Titans in 2011 (1 Viewer)

[dhockster]

The more I look at the Titans, the more I wonder how they are going to manage to win more than 5 games in 2011. Consider:

-They have a new coach and new offensive coordinator, so I assume they are putting in a new offense. They also have a new defensive coordinator. Due to the lockout situation, the players may not have much time to learn the new systems.

-They lost their long time defensive line coach in the offseason. While this may not seem like such a big deal, consider that three players for him had all-pro seasons who had minimal success elsewhere (Kearse, Haynseworth, Babin).

-They are unsettled at QB. With Jake Locker on board, they have the choice of letting him sit for awhile and let an ancient Kerry Collins play, or throw Locker to the wolves. neither choice is very appealing. Based on what I saw in the Texans game last year, Rusty Smith is not an answer.

-Their top receiver, Kenny Britt, has had several arrests, and it is possible he misses time since one of those arrests involved drugs. The rest of their receivers are nothing to get too excited about.

-Their strengh is their offensive line and Chris Johnson. With all the other potential issues on offense, I see other teams playing 8 men in the box, which could hurt Johnson's productivity, especially with the workload that he has had the over the last couple of seasons.

Anything I am missing? I am curious as to Titan fans outlook on this season.

 

[benbadman]

i'm looking forward to wearing my many Nebraska Cornhusker shirts to training camp and giving Jake Locker some ####

 

[2323]

i'm looking forward to wearing my many Nebraska Cornhusker shirts to training camp and giving Jake Locker some ####

how did that last meeting go with the dawgs?!

 

[gianmarco]

i'm looking forward to wearing my many Nebraska Cornhusker shirts to training camp and giving Jake Locker some ####

how did that last meeting go with the dawgs?!

Your sig needs to be a bit longer. That's saying a lot coming from me and my sig.

 

[vandyt]

I'd agree no Titans fan should be expecting more than 5-6 wins. Haven't seen the Vegas line, but I would lay a decent amount that their O/U will be 5.5 for the year.

By position:

QB: I'm a huge Locker fan, and think he will be a great pro. I do NOT think he should see the field this year, and I'm thinking the Titans agree with that. They need a veteran to bridge the gap...I think it needs to be someone easier to remove from the position than someone like Hasselbeck, who obviously still thinks of himself as a starter in the NFL. Maybe a Bulger? Volek? Gradowski? Stanton? I'd personally like to see them sign a younger guy with upside like T. Jackson or Stanton, as well as a veteran mentor like Collins, Volek or Pennington. I think they'll end up with a vet as the starter, Locker as the backup and Smith as the 3rd QB.

RB: Position is pretty much set...not sure why there is talk of Harper potentially replacing Ringer...Ringer looks to be starting caliber if CJ goes down.

WR: Not sure the Britt news is anything too exceptional...he can't get in shape in a normal offseason, no reason to expect him to have an impact in an offseason with no formal program. Looks like with a potential suspension looming they're more likely to keep Gage at his asinine salary, and have him, Washington and Williams as the top 3 until Britt rounds into shape/gets unsuspended. I'm not sure there are any FA WRs that are a massive upgrade and a realistic option. I wouldn't mind seeing James Jones if the Pack rescinds his tender. Otherwise, I think the guys I mentioned, along with Hawkins and Mariani are who they'll go into the season with.

TE: Obviously they'll let Scaife go. Cook seems to be the starter for now...though I think Stevens is the long-term answer at the position. He strikes me as a Kevin Boss-type who would fit the Titans conservative, run-based offense alot better than Cook would on most downs. Between the two, I think theres alot of upside at the position.

OL: Obviously OT is set with Roos/Stewart. The interior of the line bothers me...Scott is undersized, Amano/Harris are underproductive. I beleive by most standards they were one of the worst run blocking OLs in the league last year, especially on runs inside. Would love to see them go after someone to improve that...Dahl/Joseph/Blalock/Baldwin...not expecting any of them to be added, but would be nice to push Harris into a reserve role.

DL: As I look at the roster, I think the position is fairly set. At DE, Morgan, Hayes, Ball will rotate through, with Jason Jones probably playing LE on early downs. I've seen talk of Akeem Ayers playing DE on passing downs as well, though I'm not sure how realistic that is. I don't expect Babin to be resigned in any case. Not with Washburn gone. At DT, I'm not clear on how healthy Tony Brown is, but he, along with Jones on passing downs, and Casey and Marks will cover that position. If they add an impact FA at any position, I think its a DT. Brandon Mebane maybe?

