Tennessee Titans get big defensive advantage with Rob Gronkowski out
By Will Lomas
Big news for the Tennessee Titans today.
The Tennessee Titans face a tough task on Sunday no matter who is on the field, but it looks like the day might have gotten a little easier.
While the New England Patriots offense will undoubtedly still be successful, it looks like they will be without star tight end Rob Gronkowski.
#Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski (back, ankle) won’t play Sunday vs #Titans, source said. The team is taking the smart, cautious approach by making sure he’s back after the bye at full strength to close the season strong.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 10, 2018
Gronk is by no means the elite destroyer of defensive game plans that he was just a few years ago. Now he is hampered with injuries and is just a step slower. Look no further than the man himself who said that he actually was the traded in principal to the Detroit Lions but said he would retire instead of playing anywhere else.
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Bill Belichick almost never trades players who have anything left in the tank. While there are a few exceptions (Chandler Jones, Jimmy G, Brandin Cooks) those players were largely traded because Bill Belichick knew that the team wasn’t going to be able to extend them in the future.
Rarely if ever does he make a trade because he just flat out evaluated a player’s ability and worth.
Having said that, he is still averaging 75 yards per game and is a great third down target. Him being out is huge for the Titans, mainly because of what it allows them to do to the running backs.
Now, as far as I can tell the Dean Pees defense is more about being deceptive and being aggressive, rather than being reactionary. What I mean by that is, I don’t think the whole gameplan of the Dallas game was to take out their best player (Zeke) it was to be aggressive and fluster Dak when they could.
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Still if they were going to try to eliminate Gronk, now they can focus their attention elsewhere. Specifically, the linebackers as safeties can now shift more attention towards taking away James White.
White is the Patriots scariest player at TE/RB right now, even when Gronk is healthy. White has twice as many receptions as any other Patriots player and he leads them in receiving yards by nearly 100 yards.
On top of that, he has more receiving touchdowns than Gronk, Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon combined.
It will be largely up to Jayon Brown to stop White, but now that Gronk is out it will allow them to be more aggressive with their blitzes and force White to stay in and protect.
Even if they still use him as a receiver vs the blitz, guys like Kenny Vaccaro and Kevin Byard should be able to help limit the damage he can do.
Tennessee Titans. dark. Next
The worst matchup for the Titans all day will be Malcolm Butler vs Josh Gordon, but it looks like that is going to be the only place they are clearly outmatched in terms of player on player mismatch with Gronk out.
Scoring first and limiting back breaking plays will be key to a potential win on Sunday, and this definitely helps make that more realistic for the Titans.