If you ask Tennessee Titans fans what change they would like to see first with this team, almost all of them would say offensive coordinator Todd Downing.
It has been a rough season-plus for Downing, who had the difficult task of following in the footsteps of former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
The Titans have seen their offense turn into a shell of what it was in 2019 and 2020 under Smith, and Downing’s mistakes along the way have only made things worse.
The calls for Downing’s head have become even louder this season after a rough start for the offense, but the embattled offensive coordinator says he isn’t paying attention to the outside noise.
“I will tell you bluntly, I can’t pay attention to all the stuff that’s going on out there and all the opinions about me,” Downing said, per John Glennon of Sports Illustrated. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and I respect the fact people have jobs to do, and people to find to place blame on. I know I’m responsible for the offense. I know there are certain things that come with this role — responsibilities, critiques and kind of constant evaluation that comes with this role.
“But I can’t afford to let somebody else’s opinion cloud what [head coach Mike Vrabel] thinks of the job I’m doing, or [general manager] Jon Robinson thinks of the job I’m doing, or frankly, what the players in the locker room think of the job I’m doing.”
“I work my tail off, and I do it for a bigger audience than trying to get the praise of man,” Downing added. “I don’t really do this job to be celebrated in the media. I do this job so that I can be the man I’m called to be in the role that I have, and hopefully I can continue to improve in that on every turn and get this offense where we want it to be.”
As far as what he can improve upon is concerned, Downing pointed to his ability to review drives and prepare for the next one.
“Certainly from my perspective, and things I can improve on, it’s just an intentionality with the drive review on the sidelines and setting up what we’re going to be getting to on the next drive,” Downing explained. “Or maybe the next third down, so we can kind of predict some of those futures, if you will.”
The Titans have seen flashes of successful offense this season, but the unit has not put together a full game yet.
After dropping 24 points in the first half of the Week 3 win over the Raiders, the Titans failed to score a single point the rest of the way, which was the second-straight game that happened.
In all, the Titans have been outscored by their opponents 57-7 in the second half of games through three weeks.
“If you don’t pick up first downs, you‘re not able to come back with the counterpunch,” Downing said. “I think in the first half, we were able to set up some things, and then come back off play passes or screens off those looks. But that gets difficult to do when you’re not sustaining drives. I‘ve certainly got to do a better job at making sure we’re able to get into those counterpunches if you will.”
Downing doesn’t need to look far for a Titans coach who started off badly only to recover later on. Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen went through the exact same thing in 2020 before the defense righted the ship in 2021.
But even then there are differences in those situations.
Bowen was a first-time coordinator when he took over in 2020. Downing, on the other hand, has already had an unsuccessful stint as an offensive coordinator after serving as the Raiders’ in 2017.
Hopefully Downing can turn things around like Bowen did, but so far we haven’t seen enough to suggest he can.