Let's talk about the Titans (AFC Championship edition) thread

[TLO]

The AFC Championship runs through Arrowhead.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

The titans remind me very much of the '90 chiefs.

Deberg was playing his best football of his life, and taking care of the ball.

We pounded the running game, with a few long passes via play-action.

The difference here is: the titans defense is nowhere near as good as the 90 chiefs.

If mahomes has time to throw (like he did Sunday), we'll be just fine.

That is exactly what they are, and those teams always lost to the teams with the great QBs.

[The Franchise]

If the Titans and 49ers win....then you’re going to hear nothing but “it’s all about the run game” and “win in the trenches” tropes all SB and offseason.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Mecca

That is exactly what they are, and those teams always lost to the teams with the great QBs.

That's the outcome I can't stomach -- the ironic one:

The Chiefs finally get a QB like the ones that used to beat them, only to lose to a team playing the way that used to get them beat.

[The Franchise]

Interesting thing here.

The Chiefs lost to the Titans.....and then haven’t lost since.

The Packers lost to the 49ers....and then haven’t lost since.

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

The titans remind me very much of the '90 chiefs.

Deberg was playing his best football of his life, and taking care of the ball.

We pounded the running game, with a few long passes via play-action.

The difference here is: the titans defense is nowhere near as good as the 90 chiefs.

If mahomes has time to throw (like he did Sunday), we'll be just fine.

I wasn't even 10 years old yet, but I remember the losses more than the wins of that season :

Stephone Paige going nuts at Denver on MNF, losing by a point.

The DT sack record game at Seattle, losing by a point.

The Dave Szott hold in the playoffs at Miami...losing by a point.

Yeah.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

Green Bay is going to have a rough time I think, seems to me that their one path to victory is to jump out on SF and make Garoppolo actually throw them back into a game... if it’s close at the end I’ll take GB.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I don't know that I agree with you there.

I mean, yes - the line was in tatters. But they DID have plenty of trouble with the Titans DL. Mahomes played one of the best games I've ever seen him play and it was due in large part to Mahomes ability to survive in the maelstrom. He flat willed some of those yards into being.

The Hardman TD was a great example.

[DJ's left nut]

It's also worth noting that Mahomes had maybe his best 'feel' in the pocket Sunday of any game I've ever seen from him.

After those quirks coming off his injury that sort of apexed in the NE game (the backpedaling and bailouts from phantom pressure), he got a lot better against Denver and then just continued from there.

On Sunday he was a maestro. He seemed to be playing with a Madden birds-eye view because he ALWAYS seemed to know where the pressure was coming from and exactly how far he needed to move to avoid it. And more critically, to help his OL out.

****ing hell he was good on Sunday.

Y'know what? Scrap every single bit of analysis in this entire thread. If Patrick Mahomes plays with the complete command of everything happening on that field that he played with on Sunday, you can take the NFL All-Time 100 team in their primes and he'd !@#$ing beat 'em.

He was simply stunning last weekend and if he plays like that again this Sunday, woe be the Titans, no matter how well they play. This will be that kind of peak Federer/Woods shit where you can play the best game of your life and if he brings his A game to the party, you're just getting blown off the map either way.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

If the Titans and 49ers win....then you’re going to hear nothing but “it’s all about the run game” and “win in the trenches” tropes all SB and offseason.

I honestly don't think the NFL lets the Chiefs lose, the Superbowl is big business and the Chiefs have the marketable star QB the Titans...don't have jack shit. The only way I could remotely see them pushing this angle is if they think Nashville is some untapped market but I don't think it's gotten big enough for that yet either.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

I like the matchup between Reid and Vrabel. It will be a fascinating test of opposite styles though.

Reid vs Bellichek II - Titans physicality is already off the charts but Vrabel will make sure it is in "beast mode" every step of the way of this game especially for our WRs. Remember Kelce getting his concussion right before the half? And that was before Vrabel was the coach. I think Vrabel goes after Mahomes to put him out of the game IMHO.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's also worth noting that Mahomes had maybe his best 'feel' in the pocket Sunday of any game I've ever seen from him.

After those quirks coming off his injury that sort of apexed in the NE game (the backpedaling and bailouts from phantom pressure), he got a lot better against Denver and then just continued from there.

On Sunday he was a maestro. He seemed to be playing with a Madden birds-eye view because he ALWAYS seemed to know where the pressure was coming from and exactly how far he needed to move to avoid it. And more critically, to help his OL out.

****ing hell he was good on Sunday.

Y'know what? Scrap every single bit of analysis in this entire thread. If Patrick Mahomes plays with the complete command of everything happening on that field that he played with on Sunday, you can take the NFL All-Time 100 team in their primes and he'd !@#$ing beat 'em.

He was simply stunning last weekend and if he plays like that again this Sunday, woe be the Titans, no matter how well they play. This will be that kind of peak Federer/Woods shit where you can play the best game of your life and if he brings his A game to the party, you're just getting blown off the map either way.

I’m ****ing hoping so, man. I think I’m more nervous this year than I was this time last year.

[duncan_idaho]

I know DJ's last post said no real analysis was needed... but here's some analysis.

The Titans are really efficient in the red zone. Awesome is a fair descriptor. But what does that mean for KC's game with them on Sunday?

