Looking forward to the Titans thread..

[Sez.EJ]

Pre-draft pressers are different than pressers during the season.

pre draft pressers are intended to throw off the other teams as to draft plans, not the fans... (they are just collateral damage) .. everyone knows that..



Bust alert: Nate Washington (at CLE): Joe Haden has not reached Revis or Nnamdi Asomugha's status at the upper echelon of lock-down cornerbacks, but he has become an elite defender already and should be able to handle Washington. The Browns have only allowed one receiver to score this season, which was rookie A.J. Green in Week 1 on broken coverage when Haden was slow to leave the defensive huddle. Since then Haden has helped limit Reggie Wayne and Brandon Marshall to a combined 10 Fantasy points. Washington is now the No. 1 receiver for the Titans with Britt out, but he will struggle this week in his matchup with Haden.

[Alo]

Nate Washington ran a 4.55 at his pro day. By Lombardi's calculations, that makes him about fifty times faster than Haden.

[pl4tinum]

I love it that a player on our defense can actually get respect from the sports media like this. Haden is the man. So is Heckert...

[Brown Warrior]

I like the Browns in this one and I'm not even betting from the heart. Or betting.

For one thing, we're completely healthy. Pashos, while a middle tier right tackle, is a pretty huge upgrade over, uh... that one guy and that other guy. Hillis is back and Hardesty arrived, to some extent. The WR rotation has settled in and Shurmur seems committed to getting certain people looks earlier in the game (rhymes with Schmittle and Schmoore, I'm thinking). McCoy is the kind of kid who's being way rougher on himself than we've been (54%???)... and I'm betting he's gonna have his best game of the year by far.

But mostly... I think the defense is starting to get some swagger. Not too much, mind you, but the kind that lets you play faster, make you expect to do things rather than hope. The entire defensive line, Player of the Month Jackson, financially secure and appreciated Gocong, Pro Bowl whispered Joe Haden, and all three safeties and even a couple nickels are looking in the mirror and saying, "I'm a playah, playah."

Sure, we can talk about needing more speed at LB, an upgrade over Sheldon Brown, maybe another pass rusher. But this defense is pretty damn good right now. Benard and Gocong can help with that pass rush and Patterson might already BE an upgrade over Brown.

I think we're about to play our first complete game of the season and go into the break 3-1.

[Riffer X]

Britt being out is going to be huge. Haden will manhandle whoever he lines up against, so they should be able to get after matty and stack 'em against CJ.

[Neo]

As long as we play good defense like we have been, I don't see why we can't win this game. The defense is also making Colt look better IMO. 217 yards and we get a win. Look at what happened to Romo last week, didn't throw a TD pass the entire game and the still won. It's because their defense played well and made plays when it really mattered.

[Sez.EJ]

Titans Key Matchup

Who knows Matt Hasselbeck better than Mike Holmgren? Don't be surprised if the Browns president tips off some secrets to Browns defensive boss Dick Jauron, who has already turned cornerback Joe Haden into a shut-down player. With Tennessee's receivers not exactly threatening, it's Chris Johnson-or-bust this week for Tennessee (the Browns are giving up gobs of rushing yards but haven't allowed a rushing touchdown in two weeks).

[Alo]

Kind of silly to say Jauron has turned Joe Haden into a shut-down player. Jerome Henderson deserves more credit, and Haden a lot more than the both of 'em.

[OzDawg]

Hey Alo, is it possible to see a summary of who threw against(at) Haden. What their percentages of completions were. And actually compare it to the few proceeding games?

[Alo]

Good idea. I'll try to look it up, but it will be skewed by the fact that the season-ending game against the Steelers wasn't a good day for Joe.

[Sez.EJ]

Nate Washington is the No. 1 receiver in Tennessee now that Kenny Britt (knee) is out for the season.

Washington took full advantage of Britt's absence in the second-half of Week 3, ending up with eight receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown. Matt Hasselbeck and Washington have formed a solid rapport that should be on full display week in and week out. Washington's potential is capped given the limited talent across from him at wide receiver and his lack of game-changing ability, but he's set to see plenty of targets

Tennessee Titans at Cleveland Browns (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS)
With the loss of Kenny Britt, Chris Johnson (pictured) needs to crank it up, and this is the perfect game to do it. Cleveland has the third-worst rushing defense, giving up 129 yards per game, and Johnson has now had enough time to get back into game shape after sitting out almost the entire preseason. Colt McCoy was brilliant on the final 14 plays against Miami, but it was the first 44 that concern me. I like the Titans on the road.

[DeadWombat]

I really dont think Britt being out of the game is going to be THAT huge. IMO a lot of you guys are way overplaying this. They did just fine passing without Britt for over 3 quarters against Denver.

Britt had 3 catches for 18 yards before leaving the field halfway into the 1st quarter. In that game, Hasslebeck still had over 300 passing yards and connected to 10 different receivers. 300 yards! Washington had 8 receptions for nearly 100 yards, but Ol' Hass will definitely spread the ball around.

Not to mention, guys... they picked up a healthy Donnie Avery this week. He's not liable to start but is probably going to see some playing time as well. Even with Haden shutting down Washington for most of the game, this will be tough on our pass D. Hasslebeck is playing extremely well (IIRC he's third among QBs so far in this season) and this will be a tough game even if CJ still isn't in playing shape.

.... and if CJ is gonna bust out, this would be the week to do it against our bad run D.



This is going to be a tough game to win. The Tennessee Tits are the toughest opponent we've faced by far and it's gonna be really hard on us to come out on top.