Great Expectations

This may seem childish, but I think it has some relevence here. Stan Lee, the great comic book creator came up with this line in his Spiderman series. Peter Parker’s (Spiderman’s) Uncle Ben told him “with great power comes great responsibility”. I think Vince Young should buy some comic books and learn to accept the fact that he isn’t just like everyone else or even like any other quarterback in the NFL.

He was the third pick of the NFL Draft 3 years ago and was paid around 50-million dollars to lead this football team. When someone gets 50-million bucks it’s for one thing and one thing only, results. Excuses simply will not cut it and should not be accepted whether it’s practice, the Pre-Season or the Super Bowl.

Jeff Fisher can make excuses for Young’s 4 for 13 performance against the Raiders all he wants, the fact is for anyone who watched it, it was ugly and not what they expect from the guy with the keys to the franchise and most important keys to this teams playoff hopes. Great players, QB’s especially, elevate the players around them. Steve McNair took the offense to new levels and the Titans to the Super Bowl without a bonafide star in the receiving corps.

No, I’m not condemning Vince as a failure and a wasted pick. Do I think he can still be a successful NFL quarterback? Sure, I still think he can be a star. However, I also think that won’t happen until he accepts the fact he does make mistakes and when you’re the quarterback of an NFL football team making a huge salary people expect more. I can only speak for myself and the scores of fans I heard venting their spleins on the radio after the game. Jeff Fisher still contends he has no worries about Young’s progress, but you have to wonder if that will change if he doesn’t get it going before the Pre-Season ends.

“It’s not always the QB’s fault” may work now, but when Jacksonville gets to town September 7th the Jaguars won’t be listening.

…..In a Flash, He is a First-teamer….

Gotta admit, didn’t think it would have been this quick but Jeff Fisher on Wednesday announced that number one pick Chris Johnson will be the starting running back come Friday’s preseason game against the Oakland Raiders.  I know, it is only the preseason but that is pretty good for the rookie to grab the starting nod.

Players were still talking about Chris Johnson’s run at practice on Wednesday and you know when a guy like Kevin Mawae or Kerry Collins were mesmerized, because they have been in the league a combined 29 years, on what Mr. Johnson did last Saturday.

NIck Harper will not get the start come Friday, he is still recovering from a concussion he suffered in the game but everyone else seems to be ready to go.  They will need to be because the Raiders have a pretty good offense led by their number one pick Darren McFadden. 

Plus, it is the Raiders!  Thank God for professional football in Nashville.  Awesome

………. A LOOK BACK AT A TRUE WHIPPING..

I know it is preseason, ‘doesn’t count, no one cares, etc, etc’ but for the guys on the field on both teams, these games mean a lot.  They want to win, they want to big and they want to dominate. 

With that said, the Titans put a true whoopin’ on the Rams.  It was very clear from the first couple of drives for the Titans, this was there game.  They moved the ball at will, the defense looked sharp and then there was the long touchdown run by Chris Johnson who looked like shoppers at Opry Mills on the first day of Christmas shopping.  This guy is one of the most unique players to come thru Nashville in a long, long time.  He can do basically anything from anywhere on the field.  This guy is dynamic. 

I know it is still just the preseason but Titans fans, isn’t this much more fun to talk about than the opposite?  Yep….Let the season begin and it cannot begin soon enough…

………IT IS NOW GO TIME….TITANS V. RAMS….

Ok, so what if it is only a preseason game, it is still football and that is all that really matters.  It is hard to believe that the last time we saw the Titans at LP Field was against the NY Jets last December.

So for all of us football fans, whether you are a Titans fan or not, it is Go Time!

Saturday night, look for Vince Young and the starters to get into the 2nd quarter before they start coming out but keep a keen eye on Chris Johnson, cause this dude is explosive, fast and just a burner on the field. 

For the defense, look for them to pin their ears back and go after the Rams.  And that means the first teamers, the second teamers and so on.  Why?  Why not, it is the preseason, it offers you the chance that you would not get during the regular season so let it fly.

We will see how it all shakes out on Saturday.

………TITANS IN TRAINING (WITH THE RAMS) PM UPDATE

Well after a morning practice that resembled an undercard of a heavyweight fight, the pm practice between the Titans and the Rams was very, very tame.  No fights, no pushing, nothing, just a good ole practice.

Gotta say, in the pm practice, Vince Young looked veyr good, possibly the best I have seen him in a long time.  Hitting receivers in stride, fake pump one way, firing the ball another way and spreading the ball over the field.  The defense wasn’t as sharp as in the morning but their intensity was there. 

Overall, and I hate to say this, the PM practice was really boring, compared to what happened in the morning.  The two teams go at it again Thursday at 3:30 pm, which all leads up to the big game, this Saturday night.

……………TITANS V. RAMS PRACTICE (WED A.M.)

Wednesday Morning Practice Report:

The St. Louis Rams have hit town for a couple day of practices leading up to Saturday Night’s preseason game.  Wednesday morning, they went toe to toe in full pads.  This will be no surprise but both defenses dominated. 

On one on one drills, Titans fans, I have some very good news for you.  Michael Roos completey used Chris Long, on about every pass rushing drill.  Not just a couple of times but he made him look terrible.  David Stewart held his own against Leonard Little.  The rest of the offense line, first teamers, looked most excellent against the Rams first teamers.

As expected, the fireworks did come out when the Titans defense and the Rams offense were going thru their drills.  5 fights broke out between the two teams, Cortland Finnegan, Sean Conover, Keith Bulluck, Kyle Vanden Bosch and some Rams players were all involved.

The two teams are back at it Wednesday afternoon.  Expect more fireworks to follow.

