Tennessee Titans Morning Links: The Good, The Bad And The Puzzling Edition

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While the correct way to pronounce his name Marc Mariani may be a question mark, Marc Mariani's raw skill sure isn't. Mariani will handle kick return on Sunday after soundly beating out 3rd round pick Damian Williams during the preseason. The more surprising part to me, though, was how Mariani outplayed Williams at the WR position as well. I know the sample size is small, and it's to no one's benefit to draw conclusions this early, but you have to love a lot of things about Mariani's game for being such a no-name prospect.

Interestingly, there still hasn't been an official announcement from Fisher on who will start opposite Cortland Finnegan on Sunday. McCourty seized the job early in camp, but all preseason it was Verner who was mixing it up and making plays out there. There are only two things that are for sure in this battle: McCourty's leash is a lot shorter than it was two months ago, and Ryan Mouton has absolutely no chance of starting.

David Boclair has dueling columns with 5 reasons to feel good/bad about the Titans in 2010. I gotta say, I was a little shocked that Michael Roos was on the bad list. I'm going to have to disagree on that one because Roos didn't just have one good year in 2008, he's been an extremely good LT since 2006 and certainly wasn't the issue last year. The entire O-line is still a unit that has to be in the pro column of any list like this.

Jim Wyatt asks if Albert Haynesworth is needed in Nashville, but the real meat of this piece is the lock room reaction to the idea of bringing back Albert. It's much colder than I would have expected, with guys like Chris Hope and Tony Brown basically saying he'd have to prove his commitment to the team and the game.

Jason Campbell of the Raiders played with Albert on the Redskins last year, and he says from afar this isn't a big surprise. That also leads to the line that sums up why you want Albert, even with all the headaches:

Tell him to wait until after this week, then he can make his move...

Jovan Haye went off about come terrible officiating, but don't expect any fines from the NFL since he was lambasting a terrible call that cost Vanderbilt a shot at a comeback last Saturday night.

After being injured and assumed out for Sunday's game, Raiders Coach Tom Cable said yesterday that there's a 'real chance' that Michael Bush plays despite a heavily wrapped left hand.

NFP contributor and player agent Andrew Brandt reviews some of the biggest free agency busts of the past few off-seasons. Of course Albert is right up there, but you have to put the Antonio Bryant/Bengals fiasco from this off-season as one of the all-time greats. Denver's Jarvis Green deal from this past off-season is a gem as well.

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