Mariota Q and A

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Welcome Dick LeBeau!

As reported by Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean, LeBeau will be joining the Titans as an assistant head/defensive coach. Now let's get into what this means.

LeBeau is 77 years young and has been in the NFL for 56 years. Wow! LeBeau has extensive history with Horton and Whiz which could be a good thing. Horton's current defense is a similar but tweaked version of a tradition LeBeau 3-4 defense.

In a perfect world:

LeBeau and Horton work seamlessly together by discussing and working hand in hand to create a nasty defense in Tennessee. I have great confidence in this situation but it also comes with some concession of Horton. LeBeau's real value will come in adjustment and player talent analysis. He has a pretty good track record of making solid decisions on personal and his opinion should be taken with a great deal of respect from Ruston Webster and co. I truly think he will be a great addition to our talent evaluation and draft war room team. I hope all of this comes true!

Worst Case Scenario:

LeBeau simply doesn't have it anymore and lacks the energy and passion to truly turn Tennessee around. A team that has a long way to go may be too much for LeBeau at this stage of his career. We look like a team who wants to become "Steeler light" so hopefully this will help.

My analysis:

Great hire. LeBeau will pick Leonard Williams as a great 5 technique player and pair him with Casey. If you follow my FaceBook page you know I love this idea. Texans have J.J Watt we have two beasts. Also, anyone who Andrew Luck will have to face and fear I love the idea of. Lastly, some ex Steelers will follow him, maybe a James Harrison, Jason Worlids, or someone like that. Anyone who can be an upgrade at the pass rushing OLB position will be great.

What our your thoughts Titan Nation?

Share below.

Thanks!

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Who will be the future QB of the Titans?

As we all know the Titans lost their opportunity to have the first overall selection in the upcoming draft.

Damn Saints!

Let's get this out of the way first. I don't think we should draft Winston, but if we do I will support him. That being said, I don't see Andrew Luck rookie season turn around potential in Famous Jameis. Although Jameis does throw the ball beautifully and his team truly views him as a leader I just don't see enough of a jump from Mett to him, as far as skill, to off set the off field baggage. Also, the amount of times our QBs got hit was ridiculous so unless Jameis is not human he would probably get hurt too.

The play here to get the Titans back competing for AFC South championships again is to trade out of the two spot. Let's lay out some scenarios:

Jets: We move down to six pick up at least 3 additional pick in this years draft and a couple in next years draft. We can still address defense at 6 plus add more pieces throughout the draft or package those pics to move up in a later round, a la Justin Hunter trade.

Eagles: This would be nuts! I don't think it can happen with us unless Tampa drafts Winston or Leonard Williams at number 1. So put this on the side and if in fact Tampa leaves Mariota we will have a few minutes to hold the king's ransom and cash in big time.

These are the two big scenarios I have heard swirling but others to consider:


Rams, Bills, Texans, Skins.

Rams deal could be intriguing since they pulled something similar recently.

Bills new coach means new qb, but what could they offer?

Please don't trade with the Texans all we need is to be cursed!

Skins would be a nice fit if they boot RGIII.

The Titans have numerous problems as a franchise and no one person in this draft can change that. There is nothing I don't like about Mettenberger. We just have to distance ourselves from the hype machine which we call the draft and we will be able to turn that pick into multiple starters. It's simply a numbers game.

What do you think, Mett or Winston?

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Is Zach Mettenberger the future?

Last Sunday was horrible to watch, but as educated fans, let's not freak out and abandon everything Mett has done to this point. I wanted Mett to play through they injury. He showed toughness and genuine care for our franchise. That speaks volumes about his character as a guy who knew he would get hit a lot. With Hunter, Wright, Oher, Lewan, and Stingly out, what could we expect from him? Is it realistic for us to think that Mett would come in as a rookie playing with Hagan, Durham, and a decimated O-line to hang 40 points in a win? No.

I have to blame Whiz on this one. I know he wanted to open up the playbook to see how Mett could handle his offense but at some point you have to pack it in and play to live another day. The defining moment in the game was when Mett got blasted, got up slowly, looked over at Whiz and gave him a grimacing thumbs up. Mett continued to play through a tough shoulder injury. I love it! That is Brett Favre type stuff. Now Whiz needs to understand that Mett is giving himself up to try and make something happen, and adjust the game plan so he doesn't hurt himself.

