Tonight the 3-2 Tennessee Titans travel to Jacksonville to take on their AFC South rival 3-2 Jacksonville Jaguars. Both teams have no name defenses. The biggest star on either defense is former Raider free agent signing by the Jaguars, linebacker Kirk Morrison a tackling machine. Both teams have long tenured coaching staffs. Jack Del Rio has been with the Jaguars since 2003 with the message of defense being the staple to the teams success. Jeff Fisher pre-dates the Titans as the last head coach of the Houston Oilers who eventually moved to Nashville from Memphis while originating in Houston where Jeff Fisher was the big kahuna of the powder blue Oilers. Fisher has always emphasized the running game and defense like his counterpart.
Both teams have the runners also with Maurice Jones (Drew) and Chris Johnson. Jones is a battering ram of a back at 5'6" unless he is wearing high heels and weighing in at a bulky 215lbs of all legs which makes for misery for opposing tacklers looking for something to grab ahold of. In a contrast of style Chris Johnson is pure speed that will hit the holes and run right past linebackers and the secondary en route to the end zone.
Both teams also feature much maligned quarterbacks. Vince Young of the Titans never couldn't get his head on straight for a few years while jumping in and out of the starting role while David Garrard a less heralded QB has endured the same path of Young. Ironically both QB's can win with their legs just as much as their arms. Like the running backs both QB's contrast in that Young is a tall fleet footed quarterback that can outrun the defenses while Garrard is a thick legged QB that has the power to run through tackles if need be.
The receiving corps of both teams is just the same. Unheralded wide receivers. The Titans feature much traveled Nate Burelson along with young upstart Kenny Britt. On the other side of the ball it's little known Mike Sims Walker along with Mike Thomas. Virtually no game breakers.
Team wise this is scary its so similar. The Titans are the 5th best rushing team in the league trailing the 3rd best running team in the league the Jaguars. Defensively the Jaguars are 12th best against the run while their Monday night opponent is two slots higher at 10th best. If that isn't similar enough then the pass is ridiculously similar. The Titans has the 29th pass offense and the 26th best defense against the pass while the Jaguars are the 26th best in passing while their defense ranks 29th.
So what are the odds makers looking at when they decided to make the Titans a 3 point favorite. Are the Titans a 9 point favorite on a neutral field. Did the Jaguars not just defeat the reigning AFC champion Colts two weeks ago? This game is too close and too close to make the road team the favorite. Take the Jaguars plus the 3 points and enjoy your winnings.
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