NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- As he was installing the Tennessee Titans' scheme in the summer, defensive coordinator Ray Horton said what he needed to make it work were big guys who could run and little guys who could hit.
I revisited that with him Thursday and he said he thought he'd found good elements in both categories. He likes the way Jurrell Casey, Sammie Hill and Karl Klug run and he pointed to seven sacks from defensive backs as well.
The place where he's most unsatisfied personnel-wise is outside linebacker.
"We just need to upgrade the speed and we're trying that right now at the outside backer," he said.
The primary new outside backer is Dontay Moch, promoted last week from the practice squad. He played 29 of 71 defensive snaps against Houston. I thought his best work in terms of getting push came from bull rushes more than speed rushes, but that doesn't mean he's not fast.
That also doesn't mean the Titans don't need more speed at the position.
"For me, I think that's the biggest component of us not being where we want to be," Horton said. "We haven't applied great pressure to the quarterback from that position ... .
"But when you look at the sack total for our outside backers right now ... let's see, there's (8.5). That number, it has to be, you should have 20 at that position with the number of guys that we've played. The league leader probably has 14 or 15 right now.
"I know sacks are down league-wide, but still we should have somebody from the outside linebackers with five to eight to 10 sacks, somewhere in there."
Of those 8.5, two came from Shaun Phillips who's no longer with the team.
That the outside linebacker group that's been around the whole time -- Derrick Morgan, Kamerion Wimbley, Quentin Grove -- lacks speed is the No. 1 reason they have no one with the singular sack total, Horton said.
An edge rusher has been a need for the Titans for some time.
The last one drafted by the Titans to post a double-digit sack season was Jevon Kearse in 2002. Kearse was their first-round pick in 1999, drafted 16th overall.
The way the league has gone since, the kind of guy they need will be taken higher.
"Those guys recently have been top-five picks," Horton said, laughing and shaking his head. "You don't find them. You have to go get them."
After quarterback, Horton said it's a left tackle/outside linebacker or defensive end league. (Pick the pass-rusher position based on the way a defense lines up.)
"If you don't have the rusher to affect that tackle, you're going to be in little trouble unless you scheme them a different way," he said.
Through three quarters of the season, the Titans are in line for a top-five pick, their highest since 2006 when they took quarterback Vince Young third.