SB Nation - Cary Williams

Saturday Injury Report: Ravens at Packers

Brandon — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:03:13 -0000

The Green Bay Packers have 11 players on the injury report including a few starters. It's even worse for the Ravens: several starters are among the 15 players listed.

The report includes CB Charles Woodson, QB Aaron Rodgers, and RB Ryan Grant, but all three players fully participated in practice on Saturday and should start on Monday. The most important player listed this week is LT Chad Clifton, who was limited in Saturday's practice, though Mike McCarthy said he did some team reps. I expect Clifton will play, but if he can't then his backup, OL T.J. Lang, is unlikely to play due to a concussion suffered in practice on Thursday. If neither Clifton or Lang were available, I thought LG Daryn Colledge would slide over to tackle, but McCarthy would rather leave Colledge at LG and start either OL Allen Barbre or OL Breno Giacomini at LT. The idea of Barbre at LT, after his disastrous stint at RT, is scary. LB Aaron Kampman is still listed, but there is no chance he'll play after tearing his ACL against the 49ers. LB Jeremy Thompson won't play after he spent Friday night in the hospital due to a neck injury suffered in practice on Friday, but McCarthy expects he'll be fine.

The Ravens have listed four key defensive players: S Ed Reed, LB Terrell Suggs, LB Ray Lewis, and DT Haloti Ngata. Reed wasn't able to practice until Saturday, but he expects to play. Suggs was expected to miss a month, but he said there is a chance he can play on Monday. Lewis might be slowed by his foot injury, but I haven't read anything to suggest he'll miss the Packer game. Ngata will play, but ankle injuries and defensive lineman are bad combinations, so he won't be 100%. The only other players who could miss the game are former practice squad S K.J. Gerard, and former Titans' practice squad player CB Cary Williams. TE L.J. Smith will miss the game too, but I think the Ravens can find a way to replace the 2 catches he's recorded so far this season.

The complete injury list is after the jump.

Player	Pos.	Injury	Saturday Participation	Saturday Status
Allen Barbre	T/G	Ankle	Full Participation	Probable
Brandon Chillar	LB	Hand	Full Participation	Probable
Chad Clifton	T	Hamstring	Limited Participation	Probable
Ryan Grant	RB	Shoulder	Full Participation	Probable
Ahman Green	RB	Groin	Full Participation	Probable
Aaron Kampman	LB	Knee	Out	Out
John Kuhn	FB	Hand	Full Participation	Probable
T.J. Lang	G/T	Concussion	Did Not Participate	Questionable
Aaron Rodgers	QB	Ribs	Full Participation	Probable
Jeremy Thompson	LB	Neck	Out	Out
Charles Woodson	CB	Shoulder	Full Participation	Probable


Player	Pos.	Injury	Saturday Participation	Saturday Status
Matt Birk	C	Ankle & Elbow	Full Participation	Probable
Prescott Burgess	LB	Shoulder	Full Participation	Probable
Joe Flacco	QB	Concussion	Full Participation	Probable
Jared Gaither	T	Knee	Full Participation	Probable
K.J. Gerard	S	Shoulder	Limited Particpation	Questionable
Jarret Johnson	LB	Not Inj. Related	Full Participation	Probable
Ray Lewis	LB	Quadricep	Full Participation	Probable
Le'Ron McClain	RB	Not Inj. Related	Full Participation	Probable
Haloti Ngata	DT	Knee	Limited Particpation	Probable
Ed Reed	S	Back	Limited Particpation	Questionable
L.J. Smith	TE	Shoulder	Did Not Participate	Doubtful
Terrell Suggs	LB	Hamstring	Did Not Participate	Doubtful
Kelley Washington	WR	Knee	Full Participation	Probable
Cary Williams	CB	Knee	Limited Particpation	Questionable
Demetrius Williams	WR	Knee	Full Participation	Probable

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Dirtiest Links In The League Edition

August West — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:25:50 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

Vince continues to say and do all the right things, not the least of which is win.

