Billick and the Ravens head Titans' hit list

Those of us living in NFL cities will soon be treated to the obligatory week-game previews and features regarding our respective teams. That's when football beat writers for the local dailies sometimes have to stretch and strain to write interesting copy. It should be an easy task, however, when that team is the Tennessee Titans.

The 2001 season for the Titans has a schedule geared to ensure a year of payback possibilities, proper sendoffs to waning rivalries, and a continuation of heated new rivalries of the blood-and-guts variety.

Known as the Tennessee Oilers in 1997 and 1998, a year at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis was an attendance disaster and the following year in Nashville at Vanderbilt University's Dudley Field was not much better. The Oilers were 8-8 both years.

An NFL-best 26-6 regular season record during the past two seasons, in new Adelphia Coliseum in downtown Nashville, a new name and new team colors, has raised expectations for the team and its fans.

Success can breed enemies, too.

In 1997, the villain was lack of attendance, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The largest crowd at the Liberty Bowl involved the Steelers. The stands were peppered with ticket buyers wearing black-and-gold. Oilers owner Bud Adams was embarrassed, irate, and more than happy to leave Memphis for the campus at Vanderbilt until the new stadium was completed.

Attendance was not much better at smaller Dudley Field, although the throng of Steelers fans was downplayed this time around.

The hottest ticket in 1999 at Adelphia was a surprise no one saw coming. Readying for its sixth game, the Titans were matched with the undefeated and torrid St. Louis Rams. The Rams were winning games by a 35-6 margin. It was a test market for ticket scalpers.

The Titans led 21-0 after one quarter and held on for a 24-21 win, in what turned out as a preview of sorts for the Super Bowl.

Capping the season with three victories over the Jacksonville Jaguars, including one for the AFC title, automatically signaled what many felt would lead to the big regular season game in 2000 for the Titans at Adelphia Coliseum.

In previewing all eight regular season games for the Titans at Adelphia, angles are not hard to come by. The past has seen to that.

Miami (Sept. 9) - Sam Madison is the focus. The Titans lost 17-0 in their last meeting, in 1999 at Pro Player Stadium, the first shutout for the franchise in 156 games. Madison, a right cornerback, floated in front of three Steve McNair's passes for interceptions. True, only one led to a score - a field goal - but they were all psychological back-breakers. To make it worse, unheralded quarterback Damon Huard was subbing for an injured Dan Marino.

Cincinnati (Sept. 16) - The safe bet would be to compare the premier running backs employed by each team, Corey Dillon and Eddie George, and how their new multi-millionaire bankrolls stack up against their numbers. Or, Lorenzo Neal and how he is to be utilized by his new team. The former Titans fullback had complained about a lack of snaps with Tennessee.

Tampa Bay (Oct. 14) - Simple. Compare their great defenses. But the best feature might be on the five former Vanderbilt Commodores on the Bucs' roster: Jamie Duncan, Shelton Quarles, Eric Vance, Todd Yoder, and Jon Gruber. There's likely a multitude of people out there who didn't think Vanderbilt had five players in all the NFL.

Jacksonville (Nov. 4) - No longer the anticipated Big Game. It was the hot ticket for 2000 until the package finally arrived. The Titans defeated the Jags three times in 1999, knocking them out of the playoffs and rubbing it in a bit afterwards. But when Jacksonville stumbled in at 2-4 to face 5-1 Tennessee, the fever of a rematch had cooled. The Jags lost 27-13, but they garnered a late-season win over the Titans, 16-13, before bowing out with an overall 7-9 record.

Baltimore (Nov. 12) -- The big game, the hot ticket, the big tamale. No matter the outcome of the Oct. 7 meeting in Baltimore, this is payback time. The focus? Not the Ravens themselves, their defense, Shannon Sharpe's mouth, Ray Lewis' thug quotient, all of which comedian David Letterman would refer to as "too typical." Brian Billick, of course -- the coach who mouthed a two-word physical impossibility toward the Titans' bench for a nationwide television audience to enjoy. Add all that to the fact that the Titans are 15-1 at Adelphia in regular season play and 1-1 at home in post-season tiffs, and that both those losses came last season against the Ravens.

Pittsburgh (Nov. 25) - The last huzzah for Nashville-area Steelers fans that have done their best to rain on the Titans' parade grounds. Oh, they will cry, bemoan their fate, and a few will even promise to work on being actual Titans fan from here on out, now that they will be realigned in a different division starting next season. And how about former University of Tennessee signal-caller Tee Martin? Will he ever get any playing time? Should he expect to?

Green Bay (Dec. 16) - There's only one focus here: Brett Favre. So goes Favre, so go the Packers. The seeds for a good feature would be to compare McNair and Favre. Titans coach Jeff Fisher hates interceptions and ill-thrown, cavalier passes. Cavalier is Favre's middle name.

Cleveland (Dec. 30) - Browns quarterback Tim Couch sat out last year's encounter with a bad thumb. It may have been a good thing for Couch. The Titans had not forgotten how he over-celebrated in 1999 at Adelphia. After throwing the first touchdown of his NFL career, Couch ran downfield and spiked the football so hard it bounced into the stands. That took a lot of nerve, especially since Titans defensive end Kenny Holmes had earlier picked up Couch, turned him over and body-slammed him to the ground. Expect more of the same this year, though not from Holmes who is now with the New York Giants.