Film Study: Tennessee's terrific twosome - Tampa Bay Buccaneers News at Buccaneershome.com

"They should go ahead and tailor his cape. Take off the 'S' and emblaze it with a big 'EG.' " — Oilers tackle Brad Hopkins, August 31, 1997

Edward "Eddie" Nathan George, Jr. had just run over, around and flat through the Raiders to the tune of 216 yards, carrying the newly minted "Tennessee" Oilers to a fiercely contested overtime win in Memphis.

It might have been his greatest game. It might have been the best performance by a running back on opening day in NFL history. Eddie George might have been — no, is — the last dominating back Tennessee had. "Return of the Mac" was being played in Ford Probes across America when the Titans were last able control a game with their rushing attack.

Football is not played in a vacuum; one game does not make a career. Yet it can be an imprint in our minds of what a great player's career represents. For George, it represented a career made of toughness, resilience and, ultimately, productivity.

"There weren't a lot of people there (in Memphis) to watch us ... that really motivated me," says George. "I wanted to show that we were a good team and that we were bringing a good product."

From 1996 to 2000, before a nagging toe injury tapped the brakes on a promising career, George had one of the best five-year runs ever, gaining 6,874 yards. This despite the fact the transient Oilers/Titans franchise played in Houston, Memphis and Nashville for "home" games during his tenure as a franchise tailback. In only nine seasons, George piled up over 10,000 yards.

Fast forward to this season ...

Like George, the two-headed monster of LenDale White and Chris Johnson are achieving great numbers despite facing defenses geared to stop them. Like George, White is a physical inside runner. Like George in his early twenties, Johnson can hit the corner and turn it (although a bit faster).

The 35-year-old George is at an age now where he can do his various TV gigs, enjoy his kids and maybe pull off the Jeff Fisher-style 'stache if he so chooses. Perhaps his body of work has aged enough that we can appreciate how good a player he was, acknowledging the overdue praise he received Monday night when being inducted into the Titans' Ring of Honor.

Johnson and White were also honored, by way of the Colts' defense playing run virtually the entire game, a topic we'll broach in this week's Film Study.

Film study

While Johnson and White run wild, Tennessee quarterback Kerry Collins is not exactly given the Marino treatment by defensive coordinators. Opposing defenses continually put eight men in the box, practically begging the Titans to throw.

NFL Week 9

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Packers at Titans

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Texans at Vikings

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Falcons at Raiders

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Colts defensive coordinator Ron Meeks was no different Monday night, consistently bringing up a safety especially Melvin Bullitt, playing in place of 2007 Defensive Player of the Year Bob Sanders.

The strategy worked. Through three quarters, the Titans ran 23 times for a sub par 63 yards — less than three yards a carry. On five separate occasions, Johnson or White were stuffed behind the line, mostly because of good penetration by some of the no-names on the Indianapolis defensive line. Raheem Brock, Daniel Muir, Eric Foster and Darrell Reid, none of whom are exactly the '76 Steelers, were disruptive at times, freeing up the linebackers to make plays.

When the rushing lanes were getting disrupted or clogged, White and Johnson started running laterally instead of diving forward for at least some positive yards. As Bill Parcells used to say, "Sometimes a two-yard run isn't a bad thing."

Although the heavy artillery was struggling, Titans offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger stuck with the ground game. Johnson is a threat to hit a home run at any time so to give up on him is foolish. Perhaps more important, Heimerdinger was stubbornly feeding his backs so as to sneak some play-action and first down passes past the Colt defense.

Knowing Tennessee doesn't have the personnel to spread the field and throw the ball all over the joint, Indianapolis continued to creep a safety or corner up throughout the game.

Even after Peyton Manning threw a touchdown in the third quarter to put Indy up 14-6, causing Tennessee to play from behind, the Colts stuck with the stop-the-run philosophy.

Heimerdinger responded by mixing it up, throwing on eight first-down plays. His veteran quarterback responded as well, completing six of those throws. Taking advantage of a defense playing run, Collins was able to find mismatches on passes to tight ends Bo Scaife and Alge Crumpler.

Throwing on first down put Collins in a bit of a rhythm as he completed 13 of 19 passes in the second half. When the offense needed a big throw, Kerry delivered, converting a third-and-10, third-and-9, and third-and-8 on two key touchdown drives in the last 30 minutes.

Those two drives, fueled by the threat of the run and a tweaked passing game, spelled win for still undefeated Tennessee.

What I learned

Despite the Titans' ground attack struggling last week, the Packers shouldn't be lulled into thinking they can stop them without extra help. I fully expect the Packers to bring safety Atari Bigby or fellow safety Nick Collins up to put eight in the box. Really, the Packers have to, as they've been killed this year defending the run with base defense.

The downside? Add a safety to run support, subtract a safety from pass coverage. Tight ends Scaife and Crumpler can beat a linebacker one-on-one easily. But that's a chance Green Bay will be willing to take as man coverage is a favorite of defensive coordinator Bob Sanders.

The Packers defense should get some key players like corner Al Harris back from injury this week. Harris and Charles Woodson should have no problem matching up with the Titans' receiving core. Brandon Jones, Justin Gage and Justin McCareins pose about as much threat as the University of North Texas' receivers do right now.

Tennessee can't afford to struggle early offensively again. Let's be honest: A lot of tips, drops and bounces went their way on Monday.

While the Titans' defense has been awesome, I think Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense may find some of the same holes Manning found last week, except this time without the dropped passes. Frankly, this is a tough one to call.

Pick: Packers, in an upset

Odds and ends

Does anyone have any idea who's going to win the AFC East? The worst team in the division, Miami, has already beaten the two best teams, Buffalo and New England. And what about the Favre factor in New York?

The uniforms the Titans' wore Monday night look like the love child of the XFL and a junior college team. Monochrome light blue?

Brad Johnson > Brooks Bollinger

Flozell Adams Watch: Another rough game for the Cowboys O-line. Then again, protecting a quarterback that runs a 6.2 40 can't be easy. Big Flo' gave up a sack to the Bucs' Gaines Adams, getting just enough hand on him to pat him on the back as he clobbered Johnson.

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