FanHouse MichaelGriffin

Albert Haynesworth has put his days of getting kicked out of practice behind him, but now the Titans have another former first-rounder who has taken that crown.

Michael Griffin was booted by Jeff Fisher after getting into an altercation with cornerback Cary Williams. While Williams cooled down, Griffin didn't so Fisher sent him to the showers.

"I asked him to put it behind him and he couldn't so I sent him in," Fisher said. "I didn't want him to distract the rest of the team. It has happened before. He'll be in the meetings and he'll bounce back.''

According to the Tennessean, Griffin is the first Titan to be sent out of practice since Haynesworth in 2003. But it's not the first time he's gotten too fired up after getting into a fight in practice--he took a long time to cool down after getting into a scuffle with a linebacker during practice last year.

Eventually Haynesworth showed that a temper can be a powerful thing--if it can be directed in the right way. Griffin will probably do the same, but hopefully it won't take him as long as Haynesworth did to figure it out.

Matt Ryan got the first start of his professional career last night and proceeded to complete 15 of 21 passes for 102 and one touchdown (no picks!). It was preseason, for sure, but for a group that has endured more in the last 12 months than most of us face in our lifetimes, it's a nice start.

But there were other story lines to come out of the 17-3 victory over Tennessee. Namely: the Falcons are a bunch of dirty players, at least to hear the Titans tell it. Atlanta had nine penalties for 101 yards, and it was one in particular that made second-year safety Michael Griffin very sad.

Titans safety Michael Griffin got called for holding on a first-quarter punt return, and he wound up with his helmet pulled off. He tussled with Daren Stone and had to be restrained. ... Griffin said Stone crossed a line.

"He got my dreads, just pulled my hair," Griffin said. "That got me fired up, pulling my hair, man. My helmet got knocked off and then he grabbed my hair. That's really all there was to it. Hair is fair game, my helmet was off, we got into a little pushing and shoving and pulling match and he pulled my hair.

It gets better: "When it comes to that, somebody pulling your hair? Not cool. That's disrespect you know? I'm not going to pull on your hair. You've got a problem, don't pull on my hair. Girls pull on hair."

Got that, Daren, GIRLS PULL HAIR. Well, girls and Larry Johnson.

Whatever, if this is the new-and-improved Falcons, great. Anything to help erase the memories of the Bobby Petrino Era.

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

Anthony Smith, Steelers
Didn't see that coming, did you? First, let me say that I don't have any real problems with Smith, a second-year safety used primarily as a backup until starter Ryan Clark went on injured reserve earlier this season, smacking his gums during the week. It's football; guys yell and scream and run into each other for a living.

The problem, however, is that Smith single-handedly torpedoed Pittsburgh's already-slim chances with what can kindly be described as "his play." Early in the second quarter with the Pats leading 7-3, Smith bit on a play-action pass that resulted in 63-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss.

And on New England's first drive of the second half, they ran the same play that the Steelers used to break the Bengals' back in the 2005 wild-card game: wide receiver throwback, quarterback hits the deep post. But instead of Antwaan Randle El, Ben Roethlisberger and Cedrick Wilson, it was Moss, Tom Brady, and Jabar Gaffney. The guy responsible for not letting Gaffney get behind the defense? Yep, Mr. Smith.
Sorry, No Photos

Now that the Titans have taken Michael Griffin, here are a lot of links and features to get everyone up to speed on the newest Titan.

Scouting Reports

ESPN.com ($): Shows good agility and has exceptional coverage skills for a safety. Is good in run support and does a good job of going up for the ball. ESPN.com's instant analysis doesn't like the pick pointing out that Griffin fills one of the Titans lesser needs while wide receiver and running back are much bigger issues.

New Era Scouting: Hasn't been sked to do much man-to-man coverage at Texas, but has shown the ability to cover tight ends and running backs. Was primarily a run-help first safety in college and the Longhorns played a lot of zone coverages.

Michael Griffin is a good athlete who is probably the single best special teams player in this year's draft. He's a hitter, and he's versatile enough to play both safety and cornerback.

The question, of course, is whether he'll be playing cornerback as the replacement for Pacman Jones, who as you might have heard was suspended for the entire 2007 season. I don't think it's quite as simple as saying that Griffin was chosen directly to replace Jones, but I do think the Jones situation made the Titans think the secondary was where they most needed to improve in the draft.

My friend Peter Bean of the outstanding Texas blog Burnt Orange Nation tells me he likes Griffin's upside more than that of the other Texas defensive back, Aaron Ross, and that Griffin's decline as a senior (which was noted by Mel Kiper) was due in large part to the fact that he was compensating for the worst trio of linebackers to play at Texas in a decade.

Senior Texas linebacker Drew Kelson has packed up and moved to a new position ... again. This time it's somewhere familiar as he competes this spring for a starting job in the secondary with the safeties.

Kelson has played tailback and linebacker his entire career after signing with the Longhorns as the nation's top safety prospect several years ago. Now he's back where it all began and just in time to take a stab at rescuing the shaky Longhorn secondary.

Despite having All American Aaron Ross and steady veterans Tarell Brown and Michael Griffin in their secondary, Texas was repeatedly torched last year through the air. With only a handful of reliable veterans in the secondary, Kelson gets his shot to add some stability to the new-look Longhorn defensive backfield.

Having played linebacker and tailback, two high-impact positions, I'm guessing he's probably a little more banged up than most defensive backs. He may also be carrying linebacker weight still which could affect his range. But it's a smart move as he's a veteran player who knows the game having spent time at several positions and is moving to an area of team need.