Tennessee routs KC to remain undefeated

Hopefully Vince Young has learned from watching the professionalism of Kerry Collins this season. If not, he’ll likely get to sit and watch the polished veteran for awhile longer since Collins has led the Titans to a 6-0 start while Young and his crybaby antics have been rendered almost irrelevant. Young will hopefully learn that the path to success is keeping your head down, keeping your mouth shut and working hard—not crying about every perceived slight while your mommy yammers on about how “hard” life is as a highly paid professional football player.

The Titans undefeated run continued on Sunday as Collins leveraged his running back tandem of Chris Johnson and LenDale White to shred a porous Kansas City defense en route to a 34-10 victory that wasn’t even as close as the 24 point margin would indicate. Collins and the Titans were in complete control from the opening gun, and Kansas City was never even competitive.

Collins hasn’t put up amazing numbers during his tenure as the Titans starting QB, but he’s done his job efficiently and with few mistakes. It comes back to that word “professionalism” again—Collins knows how to give his team the best chance to win every week. Young’s athletic ability is off the charts compared to the 14 year NFL vet who took his place, but in terms of team leadership and understanding the intricacies of the professional game Collins is far superior. Young was in a position where he could have “learned on the job” but he squandered that opportunity and for the immediate future the Titans are a better team with him riding the pine.

Of course a NAIA redshirt freshman could have run the Titans offense on Sunday, since their running game was nearly unstoppable. Chris Johnson ran for 168 yards and a TD, while White added 149 yards and 3 TDs. Two of White’s scores were from short yardage, but the third was on an 80 yard run representing the longest Titans play from scrimmage since 1983. Johnson had his own long TD run of 66 yards, after which he drew a celebration penalty via an impromptu drumming session.

The Titans defense continued to excel, holding the Chiefs scoreless for over 55 minutes. Tennessee’s stop unit has allowed a paltry 11 PPG, best in the NFL. The ten points Kansas City managed to put on the board may seem insignificant, but it allowed the Chiefs to avoid back-to-back shutouts for the first time in franchise history.

With a veteran QB at the helm of a punishing running game on offense, and with a nasty defense taking care of business on the other side of the ball the sky is the limit for this Titans team. They’ll definitely face a “litmus test” in the coming weeks due to a tough stretch of scheduling that will have them at home against Indianapolis and Green Bay before traveling to Chicago for a game against the Bears. Kansas City’s nightmare season continues next week at the New York Jets followed by a home game against Tampa Bay and a road contest in San Diego against the Chargers.