Posse Preview Week 3: Titans vs. Jets

0-2. That is where they are. My beloved team…. 0-2. So, this makes the Jets game potentially the most important game of the season. If the Titans win, they’re back in the hunt, self confidence begins to rise, things feel like it just might work out. If they lose… season over and talk begins of potentially playing Vince Young. So, now that I have stared that reality in the face and kept from blacking out, lets preview this biznatch.

Strengths for the Titans

• Offensive Line: Well, I can’t say “Controlling the Line of Scrimmage” anymore because on defense the Titans can’t do that. At best one can say they hold serve on the D-Line. However, the O-Line is doing its thing, keeping Collins upright and giving Johnson and LenDale lanes to run in. It’s a semi-bright spot on a team that doesn’t have many.
• Stopping the Run: If the Jets can’t run the ball, all of a sudden Mark “Chiquita” Sanchez has to play amazingly well with mediocre receivers to put up points. Luckily the Titans have looked awesome against the run in between the 35 yard pass plays they have routinely given up. This has to hold in the Jets game. If the Jets get any sort of running game going…. well then we’re in for a long day of Michael Griffin breaking on play action fakes (which he might do anyways).
• Running the Ball: They’ve proven they can do it in spurts, however the Titans have not done it consistently and in a way to ice a game. It might be Heimerdinger trying too hard to get the passing game going, it might be the boom and bust nature of Chris Johnson, or both. But whatever it is, the Titans need to get back to popping 14 play 8 minute drives off where 9 of the 14 plays are runs. It will help the old defense out, it will demoralize the other team, it will ice any leads they can get. The Texans should’ve seen A LOT MORE runs, but did not and the Titans ended up losing a 14 point lead as a result.

Weaknesses for the Titans

• Secondary: 32nd in the league through 2 games. It’s bad. Really, really bad. A chance to rectify against a rookie QB, but until they do, it goes here.
• Nick Harper: You suck.
• Mental Errors: Penalties at the worst time. Biting on play action in the worst spots. Not understanding where the help in coming from. FUMBLES IN THE LAST 2 MINUTES OF A GAME!!!! FUCK GUYS!! WHAT IS THIS!!!!!
• Turnovers: They’re getting their ass handed to them on a silver platter in this department. Can’t force ‘em, and can’t stop from committing ‘em.
• Scheme: Lack of focus and identity in the scheme, both on defense and offense. As I wrote last week, what are the Titans? Are they are power running team that controls the clock? Or a big play team that tries to bust games open? Do they throw the ball around the field with regularity? Or do they play so conservatively they run a draw on 3rd and 4 in a key spot? I don’t know, we’ve seen shades of all of these. PICK. A. LANE. On defense it is slightly different. They have an identity, but it looks like the wrong identity, and it’s getting the defense massacred through the air. There is talent on the defensive side of the ball. The coaches, specifically Fisher and Cecil, need to find out what type of style this talent can run most effectively and go to it.

Question Marks for the Titans

• Pass Rush: It isn’t a weakness, but it is by no means a strength either. In fact, we never know what will show up on any play. There are some plays in which 2 or 3 guys bust through in under 2 seconds and it looks great. Then on other plays, the opposing QB stands back there not even worried if he is going to get hit. Cecil will need to adjust, identify when the pass rush is good, and dial up some more blitzes to help out when it begins to suffer.
• Special Teams: Not awful, but not so great. Never know what is coming week by week.
• Kerry Collins: Flashes of great. Flashes of good. Lots of mediocre. Flashes of really bad at really bad times. He needs to get consistent. Consistently mediocre with flashes of great, like he was last year, is much more preferable than what we have seen so far. As I see it, Kerry just needs to 1) Convert 3rd downs at good rate 2) Hit big plays once or twice a game when open 3) Run the 2 minute drill will precision and 4) Don’t make the big mistake. We’ve seen him make odd decisions on 3rd down, try to hit big plays way more often than they are there, make a mockery of the two minute drill and make the big mistake 3 times in two games. Not acceptable.

Expectations for the Game

• I expect the Titans to play with extreme urgency and desperation, but in a good way.
• The defense will recover and have a nice game, aided by their excellent run defense and forcing Sanchez to be the man, which he is not ready for.
• Secondary will play much better as a whole.
• More blitzes will be coming. Bet on it.
• More controlled run game from the Titans to try to hold serve against an excellent defense.
• Less big play attempts from the Titans.
• Close game that will come down to the wire.

Best Case Scenario

Titans come out, shut down the run game and play in a controlled rage. Sanchez panics in the face of a defense that is much more athletic than the two he has faced so far. Titans win the turnover battle, run at will and expose the Jets defense as overrated. Rex Ryan’s brilliant blitzing schemes have no effect on veteran O-Line, Collins feasts and the Titans cruise 28-0.

Worst Case Scenario

Offensive Line can’t hold back Jets who rock Collins and render our run game ineffective. Sanchez reveals the Titans secondary to be even worse than we thought and puts up 380 yards passing. Jets cruise 28-0, Titans season is over and talk of firing Jeff Fisher begins to surface. I set my hair on fire in downtown Nashville in protest.

Official Prediction

The Titans play desperate and begin to reassert their identity and make this game their statement game that they aren’t out yet. Jets offense struggles against the first athletic defense they have faced all year and Sanchez commits a couple of turnover. Titans win a close one 17-14.

Man I hope I am right, or we are screwed.

Tags: Chris Johnson, Chuck Cecil, Jeff Fisher, Kerry Collins, Mike Heimerdinger, New York Jets, NFL Week 3, Nick Harper, Tennessee Titans