He normally has nothing worthwhile to say about the NFL, but the Sports Guy had this to say about Tennessee in putting them #3. I think he gets a few criteria right and many other criteria wrong. What do you guys think?

His thoughts are in the blockquote. My thoughts are in bold.

In four parts ...

A. They have the league's best defense, and if you don't believe me, you will believe me this Sunday after they do everything short of actually having sex with Gus Frerotte.

Tennessee's defense is good, but can you be that good giving up 317 yards against the Texans? Remember the Texans drove twice deep into Titans territory in the second half and screwed it up both times. Tennessee has looked good on paper, but they are not a great defense yet.

B. You can learn a lot about a team's playoff chances by how "locked in" (for lack of a better word) their sideline seems to be during a game. With the Titans, Jeff Fisher is prowling back and forth like a prison guard barking orders at a chain gang; any time a good play happens near their sideline, you'll see every guy react happily right away; and if there's a cheap shot on their sideline, 20 Titans come flying in within 0.02 of a second. The 2008 Tennessee Titans are locked in. You can't use the italics forcefully enough. The Titans seem hungry to me.

Words...words...words. Simmons criticizes color announcers for using this kind of jock talk during a game and then proceeds to write a paragraph with the exact same banter. If they have a down game he'll proceed to say exactly the opposite. Oh, the irony.

C. After being initially confused with Chris Johnson's erratic playing time (after all, he's clearly their best back and looks like the next Marshall Faulk), I finally figured out what Fisher is doing there: He doesn't want to burn out a rookie runner who might play 19-20 games this season, so he's spotting him early, wetting his feet and saving him for later in the season. That has to be it. They're keeping his touches around 15-17 a game and setting us up for one of those Dr. Evil-like, "Release the Fembots!" moments in a big November game. Smart move.

Fair enough. Or maybe he still appreciates the good Lendale White brings. As if Jeff Fisher was just going to hand over the keys to an untested rookie.

D. You probably can't win a Super Bowl with Kerry Collins, but you can definitely make it to one. In fact, it has even happened.

(That sound you just heard was all the Giants fans slamming their heads against the desk.)

Probably the weirdest corollary in this Top 3 argument. The Giants made the Super Bowl in 2001 with Collins being at best adequate. He's a much more mature quarterback now IMO.

Do you guys have any better criteria to ranking the Tennessee Titans top 3? Do you think the Titans are one of the top 3 teams in the NFL? If not, why not?

Poll

Where do you rank the Titans right now?

30%

Top 3 team, just like the Sports Guy says!

16 votes

62%

We're probably somewhere in the top 7 or 8, legitimate Super Bowl contenders

33 votes

7%

We're in the top 15. We haven't really proven we're ready to hang at the top yet.

4 votes

0%

Below the top 15. This 3-0 start is all smoke and mirrors. Our weaknesses will catch up with us.

0 votes

53 votes | Poll has closed