SB Nation - Michael Griffin

MCM's Tennessee Titans Team of the Decade

Jimmy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:06:16 -0000

I made the team!! (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

We are continuing our "of the decade" series today with the Titans team of the decade. This list was compiled by August, Hal, Gramsey, and me. It was a fun exercise. Some of the selections were no brainers that were easily agreed on by all parties, but there were a few that were hotly debated.

The team and some comments on it after the jump.

OFFENSE

QB- Steve McNair
RB- Chris Johnson
FB- Lorenzo Neal
WR- Derrick Mason
WR- Drew Bennett
TE- Frank Wycheck
OT- Brad Hopkins
OT- Michael Roos
OG- Bruce Matthews
OG- Zach Piller
C- Kevin Mawae

DEFENSE

DE- Jevon Kearse
DE- Kyle Vanden Bosch
DT- Kevin Carter
DT- Albert Haynesworth
LB- Keith Bulluck
LB- David Thornton
LB- Randall Godfrey
CB- Samari Rolle
CB- Cortland Finnegan
S- Chris Hope
S- Michael Griffin

SPECIAL TEAMS

K- Rob Bironas
P- Craig Hentrich
RS- Derrick Mason
LS- Ken Amato

A few thoughts:

The first debate we really had was between CJ and Eddie George. It seems somewhat blasphemous to keep Eddie off the team, but you can't include 1999 and without that CJ's numbers in 2 years are more impressive.
We all wanted to come up with a way not to put Drew Bennett on the team because all any of us can think of when we think of Drew is the drop in New England, but when you look at the numbers he had to be there.
Gramsey wants Sarge over Lorenzo, but the thing that gave Lorenzo the nod for the rest of us was the decline in Eddie's career when he left.
Everything else offensively is pretty much a no-brainer.
We cheated a little bit on the defensive line putting Carter in there at tackle. He did play some tackle in his time here, but it really came down to the fact that those four guys are the four that it had to be. Who else would you put at tackle? Tony Brown was close, but Carter's numbers were so good that it was justifiable.
Linebacker was a little bit of a debate between Randall Godfrey and Peter Sirmon, but Godfrey was more dominating so he got the nod.
The safety positions might have taken us the longest. Blaine Bishop was the first thought in everyone's head, but when you look at the numbers from this decade his aren't that good. Griff would have made it a lot easier on us had he not gone in the tank this year, but his season last year was better than any season posted by a safety in the last 10 years- ergo he makes the list.
The returner debate is still going on between the four of us as I am writing this post. The numbers are close enough that I can put Mason on the list and not feel bad about it. Gramsey and Hal are all about he who shall not be named. He was electric, but he only did it for 2 seasons. That is how I am justifying leaving him off. Gramsey says I will close the comments so no one can prove me wrong. He doesn't have that "Hater" title for nothing. Have at it..

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Scratch, Bap, Boom, Jazz Edition

August West — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:13:11 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

You gotta love how the University of Tennessee named their locker room after Peyton and not the guy who followed him... who actually beat Florida and won a national championship. /yeah I said it

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Jim Wyatt talks to a couple of the greats who have crossed the 2,0000 yard threshold and lived to tell about it... here's the key stat breakdown:

Through 11 games, Johnson averaged 126.9 yards per game. Over the last six games, however, he averaged 154.7. If he stays at that pace he'll finish with 2,170 yards and be the NFL's new single-season record holder.

Since Chris Johnson shows every defense why he's their daddy, and why he's going to get paid like crazy, why not call him Pappy Check... by Medeski Martin and Wood, who are without a doubt the greatest and most innovative jazz trio of the past two decades. So take a deep breath, get funky and enjoy!

Guess who bought the Manning jersey Jeff Fisher wore 'for charity' (ed note: that rationale is still a crock, by the way. Fisher could have worn anything even mildly football related, signed it and donated it for just as much benefit without pole jocking a bitter devision rival.) Country munchkin songstress Martina McBride.

Follow us through the jump for a taste of something magical...

Titans players know they're on the cusp of something magical, but that won't happen if they don't focus on each week's game like it's their last. The have to remember they're 5-6, even when they're playing like they're 5-0.

Check-out the Sporting News' interview with safety Chris Hope, who says this game will prove if we're for real.

LenDale says he ran out of gas, which made him late for the walkthrough and lead to his deactivation last week, but he's saying all the right things now about doing whatever it takes to make Fisher happy; even if that means being deactivated again should the team need it. There's also a good note hear about former Seminole Chris Hope's reaction to the retirement of Bobby Bowden.

Hat tip to industrious reader/commenter JimR for point us towards this LA Times profile of CJ.

Michael Griffin plans on playing through his shoulder injury on Sunday. Hey, maybe it'll stop him from trying to do too much in supporting the run game.

Paul K delivers the book on the Vince Young 2.0, looking at all of his major failing from the first time around, and how he's laid them to rest so far this year.

I'm linking this not for the drivel from Joe Biddle, but for the hilariousness in the comments, where the first guy doesn't get that 'I bet on Germany in WWII.' is a joke. Good times ensue. **UPDATE: This post has been removed by The Tennessean web hampsters.**

Clark Judge tip-toes around it, but the truth in undeniable: Vince Young's resurgence is complete validation of Fisher's choice to fire Norm Chow and bring back the man he was comfortable with to mold VY.

The mad geniuses at KSK (despite settling on a terrible nickname for CJ) take a moment to roast Colts fans:

Derek [Colts fan]: ...I used to frequent Subway all the time even though some of their employees are jerks. Wanna know why?

Cashier: [Doesn't get a chance to speak]

Derek: Because Jared, their spokesguy, is a Colts fan. And people say the Colts aren’t a glamorous team!

Dwight Freeney was back at practice for the Colts, while left tackle Charlie Johnson sat out for a second straight day...

Every time you read a great Titans-related story on the web and don't share it with the MCM community through the fanposts, fanshots or by emailing me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com Peytoon Manning makes YET ANOTHER commercial. Is that what you want?!!!!?!?!

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: What Day Is It? GAMEDAY!!!!! Edition

August West — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:02:56 -0000

More photos » by Dave Einsel - AP

Houston Texans fan. 'Nuff said.

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Vince Young has a pretty good history of playing the state of Texas, and he's always excelled on the big stage. We're going to need him to keep that history going if we're going to walk away with a win and get closer to .500 in the process.

LenDale wants to be the starter, but he knows better than to disrupt a good thing. He knows he doesn't have much of an argument as long as Chris Johhnson is running like the best back in the league, but that doesn't mean he's satisfied on the bench either.

For all of the star power and hype on several match-up heading into tonight, I think it's hard to argue that the match-up of Cortland Finnegan and Andre Johnson is one of the best you'll see all year, never mind all night. It'll be interesting to see if Cort follows Johnson around, or if he sticks to his one side of the field like he did in week two... if it's the later then you can bet they'll be working on getting Johnson working deep against Michael Griffin.

ESPN has a dedicated page for the Monday Night match-up, so check it out for updated content through the day.

Follow us through the jump to find-out who has us ranked above the Giants at the moment...

PK has a long passage on the maturity of Vince Young, and in a rare moment of non-NFC East butt kissing, PK keeps the Titans in the Fine 15 while the Giants are outside looking in:

15. Tennessee (3-6). Save your breath, Giants fans. Tennessee's playing better over the last month than the Giants are, and the way I consider this ranking is if the teams played today on a neutral field, who would win? If they lined up tomorrow in Morgantown (well, they'd both be a little tired, particularly Tennessee, which plays tonight), I'd pick the Titans to win.

Another sign this is a big game: how often do you see a Titans game previewed in the LA Times?

Houston fans have good reason to despise our throwback jerseys, and if the sales numbers are any indication Titans fans don't care too much for them either. If you've been around here very long you probably know my stance on this: I wish the Oilers history had been left in Houston ala the Ravens/Browns dynamic, but I can certainly understand why Bud Adams would refuse to leave behind the legacy of the team he founded from scratch.

On a related note, John McClain was there when the surviving members of the inaugural Oilers team reunited yesterday, including Hall of Famers Ken Houston and Elvin Bethea.

For those who missed it over the weekend, here's the ad Bud Adams took out in Sunday's Buffalo News to make up for his double barrel salute last weekend.

PFW reports that Steve Slaton won't just get the start tonight, but will carry the majority of the load as long as he's not putting the ball on the ground.

Congrats to former Titans coordinator Jim Schwatz for leading his Detroit Lions to a nail-bitting win. Sure it was over the laughable Browns, but there are no small victories in Detroit this year.

