Posts tagged AlbertHaynesworth at FanHouse

When the Titans host the Ravens on Saturday, it appears they won't be stuck bringing the B-team defense to the game.

Albert Haynesworth (knee injury) and Kyle Vanden Bosch (groin) will return to practice today and should be ready to play on Sunday. Haynesworth missed the Titans season finale, while Vanden Bosch hasn't played since Dec. 7 in an injury-plagued season.

It's not that Jason Jones and Jacob Ford haven't been very solid replacements, but with a spot in the AFC Championship game on the line, and the Ravens' relying heavily on their running game, Haynesworth is probably the most important player on the Titans team this week. If he can shut down LaRon McClain and Willis McGahee, the Titans' secondary should be able to handle Joe Flacco--they picked him off twice in their regular season win.

The bigger injury concern seems to be center Kevin Mawae. Mawae is questionable with an elbow injury. Backup Leroy Harris is physically talented, but asking him to figure out the infinite combination of Ravens blitzes would be a very difficult job in only his second career start.

As the regular season concluded, the FanHouse football writers all got together in a secret meeting in Will Brinson's mother's basement to discuss the players of the year. Who was the best coach? Which rookie stood out? Who was the most valuable player?

After much deliberation (and tons of meatloaf), here are the FanHouse NFL Award Winners. Only players/coaches who got votes were included in the final results.

Defensive Player of the Year

Justin Tuck, NY Giants -- 10 percent
Shaun Rogers, Cleveland -- 10 percent
Albert Haynesworth, Tennessee -- 15 percent
Jared Allen, Minnesota -- 20 percent
DeMarcus Ware, Dallas -- 45 percent

His last game not withstanding, can you really argue with 20 sacks? The Cowboys' linebacker was also involved in 84 tackles and six forced fumbles in 2008.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around with his finger in the air while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Here's Week 16 at a glance, where we point out the horses destined for the Kentucky Derby and jeer those headed to the glue factory. (Disclaimer: This will only be for the Sunday games, since you probably can't even remember the Thursday gaes at this point.)

Studs

Matt Cassel, QB New England (20-for-36, 345 yards, 3 TDs) -- If you had to grade Cassel's performance this season after being tossed to the wolves, I'd say it is an "AAAAAA+++++++." Sure, he has looked mediocre at times, but when Tom Brady went down in the first week of the season, every Patriots fan I know mailed in their playoff or Super Bowl hopes. His game against the Cardinals in the snow was his second straight with three touchdowns or more and his fourth in the last six games with a passer rating of 103 or more. Whatever happens next week with the Jets-Dolphins, one thing is quickly being a certainty -- Cassel could make Washington/Chicago/Minnesota a pretty scary team next season.

For the past month, the conventional wisdom had been building: no matter what the records were, Pittsburgh was the class of the AFC, while the Titans were the team that peaked too early, playing their best football in September and October.

We can throw that theory out.

Playing without its best player, Albert Haynesworth, Tennessee still beat the Steelers by three scores. The Titans offense became the first team to put up over 300 yards against the Steelers' defense all year. Haynesworth's fill in, rookie Jason Jones, recorded 3 1/2 sacks and the Titans forced four Steelers turnovers. Ben Roethlisberger threw two interceptions, and also fumbled four times, losing two of them.

This game wasn't supposed to matter.

If Tennessee had beaten the Texans last week, this would be a rehash of the preseason. Tennessee would have the No. 1 seed for the playoffs wrapped up, while the Steelers would have locked up the No. 2 seed.

Instead, we now have a game that means something (although there is some debate as to how much), which means that both teams have reason to try to prove who's the best team in the AFC, while also saving a little something in the back pocket in case they meet again next month.

Tennessee limps into this game without defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, but the Titans also have an outstanding offensive line that has allowed only eight sacks all season--which is 19 less than Steelers outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley have racked up this year. If Tennessee can shut down the Steelers' pass rush, it will give Dick LeBeau plenty to worry about.

