Titans @ Chargers Wild Card Weekend: What They're Saying

by Jimmy on Jan 4, 2008 12:35 PM CST in Tennessee Titans News

John Clayton of ESPN.com calls this game the best one of the weekend:

Titans players call Sunday's playoff game (4:30 p.m. ET, CBS) more a grudge match than a rematch. We call it the best game of the NFL's Wild Card Weekend. These are two heavyweights fueled by adrenaline in a sudden-death format. It's the NFL's version of "Smackdown."

Michael David Smith of FOX Sports.com ranks the 12 teams in order of quarterback play. This not really a surprise to me, he ranked the Titans 12th:

As a rookie in 2006, Vince Young looked like one of the league's bright young stars. But this season he's shown no signs at all of taking the next step toward being a great player, and a lingering quadriceps injury seems to have slowed him down.

Considering the way Young is playing, and considering how effective backup Kerry Collins was when Young missed time with injuries, Titans coach Jeff Fisher might want to consider putting Collins in for a couple of series in the playoffs, both to open up the Titans' passing game and to force opposing defenses to adapt to the differences in stopping Young's mobility and Collins' pocket-passing precision. That's unlikely to happen, though, and Young is likely to struggle to a first-round playoff loss.

Keep this in mind, though: Quarterbacks are remembered for the way they play in the biggest games, and Young played one of the best games in college football history in the Rose Bowl two years ago, when he led No. 2 Texas to an upset of No. 1 USC. If Young could play well enough for the Titans to pull off a couple of even bigger upsets -- against the Chargers in the first round of the playoffs and then against the Patriots in the second -- he'll have a reputation as one of football's great big-game quarterbacks, at the age of 24.

Fox's Mike Tainer did a lot of research before posting his article and picking the Chargers:

Expect another slugfest on Sunday. The Titans have a defense full of hitters: Bulluck, Vanden Bosch, Haynesworth, safety Chris Hope and others. The Chargers have Merriman and company, and they developed a boxer's mentality during their six-game winning streak. "Its hard to see 11-5 when you're 5-5, but we were able to do it," Rivers said after another black-and-blue win against the Raiders on Sunday. "It's been a heck of a year to this point, but we found out last year 14-2 isn't very fulfilling when you lose a playoff game, so we need to keep it going." Both teams have good ground games, but there's a big gap between LaDainian Tomlinson and Tennessee's Henry/Brown combination. And while the Titans rank first in defensive DVOA, we'll take our chances with Merriman's Chargers, especially when facing an enigma at quarterback (or Kerry Collins if the enigma is sidelined).

Hey Mike, Chris Hope is on IR and has been for about a month.

NFL.com's Pat Kirwan has a good list of the key match-ups in the game and picks the Chargers:

Last season all four road teams lost on Wild-Card Weekend. San Diego fired Marty Schottenheimer last year after a 14-2 season because the team didn't win a playoff game. There is a lot of pressure on the whole Chargers organization. With Castillo back on defense, raising the number of touches for Tomlinson and hitting Chambers when Gates is covered should bring a victory to the city of San Diego.

Who remembers the last time everyone in the world was picking against Vince in a win or go home game? I know this isn't college, but I have a feeling Vince can still really play with that chip on his shoulder. Hopefully that chip will put him back in playmaking mode instead of prove he is a passer mode.

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Comments

Hey Mike,

you suck at your job. Henry/Brown combo. Where does Lendale White fit in that combo?

by Big Bad Bulluck on Jan 4, 2008 1:06 PM CST reply actions

I must have stopped reading....

....before I got to that.

The sad thing is that guy gets paid to write that nonsense.

Titans Blogger at Music City Miracles

by Jimmy on Jan 4, 2008 1:11 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah well,

I'm going to apply for his job.

by Big Bad Bulluck on Jan 4, 2008 1:14 PM CST up reply actions

Maybe...

He's assuming The Round Mound is out because of missed practices, and wrote this before it was announced that it was due to his grandmother.

by hartley on Jan 6, 2008 12:49 AM CST up reply actions

Also Vince is better

than Rivers, Manning, and T.Collins.

Rivers Sucks! Vince would own the world in that offence. I can dump passes to L.T.!

Vince in NYG Offense- Plaxico/Shockey/Toomer/S.Smith- Vince could use them

Todd Collins- Are you kidding?

This doesn't suprise me either. But I'm not suprised with anything anymore.

by Big Bad Bulluck on Jan 4, 2008 1:13 PM CST reply actions

GGGRRRRRRRRRRR

This whole week has been a clinic on just how F**king uneducated today's football writers are: All they do is read each other's hack-columns, change the adjectives, and throw it out there.

If any of these idiots had watched 1/2 of the Titans games this year they wouldn't be dismissing us wholesale, but I guess there's no glory in knowing a damned thing about football when you can make huge bank just giving Farve and Manning fluff jobs everyweek... just ask Peter King.

It's depressing how inaccurate and ill-thought-through the national reporting on this game has been all week.

