Wiedmer: Mother Nature could carry the Titans far in the playoffs

New York Giants wide receiver Jawill Davis, center, is tackled by Tennessee Titans inside linebacker Will Compton, left, and free safety Kevin Byard during the first half of Sunday's game in East Rutherford, N.J.
New York Giants wide receiver Jawill Davis, center, is tackled by Tennessee Titans inside linebacker Will Compton, left, and free safety Kevin Byard during the first half of Sunday's game in East Rutherford, N.J.
photo Mark Wiedmer

If the Tennessee Titans make the playoffs, Titans Nation should hope for rain. Maybe sleet. Even snow. Anything that makes a good playing surface a mess, because their team can win ugly with the best of them.

For proof, just return to Sunday, to a cold and rainy MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where Tennessee faced a must-win game against the New York Giants if it hoped to keep alive its fragile playoff hopes.

With no room for error, the Titans looked every bit the part of a team more than capable of reaching its second straight postseason by dominating the New Yorkers 17-0 in a performance featuring two dynamics rarely on display in today's NFL - defense and a ground game.

With former Alabama great and 2015 Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry rushing for 170 yards and two touchdowns and the defense delivering the franchise's first shutout since Christmas Day 2000, the Titans won for a third straight week.

"Getting a shutout in this league is tough," said first-year Titans coach Mike Vrabel, who actually called a late timeout to make sure his defense knew how long it had been since the team blanked the Dallas Cowboys 31-0. "That's partly why I wanted to call a timeout, just to make sure we had our bearings straight."

You could argue that in almost all of the biggest games they've played this season, the Titans' bearings have been pointed straight at a victory.

They came from behind late to knock off the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles when that was still seen as a big deal. They crushed the New England Patriots. They shocked Dallas in Big D. They held off Houston in the Music City. They probably should have beaten the Los Angeles Chargers in London, but Vrabel elected to go for a 2-point conversion and the win rather than take his chances in overtime.

That's not to say things have been perfect. Far from it. Which is why that current 8-6 record will probably need to improve to 10-6 by the regular season's end, which means the Titans must stop both the reeling Washington Redskins this Saturday in Nissan Stadium before hosting and halting the energized Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 30 if they are to reach the postseason for a second straight year.

Not that the players seem at all unhappy with this rather boring and basic formula for success.

"We're happy with whatever works and helps us win games," Henry told the media after Sunday's win. "If that's it, then we'll keep on doing it. Whatever gives us the best opportunity to win games, I think we're going to stick with that."

Vrabel spoke of that mindset taking a while to take hold.

"I think we had some guys trying to do too much," he said of a roller-coaster season in which the Titans have followed a three-game winning streak in games two through four with a three-game losing streak, then two more wins and two more losses before the current three-game victory parade.

"(I told them), just get back to doing what you do and believing in yourself."

Go back to that loss to the Chargers in London, and those defending Vrabel's decision to go for the win instead of the tie pointed out that while it may not have been the smartest strategic move, it screamed to his players that he believed in their ability to get the win in regulation rather than being forced to overtime, where the difference in victory and defeat is often the coin toss.

Maybe that's giving Vrabel a free pass he doesn't deserve, but the Titans are 5-2 since that loss, those five victories coming by an average score of 27-11.

None of this means Tennessee will reach the postseason or that it will last long if it does. Partly because the Giants haven't been able to protect Eli Manning all season on obvious passing downs and partly because the wretched weather would have made it tough for even Tom Brady to accurately throw the ball, the Titans were able to record three sacks, limit sensational Giants rookie running back Saquon Barkley to 31 yards on 14 carries and generally reduce this to some long-ago NFL skirmish only preserved on black-and-white film.

Given the odds that similar weather conditions might exist outdoors come January's postseason, Tennessee's playoff possibilities shouldn't be ignored. Nothing favors defense and a ground game more than rain, wind, snow or all of the above.

But the Titans have to get there first, and that will more than likely require them to beat the Colts in the regular-season finale. A stat to scare all Titans fans: Indy quarterback Andrew Luck is 10-0 lifetime against them.

Moreover, that 38-10 loss to the Colts a few weeks ago came indoors. The good news for the Titans is that most AFC stadiums - excluding AFC South brethren Indy and Houston, of course - are outdoor venues.

So even though Sunday was crucial, it wasn't the last crucial game on the schedule. The last two are just as critical for a Titans playoff appearance.

In discussing Sunday's shutout, Titans linebacker Derrick Morgan told the team's website: "We didn't want to let them in (the end zone), and fortunately, we were able to keep them from getting in."

If they can keep not letting teams in the end zone for two more weeks, the Titans should not only get into the playoffs, but with a little help from Mother Nature, they just might stick around for a bit.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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