Every time you read a great Titans-related story on the web and don't share it with the MCM community through the fanposts, fanshots or by emailing me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com Matt Schaub gains one health point. Is that what you want?!!!!?!?!

Pre-Game Recon: Five Questions With Music City Miracles

Jake — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:27:44 -0000

In a continuation of our pre-game cooperation with Music City Miracles, Jimmy was gracious enough to answer five questions I had regarding his Tennessee Titans. Here they are.

1. The Titans have enjoyed a resurgence since starting the season 0-6. Is this due just to the change at quarterback from Kerry Collins to Vince Young, or is there more to the recent turnaround?

MCM: The QB changes has helped because Vince Young has played very efficiently where Collins did not, but there is a lot more to the turnaround. Chris Johnson has had 3 really good games. The secondary has gotten healthy so it isn't the gaping hole that it was for a few weeks. The coaching staff finally decided to go with the young guys on the defensive line, and they have played well.

So while the QB change has helped, and it is what is getting the attention, it isn't the biggest factor in the turnaround.

2. Chris Johnson’s campaign for the Pro Bowl began in Week 2 against the Texans with 3 touchdowns and 284 all-purpose yards. Since Week 3 though, the Texans have stymied opponents’ rushing attacks for an average of 60.5 yards per game. Do you think Johnson will be slowed at all in the rematch, or will he have another huge day?

MCM: I don't expect him to have the same numbers that he did in Week 2, but I do expect him to get his yards. It only takes one or two missed assignments by a defense for CJ to put up big numbers.

The Titans also figured out how to throw a screen pass over the last 3 weeks. It is just another way to get the ball in CJ's hands.

3. The Texans have the 3rd ranked passing attack going against the Titans’ 31st ranked pass defense. How can the Titans slow down Matt Schaub and company?

MCM: By getting pressure on Schaub with the front 4 and the secondary playing their assignments.

It is close to impossible to shut a guy like Andre Johnson down, but the Titans should be able to keep him from putting up the numbers he did in Week 2 by playing their assignments. The safeties, Chris Hope and Michael Griffin, have been biting hard on the run fakes all season. Hopefully they won't do that in this game.

The front 4 has improved since the last time these two played. As a matter of fact, Jacob Ford, one of the best pass rushers on the team, wasn't even active for that game. William Hayes has replaced Jevon Kearse in the starting lineup and is playing well also. They should be able to keep Schaub from getting comfortable in the pocket.

4. Obviously Bud Adams is not an extremely popular person in the city of Houston. What is the your reaction and that of the typical Titans fan of his flipping the bird in Buffalo last week?

MCM: I am not quite sure how to react to it honestly. Part of me thought it was hilarious, and part of me thought it was just sad. I think it is safe to say after getting hammered with a $250K fine Mr. Adams will be on his best behavior for a while.

5. How do you think the game will play out on Monday, an what will the final score be?

MCM: I think this is going to be a very good game that comes down to the wire. I think Vince Young puts up his best numbers of the season and leads the team down the field to set up a field goal in the 4th quarter for the win. 24-21 Titans.

Titans vs Texans coverage

How Good is the Tennessee Titans Secondary Now?

Jimmy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:02:03 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

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We have spent a lot of time talking about how much better the Titans secondary is now than it was at the Boston Massacre. But my question is how much better are they? They looked good against Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Buffalo, but none of those teams have a passing attack that really strikes fear into anyone. Thus the real test comes Monday Night in Houston. The Texans have the 3rd ranked passing attack in the league, and feature one of the best receivers in the game in Andre Johnson. AJ can accurately be called a Titan Killer. In his last 2 games against the Titans he has 207 and 149 yards receiving respectively with 3 touchdowns.

The good news for this particular match-up is there is no way AJ will ever be lined up across from Nick Harper. Most of the big plays to Johnson have come with Harper "covering" him. I would love to see the Titans chance the philosophy a little bit and line Cortland Finnegan up across from Andre on every play, but even if they still refuse to do that at least he would be Rod Hood's assignment instead of Harper's.

This game is also arguably the biggest of Michael Griffin's career. August wrote a couple weeks ago about Griffin addressing his poor play (via Kuharsky). Griffin has played better, but stil got caught peeking in the backfield last weke against the Bills. Pretty much all of us here thought that after the season he put up last year Griffin was on track to become one of the best safeties in the league. He has regressed this year, and Monday night would be the perfect opportunity for him to re-assert himself in the upper echelon of safeties.

It seems that his biggest problem this year has been guessing run far to often and letting receivers get behind him. Gramsey offered me the perfect solution for this yesterday:

I wish MikeGriff would never ever, ever, ever, ever, evaevaevaeva, read run, eva

Sounds like a plan to me. Kuharsky made the point on the radio this morning that there is really no reason for him to worry about the run in the scheme the Titans play because most of the time he is 12-15 yards away from the ball when it is snapped and there are at least six other guys that have run responsibility before it gets to him.

I still have faith that Griffin is going to be a star in this league. No better time than Monday night on a national stage to prove that. His play will go a long way in determining if this secondary is ready to be the strength of the defensive unit as it was a year ago.

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:30:23 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

about 1 month ago: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, left, tries to elude the rush of Denver Broncos' Darrell Reid (95) and a second defender during the first quarter of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, in Denver. (AP Photo/ David Zalubowski)

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Happy Tuesday, friends. After being up late, and watching a hard-fought game go awry, I bet you're pretty bleary-eyed, and grumpy, but let's try to make this a good day. I don't want to think that the Broncos have fallen into losing habits here, and I really don't think that's the case.

Of course, those who speak, but don't know what they're talking about, will start screaming about how the Broncos have been exposed, and they're a fraud, and every other damn thing. A few persistent issues have emerged, but they can be corrected. If anything, losing back-to-back games against good teams can teach you a great deal about your own team.

Let's reflect on this, as I know the coaching staff is, and the players are. Next week, the Broncos face the Redskins, which presents a great opportunity to get back on the winning track. After that, San Diego comes to town. The Broncos still control the AFC West, make no mistake about that.

On the other side of the jump, we'll break it all down. Ready..... BEGIN!!!!

1. It's now midseason, and the Broncos are 6-2, and in first place by a game, and having beaten San Diego on the road. Think back to August, and if I told you that's where the Broncos would be, you'd be happy to take that deal, right? It's a little less great to win the first 6 and lose the last 2, but whatever.

I mentioned some issues, and I want to talk about them briefly. I think all are fixable in the second half of the season.

a. Ben Hamilton is getting to be pretty useless, and I think it's time to see what Seth Olsen has. Hamilton has gone from being above-average before his concussion-driven missed season, to average last season, to decidedly below-average this season. Every time the Ravens and Steelers needed to get pressure on Kyle Orton, they did it over Hamilton. Every other team in the NFL has seen that, and will try to replicate that strategy.

From former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah, during the game:

I don't know what Olsen can do yet, but he's definitely bigger and stouter than Hamilton. I have to think he can anchor better than what we've seen from #50. I am pretty sure Russ Hochstein isn't the answer, but I'd like to see what Olsen looks like.

b. The Broncos need better execution overall on offense. The scheme is fine, and the players are fine, they just need to make the plays that they have a chance to make. They have had some bad penalties, some poorly-timed drops, some slip-and-falls in the running game putting them off schedule, and lately, some bad throws. Plays like Brandon Stokley coming just short of a first down, and Hamilton getting called for a (really questionable) holding penalty on a converted 4th-and-5 are what has been hurting the Broncos offense. The coaches need to send the message that if the players who are playing don't execute, they'll find somebody who will.

c. Signing Mitch Berger was a big mistake. I think it's worth working out some other punters, but really, I liked Brett Kern. If somebody better than Berger is available, I think he should be brought in. Getting a good punter needs to be a high priority in the offseason, too.

d. Interestingly, short-yardage offense has improved during the two losses, as the Broncos have shown a willingness to throw some in those situations. It is still a concern going forward, though. Olsen may help here, if he is given a shot.

e. No-huddle offenses have been problematic for the Broncos the last two weeks. They limit their ability to disguise coverages and rush packages, and they also make it hard to substitute as much as the Broncos want to. Not every team is effective in the no-huddle, but just about every team the Broncos might see in the playoffs is. They need to figure out who their best base defensive group is against the no-huddle.

I think my underlying thought right now is that the Broncos probably aren't quite ready for the Super Bowl, but they hung with a team tonight who is a real championship contender. They beat New England a couple weeks ago, who is a real championship contender. They beat Dallas and Cincinnati, who at the least are good teams. The Broncos have a ways to go, but as first halves of the season go, you have to feel pretty good about theirs. It's not time to start anything over, or blow anything up. It's time to make a few adjustments, execute better, and keep working toward winning games.

