Astute commenter thelogic snagged this article in the sidebar: The Hawk is learning how to fly, but needs to cut down on the simple mistakes.

 gramsey712 sends along this awesome read on the fire that drives Cortland Finnegan to infuriate anyone who lines up against him (which may be his best weapon):

While in high school, Finnegan would go play pickup basketball at the nearby naval station with Sue Simpson, one of his guardians. At one point, one of the fellow competitors told Simpson that they had enough of Finnegan.

"He said if Cortland didn’t calm down, they were going to wring his neck," Simpson said with a laugh. "Here’s this 17-year-old driving all these 30-year-olds crazy in a pickup game. I told him he couldn’t go back there for six months, and he was OK after that."

 Big props to Joykat for pointing us towards this Teresa M. Walker article about the Titans not being satisfied by being 5-0 or holding our competition to the fewest points allowed through 5 games in the league.

 If you want inane but ultimately interesting facts, there's no better place to turn than the Elias Sports bureau:

Kerry Collins threw an 11-yard TD pass to Alge Crumpler on the first play after the 2-minute warning to give the Titans a 13-10 victory at Baltimore. Collins threw game-winning TD passes in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter in consecutive games for the Giants in December 2001, but this was only his second game-winner inside the 2-minute warning since then.

 We may have brought in Alge Crumpler to replace him as the top dog, but Bo Scaife is the 2nd best receiving TE in the league, according to Football Outsiders.

 Perhaps the funniest blog title on the web: What Would Kerry Collins Do? Because Kerry Collins is the new Jesus.

 And finally, in a sign the Titans still aren't getting the respect they're due, I couldn't find a single person who picked us to win this weekend.

The Titans resigned Chris Simms and cut back-up punter Josh Miller.  More on this in the next link...

 Mike Florio is rubbing himself because he may have caught the Titans in violation of an inane NFL rule involving the cutting and re-signing of Simms... man I detest this guy a little more everyday.  I'm not too worried because I'm guessing that as Co-Chairman of the Competition Committee, Fisher knows exactly how to job the system a little here, but this is the gist:

As expected, the Tennessee Titans have re-signed quarterback Chris Simms, only two days after cutting him.  In so doing, coach Jeff Fisher basically admitted to violating the rules against having verbal agreements with players.

“Chris totally understood the move, and we assured him we’d get him back under contract and we did,” coach Jeff Fisher said.

... the league insider was a bit more specific (but far less entertaining):  “I’m not sure the league office is going to look very favorably upon that transaction and quote.  It sure looks and sounds like a pre-existing agreement to manipulate the roster.”

 We're sitting at 5-0, with 3 of 4 of our next opponents toting losing records... So who's going to step-up and call Gary Estwick irrational and dumb for saying we may go a few more weeks undefeated? Because, I remember a certain blogger around here who may, or may not be, (but in fact is) named Jimmy getting hammered for such a prediction before the season started.

 Good to hear this: LenDale's near absence from the field Sunday was not by design and we can expect to see plenty more of the big-boy moving forward.  We need him to set-up opposing D-lines for Crazy Legs' gashes later on... I don't want the little man getting tired grinding-out 3 yard gains like he had to on Sunday.

 Thanks top P. Logan for pointing out that through week 4, no team was making opponents move the ball further between touchdowns than the Titans... it's not a be-all stat, but it does show who scrappy and stingy our awesome-o defense has been so far.

 Further proving our defensive awesomeness, footballoutsiders.com says we were the second best D in the league through week 4 (though it should be noted that we had played one more game than the Raven, who are ahead of us).

 How much did Big Albert mean against the Ravens?  Exactly 2.2 yards per rushing attempt... so yeah, that alone is worth Tommy Harris money any day in my book.

 David Climer clocks-in with an unusually good column about how great teams win ugly games as well.  I'd say, over the years,the difference between mediocre and excellent Titans teams is the ability to win games where we get statistically dominated.

 Pro Football Weekly looks at how the Titans' passing game has expanded with Kerry Collins under center.

 Obviously not wanting to risk losing a QB who could win them games this year, the Chiefs have already announced they'll send Brodie Croyle into the lions den that is the Titans pass rush.

