NFL News & Analysis

NFL Week 8 PFF ReFocused: Tennessee Titans 27, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23

Ryan Tannehill led the Tennessee Titans to a 27-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to improve to 4-4 on the year.

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PFF's ReFocused series features immediate takeaways from the two analysts who graded the game live. The two offer a detailed breakdown of the game's most notable performances before the grades and advanced stats are reviewed and finalized by Senior Analysts.

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Final Score

Tennessee Titans 27, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23

Tennessee Titans

It's tough to put too much fault on the Tampa Bay offensive line, but they definitively lost the battle up front against a stout Tennessee defensive line. That was most apparent late in the game when the offense reached desperation mode, as Cameron Wake wreaked havoc on right tackle Demar Dotson.

It was a showing of ups and downs for the Titans' secondary. They permitted Mike Evans to put up career numbers but essentially shut down Chris Godwin. They were on the receiving end of at least a half dozen wildly inappropriate passing attempts from Jameis Winston, yet permitted the Bucs' offense to keep themselves in a game they should've put away early.

Starting a drive from your own one-yard line is less than optimal but for the Titans, it can also create an opportunity for running back Derrick Henry, which is if blocks are made at the line of scrimmage, the secondary has to make tackles on the big man. Two such Tampa Bay defenders couldn't bring Henry down as he turned loose for a 34-yard gain.

The Titans' passing game had most of its biggest plays come from overly aggressive defensive play by the Tampa Bay coverage unit as opposed to making plays themselves.  However, on third-and-goal, quarterback Ryan Tannehill dropped a perfect ball in the bucket on a fade to wide receiver Tajae Sharpe for a touchdown.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Prior to the offense reaching come-from-behind mode, the Tampa Bay offense was the Mike Evans show. Racking up statistics at will in the face of anything the Tennessee secondary threw at him, his finest example came with Jameis Winston scrambling away from pressure and finding Evans down the right sideline on a back-shoulder go with a defender draped across his frame.

While the game ended with an interception, the throw was the result of a miscommunication with Breshad Perriman. However, Winston made far too many turnover-worthy plays while facing the Titans. He threw one pass directly into the arms of the defensive line that required his teammates to knock the ball away from a defender's hands to prevent another interception. Winston wildly overthrew Chris Godwin on multiple occasions with one right into the waiting hands of Logan Ryan. Tampa Bay receivers didn't help with a collection of drops, but Winston did himself zero favors scrambling from clean pockets and holding the ball for far too long throughout the game.

Late in the first half, former financial advisor on Hard Knocks turned Tampa Bay edge defender Carl Nassib destroyed the play by going right around Titans guard Nate Davis and forcing quarterback Ryan Tannehill to move right into one of the slickest strip-sack fumbles you will see by Shaquil Barrett.

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