Scouting Report: Falcons at Titans

Falcons-TitansPreview Pack 

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- The Falcons travel to Nashville, Tenn. this week looking to get their second win in a row. If confidence level alone measured success in the NFL, the team would be in a great position to move to 2-3.

“In the players you could see it in their attitude; they had a smile on their face,” Head Coach Bobby Petrino said after his team's 26-16 win over Houston last week. “What we need to do is take what we learned from winning that game -- the ability to make plays under pressure, make the critical plays during the game -- and try to build from that.”

To do so the Falcons will have to get past the 2-1 Titans, who beat the Saints on Monday Night Football two weeks ago are coming off their open date. Sunday marks the first of two times this season the Falcons will catch an opponent following their bye week (Carolina has a break before the team's meet again on Nov. 11).

Tennessee may make its mark with smash-mouth football, but the Falcons are up to the challenge and feel they have the positive vibes necessary for a win.

"That feeling in the locker room Sunday after the game, we want to keep that," Pro Bowl linebacker and defensive captain Keith Brooking said. "We got a little taste and it was a great one. We want to continue to grow as a team and get better. I think we gained a lot of momentum on Sunday. The feeling around here is a lot different this week.

"You see a little extra step in everybody's movement."

ON THE GROUND: The Titans are starting to resemble the Tennessee teams that were regular playoff players in the early part of the decade, including a 2000 team that finished the year as the league's best defense when it came to yards allowed.

Those teams were tough against the run, much like the current crew in Nashville.

The Titans have the league's second-best rushing defense (63.3 yards per game) and the second-best rushing offense (173.7 yards per game). The Falcons Week 5 opponent combines that defense with the second-best rushing offense in the league to create what head coach Jeff Fisher believes is a winning formula.

"Your offense is running the football and your defense is fresh," Fisher said Wednesday. "Your defense is healthy, you can rotate fresh players and you can keep fresh players on the field.”

LenDale White and Chris Brown have combined for 427 rushing yards this season.

“They really establish their running game and that takes a lot of pressure off of (quarterback Vince Young)," Brooking said. "We have to be great on first down. They ran for 180 or 190 yards against Jacksonville, which has a pretty good defensive front. We’ve got to be great on first down and not allow them to establish a run.”

The Falcons will look to duplicate that success against a strong Titans defense led by Albert Haynesworth on the defensive line and Keith Bulluck at linebacker.

"We don't want to get in a position where we have to throw the football," Petirno said. "We've got to be able to run the ball; we've got to be able to use our passing game and our play-action (pass) because they will tee off and rush the passer if they know it’s going to be a pass.

"We need to run the ball more. We need to run it better. Usually if you run it better you get to run it more. They kind of go hand-and-hand. We’re working hard at it and we’re getting close. We just need to get some consistency."

Consistency begins with 11-year veteran Warrick Dunn and an experienced offensive line still in the process of picking up Petrino's run-blocking scheme. Dunn leads the Falcons with 222 rushing yards this season on a 3.5-yard average.

THROUGH THE AIR: Young, at least in college, beat teams with his feet. In his second year as a pro that ability has been subdued.

Young has just 10 rushing attempts in Tennessee's last two games after rushing for 552 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns last season. That said, the Falcons aren't thinking Young will cease to being a dual-threat quarterback.

“He’s still a passer when he’s running," cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. "We have to know where all the receivers are and basically work the scramble drill. Guys are going to work to get open and you know he’s going to find them. We know if we can get to him it increases our chances to win. This is a team that’s going to try to run the ball. As long as we’re stopping Vince, we’ll be stopping their run game, too. He’s a vital part of their running game.”

An unorthodox throwing motion had many questioning Young's ability as a passer as a rookie. He threw for for 2,199 yards in 13 starts last season but completed just 51.5 percent of his passes. Thus far in 2007 Young is completing 62.7 percent of his throws.