My name is August West, and I love my Pearly Baker best, more than my wine

by August West on Jan 4, 2008 1:57 PM CST reply actions

Don't forget Brady!

He likes to blow Brady!

Go Titans!

by gramsey712 on Jan 4, 2008 2:04 PM CST up reply actions

Do you know?

How much more inteligent the conversation is on this site compared to Titansonline? Wow. Night and day.

by Houston Titan on Jan 4, 2008 2:43 PM CST reply actions

It's usually

much better than my last comment, though.

It's just frustrating that some yankee coffee-drinking weirdo can type "Tom Brady is a good quarterback" over and over and get paid for it.

I missed my calling.

Go Titans!

by gramsey712 on Jan 4, 2008 3:00 PM CST up reply actions

Y'know, VY is hardly the only QB that gets trashed

all the time. I mean, the crap they've been saying about Eli Manning is a shame, and his numbers have been pretty good this year. Granted, he's not his brother, but he's been in the League for what, 4 years? And I think this is his 3rd playoff appearance. That's not too shaby.

The guy who sucks unbelievably is Phillip Rivers. You give ANY other QB in the playoffs the cast that he plays with, and they'd have gone 16-0 just like the Patriots.

DannoE

Go read FRIDAY MAD SCIENCE at www.paperbackreader.com
Thanks!

by DannoE on Jan 4, 2008 2:55 PM CST reply actions

Don't think of it as...

..."What would VY have done if he'd had the Chargers' skill position players?" Think of it as "What would the Titans have done with Rivers at QB?"

Answer: All the INTs, none of the scramble yards, and none of the run support from having to spy a mobile QB. Yikes!

DannoE

Go read FRIDAY MAD SCIENCE at www.paperbackreader.com
Thanks!

by DannoE on Jan 4, 2008 3:03 PM CST up reply actions

True

Dat

by Big Bad Bulluck on Jan 4, 2008 3:05 PM CST up reply actions

Double

tru dat! He'd look like Ryan Leaf all over again.

My name is August West, and I love my Pearly Baker best, more than my wine

by August West on Jan 4, 2008 3:31 PM CST up reply actions

Manning Blows

Eli Manning deserves everything that he gets, he is one of the most in consistent QB is the league, he had one of the worst games ever when they played the redskins, he throw 34 incomplete passes the worse since Joe Namath throw 35. Manning doesn't have the consistency that it takes to be a good pocket passer. He might be able to make it if he had the ability to make a play with his legs.

by mccarronz on Jan 4, 2008 3:17 PM CST up reply actions

We'er Not Out Yet

I am a Titans fan living i new england, and no one here believes me. The titans will come away with a win if Haynesworth can stay healthy and if Young can eliminate the turn overs. If we protect the ball and shut down LT, the Titans will be on a plane to Foxboro.

by mccarronz on Jan 4, 2008 2:57 PM CST reply actions

I like it

Big MC--I hope you are right!

Go Titans!

by gramsey712 on Jan 4, 2008 3:02 PM CST up reply actions

Amen on Eli Manning

Maybe noone else elicits as much debate as VY and Eli Manning; and both debates are mean spirited and unfair.

Whats your (anybody's) problem with Eli Manning? 4 years in the league, 3 playoff appearances, he gets better every year and his pedigree is unquestionable. But...I have to remember, they crucified his brother for whatever reason too.

People who criticize Vince Young are the same way. They are literally hoping for him to fail so they can dance on his football grave.

by Houston Titan on Jan 4, 2008 3:13 PM CST reply actions

amen to that!

I don't know if it's racism, skepticism or what, but you can tell so many of the people who slam VY are just born haters... McNair never got it quite like this, but then I guess McNair never won ROY.

Either way, soon those haters will be forced to get on the bandwagon or get out of the way!

My name is August West, and I love my Pearly Baker best, more than my wine

by August West on Jan 4, 2008 3:35 PM CST up reply actions

when

vince has a big game what does he do? wins! so i think this next one clasifies as a big game.
seen it time and again. big game, win! saints monday night this year, big game, win! vince goes back to the texans first time back at his home town big game, win! colts game last week sunday night, big game, win! sunday against the chargers playoff game, big game. should be a win. its a track record of rising to the occasion.
only thing that could hurt us is hope being out, rodell and scaife, just the injuries is what iam concerned about. better get the ben gay out after this one.
i want to see albert with that wild crazy man look in his eye like the last time they played. he looked like he wanted soembodys scalp. wait i take that back if you know what i mean. but he had a look when they did a close up on him like man iam back and iam going to kick your ass as hard as i can and it was great. loved it.

by dentureboy on Jan 4, 2008 3:52 PM CST reply actions

Not just Vince

The sports media never has anything good to say about the TITANS unless it's a big story they can't ignor. They never give them a chance. Never have and probably never will. To them if your not one of the older teams your nobody. They will dedicate more airtime to an old team with a loss then to Tennessee with a big win. I am sick of it. One of these days we will show them all and then if I was a Titan I would decline their interviews.

by coler0kw on Jan 4, 2008 5:55 PM CST reply actions