Will this finally be the week the Indianapolis Colts can win their first game of the 2011 season? They face no easy task as they travel on the road again to face the Tennessee Titans in week eight. The Titans are currently at 3-3 and have been a relative surprise with their strong play so far. The Colts have been possibly the most disappointing team in the NFL and are off to an 0-7 start.

The Colts are coming off an embarrassing 62-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints are will likely look to come out strong and prove that they are not as bad as that loss indicated. The Colts have several veterans still on the roster that have a lot of pride and will look to rebound from the embarrassment.

As if the season could not get any worse without Peyton Manning(notes) the Colts injury list is growing every week. The Colts listed 17 players on their week eight injury report. Most concerning for fans is that the offensive line simply can’t stay healthy. The Colts appear to be without starters Anthony Castonzo(notes), Ryan Diem(notes), Mike Pollak(notes), and Joe Reitz(notes). This will leave the Colts without much experience on the offensive line who will be expected to run the ball well and protect young quarterback Curtis Painter(notes) against a solid Titans defense.

The Titans are sure to try and get star running back Chris Johnson going against an awful Colts defense this week. Chris Johnson has been one of the most disappointing players in the NFL through the first seven weeks of the season. The Colts defense as struggled stopping opponents against both the run and pass the last several weeks. The Titans are coming off of a blowout loss as well to the Houston Texans in week seven. If the Titans are smart they will take advantage of the Colts weak secondary and allow quarterback Matt Hasselbeck(notes) to air it out. If Hasselbeck plays well the Titans are very likely to win this game.

Colts fans are now at a point where they have no idea what to expect out of their team. This is a game where the Colts are capable of competing and having a chance to win the game. If there was ever a week for Jim Caldwell to turn in his finest job and get his team ready to compete, this is the week. Caldwell is certainly on the hot seat and every loss will further push fans and media for a change at head coach. While this is a game the Colts are capable of winning, I think they will compete but come up short once again.

Prediction: Titans 24, Colts 21

Kyle Rapoza is a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network and has been a lifelong fan of the Indianapolis Colts. He attended Super Bowl XLIV in Miami and follows the team closely. Follow him on Twitter @kyler11.

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Read More: Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans

The Pittsburgh Steelers can crawl back to above the .500 mark this Sunday when they host the Tennessee Titans. Myriad injuries and generally uninspired play has most fans and experts down on the defending AFC champions, which their fall in the NFL power rankings reflects. How do the prognosticators feel about Pittsburgh’s chances against the Titans, who’ve won three straight games to improve to 3-1? Let’s take a look.

SB Nation Chicago: Tim Sieck says this game is “tough to pick” without knowing more about Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s health; though Big Ben is expected to play, he’s nursing a sprained foot. Nonetheless, Sieck picks Pittsburgh to “win a close one” thanks to its home-field advantage.

CBSSports.com: Pete Prisco, Clark Judge, Mike Freeman, and Dave Richard all believe the Steelers will fend off the Titans. Will Brinson is the lone CBS expert to pick the visitors.

FOX Sports: Peter Schrager leads his preview with some distressing Steelers facts:

the big, bad Pittsburgh Steelers are averaging just 93.8 rushing yards, while allowing opponents to average 119.5 yards on the ground. Perhaps more alarming is the fact that Dick LeBeau’s defense has just one takeaway through four games. The defense looks old, the offensive line looks shoddy, and the quarterback’s nursing injuries.

… and then he picks the Steelers to win anyway, joining Sieck in letting the venue being the deciding factor.

Six of seven experts surveyed agree: Pittsburgh is primed to take a step forward this week.

Every Friday leading into a Sunday contest for the Cleveland Football Browns, WFNY provides a roundtable-like discussion featuring each writer and his feelings on what the Dawgs need to do in order to leave the contest victorious.  On the flip side of the coin, we aim to feature at least one voice from the opposing team who aims to provide a bit of a contrast; a devil’s advocate if you will.

This season, we will share some of our thoughts with the loyal readers of cleveland.com while inviting you all to continue the conversation with your fellow fans. 

