Tag: Tennessee Titans (Page 9 of 40)

NFL Week 9 COY power rankings

This is another list that keeps evolving from week to week, because every week there is at least one upset, and usually more like three upsets.

1. Raheem Morris, Tampa Bay Bucs—Let’s be honest, the Bucs were maybe the worst team in football a year ago. This season, Morris has them believing they could be Super Bowl bound.

2. Todd Haley, Kansas City—Another fantastic turnaround job, especially on defense.

3. Tom Cable, Oakland Raiders—The Raiders haven’t been this relevant since 2002. Remember when this dude was on the hot seat for about a year?

4. Steve Spagnuolo, St. Louis Rams—More wins this year (4) than in the previous two seasons combined (3) and with a good chance to actually win the division.

5. Tom Coughlin, New York Giants—The G-men began 1-2 and looked like bumbling idiots. Then the players and fans rallied around their coach and won five straight.

6. Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans—In a small market, you lose players to free agency a lot, but this dude keeps getting the most out of his roster.

7. Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles—Everyone knows the Eagles are better with Mike Vick at QB and Big Andy is a common sense dude.

8. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh—It’s like he had you, me, Ryan Leaf and Tim Couch start the first four games; and came out 3-1 before getting Big Ben back.

9. Mike McCarthy, Green Bay—The Packers were hemorrhaging players, but McCarthy never gave up on the season. Now they’re on top in the NFC North.

10. Mike Smith, Atlanta Falcons—His team is rock solid on offense and defense, and just pulled out a huge win against a tough Baltimore team.

Kenny Britt to miss 6-8 weeks?

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt (18) reaches out to try and catch a pass, as San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver (27) watches, in the first half of their NFL football game in San Diego, California October 31, 2010.   REUTERS/Mike Blake (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

Pundits thought that one of the reasons why the Titans put a claim in for Randy Moss was because Kenny Britt’s hamstring injury would sideline him for a good chunk of the season.

Apparently they were right.

Citing a league source, Terry McCormick of Titans Insider is reporting that Britt could miss the next 6-8 weeks. Jeff Fisher sounded optimistic recently about Britt’s hamstring injury but if McCormick’s report is true, the Titans will be without their top wideout for most of the second half.

The Titans better get Randy Moss up to speed quickly because if he can’t make an impact out of the gates next week (the team has a bye this Sunday), defenses will continue to load up the box to stop Chris Johnson. It remains to be seen how motivated Moss will be to play for Tennessee, which is a serious playoff contender but certainly not in the same realm as the Patriots.

Titans claim Randy Moss off waivers

Minnesota Vikings Randy Moss raises his hand during warm-ups before the game against the New York Jets in week 5 of the NFL season at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on October 11, 2010.   UPI /John Angelillo Photo via Newscom

The Titans have claimed Randy Moss off waivers from the Vikings according to Jim Wyatt via his Twitter page. They were also the only team to put in a claim on the troublemaker.

The only thing that remains to be seen is if the Titans are good enough to acquire Moss’ services. Earlier in the day, Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald reported that the receiver would be willing to sit out the remainder of the season if he dislikes the team that claims him. He apparently wants a ring and won’t allow a little thing like self respect get in the way of what he wants most in life.

If you haven’t picked up on my distaste for Moss (it’s more of his attitude than him as a player) in the first two paragraphs, let me lay it on a little thicker for you: I hope he doesn’t want to play for Tennessee and he winds up sitting out the rest of the year. Then, in protest of his attitude, none of the 32 teams pick up the phone and call him this offseason.

But that’s not going to happen. Even at his age, he’s too talented for teams to stay away, although I find it interesting that the Titans were the only ones to put a claim in.

If does he report, he’ll make Chris Johnson even more lethal because teams won’t be able to stack the box and leave their corners on an island with Tennessee’s receivers. Moss is too good not to at least have a safety shading to his side, so CJ might see some open running lanes.

This of course doesn’t bode well for Kenny Britt’s hamstring injury. He won’t play in Week 10 when the Titans come back from their bye and if the team thought he could return shortly thereafter, there would be no sense in claiming Moss. They’re 30th in pass attempts per game and obviously their commitment is to getting Johnson the ball, so if Britt was healthy I imagine they would have taken a pass on Moss.

We’ll see how this all turns out. But given that it’s Randy Moss, it probably won’t be pretty.

NFL Week 7 MVP, COY and ROY power rankings

Raise your hand if you can figure out this NFL season. Yeah, that’s what I thought. A few hands went up in Pittsburgh, a couple in New England, and a few more in New York/New Jersey. Choosing players and coaches who might be in line for postseason awards is even more difficult to grasp, but we’ll give it another shot here….


MVP Power Rankings

1. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—His team is 4-2 and a contender in the tough AFC. But more than that, Manning leads the NFL with a 103.4 QB rating—319.3 yards per game passing, 13 touchdown passes and just 2 picks. The guy is once again dominant, and he’ll continue to make life miserable for opposing coordinators.