This game will mean a lot more if it happens again in January, but as for now, it means more for the Titans. Tennessee needs to prove that they didn't play their best football in September and October, while the Steelers, who just beat the Patriots, Cowboys and Ravens in the last three weeks, could shrug off a close loss as a minor setback.

The AFC and NFC Pro Bowlers were announced a short while ago, and why make some pointless comment you are sure not to laugh at when we can just give you the rosters instead? Here goes.

So it's easy to tell that it's been a bad week for the Titans when this qualifies as good news: Albert Haynesworth will miss the next two games with a sprained knee, while defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch is also sidelined for the next two weeks after having surgery on his groin.

Sure it is good news if you compare it to the potential catastrophe that would have been the alternative: Haynesworth and KVB out through the playoffs, but it's never a good thing when two of the team's best players will be trying to get back into the flow of things during a playoff game.

"Any time he is not in there it is definitely a problem,'' safety Chris Hope said. "Our guys have come in and played well ... but consistently without Albert Haynesworth it is definitely something we have to be concerned about.''

Jason Jones will replace Haynesworth in the lineup while the Titans have gotten plenty of experience at playing without Vanden Bosch, who has missed four games and parts of a couple of others already. In fact Jacob Ford (six sacks) and Dave Ball (four sacks) have produced nearly as much of a pass rush as Vanden Bosch.

But the key is to get Haynesworth back. WIthout the big man in the middle, the rest of the Titans' defense is not nearly as frightening, but with Haynesworth destroying double teams, everyone else's job gets a whole lot easier.

In the grand scheme of things, the Titans' loss to the Texans isn't all that important. With a win next week, Tennessee will still wrap up home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

But what happened late in the game could end up being costly. Albert Haynesworth was carted off the field with a left knee injury after his leg got twisted in a pile. According to CBS' halftime show, the injury appears to a strained MCL.

If that's the case, it would be a dose of semi-good news. If it had been an ACL, Haynesworth would be done for the season, but MCL strains usually take three to four weeks to heal.

If Haynesworth is healthy in three weeks, he'd miss the final two games of the regular season and the Titans' bye week of the playoffs, which is not that big of a deal. But four weeks would stretch into the second round of the playoffs, which would obviously be a horrendous blow to the Titans' Super Bowl hopes.

Of course, Haynesworth also was laid out on the field against the Jets with a knee injury, and he bounced back from that very quickly, so until we get the MRI results, it's a nervous waiting game for the Titans.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Minnesota (7-5) at Detroit (0-12): I'm a huge fan of the "Well, if the Lions are going to win, this is the game to do it" theory. But they're going to stop Adrian Peterson? Really? Sure, it might be their best shot to win, but how does AP not go for 200 yards and three touchdowns in this game?

Also, I'd like to bring up this point we FanHousers discussed the other day. If you had to start your team around one player, who would it be? I initially thought Peterson until I realized that, as good as he is, running backs can go down with any injury (see Tomlinson, LaDainian) and never be the same. I heard a few names go around, like Justin Tuck and Albert Haynesworth. I really believe I'd go with either Matt Ryan or Mario Williams. You'd never go receiver because there are too many out there (unless you were Matt Millen). You want a young defensive player, like Williams, or a quarterback that can win, like Ryan. What are your thoughts?

Pick: Minnesota

No guts, no glory.

I tried to make a proclamation yesterday, and fell short. I'm fine with any trash talk that should ensue, but I'm still glad I wrote that post. Many of the things I said actually came true and the Bears were in this game the whole way.

The Titans won a hard-fought football game by controlling field position and protecting their quarterback.

The Bears lost by not controlling field position, having an inaccurate quarterback, and by failing to pressure Kerry Collins.

It all started out perfectly scripted for the Bears. They won the coin toss, deferred their choice to the second half, stopped the Titans on a three-and-out, then marched 75 yards for a touchdown. Things were looking up.