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Former Titan Albert Haynesworth and current Titan Kevin Mawae were voted among the dirtiest players in the league by their peers according to an anonymous survey. Mawae's name has been on that list going way back to his career with the Jets, but you have to know you're dirty if you get voted there while you're the President of the NFLPA. Albert, on the other hand, has a life-time pass onto the list after his stomping travesty.

David Climer looks at a possible fracture in the relationship between Bud Adams and Jeff Fisher over the QB position, and wonders if it might be the final straw between the owner and coach:

For years, Jeff Fisher has nurtured his relationship with Bud Adams.

It paid off with uncommon job security and unchallenged authority on everything from hiring and firing assistant coaches to having the final word on personnel decisions.

But the events of the past two weeks have created a disconnect between the owner and the coach...

Publicly, Fisher says the decision to bench Collins and start Young was made "collectively." Don't buy it. The owner had the only vote that really mattered.

Vince Young surprised the players and coaches of the Brentwood Blaze, a near by pee-wee football team, as they practiced yestreday. Vince gave the youngsters a pep talk and told them about his younger playing days. These are the kinds of things I've been saying Vince should be doing for the past year to get the community back on his side, and it's nice to see him get some credit for it. Being a quarterback in the NFL requires a lot more work than happens in the locker room or on the field.

Follow us through the jump to find-out which announcer apologized for comments aimed at a Titan...

Nice to see Gus Johnson apologize for his classless, but not outright terrible, 'running from the cops' comment... Mark Howard and Frank Wycheck were screaming that the joke was political correctness run amok on the radio this morning, but they also thought the comment was hilarious. I mean, nobody was calling for Johnson's job or a suspension, but a 2-second apology was definitely in order.

In other player service and charity news, Keith Bulluck and his charity teamed up with Soles4Souls to provide local kids with much-needed athletic shoes. Check the link to see some pictures of the event.

Make sure you check-out numbertenox's fanpost for some interesting views on the running game, featuring quotes by my boy Chuck Klosterman and Gregg Easterbrook links.

The Titans' improvement on the field was mirrored in their DVOA ratings for this week, and our boys have started a hopefully consistent campaign to get out of the gutter in all 3 categories.

PFW takes a look at Vince's performance and the coaching/ownership issues surrounding the team these days.

As was reported yesterday, former 4th round pick by the Titans Chris Davis was re-signed to compete with Alvin Pearman in the return game. It'll be interesting to see if the Titans re-sign Cary Williams to the practice squad as they did after cutting him back on September 23rd.

Mike Florio: still an all-around douchecanoe.

If you see anything good or Titans related on your travels around the internets, be sure to send it to mcmaugustwest@gmail.com!

5 Questions with Music City Miracles

MaPatsFan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:21:26 -0000

Leading up to the Titans matchup, Music City Miracles blogger Jimmy and I decided to do the "5 Questions with..." thing. After the jump, find out from a true fan if the issue really IS Kerry Collins.

1. The Titans were on fire last year. How did they move from that to an 0-5 2009 start?

It is impossible to pinpoint any one thing. They are playing worse in all 3 phases of the game right now than they did last season. Now they have a lot of injuries on defense, especially in the secondary, so they just can't stop anyone through the air.

2. CB Rod Hood was just signed to the Titans' roster. Do you see him starting or is he there for depth?

I think he has a realistic chance to start. The Titans started the season with Cortland Finnegan and Nick Harper as their corners and Vincent Fuller as their nickel back. Finnegan has been out with a hamstring for a couple of weeks, and I bet he doesn't play Sunday. Harper broke his forearm Sunday against the Colts so he is out 4-6 weeks, and Fuller also broke his forearm a couple of weeks ago and is out at least until after the bye (which is next week).

Before signing Hood they had 3 corners on the roster. Two rookies, Ryan Mouton and Jason McCourty who were drafted in the 3rd and 6th round respectively, and Cary Williams who was a 7th round pick a few years back and was cut in the preseason.

You can see how Hood has a legit shot..

