Robert Saleh Not Concerned with This Titans Flaw vs. Ravens

The Tennessee Titans fell victim to plenty of explosive plays on Sunday. 

On the 98-yard scoring drive in the second quarter, linebacker Cody Barton was lined up on Zay Flowers. It doesn't take much to predict how that play went. 

The Baltimore Ravens torched the Titans for 52 yards on that play, setting up a touchdown pass to tight end Mark Andrews. 

The touchdown made it 21-7 and put the Titans in a tough spot. Tennessee wasn't receiving the opening kickoff in the second and was really behind the eight ball. 

The Titans couldn't get back into the game until late in the fourth quarter and lost 24-18. 

That 98-yard drive proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Titans. Without that touchdown, the Titans would've been in a better position heading into halftime, since they didn't receive the ball first in the second half. 

Explosive plays are becoming a problem for this Titans defense. Robert Saleh understands this, and it was discussed on Monday's Zoom call. 

Saleh didn't seem very worried about letting up explosive plays becoming a habit for his defense. He believed that the things the Titans were letting up explosive plays on were very simple and fixable. 

The head coach even said it would be something the team would laugh about in Week 10. 

"The explosives are hurting us and then you get into situations where, you know, you try to send a five-man pressure and now you got a receiver matched up on a linebacker like we had yesterday with Anthony and he catches the ball and he gets an explosive there," Saleh said. "So, there's a cat and mouse game that we're playing. You know, structurally, the things we're asking him to do, they're easy fixes. They just got to get used to what they're seeing, especially with the zone structure that we play. But there's certain things on that that they hit on us that I promise you by Week 10 they're going to laugh at when teams try to run it." 

This is the kind of thing that could snowball into a bigger issue for the Titans. The Ravens were clinical in the second quarter. The explosive plays the Titans gave up made the Ravens' job easier and allowed them to put the game away. 

The Titans have very important divisional games coming up against the Houston Texans (Oct. 11), Indianapolis Colts (Oct. 18), and Jacksonville Jaguars (Nov. 15). Giving these teams extra chances by allowing explosive plays will only make things worse for the Titans' defense. 

The Titans have been in close games so far, but explosive plays could help opposing offenses pull away, as we saw with the Ravens on Sunday. 

Luckily for Tennessee, Houston brings one of the worst rushing offenses in the NFL. The Texans average 79 yards per game, which is the third-fewest in the league. 

If the Titans can limit what the Texans try to do on the ground, they could make them one-dimensional, put them in obvious passing situations, and get after C.J. Stroud with the pass rush. 

If Stroud doesn't have much time to throw, this decreases the opportunity for explosive plays as well. 

The Titans have a lot of young defensive players who are still learning. They could definitely do themselves a favor by getting after Stroud and limiting the chance of big plays. 

The Titans and Texans kick off Sunday from Nissan Stadium at noon CT on CBS.