The Tennessee Titans are clearly starting to turn the corner. They've got their franchise quarterback in Marcus Mariota, and they're starting to put some pieces around him which make some sense. Will it all translate into victories in 2016? The oddsmakers aren't giving them a ton of credit quite yet.
Tennessee Titans Regular Season Win Total Odds at BookMaker.eu
Titans Over 5.5 Wins ( -165)
Titans Under 5.5 Wins ( +135)
Clearly, the Titans are only going to go as far as Mariota takes them. He was dinged up for much of the year in 2015, but he finished with respectable numbers, throwing for 2,818 yards and 19 TDs and rushing for another 252 yards in just 12 games. Again, the numbers aren't mind-blowing, but this is still just a puppy we're talking about in terms of NFL quarterbacks.
The real help for Mariota will come this year in the rushing game. The team picked up DeMarco Murray and drafted Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry to the backfield to help out an offensive line which was full of terrible underachievers last season. Throw into the mix a new right tackle in Jack Conklin, a man largely regarded as one of the smartest in the NFL Draft last year, and you've got the makings of a team which should average more than the 18.7 points per game it scored a year ago.
There's still questions about the defense, though. The Titans didn't do anything to help out their squad on 'D', and we think this could end up being a long year again on this side of the ball. If the offense becomes more ball-control oriented, you could see some better numbers simply because the defense won't be on the field quite as much, but that doesn't mean this unit is really going to be any better than it was a season ago.
2016 Tennessee Titans Schedule
Opening betting lines for the Titans in parentheses
Week 1: vs. Vikings ( +3)
Week 2: @ Lions ( +5)
Week 3: vs. Raiders ( +2.5)
Week 4: @ Texans ( +7)
Week 5: @ Dolphins ( +5.5)
Week 6: vs. Browns ( -3.5)
Week 7: vs. Colts ( +3.5)
Week 8: vs. Jaguars (PK)
Week 9: @ Chargers ( +4.5)
Week 10: vs. Packers ( +7.5)
Week 11: @ Colts ( +8)
Week 12: @ Bears ( +5)
Week 13: Bye
Week 14: vs. Broncos ( +5.5)
Week 15: @ Chiefs ( +9)
Week 16: @ Jaguars ( +4.5)
Week 17: vs. Texans
It's a tough schedule for sure, as there are some games which really just seem beyond the Titans at this point. It would be surprising to see them win more than two of their first five games of the season, but it's plausible to see the club be 5-4 going into a home game with the Packers in the middle of November. More realistic though, is a 3-6 team heading into that game, and that would make getting past the 5.5-wins a lot less plausible.
There's only one game on the docket in which the Titans are favored, that being the home game with Cleveland, and there are only four games in which they are lined at anything better than +3.
QUICK PICK
The Titans might play in the most woeful division in football, but anything better than two wins in six divisional games would be a real triumph, and even that might be a stretch. Tennessee still has a ways to go on defense to start to win some of these close games, and we still aren't sold on Mariota as a starting quarterback in this league.
The Titans have won a total of five games in their last two seasons, and they didn't bring in a difference-making player in the NFL Draft as they did last season. Sure they added Murray, and that might help make them a little more competitive, but we still don't think this is a team which is anything better than 5-11 in all likelihood.
NFL Odds: Tennessee Titans Under 5.5 Wins
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