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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.


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After an amazing 13-2 ATS run (dating back to last season), have the books finally caught up to the Titans?

Ashton Grewal: Tennessee is like that girl you see at the bar you’re not sure is a looker or a fraud hottie. Oddsmakers obviously underrated this team and have now caught up. I don’t think the Titans are as good as some bettors think.

The Titans are not consistent offensively and the defense has given up 28 points to the Jags and 36 to the Texans in recent weeks. Take off the beer goggles and see the Titans for what they are: an average team.

Ryan Stetson: I wouldn’t go that far. The Titans aren’t in the same class as the top five or six teams in the league, but they’re better than a lot of the league’s mediocre clubs. That doesn’t stop the Titans from being a tough team to get a read on.

Tennessee’s big problem is it absolutely has to get an early lead so that it can control the clock and get into that running game. It would be ideal if Young could complete a pass downfield every now and then. But right now this run option-like offense is working fine, especially against teams that are weak against the run.

The books know this, but this kind of ATS run will impact the odds just because of how much action they’ll see on the Titans. As a result, Tennessee’s a little overvalued right now.

Vince Young and Jay Cutler were taken eight picks apart in the 2006 draft. Which team got the better quarterback?

Ashton Grewal: Keep in mind my response will be biased because – as I’ve stated in the past – I have a nonsexual crush on Cutler. He doesn’t have the best pocket presence yet and he has a bad habit of locking onto his primary target too often, but he’s still got jaw-dropping arm strength.

I’ve seen Cutler throw 50-yard bombs off his back foot, tossing across his body and hitting receivers in the numbers.

I’ll concede Young is the better athlete, but you’d have to be clinically insane to say Cutler isn’t the better quarterback.

Ryan Stetson: This man-crush of Grewal’s is getting uncomfortable for everybody, but Cutler is the better quarterback right now, even if that isn’t saying much.

I’d still take Vince Young over Cutler. Both of these kids still have a lot to learn and a ton of mistakes ahead of them, but when you have the chance to draft a guy that might revolutionize the quarterback position, you take him over the big arm.

Has Champ Bailey lost a step or is he just playing through an injury?

Ashton Grewal: I couldn’t believe my eyes when the Packers’ James Jones burned Bailey on a standard go route for a 79-yard touchdown catch and run. San Diego’s Antonio Gates got the better of Bailey multiple times in Week 5 as well.

The six-time Pro Bowl cornerback is playing through a nagging quadriceps injury, which leads me to think he’ll be back to himself next season. Of course that doesn’t help the Broncos out much this year.

Ryan Stetson: Don’t worry about Champ, he’ll be fine. Start worrying about Dre Bly if you’re going to worry about anybody. He hasn’t made a tackle in a decade and now he’s getting beaten deep too.

The secondary’s spotty play doesn’t surprise me. Normally John Lynch is there to knock somebody’s face off if a wideout gets a jump on either of the corners, but he’s been sidelined for the last two games.

Champ Baily is the least of Denver’s worries. As long as the Broncos stop the run the secondary will take care of itself.

Has Denver turned the corner?

Ashton Grewal: Before the season started, I thought the Broncos would be an AFC wild-card team. I dropkicked that prediction out the door after watching them in the first few games.

Denver’s defense isn’t nearly as good as it was 12 months ago, the offensive line is going through a transition and Javon Walker’s absence takes away any type of big-play ability from the offense.

I don’t think they’ve suddenly pieced everything together because of one road win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Remember Denver lost by 37 points to the Lions just two weeks ago.

This squad will finish with an 8-8 record and the players will be watching the playoffs from home.

Ryan Stetson: If you’ve been following my NFL power rankings this year, you know how I feel about the Broncos.

On paper, it looks like they have everything in place. Get them on the field and they’re a mess. They still haven’t grasped this new defense and can’t move the ball consistently.

In short, they’re an underachieving club. If you hadn’t already noticed, Denver is 2-7 against the number.

But way back in the preseason I liked this team a lot too. While one win won’t change everything, another huge victory at Mile High on the Monday Night stage might. We haven’t seen the best of the Broncos yet.

Who you got?

Ryan Stetson: Denver 24-17

Ashton Grewal: Denver 21-14


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