Why sacks are a must for Tennessee Titans

Why sacks, not just pressures are important to the Tennessee Titans.

The Tennessee Titans have historically been a dominant team when rushing the passer.

I was thinking about this yesterday when Jim Washburn was talking to the Midday 180. The second great interview with former Tennessee Titans staff in as many weeks, shined a light on just how many great defensive linemen have been through Nashville.

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Then I came across a stat in my “favorites” on Twitter (shameless plug) and came across a stat on just why sacks are so devastating to offenses:

What that means is, if you get a sack at any point against an opponent, there is nearly an 84% chance that the drive is going to stall out wherever you are on the field.

Now, that is all relative. I would imagine that if you are 1st and 1 on the 1-yard line and you get sacked on 1st down there is still a really high likelihood for points on that drive. But barring the redzone, this means that a sack can steal points from an offense at a high rate.

So I went looking to see if there was any stats that could judge how the Titans starting edge rushers. Well, look no further than PFF to have a great graphic just for this occasion.

The most efficient pass rushers in the AFC South last year pic.twitter.com/urBlOsROgF
— PFF (@PFF) July 1, 2017

It is hard to really judge that as a total metric, but you can see that the Titans have the most effective duo in the AFC South at getting to the quarterback. Derrick Morgan and Brian Orakpo have consistently harassed quarterbacks.

Washburn talked about a nasty four-letter word in his interview yesterday and that word was “read”. He said that the key to his amazing defensive line production in his time with Tennessee was a pure attack mentality.

Currently, the Titans use a defense where they don’t always pin their ears back and sometimes guys like Jurrell Casey and Derrick Morgan drop into coverage much too often for my liking.

That trend could change now that Jon Robinson has made hefty changes on the defensive side of the ball.

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Improved coverage thanks to players like Adoree Jackson, Jayon Brown, Logan Ryan, and second year players LeShaun Sims and Kevin Byard could be the key to getting to the quarterback more often.

Anything that can help this team send Brian Orakpo and Derrick Morgan screaming off the edge is something that fans should be desperate for. Now, if they could only find a way to land one great depth player…

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