Haynesworth, LaBoy are Tennessee’s MVPs

By Marc Hudgens  |   Tuesday, November 13, 2007  |  Comments( 0 )

Tennessee Titans
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There's a school of thought that basically states if you have a problematic situation and replace one element with another, thus solving the problem, then the elements in question brought about the solution. Consequently, if you have a good situation and a certain element changes, and things go bad, then you can deduce that the element change is what caused the problems.

Nothing epitomized this theory more in the NFL this past Sunday than Tennessee's humbling 28-13 home loss to Jacksonville.

In spite of the team's serious offensive woes (most critically the utter lack of touchdown production), the defense, ranked second in the league, has been quite stellar. That's clearly attributed to the run defense, currently the fourth-best in football. A run 'D' that, up until the Jacksonville game, held its opposition to 66 rushing yards per game.

Now, fast forward to the Jacksonville game -- defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, the Titans' second-leading tackler (56), and end Travis LaBoy (five sacks) didn't play for the first time this season.

Not so coincidentally, the defense, without its two stalwarts on the line, gave up a whopping 166 net rushing yards (101 from Maurice Jones-Drew), which is the first time this year the unit allowed an enemy team to surpass the century mark on the ground.

It's pretty clear the Titans' defensive problems this past Sunday stemmed from the absence of Haynesworth and LaBoy. Therefore, it stands to reason that Haynesworth and LaBoy are the two biggest keys to Tennessee's success -- even more so than Vince Young and LenDale White.
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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He ...
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