Tag: Tim Kelly

Titans’ 2022 offense ranked in middle of pack in 30-plus yard gains

The Titans’ 2022 offense landed in the middle of the NFL in 30-plus yard plays.

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To say the Todd Downing-led Tennessee Titans offense was polarizing would be a drastic understatement. Last year’s offense was one of the most lifeless and inconsistent units in a plethora of different ways.

Whether it was injuries, ridiculous play calls, or controversial personnel decisions, it seemed like the only aspect of the Titans’ offense that was consistent was the fact that Tennessee couldn’t get out of its own way.

Surprisingly, despite the Titans’ offensive shortcomings as a whole, the unit ranked in the middle of the pack when it came to producing plays that gained a minimum of 30 yards.

According to Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis, the 2022 Titans accounted for 24 offensive plays that eclipsed the 30-yard threshold, the 16th-most in the NFL.

Now that Tim Kelly is in charge of the offense, the Titans should be better suited schematically for the modern game, which subsequently should give them a realistic chance of improving their ranking on this list in 2023.

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Titans OC Tim Kelly talks WRs, Malik Willis, tempo, more

Titans OC Tim Kelly had a one-word answer when asked if the team has enough at wide receiver.

Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly was among the coaches made available to the media during Day 2 of organized team activities on Tuesday.

Two other coaches spoke to the media as well, including defensive coordinator Shane Bowen and special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman. You can check out everything Aukerman had to say right here, and everything Bowen had to say right here.

One of the biggest topics of conversation this offseason was the Titans’ lack of action at the wide receiver position. When asked if the team has enough there ahead of 2023, Kelly had a simple, one-word answer.

“Yeah,” Kelly replied.

Kelly also touched on second-year quarterback Malik Willis, who many are down on going into 2023. Here’s some of what he had to say (there’s more below).

“As far as developing Malik, yesterday he came out here and did a good job executing on the opportunities he got,” Kelly said, per John Glennon of Nashville Post. “So, each day we’re going to look to do the same thing.”

Now, a look at what else Kelly spoke about on Tuesday.

Titans’ 2022 pass rate after 1st down incompletion among lowest in NFL

The Titans had one of the lowest pass rates in the NFL in 2022 following an incompletion on first down.

One of the many gripes with former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing was his propensity to run the football after the team gained little or no yardage on first downs, whether that be via pass or run.

That approach led to difficult third-down situations that Tennessee’s putrid passing attack simply wasn’t able to overcome.

Football analyst Warren Sharp crunched the numbers and showed that the Titans were near the bottom of the NFL in pass rate on second-and-10 scenarios following an incomplete pass on first down.

The Titans only threw the ball 42 percent of the time after a first-down incompletion, which ranked bottom five in the NFL.

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The teams with a lower pass rate were the Cleveland Browns, Washington Commanders, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears.

Of course, some of that can be blamed on the fact that the Titans’ best avenue to move the ball was on the ground thanks to injuries and overall ineptitude in the receivers room. But, even considering that, this is still unacceptable.

Thankfully, Downing’s ineptitude as a play-caller will no longer haunt the Titans after the team fired him earlier this offseason and replaced him with Tim Kelly, who has nowhere to go but up from here.

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What Titans OC Tim Kelly said during NFL Combine presser

Titans OC Tim Kelly touched on a number of topics during his NFL Combine media availability on Tuesday.

For the first time since coming aboard as the passing-game coordinator in 2021, new Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly spoke to the media while attending the NFL Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

Kelly addressed a number of topics, but the one that caught the most attention was his saying he didn’t think the offense was predictable in 2022.

“I didn’t think we were predictable last year,” Kelly said, per Paul Kuharsky. “I think there’s some times where certain games, certain things, weather, people you have available, things along those lines, there are a lot of elements that go into predictability or perceived predictability, so I wouldn’t say that we were predictable last year.”

While an alarming quote, this is likely Kelly just trying not to throw former offensive coordinator Todd Downing under the bus. After all, the proof is in the pudding that the Titans were predictable on offense last season, so Kelly must know that, right?

Now, a look at what else Kelly talked about on Tuesday.

Titans OC Tim Kelly doesn’t think offense was predictable in 2022

Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly doesn’t think the team’s offense was predictable in 2022.

One of the biggest knocks on the Tennessee Titans’ offense under former offensive coordinator Todd Downing was how predictable it was.

One example of this was the Titans finishing with the eighth-highest run-run-pass rate in 2022, per Pro Football Focus’ Arjun Menon.

But new offensive coordinator Tim Kelly, who was on the staff as the team’s passing-game coordinator, doesn’t believe the Titans were too predictable.

“I didn’t think we were predictable last year,” Kelly said while down at the NFL Combine, per Paul Kuharsky. “I think there’s some times where certain games, certain things, weather, people you have available, things along those lines, there are a lot of elements that go into predictability or perceived predictability, so I wouldn’t say that we were predictable last year.”

Kelly was then asked if the Titans leaning heavily on the run on first downs made the offense predictable. His response was the same.

