TitansGiantsBears
09-13-2010, 12:33 PM
Let me begin by saying that almost as pretty as the win is the fact that this is the first REGULAR SEASON installment of the GBU! No more meaningless preseason games! :thumbsup
Any win is a great one whether you blow a team out like we did the Raiders yesterday or you squeak by at the last minute. It's a W in the win column either way, but with Fisherball the norm, Titans fans aren't treated to as many of the blowout variety as we'd like. Since it's the first week of the season let's overlook the fact we played a team that looked like they were coming out of the first week of training camp. I honestly don't think the Titans dictated the game as much as the Raiders just gave it away with their own ineptness and miscues. I'll take it though. The Titans' schedule is tied with the Texans for the toughest in the league this season. The good news is that though the Raiders just flat-out sucked yesterday the Titans mostly didn't play down to their level.
The Good
Let's start with Vince Young. Vince had one of his best games as a pro yesterday, perhaps his best. I'm very excited for him. He seems to be seeing the field so much better now as evidenced by his hefty 9.1 yards per attempt average for the game. He's finally seeing beyond his checkdowns. That's very good news indeed. He was 13 of 17 for 154 yards and two TD's. He added 30 yards rushing on 7 attempts. Two passes demonstrated his development more than the rest. The first was a throwaway sometime in the third quarter. A couple of years ago or so, Vince would have tried to force that ball. instead, he threw it away and lived to play another down. The second was on the TD pass to Washington. Like some of his preseason throws to Craig Stevens, this pass showed more touch than Vince has shown in past seasons. Granted he didn't face much pressure from the Raiders, but he worked very well in the pocket and delivered the ball accuarately. He showed good awareness and seems to understand better when to run now. I'll overlook the "phantom block" on CJ's reverse field run and leave it to his teammates to give needle him relentlessly on that one. :D
It seems I often single Nate Washington out for poor play. Never let it be said I won't give credit where it is due. He played a great game yesterday. He seems to have developed a rapport with Vince. Better yet, he's hanging onto the ball.
Sure Javon Ringer had only a handful of carries, but he made them count. He showed excellent vision on his TD run. The backup RB situation still scares me somewhat though, but it was good seeing the position achieve some success.
Though Vince didn't always check down to his TE or RB, both Scaife and Stevens presented themselves as good options for Vince. This offense is never going to abandon the TE position, but it's good seeing some balance between the TE and WR's in the offense. More on this later.
The defense played like gangbusters at times yesterday. They swarmed all afternoon. Now some of this can be attributed to the Raiders being woeful on the offensive line. They may be the biggest line in the NFL but they simply cannot handle speed. Still you have to give the Titans credit for getting off the ball so quickly. There were several times I held my breath waiting for a penalty flag to come out because the D-line got off the ball so quickly right at the snap. For awhile it seemed the Titans defense was going to play the entire game in the Raiders' backfield. Four seemed to be the magic number. The Titans had four sackes, four QB hits, four tackles for loss, and knocked down four Jason Campbell passes. The Raiders managed only 3 of 14 on third down and 0 of 2 on fourth down. The Titans also forced 4 three-and-outs yesterday (another 4) and ended two other drives with turnovers before the Raiders got a first down on the drive.
The man of the hour on defense was probably Will Witherspoon. As we know he lost his mother this past week. He unleashed that emotion on the Raiders. Even when he didn't make the play himself he was in the mix. He showed a very good nose for the football. Spoon had 6 tackles, a sack, a tackle for a loss and knocked the QB down another time.
Griffin also posted a monster game. He ended up with 12 tackles. Often when a safety posts those kind of numbers it's because he's given up a big play and has to make the tackle. That wasn't the case yesterday. He was simply everywhere the football happened to be. 10 of his tackles were solo. He was credited with a pass defensed and a fumble recovery. He would have had a TD on the fumble recovery but it was ruled that contact was made during the recovery. The call was correct but didn't take away from his game.
Hope chipped in with an INT himself to represent the safeties well.
Perhaps yesterday was good for Cortland Finnegan as well. He was torched early and often in the last preseason game. The Raiders didn't target the WR's very often because, frankly, they didn't have time. Hopefully Finnegan will benefit from the playing time at game speed and use it to get back into the groove of things. That said, he made some fine open field tackles. Of course, he's always been a beast of a tackler.
