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Have the Titans caught up in the AFC South?

By Drexel Perry | June 12th, 2008

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With all due respect to the NFC East, which also landed three teams in the postseason, including the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, the AFC South was debatably the toughest division in the NFL in 2008.

The Titans, Jags, Colts and Texans combined for a cumulative record of 42-22, slightly better than the total of the NFC East’s teams (40-24). Like the NFC East, the AFC South did not have a team with a losing record.

The goal of Titan management this offseason was to bring in talent that would allow them to surpass the likes of the Colts and the Jags in the battle for AFC South supremacy.

Have the Titans done enough to improve upon their third-place finish in the AFC South last year, or will next season be a continuation of Colt-dominance in the league’s toughest division?

Playing in a division that consists of the presence of Peyton Manning, it’s paramount for the Titans and fellow AFC South competitors to have a strong running game that keeps Manning on the sidelines.

Ball control is the name of the game in the AFC South, as evidenced by the powerful running attacks of the Titans and the Jags (sorry Houston, but the combination of a brittle Chris Brown and an aging/injured Ahman Green does not scare anyone).

Adding Chris Johnson to the backfield should be a huge positive for a Titan team that relies heavily on smash mouth football. The combination of White and Johnson should give Tennessee a rushing attack akin to the Jags’ duo of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.

On the defensive side of the football, the Titans are hoping that an old face and a few new ones will provide a pass rush that will cause nightmares for Manning, David Garrard and Matt Schaub.

If healthy, Kearse should enjoy chasing Manning around outside of the pocket like he did during his first tenure with the Titans. Jason Jones and William Hayes are untested, but talented rookies who should see some playing time in the Titans’ defensive end rotation.

The Colts are only two years removed from being the world champs and the Jaguars have been anointed by media pundits as this offseason’s flavor of the month. Thus, the Titans are in the familiar underdog role as they attempt to qualify for the playoffs for the second year in a row.

In a division where the margin of error is extremely thin, the Titans should not be counted out in the battle for the AFC South crown.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 8:42 am and is filed under 2008 Offseason, Offseason, Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

17 Responses to “Have the Titans caught up in the AFC South?”

I.jason says:

June 12th, 2008 at 10:37 am

Er, Drex? 40-22? Did the NFC East play two fewer games, or did I miss a tie last year?

Also, The Jags have been the favorite “sleeper” pick to make the Super Bowl (or at least do serious playoff damage) at the beginning of each of the last 4 seasons - or so it seems, anyway.

As far as making up ground, I dunno. The Jags made some big off-season moves, shaking up personnel and (apparently) some philosophy. Houston is Houston, but then again, Indy is Indy, so those two kinda offset.

The Titans didn’t appear to get significantly better in the passing game. I think there are three factors that will determine whether or not the Titans have “caught up.”

1) Will CJ, as a rookie, make a significant impact?
2) Dinger’s Offense/VY’s maturation within it
3) The D-Line

Best case scenario:

‘Dinger’s adjustments to VY’s footwork make him a more accurate passer, and his play calling creates a “three-headed monster” in the backfield, with defenses unable to double-team anyone because of having to assign a spy to keep VY from running, and choose between Crumpler and CJ to assign the nickel safety (linebacker’s to slow, nickel CB is to small) to cover. This will then allow Vince to throw to whichever one is left open, or simply pull the ball down and run if they somehow both get covered. The need to have faster people on the field to minimize the damage from that set will allow LenDale to pile up a 4+ yard/carry average by bowling over the smaller opponents who are too fast for him to run away from. The receivers will again be serviceable, but not spectacular, because that’s all we’ll need from them. The D-line, led by Big Al and KVB, will wreak havoc on opposing offenses, and a rejuvenated Freak will knock Manning out of at least one game. The young guys behind the starters will step up and keep the pressure on, so drops offs will be at a minimum as the line rotates. Hope is fully recovered, and our embarrassment of riches at the safety position leads to unique and effective coverages that, with the help from the D-line’s pressure make the CBs look like ball hawks. Of course, it goes without saying that the LBs will own the middle of the field.

