Tannehill-led Tennessee neutralizes blitzing defense
Ryan Tannehill has annually been one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the NFL.
When you add up how he’s consistently taken more sacks (349) than all but a handful of quarterbacks in each of his eight seasons as a starter it is safe to assume his pocket presence makes him easy to game plan for.
Get after the quarterback and the offense should crumble, right?
Problems is Tannehill’s intellect and ability to process what’s going on on the field makes him a difficult quarterback to blitz. And that makes creating pressure packages a conundrum, one that the Miami Dolphins (8-8) failed to solve during the 34-3 shellacking the Titans (11-5) handed the Dolphins on Sunday.
The Dolphins came into Sunday’s critical showdown with the Titans, which had playoff ramifications for both teams, as the NFL’s sack leaders, in possession of one of the league’s best defenses during the second half of 2021.
Yet the Tannehill-led Titans neutralized them, producing 308 yards of offense in a game where Tannehill, the NFL’s second-most sacked quarterback season, was sacked only once.
“I think they kind of just figured us out,” Dolphins defensive lineman Christian Wilkins said. “They were able to run the ball effectively, and just stayed consistent with the run. A few yards here, a few yards there.”
The Titans rushing attack gained 198 yards on 40 carries, and kept Miami’s defense off-balanced all game.
The ground game allowed Tennessee’s play-action passing attack to create issues for Miami’s defensive play-caller Josh Boyer, who was seemingly less aggressive than usual with his unit’s approach.
When Miami did bring pressure in the few obvious passing situations, Tannehill, who completed 13-of-18 passes for 120 yards and threw two touchdowns (127.0 passer rating), found his hot receiver.
In the second quarter he identified a Dolphins blitz and hit A.J. Brown on a slant that featured nothing but daylight with Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard trailing him.
The Dolphins were fortunate to minimize that reception to just a 25-yard gain, but it provided a sampling of why blitzing Tannehill, leaving receivers and tight ends one-on-one downfield with the cornerbacks and safeties, is a bad idea.
He’s not Jets rookie Zach Wilson, Giants backup Mike Glennon, or Ian Book, the Saints’ COVID-19 replacement starter. Tannehill’s a veteran starter and has seen it all.
In other instances when Miami brought pressure the Titans rolled the pocket on Miami’s seven-man pressures, buying Tannehill time to move around to find an open receiver.
There was also an instance when Tennessee saw Miami’s amoeba blitzing packages, which typically features seven to nine defenders on or close to the line of scrimmage, and caught the Dolphins secondary napping by throwing a screen pass to the tailback.
With the offense struggling, and Tennessee successfully managing Miami’s pressures, the Dolphins defense eventually wilted.
After two months of dominating its opponents during the seven-game winning streak, Boyer’s unit found its match.
And it was a Tannehill-led Titans team, which eliminated Miami from qualifying for the postseason.
Pair that with tackling issues Miami had in the second half and it was the worst defensive performance Brian Flores’ team delivered since a 45-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in October.
“The Titans are a good team,” Flores said of Tennessee, which clinched its second straight AFC South division title with Sunday’s win. “They had a good plan and we didn’t play well enough in any phase. And that starts with me.
“I didn’t coach it well enough either, so we’ll go back and make the corrections and try to play better next week.”
Flores typically falls on the sword when his team’s execution falls short.
Or like Sunday, when it was terrible.
“It was a great win for us obviously. A lot was on the line for us as a team and I’m excited we [came] out and played well, played a full game as a team,” said Tannehill, whose Titans teammates said he had more of an animated personality on gameday facing his former team. “It was important for me.”
Tannehill can now hold his head up high against his former team because in a game where he clinched a division title and the playoff berth that comes with it, he showed he’s a Dolphins blitz slayer.