2. Information from My Eyes, Steelers at Broncos.

a. Did I mention that I think Mitch Berger sucks? Nothing has particularly changed for me on that score. John Bena coined a new term last night, Brett Kern-backers. I liked Kern, but I don't think I am a Brett Kern-backer. I am a guy who wants a consistent good performance from the Broncos punter, whoever it is.

Philosophically, not a single player or coach on this team means more to me than the team itself. I don't care who is doing it, I just want it done. As much as I love John Elway, the team always came before him to me, too. Part of his greatness, though, was that he'd never make you separate him from the team.

b. It didn't get mentioned a lot, but Tyler Polumbus struggled at RT, especially in the second half of the game. LaMarr Woodley got a lot of pressure and forced a few key throwaways. He'll be okay against most teams, but this was a tough situation for him. Ryan Harris's absence was most definitely felt.

c. I liked the work of both Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal in this game. They consistently did a good job getting open and catching the ball. Marshall had the one drop, but it was a good effort for him overall.

d. I thought D.J. Williams had his worst game of the year, by far. He was taking bad angles all night, and didn't look like he had a prayer of getting off a lot of blocks. I'm admittedly not generally his biggest fan, but he's had the best year of his career in 2009. Monday night, not so much.

e. Wesley Woodyard played a lot more snaps than he's used to, and I thought he wore down in the second half of the game. The Steelers played a tremendous amount of 3 WR sets, which kept Andra Davis on the sideline, and Woodyard in the game.

f. Kyle Orton was actually not too bad for most of the game. He had 2 bad throws, and about 3 bad decisions (one of them was picked off). He was pretty sharp the rest of the night. He needs to cut out the bad decisions, but I was generally a lot happier with his performance tonight than I was against the Ravens. (I don't care about statistics, of course.) Nobody is saying they're thrilled with his ultimate performance, of course, but there's more nuance to the situation, than just looking at the stat sheet.

g. Rashard Mendenhall was the primary reason the Steelers won the game. He got going in the second half, and it forced the Broncos to be more aggressive in the box. I used to think very little of Mendenhall, but he has improved a lot. He runs with vastly better patience and body lean than he did even just a month ago.

h. The Steelers also have themselves a find with Mike Wallace. He's very dangerous for a 3rd WR. They don't do a lot of traditional slot-type stuff, and in nickel offense, if anything, Hines Ward is their slot guy. (I think making definitive distinctions between #1, #2, and #3 WRs is silly.) Wallace has great speed, and he showed good route-running skills Monday night.

i. I liked what I saw of Ty Law in his limited action. Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins both mostly struggled in the game, neither making a great impact. Champ ought to be embarassed by letting Ward jump over him in garbage time. He knows better than that. He also got beat in man-to-man coverage several times by Santonio Holmes. Andre' Goodman was good in this game, though, even beyond his interception.

j. The Broncos use of the "mush rush" was very good in the first half, and very bad for most of the second. Robert Ayers played a key role in containing Ben Roethlisberger when he as assigned that duty, and that's what he was doing when Kenny Peterson knocked the ball free.

k. The Broncos got hosed on the Gaffney challenge, and also on the Haggan fumble recovery. Don Carey has joined my list of bad referees. I like how a return team becomes an intercepting team. I can't believe that he's related to Mike Carey, who is excellent. And he's the older brother? Wow.

3. Information From My Eyes, Other Games:

a. I watched a lot of the Green Bay-Tampa Bay game Sunday, for a few reasons. I haven't seen much of the Bucs this year, and I wanted to look at Josh Freeman, who I liked a lot coming out of college. He looked like a rookie at times, but he showed a lot of positives too. I thought he looked poised and confident, and I am not that surprised. I remember when he beat Texas as a freshman, and commanded the game. (My buddy lost a grand on the game, and he called me frantically looking for NFL advice for the next day, to "get back even." It was a debacle. I don't give gambling advice anymore, because of that weekend.)

Anyway, Freeman looked like a star that day in 2006, and he looked like he may be one someday in the NFL on Sunday. I think Tampa did the right thing, giving him some time to learn from the sideline, but it has to be Freeman Time the rest of the season.

b. I loved Raheem Morris's line after getting his first victory as a head coach.

Statistics are for losers, and today, we're winners.

And then, there's Chicago Bears lover/reporter/enabler/apologist Brad Biggs of National Football Post, after his beloveds got blown out again.

That's positive news? The Bears got smoked, again, Brad. Their best player, who is supposed to always play well, performed close to expectations. It's only positive news if he is on your fantasy team, which is why I don't really like fantasy football. (Well, that and the dorktastic "experts' you have to tolerate on TV.)

Cutler played alright, but he didn't do anything to elevate the play of anybody else, as usual, and the interception he threw in the 4th quarter did kill the Bears' chances of coming back.

It's amazing how the Bears team has assumed the personality of the 2008 Broncos. There's a good chance they'll get blown away on defense, and Cutler is almost definitely going to need to carry the offense. In my business, we contract with companies to take over non-core operations. We call it a lift-and-shift. You terminate your employees who work in a call center, and we'll instantly hire them. They'll work for us, and you'll pay us a fee that is less than what you pay for this operation. Meanwhile, we'll optimize, and reduce the headcount, and correspondingly, the costs.

Everybody considered Cutler's acqusition to be a lift-and-shift. The Bears got a franchise QB. Imagine what he'll do on a team that plays good defense and runs the ball. Football is such a multi-variate system, it's really amazing.

c. I would really hate to be a Bears fan. They have no high draft picks this year, and suddenly a lot of roster holes to fill. They need 3 or 4 new starters on their offensive line, to begin with. Orlando Pace is done, Josh Beekman and Roberto Garza were never starting-caliber players in the NFL, and Olin Kreutz is getting close to done. I don't care for Chris Williams, either. He's looked passable at RT, but if he was worthy of his draft slot, he would have bumped Pace, because it's clear as day that he isn't good enough. You wouldn't use a #1 on an RTO (Right Tackle Only), unless it was Jeff Otah.

They could also use some WRs, some secondary players, and a pass rusher. We're not asking for much, right?

Chicago has a cash-poor ownership group, and the cold weather and their ugly uniforms don't tend to help draw free agents. (Yes, both things matter. It's part of the problem in Cleveland too.) I just don't know how you can bring in enough players there to improve for next season.

d. On Monday I read a lot of epitaphs about the Chicago defense, which didn't get into a lot of the "why" they're so bad. As I was explaining to a friend a few days ago, a defense has to have all 11 players working well together, in order for it to be sound and effective. Because defense is fundamentally a reactive mission, there are many inter-dependencies among the three levels, and communication, like-mindedness through practice, and discipline make all the difference. That sounds simple, and it really is.

First of all, you'd better either be good against the run with 7 in the box, or have a big-time safety who can move 12 yards from a cover-2 shell to the line of scrimmage really quickly. The Bears can't stop the run with 7, so you know they'll have 8 in the box. Then, there's the passing game. When a team can't rush the passer with 4 players, they need to blitz with numbers. When they blitz with numbers, it makes it hard to play soundly in zone coverage, so you mostly have to start playing man coverage. When you play a lot of man coverage, you'd better hope you have the athletes to cover the other team's athletes - and chances are, their #3 and #4 options are better than yours. That's a simple fact of it being harder to find players with coverage skills than it is to find guys who can run a route and catch a ball, when he knows where he is supposed to go.

So you can't stop the run, you can't get pressure with 4, you can't play zone, and you can't play man. All that's left is to guess at what the offense is going to do, and play for that. The obvious problem there is what happens when you guess wrong. You get exposed, and give up huge plays. That sounds a lot like the 2008 Broncos' defense, right?

To apply this to the Bears, they used to get pressure with their front 4, but Tommie Harris is having a bad season. He was a healthy scratch for the Cincinnati game, reportedly because of some attitude issues, and they got lambasted. Then, he got ejected over some extreme foolishness 1 minute into Sunday's game. The Bears again got crushed. Harris is among the best 3-technique DTs in the NFL, when his body and attitude are right.

With no Harris, Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye have struggled to get any pressure, so the Bears have blitzed, ineffectively. They have all these tall, slow CBs who can't do anything except play zone coverage, and they got shredded in man-to-man on Sunday, as they did against Cincinnati. If you decide to be a cover-2 team, you'd better play a lot of cover-2, because your personnel can't hold up playing man.