It seemed the entire defensive line played well. Babin and Morgan look like great additions. Jason Jones had dominant moments. Ford, Haye, Brown, and Ball were solid as well. It seemed every one of them made at least one big play.
For those who've read my GBU for the last several years, this may be a first. You may want to sit down for it. Seated? Good, because you're going to need it. Just don't flop over backwards in your chair. The special teams coverage was excellent! Yes, you read that right! I can't believe my fingers just typed it, but it's true. The additions of Patrick Bailey and Tim Shaw made a world of difference! Both had at least one big tackle in coverage, with Shaw posting two. But they weren't the only ones. Verner played like he was pissed he wasn't starting at corner and ST captain Donnie Nickey had a big stop too. And it wasn't like the Raiders are an inept on special teams. Yamon Figurs is a beast in the return game. The Titans limited him to a 21 yard average on kick returns with a long of just 25 and single 10 yard punt return.
Kern was simply amazing yesterday. The Raiders' Shane Lechler is generally considered the best punter in the league - and with good reason, but Kern had a better day yesterday despite averaging nearly 5 yards per punt less. Kern averaged 50 yards per punt to Lechler's 54.8 but Kern dropped 2 kicks inside the 20, one of those a 37 yarder that simply dropped out of the sky (thank you Craig Hentrich) and pinned the Raiders deep. Lechler often has a statistical advantage of being pinned deep so he can just boom it and add to his average. Kern is "saddled" with having to place his punts.
The Bad
It may seem silly to post a bad and an ugly after such a win, but even in the best of wins there is always room for improvement.
While the Titans didn't play down to their competition like they sometimes do when they play bad teams, they seemed hell-bent on trying to match the Raiders for penalty flags. The Titans were flagged 8 times for 81 yards. Half of those penalties directly resulted in first downs for the Raiders. That doesn't include offensive drive killing penalties. The Titans simply cannot afford the parade of flags against more competitive, better-coached teams.
Marc Mariani was great in the preseason, but he did little to impress yesterday. He often looked like a rookie who made the squad making plays against guys no longer in the league. Let's hope that doesn't hold true. That said, he came darn close to breaking one if not for a shoe-string tackle so I hold out hope. At least he can catch the ball which is better than we had last year.
It may say strange to include the runninng game in the "bad" category when CJ torched the Raiders for a buck forty-two and two TDs and the team posted 205 total yards rushing, but CJ continued to struggle with finding room to run. He started out slowly last year, but the Titans can't afford that this season. They will need meaningful production out of the running game if they hope to come out of the upcoming stretch of difficult games with a record that doesn't leave them looking up at the rest of the division.
Speaking of our running back situation, the backup situation worries me. I'm not sold on Ringer. He looks more like a good #3, but I'm not so sure if CJ went down that Javon could carry the running game. Given a full season, he looks like a 700 yard back. I simply can't see much more upside than that. He's a poor man's Donald Brown. Short yardage is also a concern. The Titans do not have a back on the roster suited for it. CJ failed to stick the ball in the endzone yesterday in short yardage and he wasn't particularly good at it last year either. In fact, he was among the worst in the league in short yardage situations last season. I just hope the RB situation doesn't become an albatross around the Titans' necks.
I mentioned earlier that I would address the WR position again. While it was great to see Washington and Vince on the same page yesterday and hooking up to make plays downfield, it's time for Gage to give way to one of the younger guys. He was on the field for most of the game yesterday and didn't record a single catch. He was targeted only once. He isn't getting open and it's a crapshoot whether or not he'll catch it when it's thrown to him. I can't believe the Titans don't have a better option between Britt, Hawkins, Williams, and Mariani. He is an excellent blocker but a major liability in the passing game.
As well as the defense played yesterday, they gave up 21 first downs. Most of those came after the game was in hand, but I'd like to see more of a killer spirt for the complete game.
The Ugly
McFadden put up 95 yards on just 18 carries against the Titans in a blowout losing cause. Most of those yards were right at the heart of the defense. He had seven runs of 7 yards or more with 5 of those going 10 yards or more. The Titans tackled him for a loss only twice. Jason Campbell got loose on a pair of 9 yard scrambles and a 16 yarder as well. You can't expect a defense to always hold the offense, but I worry when I see a line as inept as the Raiders manhandling the Titans up front in the run game. The middle of the defense also seemed soft in the passing game. Again, the main culprit was McFadden getting loose underneath. Hopefully both these will be corrected before the Steelers come to down or it's going to be a long day.
