Titans eager to clean up their mistakes and score more points after halftime

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Check the stats. The Tennessee Titans ' struggles after halftime are easy to see.

Two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said Wednesday those issues are why the Titans are 2-7.

“Especially in the second half of our games, it's like we're not finishing,” Simmons said. “We have to be able to suffocate teams for four quarters.”

That's the pressure from an offense that struggles to find the end zone at any point after the opening kickoff but especially after halftime. The Titans rank 27th in the NFL in averaging a mere 17.4 points a game.

In the final 15 minutes best known as closing time, Tennessee is last in averaging just 2.9 points in the fourth quarter this season. The Titans got 12 of their 26 fourth-quarter points in their biggest win Sept. 30 in Miami, and they also got a garbage-time touchdown in l ast week's loss to the Chargers.

First-year coach Brian Callahan has been growing in his first season as a play-caller. But he said the Titans have to be better at scoring in the second half of games than they were in the first part of this season.

Even another touchdown a game would be a huge step forward. Minnesota (7-2) visits Sunday, and the Vikings rank 10th in the NFL in averaging 24.6 points a game.

“We’ve been in position to score those and we haven’t and thus have not won as many games as I think we are capable of winning,” Callahan said. “But that’s going to be big.”

The Titans can help themselves if they quit hurting themselves with too many penalties, sacks allowed or turnovers. Only Las Vegas has a worse turnover margin in the league, Will Levis has been sacked an average of 3.6 times per start and the Titans were flagged nine times last week alone.

Now Levis had to learn a new offense when Callahan was hired. Then he hurt his right, throwing shoulder early in the win at Miami. Levis tried to play coming off their Week 5 bye only to admit his shoulder wasn't quite healthy enough on a late interception in a loss to the Colts.

The Titans held Levis out three games, and backup Mason Rudolph led them to a 1-2 record in that span. Levis got to watch and learn, and he completed a career-best 78.3% of his passes in that loss to the Chargers. The Titans also protected the ball with their first game this season without a turnover.

That final TD came with 49 seconds left as the Titans got some much-needed two-minute drill work even if fans wondered why it mattered.

“The quarterback’s job is to lead us down and score points, and we need to do more of that to give ourselves a chance to win,” Callahan said of Levis. “And that’s going to be a big part of what we look like over the second half of the season.”

Levis certainly seemed to be more comfortable in his return last week. He was 18 of 23 for 175 yards and two TDs — both to Calvin Ridley. An overturned defensive touchdown late in the first half changed momentum in that game.

It won't be any easier Sunday against the Vikings, who are the NFL's third-stingiest scoring defense allowing — you guessed it — exactly 17.4 points a game.

Levis said the Vikings give a lot of looks on defense and a quarterback easily could spend a lot of time trying to anticipate what they might show him.

"At the end of the day, it’s going to be more so our jobs, our responsibilities and everyone getting to the right space at the right time,” Levis said.

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Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press