Tail wagged the dog for 2007 Titans

To call the Titan offense anemic this year would be too nice as the defense had to carry the load almost the entire season while the golden boy flopped along with his no-name offense.

When your quarterback, the defending rookie of the year Vince Young, throws nine touchdowns and 18 interceptions in a season, you are lucky to go 10-6 and be one half short of beating a very good San Diego Charger team on the road in the first round of the playoffs. Frankly, the loss likely saved the Titans from some serious embarrassment up in Foxboro this weekend, leaving them with somewhat of a moral victory given the way their already mediocre offensive unit was decimated by injuries at San Diego.

While the grade for the Titan offense this year would be a D, there is a ray of hope, that being the potential of members already in their lineup and the ability of the Titans organization to turn things around. Just look at the defense last year. They were the worst in the league, hemorrhaging points every week with a unit which barely even slowed the other teams down.

Fast forward one year and the Titans are placing two linemen, Kyle Vanden Bosch and Albert Haynesworth, in the Pro Bowl after the Titans had one of the best seasons defensively in the NFL, even without Pacman Jones to help them in the secondary. Forecasts, with the loss of Pacman, were for doom and gloom as experts said Vince would have to carry the team. The opposite happened as the tail wagged the dog during 2007.

According to sources within the Titan organization, there will be a concerted effort to first, sign free agent Albert Haynesworth to a long-term deal or put the franchise tag on him, and then to enter free agency and find some legitimate receivers to help Vince move the ball. This delving into free agency may begin at home as they may want to lock up their best receiver this year, Justin Gage, to a longer deal before he gets a better offer. As for the rest of the receivers, they weren’t able to catch a cold during 2007 so I’m not real excited about the Titans spending a lot of cash to ink them for another year of dropped balls and broken routes.

There are, however, several potential receivers who are out there in the free agent market. The top one, of course, is Randy Moss. But, I’m sure the Pats will ink him to a deal before he even gets to sniff the market. Besides Moss, there are some legitimate players who are free agents such as Chicago Bear receiver Bernard Berrian, who had four touchdowns and 920 yard receiving despite their horrible quarterback situation in the Windy City. He would be an immediate impact player in Nashville.

There are also a few other nuggets out there as far as free agent receivers such as D.J. Hackett of Seattle, Jabar Gaffney of New England, Antonio Chatman of Cincinnati, Kerry Colbert from Carolina, Andre Davis from Houston and my favorite sleepers, Saint wideouts Devery Henderson and Terrance Copper. And, don’t forget the tight end position where the Eagles’ L.J. Smith and Seattle’s Marcus Pollard are free agents.

Bottom line is the Titans have to do something at wideout this year to be a legitimate threat because the same old players will get the same old results, that being a stagnant offense and an injured franchise quarterback.