It is not time for Whiz to get fired but he needs to learn from this. I only say this because I have seen team hit rock bottom and then be playoff contenders. Usually we are always around .500. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. We will have a lot of flexibility in the off-season to draft a ton of players to fill our holes, especially on defense.

We are not in contention for the playoffs so when Mett took a shot dial down the offense and play for next week. Whiz believed in Mett and kept trying to go deep. I understand Whiz and his philosophy but at this point in the season put your ego aside.

Now I keep reading all of our fans' comments all over the internet and the jury is split. Half have given up on Mett and half want to see him with a decent O-line. What do you think?

It only makes sense to give Mett another shot, in my opinion. He showed a lot of promise, poise, and toughness literally playing in a horrible situation all year. It is not fair to evaluate him based on the lack of production around him. We struggled as an entire team the entire year minus the KC and PIT games. 

For as bad as the Giant - Titan game was Mett's performance against the Steelers makes up for it! He played well, made plays and overcame the worst start to your Monday Night Football debut. That is the Mett we will get with a good o-line and he will only improve with an entire off-season of work.

Also, drafting a rookie QB will just lead to another year of growing pains and such. Mett is on our team and we have so many other problems that why not give Mett an entire year. If he is absolute garbage then we can draft someone. There is no rush. Patience is the key with the Mett Show. He has all of the tools and he has toughness. He is perfect for Nashville. Give him the chance to be "the guy" and not just a rookie trying to get the job.

The Titans would benefit by giving Mett another year and trading their top pick much like the Rams did with the Redskins. The Rams gave their QB another chance and went out and built a defense. Now everyone is saying they are a QB away from a great team. But they built a dominate defense. I personally think Mett is better than Shaun Hill. If we can build a defense and let Mett develop then I would say our team will be much better.

Trade our pick, move down, draft Amari Cooper and then with the remaining draft choices address the entire defense and some pieces on the offensive line.

Then we will get to see a young QB with a bunch of weapons and hopefully some time to throw. Then every one will be on the Mett Show bandwagon.

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The Off Season can't come quick enough!

There are so many laughable, disgusting, and down right hard to watch things about the Titans right now. The product on the field is as bad as it ever has been and the sheer lack of excitement would seem to damper the view of the future. As mortified as I am every Sunday, I am surprisingly optimistic for next season. But first let's highlight the bad.

Off Season Acquisitions:

Ken Whisenhunt - Coach Whiz was regarded by the media as being the single greatest signing of the Titans' off season. I was weary of those expectations but I also wanted to believe that a new coach with Super Bowl experience would get our players into the right spots so we could finally have a scary good offense. I am not advocating for Whiz to be fired but his performance has been poor the entire season. On that note, so have many of the players and we expect them to get better in the future so I will hold out hope that Whiz, having a year under his belt in Tennessee, will perform better next season. I firmly believe he planned on the season being an awful one. He didn't want to start Locker and intended on his plan to ride with Mett, Lewan, and Sankey as the Whiz future. I am okay with that. Our Wide Receivers need to be better beating one on one coverage but that will come with consistency as the QB position. Our team is exciting, on paper, but it will take a solid off-season and faith in Mett to produce a playoff team next year. Plain and simple, Whiz needs to step up.

Delanie Walker - Dude is a straight baller and will be Mett's cushion for years to come. No need to elaborate here. We all love the guy.

Dexter McCluster - The Titans literally signed him a minute after Free Agency opened up. Obviously they wanted him and have had plans for him. This season it isn't happening. I don't really know who to blame here but if our offense is going to be successful I think McCluster will be a big part of that. We have seen flashes, but do to our poor execution overall Dexter has not had a lot of impact. He will be better next year, pending Whiz getting him in open space. (How many times have we said that about our coaches ugh!)

Michael Oher - Eh...He's not horrible. I don't have much in the way of evaluating him. There are times he is a strong RT but other times he looks lost. Who knows! He is the best option on the roster right now unless Stingly is better than we think.