Without further ado, this season’s Week 4 edition of The Browns Will Win If…

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Andrew: …They don’t let Chris Johnson finally start earning his new paycheck. I don’t like to read too much into stats after 3 games, especially this year when the Browns have faced Andy Dalton/Bruce Gradkowski, Kerry Collins, and Chad Henne, but the Browns have been pretty good against the pass. They’ve been disruptive with their pass rush and Joe Haden has played like an absolute superstar this year. But the Browns have not looked good against the run at all. Without Kenny Britt, logic dictates that the Titans will try to lean on Chris Johnson and try to get him going against a susceptible rush defense.

The Browns simply cannot let that happen. If the Titans can control the game on the ground, the Browns are in for a rough afternoon because the Titans defense has looked nothing short of great this year. On offense, I just want to see the Browns begin to figure out how to start getting positive yards on 1st down. Whether it’s playcalling or execution, the Browns have been unable to help themselves in later downs by netting positive yardage plays on 1st down. The Browns aren’t going to turn around their offensive woes in one week, but a good start would be better playcalling and execution on 1st down plays.

Kirk: …the offensive line has a statement game. With Peyton Hillis expected back and Montario Hardesty fresh off a solid performance last week, it’s time to get the run game jump-started. Right tackle has been a disappointment between Artis Hicks and Oniel Cousins; let’s hope Tony Pashos makes it to Sunday and is an upgrade there. I think we’ll continue to see a learning curve with Pinkston and Lauvao. The offensive line will need to be up for the challenge with a Titans’ D that ranks best in the NFL right now.

Defensively, it needs to be more of the same. I was downright stunned at the effectiveness of the Browns’ defense on that final drive after being on the field for a good portion of the game. With Kenny Britt out, Joe Haden can cover Nate Washington, and the safeties can concentrate more on making sure Chris Johnson doesn’t make Week 4 the one where he gets back on track. I expect the defensive line to continue to build momentum from their strong start, but they need to avoid costly penalties.

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Click Here to Continue Reading “The Browns Will Win If…”

 

The Hall of Fame offensive lineman hired close friend Bruce Matthews, also a Hall of Famer, to replace him. Then the Titans re-signed left guard Leroy Harris to make sure all five starters returned intact to block again for Chris Johnson.

Matthews says the Titans are very fortunate with three linemen who played every snap in 2010. Bringing back Harris on a two-year deal allows them to build on all the work the linemen put in last season.

“My goal is not to screw up what Munch left me with,” Matthews said with a smile. “It’s a very sound group.”

Munchak coached the offensive line from 1997-2010. In that time, the Titans ranked second in the NFL in fewest sacks allowed, averaged 28.3 sacks per season, and ranked seventh in allowing 124.5 yards rushing per game.

Tennessee’s strong offensive line was a big reason Matt Hasselbeck decided to sign a three-year deal with the Titans.

Yet Munchak only got to start the same five linemen in consecutive seasons twice while coaching the line. So Matthews, working with Art Valero, is starting in an enviable position.

“The big thing you know is knowing the guys who play next to you,” Matthews said. “We’re very fortunate on this team. We had three guys last year that played every rep, and then we had the left guard and center position where we got some young guys who came in and stepped up.”

Michael Roos has started every game since being drafted in the second round in 2005, the last 65 at left tackle. David Stewart has missed only one game in three seasons at right tackle. Jake Scott is going into his fourth season with Tennessee.

A year ago, the Titans chose to let center Kevin Mawae, the NFL Players Association president, leave as a free agent. He later retired. Eugene Amano shifted from left guard to center while Harris moved into the starting lineup at left guard.

Tennessee stumbled to a 6-10 mark in 2010 after a 5-2 start, but the line helped Johnson run for 1,364 yards a year after his 2,006-yard season.

The Titans didn’t put the final piece back in place on the offensive line until last week after players had reported for the start of training camp. The Titans called Harris’ agent and finally made an offer on a two-year deal about four hours after his wife gave birth.

Amano said bringing back Harris was a good thing.

“To keep that camaraderie, keeping all of us together. We’re a year under our belt, and we’re a year comfortable playing with each other,” Amano said. “I think that year that we played will help us and will build on for the future.”

The 6-foot-3, 303-pound Harris can’t join his linemates on the field until Thursday night. He is eager to build on the familiarity and communication he and his teammates started last season.

“You play faster,” Harris said. “You don’t have to worry about it. You’re not worried about stepping on each other’s feet or something like that when you have a feel for each other. Everything runs a lot smoother.”

