Tennessee Titans - Houston Texans preview
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| Rusty Smith will get his first NFL start on Sunday. |
This game could be called the Misery Loves Company game. The Titans have lost three games in a row they should have won. Houston is in a four-game losing streak and has lost their last two games on touchdown passes in the final seconds.
The game will also mark the first career start for Titans rookie QB Rusty Smith. Normally, it's tremendously difficult for teams to win in that situation but Smith and the Titans have one thing in their favor which will make the task a little less difficult. The Texans have the worst pass defense in the league and Football Outsiders also ranks them last in total defense.
Also, it will help some that offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger will be on hand to call the plays.
Upon further review: the Titans' third down struggles
It's been sort of overlooked in all the hullabaloo related to the quarterback position, but the Washington Redskins entered this past Sunday's game with the worst third down conversion percentage of any team since the NFL started keeping track of the stat in 1991 or so, then converted 8 of their 16 third-down plays, including more in a single drive than they had in any single one of their previous couple games combined. So, I thought I'd take a look at all of those third down plays to see if there were any trends that could be gleaned.
As with every time I write about play breakdowns, the customary disclaimers: I'm doing this off television footage, not coaching tape. This means I won't see things that may be necessary to understand what happened. I don't know the actual playcall for either the Titans or Redskins-I can guess, and sometimes I can be fairly sure those guesses are pretty good, but I know I'm missing wrinkles. Much of the play in third downs and other key situations is based on a team's specific tendencies, which I do not know. I'll ascribe blame to players; when I do so, I'm reasonably confident I'm right, but that doesn't mean I am right. What you see in this are the dogs that barked, not the dogs that didn't bark.
Disclaimers made, on with the show.
As with every time I write about play breakdowns, the customary disclaimers: I'm doing this off television footage, not coaching tape. This means I won't see things that may be necessary to understand what happened. I don't know the actual playcall for either the Titans or Redskins-I can guess, and sometimes I can be fairly sure those guesses are pretty good, but I know I'm missing wrinkles. Much of the play in third downs and other key situations is based on a team's specific tendencies, which I do not know. I'll ascribe blame to players; when I do so, I'm reasonably confident I'm right, but that doesn't mean I am right. What you see in this are the dogs that barked, not the dogs that didn't bark.
Disclaimers made, on with the show.
Will Titans fans be stuck with both Fisher and Young?
| Can Vince Young and Jeff Fisher coexist? |
The fans in Tennessee seem to accept this and they fall pretty much into three categories:
- Those who support Fisher and believe Young should go.
- Those who support Young and think Fisher should leave.
- Those who would like to see both of them hit the door.
However, this is a situation that could have an entirely different outcome which won't satisfy any of the above fan groups.
Owner Bud Adams has decreed a truce, demanding they get along with each other. He may be the only one who wants both men to stay. More thoughts on this, after the jump.
Titans' OC Mike Heimerdinger is very ill
I was writing something about Jeff Fisher and Vince Young when I learned Titans' offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger has been diagnosed with cancer (Jim Wyatt tweet). He's reportedly starting chemotherapy immediately.Titans Radio's Jonathan Hutton said line coach Mike Munchak would take over the responsibility for the running game and QB coach Dowell Loggains will be in charge of the passing game. Loggains will also take over Dinger's play-calling duties.
It's quite a bump up for Loggains, who was the offensive quality control coach this spring. He was elevated to the position of QB coach after Craig Johnson took over as the RB coach following the departure of Kennedy Pola. For what it's worth, Loggains is supposedly highly thought of by Dinger.
Fight hard, Mike. You'll have plenty of people thinking about you and praying for you.
This sad news makes the Fisher-Young controversy seem less important for a while.
Titans-Texans question and answer exchange
Another week, another Q&A session with the author of a blog covering that week's opponent. This time, it's with Bloguin's fine new Houston Texans blog, Texans Tribune, and its writer, Mike Kerns, as the Titans finally get to the heart of their schedule and crunch time against divisional opponents.
Post your questions here, and I'll include them in my email to Mike.
Post your questions here, and I'll include them in my email to Mike.
Step right up, Rusty Smith
Thanks to a thumb injury (and the fallout surrounding it) Vince Young's season has ended prematurely. To make matters worse, Kerry Collins is also unavailable as he continues his recovery from a leg injury suffered against the Dolphins a couple of weeks ago.
With the two veteran signal-callers sidelined, the seemingly far-fetched opportunity for 2010 6th round draft choice Rusty Smith to get snaps as the Titans' #1 quarterback has presented itself.
Let's take a look at what we should expect from Rusty as he assumes the role of starting QB over the next few weeks.
Vince Young loses starting job, maybe more
| Vince Young in happier times. Photo by Andrew Strickert for Total Titans. |
Titans quarterback Vince Young injured the thumb on his throwing hand in yesterday's ugly loss to the Redskins. Vince was replaced in the third quarter by rookie sixth-round draft pick Rusty Smith.
Vince's postgame reaction was not one Titans' fans were happy about. Vince threw his shoulder pads and jersey into the stands, cursed Jeff Fisher, then quickly dressed and left the postgame team meeting against Fisher's orders.
"I'm not walking out on my teammates," said Young, "I'm walking out on you."
The biggest news came from Fisher in his postgame press conference.
When asked if [Vince] lost his job regardless of the injury, Fisher said, "Right now he has. There are some things that have to change."
Strong words from both. More after the jump.
