.png)
SAM
PHALEN
46 MINUTES AGO (october 31, 2023)
NASHVILLE -- If you want to know what makes Mike Vrabel such a good
head coach, you need not look further than how his Tennessee
Titans do coming off the bye week.
With a 28-23 victory over the Atlanta
Falcons on Sunday, Vrabel improved to 6-0 as the Titans head coach in
games after the bye week. When you give the players extra rest and Vrabel extra
time to prepare, the Titans are a wagon.
But it's not just
Vrabel's undefeated record off the bye that is so impressive. It's the dominant
fashion in which Tennessee has won so many of these games. Accompanying that
6-0 record is a 6-0 record against the spread and a shocking point differential.
Vrabel's Titans have more than doubled the scoring output of their opponents
(179-83).
Once again dating
back to the start of 2018, the Titans are averaging 22.5 points per game in
weeks with regular rest. There is a significant jump to averaging 29.8 point
per game off the bye.
Here's a look at the
game directly after the bye in every season since 2018 (Vrabel's first year):
11/05/2018 - W 28-14 @ Dallas
11/24/2019 - W 42-20 vs. Jacksonville
10/13/2020 - W 42-16 vs. Buffalo
12/12/2021 - W 20-0 vs. Jacksonville
10/23/2022 - W 19-10 vs. Indianapolis
10/29/2023 - W 28-23 vs. Atlanta
So what exactly does
Vrabel and the Titans organization do so well when given extra time to prepare?
"We just try to focus on getting better.
I think we focus on improving and doing things that are going to help us
win," Vrabel said when I asked him earlier this week. "I
think for me as the head coach here, it's frustrating sometimes like yesterday,
when we were really, really close to putting teams away...We make it a little
closer than what it should be. But that's this league sometimes. All the credit
to the players for going out there, performing and being ready to go."
Not the most
insightful answer from the head coach, but who can blame him? Whatever Vrabel
and the Titans have going on in their approach to the bye week is working. That
might be best kept close to the vest.
But it's undeniable
at this point. This is more than a coincidence or trend. You could even take things one
step further and point to the Titans' 4-1 record in games following Thursday
Night Football. Mike Vrabel and his coaching staff do a better job than
other staffs of getting prepared and approaching weeks with extra rest.
That could bode well for the Titans against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10 after playing in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
