FanPost

Sucktitude of the Titans' Receivers becomes science

AOLFanhouse blogger JJ Cooper recently posted a story that quantifies just how terrible our WRs have been this preseason.  These are the kinds of details that lazy national/Indy lovin' writers (especially ones who name themselves after the size and color of their footwear) miss and casual fans quickly forget.  Many of us hardcore fans, however, have been getting nauseous just thinking about it for 8 months now.

IMO, If the Tennessean had the balls and talent to run a column like this a lot of the bluster and negativity spewed by the local VY haters would be shown for the buffoonery it is, and the front office would be hammered for not addressing this situation at all.

Here's an excerpt detailing how they came up with this info, with a little love thrown out to the kings of advanced statistical analysis, footballoutsiders.com:

The Football Outsiders have popularized the catch percentage stat, which looks at what percentage of passes thrown to a wide receiver are caught. Now, admittedly, the quarterback has something to do with a catch percentage, but as they've compiled the stats through the years, they've found that receivers catch percentages stay pretty consistent, regardless of who is throwing the passes (the example they aways give is that Hines Ward always had a consistently better catch percentage than Plaxico Burress no matter if it was Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox or Ben Roethlisberger throwing the passes).

Here's what he found that killed me:

In three games, Justin McCareins and Justin Gage, the two receivers who are expected to start, have five catches for 67 yards. And it's not because the two wideouts haven't been targeted. Vince Young and Kerry Collins have thrown 17 passes to McCareins and Gage, but almost all of them are falling incomplete.

5 catches in 17 attempts.  Thems our aces, folks.

I understand that there weren't many great WRs on the market this offseason, and the ones who were usually got paid stupid money, but our WRs have taken a step backwards so far, I swear.  The whole damned crew is a... a travesty, a sham and a mockery... they're a TRAVESHAMOCKERY!!!