Titans: "Ballin"

6 - 0

Yes, its pretty amazing. The Tennessee Titans continued the old school style dominance of its opponents in 2008, steamrolling the hapless Chiefs 34-10. The scoreboard was much closer than the game was.

Here are some stats of two very good rushing performances from this past weekend. One is in college, one is in the NFL. Which one is the Titans, Team A or Team B?

(Team A had 332 yards rushing, 8.3 ypc. Team B had 327 yards rushing, good for 8.8 ypc)

The point is that these stats are indistinguishable, and you cant tell a difference between the two. Team A is the Titans, while Team B is Utah, who racked up these yards this past weekend against Colorado St. Amazing that the Titans were able to rack up ridiculous NCAA type stats against an NFL team.

Without a doubt, the Titans are a good team with Lendale White at Running Back. But once again, Chris Johnson is the spark, the difference maker, that gives the offense its teeth.

Ask any baseball hitter what pitch he can hit the easiest and he will tell you a fastball. Its straight and the velocity provides you with built in power off your bat. But ask any great hitter what the most effective pitch of most great pitchers is, and they will tell you fastball. How can the same pitch be the most effective and the easiest to hit? Hitting a fastball is about a timing and vision. If you know its coming, its just see and put bat head to the ball - all the power is generated for you. But when you get thrown a few slow pitches, your timing and eye level must change in order to hit. Being thrown a 75mph change up along with a 95 mph fastball is incredibly more difficult to hit than the same 95mph fastball being thrown over an over. Chris Johnson is the fastball, Lendale is the changeup. They compliment each other by forcing a defense to change its timing, vision, and physicality to defend the run.

Kudos to the Titans for drafting Chris Johnson - who many, including myself, did not want to draft. We figured we had a running back already. The Titans got a 2 for 1 in drafting Johnson, because they added a running back AND made our current running back more effective.

The Chiefs failed miserably at defending either White or Johnson, who both eclipsed 150 yards rushing. In fact, each had TD runs of over 60 yards, Lendale with an 80 yard run himself. A solid performance by in a typical Jeff Fisher way - run the ball, defend the run, pressure the QB. Passing yardage is a distant priority.

Next week, Monday night affair in Nashville against the Colts. I think that one could get ugly, but I'll make a prediction next week once I calm down.

Passing Optimism

In yesterday's post about Jeff Fisher's offenses during his Titans tenure, I concluded that Jeff Fisher teams do not need to be anything but average in the passing game to succeed. After finishing 27th in the league in passing offense, many expected the Titans to make a big splash and sign a free agent or draft a WR with a high pick in the draft. The Titans did neither, but definitely have made some changes that will affect the passing game.

1. Mike Heimerdinger - new offensive coordinator. After being the offensive coordinator for the Titans from 2000-2004, Mike left to take the same role with the New York Jets in 2005, joining a sinking ship in Herman Edwards last season. For 2006-2007, he was offensive coordinator in Denver with his college roommate Mike Shanahan. When the Titans fired Norm Chow after last season, Heimerdinger was the only candidate they discussed, hiring him within 3 days of Chow's departure. During his first stint as Titans O'Coordinator, the Titans offense never finished below 15th in the league in total points. During this time, Steve McNair went from good to great, eventually claiming MVP of the NFL in 2003. The Titans made the playoffs 3 of the 5 years he was the offensive coordinator in Tennessee. Look for Heimerdinger to use Vince Young's legs more, to use more shotgun sets (all VY did at Texas was shotgun),



2. Wide Receiver personnel moves. Yes, there were a few. The Titans signed former Titan Justin McCareins, who played the last 4 seasons for the New York Jets. His best year with the Titans was 2003, when he snagged 47 receptions for 800 yards and 7 TDs in McNair's MVP year. He had a similar year in 2004 with the Jets, but then diminished each of the next 3 seasons before being cut. The Titans signed him to a 1 year deal, and are hoping his experience, particularly as a slot WR, will help VY and the other WRs improve. Additionally, the Titans re-signed their leading wideout from 2007, Justin Gage (pictured). The 6 foot 4 Gage had a big year with 55 catches in 2007, very impressive considering the Titans passing offense was 27th in the league. Gage is a tall guy with very good hands and route running skills, certainly entering his prime. If McCareins can be a steadying go to guy in the slot, allowing Gage to go deep a bit more, the Titans will definitely be tougher to contend with from the WR spot. Here is how the WR depth chart looks right now, best guess:
   












Definitely some optimism right now in Titans mini-camps, as well as on former top 10 pick Mike Williams from USC. Mike Williams has been criticized for a lack of work ethic, as well as being overweight. Supposedly he is "recommitted" and has lost weight - we'll see (he went to USC). If Williams can contribute while the other young WRs keep maturing, we could definitely see a big jump in production even though our WR core is unchanged. Granted, some websites only think the Titans have 1 WR in the top 50 in the NFL (Roydell Williams at #47).









3. Expanded backfield - The Titans now have a stable of Running Backs, each with different skill sets. On first glance, we have the "track stars", rookie Chris Johnson (in 2008 combine ran a 4.24 40 yard dash) and 2nd year player Chris Henry (ran a 4.33 40 yard dash at 2007 combine). Then there's the proverbial "thunder" of Titans leading rusher Lendale White. As a rookie, Chris Henry only played in 7 games, due in part to a 4 game drug suspension for marijuana use. Hopefully reefer boy sees the competition around him and will respond. He has size (6 foot 2, 230 pounds) and speed, and has the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield (6 catches in minimal action last year). Expect improvement for the 2nd year player out of Arizona. As for Chris Johnson, first thing you see is speed. Undersized at 5 foot 11, 200 pounds, this cat had quite the productive career at East Carolina. He averaged 37 receptions a year in college, as well as a stout 4.5 yards per carry. He was great in the return game also, versatility that will make him immediately helpful to the Titans. Lendale White had a solid year in 2007, leading the team in carries (304) and yards (1110). ESPN did a top 20 RB ranking for the NFL, and the 23 year old Lendale didn't crack it, despite finishing 12th in the league in rushing in 2007. An improving running game should open up the passing game for Vince and the Titans. Look for Heimerdinger to use more dual back sets, more shotgun looks for Vince, and more short passing plays specifically for running backs.

Of course, the single biggest factor to offensive improvement is Vince Young. Production fell way off for Vince in '07, after a Pro Bowl (alternate) year and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2006. Many say this decline was simply defenses catching up to Vince's game. Certainly that had a part to do with it. Norm Chow, the former offensive coordinator, is known for running his west coast offense without regard to a skilled, mobile QB like Vince. Word is their relationship was not the best, as it was well known that Chow wanted the Titans to draft Matt Leinart instead of Vince Young at #3 in the 2006 NFL draft.

Hopefully the guidance of the experienced and fresh offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, as well as general maturation of Vince Young and the Titans WR/RB core, will all combine to improve the Titans offense. Look for a very solid season by Vince Young and the Titans, particulary in the passing game.