The Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders will do battle in Week 5 for the first time since 2018, and it’s the first meeting between these two teams in the nation’s capital since 2014.
Tennessee comes into this game with a head of steam after winning its last two following an 0-2 start. However, those two wins haven’t exactly been pretty, leaving plenty of reasons for concern moving forward.
Washington has seen plenty of struggles itself, and more than the Titans. The Commanders have lost three straight games coming into this contest and sit in the cellar of the NFC East with a 1-3 record.
On the surface, this looks like a great matchup for the Titans to grab their third win in a row, but as is the case with all games in the NFL, they have concerns to overcome in order to secure the win.
Here’s a look at Tennessee’s reasons for concern, as well as its reasons for optimism, going into Week 5.
Optimism: Commanders' offensive line
After facing arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL last week, the Titans will have a meeting with another one of the league’s worst in Week 5.
The Commanders actually entered this week with 17 sacks allowed, the most in the NFL. The Colts (21) have temporarily passed them following their win on Thursday night, but Washington could be back on top this weekend.
The Titans are already without Harold Landry for the season and won’t have Bud Dupree for this game, but Rashad Weaver, Denico Autry and Jeffery Simmons have done a great job picking up the slack.
This trio should be able to give this offensive line fits, and as we all know the more pressure you can put on Carson Wentz, the more likely it is the already mistake-prone quarterback will screw up.
Concern: Injuries
We already spoke about the Titans missing Dupree for this game, but their defense will also be without starters like safety Amani Hooker and linebacker Zach Cunningham. Also to make their outside linebacker group even thinner, Tennessee won’t have Ola Adeniyi, either.
While it certainly isn’t as good, Tennessee’s pass-rush has been able to get by this season without Landry and Dupree, and the good news here is that this is another matchup the Titans’ pass-rush can exploit, even without its best edge defenders.
The injury to Hooker might be the most significant, as Tennessee’s secondary has struggled in coverage and with preventing big plays all season.
On offense, the Titans will be without rookie wide receiver Treylon Burks. Granted, Burks hasn’t produced much through four games, but his absence gives Washington’s struggling pass defense one less thing to worry about through the air, and it’s one less option for quarterback Ryan Tannehill to throw to in an already questionable receiving corps.
Optimism: Carson Wentz
As we already stated, the Titans should be able to put plenty of pressure on Wentz, who is prone to self-destructing even without pressure in his face.
Pass protection has certainly played a part in Wentz’s disastrous start to his Commanders career. Not only has he been sacked 17 times, but Wentz has turned the ball over six times, including one fumble lost and five picks.
Wentz has the capability to have a big game with the kinds of weapons he has at his disposal, and the struggles of Tennessee’s secondary gives him an even more decent chance to do that.
However, based on what we’ve seen from Wentz, both last season in Indy and at the start of this one in Washington, the Titans shouldn’t be worried as long as they can put at least a little bit of heat on the veteran signal-caller.
Concern: Second-half offense
You already know the story: the Titans’ offense has looked very good in the first half of the past two games, but it has been the exact opposite in the second half of those contests.
Tennessee has failed to score a single second-half point in each of the last three games, and the Titans are being outscored 64-7 overall in the second half this season.
We already spoke about Tennessee’s defense missing all of those players on top of the guys they already have on injured reserve, thus this unit can’t be expected to continue to stand on its head in order to keep the Titans in games.
Offensive coordinator Todd Downing and Co. have got to figure things out or we could be sweating through another potential comeback in the final 30 minutes of a game — that is, assuming Tennessee gets off to another fast start, which is far from a guarantee.
Optimism and concern: The pass defenses
While Tennessee’s pass defense (29th) ranks worse than Washington’s (24th), Tannehill is far more likely to exploit such a matchup than Wentz is, simply because he’s a better player.
The Commanders also don’t have a running back like Derrick Henry who the Titans have respect via extra help upfront, and the Titans’ pass-rush can still get pressure with rushing three, so defensive coordinator Shane Bowen can afford to have extra players down the field.
The biggest concerns are the injuries, with Hooker being ruled out and slot cornerback Elijah Molden still on injured reserve. Molden’s absence has loomed particularly large, as Tennessee has struggled to replace him.
For a Tennessee passing attack that has struggled, this is a great matchup, with the Commanders giving up 259.8 passing yards per game and 10 touchdowns in total, tied for the most in NFL.
It’s going to be a pick-your-poison type of game for Washington’s defense, as it has to decide whether or not to drop extra help or leave more in the box to defend against Henry.
Chances are the Commanders will do the latter, as the Titans’ passing attack simply hasn’t done enough to warrant the other approach. That should leave things very open for Tannehill and Co. to do damage through the air.
If the Titans’ passing attack doesn’t get it together for a full 60 minutes this week, we’re not sure it’ll ever happen.
Concern: A letdown game
The football world fully expects Tennessee to win this game, which is bad news if you believe in the trend of the Titans losing games they’re expected to win.
And that’s a very real trend, as Tennessee has been susceptible to letdown games against teams they should beat in the past few years.
On the flip side, Tennessee usually rises to the occasion against some of the league’s better teams, which has been one of the maddening aspects of the Mike Vrabel era since 2018.
Granted, the Titans aren’t exactly light years ahead of the Commanders with how inconsistent they’ve played overall the past four weeks, but Washington comes into this game in really bad shape, thus the Titans should win.
