Tavern Talk: A Gritty Season Opener

National Football Post

Finally, the decisive moment is here and we get some real football on TV. I know that Ms. Jenny from Tennessee is excited to see her Titans just as we’re all excited to see the start of the NFL season. What a weekend ahead of us—college football (I’ll be at the Delaware-Richmond game Saturday), then some classic NFL battles all day Sunday and straight through to Monday night.

Starting off the 2009 season tonight is the big one, the Titans and the Super Bowl-champions Steelers. One more shout-out to Rod Woodson for his selection to the Hall of Fame. He’ll receive his Hall of Fame ring tonight at halftime, so congratulations to a great man and great player.

Before I get to the game, let me explain that opening weekend is the hardest time to get an accurate portrayal of things to come. The NFL is scheme-based, and the first three games of the season allow bad teams to hide behind protective schemes.

But once there’s enough real tape to watch, the most talented teams prevail. So don’t read too much positively or negatively into your favorite team’s performance in September.

Titans defensive lineman Jason Jones had a huge game against the Steelers last season. Can he duplicate that performance tonight?

Last year, the Tennessee Titans were 12-2 entering their Week 16 home meeting against the 11-3 Steelers. The Titans won 31-14 to secure home-field advantage for the playoffs. The Steelers led 14-10 in the third quarter, but the Titans scored the final 21 points in the game.

Ben Roethlisberger was 25 of 39 for 329 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, was sacked five times and had four fumbles (he lost two); Willie Parker was held to 31 yards on 19 rushing attempts (1.6 average). The Titans scored 21 points off four Steelers turnovers.

Albert Haynesworth missed that game with a knee injury and was replaced by Jason Jones, who had 3½ sacks and three forced fumbles. So even though the Haynesworth talk will dominate the airwaves in predicting the outcome of the game, his absence is a moot point.

Big Ben is 9-14 career as starter when he has 31 or more pass attempts and 42-6 when he has fewer than 30 pass attempts. Five of his 17 career fourth-quarter comeback wins came last season as he was able to make key plays at key times in games.

The Steelers had no real running game last year, and I’m not sure tonight’s game will provide any insight into the real Steelers ‘09 run game. Tennessee is tough for any team to run against, and the Steelers will probably struggle to get the run game going.

So what does all this mean? It means we’ll have a very good game, hard fought and physical—in fact, very physical. There will be plenty of sore players after this one. Because of my football theory of building a winning team through the lines, I like the team with the best lines, offensively and defensively, which for me is the Titans (hear more on today's podcast).

I feel that with Chris Johnson and the combination of tight ends the Titans have, they can match the great Pittsburgh pass rushing defense.

It will be a great game and a great start to the season. As Jackie Gleason used to say, “And away we go...”

The National Football Post is a unique and premier online source of quality and credible news, information and insight about all sides of football featuring professionals with experience in all facets of the NFL.