Armchair Quarterback: Examining the Titans’ new schedule
It won’t take long for the Titans to get another crack at the Colts, as they’re scheduled to meet in Nashville the second week of the season.
The Colt game, on Sept. 19, is one of several notable meetings the Titans will have this coming season according to the NFL schedule for 2004-05 released this week.
If you’re into Monday Night football, you’ll have to wait until Dec. 13 to see a live Monday-nighter at the Coliseum when the Titans host the Chiefs in week 14. If these two teams are at the same level as last year, this will be a key matchup for playoff position. However, I’ve learned not to assume. Last season, when I first saw the schedule, I was fired up about the season-ending Titan-Buccaneer game, only to discover it was a pointless match against a defeated Buc team which almost put me to sleep.
With that in mind, I’m still looking forward to the Titans’ first appearance of the coming season on MNF on Oct. 11 from the not-so-frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in Green Bay. It doesn’t matter what the records are when your team is visiting Title Town on Monday night. If I’m not mistaken, the Pack will be coming here for a pre-season game, so Nashville folks may get a chance to take one last look at Bret Favre, given his rumored retirement.
Further scanning the schedule, I’ve discovered I won’t be home for Christmas this year because I’ll be in Nashville watching the Titans and Broncos go at it Christmas night. Last year, the Broncos were just short of being a Super Bowl team, collapsing against a Colt team they’d killed just weeks before the playoffs. However, I suspect the Broncos will be one of the leading contenders this season, making this game, which is the next to last of the season, a huge one.
As for the rest of the games, all the Titan home contests, aside from the Chief and Bronco games, have a Sunday noon start time. The home games include divisional contests with Jacksonville Sept. 26 and Houston on Oct. 17, and a home conference matchup with the Bengals 0n Halloween.
As far as interconference play at home, the Titans will host the Bears on Nov. 14 and the Lions to end the season on Jan. 2. Bye week is on week 9, which Coach Jeff Fisher said is perfect timing because it gives the Titans a chance to heal up half-way through the season as opposed to having their bye early in the season when it’s about useless.
Looking at the road schedule, the Titans will open the season at Miami on Sept. 12. They come home for a pair before going to back-to-backs at San Diego and Green Bay. They will face Moss and the Vikings in the dome on Oct. 24. The Titans’ big road trip begins Nov. 21 when they travel to Jacksonville, Houston and Indianapolis on three consecutive weeks, all big division games. Their last road game is at Oakland on Dec. 19.
All in all, the schedule doesn’t appear to be as rugged as last year, but then, with the changing balance of power in the NFL, you never know.
There are, however, two parts of the schedule that are worrisome.
First is the three-game road trip, all against division opponents. Being on the road that much tends to wear down a team, and the worst part is that they end it with the Colts, the team they will likely go to the wire with again.
The other part that concerns me is the interconference matchups on the road. The Titans get to host the weaker NFC opponents, Lions and Bears, but have to be on the road for the tougher Packers and Vikings.
The best games of the season in Nashville? I think the Colt game will be loud and rowdy as they’ve become the new Ravens after they lucked out and won here last year. This is the new rivalry since the Ravens aren’t on the schedule anymore. Want offense? Try the Monday nighter against the Chiefs. It should look like an NBA score. The biggest game? Probably the Broncos on Christmas night for playoff position. The cheap ticket that will turn out to be a good game? The Bengals. They are going to surprise people, plus they always play well in Nashville.