EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – With Mike Vrabel as the coach, the Titans wanted to move away from formulaic football and play more week to week. Instead of shoveling a nearly identical game plan into the furnace each week and spitting out a this-is-what-we-do effort, the franchise wanted to produce variation.
When it made Tom Brady look old and ineffective, it was genius. And when it made the Titans’ offensive line look confused as Marcus Mariota was sacked 11 times, it was insane.
But now, halfway through the final month of the regular season, the Titans do look to have settled into a formula. And it’s not Mike Mularkey football. It’s traditional, hard-to-get-away from December football. For Nashville purposes after a 17-0 cakewalk over the Giants, we’ll call it “Derrick and the defense.”
