Why the Tennessee Titans face a nightmare in the Miami Dolphins
If you’re one of the few remaining hopeful Tennessee Titans supporters, you might want to look away and watch something else on Monday night.
The Miami Dolphins would be the ideal opponent to sketch up if you were trying to figure out who would pose a threat to the Tennessee Titans.
To begin with, their receiver tandem is the best in the league, which would pose a challenge to anyone. The Tennessee Titans’ pass defense is not only appalling, but they will also be without Kristian Fulton for a while due to a hamstring injury.
The last thing you want to do is play these receivers on the road when they are man down, especially just one week after another game that was rife with flags on the Titans’ defensive backs, blown coverages, and soft coverage.
Tre Avery will cover Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle on every play, and I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Waddle and Hill will win a couple of those.
The receivers are not the only thing the Tennessee Titans need to be concerned about.
The Dolphins offense is best when its receivers are playing, but they don’t have any obvious weaknesses. With Raheem Mosert averaging 5.1 yards per attempt on the ground, the Titans will have their hands full. Additionally, when he is taking a break, the Titans will need to try to stop Devon Achane, who averages 9.5 yards per attempt.
By the way, that collective sigh you hear is from Titans supporters realizing that this defense—which is playing without Jeffery Simmons—isn’t healthy.
Even with all of that, if the game was going to end in a shootout like the one against the Indianapolis Colts last week, the Tennessee Titans could still enjoy themselves. The Titans offense will also have fits from the Miami Dolphins defense, which is the issue.
The Dolphins haven’t let a team score more than 21 points in the five games that Jalen Ramsey has returned from his training camp injury, and they are only giving up 15.8 points per game in that time.
With Xavien Howard operating on the opposite boundary and having an even better season, everyone should fully anticipate that Ramsey will line up on the right side of the defense and neutralize any threat on that side of the field.
A group of pass rushers led by David Long Jr. at linebacker and four players with five or more sacks (technically, five players, but Bradley Chubb is on I.R.) are in front of them. This should worry Will Levis a great deal, given the condition of the offensive line and the frequency with which Jaelyn Duncan still approaches pass blocking as if it were a two-hand touch game.
Even if it’s a clear-cut passing down, the Titans’ offensive game plan must revolve around running the ball as much as possible. Avoid the run-run-pass strategy, but understand that your best chance of moving the ball is to give Derrick Henry and Tyjae Spears 40 touches combined. You should also pass more frequently on first and second downs to avoid having to face third and nine.
..Finding ways to maintain long, run-heavy drives will limit the plays the Dolphins can run and prevent the pass rush from crushing Will Levis, since there isn’t a strategy here that gives the Titans a real chance to win this game. After losing Josh Whyle, Ryan Stonehouse, and Jeffery Simmons the previous week, this is one of those games where your only goal is to survive.