Any win is a great one whether you blow a team out like we did the Raiders yesterday or you squeak by at the last minute. It's a W in the win column either way, but with Fisherball the norm, Titans fans aren't treated to as many of the blowout variety as we'd like. Since it's the first week of the season let's overlook the fact we played a team that looked like they were coming out of the first week of training camp. I honestly don't think the Titans dictated the game as much as the Raiders just gave it away with their own ineptness and miscues. I'll take it though. The Titans' schedule is tied with the Texans for the toughest in the league this season. The good news is that though the Raiders just flat-out sucked yesterday the Titans mostly didn't play down to their level.
The Good
Let's start with Vince Young. Vince had one of his best games as a pro yesterday, perhaps his best. I'm very excited for him. He seems to be seeing the field so much better now as evidenced by his hefty 9.1 yards per attempt average for the game. He's finally seeing beyond his checkdowns. That's very good news indeed. He was 13 of 17 for 154 yards and two TD's. He added 30 yards rushing on 7 attempts. Two passes demonstrated his development more than the rest. The first was a throwaway sometime in the third quarter. A couple of years ago or so, Vince would have tried to force that ball. instead, he threw it away and lived to play another down. The second was on the TD pass to Washington. Like some of his preseason throws to Craig Stevens, this pass showed more touch than Vince has shown in past seasons. Granted he didn't face much pressure from the Raiders, but he worked very well in the pocket and delivered the ball accuarately. He showed good awareness and seems to understand better when to run now. I'll overlook the "phantom block" on CJ's reverse field run and leave it to his teammates to give needle him relentlessly on that one. :D
It seems I often single Nate Washington out for poor play. Never let it be said I won't give credit where it is due. He played a great game yesterday. He seems to have developed a rapport with Vince. Better yet, he's hanging onto the ball.
Sure Javon Ringer had only a handful of carries, but he made them count. He showed excellent vision on his TD run. The backup RB situation still scares me somewhat though, but it was good seeing the position achieve some success.
Though Vince didn't always check down to his TE or RB, both Scaife and Stevens presented themselves as good options for Vince. This offense is never going to abandon the TE position, but it's good seeing some balance between the TE and WR's in the offense. More on this later.
The defense played like gangbusters at times yesterday. They swarmed all afternoon. Now some of this can be attributed to the Raiders being woeful on the offensive line. They may be the biggest line in the NFL but they simply cannot handle speed. Still you have to give the Titans credit for getting off the ball so quickly. There were several times I held my breath waiting for a penalty flag to come out because the D-line got off the ball so quickly right at the snap. For awhile it seemed the Titans defense was going to play the entire game in the Raiders' backfield. Four seemed to be the magic number. The Titans had four sackes, four QB hits, four tackles for loss, and knocked down four Jason Campbell passes. The Raiders managed only 3 of 14 on third down and 0 of 2 on fourth down. The Titans also forced 4 three-and-outs yesterday (another 4) and ended two other drives with turnovers before the Raiders got a first down on the drive.
The man of the hour on defense was probably Will Witherspoon. As we know he lost his mother this past week. He unleashed that emotion on the Raiders. Even when he didn't make the play himself he was in the mix. He showed a very good nose for the football. Spoon had 6 tackles, a sack, a tackle for a loss and knocked the QB down another time.
Griffin also posted a monster game. He ended up with 12 tackles. Often when a safety posts those kind of numbers it's because he's given up a big play and has to make the tackle. That wasn't the case yesterday. He was simply everywhere the football happened to be. 10 of his tackles were solo. He was credited with a pass defensed and a fumble recovery. He would have had a TD on the fumble recovery but it was ruled that contact was made during the recovery. The call was correct but didn't take away from his game.
Hope chipped in with an INT himself to represent the safeties well.
Perhaps yesterday was good for Cortland Finnegan as well. He was torched early and often in the last preseason game. The Raiders didn't target the WR's very often because, frankly, they didn't have time. Hopefully Finnegan will benefit from the playing time at game speed and use it to get back into the groove of things. That said, he made some fine open field tackles. Of course, he's always been a beast of a tackler.
It seemed the entire defensive line played well. Babin and Morgan look like great additions. Jason Jones had dominant moments. Ford, Haye, Brown, and Ball were solid as well. It seemed every one of them made at least one big play.
