My Two Cents: Nothing 'Easy' About Titans' Schedule, But Opportunity Awaits

The majority of the Tennessee Titans' schedule — 15 of the 17 games — is filled with teams predicted to win 9.5 games or less this season, and it's ranked as one or the easiest schedules in the league. Folks don't think much of the Titans, but they'll be playing a lot of close games, and just need to find an extra field goal or touchdown here and there.

Tom Brew | May 12, 2023

My Two Cents: Nothing 'Easy' About Titans' Schedule, But Opportunity Awaits /

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Tennessee Titans

NASHVILLE — The countdown can start now. It's just 121 days until the Tennessee Titans open their 2023 NFL regular season with a road game in New Orleans against the Saints.

That's 121 very long days.

It's the kickoff to the kickoff of what should be a very interesting season for the Titans, a team in transition for sure, but with no complete or obvious path to how they're going to do it. A perennial playoff team recently, they sunk to 7-10 a year ago, losing their last seven games.

And now comes a new season, one that starts on Sunday, Sept. 10 down the road from Bourbon Street against the New Orleans Saints, the first of four games against NFC South foes this season. And it can't get here soon enough.

The 17-game journey is set in stone now, and all the pollsters and analysts have said the Titans have one of the ''easiest'' schedules in the league. It makes sense because Tennessee resides in the AFC South, the worst division in the conference by far. In Fanduel's over/under win totals, outside of the Arizona Cardinals' outlier (4.5 wins), the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts are next from the bottom with 6.5 predicted wins. It's the Titans' hope, for sure, that they can sweep both of them.

The Titans, by the way, rest at 7.5 wins on Fanduel's list. (Here's the complete list of wins totals for all 32 teams. CLICK HERE)

The Titans play all four NFC South teams this year and that's the worst division in the NFC, and it's not even close. Tampa Bay won the division a year ago with an 8-9 record, and they lost Hall of Famer Tom Brady to retirement. The Titans would like to think all four games with New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina and Tampa Bay are winnable, hence all the talk about this alleged ''easy'' schedule.

But here's the rub. You can guarantee that the fans from all four of those teams wrote a W next to the Titans when they ran down their respective schedules after they were released Thursday night.

That's where my ''opportunity'' comes in for the Titans. This is a team, mind you, that couldn't do anything right offensively late in the season, and the key point to that was veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill (ankle) being hurt and rookie Malik Willis a miserable failure when thrown to the fire way too early.

It also didn't help, of course, that the Titans had one of the worst offensive lines in the league. Still, six of those 10 losses were by five points or less. Find one extra touchdown and the season might have been completely different.

This year, the Titans have tried to address their offensive line concerns through the draft and free agency, with the most obvious addition being first-round draft pick Peter Skoronski, a well-regarded tackle from Northwestern who will likely be a Day 1 starter, either at tackle or guard.

Tannehill is back and healthy after his ankle surgery, and has been a full participant in offseason workouts. And 29-year-old veteran running back Derrick Henry, who averages more than 100 yards over the past five years, is primed and ready to go for another year as well.

There is no clear plan for what the Titans want to do with Tannehill and Henry, who are both in the final year of very expensive contracts. There have been plenty of rumors that both were on the trading block during the offseason and in the weeks leading up to the draft.

For now, though, they are the two faces of this franchise, and it looks like the Titans are prepared to go to war with both of them on the field under first-year offensive coordinator Tim Kelly.

In the five games prior to Tennessee's trip to London to play the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 15, the oddsmakers will give the Titans a reasonable chance to compete with New Orleans (Sept. 10), Cleveland (Sept. 24) and Indianapolis (Oct. 8) on the road, and the Los Angeles Chargers in the home opener on Sept. 17.

The only point spread over a touchdown might be the home game against Super Bowl contender Cincinnati on Oct. 1 in Nashville, and that might not even be true, depending on how the Titans' first three games go. Right now, the Titans are slight underdogs in all six games.

So the point here is that the Titans have every opportunity to get off to a good start this season, if they can find an extra field goal or touchdown here and there. It's possible they could win three or four games early, especially if Tannehill is healthy and can play well, and Henry is his usual self. They just need to be modest overachievers, which can happen.

They also could lose a bunch, too, which is simply how it works in the NFL. Parity is king, and ever week through the NFL schedule in as adventure.

That's the joy of the NFL, isn't it? The summer can be when optimism reigns. We'll think good thoughts about the Titans for now, and then see how it goes.

At least there's a chance. And an opportunity.

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