Tennessee Titans: Evaluating The Offensive Line Without Mike Munchak

Posted By Chris Ransom

All preseason I talked about this offensive line. Left tackle Michael Roos, left guard Andy Levitre, center Brian Schwenke, right guard Chance Warmack, and right tackle Michael Oher with Taylor Lewan as a backup offensive tackle for insurance.

These guys stepped up and delivered as run blockers. Nobody got 100 rushing yards for the Titans’, but all of these lineman did their part to open up the running lanes so that the team would exceed 100 total rushing yards as a whole.

The pass blocking was a different story. There were plays where Tamba Hali got by Michael Roos and Andy Levitre on a double team to pressure Jake Locker. Justin Houston recorded two sacks. He got by Michael Oher on one play and rookie Taylor Lewan on another. The offensive tackles struggled to pass block in week 1 at Arrowhead Stadium and you could say the same thing about Levitre and Warmack at guard. Brian Schwenke at center was the Titans best pass blocker. That speaks volumes about how inconsistent the pass protection was at times.

The Titans host a Dallas Cowboys team with no defensive stars in week 2. If this offensive line allows any sacks, it is time to start looking at adding depth players up front to challenge the starters.

Quarterback Jake Locker did phenomenal in week 1. He played like that in week 1 last year against the Pittsburgh Steelers by getting a victory on the road at Heinz Field. Locker has to play all 16 games in 2014 in order to be considered a franchise quarterback. If the offensive line plays like they did against the Chiefs in terms of pass blocking, Jake Locker will get injured again at some point in the season. After that, the Titans will turn to Charlie Whitehurst before he eventually screws up giving rookie Zach Mettenberger a chance to start. If neither one of those backups fills in for an injured Locker at a later point, then the Titans will have to draft a quarterback in 2015.

For now, the Jake Locker regime looks better than ever in Tennessee under new head coach Ken Whisenhunt. Whether Locker maintains this play with this offensive line throughout the season remains to be seen.

Chris Ransom writes for Draft Utopia Like us at Draft Utopia on Facebook to get the latest updates from Chevy Daniels, Jason W. Bantle, and myself.