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Titans: Dolphins Game Is Moment Of Truth

By Randy Sharber

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The Tennessee Titans will find out just where they stand today when they host the Miami Dolphins.

For Marcus Mariota, Jurrell Casey, Delanie Walker and the rest of the Tennessee Titans today will be “just another game”. But for the Tennessee Titans organization, it will be a measuring stick for just where this franchise stands.

The Titans host a reeling Miami Dolphin team at Nissan Stadium today at noon. Titans fans have not witnessed a win for the Titans on this field for over a calendar year now. The last home win came on October 12th, 2014 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It is October 18th, 2015. Fans are still waiting for another.

Miami is in turmoil. The once proud franchise which led the charge for the AFC in Superbowl’s is now a mere shell of itself. Gone are the days of Don Shula, Bob Griese, Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, Paul Warfield and a perfect season. Gone are the days of Dan Marino and his posse of receivers that ravaged the NFL secondaries for years.

The truth is this Miami franchise, and team, is in a tailspin. They fired docile Coach Joe Philbin last week. He was 24-28. The funny thing is that Titans fans would love a stretch of 24-28. The Titans are 16-36 over the last 4 years during this same period. Coach Ken Whisenhunt is now 3-17.

This Dolphin team is now led by interim coach Dan Campbell. He is short time as head coach. He has made this Dolphin team come to work each day and have them do Oklahoma drills. He has brought a college rah rah aspect to the team. Professional athletes generally don’t take to the “rah-rah” style. They especially don’t take to physical contact during the actual season.

But Campbell knows this team needs to be fired up. They brought in Ndamukong Suh to shore up the defensive line. They brought out the Brinks truck and dumped in on his lawn in Detroit. Suh moved to the Sun and Fun of Miami. So far the Dolphins looked as if that truck was hijacked by the Dalton Gang. They have nothing to show for Suh’s contract. I have as many tackles as he has.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill has had a terrible start to 2015. Tannehill looked as if he could jump into the elite quarterback status after last season. He just needed some weapons around him. He still does. He has seven touchdown passes, but he also has 5 interceptions on the season. That is not what an elite quarterback does. Look at Aaron Rodgers just threw his first interceptions last week since the forward pass was invented. That is elite.

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The Dolphins are changing defensive alignments and strategy. Suh has voiced displeasure over being a defense that reads and reacts as opposed to attacking. Campbell says they will attack. But it is difficult to change schemes in a two week period. Yes the bye helped Miami, but the Titans should be able to take advantage of what will surely be breakdowns in communication along the defensive front.

NFL teams with coaching changes only win 20% of the time in their first game under a new coach. That is why I think it is imperative for the Titans to win this game. It will tell you more where the Titans are than where Miami is. We know where Miami is. They are in transition.

Make no mistake that this Dolphin team is still talented. But they should not be ready to win an NFL game on the road with all of the turmoil they have experienced. The Titans will have to withstand a fury at first by Miami. They will be emotional. They will be fired up. But that only goes so far in the NFL. Execution and Communication are at a premium. This should lean the Titans way.

We will know collectively where the Titans organization is in about 4 hours from now when the final play is made at Nissan Stadium. I expect the Titans to win today. But I have expected them to win at least a few times at home in the last 365 days, and that has not happened yet. Hopefully today Titans fans can feel good when they leave the game. That is a change in itself.

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