SB Nation User Blog: Jimmy

Titans @ Packers Open Thread Roll Call

Jimmy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:09:54 -0000

Thanks to everyone who participated in the open thread for last night's preseason game. I was not in attendance because I was in a sports bar trying to watch the Titans game and the Vandy game because of some writing I do for Vandy Mania. Here is the list of participants from last night's thread and the number of comments they made. I plan on putting this up after every thread this season.

Roll Call: zackmann, Hook em Titans, hartley, nvemvp23, theologic, TrenchantTitan, DannoE, ElectricScissors, Big Bad Bulluck, jayosanne, Pinoy Titan, white02slpss, BeansCarter, gramsey712
Total Users: 14
Total Posts: 169
Total Threads: 1

Name	# of Posts
Hook em Titans	50
hartley	45
TrenchantTitan	27
theologic	11
Pinoy Titan	11
ElectricScissors	9
nvemvp23	6
jayosanne	2
DannoE	2
Big Bad Bulluck	2
gramsey712	1
BeansCarter	1
white02slpss	1
zackmann	1

Again thanks to everyone.

Projecting the Tennessee Titans 53 Man Roster

Jimmy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:33:19 -0000

By the end of the day tomorrow the Titans will have to trim the roster to 53 players. Here is the way I see it:

Locks (41)

QB- Vince Young, Kerry Collins
RB- LenDale White, Chris Johnson, Ahmard Hall
WR- Justin Gage, Justin McCareins, Lavelle Hawkins
TE- Alge Crumpler, Bo Scaife, Craig Stevens
OL- Michael Roos, Jake Scott, Kevin Mawae, Eugene Amano, David Stewart, Daniel Loper, Leroy Harris
DL- Kyle Vanden Bosch, Albert Haynesworth, Tony Brown, Jevon Kearse, Jacob Ford, Mookie Johnson, Jason Jones, Williams Hayes
LB- Keith Bulluck, David Thornton, Ryan Fowler, Stephen Tulloch
DB- Cortland Finnegan, Nick Harper, Michael Griffin, Chris Hope, Vincent Fuller, Chris Carr, Eric King, Calvin Lowry
P- Craig Hentrich
K- Rob Bironas
LS- Ken Amato

Probable (10)

RB- Chris Henry, Casey Cramer
WR- Brandon Jones
TE- Dwayne Blakely
OL- Mike Otto
DL- Dave Ball
LB- Stanford Keglar, Colin Allred
DB- Donnie Nickey, Reynaldo Hill (as much as I hate it, Fisher loves guys with experience)

That leaves us with 2 spots. One of those spots might go to John Vaughn temporarily if the the Titans are satisfied with where Bironas is coming off the injury. Let's assume they have to temporarily keep Vaughn, that leaves one spot for Roydell Williams, Biren Ealy, Quinton Ganther, Sean Conover or Tuff Harris.

It doesn't really look like there are too many tough decisions to be made. Some people have called this one of the deepest teams that the Titans have had, but I really have trouble coming up with 53 guys that deserve to be on an NFL team.

Tennessee Titans 23 Green Bay Packers 21 Quick Recap

Jimmy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:23:50 -0000

I have an autistic friend whose name is T.J. When he doesn't really care about something he always says, "Uh probably maah." That is pretty much how I feel about tonight's game. Vince Young was better, but his line was still bad 13-27 for 134 yards. The one good thing I will say about VY from the preseason is that he is making good reads, and he doesn't seem to be hesitant to pull the ball down and run (3 carries for 57 yards in this one) like he was last season. The problem is he still throws a lot of balls that are off the mark. He is going to have to get better at putting the ball where it needs to be.

The receivers caught the ball tonight, which is always a bouns. VY and Justin McCareins had a nice 50 yard hook up early in the game that lead to a field goal. One of the goals in the offseason was to fix the red zone offense. Based on the preseason it doesn't seem to have been accomplished. The Titans had 5 drives in the red zone in this game and only 1 ended with a touchdown. That will not cut it in the regular season.

The defense played well tonight minus the first play of the game, Aaron Rodgers only play of the game, where he hooked up with Gregg Jennings for a 68 yard TD pass. The Packers ended the game with only 266 total net yards.

Thus ends the preseason. I am glad it is over, and we will have games that matter to talk about. 3-1 in the preseason means nothing, but it does feel better than going 1-3. August will have the game links in the morning. Time to get ready for the Jaguars.

