Requiem for a Titan

I have to admit. Last Sunday's performance by the Titans was beyond anything I had expected. Did you think Kerry Collins still had the fastball to give someone a concussion?

William Hayes was one of the breakout candidates of 2010. With Kyle VandenBosch and his mean-looking contacts hitting the road to Detroit, Hayes needed to step up. He was injured in the preseason, tallied 1.5 sacks in limited snaps and finished his year by getting concussed when Kerry Collins threw the ball away. Here's the teaching moment. Pay more attention to the game than Vince Young paid attention to Jeff Fisher.

Sunday's game was fantastic if you're a long-suffering fan of the Kansas City Chiefs. Every fan of the Chiefs is long-suffering. I was in Kansas City when they broke a 20-year-plus streak of not winning a playoff game. I watched them go from horrible to just good enough to lose in the playoffs. After they let Marty Schottenheimer go, the team had a brief flirtation with quality with Dick Vermeil. They couldn't stop Peyton Manning in a home playoff game. In fact the team's gone 0-3 with a bye in the playoffs. So all in all it's probably a good thing that they're playing in the Wild Card week. The Ravens or Jets are going to have a tough first-round contest. I expect the Chiefs to show up more than the Bengals did last year.

As a fan of the Titans, I have to say that I'm disappointed by the team's performance. Last year's team should have been better than 8-8 but an 8-2 finish obscured the start. The 2008 team was much better than expected but a first-round choke as bad as a David Buehler extra-point miss tarnished the whole experience. 2007 was a logical progression from 2006, despite Vince Young's backsliding. The team had a dominant defense, which the NFL seems to be lacking this year. 2006 was fun despite the putrid start and the nightmare scenario of Derrick Mason, Steve McNair and Samari Rolle playing for the Ravens.

The 1999 to 2003 seasons were great despite the playoff failures. Neither the Buffalo nor the Jacksonville fan bases have recovered from losing to the Titans in the 1999 playoffs. Sadly, with the probable dismissal of Jeff Fisher, the team's about to become the Jaguars or the Bills. With no coach and no quarterback, it's hard to see any sunshine upcoming for the team.

Sunny moments for 2010 were the brief resurrection of Vince Young the passer, Marc Mariani the transcendent kick returner, Jason Babin turning his career around despite him being a key reason why they lost the Washington game, Kenny Britt as a long-awaited number one wideout, and the signing of Randy Moss. Oh, the signing of Randy Moss. Moss was woefully underused until the return of Kenny Britt, after which he became indistinguishable from Lavelle Hawkins. For weeks the coaching staff explained that Moss and Britt both played the split end spot, so they couldn't get both on the field at the same time. Man, if the 70s Steelers had just played Stallworth and Swann at the same spot. That is so indefensible. That's almost as bad as people whining about growing deficits before continuing tax cuts that the nation can't afford.

I can't even finish a paragraph about bright spots for the Titans without going negative. Anterraun Verner was a bright spot. He was a turnover machine, and when he stopped getting them, the team started losing like they were the 2008 Detroit Lions. Michael Griffin seemed to overcome a sub-par 2009. The linebacking corps as a whole was a disaster. The team couldn't shake free a few bucks to hold onto Keith Bulluck? OK, Stephen Tulloch was a tackling machine. He's not bad. The team needs new outside linebackers. If Jason Jones could stay healthy, I'd say sign in long-term. Tony Brown was injured most of the year.

It's possible that the team will enter 2011 with none of the 2010 QBs. Collins is a free agent and is ready to retire as the worst 40,000-yard passer in league history. Jay Cutler, you have your work cut out for you. Vince Young is in the last year of his contract and probably needs new scenery to win. Either he has to have a coaching staff that's 100% behind him and will tell him that the crowd booing him is really saying "VinceBooyah" or he has to accept that he's not in Austin anymore. Rusty Smith seems like a guy who doesn't have the skill set to stick around. Maybe his second offseason is off the charts and he becomes a backup type.

Chris Johnson could have the most disappointing 1400-yard season in league history. He never felt like the threat he was last year and took too many hits in the backfield. Seriously, the offensive line moved Amano to center and Harris plugged in at guard and it never worked.

