Biggest blindspot on the Titans defense.
For nearly two months, Tennessee Titans fans could see teams slowly start to shift their focus to attack the weakest point of Mike Vrabel‘s defense.
At that time, that meant we were seeing a lot of passes get thrown away from Malcolm Butler and in the area of Johnathan Joseph (with a dash of Tye Smith).
Despite the defense’s best attempts to drag the team into the depths of the abyss, the offense managed to keep them afloat through sheer force of will. That meant that Mike Vrabel and Shane Bowen didn’t have to admit that they were making mistakes and that they had a clear flaw in their scheme.
Now, we can talk about whether or not Adoree Jackson would have made the scheme look better until the cows come home, but the fact is that for eight weeks Mike Vrabel had plenty of tape to see that what they were doing, wasn’t working.
However, as soon as the Titans lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals, changes had to be made and Johnathan Joseph was released despite there being no clear replacement for him on the roster.
By now we know that Breon Borders would be the eventual replacement, and until last week he looked like a very reliable option.
So when I say “the new Johnathan Joseph” I’m not talking about a cornerback or a safety that other teams can throw the ball at and assume they will complete passes. What I am saying is that the new “Johnathan Joseph” is the player that clearly can’t do the job he is being asked to do and whenever he is on the field, other teams are starting to find ways to isolate him and exploit that weakness.
There is one player like that on the roster now, so let’s talk about him.