FO 1st Quarter Titans Review

This piece is behind the paywall in Bristol, but it's a solid and well-reasoned distillation of the mostly good and some bad we've all seen and read about the Titans so far. If the running game simply stabilizes to middle of the pack and the pass rush ticks up just a notch or so, we should go down the wire with the Texans for a playoff spot.

The Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions have gotten plenty of press for their big starts in 2011, but one team that's playing well early is flying a bit beneath the radar: the Tennessee Titans. The Titans are 3-1, and while those wins include beating Denver and Cleveland, the Titans also handed Baltimore its only loss of the season -- in pretty convincing fashion -- in Week 2.

 

In some ways, Tennessee's improvement shouldn't be too surprising. Last season, the Titans were actually the best team in their division according to Football Outsiders' DVOA ratings. Even though they went 6-10, our play-by-play breakdowns ranked the Titans 11th; Houston was 13th, Indianapolis 15th and Jacksonville 22nd. Normally, a team that plays better than its record like that is going to improve the next season. However, most teams don't have the kind of change that the Titans had this offseason.....