The end is near

The dream is dead. Again. For the third straight year, I will not be champion of any of my fantasy leagues.

In my local keeper league, I used to think of my division as the NFC East. It's a tough, rugged division and no game is a gimme. After today's result, I'm trading up. Our division is the SEC. In the past three years, the other three teams in my division won the title. This year was my turn. I started 8-2 but finished with three straight losses. Last week's win and top score in the league gave me confidence. I faced off against the same team that beat me in last year's semifinal. What made the loss even tougher was that the opposite semifinal was a 59-50 suck-fest while I lost 102-91.

We had our typical rollercoaster game. I had a lead as big as 15 but it evaporated quickly. I was pissed at Eli Manning early but it's hard to argue against four touchdowns. Miles Austin scored a short touchdown but was pretty much underwhelming. Vincent Jackson was great as Vernon Davis was disappointing. I led by three points after the 1 p.m. games.
I had Darren McFadden and Knowshon Moreno while he had Roddy White, Wes Welker, and Danny Woodhead. Moreno got hurt early and McFadden only kept pace with White. At the moment I'm holding onto a 3-point lead and he has the tiebreaker edge. I might hold the lead through the first quarter but I'm not hopeful.

I also lost my z17 semifinal. My juggernaut squad failed to score a touchdown outside of Peyton. It's sad to end the season like this but it's a bit of a relief to not have to worry about the game and watch a scoreboard all afternoon when I should have been sleeping and kicking this cold.

Congrats to the Titans. They started and finished their home slate with impressive wins. Ignore what happened in the middle. The team has a very outside shot at a playoff game, but I really don't want to see the Jets, Steelers, or Ravens at LP Field in January. I'd rather watch the games on the trusty HD at home.

I would like to see Philadelphia travel to Atlanta for the NFC Championship game. It's been too funky a season for us to get a simple 1/2 championship game two years in a row, right?

Fantasy files: Playoff narcissicm

It's time for an overdue Zach on Sports narcissistic rant about my fantasy playoff teams. What good are playoff teams without a little bit of self-congratulation?
In my local keeper league, I played a team that had not made a roster move all year. He started Carson Palmer, Antonio Gates, Randy Moss, and Percy Harvin. You could say that I won comfortably. It's just an ego thing when you lead the league in scoring during the regular season. When get the top overall score in the playoffs, you feel like a championship could be upcoming.

This week I play a division rival. I had two waiver selections. One was Alex Smith to take Brett Favre's place. I had high hopes for Favre and only started him once. I thought he'd be a big scorer against the Lions and he put up 11 points or so. Good riddance. My other pickup was a guy who burned me two weeks ago. I picked up Vincent Jackson in a key matchup against the same guy I'm playing this week. He left after three plays and my hopes for a comeback victory were dashed.

Here are the matchups:

QB: Eli Manning versus Philip Rivers; I'll be lucky if Manning gets half the 28 points that Rivers scored. I'm seriously considering starting Kerry Collins instead.

RB: Knowshon Moreno and Darren McFadden versus Ray Rice and Danny Woodhead; I don't expect 42 points for McFadden again. I'll lobby to have Denver/Oakland as the full-time game on TV for the 4 p.m. games since that's the only game with fantasy relevance. Rice isn't scoring touchdowns this year. Woodhead is.

WR: Miles Austin, Vincent Jackson, and Hakeem Nicks versus Wes Welker, Roddy White, and Lance Moore; Jackson obviously paid off. I'd like a couple of "double touchdowns" between Nicks and Eli. Miles Austin has fallen off big-time since Jon Kitna took over. Welker's a PPR machine. I'll be watching Sunday night's game and probably crying the entire time. Roddy White has been a monster but he has not scored a TD in four weeks. I bet the streak ends this week. Lance Moore just scores touchdowns. If anyone gets single digits, as this is a PPR league, that's trouble.

TE: Vernon Davis versus Kellen Winslow II; I wave the white flag on this one. I'm not sure how Davis got one catch but to me that's the singular reason why the 49ers lost on Thursday night. That and their inability to notice that Vincent Jackson was the only viable receiver on the Chargers' roster.

K: Dan Carpenter versus Garrett Hartley; Both guys will play in the elements. I don't know; we're talking kickers here.

