In a week with so little to rave about, it’s nice to actually be able to talk about a defensive player. The Titans got shutout at home, in a 21-0 rout. It could have been much worse than it was. Flacco didn’t have the greatest of games, and neither did the Ravens running backs. Alex Collins averaged an abysmal 2.8 yards per carry, albeit scoring 2 touchdowns. Flacco completed 25 of 37 passes for 238 yards with one touchdown and one interception. That one interception went to this week’s Titan of the week.
Defensive Titan of the Week
This week was a rather easy decision, Kevin Byard was deserving of the award. With 57 seconds left in the second quarter, Flacco was hit as he threw the ball. Willie Snead almost hauled it in, but Byard managed to haul it in on a diving attempt. Credit should also go to Logan Ryan as he was glued to Snead and had a large hand in the deflection.
Along with Byard’s interception, he also had 6 tackles, another pass deflection and a quarterback hit. Byard admittingly did everything he could to keep the Titans in this game. It’s always a cool thing when you have a fan come off the street and play for your football team. Good job Byard, we appreciate everything you do.
The defense as a whole really didn’t do a terrible job on Sunday. When you are on the field for 72 plays, it’s relatively challenging to contain the opposing offense. For this defense to reach its full potential, they really need the offense to start showing signs of life. That being said, they still gave up 361 total yards on the day, which could absolutely be lower.
Going Forward
Not only does the offense need to show signs of life, so does this defensive pass rush. The Titans have elite pass rushers, and they aren’t getting to the quarterback. It doesn’t matter how good your secondary is, if you can’t provide pressure they will get picked apart. We need a way to wake up the sleeping giants that are on this defense. Once we can start getting consistent pressure, the mistakes will pile up for opposing quarterbacks, resulting in more offensive possessions. This upcoming week against the Chargers needs to be the first step back to relevance for this defense. A statement needs to be made, and it needs to be made fast. Look out Philip Rivers, we’re coming.
