The Tennessee Titans kick off the 2014 regular season today at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City against the Chief. Here are the inactives for today’s contest:
TENNESSEE TITANS: OLB Akeem Ayers, WR Kris Durham, WR T.J. Graham, DL DaQuan Jones, DL Mike Martin, QB Zach Mettenberger OT Byron Stingily
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: FS Kurt Coleman, CB Marcus Cooper, OT Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, C Eric Kush, QB Aaron Murray, DE Damion Square, RB De’Anthony Thomas
No real surprises for the Titans. The only change from the inactives I expected was two defensive linemen down instead of one D-lineman and one defensive back, so Jones down instead of Brandon Harris or Marqueston Huff. Ditto the Chiefs; Cooper was listed as questionable and a healthy ankle can be kind of an issue for a cornerback.
Now that we know who’s playing, what about the game? The Titans played the Chiefs last year, but I didn’t give you a proper Enemy Intelligence then, just a meandering post on Jake Locker, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and the matchup. Many of the matchup points are still right. Especially because they’re without Dwayne Bowe this week, the Chiefs are somewhere between an offense heavily reliant on Jamaal Charles and one totally centered on him. Unlike Ray Horton’s 100 yards rushing benchmark, I don’t have specific numbers the Titans must not let him get to get a victory today. Rather, they must not let him do too much. He barely played in the preseason, so there wasn’t much to be gleaned from Kansas City’s third preseason game against the Vikings. I watched it anyway. Alex Smith had some uncharacteristically spotty decision-making, throwing a couple picks that looked back. It was kind of a dull affair. Beyond whether anybody other than Charles can do anything with the ball in his hands, the Chiefs also have big questions on the offensive line, and did so even before projected starting right tackle Donald Stephenson was suspended for the game. Given the Titans’ edge pass rushers, can they actually do anything with that?
Defensively, the matchup to watch is in the middle of the line. NT Dontari Poe just abused Rob Turner in last year’s matchup, though he also gave Andy Levitre and Chance Warmack issues at times. He’s a big, strong man who moves better than the prototypical 34 NT and doesn’t just sit there and take up blockers. The Chiefs once had good corners, but now they’re questionable there. Cooper was a human target at times last year. Beyond Poe, the key players are of course their edge rushers, Tamba Hali and Justin Houston. If Michael Oher really is the liability I fear he is, it could really show up today. Unless they’re philosophically committed to the run game like last year’s team, I would expect the Titans to throw to come out throwing to the edges, probably on intermediate throws. If they want to commit to the run game, then we could see finally see those rumored 6OL sets with Taylor Lewan as a tackle eligible. With so much smoke, there has to be a fire somewhere, doesn’t there?
I’ll be yammering about the game on Twitter, so follow and yap at me there if you so desire. Recap post after the game, snap report Monday, more content later in the week as time and energy permit.f
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