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We have spent a lot of time talking about how much better the Titans secondary is now than it was at the Boston Massacre.  But my question is how much better are they?  They looked good against Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Buffalo, but none of those teams have a passing attack that really strikes fear into anyone.  Thus the real test comes Monday Night in Houston.  The Texans have the 3rd ranked passing attack in the league, and feature one of the best receivers in the game in Andre Johnson.  AJ can accurately be called a Titan Killer.  In his last 2 games against the Titans he has 207 and 149 yards receiving respectively with 3 touchdowns.

The good news for this particular match-up is there is no way AJ will ever be lined up across from Nick Harper.  Most of the big plays to Johnson have come with Harper "covering" him.  I would love to see the Titans chance the philosophy a little bit and line Cortland Finnegan up across from Andre on every play, but even if they still refuse to do that at least he would be Rod Hood's assignment instead of Harper's.

This game is also arguably the biggest of Michael Griffin's career.  August wrote a couple weeks ago about Griffin addressing his poor play (via Kuharsky).  Griffin has played better, but stil got caught peeking in the backfield last weke against the Bills.  Pretty much all of us here thought that after the season he put up last year Griffin was on track to become one of the best safeties in the league.  He has regressed this year, and Monday night would be the perfect opportunity for him to re-assert himself in the upper echelon of safeties.

It seems that his biggest problem this year has been guessing run far to often and letting receivers get behind him.  Gramsey offered me the perfect solution for this yesterday:

I wish MikeGriff would never ever, ever, ever, ever, evaevaevaeva, read run, eva

Sounds like a plan to me.  Kuharsky made the point on the radio this morning that there is really no reason for him to worry about the run in the scheme the Titans play because most of the time he is 12-15 yards away from the ball when it is snapped and there are at least six other guys that have run responsibility before it gets to him. 

I still have faith that Griffin is going to be a star in this league.  No better time than Monday night on a national stage to prove that.  His play will go a long way in determining if this secondary is ready to be the strength of the defensive unit as it was a year ago.

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle was nice enough to answer a couple of questions I sent him yesterday about the Texans run defense and how they plan to stop Chris Johnson:

MCM: The Texans defense has been really good against the run in the last month.  What changes have they made?

JM: They allowed 205 (average) yards rushing in the first three games and 60.5 in the last six. The turnaround happened for this reason: They signed SS Bernard Pollard, who had been cut by KC. He started the fourth game and has been terrific against the run and pass. CB Dunta Robinson and rookie OLB Brian Cushing missed preseason and needed a few games to get ready. Rookie CB Glover Quin, who's physical against the run like Robinson, was moved into the lineup. They went lighter at DT so they could be more active and aggressive. They have a three-man rotation at tackle with Amobi Okoye and Shaun Cody starting and Jeff Zgonina coming off the bench. DEs Antonio Smith and Tim Bulman also play tackle more than DE.

MCM: Are they better equipped to keep CJ from hitting the home run against them like he did last time?

JM: The last time they played, CJ scored two times when players didn't do their responsibility. Instead of playing their spot and doing their assignment, they bit on fakes, and he cut right to where they were supposed to be. On his TD catch, SS Dominique Barber didn't see him leave the huddle and line up wide. That was Barber's last start. Johnson is the best breakaway back since Barry Sanders. He's still going to get long runs. The key is to make sure he gets a lot of short ones, too.

Thanks as always to John for taking the time to answer the questions.

The Texans were actually pretty good against CJ last time minus the two long touchdown runs, but every run counts and that is the beauty of having a back like CJ.  Teams can contain him for most of the game, but he seems to always get a run or two that kills them.

The Titans are 11-4 in the regular season against the Texans.  The Titans have never played the Texans in the postseason.  The Titans are 5-2 in Houston, and Jeff Fisher is 5-2 against Gary Kubiak.

Vince Young has made one start in Houston.  You might remember it because of this:

In case you didn't know, this is the Monday Night Football game so the broadcast will be handled by Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden.

Info from the NFL release and a plea to each of you here after the jump.

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On paper this game sets up to be a huge one for Chris Johnson.  The Buffalo Bills are dead last in the league in rushing defense and yards per carry allowed.  Brian from Buffalo Rumblings didn't sound real confident in his ability for the Bills to stop the run.  Here was his response when I asked him how they will stop CJ:

Pray. Seriously, I don't know what they'll do. They'll be short-handed at DT, where they'll be dressing only three guys. Their linebackers and defensive ends aren't the most athletic guys in the world. Bryan Scott, our opening-day starter at strong safety, will be starting at outside linebacker this week. We're really overmatched. It's going to take seven or eight - perhaps even nine - in the box, and impeccable tackling, to keep Johnson's numbers low enough to win the game.

CJ currently needs to average just over 130 yards per game the rest of the season to get to 2,000.  That is still a high number.  This game provides the perfect opportunity for him to cut into that number.

The Bills defense has some really good numbers against the pass, but it is tough to say how good there pass defense is because they are so bad against the run.  One guy that we do know is good is rookie Jairus Byrd.  Byrd has 7 picks in the 6 games he has started this season.  It will be important for Vince Young to know where Byrd is every time the ball is snapped.

