Titans say bye comes at perfect time

Oct 24, 2017 - 1:16 AM NASHVILLE, Tenn.-- Sunday's 12-9 overtime win over the Cleveland Browns was a bit uninspired, as the Tennessee Titans were able to sleepwalk their way to an ugly win.

But on Monday, Titans head coach Mike Mularkey was not apologizing for the win, though he admits the team has plenty of shortcomings that have to be addressed during the team's upcoming bye week.

"It's hard to win. It's very hard, turn on every game in the NFL, especially on the road," Mularkey said Monday. "I think it's tough to win and we did. Was it pretty? No. When we had to win it, when it came into overtime, which we have not played a lot of overtime games, this team rallied together in all three phases. Found a way to win the game. That's good, I see nothing negative to that. I've never said, 'It's a bad win' in my life."

Despite the ugly performance, Mularkey gave his players the entire bye week off, not requiring them to come in for two days of practices.

Instead, the Titans coaches will work a few extra days to try to figure out what has gone wrong for a team that no longer dominates in the red zone and no longer owns the line of scrimmage on offense the way it did oftentimes last season.

"We're doing a study on ourselves, we'll go back and look at last year for an example. Offensively, why so successful last year and not this year, comparisons of the two?" Mularkey said. "Just like we did in the offseason, obviously it's sped up because you don't have a couple of months, but we look at every play and every player on every play and we decide if it's the scheme, if it's the defense that we're going against, is it they had a better call than we had, is it a lot of things go into the play of it, but we look at everybody on the play. That's what our coaches are doing right now."

The Titans do believe that having a week off will be good for quarterback Marcus Mariota, who has been limited to working from the pocket his past two games due to an injured left hamstring. Mariota's inability to run has pretty much cut the read-option out of the Tennessee playbook.

"I think without the ability to have Marcus do some of the things that he's capable of doing, which I think is dynamic in this league," Mularkey said. "I think hopefully if he's back to full strength, we can get back to our full game planning and get back to what we're good at, and that's multiple things. Hopefully that's the case, that's the plan as we sit here."

Mularkey admitted that the bye probably comes at a good time for a number of reasons.

"There's no question, have a lot of work to do. Hopefully taking a step back and catching our breath, getting some guys healthy, I mean everybody, not just the guys on the injury report, I think will be good for us to start the second half," he said.

--After five games on the shelf, Titans first-round pick Corey Davis might be coming back from a hamstring injury when they return from the bye.

Davis, who missed all of preseason and a good chunk of training camp with the injury, came back to catch six passes for 69 yards in the opener vs. Oakland before reinjuring the hamstring in Week 2 vs. Jacksonville. He has not played since. Mularkey believes Davis can be the missing cog in the sluggish Titans' offense.

"I think (Davis can make) a big difference, I do. We've got one game to go off of, I thought he did some really good things in his one game, with no prior game experience," Mularkey said. "I thought he did a really good job of not just the six catches that he had but other things that he did for a rookie starting in his first game. I think we should be better if we can get him back."

--Second-year safety Kevin Byard had the best game of his young pro career Sunday, intercepting Browns quarterbacks three times in the game. Byard picked off rookie DeShone Kizer twice and Cody Kessler once. The Titans were not able to convert any of those picks into points as the offense struggled.

Still, it was a big day for Byard, who now has four interceptions this season. Byard was a ballhawk in college at Middle Tennessee, where he had 19 interceptions in his career.

"It was unbelievable. I mean I'm not going to sit here and say I came here to the game expecting to get three picks," Byard said. "I definitely wanted to come into the game and make the best impact that I can on this team. We tried to get a win here in Cleveland. It was a big win going into the bye week so that was big for us."

NOTES: TE Delanie Walker suffered a bone bruise in his right ankle in Sunday's win over the Browns. The injury occurred in the overtime. Walker could potentially miss some time with the injury, despite the bye week upcoming. Walker was already nursing a sore calf. ... QB Marcus Mariota did not have a setback with his hamstring, and the Titans believe that Mariota could be closer to 100 percent following the bye week. ... RB DeMarco Murray came into the game with a sore hamstring and managed to play, despite being limited in practice on Friday. He suffered a bruised shoulder in the game, and will need the bye week to rest. ... WR Corey Davis, who has missed five straight games with an injured hamstring, should be able to return Nov. 5 after the bye week. ... S Johnathan Cyprien, who has been out since the season opener with a hamstring injury, is on track to return Nov. 5 after the bye week. ... K Ryan Succop extended his consecutive field goals streak inside 50 yards to 55 with the game-winner in overtime in Cleveland. Succop missed a field goal in the second half that could have won the game in regulation, but it was from 53 yards.



REPORT CARD VS. BROWNS

--PASSING OFFENSE: F -- Titans receivers didn't get much separation at times, and the team seemed reluctant to put the game in Marcus Mariota's hands throwing the ball. Mariota did short-hop a wide-open Delanie Walker in the end zone from the 1-yard line, which should have been a touchdown.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: F -- The Titans made too much of an effort to run the football, and often lost yardage as the Browns were stacking the box and daring them to throw the ball. Derrick Henry suffered especially, with 13 yards on 13 carries.

--PASS DEFENSE: A - Safety Kevin Byard put on a show with three interceptions against the Browns, who switched from DeShone Kizer to Cody Kessler midway through the game. The only thing a bit disturbing is that the Titans had shots at Kizer for sacks and missed. The pressure did improve after Browns ironman left tackle Joe Thomas left the game with a triceps injury.

--RUSH DEFENSE: A-minus -- The Titans did a good job in keeping the Browns out of the end zone, and they held Cleveland to just 66 yards rushing. But early in the game it seemed as if the Titans were getting gashed more than they should have been.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: B-plus -- Ryan Succop continues to do yeoman's work and has basically become the Titans offense the past couple of weeks. Succop made four field goals Sunday, accounting for all the Titans' points. Punter Brett Kern continues to have a stellar season, averaging 51.5 yards per punt.

--COACHING: F -- The Titans seemed unwilling to make any offensive adjustments once the Browns stacked the box and used run blitzes about halfway through the first quarter. There was little in the way of play-action, and little in the way of throwing down the field. They did not use the no-huddle to try to change the tempo.