D: Ravens versus Giants; For all of the suckage the Ravens displayed last week, they did score two defensive/special teams touchdowns. The Giants will get more sacks.

The CBS "projections" give me a slight edge. They also tell me that Vernon Davis will score 16 and Vincent Jackson will score 13. That's a total of 29 and I got 35. I'm ahead of the curve.

I'm also in my Zealots 17 semifinal against a team that scored 190 points last week. 190 points in a Zealots league is pretty good. He has Brady, although I bet a lot of teams have Brady this week. Actually in this game and in my local keeper league it's Brady versus Manning. This is as it should be.

Peyton Manning is my no-duh starter. So are Michael Turner and Adrian Peterson. My crisis is among wide receivers. I have Dwayne Bowe, Greg Jennings, Percy Harvin, Reggie Wayne, Mike Williams (Bucs) and Mike Wallace. Four can start. Jennings and Bowe have possible backup QBs playing. I'm starting Wayne, Jennings, and Bowe for sure. Yeah, Bowe has one catch for three yards the past two weeks. I'm playing the studs. Harvin has a rookie QB. Wallace has a tough matchup and an injured QB. I'm going to try Mike Williams.

You know what? Scratch that. I can start two tight ends. I'm going with Owen Daniels and Jacob Tamme. The Titans can't cover the TE and Tamme's been solid since taking over for Dallas Clark.

I'm benching Jared Allen at DE. I've done so for most of the second half of the year. I'm going with Charles Johnson and Trent Cole. Patrick Willis already played. I have to keep Cameron Wake in my lineup. I'm taking Desmond Bishop over Lance Briggs as my LB3. Bishop should be on the field a lot.

Atogwe, Chung, and Delmas are my three DBs. Due to injuries and the Thursday night game, those are my only three options.

Double championship game? That would be nice.

Day of Personal Infamy

Sunday, December 5 is a day that will live in personal infamy. I went to sleep at midnight Central time. I was alone in the guest bedroom at my parents’ house. I had agreed a couple of weeks ago to visit for a Titans’ game. I had the lowest expectations heading into a Titans’ game ever.

I had a dream that I was talking to my grandmother. In the dream I had a rare moment of insight and asked her if there was anything she wanted to pass onto me. She talked about running away to marry her husband, although I knew that wasn’t the real story. I couldn’t remember much of the details other than having the presence of mind to ask a question. I guess that was the point.

She died around midnight, so the dream probably happened around the time that she passed over. Alice Pert was 97 years ago and had finally given up. She had no food or liquids for four days before her body finally shut down. My dad has been relatively silent over the whole ordeal, which is about the same reaction that I would have. Us Laws absorb, and what we absorb comes out when it’s ready to come out. The following morning was full of phone calls making funeral plans and listening to condolences.

We trudged on as families do and went to the Titans’ game. On Saturday it was in the 50s and would have been a pleasant game-day experience. On Sunday it was in the 30s and snowing for most of the day. “Football weather,” as my dad said.

The Titans showed their usual amount of effort. My mom insisted that the defense gave up because they’re trying to get Jeff Fisher fired. I don’t think that. In the National Football League, each person is a corporation. There is a feeling of team unity but most everyone is playing as hard as they can. I saw the Jaguars kickoff unit and everyone looked like a serious athlete. These were the men on the edge of staying in the league. No, the defense didn’t give up. They were undermanned and struggled to do basic things like tackle. The score was 14-0 midway through the second quarter which meant the game was over. We stuck around. Kerry Collins kept underthrowing the ball when he had the wind at his back. There was no way that he was making a fourth-quarter rally against the wind. We left after an interception with four minutes to go.

I had on four layers. As we walked up the hill to head back, I pulled a hood over my head. It snapped the right arm of my frameless glasses. They had developed cracks in the last month and I had to get through December before getting replacements. It’s going to be a difficult month.

We drove home and didn’t talk about the funeral. We didn’t talk about the Titans. We had a tough week ahead of us. We’ll be in Pittsburgh later in the week assuming that we can get the body from Vegas to Pittsburgh. It’s going to be an impromptu family reunion, which should be slightly more fun than watching bad football in the snow.