2. Roddy White, Atlanta Falcons—The Falcons are 5-2 and one of the top teams in a wide-open NFC, and this guy is probably the biggest reason why. He busted on to this list by catching 11 passes for 201 yards and 2 scores against Cincinnati last Sunday—a whopping 18.3 yards per catch. I’m really not sure how you defend this dude, who keeps making us open our mouths wide with some acrobatic grabs and pure athleticism.

3. Ahmad Bradshaw, New York Giants—Don’t look now, but the NFL has a new leading rusher (708 yards). He’s short (listed as 5’9” but probably more like 5’8” with a heel lift), and extremely hard to bring down. Now that he’s healthy and listed as the starter for the 5-2 Giants, Bradshaw is taking over, running behind a good O-line, but also making plays happen in the open field himself, and making guys twice his size miss. If he could only just stop fumbling (four times in seven games)….

Honorable mention: Clay Matthews, Green Bay Packers; Antonio Gates, San Diego Chargers; Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles; LaDainian Tomlinson, New York Jets; Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers; Osi Umenyiora, New York Giants; Arian Foster, Houston Texans; James Harrison, Pittsburgh Steelers; Jerod May, New England Patriots

Coach of the Year Power Rankings

1. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers—Sure, the Steelers got lucky with that fumble-non-recovery thing against Miami last week. But Mike Tomlin has his team ranked at or near the top in everyones’ power rankings. The man knows how to win, no matter who is under center—but with Big Ben there, and with a healthy Polamalu and another defender (James Harrison) who almost retired because the league told him to stop hitting guys so hard, there isn’t a doubt anywhere that the Steelers will go deep into the postseason.

2. Tom Coughlin, New York Giants—I’m gonna be a homer here, but you can’t not give credit to a coach who brings his team off of life support after three games, and then has them on top of the NFC by winning four straight. This, despite a team that ranks near the bottom of the NFL with a minus-five turnover differential—thanks to 10 fumbles lost and 11 picks. And also despite all those Bill Cowher rumors a month ago. The bottom line? The players have his back, and the defense is now playing lights-out under first-year coordinator Perry Fewell.

3. Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans—At some point you just have to bring Fisher, the longest tenured NFL coach, into the conversation, because he brings his team to play every week. Last season, the Titans started 0-6 and ended up 8-8 and almost in the playoffs. This year, his feisty bunch is 5-2 and in first place in the AFC South. They’re never out of any game no matter who is at QB, and Chris Johnson hasn’t even begun to catch fire yet.

Honorable mention: Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks; Raheem Morris, Tampa Bay Bucs; Todd Haley, Kansas City Chiefs; Rex Ryan, New York Jets; Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles, Steve Spagnuolo, St. Louis Rams; Bill Belichick, New England Patriots; Mike Smith, Atlanta Falcons.

Rookie of the Year Power Rankings

1. Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys—I’m just glad my Giants won that game on Monday night, because this dude almost stole the show all by himself with three touchdowns—2 receiving and 1 on a punt return. He’s ridiculously explosive and has all-around scary talent. I mean, is it too early to call Dez a future Hall of Famer? Probably, but in 15 years, don’t forget that I just said that.

2. Ndamukong Suh, Detroit Lions—Opposing offenses were able to breathe easy last week with this beast on bye. Today, Donovan McNabb will get to know him a bit better.

3. Sam Bradford, St. Louis Rams—Even last week in a losing effort, two of Sam’s 13 completions were for touchdowns, and he’s on pace for 20 TD tosses. Not bad for a rookie.

Honorable mention: Jahvid Best, Detroit Lions; Max Hall, Arizona Cardinals; Rolando McClain, Oakland Raiders; Jermaine Gresham, Cincinnati Bengals

Kenny Britt has a decent day vs. Eagles

NASHVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 3: Kenny Britt #18 of the Tennessee Titans runs with the ball in warmups against the Green Bay Packers during a preseason NFL game at LP Field on September 3, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans beat the Packers 27-13. (Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images)

If Kenny Britt plays as well every week as he did on Sunday against the Eagles, then maybe Jeff Fisher won’t mind if the young lad got into more bar fights.

Just two days after he was accused of striking a man in a brawl, Britt hauled in seven catches for 225 yards and three touchdowns in the Titans’ 37-19 win over the Eagles. He abused Ellis Hobbs and the rest of Philly’s secondary, which had looked so good last week against the Falcons.

Britt clearly has the talent to be a star in this league, but he needs to stay out of Fisher’s doghouse so that he can stay on the field and receive opportunities. He wasn’t charged or arrested in the fight on Friday morning, but that doesn’t mean he’ll face further punishment (he was benched at the start of the game on Sunday). Maybe his effort today will motivate him to stay out of trouble and focus his attention to football and football only.

As for the rest of the Titans, this was an impressive win coming off a dominating effort over the Jaguars on Monday night. If they can pick up a win next Sunday at San Diego, then they can head into their bye week with a 6-2 record. That wouldn’t be a bad start.

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