Titans Reboot with Washington Imports Might Go According to Plan

For the Tennessee Titans, a Week 2 matchup against a Baltimore Ravens club that had thrashed the defending conference champion Steelers 35-7 the week prior seemed like a surefire way to start the season 0-2.  On top of that, the prospects of starting an aging quarterback against one of the most feared defenses in all of football looked like a recipe for disaster. 

It's already strange enough for Titans fans to not have either Jeff Fisher or Vince Young on the sidelines this season, but why anyone in middle Tennessee should get excited about a Washington state care package of two unwanted, slightly used quarterbacks with Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker is a whole other story.

Both are capable of incredible highs and dizzying lows; nevertheless, you will be hard-pressed to find two finer competitors to help lead a team. 

On this particular Sunday with the odds against him, Hasselbeck showed some of the leadership and ability that will hopefully help the Titans turn things around under new coach Mike Munchak while Locker serves as Hasselbeck's understudy. 

In fact, Hasselbeck's performance was so impressive during the Titans' stunning 26-13 win, Ravens coach John Harbaugh went out of his way to praise the veteran:

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Hasselbeck did a nice job of controlling the game as far as recognizing what we were in and getting them in the right play. To me, that's what a veteran quarterback does. He gets the ball out and he's got some big targets. The credit goes to him. I think he was the guy that was the difference in the game.

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It may not be sexy, but style points are hardly important at this point.  In the short term, a win over the Ravens could bode well for the Titans as the AFC South suddenly appears wide open given how lost Indianapolis looks without Peyton Manning.  While Houston is off to a fast start and Jacksonville narrowly beat the Titans last week, it can also be said that the Jaguars are rebuilding and the Texans have yet to make the playoffs in their short history.  

If the Titans can get solid performances from Hasselbeck while Chris Johnson shakes off rust, there is a chance they could be 3-1—assuming they can beat Denver and Cleveland prior to heading to Pittsburgh for a true gut-check against another elite team from the AFC North.

Following the bye week after Pittsburgh the rest of the schedule won't be easy by any means, but even if the Titans don't win the division, a solid season from Hasselbeck will hopefully serve the critical purpose of buying Locker time needed to learn rather than be rushed on the field. 

Locker perhaps more than any other quarterback drafted this year came with an abundance of questions. 

There are times he will make mistakes as evidenced in the preseason, but few young men will work harder to learn and have as high a ceiling to succeed given his raw talent.  Seeing what happened to Vince Young after he was thrust into the starting role his rookie year, patience in this case might serve everyone well in the long run.       

For now, if anything can be gleaned from these first two weeks of action, it's that anything can happen on any given Sunday.  Beating the Ravens is no small accomplishment and it could lead to big things in Nashville this year, but perhaps more importantly it will hopefully set the stage for something truly special down the road.