Titans are brim-full, but not alone with their problems

The no-offense huddle adopted this season by the Tennessee Titans is working to perfection.

Hey, is this still pre-season or what?

Okay, this is being sarcastic, I know, but not wholly undeserved from a team that keeps making the same mistakes in expecting a different outcome.

On the home turf of the Baltimore Ravens, the Titans (0-3) rolled up a total of 185 yards in losing Sunday afternoon, 26-7, to the Super Bowl champs.

Baltimore (3-1) netted 460 yards, 201 on the ground. Who needs Jamal Lewis? Running out of multiple I- and single-back formations, Terry Allen rushed for 108 yards on 22 carries and Jason Brookins bulled his way for 68 yards on 15 tries, as the Titans consistently missed on the cutbacks, were bullied at the line and piled up penalties like they meant something.

Did I mention that the Titans' defense is as stuck in the mud as its offense?

"We're ready," Coach Jeff Fisher said shortly before losing in a home-opener to Miami, and before losing at Jacksonville. He repeated the same phrase -- this time like he really believed it -- prior to meeting the Ravens. Could Fisher and his coaching staff be suffering from a bad case of over-optimism when evaluating what they see in practice to what they expect in an actual game?

That's just it. The Titans have not been "ready" yet. Opponents are controlling both lines of scrimmage. On offense, the Titans keep going to the same guys for help, the same ones who continue to drop passes, run bad routes and who couldn't beat Pee Wee Herman off the ball. The same people, too, who keep getting burned on defense, on deep routes in close coverage situations.

Even a change in the offensive line didn't help Sunday. Center Kevin Long was benched to make way for guard Bruce Matthews, who had not played the position in more than two years. Zach Piller took Matthews' slot. Talk is that the move was made in deference to Matthews, once a stalwart and now a weak link. It was his 283rd start, a record for non-kickers. The moves seem to indicate that Matthews alone is not the problem.

Titans running back Eddie George had just 26 yards on 13 carries before leaving early in the fourth quarter with a right ankle sprain. Though his line offered little support, little has been seen of the fired-up Eddie of past glory days.

Some changes need to be made. There are some serious, pronounced, apparent problems, such as:

DeRon Jenkins - He is another in the storied history of Titans cornerbacks who never look back when trailing a receiver, a feature not lost on Qadry Ismail in teaming with QB Elvis Grbac for a 77-yard TD scamper. Take the blinders off this guy. Better yet, get someone else.

Penalties - Ten of the Ravens' first 20 points came after they had been stopped and kept alive by Titans penalties. The Titans had nine flags for 107 yards to just three for 15 yards for the Ravens, a seasonal trend noticed by the Ravens. Late in the first quarter and facing fourth-and-inches, in came grizzled QB Randall Cunningham to replace Grbac. His only duty for the day consisted in barking a hard count to draw the Titans offsides. He did it so well one of his own jumped first, which must have surprised Ravens Coach Brian Billick.

Chris Sanders - This veteran has never learned how to time a high-arc pass. He either goes up to soon or too late. Stone hands do not help either. Why not try rookie Drew Bennett? He's no burner but he made the team by catching everything catchable in pre-season. Dump Sanders.

Kevin Dyson - It's time to put away the Music City Miracle strut and quit making the drops. Fisher needs to put the sound of loud footsteps on a CD and boom the sound Dyson's way in practices to help his concentration. Otherwise, start Bennett and Derrick Mason.

But why go on? It's only football, a game that started about the same time as when the leader of the free world gave the order to bombard a foreign terrorist network that wreaked death and ruin on our land 26 days ago.

Okay, that was petulant of me. Let me redeem myself by doing better.

A bright side is certainly not out of order.

How was that? Better, huh?

Let us realize that the Titans/Oilers franchise reeled off 11 straight wins and a division title after starting out 1-4 in 1993. Maybe these Titans will rebound, maybe not; they don't have to. We do.