The Titans Clinched The AFC South And Sit Atop The AFC After Dismantling The Dolphins
Thanks for coming, Miami! The Dolphins were the hottest team in football coming into their game with the Titans winners of 7 straight, well the Titans didn't really care and absolutely steamrolled this Dolphins team by a score of 34-3. That win secured the AFC South championship for the second year in a row, this time doing it after missing their MVP and 2,000 yard rusher for most of the season, and also using the most players ever in a single season.
Mike Vrabel and company don't care who's out there or not, they're going to keep on trucking into the playoffs. They currently sit atop the AFC as the 1 seed too which would be massive if they could get another week of rest for Derrick Henry. The job Vrabel has done this season is remarkable. He's such a damn good coach and if you look at how this team has been winning games since Henry went down, you could see the coaching rubbing off on the guys. They've dropped a couple stinkers, Cardinals, Jets, Texans, Pats, but they always play up to their competition. Wins this season over 6 playoff teams from last year including running the gauntlet of Bills, Chiefs, @ Colts, @ Rams, Saints, they've really impressed me with how they play when they're not at full strength.
The running game was awesome today, D'Onta Foreman finally had a huge game for Tommy Smokes and ran for 132 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. He's not Derrick Henry but he will do. Almost 200 rushing yards on the day for the squad on a day where the weather in Nashville was awful. Tannehill didn't need to do it through the air but still threw for 2 touchdowns. 120 yards was all he threw for, and again, he didn't need to do anymore. They held the ball for 33 minutes, out gained the Dolphins 308-256, and they didn't turn the ball over. Crazy what happens when you don't turn it over. The defense had Tua in a pretzel all game, sacked him 4 times, picked him off once, and recovered a fumble of his. He had been playing well the last few weeks, but took a huge step back today. This was an ass kicking from the time they kicked off, that's exactly what the Titans needed.
Now they sit at 11-5, winners of the AFC South, the top seed in the AFC and a game against the Texans next week. Locking up the first seed would be massive for this team, I can't stress that enough. And shoutout to the Bengals for helping knock off the Chiefs too, that was a big help. This team controls their own destiny going forward and will get back the best running back in football in just a few days. The AFC is wide open, why not have it go through Nashville and have a healthy Henry back in action? Sounds good to me.
And how can you not feel happy for Taylor Lewan? Barstool's very own has had an awesome season after missing a majority of last season with a torn ACL. He worked his ass off to get back, had a rough first game but has been nails ever since. He's been in Nashville for 2-14 seasons, 3-13 seasons, and to finally see him get to celebrate a division title is awesome. Can't be happier for this guy.
Back-to-back Division crowns is nice, but it's not the goal. Titans have bigger dreams and goals, they're in reach too. Season is just getting started for this squad. Happy for the guys but there is more to accomplish. #TitanUp