Tuesday's Top Five: Titans on Top
The Tennessee Titans have made it this far. At the halfway point of the season, they’re 8-0 and looking strong. They came within an overtime field goal of losing to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, but the question remains, are the Titans really the NFL’s best team?
Tuesday’s Top Five is the top five reasons they are:
5. They’re only going to get better as the weather gets worse. The Titans are a classic run-and-defend operation. They don’t have any high-flying aerial fireworks to be disrupted by winter snow and wind — not with Kerry Collins throwing the ball.
They hold onto the ball on offense and get it back quickly on defense, leading the NFL in turnover margin at plus-10.
4. Underrated linebackers like Stephen Tulloch (N.C. State) and David Thornton (North Carolina) have given Tennessee a quick, aggressive, follow-up punch behind an excellent defensive line.
3. The Titans really haven’t beaten anybody — only one of their eight wins is over a team with a winning record — but their schedule doesn’t get much tougher, either. Their remaining opponents are a combined 28-35 (not counting the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game Monday night).
That should keep the Titans healthy (and happy) down the stretch.
2. Turns out Chris Johnson is just as effective in the NFL as he was at East Carolina. The speedy back plays Mr. Outside to LenDale White’s Mr. Inside, and he’s shown an ability to break big runs as well as be an effective part of the passing game.
He’s the front-runner as the league’s offensive rookie of the year.
1. Collins may not excite anybody as a quarterback, but it should be remembered that there’s a long list of vanilla (or worse) quarterbacks with Super Bowl appearances: Rex Grossman, Brad Johnson, Trent Dilfer — and Collins himself, eight years ago.
He’s playing a similar role this year to what he did for the New York Giants in 2000, when he handed off to Tiki Barber before throwing four picks in the Super Bowl. He may not get the Titans to the playoffs, but he won’t keep them out, either.
About the blogger
Luke has worked for The N&O since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist in August 2008. A native of Evanston, Ill., he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be reached at 829-8947 or luke.decock@newsobserver.com.