SB Nation - Paul Williams

The Worst Ten Tennessee Titans Draft Picks of the Decade

Jimmy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:15:08 -0000

More photos » by John Russell - AP

With the decade coming to an end in a few weeks, we here at MCM decided it would be a good time to do a top 10 list or two- because who doesn't love a top 10 list?

Today we have the worst 10 draft picks of the decade. Here is how this list was compiled- August, gramsey, hal and I all came up with our own list. They sent their lists to me, actually shared it with me via google docs (which are awesome), and I averaged the four lists together to come up with what I am posting here. After the jump I have added a link that lists all of the picks the Titans made in the decade.

One note on this list; if you need further evidence that the Titans are terrible at picking receivers, here it is- they drafted 15 receivers in the decade. 15! What makes it even worse is that only three of them are still on the active roster. (and gramsey notes that only two of the other 12 are still in the league)

So without further adieu I present the worst 10 draft picks of the decade as voted on by the esteemed panel:

1. Chris Henry, RB, Arizona (2007, Round 2, pick #50 overall)

The Chris Henry pick is pretty much the only one on the list that just never made sense. The Titans fell in love with hal's boy because of the numbers he put up at the combine. They apparently failed to check and see if he was actually any good in college. He was widely known as Cockroach because he ran to darkness. That isn't a good thing, in case you didn't know.

2. Andre Woolfolk, CB, Oklahoma (2003, Round 1, pick #28 overall)

If there were to be another guy on the list that never made sense it would be Woolfolk. Here is an interesting tidbit about Woolfolk that I did not know- all three of his career INTs were thrown by David Carr. If you ever wondered how bad Carr was..

3. Adam Pacman Jones, CB, West Virginia (2005, Round 1, pick #6 overall)

As Danno said yesterday, it has been far too long since we talked about Ol' Pacman. The pick of Adam made football sense but not common sense. He was a dynamic returner and a good cornerback when he played his assignment instead of what he wanted to do, which was about 32% of the time (get it?), but he there isn't really an adjective that adequately describes what he was off the field.

4. Paul Williams, WR, Fresno State (2007, Round 3, pick #80 overall)

P-Dub couldn't decide in college if he was a corner or a receiver. Maybe he should have picked corner.

5. Tyrone Calico, WR, MTSU (2003, Round 2, pick #60 overall)

August loves Calico. Calico had a lot of raw talent, but he had trouble staying healthy. He also had some trouble catching the football which is a problem for a receiver. Too bad for him that he didn't get drafted by another team because he would have gotten a lot of money from the Titans in free agency eventually.

6. Ben Troupe, TE, Florida (2004, Round 2, pick #40 overall)

Troupe had more NFL success than any of the other guys on this list. The problem was he could never put it all together. He had loads of potential but was hampered by injuries, the inability to learn the offense (allegedly), and the inability to catch the football at times.

7. Courtney Roby, WR, Indiana (2005, Round 3, pick #68 overall)

Roby was really good in the preseason pretty much every year.

8. Tank Williams, S, Stanford (2002 Round 2, pick #45 overall)

And now Danno hate us. Tank started his career playing pretty well but suffered an ugly ACL injury and was never the same.

T-9. Byron Frisch, DE, BYU (2000, Round 3, pick #93 overall)

This is a name that none of us even remembered. He actually never played a game with the Titans and was cut after the 2000 season. He ended his career with 5 sacks after playing one season with the Cowboys and one with the Giants.

T-9.Shad Meier, TE, Kansas State (2001, Round 3, pick #90 overall)

Shad Meier had my favorite stat line ever in a game at San Diego in 2004- 9 catches for 31 yards. That's 3.4 yards per catch. He finished his career with 42 catches. I need more than that from a third round pick.

Others receiving votes: Chris Brown (2003, round 3, #93), Brandon Jones (2005, round 3, #96) and Donnie Nickey (2003, round 5, #154).

$1,000,000 MCM bucks to the first person to identify who put Nickey on the list.

Click here to see the complete list of draft picks.

