No Time to Panic About Titans Offense Despite Defensive Wins in Practice

The Tennessee Titans defense won the day to start minicamp, but based on all of the changes on offense, that should be expected and not raise concerns yet.

Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans' defense has made a habit of winning the day during Titans' summer practices. That was the case again on day one of mandatory minicamp. Even with the general skepticism of the Titans' offense, we shouldn't be panicking about the offense quite yet.

There are three key factors that make it nearly impossible for the offense to outperform the defense at this stage of the process. All of them center around just how new everything is for the offense.

Asked #Titans LB Azeez Al-Shaair if he agrees with Amani Hooker that the defense won today’s practice.

“I’m always going to agree with that,” he said. pic.twitter.com/PETtzO6PPV

— Sam Phalen (@Sam_Phalen) June 6, 2023

New Offensive System

The Titans promoted passing game coordinator Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator this offseason and there was some question about whether the Titans would simply adjust their current system or if Kelly would usher in something brand new entirely. 

We know have our answer as multiple Titans have discussed the complete offensive overhaul. New philosophies, new terminology and concepts. Kelly is truly changing the offense away from what we have seen the Titans run since Matt LaFleur was the offensive coordinator in 2018.

Considering the Titans' defense is continuing to build upon the system they have been using for many years and the offense is learning something brand new, it makes sense the defense would be quite a bit ahead of the offense from a functionality standpoint.

New Offensive Personnel

Not only are the Titans learning a brand new offensive system under Kelly, but they are doing so with a ton of new pieces on offense. Not only are most of the players new, but the returning players are mostly younger players who may struggle to adapt to a new offense as is. 

Outside of Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry, all the Titans offensive players fall into one of the two categories outlined above. Andre Dillard, Daniel Brunskill and Peter Skoronski are all new, but expected to make up three parts of the starting offensive line. Players like Chig Okonkwo and Treylon Burks are only in their second year.

The Titans are adjusting to a new offense, but mostly new teammates as well on that side of the ball. Something that doesn't always lend itself to immediate success.

Lack of Talent

While you expect things to improve for the offense, the reality is the defense may always have the upper hand because they simply are a more talented group. Jeffery Simmons is one of the best players in the NFL and Kevin Byard has been the most consistent safety in the NFL since he came into the league in 2016. 

With those two top talents and players like Denico Autry, Harold Landry and Sean Murphy-Bunting flanking them, the Titans' defense will likely continue to win against the offense. The hope is the offense will starting landing their fair share of shots as well. 

Either way, you add all three of these factors and makes it tough to imagine the offense getting any knockouts early in the fight. Even with the mentioned skepticism around the offense, now is not the time to panic on that unit's ability.

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