Looking for their third win of the season, the Tennessee Titans will travel to FedEx Field on Sunday to take on the Washington Commanders, who are looking to snap a three-game skid.
Tennessee began the year 0-2 in what was a disastrous start, but a win in each of their last two games has put them atop the AFC South in a tie with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
If Tennessee wins, they remain in that position no matter what, but a Titans win combined with a Jaguars loss will leave the back-to-back AFC South champions in first place alone.
On the other sideline, the Commanders are playing about as poorly as one could imagine through four weeks, leading to their sitting in last place.
A Week 1 win over the Jags was the only taste of victory this team has seen this season. Since then, the Commanders have dropped games to the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys in disastrous fashion.
Now, three keys to victory for Tennessee in Week 5.
Put the game on Carson Wentz's arm (and O-Line)
The Titans cannot allow the Commanders to run the football with success and take the pressure off Carson Wentz, who is a sitting duck behind an offensive line that has surrendered 17 sacks through four games.
Washington has three backs to account for in Antonio Gibson, J.D. McKissic and Brian Robinson, who is making his NFL debut about six weeks after being shot twice in an attempted robbery.
Once the Titans stop the run, the pass-rush can pin its ears back and get after Wentz, who is prone to mistakes when he’s consistently pressured.
Getting consistent pressure will help out a struggling Titans secondary that has to contend with some impressive weapons in Washington, and creating turnovers could setup short fields to make things easier on the offense.
Turnovers were key in Tennessee’s Week 4 victory, and they will be once again on Sunday.
Run off tackle more
Washington’s two best healthy defenders are on the interior of the defensive line in Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen, which could make it difficult to run up the gut on Sunday.
Not that Tennessee should shy away from running at them altogether, but Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing needs to draw up at least a few more running plays for Derrick Henry off tackle to try and exploit a weakened EDGE group that won’t have Chase Young.
Getting Henry going is vital to open things up down the field and setup play-action, so if it takes running outside more to do that, the Titans should. That also means Tennessee will need rookie right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere and veteran left tackle Dennis Daley to step up.
Play a full 60 minutes
“Play a full 60 minutes” sounds cliché and simple enough, but it’s something the Titans haven’t done all season long.
Tennessee hasn’t scored a single second-half point in the last three games and has just seven in total this season. Meanwhile, Titans opponents have dropped 64 second-half points through four weeks.
The defense has been able to make the offense’s fast starts hold up in each of the last two games, but the Titans can’t keep expecting that. The offense has to do a better job of playing a full game to take some pressure off the defense, which is also missing some key players.
