dew1679666265

With the style Tennessee plays, I disagree that it would be an embarassment if the Chargers lose. The injuries are all on offense (Roydell and Scaife), so the defense should be fine keeping Tennessee in the game. I could easily see a 10-7 or so SD lead in the fourth, meaning just one play could decide it. The problem will be the Titans making that big offensive play at the end. Justin Gage will be our top receiver tomorrow. Ouch. I didn't mean to say Tennessee can't win. They have an excellent coach, SD is shaky at both QB and coach, and the Titans style should allow them to hang in. But with as poor as this collection of Chargers has been in the playoffs, losing to such a banged up team at home would be quite bad. Ok, I misunderstood. I thought you meant the Titans didn't have a chance on the field and I just couldn't figure out how that makes sense. If the Titans win a close game decided late, I think the Chargers will get off the hook a little. With Vince and his "clutchiness :wink: " at QB, I think there's a decent chance the media will give the Chargers a pass. Now, if the Chargers somehow get blown out (I'd be utterly shocked), then I agree they'll get ripped. Your misunderstanding was my poor writing. It was late; that'll be my excuse. I have a lot of respect for Tennessee/any team coached by Jeff Fischer. But if San Diego loses another home playoff game... We'll share the blame, my reading comprehension is bad at 4 in the morning. :D

With the style Tennessee plays, I disagree that it would be an embarassment if the Chargers lose. The injuries are all on offense (Roydell and Scaife), so the defense should be fine keeping Tennessee in the game. I could easily see a 10-7 or so SD lead in the fourth, meaning just one play could decide it. The problem will be the Titans making that big offensive play at the end. Justin Gage will be our top receiver tomorrow. Ouch. I didn't mean to say Tennessee can't win. They have an excellent coach, SD is shaky at both QB and coach, and the Titans style should allow them to hang in. But with as poor as this collection of Chargers has been in the playoffs, losing to such a banged up team at home would be quite bad. Ok, I misunderstood. I thought you meant the Titans didn't have a chance on the field and I just couldn't figure out how that makes sense. If the Titans win a close game decided late, I think the Chargers will get off the hook a little. With Vince and his "clutchiness :wink: " at QB, I think there's a decent chance the media will give the Chargers a pass. Now, if the Chargers somehow get blown out (I'd be utterly shocked), then I agree they'll get ripped.

Except that the Titans had the Chargers beat just a few weeks ago and the defense held them to below two touchdowns for most of the game. Heading into the fourth quarter, this same Charger team playing today scored 3 points and ended up trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter. The Titans collapsed because of youth and a bad call, but they should have won the first meeting. The Chargers should absolutely be the favorite and will likely win today, but when a defense is as good as the Titans a team will have a lot of trouble winning huge. They could blow the Titans out, but defense is far from the Titans' weakness.

With the style Tennessee plays, I disagree that it would be an embarassment if the Chargers lose. The injuries are all on offense (Roydell and Scaife), so the defense should be fine keeping Tennessee in the game. I could easily see a 10-7 or so SD lead in the fourth, meaning just one play could decide it. The problem will be the Titans making that big offensive play at the end. Justin Gage will be our top receiver tomorrow. Ouch.

I still think Missouri was much more deserving of this spot, but that's the crappy BCS for you. They were. Before tonight there was little reason to believe Kansas could beat a top 15 team. Not that Va Tech isn't a top-15 team, but I think they're near the bottom of that. Sagarin had them fifth, I realize, but only eleventh in the predictor. I find their resume unimpressive for such a highly ranked team; wins at Clemson and Virginia are nice, and they did split with BC. But the ACC is weak (2-6 in bowls I believe, for what that's worth) and Va Tech was destroyed at LSU. We might have found out more about Va Tech in this game than we did Kansas. Edit: But congrats to Kansas, 12-1 and an Orange Bowl victory is quite impressive regardless. This is a very good point - the best team Va Tech played this year demolished them and now they look bad losing to probably the second best team they've played. Not taking anything away from Kansas, though. This is a very good win.

