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I'm going to have to make it short this week.
- Why is head coach and playcaller Ken Whisenhunt so eager to abandon the run game? - I know the current narrative among most media and fans today is that this is a passing league. That's a much deeper topic for another day, but the Cleveland Browns engineered a 25 point come back against the Titans on the ground and the Steelers continued to pound the ball against the Titans down 24-13 in the second half. On the flip side, the Titans only ran the ball 2 TIMES after going up 24-13!!!!!! This makes me sad. If anything, that's when you run the ball.
- The decision to punt the ball at midfield has already been covered by Jimmy here. - I concur whole-heartedly.
- Why can't the Titans stop the run? - This is getting ridiculous.
Bonus GIF and commentary:
I call this one "What Could Have Been"
2nd and 10, ball at midfield.
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This play happened with 7:50 left in the 4th quarter just before the Titans punted and never saw the ball again. As hard as I've been on Whisenhunt, this one's on the players. The Whiz dialed up a perfectly timed play call and caught the Steelers on their heels. As you can see in the still shot, there's 3 blockers for 2 defenders in the short area and another 1 on 1 way down field.
Mettenberger was unusually protective of himself on this throw and the ball ends up short and at Kendall Wright's feet as Zach turns his body to shield himself from the oncoming defender. It's a tough catch, but he did get his hands on it. Both Kendall and Mettenberger played a great game so I'm not going to berate them for this one play, but it does show just how close the Titans were and brings up the "game of inches" adage. If Wright catches this ball, I have no doubt he scores or at the very least gets the ball in field goal range.