Why the Miami Dolphins are a nightmare opponent for the Tennessee Titans
By Will Lomas
For the few hopeful Tennessee Titans fans left out there, you might want to avert your eyes and find something else to watch on Monday night.
If you were drawing up an opponent that would give the Tennessee Titans fits, it would look exactly like the Miami Dolphins.
Starting with the most obvious point, they have the best receiver tandem in the league which would give anyone difficulty. Not only is the Tennessee Titans' pass defense miserable, but the Titans will also be without Kristian Fulton who is going to miss some time with a hamstring injury.
Just a week after another game littered with flags on the Titans' defensive backs, blown coverages, and soft coverage, the last thing you want to do is to go on the road against these receivers being a man down.
On every play, Tre Avery is either going to be guarding Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle, and I'll go out on a limb and say that Hill and Waddle are going to win a few of those.
The Tennessee Titans have to worry about more than just the receivers
While the receivers are the highlight of the Dolphins offense, they don't have any glaring weaknesses. On the ground, the Titans are going to have their hands full with Raheem Mosert who is averaging 5.1 yards per attempt, and when he is taking a break the Titans are going to have to try to stop Devon Achane who is averaging 9.5 yards per attempt...
By the way, that collective groan that you hear is Titans fans remembering that this isn't a healthy Titans defense, this is a defense without Jeffery Simmons.
Despite all of that, the Tennessee Titans could still have a fun game if it was going to turn into a shootout like the game against the Indianapolis Colts last week. The problem is, the Miami Dolphins defense is going to give the Titans offense fits as well.
In the 5 games since Jalen Ramsey has been back from the injury he suffered in training camp, the Dolphins haven't allowed a team to score more than 21 points and they are only allowing 15.8 points per game during that stretch.
Everyone should fully expect Ramsey to line up on the right side of the defense and eliminate any threat on that side of the field, with Xavien Howard working on the other boundary and having a much better season.
In front of them is a group of pass rushers that have 4 players with 5+ sacks (technically five players, but Bradley Chubb is on I.R.) and David Long Jr. at linebacker. Considering the state of the offensive line and how often Jaelyn Duncan still treats pass blocking like a game of two-hand touch, this should make Will Levis very nervous.
The Titans' game plan on offense has to be to run the ball as much as possible, even if it is an obvious passing down. Don't get into the traditional run-run-pass, but you also have to realize that your best chance of moving the ball is to give Derrick Henry and Tyjae Spears 40 touches combined while also passing on first and second down more often so that you don't end up in 3rd and 9.
Since there isn't any strategy here that gives the Titans a real chance to win this game, finding ways to sustain long, run-heavy drives will run limit the plays the Dolphins can run and it will keep the pass rush from crushing Will Levis. This is one of those games where you just want to survive, and after losing Jeffery Simmons, Ryan Stonehouse, and Josh Whyle last week, that is a very real concern.