Titans shred entire playbook

David Climer | USA TODAY Sports

Asked what's different about the Titans' offense this season, wide receiver Kenny Britt said: Everything. New plays. New formations. We're starting from scratch."

And this from second-year wideout Kendall Wright: "It's just a new playbook. There's nothing left over from last year."

Indeed, the 2012 offensive playbook went into the nearest shredder, with Dowell Loggains granted the freedom to develop and install his own offensive system.

It's a gamble.

With his job as head coach likely on the line, Mike Munchak sought out old friend Gregg Williams to revitalize the Titans' defense. On the other side of the ball, he went with the 32-year-old Loggains, a first-time offensive coordinator.

Interestingly, 13 NFL teams have new offensive coordinators this season. While San Diego (Ken Whisenhunt), Cleveland (Norv Turner) and the New York Jets (Marty Mornhinweg) went with proven commodities, Munchak went with his gut.

Early returns are encouraging. Granted, it's noncontact work ("football in shorts," as Loggains calls it), but the players seem to embrace the new system.

Loggains' scheme is a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Think of it as an offensive smorgasbord that begins with a solid running game but quickly branches out to a passing scheme that takes its share of deep shots but settles for shorter throws when necessary.

"The team has really embraced and responded to the changes our organization has made as far as the offense and the players we've brought in," Loggains said.

Soon after getting the job, Loggains joked that his offense would be structured to conform to the philosophies of his bosses, general manager Ruston Webster and Munchak, both of whom have spoken about the need to control the ball in order to take pressure off a short-handed defense.

"The general manager and head coach believe that when you throw the ball only three things can happen, and two of them are bad," Loggains said.

Don't buy it. While it is no secret the Titans want to build the offense around their highest-paid asset, running back Chris Johnson, we live in an era where the forward pass rules. The Titans didn't draft Justin Hunter in the second round and acquire Delanie Walker in free agency just so they could serve as downfield blockers for Johnson.

"In today's NFL, not throwing the ball a lot is still throwing it around 30 times a game," Loggains said. "We are going to be a run, play-action team first, but we're still going to drop back and throw the football."

With all due respect to Loggains' predecessor, Chris Palmer, it was difficult to get a read on exactly what the Titans were trying to do offensively the last couple of seasons. Often, they seemed to react to the defensive scheme instead of forcing the action.

Palmer was fired with five games remaining last season, with Loggains placed in charge of running the offense. While he gained experience in calling plays, Loggains was still using Palmer's offensive schemes. Now he's calling the plays he designed.

Loggains' offensive philosophy has been influenced most by three people: Norm Chow, Mike Heimerdinger and Sean Payton. Loggains was on the Titans coaching staff when Chow was offensive coordinator in 2006-07 and Heimerdinger in 2008-10. Loggains broke into the NFL as a scouting assistant for Dallas in 2005 when Payton was running the Cowboys' offense.

It's an interesting philosophical mix. Chow used shifts and motions to get favorable one-on-one matchups. Heimerdinger believed in a solid running game and combination pass routes. Payton is a wild card, drawing up creative formations, calling plays at a quick-hit tempo and making liberal use of the pass.

"Dowell has had the whole offseason to get the playbook right, and we've got a lot of good weapons," Johnson said.

Considering what happened last season, a new playbook is the right way to go.