| Jeff Risdon. 30th July, 2007 - 3:48 pm
 Last season: 8-8, tied for 2nd in AFC South
Coming: CB Nick Harper, WR Justin Gage, LB Gilbert Gardner, LB Ryan Fowler, WR Eric Moulds
Going: RB Travis Henry, CB Pacman Jones, WR Drew Bennett, WR Bobby Wade, DT Robaire Smith, LB Robert Reynolds
Key Rookies: CB/S Michael Griffin, RB Chris Henry, WR Chris Davis, WR Joel Filani
What I like: The Titans took a shot inserting Vince Young at QB and it paid off. Young showed tremendous leadership and the ability to turn broken plays into big plays with both his arm and his legs. Young is a very difficult matchup for defenses because of his mobility and contagious will to succeed. His two tackles, Michael Roos and David Stewart, are both solid linemen who play with a nasty attitude. Roos in particular is primed for a breakout season. The line as a whole is a very strong run-blocking unit. Young developed strong chemistry with WR Brandon Jones, who excelled at getting open while Young scrambled. There are a lot of promising young WRs who will be given every chance to prove themselves, the best being Roydell Williams. Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow and Head Coach Jeff Fisher are creative playcallers who cater to the talents of their best players.
The strength of the defense is at LB. Keith Bulluck is one of the best tacklers in the league and is an outstanding blitzer. His range and all-out attack attitude make those around him better. David Thornton is a steady starter who also possesses great range. Stephen Tulloch and newcomer Ryan Fowler are in a spirited battle for the other spot, but that also equates to strong depth at the position as both are decent starters. SS Chris Hope is a big hitter, solid veteran leader, and is rarely out of position. CB Nick Harper is a capable starter who plays smart. Up front Randy Starks and Albert Haynesworth are both physical maulers who can get into the backfield, though both struggle with consistency. DE Kyle Vanden Bosch is an elite pass rusher who excels at shedding blocks. Most teams allot a TE or FB to account for him on passing plays. Their P/K combo of Craig Hentrich and Rod Bironas is as solid a pairing as any in the league. I believe Jeff Fisher is one of the 3 best coaches in the game today, as he proved when he took an uncompetitive 0-5 team and steered them to an 8-8 finish.
What I dislike: Where to start? How about at RB, where they will try one of the following: the overweight diva, LenDale White, who has whined and lazed his way out of favor in just his 2nd year; the rookie, Chris Henry, who doesn’t have 800 attempts over his 6 years of organized football; or oft-injured retread Chris Brown, who has promise but can’t stay healthy or out of Jeff Fisher’s private doghouse. Or at WR, where every player will be at least one spot higher on their 2-deep than they belong, and only Brandon Jones had more than 8 receptions. Newcomer Moulds couldn’t stick in Houston, perhaps the only team with a worse overall WR situation than the Titans. Or at QB, where despite all the positives he brings Vince Young struggles to complete 50% of his passes and ranked in the bottom 5 in yards per attempt, INTs per attempt, and QB rating. And all that was with a 1200-yard rusher and two superior starting WRs. In spite of all that, the offense might still be the strength of the team.
The defense has some quality players sprinkled around it, but the overall talent level is inferior to most units and the depth is shaky at best. The two guys who can do the most to make this a strong unit, DTs Randy Starks and Albert Haynesworth, are both wildly inconsistent and lack proper conditioning and mindset. The cupboard is pretty bare behind them. They lost the only corner on the team capable of playing solid man coverage, and free safety is a major weakness. That’s not going to be pretty when they play the Colts (twice), Bengals, Broncos, Saints, Falcons, or even the Raiders. Because they lack playmakers in the secondary, they must play more conservative and not turn loose the better players up front. Their schedule won’t help either, as they get the tough AFC West and solid NFC South in place of the top-heavy AFC East and QB-challenged NFC East of a year ago.
Best case: The magic of the winning rally to close out last season carries over, despite losing the only proven RB, the top 2 WRs, and their best cover man and one of the best return men in football. Young improves his accuracy and the young WR corps gels around him; either White or Henry proves to be a bell-cow RB; the DEs and LBs play dominating football in longer stretches; a true playmaker emerges in the secondary and the team forces lots of turnovers. This team has a good chance to win kicking/field position type games.
Worst case: Young continues to struggle with accuracy and none of the young WRs step forward to make an impact; the RB situation remains a major issue all season; the DL doesn’t generate a solid, consistent pass rush to help out the coverage; no PR/KR emerges as a replacement for Pacman Jones, who basically won two games by himself in that capacity last season; the secondary struggles in coverage and still fails to provide consistent run support. They get the only 5 games they should be expected to win all in a row in weeks 5-9. If they’re not above 3 wins after that stretch, they won’t finish with more than that.
Prediction: This team is much more like the Titans that were the worst team in the NFL over the first 8 weeks of 2006 than the team that rallied to win 6 of its last 7. With an anemic running game, an undeveloped WR corps and his own accuracy issues, Vince Young can only do so much. The subpar secondary and underachieving DL won’t steal games for them either. My gut says 3-13, my logical analysis says 5-11; I’ll split the difference and forecast a 4-12 finish for the Titans.
The author can be reached at Jeff.Risdon@RealGM.com. |