And there you have it. We would love to hear your comments on our list, or even your own list in the comments.

Tennessee Titans Cut Four Players Including Mark Jones and Paul Williams

Jimmy — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:55:42 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

Missed it by this much. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

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The Titans have already started to trim the roster down towards the required 53 with four cuts this afternoon. The number doesn't have to be 53 until tomorrow, but the Titans started today by cutting return man Mark Jones, wide receiver Paul Williams, offensive lineman Jason Murphy, and wide receiver Phillip Morris.

Obviously Jones is a bit of a surprise to me because I projected him to make the 53 man roster this morning but nothing earth shattering so far. I have no idea who they are going to use on punts considering the only three people they used in preseason to return punts were Chris Davis, Ryan Mouton, and Jones.

[UPDATE]- Scout.com is reporting Casey Cramer has been cut as well.

[UPDATE #2]- Rocky Boiman and Josh Stamer have also been cut.

[UPDATE #3]- Demarcus Faggins- HE GONE!

[UPDATE #4]- Tuff Harris and Nick Schommer gone. They are killing my 53 man.

[UPDATE #5]- Fernando Velasco out.

[UPDATE #6]- Playmaking tight end Mathew Mulligan released.

[UPDATE #7]- The most famous preseason punter in NFL history, AJ Trapasso has also been let go.

[UPDATE #8]- Shake's boy Mitch King will not be joining the 2009 fun.

[UPDATE #9]- Tanard Davis the latest casualty. We don't need no stinkin corners.

[UPDATE #10]- Cory Lekkerkerker no mas.

[UPDATE #11]- Rodney Ferguson II gone. That's 17 today. 5 more cuts to make.

[UPDATE #12]- LaJuan Ramsey and Ryan Durand cut.

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Can Hamstrings Have Old Man Strength? Edition

August West — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:54:27 -0000

Congratulations to David Climer for being the first to start wondering/proclaiming Kenny Britt as another cursed Titans WR thanks to hamstring injuries limiting his ability to practice in the OTAs. Britt will have plenty of time between now and camp to rehab the sore muscle, and that should give us an early indication of how dedicated he is to doing the less glamorous work it takes to win in the NFL.

Paul Williams has joined Kenny Britt on the jacked-up hamstring brigade.

Smash and Dash are now "Smash and I'm Going to Whoop His ... We'll talk." according to LenDale.

Sen'Derrick Marks feels really lost a lot of the time, but the highlight here is Jim Washburn's expert explanation of why NFL O-linemen are so much harder to deal with:

"Remember your grandfather and that old man strength?" Washburn said. "That's sort of what it is. It's just different."

6th and 7th round draft picks Jason McCourty and Ryan Durand signed contracts yesterday.

Steve McNair has opened a new restaurant on Jefferson St., near TSU called Gridiorn9. If you're looking to casually run into some Titans, this seems like the place for now because Vince Young, Keith Bulluck and Jevon Kearse were all there Monday.

Our intrepid podcast producer, pigskinpunditspoints us towards this gem: Looking for a cheap ticket to a road game? So far 15,000 season ticket holders for the Jaguars have chosen not to renew their tickets, and new salses aren't putting a dent in that number. According to the Jacksonville Business Journal, 65% of those who didn't renew cited the economy as to why they passed, while MCM internal numbers show that the rest cited Jack Del Rio being a massive jerk.

Now that the slower period of the off-season is upon us your help in finding out of the way Titans stories is more important than ever. If you have a link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com! (Be sure to include your commenting handle so I can give you glowing, semi-anonymous credit.)

State of the Tennessee Titans Roster: Wide Receiver

Jimmy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:00:20 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

Kenny Britt proving that he is better than Justin McCareins by simply holding the ball in his hand. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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Wide receiver has been the biggest need of the Titans forever, and for the first time I can remember they actually did something in the offseason to upgrade the position. It is too early to tell how much the position was upgraded, but the fact that Justin McCareins is not on the roster alone means that the 2009 receivers will be better.

