The Titans' running game has been much less efficient than it was in 2009.  Chris Johnson has had fewer yards on more carries than he had through seven games last year, and his success rate has fallen 45% to 37%, which currently puts him 36th among the 39th backs with the most carries.  The big question is why, and one of the explanations that's been proposed is Eugene Amano's shift from left guard over to center, replacing Kevin Mawae, and Leroy Harris's insertion into the lineup at left guard.

The lineup change has produced two related complaints:
1. The Titans' run game is worse because they're less effective running up the middle behind Harris and Amano than they were last year behind Amano and Mawae; and
2.  The Titans are trying to run up the middle too much.

The problem is, neither of those statements is quite true.  I'll tackle them in reverse order:

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Thanks to Ross Warner of the Chargers blog Justice Is Coming for participating again in a Q&A session.  Thanks to dedkriti and TREN507 for suggesting questions, which I incorporated into my questions for Ross. (Sorry, Andrew, I'd already sent him the email by the time you commented.) Questions and answers follow beyond the jump.