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| ARI at PHI | ATL at SD | BAL at CIN | CAR at GB | CHI at MIN | DEN at NYJ | IND at CLE | JAX at HOU |
| KC at OAK | MIA at STL | NO at TB | NYG at WAS | PIT at NE | SEA at DAL | SF at BUF | TEN at DET |
Week 13 Game Recap: Tennessee Titans 47, Detroit Lions 10
What you need to know
| Tennessee Titans |
Kerry Collins remains almost an after thought in fantasy terms. The Titans philosophy continues to focus on running the ball and conversely stopping the run while on defense as this has been a proven winning formula in the NFL. Collins had a meager stat line and barely broke 100 yards passing.
LenDale White and partner Chris Johnson both had absolutely monster days. Both scored a pair of touchdowns for the Titans as Tennessee destroyed the hapless Detroit Lions. The pair also both eclipsed the 100 yard rushing mark. Fantasy owners had to be excited about this week's matchup and White and Johnson delivered.
K-Rob Bironas had a big game with all of the touchdowns scored while also making four field goals from some stalled Tennessee drives after the frequent Detroit punts and turnovers.
| Detroit Lions |
Daunte Culpepper struggled in this game only passing for 131 yards while throwing an interception that went for a Titans touchdown. With only a few games under his belt the Culpepper experiment is still a work in progress as he learns the Lions playbook. This continues to bear watching.
Kevin Smith had a rough outing and never got untracked. The Titans front seven just beat up the Lions and Smith. He was held to 22 yards and a single reception for an addition nine yards.
Calvin Johnson looked absolutely emotionally drained and upset. The cameras caught an introspective Johnson being consoled by a member of the Lions staff well after the final gun had sounded. During the game, Johnson was consistently doubled and the Titans left a safety sitting back on his side of the field. The net result was 66 yards on five grabs.
What you ought to know
| QB Kerry Collins, Pass: 11 - 18 - 127 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 12 - 0 |
He is definitely in the Trent Dilfer Baltimore Ravens bus driver mold of a quarterback. The team continues to rely on a strong running game mixed in with some throws to keep the defense guessing. When Collins did throw the ball he was accurate and made good decisions. The problem for any Collins owners is that there just weren't very many attempts.
| QB Vince Young, Pass: 1 - 1 - 54 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - -2 - 0 |
Young came in for some late game action with the Titans up several scores. This marked the first action Young had seen since his knee injury in Week 1. He primarily handed the ball off save for a dump off throw that went for big yardage.
| RB LenDale White, Rush: 23 - 106 - 2 (1 targets) |
White was very vocal to his coaching staff following only a few carries in last weeks loss to the Jets. Head coach Jeff Fisher responded by giving White 23 carries to cheer him up. White made the most of his biggest workload of the season. He displayed his trademark tough running up the middle and breaking tackles. His two touchdowns were from six and two yards.
| RB Chris Johnson, Rush: 16 - 125 - 2, Rec: 2 - 9 - 0 (2 targets) |
The rookie had two scores on his first three touches of the game. On each of his touchdown runs he went in untouched by a single Lion. The first score followed up a Detroit fumble by Shaun MacDonald and was from six yards out. The second score was a beautifully crafted third down draw play. Johnson exploded up the middle and then made a single cut to go 58 yards. The Lions had no answer for the speed of Johnson and he had many long runs on the day. He was the more effective back despite LenDale White also racking up two scores and over a 100 yards.
| RB Quinton Ganther, Rush: 3 - 23 - 0 |
The backup running back was used in short yardage and garbage time. He was not successful in converting his short yardage situation and was dropped for a small loss. Ganther had a nice run late in the game on the edge that went for 22 yards.
| RB Ahmard Hall, Rec: 2 - 53 - 0 (2 targets) |
The fullback had a very nice catch and run that went for 54 yards. He showed good speed for a big guy and was even elusive in the open field. Hall had no carries in the game.
| WR Justin Gage, Rec: 2 - 40 - 0 (4 targets) |
Gage had a quiet day as did all of the Titans receivers. He caught two of his four targets and was used for short passing primarily. Although he was targeted deep one time and missed hooking with Kerry Collins on the go route.
| WR Justin McCareins, Rec: 2 - 43 - 0 (3 targets) |
McCareins worked the slot in three wide receiver sets. He caught a nice deep slant route that gained the Titans 20 yards. Also of note, a Detroit penalty negated a lost fumble by McCareins.
| WR Brandon Jones, Rush: 1 - 28 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (2 targets) |
The Titans first offensive play was an impressive end around by Jones that went for 28 yards and set up the opening Chris Johnson score. Other than that he only caught one ball for six yards.
