Denico Autry against the interior of the Seahawks offensive line
Seattle might catch a bit of a break if Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons misses his third straight game with a knee injury. But even without Simmons, defensive lineman Denico Autry has wrecked opponents. The 33-year-old is arguably having his best season as he has a career-high 11 sacks, 16 quarterback hits, and 12 tackles for loss. He has also forced two fumbles.
Autry has to be licking his proverbial chops going up against the Seahawks as well. The interior of Seattle has been soft, especially the right side where center Evan Brown and right guard Anthony Bradford (or Phil Haynes) are. Brown is graded at number 32 among centers in the NFL (and there are only 32 teams), per PFF. Bradford is graded as the 13th-worst guard in the league.
Worse, Bradford's true weakness is his pass protection skills or lack thereof. In each of the last two games, Bradford has allowed 5 total pressures. Sure, those games were against the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles who have multiple players along their defensive lines that are good. But Autry is as good as anyone not named Bosa on the 49ers or Eagles.
The Titans overall are good at stopping the run. This means the Seahawks are probably going to have to throw a bit more than normal, but to be successful the offensive line needs to keep Geno Smith (assuming he starts) clean. To accomplish that, Denico Autry cannot be allowed to completely derail Seattle's offensive plan.