Last year, the Titans were one of the best bets in football. They finished 2008 going 12-4-1 ATS and had the best overall SU record in the NFL. Nowadays, the only thing you can expect is that the Titans are going to miss the playoffs despite having one of the most talented teams in the league. What the hell happened?

It’d be immoral to blame Kerry Collins, the 15-year veteran who has taken over the club since Vince Young lost the starting job. If you watched the game against the Jets, Collins was pretty damn good. He threw for 170-yards and a touchdown to Dirty Nate Washington, but both of his picks came off of tipped passes. Collins is not the problem in Tennessee.

His receivers are hardly to blame. Nate Washington is now the number-one receiver, but rookie Kenny Britt has 10 catches for 166 yards this season and is earning the faith of Coach Fisher each week. The running game can hardly be faulted either.

Tennessee ranks 6th in the league with 151.0 yards per game. Although if LenDale’s performance in 2009 has told us anything, it’s to never ever put down the tequila (White claims his weight loss was due in large part to drinking less tequila). Get this fat ass a bottle of Patron right now!

So maybe we can break it down game by game, and toss it to Lady Luck.

In Week 1, the finger is easily pointed at Rob Bironis, the place-kicker who missed a field goal within 40-yards to send the game in to overtime where the Titans eventually lost to the Steelers. Week 2 was a slugfest that the Titans lost at home thanks to Matt Schaub’s 357-yards, 4 touchdown day. The defensive woes continued in the face of Chris Johnson’s career day, where he led the team with 197-yards rushing and 87-yards receiving. Week 3 was a bit of a different story, with two big fumbles by kick-returner Ryan Mouton giving the Jets an early lead.

But it wasn’t until Week 3 where the problem was more than apparent. The Titans can stop the run. They can defend the pass as well as any talented secondary can. What they can’t do is get to the quarterback. Every other possession for the Titans, it was Kris Jenkins of the Jets bursting through the middle to screw things up. That’s what Tennessee used to do. The problem is, the guy that did that for them is no longer there.

Obviously you look to the flip side of the football, where the loss of Albert Haynesworth is easily the most obvious chink in the armor of the Titans defense. In 2008, the Titans were the sixth best overall team in total yards against, giving up just 293.6 per game. This year they’re giving up 335.3 yards per game, and have allowed 23.7 points per game en suite. With a talented front-seven, and a very aggressive secondary, its hard to imagine that this defense would be at fault, but the loss of Haynesworth is killing Tennessee.

Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Schaub and Dirty Sanchez essentially had all day to throw the ball wherever they could find an open man. The Titans have just 7 sacks this season after ranking 5th in the league with 44 sacks total. I mean, 7 sacks in three games is decent, but the Titans couldn’t disrupt Ashlee Simpson from lighting a cigarette if she was rehearsing in the pocket. That’s where the loss of Albert Haynesworth comes in.

It’s not that Haynesworth alone can become an epic force of nature. But put him next to Kyle Vanden Bosch, Jason Jones, Jevon Kearse and Jovan Haye, and you have a front line that could stop a herd of stampeding rhinos in their tracks. With Hayneworth, by far the best player amongst the Titans defenders, getting mauled by critics in Washington, Tennessee is left with a gaping hole in the middle to fill. Stopping the run is not a huge issue, but getting pressure on the quarterback, and forcing him in mistakes, is a missing piece of the puzzle for Tennessee.
The Titans are the best winless team in a cellar it shares with Tampa, Cleveland, St. Louis, Miami and Kansas City. It’s not even a discussion – Tennessee could very well be 2-1 SU if not for a missed field goal, and a couple muffed kicks by a rookie. With a special teams unit that can’t deal with pressure very well, and a front-four that is failing to get to opposing quarterbacks, the Titans have gone from the best team in the league, to a medicore spread buster at best.
The last remaining question for Tennessee is whether or not they just toss in the towel early and see if Vince Young has anything left to offer for the remainder of the season. Because with Kerry Collins’ age, and VY still an uncertainty, the Titans may have much bigger problems next summer than shoring up their special teams.


This information is provided in partnership with BetUs Sportsbook

More ...