Common denominator during the Titans' six-game losing streak
 

So the Titans looked like contenders and then they went on this six-game streak that killed their season.

I still think they are a talented and dangerous team. This, IMO, is our toughest game other than the San Diego game in the second half of the season.

Matchups I hate:

Jason Babin against Barry Richardson - nuff said

Cortland Finnegan against Dwayne Bowe - I really hate this, because Finnegan is physical enough to completely take Bowe out of his game.

Chris Hope and Michael Griffin against Matt Cassel - He can't telegraph throws like that INT last week and get away with it against these guys.

Michael Roos against Tamba Hali - Roos completely owned Hali the last time he played him. Yeah, Hali is a different player now, but Roos is a great young left tackle.

Oh yeah, Chris Johnson against...anyone.

Now, why did the Titans lose six games? Every quarterback they played during their losing streak was highly efficient at the least or explosive at best.

Rivers 27/36 305 2/1
Henne 19/28 240 1/0
McNabb 30/50 376 1/1
Schaub 25/35 176 1/0
Garrard 14/19 126 0/0
Manning 25/35 319 2/0

I do not think we can get away with another 15/30 performance out of Cassel and expect to win this game.

BTW, they just held the Texans to 30 rushing yards.

A rowdy Arrowhead trumps everything you mentioned. Hope the A team fans show up.

Two tough games.
Collins scares me. Fiaders are 5-0 against div opponents.
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True
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Keep posting your anti-Chiefs drivel. Sure, most of us know all your football intellect could fit in a dixie cup, but hey. It worked against the rams. If you keep predicting doom each week this team could win it all.

Clayton your loathing of Cassel is misdirected. Seriously there are way too many other areas we need improvement on.

Who's loathing? I've been very positive about Cassel, if reserved in my praise, since he started playing well.

I hate playing Collins. He's a statue in the pocket but he's 3x more dangerous in the passing game.

If he wasn't 65 he'd the no 1 worry this week.

They have the offense to go up and stay up on us early if we sleep walk through the first half like we did last week.

Please, please, ****ING PLEASE bring pressure and the blitz vs. Old Man Kerry this week...

I especially like how GoTurd builds the Titans secondary up as something to fear, then notes how well the opposing QB's have played against them. ROFL

Well, those guys are all good players. The Titans have 38 sacks, 16 INT and have allowed only 18 TD passes. Those are all high marks. For the 30th ranked passing offense, it should be a concern.

You can't lead the NFL in passing and rushing. We're obviously not going to throw for 5 td's against tennessee, or anyone for that matter.

How will our terrible QB ever live to the performances of the immortal Chad Henne, Donovan F. McNabb, Matt Schaub, and Silky Garrard?

Woe is us.

We're gonna kill them. Cassel goes for the jugular. Then he steals the ball away from whomever scored the TD and spikes it.

And Jason Babin? He's having a good season, sure, but he's still Jason Babin, who's bounced from team to team the last 4 years.

Clayton, the constant caricature.

If we roll up 27 points, 400 yards, and win the TOP battle we will win by at least two scores.

If we score 14 points we still win.

Football Outsiders seems to agree with the notion that Tennessee is better than their record. They're 10th in DVOA and 8th in defensive DVOA. They are also 9th in pass defense.

Titans > NFC West

The Titans pounded a Houston team that lost an overtime Monday night game 6 days beforehand.

They are not world beaters, but the game isn't going to be a cakewalk, either.


Tennesee is a team on the edge. Get a quick start on them and they will implode.

Johnson can score 14 by himself.

He's Jamal Charles dangerous only he plays the whole game.

Our best bet is to blitz, hurry, fluster, sack, and maul Collins...

Johnson is still good, but he isn't the Johnson from last season. The Titans have given him a ton of carries, and I think his body is wearing down.

haha I loved that. You can't help but get fired up watching Cassel going apeshit.

8 100-yard games and leads the league in runs over 20 yards.

If he's wearing down his stats don't show it. 5.4 YPC over the last 6 weeks.

CJ2K needs more carries.