Worst case: CJ, as a rookie will be asked to do too much. WR is the second hardest spot for a rookie to make an impact, because of the mental adjustments, as well as the extended season, and the better competition at CB. CJ will have to not only learn the RB spot, but much of the WR responsibilities as well, which will overload him and lead to mistakes. He’s also likely to “hit the wall” somewhere around game 10. Even while he’s at his best, he will not be the playmaker that “opens up the offense” for the WRs, because everyone in the NFL was already stacking against the run and the short dump-off when playing the Titans last year, and the WRs weren’t getting it done then, either. Dinger’s offense will be difficult for VY and the offensive players to grasp fully this year (as is usually the case when a new OC comes in), and mistakes in the first half of the season will result in too deep of a hole for the team to climb out of in the second half, especially with the rookies having “hit the wall” by then. Albert’s holdout will result in an injury from lack of conditioning, the Freak will be the Philly version of himself, and the D-line will be unable to get the pass rush this defense so badly needs to be effective. Hope isn’t the player he was before the injury, and Griff has a “sophomore slump,” leaving the cornerbacks exposed, and requiring more “zone” play, which leaves the LBs exposed against the run.

In reality, it’s likely to fall somewhere in the middle, but I’m thinking it’s more likely to be on the good side than the bad.
Drexel Perry says:

June 12th, 2008 at 10:43 am

l.jason,

You didn’t miss any ties last year nor did the NFC East play fewer games: the combined record for those teams was 40-24, and its been corrected in the post.

Thanks for pointing that out. My bad.

As for next season, we’re going to see right away where the Titans stand in their first game of the season against the Jags.
Dave says:

June 12th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

1st game of the season means nothing…Chris Brown ran his rear off in the first game last year, what did he do after that?
Drexel Perry says:

June 12th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Dave,

Chris Brown didn’t do much after that, but the Titans as a team went on to have a playoff year.

Early season games can set the tone for the rest of the season in some instances.

Going up against a division rival at home, with a Gregg Williams-led Jaguar defense is going to let us know where the Titans and the Jags are at.

In terms of the competitive nature of the AFC South, divisional games are a must, whether at the start of the season or at the end.

I’m looking forward to the week one matchup.
Tim McClellan says:

June 12th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Have they caught up in the AFC South?

Nope.
Dave says:

June 12th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

Drex, Your point is exactly mine. We handed the Jags their butts in game one of last year. They to went on to the play-offs and a better record. I look forward to the match up also and love a win, especially in the division, but I won’t give up all hope should we lose that game, either.
Drexel Perry says:

June 12th, 2008 at 4:49 pm

We’re on the same page, Dave. Hope shouldn’t be lost if the Titans do in fact lose the game, but a victory would be sweet and would serve as a nice springboard for the beginning of AFC South play.

Tim,

Thanks for stopping by. With you being one of our resident Jaguar writers at MVN, I’m curious to know why you think the Titans haven’t caught up to the Jags and the Colts in the battle for the AFC South.
David H. says:

June 12th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

I don’t care whose toes I step on but I seriously believe that the Jags are overrated. Yeah I said it…OVERATED!!!!!! I believe that until somebody knocks Indy off, it’s the Colts and it’s everybody else. Since 2003 Indy has one the division like 5 years in a row. Jacksonville is our equal as far as I’m concerned and Houston, don’t get me started. I know there still a relatively new franchise but they have a long way to go. They do have a defense that’s getting nastier each year though.

Speaking of Houston, Jacksonville should worry about Houston not Indy. Houston gives the Jags more than they can handle every year. They give us our share of headaches too, don’t get me wrong but, since the AFC south’s inception in 2002, Houston has a 7-5 record over the Fags, oops I mean Jags. Meanwhile, our record over the Texans is 9-2. If this team is so good, why do they (or should I say), why have they struggled against the worst team in our division??? Other than Indy we are the only team to win a division title. US!!!!! Not the Fags (oops I’m sorry) Jags or the lowly just reaching 8-8 Texans. So in answer to your question Drex, no we have not caught up. Until we silence Indy like the glory days of 2002 we’re all still playing catch up.
Harrison says:

June 13th, 2008 at 6:51 am

David H. hit the nail on the head. Good post my man.
barry stricklin says:

June 13th, 2008 at 9:00 am

well,if i remember the titans finished 10-6 thats really good ,plus they drafted chris johnson who can fly , also lendale fixed that minescus in his knee ,so now he will be even better, oh, talk about the titans , we would not be a team if you guys did not .
jerry t says:

