Going into this season, a popular saying in regard to the Tennessee Titans’ revamped but questionable offensive line was that “things couldn’t possibly get worse” than what occurred during the 2022 campaign.
However, that is exactly what is happening after 10 weeks of the 2023 season.
Through nine games, the Titans have given up 33 sacks, the fourth-most in the NFL. That’s an average of 3.7 sacks per game, which puts the Titans on pace to give up a whopping 62. Compare that to last year, when the Titans gave up a total 49 sacks, or 2.9 per contest.
Remember our old friend Dennis Daley, who was awful and gave up 12 sacks and 52 pressures last season as one of the worst left tackles in the sport?
The Titans have somehow found a way to be worse, as the left tackle spot has surrendered 14 sacks this season, with Andre Dillard accounting for 10 of them.
As far as total pressures are concerned, Tennessee has ceded a disgusting 142, an average of 15.8 per game. That puts the team on pace to surrender an astounding 269. The Titans’ 2022 group upfront gave up 198, or 11.6 per.
Of course, Dillard leads the team with 36 pressures allowed, which works out to four per game and puts him on pace for 68. Whether or not he gets playing time moving forward to reach that mark remains to be seen, though.
What’s worse, the Titans’ left tackle spot has given up more sacks by itself than two entire teams’ offensive lines, the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
Sacks allowed through 10 weeks:
Chiefs-12
Bills-13#Titans LT position-14
Dolphins-15— Wes on Broadway (@TitansStats) November 13, 2023
Now, this isn’t to say the only issue is at left tackle, but it is certainly the biggest.
As head coach Mike Vrabel pointed out, the Dillon Radunz at left tackle experiment didn’t quite work out in Week 10 and there could be another change at the position moving forward.
The next step should be to deploy Peter Skoronski, who, in my humble opinion, is the only hope for a long-term, in-house solution.
But the Titans are clearly hesitant to do that. Instead, as Vrabel hinted on Monday, we might see rookie Jaelyn Duncan get the next crack at it. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Dillard back out there at some point, either.
– Since Week 5 –#Titans QB pressures allowed: 95#Titans pressures on opposing QBs: 43
Out pressured 47-11 over the last 2 games and 59-21 since Will Levis was named the starting quarterback.
— Sam Phalen (@Sam_Phalen) November 14, 2023
No matter what Vrabel says, don’t expect things to improve all that much the rest of the way. The Titans simply don’t have the players and will need a full offseason where they push the right buttons in order to solve the issue.
Until then, we can only hope the offensive line doesn’t get Levis seriously injured and he can somehow find a way to continue developing in the process.
