today’s game as we get ready for kickoff in Miami. Titans should be able to run against Miami. The Dolphins run defense was middle of the pack last year (15th according to DVOA) www.titanscheapshops.com , but they lost their best run defender in Ndamukong Suh and are starting two rookie linebackers and one bad linebacker. During preseason they finished dead last in both total rushing yards allowed and yards allowed per carry. Derrick Henry and Dion Lewis should have a nice game today. Containing Kenyan Drake should be a priority for the defense. Drake was tops in the NFL when it came to PFF’s Elusiveness Rating in 2017 (minimum 67 touches). It was a relatively small sample size for the Miami back who only took over the starting gig for the final 5 games, but he’s a dangerous weapon as both a runner and a receiver.Does the Dolphins home field advantage matter? Maybe. The Dolphins have won 4 of their last 7 September home games and the new shades over the stadium are designed to keep the home team sideline in the shade and the visitors in the sun during the game. However, the forecast is calling for partly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms and a high of just 89 degrees. This won’t be the sweltering heat that we’ve seen in other early season games in Miami. The Dolphins also historically have the least home field advantage of any team in the NFL. Corey Davis vs Xavien Howard should be fun. I get that Titans fans are tired of hearing about how good Corey Davis should be, but there is a reason that everyone who watches and follows this team closely keeps talking about him. He’s easily the most physically gifted receiver on the Titans roster and he seems to have made strides since last season despite what you saw in preseason action. Today he will likely be matched up frequently with the Dolphins excellent young corner, Xavien Howard. The winner of this matchup could have a big say in the outcome of this game. Time for a big play from Adoree’ Jackson? The second of the Titans two 2017 first round picks seems poised to break out in his sophomore season. He showed tremendous improvements as the year wore on and finished ranked 12th in the NFL with 17 passes broken up. He also forced 3 fumbles and just missed several interceptions. It feels like Jackson is due to make a gamebreaking play either on defense or in the punt return game. Taywan Taylor could be an X-factor. The Dolphins secondary is pretty talented with players like Howard, Reshad Jones, and T.J. McDonald, but they aren’t very fast. All those guys are more physical than speedy which could make this a good game to get Taywan Taylor loose over the top. Jordan Phillips is a load inside for Miami. While the Dolphins defense is generally soft against the run, Phillips is not. He’s a massive man at 6’-6” and 341 pounds and hard to move off a spot. The Titans aren’t particularly big along the interior of their offensive line besides Quinton Spain so running at Phillips would probably not be advisable. Rishard’s revenge. Matthews caught a touchdown during his first contest against his old team in 2016, but was quiet in last year’s meeting. Even a few years after leaving the Dolphins in free agency, he probably has a little extra motivation this week. Jakeem Grant needs to be contained in the kicking game. Grant took a punt to the house when the Titans played in Miami in 2016 and will likely have return duties again today. He’s lightning quick and a threat to score every time he touches it. Grant is a good comp for Titans rookie Cameron Batson. Vrabel vs Gase. Dolphins coach Adam Gase was Mike Vrabel two years ago. A hot, young coach who rose quickly through the ranks to take over a team with a promising but inconsistent young quarterback. Things haven’t quite panned out the way Gase had hoped so far Tennessee Titans T-Shirt , but after dumping some guys that he considered bad apples in the offseason, he is hoping buy-in and culture will make up for the lost talent. Get the penalties under control. The Titans were among the most penalized NFL teams during preseason and the Dolphins were among the least. Tennessee needs to play disciplined football and not give up free first downs or put themselves behind down and distance today. We all remember what happened in Miami last season with the refs. Hopefully this game is decided by the players.Breaking Down Every Marcus Mariota Interception from 2017: #5 (vs BAL) Coming off a bye week and looking for their third consecutive win, the Titans hosted the Baltimore Ravens for a Week 9 match-up with potential playoff ramifications for both teams.In this game, Marcus Mariota threw his 5th interception of the season. If you don’t know how this works by now, I suggest reading the below previous articles:Breaking Down Every Marcus Mariota Interception from 2017: IntroductionBreaking Down Every Marcus Mariota Interception from 2017: #1 (at JAX)Breaking Down Every Marcus Mariota Interception from 2017: #2 (at HOU)Breaking Down Every Marcus Mariota Interception from 2017: #3 (at HOU)Breaking Down Every Marcus Mariota Interception from 2017: #4 (vs IND)The SituationAfter limiting the Ravens offense for most of the day, the Titans got the ball back at the start of the fourth quarter with a chance to ice the game away. Nursing a 16-6 lead with 12:03 left to play, the Titans faced a 3rd-and-4 from their own 40-yard line. What HappenedThe Titans had a chance to essentially wrap up a victory with a score on this drive. Instead, they gave the ball back to the Ravens, and with it, new life in this game. Six plays later, the Ravens cut the lead to 3 with a touchdown. The PlaycallThe Titans come out in a formation very similar to the trips bunch we saw twice in the Houston Texans interceptions, in 11 personnel Tennessee Titans Hats , but this time, the formation is flipped (likely due to