I still think Missouri was much more deserving of this spot, but that's the crappy BCS for you.

Quite my friend. :D

:( This, coupled with Bo Scaife being out for the year, really hurts our chances of even beating San Diego. Our two best receivers are now done for the year (and I'm not 100% sure if Brandon Jones is hurt or just not performing).

Yeah, it's definitely not easy. The key would seem to be tackling well (yes, I know that sounds obvious). Against some teams you can afford to miss a few tackles, but containing Harvin's speed is crucial. I agree with what you said about the general strategy too - that seems to be the best bet. Hopefully Chavis will come up with something next year because I don't look forward to another 50-points put up on us.

I'll admit, I've taken a liking to that strategy after two years of watching them run roughshod over Tennessee. How about a legal, ethical way? :D

michigan didn't give the blueprint - i think everyone already knew the blueprint, and michigan was about the last team to get their hands on it. michigan didnt stop the spread offense. floridas offense was fine. they contained tebow, only to see harvin trash them. florida rolled up 35, + 10 more points that they didnt score because of a missed fg and a blown call by a ref. michigans d wasnt successful. when you blitz like crazy you leave man on the outside and bubble screens can kill you: see florida. Since you watch them so much, Meph, how would you stop the Florida offense? Or do you think there is a way? :wink:

He's been better on the road this regular season, but it's still Eli on the road in a playoff game. He's Rex Grossman with more playing time under his belt. And Giants are not world beaters by any stretch. They nearly gave the Bears a win. They lost to every contender they played this year, with the lone win being early against Washington. Bears really had no business losing that game. I think the Gnats are vulnerable -- but then again, all the NFC teams are vulnerable. Tampa fans support their team well from what I've seen. I see a rocking house down there, and I also see Garcia being able to sidestep that rush more than some other QBs. Also, people are conveniently forgetting there's no Shockey. To me that's a factor. Of course, the fact that the Bucs generally suck on offense is also a factor. Shockey hurts the Giant offense quite a bit, but I think they still have enough weapons (Burress, Jacobs, Bradshaw, Toomer, Smith) to beat the Bucs. They'll have to play well (especially Eli) but they can win. No matter how well they play the next week, though, I think the Shockey loss will be too much for them. The Bucs are a solid team - nothing all that flashy but a lot of good contributors. Joey Galloway should be too old to run, but he's still a legit top receiver. Garcia's still holding up and the running game is decent even without Cadillac. I just think the Giants (at their best) are better than the Bucs. It won't be a blowout, though.

The Titans had the Chargers beat the first time around until a very questionable "catch" by the San Diego receiver (can't remember who now) late in the fourth. Granted, we blew a multi-score lead and are definitely very unlikely to win, but I doubt it'll be an easy win for the Chargers. I'm praying for one win and then beat up on the Patriots so the Colts can beat them in the AFC Championship. That would make me happy. EDIT: Lest I forget, the matchup also features one of the best coaches in the NFL (Fisher) against almost unquestionably the worst (Norv Turner). That might make a difference. Yeah, I watched that game in the regular season (one of the better games this year). Tennessee did give that game away to the Chargers. I think that was the game that really set the Chargers on their way to their strong finish at the end of the season. I really think San Diego has found out what kind of team they are and they actually remembered that they had the best player in the league in their backfield. They would have matched up better against Cleveland (their offense would've scored at least 40), but I still think they match up very well against Tennessee. Plus a San Diego team is due to win a playoff game, right? I do think that it's the safest pick of the week - for whatever that's worth (probably not much). Yeah, they'll most likely win but it just wouldn't surprise me much to see this team win a playoff game. They seem good about winning a game they shouldn't, and then playing like crap the next week. The joy of a young football team I guess.

