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So, it has come to this. The time before the season when your author attempts to come to grips with the slate of games that matters that is about to be and divines how the Titans might fare against said slate. Your author has a great deal of pride in his understanding of the Titans, but this didn't aid his cause last season. Last season, he saw a defensive scheme that didn't try to fix the problems that plagued the Titans the second half of 2010 and foresaw a bad season, calling 7-9 about the best he'd hope for. He was, of course, wrong, as the Titans went 9-7.

This failed prognostication was, alas, nothing new, but the latest installment in an annual tradition. In 2010, he called for the Titans to go 8-8, a prediction that looked first a touch under-optimistic before a second-half collapse sunk the Titans to 6-10. 2009 lacked a similar preview post, but he was similarly over-optimistic, expecting over 9.0 wins, though the final result of 8-8 was in line with his range of 7-9 to 13-3 (and matched his prediction when the Titans were 0-4). Perhaps the absence of a real prediction post was due to his gross failure in 2008, calling for the Titans to win no more than 10 games, a prediction so gloriously wrong it took him all of five games to recant. So, if you want to just ignore what I say in this post, that's fine with me.

My pessimism last year was primarily related to the defense, and it did drop off, going to 15th in the league after finishing 8th the year before by Football Outsiders metrics. That's a bit misleading, though; as I've written about before, the Titans really had two defenses in 2010. The first was the first half of the season, when the Titans got pressure, and was one of the league's best. The second came the second half of the season, when the Titans didn't get pressure, particularly interior pressure, saw few sacks, and were one of the league's worst. I saw the Titans not getting pressure again and saw a pass defense that would continue to struggle.

I hope everybody had a nice Labor Day weekend. The NFL season proper starts tomorrow, and the Titans of course kickoff their season Sunday at home against the Patriots. I'll have a post or two up on what I expect from the Titans' 2012 season tomorrow and possibly Thursday as well, then I'll get into previewing the game.

The Titans weren't idle over the weekend. After the Titans made the cutdown to 53, though, they went about forming the practice squad, finalizing it today with the signing of the eighth and final member. Normally I give very little thought to the members of any team's practice squad; as we don't see them in games and I don't attend practices, there's hardly a basis on which to form an educated opinion of the player. For teams like the Patriots and Saints, it's not uncommon for a player to bounce between the active roster, the practice squad, and off the team entirely. While chronicling the travails of a player like Sean Canfield are of some interest, there's no such thing with the Titans. They don't churn the roster, and the practice squad, once formed, hardly changed.

Last year's practice squad consisted of running back Herb Donaldson, guard Ryan Durand, defensive end Pannel Egboh, tight end Cameron Graham, safety Robert Johnson, offensive tackle Troy Kropog (added after spending Week 1 on the active roster), wide receivers James Kirkendoll and Michael Preston, and, added after Johnson was added to the active roster when safety Anthony Smith was placed on injured reserve, cornerback Terrence Wheatley. Of those players, Johnson's hold on a spot of the active roster carried over from the end of the year, and Egboh and Kropog made the team this year. Durand is on injured reserve, and Wheatley made his way there as well before reaching an injury settlement with the Titans.

Now that the Titans have made the cuts to get down to 53, it's time to take a look at the shape of the roster, what spots might be ripe for upgrading, and how it compares to the Titans' roster in season past.

First, let's take a look at the positional distribution of the Titans as they stand right now, before any waiver wire-type additions, with the number of players at the position kept last year in parentheses:

Andrew just posted a final 53-man roster prediction, and the Titans have started cutting players. Here are the cuts that have been reported thus far:

WR Devin Aguilar
TE Brandon Barden
DT Zach Clayton
G Kyle DeVan
DT Lamar Divens
S Aaron Francisco
TE Cameron Graham
CB Chris Hawkins
OL Michael Jasper
WR James Kirkendoll
FB Collin Mooney
C Chris Morris
WR Michael Preston
DT Malcolm Sheppard
S Tracy Wilson
WR D.J. Woods

In addition to the cuts, defensive ends Dave Ball and Leger Douzable, guard Ryan Durand, and linebacker Kevin Malast, and cornerback Terrence Wheatley were placed on injured reserve and will be out for the year.

Terry McCormick reports seventh-round pick DE Scott Solomon has made the team, but had his knee scoped today. The release of Chris Hawkins is probably good news for Ryan Mouton's job prospects. Zach Clayton is the first name that's really surprised me, as the Titans kept him on the roster all last year and he was the 3rd DT in the lineup most of the time (Klug was more of a situational player).

With Kenny Britt moving to Reserve/Suspended and Markelle Martin on Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform, the Titans are now at the 53-man roster limit. The only player I'm really surprised to see on the team is undrafted rookie free agent defensive tackle DaJohn Harris. Don't be surprised, though, if the Titans do some roster shuffling the next few days. For one, the Chargers cut fullback Jacob Hester, and I like him a lot more than I like Quinn Johnson. More analysis of the roster as it stands later.

We'll be following the Tennessee Titans roster cuts here on Total Titans this afternoon and evening as they trim their roster to 54 players (the Titans get a one-week roster spot exemption for Kenny Britt's suspension.)

It's hard to say how several of the injured players will be handled.  Dave Ball or Markelle Martin could be placed on Injured Reserve with the new designation making one player eligible to be reactivated.  I don't expect Mike Otto's injury to prevent him from being placed on the active roster - he should be good to go in Week One or shortly thereafter.  Ryan Mouton's, Zach Clayton's and Zac Diles' injuries could hinder them from making the team, not that I thought they would make it if healthy.

Roster predictions and commentary follow after the break.

The Titans won their final preseason game last night, defeating the New Orleans Saints by a final score of 10-6. The biggest Titans-related news yesterday, though, was that news of Kenny Britt's suspension came down, and it was for just one game. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that news, as I was anticipating a longer suspension. One game is a more standard penalty for a first-time DUI, but given Britt's history of legal difficulties (eight arrests since being drafted), I thought commissioner Roger Goodell would find a way to throw the book at him. Considering Britt was just activated off the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list last week and likely wouldn't have played many plays in Week 1, this is about as good a situation as the Titans could have expected. Assuming health, he'll make his season debut in San Diego in Week 2. Hopefully this trip goes better than the one in 2010 where he suffered the hamstring injury that caused him to miss the Titans' next four games.

As to the game last night, the Saints rested about a third of their roster, including almost every starter, and Sean Canfield played the entire game, just like he did last year. Jake Locker played 28 snaps and was 9-16 for 81 yards, plus 2 rushes for 22 yards and a fumble inside the 10. The Titans scored three points in his four possessions, on a drive that began at the Saints 24 after the first of four New Orleans turnovers.

Of the areas I highlighted yesterday, Darius Reynaud and D.J. Woods had kickoff and punt returns (Craig Stevens also returned a kick, I'd bet as an upback). Woods and James Kirkendoll both had a catch, but none of the marginal receivers put up big numbers like Tramon Douglas did a few years ago. (Fun fact: Tramon Douglas is now Director of Athletic Operations at Alcorn State.) On the defensive line, Keyunta Dawson had a couple sacks and a couple quarterback hits; if Dave Ball's not ready, he may have earned a spot. At cornerback, Ryan Mouton didn't play because of his concussion, and Tommie Campbell, Chris Hawkins, and Coty Sensabaugh got pretty much equal amount of playing time. I saw reports during the game Troy Kropog Ryan Durand left with an injury, but Mike Munchak didn't address his or any other injuries in his postgame press conference.

The Titans will have to be down to 53 on the active roster by 8 PM tonight. Total Titans will have full coverage throughout the day as the reports of cuts come trickling in.