Titan Up: Week 11 Game Balls
By Nick Bishop
We here at Titan Sized are big fans of CNNSI’s Peter King and his weekly column “Monday Morning Quarterback” in which he shares his random thoughts and musing on the previous day’s games. In this week’s MMQB, Peter handed out a few game balls of his own, with two of them going to Titan WR Justin Gage and backup CB Chris Carr. Well, since those were gonna be our two picks for “Titan Up” game balls, we just thought we would share what Mr. King had to say about the two. After all, he is the professional. There are a couple of other nice things about the 10-0 Titans, so I highly suggest reading the whole thing. So, in lieu and without further ado:
"Admit it. You, like me, have been down on the Titans wideouts all season. Thought they’d eventually doom the Tennesseans to failure. Well, in the last two weeks, they’ve come up big, and Gage was huge in the come-from-behind 24-14 win at Jacksonville. Four catches, 147 yards, two touchdowns from Gage, giving him eight catches for 194 yards and three TDs over the past two weeks."
"Subbing for injured teammates and playing key special-teams roles, Carr had four tackles, three passes defensed and a vital interception of David Garrard with six minutes left in the game and Tennessee up 17-14. He also returned three punts and three kicks. On the other side of the field, Cortland Finnegan gave up no completions all day, and the Titans continued to show the strength of their depth. “Carr definitely didn’t play like a third corner,” said Garrard."
We’d just like to add that Kerry Collins yet again proved that he is more than just a “game manager” by going 13/23 with 230 yards and three touchdowns (112.3 QB rating). The relationship between Collins and the Titans reminds me of that couple that you just go “Oh yeah, that totally makes sense. They are perfect for each other.” If Collins was anywhere else, I don’t think he would be doing the same types of things that he has the ability to do here (plus the fact that he might not have the opportunity to do so). Yet, at the same time, I don’t believe the Titans would be quite as effective with say and Aaron Rodgers or a Jay Cutler. That’s not because those guys aren’t as good, but more so because they are young, up-and-coming stars in this league that are at times faced with tremedous pressure to be “the guy” that pulls out the victory, and that’s a lot to put on such a young athlete. It almost seems like Kerry Collins is the quarterback that Jeff Fisher and Mike Heimerdinger have been looking for to run this offense for years; a guy that is efficient on both short routes and down the field, who minimizes mistakes and capitalizes on opportunities and remains poised no matter what the score or situation is. It also doesn’t hurt that he can put this team on his back and carry them too. One last tidbit from King (there’s a good bit more Titans content in the entire article):
"“Tennessee has to sign Kerry Collins to a fair-market deal, even if it means Vince Young has to sit behind him for two more years. Collins is pulling a Kurt Warner, and Young, unfortunately for his development, is going to have eat humble pie like Matt Leinart‘s doing in Arizona. Tennessee has the cap room to do a 2009-salary-heavy deal for Collins — the Titans will enter the offseason $35 million under the salary cap — and I’d be stunned if they don’t do it. There can be no more questioning of Collins, who has thrown one interception in the past 21 quarters and taken four sacks in the last 34 quarters. He’s an efficient winner, the perfect quarterback for a team with a great offensive line, solid running game and brass-knuckle defense that’s going to play a low-scoring game. Young’s growing pains are a terrible match for the Titans now, and if they can’t convince him to be patient and learn under Collins and offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger, they’re going to have to let him walk. This game’s about winning, not about playing the quarterback the owner wanted you to draft.”"
King makes very good sense here, and it will be interesting to see if that’s how this offseason really plays out. Barring any huge, unforseen event, we expect to see Collins starting here next season (to be quite honest, I’m not too sure what the market for Collins would be outside of the Titans), and there’s no better fit in the league.
Titan Up Titans Fans!!!!! 10-0 feels pretty good right about now. This week we’ve got Brett and the Jets, and an opportunity to beat a first place team for the third time this month. Looking forward to it.