Watching the film from Sunday’s game between the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts made it all the more perplexing. I have no idea what Frank Reich and company were trying to do. People talk about what ass Matt Ryan has been and maybe that’s true, but I don’t think the offensive woes were entirely his fault. When they were calling passing plays, Ryan was hitting them. The Titans secondary didn’t exactly have their best day. But, the problem for the Colts was that their offensive line was just straight up getting beat by this Titans defensive front, and Reich, for whatever reason, didn’t see the success they were having passing the ball and think “yeah, we should do more of that.” Nonetheless, one guy I was eager to watch this week was linebacker Dylan Cole, who was filling in for the injured Zach Cunningham.

I was curious to watch his game specifically because I watched it live and thought, “damn, this dude showed UP today!” Sometimes, the film proves you right. Sometimes, it proves that something else was going on to make it look like the guy was balling out. There’s always that element of uncertainty in real time as the games move so fast. But, by and large, I think the film confirms that Cole had a hell of a game.
Since I’m a bad new first kind of guy, let’s start with my criticisms – we saw his limitations in terms of raw power. There were snaps when he just couldn’t shed a block and get anywhere near the play to impact it. He also had a major whiff on a rep too, though he was good tackling all in all. I also noticed that he wasn’t in the game late, and that seemed like an interesting move. The Titans were using more defensive linemen and really trying to get after Ryan. There was a lot of Joe Schobert in late, and I’m not sure what was behind that. Did they just want a fresher guy in there making tackles at the end of the game? Was something up? I don’t know – contrary to popular belief, I’m not actually on the Titans coaching staff.
But, for each of my whiny ass critical nitpicks, there was something good. It didn’t always show up in the box score with a tackle or a pressure either, though Cole did lead the Titans in tackles on Sunday with seven (tied with Roger McCreary and David Long Jr.). I noticed he seemed steadfast in gap integrity, and was rarely out of position if at all. On the first series, he showed some solid play recognition and was routinely flocking to the ball and trying to get involved in the tackle. He was tenacious in that regard throughout the game. Cole was particularly strong in diagnosing run plays and had a nose for getting his hands dirty in it.

This was just a hell of a play – this one was an example of all of that good stuff coming together. He recognizes the play right off the bat, he successfully navigates all the traffic to get in the gap to face Jonathan Taylor, and he finished the job by blowing this one up and securing the tackle. THAT was the Dylan Cole show on Sunday afternoon.
I didn’t notice him straight up dropping into coverage very often, but I thought he had a good coverage rep closing the distance on Taylor and eliminating him as an option for Ryan to check down to. And, he also had a nice play in the open field, tackling Mo Alie-Cox one on one, which is something most of the Titans defense couldn’t do on Sunday. He’s like a pesky gnat – while I say he didn’t routinely shed blocks, that doesn’t mean he didn’t do it at all. I found a couple of plays where he uses his low center of gravity to sort of dip and go around his blocker. It just wasn’t consistent. All in all, I’d say it was probably the best game of Cole’s that comes to mind off the top of my head. He stepped up when the Titans were in a pinch at the position and needed someone to step up.
What’s the ceiling here? I don’t know, but I think he’s definitely earning his keep in the rotation at a position at which the Titans don’t really have all that much depth. He could prove to be a valuable asset when the Titans need someone they can count on to step up and patrol the middle of the field.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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