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Tennessee Titans: Just Another Manic Monday?

By Chris Headrick

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The Tennessee Titans will be featured on Monday Night Football tomorrow night, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it’s not likely to be a manic Monday.

Although the teams that often play on Monday are about as exciting as watching paint dry, the Titans being featured certainly flies in the face of the phrase Manic Monday.

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    • Manic means exciting or frenzied, and this game will probably be anything but exciting, at least not for Titan fans who have grown accustomed to less than exciting performances.

    The Pittsburgh Steelers are sitting well in the AFC North with a 6-4 record, and have played excellent football recently, but the problem with the Steelers has been inconsistency.

    Frankly, fans never know what they’re going to see from the team. They played great two games in a row, and then looked flat as a pancake against the New York Jets.

    In stark contrast to the Steelers, the Tennessee Titans add new meaning to word flat! With a pitiful 2-7 record in the AFC South, it’s fair to say that the fans, teams, coaching staff, and owners all hoped for more this season.

    Oh, we all knew this year was a rebuilding thing, but the talent seemed capable of more than what we’re seeing.

    What To Expect From The Steelers

    If you follow my writing, you know I’m not a fan of Zach Mettenberger. That said, I still give him a chance to develop into a decent quarterback. I’m just not sure he should be the long-term choice for the Titans.

    Mettenberger has a good arm and can make any pass, but he is a pocket quarterback that needs above average protection to excel. When he’s pressured and the pocket collapses, he tends to wilt, make bad decisions and bad passes.

    You can be sure that the Pittsburgh Steelers know that, will bring the blitz against the Titans on Monday night, and just the thread of the blitz is sometimes enough to rattle Mettenberger and force bad decisions.

    Against the Jets, the Steelers had issues at least partly because of a mobile threat in Michael Vick, but they won’t have that same threat with Mettenberger. Expect the Steelers to pressure and try to confuse the young Titan QB all day.

    I also expect the Steelers to try to pound the Tennessee Titans defensive line with a ton of rushes in this game. The Titans are allowing nearly 140 yards of rushing per game, and the Steelers are well aware of that also.

    What To Expect From The Titans

    If the Titans have any chance to upset the Steelers on Monday night, we’ll need to see a different offensive line! They have simply not provided adequate protection for any quarterback, whether it was Jake Locker, Charlie Whitehurst, or Zach Mettenberger.

    Because Zach is a pocket QB, it’s vital the Titan’s O-Line not allow the pocket to collapse around Zach. He tends to rattle when it does. If they are ineffective there, then Zach will need to try to do some things differently.

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    • One of my knocks on Mettenberger is that while he is a pocket QB, he has not developed a good sense of what is going on around him in the pocket.  Zach tends to stand too long in the pocket, and if the Steelers bring blitz pressure all night, Mettenberger needs to adjust.

    That adjustment might not mean anything more than just taking a few steps laterally, stepping up further into the head of the pocket, or working further back. He will need to adjust though against pressure if he expects to have success.

    The receiving core of the Titans needs to play better as well. They have a ton of talent, but have been a disappointment.

    Finally, as I’ve said more times than I can count, the Titans need to have a solid ground game, and run the ball often. This is crucial to give Zach some rest, and allow him to be more successful in passing situations.

    In a time where we are seeing a ton of passing, and the ground game undervalued, it’s a mistake for any team to neglect a solid rushing attack.

    Final Truth

    The Pittsburgh Steelers win this one handily!

    I’d love to see all those things I talked about take place – for the Titans to set up a good ground game, offer better protection for Mettenberger, and receivers step it up.

    I’ve just not seen much evidence that the Titans are in sync enough, or have talent enough for those things to happen.

    It might be another Monday, but it’s not very likely to be a manic Monday, at least not for Titan fans.

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