Can Tennessee Titans Get To The Bye Week At 2-1?
By Les Bailey
The only two good things that come with a 2-14 season like the Tennessee Titans had by the time the 2014 season-end took mercy on them, is the guarantee of a good draft position and an easy schedule the following year.
They are just one Brian Orakpo sack away from needing to start Johnny Football
The Titans will have to start on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Cleveland Browns before coming back to LP Field for the home opener against Andrew Luck, and the Indianapolis Colts.
With a little luck(no pun intended), the Titans could well be 2-0 by the time they face their divisional foe on September 27th.
The NFL took a long-shot when they set the 2015 schedule to include the possibility that the first and second picks in the 2015 draft would meet each other in week one.
With Jameis Winston going against Marcus Mariota(his last collegiate loss came against Mariota and the Ducks) is the kind of matchup that makes being an NFL fan worth the long wait from the Super Bowl until opening day.
The Bucs have made some improvements during the off-season, but did they make up as much ground as the Titans. I don’t think so.
We know that with a little pressure, Jameis Winston can be forced to make some mistakes. He did have 18 interceptions last year, and with the added pass rush that should come from the Dick LeBeau defense, I think the titans have a real chance in this game.
Winston has two big Kelvin Benjamin type receivers in Vincent Jackson, and Mike Evans, but with no real improvement in the running game(they were ranked 29th in 2014), I feel like the Titans secondary could have a field day.
We saw the difference in the 40 yard dash between Winston and Mariota at the Combine, and Mariota’s speed could be the difference in this game.
This game, which kicks off at 4:24 Eastern and the Thursday night game against the Jaguars on November 17th are the only two games where the Titans get prime-time billing and kick-off at a time other than noon Eastern.
In week two, the Titans travel to Cleveland to take on Josh McCown, and the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have their own problems, and in my opinion, the Titans will only have to beware of the guy in the dress at the NFL draft(Danny Shelton) to put up some good numbers.
I felt like Cleveland made a big mistake when they gave up on quarterback Brian Hoyer, and let him go to Houston during free agency. But hey…this is the Browns we’re talking about! I’ve lost track of how many quarterbacks the franchise has went through since returning to the NFL in 1999.
They are just one Brian Orakpo sack away from needing to start Johnny Football or someone, and I think this constant state of change in Cleveland gives the Tennessee Titans an excellent chance at getting their second win in as many starts.
Life gets tougher in week three when they come home to meet the Colts. The Colts didn’t make it to the Super Bowl last year, and everything they did in the off-season so far has been to correct that fault.
I think the addition of Andre Johnson from the Houston Texans, and Frank Gore from the 49ers has the potential to take this team to Super Bowl L and I don’t think the Titans will have enough to match this lineup.
Getting to the Bye week with two wins will match what the Titans did in the entirety of the 2014 season. The schedule after the bye week tends to get a little tougher, and I’m sure that there will be some injuries by that time.
Two meetings with the Jaguar should net the Titans another win, maybe two, but the rest of the schedule could prove daunting, to say the least.
Everyone else on the schedule has made improvements, but if Marcus Mariota can stay healthy and they can get a running game going, there might be 4-5 wins there.
Five wins would be a major improvement over 2014, and an eight win season could be had with a little luck, and some fine play from our franchise quarterback.
I think the first two are a real possibility!
Ref: Tennessee Titans: Win/Loss Predictions Weeks 1-5
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