Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images Breaking down the offensive and defensive schemes of the Tennessee Titans, who the Detroit Lions will square off against in Week 8. The Detroit Lions (5-1) will take on the Tennessee Titans (1-5) in Week 8 of the 2024 regular season. The Titans have a brand new coaching staff this season, moving on from head coach Mike Vrabel and his staff after six seasons, and in turn, hiring Brian Callahan. Let’s take a look at the Titans' coaching staff and the changes to their offensive and defensive schemes. Titans head coach: Brian Callahan The son of legendary offensive line coach Bill Callahan, Brian Callahan is in his 15th season coaching in the NFL, with this being his first shot at being a head coach. Callahan has coached for five different NFL teams over his career, including the Lions in 2016 and 2017. During his two seasons with the Lions, he functioned as the team’s quarterbacks coach under coach Jim Caldwell and offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter. Callahan was most recently with the Bengals, as their non-playcalling offensive coordinator, and his offensive scheme has been primarily influenced by Zac Taylor (Bengals) and Jon Gruden (Raiders). Offensive coordinator: Nick Holz Nick Holz and Callahan's relationship dates back to high school when they were teammates at De La Salle in California. Holz never made it to the NFL and immediately jumped into coaching. In 2008, Holz joined Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Stanford, and after three seasons, parlayed that into a coaching job with the Raiders, where he re-connected with Callahan in 2018. After spending 2023 as the Jaguars passing game coordinator, Callahan hired his long-time friend to be his offensive coordinator. When Callahan was the Bengals offensive coordinator (2019-2023), he never called the offensive plays on game day (Zac Taylor kept those duties), and he is implementing a similar relationship with Holz. While Holz helps develop weekly game plans, designs plays, and several other duties you’d expect from a coordinator, it’s Callahan who calls the plays for the offense. Callahan’s West Coast offensive scheme With Gruden and Taylor as influences, there are a lot of West Coast elements to the Titans’ offensive scheme. They run mainly 11- and 12-personnel formations, utilize play-action, use an outside zone-blocking run scheme, and deploy bunch formations, but they surprisingly use very little pre-snap motion. Screens are staples in this style of scheme as well, but the Titans lean on these concepts a ton (throwing to every variety of skill players), especially early, almost as an extension of their run game. While the offseason expectation was to have a high-flying offense that could put points on the board, the Titans have struggled through their first six games for a plethora of reasons. Currently, they rank amongst the bottom seven teams in the following categories (stats per NextGen): Yards per game: 259.2 (31st) Yards per drive: 21.69 (31st) Passing yards per game: 145.8 (32nd) Yards after catch: 522 (31st) Rushing yards before contact: 0.50 (32nd) Touchdowns scored: 11 (25th) Turnovers per game: 2 (31st) Pressures allowed: 94 (25th) Pressure allowed percentage: 43.9% of dropbacks (31st) Sacks allowed percentage: 9.5% (28th) 3-and-out percentage: 29% (29th) Expected Points Added (EPA) per play: -0.26 (30th) It’s a bit surprising to see the Titans struggle this much because they have talent on offense. Their last two first-round picks are left tackle JC Lathem and left guard Peter Skoronski, they acquired running back Tony Pollard this offseason, drafted Tyjae Spears in the third round in 2023, and have a decent wide receiver core of Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd (note: DeAndre Hopkins was traded on Wednesday). We’ve also seen flashes of promise from 2023 second-round pick, quarterback Will Levis as a rookie, but he has struggled mightily in 2024. Levis started the first four games of the season for Tennessee, losing the first three, and injured his shoulder in Miami in Week 4. Backup Mason Rudolph stepped in and got the Titans their first win of the season. Coming out of the bye, Levis was believed to be healed but he again struggled in a loss to the Colts. The next week, Levis injury flared back up and Rudolph stepped back in, but the magic lasted just one quarter and they lost to the Bills. This week, Levis is expected to continue his rehabilitation, and the early reports are the Titans will most likely start Rudolph again. Rudolph lacks the arm talent and running ability of Levis, but he brings NFL experience and is less reckless. Rudolph’s overall completion percentage is lower and he struggles with man coverage more, but he handles pressure better and doesn't turn the ball over as much. Beyond that, they have similarly below-average marks in the majority of other quarterback stats. For example, Levis’ passing yards per attempt are 5.6, while Rudolph’s are 5.3, compared to Lions quarterback Jared Goff, who is leading the NFL with 9.3 passing yards per attempt. The Titans have found some success in their run game: 21st in the NFL with 113.3 yards per game. While they primarily use outside zone, they will pull the interior linemen on running downs or when disguising the run. Pollard leads the team with 66.7 rushing yards per game and has found the end zone three times on the ground, while Spears averages 22.8 rushing yards per game and has reached the end zone once. For comparison's sake, Pollard matches up well with Lions' David Montgomery, who averages 63.7 yards per game with six rushing touchdowns, but Jahmyr Gibbs averages 77.3 rushing yards per