Ryan's experience a different challenge for Titans

Matt Ryan probably has not seen or done it all in the NFL.

Yet the first overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft undoubtedly has seen and done a lot more than any of the quarterbacks the Tennessee Titans faced in the first three weeks of the season.

His 177 career starts are more than four times the number Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield, Indianapolis’ Jacoby Brissett and Jacksonville’s Gardner Minshew have combined. Mayfield and Brissett each have seven wins as starters in their respective careers. Ryan has had eight seasons with eight or more victories.

That means Tennessee’s defense will have a different challenge Sunday when the Titans play the Falcons in Atlanta.

“I think he’s in very good command of what that offense looks like based on the game, whether they’re behind, or whether they need a huge play at the end of the game,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said this week. “… I think that when they’ve been down, I’ve noticed that there’s really not a panic.”

A rundown of the starting quarterbacks the Titans have faced this season and their respective NFL experience (through Monday):

On one hand, the Titans know exactly what they’re up against in the 34-year-old who led the Falcons to Super Bowl LI three years ago. He is a classic pocket passer who will spread the ball among his numerous targets but does not pose a threat with designed runs that the new wave of signal-callers have helped bring with them from the college game.

On the other hand, Ryan is likely to know exactly what Tennessee’s defense will try to do every time the ball is snapped. That is a problem for a unit that likes to keep quarterbacks guessing.

“Him, [Tom] Brady, all those guys, they read things so well pre-snap, you have to try to do a great job of not giving them a lot to look at pre-snap, if you can,” Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees said. “You never want to jeopardize being able to do your job by trying to disguise and try to outsmart him because you’re not going to outsmart him very often.

“… You have to do a good job – when you do disguise – making sure you get into position and don’t get out of position or he’ll make you pay for it.”

Ryan has faced the Titans twice in his career and won both.

The first was in 2011, his fourth year in the league. At kickoff, he was the less experienced of the starting quarterbacks in that contest. When Tennessee’s Matt Hasselbeck got injured in the third quarter, though, rookie Jake Locker played the rest of the way.

In 2015, another rookie, Marcus Mariota, was injured so Ryan faced the Titans with Zach Mettenberger, in his second season, in charge of the offense.

“I think he’s seen every coverage,” safety Kevin Byard said. “I still think being able to mix and disguise coverages [is important], try to confuse him a little bit – although that’s pretty hard to do.

“He rarely throws it to guys in tight coverage. He usually finds the open receiver, the right guy to throw it to. When he does find an open receiver or – when we’re playing zone – when he finds a hole in the zone, guys are going to have to rally and tackle and try to rake the ball out – stuff like that – to try and create some turnovers.”

If the defense can’t show him something he has not seen, the challenge will be to show him how good it can be. The Titans are one of five teams that currently average fewer than 200 passing yards allowed per game (189.7) and opponents have averaged just 6.6 yards per attempt.

“It’s just a matter of us really playing fundamentally sound, do the things we do,” Pees said. “Try to do them within reason. You just have to be sound. What you can’t do is give them a free one. To me, that’s the biggest thing is that you just have to play sound the whole time.”