Bad news, NFL: Titans D is still moving up

"We went only as far as our corners would take us," Schwartz said.

But that was the beauty of the Titans' latest effort. Their cornerbacks took them the distance. Though Peterson scored twice, he was held to 80 yards, and that might suggest that Tennessee took chances with its secondary. But that secondary wasn't punctured for a pass longer than 28 yards, and that happened only when Bernard Berrian made a nifty one-handed catch.

There were four sacks in there. Three fumble recoveries. A late interception of Gus Frerotte that led to the game-clinching touchdown. In fact, all of the Titans' touchdowns were the results of takeaways, and that's 21 points, people. Take them off the board, and you take a victory off the board.

"We definitely have the playmakers," defensive end Jevon Kearse said. "We not only have guys who can get the job done, but we have guys who can do more -- guys who are not just satisfied with knocking the ball down and making tackles, but making interceptions and getting the ball for the offense, too."

That's been true of Tennessee teams in the past, with someone mentioning the 1999 team that went to the Super Bowl, but Kearse said this defense has "the potential" to improve on that performance, and it's easy to see why. There's a blend of veterans and youth that works, with defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch and linebacker Keith Bulluck the best of the vets, and NFL interception leader Cortland Finnegan the best of the young talent.

"We're the quintessential example where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," Schwartz said. "We've had individuals play well, but we haven't had an entire team effort yet. That's nice when you're 4-0 and playing good team ball, but it's nicer to know you could be doing more."

That is especially comforting for Collins, who took over for the injured Vince Young three games ago. Unlike the Kerry Collins of years back, he doesn't take unnecessary risks or commit silly mistakes. He also knows when to get rid of the ball rather than take a sack or risk an interception.

Part of that is Collins and his maturity. But part of it is playing with this defense, and let Collins explain.

"It helped bail us out in some situations where we haven't been able to move the ball in the second half," he said. "It's a great feeling as a quarterback to know you don't have to do it all by yourself."

That lesson was lost on Young, and he suffered for it. But it hasn't been lost on Collins, who played an error-free game, taking no sacks, losing no fumbles and throwing no interceptions. So he didn't throw a touchdown pass. It doesn't matter. He didn't have to, and he didn't have to because there's another weapon here that few outside the 615 area code recognize.

Uh-huh, DEE-fense. DEE-fense. DEE-fense.

During the Titans' past eight starts, including the playoffs, nobody scored more than 17 points on them, and Minnesota put up a second touchdown only because Vanden Bosch was called for roughing the quarterback after Tennessee held on a third-and-goal at the 6.

So the Titans say they aren't playing their best defense. That's good, Tennessee fans. You don't want to play your best in September. But it's definitely not good for the rest of the division ... and maybe the conference.

"This team is built on letting the defense go out there and win the game," Haynesworth said, "and that's kind of what happened. We've got the components to be a great defense. We still haven't played a complete game, but we're getting better and better. So, hopefully, you'll see it soon."