Quick Slant: Dolphins and Titans Prepare to Get Busy Livin' or Get Busy Dyin' on the MNF Undercard
Titans @ Dolphins, Monday @ 7:30 PM
The Dolphins have received waves of bad news this season. A sluggish start against Jacksonville yielded yardage but little scoring; it was unknown the Jags would be one of the worst teams in the AFC approaching the quarter turn, so the blip seemed like a below-average TD rate in a single game – no biggie. Then, they met Buffalo on TNF in Week 2, and the wheels fell firmly off. The Bills devastated the Dolphins all night, leaving them nothing over the top, lassoing their usually overwhelming speed, and confusing QB Tua Tagovailoa into multiple turnovers; then, Tagovailoa took his fourth concussion in three seasons late in the game, and Dolphins’ HC Mike McDaniel’s confident demeanor on the sideline was transplanted with a visceral pall of blank, depressing, introspective numbness. The Dolphins, sophisticated and modern, had no answers when the basics of football were required, and, of course, what does any of that matter when a human being’s future with the essential functions of life is on the line? Tagovailoa went on the IR, and without him in Week 3, the Dolphins looked out of their element in an NFL football game. They are now the dictionary definition of the word reeling.
The Titans have also received bad news; theirs is that they have poured considerable resources into what may be a sinking ship. Many quibbled about how the Titans invested the second-most money in free agency last spring; a long line of team-building data suggests that building a team's foundation through the draft and later patching the holes with free agents is optimal. Many would have forgiven the Titans for stepping back after the long Vrabel/Henry era, resetting on the high-consequence positions, and preparing to be stronger at some future appointment. But instead, they chose instant gratification. The best explanations were that the Titans were building their team suboptimally or – or – they knew something we didn’t about 2023 second-round QB Will Levis. But thus far, Levis seems like he may be the disaster many had assumed; the Titans are 0-3, and now it looks like all the money they spent was to put bidets and original artwork in a gusty shack that can’t even keep out the rain.
The good news for each, I suppose: tickets for the first game on the MNF doubleheader are on sale for as low as $19.00?
Titans’ Implied Team Total: 17.5
The Titans enter Monday night with the fourth-lowest implied team total of the week. They rank 31st in offensive EPA per play and dead last in offensive EPA per dropback.
