deeluxx3's Titans preview

Discussion in 'Tennessee Titans and NFL Talk' started by deeluxx3, May 6, 2007.

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  1. deeluxx3

    deeluxx3 Camp Fodder

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    I'm going to run through each position and the strenghts and weaknesses of each position. Here it goes...

    OFFENSE

    QB-Vince Young
    Vince Young is our starting QB, there is no questioning that. He is entering his sophomore year and is looking to improve on a very impressive rookie season.

    PROS- Vince is the type of QB that can make "somethin' outta nothin' ". When a play breaks down, he can tuck it and run for a first or buy more time to find an open receiver. He has good arm strength and can throw across the middle. He usually puts the ball only where his guy can get it. He also goes through his progressions before tossing the ball. Vince also has the ability to throw well on the run. Vince's running is also a huge phase of his game. He is one of the best running QBs in the game and has great vision. He can make people miss with a quick stutter step or a juke. He is a load to bring down, and it almost always takes more than one guy to take him down. Vince is also a born leader. He can put the team on his back and lead them to victory. The team looks to him to lead and he comes through.

    CONS- Vince isnt the most accurate thrower, but it is not his biggest negative. Vince is a streaky thrower. Sometimes, he can get in a groove and complete 5 or 6 passes in a row, but then he will go out and toss 7 or 8 incompletitions. He needs to improve on that this year. He also throws a pretty poor deep ball. Whenever he tries to throw a fade pass, it is not usually completed. Vince also needs to be smarter with the ball, throwing a double-digit INT amount. Yeah, you give him a little leeway because he was a rook, be he still needs to shrink that number next year.

    GRADE: B+

    RBs: Chris Henry and LenDale White

    PROS- I really cant say what these two guys pros are, but that is only because one is a rookie and the other hardly played last year. But, I do know a few positives about both. LenDale White is a powerful back with adequate speed. He's heavy and a load to take down. White also shows very good vision when he is about to hit a hole and he pushes for extra yardage. He also has good hands coming out of the backfield. Chris Henry is finally getting a chance to start and he will be playing with something to prove. He is very fast and strong. He makes a cut and is pretty much gone. Henry also possesses good hands out of the backfield. Another positive is that both players will be spelling eachother. Neither are ready to carry the load, and they will benefit from having eachother. In the new-age NFL, you need 2 solid RBs. We have thunder and lightning with these two.

    CONS- Experience. Neither has virtually any. That is the only thing that is holding both back. LenDale could be faster and needs to show better work ethic. He is never going to be 230, but he needs to keep his weight at a reasonable number (which he has been). Chris Henry is a rookie that has never started, even in high school. In Lendale goes down, will he be able to carry the load? I dont know. Both of these two young players biggest drawbacks is their lack of experience.

    GRADE: C

    WRs-Brandon Jones and ?

    PROS- Well, we know that Brandon Jones is going to be a starter barring injury, but the number 2 spot is empty. Jones has pretty good hands and speed. He also has chemistry with Vince and emerged as his favorite target. He is clutch, scoring big TDs in the Giants, Bills, and Colts games. He can really blossem in our offense this year. The rest of our WRs have good speed, but we dont know much else about them. Paul Williams is an athletic freak and has very good hands. Roydell Williams can run routes well, Courtney Roby is very quick, and Jon Orr has great tools, but he didnt see the field last year.

    CONS- Just like the RBs, we lack experience. All of our WRs that look to make the team expect Gage and Givens are entering their 3rd year or younger. We also lack height to go with speed. Gage is tall, but slow and just a poor wideout. Brandon Jones doesnt have a big advantage against a taller CB. We also lack consistency from our WRs. One game one will have 80,90, or 100 yards receiving, them the next they will have 10 or 20 yards. We also drop many easy passes and the drops will need to be reduced by next year if we really want to compete against the best teams in the NFL.

    GRADE: C+

    TEs-Ben Troupe and Bo Scaife

    PROS- Pass catching. Both can catch the ball well for TEs and both are effective after the catch. They are both tall with leaping ability, especially Troupe. Ben Troupe can jump extremely high and is a mismatch against most linebackers. Bo Scaife is becoming the same way, but is not as athletic as Troupe is. Both improved their blocking this year as well. Scaife has a nose for the endzone and scored a couple TDs this year. He should improve on that number next year, but look for Troupe to take away a bunch of Scaife's touches.

    Cons- Ben Troupe was prone to emerge this year as one of the premier TEs in the league. This was before his season was plagued with injuries. Scaife also caught the injury bug near the end of the season. If we are going to compete, they need to be stay healthy for most of the season and miss much fewer games. While a positive of both was pass catching, they did drop a few passes. I remember one vividly against Baltimore where the ball hit a wide open Troupe in the hands and it just fell to the ground. That needs to stop.

    GRADE: B+

    OLine-David Stewart, Benji Olden, Kevin Mawae, Jacob Bell, Michael Roos

    PROS- They are all pretty young except Mawae and Olsen. They are all very talented and shut up a lot of haters who said that we didnt have a good o-line. Stewart is a beast and just manhandles players. Mawae is the leader of the line, and rightfully so. He has been in the league forever and is a great mentor for the younger guys. There really isnt much to say because they all usually do their job and do it well.

    CONS- Not many glaring negatives about a very consistent line, but we seem to get penalties on big plays. A play that I remember was a 50 yard run by Travis called back because of holding. We need to get less penalties, other than that, this line is solid.

