Landry Banking on Pass Rush to Make Titans Winners

The decision to re-sign the outside linebacker means four players who combined for 32.5 sacks in the 2021 NFL season will be together again in 2022.

NASHVILLE – In the last game of the 2021 season, Harold Landry and other members of the Tennessee Titans defense tied an NFL playoff record with nine sacks of quarterback Joe Burrow and generally terrorized the Cincinnati Bengals backfield.

That alone couldn’t lift the Titans to a divisional-round playoff victory, but Landry believes that afternoon’s ferocious pass rush is a taste of things to come in 2022.

The Titans made sure the team’s fearsome four will return intact this season when they signed Landry to a five-year deal reportedly worth $87.5 million. Landry (12 sacks last season), defensive lineman Denico Autry (nine sacks), defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons (8.5 sacks) and edge rusher Bud Dupree (three sacks) combined for 32.5 of the Titans’ 43 sacks in 2021 – a total that represented a huge jump from the team’s 19-sack total in 2020.

“We’ve got some dogs on our front four,” Landry said. “I just feel like none of us are content. We’re always hungry, always looking to improve and I think that’s the most important thing. All four of us kind of share that same mindset to where, when we step out on the field, we want to be the best players on the field.”

The fact the Titans have invested an estimated $170 million in their starting edge rushers is an indication of the priority they’re putting on pressuring the passer.

Landry and Co. will have plenty of opportunity to do so in 2022. The starting quarterbacks the Titans are scheduled to face include: Burrow, Derek Carr (Las Vegas), Russell Wilson (Denver), Dak Prescott (Dallas), Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City), Justin Herbert (L.A. Chargers), Josh Allen (Buffalo) and Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay).

“I feel personally that the game is going to come down to the quarterback and the guys that can affect the quarterback,” Landry said. “That’s the way I see it.

“We see all these quarterbacks taking their game to the level each year. We just got to do the same (defensively). That’s what this game comes down to, I feel like. You got a dominant front four, you got a chance to win every game.”

Landry’s sack total wasn’t the only career-high he posted in 2021. The 2018 second-round pick also totaled 49 quarterback pressures and 14 tackles for loss. His 75 tackles were second only to the 81 he produced in 2019.

The Titans now get to benefit from Landry’s improvement over the years, both physically and mentally.

“As a player, I’ve just grown so much -- like run game, pass game, my hands, setting the edge, coverage and … from a mental standpoint, just understanding situations,” Landry said. “That’s something (coach Mike Vrabel) does a great job teaching us. That’s something I’ve grown in over the years. The game has slowed down for me. I’m seeing formations easier -- that the offense comes out in. That triggers something in my head that says, `This is a pass, this is a run,’ stuff like that.”

Another year playing with one another may also make the front four that much more imposing in 2022.

Dupree was limited to 11 games in his first season with the Titans in 2021, and he had not completely recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in late 2020. Autry played all 17 games last season, so he, too, has a year of experience in the system.

“I just felt like as the year went on, we got better and better as a unit, and we just started playing off one another more and more, consistently and efficiently,” Landry said. “That’s when we were all at our best, when we were playing together. I just feel like we’ve grown, and continued time is only going to enhance that.

“We’re real confident we have the team to go out and win the Super Bowl. I think our front four can lead the charge.”