The Starters

Justin Gage will enter the season as the team's #1 receiver. After battling injuries early in the 2008 season, he finished strong and proved that he is a legitimate receiving threat in this league. He should only get better with a year under his belt in Heimerdinger's system.

Nate Washington was the Titans' biggest free agent signing, and I am excited to see what he brings to the table. His career numbers don't jump off the page at you, but he has been stuck behind two very good receivers in Pittsburgh. He gives the Titans the deep threat potential that they have been desperately needing for so very long.

The other guy that we are all pumped about is first round pick Kenny Britt. There is no way of knowing how much he will be on the field until we see what his progress looks like in camp. One thing we do know is that rookies have a hard time getting on the field under Jeff Fisher. Britt has said that he is already spending a ton of time studying the playbook. That bodes well for him.

The Rest

Lavelle Hawkins better spend some time of his own in the playbook if he plans on seeing the field in 2009.

Hopefully either Dominique Edison or Dudley Guice will pan out to be a solid player. Both guys are products of spread option college offenses but both have freakish skills that could make them big play receivers.

Paul Williams, Chris Davis and Craphonso Thorpe should be looking for "career changes" this summer.

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Kick Out The Jams Edition

August West — Fri, 29 May 2009 13:58:47 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

Even Tony Dungy has to be surprised that ESPN sees his retirement as a boost to the Colts. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

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Mike Heimerdinger is a legend for his demands that players, especially wide receivers, know all of the subtleties of his offense before they can expect to see the field (see Hawkins, Lavell and Williams, Paul). Kenny Britt says that's what he's used to, and is excited by the hard work in the books and the film room that it takes to play under 'Dinger:

Many a young player has felt the wrath of Heimerdinger, and even first-round pick Kenny Britt knows he won’t be immune to such criticism, if it’s warranted.

But Britt says he is totally prepared for it, from the way practices were run at Rutgers University.

"Our offensive coordinator [John McNulty] at Rutgers was just like ['Dinger]. Actually it motivates me," Britt said.

The best way to avoid the wrath of Heimerdinger, of course, is to know what you’re doing well enough to execute your routes and assignments correctly. And for Britt, that is job one in between the May and June OTAs.

Paul K has a long post about one of the major focuses for the WR corps this off-season: beating the jam to get off the line and into their routes cleanly and quickly. A failure to do so has been the downfall of many a talented WR in the NFL, and if these guys can become great at it Kerry will look 10 times better this year.

You know who else liked jams... especially crunchy jams of their own variety? The MC5! Yeah I went there. Expect more music links on Fridays moving forward.

In a companion post, Cortland Finnegan talks about how important jamming a WR is for a CB, and he names Reggie Wayne as the best in the AFC South at getting free on a regular basis.

Mike Florio: still part of the problem. He really has piss poor reading comprehension for a lawyer. No wonder he ended up with another line of work. Still, at least he's not as dumb as his commenters.

The jokers at T-Rac's Posse put the ESPN Power Rankings on blast, and it includes this gem about the 5th place Colts (the Titans are 8th):

ESPN's take: Donald Brown should provide a nice boost. But without Tony Dungy and with two top assistants in limbo for at least awhile, do things stay stable? (PK)

T-Rac's Take: Lose their whole coaching staff and they leap over the Titans. Makes sense.

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: All Situations Have The Same Plan B, Just Win Edition

August West — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:50:15 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

How did Rob Bironas get such a strong leg? Suzanne Somers work-out video tapes, that's how. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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Jason Jones can't really be expected to make us all forget Albert, but it'd be darn nice if he played that well! Still, here are some good thoughts on that and Washburn's plan sans Albert:

Defensive line coach Jim Washburn says he has dreaded being asked the Haynesworth question the entire off-season, but it sounds like he already has an answer in Jones and the rest of the Titans defensive line through a collective effort, especially if Jones and young players like ends Jacob Ford and William Hayes step forward in 2009.

"I dreaded this when he left, because every person was going to ask me what we’re going to do with Albert gone. I’m just going to coach the guys we’ve got and we’re going to be fine," Washburn said. "If Jason, Jacob [Ford] and Will [Hayes] step up we won’t miss anybody. We’ll roll on."

