Tennessee Titans

Media power rankings: Week 3

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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A common theme around the media during the early part of the week is power rankings. Whether they are ranking college football teams, baseball teams, basketball teams, or NFL teams it is something that most major outlets do.

ESPN and NFL.com are no different, and they are the two that I pay the most attention to during the week. They generally use either a composite ranking to get their list, or they have someone assigned to watch every game before they make their list.

With other sites, there is a lot of guess work and assumptions that become pretty clear by around Week 8 and I have no intention of using them in these articles.

So, let’s take a look at how those two sites ranked the Tennessee Titans in their power rankings.

NFL.com: 26 (Last Week 22)

“Neither Marcus Mariota nor the Titans as a team are good enough yet to overcome those interceptions Sunday. At least Taylor Lewan compensated for the giveaways with some goonery … Too bad, too, because the opportunities were there for this young nucleus to win its third home game in as many seasons. You read that right — Tennessee won one contest in Nashville in 2014 and one in 2015. Now they are 0-2 in front of the home folk. But at least you can get a Frank Wycheck jersey in the pro shop and $10.50 nachos at concessions.”

-Elliot Harrison

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Titan Sized 5wProjecting the Titans 53-man final roster

More headlines around FanSided:

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Whew, that is some fire coming from Harrison and rightfully so. The Tennessee Titans have been utterly disappointing at home for the last two years and it is devastating for Titans fans to show up to a home game to see a drove of the other team’s fans and hear them cheer in your ear for 60 minutes.

I can’t stress enough how little of an advantage the Titans will have at home until this happens. Let me walk you through the 5-step process of being a fan at a Titans home game:

1. Show up excited (despite rational thought) and ready to match up with a team that you have a chance to beat.

2. Scream on the opening defensive possession.

3. One of two things happens, the Titans allow the other team to score or they have a quick drive that leads to 3 or less points.

4. The other team responds in a big way, further dejecting Titans fans. Rinse and repeat this for about one half of football.

5. Fans, having seen this before start to flood out around halftime to the jeers of the other teams fans when both parties know exactly how the game is going to end.

That is just the harsh reality until this team gets a good head coach, or so much talent that they can overcome poor coaching.

More from Titan Sized

ESPN: 26 (LW 21)

“The Titans need to work on ball control if they want to win some games. They have a minus-19 turnover differential the past two seasons, and are 2-1 in that time when posting a positive differential. A big division game against the Texans this week will bring the turnover battle to the forefront.”

-ESPN

Marcus Mariota just looks uncomfortable in this offense. We all know that Mariota does his best work in space and speed, whether that means designed runs mixed in with no huddle or moving the pocket to threaten with his legs.

However, the Titans refuse to do any of this except a few final drive situations, which always turn out pretty well. This has resulted in Mariota having to force passes in because there is no separation from the wide receivers which has led to turnovers.

These power rankings are going to be a depressing place if this Titans team can’t get creative offensively and maybe force some more turnovers on defense.

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