Total Titans answers questions from Texans bloggers
Thanks again to Matt and bfd of the Texans blog DGDB&D for participating in this week's Q&A exchange. For their responses to my questions, check out yesterday's post. For my answers to their questions about the Titans, see below.
1. Is it true that Albert Haynesworth feasts on a strict diet of puppies and kittens? And happens with him at the end of the year?
I have no idea of Haynesworth's gustatory habits, but haven't seen anything reported about him consuming puppies and kittens. I have, however, previously expressed delight about the inclusion of kittens in vegetable soup. Never tried it, though-I can't imagine kittens have enough meat on them to make it worthwhile.
It's not one of my most popular positions among Titans fans, but I think Haynesworth is totally gone after this year. Unless he gets hurt between now and the start of free agency, this is his one great chance to really cash in. The only way I can see him re-signing with the Titans before the start of the UFA period is if the Titans really blow him away with an offer, and they haven't given anybody that kind of contract since Moon, and Adams hasn't hugely paid for players outside of league wars (Moon during the USFL era, Ditka and Cannon during the AFL-NFL battles). And, if Haynesworth makes it to unrestricted free agency, I see somebody offering him a completely insane amount of money, and that somebody not being the Titans.
2. If VY were healthy, not depressed, and starting every week, would the Titans be better, worse, or the same?
Well, if VY were healthy, not depressed, and starting, it would be because he'd be a better quarterback than he showed last year and the first game of this year before he got injury/etc. In that case, the Titans might have a more explosive passing attack-VY has shown, in the Giants game his rookie year and the second Jaguars game last year, that he's capable of looking relatively fluid in a spread pass-oriented attack. I'm not sure that would look quite the same way now, with Heimerdinger replacing Chow as offensive coordinator (the most under-reported story of the Titans' success this year), but I could see that happening in some alternate universe.
That's the optimistic view. I'd imagine you're looking for the pessimistic view, that the reason VY looked so bad last year, visibly working to make decisions, is because he wasn't able to adapt quickly to making the reads demanded of an NFL quarterback, and that with Chow trying to make him more comfortable. THAT VY, if he were still quarterback, would be making too many bad decisions that lead to turnovers. The Titans have a good enough running game and a strong enough defense they'd still have a winning record, but I'm thinking more like 9-4 instead of 12-1. Worse, but not a great deal worse.
3. We've seen teams that are built around a stifling defense do well in the playoffs in recent years (TB, Baltimore), so that seems to bode well for the Titans chances, doesn't it? At the same time, do you worry that eventually Kerry Collins will have to win a game on his own (rather than just not lose it)? Are you already making plans to head to Tampa?
I'm more confident about Collins now that I was earlier in the year. I'm guessing you missed the Chicago game-the Bears really stacked the box and pretty much shut down the passing game, so Collins sat back and threw the ball all day consisently enough to put twenty-one on the board in some mediocre weather. ("Bear Weather," whatever. Stupid local fans.) The bigger problem is the guys he's throwing to. When Kris Jenkins was blowing up the Titans' line in the loss, Collins kept trying to throw the ball to his receivers, and the receivers kept dropping the ball. Justin McCareins is starting at wideout, and it's certainly not because he's particularly good at (i) getting open or (ii) catching the ball, which is what some of the primary responsibilities for a wideout are in the universe I tend to think of myself as inhabiting. Bo Scaife has been pretty good this year, much better than I thought he'd be, but he's still not a Gates/Gonzalez type of guy you can structure your passing game around.
4. Is Vince Young still with this team next year? On a related note, if you could go back and do the 2006 draft over, knowing what you know now, would you still want them to take Young?
I can't see any possible way VY is not with the Titans next year, if only for cap reasons. Because 2010 is shaping up to be an uncapped year, any acceleration event (trade or cut) would all hit in 2009 instead of hitting in 2009 and 2010, meaning the cap hit would be in the neighborhood of $9 million. That's an awful lot of cap space they'd have to be ok with wasting. He's also the only quarterback the Titans currently have under contract for next year (Collins and #3 QB Chris Simms are both scheduled to be UFAs, though they are apparently interesting in keeping Simms around). As to whether or not he's going to be the starter, I hope he's working hard to learn the offense and working on reading defenses so that he will be a successful starter.
As to the 2006 draft, I don't think it's going out on too much of a limb to declare that so far Jay Cutler looks like the best quarterback of the 2006 draft class. I never thought that Cutler had a realistic shot to be the #3 pick in the draft, and I have a tough time seeing anybody give up the Titans enough to get the #3 pick. Knowing what I know now, though, and keeping in mind former Titan GM Floyd Reese's dictum that "If there's a guy who's a franchise quarterback available in the draft, and you don't have a franchise quarterback on your team, you have to draft him," sure, I'll take Cutler.
5. Michael Roos has come out of nowhere (at least to non-Titans fans) and established himself as a top-flight OT. Has his development been as shocking to Titans fans or has he shown this kind of promise from day 1?
I've been raving about Roos since 2006 (see here), and wrote a fairly extensive breakdown about how he did against Mario Williams. I don't claim to have a great grasp on how other Titans fans think, and most fans show greater appreciation for drive-blocking in the run game than for his style of smoothly efficient pass blocking, but he's looked pretty danged good to me since he started at left tackle Week 1 of 2006 after spending 2005 at right tackle. I thought he'd end up like Brad Hopkins-pretty good for a dozen years, but not that well appreciated around the rest of the league (partly because he came in around the same time as a bunch of historically great LTs). Seeing Roos get the kind of league-wide recognition I think he deserves has been one of the most satisfying parts of the Titans' success this year.
