Titans-Cowboys inactives, preview notes

The inactives are out for today’s game at LP Field between the Tennessee Titans and the Dallas Cowboys, and here they are:

DALLAS COWBOYS: NT Ken Bishop, LB Justin Durant, DE Lavar Edwards, OT Donald Hawkins, DE Anthony Spencer, QB Dustin Vaughan, OT Darrion Weems

TENNESSEE TITANS: ILB Zach Brown, WR Kris Durham, WR T.J. Graham, CB Brando Harris, DL DaQuan Jones, QB Zach Mettenberger, OT Byron Stingily

Mike Martin makes his season debut for the Titans after being listed as questionable on the Official Injury Report. With Harris going down, that means they keep an extra defensive lineman up and one less defensive back. The lack of a corresponding roster move for Brown means Akeem Ayers also gets into his first game. I will be very, very curious to see his role on the team.

For the Cowboys, Durant, Edwards, Spencer, and Weems were all Out on the OIR, so the Cowboys didn’t have many real roster decisions to make. Bishop out for Terrell McClain seems to be the only one of any consequence. Ex-Titan Edwards played 15 snaps last week, and Jack Crawford is up for him at DE. The most consequential injury is Durant; I never loved him that much even in his prime, but he stood out on a Cowboys defense that seems to be lacking in veterans capable of assuredly executing their assignment.

I think this is actually a really interesting game; the Cowboys on the whole probably aren’t much different in overall quality from the Chiefs team the Titans beat handily last week, but they’re good in different ways. Last week’s game against San Francisco was hard to judge, in some ways maybe the hardest to write an Enemy Intelligence post off of since the Colts got annihilated by the Saints back in 2011. Unlike with the Colts, though, there was no previous significant game I could look back on for a real analysis. The shape of the Cowboys is well known-some real talent on offense, virtually none on defense. That’s the story, and it’s an accurate one in my view. Terrance Williams is more threatening than any receiver the Chiefs trotted out, and Dez Bryant is the star. The offense moved the ball pretty well last week, except when Tony Romo was throwing interceptions. Jason Garrett will ignore the run as much as Andy Reid did, but DeMarco Murray was really effective when he got carries outside of the fumble. The Cowboys should try to run the ball between the tackles, something Kansas City didn’t even try to do last week. The big question is, of course, Tony Romo’s decision-making. It was god-awful last week; none of the three interceptions he threw was any good. Was it his back? A bad week? The sign of an old quarterback on the decline? We’ll get more information this week. If it was an aberration, the Cowboys could put up a lot of points.

Last week was a funny game for the Titans offensively. The first half was straight out of last year’s Life on the Margins playbook, with a break or two and some good enough performance good for a halftime lead. Then the second half looked like the sort of team I wrote in my preview could win double-digit games, with an offensive performance to match the defensive results. Dallas is rough on defense, with no real standouts. Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, everybody knows what he does. His team’s ability to execute it is in question, especially with rookie Anthony Hitchens in for Durant. It’s a scheme that’s historically relied on pressure from the front four; I’m not sure the Cowboys can get there. The Chiefs overwhelmed Andy Levitre in pass pro with power; I’m not sure there’s anybody on Dallas as capable of doing so as the multiple guys the Chiefs trotted out last week. The Titans should be able to move the ball consistently by doing what they do best, but they will have to execute to do so.

Maybe it’s just because I’m a glass mostly-empty worrywart, but I thought the Titans had a pretty decent chance of coming out of KC with a win last week. This game scares me a lot more. It’s absolutely winnable. I’m not surprised the Titans are favored. But, I can see a scenario where the Cowboys come away with a double-digit win, and that always bothers me.

I’ll be on Twitter during the game, so follow and yap at me there if you so desire. Recap here after the game, snap report Monday, then as much content as I can manage during the week.