Three Reasons Titans Fans Should be Excited about Tim Kelly
Tim Kelly #TimKelly
The Tennessee Titans promoted passing game coordinator Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator on Tuesday and there are plenty of reason why fans should be excited about what Kelly can bring to the offense in 2023.
The Tennessee Titans made a big change to their coaching staff and the biggest change of them all was the promotion of Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator. Kelly held this role previously for the Houston Texans from 2019 to 2021 and while there were ups and downs in his unit’s performance, there was a lot to like from Kelly’s time calling plays in Texas.
Third Down Success
While Kelly’s time in Houston was a mixed bag, one thing that consistently stood out was his ability to convert on third down. Despite Houston having some of the worst teams in the NFL two out of the three years Kelly was in charge of calling plays, the Texans were consistently in the top half of the league in third down conversion rate.
In 2019, Houston ranked 8th in third down conversion rate, getting a fresh first down on 43.5% of their chances. In 2020, the Texans converted on 43% of their third downs which ranked as the 13th best mark in the NFL. His final year in Houston, the Texans’ offense converted on 39.7% of their third downs, ranking 15th in the league. Remember, those last two season the Texans were some of the worst teams by record in the NFL.
Comparing that to how the Titans performed on third down in 2022, it is easy to see why Kelly would be an upgrade. The Titans only converted on 36.5% of their third down chances which ranked 23rd overall. The Titans had a much better roster in 2022 than the Texans did in 2020 or 2021, so the fact that Kelly was able to outperform what the Titans did last year with less talent should be a pretty encouraging sign.
Passing Attack
We talked about third downs and obviously, third down is typically a passing down. This would lead us to believe that Kelly’s passing acumen is legitimate. In 2020, the Houston Texans were one of the best passing offenses in the NFL despite going 4-12 as a team on the season. The Texans ranked 4th in the NFL in total passing yards and 8th in passing touchdowns.
While it would be easy to counter that note and say the Texans, as a bad team, had to pass more, inflating those numbers, the Texans also ranked FIRST in the league in net passing yards per attempt. Showing that it wasn’t just raw totals the Texans were amassing, but the efficiency was there as well.
Kelly has shown he has the ability to diagram complex route combinations that can attack defensive coverages. The Titans experienced this during the 2021 season when the Texans defeated the Titans once and lost to the Titans by only three points in the final week of the season. At least in the last game, Kelly’s passing offense was able to dice up the Titans to the tune of 289 passing yards and 25 points.
Quarterback Performance
Tim Kelly has been able to get the best out of both the quarterbacks he has coached as the offensive coordinator. In 2020, Deshaun Watson had the best season of his career. Watson put up career highs in a ton of statistics including passing yards, yards per attempt and completion percentage. Watson threw for 4,823 yards, 33 touchdowns to only seven interceptions with a 70.2% completion percentage and a 112 passer rating.
Yes, you could easily mention that DeShaun Watson, at least at the time, was one of the best quarterbacks in the league already, but Kelly continued that trend with rookie Davis Mills in 2021. Mills took a noticeable step back in 2022 without Kelly. In 2021, Mills threw for 16 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, posting a 66.8 completion percentage and an 88.8 passer rating. In 2022, those numbers dropped significantly. Mills had a touchdown-interception ratio of 17-15, completed only 61% of his passes and had a passer rating of 78.8.
Whether Kelly will be coaching Ryan Tannehill, Malik Willis or a rookie QB in 2023 or the future, it is exciting to know that twice in his career he has gotten everything he can out of his signal caller. The Titans need better play from the quarterback position and Kelly may be able to make that happen based on his previous results.