I thought it would be interesting to compare the Chiefs' red zone success since the bye - when Mahomes' ankle finally was mostly healed and he started becoming a threat with his legs again, which coincided with an uptick in red zone efficiency - with the Titans since Tannehill became the QB1. Here's what I've got:


Red Zone TD percentage: 71 percent (would rank second in league over whole season)

Red Zone possessions/game: 4.8

Points/Red Zone possession: 6.5

4/6 teams the Chiefs played had a better red zone D than the Titans. (Texans and Raiders). KC scored TDs on 11/13 of those plays with its only empty red zone possession since the bye being a failed run on 4th and 1 against Oakland.

The Titans are dynamite in the red zone with Tannehill - they converted 83 percent of red zone possessions into TDs, which is excellent. They also turn it over in the red zone more than KC - 4 RZ turnovers in this stretch to 1 for KC.

That means their points/red zone possession is actually lower than KC’s (it’s 6.0 in this stretch).

And they also don’t GET THERE as often as KC. 2.8 red zone touches/game with Tannehill as QB. 2 fewer per game.

We can talk about their efficiency in the red zone all we want. But at the end of the day, recent trends show KC getting 31 PPG from red zone possessions versus 17 for the Titans.

And have we even talked about Tannehill’s higher likelihood for turnovers and sacks?

Tannehill has been sacked 2.5 times a game and turned the ball over 1.2 times a game. He’s sacked on 10 percent of his pass attempts, throws an INT on 2 percent, and fumbles on 2 percent.

Compare that to Mahomes, who was sacked just 3.4 percent of the time (hobbled from weeks 1-12 and playing behind a makeshift OL), throws an INT on 1 percent of drop backs and fumbles 0.4 percent of the time.

So Tannehill is sacked 3x as much and turns it over 3x as much as Mahomes.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's also worth noting that Mahomes had maybe his best 'feel' in the pocket Sunday of any game I've ever seen from him.

After those quirks coming off his injury that sort of apexed in the NE game (the backpedaling and bailouts from phantom pressure), he got a lot better against Denver and then just continued from there.

On Sunday he was a maestro. He seemed to be playing with a Madden birds-eye view because he ALWAYS seemed to know where the pressure was coming from and exactly how far he needed to move to avoid it. And more critically, to help his OL out.

****ing hell he was good on Sunday.

Y'know what? Scrap every single bit of analysis in this entire thread. If Patrick Mahomes plays with the complete command of everything happening on that field that he played with on Sunday, you can take the NFL All-Time 100 team in their primes and he'd !@#$ing beat 'em.

He was simply stunning last weekend and if he plays like that again this Sunday, woe be the Titans, no matter how well they play. This will be that kind of peak Federer/Woods shit where you can play the best game of your life and if he brings his A game to the party, you're just getting blown off the map either way.

This! Mahomes played the best game at QB I have ever seen- period.

I think he is feeling good and is very motivated. What he did on the sideline was even more impressive. He got those guys pumped up and turned the game around.

[FringeNC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's also worth noting that Mahomes had maybe his best 'feel' in the pocket Sunday of any game I've ever seen from him.

After those quirks coming off his injury that sort of apexed in the NE game (the backpedaling and bailouts from phantom pressure), he got a lot better against Denver and then just continued from there.

On Sunday he was a maestro. He seemed to be playing with a Madden birds-eye view because he ALWAYS seemed to know where the pressure was coming from and exactly how far he needed to move to avoid it. And more critically, to help his OL out.

****ing hell he was good on Sunday.

Y'know what? Scrap every single bit of analysis in this entire thread. If Patrick Mahomes plays with the complete command of everything happening on that field that he played with on Sunday, you can take the NFL All-Time 100 team in their primes and he'd !@#$ing beat 'em.

He was simply stunning last weekend and if he plays like that again this Sunday, woe be the Titans, no matter how well they play. This will be that kind of peak Federer/Woods shit where you can play the best game of your life and if he brings his A game to the party, you're just getting blown off the map either way.

Yep. Add to that he torched the Titans early in the year. What will their D game-plan be? If our line holds up, good luck Titans. If Mahomes isn't hit early and often, it's going to be really hard for them to win.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

It's also worth noting that Mahomes had maybe his best 'feel' in the pocket Sunday of any game I've ever seen from him.

After those quirks coming off his injury that sort of apexed in the NE game (the backpedaling and bailouts from phantom pressure), he got a lot better against Denver and then just continued from there.

On Sunday he was a maestro. He seemed to be playing with a Madden birds-eye view because he ALWAYS seemed to know where the pressure was coming from and exactly how far he needed to move to avoid it. And more critically, to help his OL out.

****ing hell he was good on Sunday.

Y'know what? Scrap every single bit of analysis in this entire thread. If Patrick Mahomes plays with the complete command of everything happening on that field that he played with on Sunday, you can take the NFL All-Time 100 team in their primes and he'd !@#$ing beat 'em.

He was simply stunning last weekend and if he plays like that again this Sunday, woe be the Titans, no matter how well they play. This will be that kind of peak Federer/Woods shit where you can play the best game of your life and if he brings his A game to the party, you're just getting blown off the map either way.

Yes. If Chiefs bring their A game, they will win.

But I wouldn’t get too excited about that Texans game. Houston defense is horrible. They allowed Drew Lock to absolutely torch them in a game the Texans needed to win.