Titans Film Room: Complex Coverages Confuse Justin Herbert, Unlock Pass Rush
Going up against a potent Los Angeles Chargers offense was always going to be difficult for the Tennessee Titans defense, but they put together a creative game plan that allowed them to make plays in the clutch moments.
While most would start a conversation about the Titans' defense with the pass rush, it was the Titans' coverage that actually opened things up for the Titans' rushers against a very good Chargers offensive line led by left tackle Rashawn Slater.
Using complex coverages and constant rotating the secondary made Justin Herbert wait just a split second longer to make his throws and those split seconds turn into sacks for the Titans.
The Titans had three sacks on the day, they forced no turnovers, but they should have had an interception. All four of those plays were created by the Titans game plan on defense.
We are going to look at multiple different coverages and multiple different alignments. The Titans showed man coverage, but went to zone, showed zone and went to man. They were showing two-high safety looks and rolling into single-high safety based coverages and vice versa.
It was an impressive display from defensive coordinator Shane Bowen and good execution by a Titans secondary that was missing two starters on the day. With the secondary causing confusion, the pass rush was able to make an impact.
First, Denico Autry got through after winning in an isolated matchup as Jeffery Simmons took on three blockers. Simmons got his own sack on our second play with a nasty swipe move to beat the guard to the quarterback. Harold Landry made his first big play of the year on the third sack where he executed an excellent game with Autry.
The Titans' pass rush group is excellent, but they weren't as consistently great against this offensive line. The defense needed the secondary to step up and while it wasn't pretty, they did just that.
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