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Tennessee Titans Column
By:
Jared Stueckle
1/6/09
Keys
to Victory - Ravens vs. Titans
Offense
- On offense, the Titans will have to go up against one of the NFL's
toughest defenses. However, the Ravens' defense can be scored on.
Their run defense is solid, so the only way to have success against
the Ravens is to give the running game as many attempts as possible.
This will depend on the success of the passing game. After watching
the Ravens' play the Dolphins and by re-watching the Ravens/Titans
game from week five, it seems there are opportunities to gain chunks
of yards by using underneath crossing routes and check-down passes.
The Ravens have also been vulnerable to occasional big plays
downfield, so being able to identify when to take a shot and
executing these opportunities is key to scoring against a stingy
Ravens defense. The Titans must also…
·
Sustain early drives - too
often, the Titans start slow because their offense cannot sustain
early drives. This prevents them from establishing the running game
and puts more pressure on the defense, since they are on the field
more as a result.
·
Running game - the success of
the running game is typically linked to the passing game. Early on,
the running game needs to get warmed up, and this can only happen if
the passing game is effective and converts third downs to keep early
drives alive
·
Passing game - poor showings by
the Titans' passing game have been both the fault of Collins'
inaccuracy and a failure of the receivers to make plays. The Titans
will have success if the receivers catch the balls they should, make
additional plays, if Collins' limits his mistakes, and if Collins
does not force any throws into coverage. This will allow the offense
to put points on the board and give the running game the attempts it
needs to establish itself later on in the game. Collins threw two
interceptions in the previous game against the Ravens, one off of a
tipped ball at the line of scrimmage (which is not worrisome), and
one where he forced a throw into solid coverage (which is more
worrisome). Against the Dolphins, the Ravens defense picked off
Pennington four times, and he had only thrown 7 interceptions in the
regular season. Collins may be asked to do more than just manage the
game, as he did in week five, but Collins must limit turnovers (at
the least) to give the Titans a shot at winning.
·
The strength of the Titans is
their defense and their ability to score by winning the battle for
field position. An integral part of this formula is not turning the
ball over.
Defense
- On defense, the Titans are able to put a "blitz-like" pressure on
the opposing team's quarterback while only rushing four. This makes
allows the Titans secondary to put intense pressure on opposing
receivers, since they know the their opponent will have to throw the
ball quickly. The Titans have struggles against pure passers
(Manning and Favre) and game-breaking receivers (Andre Johnson). The
Ravens have a solid rookie quarterback that makes good decisions and
good veteran receivers, however their quarterback and receivers are
not of the elite-level that has caused trouble to the Titans.
However, the defense must play smart football, limit penalties, and
play "within-themselves" (in other words not try to do too much, but
stick to what has worked in the past).
·
Penalties - penalties have
plagued the Titans all season by allowing second chances and keeping
drives alive. Penalty yards also make it harder to win the battle
for field position, which is a staple of the Titan's offense. In
their first meeting, penalties allowed the Ravens to keep drives
alive and eventually led to points, on more than one occasion.
·
Prevent big plays - this has
been a strength of the defense all year, and the Titans must keep
this up. The Ravens offense is built to pound their opponent with
the running game, and then strike deep unexpectedly. The Ravens also
use play action effectively and incorporate trickery (by throwing in
Troy Smith and other "Wildcat-like" formations as a wrinkle) to go
downfield.
·
Pressure and Run Defense - the
key to the Titans' success will revolve around bringing pressure
with their front four and putting pressure on Joe Flacco. This has
been their recipe all year long, and as the saying goes, the Titans
should "dance with the girl they came with."In their week five match
up, Joe Flacco threw two interceptions, both happened when he rolled
out because of pressure and forced a throw. The Titans need to
pressure Flacco, but expect a more poised Flacco to throw the ball
out of bounds instead of making those same mistakes.
Special
Teams - Special teams may often be the deciding factor in "defense
heavy" games, and both teams like playing these types of games. Just
as special teams decided the 2001 playoff meeting between these two
teams (which eventually saw the Ravens winning the Super Bowl),
special teams may very well decide this game as well. Here are some
keys for the Titans…
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Kick Return - Titans rank number
1 in the nfl, continue this production
·
Punt Coverage - Hentrich has
been good about not out-kicking his coverage, punt coverage has kept
big plays to a minimum
·
Kick Off Coverage - Titans have
consistently allowed good starting position. Must win the field
position battle improving in this area
11/22/08
Featured Foe
- Jets at Titans
This Sunday at
LP Field in Tennessee, the division-leading Titans square off
against a continuously improving Jets team. This meeting up of
Conference leaders is full of intriguing match-ups and current
and future play-off implications. The Jets are coming off of a
thrilling prime-time victory against the Patriots and should be
well-rested, having had a few extra days to prepare for
Tennessee. The Titans, meanwhile, are also coming off of an
equally impressive road win in Jacksonville against a division
foe. The Titans will not be looking past the Jets this week, but
will need to clean up a sloppy first half effort against the
Jaguars because a slow start against an imposing Jets team will
not be so easily overcome.
Matching Up -
Offensively, the
Titans will need to play smart, disciplined, and opportunistic
against a tough Jets defense. The Jets run a complicated 3-4
defense which specializes in being unpredictable and providing
many different looks to offenses, making it difficult to know
where pass rushers will be coming from. In a typical 4-3
defense, which a majority of teams in the NFL use, the four down
lineman rush the passer and the defense may occasionally bring
linebackers to blitz. Since this is the standard defense,
offensive lines practice blitz pick-up protections to adjust to
blitzing linebackers. The difficulty with a 3-4 defense is that
there are only three down lineman and the defense typically
brings a linebacker to rush the quarterback. However, the
defense is able to choose any of the four linebackers to blitz,
and this creates a vast array of complicated blitz combinations.