1. Is it true that Albert Haynesworth feasts on a strict diet of puppies and kittens? And happens with him at the end of the year?
I have no idea of Haynesworth's gustatory habits, but haven't seen anything reported about him consuming puppies and kittens. I have, however, previously expressed delight about the inclusion of kittens in vegetable soup. Never tried it, though-I can't imagine kittens have enough meat on them to make it worthwhile.
It's not one of my most popular positions among Titans fans, but I think Haynesworth is totally gone after this year. Unless he gets hurt between now and the start of free agency, this is his one great chance to really cash in. The only way I can see him re-signing with the Titans before the start of the UFA period is if the Titans really blow him away with an offer, and they haven't given anybody that kind of contract since Moon, and Adams hasn't hugely paid for players outside of league wars (Moon during the USFL era, Ditka and Cannon during the AFL-NFL battles). And, if Haynesworth makes it to unrestricted free agency, I see somebody offering him a completely insane amount of money, and that somebody not being the Titans.
2. If VY were healthy, not depressed, and starting every week, would the Titans be better, worse, or the same?
Well, if VY were healthy, not depressed, and starting, it would be because he'd be a better quarterback than he showed last year and the first game of this year before he got injury/etc. In that case, the Titans might have a more explosive passing attack-VY has shown, in the Giants game his rookie year and the second Jaguars game last year, that he's capable of looking relatively fluid in a spread pass-oriented attack. I'm not sure that would look quite the same way now, with Heimerdinger replacing Chow as offensive coordinator (the most under-reported story of the Titans' success this year), but I could see that happening in some alternate universe.
That's the optimistic view. I'd imagine you're looking for the pessimistic view, that the reason VY looked so bad last year, visibly working to make decisions, is because he wasn't able to adapt quickly to making the reads demanded of an NFL quarterback, and that with Chow trying to make him more comfortable. THAT VY, if he were still quarterback, would be making too many bad decisions that lead to turnovers. The Titans have a good enough running game and a strong enough defense they'd still have a winning record, but I'm thinking more like 9-4 instead of 12-1. Worse, but not a great deal worse.
3. We've seen teams that are built around a stifling defense do well in the playoffs in recent years (TB, Baltimore), so that seems to bode well for the Titans chances, doesn't it? At the same time, do you worry that eventually Kerry Collins will have to win a game on his own (rather than just not lose it)? Are you already making plans to head to Tampa?
I'm more confident about Collins now that I was earlier in the year. I'm guessing you missed the Chicago game-the Bears really stacked the box and pretty much shut down the passing game, so Collins sat back and threw the ball all day consisently enough to put twenty-one on the board in some mediocre weather. ("Bear Weather," whatever. Stupid local fans.) The bigger problem is the guys he's throwing to. When Kris Jenkins was blowing up the Titans' line in the loss, Collins kept trying to throw the ball to his receivers, and the receivers kept dropping the ball. Justin McCareins is starting at wideout, and it's certainly not because he's particularly good at (i) getting open or (ii) catching the ball, which is what some of the primary responsibilities for a wideout are in the universe I tend to think of myself as inhabiting. Bo Scaife has been pretty good this year, much better than I thought he'd be, but he's still not a Gates/Gonzalez type of guy you can structure your passing game around.
4. Is Vince Young still with this team next year? On a related note, if you could go back and do the 2006 draft over, knowing what you know now, would you still want them to take Young?
I can't see any possible way VY is not with the Titans next year, if only for cap reasons. Because 2010 is shaping up to be an uncapped year, any acceleration event (trade or cut) would all hit in 2009 instead of hitting in 2009 and 2010, meaning the cap hit would be in the neighborhood of $9 million. That's an awful lot of cap space they'd have to be ok with wasting. He's also the only quarterback the Titans currently have under contract for next year (Collins and #3 QB Chris Simms are both scheduled to be UFAs, though they are apparently interesting in keeping Simms around). As to whether or not he's going to be the starter, I hope he's working hard to learn the offense and working on reading defenses so that he will be a successful starter.
As to the 2006 draft, I don't think it's going out on too much of a limb to declare that so far Jay Cutler looks like the best quarterback of the 2006 draft class. I never thought that Cutler had a realistic shot to be the #3 pick in the draft, and I have a tough time seeing anybody give up the Titans enough to get the #3 pick. Knowing what I know now, though, and keeping in mind former Titan GM Floyd Reese's dictum that "If there's a guy who's a franchise quarterback available in the draft, and you don't have a franchise quarterback on your team, you have to draft him," sure, I'll take Cutler.
5. Michael Roos has come out of nowhere (at least to non-Titans fans) and established himself as a top-flight OT. Has his development been as shocking to Titans fans or has he shown this kind of promise from day 1?
I've been raving about Roos since 2006 (see here), and wrote a fairly extensive breakdown about how he did against Mario Williams. I don't claim to have a great grasp on how other Titans fans think, and most fans show greater appreciation for drive-blocking in the run game than for his style of smoothly efficient pass blocking, but he's looked pretty danged good to me since he started at left tackle Week 1 of 2006 after spending 2005 at right tackle. I thought he'd end up like Brad Hopkins-pretty good for a dozen years, but not that well appreciated around the rest of the league (partly because he came in around the same time as a bunch of historically great LTs). Seeing Roos get the kind of league-wide recognition I think he deserves has been one of the most satisfying parts of the Titans' success this year.
