The Titans have lost starting cornerback Jason McCourty for the next 3-4 weeks after he had surgery today to repair a forearm that he fractured against the Giants last week.  McCourty has played in 3 games so far this year for the Titans and he has 15 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Rookie 4th round pick Alterraun Verner will replace McCourty in the starting lineup while he is out of action.  Verner has played in 3 games for the Titans so far this season and he has 10 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 fumble recovery.  Verner has played well every since he was drafted as he had a stellar pre-season and he has done a good job as a reserve the first three weeks of the regular season for the Titans.  I don’t expect that to change just because he’s in the starting lineup.

The Titans forced turnovers in this game and they made the Giants pay for them.  Vince Young was only 10 of 16 for 118 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 6 yards (2.0 ypc) this year.  Chris Johnson led the way for the Titans’ offense with 32 carries for 125 yards (3.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs in this game.  Javon Ringer pitched in with 6 carries for 30 yards (5.0 ypc) yesterday.  Kenny Britt got out of Jeff Fisher’s Dog House just long enough to catch 2 passes for 26 yards with a TD.  The Titans finished up with 161 yards rushing on 41 carries (3.9 ypc) and they also completed 10 of 16 passes for 110 yards.

LB Stephen Tulloch (13 tackles, 1 pass defensed), safety Michael Griffin (12 tackles) and safety Vincent Fuller (10 tackles) led the way for the Titans D in this game.  CB Jason McCourty (INT), CB Alterraun Verner (fumble recovery) and DT Sen’Derrick Marks (INT) also pitched in with big plays for the Titans’ D.  The Giants finished up with 107 yards rushing on 20 carries (5.4 ypc) and they also completed 34 of 48 passes for 364 yards.  The Titans are now 2-1 on the season.

This should be a good football games as these two teams match up well.  Both of them will be looking to rebound from tough defeats so they can get their seasons back on track.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Titans have the ball:  The Titans are going to get back to what they do best this week and that is running the football.  Chris Johnson got stuffed last week by the Steelers and I expect him to be a man on a mission this week against a Giants’ D which is allowing 124.7 yards rushing per game but only 3.7 ypc.  The Giants will likely be bringing a lot of blitzes at Vince Young just like the Steelers did last week so he will need to be smarter with the football.  If Johnson & Young are successful running the ball look for Young to run some play action passes and throw the ball deep to Nate Washington or Justin Gage.

When the Giants have the ball:  The Giants will likely be balanced on offense this weekend.  I see them giving the ball to Ahmad Bradshaw at least 20 times on Sunday against a Titans’ D that is allowing 121.0 yards rushing and 4.1 ypc so far this year.  The Titans will be bringing the heat against Eli Manning in an attempt to force him into making mistakes.  The Titans already have 8 sacks so far this year.  The Titans better be ready for WRs Hakeem Nicks, Steve Smith and Mario Manningham as they are all solid downfield threats for the Giants.

PREDICTION:  TITANS 21, GIANTS 20

Vince Young got yanked from the game last weekend as he played awful against Pittsburgh.  Young is owner Bud Adams’ choice to be the starting QB and he’s the guy who signs the checks.  Young has completed 20 of 27 passes (74.1%) for 220 yards with 2 TD passes and 2 INTs (91.6 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 9 times for 42 yards (4.7 ypc) so far this year.  But it seems to me that head coach Jeff Fisher is still partial to Kerry Collins.  Collins replaced Young last Sunday and he played pretty well against a tough Steelers’ D.  Collins completed 17 of 25 passes (68%) for 149 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT (80.2 QB Rating) last weekend.  It will be interesting to see if Coach Fisher continues to have a quick hook with Vince Young when things aren’t going good.

The Titans turned the ball over 7 times and they gave up a special teams TD (89-yard return by Steelers’ rookie WR Antonio Brown) on the opening kickoff to waste an outstanding effort by their D.  Vince Young started this game and he was pathetic before getting yanked from the game.  He completed 7 of 10 passes for 66 yards with 2 INTs in this game.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 12 yards (6.0 ypc) and lost a fumble.  Kerry Collins replaced Young in this game and he outplayed him big time.  Collins completed 17 of 25 passes (68%) for 149 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  Collins also lost a fumble.  Chris Johnson was bottled up by the Steelers’ D in this game.  Johnson carried the ball 16 times for 34 yards (2.1 ypc) and he also caught 5 passes for 19 yards (3.8 avg) against the Steelers today.  Johnson also lost a fumble.  Justin Gage (4 rec, 74 yards), Kenny Britt (5 rec, 41 yards) and Nate Washington (4 rec, 34 yards, TD) led the way in the passing game for the Titans in this game.  The Titans finished up with 46 yards rushing on 22 carries (2.1 ypc) and they also completed 24 of 35 passes for 192 yards in this game.

