Commanders defensive line impressive against Titans
Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Montez Sweat all stood out against the Titans.
While the Commanders will obviously be disappointed with the loss to the Titans, they will be encouraged by the continued improvement of the defense. They kept the Titans’ offense in check throughout the game, with Tannehill only able to complete 15 passes for 181 yards and while Derrick Henry did rush for 100 yards and two touchdowns, he averaged just 3.6 yards per carry and didn’t dominate the game in the way he is capable of doing.
Much of the reason for the defensive success was the defensive line. So far this season, we’ve seen Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne play consistently at a very high level on the inside, while Montez Sweat has been making some nice plays on the edge too. We’re finally starting to see the true potential of that series of first round picks spent on the defensive line and hopefully Chase Young can return to the field soon and complete the group.
Allen, Payne and Sweat all made significant plays throughout the game and I felt they all deserved to be highlighted for their performance, so let's take a look at each of their performances.
Jon Allen
Allen has become the leader of the defensive line and indeed the defense. Over the past few years, he’s really stepped up his level to become one of the top defensive tackles in the NFL. He’s an outstanding run defender and his pass rush has come on strongly too. Right from the start of this game, Allen was making his presence known to the Titans.
This play comes on third down of the Titans opening drive. Allen takes a wide alignment, aligning on the inside shoulder of the left tackle to give himself the best rushing angle. The Titans played this game with a back up left tackle, so the Commanders wanted to test the replacement early on with a few stunts. Here, Allen rushes up the field while Sweat loops around him inside. The guard steps out towards Allen while the left tackle sticks out his inside hand while getting his eyes outside towards Sweat. Allen swats away the hand of the tackle and the hand of the guard and charges into the tackle. The tackle isn’t quick enough to recognize the stunt and prepare to take over the block from the left guard, so Allen catches him off balance and runs him over. Allen then quickly closes on the quarterback and lands a strong hit as he throws to force the ball to land incomplete.
Allen’s pass rush has developed immensely over the last few years and his signature move is still incredibly hard for guards to block one-on-one.
Here we see an example of Allen’s signature pass rush move. He works against the left guard here and comes off the snap with a cross chop from his left arm. This cross chop knocks down the blockers hands and also gets them worried about a rush outside as Allen initially works up the field. However, he transitions that cross chop into a hump move, allowing his left arm to circle back up after the chop and land underneath the inside armpit of the guard. From there, Allen has all the leverage. The guard is positioned to try and block an outside rush while Allen can now transition into a bull rush with his hand under the guard's armpit. The guard can’t do anything to stop Allen from driving him back because he can’t reposition his hands due to Allen’s leverage. Allen drives him all the way back to the quarterback and then peels off once he reaches the quarterback to bring him down for the sack.
It’s an incredibly tough combination for offensive lineman to deal with and Allen has gotten the better of many guards in the NFL with that move. But this year, he’s added another rush to his repertoire.
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