The Titans have released 24-year old running back Chris Henry.  Henry did not play this season for the Titans.  He played in 8 games in his three years with the Titans and he carried the ball 32 times for 122 yards (3.8 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He also caught 6 passes for 53 yards (8.8 avg) with the Titans.  Henry even helped out on special teams as he returned 13 punts for 272 yards (20.9 avg).  The Titans needed roster spots for Mark Jones and Kevin Kaesviharn which led to Henry’s release.  Another reason was the fact that rookie Javon Ringer had passed him on the depth chart.

The Titans have signed 33-year old safety Kevin Kaesviharn to a 1-year contract.  He played in 11 games for the Saints last season and he made 64 tackles, defensed 4 passes and he had 2 interceptions.  Kaesviharn has now played in 114 games in his NFL career and he has made 464 tackles, has defensed 55 passes, has made six sacks, forced 2 fumbles and he has 17 interceptions.  With Vincent Fuller out for the season the Titans acted quickly signing Kaesviharn who should help the team out.

The Titans have signed WR/KR/PR Mark Jones to a 1-year deal.   The 28-year old played in all 16 games with the Panthers last season and he caught 2 passes for 32 yards (16.0 avg).  Jones also returned 40 kickoffs for 958 yards (24.0 avg) and 39 punts for 443 yards (11.4 avg) last season.  With all of the issues the Titans are having on special teams signing Jones made a ton of sense.  Jones has now played in 59 games in his NFL career and he has caught 2 passes for 32 yards (16.0 avg).  He has also returned 58 kickoffs for 1,405 yards (24.2 avg) and 156 punts for 1,460 yards (9.4 avg) in his NFL career.

The Titans will be without veteran defensive back Vincent Fuller indefinately due to a broken right arm.  He has made 9 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, had defensed 1 pass and he has 1 interception so far this season.  With the pass defense not playing to well this season Fuller was not a player they could afford to lose.

UPDATE:  Vincent Fuller has been placed on I.R. ending his season. 

The Titans lost this game because of the special teams and in particular CB Ray Mouton.  Mouton had 4 tackles on defense as he helped on that side of the ball.   But, he returned 1 kickoff for 14 yards and 2 punts for 12 yards losing two fumbles and setting up short fields for the Jets.  That really hurt an outstanding effort by the defense in this game.  The Titans’ D was led by linebackers Stephen Tulloch and Keith Bulluck who each had 10 tackles in this game.  The Jets finished up with only 229 yards on offense (83 rushing, 146 passing) in this game.

The offense also had it’s problems in this game for the Titans.  Kerry Collins completed 15 of 37 passes for 170 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions.  Charles Johnson was solid as usual with 22 carries for 97 yards (4.4 ypc) in this game.  LenDale White pitched in with 7 carries and 27 yards (3.9 ypc) with a TD run.  Kenny Britt (59 yards), Alge Crumpler (41 yards) and Justin Gage (37 yards) each caught 4 passes in this game to lead the way for the Titans.  The Titans finished up with 286 total yards in this game (127 rushing, 159 passing) in this game.  The Titans are now a stunning 0-3 on the season.

This is a game with two teams heading in opposite directions as the Titans are 0-2 while the Jets are 2-0 on the year.  This is a prime game for a upset as the Jets could be in for a let down game after beating the Patriots last week.  The Jets’ defense has been outstanding so far this season but they have not seen a running back like Charles Johnson yet.  He has 352 yards from scrimmage this season on only 41 touches (8.6 avg) and he has scored 3 TDs.  He has freakish speed so the Jets will have to contain him on the edges.  If Johnson gets the running game going then Kerry Collins will attempt to attack the Jets downfield with play action passes to WRs Justin Gage, Nate Washington and Kenny Britt.

