SB Nation User Blog: hartley

Congress passes bill to force college football playoffs.

hartley — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:00:17 -0000

Congress passes bill to force college football playoffs.

OK, well, techinically, it just prevents any game from being called the "national championship" unless it is played as the result of a playoff, technically the BCS could survive without a champion.

Still, even as someone who is not a BCS fan, I'm amazed that this is what our national legislators are working on this week,

Tennessee Titans Playoff Hopes Rooting Guide: Week 13 Edition

hartley — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:27:38 -0000

Current AFC Standings:
1. Indianapolis Colts (11-0)
2. Cincinnati Bengals (8-3)
3. San Diego Chargers (8-3)
4. New England Patriots (7-4)
5. Denver Broncos (7-4)
6. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-5)
7. Baltimore Ravens (6-5)
8. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5)
9. Miami Dolphins (5-6)
10. New York Jets (5-6)
11. Tennessee Titans (5-6)
1 2. Houston Texans (5-6)

Good news from last week: The Jags, Steelers, Dolphins, and Texans all lost, and we moved past the Texans for 11th place in the conference.

Bad news: The Jets and Broncos won.

This week's games, who to root for, and why, after the jump.

This week's Games:

NY Jets at Buffalo: Bills. We still feel guilty about Birdgate. That, and oh yeah, they can knock off the Jets for us, after the Panthers couldn't pull it off.

Detroit at Cincinnati: Meh. The Bengals currently have a 2-game lead on the division. As long as the Steelers and the Ravens lose, this game doesn't really matter. Why not root for Schwartz? Lions.

Tennessee at Indianapolis: Titans. Of course.

Houston at Jacksonville: Texans. This is one of the most important games of the week to our playoff chances. We currently have the same record as Houston, and are ahead of them in the standings based on tiebreakers. The Texans can pass us in the playoff hunt pretty much only if they win this week and we lose. If both Houston and Tennessee win, all 3 teams will have the same 6-6 record and will also be tied on the 1st tiebreaker. But we will win the 2nd tiebreaker, division record, and move ahead of both Houston and Jacksonville in the standings.

Denver at Kansas City: Chiefs. Come on, Chiefs! The Broncos need to lose at least 2, maybe 3, for us to pass them.

New England at Miami: Patriots. That was even harder to say then telling you to root for the Colts last week. But here's why you should root for the Evil Empire: The Patriots now have a pretty solid division lead, they're most likely not going anywhere - the Dolphins are the only team with a chance of taking it. But Miami lost last week, one more loss will put the Dolphins away. And it will let us move closer to the playoffs in the process.

Oakland at Pittsburgh: Raiders. Any given Sunday, right? Maybe the ferocity of our cheers will spur the Raiders to greater success, so root hard!

San Diego at Cleveland: Browns. San Diego would need to lose 1 more than Denver for us to pass San Diego. Since Denver has begun winning and we need to beat San Diego ourselves, might as well root for them both to lose.

Baltimore at Green Bay: Packers. Puts Baltimore in a tie with us, though they still will hold the tiebreaker. Plus, it's the Ravens. Rooting against them is only natural. Join me in drinking a nice, refreshing glass of Haterade.

Tennessee Titans Playoff Hopes Rooting Guide: Week 12 Edition

hartley — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:09:18 -0000

Current AFC Standings:
1. Colts (10-0)
2. Bengals (7-3)
3. Chargers (7-3)
4. Patriots (7-3)

5. Jaguars (6-4)
6. Steelers (6-4)
7. Broncos (6-4)
8. Ravens (5-5)
9. Texans (5-5)
10. Dolphins (5-5)
11. Jets (4-6)
12. Titans (4-6)

Look, we started off in a big hole by starting off the season 0-6. Even if the Titans win out, they ned some help if they want to have any chance of making the playoffs.

So here are the games this week with an impact on our playoff chances, with who we shoot be rooting for and why:

NY Giants @ Denver: Giants. The Broncos are now a game behind San Diego and don't play the Chargers again, and also have games against the Colts and Eagles left on the schedule. San Diego will take the division and we can pass the Broncos for the Wild Card.

Miami @ Buffalo: Bills. We feel bad that our owner flipped their fans off. If that doesn't do it for you, how about we're only a game behind Miami with a game left to play against them, and the Bills can help us play spoiler?

Carolina @ NY Jets: Panthers. The Jets are only ahead of us on tiebreakers. One more loss for them, and we pass them.

