Philly opted – wisely – to lean heavily on the pass. The result was the worst performance for the Titans’ defense since Week 2 in Buffalo and, overall, another road game in which the Titans (7-5) were hopelessly outclassed by the top-notch Eagles (11-1).
Too often it was too easy for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and his receivers.
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Cornerback Kristian Fulton opened the game covering Brown but exited with a groin injury. He suffered it on an easy 40-yard touchdown in which Brown simply ran over Fulton and kept going for a wide-open score. Fulton’s absence put an overmatched rookie tandem of Roger McCreary and Tre Avery up against Brown and former Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith. Not good for the Titans. Very good for the Eagles.
Hurts finished with 380 yards on 29-of-39 passing (268 yards in the first half alone), while Brown (119 yards on eight catches) and Smith (102 yards on five catches) each had big afternoons against a beat-up defense.
On Brown’s second touchdown, Avery was step-for-step in coverage, but Brown still came up with a 29-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 28-10 while squelching any lingering Titans hopes.
Not much else to say: The Eagles’ offensive players were much better than the Titans out there on defense.
And these Titans aren’t going to win without their defense playing well, since …
The offense still isn't very good
By this point, the Titans’ offense is what it is – capable at times, but overall, just not very good.
Sunday featured many of the same troubling themes, especially up front. Once again, the Titans failed to get Derrick Henry rolling – the calendar shifting to December didn't change that – and had six of their first eight offensive possessions result in fewer than 10 yards and a punt. That's not good enough against many NFL teams. It was definitely not good enough against this Eagles team.
Philly's defensive front got plenty of pressure on Ryan Tannehill, who did much of his damage early by scrambling with his receivers covered downfield. There just wasn’t much there – again – to help this offense. Tannehill ended up being sacked six times and was limping around by early in the second half. Malik Willis finished the game.
A pivotal moment?
With the Titans’ trailing 14-7 in the second quarter and awaiting a third-and-1 at the Eagles’ 8-yard line, left tackle Dennis Daley was flagged for a false start, and then Tannehill was sacked on third-and-6, resulting in a field goal.
That was a killer of a sequence, so much that I’d call it pivotal. But hey, this game was never that close. It just got away from the Titans after that red-zone stop.
Thumbs-up for Treylon Burks
After a week dominated by headlines about his predecessor Brown, Titans rookie receiver Treylon Burks made one of the most incredible catches you’ll ever see for a 25-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Burks bravely held on to the football after receiving a shot from Eagles safety Marcus Epps that earned an unnecessary roughness penalty and knocked Burks out of the game.
Burks lay motionless for a few scary moments before he walked off the field and into the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion. He didn’t return, and the Titans’ offense certainly missed him.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans spanked by A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles
