Tennessee Titans Defense Must Make Deshaun Watson His Own Worst Enemy

The Tennessee Titans defense needs to use Deshaun Watson's tendencies against him on Sunday and it sounds like the the coaches and the players understand the assignment.

The Tennessee Titans have played Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson six times already due to his previous employment with the Houston Texans. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel also spent a year with Watson in 2017 as the Texans' defensive coordinator. If anyone knows Deshaun Watson's game, it's Vrabel.

Watson may be in a different offense with a different team than those previous six meetings, but that sort of institutional knowledge of a player can certainly benefit the game plan. Based on what we heard from multiple people on Thursday, the Titans know exactly what to expect and how they plan to capitalize.

The theme was clear, Deshaun Watson is a strong quarterback that will try to keep the play alive and when he does, the Titans must create turnovers. Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen talked about how difficult Watson can be to deal with, but the opportunity it presents.

"When you rush him you got to be relentless," Bowen said. "He's got a knack for finding the crease or working his way out of sacks. He's strong, he's tough to bring down at times. You got to be relentless when you're rushing this guy, you got to stay at it, you never know. The play is really never over with him. We just got to continue to rush even when we think we might not have something, something could come late just from him trying to extend something."

Watson has a propensity for playmaking. He loves to extend the play, never give up and scramble around until he finds a big play or his forced out of it. It can create back-breaking plays for a defense, but it also generates turnover-worthy plays.

Since Watson joined the Cleveland Browns, he has not looked like the Deshaun Watson who played in Houston. Watson's completion percentage is down 10 points, his touchdown rate down two percent, his quarterback rating has dropped from a 104.5 to a 76.2 and he's throwing for 80 yards less per game.

Not only that, but Watson is turning over the ball more in Cleveland despite having a better offensive line than most of his time in Houston. He's fumbling the ball at a similar rate(one fumble every two games), but his interception rate is up from 2.1% with the Texans to 2.9% in his eight games with the Browns.

Just this season alone in two games, Watson has fumbled three times and thrown two interceptions.

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Jeffery Simmons will be one of the top players tasked with creating these turnovers and he spoke about the mission ahead and the chances he might have to make a game-changing play.

"I wouldn't just say he's so dangerous running the ball," Simmons said surprised at how the questioned was posed. "He's gives us a lot of opportunity. When it come down to it, we have to make sure our rush lanes good and make sure that we coordinate, but at the end of the day it's on film and everyone see it, that he gives us an opportunity to get the ball." 

Simmons described how Watson creates those opportunities and what he's seen from him on film that makes him believes he will have those chances.

"When he's running with the ball, when he's trying to escape the pocket, the ball is out from his body, trying to do the stiff arm or whatever it may be." Simmons detailed. "We've seen it on film and we can coach that. When we're affecting him, trying to affect him, we have to be able to go for the ball."

The Titans' pass rush is expected to lead this entire team at the end of the day. The defense is clearly the superior unit and they know that weight is on their shoulders. That's why the message is always about creating turnovers and this week will test that. Simmons has set his team's goal for the week with that in mind.

"That's one thing we talk about here," Simmons explained, "trying to create those turnovers and I don't think nobody on the field fumbles the ball more than the quarterback. It's a great week, if we can force him out of the pocket or whatever it may be, we can force him to make some bad decisions with the ball and that's our goal."

If the Titans are able to accomplish that goal, they would give their offense some great opportunities against a stingy defense and set themselves up to improve to 2-0.

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