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Published: July 25, 2010
The Tennessee Titans in the 2009 season finished with an 8-8 record and missed the post season for the first time since 2006.
It was a season that saw the club lose its first 6 games to begin the season 0-6. Heading to the bye week the team’s 6 losses came in a 59-0 embarrassment at New England.
Following their bye the club rebounded with five straight wins and won three of their last 5 to finish at .500.
A close look at the Titans schedule last season reveals no wins against playoff bound teams. The Titans went 4-0 against the weak NFC West last season and caught a break as they hosted the Arizona Cardinals with starting quarterback Kurt Warner benched with a concussion.
The other four wins came against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.
The team relied heavily on running back Chris Johnson on offense who gained 2006 yards last season on 358 carries for a 5.6 yards per carry average. Johnson also led the club with 50 receptions last season.
Vince Young regained his confidence and took over the starting quarterback position in mid season. Young had just 10 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions. He had a weak receiving corps in 2009.
The team drafted wide out Damian Williams in the third round from USC.
Defensively the Titans ranked 28th in the league and 31st against the pass. It was a rough season for the Titans defense playing their first season since losing Albert Haynesworth.
The club lost some staples to their defense to free agency in defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch and linebacker Keith Bulluck.
The Odds:
Bodog sports book has set the 2010 Tennessee Titans season win total at 8 ½ wins with under favored at -120 odds with over returning odds of -110.
Tennessee Titans has been set b Bodog sportsbook at 28-1 to win Super Bowl XLV.
The team is 15-1 odds by Bodog to win the AFC Championship and +350 to win the AFC South division.
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2010 Tennessee Titans Regular Season Schedule:
As a competitor in the AFC South division the Titans will face home and away the Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Tennessee’s division will play against every team from the AFC West and NFC East this season.
The Titans opponents from the AFC West will be home games to the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos with road games at the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs.
Their NFC East games will be home against the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins with road games against the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
The team’s third place finish in the AFC South will match them up against the two other third place teams from the AFC so a home game to the Pittsburgh Steelers and a road trip to the Miami Dolphins.
Tennessee will play in two prime time games in 2010.
The club will host the Indianapolis Colts in a special edition Thursday night football game on NFL Network and will hit the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night football.
Tennessee closes the season with back to back road games as they play at Kansas City and at Indy.
They open the season with two straight home games as they host Oakland and Pittsburgh. They catch a break facing Pittsburgh early in the season during starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension.
Offense:
Vince Young has regained his starting position following spells of ineffectiveness and mental lapses in the early parts of his career. He completed 58.7% of his passes a season ago which is still below the minimum standards of the league. He had 10 passing touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Faced with an extremely easy schedule he led the team to an 8-2 record. The five year pro has a career completion mark of only 57.6% and has thrown 32 touchdowns and 39 interceptions. He is fortunate to have the leagues best running back supporting him in the run game. Young is a threat to run the ball with 281 yards on 55 carries with two touchdowns. He has been marred by leg problems in the past by relying too much on his legs.
Because of his inaccuracies in throwing the football it is very hard for the Titans to land top wide receivers in free agency. Why would a top flight #1 receiver want to play at Tennessee with a quarterback with a 57.6% mark who has thrown 7 more interceptions than touchdowns in 5 years? Sixteen year veteran Kerry Collins is still the backup in Tennessee.
Chris Johnson rushed for 2006 yards in 2009 on an extreme amount of carries totaling 358 for a 5.6 yards per carry average and 14 touchdowns. He was able to agree on a renegotiated contract with the team entering the 2010 season so there will be no holdout.
Johnson’s backups will be second year pro Javon Ringer from Michigan St and rookie undrafted back LeGarrette Blount from Oregon. Running back LenDale White was traded away to Seattle who then cut him. Ringer had only 8 carries for 48 yards last season with 7 of the carries coming in the teams 59-0 blowout loss to New England.
The Titans lack receiver talent so hold your nose. Tennessee will line up Nate Washington and Justin Gage as the #1 and #2 with Kenny Britt and Damien Williams the #3 and #4 option. The Titans drafted Damien Williams in the third round from USC to add some help to this bunch. Chris Johnson led the club with 50 receptions and wide out Nate Washington had just 47 catches and 6 touchdowns with a 12.1 yards per catch average. Bo Scaife returns has tight end and he contributed in 2009 with 45 catches and 1 touchdown with a 9.8 yards per reception average.
The Titans offensive line allowed just 15 sacks last season and were solid run blockers. The team lines up with Eugene Amano at center with Leroy Harris and Jake Scott at the guard positions. The tackles line up with Michael Roos and David Stewart. The backups are very young and came via the draft the past few seasons.
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Defense:
Tennessee is looking for much improvement from this side of the ball as they used up 4 of their first 5 picks on defense.
The Titans run a 4-3 defense that will feature Jovan Haye and Tony Brown the inside tackles with Williams Hayes and Derrick Morgan on the outside. Morgan is the teams first round pick out of Georgia Tech. The team is hoping that Hayes can produce more than the 4 sacks in 2009. Defensive end Jason Babin was signed in free agency from the Eagles to provide depth on the line.
At middle linebacker will be Stephen Tulloch and he will be flanked on the outside by the veteran Will Witherspoon and David Thornton. Witherspoon was signed in free agency from Philadelphia where the 9 year veteran produced 91 tackles and 1 sack. Rennie Curran was selected in the third round out of Georgia to help out this unit. Second year backup Gerald McRath produced 47 tackles in his rookie season.
The Titans secondary will look to improve on a second to last ranking in the NFL in 2009. They will line up with Jason McCourty and the veteran Cortland Finnegan at the corners with Chris Hope and Michael Griffin at the safety positions. Finnegan was struck by injuries early in the season but came on after the bye week as the club finished 8-2. For depth the club acquired cornerback Tye Hill free agent from Atlanta. The team made some moves in this area in the off season as they drafted cornerback Alerraun Verner from UCLA with their fourth round pick, safety Robert Johnson from Utah in the 5th round and Myron Rolle a safety in the 6th round out of Florida St.
And now to my Selection:
The question in 2010 is can Chris Johnson repeat the Herculean effort of 2006 yards rushing on 358 carries with a 5.6 yards per carry average last season. Its very rare to see running backs in the NFL to produce like this in back to back seasons.
There are still plenty of question marks about Vince Young’s throwing ability and his passing figures were not very good a season ago. His combined figures last season against 2 playoff teams starting first string quarterbacks Young hit on just 50% of his passes for 330 yards 2 touchdowns and three interceptions with both games resulting in losses. A bad sign was his performance on Christmas with the Chargers traveling on short rest from the west coast for a Thursday night game and Young produce a very poor 8 of 21 passing performance for 89 yards with 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. That loss eliminated the Titans from the playoffs.
There has been a lot of changes to the clubs defense and lost leadership in pass rusher Kyle Vanden Bosch and linebacker Keith Bulluck. The linebacker was instrumental in the teams defensive turnaround following some lean seasons in the middle of the decade. Tennessee wont get to 9 wins this season.
Selection: Play Under 8 ½ wins in 2010 Regular Season.
