NASHVILLE, Tenn. – At the onset of the season, it was reasonable to expect a team that had scored nearly 30 points per game to sustain a high level of offense. Get the poor defense up to the middle of the pack and the Tennessee Titans would be much improved.

That was the popular thinking, and thinking I subscribed to.Shane Bowen

But the NFL’s unpredictability is its beauty, and a bit of underperformance with a lot of injuries acted as a strong gravitational force on the Titans’ offense this season. We’ve seen some outbursts, but overall, it’s nowhere near what it was a year ago.

Derrick Henry was lost after eight games, A.J. Brown missed four and Julio Jones has been a non0-factor. Lacking in weapons and protection Ryan Tannehill has been a much lesser quarterback.

The scoring is down nearly a touchdown per game and the turnovers are way up, from 12 in 16 games to 25 in 15 games so far.

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Paul Kuharsky has covered the Tennessee Titans since 1996, first for The Tennessean, then ESPN.com and now independently at paulkuharsky.com. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee and one of the longest-tenured Titans beat reporters in the franchise's history.