If Harris can manage to get his body and mind right, and have a dominant second half, he could personally bring a soundness back to the Bears that could send them on a 6-2ish run in the second half to finish 10-6. The more likely outcome is that he continues to sulk, the Bears continue to get gashed, and they finish 7-9 at best. And the Broncos have a nice draft pick. Thanks, guys :)

e. Funny story. My brother Chris (who did join MHR as Chris911, incidentally) and I were talking on the phone the other night, like we do sometimes.

Chris: You know, Jay Cutler has a losing record in games where he throws for over 300 yards.

Ted: You know, Jay Cutler has a losing record as a starting QB in the NFL.

Yessir. I love that draft pick more and more every day.

f. Remember the spring of 2008 when many wanted Denver to become Vanderbilt West? It hasn't worked out so well for Chicago. Earl Bennett's ceiling is to be an average starter, if he puts it all together. He can't get off bump coverage right now, whatsoever. He also runs bad routes and drops the ball a lot. In other words, everything he was supposed to do well, he doesn't. Yes, I know he had 7 catches for 93 yards Sunday, but the vast majority of it was in garbage time, against soft zone coverage. (And, yes, wise guys, I know, most of the game was garbage time.)

Chris Williams, I already discussed. He has definitely been a disappointment. This year, the Bears took D.J. Moore, a CB, who is somehow not good enough to beat out any of the pu pu platter of guys who take turns opposite Charles Tillman. He has been a gameday inactive all season, and is not even a special teams contributor.

I watched the Florida-Vanderbilt game Saturday night, and was reflecting on this. Vanderbilt has no hope in the SEC. They can't recruit talent that is nearly good enough to compete, and most of their guys have tended to underachieve in the NFL. They are on my list with Texas and Ohio State of schools whose players I am naturally suspicious of, although it's all for different reasons.

I wonder if Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, Rice,and Baylor ever thought about forming a football-only, high-SATs conference. Actually, this year, Vandy would be in the bottom half of that league, too.

g. Staying with the college theme for a minute, the best all-around QB I have seen this season at any school is Cincinnati's sophomore backup, Zach Collaros. He has completed 76% of his passes for 1,229 yards, with 10 TDs and 1 interception in the 3+ games he has appeared in. He has also rushed 43 times for 281 yards, and 4 TDs, while only being sacked 10 times.

Cincinnati's original starter, senior Tony Pike, is expected to start this week, although head coach Brian Kelly did cop to it being a tough decision. Pike is likely to be drafted on Day 1 next spring. Collaros is going to contend for the Heisman Trophy next season, and he'll be a high pick too, when he decides to leave school. He's the total package, with an above-average arm, very good poise, and outstanding accuracy and athleticism. The only knock on him is that he's 6 feet tall, but he has some definite Drew Brees-like qualities as a thrower. This is a 75-yard TD run against a South Florida team with lots of athletes. The guy is real.

h. A guy I really like on an otherwise not-great unit is Atlanta Guard Harvey Dahl. He has been getting very good pad level, and driving guys, in helping Michael Turner have his best two games of the season. I beat up Sam Baker for his pass protection last week, but he did well in the running game Sunday, too. The Redskins are normally solid against the run, but Atlanta gashed them repeatedly.

i. Michael Lombardi stole my thunder, which is an occasional hazard of writing for Tuesday mornings. (The) Other smart analysts see(s) the same things and beat(s) you to talking about them sometimes. Ray Lewis definitely looks like he's doing it more on guile and want-to than skill anymore. I respect his effort greatly, and sometimes he makes a huge play, like against the Chargers, but he's clearly hit his downside. Big up Lombardi, for consistently seeing what the reporters don't see. (By the way, it's weird and unnatural to see Lombardi stand with a mic and interview players and coaches for NFL Network. Stop the madness, and be an analyst, Mike. You're better than some locker jockey.)

j. I was pretty critical of Dallas' Mike Jenkins earlier in the season, and he deserved it. Lately, though, he's been playing fantastic football. He did a great job Sunday night, and was the largest part of the Dallas secondary's outstanding effort not to give up the big plays that Philly wins with every week.

k. The Eagles are reputed to be a West Coast team, but they are not that, and never have been since Mr. Game Management, Andy Reid, came to town. Donovan McNabb isn't a West Coast QB, who does really well with timing throws. The Eagles are a vertical, downfield team, and they finally have guys in DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, and Brent Celek, who can get down the field and make the plays they want to make.

l. By the way, everybody knows I like Tim Tebow, but McNabb is the guy who Tebow most reminds me of. They played in similar-ish option-heavy offenses in college, and they have very similar profiles as throwers coming into the NFL. Tebow's stats are down this year, mostly due to bad pass protection, but he's throwing the ball better than ever when he gets some time.

m. The Chargers might be back. I haven't seen their LBs look as good as they did on Sunday in two years. Some of that may be due to the Giants offensive line, though, which is good in the running game, and below-average in the passing game. All this stuff about them having the best line is hogwash. (I've actually seen Michael Lombardi say that this season.) They have a natural LG, David Diehl, playing LT, and he gets owned by good pass rushers.

n. Brandon Jacobs looks really slow to the hole this season. He was never quick, but he's a different player. I have to wonder if he is hurt. Of course, I am prejudiced against tall RBs, because, definitionally, it's easier to hit them, than it is the compact guys. It's fair to say Jacobs has never been a favorite of mine.

o. I'd like to say that ST&NO favorite Alex Smith has established himself as a clear-cut solution at QB for the 49ers, but the fact is, they've lost all three games which he has played in. Two of the three interceptions he threw on Sunday were off the hands of his own players, so I don't really put those on him, personally. On the positive side, that play he made for a TD pass at the end of the first half was an All-Pro caliber play, that not many QBs could make. He kept himself alive with his feet, and made a perfect throw on the run.

This is what I know about Smith. His biggest problem is that he struggles with the mechanics of drops from under center which are more than 3 steps. It's not natural to him, and his footwork is slow, like he is thinking about it. That got him sacked on A-gap blitzes two or three times Sunday.

Smith is much more comfortable from the shotgun, and I think I would go to a medium-gun alignment with him, that is often called the Pistol. It's run a bit at some colleges, notably Nevada, and the Chiefs used it with Tyler Thigpen last season. The QB lines up 3 yards behind the center, with the RB 3 yards behind the QB. It provides better directional evenness to your running game than lining up in a full shotgun with the RB to one side or the other of the QB.

Smith can do all the things you need your QB to do; it's just a matter of putting him in position to be successful. I'll be interested to watch this game on Thursday night, against Chicago, because he could have a huge game.

p. I did like what I saw of Vince Young, again. He has played like he's fine with being part of a conservative game plan, which is what he needs. The option stuff he was running with Chris Johnson was effective, and he did hit Justin Gage deep on a couple throws. One, in particular, used all of Gage's vertical. He was actually a starter on Missouri's basketball team in his college days.

q. The Titans are suddenly playing some defense again too, especially Michael Griffin at safety. I also was impressed with William Hayes, who has taken over at LDE for Jevon Kearse, who may have finally had it, at this point. The Titans are a threat to make noise as a spoiler in the second half of the season. The return of Cortland Finnegan has helped them a lot, too. He's not the greatest cover guy, but he's a hitter, and he is always close to the ball. He compares favorably to Asante Samuel in that way.

r. The Panthers just make me shake my head sometimes. They are almost completely back to their 12-4 level from last year lately, except for their QB play. They really erred by not getting one, but John Fox and Jake Delhomme are almost married. Delhomme is going to cost Fox his job, for his sentimentality.

Remember when the Chargers whacked Marty Schottenheimer coming off the 14-2 record? It was the right move. So would cutting ties with Delhomme have been, after last season. Of course, the Chargers blew the second part by hiring Norv Turner. The Panthers will get their chance to do something in the offseason, but they have no first-round pick. If San Francisco decides Alex Smith isn't their guy, he'd be perfect for a team like Carolina, who runs the ball and attacks downfield off of play action. Marc Bulger might be a possible fit too, as the Rams will almost certainly be drafting a QB this year. The Panthers will likely need to get a retread, though.

s. The Saints deserved to get beat on Sunday, but they managed to win anyway. That's something championship teams do, is win without their best stuff.

t. The Texans are really close to being a serious playoff contender, but a Chris Brown goal-line fumble and a Kris Brown missed field goal have basically cost them two games. People haven't noticed, but Matt Schaub is putting up Pro Bowl numbers in Houston. Old friend Gary Kubiak needs to get his team to execute better in key situations.

u. I said I wasn't going to pick the addict Jaguars again, but I did on Sunday, because the Chiefs are horrible. The addicts then proceeded to almost give the game away. Shocker! ST&NO favorite Reggie Nelson had a very good game for the Jags, and so did Brandon Marshall's best friend from college, Mike Sims-Walker.

v. Matt Cassel was the bright spot for the Chiefs, again, and he continues to do pretty well with very little help. I guarantee that the Chiefs don't regret trading for him, especially at the price they paid.