Vince had a pretty nice game the last time these two teams met.  The Titans probably won't need that type of effort out of him this time.  They just need him to keep doing what he has been doing in his first two starts.

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Every Coach's Dream needs to have a good game. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

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1. Hmm...let's see...run the ball? This is really the key to winning considering the matchup problem. The Bills allow an NFL worst 173.6 rushing yards on 34 carries per game, while Chris Johnson runs an NFL best 119.9 yards on just 18 carries per game. The Bills actually allow more rush yards per game than the Titans second best run offense run. Buffalo doesn't have a lot of size advantage on the defensive line, so any time CJ gets to the secondary, he should be able to get major gains if not touchdowns.
2. Protect the QB. It doesn't seem that Vince will have to throw much in this game, but when he does, his offensive line needs to do a good job of protecting him. Buffalo has 17 sacks on the year, but Vince Young has only been sacked once in his two starts. The O-Line needs to continue protecting him. If Vince sees major pressure coming, there's no reason not to use his legs and take off to try to make it a positive play.
3. Keep playing smart, disciplined football. No matter how you see it, VY has been a good game manager in the last two games. That is what has made him effective in winning games - the limited mistakes. The defense, specifically the secondary, has also been playing disciplined. Besides the broken coverage in the last drive of the first half against the 49ers, there really haven't been many problems after the bye week. Granted, a major part of that is Cortland Finnegan and Vincent Fuller coming back from injury and Rod Hood taking over the starting CB position.
4. Create pressure. Trent Edwards is the starting quarterback for the Bills, who shouldn't be too much of a problem for the Titans, though he is hard to get down on the ground. The Bills have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. They have allowed 23 sacks this year. In comparison, the Titans have allowed just 6 sacks this year. While the Titans pass rush hasn't been anything to rave about, they should be able to have a favorable matchup against the Bills offensive line.
5. Continue winning the turnover battle. Some of these points are getting redundant, but they are still major keys to winning the game. After the Titans entered the bye week with a -10 turnover ratio, they are +6 in their last two games after the bye week. The secondary has come together to make plays unlike they did earlier in the year, and pressure has been causing fumbles. If the Titans get the ball off turnovers, momentum immediately rises for them and the chance of winning goes up even further.

The Titans lead the all-time series between these two franchises 25-16.  The Titans are 13-6 at home against the Bills and have won the last two meetings.  These two franchises have also played two of the more memorable postseason games in NFL history.  Luckily for me I wasn't and Oiler fan when the Bills had the amazing comeback so my postseason memories are nothing but pleasant against the Bills.  (And yes, it was absolutely a lateral before that debate starts here.)

Buffalo Rumblings has a breakdown of the last 5 regular season meetings here.

We will once again be treated to Ian Eagle and Rich Gannon on the CBS Broadcast.

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1. Run the ball. We have to see if Chris Johnson can get anything against this great 49ers defense that allows only 85 yards per game on the ground.  If anyone can do it, the leading rusher in the NFL can. Running the ball will also keep the pressure off Vince Young in his second start in two years.  The Titans will be much better off relying on Chris Johnson and Lendale White than Vince Young and his receivers. The key is a mixture of the two backs throughout the game to get the defense thinking.
2. Pass with confidence. The 49ers have the NFL's fourth worst pass defense, and it will be even worse with their starting cornerback, Nate Clements out. Against a bad pass defense and a good run defense, this is the perfect opportunity for Vince Young to have a good passing performance. Vince had a stellar completion percentage against the Jaguars, but let's see if he can continue against this defense. 
3. Prevent turnovers. Turnovers are the worst thing a team can do, because it allows the other team an opportunity to score with momentum on their side. The Titans did a good job last week of causing turnovers by the Jaguars after not being able to for the previous 6 games. If the Titans win the turnover battle, they will be in a very good position to win.
4. Ride the momentum. The Titans had their first win of the season on Sunday, and they are riding high. Nate Washington and Chris Johnson say that they can go 10-0, and they have won 9 straight against the NFC. It seems the team is on a high, but they need to build on it.
5. Keep the receivers in check. The Titans had their best pass defense of the season last week, and a good part of it was probably due to Cortland Finnegan and Vincent Fuller both being back. Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree are the two most threatening targets for Alex Smith, and the secondary needs to limit them especially. If Jason Jones gets to the quarterback fast like he did last week, it could be a very long day for Alex Smith.

We have talked about how the offensive line looked better last week against the Jaguars which begs the question of whether the line got better or just looked good against a weaker Jacksonville defense.  They will get the chance to answer that question on Sunday.  The 49ers defense leads the league in yards per carry on defense and are second in the league in yards per game allowed.  Those numbers are even more impressive when you take into account that they have faced Adrian Peterson, Stephen Jackson and Michael Turner already this season.

This game will also be a good test for Vince Young.  He was very proficient against the Jags, but the 49ers will prove a much tougher test.  It is a pretty safe bet they will stack the box early in an effort to stop Chris Johnson.  VY will get his chance to throw them out of that.  The 49ers are ranked 28th in the NFL in passing yards allowed.  Hopefully Vince will be able to take advantage of some opportunities early in the game to loosen up the defense for CJ.

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