Things were looking dismal for the Tennessee Titans on a two-game losing streak as they faced the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
But the team seems to have found new life, turning in a solid performance on defense and finding rhythm on offense in a 24-10 win in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The team has to show they can perform like this consistently, but after the impressive showing to even out their record to 2-2, it’s not much of a surprise they rose in the NFL power rankings of many analysts.
One of these was Peter King, who placed the Titans at No. 21 overall. The team’s May ranking was listed at No. 25.
Here’s what King had to say about his placement of Tennessee on the list.
“The most amazing stat (now that Denver isn’t sackless anymore) of the first quarter of the season is Marcus Mariota’s stat line: 62.2 percent accuracy (average), 7-0 TD-to-pick ratio (uh, really?), 7.8 yards per attempt (better than Brady and Rodgers), 106.2 passer rating (better than Brady and Rodgers),” he wrote. “As you can see, Jameis Winston’s not the only 2015 very high pick trying to salvage his career with the team that drafted him. Very impressive performance at Atlanta on Sunday.”
One thing that was definitely worth noting was improved quarterback play from Marcus Mariota, who was severely lacking in the previous two games.
Mariota completed 18 of 27 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns.
The offensive line, a unit that had allowed an NFL-high of 17 sacks on Mariota coming into the matchup, didn’t allow him to be brought down once on Sunday.
The Titans will hope to continue this trend as they return home to face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in Nissan Stadium.