DE Jason Babin (8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 sack) and Cortland Finnegan (7 tackles) led the way for the Titans’ D in this game.  The Steelers finished up with 106 yards rushing on 33 carries (3.2 ypc) and they completed 9 of 17 passes for 21 yards in this game.  The Titans are now 1-1 on the season.

The Titans owe the Steelers one after last season’s opening game in which the Titans lost 13-10 in OT at Heinz Field.  A lot has changed since then as Vince Young will be under center for the Titans instead of Kerry Collins.  Ben Roethlisberger, Casey Hampton and Santonio Holmes were all stars against the Titans in last year’s match-up but none of them will be on the field this time around.  Here is a look at the match-ups in this game:

When the Titans have the ball:  The Titans are going to attempt to do what they do best and that is to run the ball with Chris Johnson.  Johnson only had 57 yards on 15 carries in the last game against the Steelers.  Johnson rushed for 142 yards on 27 carries (5.3 ypc) with 2 TD runs last week while the Steelers only gave up 58 yards rushing on 25 carries (2.3 ypc) last week against the Falcons.  Something has to give here and the Steelers will miss Casey Hampton big time in this football game.  Vince Young will likely keep the passing game short to negate the Steelers’ pass rush.  But if the Titans get the running game going look for them to take some shots down the field on play action.

When the Steelers have the ball:  The Steelers might have the same exact gameplan as the Titans do.  They will likely try to keep the ball on the ground with Rashard Mendenhall against a Titans’ D that gave up 135 yards rushing on 25 carries (5.4 ypc) against the Raiders last week.  Dennis Dixon likes to go deep off of play action so the Titans are going to have to give help over the top on D with Hines Ward and Mike Wallace.  The Titans hope to rattle Dixon a bit with the pass rush as the Titans had 4 sacks last week.

PREDICTION:  TITANS 20, STEELERS 17

Vince Young looked like his career was nearing and end before last season due to off-field problems and his performance on the field.  He made a huge comeback last season leading the Titans to an 8-2 record after the bye week, but, they came up short of the playoffs with a 8-8 record.  Young was very impressive in the season opener last week against the Raiders.  He completed 13 of 17 passes (76.5%) for 154 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs (142.8 QB Rating).  Young also carried the ball 7 times for 30 yards (4.3 ypc) last week for the Titans.  The Steelers will pose a challenge to Young this week and it will be interesting to see how well he plays.

The Titans absolutely mauled the Raiders yesterday.  Vince Young was outstanding as he completed 13 of 17 passes for 154 yards with 2 TD passes and he also carried the ball 7 times for 30 yards (4.3 ypc).  Chris Johnson was also outstanding as he carried the ball 27 times for 142 yards (5.3 ypc) with 2 TD runs and he also caught 4 passes for 8 yards.  Javon Ringer also got into the action with 5 carries for 33 yards (6.6 ypc) with a TD run.  WR Nate Washington (3 rec, 88 yards, TD) and TE Bo Scaife (3 rec, 37 yards, TD) both led the way in the passing game for the Titans.  The Titans finished up with 205 yards rushing on 39 carries (5.3 ypc) and they also completed 13 of 17 passes for 140 yards in this game.

The defense was outstanding for the Titans yesterday.  Safeties Michael Griffin (12 tackles, 1 pass defensed) and Chris Hope (5 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception) led the way for the Titans in this game.  CB Jason McCourty also had a solid game with 8 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  The Raiders finished up with 135 yards rushing on 25 carries (5.4 ypc) and they also completed 23 of 38 passes for 151 yards.  This was a solid opening game for the Titans all the way around.

The Titans finished strongly last season going 8-2 after the bye week.  The Titans look to avoid another slow start this weekend in the season opener against the Raiders.  Here is a close look at the match-ups:

When the Titans have the ball:  The Titans don’t change the gameplan for any team as they play to their strength which is running the football.  Charles Johnson is a freak of nature due to his blazing speed and willingness to lower a shoulder when need be.  He has goals of rushing for 2,500 yards this season and he will likely get off to a good start Sunday.  Vince Young will likely keep the passing game short rolling a lot off play action.  The Raiders are deep and talented at CB so the smartest move might be getting the ball a lot to Bo Scaife to challenge the safeties.

When the Raiders have the football:  The Titans will likely try to stop the Raiders’ running game only using the front seven.  That is because the Raiders are probably going to try to go deep to their fast fleet of receivers early and often in this game.  That means the Titans are going to have to put pressure on Raiders’ QB Jason Campbell with the blitz.  Titans’ safeties Michael Griffin and Chris Hope are going to be challenged quite a bit in his game also as TE Zach Miller is the Raiders’ best receiver.

PREDICTION:  TITANS 20, RAIDERS 17

The Titans have claimed 24-year old linebacker Patrick Bailey off waivers from the Steelers.  Bailey played in 16 games (0 starts) for the Steelers last season and he had 13 tackles.  Bailey has now played in 25 games (0 starts) in his 2 years in the NFL and he has 29 tackles.  This was another solid addition for the Titans who desperate for linebacker help heading into this season.