Game Day Notes on
Music City Two:
- We�ve heard this week that, in the last game, the Titans used their OLB and, presumably their LB sized SS Tank Williams to deny inside routes.� Rolle and Dyson played the outside stuff while Bullock, Sirmon and Williams took away the slant and skinny post.� It follows that the flat is open, it follows that Amoz/Fu or even Tuman figure, initially as max protect guys, who can circle out as the situation allows.� This suggests that the Steelers� set of choice will be 2-back, 3-WR.
- A 3-wide set figures to get Godfrey out and Mitchell on and that�s all good for the B&G.�
- WEAE just aired an interview conducted with Tim Lewis earlier this week.� In it, Coach Lewis said, essentially, that whenever the Titans go 4-wide, whether with WR, TE or RB, the dime will be in.�� If that�s true, well, here�s hoping you all bet the over.� More to the point here�s hoping TL is smart enough to lie.
- The same station aired a segment with Merrill Hoge who was saying that the Browns wanted to go 4-wide, not just because of their WR advantage against the Steeler secondary but because that set, they thought, would get Hampton, Bell and Farrior off the field.� That�s not news here; I�ve been harping on this since September, commencing with, say, The Dime Line.� Further, Hoge claims that Cleveland believed they could score (45).� They weren�t far off; it follows that the Titans will try the same.
- Good to see Gerry Dulac was all over that point this AM when, in his PG Matchup, he wrote:
� Eddie George�hurt the Steelers on several runs against the dime defense�The Steelers have to be judicious about using the dime defense because it takes their best run stuffers-NT Casey Hampton and LB Kendrell Bell and James Farrior- out of the game.�
����������� So true, so
very true as was previously reported on this site in Week 11 in Review.
- Jerome Bettis is starting, or so it is said.� So much for circle routes�
- The fact that the Steelers have lost 8 of the last 10 vs. the Titans means little.� That mark stretches back thru the dark days here, �98 and �99.� There are only (4) D-side starters remaining from that group to include Gildon, DW, Flowers and Scott.� True, the Steelers were swept in 2000 too and it must be acknowledged that Porter, Smith, KVO and Alex had been added.� That�s (8); last year, the Steelers swept and, of course, Hampton and Bell were then in the fold.� Oddly, with Farrior those (3) are off when the dime is on.
- The situation is similar on the O-side: only Faneca and Bettis started in �98; add Gandy in �99; Hines and Spike in �00.� The point is that streaks don�t matter too much in the Not-For-Long.
- Those predicting a heavy set of wins by road teams this weekend are bucking the chalk.� Give or take, the home squads win about 80% in the playoffs.� Last week, home teams took three of four though both the Steelers and 49ers barely got over.� Chalk talks; that�s why the casinos get re-built so often. �The odds say that, at most, one visitor wins this weekend; maybe none as, factoring last week, 7/8 is about as close as 6/8 to 80%.� That so, I�d take the Bucs, Eagles and Raiders at home if I were betting from the heart�
- Four minutes to KO.