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a great link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com!

First off, I need to apologize again to Alge for what I said about him in the game thread about looking like the high school kid that didn't belong on the football team.  He came up big when it mattered the most yesterday.  

Also, I love the fact that Kerry Collins faked Ray Lewis out of his jock on the game winning touchdown pass.

Continue reading this post »

There's only one 5-0 team in the NFL, and they call the banks of the Cumberland their home! 

 In this quality recap by Terry McCormick, Kerry Collins sounds like a man who does not want to give up his starting spot.

"Guys will see that regardless of the circumstances, I’m going to keep playing and that to me is how you build that trust and rapport with your teammates," said Collins, who had just 33 yards passing and was picked off twice in the first half. "I’m not going to say it’s always going to be great, because for three-and-a-half quarters, it wasn’t great. Slowly, I think we’re building an identity and building something here."

 Here's a nice highlight package from NFL.com.  Does anyone know why in the world was Dave Ball in that game so much?!

 Paul Kuharsky passes along some stats on the crazy difference between the first 3.5 quarters and the final 3 drives for Kerry Collins.  It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see a few more no. 5 jerseys around LP Field for that Monday Night game against the Colts...

 Sure, Cortland Finnegan lost it a little on Sunday, but it sure wasn't because Mason (5 catches for 38 yards) was doing anything impressive on him... leave it to Big Albert to put things in to perspective for us:

"D-Mase is like that little Chihuahua that's always barking," Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said. "I guess you had two little Chihuahuas barking with Cortland and D-Mase. We know that's how D-Mase plays and that's how Cortland plays. It's going to be a battle. They just got a little mad at each other.''

 Despite getting away with murder (Ray Ray style) all day while the refs weren't looking, Terrell Suggs and Benedict Mason were whining in full force yesterday.  MCM could not yet confirm rumors that Mason and Suggs continued to complain later that evening while enjoying a gallon of Häagen-Dazs and an Lifetime original movie.

 In news that surprises nobody, Vince isn't on the sideline because of his knee (see quote below).  Too his credit, VY spoke to the media after the game and, though he sounds frustrated, he is keeping the focus no the team rather than his situation. 

Asked if he is 100 percent healed, Young said, "I’m getting there. I don’t know about 100 percent, but I’d be out there playing."

 Sporting News' Clifton Brown says our boys aren't pretty, but have the makings of a Super Bowl team... I wonder what gave it away?  Perhaps the 5-0 start?

 I'm no Peter King fan (these days) either, but he reprinted in his column this morning what he reported/theorized on Football Night in America:

Collins will be a free-agent after the year. Vince Young, the troubled one, has three years left on his contract. Next year, Young makes $2.16 million. In 2010 and 2011, Young will make a combined $24.5 million, if the Titans choose to keep him. They can cut him after 2009 and owe him nothing. Interesting dilemma. Collins has lost 20 pounds and is now a relatively lithe 229. He's sober. He's a little more athletic than he looked playing for the Giants near the beginning of the decade. Even though he'll be 36 at the end of the year, if he continues to play this efficiently, it'll be extremely hard for the Titans to let him go.

I figure the Titans will try to re-sign Collins, bring him to camp next year and let the best man win the job. 

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a great link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com!

Another week, another slobber-knocking football game.  This one should be a low-scoring affair.  The "experts" are pretty split on this one:

Hoge loves us.

Continue reading this post »

Keith Bulluck misses Brian Billick in the way some folks miss the Soviet Union: both were an enemy that was easy to hate.  Only Bulluck, Kearse and Hentrich are left from the 2000 team that suffered that devastating loss to the Ravens in the playoffs, but that fire still burns for Keith:

Bulluck was asked if Fisher used the word hate.

"No, he didn't," Bulluck said. "He didn't say anything like that, someone else said something."

"Remember who?," Tom Weir of USA Today asked.

"It was me," he said to huge laughs, which he joined. "You had to be there to hear what I said."

Was the H-word in there, I asked?

"There was an F-word in there," he said.

That's awesome.

 As Big W noted in the sidebar, Vince Young returned to practice yesterday without a bulky knee brace or a prayer at starting for the next few weeks.