Tennessee Titans @ Green Bay Packers Open Game Thread

Jimmy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:19:54 -0000

VS.

NUTS AND BOLTS

Date: August 28th, 2008
Time: 6:00 p.m. Central
Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI
Records (2007): Titans (10-6) Packers (13-3)
Weather: 74 degrees, 40% chance of rain, Wind SSW 6 mph
TV: Titans Preseason Network (WKRN in Nashville)
Radio: 103.3 WKDF
Falcons Coverage: Acme Packing Company and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Titans Gameday Central- Includes a list of all TV affiliates

This is the last tune-up before they count. If you haven't caught a preseason game yet, you should catch this one because the starters are expected to play into the 3rd quarter. Let's hope we see some progress tonight.

We had awesome participation in the game thread last week. Stop by tonight to join in the fun. There will be a short recap up at some point tonight and film review over the weekend.

GO TITANS!!

Adam Pacman Jones Will Be Reinstated for the Opener

Jimmy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:44:58 -0000

This comes as no surprise, but ESPN.com is reporting that Roger Goodell has informed the Dallas Cowboys that Adam Jones will be fully reinstated before week 1. He seems to have to be on his best behavior so far in Dallas, of course a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that someone is on him 24/7.

It will be interesting to see what he does. IF he stays out of trouble he will make plays. That is a very big "IF" though. I really couldn't care less what he does. The Titans had no other choice than to get rid of him.

[UPDATE]- According to PFT, Pacman was at Hooters when he got the news. I guess that is better than him being at a strip club.

"It feels good man, you know, to get a second chance and I just have to take advantage of it. First and foremost, I don’t want to let myself down, definitely my little girl down. I’m thankful for Jerry [Jones], the fans in Dallas and my teammates for believing in me. I need to keep doing what I’ve been doing to get reinstated staying with myself and my teammates and staying away from those knuckleheads and just stay focused.”

He apparently doesn't know how to count.

Tennessee Titans @ Green Bay Packers What 2 Watch 4

Jimmy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:23:30 -0000

This addition of What 2 Watch 4 is all about the offense. The defense has played well this preseason, even when missing some key parts, and will probably only see a series or two against the Packers first team.

There is never a must anything preseason game, but if there were, this would be it for the Titans' offense. Since the Packers will likely only play their #1 defense for the first quarter, it is very important that the Titans get in the end zone tonight. I don't care how vanilla the offense is that they are running, there is absolutely no excuse for not moving the ball up and down the field against another teams #2's.

This game is also important for the overall confidence of the offense. Mark Howard and Paul Kuharsky were saying that the body language of the offense has not been good in practice the last couple of weeks. Confidence is one of the most importance aspects of sports. A confident team can often play well above their ability level (i.e. the Colorado Rockies last season). If it takes making plays against some subs for the offense to get their confidence back, so be it.

Vince Young needs to have a successful night. His numbers would not have been terrible last week if not for the drops. He did make one really bad throw, but I think we will all be ok if he only makes one really bad throw a game (assuming that not all 16 of those end up as INTs).

We are still sitting here waiting for a receiver to step up. At this point I am not sure that is going to happen. There was some noise earlier in the week that Roydell Williams could be playing for his job this week. It would be nice to see him step up and make some plays tonight. Lavelle Hawkins probably won't play, which is disappointing because I would love to see him get the chance to develop some chemistry with VY. I think at this point the only receivers who are safe are Justin Gage, Justin McCareins, Lavelle Hawkins, and probably Brandon Jones. Keep an eye on Roydell, Paul Williams, Chris Davis and Biren Ealy tonight. They all need to do something tonight to earn a spot.

The offensive line needs to have a good game tonight as well. The Titans haven't had any problem moving the ball on the ground, but they have had some issues with the pass rush. It would be nice to see them have the dominating performance that they are capable of.

News Flash: Norm Chow Wanted Matt Leinart Instead of Vince Young

Jimmy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:03:34 -0000

Former Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow was on the Wake Up Zone on 104.5 this morning and had this to say about the 3rd pick in the 2006 NFL Draft:

"Everyone knew who I wanted and... the minute that they took Vince I told my wife, 'I think my days are numbered here.'"

Obviously Chow is talking about Leinart. So basically the Chow VY relationship was doomed from the beginning. What I can't figure out is did he say this because he didn't think VY would fit his system, or because he didn't think VY was good enough to play quarterback in the NFL. Either way it is a terrible attitude to have, and it goes a long way in explaining why he and VY never seemed to mesh.

