Of the eight teams remaining in the playoffs, the Steelers are the only ones who have played the Titans this year. It’s a little easier to get a take on them than the other seven teams, even if Tennessee vs Pittsburgh was in Week Two and the Stillers were without Rapistberger.
The other playoff teams the Titans faced this year – the Colts, Eagles and Chiefs – were bounced from the postseason in the wildcard round.
The Titans’ record against playoff teams this season was 1-4, about what you’d expect from a team which had a 6-10 record. The Iggles were the only playoff team the Titans beat, so you’d have to say it was the signature win of the year for the men in two-tone blue.
I’m glad the Titans didn’t have to face any of the seven remaining playoff teams besides the Stillers, especially in the second half of the season.
New England probably wouldn’t have won by more than 59 this time around but I have no doubt they could have won handily. Tom Brady has two good young tight ends, so you know how badly they could have hurt the Titans. Ditto for the production they got from the running back position out of BenJarvis Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead, who was dangerous as a receiver coming out of the backfield.
Tight ends and running backs killed the Titans this year, especially after the 5-2 start, though wide receivers were also able to do their fair share of damage.
The Ratbirds have Ray Rice and Todd Heap, who are good, but would have looked like Hall of Famers against the vulnerable Tennessee defense. You could expect similar results against the Jets, with LaDanian Tomlinson and Dustin Keller.
In the NFC, the Falcons have Michael Turner and Tony Gonzalez, so that’s a recipe for disaster. Good thing we didn’t play them. The Bears have a decent RB/TE combo in Matt Forte and Greg Olsen. Green Bay had no running game all year but a good tight end, Jermichael Finley, to start the season.
All of those teams also had good to very good defenses and most had pretty good quarterbacks.
The 7-9 Seahawks are the only playoff team the Titans might have beaten in November or December. I don’t see the Titans being able to beat any of the other seven remaining teams.
As I’m watching the playoffs, I’ll try to put the Titans in the same situations that will occur during the games, and I’ll wonder, how would the Titans have done in that situation against that team? How would the Titans match up? Unfortunately, probably not too well most of the time.
You have to beat the best if you want to be the best. If you measure your team by the teams which are better than yours, it’s easy to see there’s some work to be done.
In case you’re wondering who I’ll be rooting for in the playoffs, it will be the Falcons and Bears. I’m not going to root for any of the AFC teams in the postseason. Not much of a choice between the Squealers, Ratbirds, Cheatriots or dog-ass Jets, as Dan Jenkins described them. Sadly, one of those four teams will advance to the Super Bowl and I’ll cheer for whichever NFC team is in.
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