Denver Broncos Column

Jacksonville Jaguars Column

By: Collin Streetman

1/24/09

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…

· 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 3^rd 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 3^rd Down efficiency, as they currently rank 20^th 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 2^nd in kick-off returns and 5^th in punt returns, while the Titans rank 31^st in kick-off return yardage allowed and 26^th 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.