3 things the Tennessee Titans must fix on defense

Find a pass rush

Titans arguably made their splashiest move in recent memory with the signing of coveted free agent Jadeveon Clowney. As one of the premier pass rushers in the league, Clowney was expected to come and give the defense a much-needed pass rush. However, Clowney has been a shell of himself through six games.

Pro Football Focus gives Clowney a 72.9 rating so far this year while he got a rating of 87.3. On a much worse defense last year, Clowney was producing at a much higher rate. The pairing of Clowney with Vic Beasley, another free agent acquisition who has not produced at all, has been massively underwhelming.

Clowney has a shockingly disappointing zero sacks and only five quarterback hits, all of which came in the first three games. Outside of the occasional Jeffery Simmons or Harold Landry breakthrough, the Titans are simply not getting to the quarterback. The Titans have just posted seven sacks on the year.

The Titans have been giving up too much time for quarterbacks to sit in the pocket and dissect the secondary. In the remaining schedule, the Titans will still face Philip Rivers, Lamar Jackson, Matthew Safford, and Aaron Rodgers. For the Titans to win those games, it will be essential for the Titans to rattle the QB.

While the easy solution may have been to find a trade partner where a team is looking to offload a player, most of the possible candidates are off the table now with Yannick Ngakoue, Carlos Dunlap, and Everson Griffen all being traded in the last week. Titans could attempt to take a flyer with available aging free agents like Clay Matthews or Terrell Suggs, but those players cannot be expected to add significant impact at this stage of their career.

The best-case scenario for Tennessee is to start dialing up unique blitzes. In the past two seasons, Tennessee saw their best pass rush come from the secondary. Whether it be a corner or safety blitz, the Titans need to start finding a way to lessen the load on the EDGE rushers.

The Titans send blitzes 29.7% of the time but only have hurried the quarterback on 6.3% of the time. In comparison, the Steelers send blitzes 44.3% of the time but get 16% on the quarterback hurries.

In a season in which the NFL has decided to reduce the number of holding calls, teams must find a way to creatively utilize their blitzes and edge rushers. I don’t believe the pass rush talent is available externally so the Titans must rely on internal players and schemes to achieve the same effect.