Downing Takes Blame for 'Bad Call'

A handoff to tight end Chig Okonkwo did not go as expected on Sunday but was not the only time the offense came up short on third down.

NASHVILLE – An official count was not necessary.

A cursory survey of social media Sunday afternoon and in the days since made it abundantly clear that the overwhelming majority of fans and observers felt one particular third-down call by the Tennessee Titans in Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants was a bad one.

Offensive coordinator Todd Downing agreed. He conceded that the decision to hand the ball to rookie tight end Chig Okonkwo on a third-and-1 from the Titans’ 41 with a little more than six minutes to play was not his best work.

“That was a bad call,” Downing said Thursday. “I take full responsibility for that call.”

Okonkwo was tackled for a 4-yard loss, and the Titans punted. The next time the offense got the ball, a seven-point lead (20-13) had turned into a one-point deficit (21-20), and Tennessee was headed to a season-opening defeat.

Downing said the call was based on what New York had shown in short yardage situations on film and earlier in the game. The defense did something different on that one, and Okonkwo never had a chance to get upfield and to get close to a conversion.

While things clearly did not work as intended on that play, neither did much of anything else Downing called on third down, particularly on third-and-short.

The Titans finished 3-for-11 on third-down against the Giants. On seven of those plays they needed four yards or fewer but converted just once. They also managed to move the on a third-and-5 and a third-and-8. Late in the game, third-down penalties against New York moved the chains twice but did not count in the official stats.

It was a disappointing development on a day when one of the primary goals was to stay avoid third-and-long situations. New York’s defensive coordinator Don Martindale has a well-earned reputation as a blitz-happy play-caller, particularly when an opposing quarterback might need to hold the ball a little longer than usual.

“You go into a game like that against a team that has a history of exotic pressures on third down and so on, you kind of have an intentionality of trying to stay in third-and-manageable,” Downing said. “That way you’re not putting yourself back there waiting for long routes to develop on third down. I think it would be a game-by-game situation. … Going into a game like that, you certainly want to try to limit the exposure on third-and-extra long.”

Among the third-down missteps that preceded the Okonkwo handoff were an incomplete pass to wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on third-and-3 early in the fourth quarter and a dropped pass by running back Dontrell Hilliard on third-and-2 in the third quarter.

“We had done well enough on first and second down to eliminate some of those third-and-extra longs that are hard to pick up, protect and all those different things,” coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. “We'll have to make sure that we're giving these guys a great plan, we're giving the quarterback plenty of options for the looks that we're thinking that we may see or not see and be better.”

Downing and the Titans only faced one third-and-1 before the handoff to Okonkwo. On that one – on the opening drive of the second half – running back Derrick Henry mishandled a direct snap out of the Wildcat formation. The result was a 2-yard loss.

Rather than simplify things the next time, he decided to dig a little deeper into the playbook.

“We played a percentage off of what we had seen from that defense in short yardage,” he said. Obviously, [we] had a little miscue earlier in the game on short yardage [the Henry fumble] and got a little too aggressive with that call. [We] should have gotten something downhill, and that’s on me.”