How many two-man routes are the Titans really running?
TEMPE, Ariz. – Under Ken Whisenhunt, the Titans failed to sufficiently protect Marcus Mariota. He said all the time if he offered all the tackle help we were looking for, there would be no one to catch passes.
The perception is that Mike Mularkey is stubborn in just the opposite way – that he dedicates so many people to protection that there aren’t enough people running routes.
The narrative that the Titans run a ton of two-man routes has really taken off, and I set out in recent days to see if it’s really accurate.
We’ll start off with Pro Football Focus, which keeps records of such things.
According to PFF, by their standards, the Titans have run a grand total of six pass plays where they sent out just two men on routes, tied for the ninth-most.
Now that would seem to be a rigid standard. PFF says the Titans have run 53 pass plays with three-man routes, the third-most in the NFL, and 107 with four-man routes, the 13th most.
But that conflicts with Mike Mularkey’s assessment.
What’s the basis for how many of the five eligible run routes?
“The sell of the run, the more guys you have involved, the better the sell and obviously you’ve got more guys in protection,” he said. “We have two-man routes. We have one-man routes. We’ve hit some touchdowns on third-and-1s that were one-man, we call them race routes. All based on how well we sell the run, how well they are trying to stop the run.
“But two-man routes? I want to say four or five a game. The bulk of the time it’s four men out.”
And one of those four is chipping to help block on his way out.
“I can’t say a percentage,” Marcus Mariota said. “I think most of our concepts there is more than two options.”
But Rishard Matthews took the question a different direction.
Matthews is likely talking two receiver routes as opposed to two targets.
Per Greg Cosell of NFL Films on The Midday 180, The Titans are using three wide receivers only 42 percent of the time, the lowest percentage in the league. That lines up well with Matthews’s 50-50 estimation.
As we look at some plays after the fact, there are probably a share that are essentially two-man routes that are in actuality broader in scope.
Fewer targets mean more protection which should mean more time to find those targets. And Mariota would need more time to find those targets because if only four or five defenders are rushing, then seven or six are in coverage and have to be sorted through.
“First and foremost, if you’re able to protect yourself and give yourself time to hopefully exploit whatever the defense is trying to do,” Mariota said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a two-man route, a three-man route or a whole progression type of deal. If you create time for yourself I think you have an opportunity to attack.”
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“He doesn't need a lot of talking to. I think a couple of us just said something after the game just to comfort him after a loss.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Exotic reared its ugly head at two crucial moments for the Titans.
targeted cornerback Adoree' Jackson on a play they had not practiced.
Either way, a quarterback who looked poised after his first two seasons to emerge as a true franchise guy has fallen well short of the mark this year, and Sunday’s 12-7 loss to the Cardinals showed us that again.