Paul Williams and Chris Davis know that they're in the position battle that will define their careers, and the competition all pretty much have the advantage on them this year.

Paul K sizes up the AFC South's offensive tackles, and the Titans fair the best of the bunch by a good stretch, both in elite talent and depth.

LenDale weighs in on Reggie Bush's scandalous headlinesregarding how he was recruited and compensated at USC.

Javon Walker had off-season surgery and didn't tell the Raiders, and here Ross Tucker takes a look at the secondary medical advice many players are quietly seeking outside of the team trainers and physicians.

Should Texans Fans Watch The Combine?

Jake — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:42:35 -0000

Its mid February and the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine is almost upon us. As I have stated before, I personally am not a huge fan of the Combine because I believe too much emphasis is placed on the drills that the players perform. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t know how fast a guy is and the league should stop testing them in the 40 yard dash; that would be absolutely silly. I just think that the Combine was something that started off as another good tool for general managers to add with all the other steps they took to evaluate and eventually decide if a player was right for them or not, but somewhere along the way it went from a measuring stick to the end-all/be-all of player evaluation.

I’m not alone with my opinion of the Combine. Even Mike Mayock, who is employed as a draft analyst by NFL Network and therefore by the league itself, has criticized the Combine occasionally. He makes good points too, citing the difference between what he calls “functional playing speed and manufactured speed.” The only player that is going to run perfectly straight for 40 yards in a game is a WR, and even he isn’t going to do it from a three point stance.

Proponents of the Combine will be quick to tell you that the myriad drills simulate and test the physical talents you need to play in the NFL no matter what the position, and that the Combine is a venue where athletes from smaller schools can be sized up against players from larger programs while all in the same setting. The problems I have with these arguments are 1) many of the athletes choose not to participate in the other drills (in fact the majority only do the 40 yard dash and the bench press), and 2) the athletes all compete but they do so in athleticism tests, not at football.

For all my whining about the Combine, there is one thing I can’t refute--I will spend a lot of time watching and reading coverage of the event. What can I say? I love the NFL, and the only things happening in the league in mid to late February happen in Indianapolis. Interesting stories always come from putting that many front office personnel in one place during free agency, and draft speculation abounds, which helps me through my withdrawals from football, which are really bad right now (I tried watching basketball the other night and just felt cheap).

The biggest reason, however, that I will be paying close attention is not listed above. While it may not interest you to learn how I feel about the player tests, it will certainly be in your best interest to know how Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith feel about them. Unfortunately, we don’t regularly swap phone calls and I’m not exactly on their e-mail distribution lists. So in the absence of asking them, I took a look at how their draft decisions might have been influenced by the Combine since they took over in 2006, and I think you might be surprised at what I found.

Let me set the record straight by saying that there is no way of knowing that a good or bad Combine performance directly led to Smithiak taking or passing on particular players. They obviously looked at intangibles such as if they fit or respective schemes; Alex Gibbs’ zone blocking system, Kyle Shannahan’s vertical passing attack, or the lack of scheme in the case of Richard Smith’s Defense (sorry, still bitter). Also, some people around the league will roll the dice on a draftee with “personality problems”, but Kubiak and Smith placed a high priority on detecting if a player is right for our locker room, which I’m proud to say seems like a deal-breaker for whether or not they would add someone to the roster.

Draft analysts have identified another trend with the Texans besides looking for players with good character that fit their schemes. In May of every year, most of the articles about the Texans center on the fact that we “reached” for our draft selections. The most notorious of the "reaches" was in the first Texans draft in which Kubiak participated. Every so-called expert slighted us for taking Mario Williams over Reggie Bush, and comparisons were immediately made to passing on Michael Jordan. While Super Mario’s play since then has vindicated that pick, the criticism for other drafts has been the same. While I have confidence that Kubiak and Smith know what they’re doing, I’ve often wondered why we continually take players before they’re “supposed” to be picked. With the Combine coming up now, I decided to try and discern if the famous scouting event might be part of the reason.

