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Biggest surprise: The struggles on offense

Why it's a surprise: The Titans' offense averaged 30 points per game last year. Tennessee was expected to maintain its high-scoring ways after adding Julio Jones to the mix. Through four games, Tennessee is averaging 23.8 points per game. Jones has yet to post a touchdown, while A.J. Brown only has one. Neither receiver was available to the Titans last week, but they still scored 24 points. The problem is they should have scored more. The Titans are not as efficient in the red zone anymore either. They've gone from 75% touchdowns in the red zone last season to only 50% this year. -- Turron Davenport

The Titans played without A.J. Brown and Julio Jones on Sunday, but you can't hang a painful loss to the previously winless Jets solely on the banged-up wide receiver corps. The offensive line failed to adequately protect Ryan Tannehill, the back end of Tennessee's defense was victimized by Zach Wilson on multiple deep strikes and Randy Bullock missed the potential game-tying field-goal try in overtime in a 27-24 loss. At 2-2, the Titans know they have stars at running back and quarterback. After that, things are way too dicey for Mike Vrabel's team. "We're just frustrated because we got our tails whupped," safety Kevin Byard said after the game. "It's consistency with us."

That was a terrible loss at the Jets, even with all the injuries. That's the kind of loss that can come back and haunt them in a big way.

If you want to know how they squandered a mostly dominant performance against the Jets, look no further than the offensive line -- which has surrendered a league-high 17 sacks of Ryan Tannehill, including seven to the NYJ. At least Tennessee's AFC South residence confers wide margin for error.

The Titans join the Falcons as the only two teams to rank in the bottom 10 in all three phases by Football Outsiders' DVOA. So far, the Arthur Smith move from Titans offensive coordinator to Falcons head coach has been a disaster for both sides. But while the shame of losing to the Jets will stay with the Titans for some time, their long list of injuries serves as a built-in excuse. More importantly, a decrepit division gives them time to get healthy and figure things out.