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Titans Have Some Defensive Questions

By Randy Sharber

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The Titans have a few defensive questions to ask themselves.

First and foremost, do we have NFL players on our NFL team? Second of all, do we have NFL Defensive Coaches coaching our NFL Defense?

The second one is easy. That is a yes. The first one is not so easy. Yes on Dick Lebeau. Yes on Ray Horton. These two guys have proven themselves in the NFL>

Personnel wise on defense? I’m not sure. The Titans seem to be below average there in talent on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, like well below average. Look it is not all bad. You have Jurell Casey. You have Brian Orakpo. You have Derrick Morgan who is ok. And then you have….you have….well…let me think about it.

An aging Michael Griffin and a hard working Karl Klug are next. I can not put Da’Norris Searcy or Perrish Cox in the bust category because these guys can play, but neither are going to the Pro Bowl this season.

The Cleveland game was almost a dead ringer for last years Titan’s second game. The Titans beat up on the Chiefs in last year’s opener after showing horrific defense in pre season. It was a miracle.

Last week the Titans stymied Jameis Winston and the Bucs. I think Tampa Bay had like two crab leg clusters worth of offense in each half. That was it offensively. Titans were going to be world beaters.

But in the second game last season, the Titans surrendered 26 to the Cowboys. After that, the Titans were outscored 74-24 in their next two games. Well, They gave up 28 to the Browns and Johnnu Manziel. Granted, the defense only gave up 21 as a punt return for a touchdown was thrown in there as well.

To be fair to the Titans defense, there were two scoring plays that made the day look maybe worse than it really was. The two long scoring plays started the game, and finished the game for the Browns. They started with Johnny Manziel, and they finished with Browns receiver Travis Benjamin running into the end zone.

The first bust looked to be on Michael Griifin. Griffin bit on Manziel’s play fake on a second and eight. Griffin aggressively game up to support on the run, and Manzier pulled the ball back down, and hit Benjamin deep in the middle of the field. Coty Sensabaugh was close, but not close enough. Benjamin walked into the end zone.

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The second long one was just Benjamin beating Blidi Wreh-Wilson deep, and the Titan front not getting to Manziel in time to help. Those two pass plays accounted for 110 of the 145 total passing yards that Manziel had on the day.

But these are the types of plays the Titans are going to have to stop making. These get you beat. Tennessee was a better team than Cleveland. These two plays defined the day, and it seems to happen too often.

The Titans gave up  72 yards on 15 carries to Isaiah Crowell and another . They gave up another 45 yards to Duke Johnson, The Titans bottled up Manziel pretty well on the day as far as his running ability. Manziel only had three yards rushing. If you told me before the game that Johnny Football would only have three yards rushing for the game, I would say the Titans would win big.

The Titans have the Colts coming to town this Sunday. The Colts are struggling offensively. They are 0-2 and coming off of a Monday Night Football loss to the New York Jets. The Colts have been shut out in the first half of each game they have played so far.

It is a good time for this Titans defense to step up and win a game for this team. The Colts will be on a short week preparation wise, and the Jets just bullied this team defensively.Many of the Colts will have required a lot of ice late last night.

The Colts offensive line is the achilles of their offense at the moment. Andrew Luck is still Andrew Luck. But he is being pressured, and that pressure is making him turn the ball over. The Colts and Luch were booed at home last night if htat tells you anything.

The Jets won by playing aggressive press man coverage with their all world corners, and a ferocious pass rush. It will be fun to see if the Titans can do the same with their personnel on Sunday.

It is a great opportunity to put the divisional rival Colts further in the cellar in the AFC South. The Colts and the Texans are both 0-2. The Titans and the Jaguars are both 1-1.

The defense will be the key to this game. They must get pressure on Luck. If they can, they will win. If they can’t, the Colts receivers could have a big day on the Cumberland River. I think LeBeau figures out a way.

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