Titans home woes continue with 38-10 rout by Dolphins

The Titans entered today’s game at Nissan Stadium against the Miami Dolphins without a home victory in over a year. They leave it with the winless streak still intact, at a full season’s worth of games, as Miami controlled them early and late for a 38-10 triumph.

The game started inauspiciously, with the Dolphins offense I expected to see all season finally appeared, and Miami opened with their first first-quarter touchdown of the season. Tennessee’s only first half defensive stops were a pair of gift interceptions, one that appeared to deflect off intended receiver Jordan Cameron’s hands to Michael Griffin and the other thrown right to Coty Sensabaugh after Ryan Tannehill and Cameron were not on the same page.

The Tennessee offense was its usual mix of competent-seeming and disastrous, with running room a chancy proposition and pass protection woeful against a Miami squad that hadn’t brought down a quarterback since Week 1. The first drive was a nice mix of Mariota getting outside the pocket and some runs where they overloaded the edge and Dexter McCluster found space, but that didn’t last. Mariota’s mobility was limited by a low hit by Dolphins end Olivier Vernon on the Titans’ second possession, and the pass pro woes really bothered him after that. He fumbled to end that possession, and the next one as well. Both those were forced by Cameron Wake. Wake didn’t do quite as much after Jeremiah Poutasi was then benched for Jamon Meredith, but we never again saw the same mobility from Mariota, though his passes remained reasonably accurate.

Ken Whisenhunt and company were determined not to less the pass pro issues sink Mariota in the second half, so screens were a feature of the third quarter offense in third-and-long. The fumbles were also gone, replaced by interceptions. The quick slant off a run fake finally turned into possession with the other team, to make it 24-3 midway through the third quarter. A Dexter McCluster TD made it 24-10, and a drive starting at the Miami 27 made it seem like the game might be competitive. Mariota was intercepted the first play, though, and after Miami drove 97 yards for a 21-point lead with 7:43 to play it was all over but the shouting.

News and notes and whatnot:

• Bad day for the Titans on the injury front. Mariota, of course, with Zach Mettenberger finishing late. We’ll know more about him tomorrow. Brian Schwenke suffered a nasty injury CBS refused to replay in detail that was indicated after the game to be a dislocated ankle; he’ll go to injured reserve. Delanie Walker was shaken up late, though I believe he returned to the game. Michael Griffin left the game for a little bit, but returned. Daimion Stafford went down briefly after a punt return. Al Woods was also banged up, in the fourth quarter, and I’m not sure if he returned.
• Dorial Green-Beckham had 6 targets and showed a mix of good (32-yard reception to set up McCluster TD) and bad (a couple plays where he didn’t look ready on third down incompletions). A week after his comments, Kendall Wright had 4 catches for 34 yards. Delanie Walker led the team with 8 catches and 97 receiving yards.
• Five sacks of Mariota in the first half. Offhand, and assuming my memory is correct, give three of those to Poutasi, one to Andy Gallik shortly after he entered for Schwenke, and the last on Meredith. I’ll rewatch them in detail later and see, but I’d characterize all of them right now as primarily O-line sacks, though Mariota’s ball security is really a concern to me still.
• The defense had a couple positive moments in the third quarter, really limiting the Dolphins after an ugly first half. Wesley Woodyard, who finished with 7 solo tackles, a sack, and another TFL, flashed at times.
• The defensive performance started off ugly, with thin receiver Jarvis Landry running through a pair of tacklers (Michael Griffin and David Bass, I think) at the 5 on his opening touchdown.
• I’ve been begging for Titans defenders to challenge more passes, and Da’Norris Searcy was credited with 3 passes defensed today.
• Harry Douglas had 1 catches on 4 targets. Bishop Sankey didn’t seem to play much, only had 3 carries, and dropped a couple passes late.
• Ken Whisenhunt called timeout with :04 to play. In the game. Down 38-10. The Titans were on the Miami 13, and I guess he wanted to try to get a touchdown to make the score look not quite as bad. The Dolphins brought a cover-0 blitz and sacked Mettenberger.

Snap report Monday, and maybe I’ll write about Mariota’s sacks or just how this home losing streak compares to other home losing streaks or how the 1-4 2015 Tennessee Titans compared to the 1-4 2014 Tennessee Titans. If the Titans fire Ken Whisenhunt, I’ll write about that, too, but I’d be shocked if that happened.