The Freefall of the Titans OL

We can look at every position group and point fingers all day at how they need to improve. But there's nothing close, IMO, to the decline in the Titans OL.

Let’s take a look back to 2016.

Murray had 1287 yards. Henry 490. Mariota 349. This totals 2,126 yards which was good for #3 in the league and #4 in yards per attempt. It averages 132.9 yards per game.

Marcus was sacked only 23 times.

The OL was the same as the starting five now. Conk was a rookie. Spain was in his second season. Lewan his third. The only difference was that Walker played in 10 games which, no doubt, helped Conk.

Fast forward two seasons.

Lewis has 428 yards. Henry has 434. Mariota has 282. Look at it over 16 games and you have Lewis with 623, Henry with 631 and Mariota with 410. This totals 1,664 yards (-462 yards).

That currently ranks #19 in total rushing yards and #29 in yards per attempt.

Mariota has been sacked 35 times which means, if he stays on this pace, 51 sacks total this season—more than double '16 (not counting Gabbert sacks). Whiz got canned, in part, because he couldn't take care of Mariota with fewer sacks.

Quality OLs get better the more they play together. Granted, Conk is coming off an ACL and we've had more injuries overall but this OL is in freefall. I didn't realize how much until I crunched the numbers.

I've watched football for a long time. In my memory, I don't recall an OL with the same players declining this much in such a short time.

 

They started declining in '17. Same scheme as in '16.

 

IMO, we're seeing one-on-one breakdowns much more often. Scheme might have something to do with it but these guys, to a man, aren't playing as well individually as they did.