Titans Show Growth and Pains Against Rams
In the end the Rams came out on top by one point, but what does that mean? Absolutely nothing. The Titan’s starters played against the Rams starters for a fair share of the game and played pretty impressively, especially when you take into consideration the facts that they’re playing with new play books and quite a few new players on the defensive side. More about which Titan’s really shone after the jump.
Jamie Harper, you crazy son of a gun. You stepped up.
After a somewhat disappointing first showing last week against the Vikings, Harper showed great improvement this week against the Rams. Though there were times that he still shied away from lowering his head and just running the defender over, he did do a better job of it. He did less directional changes (though he could still work on doing even less) and showed much more potential to be that goal line bowling ball we’ve been missing since we let the good old LandWhale go. With more coaching and more play time, he could be a great goal line back for us. His final stats of the game were 11 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown and 1 reception for 24 yards. I hope to see even more improvement from him next time he’s on the field.
Cortland Finnegan, you want that extension, don’t you?
Finnie impressed me, no doubt. He was playing hard last night. He had one heck of a hard hit on Bradford when he was sent in on the blitz. He was also responsible for the tipped pass which Verner ended up picking off. He was also responsible for a sack on Bradford. I hope he keeps that fire going into the season.
Titans defensive line…. Did you get bigger?
They held Steven Jackson to 10 yards on 6 carries. One more time for effect… They held Steven Jackson to 10 yards on 6 carries. That’s beautiful. Jason Jones went down the first play and the line still played incredible. I’m beyond excited for the potential they’re bringing into this season. Lets see some more of that beautiful run stopping…
Titans O-line getting back to where we started from.
Yes the Titans young running backs had a heck of a game, but don’t you dare ignore the work the first team 0-line was doing. It was art. Those holes couldn’t have been better. On Harper’s 2 yard touchdown run there was a huge hole right down the middle and he just dove in it right behind Sarge who was leading the charge. Hope they do that all season.
Now for a quick look on the darker side of things…
Michael Griffin, WTF
Griffin started off the game with a huge bite on a fake by Bradford that cost us a touchdown on the very first play of the game. He’s been known to bite hard on fakes and hopefully he’ll clean that up before the regular season. We need him preforming at the top of his abilities.
Jake Locker, I’m sorry you had to be behind the 2nd team o-line
Locker never got the chance to get comfortable last night, as he was always running for his life. This lead to some abysmal stats of being 8 of 18 with 1 interception and a QB rating of 35. I expect to see him rebound when under better protection in future games.
All in all, the Titans showed up and played hard. The defensive line was destroying the Rams first team and that just makes me all warm and tingly inside. I expect this defense to make some powerful statements this year…