A Standout Performance by Inside Linebackers

David Long, Dylan Cole and Joe Schobert kept 2021 NFL rushing champion Jonathan Taylor in check during Sunday's win over the Indianapolis Colts.

Marc Lebryk/USA Today Sports

NASHVILLE – The absence of inside linebacker Zach Cunningham had problematic potential on Sunday given that the Tennessee Titans defense faced one of the NFL’s best running backs in Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor.

It wound up as anything but a significant issue.

Threeinside linebackers – David Long, Dylan Cole and newly signed Joe Schobert – combined to play a critical role in stifling the Colts’ top offensive weapon. The trio totaled 21 tackles, two tackles for loss and a key forced fumble – one that stifled a potentially game-tying drive by Indianapolis.

Taylor was held 42 yards on 20 carries, his lowest rushing yardage total since the Titans held him to 12 yards as a rookie on Nov. 12, 2020. The NFL’s rushing champion in 2021, Taylor ran for over 100 yards in 10 of 17 games last season.

“(They were) really, really good against the run,” coach Mike Vrabel said Monday. “This is a good running football team, a very good back that we played. That was pretty much the difference in the game, being able to stop the run the way we did. Guys were playing physical, guys were playing instinctive and they did a nice job.”

Long offered a glimpse of things to come on the Colts’ opening drive, when he and Jeffery Simmons combined to drop Taylor for a 2-yard loss. One series later, it was Cole’s turn as he and Mario Edwards penetrated the left side of the line and took down Taylor for a 1-yard loss.

But the newcomer may have made the most single impactful play among the inside linebackers.

With the Colts facing third-and-1 at the Tennessee 24 midway through the fourth quarter, Schobert ripped the ball out of Taylor’s hands as the back was going to the ground. Kristian Fulton recovered the fumble.

It was the kind of move that showed the experience of Schobert, a seven-year veteran who led the NFL in tackles (144) in 2017.

“Are you trying to hammer (the football) or is the running back going down, like in Joe Schobert’s case, and you’re raking?” Vrabel said. “Ball disruption is about locating the ball and then using the proper technique to affect it. … You don’t want to rake when the running back is still upright. He’s just going to put two hands on it and spin away from you.”

Schobert finished with six tackles in just 24 snaps, an impressive Titans debut from a player just signed to the practice squad last Wednesday.

Cole produced a team-best eight tackles in a career-high 38 snaps, making just the second start of his six-year NFL career – the first since his rookie year of 2017.

“I’ve always just tried to find my niche and then build on it, wherever I’m at,” Cole said. “My niche here was special teams and being ready to play defense at any given moment, when my number is called just being ready and playing well.”

Long made seven tackles and performed his typical ironman routine, playing every defensive snap (66), as he has in three of the Titans’ four games this season.

It’s uncertain when Cunningham (elbow) will return to the lineup.

But the Titans’ inside linebackers may soon get another boost nonetheless.

Vrabel said Monday he’s expecting second-year linebacker Monty Rice (currently on reserve/PUP) to return to practice this week. A third-round draft pick in 2021, Rice missed the Titans’ first four games this year while recovering from the Achilles injury that ended his rookie season last November.

His eventual return to the roster will bolster a position group that held up well Sunday without Cunningham.