With the Titans down 27-13, Jonathan Taylor took a handoff from Daniel Jones on third and four. He quickly surged through a wide-open hole, shed a couple of would-be tackles from Titans’ defenders and outraced Titans’ cornerback L’Jarius Sneed to the endzone.
Daniel Jones, on third and three with the Colts up 7-3, rolled right and threw a deep pass to Josh Downs that positioned the Colts for more points.
These are the big plays the Titans defense has given up in the first three weeks of the year. Currently, they are yielding the fifth-most yards per rush in the NFL at 5.3 yards per rush and the thirteenth-most yards per pass with 7.19 yards per pass. With the Titans struggling to avoid big plays and missing tackles, there must be some answers as to why things are not working better for this defense. Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, for his part, had this to say:
“We just gotta make the plays. Do what we gotta do to get the man down.”
Talked to L'Jarius Sneed about what the Titans can do to clean up the missed tackles and big plays. Here was his response.#TitanUp pic.twitter.com/euatFnM5SG
— Mike Patton 🏈🎤🖋 (@MikePatton82) September 21, 2025
While that sounds simple enough, it is not happening with enough consistency for the Titans, who are struggling to stop teams, especially in the last two weeks of the season. Cornerback Darrell Baker Jr., for his part, had a little more detailed answer:
“Big plays are always happening because of something that we didn’t do well enough. We just gotta take that mirror test, go to the film, come back to our coaches and just get back to the basics and fundamentals and dominate our jobs from there. Then those big plays will be eliminated.”
Darrell Baker Jr. speaks to the confidence of the team missed tackles/big plays given up. #titans #nfl pic.twitter.com/7RUrXrLgKM
— Mike Patton 🏈🎤🖋 (@MikePatton82) September 21, 2025
Baker said something very important here. It is not just one person on this team who is not making consistent plays or basic plays. It is a player here or a couple of players there, not doing what is expected of them. Each player must be accountable for what they are supposed to do on every play, and teammates and leaders must hold them accountable.
So far, things have not clicked defensively, and the team has not been able to shut the door on some things. Teams have consistently run plays, much like the Colts ran their rollouts, which put the Titans' defense in a stressed situation with no answer. There have to be some answers. Some could be schematic. But like Michael Jackson said in one of his most popular songs, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I am asking him to make a change.”
The Titans' defense must look to that man in the mirror to make that change and go out there and execute those things they are supposed to, not only for themselves, but for their fellow defensive player.