Titans deliver familiar, floundering performance on foreign turf

Same story, different continent.

Thousands of miles and an ocean away from Nashville, the Titans gave 60,000 Brits a front-row seat to one of the NFL’s most impotent offenses on Sunday.

In Tennessee’s 24-16 loss to Baltimore in London, the Titans displayed all the signs we’ve seen in previous games outside Nissan Stadium this season: an inability to score touchdowns, an inability to protect the quarterback, an inability to convert red-zone opportunities, an inability to convert third-down chances.

We could go on.

The Titans will return home at 2-4, still no more than two games out of first place in the AFC South, but looking more like a team that belongs closer to the bottom of the league — not just the division.

Maybe most troubling was coach Mike Vrabel’s acknowledgement after the contest, that — six games into the season — there may be issues on the team that are simply not correctable.

“Probably, maybe, we’ll see,” Vrabel told reporters when asked that question. “But not going to stop trying, not going to stop trying to prepare them and teach them fundamentals and execution. There will be some good plays in there and there will be certainly ones in there that we have to eliminate, that are getting us beat.”

Surprisingly enough after getting thoroughly outplayed in the first half, the Titans found themselves in decent position midway through the third quarter, trailing 18-13 and looking at third-and-one at the Baltimore 48-yard line. But that’s when Ryan Tannehill, who’d been hobbling around since suffering a right ankle early in the quarter, underthrew an open Chig Okonkwo deep and was picked off by Baltimore defensive back Geno Stone.

It was a backbreaker of a turnover. Not only did Tannehill appear to have Derrick Henry open in the flat for a likely first down, it turned out to be the quarterback’s last play due to the ankle pain. He was carted to the locker room not long afterward, having injured the same ankle that kept him out of five games last year.

The Ravens turned that interception into one of their six field goals, grabbed a 21-13 lead and didn’t let the Titans within eight points for the rest of the game.

“I tried to gut it out, but I couldn’t put any force into the throws,” Tannehill said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to move. Just kept walking it off, but it was getting worse and worse. I wasn’t going to be able to make the throws — [that’s] what happened on the pick.

“Chig was open, just had no push into it and was short. At that point, I just figured I’m going to be a sitting duck back there, and if I can’t even step into a throw, then I’m not going to be effective.”

There wasn’t much the Titans could point to with pride following the contest, outside of Henry’s 63-yard run, Tyjae Spears’ 48-yard pass reception and the defense holding Baltimore to a one-for-six showing in the red zone.

Offensively, the Titans went one-for-four in the red zone (they’re now seven-for-17 this season) and failed to convert their first eight third-down opportunities. Tannehill and Malik Willis combined to complete 12-of-21 passes, and the two were sacked a combined six times.

Defensively, the Titans allowed the Ravens to produce six drives of at least eight plays, in part because Baltimore converted eight-of-16 third-down opportunities. The Ravens held possession of the ball for nearly 36 minutes, even if Tennessee managed to stiffen up once Baltimore reached the end zone. The Titans gave up over 100 rushing yards for the second straight week, after going 10 straight games holding teams under 100.

On special teams, Devon Duvernay’s 70-yard punt return led to one Ravens field goal, and Kyle Philips’ muffed punt — the third of his six-game career — led to another.

It seems a little mind-blowing that — less than a year ago — the Titans were 7-3 and seemingly on their way to a third straight division title.

They’ve since lost 11 of 13 games and, heading into their bye week, seem to be a team in search of the rock-solid identity they had for years.

“We’re always going to hang our hat on effort, finish,” Vrabel said. “We’re going to continue to play physical. But you gotta win. You have to win. When you start winning, then you have an identity.”