What's with UCLA fighting for coaches I really want? Trying to steal a current one from the Titans and a prospective one from the Vols. What do ya'll have against the state of Tennessee? We never did anything to you. :wink:

And I pick Seattle, Jacksonville, NYG and the Chargers (could come down to the last seconds).

The Titans had the Chargers beat the first time around until a very questionable "catch" by the San Diego receiver (can't remember who now) late in the fourth. Granted, we blew a multi-score lead and are definitely very unlikely to win, but I doubt it'll be an easy win for the Chargers. I'm praying for one win and then beat up on the Patriots so the Colts can beat them in the AFC Championship. That would make me happy. EDIT: Lest I forget, the matchup also features one of the best coaches in the NFL (Fisher) against almost unquestionably the worst (Norv Turner). That might make a difference.

Young does not compare to Vick. Vick's name was everywhere for 2 years. Young's only appeared late in his last year. You don't think Young's name was out there after his amazing Rose Bowl performance the year before? The fact that he was one of the leading Heisman candidates from the beginning of his last year? I think it was quite the opposite. Vick wasn't a household name until mid-way through the season that he went to the title game. Young was a huge name the day he ran all over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, and then just continued to get bigger through his national title game winning season until it culminated in his huge win over USC (in a game that a lot more people cared about than the title game that Vick was in). No way. It wasn't even close. Vick was everywhere. He was the first next big thing. He was gong to revolutionize the position. Young had an amazing last game that vaulted him up draft boards, but before that he was not in the picture in terms of marketable QB talents. Even since being draft high, he's been a Madden cover boy and nothing else. There's been story after story about disappointments, but he's in a backwater NFL town, even in comparison to Vick, and he's quickly fallen off the marketability stage. It's not even close to the Vick story. Young is more like Daunte Culpepper with a better college story. Young was all over ESPN the year before the National Title game. I followed him because I knew the Titans needed a QB and he was the style Fisher liked (athletic, very high potential). I wasn't sold at all on him even after the first Rose Bowl, but his junior year sold him on me. He was huge before the National Title game and very had very Vick-like marketability after it.

That's an odd sentence. It was expected for him to be bad, hence the strong running game. What does that even mean. I think he meant that the Titans built the team around the strong running game, including spending 2 2nd round picks the last 2 years on runningbacks because they knew that Vince was going to struggle. I think it makes a little more sense to assume they spent 2 2nd rounders on RB the past 2 years because they wanted those 2 RBs. I doubt they made a plan 2 years ago to draft Vince Young really early and then put all the attention on the running game because they knew he'd suck. CCP is correct - that was awful wording on my part. And goony, the plan was to draft Vince and put together a strong running game and defense - much like the Titans had in early days of Steve McNair. Vince has the ability to be great one day, but it was pretty clear he was going to struggle immediately. Thus, the idea of spending consecutive second round picks (though I still have issues with taking Chris Henry that high) on running backs - an attempt to take the focus of the offense off Vince and the passing game while still having the ability to win. Also, I think Eddie George had a role to play in taking two RBs early. He was the focus of the offense for years and wore down much earlier than the Titans would have liked because of the workload. Now, there are two tailbacks to carry the load (three this year with Chris Brown) which ought to keep guys healthier.

They must have a heck of a running game and defense. Yep. It's all about managing games with this team. LenDale White is over 1,100 yards rushing and as a team the Titans are over 2,100 yards. Vince also has a 62.3 completion percentage and hasn't had a lot of help from a young group of receivers. He hasn't been good this year, but just looking at his raw TD:INT numbers is a little deceiving. If the Titans had a consistently good receiver for him to throw to, his numbers wouldn't be nearly as bad. He'll be fine given some time. Like CCP said, it was expected for him to be bad this year (hence the strong running game). The defense is also excellent, allowing more than 21 points just six times this year and giving up just 18 points per game.

