There weren’t really any positive takeaways from the [Tennessee Titans’ embarrassing shutout loss to the Houston Texans](/tennessee-titans-news/61859/titans-lose-26-0-to-the-texans). If there’s one player whose performance was worthwhile, it was sophomore linebacker Cedric Gray. Gray enjoyed a career-best day, making a personal-high 17 tackles on defense.
[Pro Football Focus](https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/cedric-gray/122835) also saw Gray’s performance in a positive light. His 90.2 overall defensive grade and 90.0 run-defense grade were both career highs. Gray was PFF’s second-highest graded overall linebacker in Week 4, trailing just superstar ‘backer Fred Warner (90.9).
What’s perhaps most impressive is Gray wasn’t credited with a single missed tackle. PFF had him with an 18-tackle day (12 solo tackles, six assists). Gray was credited with six run stops, a positive result for the defense that constitutes a “failure” for the offense, per their definition. It was the most single-game tackles by a Titans LB since Akeem Ayers in Week 3, 2012 (vs. DET), per James Foster.
Gray’s performance was particularly notable. After playing a significant amount of snaps in Weeks 1 and 2, the sophomore fourth-rounder saw his playing-time cut by a large margin in Week 3, with practice squad call-up Kyzir White getting a rotational opportunity. Gray was back to a full workload versus the Texans, and the coaching staff will think twice about benching him again.
If Gray struggled in one area in Houston, it was as a coverage defender. PFF credited him with allowing six receptions on six targets. Those catches only gained 54 yards, less than a first-down conversion (9.0) per completion. Coverage continues to be a weak-point of Gray’s game, however.
The winless Titans are searching for answers. Gray isn’t a surefire long-term solution yet, but the sophomore linebacker is enjoying a much better season after watching his rookie campaign be totally derailed by injury. The Titans were totally embarrassed in Houston, but Gray’s arrow continues to trend upwards.