Five Reasons Why All Is Not As Perfect As It Seems In Titans Camp

The weather has been unseasonably cool most days and the training camp practice schedule among the “friendliest” in the National Football League, with less than a handful of double-sessions and just two full pad workouts.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been plenty of intensity at Baptist Sports Park, headquarters of the Tennessee Titans.

After going 13-3 last season and returning veterans in virtually every key position, head coach Jeff Fisher had no intention of banging his expensive athletes into one another several times a day, as was typical when he was a player decades ago.

But the proud cadre that helped the Titans tie their best-ever regular season record is still smarting from the 13-10 home playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round that ended their hopes for a miracle run.

Still, the performance of a year ago has ratcheted up expectations that a team with a dominant defense and experienced offense can again make Music City a player on the national football landscape.

And while clearly the Titans are among the few NFL teams with more answers than questions, here are five reasons why all in Nashville is not as calm and peaceful as it might seem on the surface:

1. Key players remain unsigned beyond 2009

Months after All-Pro defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth walked out the door in favor of a $100 million contract with Washington, the heart and soul of the league’s No. 7 defense from a year ago is again in flux.

Linebacker Keith Bulluck and defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch are in the final years of their contracts, and the Titans, notoriously loathe to shell out big bucks for free-agents, have been in no rush to extend the stars’ contracts.

Word is there are talks under way with Vanden Bosch, but Bulluck, a stalwart of the defense for the past decade, hasn’t heard a whimper.

Always a professional, Bulluck insists publicly there’re no hard feelings. But he must have noticed that he was the defensive leader on the field last year when Vanden Bosch missed the final six games of the season with a groin injury.

Bulluck knows he’ll be welcome elsewhere if the Titans don’t re-sign him. And if he has a big year, he might just want to reward Tennessee’s lack of loyalty by refusing any offer and testing the free-agent waters anyway.

Defensive end Jevon Kearse is also in the final year of his two-year contract and will command major dough if he can have another season like 2008.

On the other side of the ball, tight end Bo Scaife, the team’s leading receiver a year ago, was forced to stay via the franchise tag. And though he’s all smiles on the practice field, Scaife fired his agent amid fears of the very real possibility he could be franchised again next year, making him an extremely unhappy camper entering 2009.

2. Running back controversy persists

Smash and Dash, Salt and Pepper, Oil and Water.

Say what you want about the chemistry between Titans running backs Chris Johnson and LenDale White, but there is a palpable tension that hides just under the surface, behind the charismatic smiles of both young players.

Anyone who’s picked either player on their fantasy team has felt the pull. The mercurial Johnson does the heavy lifting, carrying the Titans into the red zone and beyond. But if he doesn’t cross the goal line on a long run, Johnson is pulled off the field in favor of the newly svelte, but still bigger White, who gets to ram it into the end zone for six points.

It’s a recipe that works wonderfully for the Titans, who racked up 24 rushing touchdowns last year while giving up just 12 to opponents. Johnson, on the other hand, picked up 1,228 yards last year—455 more than White—yet had a frustrating six fewer touchdowns than his backup.

White still remembers the days back in 2007 when he was the featured back. He has since taken on a new sense of professionalism, dropping more than 30 pounds, largely by cutting back his consumption of premium tequila.

White, who is now as quick and savvy a ball carrier as ever, no-doubt thinks he’s eminently qualified to resume that role were Johnson not ahead of him on the depth chart.

During OTAs, Johnson asked reporters to end references to “Smash and Dash” in what could be the first signs of a fissure in the tandem.

3. Questions about the defense under new coordinator Chuck Cecil

As if losing your dominant, double-team drawing noseguard wasn’t bad enough, the Titans are also breaking in a new defensive coordinator after Jim Schwartz was…um… “rewarded” for his success in Nashville with the top job in Detroit.

Enter Chuck Cecil, the Titans’ former defensive backs coach and a vicious hitter in his day as an NFL safety. An Academic All-American at the University of Arizona, Cecil is described as an uber-smart football guy who really understands how to foil offenses.

He’ll need all of his talents.

In addition to a defensive line that no longer cries for a constant double-team, the Titans will play a first-half schedule filled with huge obstacles. Their first six games include road games at Pittsburgh, New England, Jacksonville, and the New York Jets. The home games are against division rivals Indianapolis and Houston.

Even a good Titans team faces the very real possibility of losing as many games in that stretch as it lost in all of 2008. Cecil can read a schedule, too. Thus, he knows that if his defense is anything less than stellar, a disproportionate share of the blame could fall on his shoulders.

4. Rookies making a huge push

Professional athletes claim to understand that teams are always looking for someone better, younger, and cheaper to replace them. That doesn’t mean they like it, and there’s a lot for older players not to like at Baptist Sports Park.

No. 1 draft pick Kenny Britt exploded on the scene in his first preseason game, annihilating the depth chart for a wide receiving corps that has long been considered among the worst in the league.

The arrival of free-agent pickup Nate Washington from Pittsburgh instantly makes the offense more dynamic.

That means much-improved but relatively pedestrian talents like Lavelle Hawkins and Chris Davis could find themselves fading deeper into the background.

Second-year pro Craig Stevens’ role as the third-string tight end is in serious jeopardy after the arrival of third-round pick Jared Cook of South Carolina. Cook, a 6'5", 246-pound hulk with excellent hands, smooth moves, and great speed for the position, is even putting pressure on starters Bo Scaife and Alge Crumpler.

Cook’s presence reduces Scaife’s leverage in landing a lucrative long-term deal, while the aging Crumpler, who had an enormous fumble during the playoff loss last year, is in the last year of his contract.

Also pushing veterans is rookie running back Javon Ringer, a fifth-round pick from Michigan State. Almost from the start of camp, the coaching staff has been raving about Ringer’s big-play ability and—as if on cue—he made a dazzling cut while breaking a 35-yard touchdown run in the team’s second preseason game against Tampa Bay.

His rapid emergence means big trouble for third-year pro Chris Henry, who was inactive 16 games last year and already hanging on to his roster spot by a thread, and for second-year backs Rafael Little and Quinton Ganther.

5. Expectations for a team not used to expectations

Alas, if the Titans open the season on fire as they did a year ago, items 1-4 above will be irrelevant. The Titans are a generally mature bunch that understands how to handle business at practice and away from it. You’re unlikely to hear much public griping from any of the less-than-happy players, and so long as the wins come, everyone will find a way to coexist.

But after their team won 10 straight games to open 2008, fans in Nashville won’t be impressed with mediocrity. They expect the Titans defense to be aggressive and stifling and the offense to be much improved from the one that ranked 27th in passing a year ago.

That means an undeniable pressure to be an elite team, something the Titans haven’t dealt with since the 2001 season and something most of this group has never faced.

Should the early schedule prove as formidable as it looks, fans in Nashville could turn on their boys like they did in 2007, when the team went 10-6 and lost a Wild Card game in San Diego. Then, it was quarterback Vince Young’s lack of precision that became a lightning rod and led to a change in offensive coordinator and, ultimately, myriad other changes to the offense.

With no Young to kick around anymore, blame is going to have to fall somewhere should the team not live up to last year’s marks. If that happens, the tension hidden just beneath the surface at Baptist Sports Park could begin to bubble up, leaving the cagey Jeff Fisher’s hands full trying to keep it from consuming the Titans' season.