Author’s Note: I have to admit that my brother Tyler (a.k.a. Prussian) also inspired me to take a closer look at the Combine. The research for this post was extremely difficult. Thanks Ty.

The way I went about analyzing how the Combine affected their decisions was definitely not what you might call exact, but I feel it gives insight nonetheless. I looked specifically at the players that the Texans drafted in the first four rounds in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (I used only the first four rounds because I believe any player you select in rounds 5-7 is an educated guess and therefore the “reach” theory doesn’t apply). First I took note of where they were projected to be drafted and where we actually took them. With the “reaching” trend in mind, I then researched their combine performances, and tried to determine if the way they tested could have influenced our early selection of that player. Lastly, I tried to compare the player we selected with other players at the position that were still available who were projected before or near our draftee in an effort to see if the respective combine performances were drastically different. I realize that this process is limited because it assumes that Kubiak and Smith were drafting for a specific position, but the idea of analyzing every position of need instead of the position we took makes my head hurt. Call me lazy.

2006 Draft:

Mario Williams – DE – NC State. Obviously everyone thought that Mario Williams was a reach. In fact, as long as we’re being honest, I wasn’t thrilled either. I didn’t think it was terrible overall, I just didn’t understand why they didn’t trade down if they knew they weren’t going to take Reggie Bush or Vince Young. Later, after I found out that there were pretty much no deals on the table, I was ok with it. Mario, as you would expect, had a great Combine. Comparing Mario to any other DEs would be unnecessary because it was pretty much unanimous that he was going to be the first defensive player taken. It seems apparent that the mixture of need on defense and not being sure about Young and Bush as franchised players led to this decision, not the Combine.

DeMeco Ryans – LB – Alabama. DeMeco was projected to be a first round selection, which he missed by one pick after being selected 33rd overall. DeMeco had a good Combine, but was pretty comparable with both Thomas Howard and Roger McIntosh. Howard’s 4.42 was much faster than both Ryans’ and McIntosh’s 40 times, while the results of everything else were very similar. If the Texans were just using the combine, they would have missed out on the 2006 Defensive Rookie of the Year. Many reports cite DeMeco’s uncommon intelligence and character as the reason he was chosen before the other two candidates.

Charles Spencer – OG – Pittsburgh. Spencer was taken slightly early with the first pick of the third round, as he was supposed to be selected either later in the round or the beginning of the fourth. Both Max Jean-Giles and Jason Spitz were projected as higher values, but at the Combine Spencer showed that he was bigger, stronger and faster, which was enough for the Texans to look past fluctuating weight and motor issues and pick him before the other two candidates. Score one for the Combine.

Eric Winston – OT – Miami. Winston actually slipped, as he was supposed to be selected in the second round, possibly even late in the first. He was clearly the better athlete among Paul McQuistan, Rashad Butler (yes I know Butler plays for us now) and pretty much every other OT still left. Questions as to whether Winston had the footwork to play LT was the primary reason he slid so far; coincidentally, these questions arose after scouts observed poor testing at the Combine, which obviously didn’t faze the Texans that much.

Owen Daniels – TE – Wisconsin. OD was selected in the very beggining of the fourth round, which was a round earlier than he was projected. Daniels had a decent Combine but nothing that was earth-shattering. The Texans likely saw something in him that sparked their interest outside of his 4.65 40 time so they decided to take him early. Then again, the alternatives were Garrett Mills and Jason Pociask. I’ve never heard of them either.

2007 Draft:

Amobi Okoye – DT – Loiusville. Amobi may or may not have been considered a reach depending on where you looked for pre-draft projections. Some people had him slated as a mid to late first round pick, while others thought he belonged in the early first round range, which is where we consequently selected him with the 10th overall pick. Okoye ran a 5.06 40 and had 29 bench press reps, which were fairly comparable numbers to both Alan Branch and Justin Harrell. Harrell, who was projected as a late first round pick, ran a 5.10 and had 24 reps. Branch, who was projected as a mid first round pick, ran a 5.04 and had 33 reps, which was technically better than Okoye’s. In the end, Okoye’s age (19) and his lights-out performance at the Senior Bowl is probably what led to the Texans taking him before all other DT prospects.

