Around 3 or so weeks ago, I said it wasn’t wise to push the panic button for the Titans’ defense. At the time, it wasn’t an entirely ludicrous statement.
The Titans hadn’t even played a quarter of their season yet, an injury to Adoree Jackson had thrown the secondary into a little bit of chaos, and the COVID-19 riddled off-season made preparation for this season more difficult than usual. Even then, the Titans’ defense had the luxury of banking on the Titans’ explosive offense to bail them out whenever they committed mistakes drive after drive.
Plus, you couldn’t have thought the defense’s performance would’ve stayed the same moving forward.
But that was then, and this is now.
Breaking down this game earlier in the week, the #Titans defense was the only thing that was going to stop the Titans from comfortably getting a win today.
It’s proving true today.
— TreJean Watkins (@TreWatkins099) October 18, 2020
The Titans’ defense gave up 412 yards of total offense today, 320 of those came through the air courtesy of Deshaun Watson. Watson had an hour’s worth of time to stand in the pocket all game long, leading to this Titans secondary getting lost in coverage and giving up a healthy amount of big plays. Malcolm Butler and Johnathan Joseph were the main culprits in the secondary today, with both struggling to keep up with the amount of speed the Texans’ offense possesses.
That’s why we saw Joseph refuse to play closer to the line of scrimmage, because if he did, he would’ve been left in the dust.
Having corners that can’t handle speed is a big problem, especially in today’s NFL. Teams across the league have started to throw their fastest, and most athletic guys out there to run their passing offenses, in hopes of them increasing the amount of explosive plays on the offensive side of the ball. Something like that spells trouble for the Titans, considering their fastest and arguably their most talented corner in Adoree Jackson, remains out of the lineup due to a knee injury.
The absence of Jackson has forced Titans DC Shane Bowen to rely on his experienced corners to make the right plays, and limit the amount big plays over the top. A strategy like that would work if you can get off the field on third down, and if you can force teams to attempt field goals instead of scoring touchdowns.
The thing is, the Titans haven’t been able to do neither of those things consistently so far. The secondary as a whole would have a lot more to work with if the pass rush started to turn pressures into sacks. Putting opponents in difficult down and distance situations helps operations run more smoothly on defense, but the Titans simply haven’t given themselves the opportunity to work with too many favorable situations on 2nd and 3rd down. They don’t get a crazy amount of pressures, and even when they do, they fail to finish the job and make their lives easier.
That sort of failure to execute has killed the Titans’ defense so far, and until they make things easier for their selves on 1st and 2nd down, this defense will continue to get torched week after week.
Not only that, it’ll put the Titans’ offense in a bit of a bind.
We’ve grown to expect the Titans’ offense to deliver each and every week, and rightfully so. But those same expectations can always be shattered because of a bad day from the offense, and when that occurs, the Titans will be put in tough situations as a team. If I had to say something, the potential for those expectations to be broken should give you a nauseating feeling in your stomach.
Why?
Because if you choose to rely on this Titans defense to play a complete game, odds are you’d only be setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s why the tricky “score or bust” mindset has to be adapted by this Titans offense each and every week, since their success is probably the only way the team is going to win games right about now. That shouldn’t be the case, especially with the amount of talent that currently resides on Mike Vrabel’s defense.
Look, relying on your offense to win you games while you’re still trying to figure things out as a defense is fine, but you can’t depend on a bailout from your offense for forever.
That type of style isn’t sustainable, and it can’t be depended on if you want to go and win a Super Bowl. You have to come up with those timely plays as a defense, if you can’t, then you won’t even come close to reaching your full potential as a football team.
