5 things you need to know about the Titans Week 4 clash with the Dolphins

As the Tennessee Titans prepare for their Monday night clash with the Miami Dolphins, they are one of two teams in the league without a victory. The other is the rival Jaguars, who couldn’t hold off the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter on Sunday in a 24-20 loss.

While Jacksonville is still in search of a win, Indianapolis handed the Pittsburgh Steelers their first loss of the season. They held off Mike Tomlin’s team for a 27-24 triumph. That means the Titans find themselves trailing both Houston (3-1) and Indianapolis (2-2) in the AFC South in the early stages of 2024.

It’s safe to say that the Titans would not only like to get their first win of 2024, the team would love to go into its off-week with a head of steam. When they return to action in Week 6, they will host the rival Colts. Can they pull off a second straight upset win at South Florida?

All-Time Series Record

While the Titans are on the low end of the regular-season series standings in this AFL/AFC setting (21-18), the franchise does own a playoff victory over the Dolphins (17-9 win by the Oilers in the 1978 wild card round), and at Miami no less. It’s also worth noting that this is the third meeting between the clubs in four years, and Tennessee has prevailed in the last two encounters. That includes last season’s incredible fourth-quarter rally and a 28-27 victory on a Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium in Week 14 of 2023.

There is a lot of familiarity when it comes to this series. Dating back to 2015, the Titans and Dolphins are squaring off for the seventh in 10 years. The clubs have split their last six meetings.

Quarterbacks: Tale of the Tape

The struggles of second-year signal-caller Will Levis have been very well documented. The team is off to a 0-3 start, and he’s had major issues with ball security despite an impressive 68.1 completion percentage. There have been five interceptions, two of which have been returned for touchdowns, while Lewis has lost all three of his fumbles. The Titans entered Week 4 with an NFL-high eight turnovers.

Mike McDaniel has handed the starting job for Monday night to Tyler Huntley, who has gone through an interesting 2024 without taking the field. He spent four seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, but this offseason inked a deal with the Browns. He was cut loose after the preseason and the Ravens signed him to the practice squad. The Dolphins snatched him away from Baltimore and gets the nod this week.

Defensive Analysis

You would have never known it last week in the team’s 30-14 home loss to the Packers. Coordinator Dennard Wilson’s defense was whacked for 378 total yards on 59 offensive plays (6.4 average). This was in stark contrast to this unit’s performance the first two weeks, albeit losses to the Bears (148) and Jets (265). It’s still worth noting that the Titans’ defensive unit has not forced a turnover in three contests.

Miami’s defense is in the middle of the NFL pack when it comes to total yards (11th) and rushing yards allowed (12th). However, Anthony Weaver’s unit has not done a good job early in games. That’s one of the big reasons that the Dolphins have been outscored a combined 58-20 in the first 30 minutes of play this season. McDaniel’s team has trailed by double digits in the first half in each of their three games.

Keys to the Game

Titans: It sounds far too obvious to say that Brian Callahan’s team just needs to take care of the football. The Titans also need to do a much better job of protecting Levis. He was sacked eight times in last Sunday’s home loss to the Packers. He’s been dropped a total of 15 times in three games this season, and Miami’s sporadic pass rush could suddenly get healthy against an offensive front still looking for an identity.

Dolphins: With Huntley at the controls, the Dolphins figure to use his running ability. That should make the Miami ground attack even more unpredictable. In three games this season, Tagovailoa (28) and backups Tim Boyle (6) and Skylar Thompson (4) have run for a combined 38 yards. McDaniel no doubt noticed the success Malik Willis had last week (73 yards rushing, 1 TD) against the Tennessee defense.

Titans Player to Watch

Perhaps it’s time for Callahan and offensive coordinator Nick Holz to turn things over a bit to one of their prized offseason additions. It was no secret that there would be a parting of the way between the Titans and workhorse Derrick Henry, who wound up inking a deal with the Baltimore Ravens. In his place is versatile Tony Pollard, late of the Dallas Cowboys. He inked a three-year, $21 million deal with Tennessee.

He currently leads the team with 39 carries, good for 158 yards and one of the Titans’ two rushing TDs. He also leads Callahan’s club with 11 catches, totaling only 67 yards, with 22 of those yards coming on one play. The two-time 1,000-yard runner has only four games the past two seasons in which he totaled at least 20 rushing attempts. It may be a good week to give the six-year standout a Henry-like workload.