Tag: Tim Kelly

Titans OC Tim Kelly rightly roasted for awful play-calling vs. Texans

Titans OC Tim Kelly was rightly roasted for his awful play-calling in the Week 15 loss to the Texans.

The Tennessee Titans suffered their second overtime loss at home to a division rival in three weeks, this time to the Houston Texans, 19-16.

This was an ugly game that started well for the Titans and progressively got worse. One person, in particular, who had a horrendous day was offensive coordinator Tim Kelly.

The Titans were unable to run the ball all game long, only totaling 66 yards on the ground. Yet, for some reason, Kelly insisted on constantly going back to the run game, even though Derrick Henry under one yard per carry.

The most annoying part is the offense was actually moving the ball whenever they let Will Levis throw downfield.

That level of ignorance arguably played the biggest role in the loss. This is the type of game that fans will undoubtedly and rightly point to at the end of the season when they inevitably campaign for a new offensive coordinator.

As you can imagine, the fanbase and local media was disgusted after Kelly’s dismal performance, so let’s take a look at some of those reactions following Sunday’s loss.

5 Titans make annual list of ‘NFL coaches to watch’

Five Titans made an annual list of assistant coaches to watch for future head coach openings.

Every year, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero releases a list of assistant coaches to watch when it comes to head-coach openings in the following offseason and in the years that follow.

On this year’s list, which featured a ton of names, five Tennessee Titans coaches made the cut, highlighted by defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who was mentioned as a coach to watch for the upcoming hiring cycle.

Here’s what Pelissero had to say about Bowen, who he notes is “well-regarded” around the league:

A former Georgia Tech linebacker whose playing career ended early because of injury, Bowen is now in his eighth season as an NFL coach and third as Tennessee’s defensive play-caller. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has a defensive background and has input on everything in the building, but Bowen runs the show on his side of the ball, from game planning to installs to meetings. Despite personnel challenges and a slim margin for error due to offensive struggles, Tennessee’s defense remains a top-10 unit in points allowed. And Bowen is well-regarded within the league.

Along with Bowen, outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow, defensive pass game coordinator and cornerbacks coach Chris Harris, offensive coordinator Tim Kelly and run game coordinator and running backs coach Justin Outten were listed as coaches to watch in cycles beyond 2024.

It’s true the Titans sport a top-10 scoring defense, but that does not tell the story of the unit’s disappointing performance overall this season.

Tennessee’s pass-rush has been inconsistent and disappeared at times, the secondary is a sieve and even the once-elite run defense has gone by the wayside — and those issues won’t help some of the coaches under Bowen, either.

Of course, Bowen deserves at least some credit for the defensive success the team saw in 2021 and 2022, but many wonder if former senior defensive assistant Jim Schwartz, who is now running an elite defense with the Cleveland Browns, is the one who deserves more.

Whatever the case may be, I don’t see Bowen landing a head coach job in the upcoming cycle, barring an epic turnaround from the Titans and their defense; although, I do think he could get an interview.

As for the rest of the coaches, Harris and Crow will almost certainly need stints as coordinators first before they can set their sights on bigger things, which puts them a few years away, at least, from being considered

Outten has had an offensive coordinator job before, but that was with the awful 2022 Denver Broncos and he only called plays for a few games.

Kelly is further ahead of those three, seeing as how he’s in his second stint as an offensive coordinator in the NFL. However, his first season in charge of Tennessee’s offense has not gone too well, which will make 2024 a crucial campaign for his hopes of one day becoming a head coach.

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Biggest takeaways from Titans’ Week 10 loss to Buccaneers

The biggest takeaways from the Titans’ Week 10 loss to the Buccaneers.

After yet another ugly loss in Week 10 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,  one thing is very clear for the 2023 Tennessee Titans: this just isn’t a good football team.

I’m old enough to remember when the Titans were considered the biggest threat to the Jacksonville Jaguars’ AFC South crown. Unfortunately, that hasn’t come to fruition as the Titans sit in the cellar of the AFC South.

Tennessee has now failed to win a single road game over the course of an entire calendar year, and the team is a dreadful 3-13 since that last road victory.

The reality is, the Titans aren’t going anywhere this year and now it’s all about keeping rookie quarterback Will Levis alive the rest of the season while also hoping he continues to develop under terrible circumstances.

The Titans failing Levis once again in Week 10 is just one of the six takeaways from Tennessee’s loss to the Bucs.

Stock up, stock down for Titans going into Week 10

Shaun Calderon takes a look at the players (and a coach) who either improved or hurt their stock the most in Week 9.

The Tennessee Titans have had a handful of days to digest their deflating 20-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Thursday, a game that wasn’t a pretty contest by any means.

There were a lot of moments the team certainly wishes it could have back. In fact, if the Titans somehow find a way to go on a second-half run but fall just short of making the playoffs, this is the kind of game that they’ll look back on as one that got away.

