3 secret weapons for the Tennessee Titans against the Baltimore Ravens
By Will Lomas
1. Kenny Vaccaro
Why is he important? Lamar Jackson
The last time Vaccaro played the Ravens, he was incredibly confident and he managed to pick off a Lamar Jackson pass. It will be great for the Titans defense to have him back out there in coverage instead of at home with an illness like they had back in November.
However, the reason that I am excited to see him has nothing to do with the pass defense. What I am ready to see is Vaccaro as the QB spy or someone used in the box more often.
Dean Pees had a plan to shadow Lamar Jackson with Vaccaro often in their matchup whether that was as a spy in the run game or as a blitzer on pass plays. If the Titans are going to be successful, they desperately need Vaccaro to be the spy on Jackson instead of someone like Rashaan Evans or David Long.
Evans is entirely too slow and indecisive, and Long has the speed to cover Jackson, but (and I honestly mean this in a nice way) he is like a puppy out on the field. He plays a “see ball, get ball” style and that is great, but just like when you pretend to throw a ball for a puppy to bring back when you secretly have it behind your back, there are times where Long just completely whiffs and runs the wrong way as fast as he can go.
Vaccaro has the athleticism to be in the box against Lamar Jackson, but he also has the football knowledge and the patience to be the perfect solution to deal with Jackson’s legs.