Last year's Titans game, and what does it mean this year?

This is a game the Steelers MUST have in order to compete for
a playoff spot. I have not seen much of the Titans this year,
lets hope we can play inspired football we will need too. I have
a feeling we may lose some games because of our ST. I hope this isn't one of them.

 

People really need to cool it with the must win stuff. When you say it about every game it really makes it meaningless. There was a post about a pre-season game being must win for god's sake.

 

If this team comes out flat and uninspired it will definitely be cause for concern. I want to see fire in their eyes.

 

Well, they really are all must win games when you get down to it.

 

Cool it you say, the titans are no powerhouse by any means, more of a mid range team, certainly if we cant beat them Sunday then what does it say about our chances of beating a much better team in the Bengals on the road next week???

 

Not going to disagree with this. I think what it tells me is we were exactly what the record said we were...average. If we can get the special teams fixed and get a rushing game, it should lead to the 4-5 close wins now being comfortable wins, and the 4-5 losses now being close wins. The reality is good teams win the close ones....last year we didn't do that.

 

In the NFL you play 16 games. Every game is a 'must win'. The reason late in the season people say games are 'must win' is because they forgot the games the team lost earlier in the year they should/could have won but did not. Thats what puts you in those 'must win' situations. Win the first 14 and noone says either of the last two are 'must win'. Play every game like its a playoff game. One and done. Then when you wrap up the division and home field for the playoffs then your team can have games that are not 'must win'. At that point you've earned it.

 

I don't view every game as a must win. I view the 8 home games as must wins since you need to take care of home field, but that is very unlikely. I view at NE as a loss along with at Oakland since we can't ever seem to win out there. I view both Browns games as must wins because they are not as good as we are. If we can pick up either Cincy or Balt on the road along with a home win against both those that is a bonus. I consider MN and GB to be a toss up because of location on the MN game and don't expect a win in GB. But if you can't beat the Titans at home coming off a disappointing season in which the national media has written you off as old then I view this team will be 6-10 to 9-7 at best. We have lost games in which we should have won too many times the past two years. Last year it cost us not only a playoff berth but potentially the division. Two years ago it sent us to Denver and we all remember how that turned out...

 

[video=youtube_share;-dKAX7Jp8wo]http://youtu.be/-dKAX7Jp8wo[/video]

 

There is not one power house team in the league. This isn't the 70's, 80's, or 90's. Teams are more evenly matched then ever.

 

Yeah, that was moi. Guilty as charged.

BUT...if you read my post in context you would know that the only point I was trying to make with my somewhat sensationalistic headline was that only about 1 in 10 teams that go winless in the preseason make the playoffs. Believe it or not, I'm not really dumb enough to believe that a preseason game is a MUST win. I just used a little hyperbole to make the point that it would be nice to go into the season with some momentum and not have to fight history all season.

 

Ben said in a presser today "I don't care about winning those preseason games. I couldn't even tell you our preseason record in my career. It's just for young guys to try and make the team." I thought about you when he said that.

 

Well said. The Titans have C.J. Britt, Nate Washington etc. All guys who can break a big play. No cakewalk for sure.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZUq6N7Gx1c

BOBBY!!

 

It's not necessarily about winning those preseason games, it's about how we prepare, how our first team looks against other first teams, how our backups look against other backups. I don't think Ben even believes what he said. He's one of the most competitive guys on the planet. He wants to win whether it's a preseason game or a game of ping pong. No matter how we want to paint it guys, we were winless in the preseason and, for the most part, looked bad doing it. Coming off a mediocre 8-8 season last year that has to be cause for concern. Now it counts for real and we'll see how we do before we get too concerned. I think our first teamers can compete, especially on defense. My concern is our lack of depth and as the long season wears on, that may be what ends up biting us.

 

Ben may actually mean that and to a certain extent I agree with him. What bothers me is seeing the same problems in preseason that have haunted us for the last few years. It's not a given that they carry over to the regular season but it's not encouraging.

 

The Titans were 9/16 (56%) on third downs. We had 56 yards rushing, 14 of which came from Ben. We were 1 for 3 in the redzone.

The thing I remember most was the long field goal attempt that gave the Titans the short field with :54 seconds left. Suisham's 54 yard attempt came up short and Cook caught a pass against Allen to give one of the best kickers in the league a shot to win it.

 

Again this is why I say we need this win. If you want to be with the elite teams you need to beat teams that are supposedly not as good. The Titans in my opinion don't have the talent to make the playoffs. In my opinion we do, but we have very little proven depth. If you want to be playing late into January you can't afford to lose home games to teams that you have more talent then. The Titans have some terrific players but as a team we have more talent. Hopefully I am correct come Sunday but maybe the Titans will prove me and a lot of other people wrong.

 

You have to hope the preseason is not an indicator of future success or failure.

 

Agreed because if it is we will be drafting very early next year.

 

Let's just hope Ike doesn't commit too many pass interference penalties. I hate it when he does that. If I were the Titans I would throw bombs to Britt every drive.

 

Obviously it is pretty hard for some board members to recognize this.LOL