3. Coach Fisher says the problem isn't Kerry Collins and he's not ready to make a QB switch just yet. Do you agree?

Kerry Collins isn't THE problem, but he has certainly been a problem. Last year he was so good for this team because he took care of the football and actually won a couple of games with his arm. This year he is consistently off target and has been a turnover machine.

That being said, I don't think Vince Young would do any better, but it is time to give him a shot. This team isn't going anywhere this season, and they need to know what they have in Vince because his 2010 cap number is huge. They are going to have to decide if they are going to cut him or restructure his deal.

4. Chris Johnson has been having a heck of a season, but the Pats' D has been fairly successful stopping the run, coming in at 11th in the league. What are your predictions for Chris' day in Foxborough, MA?

Making predictions about CJ is tough because he can be bottled up for 90% of the game, but he can have 2 or 3 plays that he breaks to make his numbers look really good. I think he will have a good game because the Titans should give him a lot of chances. Hopefully he will get back to running north and south instead of all the side to side that he did last week against the Colts.

5. What's your prediction for the game and why?

I think the Patriots win pretty easily for the simple fact that the Titans will not be able to stop them through the air. That will force the Titans to start putting the ball in the air and nothing good can come from that. I know there have been some concerns about the passing attack up there, but even a hobbled Tom Brady and Wes Welker and an older Randy Moss should put up some good numbers against the Titans secondary.

A big shoutout to Jimmy from Music City Miracles for his answers and all the interaction leading up to this Sunday's matchup.

Jeff Fisher's Monday Press Conference

Jimmy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:29:17 -0000

(thanks to michaeltastic for the picture)

Jeff Fisher held another spin session this afternoon. Obviously there were a lot of questions about the quarterback position. Fisher continued to say that Kerry Collins is the starter and Vince Young is the back-up. When pressed to give an answer on when a switch would be made he went into the "I have been doing this a long time blah, blah, blah.....mess." He said again that a change is not imminent.

Once again I will say, Fisher is going to stick with the "Kerry is our starter" statement until VY actually starts a game. He does need to understand that the time is now though. At this point there is really no reason to keep running Collins out there. It is the best thing for the organization as a whole to see what they have in VY.

Being at the game, I did not realize that Jevon Kearse was not there. Apparently Kearse did not take it well when Fisher told him he wasn't going to be active. Fisher was asked if Kearse would be fined for not being there, and Fisher said he would not be fined and that it was between him and Jevon.

The only other semi-interesting part was the discussion about the Titans staying in the base defense for most of the second half instead of switching to nickel. Fisher said it was the plan not because of injuries, and if you'll buy that I have some ocean front property.... Pretty obvious to me that he didn't feel comfortable putting Cary Williams into the game.

Pretty much the same ole, same ole.

Titans Elevate Cary Williams; Cut Patrick Ramsey

Jimmy — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:36:01 -0000

The Tennessean is reporting that Cary Williams has been elevated to the active roster today. No word yet on who will be released- ahem Lavelle Hawkins ahem.

This move was pretty much a necessity with only 3 healthy corners on the roster.

[UPDATE]- Well this is a little bit of a shock, but to make room for Williams on the roster, the Titans released QB Patrick Ramsey.

Supplemental Titans Training Camp Report For 8/11/09

August West — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:05:34 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

This image is enough to make QBs wet the bed at night.

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Let me start this by pointing out the fact that Hal has been killing the professionals when it comes to training camp practice reports. His stuff is easily better than we've gotten from local or national media on the other side of the fence. It's almost like he knows the roster, football fundamentals and pays attention the whole time (go watch a camp practice and take note of the media schmoozing... then you'll see what I mean).

I've had the last few days off work, so the soon-to-be Mrs. West and I decided to check out Tuesday's open practice session. This was my first full session this year after last week's evening practice was a bust. I was looking for Hal out there, but we must have just missed each other. I'm guessing got there on time, which means he got a better spot than mine (which was perched behind Hope Hines, at whom I was tempted to mumble insults under my breath).

