I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I have no idea what this article is going to be about today. I nearly decided not to write an article today, but I would hate to let down my 37 faithful readers. I will press on, writing one word after another until an idea hits me.
Last week, I promised that we would look at the Titans’ regular season schedule, so, I guess that is as good of a place to start as any. “Officially”, the Titans should have one of the easiest regular season schedules in the league, since they finished with the worst record in the league last year. Some years, that works out well, and this year seems to fall in that category. Frankly, I haven’t been thrilled with the schedule for the Titans the past few seasons. Too many tough matchups early on, or a bye week that falls at the wrong time, or too many road games early in the schedule seemed to lend to the death spiral that has been the Tennessee Titans in recent history.
Fortuitously, in 2016, their schedule is a good mix of home and away early in the season, strong and weak opponents. The only downside to the schedule is the bye week, which comes with only four games left in the season. I am considering doing a special edition of Titans Tuesday where I predict the outcome of each game before the season starts, but that has so much potential to backfire in my face that I might wimp out.
My thirteen-year-old son was confused about my salted cured meat comment last week. I don’t blame him. It was random and added nothing to the discussion. In other news, I ate a pastrami, black pepper turkey, white sharp cheddar cheese on a potato bun sandwich yesterday. It was delicious and I highly recommend the combination.
The third preseason game has come and gone and I think we know a little more about the Titans than we did the week before. Here are the things that stood out the most to me:
- The first team offense is going to be above average this season. The receiving group is solid and has the potential to be the best wide receiver group the Titans have fielded in over a decade. Marcus Mariota has full control of the offense and is making plays with his arm and his legs. And the running game is everything the team has been preaching. DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry are going to hurt some people this season and it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch them bring the pain. They do need a better nickname than Thunder and Thunder though. Feel free to post your suggestions in the comment section below.
- The secondary is a mess. Bad coverage, bad angles, bad tackling, bad positioning. You name it; they probably did it against the Raiders. I don’t think Perrish Cox back in the lineup is going to fix it all, but it’s bound to help. Let’s hope with that and a more aggressive Lebeau-styled-blitz-heavy scheme will be enough to keep them competitive.
- Playing football on a baseball field is the worst. I love baseball but football should not be played in dirt. What an ugly stadium and field.
That is all I have for today. To be honest, I didn’t think I could get even that many words down for this edition. I’m glad I stuck it out. I hope you are as well.1 Next week, we will have our 2016 BOLD PREDICTIONS. You won’t want to miss that because I will probably end up making a fool of myself in ways you cannot even imagine. Spoiler: I may or may not be predicting a playoff appearance for the Titans. I am also going to be posting REO staff predictions for the Titans’ 2016 record.
- Don’t tell me if you are not. It would hurt too much. ↩
- The Playoffs Start Now - January 1, 2021
- Podcast: Episode 4 - October 17, 2020
- Podcast Episode Three - October 13, 2020
For the two running backs, I like Thunder and Thunderer. Not really but I hope they get a cool nickname soon
I like Super Smash Bros.
How about Thor and Loki?
Thor works well as the God of Thunder. I’m not sure if Loki fits with either player though.