JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The easy thing to do is to always look for the flaws. That's the way we are. Whether it's a drop-dead gorgeous model, a singer with a magical voice, an actor whose timing is impeccable, a candidate running for office or an undefeated football team, we seek out the problem areas, looking for something that just might take them down a notch.
The Tennessee Titans have been living that the past month as they continue their quest toward a perfect season.
For weeks, the thinking was that they didn't throw the ball well enough, that their run-first mentality would be their undoing and their 36-year-old quarterback was not nearly good enough to put the team on his right arm if needed.
The past two weeks have changed that thinking -- in a big way.
For the second consecutive week, a defensive team loaded the box and dared the Titans to throw it, attempting to put their supposed flaw on display.
All Kerry Collins -- Tennessee's feel-good, come-off-the-bench starter -- did was carve up the defense with his right arm again on a day when the running game wasn't working. The Jacksonville Jaguars loaded up to stop the Titans' rushing attack Sunday and all Collins did was hit two long second-half touchdown passes -- three on the day -- to rally the Titans from a 14-3 halftime deficit to a 24-14 victory.
"We were ready to take some shots today," Collins said. "We felt if we were going to win this game, we would have to make some plays down the field."
Collins' ability to do so puts the Titans at 10-0, six games away from a perfect season. If they beat the New York Jets next week at home they can almost lock up home-field advantage in the playoffs with five games to go.
"It wasn't pretty, but it's a perfect 10 now," somebody yelled in the Titans locker room after the game.
That's the way it is with these Titans. It's not always pretty. But then you look up and they're notching another victory. Collins and the passing game might be the last question answered about these Titans. A few weeks ago when I saw them I wasn't sure how good they were.
I am now. They're the class of the AFC -- by far.
The Titans are good on both lines. They have an explosive back in Chris Johnson, a power back in LenDale White and a suffocating defense that leads the NFL in scoring defense. The ability of Collins and his receivers to make plays down the field serves notice that loading up for the run isn't the only way to stop them.
The Titans just completed a four-game stretch that seemed downright treacherous when it began with a Monday night game at home against the Indianapolis Colts. After that, it was a home game with a good Green Bay team, a road game at Chicago and then this one against division-rival Jacksonville, a team playing for survival.
Tennessee not only came out of that stretch unscathed, they seem to be getting better.
Collins has eight touchdown passes for the season, but five of those have come the past two weeks. Against the Jaguars, he was 13-of-23 for 230 yards and the three touchdowns. After hitting Brandon Jones with a 12-yard scoring pass to make it 14-10 on the opening drive of the second half, Collins hit Justin Gage with a 56-yard touchdown strike and closed out the scoring with a 38-yard score to Gage with 3:57 left to ice it.
Collins has passer ratings of 108.7 and 112.3 the past two weeks and seems to be growing more comfortable with a bigger role. The game manager title is coming off, which is the way it should be. He's more than that.
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| Think Kerry Collins and the Titans can't throw? Time to think again. (Getty Images) |
It didn't look that way in the first half. The Titans fell behind 14-3 as the Jaguars, fighting for their playoff lives, stifled the offense. The Titans had 128 yards of offense in the first half, 86 through the air. The Jaguars had 173.
Jacksonville finished with 257 yards, while the Titans ended up with 344. That's what you call second-half domination.
"We had to stop giving up easy points with the stupid penalties we had," Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said. "Once we cut that out they couldn't do anything."
The Titans-Jaguars rivalry is one Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher loves to incite. Dating back to the late 1990s when the Titans won a trip to the Super Bowl on this Jaguars field, the teams have bickered back and forth.
Back then, Fisher used a Super Bowl rap made by the Jaguars before the 1999 AFC Championship Game to rile up his team the night before the game. This week, it was some strange words by Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio.
Del Rio took what the Titans players thought was a shot when he referred to the Titans as "Goliath" leading up the game.
"Goliath is coming to town," Del Rio said. "We're going to say some prayers, see if we can't find a few nice-sized pebbles and load up our slingshots."
The words themselves aren't insulting since the Titans are the league's last undefeated team, but the tone of them was sarcastic, according to Titans players and coaches. Word is Fisher, who doesn't exactly have a warm and fuzzy relationship with Del Rio, didn't like them either.
"I love Jack Del Rio, but to say that on film and tell your team something different isn't very cool," Titans corner Cortland Finnegan said. "We took it as an insult. He might not have perceived it to be that way, but that's how we took it."
Said Haynesworth: "I guess they couldn't find enough rocks for them."
The reality is Del Rio is right, whether it was a shot or not. The Titans, as of right now, are the Goliaths of the league. The scary thing for the rest of the league is that thinking that their passing game would be their undoing is starting to look less and less likely.
So go ahead and search for the flaws to pick them apart. They know it's coming. They're ready for it.
"I'm not going to say we're Goliath, but every week you watch ESPN and people are hoping for us to lose to say they told us so," Titans safety Michael Griffin said. "It was that way with that guy in the Olympics. Everybody was hoping him to lose. We're in the same boat. Everybody is always waiting for somebody to fall. It's not anything fun to watch when you see someone win all the time. Eventually it gets old."
That guy in the Olympics was Michael Phelps. He didn't lose. And the way Collins is playing, we have to wonder if the Titans will either.