To protect the quarterback, the offensive line, tight ends,
running backs, and the quarterback all need to be on the same
page when it comes to responsibilities in blitz pick-up. The
pass protection for every play needs to quickly identify the
possible blitzers and adjust based on who actually rushes the
passer. Defenses that run the 3-4 prey on confusing the lineman,
overloading one side of the protection unexpectedly, and/or
creating one-on-one blocking mismatches with their extremely
athletic outside linebackers. With this being the case, it is no
wonder that the Jets are ranked 3rd in the NFL, with
34 sacks through ten games. The Steelers, who play Tennessee in
Week 16, lead the NFL in sacks and also run a 3-4 defense
similar to the Jets.
For success
against the Jets, the line and the running backs assigned to
help with blitz-pick up, will have to communicate effectively
and adjust to what the Jets defense does. Tennessee's ability to
consistently protect Kerry Collins has keyed their success thus
far this season, and protecting Collins will be a high priority
for Tennessee this week.
The Titans have
shown over the last few weeks a keen ability to adjust to what
the defense is doing; the coaching adjustments have proven that
if the defense commits their safeties to stopping the run, then
Collins and the passing game can generate enough offense to
score. However, it will be important for the Titans to run
effectively to force the Jets defense to move their safeties up
in order to open up big plays for the passing game.
Another key for
the Titans offense is going to be improving their 3rd
Down efficiency, as they currently rank 20th in the
NFL in this category. Their defense has kept them in the game
when their offense has struggled, but unlike other teams the
Titans have played, the Jets combine a stout defense with a
prolific offensive attack.
The Titans
defense would normally match up favorably against the Jets, but
a rash of injuries in the secondary could pose a problem if
starting CB Nick Harper, who sat out in Jacksonville and has
missed some practice this week, is unable to play against the
Jets. Last week, the Titans lost key back-up CB Eric King
(possibly for the season), and the Jets have much more quality
depth in their receiving corps than the Jaguars have, and could
cause problems against the Titans if they choose to spread the
defense out with 4-5 receiver packages. Add this, and the recent
emergence of Jets rookie TE Dustin Keller, who has been racking
up yards as of late, and this could spell trouble for Tennessee.
While third-string CB David Carr filled in well for King (who
was filling in for Harper), if Harper is unable to play, then
multiple receiver options could place quality receivers against
back-ups who have seen little playing time this year. With all
these considerations, the Titans cannot afford to forget about
punishing RB Thomas Jones and the vastly improved offensive line
of the Jets.
Finally, the
Titans will seek to continue their quality production of their
kick-off and punt-return teams, while seeking to improve the
play of their kick-off and punt coverage teams. The Jets rank 2nd
in kick-off returns and 5th in punt returns, while
the Titans rank 31st in kick-off return yardage
allowed and 26th in punt-return yardage allowed.
Dangerous Jets return man Leon Washington will be looking to
make the Titans pay if their kickoff and punt coverage teams
continue to allow daylight in their coverage. Return man David
Carr of the Titans will also be looking to cement his status as
a top-notch returner and has been one move away from taking it
the distance on more than once occasion this year. Special Teams
will likely play a key factor in this game and a big play by
either team could very well be a deciding factor in who comes
away with a victory.
Current
Playoff Implications -
This game has
many playoff implications for both teams. If the Jets win, and
are able to win out for the season, they would own a tie-breaker
over the Titans should they lose two more games. The Titans
schedule for the rest of the season makes this possible: a trap
game looming in Detroit; a tough divisional road game against
Houston, a team who plays Tennesse very well; a home game
against the Steelers, an old AFC Central foe; and a road game
against a white-hot divisional foe Indianapolis. A win would
also provide momentum and confidence to a continually improving
Jets team and be another step towards winning the AFC East.
Meanwhile, if
the Titans win, they would be two additional wins and a Steelers
loss away from locking up home field advantage throughout the
playoffs. With a win, the next two games include visiting
Detroit for Thanksgiving and a home game against Cleveland. If
the Titans get to 13 wins, then the Steelers need only lose one
game in their remaining schedule for Tennessee to gain a bye and
home field advantage. The Steelers schedule is daunting, with
games road games against New England and Baltimore and a home
game against Dallas in the next three weeks. All this, before
they come to Tennessee in week 16. However, should the Titans
reach 13 wins and if Pittsburgh loses one of their next three
games, then the Titans will have already wrapped home field
advantage up.
Future
Playoff Implications -
This week
against the Jets, along with the Giants facing the Cardinals,
could potentially be a preview for these teams meeting in the
Conference Championship game in the playoffs. Critics have
questioned the strength of the Titans' schedule throughout their
undefeated run so far, but their remaining schedule will provide
the Titans with mulitple chances to prove their worth against
some of the tougher teams in the NFL. It will be interesting to
see how the Titans play this week, if they can limit their
mistakes and put together a complete performance to show exactly
what they are capable of doing. This will be more and more
important as the playoffs approach, because mistakes against
high-caliber playoff teams are much harder to overcome than
against teams struggling to find out how to win. As we saw last
year, a team that finds its stride late in the season is
potentially more dangerous than a team that peaked earlier in
the season and struggled to dominate in the playoffs. It is
getting more and more crucial that the Titans learn how to put
together a complete game if, indeed, their Super Bowl
aspirations are legitimate.
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