First Quarter Review (Season 2) WWMHD Results Week 1 : Steelers 48, Titans 27 Despite the game starting in the Titans’ favor, new starting quarterback Jake Locker would get picked off three times in his debut as Tennessee’s Quarterback. He did add 64 yards on the ground, with a TD both rushing and passing. Chris Johnson went for 92 yards in a pretty strong effort to start the season. WR Kendall Wright started his Season 2 campaign off right, with 8 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. Kamerion Wimbley the only defensive player of note, racking up 1 sack and 7 tackles. All would be for not, as Roethlisberger led his Steelers with nearly 300 yards passing and 4 touchdowns. Week 2 : Titans 21, Saints 43 Drew Brees the story of the game, with a 120.6 Passer Rating, 321 yards passing and 4 touchdowns to rival zero interceptions. Jake Locker would actually throw for more yards(362,) and had 3 touchdowns, but adds two more interceptions to bring his total to 5 on the season. Saints’ HB Darren Sproles had 114 yards on the ground and a touchdown, while the entire Titans’ stable of running backs wasn’t able to crack the century mark collectively. ROLB Kamerion Wimbley had 12 tackles, and 2 sacks, but seemed to be the only guy playing every down to the best of his ability. Week 3 : Texans 26, Titans 20 After knocking out Arian Foster for the game, the Texans would lean on Ben Tate and Rookie Nathan Jones from Oklahoma State, and they would help carry their team this Sunday. Jones had 99 yards on 8 carries and a touchdown, Tate going for 78 yards himself. HB Chris Johnson went for 64 yards, and didn’t do much else in the way of helping the offense. Speaking of not helping the offense, Locker threw four interceptions, among two touchdowns, against the Wade Phillips 3-4. At this point, we’ve got to look at options and a tweak in our offensive gameplan, to not have Locker try and carry us regularly. Week 4 : Colts 34, Titans 16 After jumping out to a 21-0 lead, the Indianapolis Colts would never look back, allowing HB Tim Hightower to lead their team with 145 yards and three touchdowns. Locker had 235 yards in the air, but overall a mediocre performance with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. TEN WRs Kenny Britt and Damian Williams both played well, with 8 catches for 77 yards(1 TD) and 6 catches for 84 yards respectively. MLBs Will Witherspoon and Colin McCarthy each nabbed an interception, the first two of the season for them and the team. Injuries: Nothing of note. Contract Negotiations: We signed LT Michael Roos for 5 years, and $34.5 Million. He’ll be the anchor to build our offensive line around for a long time. We also had WR Kenny Britt sign a $28.5 million, 5 year contract to continue his growth as a Titan. Draft Storylines: Top Prospect : No one is coming into the college season with more expectations than Alabama QB Konnor Shepard Weight Room : Ohio State’s Slim Jenkins is a powerhouse left tackle that scouts can’t ignore Defender of The Year? : NFL scouts have been taking notice of Jaylin Greene, who is an early favorite for defender of the year. He got Next : HB Armani Gray is a Heisman favorite in Oregon’s run-heavy offense. Russian Bear : Stanford FB Nicolai Sokolov is considered the best fullback in college football this year. Get it Together : Standout VT ROLB Jaylin Greene has been benched, which obviously raises doubts about his draft stock. Tennessee’s Titan : Scouts are very high on Tennessee TE Jason Ashley. They believe his skills will translate very well to the pro game.
Second Quarter Review (Season 2)Inching towards respectability Results Week 5 : Titans 23, Browns 24 In a matchup against the Browns, led by Rookie QB Sam Farris from Virginia Tech, the Titans gave up a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to stay winless on the season. Farris, had 2 touchdowns and 213 yards on a 15 for 35 day. The Titan’s defense played well, but it was their offense, most importantly Jake Locker, who’s two interceptions(261 yards, 1 TD) that was the difference. HB Chris Johnson came to play for the first time all season, with 124 yards on the ground, and another 50+ through the passing game. But it wouldn’t be enough, as Cleveland’s LB core would rack up the tackles, and keep Locker on his toes in the backfield. Week 6 : Ravens 33, Titans 32 A tough game that saw 31 collective points scored in the fourth quarter, Jake Locker and Joe Flacco both weren’t sharp, throwing three and two interceptions respectively. Rookie WR Taiwan Brown for the Ravens had an amazing 131 yard performance on 8 catches, while Tennessee WR Damian Williams countered with 115 yards on 7 catches. Wimbley had a sack, while Will Witherspoon and J. Babineaux each had an interception. On special teams, Darius Reynaud took a punt back for 70 yards and a touchdown. Week 7 : Titans 41, Jaguars 17 Jake Locker finally puts together a good performance, albeit against a bad Jags team, as he went for 250 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. His counterpart, QB Chad Henne, ended up throwing 4 interceptions, ultimately burying his team. Chris Johnson had another 100+ yard day, with