It is almost official that Spence will remain at Clemson, and that only solidifies the belief that Kippy has accepted the OC job at Tennessee. We still need a RB coach, QB coach, and TE coach. One of those will likely be the recruiting coordinator. Joe Whitt, Jr's name keeps getting mentioned, though he has primarily been a DB coach. Not sure that he'll transition to the offensive side of the ball, and unless Slade is fired/quits, there is no room on defense. We shall see. Thanks for the update Hosak. I'm pretty happy with the idea of Kippy Brown - apparently he was a pretty good recruiter when he was on Tennessee's staff previously, do you know anything about his recruiting ability. Oh my. Martz will be fired by the Lions, and Kipy will become the new OC, according to the LA Times. The coach that Fulmer interviewed in Tampa last night is former Michigan OC MIke Debord. Stay tuned. This soap opera is just getting good. The Lions are firing Mike Martz and promoting Kippy Brown? Holy cow, that changes everything it seems. Also, I'm not sure I like the idea of Debord - though I'll admit I don't know a ton about him. Any Michigan fans care to expound on him? Also Hosak, thanks a lot for the updates. I really appreciate you keeping me up to date.

It is almost official that Spence will remain at Clemson, and that only solidifies the belief that Kippy has accepted the OC job at Tennessee. We still need a RB coach, QB coach, and TE coach. One of those will likely be the recruiting coordinator. Joe Whitt, Jr's name keeps getting mentioned, though he has primarily been a DB coach. Not sure that he'll transition to the offensive side of the ball, and unless Slade is fired/quits, there is no room on defense. We shall see. Thanks for the update Hosak. I'm pretty happy with the idea of Kippy Brown - apparently he was a pretty good recruiter when he was on Tennessee's staff previously, do you know anything about his recruiting ability.

Good point on Jones and Briscoe, but Ainge really seems to rely on Lucas and when he's been injured earlier this year, the offense has struggled which worries me. With McCoy, we've got nice depth to absorb his loss and the D-line has improved greatly the past couple weeks allowing the linebackers to make plays. I'm confused. Are you saying Spence would be bad, or that he's not a popular choice? All I've heard about Spence has been positive and everywhere he's been he's produced a good offense. I've heard that Slade may be on his way out, and wouldn't mind it terribly. Hadn't heard a thing about Chief, are you hearing that he'll retire or head somewhere else? I expected the loss of Trooper to hurt current players and potential recruits, since he was easily our best recruiter. Yeah, it sucks that all this turnover has happened just as we were looking extremely strong for next year. I don't understand the lack of faith in Fulmer though. I like to look at track record with coaches, and Fulmer has brought in Taylor, Cutcliffe, Chavis, Adkins, etc. in his career. That's a strong group of coaches. Probably his only biggest mistake was Randy Sanders, but it's hard to know beforehand that a terrific QB coach won't be able to handle OC duties. That really sucks. I don't understand it either, because another strong year (which is likely with the rest of the team probably much better next year) would possibly vault him into the top 2 rounds. Not sure that's where he's headed now. By the way, do you frequent a message board for UT? If so, I'd be interested to know since I haven't been able to find a good Vols or Titans message board (of course, my comparison is with NSBB and that's probably not fair :D )

I disagree Hosak. Taylor and Cutcliffe will both coach in the bowl game and I assume the other two (Matt Luke and Kurt Roper? I haven't heard) will as well. The real losses are Bolden and McCoy, though I don't think the two of them are the difference in the game. Lucas Taylor being gone hurts more, in my opinion. By the way, have you heard anything on the coordinator front? Last I heard we were going to interview Rob Spence of Clemson. That was Friday I believe.

Hope that's not Belkast's sources. :wink:

:D \:D/ =D> Finally! After losing two coaches at UT in the past week (Cutcliffe and Trooper Taylor) it's nice to know Chow will be back with the Titans next year. Now to get Kippy Brown in Knoxville and pray he can convince Terrelle Pryor that Tennessee is the right place.