Despite the loss, there were some players who found a way to improve their individual stock ahead of a Week 10 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On the contrary, several others ended up lowering theirs by the end of the weekend.

Scroll down below to see which three players we felt raised their stocks and which players/coaches ended up lowering theirs after the disappointing defeat at the hands of the Steelers.

Tennessee Titans’ offensive concepts fell short for Will Levis in his second NFL start

Titans quarterback Will Levis fell to earth against the Steelers after his historic NFL debut against the Falcons. Where did it all go wrong?

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There were times in Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis’ first NFL road game on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Steelers when he looked like the same guy who ripped the Atlanta Falcons’ defense to shreds last Sunday in his overall NFL debut. Levis, who became the third quarterback in pro football history to throw four touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first start (Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Mariota) fell to earth a bit, completing 22 of 39 passes for 262 yards, no touchdowns, a game-ending interception, and a passer rating of 66.4 — quite the drop from the 130.1 he put up against Atlanta.

Titans QB Will Levis had a historic NFL debut. What does it mean for his future?

Now, few people were expecting Levis to do against the Steelers what he did against the Falcons. In his NFL debut, Levis became the first NFL quarterback since at least 2016 to complete three touchdown passes of 50+ air yards. That’s not the kind of thing that happens repeatedly, no matter how good you are.

So, regression was inevitable after such an explosive first game. But as much as Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly dialed things up brilliantly for his young quarterback before… maybe it was the short week, but there were too many instances in which Kelly’s plan for Levis just didn’t make sense. That was evident on the broadcast, and it really came into view with the All-22 on Friday morning.

Before we get into that, and Tennessee’s especially weird two final drives, a few metrics:

Against the Falcons in that historic debut, Levis completed eight of 13 passes with play-action for 116 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 130.1. Against the Steelers, Levis had just seven attempts with play-action, completing four for 62 yards, including a 23-yard completion to Derrick Henry, and a 21-yard completion to Treylon Burks.

Levis completed nine of 12 passes with pre-snap motion against the Falcons for 101 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 139.2. Against the Steelers, Levis had just seven attempts with pre-snap motion, completing one for -8 yards.

None of the plays on Tennessee’s final two drive had either motion or play-action. The hurry-up nature of that drive would negate motion to a point, but as the Titans had someone else with Levis in the backfield on 10 of his final-drive throws, I’m at a loss there.

“Atypical” is an odd word to use for a quarterback who’s started two NFL games, but the stark strategic and schematic differences told a story. Let’s dive into what ultimately became a 20-16 Steelers win, pushing Tennessee to 3-5 at their halfway mark for the season.

Titans’ winners and losers from Week 9 loss to Steelers

The biggest winners and losers from the Titans’ Week 9 loss to the Steelers on Thursday night.

The Tennessee Titans once again failed to produce back-to-back wins after dropping their Week 9 game to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 20-16.

With the loss, the Titans now move to 3-5 on the season and sport an 0-4 record on the road. If you include the Week 6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in London, Tennessee is now 0-5 away from Nissan Stadium this season.

Adding to that, the Steelers continue to own the Titans, with Pittsburgh now having won each of the last five meetings with Tennessee.

It’s safe to say that the Titans’ playoff hopes are, at best, on life support.

On the bright side, we saw another impressive performance from rookie signal-caller Will Levis, who was making his first road start in prime time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to overcome everything else that went wrong.

Here are the biggest winners and losers from Week 9.

Titans OC Tim Kelly was in his bag in Week 4 and fans loved it

Titans OC Tim Kelly rightly received plenty of praise for the game he called in Week 4.

After falling on their face a week ago, the Tennessee Titans offense bounced back in a massive way by emphatically beating the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3 — and offensive coordinator Tim Kelly rightly received praise for it.

This was an incredible performance from nearly everybody involved, with Kelly’s play-calling especially deserving of a shoutout.

The Titans’ offensive mastermind called a nearly flawless game on all fronts. Kelly got the tandem of Derrick Henry and Tyjae Spears involved early and often with success. He found ways to get the ball into the hands of his pass-catchers while also finding creative ways to put the ball into the end zone.

Kelly’s most impressive moment came at the end of the first half.

The Titans’ play-caller made the bold decision to let Derrick Henry throw a pass for a touchdown in the closing seconds while also sending Jeffery Simmons in as a blocker to completely throw the Bengals’ defense off.

Fortunately, the play was executed to perfection or else the Titans may not have come away with any points there. Kelly ended up looking like a genius for his gutsy play-call.

This entire game rightly led to Kelly being praised by fans and media. Let’s take a look at some of the reactions to the offensive coordinator’s sensational day following the Titans’ 24-point beatdown of the Bengals.

Titans OC Tim Kelly talks 4 turnovers from preseason Week 1

Titans OC Tim Kelly says fixing the turnover issue from preseason Week 1 is “paramount.”

The Tennessee Titans’ offensive performance in their preseason debut could best be described as up and down.

