Titans and Cardinals Test the Waters Monday Night

The Arizona Cardinals will take on the Tennessee Titans on Monday night without eventual Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner. Warner’s contributions to the Cardinals in 2009 were substantial, and will be hard to replace. Arizona is going to put their post-season hopes on the shoulders of Matt Leinart.

Leinart started his NFL career as a starter in his rookie season, but eventually benched due to a lack of production and motivation. Many football handicappers had him being an eventual Pro-Bowl caliber quarterback, but his work ethic has made him a back-up for the last 3 seasons. He has plenty of talented players to get the ball to this year, and has allegedly worked extremely hard this off-season to get himself in shape for this year. His first pre-season appearance was solid as he completed 6 of 7 passes for 49 yards. We will need to see a lot more of Leinart before we can get a true reading of whether or not he is able to lead this team back to the playoffs for the second consecutive year.

Larry Fitzgerald has the ability to make any quarterback look great, and will need to give Leinart all the help he can this season. The running back tandem of Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower will need to increase their productivity this year in order to give their quarterback the space he needs to move the ball down field vertically.

The Titans had a tremendous second half of the season in 2009, but unfortunately they started so poorly that they weren’t able to recover. Vince Young took over the starting job from Kerry Collins midway through the season, and led Tennessee to 8 wins in their final 10 games. His intangibles at quarterback can’t be measured. Young can scramble and pick up yardage on his own or allow himself time to allow his receivers to get open. It doesn’t hurt to have one of the best running backs in the league either. Chris Johnson led the NFL last season with a remarkable 2006 yards on the ground and 503 yards receiving. He is next to impossible to take down in the open field, and will have another incredible year in 2010. It guaranteed that defenses will key in on Johnson this season by stacking the line and forcing Young to beat them down field. If the offensive coordinator and head coach have any clue what their doing, they will set up short “outs” and slant passes to keep the opposing defenses on their heels.

Tennessee’s defense ranked 28th in the league last year, but they have made several moves to drastically improve themselves on that side of the ball. One of their biggest acquisitions was selecting DE Derrick Morgan with the 16th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Morgan is expected to be a huge factor this season on a team that wasn’t very good at putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

This should be a closely contested game as both teams are in the “feeling out” process at this point in the pre-season. Tune in Monday night as the Titans and Cardinals give us an idea of what to expect out of them for the upcoming season.

Related posts:

1. Titans & Colts look for WIN on Thursday Night
2. 2010 NFL Predictions: Tennessee Titans
3. AFC South Showdown: Jaguars vs. Titans
4. Jets take on Winless Dolphins Monday Night
5. Patriots host the Chiefs in Monday Night Battle

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