Now, just to clarify, these aren't judgements made from long trends nurtured over extended evaluation throughout this camp. They're a compilation of what I already know about these guys and what I saw on this particular day.

Here are the things that stood out to me:

• Lets get this one out of the way: Vince Young looked bad. Epicly bad. He botched an option pitch, that's how bad he looked. I didn't see him even attempt a pass beyond 15 yards, and he didn't complete many that were more than 5 yards away. He looked unsure of the offense and didn't go through his progressions across the field. I never saw him scan from right to left, and I never saw him look off a DB. On at least two occasions he committed the most boneheaded thing bad QBs do: he pump faked at a receiver who was open (or at least open enough), didn't look away, then threw at the same receiver after the coverage had gotten into position. This resulted in multiple INTs. His footwork looked better than I'd seen it so far, but it still lacks consistency. He was also holding the ball for a few ticks too long.

All in all, Vince can't expect to start anytime soon with performances like that.

Follow me through the jump to find out which QB looked worse than Young yesterday...

• Vince's poor performance was one-upped by that of Patrick Ramsey. Ramsey was off the mark all day in a performance that certainly didn't inspire any confidence. The lesson I took away? Kerry better stay healthy.

• Kerry Collins looked good leading the first team offense all day. He sprayed passes all over the field with excellent zip and accuracy, and had completions to pretty much every available receiver as practice moved on. He also looked in even better shape than last year. You could tell pretty quickly that the team responds to his leadership in the two minute drill.

• During the sprints at the end of practice, LenDale made it a point to finish first when the RB group had to go. None of the backs were going 100%, so I appreciated the effort from Smash.

• The WRs were miles ahead of the atrocious display we had to watch last year. Nate Washington made some great moves after the catch, and he's definitely as quick as he is fast. Kenny Britt is bigger than I expected, caught the ball with his hands like a natural (this is much less common in rookies than most people think) and he got off the jam with ease thanks to good technique and tremendous arm strength.

• If Jared Cook can block a LB or DE for three seconds more often than not, there's no way they can keep him off the field. After being leery at first of trading a second round pick for him, I now fully endorse that move.

• The outrageous depth on the defensive line made the second team offensive line look rough at times. They did a nice job giving VY a pocket to step into, but you could quickly tell which unit was deeper when the ball wasn't in the air after four seconds. Still, for these mostly reserve O-lineman to mostly hold their own against D-lineman who will see heavy playing time was a good sign to me.

• HOF Game hero A.J. Trapasso punted during the special teams portion of practice. He showed some solid leg strength and very good hang time. He's absolutely a solid back-up plan should Craig Hentrich's back problems worsen, but he isn't beating out Craig anytime soon.

• Chris Henry is a cut man walking. He dropped a few catchable passes, missed holes and ran away from space on multiple occasions. Put it this way: the first thing I saw after I got settled in was RB coach Ernest Byner making Henry do push-ups as punishment.

• Boom King looks pissed and healthy. That makes me very, very happy.

• Stanford Keglar might end up being the steal from last year's draft. He has popped up consistently with impressive plays in various practice reports and he had some nice ones yesterday. The things he brings that I like the most are that he closes quickly, has great size and plays the pass just as sharply as he does the run. He cut his teeth on special teams last year (which is a biggie with this coaching staff) and could unseat Tulloch as the primary back-up on the weak side should KB go down.

• I felt a little better about the CB depth after watching solid, if unspectacular, play from Mouton, Faggins and Cary Williams. All I needed to see was that they had the speed and didn't look totally lost out there.

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: The Exodus Is Here, The Happy Ones Are Near Edition

August West — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:10:36 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

Michael Griffin is a bad, bad man. Just ask anyone unfortunate enough to come across the middle.

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Kenny Britt won't see the field against the Bills this Sunday, but he is expected to finally practice this afternoon!

By all reports (including the great series of camp recaps hal has going) Nate Washington is killing it in practice. It's yet another sign of just how hard the former undrafted free agent works on a daily basis to maximize his physical gifts, and that work ethic will get him major brownie points from this coaching staff.

