The Tennessee Titans are set to host the Houston Texans in a Week 5 battle between two winless teams out of the AFC South.

If either team wants even a sliver of hope going forward, they must find a way win this game. Odds of a playoff run aren’t good with a record of 1-4, regardless, but they become almost nonexistent at 0-5. Simply put, Tennessee needs this one badly. 

But for that to happen, the Titans will have to do something that seems almost impossible right now — slow down the incredible Texans DE, Will Anderson Jr.

According to Pro Football Focus, Anderson enters Week 5 as the highest-graded defender in the NFL (92.8), receiving grades of 90+ in the run game (92.2) and as a pass rusher (90.2). Needless to say, Titans RT JC Latham will have his hands full on Sunday. Fortunately, it appears he’s both willing and able to take on the challenge this time around.

JC Latham's third-year jump

The former seventh overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft is undoubtedly playing the best ball of his young career. Latham hasn’t allowed a single sack or quarterback hit over 145 pass-blocking snaps, earning a pass blocking grade of 71.5 — the highest of his career.

To take how impressive he’s Latham has been a step further, he’s also left on an island nearly 70% of his pass-blocking snaps, winning over 95% of those reps, both of which are among the highest in the league per PFF.

It appears that Latham's elite ability to anchor that he routinely displayed at Alabama has found its way back into his arsenal. He's also utilizing his natural length more efficiently and to his advantage than he has at any point in his professional career. 

As for the run game, that’s an area where Latham has excelled dating back to last year (PFF grade was 71.3). The third-year tackle has natural power and length at his disposal, and when he’s playing with good footwork and hand placement, he’s able to displace defenders at the point of attack with ease. 

The Titans’ tackle is also doing a much better job of correctly identifying his assignments pre-snap. Latham has rarely found himself out of position this season, and that’s because he has a genuine understanding of how the defense is trying to attack him on every play.

What Week 5 could mean for Latham

These developments have undoubtedly been encouraging, but a massive benchmark now awaits the young tackle on Sunday. Arguably the best edge defender in the NFL will be across from him throughout the contest, so we’re going to find out real fast just how much Latham has truly grown. 

In previous years, these are the types of matchups that would ultimately expose Latham’s deficiencies. However, he now has the chance to start changing that narrative completely with a great game on Sunday. 

A strong performance against an all-around elite defender like Anderson would do wonders for Latham’s budding confidence going forward. This is the type of individual matchup that can validate him as one of the better right tackles in the NFL. It can also quickly become a brutal reality check if not taken seriously. 

Someone like Anderson should have his moments; he’s too good not to do so, but if Latham is able to hold is own for the majority of the game, then he’s undoubtedly going to start being discussed in an entirely different tier of tackles than ever before.

More importantly, it’ll give the Titans a real shot to get their offense going as they try to win their first game of the season. Because if Anderson starts to dominate the way he typically does, we'd be in for another very long afternoon in Nashville.