“I didn’t, but again, like I said, there are a lot of things that go into calling a game,” he said. “Last year was last year, but moving forward I can tell you what we’re going to do and what we’re going to try to do and how we’re going to build this offense.”

As far as how the Titans can avoid being predictable, Kelly said the team needs to be versatile.

“One of the things that we want to do as an offense is we want to be versatile,” he explained. “So, whether it ends up being multiple personnel groupings, multiple formations, playing in multiple tempos, just doing things to try to keep people off balance. That’s what we’re going to look to do moving forward. We want to put our guys in the best position possible.”

While Kelly denying the offense was predictable last season is alarming, it’s also possible he’s just trying to avoid throwing Downing under the bus.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and go with that as an explanation for his comments here because nobody in their right mind can say this offense wasn’t predictable.

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This quote from Davis Mills gives more insight into Tim Kelly’s offense

A 2022 quote from Texans QB Davis Mills helps shed light on what Titans OC Tim Kelly’s offense will ask of a quarterback pre-snap.

Before he became the passing-game coordinator and then the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans, Tim Kelly spent seven years on the coaching staff of the Houston Texans, three of which was spent as OC.

In the wake of Tennessee promoting Kelly, we’ve been trying to get a better grasp on how he’ll handle things on offense.

The best place to get an idea of Kelly’s approach comes via Zach Lyons of Broadway Sports Media, who did a great breakdown of Kelly upon Tennessee hiring him in 2022.

We also have this quote from Texans quarterback Davis Mills, who played under and had success with Kelly in 2021.

In the quote, which comes from our friends at Texans Wire, Mills talks about the difference between a Kelly-run offense and the one he played under with Pep Hamilton in 2022.

One big difference? Kelly puts more on the quarterback pre-snap.

“[Tim Kelly’s offense is] completely quarterback-driven pre-snap and the big focus from Pep when he stepped in this role was he wants to take as much off the quarterback as he can so we can play fast,” Mills said. “Obviously, we have a lot of control in making sure we’re in the correct protection and the correct mike point, basically confirming or changing anything, but the center does the initial point and making the initial calls. So, that takes a lot off my plate, especially in the run game. We can go out there and play fast when the center is pointing it.”

While it makes sense to ask a bit less of a young quarterback like Mills, the former third-round pick actually took a step back in his second season with Hamilton at the helm as opposed to his first with Kelly.

Assuming Kelly’s approach is the same as it was in Houston, he’s going to put more on the shoulders of his quarterback, which could make for a steeper learning curve for a young signal-caller if the Titans actually land one.

However, Kelly’s track record of success with both Mills and Deshaun Watson shows young quarterbacks can be just fine with that approach.

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Mike Vrabel: Titans had ‘at least six’ OC candidates

Titans head coach Mike Vrabel says the team spoke with “at least six” candidates for their offensive coordinator job.

The Tennessee Titans’ offensive coordinator search was pretty quiet publicly, as reports confirmed the team’s interest in four candidates during the process.

Tennessee reportedly requested interviews with the Kansas City Chiefs’ Eric Bieniemy and Matt Nagy, the Atlanta Falcons’ Charles London, and they spoke with passing-game coordinator Tim Kelly, who ultimately got the job.

However, Bieniemy revealed he didn’t take any offensive coordinator interviews, so he wasn’t someone Tennessee actually talked to.

And, there was never any confirmation of interviews with Nagy or London, the latter of whom Tennessee hired as its new quarterbacks coach and offensive pass-game coordinator.

On the surface, it doesn’t appear the Titans did much interviewing, which leads us to believe the choice was Kelly all along.

Days after announcing the Kelly hiring, head coach Mike Vrabel revealed to “The Buck Reising Show” that the team spoke with at least six candidates for the job, although he didn’t go into specifics about who those candidates were.

“I would say there was at least six people that we spoke with at length,” Vrabel said. “I would say that’s probably a good number.”

Even if the number is as high as Vrabel says it is, we don’t know all of the names, so we can’t say for sure just how much the Titans considered an outside candidate.

Of course, the hope all along was that the Titans would go with an out-of-house choice just like they did at general manager with Ran Carthon, with Tennessee desperately needing a shake-up on offense.

It’s safe to say the overall reaction from the fan base was lukewarm at best, as Kelly carries the stain of being associated with Todd Downing’s 2022 offense, whether fair or not.

The good news is, Kelly couldn’t be any worse than Downing was, so at least the Titans have that going for them.

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Mike Vrabel on what OC hire means for Ryan Tannehill: ‘I don’t think anything’

Mike Vrabel said he kept Ryan Tannehill in the loop about what the team was doing at offensive coordinator.

After the Tennessee Titans announced the promotion of Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator among several coaching-staff changes, some fans and media took that as a sign that Ryan Tannehill would be back in 2023.

And, some took this quote from head coach Mike Vrabel on what the move means for Tannehill’s future as another hint.

“Well, I don’t think anything,” Vrabel said. “I talked to Ryan. I let him know which direction we were headed. I don’t want to speak for him, he seemed excited about what we were going to do and who we were doing it with. But again, Ran and I are evaluating the entire roster and players who are under contract and players that are going to be potential free agents here soon.

