With the Tennessee Titans’ defense going up against an elite offense like the Kansas City Chiefs’ with some key players missing, we couldn’t have imagined this unit playing as well as it did on Sunday.
Tennessee’s defense held the Chiefs to 334 total yards of offense, including under 300 passing and under 100 rushing, and Kansas City was held out of the end zone the entire game, scoring just three points.
I don’t care how optimistic you are as a Titans fan, nobody saw this one coming.
The biggest standout on defense was Denico Autry, who continues to be the best free-agent acquisition the Titans made this past offseason.
Autry was the heart of an effective pass-rush on Sunday, finishing with two sacks and four QB Hits to go along with three tackles. In total, the Titans notched four sacks (Harold Landry and Bud Dupree had one apiece) and eight QB Hits.
Denico Autry making his presence felt. #KCvsTEN
: Watch #KCvsTEN on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/ILPpO8H6wD
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) October 24, 2021
But this wasn’t just about the pass-rush; the Titans’ secondary provided great coverage on the back-end, and some of the consistent pressure Tennessee got on Patrick Mahomes was a result of that coverage.
Most importantly, Tennessee’s embattled secondary, which was missing a pair of starters, kept everything in front of it, leading to the Chiefs notching just two 20-plus yard plays, with a long of 25.
The Chiefs failed to score on all three of their trips to the red zone, and the Titans forced three turnovers, with two fumbles and one interception.
Overall, this was about as perfect a game as the Titans could have had defensively, and it was certainly the unit’s best showing of 2021.
Honorable mention: A.J. Brown
The Titans did all of their damage in the first half, and Brown was a big factor in that. The Ole Miss product looked sharp and routinely torched Kansas City’s suspect secondary.
He finished with a season-best 133 yards, 101 of which came in the first half, and found pay dirt. After a slow start to the season, Brown now has two impressive showings in back-to-back weeks.
The man is back on track.
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