Titans fans, what are your questions about the Raiders?

Written by Andrew Strickert on .

It's that time of year again, and as we've been doing for five years on Total Titans, we'll invite a writer from the other side to participate with us in a question and answer exchange.
 
This week, we've invited Patrick Patterson, the founder and head honcho of Thoughts from the Dark Side, the Oakland Raiders site here on Bloguin. I've known Patrick since 2005, when we were both with the old Most Valuable Network, MVN.com.
 
Titans fans, what questions do you have for Patrick about the Raiders and this week's game? Please leave them in the comments below and I'll send the best ones to him tomorrow evening.

Scanning the cut lists: Five players who could help the Titans

Written by Drexel Perry on .

Yesterday marked the announcement of the Tennessee Titans' 53-man roster.

Of course, the roster could be anything but set in stone, due to the slew of available players who were jettisoned by their former ballclubs on Saturday.

I'm no Mike Reinfeldt, but here's a short list of a few guys who, in my opinion, would make sense if the Titans are interested in potentially turning another team's trash into their own treasures.

Cutdown day open thread

Written by Tom Gower on .

It's cutdown day in the NFL, as teams have until this afternoon to cut the roster down from 75 to 53 players.  For our thoughts on who those might be, see Andrew's post yesterday, including my comments.  While the Titans won't officially announce their cuts until this afternoon, Jim Wyatt is reporting they've released RB Alvin Pearman, DT Joe Joseph, and TE Steve Pfahler.

I'll be updating this post with additional cuts as they're reported, and we'll have a breakdown of the 53-man roster at Total Titans after we know what it is.

PAST UPDATES: S Myron Rolle bound for practice squad if he clears waivers. OT Michael Toudouze cut.  DE Eric Bakhtiari cut. (12:02 PM CT).  QB Chris Simms, CB Tye Hill cut.  So much for my Hill roster spot prediction.  I really hope that doesn't come back to bite the team in the butt. (12:09 PM CT).  DE Chris Harrington cut. (12:21 PM). WR Paul Williams, OG Nevin McCaskill cut. (12:30 PM).  G Nick Howell cut. (12:44 PM).  DT David Howard cut. (1:11 PM). OL Kevin Matthews cut, but Jim Wyatt thinks he's a practice squad candidate. (1:18 PM).  RB Samkon Gado cut.  I guess that means I'll be doing a post of Blount's runs this preseason. (1:33 PM).  DE Raheem Brock cut, as was LB Patrick Trahan. (1:46 PM).  WR Dominique Edison and RB(FB) Jed Collins cut. (1:52 PM).  OL Ryan Durand cut.  By my math, the Titans are now down to 53 players. (2:03 PM). Hmm, controversy!  My latest update was Jim Wyatt reporting Ryan Durand was the Titans' final cut, but Terry McCormick's list of cuts includes not Durand, but TE Sean Ryan. (2:17 PM).  Another indication Ryan has been cut.  I'm upgrading the possibility the Titans deliberately went down to 52 in preparation of adding somebody off waivers.  At least for now, I'm leaving Durand on the current roster and have removed Ryan. (2:24 PM).  Wyatt also reporting Ryan is cut, and the Tennessean article has Ryan cut and Durand not. (3:17 PM).

UPDATE (4:37 PM): So, it looks like Sean Ryan is the last cut and Ryan Durand makes it, at least tentatively.  I'd also put Stanford Keglar, Jamie Winborn, and Nick Schommer on the "don't get too moved in yet" list.  I won't update this post again unless there's another roster move on Saturday.