It's a little strange that the Titans didn't a) re-up him and b) sign/keep a complimentary back. I'd more more worried about this game if they hadn't cut Blount.

4.5 ypc over the entire season. He averaged 5.6 last year. He won't average anywhere near 5.4 ypc against us. He 358 carries last season. He is on pace for 320+ this year. The body can't handle that.

I think we stack the run and play a lot of man in both of these games. I also think we completely destroy both the Titans and the Raiders. I mean, just completely annihilate both of them.

If this happens we'd draw the Jets and, despite Sanchez being a good player on the road, I think we match up well against them.

If we are lucky enough to get that far I see us having a chance in Pittsburgh if we can get the run going. Hopefully, the Ravens would take down the Pats and we'd host them for the Championship game.

Yes, I'm a homer.

His average on 98 carries over the last six weeks is 3.7 ypc. He has six runs that elevate that to 5.4 ypc. If we can keep him from breaking off the big runs I think we are okay -- make Grandpa win with his arm at Arrowhead...I'll take those match-ups...

I swear I read this post in 2004.

;)

6-8 and finish the season with two road games KC - Indy
The Texans got a little pay back from the 0-20 beating they laid on them earlier
nice way to finish the home games

WOW...who is your supplier ? I'd take a playoff game and a 1st round win.

Now, why did the Titans lose six games? Every quarterback they played during their losing streak was highly efficient at the least or explosive at best.

Rivers 27/36 305 2/1
Henne 19/28 240 1/0
McNabb 30/50 376 1/1
Schaub 25/35 176 1/0
Garrard 14/19 126 0/0
Manning 25/35 319 2/0

You can't tell jack shit from those stats. They are all over the place - 19 attempt through 50 attempts. Zero Tds to 2, etc.

hehe...

Truthfully, this team has made such progress and shown real growth in so many areas this season is a win as it stands. But I do believe we smoke these next two opponents in Arrowhead. I do believe out of all the teams we could host the Jets (and maybe the Ravens who have given up huge yards/points at times this season) are probably the easiest out of a bunch of tough games to play.

Beyond that, who knows.

I was looking for a common denominator.

It wasn't rushing yards, and it wasn't defense.

None of these quarterbacks had bad days. All of them were, at the very least, highly efficient. I would guess the third down conversion % for these teams was very high.

This is true (both positive and negative). Out of all those lines I think we have the best chance to win with Garrard's numbers because it likely means we have 900 yards rushing offense (the Jags had 258 yards of rushing offense in that game).

Then the title of your thread makes no sense.

The title of the thread is "common denominator."

Yes, completely illogical.

Titans are 3-3 on the road by winning their first three road games over (NYG, DAL, JAX) and losing their next three road games at (SD, MIA, HOU)

I misread your response. I thought you said you weren't looking for a common denominator.

Anyway, there is none. The QB stats are all over the place.

I agree they are all over the place, but it's obvious none of those quarterbacks played poorly or below average. I think that was my point. We've won games where Cassel has played poorly this year. I don't think we can afford that this week.

I think this is the type of game we can 13-7. We could win this game even with Cassel not going for many yards and not completing a high percentage. We probably can't win if we turn the ball over a lot.

If his offseason program consisted of downing top shelf and spitting on girls in a bar I'd agree...

Titans - .500 football without Randy Moss. 1-5 with Moss.

I don't think it is.

When Collins has time he goes downfield. He has the arm and nothing to lose.

If anything that's our biggest weakness - deep down the middle passing.

That's where we get gashed.

I think this is the secret to teh Hoody/Parcells/Crennel defense: "**** the HB - Ruin the QB's day."

You saw this vs. Denver, and it was the failed game plan vs SD.

If you think about it it's a brilliant game plan and works most of the time. If you force an offense to run 12-17 plays with 0 gains of 20+ plays odds are they will **** up.

Really, how many teams can sustain 15+ play drives?

They will **** up. Holding calls, perhaps a tipped pass, a jerky QB, botched WR reverse, etc.

Eventually they'll **** themselves.

IF they don't have a top 5 QB...

