The Tennessee Titans didn’t allow themselves to go unnoticed as a team last year, making an incredible turnaround from a dismal 2-4 start after naming Ryan Tannehill as the starting quarterback over Marcus Mariota.
But far more than the quarterback position factored into the Titans’ success.
The Titans played complementary football, and the defense came in clutch most of the time when the team needed it to.
But another aspect to look at is special teams, an area in which Pro Bowl punter Brett Kern is the most notable player.
During the 2019 season, the Titans’ earned the eighth-best special teams grade, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Titans had the 8th highest-graded special teams unit in 2019 đź’Ş#Titanup pic.twitter.com/xsL0fTDVXG
— PFF TEN Titans (@PFF_Titans) June 1, 2020
This ranking is a testament to how good Kern truly is, considering how much of a disaster the Titans were at placekicker last year. Tennessee also saw its special teams come up with some huge blocked field goals in wins.
Titans kickers made just 44.4 percent of their attempts in 2019, the lowest mark in the NFL by a solid measure. The kicker carousel began with Cairo Santos, who made just 4-of-9 field goals before getting cut.
The Titans then brought in Cody Parkey to try and solve their issues, and while he was a perfect 3-for-3, he would later be cut upon the return of Ryan Succop, whose return didn’t go as planned after he missed five field goals.
The Titans finished out the season with Greg Joseph, who made his lone attempt for the team. Joseph is the favorite to take the job in 2020, but the jury is still very much out on him.
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