Defense strong, but offense stumbles as Titans fall to Falcons 10-7

A surprisingly stout defensive performance left the Tennessee Titans needing just a little bit from their offense to upset the Atlanta Falcons at Nissan Stadium today. They didn’t get it, though, and fell short by a 10-7 final score. That result sent the Titans to 0-4 on their particularly long homestand and heading back to the road searching for answers.

The defense did a great job of keeping the Titans in the game early. I thought Atlanta would have their way with Tennessee between Devonta Freeman and Julio Jones, but the Titans did a great job of forcing the Falcons to third downs and disrupting Atlanta’s pass game in short yardage situations. That included stops on third-and-2 and then back-to-back stops on third- and fourth-and-2 from their 41 early in the second quarter. They then helped out their defense, as backup outside linebacker David Bass had a great tip and catch of a Matt Ryan attempted screen pass he then returned to the Atlanta 19. When Zach Mettenberger found Kendall Wright on the first play after the turnover, Tennessee had an improbable 7-0 lead. The Falcons managed a field goal the next drive, but Tennessee threatened to extend the lead right before half. At least until Adrian Clayborn got his hand up in Zach Mettenberger’s face (mask) on second-and-goal from the 6 and the errant pass was intercepted.

The Atlanta offense I was expecting finally showed up on their second drive of the second half. They went 88 yards in 9 plays, capped off by a touchdown pass to Julio Jones with Derrick Morgan covering him in the slot, behind a mix of Freeman runs and efficient Ryan passes. The Falcons threatened to extend their lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Titans defense came up strong again, stopping fullback Chris DiMarco on third-and-goal from the 1 and the finishing the drive off with an Avery Williamson interception of a pass tipped by Marqueston Huff on fourth down. The ensuing possession didn’t go much of anywhere, even after an Atlanta penalty gave them a makeable 4th-and-4, and the final possession with a chance to drive for a score down 10-7 ended with a bad Mettenberger interception two plays after the two minute warning.

If that narrative recap made it seem like an uneventful game, well, that’s how it felt to me. An awful lot of punts, and not much offensive proficiency. So, let’s shift to a notes format to see what else there was to see:

• The Falcons had 9 plays on third/fourth down with 3 yards or fewer to go. They threw 7 passes, had the aforementioned handoff to DiMarco, and one run to Freeman. Ryan was 1-7, and the only other conversion was the Freeman run.
• Freeman was a bit boom-and-bust, but had plenty of runs where he made Titans defenders look bad by setting them up and cutting back against them. He finished with 25 carries for 116 yards.
• Injuries: Jason McCourty hurt his hamstring the play before the Falcons field goal that cut the lead to 7-3. He returned, then left again. Center Andy Gallik suffered a concussion on an illegal block (properly flagged) after Mettenberger’s first interception and did not return; newly-added Joe Looney played center the entire second half.
• Mettenberger completed his first third-down attempt, to Dexter McCluster. On his next seven third downs, he was 4-7 for 26 yards with zero conversions.
• Chance Warmack was flagged three times, twice for holding and once for taunting.
• Andy Levitre was flagged twice for holding in his first game in Nashville as a visitor.
• Delanie Walker led the Titans with 7 catches and 55 receiving yards.
• The 19-yard score to Wright was the Titans’ longest play of the game.
• Antonio Andrews got the majority of the backfield work with 10 carries for 57 yards. Three of his carries went for 10 or more yards.
• Bishop Sankey was rarely seen, did not get a single rushing attempt, and had one target on a screen.
• Justin Hunter had a bad drop on a long downfield throw early in the game. He finished with 2 catches for 17 yards.
• Both Mettenberger and Matt Ryan completed 22 passes. Ryan’s gained 64 more yards, or 2.9 more yards per completion.
• The Titans were credited with 9 passes defensed on Ryan’s 16 incompletions, or more than they’d had in the previous two games combined.

Snap report up Monday.