4. In honor of Veterans' Day, I wanted to blaze a different path by doing something apolitical and propaganda-free. It's Tangential Story Time, in ST&NO. Yay!!!

Most regular readers are at least generally aware that I spent 4 years in the United States Navy. I don't think I have ever mentioned that going to sea is basically my family business, though. My dad was in the Navy for 14 years, and then has worked as an executive for companies which supply the Navy for the last 20+ years. His brother recently retired as a long-time civilian mariner for the Navy, and his other brother was a Marine, who rode a Navy ship or two. My youngest brother is currently employed as a Naval civilian mariner, presently working for a ship stationed in Gaeta, Italy. There's lots of salt in my family.

So, I woke up early on Sucker-Free Saturday, and a headline popped into my RSS reader that grabbed my attention.

Navy ship built with WTC steel to go into service

I clicked the link to read the article, and saw something very interesting in the first sentence.

NEW YORK — The Navy is commissioning its newest battleship with a bow forged from steel that once held up the World Trade Center.

The Navy decommissioned its last four remaining Iowa-class Battleships in the early 1990s, and I didn't think that they had any plans to bring them back, despite some misgivings from parts of the Marine Corps that current Naval Gunfire Support programs wouldn't be sufficient for a Normandy-like shore landing.

A Battleship is a specific type of ship, like in the children's game of the same name. The Iowa class had wooden decks, and three turrets with three independent 50-caliber 16-inch guns each, for a total of 9 guns. The shells were 16 inches in diameter, and weighed 2,700 pounds each. (Modern Cruisers and Destroyers have one or two (mostly two) 5-inch, 54-caliber guns each, by comparison. Those shells are 5 inches in diameter, and weigh 70 pounds.) Each Iowa-class turret took a crew of 94 men to operate, and I actually served with a guy who was working in Turret #3 on the Iowa in 1989, when Turret #2 exploded and killed 47 men.

Battleships played a large part in the Pacific theater in World War II, and somewhat minor parts in Korea, Vietnam, and the first Persian Gulf War. The primary missions of Battleships were shore bombardment, and ship-to-ship combat. The advent of precision-guided munitions (like Harpoon missiles, for ship-to-ship combat), and the reality that 5-inch, 54-caliber guns are considered by the Navy to be sufficient for Naval Gunfire Support, largely made battleships unnecessary, and the last Battleships were decommissioned not long after World War II, with a few held in reserve status. Iowa, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Missouri were each re-commissioned several times over the coming decades, with the Missouri being the last active battleship, being decommissioned for the last time in 1992. (The picture below is of the Iowa, shooting her guns to starboard.)

So, there's this new ship, called the USS New York, and the AP says it's a battleship. At first, I was skeptical, because I know that the Battleship mission is obsolete. Thinking about it, though, it is named after a state, like US battleships have historically been. I also know that the Bush Adminstration Pentagon had some meat-heads in high places of their procurement organization, who favored weapons systems with some badass factor to them, whether they were strictly necessary or not. But I would have heard about new Battleships, right? Hmmmm.

I called the guy who would know, my father Ed, who has appeared in ST&NO before, and I got my answer.

Ted: Hey, what do you know about this new ship, New York, that was partially built from World Trade Center steel?

Ed: Well, it's being commissioned this morning.

Ted: What kind of ship is it?

Ed: It's a piece-of-(bleep) LPD-17 class. A Gator Freighter. (Note: Gator Freighter is the ~~somewhat~~ very derisive name for Amphibious Navy ships which primarily carry Marines. Surface combatant guys, like me, don't think too much of Amphibs, or the people who ride them.)

Ted: Oh, OK. This AP reporter called it a battleship, and it's named after a state, which lends that some coincidental level of plausibility. I was skeptical, so I thought I'd ask somebody who knows.

Ed: <Scoffs> The media doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.

The media doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. Hmmm... Where have I heard that before?

5. What's New In Cleveland Update:

We have a great local brewery here called Great Lakes Brewing Company, that puts out this great stuff they call Christmas Ale every year, at this time. It tastes like cinnamon, but it's 7.5% alcohol by volume, so if you're like me, and you drink them like they're just expensive Bud Lights, they can really creep on you quickly.

So, I was at a the Cleveland State University bar called Becky's last Thursday, for my fraternity's monthly alumni happy hour. I was pleased to discover that they had Christmas Ale on tap, which I would later find out was running me $18 per pitcher, times 3 pitchers. Whatever. I am drinking some fine seasonal beer, and one of the guys says, "Hey, that's Mike Trivisonno right there, like 5 feet away."

Trivisonno is the local Radio Idiot, who I have disparaged on here before a few times, as being part of the Browns problems. I am not sure what he was doing at Becky's, of all places, but he was hanging out with some uglo-Americans, who may or may not have been related to him. He's holding court, and talking about the Browns, and how the city is cursed, and blah blah blah. (I hate it when people say "blah blah blah" in a conversation, but for some strange reason I just felt the strong need to type it there, like my ex-wife possessed my body momentarily, or something. Deal with it.)

It seems the work of the Radio Idiot is never finished. He bloviates even off the clock. I wonder if Rush Limbaugh does too.... That was a little deeper than a Shallow Thought. Focus.

OK, here's the deal. There's no such thing as curses. There's only confusing hope for a plan (hat tip to Michael Lombardi). That's what they do here, in all sports - even the Cavs, to some extent. (Let's face it: the Shaq acqusition is all about hope.)

Randy Lerner, by all accounts, is an OK guy, and he wants to win. He doesn't know anything about football, and I don't think he particularly wants to, either. He's actually a soccer guy, and he owns Aston Villa. He needs somebody to establish and run a program for him. It can't be a Head Coach, because he's too hands-off for that kind of arrangement. (That works fine with appropriately engaged owners like Robert Kraft, Bud Adams, and Pat Bowlen.)

He needs a Bill Parcells-type situation, which is why he is reportedly pursuing Mike Holmgren. I think Holmgren is going to end up saying he'd rather coach than head a front office, but it's a good idea to try. Whoever ends up being the head honcho is going to fire Eric Mangini, and start over from scratch, again. This is increasingly clear. The trick is going to be hiring the right honcho, for the first time since they came back into the NFL in 1999.

Ron Wolf and Ernie Accorsi aren't going to want the job, but if I were Lerner, I'd put on a full-court press to get one of them to help me find the right honcho. A guy I would make a run at is Jimmy Johnson, but only as a team president, not a coach. You hire him, tell him he only has to work 30 hours a week, some of it from Florida, and let him hire a focused GM, (maybe Chris Polian, or Marty Hurney if he is let go at Carolina?) and let them decide what to do with the coaching staff. Then, the chain of command is clear: Owner, to President, to GM, to Head Coach.

As a side note, I expect Mangini to struggle to find future work in coaching. His credibility in the NFL is shot at this point, and what college is going to hire a guy like that? Can you see him talking a kid into coming to play at State U? Absolutely not.

6. So, I know you've been wondering what a guy like me does on a Friday night. My gameplan changes every week, like any good team's (except the Colts); and this past Friday, my friend Ashley was looking for somebody to go with her to a happy hour event at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It sounded like fun, so I emailed her, and we went.

I'd like to tell you that I am a really cultured, artsy guy, but the truth is that I'm not. I'm kind of a rugged football, business, and politics guy. Somewhat embarassingly, it was the first time I had gone to the Museum in 7 1/2 years of living in Cleveland. Ashley is really smart, though, and I figured correctly that I would learn some stuff from her.

There was a Paul Gauguin exhibit, which was included in the price of admission. I looked up Gauguin on the interwebz, and learned that he was a contemporary of Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh's brother Theo was actually Gauguin's agent, and he got them to work together in 1888. They spent 9 weeks together at Van Gogh's famous Yellow House in Arles, and they quarreled constantly, because they saw the right way to paint very differently. (At the CMA, there were several examples, side-by-side, where both men painted the same thing, and they looked extremely different.) Both men had bouts of depression and suicidal tendencies. When Gauguin fled the tense situation after Van Gogh threatened him with a razor blade, Van Gogh freaked out, and went to a brothel, where he famously cut part of his ear off. They never saw each other again.

