By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

For much of the 2023 offseason, it felt like Ran Carthon and Mike Vrabel were trying to thread the needle between competing in 2023 while also setting the table for a future beyond this season, one that likely doesn’t include some of the central figures from this spurt of success since 2019.

Carthon reportedly had discussions about trading Derrick Henry early in the offseason and the new GM was careful not to do too much restructuring of current deals to preserve a war chest of cap space that is waiting for him in 2024. He also traded up to select Will Levis in the second round and then took Tyjae Spears in the third, clear heirs for the Ryan Tannehill-Henry backfield duo that helped win back-to-back division titles in 2020 and 2021.

However, they ultimately decided to keep their expensive core veterans – including Kevin Byard and Denico Autry along with Tannehill and Henry – while adding DeAndre Hopkins. To make room for Hopkins, they did borrow from that 2024 cap allotment via Harold Landry’s restructured contract. Those were all moves aimed at competing for a division title in 2023.

By JAKE DOWNARD

Jake Downard is a law student who creates NFL and NBA content focused on analytics on Twitter as @JakeAndBall. He also works with fanspo.com. A glossary of the analytics terms he uses is available in this previous piece.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans flew across the pond on Thursday and hosted the Baltimore Ravens in London on Sunday.

Once again, we watched an offense struggle to get anything going whatsoever. Once again, we saw a team that was situationally inept and reeling for some sense of rhythm. The Titans offense was out-gained by the Ravens offense by more than 125 yards, they went one for nine on third downs, they averaged a little less than 2 yards per carry in the first half while attempting to establish the run and they went one for four in the red zone, coming away with one TD.  

Here is where the Titans offense stands in a few noteworthy metrics through the Sunday Night Football game in Week 6: 

• EPA/Play: -0.030 (12th of 28)
• Success Rate: 46.3% (12th of 28)
• Dropback EPA: -0.046 (13th of 28)
• Rush EPA: 0.005 (12th of 28)

(These standings and numbers are for Week 6 only, not season-long.) 

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans are not a very good football team, but this isn’t something that just happened overnight, this was going to be the outcome at some point this season whether the fans and organization wanted to admit it or not. This team was flawed from the start, unfortunately, things unwound within the first six weeks of the season.

I mentioned in the preview if the Titans lost versus the Ravens, they need to consider trading valuable pieces and acquiring draft assets for the 2024 season. The Titans only have two picks in the top three rounds in the upcoming draft. Acquiring as many selections as possible is key to being able to select depth and players that can develop into two deep pieces.

DeAndre Hopkins could bring back a fourth-round pick. Everybody else in play would be more like a fifth- to seventh-rounder, but the Titans need to collect all the draft picks they can get.

I believe the time is now to make these moves, but who is going to make that decision for the organization?

LONDON -- What a monstrous disappointment. 

Not everyone in the States gets up or figures out how to tune into the International Series games, but such games are still in a featured window by themselves. And the Titans played another dud at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, flubbing their way to a 24-16 loss to the Ravens while losing Ryan Tannehill to another right ankle injury.

That injury was big for discussion because it may present the Titans with their quarterback crossroad.

So was Jeffery Simmons indicating he doesn't think everyone is all in.

And Mike Vrabel answering my question about whether something may not be correctable with a response that started with, "Probably, maybe, we'll see." That's majorly noteworthy, I believe. 

There were a lot of moments you'd wanted to hash out and a lot of long-range issues you wanted to sort through after getting up and taking in an early game involving your team for the first time since 2018. So I bundling up and heading back to the outdoor press box to make it happen. 

So please rewatch the excellent chat with me about all of this at the private Facebook page or on YouTube which you can find below.

LONDON – The NFL transforms the international venues that host its games, so the home locker room at Tottenham Hotspur has plenty of light blue and Titans logos and even a new twist on their themes.

A couple of long signs running atop a string of lockers read: “Our Edge: Effort, Finish, Details, Technique, Fundamentals.”

"Our team message is on the board,” Jeffery Simmons said, his eyes gesturing up to the words. “And that’s our edge. Apparently, we didn’t play with the Tennessee Titans’ edge today.”

No, not close. The result of the Titans' big game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a 24-16 loss to the Ravens on a grand stage with a terrific environment.

Frankly, they haven’t played with this alleged edge very often. They now stand at 2-4 and some of the issues make it entirely fair to question their identity beyond Mike Vrabel’s calling-card effort. [Unlocked]

LONDON – When England finally scored to move ahead of Australia on Friday night, I thought Wembley Stadium would erupt, friendly or not. But the noise that followed was more of a collective sigh of relief along the way to a 1-0 win for the home side during an international break in world club soccer.

A home match for a European soccer power trying to get things in order for the EURO 2024 tournament was a very cool thing to add to my list of sports experiences, and rooting for a country as a guest as one of 81,116 at a storied venue was something new too. 

Don’t mind me, I’m just an interloper joining in on your national fervor, wearing my red US Soccer sweatshirt. Remember us? You tend to not think much of us as a football nation, we’re here to play the other kind on Sunday, but we played you to a scoreless draw in World Cup 2022 in Qatar. But I’m with you now. 

You can’t consume alcohol when you can see the field at a national team or EPL game. That means beer-drinking is a concourse-only event and in the stroll from the Wembley Park tube station to the stadium I didn’t see people pounding drinks to get in a lather before the stadium rules slowed them down. [Unlocked]

WATFORD, U.K. -- The Grove is an expansive property where the Titans are based for their London game. The hotel includes Gabriel’s Football Pitch, where they practiced, The Walled Garden, where four players chatted with the press, and The Potting Shed behind it, where Mike Vrabel and Ryan Tannehill held more formal press conferences.

Over 75 members of the British media with a splash of Germans all seemed delighted by Derrick Henry, DeAndre Hopkins, Jeffery Simmons, Kevin Byard, Tannehill and Vrabel, who all did well to turn up the charm.

Though the Titans started their practice week Tuesday, today was a typical Friday practice, when the only slice of practice open to the media is the stretch. So camera people and reporters rushed to the sideline to film roughly 8 minutes of players shuffling in rows and then working to loosen their hamstrings, quads and groins.

The #Titans on the field at their hotel getting ready for Friday’s light practice in Watford, UK. pic.twitter.com/7wc0ByChGr

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) October 13, 2023

[Unlocked]

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The sense of urgency for the Titans has to be right now.  

The Titans have been pretending to be contenders for the past five weeks. Week Six versus one of the organization’s most hated rivals is just the right time to turn it around.

The Ravens are 3-2 but lost last week in a poorly played game against the Steelers. I don’t anticipate them playing that badly again this week in London.

The Ravens are very similar to the Titans.

They rely on Lamar Jackson’s running ability like the Titans do with Derrick Henry. The Ravens have drafted multiple offensive weapons for Jackson in the first round -- wide receivers Rashod Bateman, Marquise Brown, Zay Jones and tight end Hayden Hurst. Their talented left tackle Ronnie Stanley can’t stay healthy. He has just 76 games played out of a possible 124.  They continue to sign pass rushers with only marginal results. The Ravens have names who were once stars but are still relied upon to live up to the name on the back of the jersey.