June 13th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Titans have to prove they belong in such a class elite
keep improving every year want get it done, win a play
-off game or win our divison like indy.
Dave says:

June 13th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

I personally think Indy is at the end of their “run”. Jax is a good team, but I’m not overly worried about them, either. As long as we at least split the games between Indy and Jax and, of course, beat Houston twice, I think we will be in position to possibly win this division. If that should occur, I think that’ll be quite an indication as to where we stand amongst the elite. The AFC South is probably the best division in football and winning it would be a terrific star to what I think could be a lengthy playoff run.
Matt says:

June 14th, 2008 at 1:46 am

we’re third in the division and falling to fourth if our quarterback play doesn’t improve.

yeah, we ran the ball really well in the first game against the jags last year. i swear chris brown took the same sidestep in the same counter play 10 times and broke it every one. but we would not have won if mercedes lewis and jones-drew hadn’t hooked up on that freak fumble.

our defense rocks, but indy’s solid and jax will survive without stroud. plus houston’s front four is really coming together with super mario.

take into account that manning is still the best qb in the league (arguably with brady), garrard doesn’t throw picks, and if matt schaub can stay on his feet, he could be in for a breakout year (and he throws to andre johnson).

we will never catch up in this division until someone starts throwing some td passes.
jrtitans says:

June 14th, 2008 at 2:45 am

We are officially “caught up” when we beat Indy in the first game with them–not the last where they dont need it.
J.D. says:

June 15th, 2008 at 5:43 am

Indy is ripe for the picking. Look for Peyton to spend a lot of time horizontal this year. We’ll call it the ‘Cat Nap’, because the Jags our gonna put him on his back! I can’t wait for game one, to me, the Titans are the Jags greatest rivals. We just need to knock the bully Colts off the top. Then we can get into order: Jags, Titans, Colts, and Texans. Sorry, Houston, you’re the step-brother.
Tim McClellan says:

June 20th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

Drexel, I don’t think you’ve got a QB that’s going to take you to the next level. Simple as that. I know Titan fans love Vince Young, but I’ve never been even remotely impressed with him. I am interested to see what kind of progress he makes in the new offense.

Regarding the first game against the Jags last year, I think you guys need to put that into perspective. That was not the standard. That was the exception. The Jaguars struggled early on with stopping the run, but quickly sealed that issue up.

It was the first game with David Garrard as the starter. The team was still reeling from the move to cut their starting QB 9 days prior. There was a lot of trouble in the locker room leading up to that game as a result of that decision because Byron had a lot of support from his teammates. That game served as a wake up call for the team, and they stepped up after that. The game in Tennessee should confirm that.

I think the division as a whole is going to be the most competitive one in the league. I think that Jacksonville, Houston, and Tennessee have made strides to improve, and they’re all focused on attacking the weakness of the Colts. I think that Jacksonville was probably a little ahead of the other teams in the division in where they are at in their progress, and they’ve only gotten better this off season.

I think things have tightened up, but I don’t think Tennessee is quite there yet. You don’t really know what you’ve got in your running game at this point. Your quarterback is learning a new offensive system. The team didn’t really make any major upgrades at the WR position.

Just a lot of question marks there to be answered. I don’t think the team has quite gotten up to the level that the Jaguars have. After watching them practice in minicamp, this Jaguar team is going to be difficult to deal with for any team, particularly in the division. Should be a fun year.
Drexel Perry says:

June 20th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

Tim,

Thanks for dropping by with your thoughts.

Young had his struggles last year, I’m not going to disagree with you on that. However, I think the return of Heimerdinger is going to allow him the freedom to play to the strengths of his game. I anticipate Dinger doing a better job than his predecessor, Norm Chow, at putting Vince in the situations where he can thrive the most, such as more rollouts which utilize his mobility more.

Sure, Jacksonville stepped up in last year’s victory against Tennessee but the absence of Albert Haynesworth was definitely a factor in what transpired that day.

Jacksonville’s done some good things in the offseason. Bringing in former titan/redskin d-coordinator Gregg Williams was the biggest move made by you guys in the offseason, IMO.

I’m not too sold on the Jerry Porter acquisition, due to the inconsistent nature of his play over the last few years, despite having a ton of god-given talent.

Regardless of how next year shapes up, I expect a war at LP Field during week one between the two franchises we write about.

Next year should be a blast.