Taylor Lewan - I think this guy is an ANIMAL. He has breakdowns and sometimes stupid penalties but he is competitive and he likes Mett so I think he is the perfect fit for Zach's blind side. I feel bad for Michael Roos. Maybe if he wants to stay in Tennessee he replaces Oher on the right?

Bishop Sankey - I wouldn't say he is an upgrade from Chris Johnson at this point. CJ2K had home run potential every play and always made defenses stack the box, something we have severely underrated. Sankey is shifty but I swear the guy's long run of the year is like 9 yards. I know that is over exaggerating but I don't feel like he has any big plays. I like him and McCluster in the future though.

Zach Mettenberger - We have found our franchise QB now it is time to be patient. I know I crowned him the "guy" a few weeks ago and probably prematurely, but he is the perfect fit for our city and our fans. He has swagger, toughness, and arm talent. I think the guy is going to be a franchise guy who will end up giving Luck some memorable battles for years to come. Now let's just hope his shoulder is okay and he guts through it. If he does that, I am all in for this guy. Give him another off season and more weapons. I am all in on the Bandwagon. But then again I have been since his first start. Zach is the only reason I turn on the TV on Sunday just to see his progression.

Here are my grades for the future of these pickups. Basically I think Mett, Sankey, Walker, and McCluster will be solid players for the foreseeable future. Whiz, well we could do better we could do worse. Oher is just a stop gap until we find something better, low risk signing.

Whisenhunt C+
Walker A+
McCluster B
Oher C
Sankey B
Mettenberger A

Let me hear what you think and let's have a discussion. We suck this year, but so did the Colts right before they drafted Luck! lol

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Monday Night Football is the Titans' Super Bowl.

My bold prediction last post was wrong. As I sat down and turned on the game I had hope. I guess this can be contributed to Mettenberger, but on queue the franchise known as the Titans decided to fall apart. I expected the Titans to really be in the Baltimore game and after the bye we would see a glimpse of a promising future. 21-7 was nowhere near what I expected but let's get into the game a little bit.

Quote of the day: " I don’t necessarily think it was a matter of punishment, but obviously you’re not happy about those things, it can’t happen." - Ken Wisenhunt (On Shonn Greene not entering the game after the fumble.) Cough Cough Yeah right!

The Titans came out on the first drive and had arguably their best string of plays this season. Mett looked good and got through his progressions. On multiple third downs we converted. I actually thought my prediction had some substance. Was Whiz's plan coming together? Then Shonn Greene fumbled on an opening TD.  The Titans forced a quick three and out and then marched right down the field capping another drive with a nifty shovel pass. Finally some creative play calling!

We all know this part of the game which was followed up with a horrible injury, multiple penalties, and enough three and outs to cure insomnia. But what really shocks me is the calling for Mett to be benched or saying he isn't the future from our fans. This is premature.

Mettenberger has shown his arm talent and ability to stand in the pocket and deliver strikes. His first start was against the best front seven in football and his second start was in Baltimore against a solid Ravens team. I do think we could have attacked their secondary more but that is something Whiz needs to fix. Mett didn't play great but he is only in his second game as a starter. (Josh Gunnels from MCM  has a great article about the sacks here) Let's cool the jets and let him play out the season. Mettenberger has the chance to be our guy and let us draft other needs rather than restarting with a new rookie next season. In my opinion barring an utter collapse we should let Mett start the rest of this season, give him a full off-season, and start him the entire year next season. That way we can draft pass rushers and corners in the draft. He is good enough to be a starter and I have a hunch he will be a great player. This is coming from a guy who didn't think Locker should have been benched.


Monday Night Football is the Titans' Super Bowl this year.


 Berger #7 VS. Berger #7:
The Titans generally don't garner a ton of prime-time coverage. ESPN does't talk about us. Our Thursday Night Game is against Jacksonville. Andrew Luck overshadows us and takes all of the media's attention. These are the facts, we aren't a marketable team. So on MNF we can change that a bit. Here is a chance for us to make a national splash. Mett is making his MNF debut and we all hate the Steelers. This is the biggest game of our season. We need to clean it up real quick and put on a show on Monday if we want to have TV games in the future. This is also a great opportunity for Mett to make progress in becoming a "Franchise QB." Wouldn't it be nice to listen to a post game interview where Mett is talking about his 4 TD performance and his clutch come from behind game winning drive in the final two minutes?