For those who've read my GBU for the last several years, this may be a first. You may want to sit down for it. Seated? Good, because you're going to need it. Just don't flop over backwards in your chair. The special teams coverage was excellent! Yes, you read that right! I can't believe my fingers just typed it, but it's true. The additions of Patrick Bailey and Tim Shaw made a world of difference! Both had at least one big tackle in coverage, with Shaw posting two. But they weren't the only ones. Verner played like he was pissed he wasn't starting at corner and ST captain Donnie Nickey had a big stop too. And it wasn't like the Raiders are an inept on special teams. Yamon Figurs is a beast in the return game. The Titans limited him to a 21 yard average on kick returns with a long of just 25 and single 10 yard punt return.
Kern was simply amazing yesterday. The Raiders' Shane Lechler is generally considered the best punter in the league - and with good reason, but Kern had a better day yesterday despite averaging nearly 5 yards per punt less. Kern averaged 50 yards per punt to Lechler's 54.8 but Kern dropped 2 kicks inside the 20, one of those a 37 yarder that simply dropped out of the sky (thank you Craig Hentrich) and pinned the Raiders deep. Lechler often has a statistical advantage of being pinned deep so he can just boom it and add to his average. Kern is "saddled" with having to place his punts.
The Bad
It may seem silly to post a bad and an ugly after such a win, but even in the best of wins there is always room for improvement.
While the Titans didn't play down to their competition like they sometimes do when they play bad teams, they seemed hell-bent on trying to match the Raiders for penalty flags. The Titans were flagged 8 times for 81 yards. Half of those penalties directly resulted in first downs for the Raiders. That doesn't include offensive drive killing penalties. The Titans simply cannot afford the parade of flags against more competitive, better-coached teams.
Marc Mariani was great in the preseason, but he did little to impress yesterday. He often looked like a rookie who made the squad making plays against guys no longer in the league. Let's hope that doesn't hold true. That said, he came darn close to breaking one if not for a shoe-string tackle so I hold out hope. At least he can catch the ball which is better than we had last year.
It may say strange to include the runninng game in the "bad" category when CJ torched the Raiders for a buck forty-two and two TDs and the team posted 205 total yards rushing, but CJ continued to struggle with finding room to run. He started out slowly last year, but the Titans can't afford that this season. They will need meaningful production out of the running game if they hope to come out of the upcoming stretch of difficult games with a record that doesn't leave them looking up at the rest of the division.
Speaking of our running back situation, the backup situation worries me. I'm not sold on Ringer. He looks more like a good #3, but I'm not so sure if CJ went down that Javon could carry the running game. Given a full season, he looks like a 700 yard back. I simply can't see much more upside than that. He's a poor man's Donald Brown. Short yardage is also a concern. The Titans do not have a back on the roster suited for it. CJ failed to stick the ball in the endzone yesterday in short yardage and he wasn't particularly good at it last year either. In fact, he was among the worst in the league in short yardage situations last season. I just hope the RB situation doesn't become an albatross around the Titans' necks.
I mentioned earlier that I would address the WR position again. While it was great to see Washington and Vince on the same page yesterday and hooking up to make plays downfield, it's time for Gage to give way to one of the younger guys. He was on the field for most of the game yesterday and didn't record a single catch. He was targeted only once. He isn't getting open and it's a crapshoot whether or not he'll catch it when it's thrown to him. I can't believe the Titans don't have a better option between Britt, Hawkins, Williams, and Mariani. He is an excellent blocker but a major liability in the passing game.
As well as the defense played yesterday, they gave up 21 first downs. Most of those came after the game was in hand, but I'd like to see more of a killer spirt for the complete game.
The Ugly
McFadden put up 95 yards on just 18 carries against the Titans in a blowout losing cause. Most of those yards were right at the heart of the defense. He had seven runs of 7 yards or more with 5 of those going 10 yards or more. The Titans tackled him for a loss only twice. Jason Campbell got loose on a pair of 9 yard scrambles and a 16 yarder as well. You can't expect a defense to always hold the offense, but I worry when I see a line as inept as the Raiders manhandling the Titans up front in the run game. The middle of the defense also seemed soft in the passing game. Again, the main culprit was McFadden getting loose underneath. Hopefully both these will be corrected before the Steelers come to down or it's going to be a long day.