Detroit Lions fans will be thrilled to know that Mike Williams, the team's 2005 first-round pick who ballooned up to 270 pounds and never contributed anything to the offense, is suddenly taking his job seriously.
Jim Wyatt of the Tennesseean reports that Williams, now with the Titans, is so devoted to his job that he's down to 242 pounds and deflecting praise by saying he's just doing what was expected of him coming out of USC. When someone told Williams he was looking good, he replied:
"I was the No. 10 pick (in the draft),'' he said. "I'm supposed to look like that. It just so happens that I am finally doing what other teams picked me to do.''
Isn't that great, Lions fans? How come high-priced rookies so rarely look how they're supposed to look when they play in Detroit?
The Tennessee Titans are returning to their roots.
After nine years wearing dark blue jerseys at home to go with a white road uniform, the Titans will switch to light blue this year, the Tennessean is reporting. It's the same color that the Titans wore when they arrived in Tennessee as the Tennessee Oilers back in 1997 (as Eddie George shows here), and it's the same colors that Earl Campbell made famous with the Love Ya' Blue Houston Oilers of the late 1970s.
Tennessee won't completely get rid of the dark blue, but they'll now be an alternate uniform that they'll wear for one game a year.
Like most uniform changes, this one is more about marketing than anything else--now the Vince Young or Keith Bulluck jersey you bought a couple of years ago is now clearly out of date--and the Titans hope you'll now go out to get a new powder blue jersey. But if they are going to make a change, going back to the light blue is a good call.
It's hard to say if that's good news or bad news. The good news version is that Tennessee has brought back a receiver who was a outstanding deep threat the last time he was in Tennessee. He's reunited with his former offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger. For a team that didn't go deep very often in 2007, McCareins could help solve the problem.
The bad news version is that McCareins will turn 30 this season, he has caught one touchdown and less than 700 yards in his past two seasons combined, and he was phased out of the Jets offense because he had serious problems with drops. As Jim Wyatt points out, the fact that McCareins was able to step in and immediately retake a starting job says as much about the team's problems at wide receiver as it does bout McCareins' talent.
One of the big themes of the 2008 Titans season will be how much Tennessee opens up the playbook in Vince Young's third season.
In his first two seasons, Young has been asked to not make mistakes, make some key third-down conversions and use his legs to move the chains. He only threw 27 passes a game as a rookie, and threw even less, 25 per game, as a second-year pro.
But Young now has 29 starts under his belt, and should be able to take on more responsibility. With that in mind, Young is saying that he hopes to go deep more often in 2008. The big question now is whether Jeff Fisher agrees. According to the Tennessean, new offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger is much more prone to throw the ball downfield than Norm Chow, the coordinator he replaced this offseason. The numbers that run with the story don't necessarily show that, but the general feeling seems to be that the Titans will aim for more big plays in '08.
Police said Kearse was speeding and swerving in his car, and that the officer who pulled him over said Kearse had slurred speech, red eyes and the odor of alcohol. He claimed that all he had to drink was a vodka and Red Bull, but he refused a breath test.
Kearse re-signed in March with Tennessee, where he was the NFL's defensive rookie of the year in 1999, after playing the last five seasons with the Eagles. He has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness in recent seasons and is expected to be a situational pass rusher this season.
Ryan Fowler has tried to clear up any of the questions that are dogging him. In his first public comments since news leaked out that he might face a suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, Fowler explicitly denied that he's ever taken steroids.
"There is not that much interesting in an innocent man, so I think some people who don't know me may be more likely to jump to the conclusion that all of this is true," said Fowler. "So I hope those people can just sort of be patient and wait for the truth to come out and then once it does they can make any informed decision that they want to make."
But for a man who was working to clear his name, there was one problem with Fowler's press conference. When asked if he had ever dealt with David Jacobs--the man who told the NFL he supplied Fowler with performance-enhancing drugs--Fowler said he couldn't comment. If Fowler had never dealt with Jacobs before, there would be no logical reason to say no comment, so until Fowler says otherwise, it's going to seem like he had dealings with Jacobs at some point.
Fowler said he hasn't heard from the NFL and no hearing has been scheduled. As we mentioned before, with Jacobs now dead the NFL and Fowler have a difficult case on their hands.
Last year Albert Haynesworth came into training camp in the best shape of his career. He stayed focused all season and kept his weight in check. Not coincidentally, Haynesworth was a dominant force in the middle of the Titans defensive line and earned all-Pro honors for the first time in his six-year career.
After five years marked more by disappointment than domination, Haynesworth finally lived up to the Titans expectations when they drafted him in the first round in 2002. But it appears, with some reason, that Tennessee is worried that Haynesworth will return to his pre-2007 form if he gets a big money long-term deal. So they haven't been offering him the big money payday he wants.
The Titans have some leverage here. By franchising Haynesworth they're obligated to pay him $7.25 million this year, but that's not really a problem--a motivated Haynesworth is well worth the money. And at the end of the 2008 season, the Titans could simply slap the franchise tag on Haynesworth again.
Paul Kuharsky of the Tennessean has an interesting piece today about the Titans' use of kettlebells as part of their workout routine. For those who don't know what a kettlebell is, here's a look:
Cornerback Cortland Finnegan says of the workouts:
"I don't enjoy it," cornerback Cortland Finnegan said. "I can run all day, 40s, 100s, 180s, and not sweat as much as I do in here and be in as much pain. This kettlebell workout, Jay has taken this thing to the next level.
"This ain't for me. I can't really speak on the kettlebell; you'll have to find someone more profound on the kettlebell industry. This right here is just torture, I can't even talk on it."
The Titans' use of kettlebells was spearheaded by assistant strength and conditioning coach Jason Novak, who says few workout routines match the kettlebell for building strength and providing cardiovascular benefits. Says Pro Bowl defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, "In football it's so much about being tough and not giving up and that's what the kettlebell workout is all about."
It appears that this was just an innocent mistake by the third year wide receiver. He said in a statement his agent released that he forgot that the bag he threw his clothes in before heading to the airport had been last used when he went to a range to do some target shooting.
It's a dumb mistake, but one that apparently happens pretty often. Score one for the TSA agents in Nashville for spotting the gun in the x-ray machine.
While it does carry a misdemeanor charge, the situation wasn't serious enough to keep Jones from making his flight, which probably means that while he'll have to pay a fine, he won't be facing any sanctions from the league.
How do you defend yourself against the words of a dead man?
That's the conundrum Titans linebacker Ryan Fowler is facing. Apparently David Jacobs named Fowler as one of the NFL players who Jacobs named as a recipient of steroids, which is enough evidence to likely nail Fowler with four-game suspension.
But since then, Jacobs and his girlfriend have been found dead in his house. The police have ruled Jacobs' death a suicide--although the fact that he was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the head, would seem to ensure that there needs to be a thorough investigation.
Any death is a tragedy, but for Fowler, Jacobs' death also means that it will be very hard to defend himself against the charges. If the NFL takes Jacobs at his word and considers that sufficient evidence to suspend Fowler, there's not really much of a chance for Fowler to clear his name after all how do you prove that you didn't do something.
The Tennessee Titans are returning to their roots.
The news coming out of today's 
One of the big themes of the 2008 Titans season will be how much Tennessee opens up the playbook in Vince Young's third season.
Titans defensive end 
Ryan Fowler has tried to clear up any of the questions that are dogging him. In his first public comments since news leaked out that he might face a suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, Fowler 
Last year 
Another Titan is in trouble, but unlike Pacman Jones, Brandon Jones likely won't have to worry about any long-term ramifications from 
