Defensive Tell?

I found this video fascinating. Hindsight is 20/20, but I wanted to hear what you guys thought.

I think this is the third thread on this video now.

This video made a lot more sense a week ago, but our defense wasn't the reason we were knocked out on Saturday.

Elijah said:

This video made a lot more sense a week ago, but our defense wasn't the reason we were knocked out on Saturday.

Click to expand...

I don’t know if I’d go that far. Getting prison raped by Henry and allowing a back-breaking conversation to a TE out of Harvard played a pretty big part in the team taking an L.

Elijah said:

This video made a lot more sense a week ago, but our defense wasn't the reason we were knocked out on Saturday.

Click to expand...

The defense was a big part of why they were knocked out on Saturday.

Deus Irae said:

The defense was a big part of why they were knocked out on Saturday.

Click to expand...

The pass defense? The Titans had a whopping 72 yards through the air.

The Brandon Five said:

The pass defense? The Titans had a whopping 72 yards through the air.

Click to expand...

Yes but when you choose to not play for 4 downs with 3 mins left and hand the ball back to your defense, you expect them to stop a 3rd & long throw from freakin' Tannehill.

The Brandon Five said:

The pass defense? The Titans had a whopping 72 yards through the air.

Click to expand...

How many on the ground?

KontradictioN said:

How many on the ground?

Click to expand...

The OP is about pass defense. They got gashed on the ground. Over 180 yards. Not sure if that was partly a result of the gameplan (ala SB XXV)?

The Brandon Five said:

The OP is about pass defense. They got gashed on the ground. Over 180 yards. Not sure if that was partly a result of the gameplan (ala SB XXV)?

Click to expand...

I realize that. The contention was that the defense wasn’t a reason why we lost. It clearly was.

KontradictioN said:

I don’t know if I’d go that far. Getting prison raped by Henry and allowing a back-breaking conversation to a TE out of Harvard played a pretty big part in the team taking an L.

Click to expand...

The attempts at tackling Henry were embarrassing, but 15 points still would have won.

KontradictioN said:

I don’t know if I’d go that far. Getting prison raped by Henry and allowing a back-breaking conversation to a TE out of Harvard played a pretty big part in the team taking an L.

Click to expand...

I remember someone on here posting that they weren’t worried about Derrick Henry as we had been stopping the run better recently. That’s all well and good for some white guy on the Dolphins I’ve never heard of and a rookie and 300 year old Frank Gore on the Bills but Henry is a different story. He was 3-4 yards past the LOS before we even got a hand on him on a lot of carries.

Deus Irae said:

The defense was a big part of why they were knocked out on Saturday.

Click to expand...

Derrick Henry dominated, but it didn't translate to the scoreboard. Had we scored one more field goal than we did and won, all the buzz would be how BB is a genius for "letting Henry get empty yards". That's on the offense.

Elijah said:

Derrick Henry dominated, but it didn't translate to the scoreboard. Had we scored one more field goal than we did and won, all the buzz would be how BB is a genius for "letting Henry get empty yards". That's on the offense.

Click to expand...

And on the other side, had the Pats scored one more field goal and won the game, no one in Tennessee would have been saying, "Hey, the offense did it's job getting 180 yards rushing! It was the defense's fault for giving up 16 points!"

The Brandon Five said:

The OP is about pass defense. They got gashed on the ground. Over 180 yards. Not sure if that was partly a result of the gameplan (ala SB XXV)?

Click to expand...

That was definitely part of it. The Titans averaged 2.06 WRs per play and the Patriots used 2.47 CBs per play. You don’t use an extra CB on 41% of the snaps unless stopping the pass is a much higher priority than stopping the run.

Bottom line: this defense was known to control games early on in the season when it was to be perceived as elite.


They could not take control of the game. Derrick Henry controlled the pace of the game.

Elijah said:

Derrick Henry dominated, but it didn't translate to the scoreboard. Had we scored one more field goal than we did and won, all the buzz would be how BB is a genius for "letting Henry get empty yards". That's on the offense.

Click to expand...

???

Yes, it did translate to the scoreboard.

Even when the Titans weren't scoring, it was obvious that the Patriots defensive struggles led to issues with starting field position for the offense. The offense only had two drives start from outside of its 25 yard line. The Titans last 3-and-out started with 9:13 left in the second quarter, and the only time the Patriots started with good field position after that was the drive where Tannehill got picked off.

So the Patriots defense's inability to stop the Titans from chewing up clock and tilting the field made the job of the already struggling offense much more difficult, and that obviously impacted the scoreboard.

Tannehill threw only 15 times all game, and had only 8 completions for 72 yards, and the Titans still moved the chains at least once in 5 of 7 drives, and were able to keep the field tilted in their favor pretty much all game long. But let's pretend it was all about the offense.

Elijah said:

Derrick Henry dominated, but it didn't translate to the scoreboard. Had we scored one more field goal than we did and won, all the buzz would be how BB is a genius for "letting Henry get empty yards". That's on the offense.

Click to expand...

The offense sucked out loud the entire season. An offense that sucks out loud needs as many opportunities as the defense can give it to score. The defense did not give them timely opportunities because the defense was getting bent over the table by Henry and the Titans’ OL. The defense was also the unit that allowed the back breaking conversion when they absolutely needed a stop... to some tank ass white boy from Hahvahd. The defense was a problem and they definitely had a hand in the loss. You may want to reassess your position here.

The fact that the defense could have done more is not equivalent to the defense being a problem. It's a strange mental exercise when they were essentially one yard away from winning this game, yet in some people's minds, neither the offense nor the defense was any good in it.