When I saw the news that the Chiefs cut Larry Johnson on Monday, the thought of his relationship with Todd Haley made me think of Gauguin and Van Gogh. Haley is a talented coach, and Johnson is a talented player. Both men have reputations for being difficult, though, and many (including me) were skeptical about the pairing when Haley was hired. Johnson's actions, around callng out Haley on Twitter and using gay slurs, were stupid. Really, it's not too different from cutting your ear off, on the foolishness scale.

Haley couldn't have Johnson play for him again, just as Gauguin couldn't return to Arles to work with Van Gogh. If you're betting on futures, take Haley's (like it would have been wise to take Gauguin.) Johnson is 30 and well-worn, old for a RB; Haley is 42, which is young for a Head Coach. Van Gogh died two years after the ear incident, while Gauguin had 13 more years, and a lot of productivity after that. Go with the guy who knew it was time to cut the cord, rather than the one who cut off his ear to spite his face.

7. Retired for John Elway.

8. The worst thing about November is the jewelry commercials during football games. (Well, I guess I should be glad not to see Chevy commercials with any Mellencamp songs.) I have found the answer, friends, if you're into man-cavery like me.

If you have Sunday Ticket with SuperFan, the setup works like this. Watch games on a muted TV (or two, if you can manage it, like I do). Watch the Red Zone channel on a laptop, with SuperConnect, and listen to the sound on the laptop, preferably over some decent speakers. Red Zone has no commercials, so when they come on TV, you can just ignore the visual stimulus, and listen to the sounds of what's going on on the laptop screen. I spent the whole day Sunday with this, so I got to see a lot of football, without hearing incessantly about how you're no kind of man if you don't go to Jared, the Galleria of Jewelry, and that every kiss begins with Kay. Damn, it's great to be single. (This is Ourrrrrrr Country!!!!!)

Have a good week, and let's get ready for a Broncos victory in Washington on Sunday. No hysterics are necessary, let's just take some comfort in the fairly safe assumption that our coaching staff is driving the players to learn from and improve on their mistakes. See you next Tuesday!

One In The Win Column - Photos from the Titans Jaguars Game

Titanfan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:42:35 -0000

Long wait but the Titans finally won a game. A lot of things to be happy about and a few concerns still are evident. One thing for sure is I'm glad the rest of the home games are at noon on Sunday. I know the players and the team like prime time and under the lights, but I'll take noon starts over anything else. That's when football is meant to be played. There's a Christmas game late start but I don't think I'll be there for that one.

So here's Power to the Noon Starts:

More pics after the jump.

LenDale White looking happy to be there:

Kyle Vanden Bosch had his red contacts in so I knew to expect big things from him:

Even though the Titans didn't recover this fumble it was good to see David Thornton and the "D" were creating opportunities:

I mentioned concerns and this is one/many of them. Poor tackling. But that Maurice Jones-Drew is hard to bring down:

Those red contacts paid off. KVB gets his first sack:

Damn...there he goes again:

Funny who his lead blocker is on these long runs.

This was awesome to see. I wish I could have photographed the catch. This is when Vince Young stepped back and avoided the rush and found Kenny Britt along the sidelines. VY threw that ball with authority:

Another positive about the game was seeing Michael Griffin back to being a ball hawk:

I think about this moment Jones-Drew was wanting a piece of Finnegan more than blocking him:

History in the making. Chris Johnson turned in the best rushing performance by an Oiler/Titan in franchise history:

That was so good it was worth another look. He was out of gas by this time:

Let the dancing begin:

Have the Titans returned to '08 form? Is this the team we expected to open the season? I sure hope so. The defense put in a pretty good performance and Chris Johnson was awesome. Vince Young was impressive and hopefully will only get better from here. Next up is away at San Francisco. I'm hoping they come back on a win streak.

Michael Griffin Addresses His Poor Play (Hint: It Has Nothing To Do With Kitschy Towels Or Albert Haynesworth)

August West — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:05:30 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

When he's got his head on straight, Griff is a bad, bad man.

Browse more photos »

There isn't a nationally carried writer who knows the Tennessee Titans locker room better than Paul Kuharsky. He covered the team for The Tennessean for years, and developed a reputation for brutal honesty. He's still in the locker room on a regular basis, a resident of Nashville and discusses the Titans several mornings a week on the major local sports talk station.

Because of that, it's not a huge surprise that he would be the one to get Michael Griffin to open-up about his terrible play this season. Griff didn't go into great detail, but he definitely let be known that something off the field has been in his head, and he's working on getting it straight:

"If you watch tape from last year and this year, it’s not the same body language, it’s not the same attitude. It’s just not the same person out there on the field. There are other things that have been going on, things that I took care of this bye weekend. This was a good opportunity for me to go take care of a lot of things and go from there …"

"It’s like having a bad day on the job. Some people go to work and may not be having a good day, may have other things going on. It’s not an excuse. It’s like I am letting my team down by letting other things bother me. This is the Tennessee Titans’ facility, things that are bothering me outside this facility shouldn’t be bothering me inside the facility."This is a great place to be with a lot of fun guys to be around. Think about it, this game right here takes care of a lot of your problems. If you’re frustrated, if you’re upset about something -- or if you’re happy about something -- this is a great place to be."

Griffin has blogged for the Tennessean about how hard it is that his child is in Texas while he's living in Nashville, and maybe that's related to what's going on. As much as we like to think these guys can check it all at the door, anyone with a career, not just a job, knows it doesn't work like that. I really hope Griff can get back to form, because we need the dominant Pro Bowler we saw last year, not the distracted liability we've watched get burned over and over again.

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:30:13 -0000

More photos » by Chris Park - AP

2 months ago: Denver Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler dances through the end zone after his 19-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. Scheffler had six receptions for 101 yards. The Broncos won 34-23 over the Chargers. (AP Photo/Chris Park)

Browse more photos »

Happy Tuesday, friends, and welcome to another edition of Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations. I had a fairly selfish weekend, leaving Cleveland on Friday and traveling to South Bend, Indiana, for the Notre Dame-USC game on Saturday afternoon. My friend Ramona has a brother who is a graduate student at Notre Dame, and he was able to get us pretty good tickets. I didn't get home until about 5 PM on Sunday, so I missed all of the early NFL games, and only got to see the second quarter on of a few late ones. I recorded the Short Cuts of the 3 most interesting early games, with a plan of watching them Monday evening, after work and before the Broncos-Chargers game. I apologize if this is a slightly thinner ST&NO than usual, but I don't ever want to be the guy who comments on football I didn't see, scanning the box scores for some stats which may or may not be meaningful. You know who I mean, all of them. Without further ado, let's get this thing moving, ST&NO style. Ready..... BEGIN!!!

1. So, I am writing this at 12:16 AM ET on Tuesday morning, with the rest of the column basically already in the can. Such is life when you have a Tuesday morning time slot, and a back-and-forth, hotly contested Monday night game. I've only gotten to see the game once, obviously, and we're in a compressed time situation, but I'm going to try hard to manage the clock well, and come with some thunder on the short track.

This is a great feeling, isn't it? Frankly, even if I had a lot of time to write, there isn't much to say that I haven't been saying all season. I've covered most "isn't this great" angles, right? It kind of makes writing a column like this difficult, when it comes to finding new material for the Donny Deutsch Big Idea. I can't even really play the disrespect card anymore.

Luckily, I have two weeks to think of new ideas, until the Broncos take on the Baltimore Ravens. I have a feeling that I'll be talking about the 7-0 Broncos after that game, because the Ravens can't defend the Broncos, and the Broncos defense actually matches up very favorably with the Baltimore offense. Until then, let's enjoy this win, this place in the standings, and the feeling we're all feeling right now. I remember this feeling, from the late 1990s. It's the one where your team is a legitimate contender to win the Super Bowl.

ZOMG! That was a new angle in Donny Deutschland, and it just kind of slipped out, didn't it? I knew something was right on the tip of my tongue (err... fingertips). But, yes, I said it, and yes, I mean it. Let's forget about Kool-Aid, and start thinking about Lombardi Trophies. Remember, I'm the crazy man who had the Broncos on 11-5 before the season started, which would now only require playing .500 football the rest of the way. Consider this an enhancement to my original forecast.

