A weekly look at what the Tennessee Titans must fix:

Only three teams in the NFL have run fewer play-action passes than the Titans’ 45. If they want to set up quarterback Zach Mettenberger for success in Philadelphia on Sunday, they should do it more.

Monday night against the Steelers, Mettenberger was 4-for-6 for 87 yards on play-action passes, for a 109.7 passer rating and a 98.4 QBR. In his previous two starts and two series in a mop-up role, Mettenberger was 5-for-10 for 68 yards and an interception on play-action.

“When you run the ball effectively, that makes it easy to get the play-action going. ... That’s something that we need to get going and keep going,” Mettenberger said.

But the Titans actually didn’t run it very well against Pittsburgh, with only 49 ground yards and 3.3 yards per carry. And the play-action passes still worked.

Back when I covered the Peyton Manning Colts, I often marveled at why defenses would bite on play-action even as Indianapolis wasn’t running well and a Manning pass was a far bigger threat.

Even with an unproven rookie quarterback and an ineffective run game, play-action with Mettenberger can cause a small hesitation from a defense that can be beneficial for the Titans.

Against the Steelers, I thought when Mettenberger faked a handoff and found time to throw he looked exceptionally comfortable. It showed the Titans don’t need to be running well to effectively utilize play-action.

The Eagles have run a league-high 131 snaps of play-action this season. They will do it more in this matchup for sure. But the Titans should also look to build on a good element of their offense in their loss to the Steelers.