What do we know about Kenny Britt? Well, outside of Andre Johnson, I'd say that he's probably either the best or second best receiver in the division right now with apologies to the Manning-less Reggie Wayne. Also; he is absolutely vital when it comes to making this offense go. Without him, I don't know if I could have stomached last weeks loss to Jacksonville. It's been said over and over again, but Britt really was the silver lining on a dark storm cloud. For those who have listened to the latest edition of MCM Radio, I'm sure that you were extremely excited to hear Jimmy and August talking about how Hasselbeck was approaching the point where he was growing comfortable just throwing the ball up to Kenny and letting him go get it. When you have a receiver with ball skills like Britt, is there really a better option?
Consider Britt's week one performance. I've been checking up on Football Outsiders a lot lately, and I'm happy to report that ranked third among all receivers last week in DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement) and seventh in DVOA, a stat we've already been over this week once. For those who need a quick refresher, DYAR means a more valuable overall receiver, DVOA means a more valuable player on a per-play basis.
For those who still have doubts about Kenny's bonafide number one status, be prepared to be blown away this weekend. While I still predict a Titans loss (not particularly close either), Britt should explode. Tennessee will be playing from behind for a large part of this game which means they'll be throwing more too. When you throw, throw to your best target. Easy enough. I'll again cite MCM Radio for some wisdom on this. There are some players who are open even when they're covered. Randy Moss is one of those guys. Jared Cook can be one of those guys, and it's becoming amazingly obvious that Britt is blossoming into a player where this is true as well. If his explosion in Philly and eye-popping catches last year weren't enough, there really shouldn't be a doubt when all is said and done this year.
Back to this week; I'm aware of Baltimore's plans to "blanket" Britt this weekend. I say good, let them try. Team's with good corners have trouble doing that, why would a team with crappy ones have better success? Ed Reed is a force, but even he is totally outmatched by Britt's size/speed combo down the field. If he's left in single coverage this weekend, like, at all, the ball should be thrown his way. No exceptions. Britt is a physical mismatch for just about every corner in the league, under no circumstances can he allow himself to be shut down by the likes of Lardarius Webb and Cary Williams.