Rockinon Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 By GENE FRENETTE -- The Times-Union Rushing offense: F A complete disaster would be the only way to describe 33 rushing yards for one of the NFL's most vibrant running attacks. No doubt, injuries to three interior offensive linemen weighed heavily in limiting the ground game. It's hard to establish the run with a patchwork offensive line. But it's still surprising that Fred Taylor and Maurice Drew had only 14 carries between them in a tight ballgame. Passing offense: C- David Garrard got a taste of what New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady received in the Super Bowl from the New York Giants. He absorbed seven sacks and was consistently feeling pressure from the Titans' defensive front. It's hard to be productive under that kind of duress. Garrard was more unsettled than usual. He also threw two interceptions, including an underthrown deep ball to Troy Williamson that enabled cornerback Cortland Finnegan to win a jump ball. Rushing defense: C- Two season openers in a row, the Jaguars have made a Titans running back named Chris look like a Pro Bowl selection. First, Chris Brown, and now rookie Chris Johnson, who averaged 6.2 yards per carry and added 34 yards on three receptions. As is usually the case when these physical teams square off, the better running team wins. Tennessee didn't gash the Jaguars as badly as last September, but made enough plays to gain decent field position and open a few things up for their pass-challenged offense. Passing defense: C+ It's not like the Jaguars were facing a lethal quarterback. Once again, the Titans won in spite of Vince Young, not because of him. He gift-wrapped an interception to safety Gerald Sensabaugh that set up the Jaguars' only touchdown. He failed to connect twice with open receivers downfield, so the pass defense had the freedom to take more chances. Unfortunately, with veteran Kerry Collins in the game after Young got hurt, the Jaguars tried a blitz and got burned for a 44-yard gain on a simple third-down screen to tight end Bo Scaife. Special teams: A- You have to give credit to the scouting department for Stillman College product Brian Witherspoon, and the front office for signing him. The undrafted free agent kept putting the offense in great field position with 159 combined yards off punt and kick returns. Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis also received solid play from his coverage teams. The negative was Josh Scobee's missed field goal attempt from 37 yards that was barely wide right, allowing the Titans to retain a 10-7 lead. Coaching: C- A good job of getting the players focused despite the difficult circumstances surrounding Richard Collier, but the execution on the field was another matter. As costly as it was to lose three linemen to injuries, the Jaguars shouldn't have abandoned the run in the second half when they were trailing by just three points. It was a very questionable decision to blitz on third-and-15 on the first snap taken by backup Kerry Collins, mostly because the Titans were inclined to run a safe play. That allowed Scaife to turn what should have been a modest gain into a game-breaker. These guys are in for a tough game next week as well. I think we are going to destroy this team next week. They are a mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ax4782 Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 These guys are in for a tough game next week as well. I think we are going to destroy this team next week. They are a mess. Not wanting to get too far ahead of ourselves, I would say that we stand a solid chance next week, if our team plays with the consistency they showed against Seattle. However, the Bills never play well in the September heat in Florida, and we'll see just what kind of shape Jason Peters is in this week. The fact is, their O-Line being hurt is our best source of strength. Our front defensive four played well against the Seahawks, and I expect more of the same from them this week with the injuries to Jacksonville. Also, Seattle has two solid RBs who did absolutely nothing against us except for one series where Morris had two nine yard runs on off tackle stunts. Then the D came back and buckled it down. I think we should play better down there than we did last season, but I'm not ready to say we will destroy them. This is the NFL after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockinon Posted September 9, 2008 Author Share Posted September 9, 2008 Did you know that the Titans sacked Gerrard 7 times? Thier offensive line is hurting big time. They are struggling to stop the run too....not terrible but not good either. They actually have a pretty good special teams....kind of reminds me of the Bills a couple of seasons ago. They are going down hard next week. They are reeling and thier heads are going to be spinning even faster when we get done with them next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockinon Posted September 9, 2008 Author Share Posted September 9, 2008 33 total rushing yards? Man that is just plain bad.............reeling I tell ya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geggytah Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Did you know that the Titans sacked Gerrard 7 times? Thier offensive line is hurting big time. They are struggling to stop the run too....not terrible but not good either. They actually have a pretty good special teams....kind of reminds me of the Bills a couple of seasons ago. They are going down hard next week. They are reeling and thier heads are going to be spinning even faster when we get done with them next week. do you know who the Titans have for their front four? all of them could be in the pro bowl this year. they are THE BEST front four in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrite Gal Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Not