Hard to believe we’re already four games in, a quarter of the way through the 2019 season. The Tennessee Titans are sitting at 2-2, with two gut-wrenching duds against the Colts and Jaguars, and a couple of dominant performances against the Browns and Falcons under their belt. We may not know exactly who this team is right now, but we know for sure that the Titans play damn good defense. In particular, cornerback Logan Ryan is having a standout season. In fact, I think you could actually make a reasonable case for him being the MVP of this team so far.
On the season, Ryan is leading the Titans in interceptions with two – that mark is tied for third in the NFL through the first four weeks. Both picks demonstrated Ryan’s ballhawking ability as he jumped the route and made a play each time:
Logan Ryan is a ballhawk @RealLoganRyan pic.twitter.com/AsX0zHCN9v
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) September 15, 2019
Logan Ryan with LARCENY #Titans #NFLpic.twitter.com/chlK5n3y1K
— Taste Of Sport (@TasteOfSport) September 9, 2019
But, he’s also 5th on the team in tackling, averaging five tackles per game (that’s 20 on the season). He also has 1.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, and a team leading six passes deflected. Not to mention the stuff that doesn’t show up on the stat line. For instance, the play he made forcing Falcons receiver Mohamed Sanu to adjust his route, put just out-of-position enough to force an incompletion and potentially save a touchdown that may have drastically altered the game.
Now, I don’t want to poo-poo here and diminish the season he’s having, but choosing Ryan here, in part, is because there aren’t really a lot of standout individual performances on this team – Kevin Byard, Cameron Wake, Jurrell Casey, Derrick Henry, hell even A.J. Brown have all contributed significantly in the two Titans wins. It ain’t like one guy is doing it all for the Titans the same way a Christian McCaffrey is for Carolina. Just wanted to throw that caveat in there.
If you ask Pro Football Focus, they’ll probably tell you that either Ben Jones or Kevin Byard is the MVP of this team, seeing as how each man is the highest graded Titan on each side of the ball. But, with his production and the spark he provides on this team, I’m still saying Logan Ryan.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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