7 things to know about Titans-Commanders Week 5 game
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The Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders will do battle on Sunday at FedEx Field in a game that features two teams going in opposite directions.
While it hasn’t been pretty, the Titans are winners of their last two games after starting out 0-2 and currently sit tied for first place in the AFC South.
The saying “a win is a win” is currently the theme of Tennessee’s season.
On the other sideline will be the Commanders, a team desperately seeking a righting of the ship after losing its last three contests following a Week 1 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Washington sits in the cellar of the NFC East, with each of the three teams in front of it all sitting pretty with a 3-1 record to start the year.
Ahead of what will be the first meeting between these two teams since 2018, here’s a look at seven things to know about the upcoming matchup.
Head-to-head history
Syndication: The Tennessean
This will be the first meeting between these two teams since 2018, when the Titans won 25-16 in Nashville. You have to go even further back for the last time Tennessee played on Washington’s home field (2014).
Overall, the Titans own a 7-6 record over Washington going back to their days as the Houston Oilers. Since moving to Tennessee, the Titans are 4-3.
Titans are favored
According to Tipico Sportsbook, the Titans are 2.5-point road favorites over Washington, with the over/under set at 42.5. Tennessee is -135 for the moneyline, while Washington is +115.
The Titans are 2-2 against the spread and have hit the over in two of their four games this season. The Commanders have also hit the over twice, but they’re just 1-3 against the spread.
Titans susceptible to letdown games
Syndication: The Tennessean
I hate calling this game a potential letdown spot because the Titans aren’t exactly a vastly superior team here with how they’ve played over the first four weeks of the 2022 campaign.
However, Washington has been worse on both sides of the ball, thus the Titans rightly being a road favorite for this one.
Over the past few years, Tennessee has been susceptible to playing down to their competition and being upset, which is crazy to think about because we’ve also seen this team beat squads nobody expected it to.
So, on the surface this game looks ripe for Tennessee’s third-straight win, but fans know better than to count their chickens before they hatch when it comes to this team.
Tennessee's second-half woes
AP Photo/Wade Payne
The Titans have been consistently inconsistent on offense over the first four games of the 2022 campaign as they continue to have issues putting together a full 60 minutes of football.
Last week was another prime example of this: the Titans looked like world-beaters in the first half, scoring 24 points against the Las Vegas Raiders before being shutout in the second half.
It was the third-straight game in which the Titans didn’t score a single point in the final two quarters, and Tennessee has been outscored 64-7 overall in the second halves of games in 2022.
Thankfully, the defense has been able to make Tennessee’s last two halftime leads stand up, but that’s not something this team can always count on. The Titans must correct this issue or it’s going to be a long season.
Commanders' O-line issues
Shaban Athuman/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP
As the Eagles and Colts found out previously, failing to adequately protect Carson Wentz can lead to disaster, and we’ve seen that thus far during his time with the Commanders.
Wentz has been sacked an NFL-high 17 times through four games, which has helped result in five interceptions, tied for second-most in the NFL, and inconsistent play overall.
After scoring 55 points over their first two games, the Commanders have just 18 in the last two, albeit against a pair of very good defenses in the Eagles’ and Cowboys’.
While Tennessee’s pass-rush doesn’t have as many sacks as Dallas or Philly, it still has some great players who can give Washington’s struggling offensive line fits — and that’s bad news for Wentz and Co.
The good news for Washington is that the Titans may be without one of their best pass-rushers in outside linebacker Bud Dupree, who has been battling a hip issue since Week 2 and did not practice on Wednesday.
Brian Robinson's incredible story
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Rookie running back Brian Robinson looked on track to take over the starting running back job ahead of the 2022 campaign, but his season was put on hold back in late August after he was shot twice in an attempted armed robbery.
Not only did Robinson thankfully survive the attack, he was released from the hospital just one day after being shot; talk about incredible.
While Robinson was forced to miss the first four games on the PUP list, the team did designate him to return this week, meaning he could suit up in his first game just a little over four weeks after being shot.
Carson Wentz winless vs. Titans
AP Photo/Darron Cummings
Wentz has failed to beat the Titans in three career meetings, two of which came last season when Tennessee swept Indianapolis en route to a division title. Prior to those two meetings, Wentz faced the Titans as a member of the Eagles in 2018 in yet another losing effort.
For his career, Wentz has completed 57.25 percent of his passes for 773 yards and five touchdowns to two picks against the Titans, while also being sacked seven times and losing a fumble.
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