I think the Titans are an awful road team.

ROFL

We will win if we convert our 3rd and shorts. It's the weakness of this offense.

I'm not all that worried about Kerry Collins. He has an 81.5 QB Rating this season.
Not the same guy he was in the past.

Johnson's always deserving of my respect though.

Ultimately the Chiefs run the ball and defend the run better than Tennessee.
This is going to come down to which QB can play the most efficient football.

Just like JC. Against the Rams 10 runs for 42 yards and 1 for 80

Actually if you take away JC's long runs he is still almost at 5 ypc over the past six games...

A couple of things from a Chiefs fan living in Titan-ville;

- Fisher is on his way out. I cannot see Bud Adams keeping him after back to back seasons with lossing streaks of 6 games.

- Tennesee's game plan, both defense and offence, is a hybrid of Marty & Herm Edwards. Once you shut down the run and get up by ten the game is over

- We can run all day on them. The D-Line stinks.

- Finnegan can be beat. Bowe just needs to keep his head on straight.

Then why couldn't Arian Foster run on them? I didn't see the game.

They abandoned the run pretty early - they got down 21-0 or 21-7, IIRC.

11 carries, 15 yards - so it's not like he did much when given the chance, but Schaub had 54 attempts.

And he'll be twice as terrifying against the Titans 'cuz I hear he's getting his tonsils removed tomorrow!

Football doesn't work this way. All the carries count.

Correct, Houston had to abandon the running game early.

Makes sense, thanks.

Arrowhead Crowd!!

I agree. Which is why I said if we could keep him from breaking off the long one I think we'll be fine.

Someone should twitter the video of cj playing the instruments after his long touchdown at arrowhead in 08 to the Chiefs defenders as a motivational piece for protect this house.

Notice how bad that team isx without VY

Few interesting tidbits from the Titans board:

ROFL

Do think that might have had something to do with the titans going up by 21 in the 1st quarter and M.Schaub having to throw 54 passes?

What you'll need to worry about with Tennessee is their defense, not their offense. CJ has slowed down and is too patient waiting for holes to develop. Kerry Collins will give you plenty of opportunities at sacks and Ints. But the Casshole is not a good matchup for this defense at all. They can move laterally and stop all the gimmick misdirection and draw bullshit and they can rush the passer with their front dropping 7 back into zones. Casshole hasn't been very good at all against the type of coverage scheme they play.

Here is an excellent post from WPI

Here is what I can tell you on the Titans based on my research.

Offense
Their starting center Eugene Amano has been put on IR. So they started Fernando Velasco. He seemed to struggle in pass protection. The Texans were bringing a lot of crossing blitzes and effectively getting through the Titans A gaps. This was their main source for getting pressure on Kerry Collins and forcing him to throw before he wanted to.

*Kerry Collins still has an impressive arm compared to half of the starting QBs in the NFL. He is smart with his pump fakes and knows where to put the ball when given time. But if you force him to hurry in his delivery on his decision, he will under or overthrow the ball and potentially allow the defense to get a interception. He seems to be most bothered when the Blitz is coming directly in the middle of the pocket. And he doesn't throw very well on the run.

*Chris Johnson is the first guy the Chiefs need to stop. The Titans want to get the ball to him early and often. The Titans are 1-5 when Chris Johnson is held under 100yds. Chris Johnson wants to bounce it outside or he wants to use the cutback. There is rarely straight ahead running. He tries to outrun everyone with his speed rather than cut up field and truly utilize his speed to just outrun the pursuit angles.

*Kenny Britt is the key to their offense's effectiveness. They average 28 pts a game and are 6-4 with him. They average 9pts and are 0-4 without him in the lineup. The Titans got the ball to him early and often. He is really what helped them win the game with CJ's inability to get big runs because the Texans were stacking 8 in the box. And their secondary proved how terrible it was, when it game up two 4th down conversions on their opening drive.

