The power running game of the Titans complemented Vince Young’s skills well.  LenDale White played in 16 games (all starts) last season for the Titans and he carried the ball 303 times for 1,110 yards (3.7 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  He also caught 20 passes for 114 yards (5.7 avg).  White has now played in 29 games (16 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 364 times for 1,354 yards (3.7 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  He also has caught 34 passes for 174 yards (5.1 avg).

Chris Brown was banged up as usual last season but he ran the ball well when he was healthy.  Brown played in 12 games (1 start) last season for the Titans and he carried the ball 102 times for 462 yards (4.5 ypc) with 5 TD runs.  He also caught 19 passes for 128 yards (6.7 avg).  Brown has now played in 54 games (29 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 643 times for 2,757 yards (4.3 ypc) with 16 TD runs.  He also has caught 74 passes for 667 yards (9.0 avg) with 2 TD grabs.

Rookie Chris Henry was suspended for a portion of his rookie season but he was o.k. when he was active.  He played in 7 games (0 starts) last season and he carried the ball 31 times for 119 yards (3.8 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  Henry also caught 6 passes for 53 yards (8.8 avg).

Fullback Ahmard Hall did a solid job of lead blocking for the Titans last year.  He played in 11 games (4 starts) and he carried the ball 1 time for 8 yards.  He also caught 9 passes for 60 yards (6.7 avg).  Hall has now played in 25 games in his NFL career (11 starts) and he has carried the ball 8 times for 29 yards (3.6 ypc).  He also has caught 24 passes for 198 yards (8.2 avg).

Jeff Fisher led a team that didn’t have great talent to the playoffs.  The Titans won the Wild Card in the AFC despite finishing the season in 3rd place in their own division with a 10-6 record, but they lost against the Chargers in their only playoff game.  Fisher has now been the head coach of the Tennessee Titans for 14 seasons and he has compiled a 115-99 (.537 %) regular season record and he’s 5-5 (.500 %) in the post season.

The Titans offense was awful as they wasted a solid defensive effort last Sunday.  Vince Young played another bad game as he completed 16 of 29 passes for 138 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 interception.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 12 yards (6.0 ypc).  LenDale White led the Titans in rushing with 69 yards on 19 carries (3.6 ypc).  TE Ben Troupe had a decent game to lead the Titans in receiving yards with 44 on 3 grabs (14.7 avg).  The Titans finished up with 119 yards rushing on 30 carries (4.0 ypc) and they also completed 16 of 29 passes for 129 yards.

The Titans defense was led by Keith Bulluck (10 tackles) and Cortland Finnegan who had 8 tackles, a sack and a interception.  The Chargers finished up with 68 yards rushing on 32 carries (2.1 ypc) and they also completed 19 of 30 passes for 282 yards.

These two teams had an epic battle on December 9th in which the Chargers rallied from a 17-3 deficit in the 4th quarter to prevail in overtime.  That game should give the Titans confidence that they can win this game despite being a 9.5 point underdog.

The San Diego Chargers will have to keep the offense wide open if they want to beat the Titans.  The Titans have one of the better run defenses in the NFL (92.4 yards per game) so the Chargers might throw on first down a little more than usual to open up running room for LaDainian Tomlinson.  The Chargers need to get the ball to their wide receivers to open up more of the field for Antonio Gates and they must be careful when they throw Gates’ way because linebacker Keith Bulluck (5 interceptions) has been a ball thief so far this season.

The Titans won’t change a thing when they have the football as they will try to run the football a lot.  Look for LenDale White, Chris Brown and Chris Henry to all get their fair share of the carries in this game against a Chargers defense that is allowing 107 yards rushing per game this season.  With WR Roydell Williams and TE Bo Scaife out of this game due to injuries look for veteran Eric Moulds to be the secret weapon in this game.

PREDICTION:  SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 17, TENNESSEE TITANS 13

It’s amazing that the Titans made the playoffs when you consider how bad Vince Young played this season.  He played in 15 games for the Titans this year and he completed 238 of 382 passes (62.3%) for 2,546 yards with 9 TD passes and 17 interceptions (71.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 93 times for 395 yards (4.2 ypc) with 3 TD runs.  Young has now played in 30 games in his NFL career and he has completed 422 of 739 passes (57.1%) for 4,745 yards with 21 TD passes and 30 interceptions (69.0 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 176 times for 947 yards (5.4 ypc) with 10 TD runs.

Kerry Collins played much better this season than he did last year for the Titans.  Collins played in 6 games this season for the Titans and he completed 50 of 82 passes (61.0%) for 531 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 interceptions (79.9 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 3 times for a loss of 3 yards (-1.0 ypc).  Collins has now played in 162 games in his NFL career and he has completed 2,918 of 5,254 passes (55.5%) for 34,717 yards with 174 TD passes and 172 interceptions (73.3 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 326 times for 622 yards (1.9 ypc) with 9 TD runs.