Haynesworth thinks playing vs. Jags can help him return to form

Tennessee Titans? defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth hasn?t felt like himself in the four games since returning from his five-game suspension.

The Tennessee tackle didn?t need to look at the statistics, but his agent broke it down for him. He had 27 tackles in his first four games, and only 14 since his return.

Missing five games ? six weeks with the Titans? bye ? for stomping on Dallas center Andre Gurode?s head hurt more than expected.

?That?s definitely the reason of it. I think I probably would?ve got even better if I was still playing. I don?t know. My technique?s the same, and I don?t know. The plays are just coming less,? Haynesworth said.

?Maybe Jacksonville is the key I need to get back on track.?

Traditionally, he has played very well against the Titans? AFC South rival, and his best game for tackles was Sept. 26, 2004, with a career-high 13 against the Jaguars. And he has added incentive this time. The 37-7 loss in Jacksonville on Nov. 5 was the fourth game of his suspension.

?It was tough to watch the game and see we got beat like that. I?m excited for them to come here to LP Field and have to face us,? Haynesworth said.

Haynesworth wasn?t the only defensive player the Titans didn?t have for that game. Coach Jeff Fisher suspended cornerback Adam ?Pacman? Jones as punishment for the latest in a string of off-field incidents.

Fisher won?t say missing those two made a big difference. The Titans gave up 173 yards rushing and three touchdown passes to David Garrard, who picked on a secondary that clearly missed its best cornerback.

?We gave up some plays,? Fisher said. ?We battled the run fairly well. We gave up two big runs because we had some wrong fits. You can fit perfectly and still miss tackles.That was some difficulty that the Colts had last week.They had difficulty tackling downfield.?

Yes, they did. Indianapolis gave up 375 yards rushing to the Jaguars in a 44-17 loss.

But the 6-foot-6, 320-pound Haynesworth is much bigger than anyone on what he called the smaller Colts defensive line. He didn?t practice Thursday as a precaution against a sore lower back.

Haynesworth likes to stop the run and thinks he can make a difference against Fred Taylor, who had 131 yards rushing last week, and rookie Maurice Jones-Drew, the 5-foot-7 bowling ball of a runner who had 166 yards himself.

?I?ve just got to do something different,? Haynesworth said. ?Maybe Jacksonville?s the key. I need that team running right downhill at you and make some plays.?

Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio sees one clear difference between the team that lost by 30 to his Jaguars last month and the unit that comes into Sunday?s game having won six of the last eight.

?Pacman is back. Albert Haynesworth is back, and they?ve won the last four or five games in a row, so a little different mentality that they?re bringing into the ball game,? Del Rio said.

Since Haynesworth?s return, the Titans have had two of their best performances this season. They held the New York Giants to 287 yards and didn?t allow them to score in the second half of their stunning 24-21 comeback victory. Jones keyed that rally with two interceptions in the fourth quarter.

They held Houston to 240 yards in last week?s 26-20 overtime victory, and the key defensive play came on third-and-8 from the Titans 34. Jones tackled Andre Johnson for a 6-yard reception, forcing the Texans to tie the game with 2:09 to go instead of keeping the drive alive.

Jones-Drew expects the Titans to stack the line of scrimmage to stop the run.

?It?s going to be pretty tough, but we have some things that we?re going to do to go out there and try to handle some things,? he said.