2007 Tennessee Titans

The Titans were a one man show last season, and that one man, Vince Young, doubled their win total from the previous year with his dazzling play. After a five-win year in 2004 and a four-win year in 2005, last season’s 8-8 mark was magic. It didn’t take long for the Titans to realize they needed to get Vince Young under center full-time, and it wasn’t long after that that we all realized that he could be the next great quarterback in this league. In just three-quarters of a season he was able bring back hope to a franchise which had fallen on some very tough times the past couple of seasons. But there is some harsh reality surrounding this team. The Pacman Jones situation has put a franchise, which should be excited about moving forward with a franchise QB, under strife and public scrutiny and has caused some of the glow to wear off, allowing us to see what’s really there. The reality is that this team brought in no talented receiver that was supposed to be a must in the offseason and no blue-chip pass rusher. In other words, it’s a one man show again, except now it gets tougher as defenses have a season of tape to study Young’s weaknesses. And a defense which allowed the most yards in the NFL last season didn’t appear to get any better. So it looks like a step backwards in 2007 is inevitable. Young’s ability is hard to doubt, after all he is a proven winner, but he’ll have to pull rabbits out of his hat game after game for this team to make the .500 mark again.

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Offensive coordinator Norm Chow will do his best once again. Last season he put in some spread formations, which Young was used to in college, and some option plays, in addition to his standard West Coast offense to get the most out of Young’s skills. A once strong running game died when the Titans couldn’t keep Travis Henry. Tennessee has no clear successor in place so we can probably expect to see even more spread and read-option in 2007. Young doesn’t even have a clear go-to target in the receiving corps. Tennessee’s best chance for big plays in 2007 will likely be broken plays and scrambles in which Young pulls off the unthinkable. That’s a lot to count on to be successful.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz may need to find a nice place to retire because his scheme just isn’t working in Tennessee. If he doesn’t quit playing man-coverage with his weak corners, the Titans will be abused through the air once again. He needs to pick up a version of Tony Dungy’s Tampa-2 and I think he will see better results with the personnel he has and he will perhaps save his job. Getting some pass rush to take the pressure off these corners is a must. The 26 sacks that we saw in 2006 weren’t nearly good enough especially when a dozen players around the league are getting half that many by themselves.

The books are setting the Titans total wins number at seven. We’ll take the under as we have this team chalked up for just 6 wins this season.

By Jeff Alexander – 7/9/2007

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