Chuck Cecil (take that, Gramsey!) is keeping a tight lip about any changes to the defensive scheme or tendencies so far. Here's a great quote from Kearse:

"When you are dealing with Chuck Cecil you are talking about violence. Some of the young guys don't know about Chuck, but I remember,''

This week's Friday Jam is a dedication to John Hughes, who passed away yesterday at the age of 59. It's a stellar mash-up of his movies set to the Who's Teenage Wasteland. I honestly got a little choked-up at parts. That man made some effin' great movies.

Follow us through the jump for a ton more links!

Kevin Vickerson's weight loss and stellar fill-in play last season may not be enough to earn a job thanks to a ridiculous numbers crunch on the entire defensive line unit. The same is true for highly touted undrafted free agent Mitch King. You have to love this kind of stuff from coach Washburn:

If you start counting numbers, there might be 11 guys [in camp with us on the D-line spot] who can be on somebody's 53-man roster.

On that note, here's an interview Mitch King did for theHawkEye.com.

Though there are Hall of Famers who punted, there isn't a single HOFer who was solely a punter. Here Craig Hentrich talks about why that is, and what it might take to change the line of thinking that's keeping these great players out.

Cary Williams is going a long way towards alleviating the concerns about depth at CB with his play in camp.

Peter King, you slay me:

If I were a football fan, I'd be worried about the NFL season in 2011.

Glad to see you have nothing to worry about, then.

I don't even know what to make of this... is there actually anyone opposed to honoring Steve McNair all season? If you're one of those folks, just click here.

If there's anything you would like to share with the MCM community, please take advantage of the comments, fanshots and fanposts to do so! Or, you can always email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com.

State of the Tennessee Titans Roster: Cornerbacks

Jimmy — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:32:33 -0000

One of the topics we have talked about at length this offseason has been the lack of depth at the corner position. Cortland Finnegan is one of the best corners in the league. Nick Harper is a solid veteran opposite Finnegan, but there are some big concerns about his durability. He will be 35 in September and missed significant time last season because of injury.

Hopefully Finnegan and Harper stay healthy, but this is the NFL, so odds are one of them will miss some time next season. Who steps in behind them is one of the biggest questions for the 2009 Titans. Currently they have Cary Williams and DeMarcus Faggins listed as the back-up corners. Either of those names excite anyone? Yeah, me neither.

The interesting thing to me is this has been the State of Corner since all of the reserves left in free agency, but the only thing the Titans did to help out was draft Ryan Mouton and Jason McCourty in the third and sixth rounds respectively. One of those two guys is going to need to show something in camp to give me a good feeling about the position.

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Congratulations Mike Florio, You're Officially Part Of The Problem Edition

August West — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:13:53 -0000

More photos » by Ray Stubblebine - AP

Peyton Manning does great charity work in the community by helping sick children focus on happier things. Here, he also uses the opportunity to introduce the Colts' newest coaches. /rimshot . (AP Photo/Hasbro, Ray Stubblebine)

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Congrats to those hammering VY for doing some charity work... the comparison to Pacman that's being made is still so damned ignorant and infuriating. It's only those who are miles outside of the loop that has been the past 5 years in pop culture that think Pacman had a monopoly on that thing; either that or irresponsible tabloids marketing to mouth breathing douc...

Jim Wyatt has a response to Gary Estwick's column with Ryan Fowler that we posted yesterday: MLB is Tully's spot, and Fowler didn't give it away as much as Tully won it by making plays and being a better option at MLB.

I give props to Florio for saying something good about our organization in his list of the top ten off-season moves, but then he makes an idiotic point at the end. It's becoming hilarious how many NFL observers don't understand why tampering matters. I don't care if all of these guys who cover the NFL see it all the time and just choose not to write about it because 'that's how these things work'. To my mind that makes them part of the problem. Things only work like that because you allow them to work like that.

Cortland has quite the t-shirt collection going on these days:

• CB Cortland Finnegan(= had a bunch of T-shirts at his locker on Thursday, all representing different colleges of his Titans teammates. The catch, all the t-shirts were from non-Division I-A level schools. Finnegan himself played at Division I-AA Samford.

