Tennessee Titans Morning Links: I Could See Edition

Cortland Finnegan got his third straight $5K fine yesterday. The fine is apparently for the same play Orton called Finny cheap for, but he would have gotten much more than 5K for punching a guy in the pile with his helmet off. Finny's response is classic:

"I was just being me,’’

The wifey and I went and saw Band of Horses live on the lawn of the City Hall/Courthouse last night in downtown Nashville, and Ben Bridwell still has one of the best voices going in rock n' roll. Here's the video for Is There a Ghost.

Justin Gage is looking like a lock to be watching Sunday's game in his sweatpants, and Lavelle Hawkins is chomping at the bit to get out there in his place. Hawk has been inactive because Mariani and Williams contribute more to special teams, but Hawk figures to be the guy getting more reps at WR. I'd love to see some single back-4 wide sets with Britt, Washington, Hawk and either Mariani (between the twenties) or Cook (in the red zone). If they can throw out of those sets well enough to keep Dallas in the dime package Chris Johnson might find some of that elusive room up the middle on draws and delay hand-offs.

Follow us through the jump for some good links...

Chris Hope feels like the refs are coming into games looking to throw flags on the Titans thanks to the reputation they've gone to great lengths to cultivate. I don't think that's the case 90% of the time, but it's definitely the case when it comes to hitting the QB, and quite frankly it's been like that ever since Albert's headstomp. i remember when he came back from that suspension Albert couldn't even tackle a RB in the backfield without drawing a flag. Since then there seems to have been a significant uptick in the number of horrendous roughing the passer flags thrown on our D-lineman.

In related news: the 2010 Titans are on pace to end up with 50 more penalties than they got last year, when we came in a few ticks above the league average. Here's the part that really hurts to read:

Two issues to watch: the Titans have been flagged 18 times for offside, encroachment, neutral-zone infraction or false start, and they have been flagged 11 times for major, 15-yard infractions.

I thought this bit from David Climer was pretty good:

[The franchise passing on established WRs] used to drive the late Steve McNair nuts. He would urge the coaching staff to get some weapons on the perimeter to help diversify the offense. In so many words, the coaches told him to mind his own business and keep handing the ball to Eddie George.

Sen'Derrick Marks is probably not going to get a Christmas Card from the refs after proposing that they get fined for bad calls. Speaking of which, if you want proof of how bad that roughing the passer call was on Marks, notice that he didn't get a fine from the NFL.

The Cowboys are worried about the Titans' pass rush.

Our sympathies go out to Albert Haynesworth and his family as Albert's brother was killed in a motorcycle wreck in Madison last night. he was driving way too fast, but a loss like that still breaks your heart.

Have a great weekend, and be sure to follow me on Twitter at @AugustWest_MCM for news, wit and whining!