LB: This is hte position I'm most lost on....right now I think they go Witherspoon at WLB, McRath at SLB. No clue what happens at MLB. Everything I've read makes it sound like Tulloch won't be a priority in FA. Can Ayers play MLB? For a LB running a 4.8, you'd think that would be the only position he could play, but all the "expert" talk has him in an OLB/DE role. Not sure where Curran fits in either. Strikes me as undersized for the MLB role, but he may be the backup option if Tulloch is gone. So no clue here. Not even a clue what to hope for in FA here...I think they are going to have to get to camp for us to know exactly what it is they need.

DB: Starters seem to be set: Finnegan/Verner/Hope/Griffin, with Mouton/McCourty/Fuller/Nickey backing up. I think after DT, CB is the most likely position where the Titans will look to add a starter. Carlos Rogers would look good across from Finnegan, and Verner would be less stretched as a nickel. Maybe with a down year coming though, they'll let the youthful guys try to get the job done across from Finnegan and see what they have.

K/P: Think they're set here.

KR/PR: Mariani is fantastic...I hope they don't Dante-Hall-him and try to get him involved too much on offense.

But yeah, 5-6 wins....and thats only with a decent FA QB. Even with CJ on board, this could be a 3-4 win team very easily. But thats ok...lots of youth, lots to build around. If Locker is a franchise QB, they'll be very solid by 2013.

 

[No Way Jose]

Nice post Vandy. Titans have a lot of work to do once FA opens up.

 

[msommer]

Putting in a new O is on the positive side of things

 

[Clifford]

Based on this thread I would take the over on 6.5.

But I am a bit worried about both cj and ap, but how much worse can their 2011 situation be than 2010? Hard not to have faith in both guys at this point.

 

[Bri]

KR/PR: Mariani is fantastic...I hope they don't Dante-Hall-him and try to get him involved too much on offense.

I couldn't disagree more. I'm not looking for much though. He somehow gets it done no matter what he does. Last preseason, he was so good at WR that he made Fisher keep one more than he wanted to and (I believe) he is the reason Tampa had a new RB. Yeah you can draw out the last cuts however ya want, but I see one more WR and one less RB. He's too short to be good at WR and probably too thin to be a good KR too. That little bugger has some Chrebet or some Welker in him because he could care less and gets it done anyway. He's one of my favorite NFL players to root for.Re-threadIt's up to the new coach.OL coach promoted, HOFer brought in to coach an excellent bunch of OL, who only a couple years ago led CJ to phenomenal numbers. If you watch the video feeds they post on TitansOnline, I'd bet you believe you caught Munchak stopping himself from saying CJ will get 3k. I have zero idea what is reasonable for a back like CJ behind an offensive line that's very well coached and used to being relied upon, but there's some big numbers to project here.Re rook QB or veteran-if the rook can't play behind two all-pro caliber Tackles and with an all-pro RB taking the heat off him...cmon. It's likely to be the CJ show a large percent of the time, the rook "has to" be able to manage the O the rest of the time.Munchak has an awesome attitude about coaching when he speaks and did as such when he was an OL coach. Results baby! I am dying to see it. I am not sure if what he says can happen in the NFL without a coach getting canned and/or getting backlash from the fans. IF Munchak's results theory were in play last year-they would have had games where they had no LBs due to missed tackles, where they had no WRs due to drops, and no QB due to dunderhead mistakes. OK So they couldn't do that, but where's the line drawn? I think that's important here.The Titans WRs drop so many passes. They are very good at getting open and getting to the ball. You won't find it in any stat (and whomever decides drops is wrong too) but ask a Titans fan-they drop a ton! What happens if they didn't?Bulluck left for NY and young LBers bounced off knees and thighs like a pinball. Old LBers were a step slow but better tacklers. Finnegan had his head "in his pants" last year. I love the guy, but that may have been a worse year than his rookie year. That Andre stuff was fun for a minute, then overblown and immature bordering on stupid after a while. He was nothing of the shutdown corner he has been. They finally got a decent rook to play CB opposite him and Finnegan winds up stinkin'. They COULD have the best secondary with three guys regularly in the pro bowl but it feels like it's been a long time since the three of them played well at the same time. They could totally give the impression that opposing Os can't pass on them with a great DB coach, but they haven't.Munchak has to draw that line in the sand and hold players to it. I don't care if the stars are on the bench. It'll work and I love the idea, but he's gotta have the wherewithall to do it and not just say as such.Titans could be a wildcard. I think CJ runs for too many yards for them to only get 5 wins.If he gets hurt, OK five sounds fine maybe even less.

 

[FUBAR]

Good posts so far, this team has a lot of work to do.

But, when a team plays the Jags twice, the Broncos, Bengals at home, the Panthers, and the Bills; they have a fair chance to win 6 games. I doubt they'll see .500, but they won't be in the cellar.