Titans coaches talk struggling pass-rush, run defense

Going into the season, the Tennessee Titans’ defense was expected to be its strength, but through nine games we’ve seen some glaring weaknesses from the unit.

Not only has coverage been lackluster all season, but the pass-rush has made things worse with its inconsistency. Adding to that, Tennessee has seen its run defense go from elite to awful over the last four games.

Titans defensive line coach Terrell Williams says he isn’t worried about the latter, even though Tennessee has given up a whopping 159.5 rushing yards per contest in that span.

“Well I think that we’ve given up a few more explosive runs than we have in the past,” Williams said, per AtoZ Sports’ Sam Phalen. “When you give up explosive runs, your run defense is not going to be great. And part of it is, I think sometimes when you’re not a coach or a player, you look and see 100 yards on the stat sheet or 120 or whatever, ‘oh, we didn’t stop the run.’ Well, for us as coaches, we never look at the total yards, we look at yards per carry. And that, to me, is where giving up the explosive runs, we’ve just got to fix that part. I think we’ll be fine; our players and coaches, we’re excited about going in there because that’s the heart of our defense — stopping the run.”

Even if you go by yards per carry, it hasn’t been good.

The Titans are ceding 4.9 yards per rush since Week 5. To put that number into perspective, it would rank tied for third-worst in the NFL if it was Tennessee’s season-long average.

So, what’s the issue upfront that is leading to better numbers for opposing rushing attacks and more explosive plays?

Well, Williams believes it’s not about the defensive line getting dominated upfront, but rather guys not being in the right spots.

“It has everything to do with our personnel and looking at where the mistakes are,” he added. “It’s not like we’re getting physically dominated, it’s just a guy being in the wrong spot here, or the communication and some of those things. We’re totally fine.”

Titans defensive coordinator Shane Bowen echoed Williams’ comment on the explosive run plays.

“You watch these games, there’s six to eight plays that are killing us and costing us,” said Bowen, according to Paul Kuharsky. “The five plays for 84 yards (against the Pittsburgh Steelers), you take those out, it’s 20-something runs for 80 yards… We’ve got to be better on those plays and we can’t sacrifice our technique, fundamentals, and give up those chunks.”

We’ve seen Tennessee’s pass-rush be absolutely dominant this season, with the games against the New Orleans Saints, Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons being shining examples.

However, we’ve also seen the group upfront disappear, which was the case in the second half of the aforementioned Falcons game and last week against the Steelers.

Bowen pins that issue on several things.

“It’s a combination; I think it’s a little bit of everything,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting these guys in situations where they can win. I think when we do get in those opportunities, we do have to win, I think that’s part of it. I think the ball out quick comes into play at times, of course… If we’re able to challenge (in coverage), if we’re able to be tight, if we’re able to possibly get (the quarterback) to go to a second read, that’s going to buy some time (for the pass-rush), as well.”

Titans outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow said the struggles of the pass-rush and run defense are connected.

“(The pass-rush) needs to be better. Need to get home,” Crow said, per AtoZ Sports. “Before that, it starts with stopping the run. Three of those last four games, we’ve been leaky in the run and when you don’t stop the run you just lose a lot of opportunities. And when you do stop the run, you get more opportunities, and when you get opportunities, we’ve got to get home.”

Part of the reason the run defense has given up more big plays recently is the team’s inability to adequately set the edge. Crow says that issue is a result of two things: bad technique and being too aggressive toward the inside.

“The No. 1 thing is technique, making sure we’re using the right technique,” he said. “And then some of those are we have techniques but we’re trying to make a play. Guys are trying to leak inside or look inside and all of the sudden, it’s just gone.

“So, we’ve just got to do our job, and when we do our job, we’re building the edge and we set a wall and we swarm, good things happen.”