It’s no secret that the Tennessee Titans’ defense entered the 2023 season with a ton of hype, and rightfully so because there were very few holes within the unit on paper.
Unfortunately, the game isn’t played on paper and doesn’t account for injuries and/or mistakes, both of which Tennessee suffered through last weekend.
Kristian Fulton suffered a hamstring injury early in the contest and missed the majority of the game.
This subsequently created chaos on the back end, as Roger McCreary was forced to move outside after spending the majority of the offseason working inside. That then forced Elijah Molden to play the nickel role.
Those two players obviously have previous experience playing both of those roles, but that was hardly where they spent the majority of their preparation over the last few months, with McCreary focusing on the slot and Molden focusing on safety.
On top of that, Amani Hooker suffered a concussion late in the game, as well, which undoubtedly created even more havoc along the backend.
Needless to say, that was less than ideal, especially when facing a wide receiver corps. that includes Chris Olave, Michael Thomas and Rashid Shaheed.
Unsurprisingly, the injuries and mistakes led to several big plays for the New Orleans Saints’ offense.
When speaking to the media on Thursday, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen mentioned cleaning up the “X plays” the defense gave up in Week 1, something that has been an issue for this secondary for years now.
“(The Saints) had five passes for 160 yards, can’t let the ball get thrown over our head,” he said, per AtoZ Sports. “Some of those, we’re actually winning in pass-rush relatively quickly and they’re throwing it before we’re able to get there.
“So, we’ve got to do a better job there of just keeping the ball in front of us and not letting them throw it over our heads. (We also want to) win some of those one one-on-one matchups.”
Bowen went on to talk about his disappointment in regard to the end of the game, when the defense couldn’t stop the Saints’ offense to get the ball back.
“And then, the four-minute,” Bowen said. “we talk about stopping the run and being more physical. Four minute is the definition of that, and we didn’t get it done, so we’ve got to be better there.”
Despite these shortcomings, the offense handing over three extra possessions and special teams having a punt blocked, Tennessee still found a way to hold New Orleans to 16 points.
All things considered, the Titans’ defense did more than enough to win the game. If the secondary can limit the X plays, this Titans defense should be just fine going forward.
[lawrence-auto-related count=5]