Harris also knows one area he wants to improve, as well: cut back the negative runs. According to STATS LLC, the Titans were stuffed 51 times on 406 rushing attempts in losing 129 yards. Only Chicago and Washington had more with 53 each.

“That set us up for bad situations,” Harris said. “Third-and-long, it cuts your playbook down when you’re second-and-15, second-and-13. We’ve got to cut those long runs out. I’m pretty sure we had twice as many as we had the year before. That’s one of the main things to work on.”

The Titans are pretty happy to be able to quiz a Hall of Fame lineman for tips on how to handle different rushers.

“To go from Mike Munchak to Bruce Matthews, we’re in a good situation,” Amano said. “We’re pretty lucky to land Bruce as a coach.”

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Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Tennessee Titans always prided themselves on having a strong offensive line when Mike Munchak coached the group.

Nothing’s changed now he’s the head coach.

The Hall of Fame offensive lineman hired close friend Bruce Matthews, also a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, to replace him. Then the Titans re-signed left guard Leroy Harris to make sure all five starters return intact to block yet again for Chris Johnson.

Matthews says the Titans are very fortunate with three linemen who played every snap in 2010, and bringing back Harris on a two-year deal allows them to build on all the work the linemen put in last season.

“My goal is not to screw up what Munch left me with,” Matthews said with a smile. “It’s a very sound group.”

Munchak coached the offensive line between 1997 and 2010. In that time, the Titans rank second in the NFL in fewest sacks allowed averaging 28.3 sacks per season while ranking seventh in the league averaging 124.5 yards rushing per game.

Tennessee’s strong offensive line was a big reason Matt Hasselbeck decided to sign a three-year deal to join the Titans.

Yet Munchak only got to start the same five linemen in consecutive seasons twice while coaching the line. So Matthews, working with Art Valero, is starting off in an enviable position.

“The big thing you know is knowing the guys who play next to you,” Matthews said. “We’re very fortunate on this team. We had three guys last year that played every rep, and then we had the left guard and center position where we got some young guys who came in and stepped up …”

Michael Roos has started every game since being drafted in the second round in 2005, the last 65 at left tackle. David Stewart has missed only one game in the past three seasons at right tackle. Jake Scott is going into his fourth season with Tennessee.

A year ago, the Titans chose to let center Kevin Mawae, the NFL Players Association president, leave as a free agent. He later retired. Eugene Amano from left guard to center while moved Harris into the starting lineup at left guard.

Tennessee stumbled to a 6-10 finish in 2010 after a 5-2 start, but the line helped Chris Johnson run for 1,364 yards a year after his 2,006-yard season.

The Titans didn’t put the final piece back in place on the offensive line until last week after players had reported for the start of training camp. the Titans called Harris’ agent and finally made an offer on a two-year deal about four hours after his wife had given birth to their newest child.

Amano said the move to bring back Harris was a good thing for the offensive line.

“To keep that camaraderie, keeping all of us together. We’re a year under our belt, and we’re a year comfortable playing with each other. I think that year that we played will help us and will build on for the future,” Amano said.

The 6-foot-3, 303-pound Harris can’t join his linemates on the field until Thursday night. He is eager to build on the familiarity and communication he and his teammates started building last season.

“You play faster,” Harris said. “You don’t have to worry about it. You’re not worried about stepping on each other’s feet or something like that when you have a feel for each other. Everything runs a lot smoother.”

Harris also knows one area he wants to improve on over 2010 as well: cut back the negative runs. According to STATS Inc., the Titans were stuffed 51 times on 406 rushing attempts in losing 129 yards. Only Chicago and Washington had runs stuffed more often with 53 each.

“That set us up for bad situation,” Harris said. “Third-and-long, it cuts your playbook down when you’re second-and-15, second-and-13. We’ve got to cut those long runs out. I’m pretty sure we had twice as many as we had the year before. That’s one of the main things to work on.”

Once Harris is back on the field, the Titans are pretty happy to be able to quiz a Hall of Fame lineman for tips on how to handle different rushers in Matthews.

“To go from Mike Munchak to Bruce Matthews, we’re in a good situation,” Amano said. “We’re pretty lucky to land Bruce as a coach.”

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Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker