CHARLOTTE – The Titans are no first-half team.

In their five losses, the Titans’ first-half averages: 26.8 plays, 99.8 yards, 36 rushing yards, 63.8 passing yards, 13.3 percent on third down and 1.4 points. They’ve been held scoreless in four of the five and scored a first-half TD against the Colts.

Sunday at Bank of America Stadium they had a four-play drive end with a missed field goal, a three-play drive end with a punt, a three-play drive end with a fumble, a two-play drive end with a pick, a three-play drive end with a punt and an eight-play drive end with a missed field goal.

“Starting slow, those penalties killed us,” Derrick Henry said. “Self-inflicted wounds, we can’t start off like that against a team like this. We just gave them all the momentum with all of those penalties.

“We’ve got to start faster, be better as a whole, just be focused.”

CHARLOTTE – Mike Vrabel stood at the podium speaking in the future tense, about the things the Titans need to work to fix.

But here the Titans were at 4-5 after a 30-20 loss to the Panthers, the first to an NFC opponent under Vrabel’s guidance, in dire need of a look back.

This team just sleepwalked through another first half offensively, turned the ball over three times, committed 11 penalties for 99 yards, missed three field goals and gave its feature running back two touches in the first half.

I want to know about the things Vrabel has spoken about needing to fix after previous losses that showed up, again, during this game.

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Panthers have won four of their last five games since they inserted backup QB Kyle Allen for Pro-Bowl QB Cam Newton.

Allen lacks the big-play ability of Newton, but he has provided better ball security and started to utilize the best player on the offense in RB Christian McCaffrey.

Allen played four of his five games on the road and will finally be back at home this week against the Titans.

The young quarterback did not throw an interception until his fifth game, when he had three in San Francisco. He also has three fumbles in those five games.

Allen has been sacked 17 times in five games this season and he ranks 13th in the NFL in most sacks.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Derrick Henry keeps getting hit quickly.

While the run-reliant Titans can still find big plays from their big back they’ve got to do better to minimize the frequency with which he’s getting contacted with such immediacy.

He’s averaged just a yard before contact per carry, the lowest of 33 qualified NFL RBs. The NFL average is double that. 

"It has to be better, obviously, because you break them, when you can break them, you get him to the second level,” Mike Vrabel said.

“We’ve got to cover guys up and make good reads. Get the play started, that’s critical. When runners, especially Derrick, tries to get into his fourth or fifth step, it’s a little different than a guy with a different skillset.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A.J. Brown has been targeted 4.2 times per game -- the second-lowest average of 69 qualified NFL receivers. Corey Davis has averaged 40.8 receiving yards per game -- the second-lowest of 50 qualified NFL receivers.

But things are getting better since Ryan Tannehill took over, even if the Chargers win affected things a lot more heavily than the victory over the Buccaneers.

With the Titans at 4-4, Tannehill has started a quarter of their games.

In that quarter, Brown has seen 33 percent of his targets and Davis 33 percent.

In that quarter, Brown has made 36 percent of his catches and Davis 33 percent.

It’s still, unfortunately, very much a developing passing offense, but as those numbers are higher than the 25 percent Tannehill has been starting, they are good.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Coming out of the win that got the Titans to 4-4, the biggest topic of conversation has been the ill-fated fake field goal in the fourth quarter. Mike Vrabel wanted to put the game away when a field goal would have put his team up 7 points and all but assured nothing worse than overtime.

One thing that struck me about his explanation was his reliance on how that play functioned in practice.

After the game, Vrabel said: "We want to go win the football game. Understand that we practice, and we study, we get looks, and we feel very confident in the look that we’re going to get. They made a play, we didn’t, just like when we made a play at the end of the game when it was fourth-and-1.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The last thing I wrote in my preview of Buccaneers-Titans was that turnovers could be the key to the game.

It’s a basic tenant but it turned out to be true in this one.

Turnovers by the Buccaneers gave the Titans offense early points and an inadvertent whistle by the referees took away a go-ahead score on punter Brett Kern’s fumble on the fake field goal.

QB Jameis Winston was his usual self: Careless with the ball in the pocket and in the air. He had two interceptions and two fumbles and he gave the Titans’ offense two turnovers in scoring territory early in the first quarter of the game.

Winston’s career trajectory is following the model set by QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. Flashes big-play ability but can’t avoid the turnovers.

Winston has just enough arm talent to intrigue teams, but his costly mistakes keep him from being a winning player in the NFL. This was something that plagued him at Florida State, but the Seminoles were able to “out-talent” most of their competitors.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The defense had put them on the porch twice.

The Titans offense punched in a couple early touchdowns from wonderful field position provided by the defense. The first thanks to a Jameis Winston fumble from a too-early shotgun snap that bounced off the quarterback’s facemask and was recovered by Isaiah Mack, the second thanks to a Malcolm Butler interception.

But when the Titans needed a knockout punch against the Buccaneers on a day where the defense provided most of the field position, the offense had one big drive in them: The 12-play, 90-yard mark took them 6 minutes and 54 seconds in the fourth quarter.

That provided the final 27-23 margin.