There were some obvious positives to take away, such as the impressive performances of the Titans’ starting offensive line and rookie running back, Tyjae Spears.

However, once the members of the first-team offensive line headed to the bench for the day, the offense largely devolved into a unit full of inconsistencies.

Tennessee’s offense — which was led by quarterbacks Malik Willis and Will Levis, both of whom did some good things — surrendered a disappointing eight sacks and four turnovers en route to a 23-17 loss to the Bears.

Two of those turnovers came from Willis (interception and fumble) while Levis (interception) and rookie tight end Josh Whyle (fumble) were responsible for the other two.

Offensive coordinator Tim Kelly discussed the turnover issue on Monday afternoon during the team’s press conference, and he stated the following:

“You can’t win many games in the NFL turning the ball over four times,” said Kelly, per 104.5 The Zone. “That’s paramount. We’ve got to do a better job of making sure that we’re not exposing the football. We’ve got to do a better job of making sure we’re taking advantage of a short field.

“Our defense did a good job of creating some turnovers and we’ve got to do a better job of being able to take advantage of that. Those would be the two major areas that we want to improve on.”

The offense has an opportunity to right the ship this week, as it is set to practice with the Minnesota Vikings before playing them on Saturday.

We may not see the starters much this weekend, but they’ll at least get their first real chance at facing off against an opposing team’s defense, albeit in a practice setting.

While it’s obvious that Tennessee is placing a clear emphasis on protecting the football, we’ll have to wait and see just how much that message actually carries over to the field when both teams are out there together.

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Titans OC Tim Kelly talks Will Levis, Malik Willis, the 8 sacks in preseason Week 1

Titans OC Tim Kelly said about half of the eight sacks surrendered in preseason Week 1 were on the QBs.

Prior to practice on Monday, Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly spoke with the media and touched on a number of topics, including quarterbacks Malik Willis and Will Levis, and the eight sacks allowed throughout the preseason Week 1 contest.

While pass protection was clearly shoddy all game long when the backups were in there, Kelly said about half of the eight sacks were on Willis and Levis, who he said held on to the ball too long for some of them.

As far as Willis’ performance was concerned, Kelly thought the second-year signal-caller “took a good step for us” in preseason Week 1, noting that the Liberty product played faster and displayed better decision-making.

“He played faster on Saturday, which was good,” Kelly said of Willis, per ESPN’s Turron Davenport. “That was the big thing that we talked to him about, is we wanted him to make sure that he played to his timing speed.

“He played fast, his decision-making was better, he appeared to play on time more so than what we’ve seen in his previous game exposure. So, I thought Malik took a good step for us here on Saturday.”

When it comes to Levis, Kelly saw some good things but pointed out how the rookie needs to do a better job of knowing when to bail on a play.

“Obviously, now having a live pass-rush, knowing when we need to step up, when the journey’s over, when we may have to ditch one,” Kelly said of Levis.

“But you look at his ability to be able to get the ball out when he was playing on time, he had some really good throws for us. And, again, it’s a good learning situation for him to be able to come back in here today, be able to watch it and now get a true understanding as to why why we’re doing things a certain way. I’m looking forward to seeing his growth from Game 1 to Game 2.”

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UPDATE: DeAndre Hopkins talks what attracted him to Titans

New Titans WR Deandre Hopkins explains what attracted him to Tennessee.

Editor’s note: It seems Titans beat writer Paul Kuharsky was “scammed” and the quotes in this article that were taken from his tweet were not actually from DeAndre Hopkins, but someone pretending to be him. We apologize for any confusion this has caused, but we may have also inadvertently gotten an awesome new nickname for Tim Kelly! Once again, our sincerest apologies.

Original text

The Tennessee Titans lit the NFL world on fire when the news broke that superstar wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was taking his Hall of Fame talents to Nashville, Tenn.

While the move isn’t official until he signs on the dotted line, he himself has already made it clear where he intends to play for the next couple of seasons if everything goes according to plan.

Longtime Titans insider and beat writer, Paul Kuharsky, recently had the opportunity to text with the All-Pro wideout, and he provided some brief insight into what attracted him to the Titans (other than money).

“The team is just amazing all around. Great guys, great coach, great staff,” Hopkins told Kuharsky via text message.

Hopkins also confirmed that reuniting with offensive coordinator Tim Kelly played a role in landing the Clemson product. He also joked that his new nickname going forward is “pretty boy Kelly.”

It’s easy to see where the infatuation comes from. D-Hop was an All-Pro back in 2019 when Kelly took over as offensive coordinator for the Texans.

Although he may not have called plays at that time, there’s no denying that Kelly still had a ton of influence in what they did as an offense, which subsequently helped Hopkins have one of the best seasons of his career.

Nuk finished the 2019 season with 119 catches, 1,373 receiving yards, and seven touchdowns in 17 games (playoffs included).

Let’s hope the two of them can make similar magic now that they’re reunited in Tennessee.

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