Tennessee Titans: Dominant Win vs. KC Led by Locker, Defense

The Tennessee Titans kicked off their season with a dominating win against the Kansas City Chiefs to start the season 1-0.

Before I go any further let me address the elephant in the room – I was wrong by predicting the Titans to lose on my previous article.  If there is anything I am going to be wrong about in life I love when it’s my thoughts on the Titans.

The Titans entered the game as slight underdog at -3.  The Titans won the game in dominating fashion by bottling up RB Jamaal Charles and rattling QB Alex Smith all game long.

The first quarter was a defensive battle back and forth that ended with a score of 0-0.  The game appeared that it was going to be a chess match.  I said all season long that I wanted to see the Titans play with urgency and purpose and first year defensive coordinator Ray Horton had the team doing both of those on defense.

The Chiefs were the first team to put points on the board with a field goal by K Cairo Santos.  It was all Titans after that for the most part.

Locker led the Titans down the field for a 5 yard TD throw to TE Delanie Walker.  The Titans special teams played spectacular.  Due to an amazing punt by P Brett Kern, he pinned the Chiefs on the 2 yard line which led to CB Jason McCourty‘s 2nd interception of the day.  The Titans were able to to put up 3 more points on the board with a FG by former Chiefs’ kicker Ryan Succup.

The Titans opened the second half by Locker throwing a 39 yard strike to WR Justin Hunter.  The drive eventually led to WR Kendall Wright scoring on a diving play at the goal line after scampering for some yards after the catch.

The Titans surrendered one touchdown via an Alex Smith pass to TE Anthony Fasano.

The Titans dominated the line of scrimmage putting pressure on Smith and making him scramble around to make plays.  The only plays Smith was really able to make on Sunday were completions to Jason McCourty (2 INT’s) and S Michael Griffin (1 INT).

The Titans also proved me wrong by bottling up the electrifying running back Jamaal Charles. The swarming, scrappy Titans defense held Charles to 34 all purpose yard and no touchdowns.  If you asked any NFL analyst prior to that game if the Titans would hold him to under 40 all purpose yards, all of them would balk at you.

I really liked what I saw.

Locker threw the ball with great efficiency.  He looked very confident and poised in head coach Ken Whisenhunt‘s system. Locker finished the day with an impressive stat line: 22/33 | 266 yards | 2 TDs | 0 INTs | 111.4 Passer Rating.

Based off week one the it looks RB Shonn Greene is the head honcho in the running back by committee.  Greene carried the rock 15 times while RB/WR Dexter McCluster had 9, rookie RB Bishop Sankey had 6, and RB Leon Washington had 2. The committee gained 148 yards on the ground and they appeared to stay fresh based on the rotation.

The Titans will host the Dallas Cowboys for their home opener in Nashville on September 14.

Based off what the Cowboys showed us yesterday the Titans have a great chance of starting the season 2-0.

Until next time – Titan up!