Tennessee Titans: Improved Titans Defense Needs to Start Creating Turnovers
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ Just three games into the 2021 season, the Tennessee Titans defense has proven to be lightyears ahead of where it was a year ago. Whereas the Titans' defense was historically bad on third downs in 2020, the unit is playing well in those situations in 2021; in their most recent game, a […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ⏤ Just three games into the 2021 season, the Tennessee Titans defense has proven to be lightyears ahead of where it was a year ago.
Whereas the Titans' defense was historically bad on third downs in 2020, the unit is playing well in those situations in 2021; in their most recent game, a win over Indianapolis, the Titans held the Colts to just a 3-13 third-down conversion rate.
There is one area, though, where the Titans' defense still needs a sizeable boost: turnovers.
AN UNCONVENTIONAL TEAM LEADER
Outside of a relatively meaningless Kevin Byard interception in their Week One blowout loss to Arizona, the Titans haven't nabbed a single takeaway in 2021.
That's a problem.
"We've got to find a way to turn the football over," head coach Mike Vrabel said. "It's just hard to play defense with playing three games and getting one turnover."
Tennessee's defense has so few turnovers so far in 2021 that one of the team's offensive players, starting right tackle David Quessenberry, is the team leader in forced fumbles thanks to an impressive effort following a Ryan Tannehill interception.
Vrabel made sure the Titans' defense realized that ahead of the team's first practice of the week on Wednesday.
"He led with it this morning, pretty much saying 'we need to get the ball,' Byard said. "Honestly, I didn’t even think about it, that Quessenberry was leading the team in forced fumbles."
CHALLENGE FOR THE SECONDARY
How can the Titans reverse course in the turnover department? It starts in the front seven.
Getting turnovers can require a bit of luck for defensive backs, especially on a team like the Titans that mostly plays man coverage.
Sure, there's something to be said about being in the right place at the right time, but the quarterback still has to make a bad throw.
"In man coverage, it gets a little bit harder," defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said. "The main objective is to not let your guy catch the ball. You’re keeping your eyes on your man—you’re not looking at the QB."
GETTING THE BALL OUT
That's why the Titans aren't focusing so much on interceptions but, instead, on forcing fumbles, something that's based more on effort than fortune.
They're especially honing in on turning sacks into strip-sacks.
Tennessee has had the first half of that equation in the bag. They've consistently pressured opposing quarterbacks, notching an impressive seven sacks through three games.
"We are getting tickets to the raffle, trying to get as many chances as we possibly can," Vrabel said.
None of those sacks, however, have ended in the quarterback fumbling.
Being able to convert sacks into turnovers will be less about technique for the Titans and more about effort, specifically how players use their arms.
"Bill [Belichick], God love him, never taught me how to strip-sack the quarterback. Guys just have to go and be reaching for it," Vrabel said.
That's something DL Jeffery Simmons is looking to do.
"We can just reach for the ball a little bit sooner, get our hands up to bat balls, things like that."
The Titans also want to make more of an effort to strip the ball from ball carriers beyond the line of scrimmage, something that often comes down to the effort of the second player who arrives to clean up a tackle.
"A lot of times, it’s the second guy⏤the second guy who’s able to come in on that tackle when the first guy’s already got him held up," LB Rashaan Evans said. "You want to do what you can to try and get the ball out however you can."
While the 2-1 Titans have been doing just fine as a whole without getting turnovers on defense, creating takeaways and doing so consistently will catapult them to the next level.
That should start with someone surpassing Quessenberry's team lead in forced fumbles.
"We’re finding ways to win without turnovers, so if we get turnovers, I think we’ll be a lot more dominant," Byard said.
- Byard image: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today
- Landry/Wentz image: Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean
