Titans prove that when you block, you can do anything
Let’s all laugh at Taylor Lewan.
That’s the natural first reaction to what the Titans left tackle said this week as he was cleaning out his locker, when he was asked what he expects in 2017 from quarterback Marcus Mariota.
“I have no worry in the world,” Lewan said of Mariota’s long rehabilitation road back from a fractured fibula suffered Dec. 24 at Jacksonville. “I think Marcus is going to come back, he’s going to be better, he’s going to be a Pro Bowler next year and he’s going to be in the Super Bowl. Next year.”
Ridiculous. Mock him. And then apologize. Because Lewan is 6-foot-7, 309 pounds but also because 9-7 one year to Super Bowl the next is not remarkable in the NFL — in fact, seven Super Bowl winners were .500 or worse the season before they grabbed the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The Carolina Panthers, you may recall, went 7-8-1 in 2014, then went 15-1 and got to the Super Bowl last season, losing to Denver. And then went 6-10 this season and, like Denver, missed the playoffs.
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The Titans could be a Super Bowl team in 2017. They also could be a 6-10 team. It’s all on the table, as it is for most of the league beyond the consistently great (New England) and the apparently hopeless (Cleveland, San Francisco).
The Titans have left the hopeless crowd behind and, if they’re entering an era of winning football as it appears they may be, the 2016 season will be remembered as the table setter. Lewan and that reborn offensive line were the tablecloth.
And when you can win up front on offense, give it to two backs as good as DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry and protect your quarterback, you have a chance to win every week. (On that last point, Mariota was hurt on a sack but he was extending a play with good coverage downfield — he was protected extremely well all season).
“To add some guys up front, obviously the two backs that were not here the last two years made a significant difference,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said of the dramatic turnaround in the run game. “Again, I think that phase has a lot to do with winning games. You'll see that as the playoffs continue to go on.”
You’ll also see the talented Henry do more as his career progresses, but 2016 was about Murray reasserting himself as an elite back after a lost year in Philadelphia. He contributed talent and an AFC-best 1,287 rushing yards, but also a preparation/professionalism role model to the locker room.
“He showed us what the effort level needs to be, what the work ethic needs to be, and we all fell in place,” Lewan said of Murray. “And I think he’s done a great job, and I think Derrick’s a better football player for it. This whole team is a better (team) for it.”
The former Dallas Cowboys star called this “probably the most fun year” he’s had in the NFL.
“I probably don’t say as much or probably don’t show it, but this has been a hell of a year from a personal standpoint,” Murray said. “Just coming in and working with the guys, playing with them, working out with them on a daily basis, with the coaching staff and the organization as a whole, it’s been a great year for me. I enjoyed this year more than I ever have.”
It helped that Lewan put it all together in his third season, and that free-agent pickup Ben Jones stabilized the crucial center position, and that rookie Jack Conklin lived up to being the No. 8 overall pick and then some.
“He deserves to go to the Pro Bowl, this year,” Lewan said of Conklin. “Jack’s the kind of guy that’s just, he’s Jack. And I mean that (as) the biggest compliment it can possibly be. And the biggest compliment you can get in football is consistency. And Jack is Jack every time, and he plays at a level that rookies don’t play at, that I didn’t play at when I was a rookie. And it’s impressive. And I expect Jack to be Jack next year.”
That’s the thing about having an engine room like this. There’s a certain reliability to it. It functioned weekly in 2016, other than that lost day at Jacksonville — the only one of 16 games the Titans didn’t have a chance to win in the late stages.
Offseason personnel moves, the health of Mariota and Murray and a couple of handfuls of plays will swing the 2017 bottom line. But we know what the Titans will be. And who will lead them, in brutish play and bold statements.
“I know that I’m capable of being the best left tackle in the NFL, and that’s what I’m going be — that’s what I’m GOING to be,” Lewan said, and no one laughed.
Follow Joe Rexrode on Twitter @joerexrode.