2. Information From My Eyes, Broncos at Chargers:

a. The Broncos initially really missed Brian Dawkins when he went out in the second quarter, but they eventually settled down and performed respectably on the back end, until he returned.

b. On the huge Elvis Dumervil strip/sack late in the 3rd quarter, the play was supposed to go to Antonio Gates, who was split out wide to the left, and running a vertical route, which I expect would have been a back-shoulder fade on the sideline. Josh Barrett had him man-to-man, and engaged him with great position and technique off the line. Philip Rivers had to hold the ball on his 3-step drop, and that was what caused the sack. Barrett is the best Safety I have seen in the NFL at covering the top TEs man-to-man.

c. While I am at it, Barrett had Gates blanketed on Dumervil's second sack too, (with Dawkins over the top, for good measure), early in the 4th quarter, and it was clear he was again Rivers' first read on the play. If Barrett could do nothing else well, he'd be worth having around to cover guys like Gates in obvious passing situations, like that 3rd-and-14 was.

d. They got to that 3rd-and-14 by finally blowing up a screen pass. The linemen disengaged, and slid laterally like they knew the screen was coming, and Mario Haggan tackled LaDanian Tomlinson for the 4-yard loss. This was an enormous play.

e. The right side of the Chargers line, Louis Vazquez and Jeromey Clary, aren't nearly good enough to be starters on a winning team. Clary gave up two sacks, and Vazquez got pushed around a LOT by Marcus Thomas and Ronald Fields. I actually thought their replacement Center, Scott Mruczkowski, played very well in the game, considering the low expectations I had for him from seeing the last few games.

f. The Broncos consistently got pressure in the second half, and mixed it with terrific coverage in the back end. This has been a recurring theme this season. Robert Ayers was a beast, and would have gotten about 3 sacks against lesser QBs than Rivers.

g. Only getting to see the game once, in live action, I can't really do much of a Between The Lines feature, but the Broncos offensive line was dominant in pass protection. The only sack they gave up was for 2 yards, and it was well blocked, with Orton running into the sack after a long time holding the ball.

h. Darcel McBath did a great job filling in for Brian Dawkins, and made every key special teams tackle.

i. The Broncos would not be 6-0 without Kyle Orton as their QB. With the exception of the bonehead sack he took late in Week 1, he has completely avoided making the game-losing plays that all post-Elway QBs have made for the Broncos.

j. Did anybody notice that Darren Sproles did absolutely nothing for the Chargers on offense? That was a big key to the game.

k. I already mentioned the overall protection, but Ryan Clady owned Shawne Merriman, and the lights stayed on all night. I loved Keyshawn Johnson and Cris Carter mocking Merriman's stupid dance on ESPN, too. Rare value from the Worldwide Leader.

3. Information From My Eyes, Other Games:

a. I remember that last season when the Broncos went into the Meadowlands and beat the Jets, Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post was positively ebullient in his praise of Jay Cutler. Not everybody likes Lombardi, but I consider him to be very rare, as a guy who primarily shares his thoughts about football in the written space, and actually knows what he is talking about. (Most former participants who know interesting things can't write, and most writers don't know anything beyond the surface level).

Anyway, Lombardi was excited by the way Cutler threw the ball on a really cold and windy day. We know about Cutler's exceptional arm strength, and Lombardi's point was that on a bad-weather day like you get in New York, that characteristic was extremely valuable, and the difference between winning and losing.

If I were Mike Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan, I'd be more than a little worried about Mark Sanchez. He looked terrible Sunday, on every throw he attempted. The five interceptions and 14 other incompletions were mostly not a function of bad decisions, they were a function of the mind being willing, and the body not being able. I know how to dunk a basketball, but I can't jump close to high enough to do it on a 10-foot rim. Sanchez lacked the zip to get his ball downfield effectively, and the weather was only pretty bad, not as bad as it can get in northern New Jersey. Sanchez did tell the CBS announcer crew that he had never played or practiced in temperatures below about 55 degrees, so I don't want to go overboard on making pronouncements yet, with just a one-game sample size. This is a big deal, though, and it will bear watching as the season goes on.

b. He never has the stats to back this up, but stats are merely convenient indicators; Lee Evans is one of the five best WRs in the NFL. If he ever had a good QB throwing him the ball, and an offensive scheme which featured his talents, the stats would be there, believe me.

c. I was asked recently by a reader if I still thought that Bills rookie LG Andy Levitre looked like he couldn't play in the NFL. The answer is, at least in the second half and overtime on Sunday, he looked league-average. When I originally criticized Levitre's play, he got dominated in the preseason by Tennessee's Tony Brown and Jason Jones, who are both Pro Bowl-caliber DTs. Kris Jenkins had already gotten hurt by the time I was watching Sunday, but Levitre was a slight positive in the run game, and a slight negative in pass protection. I still do doubt if he can anchor effectively against a good bull rush.

d. Wow, the Tennessee Titans had an unspeakably terrible Sunday. The Patriots completed 38 out of 45 throws, and the Titans completed 2 of 14. Those two completions were a 15-yard gain by their FB Ahmard Hall, and a 22-yard loss by WR Nate Washington, for a net of (-7) passing yards.

Those stats tell the story of the Titans this season. They were outstanding in coverage the past few years, and they're terrible this year, due to some injuries and shocking regressions by a couple players like Michael Griffin and Cortland Finnegan (who is currently hurt.) They also got good play from Kerry Collins in 2008, and they've gotten extremely lousy play from him this year. He's getting pretty solid protection, but he isn't hitting open men (when men do manage to get open). I don't think Vince Young is the answer, but it's time to make him the starter for the rest of the season, to see for sure.

e. Former first-rounder Jamaal Anderson looked much better for the Falcons at DT than he ever has at DE. He was part of a sack of Jay Cutler late in the 4th quarter, after only having 2 in 2-plus years as an end. He lacked the suddenness to beat a Tackle, but really got off the ball well against the Bears' Guards. He also was in coverage in the zone blitz the Falcons ran on 4th down, and caused Cutler's throw to be offline. The Falcons may be on to something.

f. ST&NO Favorite Thomas DeCoud has been playing at a Pro Bowl level for the Falcons all season, and he intercepted Cutler twice on Sunday night. He gets no recognition yet, but he is very instinctive and has a great feel for zone coverage.

g. Cutler still throws the pass to the seam better than any QB in the NFL, and makes big plays on the run. He's exactly the same player he was in Denver last season, and I mean that exactly how it sounds. The Bears got exactly the guy they saw on film, and I hope that's what they were expecting, because if it was, you'd have to expect that they're happy. I can be happy that they're happy, right? ;)

h. I am shocked that the Raiders beat the Eagles. I didn't watch a lot of the game, because it was my local FOX late game, and crap-tastic WJW FOX 8 had a really annoying sound problem going on. Looking at the stat sheet, it jumps out that the Eagles only ran the ball 14 times, and they were fairly successful in those carries, averaging 4.8 yards. Periodically, Andy Reid's Eagles teams have gotten really unbalanced and pass-happy, and it's a recipe for getting beat, over the years. With Sunday's injury to Jason Peters, coupled with the pre-existing absence of Shawn Andrews, it's hard to imagine why you'd think you can be successful protecting Donovan McNabb, when there is no threat of the run.

i. I have alway liked Sidney Rice, dating back to his days at the University of South Carolina. He's big, physical, and fluid. Brett Favre is turning him into a possible Pro Bowl player this season, and it seems they have a great deal of chemistry. He has 23 catches for 409 yards so far this season, and his impact is growing each week.

j. I actually thought that Michael Oher did a pretty credible job against Jared Allen Sunday, for his second start at LT. The sack Allen got came when Oher and the LG were releasing to the outside, like the play was supposed to be a screen, and since nobody went out to the left to receive a pass, I can only imagine that there was a communication breakdown somewhere on that play. When it came to man-to-man blocking, Oher did pretty well, and wasn't beaten like a red-headed step-child, as Allen claimed on Monday.

k. Anybody believe me yet that Joe Flacco is a true franchise QB? He got hit a lot, but made a lot of big-time throws on Sunday, and he had his team in position to win the game (again).

l. Steve Hutchinson blew up Haloti Ngata several times on Sunday, and as good as he has been in his career, I was surprised to see him win that matchup so convincingly.

m. I hated the Giants defensive game plan on Sunday. They need to be rushing 5 men, because that's how they do their business every week. They seemed like they wanted to sit back and try to play coverage, and it didn't work at all. The Giants really miss Kenny Phillips, who is a good young safety; they were particularly vulnerable in the middle of the field against the Saints.

n. The key to the Saints' offensive success is their ability to run the football. The success they've had in that area this year is the big difference from last season. The perception seems to exist that they're a spread-out, 5-wide kind of team, but they're not. They run frequently and well, and make big yards off their play-action stuff. If the Broncos happen to see them in a Super Bowl setting, the order of the day will be neutralizing the run.

o. Remember 2 weeks ago, when I said that the Steelers' success in running the ball was a function of San Diego's interior weakness, rather than their own strength? Look no further than Sunday's game against Cleveland for proof of that. Shaun Rogers did a great job inside for the Browns, and if you take away 21 yards gained on an end-around by Mike Wallace, the Steelers had 119 rushing yards on 35 carries, a 3.4-yard average. Remember, aside from Rogers, the Browns are very non-descript up front. The Broncos averaged 5 yards against them in Week 2, for purposes of comparison.

p. Ben Roethlisberger was lights-out on Sunday, and Hines Ward played very well again. I've never been Ward's biggest fan, and I considered him to be fading as a playmaker at the end of last season. He's looked rejuvenated this whole season, though.

