Why are the Titans so bad against the run?

seriously?

OK Ill bite.

fishface wanted too get smaller / quicker too defend against the Gaytons of The League. Titans definatly got smaller up front quicker is debatable. Smaller front 4 equals weaker front 4 so now even avearage OLs push the Titan front 4 backwards. MM is part way towards going back too a more traditional 43D front 4. Jones has not looked great at DE, Morgan has been Captain Invisible at DT, Marks is a Bammeridiot, I could go on.

Hopefully MM / MR can complete the transformation of the front 4 into a tradional power group. This will allow more athletic LBs who in theory would actually be the guys making most of the plays.

Hopefully they can actually get rid of Marks and any of the DEs that are too small for DT and too slow for DE. Unfourtunatly Jones is looking like one of those guys.

 

Morgan and Jones are the biggest issue IMO (Morgan plays DE). The whole concept is to mainly get bigger at DE since we used the 9 technique and had smaller faster guys out there. So fine, no problem, move Jones who is an undersized DT anyway to DE and he and Morgan, who is ideal size make a nice set of bookends to stop the run. But these guys neither stop the run or rush the passer. Casey has been OK and we do need another guy like him at DT but we simply haven't had our DEs step up. Ball hasn't been very good either and for a guy who had 7.5 sacks last year he hasn't helped in that department and is marginal against the run. So we have basically had crap on half the DL.

Klug is undersized and his main purpose should be as a pass rusher but I'm not really sure why they don't try him on the strong side as a DE. We have also had issues at WLB and I don't know if it is injury or what but Spoon isn't playing well and McRath has been a joke. Things got a little better with McCarthy at MLB but we still have issues. Ayers IMO isn't consistent enough at this point either. FOr his size and level of athleticism he should be an anchor on his side.

Then we have the issue with our Ss. Hope has actually been a bright spot tackling when he has been in games. Griffin tackles like a little girl (I'm sure MJD is looking forward to matching up against Griff again) and Babs isn't the most physical guy either.

I think we are a few players and a little more experience for the young guys away from having this fixed. The coaches better be smart and bring in an extra DL or LB in this game. Gabbert is horrible and we need to force him to beat us.

 

NO Dline penetration but much of that reason is to GoT's point of being smaller. Getting pushed around. Thanks again fisher. FO.:grrr:

 

Is hard to blame the lbs when the front line is water. We get absolutely no rush. We get minimal, and I mean MINIMAL run help from them... The idea of rotating dlineman is to put in a fresh guy for pass rush... But it's been terrible. And we leave highway sized gaps. I havent heard smiths name in like 5 games. Our second round dt from a couple years ago, marks... Bust.

This lineup outside of Casey and smith who was brought in to add size to the line, were all products of the 9 technique used to make babin look like a pass rush god. Same with why ball hasn't been producing those 7.5 sacks like he had a season ago.

Scheme wise and personel wise we are counter productive.

Oh and Morgan... Who knows. Looks like another d line flop. We continue to waste early picks on this teeeeerrible line. Let's hope the FO figures out some talent scouting for the d line soon.

 

yes of course DM is a DE.

Hes yet another of the juniors the Titans seem too covet. Most of them have been duds. BTW DMs contract is thru 2015. Could be why the FO keeps saying how wonderful he is and crap

 

What is interesting to me is that the team is amongst the worst in every stat (yards, ypc, first downs, big runs) except TD's, where they are tied for 3rd fewest.

 

Can't stop the run if you have no penetration up front. Period.

 

The only way I see this making sense is in the Redzone. When the safeties can't get burned deep and the corners do not have to count on the safety play.

I think this is where our corners really stand out and show their talent. Other than that, I am not sure what to make of this stat.

 

Inconsistent play has been the main issue. I think part of it has to do with the switch in philosophy. Last yr we wanted our front 4 to penetrate and make plays while this yr we want them to clog up the OL leaving the LBrs to make plays. Besides McCarthy I think our LBer play has been poor this year. Ayers seems to be improving, but early on he certainly had some problems with his gap control.

In terms of fixing the run defense, I would focus on the offense. Make the offense elite and get a few leads and the run defense will be much better. Improve the OL play and the run defense will dramatically improve.