The Jets have been using the running game to set up the pass but that will be hard this week.  Thomas Jones (161 yards rushing) and Leon Washington (118 yards rushing) have been solid this season but they have not faced a front seven like the Titans have.  The Titans are only allowing 49.5 yards rushing per game and 1.9 yards per carry.  But, the Titans have allowed a stunning 339.0 yards passing per game this season.  If Mark Sanchez gets the time to throw the ball (and that is likely) then he will be looking for WRs Jerricho Cotchery and Chansi Stuckey deep.  He also likes throwing short passes to Dustin Keller and then watching him run.

PREDICTION:  TITANS 21, JETS 20

The Titans have signed 27-year old punter Reggie Hodges.  Hodges played in 12 games for the Jets last season and he averaged 42.8 yards per punt.  11.4% of his punts went for touchbacks last season and 31.8% of his punts landed inside the opposing 20 yard line.  He should do a good job filling in for the Titans until Craig Hentrich is ready to reclaim his job.

The Titans will be without starting punter Craig Hentrich with a calf injury this week against the Jets.  There is no timetable for his return to action.  He has punted the ball 9 times for 422 yards this season (46.9 avg).  Hentrich has no touchbacks this season and he has pinned the opposition inside the 20 yard line 3 times (33.3%).  Kicker Rob Bironas punted the ball 1 time for 40 yards last week against the Texans.  The Titans would be smart to bring in a free agent punter this week so that Bironas doesn’t wear out his leg.

UPDATE:  Craig Hentrich has been placed the on Injured Reserve List ending his season.

The Titans played a great game on offense but the defense just couldn’t stop the air attack of the Texans and it cost them in the end.  Kerry Collins was solid in this game completing 21 of 33 passes for 216 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 interception.  Charles Johnson had a game for the ages as he scored on a 57-yard run, a 91-yard run and he caught a 69 yard TD pass from Kerry Collins.  Johnson carried the ball 16 times for 197 yards (12.3 ypc) and he also caught 9 passes for 87 yards (9.7 avg).  LenDale White pitched in with 6 carries for 25 yards (4.2 ypc) in this game.  Nate Washington (4 rec, 36 yards, TD) and TE Alge Crumpler (4 rec, 44 yards) had solid games in the passing game for the Titans.  The Titans finished up with 449 total yards on offense (240 rushing, 209 passing) in this game.

The defensed keyed on Steve Slaton shutting him down in this game.  But, for some reason they forgot about Andre Johnson who torched them for 10 catches, 149 yards and 2 TDs.  The Titans’ D was led by LB Keith Bulluck (10 tackles) and CB Nick Harper (9 tackles).  The Texans finished up with 420 total yards in this game (63 rushing, 357 passing).  The Titans are now 0-2 on the season with this big division loss.

This game is always a hard hitting one as the Titans used to be the Houston Oilers a long time ago.  It will be interesting to see what gives when Steve Slaton lines up against a Titans’ D that only allowed the Steelers 36 yards on 23 carries (1.6 ypc) last week.  Still, the Texans will be feeding Slaton the football as he carried the ball 42 times in two games against the Titans last season for 216 yards (5.1 ypc).  The Texans need Slaton to have a good game running the ball or the Titans will be sending everyone after Matt Schaub when he drops back to throw the ball.  The Titans had 4 sacks against the Steelers last week.  If Schaub has time to throw the ball he will likely have some success getting the ball to WR Andre Johnson down the field.  The Texans really need to have WR Kevin Walter available for this game so that he and Owen Daniels can take some of the pressure off of Johnson.

The Titans will probably come out focused but ready to punch the Texans in the mouth due to the extra rest they got this week.  The Titans will likely go back to the running game this week with Chris Johnson and LenDale White against a Texans’ D that allowed 190 yards rushing and 4.5 ypc last week against the Jets.  Veteran QB Kerry Collins will also likely have a solid game for the Titans as long as they keep DE Mario Williams of the Texans away from him.  Rookie WR Kenny Britt and Justin Gage both are looking quite dependable and they could have big games if the Titans need them to.  The Titans beat the Texans 31-12 last year in Tennessee and this game could look a lot like last season.

PREDICTION:  TITANS 27, TEXANS 17