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PFC Titans Writer: Dan Johns

The Tennessee Titans are 4-0 for the first time in franchise history, this dating back to the Houston Oiler era. This fast paced start is almost too good to be true. With all things considered, the predicted AFC’s best: New England, Indianapolis , San Diego , Pittsburgh and Jacksonville have all struggled to say the least to get much going. The AFC is showing signs of new teams perhaps getting into the mix of the elite, namely: Denver , Buffalo and Tennessee .

So not only are the Titans handling their own business and pulling out wins week in and week out, but the so-called elite teams around them (two of which are in their own division, of the AFC South) are all falling apart at the seams around them. That’s why the National Football League is so unpredictable; you never know who is going to step up in a given year.

The Titans questionable-future quarterback Vince Young is becoming more and more healthy, but at this point with the Titans 4-0 and Kerry Collins conservatively helping the Titans minimize turnovers and win hard fought games in the trenches, Vince may be a backup number 2 quarterback at best; well at least for the foreseeable future. The Titans are winning by a very familiar strategy that has worked well for them in the past, as is the trademark of a Jeff Fisher strategy: pound the running game and play hard-nose defense. That is exactly what they have been displaying thus far.

Stats prove the conservative play of the offense, as since Week-2 taking over the reigns for an injured Young, Collins has only thrown 2 touchdowns and 1 interception; yet the Titans are 4-0 in that period. Well that’s mainly because of the two-headed running back “thunder and lightening” duo of LenDale White and Chris Johnson. LenDale is currently tied for the lead in most rushing touchdowns this year with 5. In fact he has at least one touchdown in every game this season, including two against Houston . Meanwhile, his counterpart Johnson is getting most of the yards as he has compiled 337 rushing yards with two touchdowns and 10 catches with a receiving touchdown. These stats alone are enough to have the Titans in the position they are in now.

The most under-rated position in the NFL bar-none is the offensive line. Now White and Johnson couldn’t be scoring 7 rushing touchdowns combined without a stellar line paving the way for them. The mammoth line of which is anchored by veteran center Kevin Mawae, also includes heavy trucks in the guard positions like Jake Scott and Eugene Amano. Furthermore, the Titans have two of the most underrated tackles in the game, as Michael Roos and David Stewart quietly continue to dominate opposing team’s defensive lines. This stout and talented line has also helped keep the aging, slow Kerry Collins up on his feet. Collins remarkably, has only been sacked one time through the 4 games he’s played in!

The Titans who have been repeatedly criticized over their lack of receiving talent, has actually got some decent production out of them thus far. Starting receiver Justin Gage leads the team with 12 receptions, 176 yards and a touchdown, and seems to be Collins’ favorite target. Besides Gage however, their hasn’t been much standouts at the receiver positions, however Justin McCareins, Brandon Jones and Bo Scaife have all made some quality receptions in critical situations, something all three definitely have not been known for in the past. Still two guys Titans fans and myself are interested and anxious to see get going are Alge Crumpler who hasn’t had many passes thrown his way and Lavelle Hawkins, the 4th round rookie receiver drafted this year out of Cal, who hasn’t been active in any games thus far.

As for the Titans special teams, Pro Bowl kicker Rob Bironas has been so-far perfect on the season, hitting 6 of 6 field goal attempts including a season-long 49 yarder. Chris Carr has shown some speed and agility as the main kickoff and punt returner as he’s averaging just over 27 yards a kick return. But the main stat the jumps out is Tennessee in the red zone this year. Last year the Titans ranked dead last (32nd) in the league at scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Then relied heavily on the foot of Bironas while stalling in the red zone in 2007. Now in 2008 the Titans are one of the top best scoring touchdown teams in the red zone, something that needed to be addressed in the offseason.

That is in a large part why they went after Alge Crumpler, to be the big red zone target for Vince Young. However, Young went down in Week-1 and Crumpler has yet to reach pay dirt this year. So how have they improved so much in that category? Well several reasons, the two-headed monster duo of big powerful running back LenDale White who is almost automatic on the goal-line to score a touchdown and Chris Johnson who can catch out of the backfield and make people miss with his scary speed and elusiveness. Another reason is Kerry Collins’ veteran savvy to not turn the ball over or force throws that should not be made. Lastly, the hiring of offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger is more and more looking like their top move made in the offseason.

And all that was just their offense. Defensively is a whole different article in itself! But the Titans have been continually called one of if not the most physical, hard hitting team in the league. That all starts with their smash mouth, no non-sense defense, lead by team caption Keith Bulluck. Up and coming cornerback Cortland Finnegan leads the entire league with 4 interceptions on the season. Another youngster, Michael Griffin, the Titans first round pick in 2007, is not far behind with 3 picks on the year, which is good for a second place tie with numerous players. Finnegan a former 7th round pick in 2006 by Tennessee , also has a 99 yard interception return for a touchdown back in Week-3 under his belt, which is a franchise record. This ball-hawking secondary of Tennessee also leads the AFC and is tied for first with two NFC teams, with 8 interceptions already on the year!

Albert Haynesworth, or as I like to refer to him, “The A-Train”, had a career high of 6 sacks last year in his only Pro Bowl season, however, he already has 5 sacks through the first four games of the season; His fellow d-linemen Kyle Vanden Bosch and Tony Brown each have 3 sacks a piece. The Titans overall 15 sacks are good enough to lead the AFC and 2nd overall in the NFL in that category. The Titans find themselves in the top 5 of nearly every main ranking category, which includes a top 5 Defense in the league.

Critics will say that the Titans have had a fairly easy start to the schedule and had the luxury of playing 3 out of their first 4 at home. However, two of those wins came to quality teams who just happen to be struggling right now, in that of Jacksonville and most recently a 30-17 victory of Minnesota in which the Titans held off Adrian Peterson for the most part. Now the Titans could have their biggest test yet as they go on the road to face a similar team to themselves, much like Minnesota was to them, Baltimore is yet another mirror image of the Titans philosophy. Both defenses like to bring the heat and hit people in the mouths. Perhaps the Titans have the advantage heading into Week-5 as Baltimore is coming off short rest after a hard hitting affair on Monday Night, in an exhausting loss at Pittsburgh in Overtime.

After the Baltimore game, the Titans travel to Kansas City who recently just upset Denver at Arrowhead Stadium. Then Tennessee has to play Indianapolis and Green Bay back to back in Nashville . So the schedule does get a little bit tougher from here on out, and it begs the question, can the Titans keep their winning habits alive?

Since New England was beat by Miami last week, the Titans hold the NFL’s current active longest winning streak at 7 regular season games in a row, dating back to last season. The Titans are notorious for being one of the most underrated and under appreciated teams in the NFL since their existence back in 1999, but now some experts are categorizing the Titans so far as the best team in the AFC this year and top five team in the league. Recognition is good; however, Coach Jeff Fisher is trying to keep an even keel on the perspective of things. The Titans are indeed undefeated, but there’s a long way to go in the year and they have to keep taking things one game at a time.