NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- I am excited to bring you this Titans' mailbag before kicking off my weekend, which commences with a relatively early flight Saturday to Cleveland, the city in which h I was born and for which I have a great fondness.

While I enjoy the road, wherever you are you need to be sure you check out this week's episode of the podcast. Here are links on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeart and YouTube.

Please like and subscribe which is of great help.

Onto the best questions that came my way...

David Jackson Do you really think our roster is bottom 10 in the league like so many national writers allege? Obviously, we don’t have depth, but can’t our starting 22 be competitive with most teams?

Read More...

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –  For the third week in a row the Titans will benefit from their opponent not having their best running back available. 

The Saints were without Alvin Kamara and the Chargers didn’t have Austin Ekeler. 

The Browns’ best offensive player, Nick Chubb, went out with a major knee injury on Monday night and is lost for the season.    

Without him on the field Sunday, the Titans' defense will turn first to dealing first with a talented but declining Deshaun Watson. 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Yes, the Browns just lost their best offensive player in Nick Chubb.

Still, a trip to Cleveland looks scary as Jim Schwartz's defense has really made things difficult for the Bengals and Steeles in its first two games. The Titans' defense could be in a position where it needs to match the host's effort on that side of the ball in a low-scoring affair. 

Saying that, of course, guarantees the game will blow up the second-lowest over/under of the weekend (39.5).

We hashed through what's on your mind about this team at this time. You seem to have mixed feelings about the Titans coming off the nice overtime result against the Chargers --  some feeling good about a second win in a row and some more reluctant to buy in and be confident about their ability to head up to Lake Erie and find a way to win a second consecutive victory after eight losses in a row.

We also talked about the Hall of Fame and running backs.

Please rewatch at the private Facebook page or the secret YouTube channel below. And if you're not a member, join up to see this one and be part of the next one, Sunday from the press box in Cleveland.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- First-down runs are down 13 percent for the Titans through two games, which means -- you guessed it -- first-down passes are up 13 percent!

There are other things that are not totally in kilter. But Tennessee's highly predictable run at the start of a new set of downs is down and that's a big development, and that's where we start this week's edition of the podcast.

The new episode awaits you on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeart and YouTube, which is below.

Other subjects I dive into:

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

The results haven’t been revolutionary for the Titans' new offense under Tim Kelly through two games. The team ranks 20^th in scoring offense at 21 points per game, 21^st in terms of yardage, and 22^nd in offensive expected points added (EPA) per play. Those marks are all up from the dysfunctional 2022 offense, but not radically different.

It is fair to point out that Kelly’s numbers are probably being dragged down by the worst performance of Ryan Tannehill’s tenure as the starter in Tennessee, which is currently half of the sample size that we must work with as of today.  

However, more important than any of the numbers right now is the fact that the process has been markedly different

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Through two games, Tyjae Spears has been on the field for 45 percent of the Titans’ offensive snaps.

He’s only carried the ball 11 times and he’s only caught three passes. But on the ground, he’s been very effective, with a 6.9-yard average. That’s an impressive 3.3 yards better than Derrick Henry so far.

It’s hard to worry about reduced use of the guy who’s been the centerpiece of the Tennessee offense for the last five years when he is second in the league with 40 carries through two games. Henry approached 400 touches in 2020 and 2022 and would have been there again in 2021 but for the Jones fracture of his foot that cost him the second half of the regular season.

In his two full seasons over the last three years, he’s touched the ball on 38.5 percent of the team’s offensive plays, and even with the relatively meager game against the Saints he’s at 36.8 percent so far in 2023.

But while the touches are up there, the rushing yardage isn’t so far. On that list he’s ninth 

That’s too many numbers in my windup to this: Is Spears going to hurt Henry’s chances at the Pro Football Hall of Fame? [Unlocked]

By JAKE DOWNARD

Jake Downard is a law student who creates NFL and NBA content focused on analytics on Twitter as @JakeAndBall. He also works with fanspo.com. Today's his first post at PaulKuharsky.com where we are going to see what you think of his analytics and stats work.

Preface

Before I dive into the analytics of the Titans Week Two matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers, it is important to contextualize each advanced statistic that I will be referencing.

While I will incorporate basic counting stats like completion percentage, targets, and yards, other lesser-known numbers are helpful as well, so here is a quick breakdown of those abbreviations that will hopefully make them look less like hieroglyphics. [Unlocked]

By BLAKE BEDDINGFIELD, special correspondent

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –  During the week leading up to the game studying film of the Chargers from a personnel perspective, they were without a doubt the better team on paper Sunday and should have won this game in a commanding fashion.

The Titans won on Sunday because they had a plan and executed it despite their opponent’s talent level.

Mike Vrabel’s team has intangible qualities that show up against talented teams that consistently underperform. The Titans out-coached the Chargers staff. Their players outplayed the Chargers in critical situations. 

Individual Titan players had outstanding games: Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, Kevin Byard, Jeffrey Simmons and Denico Autry. But this game was won and lost by the play style and coaching plan of each team.

The Titans got back to playing their brand of football.