With two wins on the season, this was not the season the Tennessee Titans were hoping to have with Marcus Mariota under center. Consistency has been an issue as coaching changes and growing pains plague the roster. While Mariota is showing signs that he truly is the future of the team, no one else is helping pick up the slack. Heading into Week 13, the attention shifts to the lack of a passing game as the receivers struggle to help the rookie quarterback.
Interim head coach Mike Mularkey told the media that he needs the wide receivers to step up more in the last stretch of games as the vertical game continues to struggle. Dorial Green-Beckham has not been the threat people thought he would be while Kendall Wright and Harry Douglas have struggled with consistency all season. As a result, the team's offense is starting and stalling as Delanie Walker cannot do it all himself. Mularkey is hopeful that changes soon.
"The point here (in meetings) is we are not asking them to do anything more than their job,'' Mularkey said, via the team website. "We are not looking for Odell Beckham catches. We are just looking for catches, just the normal catch. The great catches don't have to be great if we can make some of the catches we're seeing on the other sideline. It's a matter if the quarterback is trusting you to come down with it, come down with it, the way we would like you to. We had chances, Marcus is giving these guys chances. But we're not making the plays."
Wright is supposed to be the team's best player, but he has struggled in route running and trying to do too much. On several plays in Week 12, he tried to out run defenders after the catch and too much dancing around led to no improvement on the play. Green-Beckham was held to one catch against the Raiders as he and Mariota were clearly not on the same page during the game. Those sort of things must change if the Titans are going to get wins down the stretch.
"They're getting called, and they're getting called to the right guys. We're giving DGB a chance, and I'd like to see him with his size to go up and pluck that thing out of the air...I'd like to see (Wright) do the same thing," Mularkey said.
The Titans play the Jaguars in Week 13 in what could be a very winnable game for the team. Antonio Andrews and David Cobb will continue to carry the ground game while Walker will get his plays. Whether or not the team wins is likely resting on the shoulders of Green-Beckham and Wright to make the plays for Mariota.