“So, Ryan’s in here every day and he’s excited about where things are headed,” Vrabel added. “So, other than that, I don’t know what to tell you other than being able to say we got to get ready here to add a lot of pieces and find ways to do that.”

I get we’re all looking for any signs for what the Titans will do, but I don’t think this is an indication one way or the other, and that’s coming from someone who is in the camp that Tannehill will be back.

This is just a head coach telling his starting quarterback about a major change to the offense that, as of right now, he is set to head in 2023 until he isn’t since he’s under contract.

The fact that Tannehill is in the building every day doesn’t mean much, either. I mean, he’s still on the team, and chances are he’s receiving treatment for his injured ankle.

Vrabel even told you the move doesn’t mean anything, and he went on to say that evaluations still need to be made, which falls in line with what new general manager Ran Carthon said about Tannehill.

If anything, this is an indication the Titans haven’t made a decision yet and that a change is possible.

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Derrick Henry shares thoughts on Titans hiring Ran Carthon, Tim Kelly

Derrick Henry is a fan of Ran Carthon but wasn’t thrilled about the lackluster ratings his past outfits received from the new Titans GM.

For the first time since the Tennessee Titans hired general manager Ran Carthon and made several changes to the coaching staff, running back Derrick Henry shared his thoughts on the moves.

Of course, the hire of Tim Kelly as offensive coordinator was the highlight of the coaching-staff shake-up, and it’s a move Henry approves of, according to Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.

“I love Tim,” Henry said. “I feel like Tim has a bright mind. Going up against him when he was with the Texans, I always felt like he had a great game plan against us. Watching the Texans throughout the years when he was the OC, he always did a great job with Deshaun [Watson] and the guys that he had. So, I am excited to have Tim as the OC. He’s a great dude, so it’s going to be fun.”

Henry also told a funny story about how he thought Kelly looked mean thanks to his beard and demeanor on the sideline. But upon meeting him Henry discovered that is not who Kelly is at all.

“I always told him, him being on the offensive sideline with the Texans and having that big beard, he looked mean like he didn’t talk much,” Henry said. “But actually, being on staff and being around him a lot, he’s a great guy and has a great personality. We had a good relationship throughout the season and joking and getting to know one another, so I am excited to have him aboard as OC.”

Another major move to occur this offseason was the hiring of Carthon as GM, something Henry says he’s “excited” about.

“I am excited to have Ran on board,” he said. “He comes from a great organization that’s had a lot of success the last couple of years. Hopefully he can bring good things to the Titans organization, and we can get some good things started.

“I am looking forward to seeing what the team looks like in the future.”

Henry revealed that he and Carthon have met, and The King brought up some of the less-than-ideal ratings the new Titans general manager gave some of Henry’s past outfits in a funny video released after Carthon was named GM.

“I told him I saw how he rated my outfits for the season, and I told him I’d have to get on him when I see his. It was pretty funny, (but) a little harsh. I didn’t get a 10 of 10, so I was like, ‘oh man, I guess I have to do better.'”

Henry’s former positional coach, Tony Dews, was one of four coaches to switch roles for 2023, with Dews moving from running backs to tight ends coach.

The Alabama product believes Dews has what it takes to become a head coach one day. He also expressed his excitement to see who will be filling Dews’ old role that remains vacant as of this writing.

“I was excited for Tony,” Henry said. “He keeps moving up and keeps thriving. He wants to be a head coach one day and I think he has all the tools to do that. So, I think this is the next step toward trying to do that and accomplish his ultimate goal.

“I am excited to see who the next running backs coach is and come in and get acclimated to our culture and how we want to play… I see Tony as family, and I am excited for him and his opportunity.”

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Mike Vrabel sheds light on Tim Kelly’s 2022 role, why he wasn’t promoted in-season

Mike Vrabel shed some light on what Tim Kelly’s role was in 2022, and why he didn’t promote him during the season.

New Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly served as the team’s passing-game coordinator in 2022, but we didn’t know exactly what he was responsible for during his first season in Nashville.

But head coach Mike Vrabel shed some light on how the former Houston Texans offensive coordinator helped out the offense last season in a press conference following the announcement of the move.

Well, how he tried to help out the offense.

Vrabel explained that Kelly worked with tight ends in practice, something we saw regularly, but he also helped out with preparation, and in particular when it came to early-down passes.

It’s funny Vrabel mentions early downs, because the Titans’ offense under Todd Downing was criminally run-heavy and predictable in that area.

As Tennessee’s offense seemed to hit a new low every week in 2022, Titans fans were begging for Kelly to get the interim tag to see if he could elevate the unit, which would also give him an audition for the gig.

That never happened and instead Vrabel stuck it out with Downing. He explained his reasoning for that decision on Tuesday, also.

“I don’t know if during the season anything really would’ve mattered,” Vrabel said, per Nick Suss of The Tennessean. “I really don’t. I think that what I’m focused on is where we go from here.”

It’s true Kelly would’ve been up against it with the crap the Titans ran out there last year, but even knowing that, his inevitable struggles in said situation would’ve made this promotion a lot harder to justify.

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