Titans may need to survive a slow start by Collins

<em>Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky</em> <p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Titans fans should ponder the first quarter of Saturday's Ravens-Titans playoff game.</p> <p>This is from the fine folks at ESPN Stats & Analysis:</p> <p>Titans quarterback Kerry Collins has thrown no touchdowns and six interceptions in the first quarter this season, the worst such ratio in the NFL. The six picks tie for most in the league, and no other signal-caller has thrown more than three first-quarter picks without at least one touchdown. Collins has only thrown one other interception all season.</p> <table border="0" align="right"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="300" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tr> <td colspan="3" bgcolor="#000000"><font face="Verdana" size="1" color="#ffffff"><strong>Slow Start: Collins by Quarter</strong></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>--</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>First quarter</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>Rest of game</strong></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>QB rating</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>52.1</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>90.2</strong></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>Touchdowns</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>0</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>12</strong></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>Interceptions</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>6</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>1</strong></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>Yard per attempt</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>5.76</strong></font></td> <td bgcolor="#e6e6e6"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><strong>6.68</strong></font></td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <p>Collins' first quarter passer rating (52.1) is the worst in the NFL among quarterbacks with more than 40 attempts.</p> <p>"Anytime you can get off to a good start, if gives you a chance to carry some momentum," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. "But this game is not going to be determined in the first series or the second series... A good start at home would certainly help. But if that doesn't happen, it doesn't mean the end is near, you've got 60 minutes."</p>

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BFD. We ALWAYS suck in the first quarter, and our first points are nearly always a field goal.

But Traditionally, Fisher has been very good in the 1st quarter of playoff games. We even went down and scored 7 on the Ravens, in the first drive, when we lost to them 24-10 a nmber of years back. Fisher will come out and execute. I fully expect some kind of mis-direction screen to the TE on the first play.

BFD is right. We rarely come out throwing- we run to avoid an early turnover. Defenses know this stack the box and we throw in 3rd and long- again conservatively to avoid an early turnover.

I can't believe they didn't mention that.

I had a dream last night that in the 1st Q, the Ravens got a Field Goal then their punter trapped us inside the 2 yard line and and sacked Collins for a safety. i didnt get to dream the rest of the game.

Well...

We are likely to start slow for a few reasons.

1 - We're coming off not having really played for 3 weeks so we might be a little rusty.

2 - The Ravens may give us some new looks. They'll want to get an early turnover because playing with a lead and playing from behind completely change Flacco in this game.

3 - We typically have pounded the ball and punted rather than try anything fancy during the regular season. Fisher may go conservative because of Baltimore's penchant for forcing turnovers.

Still, Slamma is right. In the playoff loss to Baltimore (2000-20001?) we drove the ball right down the field against arguably the best defense in history. Of course we struggled the rest of the game...but we are certainly capable of having a creative gameplan. And frankly, I hope we do open up with some new stuff to get their D off-balance and to make Flacco uncomfortable. However, we can not afford a sack, forced fumble returned for a TD or a pick returnd for a TD. This might come down to which DEFENSE outscores the other!

Gut

I expect a start similar to the Pittsburgh game. Jeff played that opening perfectly. The game plan was built with just the right amount of patience. We calmly absorbed all the Steelers could give us at first, giving up field position by degrees until we made a play on teams that put the pressure on them. From there we gradually opened things up, so that by the end of the game, we had opened a full-on can of whip *****. I kind of expect the same for this game!

GO TITANS!!