    GRADE: A-

    DEFENSE

    DLine-Kyle Vanden Bosch, Randy Starks, ALbert Haynesworth, Travis Laboy/Antwan Odom

    PROS- I can't lie, I see less positives out of this unit than any other unit on our team. There are a few, though. Travis LaBoy is a good situational pass rusher. He is good at getting to the QB on passing downs. Albert Haynesworth is a good player, when he wants to be. He seems to not always go 100% and play lazy sometimes, but when he doesnt, he is a solid DT. Kyle Vanden Bosch is the best DE on our team, and while he did not play at the leven he did in 05, he still forced opposing offensive lines to key in on him. Antwan Odom has potential, but only played in 4 games last season. The Titans drafted two d-linemen that we hope can make an impact. The players were DE Jacob Ford and DT Antonio Johnson. Ford can come in and hopefully wreak havoc as a passing down rusher and Johnson can hopefully play up to his potential. Both were considered late round steals.

    CONS- This line has trouble stopping everything. They are poor in run stopping and they are poor in pass rushing. We had trouble getting to the QB and stopping RBs behind the line. Too many times we were overtaken by an o-line for most of the game. Travis Laboy is not starting material. His motor cannot run for a 60 minute game, and Kyle Vanden Bosch might have already had his best season. Albert Haynesworth, to me, is overrated and needs to step up his game rather then step down on people's faces. This line needs more work than any other unit on our team. We wont be able to go deep into the playoffs or make the playoffs until these 4 guys step up their game.

    GRADE: D+

    LBs-Keith Bulluck, Ryan Fowler/Stephen Tulloch, David Thornton

    PROS- To me, this is a very strong unit. We possess one of the best OLB's tandems in the league in Keith Bulluck and David Thornton, if not the best. Keith is the leader of our defense and always preforms. He is a great tackler, and was near the league's tops in tackles in 06. Thornton came in and make his presence known, flying to the ball and trying his best to cause turnovers. Both players forces offensive coordinators to have migraines trying to figure out how to contain them. At MLB, we have Ryan Fowler and Stephan Tulloch. Not much is known about Fowler, who is spending his first year in Nashville, but we do know that Tulloch is filled with talent. He is much more aggresive and athletic than his predecessor, Peter Sirmon, and he is a force in the middle. Both will fight for the starting role in 07.

    CONS- I don't see many significant negatives on this unit of our defense, but none of the players are amazing in pass coverage. We got very few INTs out of our LBs, but a good amount of passes defended. We need those defended passes to turn into interceptions. Keith is a near-perfect OLB, but he does not always take the best angles and sometimes overpursues. While this does not happen often, it would be great if it happened never. At MLB, we just lack experience. Tulloch did not start last year, and is undersized. Ryan Fowler did not play in Dallas, and is switching from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3. Will that switch effect his play? We will have to see.

    GRADE: A

    DBs-Nick Harper, Reynaldo Hill, Cortland Finnegan, Chris Hope, Michael Griffin

    PROS- We have a mixed amount of pros and cons in this unit, but our pros are really positive. Chris Hope proved to be an amazing free agent signing. He led the leam in INTs and was a beast at tackling. He was no doubt a key part of our young defense. Cortland Finnegan is very physical and very fast. He could be a very reliable corner in this league and proved to have the athleticism to play in this league. In his only start, he had 11 tackles and 2 passes defended. He played Nickle for 15 games, and he "worked" there. Michael Griffin has loads of potential and can play CB or S. We will try him at CB because he plays well in man coverage, but if that doesnt work, we could have the next Brian Dawkins at S. Nick Harper is a good CB and should bring veteran leadership to our young secondary. The biggest con, LaMont Thompson, is expected to not start, which improves our secondary by leaps and bounds.

    CONS- Many people incorrectly thought that we needed a CB early in the draft. Whil this wasnt true, we still have some clear negatives at the DB position. 3rd year CB Reynaldo Hill can stick to his man no matter how fast he is, but he just cannot locate the ball in the air or turn his hips to go for a pick. He isnt that bad, just not starting material. Nick Harper has been playing in a Cover 2 in Indy for a while now, and will have to make the transition to a man defense. Pacman Jones is not on the team this year, and that's a negative in itself. Griffin is still a rookie, and looks to have a tough year mentally and physically.

    GRADE: B

    Coaches-HC Jeff Fisher, OC Norm Chow, DC Jim Schwartz

    PROS- Jeff Fisher is one of the best coaching minds in the games. He has been very successful for very long. He is the type of coach who can make a good team out of average players. Fisher is recognized across the NFL world and one of the best with a headset. Norm Chow is a genius when it comes to developing QBs. He pretty much turned Vince from a guy who needs to sit for 2 years into a guy who can play by week 4. Chow is a good OC.

    CONS- Jeff Fisher plays favorites. This was proven when Drew Bennett and LaMont Thompson kept getting the starting job. That is his biggest negative. Norm CHow can't coach with a lead, this was proven in the Indy and Baltimore game, where our offense went to nothing in the 2nd half. This section was pretty much saved for Jim Schwartz. Chief Red Hat (Schwartz) is probably the worst DC in the whole league. He is very predictable and very conservative. We don't blitz a lot and we dont make big time adjustments. The guy needs to be fired, but is kept around because of Fish's favoritism.

    GRADE: B+

    Hope you all enjoyed reading this.
     
  2. LT21Titans27

    LT21Titans27 Tebow Apostle

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    Nice job, pretty in depth
     
  3. The Playmaker

    The Playmaker pineapple pizza party

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    I really liked it.
     
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