Week 13 Preview: Titans @ Lions

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that everyone has gotten (or will get) to their destination safely. Seeing that it’s Thanksgiving we’re going to make this real short and sweet. (It looks like this didn’t post correctly last night, so if you’re reading this as I type the game is already a bit underway.)

The Titans are coming off of their first loss of the season and, before promptly blowing a 17-0 lead (against a good Tampa Bay team), it looked as if the Lions might be coming off of their first win of the season. Well, the Lions are the Lions (they didn’t hold on), so they come into their annual Thanksgiving Day game 0-11. I don’t think that there was much of a chance of the Titans overlooking any game, but their first loss of the season probably doesn’t bode particularly well for the Lions. Today’s game will probably be a good time for the Titans to give thanks to the scheduling gods.

Titans Offense vs. Lions Defense:

Detroit is giving up more points than any team in the NFL (31.5 per contest), is ranked 32nd against the rush (out of 32 teams) and 19th against the pass (kinda surprised it’s that respectable). If you’ve been wondering where the Titans rushing game has been over the last couple weeks, the answer is pretty simple. Chris Johnson and LenDale White (maybe Chris Henry and Quinton Ganther too) have been hanging out in Detroit, waiting to make their families proud in front of a national, holiday audience. From a fantasy perspective, we might see a good day from Kerry Collins, Justin Gage and Bo Scaife too, but that shouldn’t matter. The Titans offense could possibly control this game without a quarterback.

Edge: Titans

Lions Offense vs. Titans Defense:

Detroit has the 28th ranked overall offense in the NFL, and are starting Daunte Culpepper, who mere weeks ago was literally an armchair quarterback. The Lions do have Calvin Johnson, who one-on-one is a mismatch in the Lions favor against most any unit (this week is no different), and Kevin Smith, who has continued to run well, even against good defenses. The Titans have allowed their fair share of rushing yards as of late, so don’t be too surprised if that continues against Detroit. Don’t be surprised, either, if that has absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the game. Detroit makes mistakes- lots of them. The Lions have allowed 41 sacks, 12 forced fumbles, 14 picks and 2 blocked kicks. Think about it this way: the Titans are Charlie, Ford Field (can we bailout naming rights?) is the Chocolate Factory and someone’s got a Golden Ticket (guess who).

Edge: Titans

Intangibles:

I hope to ingest enough tryptophan to nap through most of the Cowboys–Seahawks game, but little enough to wake up in time to see Kurt Warner throw eight touchdowns, therefore keeping my fantasy playoff hopes alive.

Edge: Me, hopefully.

If you like football and eating more than you’ll later be thankful for (in some respects, that sums me up pretty well), today is  your day. Enjoy. It’s a treat to have the Titans involved in the festivities, and a very (very, very, very) probable win should be even more of treat for Tennessee fans coming off of the first disappointing week of this NFL season.

Prediction: Titans 31-17