OFFENSE
QB: Kerry Collins, Rusty Smith, Vince Young
RB: LeGarrette Blount, Ahmard Hall, Chris Johnson, Javon Ringer
WR: Kenny Britt, Justin Gage, Lavelle Hawkins, Marc Mariani, Nate Washington, Damian Williams
TE: Jared Cook, Bo Scaife, Craig Stevens
OL: Eugene Amano, Ryan Durand, Leroy Harris, Troy Kropog, Mike Otto, Michael Roos, Jake Scott, David Stewart, Fernando Velasco

DEFENSE
DE: Jason Babin, David Ball, Jacob Ford, William Hayes, Derrick Morgan
DT: Tony Brown, Jovan Haye, Jason Jones, Sen'Derrick Marks
LB: Colin Allred, Rennie Curran, Stanford Keglar, Stephen Tulloch, Jamie Winborn, Will Witherspoon
CB: Cortland Finnegan, Jason McCourty, Ryan Mouton, Alterraun Verner
S: Vinny Fuller, Michael Griffin, Chris Hope, Robert Johnson, Donnie Nickey, Nick Schommer

SPECIAL TEAMS: LS Ken Amato, K Rob Bironas, P Brett Kern

EXEMPT: LB Gerald McRath (suspended), LB David Thornton (PUP)

Final Titans' 53-man roster prediction

Written by Andrew Strickert on .

Predicting the Titans' 53-man roster seems to be easier this year than it's ever been before. I have only one roster spot that I find tough to call, the other 52 pretty much appear to be no-brainers.
 
Will Samkon Gado or LeGarrette Blount be the third running back?
 
Last week, I asked that, and other questions in examining the 27 Titans competing for 15 roster spots. Those roster battles all seem to be settled now, save for the #3 RB. We'll look at that further, but now, here's my 53-man.

Titans 27 Saints 24: Thoughts and Observations

Written by Drexel Perry on .

The Tennessee Titans concluded their 2010 preseason schedule with a 27-24 victory over the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

Despite All-Pro Chris Johnson's absence, four Titan running backs combined to rush for an impressive 222 yards. Continuing their spirited battle for a roster spot, both Samkon Gado and LeGarrette Blount had solid games toting the pigskin, accumulating 63 and 59 yards respectively.

The outcome of the contest was sealed with Gerald McRath's interception of a Chase Daniel pass with little time remaining.

Up next, some thoughts and observations regarding tonight's Titans' preseason-ender.

Titans-Saints preseason game will be a non-game for the Saints

Written by Andrew Strickert on .

Last week, the Saints played their starters into the third quarter, so that was their 'dress rehearsal' game. Coupled with the fact the Saints kick off the NFL regular season next Thursday night, it makes sense they won't play their starters much, if at all, tonight.
 
I touched base the other day with Andrew Juge of Saints Nation, Bloguin's New Orleans Saints site, to ask a few questions about tonight's game. I was hoping Drew Brees would play at least a little and give the Titans secondary a good test, or as much as you could expect in preseason, but Andrew (great name) said it wouldn't happen.

Some thoughts on blitzing

Written by Tom Gower on .

The Tennessee Titans have not really been what you could call a blitzing team.  In 2009, they brought only 4 rushers 79.9% of the time, tops in the league. Surprisingly, that league-leading total was actually less than they rushed 4 in 2008, and the number of times they brought either 3 or 4 rushers fell from 83.3% to only 80.8%, or pretty much the same as the combined 80.7% they rushed 3 or 4 in 2007.  With the Colts actually blitzing some in 2009, the Titans finally inherited the mantle as the league's most blitz-averse team.

The continuity in blitzing in 2009 may have been a bit of a mild surprise, as Chuck Cecil replaced Jim Schwartz as defensive coordinator.  Cecil during his career as known as an aggressive player, and Fisher's Titans formerly (and nearly once again) employed the famously blitz-friendly Gregg Williams, whose Saints defense rushed 5 or more 47.3% of the time last year.  Against the Cardinals, the Titans frequently brought more than 4 rushers, often with good results.  That tendency to rush more than the basic 4 continues against Carolina, though with less impressive results.  We'll have to see what the regular season brings, but in the interim, I thought I'd write a little more about blitzing.