The Facts: When the Titans "exotic smashmouth" ultimately displayed no exotic and little smashmouth it was shown the door. Now enters a new offensive under coordinator Matt LaFleur. The Titans' new OC, who came over from the Los Angeles Rams to join coach Mike Vrabel, made it clear what he wants out of his offense: Big plays. "It is extremely difficult to dink and dunk all the way down the field," LaFleur said. "If you look at it, statistically the teams that are getting the chunk plays, the explosive [plays], those are the teams that are going to produce more yards, more points."
Diehards Line:Too often former HC Mike Mularkey and his staff wanted Mariota to be a humdrum conductor. Rock stars weren't made to lead orchestras. LaFleur believes Mariota can be a rock star. "You can see the talent he possesses," LaFleur said of Mariota. "There's really three prerequisites to playing the position. No. 1, you have to be a natural thrower. You better be fearless in the pocket, be able to stand in there. And then the last one is those intangibles. I think he possesses all of those. ..." LaFleur spent the past two years in the two most explosive offenses in the NFL, under two of football's the most creative play callers (2016 with Kyle Shanahan's Falcons; 2017 with Sean McVay's Rams). If the Titans' offense comes close to replicating those fiery schemes, Tennessee will enjoy back-to-back playoff appearances.