The reigning NFL Rookie of the Year has been a topic of conversation all week around Falcons campus this week, but the team isn't getting tunnel vision.

“I wish it was as easy as (stopping Young)," Petirno said. "They’re doing a real nice job with their offensive front. They have two, big running backs that have run the ball really well. Vince is really trying to become a pocket passer. He hasn’t taken off and ran as much as he did a year ago. It’s certainly a concern when he does do that, but I think they’ve really settled into running the ball.”

Five Titans players have at least five catches this season, led by Brandon Jones (10 catches, 136 yards and one touchdown) but Young hasn't thrown for more than 184 yards in a game. Running plays (117) out number passing plays (46) this season more than two-to-one.

The Falcons have taken to the air more this season as quarterback Joey Harrington continues to put together one of his best seasons to date (983 passing yards, 71.2 percent completion rate, four touchdowns).

“I think a lot of it has to do with confidence and my confidence is higher than at any other point in my NFL career," Harrington said. "I have been saying it since I got here, ‘Mentally I am ready to take this offense on.’ What I like about coach is he gets you in a rhythm. We throw plenty of short passes so, when the opportunity presents itself to take a shot down field, you feel good. You feel like you are in the flow of the game and that you can throw a strike. It is a combination of me feeling good throwing the ball and getting in a rhythm.”

SPECIALTIES: Titans special teams coach Alan Lowry is one of the longest-tenured special teams coaches in the NFL (12 years with the team, nine as special teams coach). He was the architect of "The Music City Miracle," the trick kickoff return play that secured a playoff victory for Tennessee after the 1999 season. Under his leadership, the Titans have recorded 12 special teams touchdowns in the last seven seasons.

More recent success came thanks to suspended cornerback/return man Pacman Jones, who led the league in punt return average last season. Until then, a Titan/Oiler hadn't led the league in punt return average since 1977. That was Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, a former Falcon and an assistant on the team's coaching staff.

With Jones suspended for the entire season the Titans turned to rookies for the return duties. First-round pick Michael Griffin and fourth-round selection Chris Davis have taken on kickoff and punt return duties and Davis ranks seventh in the NFL in punt return average.

The team's kicker, Rob Bironas, has connected on field goals longer than 55 yards, including a 60-yarder last season to beat the Colts.

The Falcons, however, have searched for -- and found -- more consistency at the position. Twenty-five year veteran Morten Andersen hit four field goals last week and, with the recent signing of Pro Bowl long snapper Mike Schneck, the Falcons hope to have even more guarantees.

SHUFFLING THE CARDS: The Falcons injury report isn't as daunting this week, but it includes some big names.

For the first time this season, defensive tackle Rod Coleman took part in practice this week. If he doesn't play, rookie Trey Lewis could get his second straight start on the interior of the defensive line. Lewis recorded two tackles last week against Houston.

Tight end Dwayne Blakley, who has missed the last two games with a pectoral injury, was limited in practice this week as well.

NUMBERS, NOTES AND COLORS:

Some integers, info and hues to get you ready for Sunday's game against the Titans...

• The Falcons will be in white jerseys and pants Sunday at Tennessee... no word if the Titans are pulling out the Columbia blue uniforms.
• Atlanta ranks fourth in the NFC in takeaway/giveaway differential over the last 10 seasons.
• The Titans are 12-1 against NFC South teams under Fisher (3-0 against the Falcons).
• Tennessee is 6-6 after the bye week under Fisher, 3-3 at home and 3-3 on the road.
• Tight end Alge Crumpler is 42 receiving yards from 4,000 in his career.
• Atlanta faces six ssecond-year head coaches this season. Fisher is the league's longest-tenured coach (13 seasons)
• Andersen has scored in 348 consecutive games.
• Flight time from Atlanta to Nashville? That would be about 34 minutes.
• The Titans/Oilers lead the overall series between the two teams 6-5
• Average margin of victory in the Tennessee-Atlanta series -- 10.6 points.