 Paul Kuharsky reports that VY is and will remain a captain for the Titans... I have to admit I'd be real interested to see if he kept that C were the players to vote again.  Also, Kerry isn't very interested in being a back-up next year:

"After sitting for two years and not being a starter, I know I can still do this at high level. It is going to have to be a starting job or I'm going to have to make a decision,'' Collins said. "I feel like I'm a starter. It is going to be hard for me to go back to being a backup.''

 Crazy Legs sits at 2nd in the AFC in rushing yards, and he now sits atop ProFootball Weekly's Rookie Meter with a big does of crow eating by their staff.

 Colts G.M. Bill Polian talks about the Titans, during which he makes a darn good point about how pitiful the preparation level is for guys on almost every Sunday morning pre-game show.

 Quentin Groves knows what's up: you want to be a star DE in this league, you watch how Boom King takes care of business.

 Bulluck talks to Gary Estwick about the often forgotten cultural significance of Ernie Davis, who went to Syracuse 30 plus years before him.  I don't know if I'll make it to the theater to see The Express, but it's a definite must-rent for any football fan.

 Big hat tip to Pinoy Titan for passing along this David Fleming gem of a column about our bone-crushing defense.  Fleming caught this great scene during the Vikings game:

I don't want to say the Titans' defense dominated so much that the game got boring or anything. But in the third quarter, when a guy in a red Jevon Kearse jersey passed out in the stands behind the Titans' bench, his buddies entertained the crowd by stacking five empty plastic beer cups on top of the poor dude's slumped-over melon.

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a great link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com!

The Tennessean breaks down 5 things the Titans must do to beat the Ravens and remain undefeated.  Oddly enough, score more points than the opponent by the end of the game is not one of them.

 Now here's a true Titan: Vincent Fuller spent many tough years behind enemy lines so that he could be drafted by us and give recon about how Baltimore goes about their business. You see, to defeat your enemy, you must first understand them... yeah... that's the ticket:

"It's Baltimore,'' Titans safety Vincent Fuller said. "I remember being a kid in Baltimore watching the Titans-Ravens games and seeing how much animosity seemed to be on the field. Coach Fisher has already reminded us of that, what it's going to be like.''

 What's your favorite/worst memory from the Titans-Ravens rivalry?  Terry McCormick has the highlights either jog your memory or pull the scab off that wound.

 The staff of the AFC South Blog Paul Kuharsky revamps a new weekly segment called "Unsung Hero and goat".  This week's unsung heroes are Cortland Finnegan and Nick Harper, while the first goat is rookie TE Craig Stevens for not staying in bounds in the end zone on that simple catch.

 The Freak won't have to face the Fuzz until January 6th... guess the judge doesn't like our playoff chances.

 Mike Florio takes needless rumor mongering to a new low with assists from Albert Haynesworth, Mindy McCready and TMZ.

 The excellent Teresa M. Walker from the Associated Press gives the Titans daps for keeping a veteran back-up rather than a project QB, and throws in an angle the rest of the word has missed:

[on reacting after Kerry took over] And the rest of the Titans? Call it the Pacman effect. They became experts at focusing on football and ignoring soap opera while playing with cornerback Adam Jones before his trade to Dallas in April. So having help from SWAT officers and crisis negotiators to check on the quarterback's emotional well-being is nothing.

 An Indianapolis media outlet shows the Titans some love... nothing mind blowing here, just nice to see others 'kiss the ring'.

The Titans players and coaches may not be celebrating 4-0, 

"We still have a chance to go 4-12," Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said,

but the fans are.  And why not?  This is the best start in the history for this fanchise.  There is still a long way to go, as Bulluck said, but 4-0 is a heck of a way to start.

The game yesterday was another good statement by this team.  This defense proved again that they are among the best in the league.  Sure, they gave up some yards, but they forced four turnovers to set up some easy scores and held the Vikings to 17 points.

The offense was exactly what it needs to be for this team to win.  They took care of the ball, though they were pretty lucky to put the ball on the ground three times and only lose one , and they took advantage of the short field when the defense gave it to them.  That is all they need to do with a defense that is as good as this one is.

