The Chargers travel cross-country for an away game against the Titans with an opportunity to right the ship after a difficult loss to the Dolphins in Week 1.
Here’s what should give LA pause heading into the matchup.
Outside zone
It’s easy to think that Derrick Henry and the Titans are a downhill, between-the-tackles rushing attack since Henry is a gigantic human being. But Tennessee has long made their money in the run game with outside runs, stretching the defense horizontally before turning it upfield and letting Henry inflict punishment on smaller perimeter players. (Think about Henry’s lengthy highlight reel of physical runs down the sideline.)
For the Chargers, this presents an issue they haven’t proven they’ve fixed. LA may be without either Joey Bosa and Chris Rumph II, both dealing with hamstring issues, which would force rookie Tuli Tuipulotu and potentially a practice squad call-up to step in and defend the run at a high level. Outside zone runs also stress the slot defender, where the Chargers have entrusted Asante Samuel Jr. with a role. Samuel struggled as a run defender a season ago and will need to show improvement for them to be effective.
Mike Vrabel
Vrabel’s Titans teams have always played well above their talent level. Tennessee is frequently left out of playoff contender discussions, only for them to string together key wins in important spots and force themselves into contention.
One of the reasons for this, and one that should give the Chargers pause, is that Tennessee is always built to be a more physical team than their opponent. The Titans’ offense is, of course, built around Derrick Henry. Their defensive line is built to punish teams up the middle. That physicality wears on their opponents over the course of a game – it’s why you see Henry begin to gain steam as the critical moments of the fourth quarter hit. Los Angeles struggled toward the end of the game against Miami, giving up two of their three sacks of the game on the final two plays.
Tight end involvement
Potentially without DeAndre Hopkins on Sunday as the star receiver deals with an ankle injury, Tennessee will need to find other players to generate positive passing production. Their top receivers, beyond Hopkins, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Treylon Burks, are not necessarily threats to have a significant bearing on the outcome of this game.
That swings the focus to tight end, where the Titans have second-year tight end Chig Okonkwo in the lineup. Okonkwo did not record a reception on two targets last week but logged 32 receptions for 450 yards and three touchdowns in a promising rookie season. The Chargers had their fair share of issues defending Dolphins tight end Durham Smythe, who had three catches on seven targets last week.
Tennessee will likely rely on the short passing game whether Hopkins can go or not, making Okonkwo a more featured aspect of the game plan. Eric Kendricks and Kenneth Murray had their fair share of issues defending Smythe last week, primarily on routes to the boundaries where LA’s linebackers were a step slow to get to their man. Okonkwo is a better athlete than Smythe is, presenting some potential issues in that area on Sunday.
Strong run defense
The Chargers had one of the best rushing performances of the past decade on Sunday, taking 40 attempts for 233 yards and three touchdowns with a successful run rate of 66.7%. There should be plenty of credit distributed to Kellen Moore, Austin Ekeler, and the offensive line for the showing. But part of the credit should also go to the Dolphins’ defense, which is designed to cede rushing yards at the cost of preventing explosive pass plays.
Tennessee’s defense is very much not designed to cede rushing yards. Jeffery Simmons, Teair Tart, and Denico Autry make up one of the best defensive lines in football. Los Angeles found plenty of success running inside zone against the Dolphins and likely will not do so against the Titans. That puts more reliance on the passing attack to convert longer third downs to string drives together.
There’s also the matter of Austin Ekeler’s ankle injury, which did not prevent him from finishing Week 1’s game but did prevent him from practicing on Thursday. It seems like Ekeler will be limited if he does play Sunday, but he could also miss the game entirely. That means a larger workload for Joshua Kelley, who had 91 yards on 16 carries last week, plus work for…hmm. Isaiah Spiller could be active after being a healthy scratch against Miami. Undrafted rookie Elijah Dotson could see work on offense. Practice squad signee Jaret Patterson could be called up to play a role. None of those options are confidence-inspiring, especially against a front like Tennessee’s.
