The Disappearance of Lendale White

When the smash & dash moniker was broken by "Every Coaches Dream" Chris Johnson in the offseason, I didn't realize that Lendale White's career in Tennessee was going to be broken as well.

White had a career high 15 TD's last season, and a new slimmed down version (since he kicked his tequila habit) was poised for an even better 2009 campaign. I speculated in a previous blog that Tennessee might use less of Lendale this season because he is playing for a contract. Less touches mean less yards & touchdowns, which results in a smaller contract if the Titans plan on making a move to keep him in town. Through 11 games this season Lendale White has only 61 carries for 208 yards & 2 touchdowns.

Yesterday, an all-time low for Lendale White as he appeared to be a healthy scratch as rookie Javon Ringer got the nod to back up Chris Johnson. White was late for a team walkthrough on Saturday, but I really think there is more to the story then just being late. I think Lendale might have an attitude problem about his lack of carries he is getting this season.

I would be shocked to see Lendale White back in Nashville next season. The college class is not great at RB this year, so White will definitely be one of the most sought after RB free agents this year. I could list a dozen teams that could use him. Any off the field problems either with Fisher, or with his good friend Patron and White could find himself out of the league. So memo to Lendale, finish the rest of the year with Tennessee and keep quiet, the pay day is still out there.

Chris Johnson best back in the NFL ?

In previous blogs, I have mentioned that Chris Johnson is the AFC version of Adrian Peterson. I think today we can finally put that to a rest and just say that Chris Johnson is the most electrifying back in the NFL.

Johnson's performance today in a 41-17 win vs Buffalo was just fantastic. (26 carries for 132 yds, 2 TD & 9 receptions for 100 yards) He leads the NFL in rushing yards with 1,091. He has a ridiculous 6.4 yards per carry average which is also tops in the league. He averages 150.3 yards total per game which puts him on top of the league among RB's, and he is almost on pace (25 yards shy) of beating Marshall Faulk's single season record for total yards in one season.

The most amazing stat of all is that Johnson is having this season on a team that has a losing record. The Titans are 3-6 on the season and have been playing catch-up a lot this season. Also, take into consideration that opposing teams stack the box against the Titans because the QB play was horrible for the first 6 games of the season.

You can't go wrong taking either Peterson or Johnson. It is like the debate back in the 90's with Barry Sanders & Emmitt Smith. Remember those Sanders days where you would see his carries look something like this 2,1,-3,-1,62,-1,4,71,3. That is what you get with Johnson. You have that homerun threat every time he touches the ball.

The Titans ran the option a couple of times today effectively. It generally doesn't work in the NFL because the defense is so much faster then it is in the college game, but I believe the Titans can be successful using it on a limited basis. The option is a gimmick much like the wildcat is. Just knowing that the Titans have a few plays in their playbook will force their opponents to spend time in practice defending it. Mike Heimerdinger is very good at designing "decoy" like plays. The obvious reason not to run the option is that you do not want to get your QB killed, but just the threat alone will help.

Even though the Titans are 3-6 and pretty much out of playoff contention (unless they run the table) Chris Johnson gives this fan and all Titans fans hope for the future.

Vince Young strong in first win of the season

Titans coach Jeff Fisher's hand was forced by owner Bud Adams to make a change at QB, and it paid off ten fold in a huge win on Sunday vs their rival Jacksonville Jaguars. The Titans won the game 30-13 giving them their first win of the season.

Chris Johnson was the obvious most valuable player from this game giving his two long ridiculous TD(52,89)runs. Johnson rushed for a career high 228 yards on 24 carries. Johnson once again showed why he is the AFC version of Adrian Peterson as the most electrifying player in the conference.

The real story of the day though was the performance by Vince Young. Young had a stellar day completing 15 of 18 passes and 1 TD when he connected on a perfectly thrown pass to Nate Washington to extend the Titans lead to 10-0 early in the 2nd quarter.

It is far too early to expect performances like this on a weekly basis from Young however. Defenses will make adjustments, and Young will have bad games. He adds another dimension though that Kerry Collins couldn't provide. The pursuit from the backside DE will decrease as they have to stay in their lanes because of the scrambling ability of Young. This should give Chris Johnson & Lendale White more space in the run game. You saw it yesterday first hand, give Chris Johnson a hole and he can take it to the house. I think you will see a lot of misdirections, bootlegs & option type plays from the Titans from here on out.

"I told him he played like I thought he could play," Titans owner Bud Adams said. " … I see him having a great future with us here." If Young is the future in Tennessee they will certainly need to re-work his deal for next season as he is due an outrageous 14 million dollars. The only way Young plays for the Titans next year is if he renegotiates that deal or he leads the Titans to 14 straight wins and a Super Bowl championship.

The Titans got back to basics on offense Sunday. 37-18 was the rush/pass balance. In recent games this year, the results were almost exactly opposite with a 2-1 ratio in favor of the pass. The Titans got their identity back on Sunday.

I think the coaching staff tried to get too smart in the off-season. All you heard from the media was the Titans need a big time receiver to win it all. The Titans will never win it all playing their style of offense. So what does Tennessee do? They franchise their top receiver in TE Bo Scaife, add Nate Washington in free agency and draft a receiver in the 1st round in Kenny Britt, the first Titans WR drafted in the 1st round since Kevin Dyson. So the Titans finally have the pieces on paper to make a legit Super Bowl run and the coaching staff tries to turn this team into a passing offense. You have to blame the coaching staff for the change in scheme. I am aware of the dozens of dropped passes that have plagued this team for years, and they definitely didn't help this season either but throwing the ball 40 times a game is not what this team does best.

The Titans would be 0-7 if it wasn't for Bud Adams, as there would have been no way Fisher would have made that move to switch QB's. Thank you Bud for giving me and and all of Titania hope again.