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Tennessee Titans film study: Why Tory Carter's absence matters

The Tennessee Titans take on the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday but won’t see the return of a key member of their rushing attack, fullback Tory Carter.

Obviously, Derrick Henry’s return is the big news, as he’s the final piece this team needed to get back in order to make a Super Bowl run, but on Tuesday the Titans didn’t activate Carter off IR, which at least somewhat hurts the team’s rushing attack.

Carter was an undrafted free agent fullback out of LSU. As expected from a fullback in modern college football, Carter wasn’t impressive from a production standpoint during his four years in Louisiana.

But ask any one who watched him play and they will tell you the kind of player he was — physical, tough, ferocious. Carter played his role as a fullback, but also was a valuable member on special teams.

All of that has translated to the Titans.

Carter has only played in eight games so far for the Titans. It took him some time to work his way past Khari Blasingame as the top fullback, and he suffered an ankle injury in Week 14 that led to his current IR stint.

It may be easy to underestimate the impact a UDFA fullback can have, but if you look closely, you can see his value. The Titans’ coaching staff can definitely see it as well.

Not only is Carter the best fullback on the team, but his speed and physicality allows the Titans to do more things in the run game than they typically would.

Carter’s impact is perfectly illustrated by a tweet from No Flags Films; the tweet shows the statistical representation of that impact.

The Titans run outside zone and toss pitches at an eight percent higher rate when Carter is on the field (31 percent vs. 22 percent), and the Titans’ yards per attempt on those plays doubles with Carter out there (5.4 vs. 2.7).

I get asked a lot about Blasingame when I bring up Carter’s impact, and the answer I always go with is simple: Carter is just better.

He is more explosive and more physical. You can see it on the tape and the coaches told us they see it too by going with Carter over Blasingame throughout the year when Carter was healthy.

So, as we do each week, let’s step into the film room and see exactly what the Titans will be missing with Carter sidelined for the divisional round.

Outside zone: Part 1

As noted above, the Titans have dramatically more success with Carter at fullback when running outside zone, and you can see why. He has the speed to get on the edge and the play strength to knock back linebackers or defensive backs.

We see that on our first play all the way back in Week 3. Carter not only goes through the hole and eliminates the defensive back, but he creates a traffic jam that holds up multiple Colts.

Outside zone: Part 2

Our next play is incredibly important.

The No. 1 goal for any defense against the Titans is to stop the run. Teams have gone all out, putting close to 10 men in the box at some points.

Not only do they stack the box, but they also play very aggressively. Second-level defenders will shoot gaps with reckless abandon in hopes of stopping the train before it gets rolling.

Offensive linemen are just too slow to react sometimes. That is when having a fullback in the game to mirror those second-level defenders becomes paramount.

Watch Carter identify the penetration and remove the defender from the action, giving Henry the lane he needs for a solid red-zone gain.

Outside zone: Part 3

This play is another example of what we see from the play above; a team stacking the box and shooting second-level defenders through gaps as quick as possible.

While it wasn’t a huge gain, it is clear how Carter can help counteract this technique from defenses. The Bengals did exactly this against a similar style offense in the Cleveland Browns in their matchup earlier this season. I expect they will use linebackers Pratt, Wilson and safety Bates in this way again.

Outside zone: Part 4

When Carter isn’t blowing people up in the backfield, he can be an assist man. The Titans will try to get to the edge, and when they do, a tight end or lineman may need a little extra help to seal his guy or just get better push.

Carter can give that assistance as he does to Lewan here, and can continue up the field to do even more.

Outside zone: Part 5

Our last example of outside zone just reinforces what we have seen so far.

The Titans block it up decently well, but because of the amount of defenders in the box, it still leaves an unblocked defender in the hole.

Enter Tory Carter, who blows up the filling linebacker and pushes him five yards out of the hole he should be responsible for.

Toss sweep

One example here of what Carter can do when the Titans go to a pitch sweep.

Some teams will (like the Dolphins or Patriots) stack the interior in hopes of taking away “Duo,” which is an inside run that capitalizes on two double teams up front.

However, when teams do that, the Titans have to attack the perimeter. When they do that, they are looking to get seals from their outside players (typically wide receivers), keep them inside and then create open spaces on the outsides of the defense.

Carter can excel here with that combination of speed and tenacity. We see it in this play, as he gets on the edge and makes contact with two different defenders to escort Hilliard down the sideline.

HB dive

We have talked about two perimeter-based runs so far, but Carter can help on inside runs as well.

On both of the plays below, Carter drives the filling linebacker backwards. He is so physical and doesn’t get to stick his nose in there.

This is the ferocity that makes me so excited about Carter. Yes, we have seen the athleticism to get on the perimeter, but the physical nature of his play sets a tone as well. You want to fly up in a gap to stop the run, well prepare to get punched in the mouth!

Misdirection

Our final run type is one I am very excited about personally. I had not seen the Titans run this very often over the past two seasons and it basically went away when Carter hurt his ankle in Week 14.

It is a misdirection play where the back, led by Carter, starts one way and then bends back in the other direction. This can be killer to a defense when their goal is to penetrate as quickly as possible through the line of scrimmage.

Get the defense flowing one direction and then head back the other and hopefully, you will catch it out of position.

On our first example, watch how the cutback lane opens up for Foreman. This look mirrors outside zone, but when you see Carter bend back inside instead of leading to the perimeter, you can tell it was meant to do so.

The Texans’ defenders overflow to the left and it leaves a huge lane on the cutback for a nice gain.

Misdirection: Part 2

Teams are always looking to send edge pressure against the Titans to eliminate cutbacks and take away the boot action off pla- action, but that is where Carter comes in.

He can take away the cutback defender on plays that are designed to bend back. Also, you can tell Judon doesn’t appreciate the cut block here, but what I love about Carter is he doesn’t care. He wants to beat you up and do it through the echo of the whistle.

Guys get tired of getting hit like that and it does appear to get under the skin of some of the defenders he faces (insert Donald Glover “good” GIF here).

In conclusion...

Yes, I recognize Carter is not going to be a game-changing name everyone will think about, but the dirty work will always be incredibly important.

That dirty work has heightened importance on a team like the Titans. As the tape and the numbers show, not only are the Titans a better running team with Carter, but he allows them to do things they can’t without him. There are run plays they simply can’t execute without his combination of athleticism and aggressiveness.

As a bonus here, I also noticed some interesting things formation-wise. The Titans, as they do in some of the clips, will line Carter up at tight end before putting him in motion, and there are some instances where he stays in that spot as a wing tight end. This has the potential to help the Titans deal with the loss of MyCole Pruitt, while also keeping the defense on their toes.

Make no mistake: Derrick Henry and the Titans’ rushing attack can keep chugging along just fine without Carter, but there’s no question Tennessee would be better off with him on the field.

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