game and has scored five rushing touchdowns, which is what separates the two offenses. One of the more interesting stats for Pollard is that he is second in the NFL in yards after contact, with 4.2 YAC. But because the Titans’ run blocking is so poor, his average yards per carry is just 4.3, 28th amongst running backs this year. On average, defenses make contact with Pollard within a half-yard of the line of scrimmage, which is by far the worst amount of push any running back in the NFL receives. He is hit at or behind the line-of-scrimmage on over half of his carries, meaning he is getting little to no help in making their running game the best part of their offense. Making matters worse for Pollard, the Lions only allow 2.5 yards after contact, which is second-best in the NFL. Overall, the Titans have a first-year head coach who is calling offensive plays for the first time in his career, both quarterbacks are struggling, and the offensive line is giving little support to a rushing attack that has some teeth but little bite. Defensive coordinator: Dennard Wilson Wilson broke into the NFL coaching ranks in 2012 with the Rams, before moving on to the Jets, Eagles, and Ravens, where he was a defensive backs coach at most stops. Wilson’s main influence comes from Mike Macdonald (former Ravens defensive coordinator, now Seahawks head coach) and he’s tried to implement a similar scheme in Tennessee. Wilson’s 33/24 base defensive scheme Unlike Holz, Wilson did not have a pre-existing relationship with Callahan and he has been given “total autonomy” over how the defense is designed and operates. With Macdonald’s influence driving the scheme, and the Lions already having faced the Seahawks this season, you’ll notice some philosophical similarities with the Titans’ defense. Their overall deployment is to feature a four-man front (that rotates different types of players depending on situation) along with two off-the-ball linebackers, and five defensive backs (around 80-90% of defensive snaps). On first downs, the Titans anticipate the run and deploy three down linemen with one edge rusher, typically Harold Landry. On second down, they substitute a down lineman for another edge rusher—typically Arden Key—to increase athleticism. In obvious passing situations, they reduce bulk even further in favor of athleticism. The Ravens and Seahawks rarely blitz and lean on their depth to keep their edge rushers fresh and productive. The Titans follow the low-blitzing philosophy, only bringing an extra defender on 20.7% of plays (25th in the NFL), but they lack the depth to stay productive in this area. Overall, the team only has 61 pressures (31st) and 10 sacks (28th) through six games, per NextGenStats. The Titans lean heavily on Landry (80-90% of defensive snaps) and Key (65-75%), then turn to rookie Jaylen Harrell (25-35%), and Ali Gaye (10%). Landry is by far their most productive pass rusher and is leading the team with 18 pressures (30% of the team’s total) and four sacks (40% of the team’s total). Meanwhile, Key has 14 pressures but just one sack on the season. The strength of their defense is in the middle of the defensive line, where All-Pro Jeffery Simmons and second-round pick T’Vondre Sweat clog up rushing lanes. Their “stuff rate” (run stops at or behind the line of scrimmage) is 29.2%, which is the best in the NFL, allowing them to keep light boxes behind them, drop more defenders into coverage, and keep offenses in difficult down-and-distances. While it’s extremely difficult to run on this front, if you can break through the first line and into the second level of the defense, things open up considerably. Running Duo blocks on Simmons and Sweat, or stretching them laterally will help open rush lanes. At the linebacker level, the Ravens and Seahawks prefer players who can drop into coverage and clog the middle of the field. Again, we see the Titans adopt this philosophy with little success because of their personnel. Starters Ernest Jones (who was traded to the Seahawks on Wednesday) and Kenneth Murray both have below-average coverage grades, as does their primary backup (now starter?) Jack Gibbens. In the secondary, they operate out of a zone coverage scheme a little over two-thirds of the time, leaning primarily on three corners and two-high safety looks. Unfortunately for the Titans, they invested in two starting corners this offseason, and they may be without either for this game. Chidobe Awuzie is currently on injured reserve, while L’Jarius Sneed missed the previous game with an injury and has yet to practice this week. As a result, the Titans have had to turn to fifth-round rookie Jarvis Brownlee and third-year UDFA Darrell Baker, who is also in his first year with the team. At safety, the Titans start former Lion Quandre Diggs and Amani Hooker, who holds the rare distinction of being the only Titans defender to force a turnover this season—he has an interception and two forced fumbles. They’ll play mostly two-high shell coverage, but they will roll coverage depending on the opponent's offensive set. Overall, this is a group of talented starters with suspect depth and a couple of unfortunate injuries at key spots. They excel at stopping the run but could have trouble with a back like Gibbs. They don’t blitz, stack the box, or generate turnovers, but they do get off the field by putting teams into difficult down-and-distances. Their passing defense appears to be playing above their skill level, and are susceptible to teams who can operate in the intermediate levels of the field. From a statistical standpoint, they’re a very solid defense, yet they allow on average 24 points a game (22nd in the NFL) because their offense puts them in bad spots.