The Tennessee Titans traveled across the country as 7.5-point underdogs against the Los Angeles Rams. I thought that based on the match-ups, it would be a tall order to ask this team to go on the road and win…and that was with or without Derrick Henry. But, as this team has done on numerous occasions under Mike Vrabel, they proved dumbasses like me wrong. The final score says 28-16, but anyone who watched that game knows it wasn’t anywhere near that close. Here are my takeaways from the Titans’ downright dominant win out on the West Coast.
Takeaways: Titans Shock Rams, 28-16
- Just an absolutely unreal start for this defense, holding the prolific Rams offense to just three points in the first half. Al Michaels even noted how Sean McVay never looks confused, but the Titans defense had his number in that first half. They had no answer for the Titans pass rush, and Matthew Stafford had no idea what to do with it. If you boil this dominant win down to one thing, that’s it for me.
- This defense just keeps getting better – the offense got off to a bit of a slow start, but that’s become the norm for this unit. As far as finding its way without Henry, I thought the Titans did a nice job of mixing things up and remaining balanced, which is what that offense is all about – 26 rushing attempts to 27 pass attempts.
- The Titans have now made it through the most difficult part of their schedule at 4-0, just like we all predicted.
- It feels like the narrative is already “an uncharacteristic night from the Rams,” but how many times do teams need to have “uncharacteristic” nights against the Titans before we acknowledge that maybe the Titans are just a good football team?
- Defensive back Chris Jackson was all over the field tonight. He continues to impress when called upon as an aggressive heavy hitter and sure tackler. The Titans have a type at defensive back.
- The AJ Brown vs. Jalen Ramsey match-up was fun to watch all night long – Brown finished with five catches for 42 yards, but he had two terrible drops on third downs tonight that would’ve kept the drives going. He finally caved in and pushed back on Ramsey, drawing a foul in the process. Ramsey had two fouls on him. The second was a definite unsportsmanlike conduct call, though the first one that was initially called unsportsmanlike conduct, was later revealed to have been switched to a personal foul. I don’t know – seems to me like Ramsey should’ve been tossed from this one, but it didn’t matter in the end.
- The Rams had to do something in the second half, and I think they probably made the right adjustments – Stafford started dropping way back to get the hell out of the teeth of that Titans pass rush, and the Rams offensive line did a good job of moving the pocket around and getting Stafford away from the action. They were able to get a little somethin’ somethin’ going, but the Titans made their adjustments as well and bowed up in their own regard on defense.
- Whatever the opposite of a game ball is, I want to give that to Bobby Hart. Bless his heart. I’m sure he’s doing his best. But, Hart 1:1 with Aaron Donald is not good.
- Cris Collinsworth said Shane Bowen‘s defense looks like last year’s Rams defense. He followed that up by saying that it starts out looking like a standard shell defense and then it turns into something else once the ball is snapped. The Shane Bowen haters will be furious.
- Amani Hooker made a HELLUVA 1:1 tackle on Darrell Henderson (I think…maybe it was Sony Michel. I’m tired) that forced a 4th down that was unsuccessful. He had his fair share of aggressive one on one tackles, and adds to the personality of the defensive backs that I mentioned when talking about Jackson earlier.
- What really gets me about this defense is that they continue to not really blitz. The pressure they’re able to generate with a four-man front is uncanny, and it allows guys to sit back and clog up throwing lanes. Tonight is an example oof the full extent of this regime’s vision with the defense and what it can be when guys execute.
- Early thoughts on Adrian Peterson – I thought it looked like they were making a concerted effort to get him the ball early to help knock off some of the rust from not playing for the last 10 months. He ran hard, and he ran physically – there were a couple of times that he looked a little slow to recognize an open running lane, but that won’t be an issue once he gets more reps. It was about as good of a start as you could’ve asked for.
- D’Onta Foreman looked impressive in spots too – this running-back-by-committee approach should keep this train on the tracks.
- Here’s how the carries were distributed at running back with Henry out of this offense:
The workload distribution at RB tonight:
— The Unofficial Titans Podcast (@TitansPod) November 8, 2021
Adrian Peterson – 10 carries
Jeremy McNichols – 7 carries
D'Onta Foreman – 5 carries#Titans
Game Balls:
- Jeffery Simmons – The Rams had absolutely no answer for Big Jeff – he was a menace. He had three sacks in the first half, batted down a pass, and he absolutely blocked the soul out of #73 on a play in which he didn’t try any finesse moves…just straight up drove the dude back and put him on skates. Simmons took over tonight.
- Denico Autry – Simmons got a lot of the hype tonight, but Autry was an absolute force as well, wreaking havoc all over the field. He had a sack and a half tonight to go along with his three quarterback hits and two passes deflected.
- Kevin Byard – Byard continues to play savvy football and absolutely has a nose for the ball. Get around the play and good things happen. Another solid game for the reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Month.
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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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