…..TITANS LOOK FORWARD TO WEEK 2 OF CAMP…

The Titans with a rare day off on Sunday before the action really starts.  The St. Louis Rams come a’callin this Wednesday for a couple of days of practices then next Saturday, they both have their first preseason game of the year at LP Field, which you can see right here on News 2.

You really can’t take to much away from the first week of camp unless your name is Mike Williams and you can take everything in your locker because you are not coming back.  The more the days pass and we talk to the players, this cut should have happened a long time ago.

The defense looks pretty stout and just about everytime there is at least 4 to 5 guys around the ball so they might be better than last year and that is very scary.

The offense, eh, not so sure.  At times, very good but Vince still looks pretty inconsistent, except when he is running out of the pocket and he looks unstoppable.  it will be interesting to see how Offensive Coordinator Mike Heimerdinger can put it all together and make it fly. 

I guess that is the beauty of the preseason games.  We will all see soon enough though.

……..TITANS IN TRAINING, DAY 7: CAMP SHOCKER

All thru the OTA’s this summer, all we heard and were fed was how great former number one pick of the Detroit Lions Mike Williams was doing with the Titans.  He showed up 30 pounds overweight last year, but he had lost all of that and from the looks of things, had gotten into pretty decent shape.

But on Thursday, a camp shocker, the Titans released Mike Williams.  Jeff Fisher said to many drops, and the right focus wasn’t there.  WOW!  There was never any indication of this even remotely happening but after practice Thursday and talking to a few of the players off camera, none were surprised and in fact some thought it should have happened a long time ago.

Williams was picked 10th by the Lions in the 2005 draft in the first round, they cut him and the Raiders picked him up, they cut him and the Titans picked him up, hoping he could harness something that he had in college at USC when he was dominating. 

Nope.  Gone.  C’est La vie in the NFL.  Here one day, gone the next.

Good news in camp:  Kerry Collins is on fire.  He has marched the 2nd team offense down the field many a time against the first time Defense.  Kerry told me that he knows his role on this team and he accepts it and his coaches say he is the ‘perfect’ teammate.  But if Vince goes down, and hopefully he doesn’t, this team would not miss a beat at all.

Jevon Kearse, who had missed the last couple of practices with a hurt toe, returned on Thursday and he was unstoppable at times.  That dude is on a mission to prove everyone wrong that he belongs and still has it and it will be interesting to see once the preseason starts, how well he does.

Practice Friday is under the lights at BSP, starting at 7:30.  It is open to the public and guys, what a great cheap date for you.  Camp practices are always free.

……..TITANS IN TRAINING-DAY 6

Now the mundane by day 6 is supposed to set in at training camp, meaning seeing the same drills over and over, watching the offense make some great plays, then the defense makes some and then they both make mistakes, but so far this training camp is different.

First, you have to keep an eye on the OL and DL when they go one on one in their drills.  There is more action after the whistle stops than during the play and you know, just like Tuesday in their first full day in full pads, something is going to happen and on Wednesday, it almost did about 10 times. 

But so far thru the camp, the defense is easily dominating in about every aspect but the coaching staff says that is usually the way it goes during the camp but the offense has been spectacular at times, especially when Vince Young rolls out of the pocket cause at moments he looks unstoppable.

Now my observations from camp so far:

1) Albert Haynesworth-He looks like at any moment is going to pass out and that is not good.  He said he was in shape when he reported but I am not sure on what ‘in shape’ scale he was referring about.  He looks sluggish, slow, after the ball is snapped, especially if it is going the other way, forget about it, he isn’t running to it, but we all know what Albert can do when motivated and I am sure by the first game, he will be ready to go.

2)  Vincent Fuller-  The nickleback, not the band, has been flying to the ball.  He is a nice compliment to Chris Hope and when the Titans go to the Nickel D, he will be just fine out there.  He is not shy of contact, a bit undersized but still tough as nails.

3)  Kerry Collins- I tell you what, if something happens to Vince and they put Kerry in, this team will not miss a beat, and in fact, might be a tad better.  Sure he runs like me on sand, but he can fire a ball with precise accuracy thru about 5 defenders to the right person.  His value to this team is unlimited and he looks just as sharp now as he did leading Penn State to the national title in 1994 or the Giants to the Super Bowl in the 2000 season.

They are back again on Thursday at 3:30.  Another blog will follow.

…..TITANS IN TRAINING-DAY 5

You know if you are a Titans fan, you gotta love Kyle Vanden Bosch.  Ever since he first came to the team in 2005, his motor has not stopped running.  We are not kidding, it never stops.  He plays like it is truly the last play he will ever play in his life.  So when the Titans put on full pads for the first time in camp on Tuesday, and with the temperature near 100, you knew something was going to happen and it did.

KVB and Eugene Amano got into several fist throwing, helmets flying tangles all throughout camp.  Head coach Jeff Fisher had enough, called the team together, basically told them to chill out.  But this happens every single year and you know deep down, Fisher had to be loving it.  What coach wants a defense who is soft and doesn’t get after it?  Zero, none and he had to be smiling about it.

The defense continues to really shine in camp, though.  They are top notch up and down.  Defensive Line, Linebackers, DB’s, are really dominating thru and thru.  Jeff Fisher said that this 2008 team was the best conditioned team he has ever been around as head coach and it has really shown.  No one cramping, no one having to sit anything out.

Jevon Kearse hurt his toe when someone stepped on his foot, but he should be ok.  LenDale White was excused from camp for personal reasons and Chris Johnson and Chris Henry were getting all of the carries and Henry, was looking good at times, just bowling guys over.

They will do it all again on Wednesday at 3:30

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