A lot of players had big games against the Titans in 2009 so I thought I’d select an All-Opponent team. These are not necessarily the best players but they are the players who had the best games, in my opinion, against the Titans in the 2009 season.
For example, Peyton Manning was the league’s best quarterback but Tom Brady played better against Tennessee than Manning did. Brady therefore makes the team and Manning does not.
QB Tom Brady, Patriots, Week 6 — 29/34, 380 yards, 6 TDs, 152.8 passer rating.
RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Week 8 — 177 yards rushing, 2 TDs
RB Darren Sproles, Chargers, Week 16 — 152 total yards, 3 TDs
FB Mike Tolbert, Chargers
It’s seldom that you see five-WR sets but the following five receivers all had huge games versus the Titans.
WR Andre Johnson, Texans, Week 2 — 10 receptions, 149 yards, 2 TDs
WR Mike Sims-Walker, Jaguars, Week 4 — 7/91/2
WR Austin Collie, Colts, Week 5 — 8/97/2
WR Randy Moss, Patriots, Week 6 — 8/129/3
WR Wes Welker, Patriots, Week 6 — 10/150/2
TE Owen Daniels, Texans, Week 2 — 6 receptions, 72 yards, 1 TD
TE Antonio Gates, Chargers, Week 16 — 3/74/1
The o-line was the most difficult group for selecting players since few of them really stood out. I was tempted to use the entire Patriots o-line but went with this group instead. Your starting line could easily consist of five different players.
LT Sebastian Vollmer, Patriots
LG Ryan Lilja, Colts
C Jeff Saturday, Colts
RG Uche Nwaneri, Jaguars
RT Brandyn Dombrowski, Chargers
The Titans played nine games against 3-4 defenses and seven games against 4-3s. Since comparing the front sevens of 3-4s with 4-3s is like apples and oranges, I’ve made two All-Opponent front sevens.
3-4 Defense:
LDE Darnell Dockett, Cardinals
NT Aubrayo Franklin, 49ers
RDE Brett Keisel, Steelers
LOLB Jason Taylor, Dolphins
ILB Daryl Smith, Jaguars
ILB Patrick Willis, 49ers
ROLB James Harrison, Steelers
4-3 Defense:
LDE Chris Kelsay, Bills
LDT Marcus Stroud, Bills
RDT Clifton Ryan, Rams
RDE Dwight Freeney, Colts
SLB Brian Cushing, Texans
MLB DeMeco Ryans, Texans
WLB Clint Session, Colts
Selecting the defensive backs was simple. Since the Patriots held the Titans to negative 7 passing yards, their entire starting secondary makes the 2009 Titans All-Opponent team.
CB Jonathan Wilhite, Patriots
CB Darius Butler, Patriots
S Brandon McGowan, Patriots
S Brandon Meriweather, Patriots
Special teams:
K Josh Scobee, Jaguars
P Ben Graham, Cardinals
KR LaRod Stephens-Howling, Cardinals
PR Jim Leonhard, Jets
OK, those are the guys I thought had the best games against Tennessee. They’d make a pretty strong fantasy team too. What are your thoughts? Who else should be on that team?
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