You can say what you want about VY's progression so far, but Leinart has been worse. I know Leinart has had some injury issues, but even when he has been healthy he hasn't been any good, and keep in mind that he has not one but two receivers in Arizona that are 100 times better than anyone here.

Breaking Down the 2008 Schedule: Week 11 @ Jacksonville

Jimmy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:44:06 -0000

Jaguars	Stat*	Titans
149.4 (2nd)	Rush Offense	131.8 (5th)
208.0 (17th)	Pass Offense	179.9 (27th)
357.4 (7th)	Total Offense	311.7 (21st)
25.7 (6th)	Scoring	18.8 (22nd)
100.3 (11th)	Rush Defense	92.4 (5th)
213.5 (15th)	Pass Defense	199.2 (10th)
313.8 (12th)	Total Defense	291.6 (5th)
19.0 (10th)	Scoring Defense	18.6 (8th)
+9 (6th)	Turnover Ratio	0 (12th)

*All stats are 2007 regular season

I already broke down this match-up here, so I don't have a whole lot more to say about it. I don't see the Titans sweeping this match-up, and since I picked the Titans to win the week 1 game, in route to a 9-1 start, which prompted DGDB&D to accuse me of using meth, I will say the Titans lose this game to move the record to 9-2.

Poll

Who will win this game?

Tennessee Titans X-Factor: Chris Johnson

Jimmy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:16:57 -0000

Jeff Fisher's Tuesday Practice Report

Jimmy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:46:30 -0000

(On playing the starters the most in the fourth preseason game as opposed to the third)

I wouldn't necessarily refer to it as a dress rehearsal. What it is is you have to go through the experience of going through halftime. I think it's unfair to ask players, especially young players, to play in the first half or in the second half and not go through the halftime experience. It is unique. You're warmed up, you play, you're emotional. When you come in at halftime you go through adjustments and have to get yourself back ready to play and that's the primary reason for playing the first series of the third quarter.

(On why he now uses the fourth game instead of the third)

Well, the reason is pretty simple. Our opinion is if you play our starters a series, or not at all, then they've gone at least two weeks without playing. That's like a bye week without being used to what you're doing. We want them to build their reps. You're constantly emphasizing building reps and conditioning level through the end of the offseason program and all the way through camp and then you contradict yourself if you take all this time off between the preseason game and the opener.

(On if he's surprised that more teams don't adapt to that strategy)

I don't pay much attention to what everyone else is doing. It's just kind of the way we do things here. We feel like it's been successful for us.

(On if he feels the players can still get good work if the opposing team pulls their starters early)

Well let me ask you this. Did we have good work in the third quarter last week when they left their starters in and we subbed? So it's good work. Work is work. We don't discuss with other coaches what their plans are, we just stick to our philosophy.

(On what he wants out of the final preseason game)

I want to minimize mistakes. I want to eliminate the needless penalties that took place last week, those that didn't have anything to do with the play. I want to see some execution. I want to see some younger guys step up a little bit in different areas.

(On if moving Rafael Little to the Physically Unable to Perform lists enables the team to evaluate him later in the season)

Yes, that's exactly why we did it.

(On if Little has a chance to make the team)

Well, we have time. He had ACL repair after the season was over and obviously he's not ready now. He's way ahead of schedule, he's working very, very hard, he's strong. So we'll give him six more weeks to continue to rehab and then we'll have the luxury of having him on the practice field for 20 more days.

(On if he has determined how the carries will be divided up between LenDale White and Chris Johnson)

We're going to use them both depending on the game plans and it makes sense to take advantage of both of their abilities. I think we'll have a better gauge once we get to the middle part of the season how the carries and the touches are going to work. Provided they're healthy week in and week out I would assume it would be close to 50-50, maybe 60-40.

(On how Chris Carr performed today in practice after being out)

He's been running and he's been in good shape. He just wanted to get out and move around and I thought he did pretty well. He did some good things.

(On Roydell Williams so far this week)

Well, he's been practicing this week without a day off. He made some plays today so that's good. I think he expected to be a little further along than where he is right now but we have to keep going this week. Hopefully, he'll get in the ball game this week and make some plays for us.

(On if Roydell Williams is guaranteed a roster spot because of his experience)

I'm not going to go into prospective decisions that we're going to make later in the week. Whether he is or not is not fair.