a touchdown, and Kamerion Wimbley and Will Witherspoon helped collect three total sacks on defense. Four Titans had interceptions, CB Jason McCourty, LB Akeem Ayers, CB Tommie Campbell and CB Alterraun Verner. Week 8 : Titans 27, Colts 13 In the second meeting of the year, the Titans went to Indianapolis for revenge. Locker was sharp on the day, with 268 yards passing, 96 yards rushing, and 3 total touchdowns along with a lone interception. Neither team, other than Jake Locker, was exceptional at running the ball, Jake being the only player with over 35 yards rushing. Colts WR Reggie Wayne was the lone standout for his team, with 100 yards receiving and 1 touchdown on 8 grabs. Babineaux got his second interception of the season, and RE Leger Douzable snagged a tipped ball, to get his first interception of his career. The Titans Linebacking core attributed with 3 sacks on the day, Wimbley, Akeem Ayers and Colin McCarthy. Week 9 : BYE Injuries: C Eugene Amano – Broken Fibula (21 Weeks)(IR) DT Jurrell Casey – Dislocated Ankle (3 Weeks) C Max Unger – Dislocated Elbow (5 Weeks) LE Arthur Jones – Partial ACL Tear (3 Weeks) Contract Negotiations: SS Jordan Babineaux signed for 3 years and $6.6 million. Young CB Alterraun Verner will be with us for another 3 years, for $4.2 million. WR Damian Williams from USC signed for 2 years, $1.7 million, to keep progressing into our system. We ended negotiations with backup LT Michael Otto. C Robert Turner was signed from Free Agency to help at a position the Titans are thin at, and currently without a starter. Draft Storylines: Mack Attack : Boston College CB Devian Mack helped push the Eagles past the NC State Wolfpack by returning an interception for a touchdown. Take Notice : Arkansas DE Traevon Sykes was a nightmare, picked up four sacks against Texas A&M A Rough Day : In a big game gainst Ole Miss, Alabama QB Konnor Shepard threw three interceptions, which now has scouts questioning his big-game ability. Keep on Truckin’ : Oregon HB Armani Gray was a big-game hunter this week, ripping off 217 yards against the Wildcats.
Halfway Point Analysis (Season 2)Division Standings : Colts : 4-3(2-2) Texans : 3-4(3-1) Titans : 2-6(2-2) Jaguars : 2-6(0-2) Team Assessment : We surprisingly are 4th in the league offensively, in total offensive yards, not so surprising is that we’re the 11th worst offense in points per game. We are 20th in the league in yards allowed defensively, third in the league in interceptions, but are 25th in passing yards allowed. It’s kind of a back and forth season so far, in terms of performance, and despite our horrible record. QB Jake Locker has completed 61% of his passes, thrown for 15 touchdowns and 2,092 yards, but his turnovers are costing the team dearly. 17 interceptions, which is more than Hasselback had in the entire last season, +4. No receiver is having a breakout season up to this point, mostly due to QB play, but Kenny Britt leads all receivers with 47 catches, 521 yards and 4 touchdowns. It’s no surprise to me that ROLB/RE Kamerion Wimbley is 17 tackles ahead of everyone else, with 55 on the season. To go along with that, 9 sacks, with the rest of the team having 5. SS Jordan Babineaux leads all Titans in interceptions(3,) with three LBers rounding out the top 4. Our lack of depth on the offensive line hasn’t hurt us horribly up to this point, but as it will be forever, an area I’d suggest throughout the continuity of this franchise. Pro Bowl Update : RE/ROLB Kamerion Wimbley and SS Jordan Babineaux are currently the only Titans receiving votes. Draft Needs : It’s obvious to me, that despite his contract, Chris Johnson won’t be the guy that will continue this franchise in the right direction. Javon Ringer is a nice plug-in back, but that won’t get us where we ultimately want to be. Something I want to address, ideally making Chris Johnson either the highest paid backup running back, or eventually sending him to someone, maybe player-for-player with a team that can use him correctly. At Quarterback, Jake Locker just isn’t good right now. I don’t know if he’ll grow, and depending on the position in the draft, I could be looking to upgrade that position. I would like to see him in Year 2 of his campaign to see if any improvements are made. We could always afford to get better in the Linebacking and Secondary core. We may look that way too. Around the League : Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick having a surprising year, with 2,122 yards, 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. But Andy Dalton is the class of the league, with 2,372 yards, 20 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. No running backs are standing out, but Maurice Jones-Drew, Marshawn Lynch and LeSean McCoy all have over 800 yards rushing, and 5 or more touchdowns. Seattle LB LeRoy Hill leads the league in tackles(78,) as Chargers LB Antwan Barnes has 12 sacks on the season. The New Orleans Saints, for the second year in a row, have the best record(6-1,) but the Bengals are hot on their tail with a 6-2 record up to this point. Both the Falcons and Bears have the top defenses, both sit at 5-2, and are allowing >20 points per game.
