Forget The Titans
The Colts snapped a 3-game winning streak. It was a game that was ultimately closely contested, so take heart, Dolphin fans. Despite the record setting day that Andrew Luck had, for his record passing yards by a rookie, the scoreline was a marginal 23-20 victory. The Colts’ strength lay in the fact that Luck is a quality signal caller. Throughout his Stanford career and the buildup to the draft, everyone knew that he had the goods to excel in the NFL, and that is why the Colts did not hesitate to pull the trigger on selecting him to replace one Peyton Manning. Luck was able to knock our secondary around for most of the game.
I do not think that will be the case with the Titans. Jake Locker (set to return this Sunday) is no Andrew Luck, furthermore he has not played now in over a month. Combine that with a team that just took an absolute drubbing to the Bears last week, and there is not a lot here to inspire much confidence among the Titans’ fan base. Through the first half of the season, this team has been lackluster to say the least; the offense has been feeble, and the defense virtually nonexistent. They rank dead last for points allowed, 30th for yards allowed, 27th in pass defense and 30th against the run.
If ever there were an opportunity for an offense to let loose on a team, this is it. Tannehill has been great, much better than expected, and we have been winning games. But despite now having gone over a month without throwing an interception he still has thrown less TD’s to interceptions. It doesn’t matter much, as long as the Dolphins ultimately score more points. But it would be nice to see. Reggie Bush is averaging 4.4 yards a carry – a solid effort, but he only has one 100-yard rushing game to his name this season. Now is the time for Bush to shine again.
Chris Johnson has found some of that swagger he had before his big payday. Unfortunately for him, he is going to come up against the league’s 3rd best rush defense. Where our secondary has been suspect, our front seven has been stout. Johnson should present more of a challenge but this is a defense that has not allowed a running back to reach 100 yards in 22 games, the longest active streak in the NFL.
Our playoff hopes are still very much alive, and for them to remain so the Titans really are a must beat team. We still have to play the Patriots twice. They appear to be more vulnerable than they have been in the past, but they remain a formidable opponent and likely to win the AFC East. Let’s also not forget that the 49ers are still ahead of us. Of all the games left to play, the Titans pose the least opposition, and that’s something we have to capitalize on.
Though one should never underestimate an opponent, any given Sunday, anything less than a Dolphin victory seems unlikely. I only speculate, by what margin will victory be ours?
Tags: miami dolphins, NFL, preview, ross barnes, tennessee titans
