Titans are an unprecedented 7-0 through 10 games against last year’s playoff teams

 

Posted by Michael David Smith on November 16, 2021, 4:58 PM EST

The Titans are 8-2, tied for the best record in the NFL. But perhaps even more noteworthy than the number of wins they have is the identity of the teams they’ve beaten.

Specifically, Tennessee is 7-0 against teams that made the playoffs last season. According to ESPN, the Titans are the first team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win seven games against the previous season’s playoff teams through the first 10 weeks of the season.

The seven games against 2020 playoff teams the Titans have won are the Colts twice as well as the Seahawks, Bills, Chiefs, Rams and Saints.

The Titans also, of course, have a loss to the Jets, one of the worst teams in the NFL both this year and last year. Call that game the ultimate example of how any team can beat any team on any given Sunday.

Peter King FMIA 11-15-21: The Award Section - Mike Vrabel

 

By Peter King | November 15, 2021

Coaches of the Week

Joe Barry, defensive coordinator, Green Bay. For pitching the first shutout of Russell Wilson’s NFL life. That’s right. This was the 166th game of Wilson’s 10-year pro career, regular season and playoffs, and never before had he been shut out. Barry’s scheme counted on the defensive front swarming around Wilson while six and seven in the secondary made it hard for any Seahawk to be open regularly. Wilson didn’t look right returning from his middle finger injury, and his 39.7 passer rating was a combo platter of pressure, coverage and Wilson perhaps not being fully ready to return; only he knows the latter. Whatever, holding a Russell Wilson offense to 208 total yards will be, and should be, a career highlight for Barry.

Mike Vrabel, head coach, Tennessee. Titans laid a gigantic egg Oct. 3 at the Jets to fall to 2-2. Since then, the Titans:

• Trounced Jacksonville by 18.
• Came back from four deficits to beat Buffalo, the second seed in the 2020 AFC playoffs, by three.
• Went up 27-0 at the half and beat Kansas City, the defending AFC champ, by 24.
• Got down 14-0 early at Indianapolis, another 2020 playoff team, but came back to win a 71-minute OT game by three.
• With Derrick Henry gone for two months, beat NFC power Los Angeles on the road by 12.
• Beat another NFC power team, the Saints, at home by two on Sunday.

Vrabel sets a tone for his team and his players take no crap from anyone. To go 5-0 against five defending playoff teams is a great accomplishment, particularly playing the last two without your best player. That’s why Vrabel is coach of the week.

Josh Boyer, defensive coordinator, Miami. I’m sure Thursday’s night’s imaginative game plan in the 22-10 win over Baltimore also had Brian Flores’ fingerprints on it, but what a smart and forceful idea it was to safety-blitz more than any team in the NFL in the last six years. The Ravens couldn’t figure out a solution for Dolphins secondary players blitzing a stunning 38 times. (Lamar Jackson had 47 pass-drops in the game.) Boyer’s D held Lamar Jackson to 39 yards rushing and the Ravens to 304 yards overall. These were the Baltimore drives between a field goal in the sixth minute and a TD in the 55th: missed field goal, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt. Great job by the Dolphins.

 

Peter King FMIA 11-15-21: The Award Section - Josh Boyer

 

By Peter King | November 15, 2021

Coaches of the Week

Joe Barry, defensive coordinator, Green Bay. For pitching the first shutout of Russell Wilson’s NFL life. That’s right. This was the 166th game of Wilson’s 10-year pro career, regular season and playoffs, and never before had he been shut out. Barry’s scheme counted on the defensive front swarming around Wilson while six and seven in the secondary made it hard for any Seahawk to be open regularly. Wilson didn’t look right returning from his middle finger injury, and his 39.7 passer rating was a combo platter of pressure, coverage and Wilson perhaps not being fully ready to return; only he knows the latter. Whatever, holding a Russell Wilson offense to 208 total yards will be, and should be, a career highlight for Barry.

Mike Vrabel, head coach, Tennessee. Titans laid a gigantic egg Oct. 3 at the Jets to fall to 2-2. Since then, the Titans:

• Trounced Jacksonville by 18.
• Came back from four deficits to beat Buffalo, the second seed in the 2020 AFC playoffs, by three.
• Went up 27-0 at the half and beat Kansas City, the defending AFC champ, by 24.
• Got down 14-0 early at Indianapolis, another 2020 playoff team, but came back to win a 71-minute OT game by three.
• With Derrick Henry gone for two months, beat NFC power Los Angeles on the road by 12.
• Beat another NFC power team, the Saints, at home by two on Sunday.

Vrabel sets a tone for his team and his players take no crap from anyone. To go 5-0 against five defending playoff teams is a great accomplishment, particularly playing the last two without your best player. That’s why Vrabel is coach of the week.

Josh Boyer, defensive coordinator, Miami. I’m sure Thursday’s night’s imaginative game plan in the 22-10 win over Baltimore also had Brian Flores’ fingerprints on it, but what a smart and forceful idea it was to safety-blitz more than any team in the NFL in the last six years. The Ravens couldn’t figure out a solution for Dolphins secondary players blitzing a stunning 38 times. (Lamar Jackson had 47 pass-drops in the game.) Boyer’s D held Lamar Jackson to 39 yards rushing and the Ravens to 304 yards overall. These were the Baltimore drives between a field goal in the sixth minute and a TD in the 55th: missed field goal, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, fumble, punt. Great job by the Dolphins.