This could also be titled the Radio Shack edition of the recap.  You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers.  The Titans continue to prove that they can win games in all types of ways.  They outscored the Colts, overcame a terrible performance by Kerry Collins to beat the Packers, threw their way to a victory in Chicago, and came roaring back from a terrible first half performance to put up a 21-0 second half score on the way to a win against the Jags.

That first half was the worst half of football this team has played this season, and it isn't even close.  The offense could do nothing.  If you take out the field goal drive that was 8 plays and the knee at the end of the half, the Titans offense ran 16 plays on 5 drives.  The only drive that wasn't 3 and out was the first of the game when Collins hit Gage for the 47 yard gain on the first play of the game.  It's no wonder the defense looked gassed at the end of the half.  They were on the field for all of it.

Luckily they play a second half in the NFL.  Jeff Fisher should get coach of the year just because of the second half adjustments his squads have made all season long.  While a lot of people in the game thread already had the Titans down 21-3 because the Jags got the ball first in the second half, the defense wasn't ready to concede that.  There was a pass interference call on Chris Carr on the second play of the half that gave the Jags a first down, but that was all they would get on that drive.  There was even a Jevon Kearse sighting with a HUGE sack on second down.

The Titans got the ball back and took the momentum back as well.  Collins was very sharp on the ensuing drive going 4 of 4 for 37 yards that included a 13 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Jones.  As August mentioned this morning, that celebration was just silly.  Those 15 yards you get for excessive celebration are very important yards.  If you are going to get them please earn them.

After the defense forced another 3 and out, the Titans did a 3 and off the field when Collins found Gage for a 56 yard touchdown.  12 Gage used a nice stiff arm to carry Reggie Nelson for about the last 15 yards of that.  Nelson should have been penalized for tossing Gage to the ground when he was clearly in the end zone.

The funniest moment of the game came on the kickoff that followed that touchdown when Jags' return man Brian Witherspoon decided to kick the ball out of bounds at the 3 yard line.  Jacksonville would get some yards on that drive but would end up punting.  The Titans offense reverted back to first half form on the next 4 drives with 4 punts and not very many yards. 

I was starting to get a little nervous with the Titans clinging to 17-14 lead late in the 4^th quarter until Chris Carr picked off a David Garrard pass with 5:49 left to go, and Collins found Gage again, this time from 38 yards out, to put the game on ice.  After the defense stopped the Jaguars again, LenDale White came in and busted some heads to make sure the Jags didn't get another shot.

This was another big win for this team.  It keeps the 4 game AFC South lead and the 3 game lead over the rest of the AFC with just 6 games left to play.  It also proves that they can put up points in a hurry when they need too.

A few other thoughts:

• Those announcers were by far the worst we have had this season.  Anytime an announcer is talking about a coach and his nice smile it is time for them to go.  I never though I would long for Solomon Wilcots.
• That defensive holding call on Tony Brown was absolutely awful.  It is a good thing that didn't end up costing the Titans the game. 
• Equally as awful was Brown pointing to the sky and then laughing on the sideline after he committed 52 penalties in a row.
• I haven't watched the end of the game yet, but I hear there was a celebration by Vince Young on the sideline.  A lot has been made of his indifference on the sideline.  Maybe I won't have to hear that call on talk radio 2,200 times this week.
• The Titans are 10-0 and that is awesome!!

Big Albert Haynesworth dropped a piano on Titans critics for saying our schedule is soft, and the Tennessean back him up by noting that the record of the Titans' opponents is 34-47, while the record of the Giants' opponents is 32-49.

 It's not slight to VY, but I have to agree with Terry McCormick that Collins is looking like the perfect match for what Mike Heimerdinger wants in a quarterback.

 One of the dumber questions I've ever seen asked: Has The NFL Figured Out Chris Johnson?  Let me answer that one for you: hells + no.  The awesomeness of Crazy Legs is like a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

 Not sure how this slipped through the cracks, but the USA Today had a must read on Jeff Fisher last week, and the coaching career that almost never was:

Fisher initially said no to a coaching career. After the Bears' 1985 Super Bowl championship season, he turned down a chance to be an assistant for Buddy Ryan, when the Bears' defensive coordinator got the head coaching job in Philadelphia...

What was Fisher going to do instead of remaining part of pro football? Enter the exciting world of selling software.

He had hooked on with a California company and was going to head its Midwest division, even though he admits he's computer illiterate, and that to some extent he faked his way through early sales presentations.

