NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The third-down defense is dramatically better, in large part because the pass rush is much improved.

But look closely at the 2-2 Titans and it’s easy to say what they need is the same thing we’d have said they needed after the 2020 season.

Corner help to stop big plays.

Denico Autry/ Courtesy Tennessee Titans 

A new right tackle to make up for the Isaiah Wilson fiasco and the financially motivated release of Dennis Kelly.

Additional edge rush to take some of the burdens off of Harold Landry.

The Titans did address these matters. It’s just that the people they brought in have, collectively, done incredibly little through four games.

Here’s a newcomer contribution index on a scale of 1-10.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A year ago, the protection of Ryan Tannehill was a primary feature of the Titans’ offense.

He was sacked just 24 times.

Through four games this season, he’s gone down 17 times already. Projections for a full season when things are bad early rarely pan out, but over a 17-game season they are on pace for 72.

Taylor Lewan’s return was supposed to settle things down with his return from ACL repair.

But he got destroyed by Arizona’s Chandler Jones in the opener, didn’t play in the second game in Seattle after a warm-up issue, bemoaned the opening-day boos after a satisfactory performance against the Colts and hid following Sunday’s disaster against the Jets in New Jersey.

Rodger Saffold has not been bad, when he’s been available. But he’s dealt with a shoulder injury and left the Jets game with a concussion.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans were without their two best receiving options in A.J. Brown and Julio Jones both missing the game with hamstring injuries.

And they lost to one of the worst teams in the NFL. The Jets, Jaguars, Texans and Lions will be picking in the top 10 in the 2022 draft.

© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

If a team wants to be a top team when the season is done it must beat the bottom-feeders of the NFL.

The Titans were gifted the ability to play five games against those teams this year.

Unfortunately, they are 0-1 against them.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – “Absent.”

That’s what it said in white letters on Josh Reynolds' black T-shirt when he took the podium to speak to the media after the Titans’ hard-to-swallow 27-24 overtime loss to the Jets.

That’s what too many key members of the Titans were because of injuries. That’s what the Titans’ big-play defense was. That’s what the Titans’ pass protection was. That’s what the receivers’ separation was.

© Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

That mark the Titans should have got in the win column in a game against a terrible team is also absent, given instead to a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback, as their first victories in the league, memories they will never forget.

In a 17-game season, four games is no longer officially the quarter mark. But the Titans are a confounding team that has played well below expectations, expectations the franchise welcomed.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Derrick Henry has run for over 353 yards on 80 rushes and leads the Titans with 12 catches.

Henry has 13 more carries than the second-leading running back through three weeks, Joe Mixon. Nick Chubb ranks fifth and has 60 percent of Henry's workload.

The Titans are probably facing the winless New York Jets without their two best and most productive wide receivers in Julio Jones and A.J. Brown.

They are both dealing with hamstring injuries.

In a game against a very poor team like the Jets, I am sure the Titans were wanting to rest their superstar Henry, giving him a week with fewer snaps, hits, and punishment. But he may be forced to play a larger role now because of Tennessee’s depleted receiving group.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When the guy on the chain gang holding the sign that tells everyone what down it is flips it from two to three, it’s typically a signal for Derrick Henry to head to the sideline.

Players and coaches like to say third down is the money down, but most of the time when the money down arrives the Titans’ best player exits the field.

Often, it makes sense.

Pool photo/ Donald Page, Tennessee Titans

While Henry has become a better pass catcher, he still has limitations in the passing game. While he appears to be doing better work in his chances in blitz pick-up, all indications are he’s not the preferred option there.

And while I am all for running him as much as necessary and worrying about the wear and tear later – a strategy the Titans also seem to be taking – he does need some snaps off.

Per profootballreference.com, he played 59 percent of the Titans’ snaps in 2019, 66 percent last season and 71 percent so far this season.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Bud Dupree made an extra $15,625 for being active Sunday despite not playing a snap.

His contract calls for that amount in per-game bonuses for when he is active, a bonus that maxes out at $250,000.

That means 16 of the 17 games will get him the full bonus.

Pool photo: Donald Page/ Tennessee Titans

By being active against Indianapolis, he can miss a game at another point in the season and still get the full bonus.

The $250,000 is hardly big money for Dupree in the context of the five-year, $82.5 million contract he signed March 15, 2021 with Tennessee after four years in Pittsburgh.

He got a $16 million signing bonus and $35 million guaranteed. [Unlocked]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ola Adeniyi is being hailed for his three games of work on defense, and properly so.

On just 40 snaps, he leads the team with 2.5 sacks and in the win against Indianapolis he did great work to offset the absence of Bud Dupree.

He had minimal chances on defense in three years with the Steelers, maxing out at 144 snaps last season, per profootballreference.com.

Adeniyi is the team’s No. 1 example of following through on Mike Vrabel’s urging that players find a role.