Titans get spanked by the Ravens, now it's the Bucs turn

by James Boswell ProFootballFanatics.com owner/publisher

Uninspired, confused, bewildered and leaderless. These are words that most would use to describe the Tennessee Titans at this point in their season.

Remember the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" analogy? It applies to the Titans now more than ever. It wasn't broke, only a few improvements were needed, but they tried to "fix it" and now it's biting them in the backside.

The Titans seem to be a mere shell of the team they once were. Looking like a bunch of scared little boys, encountering the school-yard bully who's beat them up so many times before. That's what the Ravens did to this team's ego by beating them in the playoffs last season and that's what they looked like on Sunday in Baltimore.

"It was supposed to be two heavyweights. One heavyweight showed up," said Shannon Sharpe, who set the NFL all-time career yards receiving (8,018) record by a tight end. "They did all the talking. We got a 33-year old back who came off the street last week and rushed for 100 yards," ended Sharpe.

You know what? He's right. Although it's still early in the season, the Titans do look exactly like what they are, a last place team in the AFC Central.

While playing the Ravens last Sunday, McNair was 17 of 32 for 154-yards, had one interception and was sacked three times. George had only 26-yards on 13 carries (2 ypc) and left the game at the end of the third quarter with an ankle sprain.

Adding insult to an already injured Titans running game, on two third-down conversions of less than one-yard, the Titans coaching staff declined to call for George.

The Titans top-rated defense of last season allowed the Ravens offense 466-yards (259-yards passing/207-yards rushing). During the game, the Titans were manhandled at will by the Ravens.

The Tennessee Titans offense has converted on only seven of 42 third downs (16.7%) and is ranked last in the league in that category.

Week 4 Analysis: The Titans looked weak, lame and lost. It's time to get back to the basics of what got you a 26-6 record over the past two seasons. During the game, CB Samari Rolle suffered a bruised spinal cord and will be out for three to four weeks, RB Eddie George sprained his ankle and is questionable this week and TE Frank Wycheck is also questionable with a neck injury.

Week 5 Outlook: With Tampa Bay coming to town, you would hope the Titans would be up for this game and not let what has happened during their three previous games, happen again. Based on how the Titans played against Baltimore and how the Bucs played against Green Bay, a few questions come to mind:

How will the Titans score against the Bucs' defense? They couldn't score against the Ravens defense (Baltimore allows 11.8 ppg. vs. Tampa Bay 12.0 ppg.). There should be more room for the run against Tampa Bay (86.0 ypg allowed vs. 57.8 ypg for Baltimore) but will they? Remember, George had only 26-yards on the ground against the Ravens plus he's injured.

And what about last seasons No. 1 ranked defense? They're 28th in the league right now and are allowing opposing offenses a whopping 375.7-ypg (239.7-yards passing/136-yards rushing) and 23.3 ppg. Compared to Tampa Bay, at 290.7 ypg and 12.0 ppg, plus add Keyshawn Johnson, Jacquez Green and Michael Booker to the mix, Sunday's not looking too good for the Titans.

James Boswell owns and runs ProFootballFanatics.com, where he covers the Tennessee Titans, as well as provide commentary on the NFL.