NFL - Titans v Arizona Cardinals

29 November 2009

Preview By Tipster Jumbo (New Zealand)

The Titans are on a roll and will look to keep rolling straight over the top of the Cardinals today…

Vince Young has the Titans rolling and is looking for 4 in a row here today,Young looked great again last Monday night and now has led the Titans to four victories since the Titans' 0-6 start, giving him eight straight and a record of 22-11 as a starter. Only Brady, Roethlisberger and Rivers have better winning percentages among quarterbacks drafted since 2000. Young showed some of the running skills as well in Monday's 20-17 win at Houston. He rushed 11 times for 73 yards - with six carries for first downs. The Titans are the first team to win four straight after an 0-6 start. Young has the great service of RB Johnson in his backfield and he again was great, He has already gone past his total of 1,228 yards as a rookie last year, and has five straight 100-yard efforts with an average of 161.5 during the winning streak. Johnson scored two touchdowns in three straight games but didn’t score, last Monday night against the Texans, although he did almost everything else.

Warner came out of the game last week against the Rams and looked in danger of ending his 41 straight starts but time heals all wounds and now he looks like now he could play, Warner is looking to return from concussion to keep that streak alive, Warner's head was slammed into the turf on a hit in the second quarter of their 21-13 victory. He stayed in to finish a touchdown drive but then disappeared . The Cardinals need Warner to play to really have any chance of winning as Leinart is just awful, Warner has 20 TD passes on the season and came through a full practice Wednesday all signs look good that he would start. It would be interesting if Leinart did play against the Titans as that would be a rematch of the 2006 Rose Bowl, when Young led the Texas to a 41-38 over the Leinart led Southern California. If Warner can start the Cardinals will fancy their chances, The Titans have the worst pass defense in the AFC. The Titans are allowing 271.7 yards per game through the air, and last Monday although the Texans lost Schaub recorded the sixth 300-yard effort against them with 305. If Leinart starts, then I give the Cardinals no hope at all in this match. Arizona has won three straight and leads the 49ers by three games in the NFC West. The Cardinals are 5-0 on the road for the first time since winning all seven of their away games while based in Chicago in 1948.This is the Cardinals' first visit to Tennessee. Arizona won 20-10 in 05 in the last meeting.

These two sides have met only twice in the last 13 season with the last match being played in 2005 where the Cardinals won 10-20 at home, both games have been played In Cardinal Territory, the Titans won the previous match 41-14, Either side is 1-1 ATS in those matches and Total wise that has been over in 1 of those two games.

Believe it or not the Titans are in with a chance of making the Post Season should they continue to win and that could happen especially with their remaining schedule, the Titans play 4 of their final 6 games at home and only face two good sides in this span of games in the Colts and Chargers, the Colts away and the Chargers at home while in their other 4 games they play teams they should beat in the Dolphins (H), Cardinals (Today)(H), the Rams (H) and the Sea hawks in their final game away, so they do have a chance to finish their season maybe 9-7 which depending on other results could see them force their way in, but they need to keep winning to achieve that rather long shot chance, But they are playing well and will be a handful in their remaining matches as they showed against the Texans last Monday Night.

If the Cardinals are without Warner today then they are in trouble and Leinart is no where near the player Warner is for sure, even if Warner does play the Cardinals are in trouble as they allow over 100 yards rushing per game this season and have allowed over 100 yards on the ground in 4 their last 5 matches, which does not bode well for them today facing Johnson and Young who both love running the ball and are both making major inroads in that area in this win streak the Titans have going at present, In defence the cardinals might be winning games but they are allowing far to much while the Titans are getting better with each passing game.

The Titans are on a roll here and even if Warner does play the cardinals are up against it, Last week the Titans pass rush played great against the 3rd rated QB in the League and they have also not allowed over 89 yards on the ground in their last 2 games, The Cardinals are giving a good season sitting at 7-3 and having won 3 in a row and 4 of their last 5, 3 of those wins came on the road also against the Rams, Bears and Giants, however I like the Titans behind Johnson and Young to run their way to another win tonight and it could be by a few……Good Luck.