Jacoby Jones – WR – Lane. Jones was definitely considered a reach when we selected him with the 9th pick in the third round, as he was not slated to be picked until somewhere between the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth rounds. At the Combine, Jones ran a 4.53, which was ok for a 6’2” receiver who weighs 205. Yamon Figurs, Jason Hill and Paul Williams all had better Combine numbers. Also, Figurs was the only receiver smaller than Jacoby, while Hill and Williams were just about the same size but ran faster at the Combine. I’m not saying they were right, but it doesn’t seem like Smithiak selected Jones based off just his Combine performance.

Fred Bennett – CB – South Carolina. Bennett could be considered a reach because he was taken in the fourth while he was projected in the fifth, but this is misleading. The 2007 draft had an amazing run on CBs that I don’t think anyone could have seen coming. By the time the Texans selected Bennett with the 7th pick in the fourth round, there were only a couple of CBs with better Combine performances, but none had Bennett’s mix of athleticism (4.55) and size (6’1”, 196). It seems like Smithiak realized they waited too long to take a CB and they picked the best available.

2008 Draft:

Duane Brown – OT – Virginia Tech. Brown was considered by most, if not all, to be a reach when we selected him 26th overall after our trade down with Baltimore. He was slated to be taken around the middle of the third round, and many speculated that his impressive performance at the Combine enticed the Texans to be impatient. His 5.08 40 time was the fastest of all lineman, and he was one of the few to participate in the vertical, shuttle and cone drills, which showed confidence in his athletic ability. When I was trying to find players to compare him to, however, I found something startling; there were none. Brown was the sixth OT taken, and between him and the third round (when he was supposed to be taken) there were only three OL selected--two guards and one center. Obviously the Texans needed a OT and they saw that they were getting scarce so they took Brown. The fact that he knew how to block in a zone blocking system and he had a great combine was a plus, but they were smart to take him when they did since OT was a priority.

Antwaun Molden – CB – Eastern Kentucky. This wasn’t a reach in the classical sense because he was taken with the 16th pick in the third round, which fulfilled his mid third round projection, but there were two CBs still available, Justin King and Tyvon Branch, who were projected for the second round. While King’s 4.37 time and Branch’s 4.33 time were both faster than Molden’s 4.44 time, Antwaun put on a show at the Combine by adding 23 reps and a 37.5 inch vertical to his 40, which was far better than both King and Branch. This is probably a clear-cut case of the Combine causing the Texans to draft someone before they were “supposed” to be taken. Side note: I didn’t realize that Molden was such an impressive athlete. Hopefully he can translate that athleticism to success on the field next year.

Steve Slaton – RB – West Virginia. With the 26th pick of the third round, the Texans took Slaton slightly earlier than his early to mid fourth round projection. After his phenomenal sophomore season at WVU, Slaton was talked about as a potential first round pick in the 2008 draft. His production diminished his junior year, which worried scouts, and ironically, he was compared to Reggie Bush (see comments above about taking Mario instead of Bush) as a RB that could not run between the tackles and would be injury-prone due to his size. His 4.44 time was one of the better runs, which was to be expected of a smaller RB who was only 5’9”, but his 33.5 inch vertical was better than all but one, showing how good of an athlete Slaton is. This performance was slightly better than Tashard Choice, who was the only other back on the board who fit the mold of speed back, which I believe the Texans were specifically targeting. Maybe the Combine gave him a slight edge, but I would tend to believe that it was more because of his starting experience that the Texans ended up selecting Slaton. Whatever it was, I’m ok with it.

Xavier Adibi – LB – Virginia Tech. Adibi was actually taken after he was supposed to be, which is a rarity when it comes to the Texans’ drafts. Adibi’s 4.69 time was comparable with Bryan Kehl ,who was still on the board, but was slower than Stanford Keglar. Also, both Kehl and Keglar tested in the bench press, vertical, shuttle, and cone dirlls, all of which Adibi did not. Even though Adibi was impressive, he was obviously not taken for his Combine performance.

Overall, I’m actually surprised by what I found when researching for this article. I expected that the Texans’ commonly documented tendency of taking players earlier than most think they should was directly associated with stellar Combine performances, but for the most part that wasn’t the case. As for the “reaching” theory, I would much rather Kubiak and Smith be proactive, i.e., “We know this guy will be great and he might not be there next round” than reactive, i.e., “Well, everyone thinks this guy is going to be good and I guess we got lucky that he fell to us.”

We commonly praise the Texans for their ability to find talent in the later rounds, as we should. I guess I should not be surprised to see that they are not relying just on the Combine to simply plug in “the most talented player”, but rather using it as a tool that is combined with scouting diligence to determine overall intelligence, character and talent of prospective Texans. Having said all this, I’m sure they still scrutinize the Combine heavily. And so will I.

Tennessee Titans Midseason Report Card: Receivers & Tight Ends

Jimmy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:17:45 -0000

Brandon Jones

Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
19	216	11.4	0

Jones has been the most pleasant surprise of the season so far. He, unlike Gage, has been catching everything that is thrown to him. He had a couple of huge catches on the final drive at Baltimore and made some plays against Green Bay. I never thought I would say this, but he has been the Titans most consistent receiver in 2008. He gets a B.

Justin McCareins

Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
13	204	15.7	0

McCareins is who we thought he was. He catches some balls and drops some balls. It would be nice to see him stretch the field a little more, but I doubt he will ever be any more than he is right now. He gets a C.

Justin Gage

Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
13	182	14.0	1

Gage might be the biggest disappointment this season. He was probably the Titans' most consistent receiver last season and was rewarded for that with a pretty good contract. This season he doesn't seem to be able to catch....wait for it....a cold. No one expects Gage to be a big play guy, but the Titans need him to catch the ball when it is thrown to him. He hasn't done that this year, and for that he gets an F.

Lavelle Hawkins

Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
4	28	7.0

Hawkins is the wild card in this whole thing. He has shown that he will catch the ball, and that he has great field awareness with a nice toe dragging catch against the Colts. The problem with The Hawk so far this season is that he is having trouble learning the offense. Dinger is not going to give him consistent playing time until he knows he can trust him to be in the right place every time. The potential is obviously there, but he has yet to contribute as much on the field as we had all hoped for. He gets a C+.

Chris Davis and Paul Williams are both on the roster, but they are both non-factors (To be completely fair: Davis did have a big 21-yard catch against Houston and a catch in Blatimore).

Bo Scaife

Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
32	344	10.8	1

Scaife is quietly putting together another very solid season. All of the fuss before the season was about Alge Crumpler, who we will get into in a minute, but Scaife has been the favorite target again. He has good hands and is great at picking up yards after the catch. He made one of my favorite plays of the season in the opener against Jacksonville when he took a screen pass 44 yards. He gets an A.

Alge Crumpler

Rec	Yds	Avg	TD
13	134	10.3	1

Crumpler has been a big disappointment. I was really excited when they signed him in the offseason, but he has looked lost for most of the season with the exception of the TD catch to beat the Ravens. I think he will play a role in the second half, but he has to get an F at this point.

Craig Stevens has yet to catch a pass. He had one chace and stepped out of the back of the end zone for no reason. I guess one shot isn't enough to grade him on though.

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: How To Have Fun With Football Edition

August West — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:55:16 -0000

Thanks to Mwilson for passing along this awesome read from Mike Silver on what makes this Titans team so good and so fun to watch. No response yet from TV analysts who have forgotten that football can be fun without 400 yards passing, clownish WRs or Brett Favre to drool over.

As the Titans flooded the field with bench players late in the 4th, only 2 guys didn't make it into the game: Chris Davis and Vince Young. I'm awaiting a firestorm from Florio or Hoge saying this is an indictment of VY's ability to hand the ball off...

