Bills coach Rex Ryan said this week that he didn’t think Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota would “have his way” with the Buffalo defense.
Mariota did a decent job of proving Ryan wrong during the first half of Sunday’s game. Mariota completed 13-of-18 passes for 120 yards and scrambled for 19 more yards as the Titans held onto the ball for nearly 21 of the opening 30 minutes. The part where Mariota couldn’t make this a 100 percent incorrect Ryan prediction came on the scoreboard.
The Titans managed just one field goal in the first two quarters as they chose a conservative approach against Ryan’s defense. Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt opted to punt three times from inside Buffalo territory, which is something you’d expect with a rookie quarterback except for how effective the Titans have been moving the ball against an overworked Buffalo defense.
The Bills offense looked terrible for the second straight week. The absences of LeSean McCoy, Karlos Williams and Sammy Watkins have sapped the unit of playmakers and they managed just 51 yards on 22 plays against a Titans defense that sacked Tyrod Taylor twice.
Their performance in the first half makes it hard to believe that there are great things to come for the Bills offense in the second half, but they may not need more than one big play to steal this game if the Titans continue to play it safe over the final 30 minutes as well.
