Jim Schwart'z future

.....so last year Gunther Cunningham's defense gave up three more offensive touchdowns than the Titans did. This year, through 13 games, they'd given up one less offensive touchdown. Over that time (29 games), they gave up a total of three fewer field goals.

(Today, playing for their playoff lives, they gave up 220 yards rushing to Tiki Barber. Two hundred twenty.)

In the last five drafts, they've used their top pick on defense four times. They've used 70% of their first day picks on defense over that time. They've also traded a second round pick for a starting corner (Surtain), and signed a starting linebacker (Kendrell Bell) and safety (Sammy Knight) as free agents.

Is Gunther Cunningham head cheese now, or does it have something to do with the overall talent/continuity factor in his second go-round as a DC?

 

hmmm, good point.

 

Yes, I remember. Fisher started giving carries to journeymen like Skip Hicks, Robert Holcombe, and anyone else available. They drafted Chris Brown. And then they cut Eddie as soon as they had someone capable of replacing him and when they didn't have to take a cap hit to cut him. So yes, I remember quite clearly...

 

I said it at the end of last year and I will say it again. He needs to go. I also said last season that we would have the discussion/conversation again. If he is still around, we will once again ask WHY. So go ahead and save your stat sheets and injury reports because you will need them.

 

Last year it was injuries (granted they were extreme for the Titans in 2004) and this year it is talent (whole bunch of first day draft picks on the Titan D) AND continuity. When will the continuity issue be resolved - seems to me this one could be permenant as there is like a 25% turnover on the average NFL roster making this quite an elusive trait to acquire.

not trying to create a circular argument but would not signing 3 starting FA's severly hurt continuity and therefore be a negative thing? But without the FA signings then there is less "talent" for GC to work with eroding the base of the overall talent argument.

Getting back on point. I am way more dissappointed with the lack of agressiveness on the D - and that I blame entirely on the moneyball wonderboy Schwartz - IMHO he litterally converted a smashmouth D into a read/react D purposefully and to detremential effect.

and yeah my head cheese analogy stinks

 

Well I know this, there's no way Keith Bulluck thought we were the "Tennesee Tyrants" in 02 and 03. The only Tyrants were in 99 and 00, when we were ranked #1. I miss the Titans not having the defense in the spotlight. Would be nice if we could get back to being considered the #1 defense in the NFL. Now how we go about doing that, I dunno. New DC or not, something needs to change. Personally, I feel the attitude of D players needs to change to a more aggressive one.

 

It depends on whether that turnover is because you are UPGRADING talent or constantly trying to fill gaping holes where talented players left and just hoping for the best in replacing them.

Personally? I think now that they've done the cap purge, they've put themselves in a position to be selective about the talent they retain (to a point). Although the KVB signing could be an issue if the market goes crazy on him (I hope not).

The other decisions -- e.g., Sirmon, Kassell, Boiman, Thompson, etc. -- can be dictated not by "can we afford him?" but "is he worth what we're paying him, or can we do better?"

Actually, that was my point, because I don't happen to believe that Cunningham got stupid the last two years. I believe it's about players, and that includes trying to mesh together new faces. Of course, his guys also missed a lot of tackles yesterday even when they were in position to make plays, but when I see things like that, I don't automatically assume it's the defensive coordinator's fault. My first inclination is to blame the players, but if I was going to blame a coach, it would be their position coaches who work with them the most on technique. (But it's mostly the players.)

That would be quite a trick, for Bulluck to have come up with this knickname in '99 when he was still at Syracuse and didn't even know he'd be a Titan. Or even in '00, when he was a rookie buried on the depth chart behind the veteran LBs Gregg Williams liked so much, who barely saw the field on defense.

This knickname didn't start until at least '02. After Schulters (one of the guys in on it) arrived and after Bulluck was firmly entrenched as a starter/leader on the defense. Might've even been '03 after Kearse was healthy.

Of course, I thought the '02 and '03 defense was right on par with the '99 defense in overall effectiveness:

Points allowed: 324 in '99, 324 in '02, 324 in '03
Rushing TDs: 8 in '99, 7 in '02, 10 in '03
Passing TDs: 26 in '99, 27 in '02, 20 in '03
Yards per carry allowed: 4.04 in '99, 3.83 in '02, 3.79 in '03
Yards per pass attempt: 7.18 in '99, 6.68 in '02, 7.01 in '03
Total yards: 5550 in '99, 5177 in '02, 5125 in '03

 

Excellent discussion everyone...and great historical perspective Nendzone. I think you're "Dead-on Bullseye" articulating the Titan's management philosophy...long term.

I happened to be one of those optomistic pukes that was looking forward to the "second year jump" from our huge (13 I think) draft class of '04. They've been a big disappointment for the most part, IMHO. I tried to give Schwartz the benefit of the doubt last year, with the inordinate number of injuries, combined with all the youth. And I know he's still dealing with those aspects to some extent this year as well. But Man, it hurts watching the defense play so soft...and quite often appear to seemingly undisciplined. Well put GoT and DeutschTitan. And I agree SK - the 46 is dead...and it's popular to play Tampa 2 schemes now. But it would sure be nice to see some toughness on defense again.

Flipping to the other side of the ball - Has anybody got an idea of Stewart's or Loper's development. Are they doing any good? Do you think they might get some playing time down the stretch?

 

Even when we did have talent, he did very little with it

 

good to see the defense gave up four drives of 70+ yards today.