Titans Week 16 Enemy Profile: The Redskins and QB Hits

On a three-game winning streak, the Tennessee Titans return home for their last two games needing some help to get back to the playoffs for a second year in a row. There, they’ll face the 7-7 Washington Redskins tomorrow, and they are also fighting for a playoff spot with the Wild Card and NFC East races slipping away from them.

If you’ve followed me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen me do a lot of charting on quarterback hits. Quarterback hits include sacks and plays where the quarterback was hit after releasing the pass (hits on penalties do not count unless those penalties were declined). And as it turns out, The Titans defense and Redskins offense are polar opposites.

This time for this week’s Titans Enemy Profile, there won’t be any film breakdowns. Instead, this will be statistical breakdown—to be more specific—quarterback hits.

First, let’s talk about the Redskins. On defense, they’ve produced 83 QB hits through 15 weeks, the 16th most in the league. Since Week 9 (the second half of the season), they’re 13th in QB hits produced with 40. Decent numbers to say the least as guys like Ryan Kerrigan and Jonathan Allen have cranked up the pressures this season, highlighting a talented defensive line.

But here’s where it gets interesting: The Washington offense has allowed the 14th most QB hits on the season (87) and are tied with the Dolphins for second most allowed since Week 9 (51). Yikes. It doesn’t help that the team has lost their two starting quarterbacks for the season and have been decimated with injuries on the offensive line.

That puts the Titans defense at a great advantage, as they have produced the fourth most quarterback hits since Week 9 (47) and are tied with the Vikings for 13th most on the season (85). On offense, Tennessee has allowed the ninth fewest QB hits all season (66), are tied with the Broncos for the 12th fewest allowed since Week 9 (35) and the second fewest allowed since Week 13 (10, behind the Browns’ 5).

The Titans defense isn’t perfect, but with guys up front like Harold Landry, Jurrell Casey, Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown gelling together, it’s made for some excellent games of defense in recent weeks. The offense clearly hasn’t been close to consistent, but Marcus Mariota has been able to side step pressure, and the offensive line has limited the hits to an extent.

With both sides of the line playing well, that’ll need to continue tomorrow with the season on the line.