Titans 31 Steelers 27 (Why not us? For once!)

I am sick and tired of us not scoring points and playing conservative. Open it up Whiz and let's pull off some Monday Night Magic.

What do you think? I want to hear how Titans Nation feels about Mett and MNF! Let's Discuss. Here is a look at past results as per Jim Wyatt's Twitter account: (Date, Place, Titans' Outcome, Score)

PS. I am watching this game with a good friend who is a Steelers fan! #TitanUp Follow me on Twitter for Blog updates and other random stuff.

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After the Bye Week (2-6) A Bold Prediction.

I have expressed optimism in my previous posts but now it would probably take a miracle to get to 8-8. That being said Vince Young did it a couple times. All things considered it won't happen this year (I hope I'm dead wrong). At 2-6 the Titans look as bad as they ever have been the last several seasons. But I firmly believe the Titans will play a lot better against the Ravens than people expect.

It is The Mett Show time in Nashville and that is a good thing. Most other teams are viewing him as a random third stringer who is just a patch until we draft Mariota, Winston, or Hundley. Whiz wouldn't like any of those QBs as we could tell with his treatment/play calling with Locker. Whiz likes the big, strong, pocket passing type of QB. Plus he already groomed, literally, Mett to look a certain way. Mett is the designated "Franchise Face" of the Titans. Now it is up to Mett to make Whiz look like a genius.

Teams generally don't draft 6th rounders to be the face of the franchise, but this is a unique situation. Mettenberger is as arm talented as any QB drafted in his class and Whiz believes he can turn that talent into a star. I believe too. Mettenberger has all of the moxie and swagger of a star QB. He has the talent and the weapons. Whiz built this team to fit his strengths, plus he drafted his blind side man in Lewan. Whiz envisions Mett and Lewan being the core of the Titans for years to come, and for once it would be nice, for us Titans fans, if it actually worked out. Let's do a skill position roster recap and see where we are headed.



QB Z. Mettenberger (His job to lose plain and simple if he has some success he is our guy)

RB1 B. Sankey (Really confused here. Whiz and him need to talk)

RB2 D. McCluster, S. Greene (Both of these guys have a role. Dexter needs to be more like Woodhead)

WR1 J. Hunter (All the talent will get better having the same QB for more than two games at a time)

WR2 K. Wright (Probably our best all around weapon up there with Walker)

WR3 N. Washington (Sad to say, I am calling it that he is gone and Whiz drafts another outside receiver)

TE D. Walker (Having hands down the best season and will help Mett a lot)

Looking at this on paper paired with our investments in the offensive line we should be a good football team. But what we lack is a leader, a franchise guy who can put it all together. CJ2K was always our face so we never relied on the QB position. Our defense was good, we ran the ball, and VY made some plays. That was our recipe for success (after the McNair Era). Now we have a whole bunch of weapons and still when teams play the Titans there is nobody they "have" to key on.

I am saying it now because this blog is meant for fans to discuss topics that Paul Kuharsky and Jim Wyatt can't. The Titans will beat the Ravens and we will have the first glimpse of our future. Mett will be solid, he may make a mistake but he will make plays down the field. Whiz will finally see the offense he imagined with his guy behind center, being protected by his guy, throwing to a bunch of talented wide receivers. After this bye week I fully expect the Titans to look a lot more like a good offensive football team. I am predicting a lot of Luck - Mettenberger match-ups for many years. I am going out on a limb and this may be crazy, but who wants to write or read a blog that doesn't take risks. I hope all who read engage in a debate calling me nuts or praising the guts. (That rhymed lol). You heard it here, Zach Mettenberger will be the Franchise QB for the Titans. It is his job to lose and I think he will take the opportunity and run with it.

 Let's discuss! Follow me on twitter and let's win on Sunday!

Shout-out to The TN Stud for having a great discussion that helped me write this post!

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