The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview book. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2025 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Tennessee Titans performed from a penalty perspective in 2024 and where they can improve in 2025.
How Did Penalties Impact the Tennessee Titans?
The Good
- The Titans offense ranked eighth overall as a beneficiary of automatic first downs via penalty.
The Bad
- The Titans ended the 2024 season ranking second in penalties per game average.
- The Titans ranked fourth in pre-snap penalties per game, with the offense accounting for a disproportionate amount of these infractions.
- The Titans defense was a top 10 penalized unit at surrendering automatic first downs via penalty. Excessive penalties in this category are not necessarily a bad thing, so long as third down infractions are kept to a minimum. That wasn't the case with the Titans. 46% of their penalties were surrendered on third downs, significantly higher than the league average of 31.8% in this category.
Grade: D
Optimism abounded when the Titans hired Brian Callahan in 2024, primarily due to his connection with Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.
That optimism quickly vanished, with Callahan overseeing a Titans team that finished 2024 with the worst record in the NFL.
The Titans can increase their win total from last season by simply reducing penalties and turnovers.
There will be growing pains for No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward, but the offensive line could be better, a solid development for a rookie quarterback.
If Ward can live up to expectations, this can be a surprise team in 2025. An eight win season isn't out of the question.
While that would have the Titans fall short of the playoffs, it provides a building block for a team in desperate need of a return to relevance in the NFL landscape.
This analysis continues in the 2025 Football Preview
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