I love watching the first drive of the game under Dinger.  There is not an offensive coordinator in the league that is better right out of the gate (I have absolutely no stats to back that statement up.  It is just a gut feeling.)  The first drive yesterday went 74 yards in 11 plays and took 4:51 off the clock.  The only thing I didn't like about that drive was the play calling on the final third and two.  I thought they should have put The Round Mound (What about the FOX announcers stealing that from us?) in and take two down to pick up the two yards if necessary.  It would have been a huge statement for the offensive line.  Instead they settled for a 20-yard Rob Bironas field goal.

The defense forced the first turnover of the game on the Vikings' first drive.  The offense turned that fumble recovery into 7 points with a 1-yard touchdown run by Chris Johnson.  This was mentioned in the game thread, but I wish Crazy Legs would cut out the high stepping.  That could come back to haunt him at a very inopportune time.

The next Vikings' drive was not so good for the defense.  That drive went 10 plays for 80 yards and was topped off by a 28-yard touchdown run by Adrian Peterson.  Michael Griffin should have stopped Peterson short of the goal line, but he took a bad angle.  All in all the defense did a good job of against AP, holding him to just 80 yards on 18 carries.

The Titans' offense stalled in the red zone again on the next drive and settled for a 32-yard field goal from Bironas.  The Titans offense has been great in the red zone so far this year.  That is interesting because most of us thought that Alge Crumpler would be the player that would cure those woes, but he has been non-existent in the red zone.  It was big for Kerry Collins and company to answer the Vikings' score.

Speaking of Collins, he played another decent game yesterday going 18-35 for 199 yards.  There was some debate in this morning's link post about his play as compared to Vince Young's.  The biggest number I am looking at is his turnovers, and through 3 full games he has turned the ball over 1 time (I give the fumble lost yesterday to Kevin Mawae).  I have little doubt that VY could be putting up similar completion percentage, yardage and TD numbers, but there is little doubt in my mind that he would have turned the ball over more than once.

The next Titans' touchdown came off an AP fumble that was recovered by Tony Brown.  That was the drive with the controversial Justin Gage call.  I don't think Gage made the line to gain, but I also didn't think there was evidence on the replay to overturn it.  The Titans got a break there, and they took advantage of it.  We need to remember that as the season goes along, because just like last year with the Chris Chambers non-catch catch, there will be a call like that that goes against the Titans.  That is just football.

It was big that the Titans headed into halftime with a 20-10 lead.  The 10 point lead was part of the reason that AP only carried the ball 18 times.  The other part was the game plan put together by Jim Schwartz.  Remember two years ago when someone started a website called firejimschwartz.com?  It is amazing what a guy can do when he gets good players to work with.  He threw everything at the Vikes' yesterday, including 5 man fronts, 4 man fronts, 3 man fronts, and zone blitzes.  I will be surprised if he isn't a head coach next season.

The second half was much the same as last week.  The Titans went into super-conservative mode and let the Vikings hang around.  The play of the day came off the foot of Craig Hentrich.  AP had just scored his second touchdown of the game to make the score 23-17, and the Titans' offense had just squandered the only good kickoff return of the season from Chris Carr.  The Vikings were gaining some momentum, but that punt just killed it.

The Titans put the game away on that drive when Nick Harper intercepted Gus Frerotte, and Crazy Legs scored a 6-yard touchdown on the next play.

A few more thoughts:

• The KVB hit was not dirty.  Frerotte needs to stop crying
• Tarvaris Jackson probably wishes he never got in the game.  He was in for 3 plays and was sacked twice.
• Against a defense such as the Vikings, The Round Mound should only be in there in short yardage situations
• I want to see more screen passes
• I hate the Ravens 

Now it is Ravens week.  I cannot put in to words how much I hate that team, but I will try this week.  For now we enjoy 4-0.

This is the most anticipated non-divison game I can remember in a long time.  The Titans have the chance to start 4-0 for the first time since they became the Titans.  There has been a lot of trash talking between our site and the Daily Norseman, but I think any reasonable person can agree that this is going to be a tight, physical game.  These are two very talented, very similar teams.  Here is a look at who the "experts" at the four letter picked this week:

Shocked am I that Hoge picked against the Titans.

