Titans Run Defense In Serious Danger In Week 3: Why missing these two critical pieces against Colts’ Jonathan Taylor is a problem

The Tennessee Titans suffered a couple of tough injury breaks at the end of their week of Indianapolis Colts prep. Perhaps the single biggest key to the game for this team searching for their first win is stopping RB Jonathan Taylor. Through two weeks, he leads the entire league in rushing. He looks as good as he’s ever been. And now he’s coming to town to face a Titans defense ill-prepared to stop the run.

Titans Missing Two Massive Tacklers

The Titans final injury report ahead of Week 3 came out Friday afternoon, and it wasn’t kind.

Both of Tennessee’s big fellas from the top of the 2024 draft class are out once again. No RT JC Latham means the offensive line will be without their best tackle, and no T’Vondre Sweat means the defense will be without their best run stuffer. I wrote earlier this week about Sweat tracking to play in Week 3 because he was back to limited participation in practice and, frankly, he told us he’d be back out there!

Players don’t make a habit of confidently assuring the masses they’ll be good to go if they are in fact not good to go. Something changed between Wednesday and Friday, and let’s just say that his return to the football field after a very promising rookie year has been… tumultuous. I don’t think anybody involved is particularly happy.

A slew of questionable designations rounds out the Titans final injury report, including both starting outside cornerbacks. As I wrote on Wednesday LINK, L’Jarius Sneed’s back situation isn’t one to lose sleep over. He told us in the locker room on Friday that it was from a bit of friendly fire in practice.

Second year CB Jarvis Brownlee’s ankle situation is a different story though. He popped up on the injury report on Thursday, and on Friday was in a walking boot in the locker room. His absence in the pass defense will be felt, but the Titans debut of Jalyn Armour-Davis in his stead could be a pretty serviceable replacement option. Armour-Davis was the most sought-after player in the entire league on the roster cutdown waiver wire, and the Ravens were reportedly sick to see him go. I’m intrigued to see how he fares in however much work he gets Sunday.

Where I think missing Brownlee will hurt the most is in the run game, believe it or not. His ferocity as a perimeter tackler is tangible every Sunday. Through two weeks, he leads the entire team in combined tackles. He leads his teammates in solo tackles by four! As a cornerback!

This is where I fear for the run defense. The idea of Jonathan Taylor dusting a defensive back for a big run in a situation that Brownlee is likely to succeed in, well, that’s not hard to imagine at all.

Selling Out To Stop Jonathan Taylor

The rest of the Titans defense has to step up in a big way. Jonathan Taylor is coming off a 165 yard explosion against a stout Denver defense, and will be looking to back-up his 2024 domination of the Titans run defense with another killer day. In case you blocked it out of your memory—which I wouldn’t blame you for—he put up 218yds and 3 TDs against Tennessee in Week 16 last December.

This year, Daniel Jones has been surprisingly sound through two weeks. Perhaps he’s this year’s reclamation project that earns another long-term crack at starting quarterback. But when I turn on his tape so far, I see a guy doing a lot of nice things within structure who isn’t being asked to do a lot of difficult things. He’s gotten away with some close calls through two weeks. The Titans gameplan is undoubtedly to try to make the Colts kill them with Jones, not Taylor.

What’s going to win out? Tennessee’s plan to sell out on stopping the run, or the fact that they’re missing their best run stuffer and leading tackler? Unfortunately, my guess isn’t a particularly difficult choice. I hope they prove me wrong.