 Jevon Kearse went to school with Oak Hill Elementary student Connor Tharpe to promote the NFL's Play 60 program.  When the two got to the school, Connor's classmates were all wearing the Freak's jersey with a piece of tape separating the 9 and 0!  With kids like that running around, I am no longer worried about the future of this state.

 Earlier in the year we visited Cold Hard Football Facts' Bendability index.  This handy metric measures team-wide defensive efficiency to see which teams force opponents to go the most yards for each point.  We've lead all year, but now it's getting deliciously out of hand:

The Titans stand out from the pack for a couple of reasons. Not only are they tops in scoring defense, surrendering a meager 12.9 PPG, but they make their opponents work harder than any others in football for those meager scraps on the scoreboard.

The most impressive aspect of their game, though, is the massive best gap of 3.96 Yards Per Point Allowed between No. 1 Tennessee and the No. 2 Carolina. It's the same margin between No. 3 Carolina and No. 18 Washington.

Boom.

 Craig Hentrich won this week's AFC Special Teams Player of the Week Award.  Am I the only one who misses the fake punts and random passes Craigers was getting to break-out a few years ago?  I never thought I'd appreciate a punter as much as I do this cat.

 In news that almost made my head explode from shock, citing the struggling economy, the NFL is actually LOWERING PLAYOFF TICKET PRICES by 10%.  That's pretty awesome for a league that could easily double it's prices and still sell-out playoff games.  Also, the Titans started sending out invoices for playoff tickets to season ticket holders this week!

* Big Tip of the Hat to crucial commenter gramsey712 for passing along this pic from last night's CMAs. 

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links, email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com!  (Be sure to include your commenting handle so I can give you semi-anonymous credit.)

 

Paul Kuharsky talked to several Titans about their pending free agency and how the franchise is with extensions.  The comments were a little disturbing, but understandable (I think Cort, Roos, Stewart and a few others would disagree).  Don't expect anyone to let that distract them Sunday, however:

"The Titans organization isn't the quickest to go to the checkbook, so we'll have to see," Bulluck said. "We'll just play this season out and I'm sure a lot of things will happen this offseason. But we'll worry about the offseason when we get there. You know what we're worried about now, right? Da' Bears."

 John McClain raises an awesome point I hadn't heard yet:

The Titans also are the only team in the league that’s perfect, 26-of-26, in the red zone. It’s interesting that a team ranking 21st in offense, including 29th passing, has managed to score at least 30 points in half of its games.

 Commenter UrbanDad drops off the kids long enough to point us towards this: The Football Outsiders gave-out their midseason awards, and the Titans dominated the list like it was the AFC South.

 Dinger knows that whatever he needs, he can just dial up Crazy Legs' number; he'll take care of it and make sure it looks good too!

 None to happy about his $7,500 fine for a supposed horse collar tackle on Aaron Rodgers last week, Jevon Kearse is going to appeal it.  Also of note: Dave McGinnis is a candidate for the Kansas State head coaching position.

 With the mercury falling in Chicago and those winter winds whipping off of Lake Michigan, expect to see a healthy portion of Smash and Dash this weekend at Soldier Field.

 More reasons why Ahmard Hall is a pimp:

Titans fullback Ahmard Hall, who served in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan will make his annual visit to a local veterans hospital in honor of Veteran’s Day next Tuesday.

"I’m just going to the hospital. I’ve been every year since I’ve been here," Hall said. "I’m just going to show my gratitude to the veterans, young and old, that served the country and enable us to do what we do."

 Intrepid commenter and contributer BigW points out that last week's Titans-Packers game gets the epic NFL films treatment. I'd love to watch a game live with the guy who narrates these vignettes... make sure you catch Steve Waterson's reaction to the Bironas miss.

 Bodoglife.com has the Titans' odds to make it to the Super Bowl at 5/1.  Keep in mind that these numbers are not for recreation or entertainment, and are intended to be used for gambling... sweet rent-losing, budget breaking gambling!

 The AOL Fanhouse gives their NFL midseason MVP to Big Albert, but they keep with the head stomping jokes... I don't think Albert will ever fully live that down.

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links, email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com!  (Be sure to include your commenting handle so I can give you semi-anonymous credit.)

Albert Haynesworth

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Haynesworth is the best defensive tackle in football.  He disrupts the middle of any offensive line he faces and keeps the interior lineman from getting to the second level to block the linebackers.  Fat Albert will probably become the highest paid defensive player in the league this offseason.  I just hope it is the Titans that are writing his checks next season. Grade A.