| TE Alge Crumpler, Rec: 2 - 22 - 0 (3 targets) |
Crumpler was used as possession type target during the game and also got a red zone look. He was able to convert a couple of first downs for the Titans on his 22 receiving yards.
| TE Bo Scaife, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
Scaife was not a factor in the game catching only the one ball for short yardage.
| PK Rob Bironas 4 - 4 FG, 5 - 5 XP, 17 points |
Bironas had a very nice outing racking up a total of 16 points. He made field goals of 49, 41, 45 and 43 yards respectively. He was also perfect on his four extra point attempts.
| TEN Rush Defense |
They did an outstanding job of limiting any Lions' ground game and really clogged the interior of the line. The Titans were playing a little snarly after their loss last week to the New York Jets. Lion running backs only amassed
| TEN Pass Defense |
The front four was able to generate sufficient pressure to keep new quarterback Daunte Culpepper under the gun and uncomfortable. The Titans did a solid job of doubling stud receiver Calvin Johnson and limiting his after the catch yardage. The Lions only passed for 134 yards and an awful 0-11on third down conversion.
| QB Daunte Culpepper, Pass: 13 - 26 - 134 - 1 TD / 1 INT |
Culpepper showed some rapport with star receiver Calvin Johnson especially on slant routes. This was used frequently during the game with moderate success. Teams know that Culpepper wants to throw the ball to Calvin Johnson and they defend accordingly. The other impressive facet of Culpepper's game was his ability to scramble to avoid being sacked despite his 277 pound frame. This also helped him power out of potential sacks and make positive yards by extending the play. The biggest challenge for Culpepper is this game was the frequent long yardage the Lions faced due to negative plays and penalties.
| QB Drew Henson, Pass: 1 - 2 - 20 - 0 TD / 0 INT |
Heck, why not? The team was down by multiple scores so there was nothing to lose in giving rarely used Henson some work. His last playing time was a few Thanksgiving Days ago when he started for the Cowboys against the Bears before being pulled at the half. In this game Henson only saw one drive, he made one throw, was sacked and then sacked again and fumbled the ball. It was ugly.
| RB Kevin Smith, Rush: 12 - 22 - 0, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (4 targets) |
Smith ran his best when the Lions gave him plays out of the I formation and he had a lead blocker. He was frequently battling Titan defenders in the backfield. He did break one play for 22 yards and showed some speed and shifty cut back.
| RB Aveion Cason, Rush: 2 - 1 - 0 |
Cason, was a non factor in this game other then returning multiple kickoffs after Tennessee scores.
| WR Calvin Johnson, Rec: 5 - 66 - 0 (10 targets) |
Johnson did not have the greatest fantasy stats, but he did play well. He is consistently seeing opposing teams best corner and usually with safety help. This limited his deep threat, so he and Culpepper took more of the shorter routes. Johnson ran lots of slants and outs for average yardage.
| WR Shaun McDonald, Rec: 4 - 44 - 0 (4 targets) |
McDonald had a nice pick up for 22 yards when he made the Titans defender bite on a fake to the middle of the field only to bust his route to the outside for an easy pitch and catch. The first Tennessee touchdown was a result of MacDonald coughing the ball up when he was stripped by free safety Michael Griffin.
| WR John Standeford, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (2 targets) |
Standeford was on the field for three wide receiver sets. He made a nice catch and showed great control with dragging his feet to remain in bounds.
| TE Casey Fitzsimmons, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (4 targets) |
Most of Fitzsimmons targets were when Culpepper was under pressure. Fitzsimmons appears to be safety valve or hot read for Culpepper when facing opposing blitzes.
| TE Michael Gaines, Rec: 1 - 2 - 1 (3 targets) |
Aside from Calvin Johnson, Gaines seems to have a decent rapport with Culpepper. He caught the lone touchdown for the Lions on a beautiful play action fake where Culpepper hid the ball only to hit Gaines a couple of seconds later for an easy score.
| TE John Owens, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (1 targets) |
Owens was a non factor in the game with only one catch.
| PK Jason Hanson 1 - 1 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 4 points |
The veteran Lions kicker made yet another bomb from 53 yards out and also added an extra point. This was good for a total of four points.
| DET Rush Defense |
The group has been putrid all year. It's very hard to find any bright spots to discuss. The Titans ran this group into the ground. The Titans had a 14-0 lead and Chris Johnson had only been touched one time on three carries. The total damage inflicted was 292 yards.
| DET Pass Defense |
The coverage actually looked quite and usually fairly tight. The problem however was the enormous Tennessee lead. There was no real reason for Tennessee to throw ball in the second half. Hence the low 164 yards of passing.
