2 days. We are 2 days away from the first game of the NFL season. To open the regular season, we are stuck with playing the returning champion Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s a game I both dread and look forward to. So, without further stalling, lets preview it:
Strengths for the Titans
- Controlling the Line of Scrimmage: Any good Tennessee Titans team starts and ends with this. Our Offensive Line is generally acknowledged as top 3 in the league and will remain so barring a major injury. The Steelers defense is extremely impressive, but our line showed last year that they are good enough to get Chris Johnson some space and Kerry Collins enough time to make a decision. So while we obviously won’t dominate the line of scrimmage offensively, we’ll at least hold serve and possibly control it for a drive or two. The big question mark is on the Defensive Line. While we are talented and deep, there is a question of whether we can dominate as our D-Line has for the past 2 years. Pittsburgh has a weak Offensive Line and while their O-line is expected to improve, nobody expects it to be a top unit. Our D-Line MUST take advantage of this or we will be in some trouble.
- Running the Ball: We’re a better running team than Pittsburgh. This can be neutralized by how good Pittsburgh’s run defense is, but I don’t think it will be enough. If our running game can get us to 3rd and 3 or better, we have enough of a passing game to convert these with some regularity. I know we won’t get our usual yards rushing, but to expect 3 yards a carry is not ridiculous, and could be enough to keep the Steelers defense on their toes.
- Tight End: We will need to use all 3 of our Tight Ends in different ways to help out the Receiving Corps. Cook, if he is fully healthy, could be the X factor, as his speed will be unexpected coming from that position. I imagine the Tight End will be Collins’ first look on 3rd downs, and even with our O-Line you rarely get a 2nd look against this defense so our Tight Ends will need to come to play.
Weaknesses for the Titans (more…)
Tags: Ben Roethlisberger, Chris Johnson, Defensive Line, Kerry Collins, lendale white, NFL Week 1, Offensive Line, Pittsburgh Steelers, Posse Preview, Regular Season, Tennessee Titans, Terrible Towel, Troy Polamalu
