The Tennessee Titans defense has been a major liability in 2020.
During the process of writing this article, news broke that the Tennessee Titans struck a deal to acquire cornerback Desmond King from the Los Angeles Chargers.
King is a former All-Pro corner who should immediately improve Tennessee’s miserable secondary.
However, if you’ve spent any time at all watching the Titans this season, you know it’ll probably take more than King to completely turn around this defense. There is not one area on this defense that one can genuinely say has looked impressive thus far. Other than Jeffery Simmons, no player on the defense has performed up to expectations.
Even players that Titans fans have been accustomed to seeing great play from have been disappointing, such as Kevin Byard, Jayon Brown, and Rashaan Evans. In almost every important team defense statistic, the Titans are below-average.
One has to wonder if Mike Vrabel made a mistake in not hiring a DC. Of course, Vrabel doesn’t seem to think so. The difference in this defense from 2019 to 2020, with largely the same roster, is inexcusable.
With all that being said, let’s take a look at 3 stats that give you a true picture of just how poorly Tennessee’s defense has played so far in 2020.
3. Opponent Passing Yards Per Game
As of writing this, Tennessee owns the 27th-ranked passing defense in the league.
The Titans are allowing, on average, 268.7 passing yards per game against them. By the way, the only teams that are statistically worse against the pass than the Titans are Jacksonville, NY Jets, Minnesota, Atlanta, and Seattle. Save for Seattle (and the Titans), all these teams are absolutely dreadful in 2020.
One thing you will notice upon watching a Tennessee game is how far off the cornerbacks play. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that Jonathan Joseph is always 10 yards away from the receiver he’s supposed to be covering. Joseph has been abysmal in a starting role this year, but he is not the only problem.
Adoree Jackson has yet to contribute due to injury, Malcolm Butler has been average-at-best, and rookie Chris Jackson has simply looked overmatched in limited action.
As mentioned earlier, the addition of Desmond King will assuredly help this pass defense. Unfortunately, King does not play on the boundary, so we might be stuck watching Jonathan Joseph for a little while longer.
Meanwhile, the Titans are also ranked 30th in passing TD’s allowed.
2. Team Sacks
If you thought the pass defense was the worst part of this defense, the pass rushers would like a word.
Through 7 games, Tennessee has only managed to collect an abysmal 7 sacks. For reference, Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett each have 9 sacks. Yeah, it’s bad.
The Titans leader in sacks is Jeffery Simmons, who has a whopping 2, which is actually impressive for a defensive tackle of his size that has missed a game. What isn’t impressive is Jadeveon Clowney, who is being paid $15 Million this year, has yet to record a single sack. The same goes for Vic Beasley, who is making $9.5 Million.
In team sack percentage, Tennessee ranks 31st, ahead of only Jacksonville and in sacks per game, the Titans rank 30th.
This team just cannot get to the quarterback, and the whole defense is suffering because of it. Harold Landry III, Vic Beasley, and Jadeveon Clowney are especially players who will have to step up in a big way as the season moves ahead.
Tennessee’s sack struggles in 2020 begs the question of “Is this a scheme problem?”. The Titans edge-rushing group, at least on paper, should be BETTER than in 2019, not significantly worse. If the this team has any hopes of making it back to the AFC Championship game, Clowney, Landry, and the like will have to start getting to the QB.
1. 3rd Down Percentage
The Titans are allowing opponents to convert third downs at an unprecedented 61.8% rate. This is BY FAR the worst mark in the league. Carolina is 31st in this category, and they’re allowing 54.2% conversion percentage: a whole 7 percentage points better than the last-place.
On Sunday, Tennessee allowed the Bengals, who entered the game with only 1 win, to convert 10-of-15 third-down tries. This is just an inexcusable number, and this is the most pressing issue that has to be addressed. When the defense can’t get off the field on third down, you’re being set up for failure. Add in the fact that your pass-rushers never get sacks, and you have a recipe for disaster.
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The Titans are allowing teams to convert an average of 8 third-downs per game, a mark that is ALSO worst in the league by a wide margin. What Tennessee’s third-down failures are doing is making life that much harder on the offense. When the defense is allowing 270 passing yards a game, getting zero pressure, and handing out free first downs, it puts your offense in a less-than-desirable position.
If Tennessee any expectations of getting back to the AFC Championship Game, the defense needs major improvement. The Titans are lucky to still be tied for 1st place in the AFC South, but I can assure you that will not be the case in January if something doesn’t change on defense.