Titans-Chargers inactives, gameday thread

Written by Tom Gower on .

The inactives are out for today's game between the Tennessee Titans and the San Diego Chargers, and here they are. For the Titans:

S Al Afalava, G Deuce Lutui, DT Sen'Derrick Marks, LB Colin McCarthy, OT Mike Otto, RB Javon Ringer, QB Rusty Smith

Nate Washington is playing after being listed as questionable during the week with the leg contusion. After he didn't pracitce this week, I expected him to sit, so that's a pleasant surprise. Kenny Britt, who was also listed as questionable, makes his season debut. Sen'Derrick Marks, questionable, will miss the game with his knee injury. Jake Locker was listed as questionable with his shoulder injury and will play, not that I ever doubted that.

For the Chargers,

OT Jared Gaither, NT Antonio Garay, TE Antonio Gates, RB Ryan Mathews, ILB Jonas Mouton, S Brandon Taylor, CB Shareece Wright

Gates and Mathews being out is big news. Both were listed as questionable, and both of them being out gives the Titans a chance. Garay was listed as probable with an ankle injury and I expected him to play after returning to practice this week. He's not great, but it's still a loss. Gaither was listed as out on the injury report, so Kam Wimbley will indeed be going up against a rookie UDFA at left tackle.

Feel free to use this post to comment during today's game. I'll mostly be chiming in on Twitter.

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Justice Is Coming answers questions from Total Titans

Written by Andrew Strickert on .

Many thanks to Ross Warner, who blogs about the San Diego Chargers and his favorite music on Justice Is Coming, for taking the time to answer our questions about the Chargers and this week's matchup.

Total Titans: One of our readers, Duane, asks, "I'm curious if Ross has an opinion on whether the chargers will try and force Locker to stay in the pocket and to complete passes outside the hashmarks? If so, how would they try and set their defense to do so?"

Ross Warner: John Pagano's defense is still unclear to fans (and writers) from one week. Last week looked a lot like the "bend but don't break" defense of 2007. But that squad, coached by the much-maligned Ted Cottrell, did force turnovers. They appeared to be focused on keeping the Raiders in front of them, even though their most dangerous receivers appeared to be on the sideline. They did bring some heat on Carson Palmer late.
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Enemy Intelligence: San Diego Chargers

Written by Tom Gower on .

Now that the Titans' opponent has played a regular season game this year, it's time for the return of Enemy Intelligence, where I watch prior action of the next opponent and highlight some things I think are important. The Titans play their first road game of the season this week in San Diego against the Chargers in the Bolts' home opener. The Chargers are coming off a season-opening 22-14 victory in O.co Coliseum against the Oakland Raiders.

I spent a fair few hours this offseason watching this 2011 Chargers, because I wrote about them for Football Outsiders Almanac 2012, so this writeup will be based on what I saw last year and what I saw from the Raiders game.

 

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Titans fans, ask a Chargers blogger your questions

Written by Andrew Strickert on .

 

Total Titans begins another season of question and answer exchanges with someone who blogs about the opposing team of the week.  We're fortunate that Chargers blogger Ross Warner of Justice is Coming has agreed to join us for this week's exchange.
 
If you have a question or two for Ross about the Chargers or his outlook on this game, please leave them in the comments section.  I'll forward the best to Ross and then post his answers here in a day or two.
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UFR: Chris Johnson's runs against the Patriots

Written by Tom Gower on .

The NFL's Game Rewind service this year includes for the first time all-22 overhead and end zome camera angle shots for every play. These angles are great for seeing things like where the safeties line up and what the receivers who aren't thrown the ball are doing on a particular play (and what receivers who are thrown the ball are doing before the ball arrives). I also find it very valuable for running plays, as TV's standard low angle shot makes it hard to see what holes are and are not really there. I hope to use it to bring you as many posts as I can about what really happened the prior week.

One of the big storylines out of last week's game was Chris Johnson's 11 carries for only 4 yards. He was reportedly hit at or behind the line of scrimmage eight times and failed to gain more than 5 yards on any play. Naturally the offensive line is getting a lot of blame. Frequently, it really is the offensive line's fault when that kind of thing happens.

Then again, I found the offensive line bore relatively little blame for Johnson's also dismal performance against the Texans at home last year. In that context, I thought it was using all-22 to look at Sunday's game and see how much of the blame rests on Chris Johnson and how much on the offensive line.

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Tennessee Titans sign OG Deuce Lutui

Written by Tom Gower on .

The Tennessee Titans today reportedly signed guard Deuce Lutui to a one-year deal. Lutui worked out for the Titans last week but the Titans waited until after Week 1 to sign them, likely because they can now cut him with no further obligation to pay his salary.

A second-round pick out of USC in 2006, Lutui spent the first six seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, starting all 63 games he played in from 2007-10. He lost his starting job to Rex Hadnot last year, though. His old college coach Pete Carroll signed him in Seattle this offseason and he played against the Titans during the preseason, but did not make the team. Listed on his NFL.com player page at 6'4, 338 pounds, Lutui has struggled with his weight throughout his career and generally not played particularly well. If he's playing much, the Titans are probably in trouble unless he's made heretofore unobserved dramatic improvements.

In the past, including last season, the Titans have kept two backup interior offensive linemen and two backup tackles. This year, though, the Week 1 roster had three backup tackles and only one backup interior lineman. Lutui's addition gives them the extra body they normally carry. With Kenny Britt coming off his suspension this week, the Titans will need to make two roster moves to create room for him and Lutui. I expect one of them to be Troy Kropog, who likely owes his roster spot to Mike Otto's injury, and am not sure where the other roster spot comes from.

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Tennessee Titans Week 1 Snap Report

Written by Tom Gower on .

The NFL has started officially keeping track of player participation data and making it available to the media. Here's how the Titans lined up in Week 1.

Offense (65 total)
QB: Jake Locker 50, Matt Hasselbeck 15
RB/FB: Chris Johnson 48, Darius Reynaud 18, Quinn Johnson 10, Jamie Harper 4
TE: Jared Cook 60, Craig Stevens 11, Taylor Thompson 8
WR: Kendall Wright 52, Damian Williams 50, Nate Washington 45, Lavelle Hawkins 19
OL: Steve Hutchinson 65, Michael Roos 65, David Stewart 65, Fernando Velasco 65, Leroy Harris 50, Kevin Matthews 15

Defense (67 total)
DE: Derrick Morgan 58, Kamerion Wimbley 58, Keyunta Dawson 9, Scott Solomon 9
DT: Jurrell Casey 48, Karl Klug 42, Mike Martin 35, DaJohn Harris 2
LB: Akeem Ayers 63, Will Witherspoon 42, Colin McCarthy 27, Zach Brown 8, Tim Shaw 1
CB: Jason McCourty 67, Alterraun Verner 63, Ryan Mouton 59, Coty Sensabaugh 2
S: Robert Johnson 65, Michael Griffin 64, Jordan Babineaux 15

Al Afalava, Patrick Bailey, Beau Brinkley, Tommie Campbell, and Troy Kropog each only played on special teams.

Please note when I rewatch the game, I'll be checking these totals to verify their accuracy, as well as tracking precisely how often the Titans lined up in various formations and personnel packages. As is, there's some interesting information in there.

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