Tuesday Morning Running Back, Week Five: Take Me Down to See the Titans!

Way back when I was a wee little lad, there was a popular R&B group called Arrested Development that won a Best New Artist Grammy and then quickly sank into obscurity.

In one of their most famous songs, a little ditty called Tennessee, lead singer Speech makes a personal appeal for a spiritual cleansing from the good Lord by singing the following lyrics.

"Take me to another place, take me to another land, make me forget all that hurts me, let me understand your plan."

If that song was written today, God's master plan in Tennessee would be for Speech and all of his buddies to go down and see the only undefeated team in the AFC right now, Nashville's own Tennessee Titans!

What makes this story even more remarkable is that the Titans are winning ugly by not scoring a lot of points, which is a testament to their strong defense and coach Jeff Fisher, who knows how to play to his team's strengths.

Maybe it's too early to punch their ticket to Tampa, but you have to admire the fact that the Titans are the only 5-0 team in the AFC when they are playing most of their snaps with a backup quarterback in Kerry Collins.

On Sunday Collins proved he could pull a rabbit out of a hat by finding TE Alge Crumpler for a late touchdown to give the Titans a last-second victory over the Ravens.

Now, only one question remains: How long can they keep this up?

I ask this question simply because the Titans play in a division with both the Colts and the Jaguars, and you know those two are going to bring it come November and December.

However, as long as they're playing stiff defense and finding ways to win, it should be happy times in Nashville.

Now, to recap all the other action, here come the bullets.

• Congratulations to Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez, who broke the NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end. Of course, with the way things have been going for Kansas City, that might be the highlight of the year.
• All that needs to be said about the Panthers run defense is that they have dominated great runners like Tomlinson, Peterson, and now Larry Johnson, all year long.
• You want to take a guess at how many points the KC offense scored on Sunday? If you said 0, you get the cigar. QB auditions at Arthur Bryant's are happening again.
• The catch of the year so far goes to Bears WR Marty Booker, who made a one-handed catch with two defenders on him while struggling to keep his balance.
• If the Lions can do one thing well, it's prove that their defense is just a formality. They've given up 30 points or more in every game this year.
• It wasn't a good day for the state of Wisconsin on Sunday. The Brewers were eliminated for the MLB playoffs, and the Falcons took advantage of a depleted Packer defense without Al Harris and Cullen Jenkins
• The Giants are for real. Even without Plaxico Burress, they still were able to post 44 points up on the board to defeat the Seahawks.
• I don't know about you, but I think Mike Holmgren's already spending too much time thinking about how he'll spend his retirement.
• I also think Ronnie Brown is one of the most exciting players in the game today. He's such a bruiser on every play.
• Maybe Tony Sparano's Wildcat offense wasn't as impressive this week, but what was impressive was the Dolphins' goal line defense. In beating the Patriots and Chargers back-to-back, the Dolphins are proving they're no pushovers.
• What happened to the Texans in the last five minutes of their game with the Colts? They just mailed it in and allowed 17 points that enabled the horses to ruin the Houston homecoming.
• What I love about the Redskins is that nothing seems to faze them. Last week they went into Dallas and beat them when no one thought they could. This week they fell behind 17-0 in Philly but scored 23 straight points and pull out another impressive road win. At 3-1, they are a force to be reckoned with.
• The Broncos defense was better, but not much better on Sunday. Still, they were good enough to beat a lifeless Tampa Bay offense.
• If you're a Bills fan and you swallowed your tongue when J.P. Losman came into the game, it was more than justified. The Cardinal defense should send him a thank you card for making them look good.
• Speaking of looking good while not playing a perfect game, the Cowboys certainly did that.
• Let's see: Lane Kiffin's gone, Scott Linehan is gone—would anyone be willing to wager that Marvin Lewis will be gone by season's end?
• See what happens when Matt Cassel throws a deep ball—Randy Moss will catch it. That's a big win for the Patriots heading into their game with the Chargers next week.
• Gus Frerotte is a lot tougher than I thought, only missing one play after that vicious hit by Will Smith. What really killed the Saints, though, was that pass interface call on Jason David late in the game that set up the field goal to win it for the Vikings.
• Enjoy your week, and make sure to add the best of Sirius if you're an XM subscriber—it's well worth the extra four bucks.