Cleveland @ Cincinnati: Bengals. All aboard the tiger train! We want the Bengals to take their first division title in quite some time. We've got enough problems fighting with the Steelers and Ravens to have to worry about 3 AFC North teams in the Wild Card hunt.

Indianapolis @ Houston: ::wincing:: Colts. While one more Colts win eliminates us from contention for the division title, I think it's safe to say that Peyton & co. aren't dropping 6 anyway. A win here and the Colts stay undefeated while the Texans drop to our level. They still have us on tiebreakers, but we can worry about that later.

Kansas City @ San Diego: Superchargers! We actually need them to lose one later this season (the one against us), so let them feast on what should be a cupcake game to expand their lead on their division.

Jacksonville @ San Francisco: 49ers. Of the 6-4 teams in the wild card hunt, the Jags have the best conference record. This one is probably going down to the wire, but any losses they can get certainly won't hurt.

Arizona @ Tennessee: Titans. Duh.

Pittsburgh @ Baltimore: Hope for a 0-0 tie. Failing that, root for Pittsburgh. That will put us closer to passing Baltimore. It might also necessitate rooting for Baltimore in these teams' December rematch, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

New England @ New Orleans: This one depends. If Miami lost on Sunday like we want them to, then let your hate fly and root for the Saints to crush the Patriots. If Miami won, then alas, we need the Patriots to win to keep their grip on the division.

Breaking News: David Givens Sues the Titans for $25 million

hartley — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:11:23 -0000

Nashville's Channel 5 just reported that David Givens is suing the Titans for $25 million.

The suit apparently alleges that the Titans knew about the problems with his knee before he blew it out; that preventative surgery would have fixed the problem; that the team did not inform him of the problem; and that the knee injury ended his career.

If true, this is major news.

[UPDATE from Jimmy]- Thanks to smash for the link.

Colts practicing Defensive formations with 5 Linemen in camp

hartley — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:59:11 -0000

Colts practicing Defensive formations with 5 Linemen in camp

I think their new DC is already game-planning against our running game. How about you?

Good news! Chris Brown is healthy!

hartley — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:28:24 -0000

No, really, that's what he says...

How many times can YOU read this article without snickering with quotes like this:

“He can provide a big back for us,” head coach Gary Kubiak said. “Steve’s a smaller guy. We need somebody who can do a little more pounding, red zone, short yardage, those types of things.

Pounding, short-yardage back? The official roster lists Brown as only 19 pounds heavier than Slaton, while also being 6 inches taller.

I'm sorry, I just saw this posted over at Music City Miracles and just had to share it.

Off topic: Famous Nashvillian dies.

hartley — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:02:10 -0000

This has nothing to do with football, but it does touch on Tennessee, and I'm sure we can all relate.

The absolutely fabulous Bettie Page died last night.

Yes, she was from Nashville, and even attended the same high school I did: Hume-Fogg.

Probably our most famous graduate.

It's a sad, sad day...

And in other news, I have to add a bunch of words in order to make the 75 word minimum.

Titans to Possibly Wear Oilers Throwback Uniform Next Season

hartley — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:24:39 -0000

I've been discussing this with some of the guys over on Battle Red Blog this week, and I thought I would mention it over here, since it hasn't been yet:

The Titans (read: Bud Adams) are considering wearing Oilers jerseys for one game next year.

http://www.titansradio.com/cgi-bin/blurb_view.cgi?blurb=news615800

I personally think it's a horrible idea, because I don't believe that any of that history belongs to this team, it belongs to the people of Houston.

But I understand that Bud Adams is a dick who likes ticking the people of Houston off. Actually, given that, I'm somewhat surprised he doesn't want to wear the Oilers jerseys against the Texans.

Instead, he wants to wear them against the "original" Titans - the New York Jets, who would also be wearing throwbacks in the same game.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Blackout uniform?

hartley — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:35:26 -0000

So I noticed that the Cards played in their black uniforms tonight.

Was that planned in advance, or was the "blackout" uniform a nod to the fact that major portions of the city are still without power?

Just curious; I don't live in Louisville, so I don't usually get word on things like what uniform the team is planning on wearing for any given game.'

This sentence is here because I need more words to post this question.

Vince Young Speaks, Says He's Okay

hartley — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:05:19 -0000

Vince Young Speaks, Says He's Okay

VY talks to media, tells them he was hurt by the boos but he's okay now and knows how to handle it should it happen again.