wanting to get too far ahead of ourselves, I would say that we stand a solid chance next week, if our team plays with the consistency they showed against Seattle. However, the Bills never play well in the September heat in Florida, and we'll see just what kind of shape Jason Peters is in this week. The fact is, their O-Line being hurt is our best source of strength. Our front defensive four played well against the Seahawks, and I expect more of the same from them this week with the injuries to Jacksonville. Also, Seattle has two solid RBs who did absolutely nothing against us except for one series where Morris had two nine yard runs on off tackle stunts. Then the D came back and buckled it down. I think we should play better down there than we did last season, but I'm not ready to say we will destroy them. This is the NFL after all. It will be interesting this weekend. I think overall the toughest thing for us is that this Jax team was talked about as a potential SB squad and they face the possibility of their season being essentially done if the go 0-2 (a recovery from such a bad start is possible but a tough row to hoe) and particularly being on their home turf they likely will be extra motivated win while the Bills will have to motivate themselves (which is certainly doable as this is what the good teams do) but the simple fact is a loss though undesirable but a loss to Jax on the road will not be fatal to the season at all. The test will be whether this team is really good or one which needs to get lucky. The set-up does look good however based on the production yesterday of these two teams. My guess is that the week will go for Jax something like: Monday- if Jax is like the Bills and much of the league Monday is a day off for the players but their coaches better be hard at work taking the Sunday game apart and analyzing the Bills Sunday game. Tuesday- Their players spend much of the day absorbing a lot of this study. They need to focus primarily on installation of different packages which address their bad play on the O side of the ball and not good enough D and ST play. Wednesday- a lot of work on the field to install these improvements and it is to be hoped by Jax installation of packages built for the Bills (though they will have so much work to do reversing Sunday's problems even this will be tough to devote much quality time to. Thursday- a full tilt workout, but the problem shows itself that preparing for the Bills means not only preparing for their D strengths shown Sunday, offensive threats demonstrated though not fully realized Sunday (Lynch was good but can be better, the OL will likely have their Pro Bowl LT back and individual prep to exploit Chambers may not even be useful, the Bills did not show TD production at WR, but Evans 4 catches were for big yardage, the TE amazingly led the team in receptions though this was not Royal's rep, and they showed depth at WR with Reed having a big catch and Hardy though not used is still as tall as he was last week) and of greatest problem the ST production requires a special focus on Parrish who must be gameplanned for, McGee who did not get much work from a lackluster SEA O, and trick plays need to be thought about and shown to the team at least once. Friday- often a day of review and walkthroughs for many NFL teams but likely will require some serious work because the week is full. Saturday- thank gosh the team does not have to travel, but given that their major OL problems seems to be injuries and the need for a lot of work this week a day of rest is virtually essential. Its gonna be a tough week for Jax and high stakes next week and it is gonna be important for the Bills to get out of these guys fast and potentially have them panic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whites Bay Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Apologies for being too lazy to look this up, but who's the Jags' backup QB? This could seriously be a game in which the big injury happens to Garrard. Don't worry, I'm not calling for "head hunting", but Stroud's going to be a man possessed, and the pocket's going to be a-collapsing. Quarterbacks who are scrambling around for their lives tend to scramble into bad situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scribo Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Apologies for being too lazy to look this up, but who's the Jags' backup QB? This could seriously be a game in which the big injury happens to Garrard. Don't worry, I'm not calling for "head hunting", but Stroud's going to be a man possessed, and the pocket's going to be a-collapsing. Quarterbacks who are scrambling around for their lives tend to scramble into bad situations. Cleo Lemon I believe he appeared in three games as a stinkin' fish against the Bills, getting trashed each time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Good fortune in the scheduling to be catching the Jags early in the season when they are a mess. Love to see up reverse the score from last season's beating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockinon Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 Pyrite Gal, you bring up some good points. However, the kind of pressure the Bills put on Hasselbeck last week was absolutely amazing. The Bills defensive front have a couple of proven Pro Bowlers as well in Stroud and Schoebel. Not to take anything away from the Titans. They look strong. I am just looking at the way we match up against Jacksonville. If the Titans can achieve seven sacks against them, so can we. If Jacksonville continues to struggle stopping the run....we will dominate. Throw in a couple of passes and some decent special teams play, and Jacksonvile is going down hard. Nope, I am confident. Mark it down......Bills win by no less than 10 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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