The Tennessee Titans couldn’t have asked for a much tougher opportunity to respond to their disappointing season opener.
Tennessee will welcome the Philadelphia Eagles to Nashville on Sunday after falling 23-10 to the New York Jets in Week 1. Philadelphia enters at 1-0 and has been one of the NFL’s most difficult teams to beat away from home in recent years, but ESPN analyst Mina Kimes believes there is still a significant problem with the Eagles’ offense.
“Watching the Eagles last week, the run game still isn’t fixed,” Kimes said. “The interior of the offensive line was a massive problem. Saquon Barkley was getting contact behind the line of scrimmage over and over again on those under-center runs. The best ground game they had was Jalen Hurts scrambling.”
For a Titans defense featuring Jeffery Simmons, that assessment should immediately command attention.
Mina Kimes Identifies Potential Opening for Titans
The numbers support Kimes’ concern. Barkley rushed for 83 yards on 15 carries in Philadelphia’s 24-22 Week 1 win over the Washington Commanders, but the final total doesn’t tell the entire story. According to Next Gen Stats data cited by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Barkley was contacted at or behind the line of scrimmage on seven of his 15 carries and gained 78 of his 83 yards after contact.
Five of Barkley’s carries resulted in negative yardage. A 42-yard run also accounted for more than half of his rushing production. Philadelphia’s interior offensive line now has another problem entering Tennessee. Three-time Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson was placed on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury, leaving the Eagles to reshuffle the unit immediately before facing Simmons.
That creates a fascinating matchup for Tennessee. Simmons is coming off a first-team All-Pro season in which he recorded 11 sacks and 60 quarterback pressures.
If the Titans are going to make Kimes’ identified weakness matter Sunday, their star defensive tackle could be the player capable of doing it.
Titans’ Jalen Hurts Plan Matches Kimes’ Concern
Kimes’ larger point also lines up remarkably well with what Simmons has already said about defending Philadelphia.
“We just need to make Jalen Hurts be a QB,” Simmons told reporters this week. “Stop his runs, make sure Hurts doesn’t get out of the pocket and make plays.”
That sounds simple. Executing it against Hurts is anything but.
Hurts repeatedly turned pressure into positive plays against Washington and finished with 46 rushing yards. His mobility helped compensate for an Eagles rushing attack that struggled to consistently create space for Barkley.
There is also a warning for Tennessee in assuming that containing Hurts’ legs solves everything. The last time Hurts faced the Titans, in 2022, Tennessee held him to only 12 rushing yards. He responded by throwing for 380 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-10 Eagles victory. Don’t forget about his talent as a passer.
Still, Kimes has identified something tangible rather than a hypothetical weakness. Philadelphia struggled to consistently block its traditional running game in Week 1, lost a starting interior offensive lineman afterward and now has to deal with Simmons. The Titans don’t need Philadelphia to be flawless Sunday. They need to make sure the Eagles’ biggest Week 1 problem remains one.
Eagles’ Glaring Weakness Gives Titans Unexpected Opening in Week 2