Other shirts represented in the collection, included Grand Valley State (Nick Harper), Montana (Tuff Harris), Montana State (Ken Amato), Washburn and Fordham (both Cary Williams), South Dakota (Ryan Fowler), Dartmouth (Casey Cramer) and Eastern Washington (Michael Roos). Finnegan said he just ordered a Tiffin t-shirt to honor Nate Washington and is working on getting a Maine t-shirt for tight end Matthew Mulligan.

I'm just linking to Paul K's full blog here because there are three good posts dealing with Peyton Manning's whining.

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.)

The Titans Five Biggest Defensive Questions Heading Into 2009

Jimmy — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:20:46 -0000

More photos » by Alex Brandon - AP

Who you think gonna replace me?(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Now that free agency and the draft have ended, we can start to take a look at the 2009 version of the Tennessee Titans. Today we will look at the five biggest defensive questions for 2009.

1. How will the rotation replace the loss of Albert Haynesworth?

No one player is going to be expected to replace Albert. It will be done by the rotation. The question is how good is the rotation?

They know what they have in Tony Brown. He is a space eater that can get after the quarterback a little. Jason Jones excited us last year with his solid play early and stand-out game against the Towel Boys. He played defensive end in college so he is more of a pass rusher. Sen'Derrick Marks is probably the most athletic of the bunch and should be able to get after the passer. Jovan Haye is the wild card. He had 6 sacks in 2007 but 0 in 2008. Let's hope we get the '07 version. Kevin Vickerson, at the back end of the rotation, is a space eater that seemed to make huge strides last season (minus the performance enhancing drug suspension).

Obviously the Titans are hoping for the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts. The odds are it will be with Jim Washburn guiding the ship.

2. Who will step up to be the #3 corner?

Most of us would have liked the Titans to take a corner before the end of the 3rd round in this draft after losing so many corners in the offseason. They didn't, so that leaves a huge question in my mind. The Titans did sign DeMarcus Faggins in the offseason, and he is a nice player for depth purposes, but I am not going to feel really good if he has to be on the field for any extended period of time.

They obviously saw a lot of potential in Ryan Mouton, but he appears to be a project at best. I doubt he will be ready to step in and play if Cortland Finnegan or Nick Harper go down.

Cary Williams? Jason McCourty? That just isn't change I can believe in yet.

3. How much different will the defensive scheme look with Chuck Cecil at the helm?

The honest answer here is no one really knows. Jim Schwartz took a very statistical approach to the scheme (Think Moneyball meets the NFL). There weren't a lot of "risky" blitzes, and the secondary sat in zone coverage for the most part. I expect things to be different with Cecil calling the shots. We all know he played hard nosed football 100% of the time, so I just don't see him sitting around waiting for the other team to make a mistake like Schwartzy did. Of course we won't know how he will call games until they take the field at Towel Boy Stadium on opening night.

4. Is there a quality linebacker on the roster behind Keith Bulluck and David Thornton?

Bulluck will be 32 and Thornton will be 30 when the season starts, so the odds of both of them staying healthy for the whole season are not very good. (Not to mention the looming free agency for Bulluck) The Titans have not spent a high pick on a LB since they took Bulluck in the first round in 2000. This could be the year we find out if any of them are going to be quality NFL players.

5. Will the defensive ends hold up for the whole season?

Just as with the linebackers, the starting defensive ends on this team aren't getting any younger. Add to that the fact that Kyle Vanden Bosch missed most of last season with a groin injury and Jevon Kearse isn't exactly the Cal Ripken Jr. of football, and you can see why the depth question is important here. The front office obviously felt good about the sport since they didn't spend a draft pick on an end for the first time since the Lincoln Administration. It is easy to see why the would be comfortable with the depth when you look at the production they got from Dave Ball and Jacob Ford last season. Combine that with the portential they see in William Hayes, and they seem pretty set. The question then becomes how well those depth guys would play in expanded roles.