The Vikings are very good against the run.  We have talked about that all week, but you know as well as I do that Jeff Fisher doesn't care about that.  The Titans are still going to come out and hit the Vikings in the mouth.  We all agree that the Titans have a great offensive line.  They get a chance to prove tomorrow just how great they are.  

There is a good chance that Kerry Collins might have to win this game.  That would have really scared me this time last year, but I have faith now that he can do it.  Look for the Titans, especially if they have trouble running the ball, to throw a lot of screen passes to Chris Johnson and a lot of dump offs to Bo Scaife and Alge Crumpler.  Those plays are good extensions of the run game and should be open against the Vikes' defense.

The Titans will also take some shots down the field because the Vikings' defensive weakness is their secondary.  The key to the game will be the offensive line giving Collins time to take those shots.  The receivers have looked better the last couple of weeks, and Justin Gage should be good to go, so I look for some big plays in the passing game.

Defensively the game plan is simple on paper;  Stop Adrian Peterson.  No big deal, right?  Peterson is one of the best running backs in the league and stopping him is no easy chore.  There has been a lot of talk this week about the Titans run defense being overrated because "they haven't played anyone yet."  They will get their chance on Sunday to silence the critics.  I think they are up to the challenge.

The other popular banter from Vikes' fans this week has been that the Titans' secondary is overrated.  The Titans' secondary is not overrated, but it really doesn't matter on Sunday.  The combination of Gus Frerotte and his receivers does not strike fear in my heart.  The Titans' secondary may be getting more hype than they deserve, but there is no doubt they can handle Frerotte and the Purple Pass Catchers.

The Titans will be the better team on the field Sunday.  The key will be to play Fisher ball.  Take care of the ball, run the ball successfully, stop the run, and the Titans walk away from this game 4-0.

The Tennessean points out the preponderance of starting QBs right now who are well into their 30's: Kerry Collins, Gus Frerotte, Brett Favre, Trent Green, Kurt Warner, Jon Kitna and Damon Huard are all 35 or older.  Of course, the Jets are probably the only team that's ecstatic to be in this situation.

 Ryan fowler was blind-sided by his demotion in favor of Stephen Tulloch, and Fowler believes the move is permanent.  Jim Wyatt says Fowler handled the demotion with great class and aplomb, despite being obviously disappointed.

 Yahoo! Sports wins my award this week for best MSM game preview of Sunday's match-up.

 Gary Estwick gives us ammo to expect a payback by the Titans this Sunday:

Minnesota has won the last four games against Houston/Tennessee, outscoring its AFC foe 111-60.

 The Titans offensive line has played very well so far this year, and they'll need to keep it up this weekend against a ferocious Vikings defensive line.  This SUnday is going to be the best test against a 4-3 defense we see all season, IMO... time for Roos, Stewart and Scott to earn those big contracts they got in the off-season.

 Terry McCormick reports that VY has been throwing with a knee brace on, but Fisher has been dodging giving a time-line for the QB's return.

 Scout.com offers up a free report on how rookie running backs are faring and list Crazy Legs as the 2nd most productive RB so far (behind Matt Forte who doesn't split time and doesn't compete with a passing game):

2.  Chris Johnson: Like Forte, he's quickly gotten involved in both the running and passing game. And he's also brought a quiet maturity to a team that has been unsteady at the running back position. A powerful and fast runner, Johnson has been asked to carry the ball at least 15 times in each of his three games, and he has posted no less than 74 yards per game. That's a nice start for a rookie who is sharing reps.

 ESPN scribe Elizabeth Merrill talked to several members of VY's inner-circle and people important to his past, such former Titans GM Floyd Reese and VY's long-time spiritual adviser, to get a read on what they think VY is going thorough.  The results aren't mind blowing, but definitely worth a read.

 Matt Williamson from ESPN Scouts Inc. breaks-down what VY has to improve on the field... sounds a lot like what 'Dinger talked about improving all off-season.

If you have anything you'd like to pass along for the next day's links, email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com