Jeff Fisher continues to have a great attitude regarding Crazy Legs' cabana style celebration Sunday, but that's largely because it put us up by about 30 late in the 4th quarter. However, don't go thinking we have the next celebration clown on the roster:

What happens if Johnson does something like that again?

"I’ll cut him,’’ Fisher said on Monday with a smile.

One of Norm Chows biggest failures as the Titans' offensive coordinator was last year's red zone futility, but our boys have come a long way in fixing that problem this year:

Tennessee has had 18 red-zone possessions thus far in 2008 and has scored points on all 18 tries. More importantly, the Titans have scored 13 touchdowns in those 18 trips, a mark of 72.2 percent touchdown efficiency.

How much of an improvement is that? Consider that last year, the Titans finished at league-worst 36.4 percent on scoring touchdowns from inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, meaning they have nearly doubled their efficiency in scoring there.

ESPN's Chris Sprow eats crow over not putting White/Johnson in his top RB combos list last week.

Congratulations to Lavelle Hawkins who logged his first 2 receptions last Sunday, and to WR Paul Williams, who was active for the first game of his career thrown to for the first time in his career.

If the Titans are going to wrestle Indy's stranglehold on the AFC South crown away this year, Monday Night is the place to put a boot to the throat.

Pro Football Weekly becomes the latest member of the Cortland Finnegan Man Crush Club. People wishing to sign-up for the Michael Griffin Man Crush Club should direct all inquires to gramsey712; I believe he has jackets ready to go!

The Colts are praying they can get at least Bob Sanders, and maybe Joeseph Addai, back in to the mix next Monday night.

A tip of the 10-gallon cap to cityjane and Trenchanttitan for this one: Whether you're one of the lucky ones headed to the banks of the Cumberland next Monday for the Code Blue, or just looking for a good deal, here's a coupon for 15% off Code Blue apparel at the Titans Pro Shop.

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links, email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com! (Be sure to include your commenting handle so I can give you semi-anonymous credit.)

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: An Open Invitation To Perfectville Edition

August West — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:43:52 -0000

Mercury Morris, running back for the perfect 1972 Dolphins, wants the Titans to go undefeated. The only way to do that, however, is for the Titans to win the game that's in front of them so lets just keep the focus there for now.

The Titans wanted to add a play-maker who could have an immediate impact on the field in last year's draft, and there wasn't a player drafted after Crazy Legs (3rd in the AFC in rushing coming off of the bye week) who has fit the bill better.

Kerry Collins understands better than most why the league has put such an emphasis on protecting QBs, but don't ask big Albert for any sympathy:

"Quarterbacks wear pads just like we do," Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said. "Yeah, (officials) definitely protect those guys way too much. We've got guys diving at our knees and doing all kinds of dirty stuff to us."

Gary Estwick reports that Lavelle Hawkins and/or Paul Williams could see more time this week since Gage and McCareins have missed the last 2 practices. I know I'm not alone in wanting to see the Hawk finally leave the ground this Sunday!

Boom King returned to practice yesterday, but only participated in the first half due to Fisher's orders. There was no comment on his availability Sunday.

This week's Yahoo! team report follows up on that with less encouraging news for Tony Brown:

• DT Tony Brown’s chances might not be as strong. Brown has not practiced all week because of an ankle injury, and rookie second-round pick Jason Jones indicated Wednesday that he could be in line to start this Sunday.

Larry Johnson being inactive against the Titans is starting to become a trend.

Paul Kuharsky pulls some stats to show that the Titans' are among the bottom in the league when it comes to big plays on offense. There's also some good discussion on which has a greater psychological effect on a defense: long grinding drives or quick strikes.

Former Titans LB coach Gunter Cunningham, now the defensive coordinator for the Chiefs, is pumping Ingle Martin for information on our offense. That should be devastating if our practice squad starts.

LenDale White won't reach his 303 carry total form last year, but you can expect to see him more as the winter sets in and conditions get nastier throughout the league.

The Tennessee Titans Cheerleaders are being featured on maxim.com. Well played ladies!

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a great link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com! (Be sure to include your commenting handle so I can give you semi-anonymous credit.)