Defensively
*Cortland Finnegan is a very physical corner that will do everything in his power to get in Dwayne Bowe's head. He will try to bait Bowe into a personal foul. This is a game where Bowe must keep his cool and make Finnegan shut up by being physical with him in his run blocking and run him over any chance he gets after catching a pass. Bowe's toughness will be challenged this week.

*Overall I'm not blown away by the Defense of the Titans. They haven't jumped out to me on the film like some of our prior opponents have. They don't have a great deal of glaring weaknesses nor do they have any strength that makes me say wow that will be tough to beat. They are a bunch of tough players that want to stop the run and force you to pass. And bring their rotation of fresh defensive lineman to pin their ears back and get after the quarterback.

*Fear the Tight End?
Tight Ends vs the Titans D
Week 1- Zach Miller 4 rec 43yds 10.8 avg LG-27
Week 3- Kevin Boss 3 rec 88yds 29.3 avg LG-54
Week 5- Jason Witten 5 rec 84yds 16.8 avg LG-31
Week 8- Antonio Gates 5 rec 123yds 24.6 avg LG-48
Week 10-Anthony Fasano 5 rec 107yds 21.4 avg LG-31
Week 11-Chris Cooley 7 rec 91yds 13.0 avg LG-26

Special Teams

*Marc Mariani is a dangerous kick and punt returner. He really has a knack for finding his way through defenders. The Chiefs coverage unit will need to stay in their lanes to keep him corralled. He did a really good job of helping the Titans offense have their own 40 to mid-field.

*I felt the coverage unit on kickoff and punt return just were not a strength like I was expecting. If you have a returner with good field vision and speed, they can make them pay in a hurry.

In The Titans 8 Losses
-7 turnovers overall
66 total penalties AVG of 8 a game.
Outscored 109 to 59 in 1st half

Steelers 13 to 3 -7 turnovers 11 penalties
Broncos 10 to 10 -1 turnover 10 penalties
Chargers 14 to 19 +1 turnover 10 penalties
Dolphins 10 to 10 -2 Turnover 5 Penalties
Redskins 10 to 10 +1 Turnovers 11 penalties
Texans 14 to 0 -3 Turnovers 10 Penalties
Jaguars 17 to 0 +2 Turnovers 4 Penalties
Colts 21 to 7 +2 Turnovers 5 Penalties

What the Chiefs Should Do

On Offense
*The Titans don't have ridiculously speed or extremely physical defensive linemen. I believe the Chiefs can run them over.

*Tony Moeaki and Chris Chambers or Verran Tucker need to come up big in this game. Moeaki can continue a trend in play-action of tight ends having a field day.

*Dexter McCluster on reverses could be a whole lot of fun this week.

On Defense
*Don't allow CJ to bounce runs outside. And make sure the backside linebacker does not allow him to have his cutback lane.

*Attack the middle of the pocket when the Titans pass. It will cause the Titans fits in their timing.

*Limit Kenny Britt's catches. He will tear you up all day and move the chains if you allow him. Get Physical with him at the line.

uh huh.

Chiefs win by 2 touchdowns.

I don't have any comment exept for I like when the team keeps the ball in front of them that is when DJ can do his thang and strip the ball and Berry can bust shit up

• "There have been some games this year when (Titans defensive coordinator) Chuck Cecil clearly was overmatched. He just does not yet understand matchups. He's been taken to school a few times this year by the savvy, old vets."

http://www.profootballweekly.com/201...ing-te-stevens

• "The guards are the weak link on Tennessee's offensive line."


http://www.profootballweekly.com/201...-knows-offense

Romeo FTW

Too much thinking in this thread. Just win the ****ing game.

So you're saying there's some degree of correlation between teams that have average or above average QB play and teams that win games?

Where do I sign up for premium?

That and the fact the Houston defense sucks ass

I'm still pissed about losing that game....
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I am too. We went to sleep on D and let the best part of their game take over. That and a totally bunk ass PI call against Flowers. Still should have won the game though.

I'd say Cassel is highly efficient today. :)

****ing idiot. Tired of looking like a complete dumbshit yet? Keep making these awful predictions.

explosive

Yes, its obvious the Cassel cant handle the fearsome Titans secondary.