the ball being placed on the opposite hashmarks). This tight formation draws the Ravens defense in close to the line of scrimmage before the snap, signaling the man-to-man coverage Mariota will see as soon as he hikes the ball.Perhaps you’ll recall from Interceptions #2 and #3 that the Texans came out with 7 defenders at or near the line of scrimmage but only rushed four.Here, the Ravens do something similar with 8 guys at or near the line before the snap, and only rush three of them. But by showing 8, they can create confusion along the line. I’m thinking Dean Pees will get along well with Mike Vrabel.The appropriate way to punish a team for loading the box like this is to hit them with a play-action fake and throw it deep. So naturally, the Titans only send one player on anything close to a deep pattern and run everything else within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. The Titans have a zone-beater Smash-7 to the right between Davis and Matthews. Underneath, they are running a man-beater mesh concept with Decker and Walker. Murray is a dump-off option leaking out to the left. The idea with a combo man/zone-beater is for the quarterback to quickly diagnose the coverage, either pre- or post-snap, and then make his reads based on what he sees. As is to be expected based on the coverage calls, the play is extremely well defended. Since Matthews is the only player running downfield, the safety picks him up in a double-team and that option is easily covered by the Ravens. The mesh concept underneath results in three Ravens following Eric Decker across the field with a shell of players surrounding Delanie Walker Tennessee Titans Hoodie , as well.Corey Davis looks like he’s about to pop open against single-coverage, but it takes him too long to complete his route. By the time he has separation, Mariota is already releasing the ball. And DeMarco Murray is not alone as he leaks out of the backfield.What Went WrongThe read progression on this play makes no sense to me. It appears to be a basic right-to-left read - you can see Mariota look first to the outside in Davis’s direction. My guess is the read is concerned with the cornerback’s technique - if he is playing off and backpedaling in Davis’s route stem, Mariota would likely try to hit Davis on the curl. But Davis is met with tight press coverage, so Mariota moves onto Rishard Matthews, who is running downfield in the stem of his corner route.What’s confusing about the read progression is that Mariota starts on Corey Davis and then moves to Rishard Matthews. If this was meant to be a zone-beater Smash-7 concept, Mariota should first read the “high” (Matthews) and then move to the “low” (Davis) if the curl/flat corner drops to defend Matthews. Of course, this entire concept is irrelevant on this particular play because the Ravens are in man coverage.Perhaps that is why the progression moves right to left, but what is strange about it is that Mariota never looks at either of the two players running a man-beater concept across the middle of the field underneath, Eric Decker and Delanie Walker.My assumption is that Mariota saw Matthews running downfield with the defender’s back facing him and simply didn’t see the free safety coming across the field. What Mariota saw at the moment the ball was released from his hand.Unfortunately, Eric Weddle was very ready for the pass that Mariota threw, and was there to easily intercept the ball. It does appear that Rishard Matthews is briefly held Cheap Customized Tennessee Titans Jerseys , but it may have only slightly impacted his ability to prevent the turnover.Mechanically speaking, Mariota does a nice job with his footwork on this throw with a very clean pocket around him. The decision to throw it, however, was extremely poor.Coach’s CommentsWhile Mularkey wasn’t asked directly about the play and what led to the interception, he did comment on Mariota’s response to the pick.Mariota made a huge mistake on this play, but he did come back after the Ravens score to throw a touchdown pass and re-take a 10-point lead over Baltimore with just 3:58 to play. Responding after an interception was a common theme of Mariota’s throughout the season. The only games in which he didn’t come back on the field and lead his team to a scoring (or even game-winning) drive were against Houston, Pittsburgh, and Arizona. What Mariota Should Have DonePerhaps you’ve noticed by now where Marcus Mariota should have gone with the football.The crossing routes run by Eric Decker and Delanie Walker create enough confusion and spacing that Walker ends up running free. He smartly slows his route as he approaches the middle of the field, aware of the linebacker covering the area to where Delanie’s route will carry him. Rather than run into coverage, Walker wisely sits in the hole just short of the first down marker. Sadly, Mariota did not see him and missed an easy throw that Walker could’ve carried over the line to gain. The biggest concern I have with this interception is that Mariota should’ve known where to go with the ball based purely on the defensive coverage. Although Corey Davis’s route would’ve been better served had he been split out wide to start, overall Navy Kenny Vaccaro Jersey , the playcall works well to beat whichever coverage, man or zone, the Ravens had decided to run.The Ravens go with man coverage, yet Mariota never looks at the routes that are specifically designed to attack that defense. Further, Mariota should know that he only has one receiver running downfield anywhere near the single-high free safety. If that safety drops at all, why would you test him, especially with a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter? So is Mariota not being coached to read the coverage, or is he simply failing to recognize man vs zone? This is something we’ll explore in the next breakdown...