Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel calls out Julio Jones after loss to Cardinals
The Tennessee Titans made a major offseason splash addition with the addition of wide receiver Julio Jones, who has multiple Pro Bowls and accolades on his resume from his time with the Atlanta Falcons.
The former Alabama Crimson Tide star was essentially a non-factor in Sunday’s embarrassing 38-13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, but so was the entire Titan’s offense.
Titans’ head coach Mike Vrabel has never been afraid to speak his mind and had no hesitation about calling out his new prized wide receiver. It had nothing to do with Jones’ lackluster debut, either.
As the Titans trailed by 10 midway through the first quarter, the Tennessee offense finally got a glimmer of hope. Derrick Henry picked up a few positive gains, setting up a third-and-1.
That one-yard third-down scenario turned into a third-and-16 because Jones was penalized for initiating a shoving match with Cardinals’ wide receiever Byron Murphy.
“That’s absolutely nothing that we coach or teach,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said of Jones’ penalty on Monday. “So, that would fall into the category of dumb s— that hurts the team, right there, in bold letters.”
Jones has always been a physical receiver, but this was excessive. Vrabel clearly has a point.
As you can see, Jones continues to engage Murphy (who is much smaller), and the Tennessee Titans’ wideout even throws a punch, or maybe more of a jab, but still.
No, Jones’ lack of judgement in the first quarter was not the reason the Titans lost. But he is a veteran and one of the best receivers in the NFL over the last decade. The timing of the penalty set the tone for the rest of the day.
Though early, the penalty buried the Titans’ best offensive chance to that point and before long, they’d trail 17-0. .
The Titans were forced to punt, and the next time they regained possession, they netted a grand total of five yards before punting again, continuing to give opportunities for Kyler Murray to add to his ridiculous individual performance.
It was only a glimmer of momentum, but those are the things that can change the vibe of a game and mentality of a team.
Statistically, the Titans offense failed in nearly every way imaginable. Derrick Henry was held in check all afternoon. Cardinals’ pass rusher Chandler Jones wreaked havoc in the backfield, consistently beating Titan’s left tackle Taylor Lewan, leading to a 5-sack performance.
The Tennessee Titans had three turnovers and were horrid on third down.
“We got off to a poor start. It took us a while to play complementary football,” Vrabel explained. “Other than defensively, I would say that we did handle the tempo. I felt like we were ready to go and we subbed when we needed to sub, forced them to use some timeouts but then too many X plays. We didn’t make ’em earn it. We felt like we needed to make ’em earn it.”
Vrabel, Jones and the Titans don’t have much time to get things fixed as they have yet another road trip against yet another NFC West powerhouse. Tennessee kicks off against the Seattle Seahawks at 4:25 ET on Sunday.