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Today at MCM, we partake in that most highfalutin of internet sports memes, the Haiku!  Leave your haikus on tonight's game in the comments, lest you come off as too good to kill some time at work counting syllables.

 

Here are a few of mine from the course of the day:

 

On MNF

The Colts are in town

Bocephus is coming 'round

Titans time is nigh!

 

On Tonight's Banquet

Mr. Monday Night

Boom King, Freak feast on Peyton

Smash earns his big steak

 

On Bad TV Crews

Tony K is bad

Dennis Miller got a FAIL

So is TK's EPIC?

 

This is the biggest game in Nashville in years.  I know there is no shortage of excitement on this site about the game.

Let's be honest, the Colts aren't what they have been.  People can argue that all they want, but it is a fact.  It is also a fact that they still have Peyton Manning, and he can still hit the home run to any of his weapons at any time.  The Titans might win this game big, but I am not expecting that.

Here is my prediction for the game:

The Colts defense is bad against the run, and the Titans are very good at running the ball.  That sounds like a recipe for success to me.  The Titans will be able to move the ball, but they won't put up a ton of points.  They are going to grind it out and get a huge win in the time of possession battle.

On defense the Titans will employ the same strategy they have against the Colts for the last few years, "Bend but Don't Break."  I know that is really over-used, but that is what they will do.  They won't blitz Peyton because that is suicide.  They will rely on the front 4 to get pressure on Peyton, which they should be able to do against the Colts offensive line.  I would love to see Jevon Kearse get a couple of shots on Peyton because some people think he has always been overrated.

The Titans move to 7-0 with a 20-14 win.

I would love to hear your predictions below.

There's only one NFL team still undefeated: our Tennessee Titans!  Just remember this moving forward as people come out of the woodworks to demean what our boys have accomplished: they only hate on you when you shinnin'!

 The Titans top the NFL in record, and in articles written decrying their WRs.  Expect this trend to pick-up now that we're on top. 

 Better late than never: the immensely respectable ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber dissects the WWL's coverage of the Vince Young 'freak-out' affair, and chides their highly paid gossipers for passing whispers off as news.  Mind you that this was a story which ESPN got killed on by the likes of Jay Glazer, Peter King and Adam Schefter.  If you are ever annoyed with ESPN's hilarious attempts at journalism, bookmark Mrs. Schreiber and make a point to read her regular reports.

 Had there been a game last Sunday, Boom King and Tony Brown probably would have missed the start.  But there wasn't so they didn't, and it looks like they'll be ready to roll this week.

 Jevon Kearse has stayed healthy and rested so far this year, and that's leading to a sharp increase in effectiveness over his disappointing time with the Eagles.  Next job for Jevon: come up with a better sack dance.

 Paul Kuharsky notes that the Titans' leading receiver, TE Bo Scaife, was left off of the Pro Bowl ballot in favor of Alge Crumpler.  That's a little beat-up if you ask me, but then again so is the idea that anyone would cast a Pro Bowl ballot on the heels of week 6.

 Chiefs fans so expect that the Titans will crush Brodie Croyle that 52% of them predicted in a recent poll that he will not finish the game... ever since the news of his start against us came out I'v been saying the Chiefs just don't want to risk losing a QB who may actually be capable of winning games this year.

 Awesome-o reader jasonkylebates sends along a great find: when the New York Times decided to cover the 'Wildcat formation' that everyone is in love with now-a-days, they turned to Titans defensive czar Jim Schwartz for comment on why NFL defenders have struggled with it so far:

The traditional things you do — like an eight-man front — don’t work because now you have nine gaps if the quarterback is running the ball,” Jim Schwartz, the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, said. “You almost have to make it a nine-man front.

On a side note, I don't think this formation is going away overnight because there are simply so many things that can happen out of that line-up. 

 Tons of good info in this Titans Team Report from Yahoo!... if we poop the bed against the Chiefs like the Broncos did I'm going to be a very unhappy camper.

 

There's a whole lot of internet out there, so if you have a great link you'd like to submit for tomorrow's Morning Links email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com! (Be sure to include your commenting handle so I can give you semi-anonymous credit.)

 

There is not a single team I hate in the NFL more than the Baltimore Ravens.  Sure the Colts and the Chargers are really annoying, but there is something about the franchise from Baltimore that really makes me angry.

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The Tennessean breaks down 5 things the Titans must do to beat the Ravens and remain undefeated.  Oddly enough, score more points than the opponent by the end of the game is not one of them.

