I think this is the toughest game of the season so far for a few different reasons:
- The Packers could be the best team the Titans have played so far
- The Titans are coming off a very emotional win
- The Titans head into this game off a short week and the Packers are coming off a bye
1. The Packers come into this game at 4-3. They have wins over the Vikings, the Lions, the Seahawks and the Colts. They lost to the Cowboys when they were still good, the Buccaneers and the Falcons.
They have a lot of offensive weapons in Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver and Ryan Grant. Jennings, being the most dangerous of those weapons, is having a fantastic year. He already showed the Titans secondary what he can do in the preseason when he caught 68 yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game. On the season he has 37 catches for 685 yards (18.5 ypc, wow) and 4 touchdowns. The Titans excellent secondary will have their hands full with Jennings.
2. This isn't so much a trap game, but it is a game that has the danger of seeing the Titans come out flat. They won a very emotional game on Monday night over the Colts, and it is really easy to not be able to get to that same level in the following week.
My worry about that is eased a little because Jeff Fisher knows how to get his team ready for games in any situation, and because the game is at home. The crowd should still be energized from the win on Monday and because the Titans are the only remaining undefeated team.
3. The Packers have had the week off to heal. They were suffering from some offensive line injuries and Rodgers had a shoulder injury. The week off appears to have most of their team at 100%.
They have also had 2 weeks to prepare for the Titans while the Titans have had a short week to get ready for them. There is also the short week coming off the emotional win, but we covered that in #2.
I picked this game as the first Titans loss back when I was doing predictions before the season started for those very reasons. I think the Titans are the better team (not by much), but there are a lot of things working against them this week. However, I will still pick the Titans to win the game when it is pick time tomorrow.
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