Titans and Giants both looking to bounce back: Titans vs. Giants preview
Both the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants head into Sunday’s game with something to prove. The two teams suffered humiliating losses in Week 2, as the Giants were dismantled by the Colts in a 38-14 embarrassment. The Titans couldn’t beat a Steelers
team without Ben Roethlisberger, turning the ball over seven times in a 19-11 loss. It’s safe to say this game is all about recovering and making a statement.
The biggest story in Tennessee was Vince Young being pulled from last week’s game after two interceptions and a fumble in 10 pass attempts. Coach Jeff Fisher replaced Young with Kerry Collins but Fisher has confirmed Young is the starter. Young’s questioned
maturity will be put to the test. He’ll have to show that he’s grown up and that he can bounce back from a bad game. He’ll need some help from his receivers though. His leading receiver Nate Washington has just seven catches in two games.
Let’s not fool ourselves though; the key to the Titans bouncing back will be the performance of Chris Johnson. Johnson failed to rush for 100 yards for the first time in 13 games last week, as he was held to 34 yards by Pittsburgh’s vaunted defence. Johnson
will look to exploit a much weaker rushing defence this week that has allowed an average of 124.5 yards rushing so far this season. Johnson truly is the catalyst of the Titans and he’ll have to get the team going again.
The Giants’ defence has its weaknesses. The secondary is still a glaring weakness and the line backing corps has been shaky to start the season. The Giants will have to win the battle up front with their defensive line of Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias
Kiwanuka. They’ll have to plug up the running lanes and pressure Young. If not, once Johnson gets to the second level, nobody’s catching him.
The Giants will look to finally find a flow to their offence. Facing a weak Carolina secondary in Week 1 helped them, but with Eli Manning facing constant pressure last week, the Giants couldn’t get anything going. He has some good targets including Hakeem
Nicks, who already has four touchdown receptions and the best third-down receiver in the league in Steve Smith.
Worse for the Giants, their running game has yet to get going, as Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs could not exploit a weak Colts’ rush defence last week. The job won’t get any easier this week.
Facing the Titans’ defence will be no easy task as their defensive line looks as good as any in football. The Titans are ranked first against the pass through two games, albeit they faced the Raiders and the Steelers minus Roethlisberger. The key for the
unit has been their defensive line as they alternate nearly a dozen players in the mix. Not many people can name many Titans’ defensive players as they’re very young but their names will be known soon. The exceptions are safety Chris Hope, cornerback Cortland
Finnegan and linebacker Will Witherspoon.
This game will say a lot about where these teams stand. The losers of this game will face many doubts at 1-2 and will seriously start questioning themselves. A victory would be a big statement for the winners and would put some minds at ease. Expect a very
tight game between two evenly matched teams.
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