INDIANAPOLIS – T’Vondre Sweat is offended by the accusation.

The Tennessee Titans defense allowed 335 rushing yards in Sunday’s 38-30 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. That’s the most a defense has allowed in a game in 2024. It’s the fourth-most allowed by a defense in a game in the last decade. That’s the most a Titans/Oilers defense has allowed in a game since Bill Callahan was five years old. Not Brian Callahan, the Titans head coach. His 68-year-old father, the Titans’ offensive line coach.

But when asked if this appearance was at all embarrassing, Sweat bristled.

“It’s not embarrassing,” Sweat said. “A defense consists of 11 people. You all watch the movie. You will see.”

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Jeffery Simmons, his fellow defensive tackle and Titans defensive captain, had a similar reaction. He doesn’t want people to immediately assume that the defensive line is to blame for Sunday’s abysmal performance. According to his statement, the Colts ran many offenses with “loophole plans.” That means a lot of down blocks, a lot of pulling guards and tackles, and a lot of trap plays designed to take advantage of a defense that is unprepared or out of position.

It’s the same concept the Washington Commanders favored when they rushed for 267 yards and three touchdowns against the Titans three weeks ago. And it’s the scheme the Titans expected from the Colts on Sunday.

Still, the Titans couldn’t stop it.

“When they run a gap program, everyone on defense has to be where they’re supposed to be,” Simmons said. “We have to pass properly. That’s it. It’s not like they had a lot of exotic runs. When we look at how many rushing yards they had, the first thing we will say is the defensive line. But.” When the gap changes, the linebackers have to be where they’re supposed to be. It takes all 11 to stop the run. At the end of the day, we didn’t get the right fit on many of their runs. It wasn’t like they threw us off the ball.

Consider Indianapolis’ two long runs, touchdowns of 65 and 70 yards by running back Jonathan Taylor. On the first play, the Colts’ offensive line and tight ends closed off the left side of the Titans’ defensive line and two offensive linemen penetrated the field to block linebackers Otis Reese IV and Kenneth Murray Jr. one-on-one . Simmons blocked a block from behind, but in pursuit he took too shallow an angle and ended up behind Taylor. Safety Daryl Worley was unblocked but got behind two blocked defenders and was unable to fill the hole about 6 yards from the line of scrimmage. That left safety Amani Hooker as the last line of defense about 9 yards from the line of scrimmage, and Taylor sent Hooker running with a celebration.

On the 70-yard run, Sweat and Simmons were locked down, edge defender Arden Key was caught about 4 yards from the line of scrimmage, and Murray was caught by a pulling tackle on a trap play. At this point in the game, with Taylor only about 2 yards downfield, Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson had already thrown his arms in the air to celebrate a big play. Linebacker James Williams broke his block and pursued Taylor alongside Worley, but Worley took a bad angle and Williams couldn’t keep up with the speedy Taylor, who only needed a simple stiff arm to throw Williams aside and slide into the end zone.

Such moves actually paint a picture of a failure for an entire unit. Even if the players cannot explain these failures.

“We come to the sideline and talk to the coaches and know what they’re doing,” Simmons said. “Now it’s ‘Boom, you go out there and do it again.’ It’s hard for me to say who did it at the moment without pointing fingers.

To be fair, the Titans played a good portion of this game with Williams and Cedric Gray at inside linebacker, two rookies who entered Sunday with a combined 44 career defensive snaps. Hooker, the team’s second-leading tackler, was injured and also missed part of the second half. And Sweat wasn’t on the field for most of the first half after he was stabbed in the eye and it swelled shut. Add to that the pre-existing injuries to Jack Gibbens, Luke Gifford and Quandre Diggs, as well as the midseason trade of Ernest Jones IV, and the Titans have plenty of reasons to explain why they’re struggling in the middle of defense.

Still, the Colts rushed for 335 yards. The Titans didn’t give up that many Total meters against Chicago, New York, Miami, Indianapolis the first time, Detroit, New England, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Houston or Jacksonville. Whether the Titans are embarrassed by this performance or not, it’s the type of performance that stands out.

“We have to know what the team is doing, we have to adapt and we have to know where we have to be and we have to be there, especially in a situation where we knew they were prepared to take the lead “Ball,” Simmons said. “We have to be able to be where we need to be.”

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at [email protected]. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on the Nashville Tennessean: How in the world did the Titans allow the Colts to rush for 335 yards?