Tony Pollard and the Titans have been disappointing, but they’re at least finishing the season on an uptick. They have the league’s most improved running game.
The production was dismal at times earlier in the year. Three times in October and November, Pollard had games with only 18-22 rushing yards. There have been five games where he’s averaged 3.4 yards per attempt or less.
But they’ve got it going now. Pollard ran for 161 yards at Cleveland, 104 at San Francisco, and 102 against Kansas City. He’s the only player who’s run for over 100 yards in each of the last three weeks.
| LEADING RUSHERS (last 3 weeks) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Tony Pollard, Ten. | 60 | 367 | 6.1 | 3 |
| Saquon Barkley, Phil. | 63 | 332 | 5.3 | 3 |
| Derrick Henry, Balt. | 54 | 322 | 6.0 | 2 |
| James Cook, Buff. | 56 | 304 | 5.4 | 4 |
| Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 55 | 255 | 4.6 | 1 |
| Blake Corum, LAR | 37 | 247 | 6.7 | 4 |
| Christian McCaffrey, S.F. | 63 | 243 | 3.9 | 2 |
| DeVon Achane, Mia. | 34 | 233 | 6.9 | 2 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | 51 | 232 | 4.5 | 3 |
| TreVeyon Henderson, N.E. | 30 | 218 | 7.3 | 2 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 62 | 207 | 3.3 | 2 |
| Ashton Jeanty, L.V. | 43 | 193 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Javonte Williams, Dall. | 41 | 192 | 4.7 | 2 |
| RJ Harvey, Den. | 43 | 190 | 4.4 | 3 |
| Jaylen Warren, Pitt. | 26 | 176 | 6.8 | 2 |
| D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 31 | 156 | 5.0 | 2 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | 48 | 156 | 3.3 | 2 |
| Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Was. | 33 | 153 | 4.6 | 2 |
| Kenneth Walker, Sea. | 30 | 146 | 4.9 | 1 |
| Kenneth Gainwell, Pitt. | 26 | 145 | 5.6 | 1 |
That’s a nice turnaround. Mike McCoy, recall, is now piloting this ship; they fired Brian Callahan. And McCoy and his staff have apparently figured some things out in terms of play calling and offensive design.
In their last three games, only four teams have run for more yards. In the previous three weeks, Tennessee ran for more yards than only Arizona and Las Vegas.
| AVERAGE RUSHING YARDS | |
|---|---|
| G 10-12 | G 13-15 |
| 176 Miami | 192 Baltimore |
| 173 Chicago | 177 LA Rams |
| 163 Buffalo | 174 Philadelphia |
| 161 Indianapolis | 171 Buffalo |
| 144 NY Giants | 161 Tennessee |
| 143 Detroit | 148 New England |
| 140 Tampa Bay | 145 Tampa Bay |
| 137 Atlanta | 143 Miami |
| 136 Washington | 143 Chicago |
| 135 Baltimore | 141 Green Bay |
| 133 Green Bay | 138 LA Chargers |
| 132 Jacksonville | 133 Pittsburgh |
| 125 Dallas | 130 Carolina |
| 124 Seattle | 128 NY Giants |
| 118 Pittsburgh | 127 Atlanta |
| 117 Cincinnati | 124 San Francisco |
| 116 LA Chargers | 117 Minnesota |
| 113 LA Rams | 116 Seattle |
| 112 New England | 114 Denver |
| 109 Kansas City | 114 Washington |
| 109 NY Jets | 106 Dallas |
| 105 San Francisco | 102 Houston |
| 102 Cleveland | 101 New Orleans |
| 99 Philadelphia | 97 Jacksonville |
| 97 Houston | 90 Cleveland |
| 94 New Orleans | 89 Cincinnati |
| 91 Minnesota | 86 NY Jets |
| 76 Denver | 85 Arizona |
| 69 Carolina | 83 Indianapolis |
| 63 Tennessee | 77 Las Vegas |
| 62 Arizona | 75 Kansas City |
| 39 Las Vegas | 64 Detroit |
—Ian Allan