4. I had some technical problems with Lighting Up The Scoreboard this week, and I ran out of time before I had to leave for Indiana on Friday. I wanted to incorporate some of the graphics I had created for it into today's ST&NO, and talk about a couple things the Broncos showed against New England.

The Trap - A Different Take on an Age-Old Play

This is a standard HB trap play, a traditional staple of the running game at every level of football. There is such a thing as a Tackle trap, but usually the backside guard is going to pull, and hit the NT or DT who was allowed to come across the line. The pulling player's block serves to push the defensive lineman toward the sideline, and the RB runs behind that block, where the play-side players are out hitting somebody on the second level.

For the record, this play works better, from an angles perspective, against a 4-3 look, because instead of a zero-technique NT, you have a three-technique DT right where you want your puller to meet him. The NT's presence makes the angle more difficult. This is the quintessential man-blocked play, so Broncos fans haven't seen a lot of it over the last 15 years.

Last week against New England, the Broncos brought in Russ Hochstein as an extra TE and pulled him. The play looked like this, and I am now showing it against San Diego's base 3-4 look:

This has a slightly different objective, which is to entice the five-technique DE, Luis Castillo (93), across the line, rather than the NT. Both Daniel Graham (89) and Ryan Clady (78) briefly engage Castillo, before releasing to the second level to hit both play-side linebackers. Castillo processes the events as being a misread zone-tandem block, where both O-Linemen thought they needed to get off the initial block to the second level. He crosses the line of scrimmage, looking for a big play, and is hit by Hochstein, who is pulling from the backside. Knowshon Moreno's angle is less severe, and he can run in the B gap, where Ben Hamilton and Casey Wiegmann have doubled the NT.

Of course, I drew and wrote all this up before the Monday Night game, and never saw this get employed against the Chargers, but we should expect to see it again this season. It worked really well a few times against New England. I am sure that, along with the Wild Horses stuff, the Broncos didn't think they needed to use it to run effectively against the Chargers.

5. Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of The Week:

Here's a thought that I think I thunk. Does Enjoyable/Aggravating mean Enjoyable AND Aggravating? Enjoyable OR Aggravating? How about Enjoyable AND/OR Aggravating? That slash leaves a lot to the imagination.

Anyway, on the heels of my Notre Dame trip, I have a wedding to go to next weekend in Dallas. I leave Cleveland Thursday evening, (already wearing my drinking shoes as I deplane, at the groom's request), and return Monday afternoon. Scott, the groom, is the tattooed guy who was enlisted in the Army once, and eventually became an officer. He's now a Blackhawk pilot, and his wife is an Apache pilot, and both just returned from a year in Iraq. Scott is my fraternity brother (we're members of Tau Kappa Epsilon - Any other Tekes out there?) and it will be good to see him and some other guys who are coming in.

This is germane to ST&NO, because I get to write about whatever I feel like, and also because it affects near-term programming. (And also, also because it allowed me to introduce some snark about Peter King, which is always fun, and good for a cheap laugh or two.) Being on the bye week anyway, expect an abbreviated ST&NO next Tuesday, probably limited to some game observations that I am hopefully able to pick up on before the wedding on Sunday night. Obviously, Lighting Up The Scoreboard won't appear this Saturday, but expect it to be back on Saturday, October 31st, in advance of the Ravens game.

6. While we're snarking it up about MMQB, y'all know I am a helpful guy, right? Well, maybe you don't know, but you could guess. Anyway, I am one of these people who gets annoyed when people misuse words, like H-Back or factoid. Ahh, yes, factoid.

Peter King insists on calling a section of his MMQB column "Factoid Of The Week Which May Only Interest Me." I sent him a message once, long before I ever had a competing column, to helpfully let him know that he was misusing the word "factoid." See what a swell guy I am?

From our friends at Webster.com:

Main Entry: fac·toid

Pronunciation: \ˈfak-ˌtȯid\

Function: noun

Date: 1973

1 : an invented fact believed to be true because of its appearance in print

2 : a briefly stated and usually trivial fact

I actually like the Wiktionary.org definition better:

factoid (plural factoids)

An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media.

Usage Problem. A small insignificant fact, but still interesting. (Note: Refer above to the meaning of the suffix. It's ironic that the very definition of factoid has itself come to be a factoid.)

So, for ignoring my helpful advice a couple years ago, Peter gets an ESPN-style C'MON, MAN. By the way, his column yesterday was Bill Williamson Memorial Decent. He is still buying into this silly meme that the Broncos have an impossible schedule, which bugs me.

7. Retired for John Elway.

8. As a follow-up to last week's column, I give credit to Rick Reilly for manning up for his clownishness with all that Boy Blunder stuff. I thought he would stay unaccountable for it, but he surprised me.

9. Expect the Broncos not to do anything at the trade deadline. It's not like anybody is giving away a bigger/better Offensive Guard, and if they were, the Packers, Steelers, or Chargers would almost certainly outbid the Broncos for him. They're desperate for offensive line help, and for the Broncos, it would just be kind of nice to get bigger and stronger at LG.

That's all I have for this week, friends. Have a great one, and look for ST&NO again next Tuesday morning, where my next trick will be to make y'all think you're getting a football column, and instead, probably bring you A Wedding Story, like you were watching (a funny, masculine, fraternity guy version of) Lifetime. If you need me before that, get at me on Twitter at @TedBartlett905.

Poll

OK, I said it, and I want to know what the community thinks, in simple poll form. Is this team a legitimate Super Bowl contender?

Umm, yes. I've been waiting here for you with a cold glass of Kool-Aid, and you're late to the party.

339 votes

My expectations were a little more tempered, but I'd have to say yes, based on the evidence.

1008 votes

I have moved from the 7-9 crowd to the 11-5 crowd, but I think they're one and done. Later for the Super Bowl.

286 votes

I still think the big, bad schedule will keep the Broncos out of the playoffs.

7 votes

I am one of the few Chargers fans who cares enough to come mess up this poll.

9 votes

1649 votes | Poll has closed

Tennessee Titans vs. New England Patriots Preview

Jimmy — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:00:19 -0000

More photos » by Stephan Savoia - AP

Belichick thinks even he could throw for 300 against this defensive backfield. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Browse more photos »

The good news about this game is that Tom Brady doesn't appear to be 100% recovered from the knee injury he suffered in week 1 last season. The bad news is that it doesn't really matter. Cortland Finnegan isn't going to play tomorrow which means the Titans secondary will once again be running out two rookies and a practice squad player. Michael Griffin and Chris Hope have been pretty much invisible this season. If the Titans are going to have any shot at winning this game those two are going to need to have the game of their lives.

Another piece of good news is that the Patriots aren't a very good running team (of course neither were the Colts). The Pats come in ranked 20th in the league rushing. The Titans should be able to control the attack of Sammy Morris and Laurence Maroney with just their front four leaving the back seven to try and figure out how to stop an opposing QB from throwing for 300 yards. *side note- The only quarterback not to throw for 300+ against the Titans this season was Mark Sanchez. How sad is that?

On offense we will talk again about how this team should re-discover their smash mouth mentality. We have been saying that should be the case for weeks now, and they have still yet to take a shot at doing. I can't help but think that if Jeff Fisher and/or Mike Heimerdinger read this blog every day the Titans would be at least 3-2. In all seriousness though the best defense the 2009 Titans can play is on the sideline watching the offense eat clock. That is especially more important against a quarterback like Brady.

New England plays pretty good pass defense allowing just 212 yards per game. That makes it even more important for the Titans to get the rushing game on track. It would also be nice to see Kenny Britt and Jared Cook on the field early and often. We heard about all of these match-up problems that Cook can create. Why not prove that to us since it is week 6 now and we are 0-5. Just sayin....

It is really mind boggling to look at those numbers the Titans are giving up on defense.

I wish I could have a more positive outlook heading into this game, but it is tough to see a place where the Titans have the advantage. Here's to hoping they can force a couple of turnovers and get some easy scoring chances.