 Now here's a true Titan: Vincent Fuller spent many tough years behind enemy lines so that he could be drafted by us and give recon about how Baltimore goes about their business. You see, to defeat your enemy, you must first understand them... yeah... that's the ticket:

"It's Baltimore,'' Titans safety Vincent Fuller said. "I remember being a kid in Baltimore watching the Titans-Ravens games and seeing how much animosity seemed to be on the field. Coach Fisher has already reminded us of that, what it's going to be like.''

 What's your favorite/worst memory from the Titans-Ravens rivalry?  Terry McCormick has the highlights either jog your memory or pull the scab off that wound.

 The staff of the AFC South Blog Paul Kuharsky revamps a new weekly segment called "Unsung Hero and goat".  This week's unsung heroes are Cortland Finnegan and Nick Harper, while the first goat is rookie TE Craig Stevens for not staying in bounds in the end zone on that simple catch.

 The Freak won't have to face the Fuzz until January 6th... guess the judge doesn't like our playoff chances.

 Mike Florio takes needless rumor mongering to a new low with assists from Albert Haynesworth, Mindy McCready and TMZ.

 The excellent Teresa M. Walker from the Associated Press gives the Titans daps for keeping a veteran back-up rather than a project QB, and throws in an angle the rest of the word has missed:

[on reacting after Kerry took over] And the rest of the Titans? Call it the Pacman effect. They became experts at focusing on football and ignoring soap opera while playing with cornerback Adam Jones before his trade to Dallas in April. So having help from SWAT officers and crisis negotiators to check on the quarterback's emotional well-being is nothing.

 An Indianapolis media outlet shows the Titans some love... nothing mind blowing here, just nice to see others 'kiss the ring'.

 

From 1999 through 2003, the Titans went 56-21 with only 2 seasons that ended without a post-season win. From 2004 through 2007 they went 27-37.  It's a tale of two radically different teams, a schizophrenic roller coaster for Titans fans.

Miracles

In September of 1999 the Tennessee Titans were wrapped in newness: new name, new uniforms, new stadium, new fans and a new chapter in franchise history.  They filled every seat in Adelphia Coliseum, and treated those grateful followers to an undefeated season at home and a 13-3 record overall.  

Then came the Music City Miracle.  Then came the epic win over Jacksonville.  Then came the most exciting Super Bowl in NFL history (that's science people).  There was the record smashing rise of the Freak, and the retirement of Bruce Matthews.  The Titans were the toast of Nashville and the envy of most serious NFL followers for their consistency.

Tricks

By 2004 the Titans were getting old.  The injuries were piling-up, and so was the salary cap number.  Back-loaded contracts and veterans in decline were sprinkled all over the roster.  After a rough 2004 season the core of the team was blown-up, and Steve McNair's departure after the 2005 season ended the only real 'era' Nashville had seen in professional sports.  From 2005 through 2007 the team we see today was assembled, though they struggled to learn how to win again. 

Also, there was this one guy who came in for a year or two.  He was great at returning kicks, putting strippers through school and keeping cops all over the country busy.

Last year the franchise we'd known was reborn.  After years of being undermanned (causing Fisher to call more trick plays, onside-kicks and fake punts than I've ever seen from any other NFL coach) the talent on the field graduated from learning how to play to learning how to win.  Vince Young electrified, the running game pounded and the Haynesworth led defense terrified.  The Titans defied the naysayers by making the playoffs a year before most though we would be ready.

Treats

So what's the point of all of this?  We're back!  The Titans are a team others hate to play again!  Our defense is stocked with Pro Bowl-caliber talent, the offensive line is dominant and the thunder and lighting duo of White and Johnson can grind teams into submission before snapping off huge plays.  The roster is stocked with too many hard-nosed players to list hear.  They play with ferocity and intensity every weekend.  When things go wrong they circle the wagons and stay focused on winning.  Nobody pops-off to the media.  Nobody tries to steal the spotlight.  Even our uniforms finally look awesome.  

If it weren't for VY's headline-ready issues I doubt many people would notice that we're 3-0... and even that didn't distract this team!

We Titans fans endured a seriously ugly team for a few years there, but I'm here to tell you this Titans team is built right, and they aren't going anywhere but up.  Sure they're flawed in some spots, but I couldn't think of a group of guys or a coaching staff -- even my former personal nemesis Jim Schwartz -- who are more rewarding to root for than these Titans.

So, am I alone in feeling like 3-0 is just the beginning?