Perfect Halfway.

Remember These Titans
By Alex Barrett


ORLANDO, Fla. - The 2008 Tennessee Titans aren’t a glamorous team; they don’t score a ton of points, don’t throw the ball 50 yards down the field, and haven’t had a win margin this season over 24 points. They do, however, have the league’s top three interceptors on defense, a defensive line that could send all 4 members to the pro bowl, a grizzly veteran quarterback, and a rookie running back that is in the tops of rushing in the NFL.
Let’s throw some names out there… Berman. Young. Aikman. Collinsworth. Madden. All analysts for the NFL and their perspective companies; all of them, and others as well, picked the Titans to finish dead last in the AFC South division race this year. Not many Titans fans chose their team to be atop one of the notoriously toughest divisions in football at the midway point of the season. Even the die-hard fans that could have predicted this in a clear conscious would have retracted their thoughts after the Titans chose not to address their receiving corps in the draft, and felt even more worrisome after Vince Young, the future of the franchise, succumbed to injury in week 1. The only bright spot, it seemed, was the first-round pick they would receive at the beginning of next year. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, the 2008 Tennessee “Tyrants” have gone on the warpath. They lead almost every statistical category defensively in the NFL, and the ones they’re not on the top of the list for, they are at a very close second. The Titans have defeated all members of their division already once this year, and because of the Titan’s dominance, the league is seeing something rather odd this year, The Colts, normally a powerhouse in the division, has lost it’s stranglehold. The Jaguars have been wallowing in mediocrity all season, and the Texans are again bringing up the rear.
To have the NFL’s top rushing offense and stingiest defense are luxuries 14-year head coach Jeff Fisher has dreamt of ever since the 1999 Super Bowl loss to the Rams. Remind you of another team that won games with this same scheme? How about the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, with an emerging Jamal Lewis, a cruddy quarterback in Trent Dilfer, and a downright scary defense featuring MLB Ray Lewis. Replace cruddy quarterback with Kerry Collins, who’s consistency hasn’t put up fascinating numbers, but has delivered when necessary, and change Ray Lewis to Albert Haynesworth, whom is making his MVP of the league bid this season, and you have essentially the same championship makeup.
Tennessee hasn’t been winning huge, but they have been winning strong, forcing opponents to try whatever they can to shut down the “Smash and Dash” combo of LenDale White and Chris Johnson, and no one has been effective. The best statistic of them all? The Titans are a staggering 100% in Red Zone offense. If they've made it to your 20 yard line, you might as well go ahead and put some digits on the scoreboard. After 8 weeks of the regular season, you can make comparisons to the last two teams to start 8-0 - the Patriots, and Colts. Both went on to win Super Bowls. In fact, of the last 8 teams to start the first half of the season undefeated, half of them have won the big game. It is because of this tight-knit group of players, who were cast aside as cellar-dwellers, that the Titans have been able to dominate the league to this point. If these figures continue, with the momentum the Titans have built, it’s now difficult to look at the second half of the season and imagine those prominent analysts from above, continuing to predict the Titans to finish last. Unless, of course, by last you mean the last team standing. Now when you get asked the question; “Do you remember the Titans?” It isn’t the feel-good movie with Denzel Wahington, it’s the real-life story of the 2008 shouldn’t-have-been’s, the 2008 Tennessee Titans.