Monday Night Football Info
Tennessee Titans at Denver Broncos (-2, 38)
Ground ball
The Titans have one of the best rush offenses in the league, while the Broncos have been unable to stop the run in most of their games this season. Unsurprisingly, Tennessee plans to keep the ball on the ground when it travels to Denver for Monday Night Football.
Tennessee is averaging 139.8 rushing yards per game to rank fourth in the NFL in the category. It faces a Broncos defense that is second-to-last in run defense (151 yards per contest).
"We keep working on it and hopefully we can continue to improve," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan told The Associated Press. "If you don't get good stopping the run, you're in for a long day, I don't care who you are."
It could be a long game for the Broncos when they face Titans running back LenDale White, who has just recovered from a knee injury. White has 625 yards and five TDs in nine games this season, and is the main focus of Denver’s defense.
“When you have a big guy like LenDale, you have to gang tackle him," safety Hamza Abdullah told AP. "One guy’s not going to bring him down so we have to get to the football."
Broncos running back Travis Henry is a former teammate of White, and had high praise for his opponent ahead of their meeting. "He's a bruiser, a pounder," Henry told the Denver Post.
"When I was there he was the same way. The more he gets it, the better he gets. If they're going to feed it to him, he can wear a defense down, I know that much. That's their plan."
White ran for 100 yards or more in three straight games before an injury forced him to sit out most of the second half in last week’s loss to Jacksonville, ending the streak.
Henry’s double trouble
A knee injury could keep Broncos running back Travis Henry out of Monday’s meeting with his former team. A failed drug test could keep him out of action for a year.
The more immediate problem is the injury. Henry has a slightly torn posterior cruciate ligament, but could be able to play if he wears a special knee brace. There are no guarantees he will do that.
"I'll wear a brace for practice," Henry told USA Today. "But I ain't going to wear it in no game. I'm not going to say I'm 100 percent. We've got until Monday, so we'll see."
Henry has more pressing problems than the brace.
He failed a drug test earlier this season for having low levels of marijuana in his urine. The tailback then passed a lie detector test and a hair sample test, the results of which he took to his appeal on Friday. He will be notified of the NFL’s ruling on Tuesday.
Henry faces a one-year suspension if his appeal is rejected.
“I feel good about things," he told reporters after the hearing. “Wait ‘til Tuesday.”
Henry led the league in rushing after the first month of the season, but has run for just 147 yards since then. Henry’s year has been hampered by a series of injuries.
Undrafted rookie Selvin Young will replace him if he is not fit on Monday. Young gained 109 yards and scored a touchdown against the Chiefs last week.
Titans’ key man
With running backs LenDale White and Chris Brown apparently ready to start, Tennessee’s biggest injury concern is now Albert Haynesworth.
The defensive tackle is still struggling with the sore right hamstring that kept him of last week’s loss. He is a game-time decision for Monday.
Haynesworth is considered one of the best run-stoppers in the league. Last Sunday he missed a game for the first time this season and the Titans gave up a season-high 166 rushing yards in a 28-12 loss.
"We were just out of position, we missed some tackles and those kinds of things," Fisher told AP, while agreeing that Haynesworth’s absence was a blow. "But no, they didn't go in pressing or lacking confidence because one of their teammates was out."
Haynesworth is tied for the team lead with five sacks and is a critical part of the league’s fourth-ranked pass defense.
Last week’s loss to Jacksonville was the first game all season in which the Titans surrendered more than 100 yards. It also snapped a three-game winning streak and denied them the chance to move into a tie for first place in the AFC South.
Chip on his shoulder
Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler could have been a Titan. Tennessee decided to pick up Vince Young in 2006 NFL draft, while Cutler waited eight picks before eventually packing his bags for the mile-high city.
This week, Cutler gets the chance to lead his Broncos team against Young and the Titans, but claims his main focus is getting the win.
"I think everyone in the league has a sense of pride, a little chip on their shoulder when they get passed over by a team,'' he told The Nashville Tennessean. "Obviously I watched a lot of Titans games and got to know Vince a little bit through the draft.
“It's going to be fun, but I have to take care of my job and my responsibilities on this team. It's another game we need to win.''
Cutler has passed for 1,882 yards with nine touchdowns for the season, compared to 1,112 yards and four touchdowns for Young. Cutler also has the better passer rating and has thrown for three more touchdowns than Young in the past four games.
"He is ahead of where I thought he'd be,'' Broncos coach Mike Shanahan added. "I think he has a great future.”
Head to head
Denver has won, and covered, in its last two meetings with Tennessee. The home team has won seven of the last eight meetings, and covered in six of those wins.
The over is 6-1 in the last seven meetings.
Raji
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